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[liaazhang]

one thing about me is that i love everyone in the main kotlc gang. they're all teenagers and they're all trying their best <3

[justmeinadaze]

We're a Family Part 22 (Steddie X You)

A/N: Get ready to feel old <3. I wrote Good Neighbors a little over a year ago and I've loved how they've evolved. I'm not done with this little family yet. I still have one more chapter with Dylan and then some ideas with an older Ro but, ugh, lol I feel how the reader feels when it comes to her first born.

Warnings: Dads Steddie/ Mama Fem Reader, SMUT, edging (they are still trying new things), handcuffs, etc, FLUFF, they love each other <3 and their kiddos, ANGST, someone from the past comes back to talk to the adult Munson-Harringtons and Dylan, Steve and Eddie struggle being protective over their eldest (Eddie just hides it better), lots of talk about Dylan growing up and leaving the nest and how these three feel about it.

Word Count: 5256

An 18-year-old Dylan bounces anxiously on his toes as you sort through the mail too slow for his liking. 

“MOM! Come on! Did anything come for me or not?”

Two years had passed since you reconnected with your mother and things had been going very well. She was always extremely busy with work but when she came over Aurora insisted on showing her all the movies she missed out on. 

“Grandma! Watch how cool this is!”, the seven-year-old squeals with delight as they focus on the film in front of them. The light saber flies past Kylo-Ren into Rey’s hand and Ro breathes a sigh of excitement.

“Ok, now explain to me again how ‘the force’ works.”, yoru mom asks as she leans forward over her crossed legs on the couch. 

You grin from your spot in the kitchen as you bump Eddie’s hip with yours. 

“Definitely your daughter, nerd.”

“Takes one to know one, princess.”

James was now a toddler causing all kinds of chaos around the Munson-Harrington home. His sticky fingers got into everything even some of the cabinets that you had believed were too high for him to reach. 

“James Wayne Munson Harrington.”, you scold with your hands on your hips as you watch him lean back and laugh with a wide smile that only rivaled that of his dad. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Plopping his butt down on the counter, he dangles his legs over the side as he reaches his tiny hand into the snack box and produces a chocolate chip cookie. 

“Mama cookie…Yames.”, he coos as he points to himself while struggling to say his name correctly. 

“Mhmm. Didn’t you just eat lunch?”

“For…for mama an Rara.”

“Don’t you bribe me and your sister with sweets, you little butthead.”

“Why are you being mean to our son?”, Steve asks as he rounds the corner into the kitchen.

“Because our son parkoured up the counter for a snack.”

The three-year-old giggles as he offers his dad a cookie that he accepts before lifting him into his arms and putting the box back in the cabinet. 

“What did we say, bud?”

“Ask.”

“That’s right. You have to ask first. Now give mommy a kiss as an apology and get out of here, you butthead.”

Dylan was halfway through his senior year of high school and applied to a lot of colleges but was anxious to be accepted to a certain one because that’s where Daisy was going. The two of them had continued to date and see each other which you didn’t mind. What killed you however was that because of her family she was looking at a school that was a few states away. You had never been that far from your son and it scared you.

“I don’t know. I see bills and ads. Let me take my time to really read these though.” Dylan huffs making you smile as you give him a hug. He was so much taller than you now, your head resting against his chest as you wrapped your arms around him. “Everything’s going to be ok, weirdo. You’ll hear something soon. There’s still some time.” 

***

Steve ran his hands over his eyes exhaustedly while grading papers during his lunch. With winter break coming up, he wanted to get everything out of the way so he could take these next couple of weeks to spend some time with the kids especially Dylan. When he had mentioned going to school out of state, of course, he was proud and encouraged him to apply but he’d be lying if he didn’t say the idea of his son being so far away broke his heart.

“Stevie?”

The sound of Eddie’s voice calmed him as he smiled towards the door his husband was leaning against. 

“Hey you. What are you doing here?”

“You, uh, just started your lunch hour right?”

Steve knew that tone, something was going on that the metalhead was afraid would upset him. 

“Yeah? Everything ok?” As he turned his head towards the hall, your ex-husband stepped into view. “No. Nope. Not happening.”

“Give us a second.”, Eddie gestured towards Charlie before entering the classroom and closing the door. “Steven, calm down.”

“Calm down? Why the fuck is he here?! Whatever he wants the answer is no.”

“Baby, sit. Please? At least hear me out first.” Steve huffed as he folded his arms and pouted while Eddie sat on his desk in front of him. “I get it. Trust me I do but I felt like…for what he’s asking we should talk about it at most. He wanted to speak to us both first out of respect because we are Dylan’s dads.”

“Damn right.”

“He’s not asking to spend time with him again or anything like that. Charlie doesn’t think Dylan would even want that but… he’s asking to see him graduate.”

“Are you fucking kidding me, Edward Munson?!”, Steve practically shouts as he rises to his feet.

“Shhhh.”, the metalhead tries to calm him doing the same.

“No! He hasn’t earned that fucking right. He hasn’t been here AT ALL in over 5 years. Why is that?! Oh, that’s right, he signed him over. Charlie had plenty of chances to be there for him and he failed! WE raised him and he thinks he can just waltz back in and be a part of something like that?!”

“Steve! Breathe.”, Eddie tries to sooth as he cups his face in his hands. “Breathe. I get where you are coming from. I said all of the same things to him when he came to the shop. But… I get it from Dylan’s side to. Remember when I finally graduated? I was so excited that Wayne was there but there was still a part of me… that wished my mom and dad could see me finally do it to. A lot of that was to spite them and show them I could do it.”, he chuckled making Steve smile. “But a lot of it was also the little kid in me wanting them there.”

The man in his arms heavily exhaled before tilting forward to kiss his lips and gesturing for Eddie to bring him in.

“I warned you before, Charlie, about hurting my son. If we talk to him and he wants you there and you don’t show up…I swear to God—”

“No, no. I understand. I’ll move heaven and earth to be there I swear.”

“Yeah to bad you couldn’t do that for him or Brody before.”

“Steve.”, Eddie warned.

“No, he’s right. I always said I’d never be like my stepdad yet… I’m, um, glad he’s had you two. I’m working with Vivian to be there for Brody. I’m trying…”

“You understand if he or Y/N says no, then the answer is no?”

“Yeah, I understand. Thank you for hearing me out though. I know I don’t deserve it.”

***

Your eyes constantly raked across them during dinner while they ate. Both men seemed completely distracted but especially Steve. 

“I’m done. I’m going to go play games upstairs.”, Dylan announces as he stands from the table. 

“Ah, kid, do you mind staying for a bit?”, Eddie asked throwing the two of you off guard. “Are you done to?”, he asks Ro as she beams up at him with her messy face. 

“Yes, daddy.”

“Good. Can you take this troublemaker and go watch tv please?”, he laughs as Steve blind sides her with a napkin to wipe her mouth and the other boy pulls James out of his chair, placing him on the floor. 

Aurora grabs her brother’s hand, giggling as they run to the tv in the living room. They wait until the sound of a show blares from that area before Eddie leans forward on his elbows and Steve leans back folding his arms. 

“I don’t know how to ease into this so I’m just going to say it. Charlie came to visit me and Steve today.”

Your eyes widen as your head ticks to the side while Dylan sighs mirroring Steve’s posture. 

“Whatever it is the answer is no.”

“Y/N…please. He said all he wanted was to see Dylan graduate from high school.”

“After everything he’s done?!”

“Yeah, I already went down that road, baby, but Eddie seems to think it’s worth the conversation.”, Steve exhaled heavily. 

“Do you?”, his son asked. “What did you say when he asked?”

“I told him that it was up to you and Y/N. If you two said you were fine with it—”

“But you don’t want him there?”

Steve glances towards Eddie who gives him a look of subtle warning.

“No, I don’t.”, he answers honestly causing the metalhead to huff in frustration. “I don’t feel like he’s earned that luxury after everything he’s done and put you through. But…I also feel like it’s your choice. If you want him there then he should be there. You know no matter what, kid, you’re still my son. It won’t hurt my feelings if you want him there.”

“Our feelings.”, Eddie added. “I get what Steve is saying but I’ve been on the other side. My dad was in prison when I graduated. I was ecstatic Wayne was there but…”

Dylan’s soft eyes shift towards you as he reaches for your hand. 

“Mom?”

“I just…I don’t want him to hurt you. I don’t you to get your hopes up and then he doesn’t show.”

“Oh, don’t worry. Stevie already threatened him if he didn’t show.”, Eddie grinned making your son laugh. 

“I’d, um, I’d like to talk with him before I make a decision if that’s alright.”

***

“Baby?”, Eddie cooed as he came up behind you and wrapped his arms around your waist while you leaned in the doorway of James’s room. Steve had fallen asleep in the toddler’s little racecar bed, his frame much too big for the mattress underneath as his legs hung off the side. His arm was holding the small boy to his side as he rested his sleeping head on his father’s chest. 

“Eddie, why do you think everything with Charlie affects him so much more?”

“Hm, sweetheart, it affects us both about the same but Steve here just sucks at hiding it. I love Dylan with my heart and would do anything for him. I’d be lying if I said the idea of him going to graduation doesn’t make me angry but if that’s what our son wants then I want him to be happy.” You nod at his statement, giving the man pause. “How does it make you feel? Be honest.”

“I don’t want him to go. I don’t…trust that he’ll actually show up. I feel like Steve right now where I just want to tell Dylan that we’re his parents and the answer is no so we can protect him.”

“The problem with that, my love, is you don’t know for 100% if that will be the outcome. I mean look at what happened with your mom.”

“Eddie, he’s my baby.”

“I know, babe. I know.”, he soothes as he turns you around and wraps you in his arms. 

***

“When he gets here, do you want us to leave you two alone?”, the metalhead asked as the three of them waited at a table in the nearby Hawkins Diner.

“Not like alone, alone though. We’d be a couple of tables away.”, Steve assured confidently, trying to push down all of the emotions he was feeling. 

“Can you stay, please? I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m a little terrified.”

“Terrified how, bud? You don’t have to do this if you’re uncom—”

“Steve! Calm down, sweetheart.”, Eddie chuckles as he rubs his back comfortingly. 

Dylan reached for his father’s hand and flashed him a big smile. 

“Everything’s going to be ok, dad. No matter what you both are always going to be my real fathers.”

As they beamed over at him, a figure caught Eddie’s eye as it quickly turned to leave. 

“Hey, I’m, uh, I’m going to go smoke before he gets here. I’ll be right back.”

Throwing on his jacket, the long-haired boy hastily power walked towards the front door, opening it just in time to see Charlie heading back to his truck. 

“HEY! No. No, no, no, no.”, he shouted as he ran to block his path. “No. You are NOT doing this to him. You’re here now just get the fuck in there and talk to him.”

“I-I-I can’t. I saw him and… he looks so different now. That’s not my little boy anymore. I can’t do this. I can’t—”

Eddie abruptly shoved the man against his vehicle, cutting him off. 

“You’re right. He’s not a little boy anymore. Unfortunately, you missed that because you were too fucking selfish. Now you have a chance to be a part of his adult life if that’s what he wants but, Charlie, if you walk away now that is never going to happen. Don’t be a fucking coward. He’s a good kid.”

“Because of you two. He fucking hates me.”

“Believe it or not, he doesn’t. Dylan thinks YOU hate HIM.”

“What? No. I love him and Brody so much.”

“Then where the fuck have you been?!”, he sighs releasing him from his hold. “He’s graduating with honors and a baseball scholarship to any school he chooses. He wants to go to a school up north with his girlfriend to major in music and education so he can become a music teacher. Dylan has worked so hard to get here. Don’t ruin it with your bullshit.”

Eddie shakes his head as he saunters back inside and plops down next to Steve. 

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”, he grins but his husband can see right through it. 

Placing his arm around the back of his chair, he leans close to his ear. 

“You’ll tell me later?”

A throat clears startling everyone as they turn to see Charlie standing beside the table. 

“Hi. Hey.”, his voice trembles as he shakes Eddie and Steve’s hands before turning to give Dylan his attention. “Hey, um, wow. Jesus. You look so much like your mom.”

“Oh. Uh, thank you. She thinks I look like you. To be fair she thinks none of her kids look like her.”

“Yeah? How many siblings do you have now?”

“Not including Brody, two. A sister and another brother.”

Your ex nods taking a seat as Dylan folds his arms over his chest. The guys were trying their best to stay as out of the way as they could while still being present for their son.

“So, uh--”

“Why do you want to come to my graduation?”, the boy asked bluntly. “My entire life you never went to anything that I was involved in and then signed me away. Why do you care?”

“I didn’t…sign you away… I just…I was never good at being a dad.”

“Why didn’t you try? Was it because of me?”

“No. God, no. Dylan, to me you were…are… absolutely perfect. I love you with all my heart. That’s why I signed those papers. After talking with your mom, I realized these two would be a better father for you than I ever could.”

Your son nods, sighing under his breath as he collects his thoughts. 

“Mom will be there and Vivian to. Is that going to be a problem?”

“Oh, uh, no. I didn’t realize they were talking to each other.”

“They aren’t. Dylan wanted to get to know Brody and Vivian missed him so Y/N lets him go to her house on the weekends.”, Steve explained. 

“Wow. It seems a lot has changed.”

“It’s been 5 years, Charlie. What did you expect?”

Your ex flinched at the sound of Dylan using his name but unlike the incident with Steve, it didn’t bother your son. He had long since moved past feeling like Charlie was his dad and could honestly never see himself calling him that again. 

“I don’t want you to go to my graduation but, maybe, we could get together and get to know each other again. Work our way up to having a relationship… I mean if mom and my dads are okay with it.”

“Yeah, Dil. I’d like that.”

Hearing Charlie call him that again stuck a raw nerve he kept tucked away for the last five years causing him to abruptly rise from his seat. 

“Ok, I’m ready to go now.”, he announces without waiting for an answer and flying out the front door. 

“Thank you guys for this. Tell Y/N I said thank you to.”

“Oh, she didn’t approve of this either. I’m the only one that seems to be slightly on your side but that’s because I know what it’s like to have your father abandon you.”, Eddie exhales as he and Steve get up as well.

“I didn’t…I didn’t abandon him.”

“Yeah, sure. Neither did my dad. He just boosted cars and ended up in jail for the rest of his life. It’s not his fault.”, he responded sarcastically. “Step one on rebuilding your relationship with him Charlie… Own your mistakes.”

################

“No Grandpa! You have to wear the crown because you’re a princess.”, Aurora giggled as she places the colorfully crown she created out of paper onto Wayne’s head. 

“I’m a princess? Not a King?”

“No.”, she laughs harder, cover her mouth with her little hand. 

Beaming over at them from your place on the floor, you and James continue to color in his little coloring book Eddie’s uncle had brought over. 

“Granpa, purty.”

“Thank you, James. I do feel beautiful.”

The alarm beeps as the front door opens and you do everything in your power not to get up to run to them anxiously. 

“Oh wow, Wayne. I must say, you make a gorgeous queen.”, Eddie teases.

“For your information, son, I’m a princess.”

The metalhead chuckles as they come to sit by you in the living room and your son immediately crawls to Steve to show him his pictures. 

“Dada, look.”

The sound of Dylan’s feet subtly bang up the stairs as he heads for his room and closes the door. 

“He’s ok, baby. Just needs some time alone.”, your husband assures. 

“What happened? Did he show up?” They gave you a recount of everything that happened including Eddie telling you both about him almost leaving. “I can’t say I’m not happy he won’t be going but who knows. Maybe in these six months Dylan may change his mind.”

The next couple of days went by with little to no fan fair as Christmas break finally came. That Friday after coming home from work, you checked the mail like you normally do except a college insignia catches your eye. Running full speed into the house, you drop everything as you scream your son’s name.

“Jesus Christ, woman. What is happening?!”, Eddie exclaims as he slides in from the kitchen.

As Dylan sprints down the stairs with Steve in tow, you present him with the envelope he had been waiting weeks for. Hastily, he yanks it from your grasp and tears it open as you dance on the balls of your feet. 

“Oh my god.”

“What? Is it good news? Bad news?”

With wide tear-filled eyes, a small grin spreads along his face. 

“I got in.”

All the adults in the room shout in excitement as you tackle hug your arms around him. 

“Baby, oh my god. I’m so proud of you!”

“Good job, Dylan.”, Eddie beams. “You’ll be the first Munson to go to college.”

“I’m proud of you to, little man.”, Steve smiles softly as he gives the boy a hug. 

“I’m going to go call Daisy. I love you guys!”, he declares as he speeds back up to his room. 

The metalhead holds up his index finger in your direction as both men tilt their head and wait for his door to close before the other boy nods. As soon as you get the go ahead, you fall into their arms and begin to cry. 

“I know, baby. He grew up too fast. We’re going to miss him to.”

***

“Ok, I finally got Aurora and James to sleep. Eddie is in the kitchen eating Santa’s cook—“, Steve froze when he finally entered the bedroom and noticed the image before him. 

You were sitting on the edge of the bed in a velvet red lingerie dress that cut off just so on your thigh barely hiding your panty less crotch with the white fluff that wrapped around the bottom. Your hair was curled and flowed down your shoulders as the Santa hat you wore sat perfectly on your head. 

“I thought you two could open this present early.”, you grin in a seductive voice as you cross your legs and lean back on your hands. 

“Eddie…”, Steve tried to call with a needy crack in his tone. “E-Ed-Eddie… EDWARD!”

“What!?”, the metalhead whisper shouts making you giggle. “Dude, lower your voice. You’re gonna wake—” While he was talking, the man pulled his collar to hurry him up and your grin grew as the other boy’s mouth fell open as well. 

“Get in here, you dorks.”, you tease as you get up, pull them both into the bedroom, and shut the door. “I was thinking we could try something Eddie has mentioned a few times.”

