#cant wait to see what else our stone father brings ^^

[just-chelax]

Congrats to the rest of the winners here! Y'all deserve it!

But also, congrats to the rest of the contestants who drew for Valentine's Day! Even if you weren't chosen, you put in effort and hardwork and that's already incredible enough.

Cheers to everyone's amazing art and cheers to Fourseen and Hades! 🥂

Here are the winners!!

Goldi3.jpeg (discord)

Just_Chelax (discord)

alliyaharts_ll (twitter)

@silverlavenderskull5 (tumblr)

@souvlia (tumblr)

I've been looking through everyone's art and I have to say you guys have really improved from where you were a few years ago! Keep going! I'm so proud of everyone!

[lifewiththelulus]

Mimi was always the first between them to wake up. Not just because she started preparations at the store early but because Hazel, despite being steam, could sleep like a rock. Though getting herself untangled from said stone like grip was a challenge. Wrestling free she took just a moment to gaze mirthfully at her wife cradling a pillow. The early morning haze allowing her to imagine for a moment, something or maybe someone else between them. Remembering with a start the nights full events she hurries quietly to see if Mason had awoken. Stopping in the hallway her gem grew bright at the sight before her. Sunflower was watching over him, as she had always done for Mimi as a child. She was truly a sweet old girl. Mason has seeming gotten quite comfortable through the night,splayed out in a silly way and sand covering the couch and floor. She stifflied a giggle, wishing almost to wake Hazel just to see it.

As much as she wanted to stay in the peace of this moment she knew she needed to call the orphanage now that the lines were back up. They might accept their story but it wasnt exactly legal to pick up a kid off the street the way they did. She heard Hazel stir and enter the room. She could tell Hazel found as much joy in the scene as she had as she barely hid tears. Gesturing to the phone Hazel understood what she needed to do. "Good morning sweet potato, why dont you make our guest some of your turf cakes while I take the phone. "

She didnt need to be in at work till 10 and normally she would revel in the time with Mimi but now her steam was in knots, there was so much to say,so much they didnt know, a million reasons not to do this; but something her father taught her from hearing that story over the years was there could be a million no's but one yes that was more important than any of it, plain and simple love.

When Hazel gets off the phone she enters the kitchen with a dower expression, until she sees Mason fully awake,poorly sneaking sunflower food over the counter with Mimi exaggeratedly pretending not to notice. everyday could be like this she thought,her heart aching with want. She mentally scolded herself again, she knew even if this could happen for them it would take a long time. Shoving everything aside for his sake she finally says "Good morning bud, wipe off that sleep sand we're going for a ride".

the more Mason talks excitedly about places he sees and how theyll go together like its obvious,the more Hazel feels ill. She grips the handle trying to will her precipitation to hold shape as the tears well up behind her goggles. The closer they get to the orphanage, the more anxious he becomes, gazing up at her with worry. She cant bring herself to meet his eyes as it comes into view. "ms. Lumen, why are we here, i thought stuff was ok I thought we were home now". The staff came out relived to see him returned safely. She looks at him with a forced smile "its gonna be ok, just wait for me ok?" They talk for awhile behind closed doors before Hazel is allowed to speak to him again. his body shook as she bent down to his level. "Mason listen to me bud…you are always part of our home no matter what happens,but we cant just take in a kid like this,its..its more complicated than that. Im going to fight for you I promise, but it might take a long time and you wont always see us ok?". He shook and pushed her back."i dont understand" His sand was starting to clump together from tears.

"Mason please understand its not that we dont care about you-"They always say that" he interrupts. "They say they want me, my first mama said a mixed kid was good for videos" he says confused as to what it even meant. "They say they love me until my sand gets too much to handle,you're the same, nobody wants a mixed kid". He was inconsolable, a woman nearby tells hazel that its ok, hes always like this,shes free to leave. He shys away from her touch when she reaches out so she just says " Mason, Im mixed, I understand how hard it is,how elements look at you, how elements dont know how to act around you,i know". He looks up confused "huh, no way youre air!…right?" She laughs slightly "I can pass for it some days, and some days I was trying too, but my mom is fire and my dad is water. They came together even when it was hard because they loved each other, and that made me,steam.And my brother" she added smiling. He looked at her with awe and wary. She continued "We want you in our family Mason;just like my parents fought to have me we will fight for you.I want to hear your stories and maybe, maybe if you're lucky, ill ride in a balloon with you".

He still looks wearing but she coaxes a smile out of him. "Okay but you have to pinky promise or else" he said pouting. "You got it bud" Hazel laughed before growing serious "just wait for us ok, even if it takes a million years you'll come home, I promise"

She can't help but look back as she gets on her bike. Mimi meanwhile has been been texting Flint, both trying to explain the situation and asking if there's any way they can sponsor them

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for being Tony Stark’s son (Part 2)

Tony Stark x son!reader

warnings:

a/n: had to split it into 2 parts bc i hit the text limit dhshaggags

prompt: continued

part 1

~sokovia was ur first big mission~

“why is y/n here, stark?” -cap

“the first mistake was letting me become a father”

“good god, tony...”

you having the time of your life crushing robots

“WHEEEEEE”

also proving useful by saving avengers a handful of times

“thanks for the assist, stark clone” -clint

rip pietro

rhodey was actually the most worried about you if we’re being honest, he didn’t understand why they let you in this one???

“y/n? y/n, talk to me! are you alive?”

“yes, uncle rhodey! i’m perfect, stop worrying!”

“i love you, kid! be safe!”

✨a good family you’ve got✨

soon the avengers broke up bc your dad cant get along with steve and it was just really awkward

but you chose your dad’s side

“sorry, steve! he pays my allowance!”

peter was actually a little okay, you know!! spazzy at first, but he was cool

“dude, you’re y/n stark! you’re tony stark’s very own son! i’m talking to mr. stark’s only child!”

“yep, that’s me. i’m what earned tony the title of ‘DILF’”

teenage teamup? ofc

“am i doing alright?”

“looking a-okay, pete!”

tony was worried fighting steve would traumatize you so he made you wait at the hotel with happy and peter

“don’t do anything to embarrass me, y/n. i dont want to see you on the news for something stupid”

you and peter ended up hanging out in your room and watching tv and ordering room service

“how do you do that so smoothly? i’d just freak out and go get it myself”

“years of experience as a spoiled rich brat”

absolutely positively being up all night and trying to fight your exhaustion

“you two seem to be getting along well. couldn’t be me” -happy

“for someone named happy, you never seem to be happy”

“not around teenagers, no”

“i remember when you loved me, ‘uncle happy’”

peter texted you every day after that

whenever flash picked on peter for “never meeting tony stark” he’d show a picture of you and him taking selfies in the lab together yes you invite him over much to the dismay of everyone else around you

plus tony was out of town and you were finally trusted enough to be left alone unchecked so like, happy would just leave at the first sign of peter

“that’s not real!”

“jealous?”

you actually showed up for homecoming on a dare (but in disguise)

didn’t wanna attract all the attention, you just wanted a high school experience

but you got called into avengers tower to help move early on :/ bad timing too cuz peter had to fight his first villain and u missed it

“dude, how do you feel?”

“bruh sound effect number two”

“oh my god”

FRIDAY heard him and pulled up the sound and you were WEAK you couldn’t stop laughing

“please....i think i broke a few ribs. cant laugh until tomorrow”

tony offered peter the avengers gig and peter said no, you were very disappointed but u understood that not everyone wanted to be in the spotlight like that

but you and peter obviously still hung out

oh, tony proposed! they interviewed you on sight!

“y/n, how does it feel to know that you’re going to have a stepmom soon?”

“you guys are aware that pepper helped raise me, right? right?!”

moving on, life was smooth for a while, there was some wedding planning, talk of you being a best man (which rhodey fought you on)

“no, i’ve known your dad longer!”

“i’m his son!”

i n v a s i o n

oh boy that was rough

bruce was surprised that you had fucking grown so much in the past 3 years good lord

“y/n...your VOICE”

“puberty, i know. when’s it gonna happen to you?”

“it hurts more when it’s from a teenager”

“uh, did you forget my birthday?”

peter’s back! peter’s back!

finally, man

“spider-kid, i could use an assist!”

“on the way!”

“aliens, why did it have to be aliens?”

up up and away for tony and peter, leaving you on the ground with all the earthly chaos and fear

“you two are the absolute worst, you know that? DAD, PETER, GET BACK DOWN HERE”

“no can do, kid. i—” *cuts off*

“oh great, no service on the space donut, huh? find a damn wifi password and call me back you asshole”

pepper was probably having a heart attack bc the news stations were having a field day but you were one of the only active avengers left, meaning you had to help clean this up

“bruce, we gotta get going”

“what? where?”

“upstate”

patching up the avengers as best as you could to take care of the threat

but you guys always win, this should be a cake walk, right?

wrong.

this was bad, very bad

after a lengthy battle with thanos in wakanda, you had failed. thanos got the stones, he snapped. the world was in ruins. but you didn’t get to see that part

you dusted away

“tell dad i’m sorry and i love him”

tony finally came back to earth hoping to see you, but upon seeing pepper’s face, he knew you were gone

“he did everything he could, tony! he didn’t deserve it!”

she was extremely upset, she saw you like a son of her own

soon, her and tony restarted their life and had a daughter, dad always wondered what it’d be like to have a little girl. it was different, it really was

she was eager to meet you

morgan stole pictures of you to hang up in her room

“when i meet y/n, im gonna give him a big hug! then we’ll have a tea party!”

tony has a picture of you and peter in the kitchen, he misses the two of you, but found comfort in the fact that you may be with each other

an ounce of hope, he had to try something

save his only son, and his other son

when he got to 2012, he was disappointed that he hadn’t let you become an avenger yet because he couldn’t see you here

yada yada he fucked up now he’s in the 70s and he fixed the fuck up and now hes in 2023

and bruce snapped

and you were all brought back and the way you kicked ass was inspiring

tony had to see his son now. right now.

“y/n, dear god! you’re okay! oh, man. i love you so much, kid. i missed you”

“i love you too. and i can’t believe you went to space without me, meanie”

“get over it”

ah, back to old times

peter and you obviously had to team up for this one! come on, what a story to tell!

and then, a snap and the warriors began to fade. you turned around and saw him on his knees

“no...”

you rushed over to where peter already was and tried to hold back tears, to be strong for him

“hey, dad. i’m here. no more missed goodbyes, okay? i’m here.”

you sat beside him and held his hand while the rest of your family made their peace with him and he finally slipped away

“y/n...are you okay?” -peter

“not even a little”

peter was worried about you, but you were worried about peter

mutual worry

meeting morgan was...surprising

pepper forgot to tell you they had a daughter while you were gone

she was so sweet and for the first month you lived at the cabin, she slept in your room

you got NO space

“i love you y/n”

“love you too” *thinking about dad bc she just reminds you of him so much*

“i love you y/n”

“love you too, morgan”

over and over

peter and you had sleepovers a lot, usually at his house bc you were the only one besides ned allowed over bc of all the spider-stuff

ned fanboyed over you

also sleepovers at peter’s were a nice break from being at tony’s cabin where you were constantly reminded that he wasn’t there

“y/n, i’m going to europe for a field trip! it’s gonna be awesome!”

“dude, you’re gonna love it. are you bringing your suit?”

“no, this is my offical vacation. no spider-manning”

“good for you, man!”

peter sent you all the pictures he took on his phone

all of them

Peter-Man: And this one is me and Ned in our crappy hotel room. And here’s the river. And here’s MJ covered in birds, and here’s the airplane, Mr. Harrington fell asleep on me

you had to come to europe once you heard what was going on

happy and you picked up peter and he was a mess

“you gave away dad’s glasses?”

“i think we’re past the point that i am not smart”

“jesus, peter. you should have called me about them. i would have taken them off your hands if you weren’t ready for them”

having to make sure that you guys didn’t get hurt bc this was honestly your guy’s first solo pair-up

there wasnt much backup here

finally, you defeated the evil (who apparently held a very large grudge against you. sorry mister beck) and were able to go back home

“call me if you need anything, pete”

“i will. i promise.”

and the next thing you know...peter’s identity was exposed

“i left him alone for one day!”

taglist: @alwaysananglophile // @rorybutnotgilmore // @locke-writes // @sweetheartliz07 // @queen-destenie // @natasha-danvers // @lokihiddles // @frostedgiant // @emygirl // @lotsoffandomrecs // @johnmurphyisbisexual // @teenwaywardasgardian // @pappydaddy // @captainshazamerica // @freya-xo // @ravenmoore14 // @purpleskiesstorm //

[doodledrawsthings]

Her Aim Was Getting Better

(Ahit ““““““Coffee Shop AU”““““““ rp log)

This is part of an RP between @displacedentities and myself detailing the meet-up between Luka and Vanessa, when she spikes his coffee with the curse. We did this a while back to get a feel for the characters and how that scene would go down, and they nailed it with how they wrote Vanessa. So I asked them if I could post it. Some of the stuff here was written before we had other things established, so some things like Hatties’s age and how long ago they split might be inconsistent with other posts I’ve made, but Enjoy!

(also forgive me for the way i write my parts, I’m not as practiced at writing rip)

(MysticDoodles) Despite the warm paper cup in her hands, Vanessa couldn't deny the chill in her bones. It had yet to go away since that day in court, biting at her skin and hovering just at the base of her brain stem. It always seemed to grow colder whenever she thought about how she got here... the things she'd said. What she almost did to that poor briefcase jockey in the courthouse.

But it didn't matter, anymore. If anything, her mom was happy she lost that case. Losing her husband and... child had stripped away all excuses she had not to throw herself into her work, and her mother was happy. 

Vanessa was not happy. 

In fact, she was seething. 

Luka took everything from her, that day. Her love, her place in their home. His adorable smile, his laugh... they weren't hers anymore. He only gave them to that- little gremlin. The parasite that took his love away from her, her precious nickname given to their daughter. 

Nobody got to be Luka's princess except Vanessa herself. Never again.

She lost the custody battle and her efforts to take Luka's obsession away from him, but she was going to make sure he lost so much more.

Vanessa waited in the autumn breeze, her fingers clenching and unclenching around the coffee cup. Chestnut-infused Columbian. His favorite. A sister cup sat opposite the table, waiting for him. If he was brave enough to show his face. .

(DeusExMakena)  He could see her from his car as he pulled into the parking space, sitting at a table by the large window at the front of the coffee shop. How long had it been now? Around five years, right? Hattie was barely a year old when they split.

He used to get so excited about meeting her, being in her presence, making her smile... and now the very thought of just getting out of his car and making eye contact with her left a pit in his stomach. As much as he'd loved this woman in the past, the way she treated their newborn daughter.... he had to stop thinking about it. Starting this meeting out in an angry mood wouldn't be a good idea.

With a sigh he finally willed himself to leave the vehicle, and just as he looked up their eyes met. The pit in his stomach deepened as he walked up to the cafe doors.

(MysticDoodles) The ice crept up her neck again. Vanessa forced it down, and put up a smile. No reason to start this off as cold as the ice in her veins. 

 Luka can see from her attire that she's doing rather well- financially, anyway. A thick coat against the autumn chill- or maybe from her heart, so closed off- and a scarf stuffed into her bookbag. Her mother must have improved her stipend, now that they split. What a beastly woman. It's pointless to ponder what-ifs at this point, but maybe if Vanessa's mother had been someone else... no. No point.

 With one hand, she gestures to the chair opposite her. Empty and waiting. "Hello, Luka. I got your favorite. You're doing well?" 

 ...the tenor isn't as friendly as it sounds, and feels more plastic than her smile appears.

(DeusExMakena) He hesitates, looking around the venue at the other tennants before wordlessly taking the seat across from her, mostly staring at the coffee cup in front of him.

Why is he having such a hard time looking at her?

"I'm... fine," he manages to force out as he takes the cup in both hands. Come on, man just get this over with and you can go home. "So uh, what brings you here?"

He wishes he could kick himself in the face for how out of place he feels, right now. What do you even say to someone you haven't seen in years, when the last time you saw them had been after an intense battle over the custody rights of the child you fought so hard to protect?

At least the warmth of the cup in his hands provides him with some reassurance.

(MysticDoodles) Something in Vanessa's smile twitches, but it's gone before he can really tell what it was.

"Oh- I just wanted to chat, catch up on old times, you know? I'm guessing the bar exam went well?"

...

Awkward silence, as Vanessa turns her smile away. She lifts her own coffee cup to her lips and takes a long drink, looking at the pavement.When she sets it down, there's a brief moment where her fingertips looked blue. It soon fades back into perfectly trimmed nails.

"...you know why I called you here, Luka. Don't make me lie to you." Her voice grows quiet, though pensive or frustrated is difficult to parse. "You were always better at lying, anyway."

(DeusExMakena) He squints slightly at that last remark and has to do enrything in his power to hold his tongue.