“Oh my god, I’m so in love with you.”, Steve sighs happily as he lifts you into his arms and spins you around before placing a kiss on your lips. “Do we get to handcuff him? Please tell me we do!”

“If you both want.”

Eddie giddily climbs into the bed, kissing your lips before a thought crosses his mind. 

“Wait, we haven’t handcuffed Steve to the bed yet and I feel like this whole edging thing would be way more fun to do to him… Mr. I’m-the-big-protector-guy.”

The pretty boy rolls his eyes as he falls on to his back, lifting off his shirt, and throwing it in his husband’s face playfully. 

Pushing some of your hair behind your ear, you restrain him to the headboard as the metalhead pulls off the boy’s sweats and boxers. 

“Should we have like a safe word or something? You both get sensitive quickly and I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”, you ask in a soft, loving voice that makes him smile. 

“I’ve heard ‘Red’ is a good word.”, Eddie offers, grinning when you both nod in affirmation. 

“Say ‘Red’ if I’m uncomfortable. Got it.”, Steve repeats, smirking when you put your Santa hat on his head. “You know, you’re pretty sensitive to, fyi.” 

“I guess next time, we’ll have to test that theory.”, you tease as you run your palm through the hair on his chest and over to his side. “Ok, my love, do you want to start since you’re the sexual deviant that’s been looking up this stuff?”

The long-haired boy smiles mischievously as he leans over the other boy’s stomach to kiss your lips. 

“You…like…it.”, Eddie coos between each peck. 

As you continue to rub his chest, Steve’s breathing stutters as the man he loves take his cock in his warm hands and begins slowly stroking him. 

“How does that feel, baby?”

“G-good. Really good. I like when y-you both touch me.”

Your palm slides up his neck to his cheek and he tenderly kisses your thumb as it grazes his lips. Shifting your body, you curl up on his side as you listen to the sound of Eddie spit over his tip and smear it along his length making Steve’s mouth open in a silent O.

“Fuck, Eddie, baby.”

Trailing kisses along his side, your hands and nails continue to roam his upper torso as his back arches at the sensations. As your husband’s ringed hand pumps him faster, Steve bites his bottom lip to suppress the loud moan that wants to escape. 

“You look so handsome like this.”, you whisper as you tenderly move some of his hair away from his face. “Keep talking to us, Stevie. Please.”

“C-Can’t.”

“Why?”

“Too…too good.”

Beaming towards the other man, he winks at you as he drops another glob of spit over Steve’s tip as the boy ruts up into his hand. You both know his tells for when he’s about to let go; you’ve all studied each other very well over these past almost 12 years. Just as Steve was nearing his release…Eddie let him go and leaned back on his knees. 

“N-No. No, no, no!”

“How are we feeling now, Harrington?”

The man huffed as he tugged on his restraints before groaning with need as Eddie wrapped his lips around his cock taking him all the way down to the back of his throat. After kissing his lips, you trailed your own down his chest to his stomach and stopping just above the base of shaft. 

The metalhead came off him with a syrupy smack, stroking the man with his hand as he leaned towards you to passionately kiss your lips. The two of you played with Steve for a good long while, taking turns bringing him to the edge just before pulling back. His cock was dripping with both your saliva, angry and red from all the teasing. 

As you glanced his way, his eyes were squeezed shut as he muttered things under his breath. 

“Steve, honey? Are you ok?”

His eyes opened abruptly, meeting yours with a fire you hadn’t seen from him in a very long time.

“Eddie, let him go.”, you breathily moaned as his intense gaze never left yours. 

The moment the cuffs came off, Steve’s sweaty frame practically tackled your own as he lifted you into his arms and spun you around making you giggle at his earnestness as your head hit the pillows. His lips devoured yours as if it had been ages since he tasted your kisses. Hissing at your touch, you reached between you both and guided him into your entrance. Before he could make any kind of movement, Eddie took hold of his hips and slide into the man above you. 

Steve was anything but gentle as he slammed his lower half into you both desperately chasing his release. 

“Oh…oh my God, baby. Just like that.”, you whimpered as his head feel beside you, latching his lips to your neck. 

Glancing up to your other husband, his hair blocked his face as he grunted and clung to Steve’s waist as he met each thrust with a hard, rough one of his own. 

The bed underneath you began to shake and the metalhead quickly reached up to hold it still with his palm.

“Fuck, Steve. You feel so fucking good. I love you, baby. M-Make me cum.”

Clinging to his hair and back, he pounded into you till the coil snapped and your pussy clenched tightly around him. The sound he made in your ear drove you crazy as his body trembled on top of yours and you felt his seed release inside of you. As he aggressively thrust it deep into your cunt, Eddie fell against his back, and held his chest as he came inside of the man below him.  

“Jesus fucking Christ, that was amazing.”, the metalhead panted. “Steve, sweetheart, are you ok?”

“I think he fell asleep.”, you giggled as you petted the boy’s head. “Stevie, baby?”

“Hm?”, he grumbled as he snuggled closer to you.

“Are you alright?”

“Hmm…mmhmm…”, he nodded. 

“As much as I would love for you to fall asleep inside of me, it’s Christmas eve. You know at 7am those kids are going to burst through our door.”

Groaning, he nods as he rolls off you with Eddie immediately ready with a pair of boxers and rag to wipe him off. After making sure Steve was set, your husband grinned as he lifted you into his arms, disrobed you, and placed you in the shower as he delicately cleaned you. 

“I love you to, baby.”, you smile up at him as he kisses your forehead. 

“I love you even more. You looked really gorgeous in that outfit and I’m sure Steven will agree when he’s more coherent.”, he chuckles. 

Wrapping your arms tightly around his waist, he does the same as he rests his chin on your head. 

“You know these next few months I’m going to need you two to help me hold it together.”

“I know, sweetheart. I can’t even picture Dylan not being in this house anymore. God, and we’re both going to have to be on Steve duty because you know he’s going to be a mess to.”

################

While Eddie and Steve sip their coffee, you pat James’s back as he curled up around you after opening all his presents and went back to sleep. 

While Aurora was distracted with her morning cartoons, Dylan had gone upstairs to change and came back down just as your doorbell rang. Passing the baby to one of his fathers, you threw on your jacket and opened the front door to a fiddling Charlie. 

“Oh, um, hey Y/N. Merry…Merry Christmas.”

“Yeah, so you’re taking him to Vivian’s?”

“Um, yes, ma’am. She’s letting me spend the day with Brody so I asked Dylan if he wanted to join and he said yes.”

Turning to your son, you fixed his ski cap before kissing his cheek. 

“No detours to Daisy’s ok? I want you home straight after for dinner.”

Smiling at you, he jogs towards your ex’s truck and quickly climbs into the heat. 

“Thank you for this. I really appreciate it…after everything.”

“Don’t thank me, Charles. Thank those men in there. I still think this is a bad idea because of everything but we all just want our son to be happy. But I swear to God…I’m not the same woman I was 18 years ago. If you hurt him—”

“I know…your, uh, boyfriends threatened me already.”

“Husbands. Oh, they’ll be the first wave but I’ll be the finishing move. I’m not weak anymore.”

“You never were.” His response startles you as you hug your arms tighter around your body and he softly smiles. “I’ll have him back in a few hours.”

As you reentered the house, their eyes watched you as you sit beside them on the couch still hugging yourself. Ringed fingers threaded through your hair before turning you to face them. 

“Everything ok?”

“Yeah. It’s just weird seeing Charlie be this way.”

“I can understand that. It’s like if my dad came through that door with a smile and a Santa level of presents.”, Steve sighed. 

“Are you both ok? I told him to be home for dinner that way after we eat maybe you three can play that new game we got him.”

“It’s whatever he wants, baby. I try to remember what it was like when I was his age and I never wanted to be home.”, the pretty boy laughs. “So, the fact that he likes hanging out with us at all makes me happy.”

Eddie nods in agreement as James wiggles in his embrace. 

“Daddy. Yames…hungee…”, the boy babbles as he taps his mouth with his palm. 

“I guess it is that time to start fattening him up so we can have him plump enough to eat for dinner later.”

“No, daddy! Don’t be mean to James.”, Aurora scolds as her brother giggles. 

“Come on, you. Let’s see if Santa left us anymore cookies in our pantry.”

#########

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@munsonzzgf @munsonmoonshine86

[girlfromthecrypt]

How would the Ro's be as parents and do they want kids? If they do want kids how many?

Interesting question!

Reem would love kids. One or two would be enough, though. Plus, she's worried about the money aspect, because right now, she isn't financially stable enough to even think about having children. Not to mention the lack of a partner, though I suppose that's the easiest problem to solve.

Flo... no. He likes kids, a lot, he likes teaching and he likes the campers, but they exhaust him. The idea of having to deal with so much as a single one 24/7 is a horror story on its own to him.

Anita is uncertain right now. She's been pressured all her life to be perfect, have perfect grades, find a partner and have children. Her parents have ingrained these ideas in her, and deep down, she just wants to be free of it all for a while. However, once she's taken time to get to know herself (which will happen post SHC plot, like, think a couple years later), she'll come to the conclusion that she does want kids and a family. But on her own terms. As for how many, she'd prefer to have one and lavish all her attention on them, but things happen and once she's become more comfortable with herself, she'll be open to the possibility of more.

Basil, yes, he absolutely does. The more, the better. He wants to be a dad, and he'll lose it over an MC who's good with kids. Besides, Basil is used to them. His Dad had three more kids when Basil was in his late teen/young adult years, after all. He's a devoted big brother so he counts that as practice. Besides, he has the financial means to care for a whole bunch of kids. HOWEVER, these are all plans for AFTER he's done traveling. He wants to wait until his mid-thirties until he starts seriously looking into options. He loves his van too much to give it up just yet, and he will NOT force vanlife on his children.

Sawyer...

This is difficult for them, like most intimate questions are. The thing is, Sawyer is the youngest of all the ROs and they haven't seriously started thinking about kids yet. Adding to that is their own backstory which I won't share yet but yeahhh it's complicated. But! Give them a few years to heal and grow, and one day, they'll show up like "yes I'm ready to breed now".

Short answer: the current unstable version Sawyer doesn't want kids, please wait for the patch/update for the family addition. Also, this is especially funny to me cuz I imagine Sawyer as an enby version of the cigarette mom.

[meissashush]

I feel bad about this, but I need all the Ro info. Hate, betrayal, and nightmares for Rosea? T_T

hate: What does your OC hate? Why? How do they act towards the object of their hatred?

Moogles.

It was a genuine fear when she was a child, the wide empty eyes of a giant plush moogle staring into her soul from an armchair in the Amicitia manor. The thing was absolutely haunted. It didn't matter how much Lady Amicitia tried to assure her, nor how much Gladio tried to make it seem harmless, she was utterly convinced that thing was going to eat her in her sleep.

The moogle got put away for future visits.

Now that she's older, it's mostly a joke. Mostly. The cartoons of them are fine, the small key-chains are sometimes actually kind of cute, and she'd never let Iris know she doesn't care for them, but the reality is they make her skin itch. She doesn't want them near.

Kenny Crow doesn't bother her in the least, though, which is the only reason Gladio won't pick on her about the moogles. She knows his weakness.

betrayal: Has your OC ever been betrayed by someone they thought they could trust? Has your OC ever betrayed someone who trusted them?

Rosea isn't someone who is easily betrayed. It's a self-preservation thing, in that she knows her place in the priorities of the people closest to her, so it's hard for her to consider it a betrayal. If she did, she'd only ever feel betrayed.

In an emergency, the King must come first. Then the Prince, then the Shields, and so on and so forth. The Marshal's Daughter isn't very high on the list, as it isn't a position that holds any power. No systems will crumble, nor institutions suffer if she were harmed, other than Cor's feelings. Which means considerably more than she believes, but still doesn't really hold a candle to the lives of parliamentary figures.

In an emergency, she is often left in charge of herself.

But that level of sacrifice, especially amongst children, only meant that the little things would hurt so much more. When they were children, Noctis and Ro had a spat that would have landed most children in timeout. It was petty, mostly verbal, and ended with Rosea throwing her very first punch.

When Noct started bawling, both he and Ignis (the sole witness) threw her under the bus. She ended up being banished from the Citadel for an unspecified amount of time, and their friendship was almost completely destroyed.

In a way, this could also be seen as a betrayal by her towards every adult in her life. They all expected her to be more mature than that, which lead to a lot of them treating her much more coldly from that point on. She was a trouble maker, now. They expected her to disappoint them.

And given this mindset? She hardly counts anything else she did from that point on as an act of betrayal, since why would anyone expect better of her? It's not her problem, she owes them nothing.

nightmare: What does your OC have nightmares about? How do they deal with their nightmares? Do they tell people, or keep it to themself?

A lot of things. Between training for emergencies and actual emergencies, nightmares were sort of just expected. It was even mentioned in the training manual. Being chased, kidnapped, tortured, murdered, etc - it was all fair game. Cor comforted her when she was younger, but the more they happened the more numb she grew to them. She doesn't mention it much, anymore.

[fnaf-stories-and-posts]

Halloween Night at Freddy’s (Pizzaplex) [Act One]

Prequel fic to Christmas With A Freddy by ShadowBelle23 (Me) on AO3.

Since Evan is now being called Dave. I know that some people think that Cassidy is the crying child and Afton’s son while Dave is the fifth victim of Afton. No, it’s vice versa because of Princess Quest.

Since there’s already a living child character in this fanfic called Dave, I’ll leave the name Evan alone. Also, I wrote this fanfic a year ago and I’m going through it now to polish it up compared to the original AO3 post.

Word Count: 2,414

Character Count: 13,475

Reading Time: 8 minutes 47 seconds

Speaking Time: 13 minutes 25 seconds

————————————————————

It was after school and the beginning of the weekend. Max was hanging out with his recent best friend, Dave. The two decided to go to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzaplex because the business decided to have a discount day for non-party reservations so customers could go there to have fun.

“I love watching the animatronics perform,” Dave says happily. They were watching the show from afar as the Glamrocks played their songs on their stage. Max knew his friend was a robotics geek with a dream to build his own animatronic someday.

“Especially with how fluid their bodies move when they dance. Back then, animatronics looked so janky and stiff in their movements like a puppet. Now their bodies are like ours.”

“You mean like this?” Max asks, then shows off a little dance he rehearsed which makes his friend laugh. “But I love watching them too just for fun. Freddy and Monty are awesome. Roxy is super hot and Chica is adorable.”

Dave laughs again in amusement. “You think Roxy is hot?! Dude, you’re eleven and she’s an animatronic.”

“First off, I’m not into her like that,” Max defends himself with honesty and politeness. “Remember when I told you that I have a close adult friend who’s dating a robot.” The last bit he says quietly to him.

Max told Dave about him being a Portal Master since they trust each other with their secrets, and that they have known each other for a good period. Max even told Dave that he, Ro-bow, and Wild Storm broke into the Pizzaplex for fun one night. And Max kept a promise that the next time he decides to go “Mission Impossible” back into the Pizzaplex again, he’s taking Dave with him.

“Ah, yes, Rachel,” Dave says apologetically. “My bad, but I wouldn’t want to offend you or your friends. Believe me, I find it cool that you know sentient robots that act humanely. But as much as I would like to watch Freddy and his gang while discussing this, I want to burn my saved quarters for the arcade.”

“Agreed,” Max nods in agreement. “Last time I was here, I saw a Monty plush I wanted in the claw machine. I’m so going to win it.”

After an hour of spending time playing games, they eventually got the plushies they wanted after spending more tokens than necessary to get them.

But as they wandered the arcade, Dave found an Employees Only door unlocked that goes down to the underground levels. Probably for storage, who knows. So they go down the stairs and thankfully there’s no employee at the bottom but they did see some open boxes of toys. They just hope an employee doesn’t lock the door or come downstairs while they’re down there exploring deeper and deeper.

Eventually, they saw an animatronic lying in an open long, and skinny wooden crate like it's a casket. The crate is elevated off the ground by unused milk crates.

The animatronic itself is a tall, skinny female and human-like. She wore 90’s rockstar clothes of ripped jeans and a bedazzled ombr�� purple and pink tie-dye tank top with a black leather jacket over it as her long neon purple and hot pink hair draped her shoulders and behind her back. She even had colorful paint on her face like Freddy does; gold, purple, and pink stars of various sizes on it. But her skin is shiny colorful skin toned plastic to give herself the appearance of a human. Her face was even made of plastic plates covering her face, arranged together like puzzle pieces.

Dave whistles impressively as they admire her. “She’s quite the Barbie doll, ain’t she?”

Max felt sympathetic towards the animatronic. Was she abandoned because of her looks? Or did the company decide they were against the idea of a human animatronic once she was built? Either way, it was sad and pitiful that this animatronic was down there, unused and unheard of.

“I don’t care about that, let’s wake her up,” Max says, sounding compassionate towards her. He then starts to feel for a button or a switch under the head or behind the neck.

“Why? We don’t want to get in trouble for turning on an animatronic that we’re not supposed to,” Dave says worriedly as he watches his friend struggle to find a way to wake her.

“And?! I broke a law once with this place, you don’t see me worried,” Max counters assuringly. Just when he thinks he feels a button, the animatronic awakens. So he flinches and backs away as the eyes flutter open, seeing chocolate brown irises and black pupils but they’re star-shaped.

She blinks as she wakes up. Yawning like she’s a human while she gets up and stretches. The two boys back up to give her space as she sits up from her “bed” before seeing them. She slightly jumps in alarm at their presence. “What’re you two doing down here?” She asks in concern. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“We know,” Max says cheekily with a smile. “We were just curious about what’s down here.” Then he felt bashful and considerate. “I’m sorry for getting into your space to try to activate your systems. And for scaring you.”

“It’s okay, I forgive you. But be glad you two didn’t run into The Blob while coming down here. They are very dangerous and will not hesitate to attack when the opportunity is given,” she says with caution.

“The Blob is a they?” Max asks.

“The Blob?!” Dave asks in concern.

The female animatronic then gets up from her “bed”.

“Yes, The Blob is a They but They prefer to be called Tangle. They are a mash of multiple animatronics into one mangled body trying to fight for control. Even though it’s hostile, I have witnessed them commit acts of kindness. And they have a sense of friendly affection towards me,” she explains politely while answering both questions.

“Then who are you?” Dave then asks her curiously.

She looks down at the floor, her head tilting down. “I may not have a name like humans do, but the only name I do know is 1Z-2Y.”

“I’m Max,” Max says calmly and politely. Then points to his friend. “And this is my friend, Dave.”

1Z-2Y gives a curt smile in response. “Can we call you Onesie?” Dave then asks politely.

“As a way to shorten my name? I do like it, it has a cute charm to it… Onesie…” Onesie then smiles happily at the nickname.

“Onesie it is!” Max says in affirmation.

“Look. Kids. As much as it was nice to meet you, it’s best you leave. I don’t want you to get in trouble for being down here. You weren’t- aren’t supposed to be here. It’s time you left,” Onesie tells them calmly, sounding sad but also hurriedly.

“No, wait, come with us, you should go meet the others,” Max insists kindly. “You deserve to be seen.”

Onesie shook her head. “I don’t. I can’t. If I did, why am I down here then? It’s obvious I don’t deserve to be with them!” Her voice sounded harsh.

“But Onesie…” Dave then says, sounding sad for her. But also sympathetic.

“Just go! You’re angering me, you kids!” Onesie hissed rudely, her faceplates clicking on and off, open and shut from being together.

Max and Dave decided that was a sign to leave. They don’t like angering people by accident or purposely, so they decided to give her space. So they immediately walked away and headed back up to the arcade.

Thankfully no one saw them exit from the storage from down below. But they knew for sure that their new friend, Onesie, was probably going through something mentally or emotionally, or both, that they didn’t know. They don’t like to pry and invade but wish that they could help her somehow.

With their discovery, they confronted the Glamrocks on their stage as they were taking a break. “Max, long time no see, how was your summer? And who’s your friend here?” Monty asks curiously when he sees the boy.

“Summer was good. This is Dave. But… we need to speak to you guys in private,” Max tells them, his politeness sounded worried and concerned.

“We discovered something here today,” Dave says assuringly. “I think it’s important to tell you. In private.” So with that said, they all went into Freddy’s “dressing” room to talk in private.

“So, what’s up?” Roxy then asks them curiously with concern.

“We found an abandoned animatronic down below from the arcade,” Max explains. “A humanoid female with the name 1Z-2Y, we named her Onesie. I don’t know how long she’s been down there. But was she ever supposed to be a part of your band? She looks like she could be a Glamrock.”

Each animatronic had a sad look in their eyes and shook their heads. “That name is not in our memory banks. But, no animatronic deserves to be alone or forgotten. Hopefully, we can find her someday,” Chica says sounding hopeful and intrigued.

“Do you think we could reserve a party as an opportunity to find her again?” Dave then asks curiously. “I don’t know why she had to shoo us away when we were talking to her. Trying to understand how to help her, but I feel like she’s going through some abandonment trauma right now. And we want to help her.”

“Maybe her abandonment is making her feel unwanted. So she wanted to distance herself from you two just to be left alone,” Freddy says sympathetically before giving Max a paper pamphlet. “As for a party, we have a reservation special for an overnight stay package for Halloween. It’ll be like a sleepover here. All-you-can-eat buffet, games, and more. But when it gets to closing time, all the employees will be gone.”

“That’s perfect!” Max says excitedly. “We can take advantage of that for us and my friends to find Onesie!”

“And I’m sure they’ll want to help Onesie too,” Dave says equally excited. “We’re gonna have so much fun.”

“Don’t worry, Freddy. I’ll tell my Portal Master friends everything about all this and we can discuss a plan,” Max assures the animatronics. “Now if you don’t mind, we’re gonna enjoy the rest of our time here until it closes.”

“You do that kids,” Monty says with a chuckle as he and his animatronic friends smile at them happily.

As Max and Dave continued to have fun for the day, Onesie was on their minds the whole time and they wished to see her again.

*Meanwhile*

Onesie was still underground as she treaded through the creepy, eerie, run-down hallways of the old Pizzaeria building that fell into a sinkhole.

Then she faced a wall and walked right through it like there was no wall. It was an illusion wall, entering a secret room with a single spot of light in the center above it. Surrounding her, she saw various colorful LED eyes of various colorful animatronics looking at her. She steps calmly into the light. Looking at the eyes of many faces upon her.

“You’re l-l-late,” one of the animatronics’ voice box stutter/glitches. She couldn’t make out if they were angry or disappointed at her.

“I know,” Onesie says calmly and bows her head. “I got held up.”

“By her? Did you come across her again?” This time, it was a calm female voice that spoke soothingly. Like she was acting as a guide and friend.

“I did not. It was two kids who came poking their noses downstairs. Don’t worry, I didn’t tell them anything and I made sure to get rid of them,” Onesie explains calmly.

“G-g-good. We don’t need her t-t-to harm or k-k-kill any kids,” the glitching voice spoke again.

“The lassie could have murdered some kids that we’re not aware of. I say we hunt ‘er down tonight and make brisket out of ‘er!” A pirate voice spoke.

“If only we knew where she’s hiding here in the Pizzaplex!” A high-pitched female voice says in concern. “Rabbits are good at hiding.”

“I agree with the pirate fox!” A raspy and crazed male voice says. “When it comes to death, I am the definition after all. We should capture her and make her choose how she wants to die! We can emphasize fun in Funtime!”

“Freddy, we’re not killing her. Remember what Charlotte said? No killing,” The high-pitched female voice chastised the Freddy's voice. To which he made a sound of disappointment.

“We must have patience. We have tried for so long, and we have made reckless mistakes. We mustn’t jump to eagerness so quickly or we’ll fail again,” the soothing voice reassures everyone.

“You are c-c-correct,” the glitchy voice says. “We c-c-cannot take another r-r-risk if we rush too f-f-fast and carelessly. The Glamrocks and e-e-everyone above know nothing of our e-e-existence. I would like to keep it that way. F-f-for now, we wait until the o-o-opportunity a-a-arise.”

The Freddy's voice groans again in the background. “It’s been a month now. How much longer do we have to wait?! I’m bored!”

“Freddy,” the soothing female voice chastises him.

“He’s right. We’ve been planning precariously down here with little fun of entertainment!” This time a high-pitched male voice says. “It’s about time we go up there to find her.”

“No, we will n-n-not. We w-w-wait,” the glitchy voice says and some animatronics but Onesie groans in a chorus of disappointment. “1Z-2Y, you’re d-d-dismissed.”

“Goldie. Is this Cassidy or is this Evan speaking? Anyway, the two kids I met gave me a nickname for my robot name; Onesie,” Onesie clarifies.

“O-O-Onesie? It sounds… perfect,” the Goldie voice says. Onesie smiles and leaves, going back to her “bed”.

[i-am-bitterly-jittery]

Simply Meant To Be (pt 1)

An expansion on this soulmate blurb (no Virgil in this one though)

[part 2]

Rating: teen

Word Count: 2130

Pairings: Roceit, Intrulogical

Warnings: minor swearing

~~~START~~~

Roman is a romantic, that’s just a fact. He loves love. Any day he gets to watch two soulmates meet each other is automatically a good day. The second best day of his life was getting to watch Remus meet their soulmate when they were sixteen. The best day of his life is reserved for when he meets his own soulmate. 

It hasn’t happened yet, but it will. One day. 

For now, Roman is content with being colorblind (well not content, but he’s learned to not let it bother him too much). Remus and Logan are actually a huge help with that. Logan has even gone as far as to make a list of all of Roman’s clothing and includes a chart of what pieces do and do not go together based on Remus’ (admittedly professional) opinions, and Remus actually went through and labeled all of Roman’s makeup with what color it is and what kind of look it should go with. 

Anyone who vaguely knew the twins might think that Remus would use this opportunity to mess with Roman, but Remus knows how much Roman hates being colorblind; they would never lie to Roman about colors — about other things? Sure, but not colors. 

Remus and Logan met when Logan moved to their school from Georgia. One day Remus had claimed that there was a trail of color — they would later learn that it was navy blue, Logan’s soon-to-be favorite color — leading from the parking lot, to the main office, to the east wing. They’d chosen to skip first period in order to follow it, having never seen the trail before, and Roman, being unwilling to miss the opportunity to watch his brother meet their soulmate, followed him. Remus had walked right into a physics classroom, and straight for a boy with short curls and thick glasses that Roman had never seen before and declared him their soulmate. 

Roman got detention for skipping first period, Remus got a pass on account of meeting their soulmate. 

Most people met their soulmates before they turned twenty-five, after all, how difficult can it be when all you have to do is find the trail of color they leave behind them everywhere they go and follow it?

Well, as Roman has learned in his thirty-five years of being alive, it can be pretty freaking difficult. 

As children, Roman and Remus had wandered their town far and wide looking for colorful trails, and even after they met Logan, Remus continued to go with Roman as he searched, even if they couldn’t see Roman’s soulmate’s trail themself. As soon as Roman graduated from high school, he took the customary gap year that most everybody who hadn’t met their soulmates yet takes to search for their soulmates. 

He never caught a glimpse of anything. 

“What if I missed them somehow? What if I saw their trail and just didn’t realize it?” Roman whines one day at his usual Saturday brunch — because they’re adults goddammit — with Remus and Logan. 

“You wouldn’t have missed them, Ro bro,” Remus assures him as they do every time Roman starts lamenting about having not met his soulmate yet. “Colors are so unmistakable that there’s no way you’ll miss them.”

“And even if you are genetically colorblind — which is unlikely considering Remus is not,” Logan continues before Roman has a chance to respond. “I have read multiple papers that state that soultrails will still make themselves distinct. There are multiple accounts of the trails emitting light, absorbing light, or even emitting sound. All of that is, of course, on top of the translucent cloud that follows your soulmate’s every move. I find it improbable that you, of all people, would not have noticed a soultrail.”

“Yeah, I know you guys are right,” Roman sighs. “I just want to meet them! I’ve travelled all over the place looking for them, where are they?”

Remus says nothing, which Roman is grateful for because Remus has a habit of saying dark jokes in an attempt to lighten the mood, and Roman really doesn’t need to hear them suggest that his soulmate died in a car crash or something right now. Besides, the question is rhetorical. If Remus could see Roman’s soulmate’s trail, then he’s sure they would have spent the last nineteen years looking for them too. 

“Sorry, I guess I brought the mood down,” Roman apologizes. “How are you guys?”

Remus opens their mouth.  

“The PG version, please!” Roman rushes to say before Remus can mentally scar him. Again. 

Remus closes their mouth again. 

Logan rolls his eyes fondly and proceeds to get Roman up to date on all the high school gossip. 

“- and of course the middle school’s robotics instructor left suddenly to follow her soulmate to England, so I have taken over as their advisor until a suitable replacement can be hired.”

“How is that?” Roman asks, cringing at the thought of having to deal with middle schoolers. Kids in general kind of freak him out, but middle schoolers especially. 

“It has been fine, they are not as adept as my high school students, but of course for many of them this is their introduction to such things, so I’m trying to be patient and supportive.”

Roman snorts at that. He’s sure Logan is a good teacher, but his brother-in-law can be a bit short tempered, and has a habit of talking down to people who don’t understand what he’s trying to tell them. 

“Don’t laugh at him!” Remus jumps in to defend their soulmate. “Logan’s great with kids, it’s adults he has a problem with.”

“They are much too old to be as ignorant as they are,” Logan defends himself resolutely. 

“Of course they are, Sugar Butt.” Logan cringes slightly at the pet name, which is really all Remus is ever looking for with their pet names. 

“Anyway,” Logan says, somewhat forcefully. “There is one student who seems to know what he is doing, but he doubts himself at every turn. I have tried telling him that he is doing everything correctly, but he is… reluctant to trust himself.”

“Maybe as the year goes on he’ll gain confidence,” Remus suggests. Logan hums in acknowledgment, and Roman takes that as the end of talking about Logan’s students. “Oh! Ro bro! Did you hear the theater got a new makeup artist?”

“Finally!” Roman groans, thinking back on their last makeup artist. “I swear Lisa was trying to poke my eyes out every time she did my eyeliner!”

“Oh she probably was,” Remus comments offhandedly. “I told her — back when she first started with the theater — that you thought that makeup artisting was a waste of time.”

“WHAT!?” Roman screeches, gaining the attention of the staff and other patrons. 

“Roman,” Logan warns, growing uncomfortable under the curious stares. 

“How could you do that to me?” Roman hisses at a much quieter volume. “I never said that! She hated me for five years because of you!”

Remus shrugs, slurping the end of their drink through their straw loudly. 

“You better not make the new artist hate me!”

“I would never!” Remus gasps, clutching their heart dramatically. 

Roman glares. 

“Cross my heart!” Remus insists with a much too innocent expression. 

“I hate you.”

Remus just gasps again before dissolving into uncontrollable giggles. 

 ~~~

There isn’t rehearsal on Sunday, so Roman doesn’t have to go in to work. Unfortunately, he is saddled by the knowledge that Remus — as the theater’s costume designer — does have to go in today, and therefore has a whole day to lie to the new makeup artist about him. 

Come Monday, all Roman can do is hope that Remus hasn’t done irreparable damage. 

“Calm down,” Remus orders when they come to pick Roman up. “They weren’t even in yesterday; I haven’t met them yet.”

“I’m not letting you ruin my relationship with the makeup artist again,” Roman pouts. 

“Just try and stop me!” Remus cackles. 

Once they reach the theater, Roman practically jumps from the car before Remus has even parked. 

“REAL MATURE!” Remus yells after him as he sprints for the theater door. 

“THIS ONE IS GOING TO LIKE ME!” Roman yells back. 

“NOT IF I MEET THEM FIRST!”

Roman skids to a stop as soon as he reaches the lobby. Not expecting their twin to just be standing there, Remus slams into his back, throwing them both to the ground. 

“The fuck, Ro Bro?” Remus demands as they flop off their brother and onto their back. 

“I-I see it,” Roman whispers, voice filled with wonder. 

“See what?” Remus demands. “The lobby? You’ve seen the lobby bef-oh!”

The awestruck look on Roman’s face finally clicks, and Remus bounces excitedly. 

“You see it? Like it it?” Remus scrambles to their feet, dragging Roman up with them. “Where? Which way does it go?”

“It looks like how the sun feels,” Roman says instead of answering. “All light and warm and good.”

“Roman Kingsley you tell me which way your soulmate went this instant!” Remus demands loudly. This is important dammit!

“It goes from there,” Roman points to the side door that’s usually used by staff that take the bus to work. “To there,” the door leading backstage. 

“Excellent!” Remus cheers dragging Roman forward. “Time for your date with destiny!”

Remus throws the backstage door open dramatically, but Roman groans as he realizes that his soulmate’s trail is going in literally every direction, making it impossible to know which way they went last. 

“Well?” Remus asks expectantly. 

“Either my soulmate is familiarizing themself to the theater, or they knew I’d be here and are trying to spite me,” Roman answers somewhat dejectedly. “I can’t tell which trail is freshest.”

“Well shit.” Remus scans each entry as though Roman’s soulmate will just happen to wander in (plausible, considering they’ve trailed all over the theater). 

“Hey guys!” A voice calls from by the dressing rooms. The brothers turn to find Thomas, the owner of the theater and their boss. 

“Thomas!” Remus cries gleefully. “My absolute favoritest person in the world behind my incredibly sexy soulmate!”

“Okay, so you want something,” Thomas answers with an amused grin. Remus always piles on the compliments when they want something.

“Who’s new today?” Roman asks, more to the point. 

“Like, in the theater?” Thomas asks. “Just Janus, the new makeup artist. Why?” Thomas’s eyes widen as if he’s just had a realization. “You’re not going to prank him or something, are you? He’s very talented, I can’t have you scaring him away already!”

“Roman’s soulmate is the new makeup artist? Lame,” Remus pouts. “How am I supposed to trick him into hating Roman?”

“Soulmate?”

“My soulmate is in the building, Thomas!” Roman declares, striking a dashing pose before deflating a little. “Except his trail leads all over the place, I don’t know where he went!”

“Oh… well,” Thomas looks to each direction Janus could have gone, but he clearly doesn’t know which way Janus would have gone. “He said he wanted to get a lay of the land before everyone got here…”

“I got this!” Remus pipes up suddenly before cupping their hands around their mouth like a megaphone and screaming at the top of their lungs. “JANUS!”

“What?” A faint, far-off voice calls back, followed but the sound of hurried footsteps. “Thomas?”

“Dressing rooms!” Thomas calls back. 

Footsteps thunder down the stairs, and all too soon a man appears on them. 

The first time you lay eyes on your soulmate, you begin to see the world in color. Everyone’s experience is different: Remus said that as soon as he laid eyes on Logan, the world exploded violently into vibrant shades. Logan said that colors appeared one at time, quickly, but slow enough for him to notice. Roman’s mom said that her soulmate’s trail swelled to fill the space before things slowly began to take on their proper color, and his mama said that it was almost like everything had always had color, she just hadn’t bothered to notice before. 

For Roman, the man before him is painted in vibrant shades while the background remains in grayscale, but as soon as the man makes eye contact, his colors begin to slowly bleed throughout the space. 

The man’s eyes widen as he stares, slack-jawed at Roman — no doubt mirroring Roman’s own expression. 