"I dont, actually. With the way things ended the last time we saw eachother, I was almost sure that would be it." he says, probably with a bit more venom in his tone than he should have used, but he was here for less than 10 minutes, now, and he could already feel his patience waning.

"But if you're really just here to reconnect, you'll have to forgive me" he takes a moment to swirl the cup in front of him before lifting it towards his mouth "I'm not very good at small-talk."

Chestnut-infused Columbean bean. Cream and Sugar. So nice to know that she never forgot.

(MysticDoodles) Vanessa smiles as he takes a drink. It's gone by the time he removes the cup again.

"...sorry," she says. Her stony expression shifts into a frown. This wasn't how she expected this conversation to go- but really, she had been expecting nothing, so no pain or gain thus far. "I'm not being very polite, am I? I guess I just- missed you, Luka. It's very different, going back to my mother's apartment after-... well. Being with you."

...

Another quiet sip. Vanessa runs her finger on the plastic cap.

"...do you miss the nights after we studied, when we'd just sit on the couch together and watch garbage movies?"

Before Harriet came along, she didn't say aloud.

(DeusExMakena) Of course he did, he loved her. And as much as he'd love to revisit those moments, to relive the sense of elation he felt when he got her to laugh over awkward acting and nonsensical writing... He just couldn't forgive her for what she did.

He sighs, opting to indulge in her to see where she's going with this.

"Yeah," He takes another sip, looking back down at the table "Sometimes I still wonder why that had to stop."

(MysticDoodles) There's no way he misses the way her fingers tighten on the paper coffee cup. Especially since it's accompanied by an audible pop of paper crumpling in a half inch, and liquid sloshing within.

"They did stop, Luka."

How could he be so blind?

"They stopped when you stopped spending them with me. You spent all your time with our daughter, and not with the loving wife who gave her to you. Don't you see how unfair that is? I deserved your time, too."

Vanessa sighs, her words almost chastising. It reminded of the times she shifted into 'disappointed mother' mode around Harriet. Their one year old, at the time, who didn't understand consequences for things like dropping a toy in the sink. She even had the nerve to sound hurt as she speaks those words.

(DeusExMakena) He is absolutely apalled.

"I-" he doesnt know why he cant find the words to respond. His eyes wide and his eyebrows furrow as he glares directly at her. He shouldnt be surprised by this, really, he saw this coming. Five years, and some things will just never change.

Luka pinches the bridge of his nose, he MARRIED this woman.

"I'm sorry, are we- are we really doing this again?" He sets his coffee cup on the table with a little more force than he wanted to, "You do realize you're getting jealous over a literal one-year old that we both agreed that we wanted to have. I'm her father, I'm sorry, again, for doing my job and raising our child."

(MysticDoodles) Vanessa's long-suffering expression hardens back into stone, pouting out her lip as once more, Luka shows no signs of budging on his stance. How very lawyerlike of him. To the bitter end, he would fight for his side of the case against the opposition. She wished they didn't have to be on opposite sides, anymore, yet here she was for the second time.

"Is it so wrong that I wanted to spend more time with my husband? All toddlers need to learn to share, anyway." Vanessa shrugs, as if this were no big deal. "You never spent evenings with me, anymore, Luka. Every night that you came back from graduate classes and networking with firms, you would go right to her. The honeyed words for me didn't come until dinner, if they came at all. And don't talk to me like I wasn't a good mother- I kept her out of trouble during the day, whenever I was out of rotation."

...

"How is my little Harriet doing? It's been so long since you've squirreled her away."

(DeusExMakena) No. No, no, no, he's not doing this again

"You..." He tries to hold his tongue, but peck, he doesnt want to deal with this right now. He feels his hands ball into fists "No. I'm sorry, no, you don't get to ask how my daughter is doing. You had every opportunity to join us, no one was stopping you from being happy but yourself! You wanna talk about sharing? Then why are you throwing a fit over a over a child spending time with her father?"

 ...

"She wanted a relationship with you, you know. It's... really hard having to explain to a five-year-old that she doesnt get to see her mother because she was too immature to realize 'oh hey! I could hang out with both my daughter AND my husband at the same time!'" He says that last bit in a mocking tone as he picks up his coffee and goes in for another sip, glaring straight at his ex-wife with pure exasperation.

(MysticDoodles) There he goes again. His daughter.

This time, Vanessa doesn't look away as she returns the glare. The medical graduate holds unflinching eye contact as she lifts her own cup and downs half the contents. Trying to make a statement, maybe? She always did have issues with competition.

"...so where does that leave us, then? You drink the coffee I got you, and walk away? Are you really so set on burning this bridge, Luka? Things can go back to the way they were, if you really want it that way. My stipend will get us through the rest of exams, and then we can live a good life together - high paying jobs, a comfortable apartment, as many dates and trashy movie nights as we want. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

...she didn't say a word about five-year-old Harriet.

(DeusExMakena) Luka takes a moment to stare at her, eyes half-lidded and tired.

He picks up the cup and downs the rest of his coffee, before placing it back on the table and standing up from his seat, his eyes never leaving hers.

"Allow me to light the match for you."

With that, he turns towards the door, ready to leave. Why would he feel bad about burning a bridge that leads nowhere?

(MysticDoodles) Luka can hear the squeal of the metal chair legs as Vanessa stands abruptly from her seat. There's no click of heels on riverstone, but he knows she's got her fists clenched at her sides, watching him. She always did that when she was angry. Maybe this time she'd have some ice on her wrists, now that her abilities were public. She'd put less effort into hiding it after the court case, anyway.

"YOU'RE MAKING A MISTAKE!" Vanessa yells after him as he continues, stride unbroken. "You'll regret this! You won that case, but you'll always be my prince, and I'll always be your princess!"

But legally, she couldn't touch him, now. Luka and Harriet were no longer family. He knew that, and she knew he did.

...

Oh well.

The door closes with a crnk-ling of the bell, and the background noise of the cafe starts to fade back into her awareness. Or lack thereof. Everyone nearby was staring, not that she cared.

Stiffening her upper lip, Vanessa grabs her bag and loops it back over one shoulder. She pats the side, removing the scarf off the copy of 'Ancient Botanicals & You' she'd found at the antique bookshop, and tying the garment back around her neck. With one hand she picks up Luka's cup, and looks inside.

Empty.

A smile traces her lips as she takes it along with her own, and tosses them both into the trash can.

Now all she had to do was wait and see.

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Kingdom Collisions XVII

masterlist; my links

CW: blood, death

Phew, when i first started this fic (way back when in august last year, i think) i didn’t expect it to become a multi-chapter nor did i expect it to go in literally any of the directions it went in. with each new chapter the boys cooked up something different and apparently more and more dark. nonetheless this has been one of the most absolute fun, exciting, and rewarding fics i’ve ever put out there because 1. i just kind of did whatever i liked with it (plot holes be damned) and 2. because the interaction i got from this fic was mind-boggling. Every plot twist brought a gasp, an angst gremlin, and a sweet supporter to my doorstep (i cant name anyone because you all swopped roles continuously). 

when i started writing this chapter tbh i was dreading it because how on earth do i get myself out of the sheer monstrosity that i dug myself into in the last one? but i wrote some words and even though they were all wrong and it was only seven hundred of them at least i had written something you know? but then i was at the beach and the ocean water was shoving itself into my lungs and the salt was stinging my eyes and i literally couldn’t have been happier if i tried and suddenly i just kind of knew what i wanted to write... or rather i knew i wanted to write and these troublesome princes knew how they wanted their story to close. yes, indeed, close. somehow, without me realising it, we kind of got to the last chapter. i truly didn’t think this would be it but with each word i put down it just kept drawing closer and closer to a close. and i can’t force this fic to be anything but what it is. So, my dear ones, this is the last chapter of Kingdom Collisions. thank you for coming along, i hope with all my heart you enjoyed it even a fraction as much as i did. I love these Princes so hard and Nish, Gretch, and A can tell you how sad i was to see them end. Nonetheless, please enjoy!

Since it’s been a hot minute since the previous chapter, here’s a recap:

Prince Jason Grace stumbles from the mouth of the arena and falls to his knees in front of the platform.

“Kill him Perseus.” A voice glimmers around him, leaking in through the ringing in his ears.

“Come home Prince,” That voice lilts, “Do not die so far from the sea.”

Jason looks up at him, blue eyes hazy, a dagger loose in his clasp. “Hello Prince.”

Percy steps down from the platform, and takes the dagger from his husband’s hands. It is almost sickening how easily he gives it over.

The crowd stomps its feet: they are ready for blood; they are ready for slaughter.

He holds the dagger up, making sure it glints in the sun. And then he draws his husband close until there is nothing between their bodies, not space, not even air.

“Let’s go home my love.” He whispers. “We will not die so far from the sea.”

Prince Perseus Jackson brings the blade down.

[image has alt text]

We’ll never get free// lamb to the slaughter// what you gon’ do when there’s blood in the water

Prince Perseus Jackson knows he’s going to die today. It is not a feeling, or a morbid premonition. It is the cold, hard truth. If he does not the world will continue to suffer for it. And what kind of prince would he be if he allowed his people to suffer? His father would say he’d be a coward. His father did not know the meaning of the word until he screamed as a blade sunk into his chest. Percy wonders how a man made from the Rivers themselves, can die by knife. He supposes when you spend long enough pretending to be human, you die like one too.

All the same Percy must take his last breath today, before the setting sun has managed to hide for the night. Before the darkness can wrap around his bones like cigarette smoke, and keep him trapped once more. 

But first, Percy must kill his husband. 

The crowd is violent; their need for bloodshed a hyena’s cackle in his head. He cannot keep them out. He cannot keep them at bay. It drives into his blood, makes every dangerous drop slosh through him, as wild as the rivers of his father. As wild as the blue eyes staring him down.

Perseus Jackson looks at his husband, barely an inch apart, so close it seems no room is left for air. He can’t breathe, so it must have been pushed away, pushed out. Those blue eyes, as striking as the brilliant sky above them, are looking at him with so much… sorrow, love, joy, rage? He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know and it terrifies him. He knows and that scares him more. Prince Jason Grace is looking at him with delight and it makes him want to sin.

“I will find you again, my love.” His lips brush the sensitive skin of his ear. He feels that beautiful body shudder underneath him.

The musician’s box echoes with the notes of the wind, a melody that rackets around in his head, bouncing off the walls of his memories. He has died to this tune many times. Died as a king, and a peasant, and a squallor, and a whore, and every form of human scum and royalty alike. They all bleed the same in the end. All die with regrets on their tongue, and the unconquering falsehood of love in their hearts, as if that alone is enough to save them. He has never been safe from death. But love saves him all the same. He wonders if he will die again.

“I will not be lost.” Jason whispers back, so quiet, so full of sweet darkness.

Percy slams the blade into his Jason’s heart and watches as the light from beckoning eyes morphs into a smile that surrenders the world. He doesn’t acknowledge the warmth at his side. There is only his Prince, his husband, his other half, his, his, his. 

“I will be waiting.” Jason Grace grins. Jason Grace dies.

Already he can feel the absence of his other. It is not a dull ache, nor a sharp one. It is not really an ache at all. Rather as if a veil has been placed over him, leeching the world of colour and light. Leeching him of any goodness. What is a destroyer, without his healer?

The Prince of Mare pulls the knife out of his husband’s chest and holds it up to the crowd. His smile dances, violence coating the angles of his face like a liquid mask. The colosseum responds in vigour, chanting his name, chanting the name of Princess Piper Mclean, chanting victory as if they’ve won. Dust begins to settle at his feet, settle then jump as they jump, then settle once more. And endless dance. He knows the score by heart. 

“What you have witnessed today my good people,” The woman in power stands in her box, surveying the scene before her with triumph in her brown, glinting eyes. “Is the beginning of forever, again.”

The people cheer, clap, stomp their feet, make the stone underneath them quiver.

A drop of blood falls to the floor.

“We have completed what our ancestors could not. We have made sure that the threat— ” She sneers at them; at him in his bloodied rags, and the husband still in his arms, limp and fast growing cold. “The threat of Our Downfall may never rise from the ashes.”

The deafening sound of celebration is a vice around his throat. He wants to rip the air from their lungs, make their joy a noose around their necks. They celebrate the loss of a life as if it were the birth of a thousand more; they celebrate the death of his husband as if they had won the war. But they have never seen war. And his past selves, rushing up to him in these moments, like reeling pictures, smile at the prospect. They seem to gather in his mind, grinning with endless terror and say, so very softly, “You think this is war? We’ve only just begun.”

We’ll never get free// lamb to the slaughter// what you gon’ do when there’s blood in the water

“My people,” Piper’s voice is a lull in the tides, a blind comfort to distract from the storm ahead. “We have severed the wings of a phoenix so it may never rise again.”

The crowd stomps, he stomps with them. A fissure runs under his feet, small, unnoticeable. Blood drips down, down, down, into the cracks. There is nothing left for him here. He smiles, soft and small. It is a smile only he knows exists.

With a gentleness he does not possess for anyone else but the man before him he lays his husband down, wincing as the dusty platform touches that beautiful golden skin. But he does not have time to make it clean. To give him a worthy place to rest. He only has right now. Eternity is a second in itself.

And when Prince Perseus stands, straight and unburdened. He reveals the last piece in a twisted puzzle. For sticking out of his own side— the side his prince was pressed against— is a dagger of his own. One that is killing him slowly.

The people are still cheering, Princess Piper is still revelling in her glory. She looks ethereal up on her dais, every bit the goddess she craves to be. Her brown skin shines in the brightening sun, her black hair flowing down, down, down past her hips, swishing at her thighs. And the crown that sits on her head, perched there as if it was too scared to be trapped to such power, glints almost menacingly, jewels reflecting onto the people closest to her. To the woman at her side. Annabeth, sister to Jason, lover to Piper, and honorary daughter of Hekima, sees him. Sees all of him and goes as pale as the moon. She grabs her lover’s arm, points a shaky finger in their direction, at the blade in his side.

The look of horror on their faces is almost enough to make him laugh; it’s certainly enough to make him smile. He watches on as their plans unravel, remembering the deadly words Piper had said to him all those days ago. “Instead we will kill one of you and keep the other continually alive.” But what good would that do, if he had killed them both, if he made sure his blood was smeared across his husband’s wound; if he made sure his husband’s blood could not be used to heal them. He has become the destroyer they so badly wanted. 

Prince Perseus Jackson falls to his knees, at the symphony of a princess’s screech. And as he looks to his side, his fingers find the cool hand of Jason Grace. The sky is a lover’s blue. He closes his eyes. He finds his husband amongst the dead. And ever so slowly, the colosseum starts to crumble. For the blood from his wound seeps into the cracks running rivers of their own, and eats at the stone that holds the people, the power, the world. He has become his father. His mind is fill of his own stories, just like his mother. He feels the cold band on his husband’s finger. He becomes life.

We’ll never get free// lamb to the slaughter// what you gon’ do when there’s blood in the water

The walls behind her turn to dust in slow motion. She sees particles fall, land at her feet in never-ending waterfalls. Her gaze tilts to the sky where she half expects to find it raining blue, as if the whole world would collapse on top of them. She can hear the screaming, she doesn’t known if it’s joy or fear. Sh doesn’t know if anyone has realised what’s just happened, if they know the true extent of her failure. 

“PIPER!” That voice is so far away, but it is one she recognizes. One she has loved since she was left on a lover’s bench ten years prior. “We have to go, we have to stop it from reaching the water.”

A pale hand gestures in front of her, to the crimson rivers speeding across the ground. They are the prettiest canals she’s ever seen. She wants to— 

“PIPER,” The time for shock has gone, and in it’s place is a violent need to save herself, to be saved. “We have to get out of here, this whole place is going to come down.”

When she looks to Annabeth, grey eyes bright with fear, she is struck with feeling so deep she fears she may drown. It wouldn't’ matter; she’ll be dead before she gets to submerge.

“My people,” Her voice is loud, blessedly steady, as she surveys the uneasy crowd who are only now noticing the red brooks bubbling up to meet them. “We must leave here at once. The colosseum is no longer safe. I urge you to go home to your famililes, to pack important things and make your way as far from the oceans and rivers as possible. Danger is here, and it is not a force we can fight.”

A thousand eyes look at her, emotions blatant on their faces ranging from denial, to anger, to fear, to the worst of them all, resignation. Those are the ones, she knows, who have lived through this before, in some way or the other. Whether in a past life, or the echo of their current one through stories carried down.

The ground underneath them shakes, making their feet stumble, their legs quiver. It is laughing at them, at the idea that they can escape this destruction. It has done this a thousand times before, it will do it a thousand more. The end has never been about them. They cannot escape it, no matter where they run, how hard they pray. And people are. Praying. They don’t know it is their gods who order this. Their gods who have no care for the lives of them when they can create a million more. In the end they are pawns to an endless game of chess. The first to be discarded, despite how hard they fight to prove useful. And Jason, her lover’s brother, and Perseus, her own ex lover, are soldiers sent to do their duty. Pawns themselves, maybe knights. But gods they have never been, and gods they will never become.