“I’m Roman,” Roman says quickly, before Remus can forever ruin his first meeting with his soulmate by making a dick joke or something. 

The man smiles and Roman immediately decides that his favorite color is whatever this guy’s eyes are — they’re hazel, but Roman will later change his favorite color to red after realizing how stunning and bold the color is when it isn’t just another shade of gray. 

“Janus.”

~~~TO BE CONTINUED~~~

General Taglist:

@royalty-of-all-things-snuggly

@pixelated-pineapple

[azucanela]

interlude

pairing: bakugou katsuki x fem!reader. CAN BE READ AS A ONE SHOT.

warnings: cursing. otherwise, fluff kinda. 

word count: 3k

summary: the history of y/n l/n and bakugou katsuki. or at least, the beginning of their history. 

series masterlist

IT SMELLS OF COFFEE AND PASTRIES, it’s a smell Y/N greets each day with joy. Everytime, she found herself grateful that she had elected to work at the café, seeing as it did have a few added benefits— like a free drink and pastry each time she worked, and the salary. And in Y/N’s eyes, baking was a pretty valuable skill, seeing as she couldn’t cook without destroying a kitchen. Though she had tried in the past, most of her attempts hadn’t really ended well, which is why she stuck with baking. 

Of course, it was a tad difficult rushing to the café each day after school, especially since it was on the opposite part of her area, but Y/N had found that the cash she made was worth it. And though the walk home could be considered dangerous— well, with a quirk like hers that wasn’t necessarily a huge worry. Although Y/N didn’t really enjoy using her quirk for such things seeing as that would likely result in jail.

She actually intended to apply to UA this year, though if she did get in,Y/N wasn’t necessarily sure she was prepared to give up her job at the café. She’d made friends with a lot of the employees, and the owners as well. It was a nice, local business, and everyone that worked there was kind(for the most part, sometimes the teasing she recieved was a bit annoying). Most of the regulars were fairly sweet as well. Now that Y/N had switched shifts though, she wasn’t necessarily sure what to expect. 

Which is why this blond boy had caught her off guard.

“Medium hot chocolate and,” he places one of few bags of chips the café sells, onto the counter, “this please.” He grumbles out. All the chips are lined up on a small rack, and Y/N can’t help but find it a tad odd that he’d selected the spicy variant. Or the fact that he’d selected chips in general seeing as that was odd to pair was with hot chocolate in the first place. 

Looking between the chips and him, her brows furrowed temporarily as she said, “odd combination but alright. Your total is $7.02.” 

The boy looks to her incredulously, and looking at him now Y/N realizes he seems around her age. “Odd? You’re odd.” Comes his response, tone rather accusatory. It’s an elementary insult, and Y/N probably would’ve laughed at the fact had she not been extremely confused as to why he had even taken offense to her statement. Who has a sweet drink with spicy food? That was just plain abnormal. 

“Excuse me?” Y/N asked, watching as he practically glared holes into the cash he placed onto the counter. 

Rolling his eyes, the blond looked to her with his eyes narrowed, “aren’t you a little young to be working?” His eyes dart around the shop, and Y/N elects not to tell him that her coworkers are currently in the back finishing up some of their more popular pastries as she straightens her posture from behind the counter.

“Aren’t you a little old to be drinking hot chocolate?” Granted they were probably the same age and Y/N drank hot chocolate frequently herself, but Y/N was starting to get annoyed. And if he wanted to pester her, why shouldn’t she do the same? 

Stupid gremlin. The customer is not always right, and Y/N would be damned if she let him believe that.

His mouth gapes open at her words, and she can feel the warm of his hands as she drops the change into the palm of them— his gloves seem to have holes, causing her brows to furrow as he replies, “anyone can have hot chocolate, you heathen.”

Y/N is suddenly reminded that the customer is always right before offering him a sarcastic smile and saying, “well, your hot chocolate will be done soon.” Picking up one of the cups to her side and grabbing a marker, she goes to write his name only to realize she hadn’t asked for one. Meaning she would be forced to interact with the boy again, much to her dismay. 

Cursing under her breath Y/N calls out, “hey— hey? Hey blondie!” 

The boy has barely made his way to the waiting area of the café, but Y/N is grateful that this isn’t one of their busy hours and nobody else is inside as he whips his head around, practically fuming as he asks, “the hell you call me?”

“I need to know your name, blondie.” Comes Y/N’s response, gesturing to the cup in her hand. He seems to get the message, and Y/N has a feeling he’s questioning her ability as a barista as he looks between her and the cup.

The boy scowls, huffing in annoyance as he replies, “Bakugou.” Scrunching up his nose, he looks away, settling at one of the tables and adjusting his backpack on his shoulder. His foot tapping rather rapidly at the floor, Y/N imagines he wants to leave as soon as possible.

Of course, Y/N finds herself calling out for blondie rather than Bakugou, just to spite him. The boy likely would’ve snatched the drink out of her hand had it not been for the fact that boiling hot liquids tended to be dangerous. 

Evidently, the hot chocolate was about as hot as his temper at this point. Y/N wonders if she would feel that same rage by touching him, though she quickly pushes that thought to the back of her mind when she realizes she doesn’t really want to feel angry, nor does she want to touch the hot headed boy.

That would probably prove fatal for her. 

APPARENTLY BAKUGOU COMES OFTEN for his hot chocolate. Sometimes he sits by the window of the café, eating his stupid chips. And yet, Y/N is intrigued by his presence, he seems interesting and from the looks of his textbook, he’s trying to get into UA too. Studying hard to ensure he passes the academic aspects of the exam. Y/N had done the same, and there was no denying that UA was a prestigious school from the looks of their courses. And well, attending UA was practically guaranteed success. 

Maybe it’s because Bakugou is a questionable person, or because she wants to know more about her possible competitor, but Y/N finds herself coming to his lonesome table by the window, two plates in hand that she places— a lot more roughly than necessary— onto the table, before plopping down into the seat opposite of him. This seems to startle him, as he jumps in his seat, brows furrowing together at the sight of her as he asks, “the hell you want?”

Y/N simply shrugs, leaning back in her chair, “I’m on break and I’m bored.” 

“So you decided to bother me?” 

Okay, maybe the boy had been working a bit too much and Y/N had become a little concerned, but that didn’t matter because he was still annoying. It’s just that in the past two months she’d seen him more frequently, and learnt a bit more about him so… Bakugou had become tolerable. So Y/N finds herself replying, “yes.” She pushes the plate towards him, “now try something other than those chips.” 

He looks between her and the pastry she’s set before him, a simple muffin, and Y/N wonders if he thinks she’s poisoned it. Although, with their track record, it’s a reasonable assumption. That doesn’t stop her from gesturing to it, looking to him expectantly. In response, Bakugou looks at her dully, though he picks up the muffin and takes a bite of it. His eyes seem to widen and Y/N finds herself grinning.

“Shocked I didn’t poison you?” She sits up in her seat, leaning forwards, “was it good?”

His cheeks seem to redden as he looks away, “it was alright.” Comes Bakugou’s response, though he takes another bite of the pastry.

“I like to think my pastries are better than alright.” 

Bakugou looks to her, tilting his head as he asks, “you cook?” 

Y/N shakes her head, laughing slightly as she replies, “absolutely not. I would probably burn down the kitchen. Baking is a necessary skill here though.” That much was definitely true, she had never been the best when it came to cooking, and it was certainly a downfall of hers seeing as Y/N could not live off pastries. 

“Well, I do.”

Y/N tilts her head at him, confusion clear in her face as she asks, “you what?”

“I cook, idiot.” Bakugou replies, clearly frustrated— or more accurately, flustered— that he’d had to clarify. 

Y/N simply grins before saying, “perhaps I could judge your cooking sometime then.”

Bakugou doesn’t say anything, simply glancing to her momentarily before his eyes return to the textbook before him. Though he doesn’t make any attempts to shoo her from the area, causing Y/N to smile as she takes her own plate of food and looks out the window. 

It becomes a more frequent thing, Bakugou doesn’t bother to look up from his textbook anymore, though he does eat the pastries Y/N brings along with her as the pair sits in silence. It’s a peaceful thing that Y/N finds herself adoring despite their first interaction. This certainly isn’t how she expected her relationship with the boy to go. But hey, friendship comes from the weirdest of places, right? And Bakugou makes good company when he’s not yelling and screaming at you with a variety of— empty— threats. 

It’s quite a curious friendship indeed. 

Even the rest of her co-workers take notice of the pair, leading them to ask her… equally curious questions. Or more accurately— nosy questions. Embarrassing ones like those that your relatives ask when they see you after a long while.

“I’m not even in high school yet!” Y/N cried out, scrunching her nose in disgust as she swats away the hand of Lily, she’s a bit older than Y/N. “I do not want to date Bakugou you hag.” Y/N almost cringes at the fact that Bakugou’s language has begun to rub off on her, though she simply inhales deeply as she glares at Lily. Though she seems to be rather pleased ith Y/N’s reaction.

Rosalyn, one of the full time and adult employees, steps in at this. Laughing at her words as she rests a hand on her shoulder, “be kind to Lily. She’s just curious. After all, you do spend quite a bit of time together.” She raises a brow, eyes drifting towards Bakugou, who is seated at his usual spot, “are you sure you don’t—”

Y/N can feel her cheeks warm, gently pushing Rosalyn’s hand from her shoulder as she looks away from the pair. “He’s my friend, and that’s all he ever will be.” She grumbled out, “if anything he’s more of a rival.” 

“Have you ever tried to touch him and find out how he feels about you?” Lily asks, a cruel grin on her face. Y/N suddenly finds herself upset that she had ever explained her quirk to Lily in the first place, looking away from Lily as she swatted at her. It wasn’t the first time she’d made such a comment regarding Y/N’s quirk, Lily had even asked for quite a few favors, not that Y/N had ever indulged in her wishes. 

“Absolutely not.” It’s an invasion of privacy, similar to if someone with a telepathy quirk searched your mind for your darkest secrets. Y/N wasn’t one to invade the privacy of others, much less Bakugou of all people. And she’d found that even if she swore she’d never do such a thing, there was always that underlying fear that she would in a person’s mind. Y/N could feel the anxiety even if she wasn’t touching them.

Sometimes Y/N wonders what Bakugou would do if he knew the semantics of her quirk. He’d seemed to have caught onto some aspects at least, but he’d never asked. Y/N was grateful for it, but she’d caught his curious glances at the gloves she’d worn since long before they’d met. And if she was honest, she was mainly attending UA to learn how to control her quirk. Being a hero had never really interested her.

And Y/N doesn’t need to look at Rosalyn to know she probably didn’t believe her words, but she decides this doesn’t matter, Y/N doesn’t have to prove anything, to anyone. After all, who’s to say she’ll even see Bakugou after the UA exam. Maybe she gets in and he doesn’t, or vice versa. And suddenly neither of them have the time to see one another. 

Not that it mattered.

BAKUGOU DOESN’T EXPECT TO SEE Y/N entering UA, she’s actually speaking to Deku, helping him with his things alongside some other girl when he nearly trips and falls. Offering him a smile, Y/N picks up his journal— that had fallen from his bag— and hands it back to him. Bakugou finds himself observing the interaction in pure shock, his mind skipping right past the fact that Izuku was here because what the hell was Y/N doing here?

He watches as Izuku extends a hand to Y/N, though she simply waves him off as they continue to speak. So Bakugou’s eyes fell on her gloved hands, he’d never seen her without them. They seemed specifically made for her, and he had a feeling that it had to do with her quirk. Which was apparently good enough for her to get into UA High School. Bakugou had never asked about them, scared of crossing the invisible lines they’d drawn in the sand, but he’d always been curious. 

Bakugou is still deep in thought when he realizes he doesn’t really have a chance to decide his next course of action, seeing as Izuku seems to notice him first, calling out— “Kacchan! Hi!” He’s waving rather enthusiastically beaming at him. And now Bakugou is left with dozens of questions because somehow Deku was here too.

His head whips over to Izuku, and Bakugou finds himself shoving his hands into his pockets as he looks away. Though Y/N seems to take note of this as she smiles, “Bakugou! I didn’t realize you had other friends.” Her words are teasing, which isn’t uncommon between them, but right now he’s not really sure about what to do because he was kind of hoping Y/N would never meet Izuku or vice versa.

So, Bakugou elects not to correct her, to tell her Deku is definitely not his friend, and instead looks to her incredulously, “why the hell didn’t you tell me you were applying to UA?” She’d definitely noticed after months of joining him in his corner of the café— where he had chosen to study since his mother could be a tad loud, which was rather distracting. Y/N had undoubtedly seen his textbook regarding the UA entrance exam so why hadn’t she mentioned she would be applying too?

Y/N simply shrugs, and she doesn’t seem to notice the look of shock on Izuku’s face as she responds, “I wanted it to be a surprise.” Bakugou is left speechless, and does nothing but watch as Y/N gently taps his nose with a smile, all the while Izuku stands in complete and utter shock, because somehow this girl was still alive.

“Y/N how did you do that? Is it your quirk? What is your quirk—”

Looking back to him, Y/N nearly jumps at the number of questions he’s bombarding her with, stumbling back and bumping into Bakugou, “shut it Deku.” He grumbles out, hand pressing against the boys head and shoving him away. While his other arm braces Y/N.

He’d noticed a while back that she had never been the type for physical contact of any kind, coupled with the gloves, he was fairly sure her quirk had something to do with such contact at this point. Which is why he moves to give her space, only for her to grab his wrist. 

Bakugou pauses, meeting Y/N’s eyes momentarily before pressing his lips together into a tight lipped smile. She blinks once, twice, before breaking eye contact and looking back to Izuku with an awkward smile. 

“Sorry about that. My quirk makes physical contact a tad…” She inhales deeply, “overwhelming.” Y/N looks back to Bakugou, “sorry.” She repeats, lips pressing together to form a thin line. 

Y/N can’t help but be grateful that she touched Bakugou, his emotions— his confidence especially— being a refreshing feeling in comparison to those around them that reeked of anxiety. Although it was their first day at one of the most prestigious schools in the world. That didn’t mean she wanted to feel the anxiety of every damn student around. It provides her with solace, something to ground her, even if only for a moment.

He simply shrugs, looking away from her. But he doesn’t move. 

Inhaling deeply, Y/N turned back to Izuku, tilting her head in confusion, “but I didn’t use my quirk? What do you mean by—”

“Nothing. He means nothing.” Bakugou interjects almost instantly, eyes locking with Izuku’s. As though this entire interaction couldn’t have shocked him more, Izuku suddenly seems to understand what’s going on. It hits him like a pound of bricks as he looks between Y/N and Bakugou.

Izuku cannot believe his eyes. Bakugou Katsuki has a crush. 

note: and so the past begins to unravel ;)

[sanghyukstattoos]

Along the way

Characters: Kim Seokwoo I Rowoon x Reader

Genre: Fluff, angst 

Words:1789

Summary: At a house party or a so-called dreaded 'family gathering', you detest the situation, how you feel and everything. That is until Seokwoo picks you up and is there for you all the way home.

A/N: Pictures from DailyRowoon 

Thank you to the anon who requested this! When I was writing this, I slipped into a little daze and I was at my best writing this so I do hope that you love it! Personally, when things get hard for me, I am that person who plans it all out in her head. I’ll speak myself through it including why I have been feeling or why I feel in a particular way and how to solve the problem so a little bit of that is incorporated into this fic!

You were at your family’s house, sitting on the sofa and holding your breath, waiting for the right time to jump into the conversation. They were feuding about something and while no one was screaming, you could feel how tense the room was. 

They make a big deal about everything, you thought but stayed quiet. Nothing good would come from you pointing out their obvious mistakes. It was right there and you felt a sudden surge of anger. You didn’t know where it came from either- there were so any sources.

You didn’t know how riled up you were getting but you did know not to get angry because apparently, that came to you pretty easily. Just because someone told you to control yourself didn’t mean you didn’t feel it. 

Your felt the dull ache in your temple become something more as your family snapped their heads in your direction when you spoke while nodding your head in the direction , ‘’It’s right there’’.

There was a small hum floating from your family members as they considered what you were saying but then it all went to shit. To them, it was something else but it mattered to you- wasn’t what you wanted also important?

The room grew more hot as they dismissed your statement, some feeling annoyed while others gave you small, pitiful smiles as they all went back to what they were doing. 

You stayed quiet and laid low for the next few minutes, contemplating how you spoke just a few moments ago. You wavered when you spoke, especially towards the end. 

Maybe it was obvious, that’s why they gave you those smiles. You looked around to see everyone smiling, automatically nodding and giving a bright smile to a family member who raised their eyebrows at you, presumably in concern.

They just picked whatever they wanted, dismissing the rest as, ‘’it’s okay, how important could it be?’’. Knowing that somewhere in the future you wouldn’t be here made you cautious but for now you were stuck in this place.

Forced to endure this because it was social of you to do so, you couldn’t possibly have a problem with your family- after all, they were your family. Your family member next to you, turned to you saying, ‘’Why do they sound like that when they fight?’’ making you look over and laugh as well.

You felt guilty for laughing for none of it showed on your face, laughing along with the person beside you. Not even a couple of seconds had passed till they spoke up, pointing in the direction mentioned while saying, ‘’See? It’s right there’’

From there on, recognition pandered onto their faces and you slumped, recognising that you should have just pointed it look like your family member. Some faces looked at you too and you nodded saying, ‘’I said that!’’

‘‘We know..’‘, ‘‘Something about the way you explained...’‘ was all that you heard before you heard the sound of your phone buzzing. Your head was spinning and there wasn’t much room to breathe but you couldn’t have been more happy that it was Ro on the other end. 

Standing up, you ignored the looks you got from your family members and headed to the exit to take the call. ‘’Hey, you doing okay?’’ was the very first thing you heard and you genuinely smiled, replying, ‘’Hey, I’m doing good’’.

‘‘What time do you want me to pick you up?’‘ Seokwoo asked, having just finished work. 

‘‘Uh’‘ you started out, searching the area for any of your family members to hide what you were going to say next. Your eyes didn’t leave the direction that you were looking towards as you hurriedly whispered, ‘‘A little earlier than planned’‘

Fearing that he would ask for the time, you calmed down when he asked, ‘’8:30?’’. Leaning away to check the time on your phone, you shook your head in disagreement as you responded with, ‘’no’’.

‘‘7:45?’‘ he asked, this time hitting the mark. You agreed, exclaiming, ‘‘yes!’‘ and he agreed as well. In the background, you could hear the car starting as he came to pick you up. 

There wasn’t exactly an end to family gatherings, they all just left when everyone agreed to leave. It also wasn’t easy to shove so many people out of the door and knowing that they had the opportunity, they would all stay till midnight. 

You felt victorious yet juvenile as you walked back to the living room to tell your parents the good news. Looking at your family member, you envied how she was able to thrive in such a harsh environment. 

Now, all that was remaining was for you to break it to them and that mattered. How you broke the news to them was important. Pulling your other family member close to you, the concern on her face almost broke you in two.

‘‘I have to go since we are both busy tomorrow’’ you said pouting, carefully watching how she reacted. She hummed before asking, ‘‘Is Seokwoo coming to pick you up?’‘ to which you slightly nodded to replying, ‘‘In 15 minutes’‘. 

You kept yourself from smiling out and after spilling it to your other family members, you would have wished to see the spoils of joy on their faces but instead got into Seokwoo’s car. 

This time your entrance was different and a whole lot better. It felt good to be back as you gave him a quick peck on his cheek. You reflected his wide smile, leaning your head on the headrest.

"How was it?" he asked, inquisitive but careful at the same time knowing that your family had a given history of making you feel like an outsider whenever they all came around. You hummed, dismissing the answer and instead looking at him and shrugging your shoulders, clearly exhausted.

"Don't stress about it a lot" he cautioned, hand on the steering wheel while one slipped into yours, wanting to be close to you in your time of pure distress. Gripping his hand tighter, you replied, "It's tiring, but I can make it" nodding as you said the latter, hoping to convince yourself that you could hold on.

It all sounded like fireworks to you but a part of you hoped that Seokwoo bought it because he was worried. You were an adult and if anything, they were people out there going through worse. It was a reminder that you didn't have to worry about something so small.

Whatever you thought to try and show that it wasn’t that big of a deal, there were always your own original thoughts at the back of your mind, trying to breach the surface. You had spoken to your family about how you felt, delivering in soft blows rather than directly and their response dismissed how you felt.

They had managed to convince you that the problem was now over, now that you had spoken to them but you felt as if no real change occurred. Truth to be told, you didn't have a proper explanation for this or anything like it but you did try your best.

Then again, what counted as a proper explanation?

"Hey" Seokwoo softly spoke, looking over at you in concern to see that you were looking out of the window with a look of despair on your face. It was at times like these that your real emotions would pour through, at times when you were stressed but tried to control how you truly felt.

You gave him a small smile and looked away, blinking the tears back. You felt hypervigilant now, also noticing how tightly you were gripping his hand. And then you felt grateful realising that he knew but gave you your space anyways.

You could show someone an example of what feeling like an outsider felt like in your family but individually, the single events did not count. On the other hand, a culmination or tyrannical combination of all these events made much more sense to your point.

They could point out how you were exaggerating the reality of the situation much like your family or at least how you thought they would react but Seokwoo and you knew the truth. Even before Seokwoo, you would live in your own mind, gradually moving away from the negativity.

Although the problem persisted, you once called into question your thoughts about yourself, the world and your future- the negative triad. It was simply a triad but you did know that you had negative thoughts regarding all three, making it your negative triad.

At present, you were content with yourself and the life you built that didn't involve a complete involvement of your family. Somehow, your problem with your family became your world and on a whole you were not angry at the world but you weren't angry at your family either. You couldn't change their actions and words towards you but you could change how you reacted towards them. As per the future, you didn't want to focus on that right now for your present work, relationship with Seokwoo and friends held so much more worth.

Taking a breath in, you released a shaky one, swallowing your tears and smiling. Hearing you, Seokwoo scrunched his nose in delight, happy that you were okay. You were also strong in every right for it made him plenty strong too. It was unfair to say that you shouldn't have felt terrible as others had bigger problems because you could acknowledge that fact but this was still your problem.

He didn't meet you like this and neither did you let this affect you in any way outside of your family home. Once it was over, you would be close to tears but it would hardly take you that same amount of time each time to pack your bags and move on.

Neither did he step in to defend you from your family because they were not your enemies. To them, they had the best intentions but drastically different ways of expressing it and Seokwoo supported you through it. You healed and went on to be your best self, knowing that you were surrounded by those that loved you because love came in different forms.

"I'm okay" you spoke, a lot more happier this time whilst looking at him. A smile slowly made its way to his face as he heard your words, rubbing circles onto your loosened grip on his hand. Resting on the headrest, you sighed in relief, all the stress and disbelief floating out of your system. Giving once last caring look at you, Seokwoo drove home where the two of you laid in each other’s arms, drifting off to blissful sleep. 

[in-tua-deep]

Vanya is so tired of all the bullshit at this point in unviable au and like just Vanya being a tad bit p snarky is great

honestly if you hang around Klaus long enough you have to develop snark in sheer self defense. ESPECIALLY a Klaus who talks to not one but TWO ghosts so you only get like, a whole half to a third of the conversation and have to fill in the blanks yourself smh

And Vanya?? she protective where it counts. In the show itself, Leonard gets there first and when Allison questions him, Vanya gets defensive. In the unviable au, Klaus gets there first and makes Vanya feel included. So even though he’s an absolute pain in the ass she comes down resolutely on his side

And Klaus, who is used to having none of his (living) siblings on his side... it’s nice. When Allison accuses him of just wanting to grift Vanya for drug money... she defends him.

Even Diego, who also loves Klaus, would probably just gruffly say that that’s his problem.

So Vanya and Klaus get pretty close in this au actually, and you know what that means???

It’s Klaus who technically stops the apocalypse. Just by being there for her.

Actually now that I think about it, this might genuinely be an everyone lives au?? Except Five ofc, but like. Leonard Peabody hasn’t been able to get close to Vanya yet, so he probably doesn’t kill Helen Cho so that Vanya can be first chair. Wow like, so far no one except Five and Ben has died what a wild ride.

So they get team apocalypse together and recruit two more (hello boyfriend Dave, who is going to help Klaus keep clean!!) and then... what?

With all the stress and everything going on, Vanya probably... forgets to take her pills. She doesn’t even think about it in between trying to figure out what they’re supposed to be doing to prevent the apocalypse when their only clue is that someone related to Vanya might cause the apocalypse? And even then, could be a chain effect so the number of people who could end the world is like... weirdly high. 

And hey, Vanya has other things to worry about than her pills anyway. Klaus keeps trying to raid the fridge, if Diego puts a hole in her walls with one of his knives she’s actually going to commit murder, Dave keeps politely asking where she keeps various things so that he can make everyone tea. Five keeps rattling things to prove that he’s there (and he really needs to stop because being physical with items takes energy he needs to conserve)

Anyway, since Hazel and Cha-Cha were asking questions about Vanya, they realize that Vanya’s place... probably isn’t the safest? So they all end up going to the library to camp out because lets be real the library is an excellent public resource, and lots of libraries have private rooms - nowhere better to brainstorm

“If they know about my apartment, then they know about the mansion.” Vanya points out, absently rolling a marker across the table. 

(The room came with a whiteboard, presumably to help students or something, that Five has already capitalized as his own personal writing surface since Klaus tends to prefer paraphrase over direct translation.)

“The mansion?” Dave asks politely, because he really has no idea what the fuck he’s in for.

“Where we grew up.” Vanya informs him, because she’s a nice person and figures he doesn’t deserve to flounder considering he’s literally out of time here. 

“I told you about how dad sucked.” Klaus says offhandedly as he swipes a purple marker from thin air so that he can continue doodling flowers on the whiteboard.

“Okay okay,” Dave says, waving his hands, “Slow down. Was everything you told me true? Because I will be honest I thought most of it was like. Your uh, vivid imagination.”

“Probably true,” Diego says over Klaus’s outraged squawk, “But very... embellished. Klaus has that effect.”

“I resemble that remark!” Klaus pulls himself together admirably.

“I know you do, babe.” Dave says, leaning over to take Klaus’s hand in his own, smiling fondly. Klaus absolutely melts and a large E W is written across the whiteboard in bright red ink. 

“Mind your business, junior.” Klaus says, sticking his tongue out in the direction everyone assumes Five to be. Immediately after this comment, Klaus gets beaned in the head by said red marker.

“Children, children.” Vanya rolls her eyes, “Can we get along for five minutes?”

“In this family?” Diego snorts dismissively. And then starts because Vanya smacks him on the arm for being an ass.

In the last few days, Vanya has attended the funeral of the man who emotionally fucked her up, found out that her two dead brothers were hanging around, found out the apocalypse was incoming, is being stalked by time traveling assassins because she is somehow related to the apocalypse happening, lied to people to get info on an eye, bailed on practice, crawled out a bathroom window, rescued her kidnapped brother only to watch him vanish before her eyes. Honestly she is all out of fucks to give. She’s tired, cranky, and more than a little stressed.

“Can you order pizza to a library?” Klaus muses absently, head turned in a way that means he’s probably talking to Ben. 

“No, Klaus. Stop.” Vanya all but begs.

“Not that I don’t love the library.” Dave observes, looking around. He looks around a lot, constantly marveling at the differences between the world back in his day and now. “But if Vanya’s apartment and uh, ‘the mansion’ aren’t options. Where are we supposed to be staying?”

Bless Dave for keeping them on topic.

Vanya and Klaus look at each other. And then as one they look at Diego.

“No. Absolutely not.” Diego protests, crossing his arms. “I live in a boiler room. That doesn’t even count. It can’t have four people staying in it.”

“Six people.” Klaus emphasizes, gesturing at thin air. Diego mumbles apologies, which is in self preservation really because Five really does have fantastic aim and doesn’t give a fuck about manners. 

“We can have a sleepover!” Klaus cheers, clapping his hands like he’s at a one man party. 

“No.” Diego emphasizes.

They all end up in Diego’s boiler room. 

“Five says he wants the bed.” Klaus claims as soon as they walk in.

“Five is dead.” Diego growls, “He’s not getting the bed.”

“Ben says that’s dead-ist.” Klaus accuses pointing a finger at Diego, who slaps it away. 

“Well I suppose the youngest should get the bed.” Vanya muses out loud, which just makes Klaus burst into laughter. This in turn means that the pillow on Diego’s bed seems to move on its own in an attempt to smother the lanky man.

“I’m fine with the floor.” Dave offers, “Used to way worse in the jungle. This’ll actually be pretty nice. No bugs at least.”

Klaus pauses in wrestling with the pillow, “Aw, babe. That’s so sweet. I’m on the floor, too!”

Diego sighs deeply, “Ugh. Fucking. Fine. Vanya can have the bed.”

“Thank you.” Vanya says gracefully, picking her way through Diego’s... place is a generous word, to sit on the bed. 

“Do you have any movies?” Klaus asks, and has has somehow transitioned to being sprawled across the floor kicking his feet in the air with his face in his hands, “Oh! Or popcorn! Nail polish?”

“This is not a sleepover.” Diego growls, “This is... this is a tactical base.”

“I have some hairties in my pocket?” Vanya offers, fishing out one and tossing to towards a squealing Klaus. 

“Yes!” Klaus cheers, holding up his prize with great victory, “Vanya, can I do you hair?”

“Sure.” Vanya says shrugging, scooching over to allow for Klaus to scrabble onto the bed to sit behind her. 

“Hey Diego do you own a hairbrush?” Klaus asks, pulling Vanya’s hair out of her ponytail and running his fingers through it. Diego scowls. “I’ll take that as a no.”

Klaus scooches over enough so that Dave can sit behind him and they manage to cram three adults onto the bed as Dave starts ruffling at Klaus’s hair, humming thoughtfully. 

“I hate all of you.” Diego growls, crossing his arms and definitely not pouting. 

“I love team apocalypse.” Klaus says as cheerfully as possible.

“Don’t you have two other siblings?” Dave asks, brow furrowed in slight confusion. Klaus probably told him all about his fucked up family while they were in Vietnam together, to pass the time. At the time Dave hadn’t actually believed Klaus (body of a monkey? teleportation? tentacle powers? but you know what he’s in the future and he’s either having the worst acid trip, he’s dead, or this is real and why not roll with it).

Vanya, Klaus, and Diego all grimace as one.

“Luther and Allison... have their own issues they’re working on right now.” Vanya says diplomatically.

“Hold up.” Klaus says, craning his head around to look at Diego, “Is Luther still on that ‘dad was murdered’ bullshit?”

“Your dad was murdered?” Dave asks, looking a little shocked.

“What is Allison even doing?” Diego tilts his head a little bit, ignoring Dave’s question entirely.

“Judging my life choices.” Vanya mutters reproachfully. Klaus, as the terrible life choice in question, pats her shoulder sympathetically. 

“In all fairness, if it weren’t for. You know. Everything. I probably would have robbed you for money.” Klaus admits with a simple shrug, and gets a pat on the shoulder from Dave in return.

“I know she cares or whatever.” Vanya says sighing, “But like. The way she goes about it. Like she knows everything and has to impart her wisdom on us lesser beings. Like she didn’t ruin her own life.”

“Wow.” Klaus hums, tugging on the end on Vanya’s new braid, “I didn’t realize we were onto the shit talking portion of the sleepover.”

“This isn’t a sleepover.” Diego’s protest falls on deaf ears.

“I’m open to building a relationship.” Vanya says firmly, “But that’s what it needs to be. Building a relationship. Because quite frankly, we don’t have one. She acts like, I don’t know, the fact that we’re sisters should trump the fact that she ignored me at best for like, the last twenty-nine years of my life.”

“Go off, queen.” Klaus says gleefully, running his fingers through Vanya’s hair and undoing the braid he just finished entirely. “Where have you been hiding all our lives?”

“In my room, mostly.” Vanya deadpans, “Sequestered away like all of Dad’s boring treasures.”

“If your dad was still alive I’d fight him for all of you.” Dave says very seriously. Seriously enough that it makes Vanya snort, and Klaus burst into giggles, and even Diego shakes his head. 

“I love you so much, Dave.” Klaus says seriously, and then looks over Dave’s shoulder, “No I don’t - it’s a different sort of love Ben. You’re still my favorite brother! Wait, no Five - actually yes Five because Ben is everyone’s favorite brother - ”

“Confirmed.” Diego immediately says, which makes Klaus whirl around, his hand at his chest and gasping like a Victorian maiden. 

“Sorry Five.” Vanya says, nodding along mock seriously. “Ben never lost my violin bow and tried to blame it on the monster under the bed.”

“Hold up, hold up hold up.” Klaus says immediately, eyes pingponging between Vanya and someone the rest of them can’t see, “I smell a story. Pray tell, Vanya. Do you have a tale that paints the illustrious Five in a... less than pristine light?”

“Oh Klaus.” Vanya practically purrs, mischief lighting up her eyes, “I was Five’s favorite sibling. I know all the dirty little secrets.”

And that’s the moment when Diego’s shitty bed flips and dumps Vanya, Klaus, and Dave onto the floor.

“Five!” 

[calliecat93]

ST: TNG S6 Watchthrough Episodes 6-9

True Q: After a complete absence last season, Q is back! So why’s he there this time? A young woman named Amanda is on the ship... and it turns out that she has the same powers that the Q Continuum has. Q is there (no meniton of where Vash is though…) to take her to the Continuum, but Amanda doesn’t want to go. She’s happy with her life and she doesn’t want it or her future plans to be taken away from her. It feels like they decided to do a remake of Hide and Q, the one where Q gave Riker Q-like powers. While it is one of S1’s better episodes, I don’t particularly care for that one for a few reasons. This one I felt was an improvement. Amanda’s a really nice girl, I mean her intro has her summon up puppies! She’s struggling with her powers especially when Q makes her realize the extent of it and how she can do literally anything. Under Q’s guidance, she begins to actually enjoy it… but Q is really trying to push her away from being human. She comes close to crossing the line when she tries to make Riker fall in love with her, even using mind-control… but realizes how bad it feels and decides that she doesn’t like being an all-powerful being who forces herself on others. I love how aghast Q is that a Q can have human feelings and want to use their powers to do actual good for others. Honestly I’m confused on why they don’t bring up Amanda using her power to just make herself. We know that the Q’s can do so form Deja Q, so how come that possibility enver comes up. I think I’d have liked that better than Amanda finally agreeing to go at the end. Though to be fair she does so after realizing the greater good that she can do with her power after saving a dying planet and has clearly not at all lost her humanity/compassion. She’s gonna give the Continumm one Hell of a time, huh? But yeah, it was good. It’s not Q’s best appearance, certainly one of his more serious protrayals and kind of reminds me why I hate him. But also why I love him cause he’s just so freakin’ fun, John de Lancie is utterly fantastic in the role, and his amorality really adds so much more depth to the show. When he shows up, you know that you’re gonna get something interesting. After not having him at all last season, this was very much welcomed~ 4/5.