Annabeth’s hand is warm in hers as they race to their death. Her blonde curls fly behind her and Piper thinks it’s the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. And then the princess looks to her and she changes her mind. With each glance, each step, each squeeze of their skin, she changes and changes and changes. Until the beauty cannot be pinned to a single thing, until it is a tapestry continuously incomplete, of all the features that make up her love. If she— when, when she dies she will do it with this image in her mind.

And then they’re at the river, the one that feeds her kingdom, the one that runs into to the forest and branches to the five other kingdoms, before feeding into Perseus’s own and out to the ocean. There is no red tainting it’s glistening blue. They have time, maybe, just maybe they have time to save the only home they have ever known, the only one they ever will. 

We’ll never get free// lamb to the slaughter// what you gon’ do when there’s blood in the water

Quickly, with a haste she has never seen, Annabeth pulls a single match from her pocket.

“Will you grant me permission, my love?” Her princess nods to the little stick.

There is only one way to stop a stream from turning towards a river. She nods. “For the kingdoms.”

“For the kingdoms.” The blonde echoes. She strikes the match.

Sunshine yellow flame bursts from the small head, and as it settles it turns orange, blue, goes back to yellow. Annabeth lets it fall to the floor.

And they both watch, flames dancing in their eyes, as the little match catches a dry leaf, which catches dry wood, which catches, and catches, and catches.

They clasp hands, look at each other. Piper runs a finger down a freckled cheek, skin already so warm from the blaze before them.

“Let us live.” Her princess whispers.

They jump into the river. The forest burns to an inferno behind them.

But there, trickling slowly, as if it has all the time in the world, is a single stream of blood. It creeps through the forest, turning already charring soil to nothing. The fire jumps over it, around it, beyond it. The fire does not stop it. 

A single drop of blood catches on a shard of blackened stick, once a match, and as the wind blows it carries the wood over over over. It lands in the river. The stick floats away. The blood spreads wide.

And two princesses, still hand in hand, frantically swimming for their life, start to crumble to ash, like the forest they had left to burn.

We’ll never get free// lamb to the slaughter// what you gon’ do when there’s blood in the water

Perseus Jackson opens his eyes to sky blue, ice blue, saviour blue. And he cannot help but smile.

“Where have you been, my love?”

“Just had to take care of some things before i could join you.” He reaches up a hand to caress a golden cheek, warm and reddening under his touch.

“Are we finally free?” That voice is so soft, full of angled hope.

“Till the next time.” He sees that hope startle and shape before him, as if it can bend to fit around steeled will.

“What shall we do while we wait?”

“As long as we are together,” He brushes back a lock of gold. “It does not matter to me.”

“Might i suggest, staying here for the next decade at the very least?” A laughing reply, one that heats him to his bones.

“Your wish,” His green eyes sparkle dangerously, deliciously, “Is my salvation.”

“Wicked, wicked being.” Lips find his, press to him. It is so familiar, and somehow new all at once. As if the shadows they are made from need to get used to the light within them once more. As if they have not done this for a millennia, longer. 

“I cannot help it when i’m with you.”

“And you are always with me,” Those blue eyes set him on fire.

“Yes,” He says simply. He touches the golden chest, the heart within. His heart.

“What shall we be in the next life?” The question is soft against his skin, raising bumps across his arms.

“I think i shall be a painter,” He muses, lips falling to a shoulder. They trace their way up, catching on collarbones and the crook of a neck, and the dimple behind an ear. “And you, my sweet? How do you intend for us to meet?”

“I think i shall like to be your nude model.” That grin is enough to cause a flush through his form.

“And who will be our heroes?”

“The queen of course.” The blonde’s voice gets conspiratorially low, “I’m her favourite servant you see, and she cannot bear the idea of anyone else seeing me naked.”

He cannot hold in his laughter, the mind of his other half an endless stream of amusement. “And how do we intend to end it this time?”

“That’s up to you dear one.” The being curled into him smiles, “I can only heal, and you know i will only heal you.”

“You make me such a villian.” His expression is violent, and beautiful, so so beautiful.

“We have never been anything else.” 

He stares into the face of eternal love and is struck by the thought that it is all for him, that it has only ever been for him. He cradles a golden face in his hand, and with a deep unhurried breath, kisses Jason.

For the infinite time in his endless life, Perseus tastes fire.

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Tags (if you want to be added to/ taken off the tag list just let me know, all my channels of communication are open):

@nishlicious-01 : to Nish for loving this fic harder than anyone, and for loving me harder still.

@queen-of-demons-and-hell : to Gretch for always being there even though were many countries, and many timezones apart

@leyontheway : to Ley for the endless and unwavering support and for making me smile no matter what

@sparkythunderstorm : to Lily for the continuous love and the wonderful comments

@comradefurudate : to avatar for the hilarious interactions and for loving this the way you did. Your comments made my day.

@aalikun : to ali for the theories and the comments that made me smile so hard my cheeks hurt

to A : you don’t have a tumblr account but you asked if you could read one of my fanfics and i sent you this one and you sent me back a 3 minute long voice note telling me every reason you loved it and i cannot begin to explain to you how much it means to me. i listen to the vn all the time. i love you.

and to every single one of you who liked, and/or commented on this fic: you are special to me in every way that matters and i think about you all the time.

[sneezy-cheeseloaf]

recounting the entire avengers: endgame movie, which i only saw once when it came out, from memory

because i just took the SAT and i want to do anything except think about that so get ready for a fun ride full of holes and my reenactments of scenes and quotes that i remember from however many years it’s been now since endgame came out. buckle the fuckle up

movie opens, clint’s whole ass family fucking dies. cue killing spree fueled by grief and anger. HashTag Relatable

tony is floating through space with nebula and teaching her how to play paper football

holy shit is this how tony dies

“pep” ouc h

oh hey he’s home, dope

The Gang (tm) learns where thanos’s farm is somehow i can’t really remember

“perhaps i judged you too harshly”

“???? thor????” “what? i went for the head”

“five” five what?? days?? weeks??? months???? oh boy i can’t wait to find ou- “years later” HUH???????

steve looks the exact same, so i guess he kept up that workout schedule even through the snap. i mean good for him honestly

and is also running a talk therapy group like sam did

a single smidgen of gay representation but it’s a good start ig

i don’t really remember what everyone else was doing, i just know that tony and pep have morgan now but idk if that gets revealed now or later

the only reason we had a movie is because of a rat. everyone say thank you to Rat for releasing scott lang, please. round of applause

scott’s daughter is all grown up and catch me sobbing over the fact that he wasn’t there to see it

somewhere in here nat is crying and eating a sandwich and honestly girl same

“hey!!! it’s me!!!! scott lang!!! ant man???? also what the hell happened???? lemme IN”

cue scott lang having a single brain cell and bringing up time travel. i think it was him that proposed the idea. maybe not. but imma give him credit

oh yeah bruce and hulk are besties now and bruce is just permanently Like That

and cue everyone being shook at the idea of time travel

time to go see Science Man at his house on the lake

“i wish you had come for anything else.” ouch

gang leaves dejectedly

peter. that’s it. and suddenly tony is all hands on deck

cue science mumbo jumbo in the middle of the night while he eats something out of a bag that i can’t remember

“shit!!” “sHiT!!!” “NO”

“i love you 3000″

Science Man reveals that he has, indeed cracked the code to literal time travel

cue nat, the only person with an umbrella, going to find clint who is busy with murder, as he does

“don’t do that. don’t give me home” stfu budapest man and get in the car.

thor has. enlargened. and is now playing fortnight with korg as a means to cope with what happened plus losing loki, as i think we all would

The Gang is back together and working (surprisingly) coordinately and throwing ideas around and it’s actually very cute. and it makes my heart very happy. and i want to cry every time i think about it because we all know what comes next

scott’s taco gets blown away. bruce gives him another. all is well in the world

and in this exhibit we see the only brain cell in the whole group, which is being used by rhodey at all times

“why don’t we just,,,, (choking motion)” “to a BABY???”

during the time tests someone gets reverted to a baby but i don’t remember who and it’s highkey disturbing

“i consider this an absolute win!!”

cue slo mo walk with the cool white time suits that everyone looks so good in

“see you in a minute” that smile. she looks so happy. sobbing

i think it’s in here that all the color go through steve’s eyes, so let’s just take a minute to acknowledge how pretty he is

“just for the record, that suit did nothing for your ass.” “i don’t remember asking you to look”

“that’s america’s ass.” yes it is scott you’re absolutely right

“i cOuLd dO tHiS aLL dAy” “yeah i knoOoOW”

time for tony to give tony a heart attack and then just stare in what i can only assume is amusement. i’m pretty sure that comes after america’s ass but maybe not

somewhere in here steve is just staring at peggy through blinds and it’s sad when you see it but when you think about it afterwards, it’s so funny for no reason

time to get whacked by a very angry hulk who was not allowed to use the elevator

“NO STAIRS”

tony goes flying. so does the tesseract. loki, in handcuffs, is like “oh bet this is mine now” and. Leaves.

i’m pretty sure it’s bruce who goes and gets schooled by The Ancient One on the multiverse, and i say it’s bruce because i think he’s the only one out of The Gang who could ever actually wrap his head around it

i don’t remember exactly how they get the tesseract but they do

thor and rocket are in asgard and thor has a panic attack, as I think we all would if we had to talk to our dead mother and pretend like we don't know what's going to happen

and remember kids, slapping someone is not the way to handle a panic attack. anyways

a mother always knows

"i'm still worthy!!!!" you always were, thor. you never stopped being worthy

and we have our hammer back

cue sobbing on vormir

“clint. it’s ok. it’s ok.” that smile.

nat’s fucking dead and i’m fucking dead inside let’s keep this party goin

other stones are recovered and i don’t really remember how but hey we got all six

“where’s nat?” cue more sobbing from me and from clint as you can see each and every team member’s heart drop to the fucking floor. especially steve

yeah maybe we’re doing this for half the universe and all the people we lost, but mostly for nat now

tony’s makeshift infinity gauntlet has entered the chat

Green Man is the only one who can physically take the power of the stones, so the fate of literally everything they have ever done up to this point is on him

snap rest in peace bruce’s arm

cue every single person in the theater holding their breath

“guys. it worked.”

cue explosion as their facility gets bombed and i am terrified that it has killed the entire gang

but it obviously has not and i am once again a Class A Idiot

i can't remember if it’s steve or tony who wakes up first but one shakes the other awake and is like “get the fuck up bitch idk what just happened but we got a problem”

everyone is mostly fine. but they’re all alive and that’s what matters

and now we have the setting for the entire rest of the movie basically

oh hey thanos. that’s uh. that’s a big army you got there

i don’t really remember everything that happened with The Past thanos, gamora, and nebula but i remember that gamora once again sees what a twat her adoptive father is and is like “oh hell na”

cue the gang fighting for their lives against Past thanos. literally

oh shit thor’s about to be killed????

OH MY GOD HE HAS THE HAMMER

cue the theater screaming as they should

hell yeah. bonk that giant space grape with the god of thunder’s hammer. you go steve. and look like a badass doing it as you should

shit’s still fucked and they eventually get their asses handed to them one by one

somewhere in here the shield breaks just like we saw in age of ultron. and like damn bro i liked that thing

steve stands up by himself because bitch. you cant kill him unless he says so. he dies on his own terms. he didn’t live for over a fucking century to die like this

our mans is standing up against a whole ass army knowing full well that he can’t win but damn if he aint ready to try

“ok listen strange. you have to open the portal to his left. his LEFT. you hear me???”

“steve. STEVE. on your left.”

cue the most goosebump-inducing scene that i have ever seen and probably will ever see. i would do anything to see that scene for the first time again. that feeling was like nothing i’ve ever experienced

the amazing symphonics are NOT helping my already-about-to-explode-from-excitement heart

now the gang’s ALL here. and we all cry because all of our peeps are back from the dead and we all missed them and highkey grieved for them after infinity war

i can’t remember if steve actually sees bucky yet but i think he does and i wanted to cry on the spot because not only did i miss bucky but man did i just want them to see each other again

cue sick pan of the whole ass marvel roster like smash ultimate, including howard duck somewhere in there

PETER OUR BOY SWINGIN ON IN

“AVENGERS. assemble.” “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA”

but we all know damn well that not a single person could hear him whisper that shit. like steve bro speak up a little

and the battle for the ages commences

we get to see all our favorite boys are girls fuck shit up and it’s absolutely incredible. wow it really feels like someone’s missing who could that be.

this is now a very elaborate game of keepaway

“catch” “Catch” “CATCH “CATCH”

“hey queens” he remembered. catch me cryin

“hey peter. got somethin for me?” god i love her. flew through a whole ass spaceship. no stoppin her

t'challa remembers clint's name. he did care

oh yeah scott is fucking humongous again, but third time’s the charm ig. maybe he won't pass the fuck out this time

somewhere in here, strange starts holding like. an entire ocean back and i dont really remember where it came from

we get a whole segment of marvel women kicking ass and taking names and i think i just need to take a minute. WE collectively need to take a minute

carol flies straight through a spaceship and everyone is like ???? hello????? where have you been?????????

carol gets literally headbutted by thanos and doesnt move a fucking inch. and that look of murder in her eyes. she could tell me to walk into a pit of lava and i would not question it. the power

“launch the missiles!!!” “but sir, our army-” “DO IT”

damn thanos our expectations for you were low but holy fuck

somewhere in here i think petter quill sees Past gamora and is like gamora???? and she like kicks him in the balls or somethin and is like “this is the ones i picked?????”

the fight continues and honestly a lot of it’s a blur but damn was it not the coolest thing i’ve ever seen. 

cue strange knowing exactly how this was gonna go down, and holding up a single finger

i dont think ive ever seen that look on tony's face before

oh shit thanos has the gauntlet and all the stones. fuck.

wait holdup that gauntlet looks a little funky

WAIT HOLDUP

“i am inevitable”

“and i. am iron man.”

the theater, once again holds its breath

all is lowkey calm and everyone is shook

thanos’s entire army slowly fades away. including one of those big worm things that almost eats (i think it was) rocket but like. dusts right as it hits the ground and is a really cool shot

and thanos sits down on a rock. and finally is gone. and it's so cathartic

oh joyous day!! they’ve won!! they’ve done it!!! wait holdup where’s tony. i remember what happened to bruce where the fuck is tony

wait

wait hold on

wait hold on a minute

“we did it. we won, mr stark. we won. please, mr stark”

“pep.”

“it’s ok. you can rest. you can rest.”

i have officially passed away and am a sobbing mess. you can’t do this to me. he’s gonna come back. there’s no way. tony stark doesn’t die. no.

this is a fucking funeral. i am going to combust into tears

“proof that tony stark has a heart”

i just wanted him to be able to see morgan grow up.

but him and nat are eating shawarma together in the sky now.

“i’m recording this in case something goes wrong, which it won’t.”

“i love you 3000.”

oh we’re still rolling. oh we don’t even get a minute to process

steve is leaving??? wait holdup we cant lose both. no

“are you sure about this?” “i have to”

“i’m with you til the end of the line” so that was a fucking lie

but steve deserves to do what makes him happy. so i can’t be too mad. actually, nah i aint even mad i’m just sad

bucky looks so dejected. so sad. someone please give him a hug. he desperately needs it

oh hey steve. but you’re old now. hey then, grandpa. how did you. get there

buck and sam go talk to him as they should

“you wanna talk about her?” “no, i don’t think i will”

“how does it feel?” “like it belongs to someone else”

sam has officially inhered the shield, and by extension, his very own bucky barnes. it’s a packaged deal

clint’s got his family back. and they can finally finish their picnic or whatever they were doing at the beginning of the movies

and steve finally got that dance. finally. and he looks so happy. so content.

and that’s about all i remember

i have not watched endgame since i saw it in theaters when it came out because i absolutely do not have the emotional stability to do it again. but damn the disney plus shows have been bangin

i hope you enjoyed the ride, thank you for joining me in my. whatever the fuck this is

[just-my-fandom]

It's A... (Peter Parker x Stark! Reader)

Request; Could you please write a Peter Parker x Stark!Reader fic in which they start a family (or have just started a family) and Tony is alive and well? Thank you <3

+ R2; Reader and Peter with a baby reveal of the gender 💙

I will admit I absolutely did not like writing this one shot 😕

__________________________________________

"Love, please sit down," Peters hands circle at your wrists, pulling you away from the counter of the kitchen and into the living room

"But I gotta finish cooking, everyones going to be here soon," You whine, looking back at the spaghetti sauce that needed to be stirred and noodles that needed to be drained, "Pete," You complain,

"You've been working way to much today," Peter soothes, slipping his hands to your stomach and looking down at the large bump, "I'll finish the spagetti, go get every thing else ready for the shower,"

"What are you hoping for?" You ask quietly, hand placing itself over his and grabbing his fingers,

"Girl, definitely," Peter grins, and you laugh, head leaning back,

"What, so you can kick out all the boys who step foot on our porch? Im hoping for a boy, Spider Man 2.0," You press a finger to Peters chest, who rolls his eyes then looks over at a knock,

"Knock knock," Tony shouts from across your home, and you slide from Peters grip to slightly jog up to the door,

"Dad!" You grin, "Good, you can help Peter with the food since he wont let me," You pout, Tony laughing and pecking your forehead before stepping in, following Peter into said kitchen,

"Gift for the oncoming mom," Happy steps in, holding up a bag with blue polka dots and a pink ribbon, "Dont worry, doesnt have a label for either gender,"

"Thank you, Happy," You smile softly, setting the bag on a fold out table Peter set up, and look over as a door closes,

"The best friends have arrived!" Ned runs up to you, hands on your arms and then to your stomach, "I really hope this ones a boy,"

"Peter and Dad want a girl," You groan, and smile at him, "Glad someones on my side,"

"Hey, when do I get a say in this?" MJ greets you with a side smile, holding up a box the color blue with pink tape, "I say boy. Just so you wont hate me if it is a girl,"

"I could never hate you," You pout, "May should be here soon, I'm going to go wait outside for my dad's side of the family,"

"Shouldnt you be resting?" Ned question, your glare causing him to clam his lips shut,

"Just because I am pregnant doesnt mean I cant walk for Christ's sake, Im not old and dying," You snarl,

Ned sticks his hands up, MJ taking your arm and following you outside,

"Who owns a black car?" She asks, and you look over to see a group of five people,

"Its my Uncle Steve," You laugh, "I'll be right back, keep your phone on speed dial in case I trip and die," You tease,

You walk down the stone walkway of your home, Steve standing up from the front seat of his car, accepting your embrace,

"How're you handling, Y/N?" Steve asks, as Natasha and Wanda jog up to you, almost jumping in excitement as they touch your stomach and giggle,

"Everyones treating me like glass," You groan, arms sticking out so Bucky would get the hint and hug you lightly, "I can't even cook spaghetti without Peter telling me to sit down,"

"You're about to have a baby," Sam raises his eyebrow, and smiles, "They're just preparing for when he or she arrives,"

"He," You firmly point, "It better be a he because I am not allowing Peter to win this war by getting a daughter,"

"Wouldnt you want to doll her up?" Wanda asks, and you shrug, "I'm okay with having another spiderman around the house, maybe the baby will inherit his powers or whatever,"

"I have the box!" May shouts from two cars down, your eyes looking to see her and MJ pulling out a brown box with a string, "I dont even know what colors are inside, I made my next door neighbor do it for me,"

"You're really eager to find out what it is arent you May?" You snicker, and she jumps up and down, clapping,

"Can we please do the reveal before we eat?"

"Already planning that," You follow the group back into the house, "I dont want to get so nervous that I throw my food back up, so we're gonna do it first. I think everyones here," You exhale,

"Okay okay okay!" May squeals, "Lets go, backyard!"

. . . . . . .

"I cant do this,"

You release the string, stepping back as the crowd in front of you shouts for you to pull,

"I'm so scared!" You exclaim, Peter laughing as he takes your hand, grasping it tightly,

"Everythings going to be just fine," Peter pecks your lips warmly, "Whether its a girl or a boy I will love it,"

You breathe out, hand grabbing the string over top Peters, and counting to three out loud, you tug on the box, watching in astonishment as the bottom of the box opened, two colored ballons falling out and landing over you,

Silence fills the air as you catch a pink balloon, turning to Peter as he picks up a blue balloon, eyes on you then moving down to the letters on the balloon,

"We're having twins," He exhales, a smile breaking onto his lips, "We're having twins!"

"A boy and a girl?" You run your hand through your hair, eyes filling with tears as you grin, dropping the balloon,

"No no no," Peter steps forward, embracing you, "Dont cry love,"

"This is amazing," You rest your chin at his shoulder, looking over when screams erupt and your family is running at you,

"Watch the stomach!!" Peter shrieks, and you laugh as arms wrap around you, bringing you into a group hug you havent had in years,

"Im gonna be a grandpa!" Tony shouts, pausing to process this information, "I feel old,"

Laughter follows behind, your hand wiping your cheek as you throw an arm around Tonys neck, looking up at your father,

"Thank you for not giving up on me dad. I couldnt have done all this without you,"

Tony looks down at you, smiling warmly and pressing a hand to your back, lips at your forehead,

"Congratulations," He murmurs, eyes watching as the avengers and your high school friends surrounded Peter, "Now you gotta think of names,"

"God, I was so worried about the gender I didnt focus on the names," You groan, "I just wanna eat and sleep,"

"And you can," Tony smirks, "But first, gifts,"

"I think that's the only thing Im excited about. Come on, lets help Peter before he gets struck with parental facts,"

[tomwambsgansdefender]

Can’t things go back to normal 2

OC Kate Stone x Dad! peter stone

This one is centered around mostly OC Elizabeth Stone being the badass mom she is

Featuring an OC Jaime Logan & hints a Jaime x Rafael x Sonny relationship (and what about it?) also totally out of character everyone else pls give a b a break 😩

“Hey Katie! Guess what I managed to snag up for you?!” Adam had snagged onto Kate’s arm as she tried to solemnly walk down the hall. It had been three weeks since her father ditched her... had not even bothered to call back. It broke Kate’s heart into a million little pieces. Although she spent her time doing research on his work and his little team he worked with... an unnecessary vendetta becoming quite evident against one Olivia Benson. Kate was using a scape goat... although Elizabeth truly did believe Olivia Benson and her squad were the reason peter put kate into the dust. Kate was brought back into reality by Adam pushing her sophomore picture packet into her face. “Adam- I cant afford these I already told you-“

“No I paid for them, well my mom did... she heard from Ronnie about how your dad ditched the baseball game and you had spent all your cash on it...” Adam explained before hugging the girl for a second.

“Oh... well... thanks.” She said giving him a soft smile. Her friends were all worried...

it was not a surprise to Elizabeth when four teenagers showed up in her cubicle at work. She’d felt it coming. “Mrs. Stone were really worried about Katie...” Adam explained to which Elizabeth gave them a sad smile. “She’s pulling away from us, she just looks... dejected, unwanted.... but not by you we know you’re the best woman on planet earth she brags about having the best mom...” Ronnie began to explain when Elizabeth cut them off turning in her chair to look at them.

“Peter, her father I know... Listen you guys, thank you for coming to me about it... I plan on going to New York to talk to him myself... also Adam here- give this to your mom.” She had handed the boy an envelope filled with picture money. “But I need you guys to look after Kate that day okay? Just keep her company rent movies or go somewhere... just don’t remind her of peter.” She spoke quietly getting curt nods and soft smiles from the girls friends

“Yes ma’m.” Adam had replied.

“Hey! Peter it’s me, Elizabeth- I was calling to let you know I’m in New York for a conference and I wanted to get lunch- I brought copies Kate’s sophomore pictures for you! Love you.” She had said as she walked down the busy street in New York. Voicemail... again. “Elizabeth!”

She could hear her cousin yell a block up the street. The precinct was her first stop. “Hey! Jaime! I’m so happy to see you?! How are the boys?” She asked giving the woman a hug once the two met half way.

“They’re amazing... how’s Katie? I just saw Kyle yesterday he came over to do laundry.”

“Oh Katie she’s... you know she’s not doing too well.... she’s been really down- about Peter...” Elizabeth frowned which made Jaime frown harder. “I can’t believe he did that, stayed in New York to work on such a stupid case with Olivia when I told him we could handle it...” Jaime internally just wanted to beat him up.. although sonny held her on a short leash on allowing that. “Anyway... he’s actually here now. Let’s go bombard him and cue him in.”

Elizabeth had lost it the second she saw him... all she had seen was red. “Excuse me sorry do you mind if I borrow MY husband for a second.” She had demanded to Olivia who seemed shocked she would speak to someone in that manner. “Well uhm can you-“

“No, it can’t wait. I’ve waited long enough.” She said pushing the woman out of her own office slamming the door. “You. You absolute bastard.”

“What the hell was that?!” Olivia asked Jaime more confused than anything. “She’s angry Olivia... their daughter Kate is really suffering- she spent all her money on a baseball game for them to go to when he promised to go visit and you know what... he lied to her and broke her heart just to please you and the rest of this squad.” Jaime wasn’t caring about how she made her feel. “Relax doll, you’re gettin upset.” Sonny had said resting a hand on her shoulder and leading her away.

Meanwhile in the office Elizabeth had indeed read peter the riot act. “Peter you broke her heart! You just took it and stomped on it! She spent all her saved money on those tickets and all you did was leave her high and dry! You know what she asked me- she asked me if you loved her.” Peter had to stop her because he was in shock down to the fact that Elizabeth came all the way from Chicago to tell him off. “She knows I love her.”

“Does she really? Does she? Do you even know what she looks like now? I mean you’ve kinda ignored her for almost a year.” Elizabeth condescended

Peter scoffed before letting out a small sigh. “She looks just like Pam. But with your eyes and that spark... I just- I don’t want her to see me like this.... I’m not a good person Elizabeth. I’ve been... drinking too much and I’ve... Ive been thinking about breaking your heart too.” He said finally looking into her eyes to watch them fall. “But I’m not... I won’t. I can’t do that to you.” He said stepping closer to her.

“She needs you peter... I can’t keep doing this.. I can’t keep going home to an empty house... because it’s making me a bad person too.”

“I know... I know.. I promise it’s gonna get better... as soon as this case is over- why don’t you guys come stay in New York for a bit... I can talk to your boss, I can talk to her school.. Elizabeth I wanna fix this.”

Elizabeth nodded numbly pulling out the envelope of school pictures from her purse. “But what about the apartment?”

Peter had slowly took the envelope letting his hand touch hers for a minute. “It’ll be a week tops I promise... we can let one of her little friends watch it... Adam?” He suggested which made Elizabeth laugh. She now knew he had listened to her and Katie’s voicemails. “Yeah sure, Adam. Go on open them you won’t believe how beautiful she is-“

Peter followed Elizabeth’s directions looking at her face studying it for a second before pulling Kate’s picture out. “Wow...” he whispered looking to Elizabeth. “I know...”

he had suddenly set the pictures and envelope down on Olivia’s desk before bringing Elizabeth into a tight hug. It took Elizabeth a moment but she had hugged back.

“I’m sorry.... for leaving you and Kate high and dry... for leaving our marriage high and dry for putting you through that and then telling you I almost wanted to get a divorce. I don’t... I’m gonna get better for you, for Katie.” He swore to himself, he couldn’t loose anymore time with them. Never again. He could look at Kate and see Pam but the biggest difference was that he could talk to Kate again, hug Kate. And it was his new goal... to make it all up to his family. No matter what he had to do.

[justadram]

Fic: In Fallow Fields

Part 1 of 3

Jon/Sansa, post-series

They’re drawn to it. This shell of a castle calls across leagues to them like the howl of a pack member lost in the night.

Sansa comes back first. Her broken brother, who sees time out of order and doesn’t hardly remind her of the little boy that once was her favorite sibling, beside her, carried over still frozen tundra by the strongest man Sansa could muster for the job. No coin left and loyalties scattered by the collapse of their system of law and fealty, all she can promise him in payment is a place in her household, whatever shape that might take.

Jon trusted him. That was assurance enough for the once Lady of Winterfell.

She asked her scarred, battle worn, and deeply mourning brother to join them. “Whoever your father, it’s as much yours as it is ours. Come home with us.”

He didn’t lift his gaze to answer. “Tormund will keep you safe.”

When he bid them goodbye, it felt like for forever.

...

Perhaps it is Arya that brings him back, overcoming his reluctance through her sheer force of will. It is equally possible that he can’t help himself any more than Sansa could. But when they pass through the broken gate, Arya dragging a sack of turnips behind her over the snow and the two of them with swords strapped to their backs, Sansa’s heart climbs in her throat. It almost feels like hope.

He doesn’t talk much. Neither does her sister. They’re as much a pair of ghosts as the ones that stalk the crumbling halls of their ancestral home. But they’re here: with everyone else gone to the ground, these wolves have survived long enough for the coming of spring.

You wouldn’t know winter was fading, when he finds her alone, sitting atop a half wall, staring out over the empty vastness of the North. Jon and Arya say the South is thawing. Life coming back with a determined flush of melting water and softening ground that will eventually reach their doorstep.

It’s still cold enough here that she should be wearing her gloves along with her furs and heavy woolen gown. She disposed of them to feel the stones. They’re jagged in places, cracked by the explosive interaction of ice and fire. Just as she and her siblings were shattered by the ravages of war. She runs her hands over them, fingers questing. There is comfort in feeling as if the bones of this broken place are in concert with her soul. Both relics of another time.

What she was trained for is not worth anything in the new world that replaces the old. What Winterfell was built to be and do is just as useless. They deserve each other.

He pushes up on the wall beside her and sits, breath fogging the air. A subtle shift and his pale hand covers hers. His touch is surprisingly warm. Jon bothers less about the cold than any of them. A true Northerner. She always maintained that, she hopes he remembers.

She can hear his swallow in the silence that blankets them. “I missed this.”

The North. Their home. Her company.

Sansa is sure he means all of that. It’s strange this companionship they share--that they’ve shared since their reunion at the Wall but not before. She is as grateful for it now as she was then, met with familial affection after so much horror. Maybe more so now with no wars to fight, nothing to reclaim, no one to save. This thing, these connections are all she has left.

If she provides him some comfort, then perchance she is not so useless after all.

She turns her palm up, threading their fingers together, an answer to his confession.

...

Words spoken are the intimacy they share, made all the greater for Jon’s natural reticence and hers learned. Things she balks at saying to her sister and knows better than to divulge to Bran in all his cool detachment, she tells Jon. His is an ear without judgment. She aims to be the same for him.

And yet, there are things she hopes he will never speak of to her. No, not things: people.

Her coolness after his first attempt to share his personal burden must be lesson enough. For though she apologized on the morrow for refusing to listen, it was not her best show of regret, perfectly hollow in its falseness. That oily feeling in her belly would not let her spin a convincing picture of contriteness for Jon, for fear that he would open up again and pick at the scab over her heart she didn’t realize was there. Until he spoke that name before the hearth with his head canted down.

Daenerys.

Sansa keeps Jon’s confidences locked in her chest, a safe repository for whatever he chooses to share with her. But she pours this particular poison into her sister’s breast, so that in not feeling it alone, she need not plumb the depth or cause of her discomfort upon his profession of love and loss.

Arya thinks of Jon as hers. Sansa reveals to her Jon’s thick-voiced sorrow at the loss of the Dragon Queen, hardly lessened by the passage of time, knowing her clannish little sister will scoff, knowing there will be an ample show of the jealousy Sansa hides behind tight smiles and folded hands.

What Arya wants is for them to be together forever. For things to be as they were when they were children as much as is possible in their altered world.

What Sansa wants is unspeakable.

...

Until he ventures to speak.

“You ought to marry.”

Her step stutters over a frozen row in a field Jon swears they’ll be able to plant in a few moon’s turn. This was to be an inexpert inspection of the land’s potential, not hers.

With a jerk, he grabs her arm to steady her. Thumb pressing into the soft give of her upper arm, it’s the sort of purposeful grip that would turn her blood to ice with any other man. There is no fear with Jon, however; not of that sort.

Nostrils flared at his unexpected assertion, she says nothing, save for nodding to indicate she’s found her footing again. He turns her loose and they continue at a slower pace with her heart skipping against her ribs.

“Have you not considered it?”

“Marriage?” she is forced to respond, her voice sounding thin and high.

“For the hope of an heir.”

“An heir to what?” she asks, and the validity of her question given their altered circumstances leaves him silenced for a space.

“For the pleasure of children then. You’d be a fine mother.”

Her lips part as she dares to turn her gaze on him. He wears that awkward, flat smile of his, when he meets her eye. “I had thought perhaps to find you wed to Tormund.”

Her brows lift. “Do you jest?”

“He would be a good husband.”

“He speaks of fucking bears.”

Jon’s laugh is real. It’s loud in the quiet of the fallow, long abandoned field, and it brings a soft smile to her face, as her chest swells with the joy of that sound. There is some mirth left, some joy to be found even in the absurd.

He looks at her and then away, eyes wrinkling at the corners before staring into the middle distance.

“Have you ever wondered if he means Maege Mormont with that bear business?” Sansa asks.

“The thought has crossed my mind.”

“The Mormont women were never fools.”

“No, aye, they weren’t.”

“He’s not a man I would care to wed, but I am as fond of him as you are. With good reason.”

Jon sniffs and pauses, boots crunching the hoarfrost as he stops. Sansa hesitates, waiting for some uninformed assessment of the ground beneath their feet, which he stares at with increasing intensity evinced by his gritted jawline.