Rascals: We have a de-aged episode folks! Picard, Ro, Guinan, and Keiko have all been turned into young children. They’re not happy about it. Picard cause it undermines his captaincy, Ro because her childhood was traumatic to put it lightly, Keiko because it major complicates things with her husband and child, and Guinan… no actually, Guinan just has fun with it XD Now de-aging episodes can either be really fun or really annoying depending on how it’s done. My favorite one is the one in Justice League Unlimited, which did a good balance between having fun with the concept and still telling a good coherent story with a major heartbreaking line at the end that shows that being a kid again wasn’t fun for everyone. How did TNG do? Honestly IDK why they included Keiko in this. Don’t get me wrong I like Keiko… but it feels like they only included her to do some really cringy humor on how a grown woman got de-aged and is now married to an adult man. Thankfully O'Brien is a good man who’s as uncomfortable with it as I am and doesn’t do anything that he shouldn’t, but still, the show was it really necessary? Aside from that, it was fine. I feel like they’re trying to tell a serious story as per usual… and I think that was the wrong approach. That JLU episode I mentioned did play parts of it seriously, but it also recognized how absurd the whole premise was and rolled with it. There are entertaining bits, like a kid!Picard acting like… well Picard is pretty dang funny, but I just don’t feel like they struck a good balance between the seriousness and just having fun with it. It outright makes the adults all getting overtaken by the Ferengi outright embarrassing, not funny or scary. Like I said though it does have fun moments. I like how Guinan just wanted to have fun while a kid again and manage to get Ro to finally give in and have some form of a happy childhood that she didn’t get to have before. A bunch of children, including the non-de-aged ones like Alexander, outwitting a bunch of Ferengi was also hilarious, especially Picard faking being Riker’s son. Riker’s face when Picard hugged him was amazing. The kid actors were also really good, especially Guinan’s actress. But otherwise, it just kinda feels like they couldn’t decide on a tone and as such while it has its entertaining bits, it feels confused on what kind of episode it wants to be. It’s harmless and another one of those episodes that I’d say adult fans can watch with their kids, but it’s certainly not one of their best efforts. 2/5.

A Fistful of Datas: We got us a Western episode! Hooray~! The crew has some time off and Worf gets forced to agrees to undergo a Wild West Holodeck program with Alexander with Troi also joining in. Too bad that they chose that day to link Data to the ship’s computers and a power surge causes a malfunction n both Data and the computers! Oops. So yeah, the ship/Data is having issues while our trio is trapped in the Holodeck with Data’s image replacing the characters. You know how I just complained that the last episode couldn’t decide between seriousness or comedic and thus they clashed? Not an issue this time! This one was just complete and utter fun~! Even when it gets serious this was just great! The Western heme, Troi being a Western fangirl, them making Brent Spiner play a billion roles again, it is just a blast! Heck just having Worf in this role where he’s clearly dreading everything, then has fun with it (at least until Alexander gets kidnapped/the Data thing) I'm just so nice haha! I can’t think of much else to say but another fun Holodeck episode! Now if only they could stop malfunctioning every time they use it… 4/5.

The Quality of Life: So we have a scientist and these cute little robots called Exocoms. They are made to make repairs but one unexpectedly shuts down just before the terminal explodes. Upon investigating, Data begins to believe and later decides that the Exocoms have gained sentience, and are therefore living beings. This is the closest thing that we’ve gotten since The Measure of a Man, and I really like it! I loved Data here... I mean I always love Data but he was so freakin’ good here. He chooses to advocate for the Exocoms, even when it reaches a point where Picard and Geordi’s lives are in danger, and sacrificing the Exocoms is the only available option. While he knows that he’s accepting of letting them die and very much doesn’t want to, how can he sacrifice one species of life for another? Lifeforms who are very much like him, machines made by humans but unlike him who has people like Picard to advocate for his rights, they had no one. The episode doesn’t ignore the moral questions here and really raises some good questions about life, what counts as being alive, and where we draw the line when deciding between lives. I also loved Data and Crusher’s interactions in this one and him going to her when questioning how to define life. While Indo believes that Pulaski wasn’t as bad as others, her interactions with Data were just bad but Crusher comes off as so much more compassionate and understanding towards him. It just really shows why Crusher is the CMO that this show needed, sorry Pulaski. The Exocoms are really cute and while I won’t give away the ending, they truly are heroes. This was the kind of Data episode that the show needed, and they delivered pretty dang well I’d say~! 4.5/5.

[zhydoesart]

the only reward for love (JeffMads)

ships: QPR JeffMads

warnings: brief mentions of abuse, bullying, internalized a(ro)phobia, mild burn

word count: 3.5k words

AO3 Summary: "The only reward for love is the experience of loving." - John LeCarre. | Thomas is in love with his best friend James, who doesn't, CAN'T, want him back. And yet, James still feels a prickle of jealousy whenever Thomas flirts with someone else in front of him. 

Whenever James sees Thomas flirting with other people, he grits his teeth and keeps himself from saying anything. After all, it’s not like they’re dating.

It’s not like James is even in love with him.

Still, he can’t stop the jealousy from clouding his head whenever he sees couples engaging in PDA. He wants that, he really does, but as hard as he tries, he can’t make himself feel the right way.

But if James is incapable of love, what is it exactly that he feels toward Thomas?

He’s wondered that before. Often, actually, if he’s being honest. For whatever reason, no matter how hard he tries, it just can’t be that simple for him.

James thought he was normal until third grade. Sometimes, in kindergarten, kids would have “romances” on the playground where they’d kiss each other’s cheek and hold hands while they played, and he’d thought nothing of it. In third grade, a friend had started pestering him, asking him who he liked. They’d gone around the group, asking everyone else, and everyone else had an answer ready to go.

And James had realized—he’d never felt like that.

What does it mean? To “like” someone? To “love”? He’s asked himself those questions many times, but he never has an answer. He doesn’t know.

James is in high school now. Shouldn’t he have experienced a crush by now? Would he even know it if he did?

He sees his friends grow up around him, mature, even start to fall in love. They start prioritizing their relationships over their friendships, and he becomes an afterthought, a name tacked on at the end of a statement when they look over and realize they’d left him out.

The only friend he’s spoken to in years is Thomas.

Thomas. It’s a name not unlike a happy sigh, it rolls off the tongue with ease.

James met Thomas in seventh grade.

He’d always been sickly, especially as a child, and sometimes other kids bullied him because he wasn’t strong enough to fight back.

He remembered the day they met. Another boy had pinned James against the wall and was threatening to hit him if James didn’t hand over his lunch money.

James looked around desperately for one of the lunch ladies or a teacher, but there weren’t any adults nearby. He had sighed, internally preparing to go another long afternoon without food.

It had been at that very moment that someone had stepped in.

“Leave him alone,” purred a voice. It hadn’t been loud or demanding, but still, it made the bully stop and look.

James squinted at his savior. The other boy was backlit by the sun, and all James could make out was the fluffy mass of curls on his head and his posture, confident with his hands on his hips.

“Why should I?” sneered the bully.

The boy who’d come to rescue James took a few steps forward into the shade, and then James could see his face.

“Because if you don’t, I’ll make your life a living hell.” James didn’t know how anyone could say something like that so sweetly, but the bully’s face whitened.

“Okay, jeez, man, I’ll leave him alone.” The bully backed away slowly, looking slightly nervous. Both James and his rescuer watched him go.

“You okay?” James registered the boy’s voice, closer to him than before, and he looked up to see the boy right in front of him. His voice was soft, and it instantly put James at ease.

James dusted off his knees—a habit, something he always did once the bully left, whether or not he’d been knocked to the ground. “Yeah.” He was somewhat subdued, and he stared at the ground.

“You sure?” The boy sounded genuinely concerned for James. That’s never happened before. No one asked if James was alright, not when he got his lunch money stolen and was threatened with violence. Not when his dad started yelling and his mom protected him. Not when his dad yelled behind closed doors, and his mom left the room with bruises on her face and a sad smile on her lips.

James thought about the question. “I don’t know.”

The boy paused. “Can I touch you?” James liked the boy’s jacket. It wasn’t something that he himself would wear—too brightly colored for him—but it looked nice on the boy. He nodded.

The boy put an arm around James’ shoulders. “Hm. I’m Thomas. You look lonely. Wanna be friends?”

James smiled. “Yes.”

“Hey, cutie, you did well in Debate yesterday. Keep it up, and you’re gonna go places.” Thomas winks, and the girl—he thinks her name is Katherine—blushes.

“Thanks,” she mutters, staring at her hands, and runs off to gossip with her group of female friends, all of which were huddled around their lunch table watching the exchange. He watches as she starts excitedly talking, and he shakes his head.

Thomas strides back to his table on his long legs, settling down on the bench across from his friend. His spoon is still sitting on his napkin where he’d left it earlier, and he picks it up, glancing at James.

James… looks almost sad. In fact, if Thomas didn’t know better, he’d think James was jealous.

As it is, he does know better. He’s not sure James has ever liked anyone, let alone him. Unless he’d just been very good at hiding it. And while James is generally a quiet person, there’s an exception when he’s with Thomas. James tells Thomas everything, and vice versa. Well, he can’t tell James about this. So… not everything, he supposes. Not anymore.

The reason why he flirts with other people isn’t because he isn’t interested. In fact, it’s the opposite. He flirts with other people as a distraction. A distraction from the fact that the person he really wants to flirt with is right there, a literal arm’s length away, and he can’t.

(Thomas isn’t actually interested in girls, so perhaps it isn’t right for him to get their hopes up—although it is common knowledge that he’s gay, and the girls still giggle and blush when he flirts, so it isn’t entirely on him.)

James has this wistful look on his face, and he’s gazing at Thomas. When Thomas makes eye contact, he blushes and looks away.

Thomas is too trapped in his head these days to know what to make of it. Maybe it’s finally time for him to talk to someone else.

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

Angelica stares at Thomas in a way that makes him slightly uncomfortable, like she’s trying to read his thoughts.

He clears his throat. “I came here to talk, remember?”

She rolls her eyes. “Yes, Thomas, I remember.” Angelica shifts in her chair, uncrossing her legs. “So what’s the problem?” she whispers, grinning.

Thomas is starting to regret this decision already.

Then again, who else would he talk to? Burr? Hamilton? Despite how popular he is, he doesn’t have many people he can confide in. Other than Angelica and James, there isn’t anyone else he’s on good terms with and talks to often.

“Okay,” he begins, stopping to gather his thoughts. Thomas is an eloquent person, and English is his first language, but whenever it comes to feelings, or James, he forgets how to speak. “Okay. It’s entirely possible I may have developed. Feelings. For someone.”

Angelica’s eyes narrow, and she leans forward. “You? Feelings? I thought you didn’t have those.”

“Hah.” Thomas rolls his eyes. “Very funny. May I continue?”

“Yes, you may.”

He glares at her, but there isn’t any malice. “As I was saying. I may have feelings. For.” He swallows. “James.”

Angelica’s eyes widen. “Oh.” Suddenly she seems awkward and possibly even guilty for teasing him. She lowers her voice. “Really?”

Thomas looks down, playing with his hands in his lap. “Yeah.”

Neither of them speak for a minute or two.

“Wait, why is this a problem again?” Angelica finally asks. “Isn’t he your best friend?”

“Yes, that’s part of the reason why it’s a problem.”

“Part?”

“I don’t think he’s ever liked anyone,” Thomas confesses. “I’ve known James for four years. He’s never once mentioned a crush.”

“Maybe he just didn’t tell you?” suggests Angelica.

“No, we tell each other everything. And I mean everything,” Thomas almost leaps to his feet, but instead takes a deep breath and remains in his chair. “He would have told me.”

Angelica shrugs. “Well, then, you might be right.” She pauses, examining Thomas’ body language. “What kind of response do you want from me?”

“I’m… not sure.”

Angelica straightens up. “You know that I know a lot about the queer community and its various labels.”

“Yes?” Where is this going?

“From what little I know about your, uh, ‘situation,’ I think James might be aromantic.”

“What’s that?” He thinks he knows, but he wants to hear it from the mouth of the expert.

“Aromantic means you don’t fall in love. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t feel any kind of love, however; platonic love is still very much there.” Angelica is watching him carefully—gauging his reaction?

“I see.” Does James know he’s aromantic? Is James aromantic? Is Thomas just jumping to conclusions? When he gets home, he should do some research. Knowing more never does any harm, unlike not knowing enough.

“Does that help?” Angelica asks.

“I think so.” Thomas pushes his chair back, getting to his feet. “Thank you.”

The whole walk home, Thomas is lost in thought. He’d honestly be doing research on his phone if there wasn’t a serious danger of walking into things and people—he’d learned his lesson in the past.

The minute he gets up to his room, he drops his backpack on the floor, leaps into his spinny chair, and uses the momentum to roll up to his desk.

Thomas does a few Google searches for aromantic, then a few more for aroace. He’s reading an article on aromantic-related vocabulary when he comes across the word queerplatonic.

What it says is “queerplatonic: a form of love that isn’t inherently romantic or platonic. It’s different for each person who experiences it.” And a little farther down the page: “QPR: a queerplatonic relationship.”

Could…

Is that something he could have with James?

He reads a few more articles, then a few more, and a few more, until it’s dark outside. He retires to bed, but he doesn’t fall asleep for half an hour. He lies in the dark, thinking.

Unfortunately, Thomas and James don’t share any classes this year. Junior year means they have to start thinking about college, and thinking about college means having to take different classes depending on what you intend to major in. James isn’t going to major in the same thing as Thomas, so they’re taking different classes, which means the first and only time they can see each other during the school day is during lunch.

“Hey,” Thomas says as James sits down. James doesn’t give a verbal response, merely nods. “I said hello.”

“Hello?” James says uncertainly, and Thomas chuckles.

“Hello!”

“Hello.”

“Hello—”

“Okay, that’s enough, we’re not doing this again!” exclaims James, and Thomas cackles. “Are you done?” Thomas shakes his head.

“I can’t breathe,” he wheezes, slapping the table, and James catches his water bottle as it falls. Thomas gasps for breath, wiping the tears from his eyes. “Okay. So how was your day?” he asks, trying to recover.

“I will never understand you,” James deadpans. “My day was fine. Uneventful. How was your day?”

“Boooring.” Thomas unscrews the lid on his thermos, and James eyes it suspiciously. Thomas has had his fair share of spills, and it’s never a good thing when he brings in soup. “Oh, relax.” Thomas covers one of James’ hands with his own, and James attempts to regulate his breathing, since it had suddenly become more difficult. “Look, I  haven’t spilled anything in two weeks!” Right as he says this, he nudges his thermos with his elbow. “Oh, shit—”

James lunges for the thermos. He catches it before it tips over completely, but can’t stop the soup from splashing onto his hand. He sets down the thermos and stares at his hand. It takes a moment for the liquid to start hurting.

“Jesus Christ.” Thomas grabs James by the wrist, using the napkin from his lunchbox to dry James’ hand. “We should get some cold water on that, I’m so sorry—”

That’s another thing. Thomas rarely apologizes, even when he goes too far during Debate club. (James is always there to watch, but never participate.) And yet, he doesn’t even think twice when he apologizes to James.

“Come on.” Thomas pulls James along behind him.

The bathrooms in their school are generally awful, both in hygiene and in upkeep, but the ones by the cafeteria are the cleanest due to food-related health regulations. That being said, the moment Thomas and James walk into the bathroom, one of the three lights blows.

Thomas mutters a curse, and James jumps. “Damn janitors. Maybe they should be paid more, maybe then they’d do their jobs.” He pulls James the over to the sink, holding James’ arm under the water. “Sorry again,” he says quietly.

“It’s okay.”

“No, maybe you have a point. I never spill at home, but maybe I get too excited when I’m talking to you.” Ha. Is this another instance of Thomas’ infamous flirting? James is just his friend, after all.

“You should come over today.” Thomas isn’t looking at James, instead paying attention to the water and the slightly irritated patch of skin on his arm.

“I have homework today,” James says noncommittally.

“Come over! Do it at my place.” Oh no. He’s about to bring out his pout. “Please?” James can’t say no to him, especially not when he pouts.

“Okay, I suppose I can. I don’t know how much we’ll be able to hang out, though. I have an essay to write.”

“That’s fine.” Thomas beams at him.

“My arm is very wet,” James says, and Thomas startles.

“Oh, right, sorry.” He turns off the water, moving to grab a wad of paper towels. James never liked the cheap brown paper towels they have in schools. They’re scratchy and poor quality. He lets Thomas pat his arm dry, vaguely registering how odd it is that his friend is proceeding to do all of this for him and yet ignoring the fact that it’s at all out of the ordinary.

The rest of lunch happens uneventfully. James listens to Thomas rant about Hamilton (like he does every day), picking at his salad. Thomas almost knocks over his thermos again, nearly giving James a heart attack, but at the last second Thomas realizes what he’s about to do and carefully moves his thermos far enough away that it isn’t a threat anymore.

Thomas is waiting for James outside his classroom after the last period of the day. Thomas doesn’t have a sixth period, and James idly wonders if he’s been standing there all period.

“Hey,” Thomas greets him.

“Hello.” James can’t help but smile.

“Ready to go?” Thomas asks, and James nods.

They walk home together, for the most part in silence. Occasionally, something will occur to Thomas, and he’ll chatter on for a minute or two, but then James won’t be able to think of anything to contribute, and the conversation fizzles out again.