He stamps his boot once and tilts his head to the left. “I was relieved though. That you weren’t married to Tormund. Not him specifically. Any man.”

She crosses her hands together over her middle and breathes the chill in through her nose. If she wasn’t already very awake, this would do the trick quite neatly. It does help sharpen her thoughts, which are otherwise scattered with panic.

“Why is that?”

“I thought you and I might try--”

“Yes?”

“I think we’d have a chance at happiness.”

“Do you?” She presses her lips together, wishing he would look up, so she could read something in his eyes, something more than what he gives voice to. But he doesn’t, so, she tests him with one of her private thoughts of self-accusation, prodding him. “Would that not make us Lannisters?”

If she wanted to be cruel, she would name his paternal family’s house with its tradition of marrying brother to sister. But she has no desire to cause him further pain.

“It’s awkward. I am... forever finding myself in awkward situations.”

Sansa’s mouth twitches. Daenerys was his aunt--awkward, but perhaps not as awkward as their match would be with the ties of kinship in childhood already in place.

“You hate the idea then?” he asks, and Sansa reaches out to draw her hand down the length of his arm, stopping just short of taking his hand in hers.

The knuckle of her curved finger grazes the tendons in his hand before she draws it back against the waist of her gown. “I don’t discount that we might be content, but Arya wouldn’t like it.”

“No,” he agrees with scuff of his boot over the ground and another stomp. “And Bran?”

Sansa shrugs. There’s never any telling how Bran will react. He’s as like to say nothing as he is something dreadful.

Their siblings aren’t the insurmountable problem, however. “And you haven’t really moved on.”

He would look up at her if he had. He would look her boldly in the face with that softness she knows he still has in him, but there is someone between them--a dead woman.

He gives the smallest shake of his head.

“Then we’ll speak on it again, when you have, Jon.”

...

Part 2

[ainarosewood]

Prompt 10 Foster  Heritage

@sea-wolf-coast-to-coast

Rhonar wiped his brow as he paused in forking another bale of straw into the chocobo pen.  Silver kwehed her thanks to him and began adjusting the straw in her nest meticulously.

“Well looks like she’ s gonna be nice n comfy when she gets around to laying that egg o hers.” a gravelly voice said from behind him.

The young Hrothgar turned to the voice nodding at the elder hyur that it belonged to.

“That’s the last o yer chores aient it Rhonar?” the old man asked.

“Aye da, its Belar’s turn to water em and Rina should have the greens for em any moment.” 

The old man nodded then and said, “Then saddle up Softfeather n Axebeak.  Thers somethin  I want to show ye.  Something its bout time ye see.”

Rhonar did as he was bade curiosity burning. He had lived almost his whole lofe on this small chocobo ranch and aside from the birds they really did have anything special.  So what could his father possibly need to show him.

A short while later both he and his father were astride the two chocobo he’d readied and riding through the wintery forest surrounding the ranch.  They rode in silence for a while the brisk breeze and a few winter animals their only company.  

Suddenly his fathers voice broke the silence, “I think you figured out long ago that I didn't sire ye right?”

“Aye, its never mattered if that's what your worried about I know you've always loved me as much as you did Belar and Rina.  Didn't matter that I wasn't your own flesh and blood,” Rhunar said reassuringly

The old hyur took a breath then said, “Course it didn't yer ma and I took ye in an ye were our kith no matter what anyone else wanted to say.”

Rhunar just nodded he well knew his adoptive parents had gotten no end of grief and jeers at raising a ‘beastman’ like him.  They along with his brother and sister had vehemently defended him over and over.

“The damn villagers forget all too easily what they owe some folks sometimes.” he father added, “Were here son dismount.”

Rhunar dismounted from the chocobo looking at where they had arrived it was a little ways up the mountain right before one of the main paths that led through.  Off to one side were two mounds of earth buried beneath a fine layer of snow.  Between the wall of the pass and the mounds were two stone pile cairns rimed with ice.

“Here lies Lornar and Rina Ovasch.  Yer birth father n mother.  They died here protectin the villiage from the Zagnohl.  It was a fearsome beast that was killing folks left n right for quite sometime.”  his father said

“They fought it?” Rhunar asked.

“Aye lad ye see they were a pair o adventures that had taken up residence in our village.  They did odd jobs here an there for folks sometimes traveling for a time fore returning.  They were well loved n respected by folks cause they helped everyone they could.”  The old man closed his eyes in grief for a moment before continuing, “Then the beast stalked out o the mountains killing everyone that ever came near this pass.  As ye know this is the main trade path that leads to the larger cities.”

Rhunar nodded knowing full well that often they had travelers looking for chocobo come though this very pass to go to their ranch.

His father then said, “Folks first tried to petition the Imperial Viceroy to send some aid. But all o their petitions were ignored our village just wasn't important enough.”  He paused a moment looking at the carins then continued, “Suffice to say this did not sit well with either o them but they weren't about to just go right away.  Ye were about three summers old n they didn't wanna take a child with em to deal with that dangerous o a beast.”

“That’s when you n ma?”

The old man nodded, “We offered to let you stay with us so they could hunt down the Zagnohl and put an end to its rein o terror since the on highs couldn't be bothered.”

He closed his eyes then said sadly, “Bout a week after they left a traveler came through and informed everyone they’d succeeded in slayin the beast but had paid for the deed with their lives.  He had buried them feeling it wasn't right to just leave em and brought back what little they’d had with em.”

He gave the Hrothgar a smile then, “So yer ma an I found ourselves with a young cub to raise and not much knowledge as te how to.  Thankfully yer birth mother, Rina had been a bit o a historian o sorts n she had volumes written bout the traditions o the Lost, that's yer clan lad, in their house in the village.  Yer father had plenty o journals bout their journeys too so we didn't want for knowing bout them.”

“Da why are you....”

The old man’s smile broadened, “Yer restless son.  I’ve been seein it.  Don't get me wrong I know ye love the birds and ye work hard. But I know its not what ye want.”

“I...I don't know what I want to be honest,”

The old man nodded solemnly, “I’ve noticed that too lad.  Truth is I know I’m not gonna be around much longer.  Yer ma has already taken her journey to the lifestream n I wont be long te follow.”

Rhunar looked alarmed his sea green eyes filled with worry was there something his father hadn't been telling them.

The old man gave the Hrothgar a smile, “I aient dyin yet boy! so calm down. Its just accepting my mortality.  Now why I bring it up is you n yer siblings are gonna hafta figure out what ye wanna do with yer life.”

He walked over an placed a hand on Rhunar’s shoulder, “Now ranch life will prolly be more n enough for yer brother n sister so I got no fear that the birds aren't gonna ‘ave anybody. But you, “ he gave him another big smile, “yer itching for something more n I want ye to figure out what that is.  Figured ye cant do that without knowing where ye came from.”

“Da I....”

“Its alright lad, I want ye to know one very important thing.  The thing it seems everyone in the village wants to forget.  The man and woman that lay ‘neath those cairns were brave and kind folk.  The kind that ‘elped their fellow man no matter what.  Ye are cut from the same cloth I’ve seen it time an again.”

Rhunar felt his cheeks warm with embarrassment he knew his father had referred to some of the times he’d helped the people of the village even when they hadn't asked for it.

The old man stretched grimacing as his joints protested both the weather and the movement. “Lets get back to the ranch now lad. Yer mother n fathers effects are in the basement take some time n look through em.  Get to know where ye came from.  Then ye can figure out were ye wanna go from there.”

He then remounted Axebeak and waited for Rhonar to get astride Softfeather.  As he did and they began to return home the old man finished, “Know no matter what path ye choose Rhunar you’ll always be my son n I will always be proud o ye.”

Rhunar nodded in response his throat so tight he dare not trust his voice his cheeks blazing.  It didn't take them long to get back to the ranch and the Hrothgar made his way to the basement and brought up the books his father had spoken of along with a worn lance.  He then sat at the table and began reading them eager to learn of his past for from there maybe he could figure out his future

[satyrykal]

Fairy Tail - Miraculous Crossover!

Title: Miraculous Fairy Tail

Author: Satyrykal

Pairing: Natsu x Lucy

Genre: Romance/ Super Hero Crossover

Rating: M

Spoiler Warning: Not in the canon-verse, but pays homage to ideas in the Alvarez arc. It also has spoilers for the show Miraculous Ladybug!

Summary: In the daytime, Natsu was the rambunctious son of a mechanic while Lucy was the elegant daughter of a world class art curator. She was in love, but he was oblivious. At night, they donned their masks - fighting side by side to protect the streets of Magnolia. He was crazy for her, but she rebuked his advances. They were best friends. They were strangers. They were Lady Bug and Chat Noir. Super Hero Crossover AU.

Based on fanart by the amazing @nanashiart!

Read the story here, or preview the excerpt below!

CHAPTER 1 Excerpt – L’anniversaire

The breeze whistled through the night air, cool in the balmy heat of early September. The lights of the city stretched out in a sea of gold flecks, flickering in the reflection of the canals and cobblestone streets. It was quiet in the lazy hours past twilight and the evening crowds had begun to disperse, a scattering of stragglers scurrying quickly to their destinations. The park across the hill was lush, the tree canopies swaying slightly in sharp contrast with the brick and white-stone buildings lining the avenues.

The main throughway opened up to a marbled pavilion in the city center, low shrubbery and flower beds embellishing the walkways that led to the imposing building on the northside of the square. Six slender spires reached toward the heavens, towering above the rest of the skyline.

Kardia Cathedral's heavy wooden door was intricately carved, well-kept but ancient. It was flanked by massive glass mosaics, gleaming in a kaleidoscope of colour. The high pitched roof was covered in curved shingles, coated in patina, and broken only by the main steeple where the polished brass bells tolled midnight.

An elderly couple held hands as they passed under the streetlamps below. Glancing at the church as they made their way, they missed the flicker of movement hidden between the gables.

A lone figure leaned against the belfry with her ankles crossed, allowing the shadows to swallow her form.

Her blonde hair was gathered into two parted pigtails, just brushing her clavicle as her gloved hand idly playing with the strands. She gazed out at her city, a small smile on her lips as her honeyed eyes scanned the horizon, waiting. Those bright orbs were bordered by a slim spotted band, the seams secured flush against her skin.

A near silent thump sounded behind her. She perked her ears as she canted her head towards it but remained otherwise motionless. She bit the inside of her cheek as she heard the pitter-patter of familiar footsteps, her spine relaxing as warmth curled around her waist, spinning her to face her truant companion.

She blinked, staring up into wide roguish jade – a thick onyx mask framing the emerald sparkling in the depths of his irises. The magic of his lenses tinted his eyes in a gold sheen even as his pupils narrowed to slits – utterly feline.

Just like the two black ears peeking through the rosy locks on the crown of his head.

Her back was braced against the stone as the arm released her, one clawed hand coming to rest by her head, while the other stayed out of her sightline. The man leaned over her, close enough that she could count his lashes, but not enough that he was invading her personal space.

She let her gaze travel across the expanse of his broad chest, the dips and rivets of his corded muscles clear under the dark leather of his skin-tight suit. She watched as his lungs expanded with each breath, his thick biceps flexing slightly as he rolled his shoulders with a raspy chuckle.

Her eyes glanced up at the sound, tracing his sharp jawline and the smirk plastered across his face, incisors visible between his lips.

"My Lady." He purred, the deep rumble vibrating through him.

"Chaton."

She giggled, taking her index and pushing on his nose so he stumbled back a few inches, his grin stretching despite the new distance.

She narrowed her eyes at him, seeing the mischief gilding his features – catching on the arm that was still hidden behind his back. His belt hung lazily by his knee like a tail, and she swore if it were real it would be lashing about with leashed energy.

"You've kept me waiting tonight, it's not like you to be late for patrol." Ladybug told him, leaning her weight on her right hip as she crossed her arms. He drank in the pose, the deep ruby of her suit vibrant through his mask – bringing out the bronze in her irises.

"I a-paw-logize, I had to make a quick detour."

Her mouth twitched, biting back amusement as she clicked her tongue.

"That was a terrible pun."

"I think you mean clawesome." Chat Noir winked.

"You are the worst!" She groaned, smacking her forehead at the glee lighting her partner's face. She could hear him snicker as he reached for her hand, his taloned fingers curling around hers as he brought them to his lips.

He kissed her covered knuckles gently, giving her hand a parting squeeze before letting it fall between them.

"Mercy, I'll stop." He promised, his expression soft before it shifted. "I have a peace offering for you."

She cocked an eyebrow in response. His smile widened as he gave an elegant bow, the movement fluid as his concealed arm twisted forward – offering her a single pink rose.

Hesitantly she took the long stem, noticing it had already been clipped of its thorns. He was quiet, watching her carefully after he stood up straight.

"Chat, we've been through this before – you know I'm in love with someone else." She started, her voice a bit strained only for him to raise his hands up in placation.

"I know, don't you worry." He murmured. His grin was still present but it was tempered – his eyes duller than they had been a moment ago. "This is a gift, pure and simple."

She furrowed her brows suspiciously, letting the pad of her thumb brush against the velvet petals as she considered him – mentally doing the math. Her birthday had been last month, though he wouldn't have known it anyway.

He wasn't familiar with her civilian self.

"What for?"

The spark reignited in his eyes as he sauntered up to her, folding his arms behind his head.

"Our anniversary of course."

He sniggered as her jaw dropped slightly, blinking at him owlishly. He waggled his eyebrows at her, pushing the rose closer so she had it braced against her sternum before he crouched to sit over the ledge of the roof.

"It's been two years to the day that I met you," he offered with a simper. "Do you remember it?"

She threw her head back in a laugh, memories flickering behind her eyelids of a small wooden box, a flash of light, and a butterfly.

"I don't think I could forget it if I tried. We really made quite the team back then, didn't we?"

Her fingers grasped onto the side of a buttress, leveraging it so she could settle down next to him. Her legs dangled in the open air, the flower in her lap as she looked at him from beneath her lashes.

"We still do." He answered, letting his shoulder nudge hers slightly – the heat of him lingering as his scent curled around her like tendrils of hickory smoke. He canted his head in her direction, knocking their feet together playfully. "It's always more fun when we're together."

She beamed at him, bumping her own arm against his before looking back out at Magnolia before them.

"Thanks, Minou."

He followed her line of sight, warmth blooming within him as the fragrance of jasmine flooded his senses.

"Anything for you, Buginette."

Two Years Earlier…

"Can you believe it? Her father is the biggest name in art curation in the whole of Earthland—"

"—Her mother was the head choreographer for the Royal Ballet…"

"I heard she was offered a spot as the youngest ballerina in the Crocus Ballet Company!"

It had been like that all morning; the school was flushed with rumours and excitement over their long-expected transfer student. Magnolia Académie des Beaux-Arts was nationally ranked for its performance and design curricula, training the best and brightest young minds as they maneuvered the competitive landscape to rise to the top of their fields.

Some of them had been recruited through the school's local talent discovery programme while still studying for their baccalauréat – attending weekend courses before they had even graduated. Others hailed from every corner of the country, submitting portfolios and audition tapes to secure their spots at the most prestigious institute in Fiore.

Yet despite the considerable gifts of the current student body, the name on everyone's lips today was the same – Lucy Heartfilia.

It wasn't surprising, not really.

She was a familiar figure – gracing the covers of fashion magazines as well as the celebrity stage from a young age. Her family connections had cultivated her public image, though her skills in dance cemented it – proving her own merit, especially among haute society and those within the art community.

And today was going to be her first day at the academy.

End of excerpt.

Read the rest of the story here at Fanfiction.net!

Chapter 1

[ellienightengale]

The bitterness of Immortality

(In which Eleanor makes a mighty offering to a Loa)

Eleanor had pondered over this trifle thing called age ever since she had met Um’tika. It saddened her he would be gone in the blink of an eye and for months she had looked for ways to stop that or at least slow it down enough so she could enjoy the days spent with him.And then it came to her in some stroke of brilliance; Eleanor would cut her own life in half and give it to Um’tika. Both would live their days out by thousands of years, having all the fun in the world! “But how?” Eleanor had mumbled to herself as she sat hunched over a desk; endless parchments astray. The elf had considered the pools of Youth in Pandaria but after witnessing what it does, she scratched that idea out. There was little to nothing on how she could extend his life without paying some type of boon, and she knew Bwonsamdi was out of the question.

That Loa she did respect but had little trust in him and his deals. Not that she’d admit it to his face! She had yet to get a definitive answer on how this rather complicated endeavor was to be pulled off. The seat of the Pantheon she considered, then realized they were not in Argus anymore; having already won that battle they retreated elsewhere. That left not nearly enough powerful titans to grant Eleanor her boon.

A sigh would come from her as her quill scratched out another shot down plan on the parchment. A headache was forming just from the sheer volume of thinking Eleanor had done over the past few months alone and it was starting to take its toll on the elf. Rajah had been slumbering and was starting to wake up from his light dozing when he heard “Ahah!” come from the desk. In red, was a name circled upon the parchment and Eleanor smiling in victory.

Um'Bwati

Eleanor could recall the bits and pieces of that Loa from her wonderful talks with Um’tika. He was life and death, two halves of the same coin. Without even hesitating; Eleanor began scrambling around her home to pack the supplies she would need for that journey. Food, water, offerings, a tent were the most Eleanor would bring since she could easily find an inn and sleep for the night.  It would be a day or two before she would set her sights upon the altar belonging to the Loa umtika’s family. Settling down, Eleanor took the moment to observer her surroundings.

The jungle was an assault on all senses. The virescent hues were the foreground, the background and as high up as you could see. The heat and humidity pressed in on the skin making sweat pointless. The air tasted both sweet and fresh, like flowers blooming on your tongue. It was little wonder that Um’tika loved his home so much and fought for it with heart and soul.

A platter of food was slowing being prepared along with silvermoon port. The heavenly and delectable scent of the food was then placed on the altar as a means of an offering to the loa. She then began to pray. “ Loa of my beloved’s family, I ask you to come forth and hear my prayer; I am in need of your assistance with a mighty gift I wish to bestow upon my beloved” Eleanor prayed.as she made her offerings and called out her prayer she would feel as if a presence was watching her, before too long, it would grow very dark around her and she would hear the sound soft barefoot steps around her followed the tapping of what sound like something  wooden covered in metal. As she waited, what would greet her was  what looked to be an old Zandalari, he held in his right hand  a cane in the shape of a devilsaur in traditional Zandalari design, "Well now, I was wonderin' when you would be contactin' girl'eh. what can Ol' Um'Bwati be doin' for y'ah," though his voice had a heavy roughness, he spoke with the energy and vigor of a younger looking troll.

The area she knelt down in grew darker and the gentle thudding of feet indicated her prayer has been heard and well received. Wood tapping against stone brought her head to slowly tilt up to meet the gaze of Um'bwati; he appeared much as Umtika described: two halves, life and death. before her appeared  a wizened troll that had seen much and could teach her much. " Honorable Um'bwati, I wish to seek your help in a mighty gift I want to bestow upon Umtika." She would ask him and then faintly blushed at her next little confession of love and devotion. " I want to spend my days with him, I love him dearly. But I cannot help but fear my immortality will prevent me from being with him; it saddens me to think I will outlive him with our future children. I, I want to give him immortality; half of my lifespan"Um'Bwati listened to her prayer, her desire, and would place his hand on his chin as if in thought, with his free hand he waked it clearing the darkness around them and it would seem she had transported to a small room made to simply relax and speak he would sit on one of the silken seats which sat close to the floor he motioned to the other right across from him for her to sit, "Come child sit and we will discuss this dire request you be wantin' t'ah give."

She could tell he was thinking on this one and Eleanor understood it.Her request was a strange one, if not dire; not many people were willing to give such a great gift so easily. In Eleanor's case, she just wanted more time to be with Umtika; a hundred years was a mere blink in the life of an elf. The clearing morphed into a small relaxing room suddenly with silken cushioned seats.

Eleanor approached and took the seating across from him and awaited his wisdom in how to go about this dire request of hers.he would think for only a moment longer as she would find herself comfortable, "Now girl'eh, you know d'at even transferin' life force be very hard even for a Loa, now you be offerin' somet'ing d'at, yes would make it easier, but d'ere could still be consequences," he spoke calmly to her not wanting her to be afraid, but of course to understand the dangers, "You spoke of living on wit'out him along wit y'ah future children, one downside to what y'ah askin for could be d'ah inability to bear children, deary," he would lean forward a little resting his cane against himself, "D'ere are minor t'ings, but i would be able to wave d'ose away, anot'er major one is your life entirely," he said that one in a more sadden tone, "And i don't want to take d'at chance girl'eh, however, i might have somet'in'.”

Eleanor listened to him speak of the consequences her actions could have upon her. She would be happy yes, but she would also be suffering with the inability to bear children if that happened. The other one major one would just make everyone miserable and sad. At the mention of having another trick up his sleeve, Eleanor leaned forward just a fraction with interest showing in those golden orbs " You have another way?" There was a faint spark of hope in her voice as she spoke.He would nod to her wisely, "There be much you still need to be learnin about us Loa, if we be needin' some one to stay alive, we can take d'at mortal spark and simply ignore it, allowing said Devout to live well beyond d'eir years, now, I could also somewhat  mix in, your little idea, but it will take me some time t'ah make sure it is flawless and it may not be ready till you two be ready t'ah bear y'ah first child."

Her head canted to the side at his words and she nodded along, clearly listening to him." I have not heard of a Loa able to make a devout immortal by those means; yet not many are immortal among the living, just long lived" Many called the elves immortal,yet they were the ones considered long lived; even they died. " I, I see, so years is what I am to understand?" Eleanor had done a mental tally of how long that would be before she was mated/married to umtika and able to conceive their firstborn child."it is how Rastakhan was able t'ah live for so long, girl'eh, I can make him long lived yes, at least until d'ah little plan you had hatchin' in y'ah head comes to its conclusion, and i can see y'ah doin' d'ah tallies in y'ah head," he chuckled  as he would reach over and lightly tap her nose, "Let y'ah feelin's guide d'ah time it takes, y'ah und'ahstand, not d'ah days," he would chuckle softly as he leaned back in his seat.

" What will happen once I bare him a child?" she asked, only to wrinkle her perky little nose when he tapped it. She furrowed her brows and simply let a small smile come forth at the mention of letting her feelings guide her down the path " Feelings are indeed what brought me to this dire point in my long lived life" Eleanor also leaned back in her chair just a bit since this conversation was going to take awhile."I know, I know, girl'eh, and what i be sayin is I got y'ah back in d'is, y'ah don't need t'ah worr'eh after all, before i became a spirit Loa i was a watcher of man'eh little ones, and i treat d'ah Wraithtusk and all who help or become apart of d'em just as I would one of d'ah family," he would give her almost a fatherly smile, "And tell y'ah dadd'eh t'ah not worr'eh so much, I be lookin' after his little girl, cross my heart."

Eleanor could only chuckle and agree with him " I shall endeavor not to worry so much Um'bwati" Laughter would come from Eleanor at the mention of her father and his worrisome ways. " A father is a father, no matter what. He;s doing what he can from the Emerald Dream. He only wishes to be here physically" No matter how old she got, he would be a father, a worrisome father. " I shall pass the message along to him when I enter the dream realm next."

"D'is i know, and he be a good fadd'ah," he would shake his head and raise his hand gesturing for her not to worry, "You continue being you girl'eh," he would chuckle heartily, "now was d'ere anyt'ing else y'ah wanted to discuss, while i be here d'at is." he offered incase there was maybe something she was still confused on or if she simply wanted a little advice.

" Yes, he still is." She took the gesture with good will and smiled while being able to mentally breath for once. The whole time she was conversing with him, Eleanor could feel a million things racing through her mind until they finally hit a wall and just stopped. " I can certainly do that Um'bwati" She motioned to herself with a quick sweep of her hands. " That was all, I had been thinking on this insane request for months, every since our courtship deepened. I do not know what else advice you can give; but I will gladly take any you can offer me"

"Oh i know , child, I be watchin' y'ah for some times while you lost sleep over d'is, even though y'ah nev'ah prayed t'ah me I still watch ov'ah d'ah Wraithtusk as a whole," he said getting up and propping himself on his cane and reaching  over and ever so gently giving her cheek a pinch much like a grandparent would their grandchild, "And d'at means you, y'ah be one of  my children, now more so cause you made an offerin' a ver'eh fine one at d'at."

" Yes, I've lost sleep over the sheer fear of losing Umtika. Not through wounds, but through time, I just wanted to see if I could find a way to prolong his life on my own; but I know now I should've asked for help in this matter" Eleanor felt her cheek being pinched, similar to a grandparent that is cheekily scolding their grandchild. " I have nothing more to give him but myself, body and soul; that includes my life"

"D'en until y'ah  need me again, little  Eleanor, i will return y'ah to  d'ah altar y'ah came t'ah, i hope i be see in' y'ah again, girl'eh," he would chuckle heartily as he and the area he made manifest would slowly fade, leaving her in the same area she was once before, but this time hopefully more at ease and enlightened.

" I thank you Um'bwati for your wisdom and council in this matter and I shall certainly call upon your aid should I ever need it" The area around them dissolved and she realized the two were back at the altar, as if they never left. She did indeed feel more at ease and light hearted. As if a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. " I can expect all the family loa to come to the wedding?" She jokingly asked, yet probably knew they would make appearances. "Don't y'ah be worrin' we be there, wouldn't miss it for d'ah world, Girl'eh, same for Nak'tika, and Cammotz... oh and Baleloth, Hero's very first Companion d'at i help get ascended," he said chuckling, "We will all be d'er."

Nodding in acceptance and a bit of excitement, said elf boldy reached out to Um'bwati, wrapped her arms around his body and hugged him for a few moments before letting go and smiling brightly at him. " Thank you, for everything" She would say. feeling her hug him only beckoned for a gentle chuckle as he would do the same to her, giving her a gentle hug, "I be seein' y'ah, and nev'ah be shy to leave an offerin ever'eh now and d'en," he said chuckling as he would vanish slowly  in thin air his chuckling echoing into the distance.”I won’t!” Eleanor called to the fading Loa and she turned to walk back to the temporary lodgings, a spring in her step.

[more-pokeimagines]

Songfic for the song “Rewrite the stars” from “The Greatest Showman” for either Steven stone or Red eyes? Maybe something where Reader doesn’t think their not good enough for the other or knows that someone with a reputation like theirs cant be with the other? Reader is zenday’s part and the Guy is Zac Efron’s part.

As I told you before, I fell in love with this song, so thank you for this request! It was a bit tricky to write since the story is quite predefined with songs like that but I tried my best! Let me know what you think.

Rewrite the stars - Steven Stone x reader

You know I want you

It's not a secret I try to hide

I know you want me

So don’t keep saying our hands are tied.

Steven Stone wasn’t a man who believed in destiny – even afterhe met you. After being alone most of his life it seemed like a revelation to find someone like you. To him, you were all he could wish for, being caring and kind and one ofthe most beautiful souls he had ever came upon. Right from the start he knew that he wanted you to stay with him, alwaysand forever, but love wasn’t as easy as he had dreamt it would be. When he tried to talk to you about your future, you would always refuse and change the topic as quick as you could – as if you were afraid of being with him. Steven didn’t understand why you were acting like this, why you weren’t able to accept his love, and it kept him awake night after night. This night, it wasn’t different. In the darkness he lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling while he tried to convince himself not to worry too much about your strange relationship. Somehow, he knew that you had feelings for him too, but that made everything even more complicated. Why were you pushing him away? What had happened in your past that you preferred being alone over having someone who loved you in your life?

With a sigh he rolled around, facing the empty bedside next to him. As always, you had left long before it got dark, making up a flimsy excuse why you couldn’t stay, and he felt like an idiot when you rushed out of the house without giving him the chance to say goodbye.

What kind of relationship was that? You heldyourself at a distance, never letting him close enough to understand why you did it. You never wanted to be in public together with him. Sometimes, he suspected that you didn’t want to be with him at all and tried to scare him away by behaving like that. And as much as he wished you would stop it, he was afraid of losing you.

You claim it’s not in the cards

But fate is pulling you miles away

and out of reach from me

But you’re here in my heart

So who can stop me if I decide

That you’re my destiny?

One day, you finally told him what bothered you. You were afraid of damaging his reputation as a famous scientist and geologist becauseyou were just an ordinary person with a not so pretty past. While you told him everything, he stared at you with wide eyes, trying to understand what you were saying, trying to understand why you thought you weren’t good enough for him. Your eyes were full of tears when you finally stopped talking but Steven couldn’t bring himself to reach out for you. He was too afraid to make everything worse, so he just sat there and looked at you as minute after minute passed. The two of you remained silent while you were dwelling on your own thoughts.

“I don’t understand,” Steven said eventually. “Why do you think you can decide who is good enough for me? It’s something I decide, not you, and I think I made it pretty clear that I want you in my life.”

“Didn’t you listen to me?” you asked with an angry tone though you wanted to sound calm and composed. You didn’t want him to notice how much the situation stirred you up. “I can’t be with you.”

“Why not? I don’t care where you come from, what you did in the past or who your parents are. I care about you. Stop pushing me away.”

You think it’s easy

You think I don’t want to run to you

But there are mountains

And there are doors that we can’t walk through.

I know you’re wondering why

Because we’re able to be

Just you and me

Within these walls

But when we go outside

You’re gonna wake up and see that it was hopeless after all.

“Look,” you said, trying to stop your voice from shaking. “It’s not like I don’t want to be with you. But I can’t, okay? I’d rather leave you now than waiting for you to dump be because someday you’ll realize I’m not what you want. What you need.”

Steven rolled his eyes and leaned forward to grab your shoulders. “How do you know? You never let me close enough to prove my feelings to you, so tell me, how do you know that I’m going to leave you anytimesoon? That’s bullshit, (Y/N), and you know that.”

“And what if fate doesn’t want us to be together?”

He rolled his eyes once more. “You know I don’t believe in things like that. Fate… tss. We write our own stories! Nothing in this world is predestined.”

“No one can rewrite the stars,” you disagreed as you tore away from him. He didn’t understand anything. It wasn’t as easy as hebelieved; life wasn’t like this. There were always complications, obstacles you couldn’t overcome, mountains you couldn’t climb. And in this case, it was inevitable that being with you would be the end of his career. No one wanted to see someone like him with someone like you; no, they wanted a perfect couple with a perfect past and a perfect life, and you weren’t able to offer one or another because you weren’tperfect. You weren’t born to live in a world like Steven’s, not with a past like yours. Your mother had left you on the steps of an orphanage when you were only a few weeks old and you never came to know your father. You were alone, always trying to fit in, doing occasional jobs to keep your head above water. It wasn’t what you wanted your life to be, and when you met Steven you felt like everything could change for the better now. But that was before you knew who he was. Before you knew how famous he was. And then you understood that you couldn’t stay with him.

No one can rewrite the stars

How can you say you’ll be mine

Everything keeps us apart

And I'm not the one you were meant to find

It’s not up to you

It’s not up to me

When everyone tells us what we can be

How can we rewrite the stars?

Say that the world can be ours

Tonight.

“I’m not good enough for you,” you repeated slowly. It hurt you to push him away again but what else could you do? He didn’t need someone like you. There was nothing you could give him, and someday, he would notice it, too. “And I’m not the one you were meant to find. Steven, you need someone who can keep up with you, and I can’t. I’m not made to live in a world like yours.”

“Excuse me but I think I can judge that a little bit better than you,” Steven interrupted you and furrowed his brows. “And believe me when I say that there are people who come from a rich home and are not half as interesting as you. They are boring, and I hate it. But you… you’re so much more than you know, so please stop selling yourself short, (Y/N).”

“But I-”

Steven cut you short again: “No, I don’t want to hear it again! I know that you think you aren’t good enough for me but that isn’t true, and I’m tired of telling you again and again when you don’t believe me after all. Why can’t you just accept that I love you? That I want you to be with me.”

“Because it feels impossible that someone like you could love someone like me,” you whispered, tears welling up in your eyes again. No one had ever loved you. Not your mother, not your father, not the foster family you grew up in. They all thought of you as a burden, as a person not worthy of their love. And bit by bit, you started to believe it yourself.

“I told you many, many times that I don’t care about what happened in your past,” Steven replied quietly as he took your hands in his. You bit your bottom lip. “But I care. Because it has made me who I am today.”

“Yes, and you are fine,(Y/N). You are a wonderful person and you deserve love, you deserve me, no matter what you try to tell yourself,” his voice was soft. "So, please, let me be by your side.”

How do we rewrite the stars?

Say you were made to be mine?

Nothing can keep us apart

Cause you are the one I was meant to find

it’s up to you

And it’s up to me

No one can say what we get to be

Why don’t we rewrite the stars?

Changing the world to be ours.

As the tears started to stream down your face, Steven threw all of his cautions to the winds. With one smooth movement, he leaned forward, wrapped his arms around you and pulled you close to his chest, burying his face in your hair. “I never told you,” he whispered into your ear as he held you. “But when I saw you for the first time, I knew you were meant to be mine.”

“That’s so cheesy,” you said, your voice muffled by the fabric of his dark grey shirt. He laughed. “Almost as cheesy as your ‘We can’t rewrite the stars’ a few minutes ago.”

You sniffled and wiped your eyes. “Do you really think we can be together?”

“Yes,” Steven replied, a glimmer of hope in his eyes and a faint smile onhis lips. “And there is nothing about you that would make me change my mind.”