“Look out!” Thomas says suddenly, pulling James in close to him, and James flinches as someone on a bike nearly clips him. “Watch out, dumbass!” Thomas yells after the biker. “Are you okay?” His voice softens as he speaks to James.

“I’m fine, thanks to you,” James says, keenly aware of how close he is to Thomas.

“That’s good,” says Thomas.

James pulls back a bit, and they continue walking. But Thomas, who’d grabbed his hand to pull him out of harm’s way, doesn’t let go, and James looks away to hide his smile.

Thomas pulls his hand away once they get to his house, and they both proceed to act like nothing happened, but James is secretly pleased, and he’s positive he sees Thomas hide a smile behind his hand.

Thomas settles on his desk chair, and James takes a seat on the bed, pulling out paper and a pencil. He begins to draft his essay, but in his peripheral, he can tell Thomas is watching him.

“Did you need something?” he says finally, head snapping up to look at Thomas.

“I have to tell you something,” Thomas says.

“Okay?”

“I… I love you.”

James’ blood runs cold.

“I don’t feel the same way.” There’s a lump in his throat.

“I know.” He doesn’t understand the way Thomas is gazing at him.

“You… know?”

“I talked to Angelica. I’m not just assuming that you haven’t been in love before, right?”

“No, you’re correct,” James says cautiously, furrowing his brows. Does Thomas know something he doesn't?

"Like I said, I talked to Angelica. She thinks you could be aromantic," Thomas says carefully.

"There's a name for it?" James asks, aware both his voice and body are shaking but unable to do anything about it. "I'm not… broken?"

Thomas' arms wrap around him, and he takes the opportunity to take a few deep, shuddering breaths. "No, you're not broken." He can hear the sad smile in Thomas' voice.

"If I'm aromantic…" The word sits just right on his tongue in a way nothing else has. "Then what do I feel for you? If it isn't romantic?"

Thomas pulls back, taking James' hand in both of his own. "I did research, you know. Something I came across was the term 'queerplatonic.' Do you know what it means?" James shakes his head. "It's a kind of love that isn't platonic or romantic. That's the best definition anyone could give me, apparently it's quite subjective."

James sniffles. "Oh."

Thomas smiles again, a little sadly. "There's something else, too. There's a thing called a QPR, which stands for queerplatonic relationship." James is suddenly very much interested in what Thomas is saying. "That's also subjective, and what you do in a QPR varies from couple to couple. It's all down to boundaries."

James laughs, a little breathy and a little disbelieving. "Really? Do you… do you think we could have that?"

"Actually, that's what I was hoping for when I asked you to come over today." Thomas looks down at his hands.

"You wanted to ask me to be your partner?"

Thomas instantly turns red. "Yes, well, um, maybe even boyfriend, if you'll have me?"

James nods fervently. This is happening, somehow. This is real. Thomas wants to be with him, even though James isn't in love with him. There's a way for them to be together. "What kinds of things do, uh… queerplatonic?" Is that right? Thomas nods.  "Queerplatonic partners do together?"

"Oh, literally anything a couple could do." Thomas starts listing activities and quickly runs out of fingers. "Some go on dates. Some hold hands. Some kiss or cuddle. Some have sex." He sees the look on James' face and laughs. "Ok, so a no to that, you might be asexual then too. Some get married and even have kids together. Some are exclusive, and sometimes one or both partners date other people. It'd be entirely up to us."

"Well, then… could I kiss you?"

Thomas notices how close James is to his own face and turns red. "Um. Yes," he gulps.

And they kiss, and it's everything they both hoped it would be. It's James' first kiss, and even unrealistic expectations from the media don't set him up for disappointment because Thomas is wonderful (and also apparently really great at kissing).

"So are you my boyfriend now?" James teases, and to his credit, Thomas manages to keep a straight face.

"I suppose so," he answers, equally as smoothly.

Something clicks in James’ brain. "Wait, if you love me, then why did you flirt with all those other people?"

Thomas grimaces. "It was a distraction. I knew you didn't like me back."

"Oh." To think he was so jealous for so long, and now he gets to have Thomas all to himself. "I think I want this to be exclusive, if that's alright."

"That's perfectly fine." Thomas brings one of James’ hands up to his mouth and gently presses his lips against the skin. “I love you, after all.”

James pulls himself into Thomas' lap, and the taller man has the audacity to look surprised as James presses their lips together, winding his fingers in Thomas' curly hair. "You're mine now," James murmurs, and a thrill runs through him as he realizes it's true.

Tomorrow, they'd discuss the idea of announcing their relationship, and their boundaries, and what they'd even call it. Tomorrow, they'd tell Angelica, who'd ruffle their hair with a laugh, even though Thomas is taller than her, and he’d pretend to be annoyed. Tomorrow, Hamilton would bitch about the fact that Jefferson got a partner before he did, and Laurens, beside him, would look away.

But for now, they're free to do whatever they want, and right now, that's kissing.

Well… tomorrow, James has an essay due, and the usually quiet boy swears atypically as he remembers.

But they'll still have tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that, and every day going forward. It doesn't look like they'll break up any time in the near or far future, and who knows, maybe they'll stay together forever. Get that dog Thomas always wanted. Move in together. Wake up next to each other every morning.

But for now, James has an essay to write, and Thomas has a beautiful boyfriend to stare at/encourage/tease.

[sparklyjojos]

CARNIVAL DAY recaps [10/13]

Today’s recap: Finally some explanations, or: the R language, bulls and deers and horses, and everything’s connected.

--

FIFTY-ONE

26 Jul 1997 — 01 Aug 1997

LABYRINTH

--

(Amagi Hyouma was one of RISE’s guests along with Ryuuguu Otohime, Tsukumo Nemu, Christmas Mizuno, Yaiba Somahito, Diana Hosey, Hanto Maimu & Kuraimu. During their time in the Sanctuary, they learned the identities of the Rainbow Sophists.

Below is Amagi Hyouma’s testimony. [Originally in first person.])

Hyouma had never seen this Fabian woman before, but she seemed to believe (or convincingly pretended to believe) that he was Yemon. She claimed she didn’t know any Yakuma Suzume.

Well, it was true that Yakuma hadn’t shown himself since that day when Hyouma had been taken to the Sanctuary. White even said Yakuma was “no longer here”.

Hyouma pointed out how weird it was that only JDC-related people were chosen to be RISE’s guests. Fabian answered that they didn’t need anyone else; JDC was important, even more so considering the Billion Killer had chosen them for his first attack. Japan would play a great role in the events too, especially the Japanese language. R language had a very similar base to Japanese, but was much more fluid and freestyle, resembling the kind of language young people in Japan spoke these days. Basically, Fabian claimed that Hyouma had been already unknowingly using R language.

Just like Japanese words are often written and pronounced in many different ways, R language also has “the rule of no rules”. For example, the tower of the Moonbow Palace is called Tow Dreamer, a mix of English-like words “tower” and “dreamer”. However, this name is written 夢幻想塔, which would normally be read mugensoutou. The kanji convey “a tower where one can dream”, and mugensoutou also points to the infinitude (mugen written 無限) of their fuhrer (soutou written 総統).

...which sounded horribly farfetched to Hyouma. Was this entire R language just puns? Fabian claimed that it conveyed the entire history of humanity, and using it—seeing the meaning hidden in Japanese words—could help uncovering the world’s secrets.

At least they got an explanation for why all the guests were young adults from Japan [Yaiba is like forty, but I guess he still counts]. Diana Hosey came from the USA, but she had been secretly taught R language by her father Theodore, who always told her it was just Japanese.

--

Done with their conversations with the Sophists, all the guests returned to the round table and talked about what they had learned.

Since the Rainbow Sophists had been wearing masks and acting like the S-detectives all the time, none of them knew the true identities of the others before (only RS and the Master had known). This round table talk was the first time they learned about who their fellow executives were.

Yellow Bishop turned out not to be Ajiro after all. But then where was Ajiro? He’d been missing ever since the explosion. Hanto Maimu got that strange phone call allegedly from Ajiro, but it was just Tanna Sazen using his voice mimicry. Tanna would sometimes pretend to be White, and other times share a single role of Yellow Bishop with Theodore Hosey. (There was a bit of chaos when Tanna was chased off a cliff that one time, but he knew how to survive the fall, and then he simply cancelled the pursuit by calling the pursuers as Yellow Bishop.) Tanna hadn’t anticipated his child would inherit his knowledge, so RISE investigated the Hantos just in case.

Everyone wanted to know where Ajiro was (Hyouma especially). Yaiba had come up with a theory almost by accident. Back when he had been in Russia, the boy Amano noticed the number on the train engine was 999, which was 666 upside down. Inspired by this, Yaiba thought of the word Russia (Ro-shi-a), also turned it around, and it became A-shi-ro… Ajiro. Maybe Ajiro and Russia were connected? This would be just a ridiculous wordplay in any other situation, but Hyouma couldn’t laugh it off now that he’d been told about R language.

Seeing that the detectives wouldn’t leave the topic alone, Black said they would have a chance to see Ajiro soon.

Indeed, when they met by the round table some time afterwards (with Black, Red, and the real White also present), Ajiro was there and alive. However, he was seated in a wheelchair, unmoving and unresponsive, his eyes completely unfocused, like an empty shell of a person. White explained that they had been keeping him locked on the Russian space station Mir. No proper astronaut training and long-term isolation resulted in this sorry state. White claimed they had had no choice but to keep Ajiro in space, just like they had to drag Christmas through hell, and that it was all for the future of humanity.

It wasn’t impossible for Ajiro to return to his former self, but it would require everyone’s help. Maybe his friends would manage to break through the mental wall that kept him isolated from the outside world, and Ajiro would go back to being the JDC representative they know and love.

And speaking of JDC… White casually informed them that JDC had been created by RISE. Not directly created, mind you—that was Ajiro’s doing—but RISE had pulled all the necessary strings to cause the events to run like they wanted.

The Ajiro Family Murder Case, the Saimon Family Murder Case, the Geneijo Murder Case and the Locked Room Lord Murder Case, the bombing of JDC—all of them had more meaning than the detectives suspected.

If they wanted to know more, they should get around to bringing Ajiro back to his former glory.

--

No matter how much they talked to Ajiro, he wouldn’t respond, but they never gave up. They recounted their times together at JDC, both joyful and sad. They all stayed in the same room with him as long as they could, then established shifts.

Two weeks passed and nothing changed. They even got a pack of Ajiro’s favorite cigars and put it in his lap, but he still didn’t react.

At the end of a shift, Yaiba left the room to call the next pair, leaving Hyouma alone with Ajiro. Though Hyouma had stopped smoking a few years ago, in this depressing situation he decided to help himself to a cigar, which mostly resulted in a fit of coughing. Then he noticed something—tears were running down Ajiro’s cheeks. Unsure of whether or not this was just an instinctual reaction to smoke, Hyouma experimented some more, until Yaiba came back with Otohime and Nemu and yelled at him for tormenting the patient with smoke—but then Ajiro just slightly moved his finger. After a short time of Hyouma desperately calling his name, Ajiro slowly moved his hand, then wiped his own tears.

“...don’t have to be so loud…” he murmured. “...I can hear you…”

--

Ajiro’s mind was back in working order in a few days more, but he still had to undergo two weeks of physical rehabilitation. He told everyone that he’d been able to hear everything they said to him even when he couldn’t respond, and he promised to do his best to help them solve all the mysteries around.

At the beginning of June, they all sat at the round table: Ajiro, Hyouma, Yaiba, Nemu, Otohime, Maimu with Kuraimu, Diana, Christmas, and also Black, White and Red. With Ajiro around, it felt strangely like yet another meeting at JDC.

Ajiro recalled the day of the JDC explosion. He clearly remembered sitting at his desk, his assistant Mito Muramasa working nearby. Then came a rumble and vibrations like an earthquake—and then Ajiro was suddenly floating in a small room in outer space. He did consider the possibility that he’d been rendered unconscious by the explosion and then transported to space, but it seemed to him like there had been no lapse in his consciousness. He really was just instantly transported from Kyoto to the space station. But how?

White only replied that there was a lot the guests didn’t know about the world. When people saw something they couldn’t understand, they would often give up on thinking and just believe in transcendent beings.

White tried to move to the topic of Beasts and Gods (or rather, those two groups and a third type that is neither), but he could see that Ajiro was more interested in how much influence RISE had on JDC, so Beasts and Gods would have to wait.

Ajiro could see how RISE could have been the masterminds behind Geneijo and the Locked Room Lord. But what could they gain from the family cases of the Ajiros and the Saimons? It’s true that his own family’s case had inspired him to create Nihon Tantei Club. It was also the first time he came in contact with Saimon Ryuusui, which would lead to getting involved in solving the Saimon murders.

White added that after that case, Nihon Tantei Club was renamed to JDC. Both the organization and Ajiro became famous as the ones who solved “the crime revolution” that was the Saimon Family Murder Case. Basically, had that case not happened, JDC would need much more time to become well-known.

All those great cases also led to Tsukumo Juku becoming famous and revered. The one who contributed to solving the Saimon Family Murder Case! The one who solved both Geneijo and the Locked Room Lord! Propelled by the trust and popularity given to JDC and Ajiro, Tsukumo Juku quickly gathered recognition as the God of Detectives.

And that was exactly what RISE wanted. They needed to raise Tsukumo Juku to become the world’s greatest detective so he could stop the Crime Olympics. That was RISE’s end goal, after all—it’s not them who wanted to kill everyone, but “the union of 666 worst evils”, Akuren.

(This was the first time the detectives heard the name Akuren, so Black Rook explained more about it—see Black Rook’s testimony from earlier.)

Way back when, RISE realized that Akuren was about to attempt the destruction of humanity once more. RISE got their hands on the Crime Olympics plan so they could hopefully mitigate the impact. Back then, the plan was a bit different; the Crime Olympics were supposed to start in July 1999 and last seven months, resulting in the human race being wiped out by February 2000. The Crime Olympics were eventually moved to three years earlier.

In order for RISE’s own plans to work, they had to keep Akuren’s trust, and so had no choice but to really prepare the Crime Olympics using their trump cards of Alive, the Billion Killer, and the Cosmic Bomb. Thankfully, Akuren didn’t plan on killing everyone instantly—they wanted to drown humanity in evil and despair first—and they determined a time limit before the Cosmic Bomb would drop.

Akuren wanted to make sure everything would go smoothly, so they sent one of them to oversee RISE’s actions—a man with the code name Tsukumo Jaki. He was actually White’s younger brother, Endou Masato. The detectives may have known him as their fellow Yakuma Suzume (actually an imposter).

Christmas wondered whether that minotaur “Great King Enma” he had met wasn’t also this fake Yakuma. According to legends, if you lied to Lord Enma, he would cut off your tongue. This could be connected through a wordplay to the Tongue-cut Sparrow, Shita-kiri Suzume, the same folk tale that Juku had used to guess that Jaki was Yakuma Suzume. Also, the first kanji of the name Yakuma (役間) could be read as en, making the entire name Enma. (Again, this seemed like just another strange wordplay, but knowing all that stuff about R Language…)

What about the horse mask man and the deer mask man that had assisted Enma? Otohime recalled that the short story Another Joker had a horse and a deer in it. That was specifically a man-eating horse, so maybe it was a hint about all the cannibalism in Shangri-La.

Lemuria admitted he’d been the one wearing the deer mask. He stated he was actually Jaki’s loyal underling, and it had been on Jaki’s orders that he first entered RISE and became Red Knight. The horse mask man who cooperated closely with him and Jaki was someone the detectives didn’t know. He had stayed behind and died in Shangri-La, as his role in the plan had ended—just like the horse in Another Joker, he ended up reduced to a pile of bones.

All those animal masks… Why would Minase Nagisa wear a bull mask when she killed Juku? Sullivan explained that the mask was the symbol of RISE’s leader, something they had inherited from the organization before them. Similarly, RISE’s second and third in charge were a deer and a horse. The bull mask symbolized that the wearer’s actions were done in the name of RISE’s leader. Nagisa was chosen to kill Juku because of her hatred for the man and her familiarity with the terrain around Gensoukan, and though she died from Alive in the process, she managed to fulfill her mission. Jaki’s true goal in killing Juku was stopping RISE’s secret plans—preventing the God of Detectives from ending the Crime Olympics early.

But why would Nagisa hate Juku so much? Black explained that when Juku had solved the Locked Room Lord case, Nagisa’s brother Dakushoin Ryuusui’s name was irreparably tarnished. Juku even personally confronted Nagisa afterwards and stopped her from hiding critical evidence. Cosmic and Joker further hurt Dakushoin’s reputation. With all that frustration already present in Nagisa, Jaki just had to redirect it all towards Juku.

But there was another reason why Nagisa wanted to kill Juku, the same reason why Fuumonji Jouka was killed, and it would be protecting someone’s (the third writer’s) true identity—but that would be explained later.

Ajiro noticed that something didn’t seem right. If Lemuria Sullivan really was working together with Jaki, that is with Akuren, then why were Black and White casually discussing RISE’s plans right in front of him? White admitted that no matter how stealthy RISE tried to be, Akuren still managed to know their every step, so there was really no point in hiding their true goal anymore. Both groups knew the other was ultimately an enemy, but RISE was still useful. After all, it’d be hard for Akuren to achieve their goal without the Cosmic Bomb.

Ajiro stated that it all seemed to have a single point of origin to him, though he didn’t yet know what it was exactly. RISE, the Sanctuary, the Billion Killer cases, Alive, the Cosmic Bomb, Beasts and Gods… White only responded that they would learn everything later. For now, they would make a short stop in the Moonbow Palace, and then the detectives would be taken to Heaven / El Dorado in the depths of the Mariana Trench.