[sabraeal]

can i get a scenario where haki says to izana " Rather than forceful conversations with others I'd rather be in awkward silence with you" because come in doesn't this sound like something haki would say about him? maybe before she knows that he's in love with her? and the same for him, he doesn't know that she loves him and the atmosphere is all flirty 😂? but it's up to you really, so give me that pls :( im dying for hakizana

(A follow up to this prompt, two years later, a little after the current arc)

Haki has been in Wistal for three days, and every moment of it has been stuffed to the brim with luncheons and teas, with painful basic protocol lessons and endless wedding committees. They’ve separated her from her brother and father as well, keeping them sequestered with the menfolk and leaving her adrift in the company of women and lesser politicians.

She has been raised to this, but oh, she is human as well. She is tired. She longs for one moment that she does not have to guard herself from some subtle manipulation, from some old matron who wants to secure a place in her entourage for their nieces or granddaughters or whoever else they deem worthy of royal support.

She longs for silence.

Sir Zakura is at her side in a moment, large hand wrapped around the bony knob of her elbow. “My lady,” he says, in a voice unaccustomed to gentleness. “Are you all right?”

Ah, she has not been circumspect. Something of her distress must show on her face for even the knight to have noticed.

Haki shakes her head, offering him a smile. Out of anyone, her husband’s aide has been the most palatable part of her time. “I am fine, sir.

His mouth pulls long, brow tilting downward in a dubious vee. Still, she is not his master, and he replies, “If you says so, my lady.”

She wants to sigh, she wants to deflate like a billows and let her flames gutter for the night, but she catches sight of her fiancé across the room, deep in conversation with Arluleon and Forenzo, and fortifies herself. She is not to be outdone in the dining room by a southerner, whether he is her king or not.

“I do,” she informs her shadow. His eyes pinch shut as he lets out a long, endless breath from his lungs.

He nods, eyes fluttering open. “Then I am at your service.”

It is kind, his saying so, but she suspects that he has been sent, out of all her soon-to-be husband’s guard, to take her measure. Rumor puts them as bosom companions or lovers, depending on the speaker’s personal feelings on the current regnant. Either way, there is no one His Majesty would trust more to give an accurate portrayal of her character.

She only wishes that Zakura were less…himself. Haki has too often forgotten herself in front of him these last few days; leaning against pillars to rest and letting out sighs to calm herself. She cannot believe what report he’ll bring back will be glowing enough to satisfy her.

Haki doubts even more that it will be enough to satisfy a king.

It is when she is entrenched in a conversation about – of all things – her opinion on the new fashion of guitar in the court that she sees a flash of pale blonde above the crowd, ducking out one of the servant’s passages. The wall closes neatly behind him, and she frowns. She had only really agreed to this dinner because she had thought they would have time to speak for once, but they had hardly finished the fish course before they were both torn away by obligation.

And if he is not going to suffer through this, than she certainly is not.

For once, Zakura is not at her side – guarding his master’s escape, if she was to place a bet – and she slips through the room like a spring minnow. She pauses only to exchange momentary pleasantries with the lords and ladies, refusing to let herself get knotted up in their conversation. Even so, it takes an age, but the wall has not popped open since her passed through it. It is only the work of a moment once she arrives to find the catch. She slips through, sight unseen, and closes the panel behind her.

It is black as pitch, only the soft glow of a lantern up and to her right letting her navigate the corridor at all. She puts a hand to the wall, creeping along until she feels it end, and turns toward the source of the light.

A Viandese master might call a painting his opus and still not have it be so fine a sight as the one before her. His majesty stands with his back pressed to the cloth lining the wall, head canted against an outcropping of stone. He is in the sort of weary repose Viande spent most of its renaissance trying to recreate, but even so it all fall short.

Oh, she is in trouble, having a husband so handsome.

“My lady,” he says, eyes lazily blinking open. “Should you not be with our guests.”

“Ah.” She tilts her head playfully. “So you left me to the wolves by design.”

His mouth curves into an absent smile. “In Old Clarines, that was the way they decided if a boy was to become a man.”

“And your sages called my people barbarians,” she huffs, coming to stand beside him. Strangely, he tenses. “Do you feel so strongly about my leaving? Shall I go back?”

He does not nod or shake his head, instead he stares intently eslewhere and says, “I only wonder why you are here.”

“I…” She is too well trained to fidget, but she wishes it were not so. It would ease her to pick at a nail or spool a curl of hair around her finger. “If given a choice, rather than be in forceful conversations with others, I’d rather be in awkward silence with you.”

Now he looks at her. “Oh.”

For a brief moment his face is bare, none of his kingly mask to obscure the expression on his face, but – but it is too complex to read so quickly, and as soon as she has seen it, it is gone.

He pushes himself off the wall, offering her an arm with a polite smile. “Come my lady. We should not keep out guests waiting.”

“Mm,” she hums in agreement. “The faster this night ends, the closer we are to being married.”

His step falters; it is far too dark in here, once he has snuffed the lantern. “Of course.”

[divine-ruin]

🌈- A memory about when they first fell in love

Abel and Iria had been sitting out upon the pier beside her house, her brother with them as he was tossing stones into the water.  “It’s fucking bullshit, Abel.  I don’t understand.  We want to move Mom to Ishgard so the doctors there can treat her.  This doctor here keeps saying that she’s too unstable to be moved, but I know she’d be better off being there,” her brother grumbled.  Iria had been staring out over the water, she almost near to tears as she knew that her mother’s condition was turning for the worst.  She just couldn’t find a way to prepare herself to make that one last final goodbye.  Ian’s words just pierced her heart as their father had made the recommendation after Honoria’s condition seemed to worsen.

As Abel watched her, his expression turned to one of gentle sympathy as he crossed the pier from his “brother” to settle down next to her.  He took her hand in his as he tilted her chin upwards to meet his eyes.  “Listen, when we’re married, that’s something you’ll never need to worry over.  You will be cared for by the best physicians and you will never want for anything.  I’ll talk to my father to see if there’s anything he can do to help intervene.  She at least said ‘hello’ to me today!  That’s a small victory in and of itself, right?  I mean, I’m not here and present as you all are but she somehow remembered me.  That made me feel so much hope, Iria.  Please don’t give up, we’ll get her well.”

A gloved thumb ran across her cheek as she smiled through her tears, nodding.  He continued: “She did tell me something when she asked me to come in to visit.  She made me promise to take care of you and to allow you the freedom to chase any intellectual pursuit that crossed your path.  Who am I to deny you your dreams?  I want to help you build them.  I mean, after all, we are sort of breaking through a glass ceiling already, are we not?  Hopefully our union will inspire others to not be so fearful of racial differences when it comes to marriage.  The old goats in the Holy See will finally see that there is no shame in it.  I certainly see no shame in it.  I will be thanking Halone every night for giving me such a beautiful wife.”

She remained speechless.  Abel was never one to hide his emotions, especially the contempt he felt for the upper echelon and the code of living they seemed to impose on everyone.  Even being where he was, he remained steadfast in his convictions.  He was still quite young, but working his way up the ranks within the Ishgardian military and was completely without equal.  She felt so confident in this and had seen with her own eyes.  They had spent the rest of the week of his visit making up for lost time as he made his intentions to her perfectly clear.  They had shared their first kiss in that visit, and she couldn’t wait for him to return.

Several weeks earlier, the Nicholaides family was invited to Ishgard to stay with the Theriots and enjoy one of the many Tournaments that had been held for the different milestones that Abel and his fellow knights had surpassed.  He had been lined up to participate in just about every event his battalion could’ve entered as he had excelled so far with his tactical abilities and battle prowess.  With some coaxing, Iria’s brother was able to participate as well being one of the blademaster’s former students.  As Abel had been the last left in the training room to ready himself for the tournament, finishing up suiting up in his armor, Iria had walked into the room with a smile lighting up her features.  Newly 19, she was an adult by now and looking forward to that next step with him. 

He looked up, only as soon as he had fastened his cloak around himself, almost donning his helm when those pewter eyes fell upon her aquamarine orbs.  He smiled softly as he approached.  She bore a dress of a deep sapphire that was trimmed in silver and gold satin with emerald gems dotting the neckline, all within the fashion of his House colors.  Removing the ribbon that kept her hair bound, it fell in a curtain of flamed mane around her tiny frame.  Aqua.  Her favorite color. 

He knelt down before her, he meeting her height as he took her chin into his fingers as he always did to show affection, his helm tucked underneath the opposite arm.  She was practically beaming at him.  “I know you’ll do well, that much is plain to see, but…is it not customary for a knight to bear his lady’s colors when entering combat?” Her voice was gentle, and he chose that moment to share another private, lengthy kiss with her.  Pulling away gently, his plated fingers tucked a lock of her unbound hair behind her ear.  “I would be remiss to pass up such a golden opportunity, my love.  Thank you, I’ll wear it proudly and wave to you in the stands as soon as I’m called.  How’s Ian faring?” he grinned, already having an idea of what she was about to say.  She tied the ribbon to the wrist of his gauntlet.

“Oh, he’s very adamant that you both are going to completely decimate all of the opposition.  I’ve no doubt you will, Abel.  Your strength and knowledge has increased so much in the past few years, and I’m so very impressed with everything you’ve managed to accomplish.  How could I not?  You’ve worked so hard and now here you are,” her voice was barely above a whisper.  He grinned in a bit of pride.  “You know why that is, correct?”  She canted her head at him in curiosity.  “Because you wish to accomplish your military goals?” she questioned, thinking that should’ve been the most obvious answer. 

“No, Iria,” he said, bringing her head close to his so he could place a kiss to her forehead.  He looked back into her eyes once more.  “When you come to live here in Ishgard with me, I want to make certain I have every necessary tool in my arsenal to protect you, it’s been very important to me for you to see that I’m capable, and having this chance with you present today is just but a taste of that,” he quietly confessed, stealing one last kiss from her before they were interrupted by Ian bursting into the room.  “Abel, they’re ready, bro.”

Ian was outfitted in his own armor with a sword and shield, their duo combatant competition marking the beginning of a long competition for them both.  He grinned a bit goofily as he looked to his best friend and little sister.  “Alright, Princess.  The knight has to tend to his duties now,” Ian said teasingly.  “Love you baby girl, Dad and Momma are sitting in the stands waiting on you.”  Iria nodded as her brother approached and gave her a small hug and a kiss to her head, making sure not to crush her tiny frame in his large armored embrace.  “You look so pretty!  Go get yourself settled, we’ll wave at you from the stands.”

“Wait, one second, Ian,” Abel interrupted as he grabbed Iria’s wrist gently while she was turning to leave.  He turned her back towards him.  “At the ball tonight, you’ll save a dance for me, right?” he winked at her as she nodded enthusiastically.  “Of course I will, I doubt anyone else would want to whisk me across a dance floor.”  He frowned.  “None of that, you’re beautiful.”  He collected her fingers into his and pressed a kiss upon her bare knuckles.  With that his helm was on his head.  Ian had started to walk out as Abel had pulled his greatsword from the rack on the wall.  “Abel, wait!” He stopped in his tracks, only to turn around and kneel once more for her.  She kissed the metal of his helm where his lips would’ve been.  “I’ll see you soon, love,” his muffled voice breathed out as she made haste to join her parents.

Declan and Honoria had been sitting and waiting for their son and future son-in-law to take the field, Declan with a large cigar sticking out of his teeth as Honoria sat with both arms around his massive bicep.  Lord Aristen and Lady Inissa had been visiting with the elder Nicholaides only to smile over as their future daughter-in-law had joined them.  “Iria!  You look so beautiful!  Did Miranah make that gown for her, Ria?” Lady Inissa had inquired, reaching over to take Iria’s hand in affectionate greeting.  “Mhm!  She most certainly did.  Iria, Lady Ina invited us for tea next week and to stay for a few days.  Hopefully you should be excited for that as we get wedding plans squared away,” her mother smiled.  “I’m sure you’ll be excited, it’s another chance for you to see Abel.”  Iria blused at that, Lord Aristen letting loose a guffaw as Declan chuckled himself.  Declan playfully socked Aristen in the arm.  “Can you believe it?  Our kids, man!  I’m a proud papa right now, you should be too.  Gotta a whole lotta stuff ta look forward ta,” he grinned as he took another deep inhalation of his cigar. 

Honoria gave him that look to tell him to settle down.  Declan immediately regained composure.  He turned back to Aristen who lofted a brow with a playful grin of his own.  “We’ve some business to talk later over a glass of bourbon, Dec.  There seems to be a few things we need to iron out in haste before we allow them to say their vows.”  Declan nodded, “Anythin’ ya need, buddy.”  Abel and Ian took the field as soon their names were called, both taking a quick moment to wave to their families in the stands, Abel blowing a kiss to Iria in the stands and she “catching” it. 

The assaults from their opponents seemed relentless, but for everyone that approached, Ian was able to suppress the blows with his shield, making effective timing with his own sword thrusts while Abel held nothing back.  His own timing seemed a bit erratic and restless but far too overbearing for their opponents to handle.  It was only after several rounds and several hours that they were able to be reunited with their families, Iria beaming as Abel received his commendations and awards.  Once everyone was released from the stands, she rushed over to Abel in a full sprint, her skirts flowing behind her with every sprinted step she made forward.  He was just as eager as he took her up into his arms and held him close, throwing his helmet off into the grass and spinning her around a few times.  He stole a kiss from her.  “Oh my stars, that was magnificent!  You were absolutely brilliant, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing!  I am so proud of you both!” she declared in all of her excitement.  He winked at her.  “See?  You’ll never have anything to worry about.  Now, let’s go get ready for that after party.  I’ve a dance saved for the woman I’ll be spending the rest of my days with.”

@captain-rez

[littlebitoffanfic]

Accepted

Fandom: Texas Chainsaw Massacre Characters: Thomas Hewitt/leatherface, luda mae, monty Charlie/hoyt Relationship: Thomas/reader request: Can you do one where the reader was leatherfaces only friend and she got taken away by abusive parents. But she comes back as an adult and sees everyone one again but they are scared she will run because they eat human but shes a assassin or something so shes cool with it. AN: Kathy is the tea lady. I gave her this name as it is the actresses name who played her in the 2003 remake. And I called the baby Lily because I cant remember the babys name ever being mentioned. You drove along the dusty old road, the music blaring as you tried to stop smiling. It had been years since you had been back here to this side of texas. After the town started to fail, your parents had forced you to move away from the town. From him. Ever since you had been a child, you had been his only friend. The only one who would speak to him, to play with him. His family adored you for this reason and it hit them hard when your abusive parents pulled you away from them. The Hewitts. Even now, you could remember their faces clear as day. Luda Mae was stone-faced to anyone who wasn’t her family or you. But she was dotting and caring. Charlie was rather mean spirited but there was a fathering side to him, so when you walked in with scuffed knees or nasty bruises from your parents, he would take care of you. Monty seemed so laid back and calm about most things. He was the voice of reason when Luda Mae and Charlie would argue. And then there was Thomas. In your mind, you couldn’t quite picture him. You had only been 11 years old when you last seen him and he had been 12, so he would have grown. You remembered how caring he was, how sweet and soft he was with you. You helped him more than anyone else. You were the one who taught him to read and write. You stood up for him to everyone which had cost you a fair amount of beatings but you didn’t care. You smiled as you drove down the familiar roads, hoping they were still here. When you saw the small gas station, you turned down your music and pulled in. Hopping out the car, you fixed your hat slightly to hid your face and signature hair as you headed in. You remembered Luda Mae used to own the gas station but you weren’t sure if it was still hers. But the second you stepped inside, you saw her. Luda was leaning on the counter, a magazine open in front of her. She was slightly chubbier than you remembered her but that was a good thing. It meant she had been eating well for a while. She looked older but healthier. You kept glancing at her as you looked around the shop. “You looking for something, love?” She called out, making you smile. You walked over to her, keeping your face ducked under your hat. “Actually, im looking for some old friends who used to live here.” You answered her, hiding your smile. “Good luck. No one been around here for years apart from me and my family. And I dont suppose you have much use for us.” She said, shaking her head and looking back to her magazine. You leaned on the counter, reached up and pulled off your hat. Bright red, curly locks fell from under your hat, reaching down just past your elbows. Her eyes were drawn up by the movement as you saw them widen as they fell on your hair. She then looked up at your face. You saw the flash of disbelief as she pushed her self up off the counter. “Well, I’ll be damned.” She mumbled. “Hi, Luda.” You smiled. She half ran around the counter to throw her arms around you, bubbling a little. You wrapped your arms around her and held her tight. “Oh, dear. Its been so long, I never thought Id see you again.” She pulled away. She was still a little taller than you so she cupped your cheeks and made you look up at her. “Look how beautiful you’ve become.” She mumbled as she ran her thumbs over your cheeks. “Are you saying I was an ugly child?” You chuckled, pouting slightly. “No, no of course not. You were such a cute little girl but now you’re a woman.” She pulled back, holding you at arms length to look you over. You smiled. She seemed so thrilled to see you. You parents never treated you like that. When you went to the Hewitts, they treated you like you were one of their own, like they loved you. The day you had been forced to leave, you had ran to theirs. Thomas had been sitting outside on the porch when he saw you running to him with tears in your eyes. Your body collided with his as you wrapped your arms around him. Your parents had to drag you away. Tears formed in your eyes as you thought back to him. The way he had grasped at your hands for dear life. “sorry.” You chuckled through the tears as you pulled away and wiping your tears on your sleeves. “Oh, shh, don’t cry. Its fine. Ive got you.” She hushed as she wrapped her arms around you again. you stayed with Luda till she closed up shop. “Do you have anywhere to stay?” She asked, but you knew she knew the answer. “No, I was kinda hoping a could crash on your couch.” You looked at her with an apologetic look but she laughed. “No you wont. You can have your old room.” She chuckled. You smiled as you remembered the old room. Your parents used to lock you out quite a lot or you would run away so the Hewitt had a room just for you. “Still got some of your clothes there. But I don’t think they’ll fit anymore.” Luda laughed as she cashed up the till. “Luda, how are the others?” You had been avoiding the question for the last hour or so. “Oh, they are fine. Gonna be over the moon to see you though. My boy never forgot yah.” She smiled as she came back and cupped your face. You couldn’t help but smile. Thomas was fine. “The only thing is…” Luda trailed off, looking away, worry flashing across her face. “What is it?” You asked, taking her hands in yours. You dreaded to think what it could be. Had someone died? You couldn’t imagine Charlie or Monty not being around. And then there was the extended family. Henrietta was older than you and Thomas, as was Kathy. But they were still young. “well, things have been hard these last 10 years. With the Thomas losing his job at the meat factory and things got nasty one night. He called my boy a stupid animal. And Thomas… well…. He…” She trailed off, unable to find the words. You bit your bottom lip. You knew the secret. In fact, you had only found out because of your job. “He killed him.” You finished off for her. She jumped and looked at you with wide eyes. You gave her a small, apologetic smile. “I know. And I think I know about how you survive.” You gently rubbed small circles on her hands to sooth her. “How?” She asked, completely confused. “It’s kinda a long story. But when I turned 18, I ran away from my parents. I joined this… group of people who took on jobs for clients. Anyway, the boss from the factory had angered a lot of people in his time. He had a bounty on his head. I took that job. But I suppose Thomas must have beat me to it. I was going to come back to you then, but someone ratted our group out and we had to run. I didn’t want to bring the police to your front door so I kept moving around till it was safe.” You told her, keeping your voice hushed since there was still bikers outside. “And Ive been trying to keep tabs on you for a while. Ive become very good at hacking into police systems so when they get too close to you, I corrupt a file or add some wrong information.” You told her, unsure of how she would react. You watched her closely as she processed the new information. You were basically telling someone you used to consider a mother you were a killer. But so was she. “oh, dear, you are an angle.” She bursh out, wrapping her arms around you and pulling you close. “Hoyts going to be so proud.” She pulled back and you frowned. “Hoyt?” You asked. “Wasn’t that the name of the… ‘old’ police officer?” You phrased your question carefully. “oh, sorry. Charlie wants us to call him Hoyt. Started just after Thomas… you know.” She smiled. You nodded, showing you understood. “So, shall we go back?” She smiled as she closed the shop. You nodded and unlocked your car. She hopped into the passenger side and you started the car. ---------------time skip ---------------- You pulled up to the old house. Apart from the slightly faded white paint, it didn’t look like it had changed a bit. Luda bubbled all the way, excited about you being here. She asked more about your job and then about where you’d been. But she fell quiet when you turned off the car. You were the first to get out the car and close the door, Luda then mirrored your actions. “Come inside but be quiet.” She motioned and the two of you walked up the front steps and in to the house. She signalled to you to stay in the hallway as she walked into the kitchen where voices were coming from. You looked around the hallway and your eyes fell on the only thing that seemed to have change. A large, metal door now stood at the end of the hallway. You remembered how it used to be the door to the basement. Before you could dwell on what now lay behind that door, Luda reappeared, smiling at you. “Damn it woman, what now?” Charlies voice grumbled as he came into view behind her. At his side was Monty, but in a wheelchair and missing his legs. Charlie froze when he saw you. “Well, I’ll be damned.” He mumbled before a smile broke across his face. Of the three of them, he seemed to have aged a bit more. “Hi.” You waved, smiled back at him. Charlie strode across the hallway and wrapped his arms around your shoulders, pulling against his chest. “We thought you were dead, girl.” He mumbled as he held you like a father holding he daughter. You chuckled, relived they recognised you. As he pulled away, you heard a squeezing noise and looked behind him to see Monty rolling himself forward in his wheelchair. You ducked down and hugged him, not wanting to ask about his legs just yet. “Good to have you back.” He mumbled, patting your back. “Just wait till Thommy get a look at yah.” Charlie said as you stood up. “You think he’ll recognise me?” You asked, looking to Luda may. It would break your heart if he didn’t know who you were. “Oh, im sure he will.” Luda gave you a reassuring smile as she turned and walked over to the metal door. She raised her fist and banged on the door. “Thomas! Come up here for a moment! Theres a surprise here!” She called through the door. You heard heavy footsteps from below as someone began to climb stairs. Your heart was beating hard in your chest. Every step seemed to flip your stomach until you heard the sound of a lock turning and the metal door was pulled back. Then he stepped out. You almost couldn’t believe it was him. The man was well over 6 foot tall, big but muscular. He wore a shirt with a black tie and an brown apron over the top which had speck o dirt and blood on it. His hair had grown out and was longer than you remembered, curling slightly towards the ends. But you didn’t know if it was him. This man wore a mask. It looked like it was a leathery material and covered from just above the nose down where as his hair covered his forehead. All you could see was his eyes. Which were staring at you. He took a hesitant step forward and you mirrored him but took 3 steps, walking past the others and closer to him, tilting your head to the side. You were right in front of him now and he towered over you. Once you were close enough to look into his eyes, you knew it was him. Those brown eyes that filled with so many emotions. The ones that recognised you instantly when you didn’t complete know him. Thomas reached out a hand, his fingers settling on your cheek, as if he were making sure you were real. You couldn’t help but smile and lean into his touch. “Hey, Thomas.” You smiled up at him. This seemed to break him. His large arms engulfed you in a second as he hunch over to rest his forehead on your shoulder. You returned the hug like yu did the others but this one was different. It felt like he needed you and could never let you go. You closed your eyes to hold back the tears as you hugged your lost friend. “I missed you so much.” You half whispered to him, squeezing him as you did. You felt him nod, silently saying he felt the same. You had to pry yourself away from him as you smiled up at him. You remembered his skin condition and knew it had probably gotten worse over the years but you didn’t care. It felt so right to be in his arms that you couldn’t care less. “Is that the girl in the picture under tommys pillow?” A young voice called out and you turned around to see a small boy, only about 9 years old, standing the door. “Yes, Jedidiah. This is [y/n].” You felt Thomas stiffen but you couldn’t help but smile. Did he really have photo of you, after all this time? Luda pulled the boy over to meet you. “[y/n], this is Jedidiah, hes my son like Thomas.” Luda introduced you to him and you instantly he knew the boy was adopted. “Nice to meet you.” You held out your hand and he shook it, looking up at you with wide eyes. “You’re real pretty.” He mumbled, making you and everyone laugh. “Thank you. You’re rather handsome too.” You giggled, pretending to pinch his cheek. His cheeks glowed red and he darted out the hallways and into a room, much to the amusement of Monty and Charlie. “Oh, I have to take you to see Henrietta and Kathy!” Luda jumped, taking you by the writs and started to lead you out the house but someone grabbed your other wrist. You turned to see Thomas was holding onto. When Luda felt you weren’t coming, she looked back. “You have work to do. Anyways, she staying tonight so you’ll get to see her then.” Luda half scolded Thomas and pulled you out of his grasp. You couldn’t help but laugh as you looked back and waved to the others. ------------------------time skip--------------- You sat on the small sofa with Henrietta and baby Lily. You bounced Lily up and down on your lap as you cooed at her. Kathy sipped her tea from her seat. “Looks like Lily’s got a new favourite.” Kathy chuckled as Lily reached out her hands and touched your face with laughing. You had been here for hours though it didn’t feel like it. Luda had to run home to help Monty with something but she said you could stay and she would let you know when dinner was ready. “yes, I think she does.” Henrietta smiled as she reached out to stroke the babys cheeks. “She is such a cute baby.” You said to Henrietta as she got up to go get some more tea. “So were you.” Kathy said as she handed Henrietta her cup to refill. “Those big blue eyes of yours and your wild hair. You always looked so happy.” She reached over and picked up a framed picture from her table and handed it to you. You pulled Lily forward so one of your arms was securely wrapped around her as you took it. It was one when you were 7 or 8. You were lying on your stomach on the floor of this caravan with paper spread out around you. You kind of remembered the moment. You were teaching Thomas how to write. In the photo, he was kneeling beside you but you two were laughing so you obviously weren’t concentrating. It was such an innocent moment between children. And yet, you didn’t know if you still felt the same about Thomas as you did back then. There wasn’t that innocence there anymore. You couldn’t stop the way your stomach twitched when you thought of the man you had met earlier. You knew you were attracted to him but that mixed with the innocent love you remembered confused you. “I look like no one owned me.” You laughed as you handed her back the photo. Just then, there was three loud thuds from the door. Henrietta scurried over to the door and opened it. You couldn’t see who was there but you saw her smile. “She’ll be right out.” Henrietta told the visitor. You got to your feet and walked to the door with Lily in your arms. As you walked to the door, you saw Thomas standing at the bottom of the steps to the caravan. His eye fell on you instantly and you saw them soften. You smiled at him as Lily started to jump up and down in your arms, giggling. “You’re escorts here.” Henrietta turned to you, winking when her back was to Thomas. “Oh, what a lucky woman I am.” You said as you gently handed Lily over to Henrietta. Lily started to whimper but when Henrietta picked up her bottle, she calmed down. You waved goodbye to Kathy as you kissed henrietta on the cheek. “And don’t you be a stranger.” Kathy called to you as you walked down the steps. “I wont.” You called back, giving Lily one last wave before closing the door after you. You glanced around you but couldn’t remember where you had come from with Luda. It was sunset so most things looked different. Then you noticed Thomas. Not that you hadn’t before, but he looked different than a few hours ago. He was no longer wearing the apron, but he was wearing a different shirt. This was didn’t have a spec of blood or dirt on it. His tie was straight and clean. It looked like he had tried to tame his hair but failed. He wore clean trousers and shoes as well. He still wore the mask but the dirt that had been around the visible part of his face was gone. “You got all dressed up for me?” You smiled as you stepped forward with your hands behind your back. Thomas nodded shyly and looked at the ground then back to you as if he couldn’t bare to look away again. “Well, since you’re escorting me to dinner, lead the way.” You linked your right arm around his left. Thomas walked at a slow pace, you assumed for your sake. He seemed to know the woods like the back of his hand. You noticed he kept glancing over to you and when he wasn’t, it felt like he was watching you out the corner of his eye. You glanced up at him and caught him looking at you. Instantly, his head snapped to look in front but he knew he had been caught. “When did you get so tall?” You mused as you lay your head on his arm. You barley reached the height of his shoulder which was both amusing and impressive. Thomas shrugged his shoulder but you could see he was smiling. “Thomas?” You asked, pulling on his arm slightly so he stood still and turned to you. “Is it true what Jedidiah said? Do you still have a picture of me?” You asked, tilting your head to one side slightly. Thomas nodded, his body slouching slightly like he should be ashamed. But you beamed at him. “Its okay if you do. Don’t you remember this?” You asked as you reached up and pulled your neckless out a little to show him. He squinted his eyes a little at the small pendant on the end. He reached up and took it from your hands. Despite his hands being rather big, he was very gentle as he opened it. Inside, was a small photo of you and Thomas as kids. “You and your family gave it to me when I turned 10.” You said, trying to prompt his memory. He nodded and you saw his eyes flash up to meet yours. You were enchanted by his eyes. They were filled with so many emotions. “Ive been thinking about doing something but I wanted to speak to you about it before I say anything to anyone else.” You looked down then back up at him through your eyelashes. “theres a small cottage that’s up for sale around here. About half way between the gas station and your house. I was thinking of buying it.” You told him. You had enough money to buy the house in full and you had false documents saying that the money was from your dead parents so no one would be suspicious. But you had to make sure Thomas and the others were fine with it first. They had this set up that worked perfectly for them and you didn’t want to disturb that. Thomas nodded his head violently as he grabbed your arms and pulled your closer to him, meaning he wanted you to stay. “Really? You’re okay with me staying?” You asked, unable to believe it. You bounced on the ball of your feet with excitement. Thomas wrapped his arm around your waist and lifted you up, spinning you around. You wrapped your arms around his neck for security as you threw your head back and laughed, loving the feeling of being in his arms. Thomas slowed to a stop but didn’t put you down straight away. You could feel his heart beating hard in his chest as he stared at you. You couldn’t stop yourself. You moved your hands and untied his mask before he could do anything. The material fell away from his face and you saw him fully for the first time in years. His nose was nearly completely gone but you expected that as it was half way when you knew him. His lips were scared and his cheeks dipped in places. But before you knew it, you were dropped to the ground. Since you weren’t expecting it, your legs didn’t support you and you fell, landing with a thud on the grass. You let out a slight cry of pain. You looked up and saw Thomas scrambling for his mask, then he went to reach for you and then for the mask again. He made a sound of distress as he looked for his mask and raised one hand to hid his face from you. You scrambled forward and he darted for the mask, but you got to him first. You moved his hand out the way and cupped his cheeks. “Thomas, please, calm down.” You said in a soothing voice. Thomas grunted and tried to cover his face again but you managed to stop him. “Im sorry, I shouldn’t have taken your mask of but I wanted to see you.” You sensed he had started to calm him self. Maybe he had thought you would run away from him or that you would be disgusted but you weren’t. you were calm and relaxed and he seemed to mirror you. “You know, I have to say-“ You mumbled as you moved up and swept some of his brown hair to the side so you could see him better. “You grew up to become rather handsome.” You smiled, more to yourself than to him. Your fingers played with his surprisingly soft hair. You couldn’t stop your eyes from roaming across his face. You weren’t lying. He was incredibly handsome and something inside you was drawn to him. You didn’t notices Thomas’ hands move till they gently cupped your own cheeks. You closed your eyes as the contact, bringing one hand away from his face to place it over his hand. Something soft touched your lips. You opened your eyes to see Thomas was kissing you, his own eyes shut. Once the initial shock of it passed, you shyly began to kiss him back. you didn’t know what had changed your view of him in such a short amount of time but you knew you were falling in love with him. While you had never been in love before, you knew this is what it must feel like. One of his hands dropped from your cheek to wrap around your waist and gently pull you closer. You couldn’t resist his touch as the hand you still had on his cheek moved up into his hair. It felt so good to be like this and the more you kissed him, the more you needed more. You tried to control yourself as you pulled away from the kiss, panting. Thomas opened his eyes and looked at you. You saw fear flash in them as if he thought he had done wrong. “So, I guess im staying.” You giggled, touching your forehead to his. He nodded a little as he squeezed your sides. Thomas was the first to get up. You grabbed his mask and pushed yourself up, rubbing the hip you had fallen on and hissing slightly. Thomas places his hand on your hip, mirroring your actions and you knew It was a silent apology. “its okay.” You smiled as you handed him his mask back. The two of you headed back to the house. Thomas walked with you in his arm and his chin up proudly which made you smile. When you got back to the house, you heard voices arguing. Before going inside, you pressed a quick kiss to the front of his mask. “Im telling you, Mama, Thomas and the new girl were kissing!” Jedidiah stomped his foot as the two of you entered the kitchen. “What did I tell you about lying.” Luda said in a low and dangerous voice. The same one she used to use on Thomas when he would sneak out to see you. “Im not lying.” Jedidiah pouted. You heard Thomas let out a low growl that only you heard but you were quicker. You darted over to the young boy who jumped. You crouched in front of him so you were the same size. “You know, ive got a 20 in my purse that says you saw nothing.” You said, winking at him. You saw his eyes widen as he processed the bribe and smile. “Maybe I was wrong.” He called over your shoulder to Luda still had her back to you. “That’s what I thought.” She called back. “And even if they were, that’s none of your business.” This took your by surprise since she was basically saying there was a chance you and Thomas would get together. Giggle, you stood up as he ran away. Thomas shook his head and you knew he had heard your bribe. You shrugged to him, nodding to Luda who was humming to herself. But you smiled at him and went over to her. “Hi.” You greeted, leaning on the counter beside her. “Oh, you’re just on time. Suppers ready.” She smiled. That night, Thomas sat next to you at dinner and during the evening. When everyone went to bed, you sneaked to his room where he seemed to be waiting for you. The next morning, you called the solicitors and made an offer on the house. And it was accepted.