With this, the meeting concluded. When Hyouma saw the news afterwards, he learned that Yuiga Dokuson had disappeared after leaving a strange message that he was the Billion Killer. However, Black said that Dokuson’s actions had nothing to do with RISE, and that it was still too early to talk about the actual Billion Killer.

--

(And in the latest news…)

...the number of Alive victims have been falling since New Years and finally reached zero in July. It’s estimated that 240 million people died from Alive, making it the worst pandemic to date. WHO and CDC announce the end of Alive, but warn that it can possibly come back. It’s still unknown how the number of infections diminished so rapidly without a vaccine in place.

--

[>>>NEXT PART>>>]

[stars-and-rose]

|Heart Point| Chapter One

Is Emily staring another story when she already has like eight others planned?

You fucking bet!

This AU is a collab between me and @planetkookie ! Kai is an absolute Queen! She's the one behind all the amazing art in this AU (you can see the character designs if scroll through my account, or search the tag #heart point au!) She'll also be writing one-shots when she feels inspired too!

Meanwhile, I'm writing the main fic!

Notice: I own none of the characters in this! Vance and Cassidy belong to Aphmau, and the boys all belong to Thomas Sanders!

The general plot and some dialogue belong to Aphmau as well

Without further ado....

Fandom: Thomas Sanders/Sanders Sides

Pairings: Logince, (Eventual) Prinxiety, (Eventual) Logicality and (Eventual) Remceit

Summary: In which Roman suffers through a break-up and proceeds to accept a gift- which probably wasn't a good idea.

Word Count: 2892

Trigger Warnings: Break-up, Fainting, Cursing because I cannot contain my potty mouth, not anything really severe this fic is very fluffy

next>>

Chapter One: When momma said "Don't accept gifts from strangers," she might of been on to something

"You're breaking up with me?"

Roman could not believe this was happening. He loosened his grip on the hot chocolate he'd been drinking; the hot liquid had turned bitter on his tongue. He stared at his boyfriend, who wasn't making eye contact with him.

"That's,  um, a way to put it. Definitely." Roman's boyfriend, Vance, still wasn't meeting his eyes.

"Definitely a way to put it or definitely breaking up with me?" Roman's voice still had the tiniest bit of hope in it. Maybe he'd heard Vance wrong. Maybe he was jumping to conclusions, a skill he was fantastic at.

"Both?" Vance finally raised his eyes and they met with Roman's. Vance's blue eyes were filled with apprehension, sadness, and something that looked suspiciously like pity.

Meanwhile, Roman was trying not to cry, his green eyes scrunched with his effort. "Oh."

"Ro?" Vance's voice was soft. "You okay?"

"Did I do something wrong?"

Vance shook his head violently. "Do something? Are you kidding? No, no way! You've been an awesome boyfriend-"

"But you're breaking up with me?" Roman blinked a few times, desperate not to cry.

Vance let out a sigh. "Yes."

"For Cassidy. On the track time." Roman's voice gained a bit of an edge as he spoke.

"Heh… I see word travels fast." Vance grumbled, looking away again. Roman covered his head in his hands. Little tears were starting to fall down his face and he'd be damned if he let Vance see them.

"You're dumping me for Cassidy on the track team?" Roman's voice was muffled, and Vance sighed.

"Oh no… Roman…I'm sorry… please don't cry…. Ro come on, we're in public."

"Crying? Who's crying?" Roman lifted his head from his hands, eyes a bit red.

"Roman…."

Roman let out a laugh that held no humor to it. "Why would I be crying, I'm an adult, thank you."

"Don't call yourself an adult when you have stickers all over your face."

It was true, Roman did have stickers on his face: two gold stars, one on his left cheek and the other near his right eyes. It was one of many ways Roman showcased himself to the world, and he was proud of it.

"I can have stickers all over my face and handle my boyfriend breaking up with me three weeks before prom because that’s what adults do!" Roman's voice grew louder as he spoke, drawing attention from the people around them. Neither boy cared. Roman loved attention and Vance was used to it, due to Roman's dramatic flair.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Vance's voice had become soft again.

"Absolutely."

That had been twenty minutes ago.

Currently, the same boy who'd said he was 'absolutely' okay was sobbing on his bed with his best friends arms around him. Patton always smelled like cookies and vanilla and the smell was a comfort to Roman.

"Oh, Kiddo, breathe, just breathe it's going to be okay." Patton soothed, rubbing the taller boy's back as he continued to sob. He looked around at the other boy in the room. "Remy, we're going to need more tissues."

"How did I end upon tissue duty?" Said boy huffed, walking across the room with the tissues in his hands and his signature sunglasses pushed back.

"You were compelled by the ancient right of friendship!" Patton told him, before turning his attention back to Roman. "Here you go! Just take one-"

Roman proceeded to bury his face into the box.

"Or do that whatever works for you!" Patton looked back up. "Remy, we're going to need ice cream! Double-chocolate chunk, stat!"

"Now I'm on ice cream duty?" Remy sighed, crossing his arms.

"The power of friendship. It compels you!" That, or the fact Patton was starting to get into extreme dad mode, and that was a sight no one truly wanted to see.

"Gurl, I have track practice in fifteen minutes and if I don't get a coffee between now and then I am going to lose it."

"Vance..is on the track team! And so is Cassidy!" Roman instantly went back to sobbing at an even higher pitch than before. Patton winced.

"Oh my goodness, can we not bring up Track for now? Vance just dumped Ro-"

"-for Cassidy Stevenson?" Remy interrupted. " From the relay team? Yeah, I know. Cassidy hooked up with Vance at the post-meet and greet last week and then proceeded to spill everything to Alexandria Waters who is such a big mouth and told me- why are you looking at me like that?"

"You knew about this?" Patton growled.

"Um, yes darling I pride myself in knowing all this school's gossip-"

"You knew about this and didn't tell Roman?" Patton yelled, reaching over-protective dad mode, his eyes blazing as Remy took a step back.

"Hey, I didn't want to trigger that!" Remy waved his arms at Roman, who was still managing to cry even though he had been doing so for almost a half-hour now.

Patton sighed, backing down. "Fair. Ro, kiddo, how we doing?"

"They're probably warming up together wearing those stupid short- shorts! Vance looks good in stupid short-shorts! Why is running even a sport anyway? It's just walking a little faster!" After his stunning contribution, Roman went back to the tissue box.

"Okay, that's my limit, I'm going to get myself coffee and go to track." Remy flipped down his sunglasses. "But, Roman? Forget about him. You're perfect just the way you are."

Roman wasn't feeling that perfect- his eyes were red from crying and his throat burned. "Even with stickers on my face?"

“Especially with the stickers. Okay, hon? Okay."

"Okay." Roman agreed softly.

"I'm going to go. AND IM GOING TO SMOKE DOWN THAT UNGRATEFUL STICKERLESS ASSHOLE FOR YOUR HONOR!" Remy cried out, exiting the dorm with a whoop!

"Yeah, Remy! Be our Prince's knight! Roast him! With butter! And organic peanut butter!" Patton cheered.

"Thanks, Remy," Roman whispered as he watched his friend leave.

"See, Ro? Everything will turn out a-o-kay!"

Then, the door swung open. "My apologies, I got here as soon as I could, by which I mean as soon as the scholastic decathlon mixer wrapped up-" Despite his breathing making it sound like he had run to the dorms, Logan still managed to look as professional and orderly as ever. Patton gave him a quick smile.

"Took ya long enough! Ah, don't look so guilty Lo, I'm joking."

"Is he okay?" Logan asked, scanning the room for their usually over-the-top friend. "Where is he?"

Patton simply pointed to Roman's bed, where the boy had wrapped his arms around his legs and curled into a ball. He had finished sobbing, but a few stray tears slipped down his cheeks. Logan walked over to him and bent down.

"Hey Roman," Logan whispered softly, knowing by now how to deal with Roman after the brunet had a meltdown. None of his usual big words- that would only make Roman feel stupid and in turn make him feel worse "I had planned to save these for your birthday, but I got you some stickers…"

Roman looked up, his green eyes brightening the slightest of bits. "Stickers?"

"Yes, Ro. They have little crowns on them."

"Crown stickers?" Roman mumbled, his voice rough from his sobbing.

"And they're glittery too."

"Glittery crown stickers?"

"Mmhmm. All yours." Logan gently put the stickers down on the boy's knee. Roman instantly snatched them and turned around.

"Hey now, staying in your dorm and putting stickers on your face isn't the best thing for your mental health-"

"Huh?" Roman turned back around, one of the glittery stickers placed above Roman's nose.

"Oh Newton, ah, let's go for a walk. Fresh air and sunlight are proven to help increase mood." Logan helped Roman up and flashed Patton a nervous smile. "I'll take care of him, don't worry Pat."

Patton flashed him another smile, and Logan saw how Patton was exhausted. Dealing with Roman's meltdowns happened to have that effect on people. Logan knew in a single glance that Patton needed a break from his roommate.

Soon enough, Logan managed to drag Roman outside. "See, Roman? Don't you feel a little better with the sunshine?"

In response, Roman let out what sounded like a hiss."The vitamin D is infecting me."

Logan gave the other boy a small grin, happy that Roman had a least remembered one thing from science. "Then it's doing its job."

"Why am I outside?" Roman whined. "I could be covering my notebooks with pretty crown stickers and crying until the sunsets."

"Hey, hey, no thinking like that. It will only decrease your already unhappy mood. How about we head down to the café, get some smoothies? The fruit in them will make you feel better."

Roman crossed his arms. "Vance dumped me at the café."

Logan paled but immediately responded. "Okay, so I'm going to get us smoothies from somewhere that is most definitely not the café, okay? You stay here and take a moment to relax, okay?

Roman nodded, "Thanks, Lo. You're the best."

Logan nodded and turned away, hoping he had succeeded in hiding his growing blush from the other male. "It's okay, Ro. It's not a problem- it never is, not for you, you being a very good platonic friend." Smooth.  Logan quickly walked away before he could embarrass himself.

"I appreciate it," Roman called out after him, a small smile forming on his lips.

"He likes you." Roman jumped and spun on his heels. A boy was standing on the fountain behind him, his heterochromic eyes meeting Roman's

"Holy goth boy batman- where did you come from?"

"The fiery pits of hell." The way the boy said it, so deadpan, Roman wasn't exactly sure if he was kidding.

"Really?"

"No, I just got out of band practice." The boy said, rolling his eyes. Roman huffed.

"Oh, cool." Roman knew his boy, he just couldn't be a finger on the name… aha! "You're Damien, right? I think we have home ec together?"

"Yup, you're the boy with the stickers."

Roman nodded. "My reputation proceeds me. I'm Roman."

"Roman… I've heard a lot about Roman recently." Damien looked him in the eyes again. "You just got dumped."

Roman winced. "If I did, it was for reasons completely unrelated to stickers."

Damien laughed. "I'm sure. How are you holding up? A broken heart is no small matter."

If he was honest, Roman was surprised that Damien, a boy he'd had about three conversations with, was concerned for his well being. "Me? I'm totally fine! Some people just can't handle me!"

Damien looked unimpressed. "Your eyes are red and your voice keeps cracking."

"Hmpft."

The other boy sighed from his position on the fountain. "You don't think Vance was in love with you?"

Roman huffed. "I never know! People are so annoying! They all lack the ability to communicate properly and show affection-  I wouldn't know if someone liked me if they came up right behind me!"

"Roman!" Roman turned on his heels and saw Logan peeking out a doorway. "I'm aware that your favorite smoothie is-" Logan proceeded to spell out Roman's overly complicated order. "-but is there anything else you need? They have red velvet cupcakes? With rainbow sprinkles? I know that's your favorite."

"Oh, that sounds amazing! Here, I think I have a few dollars-" Roman started to rummage around in his pockets.

"Not necessary, Ro. It's on me."

"Oh, really? Are you sure?"

"Affirmative." Logan ducked back into the café, and Roman turned back to Damien, who had jumped off the fountain and came closer to the brown haired boy.

"Can't show affection?" Damien grumbled.

"Mmhmm! As I was saying, Humans? Brick walls. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. They wouldn't know how to show lo-"

Damien stared at Roman like he was having a hard time processing what Roman was saying. "Riiiight. I think I might have something for you that will help your current…predicament."

"Huh?"

Damien pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket, pulled something off it and stuck it to Roman's cheek. It was another sticker, this one a rather large red heart.

"Damien?  Did you just give me a stic-"

The other boy gave him a smile. "Abracadabra."

Then, Roman proceeded to faint.

.....

Processing...

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.....

Roman's thoughts were murky as he started to wake up.  What had happened? He had been talking too that senior- Damien!- and Logan had gone out to get smoothies and cupcakes- so why did it feel like Roman was laying against his bed?

Patton's voice woke him up faster. His best friend sounded really worried? Had Remy gotten hurt at Track? Had he found out that Logan still was staying up late studying? Roman opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. So he was in his dorm.

"Should we take him to the nurse?' Patton fretted, and from what Roman could hear, was pacing.

"For what, a broken heart?" That was Remy.

Roman sat up and groaned, directing both boys’ attention to him. "Kiddo! You're okay!" Patton ran over to his bed and helped Roman up. "You gave us quite the scare, fainting like that! Logan had to carry you all the way to our dorm."

"Yeah, babe, he was really freaked. Totes unusual for him." Remy took a sip of his drink.

Roman squinted at his friends. There was something off here… oh, wait… that was new…

"Why are there stars above your heads? And that's a heart?" There were indeed stars and hearts above his friends' heads: four gold stars floating over Patton's, and three gold stars and one red heart over Remy's. Roman blinked a few times, but the images were still there. In the corners of his vision, he noticed something else. In the bottom left corner, there was a red and gold circle with the words: Roman, Level One cutting through it. In the top right, was a similar circle with the words: Dorms and Evening cutting through it.

What was happening?

Remy looked up but apparently could not see that floating images above his head. Patton looked two, and at the same time both boys muttered, "Oh, Roman.."

"And what's with this border thing? I'm on level one? What?" Roman shook his head a few times, trying to shake it off. "It's all around my vision- I can't get rid of it!"

"Ro, calm down! You probably hit your head when you fainted, It's okay." Patton, on his tippy-toes, placed his hands on his friend's shoulders. "Breathe, okay?"

Roman nodded and took a few, long breaths. The stars, heart and the weird border were still there.

"Roman, hun, we good now?" Remy asked. Roman simply nodded, even though he was most definitely not good.

There was a knocking on the door, and Patton removed his hands and went to answer it. "That's probably Lo! He went to get you some ibuprofen!"

Sure enough, it was Logan, carrying a little bottle in his hand. "Roman, I see you've woken up. You had me nervous for a bit there."

"Nervous isn't the word I'd use," Remy mumbled into his drink.

Roman sucked in a breath. "Logan?"

"Yes, that is my name." Logan turned to Patton. "Is he okay?"

Patton sighed. "It's been a long day, we're going to cut Ro some slac-"

"That's a lot of hearts." Roman blurted, because, in fact, floating over Logan's head were three gold stars and four red hearts.

"Hearts? Roman, do you require-" Logan continued to talk, but Roman subconsciously blocked him out. He raised his head to his cheek, and it rested on the sticker Damien had given him: the red heart.

[acrobaticcatfeline]

Logan and His Little Bumble Bee (Single Dads AU) Chapter 2!!!

Word Count: 5924

TW: Ok geez, so Logan outright hates his ex, hes pan, abuse, cheating, drugs, abandonment, smoking, mental disorder, neglect, swearing, uhhhh I think that’s all. Let me know if I missed something!

Notes: First chapter here!!! I’m so tired guys. I’m so tired of everything and this was the best de-stress I’ve had in forever. I’m glad to be done with this part, I probably wont have time to write for real until summer. I have like 6 more weeks of school then comic con and then I go to my moms so I’ll probably write while I’m there. I love these boys and I’m glad you all enjoyed it, and I hope you enjoy this part just as much!!!

Pairings: logicality, past Logan and OC (her name Mercedes and I hate her a lot), familial logince, familial moxiety, platonic prinxiety

Summary: “DAD!!! VIRGIL WANTS TO HANG OUT AT THE PARK CAN WE GO???” It’s been 9 years. Yeah yeah what a time skip!!! It’s Roman’s 11th birthday, and he has to have dinner with his mother. We already know he has a large distaste for his mother. Logan is weighing the pros and cons of trying to keep his ex in their life, neither of them like her but it’s healthy for Roman to have her around isn’t it? He makes a big decisions and mistakes, but you know, it ends well in the end doesn’t it. I mean, this is a fluffy fic.

“DAD!!! VIRGIL WANTS TO HANG OUT AT THE PARK CAN WE GO???”

Logan sanders was tired. Yes still, we haven’t jumped that far yet! His son Roman, 11 years old today was as talkative as ever. He was in 5th grade now and he had made more friends and proved to learn words very quickly. In fact, Roman had been put into the honor program at his school and was excelling in all his classes, and to Logan’s surprise and delight, he enjoyed them all too. Roman would come home from school and do his math and science homework and would do his English homework with Logan when he had the time. Logan would have to hold his tongue when Roman told him about what he learned in history, he wouldn’t tell him just how horribly biased the information he was getting was until he was older. He still stayed friends with Virgil, as they went to the same school, but that also meant Logan has had to continue to keep his cool around Patton, who has only gotten more attractive in the past 9 years. And yes, he still hasn’t said anything about his affections, listen, he’s nervous and what if he says no it would ruin their relationship and then Roman would hate him for making him not able to spend time with his best friend and he can’t do it. I mean Roman already had trust issues with his mother he couldn’t do that to him.

Speaking of his mother…

“sure Ro, but remember your mom wants to come over and celebrate your birthday ok? We can’t be out too long, she’ll be here by 8 and its 4 right now. Grab your phone and we’ll go ok?”

“oh yeah. I guess… yeah I’ll be right back.”

Logan hated how deflated Roman got whenever his mom was brought up. He had tried, he tried so desperately to repair what she had broken with him, but he had no clue what had happened and as such couldn’t even begin. His ex had started making an effort supposedly, almost immediately making an appearance to attempt to fix what was broken.

She failed. Roman refused to visit her alone, he wouldn’t stay at her place for a weekend, he would almost go into a panic attack if Logan had asked her to babysit, causing him to find a way to cancel it every time. He hated that his ex had ruined her relationship with him so badly. He was desperate to give Roman a good family, but he constantly wanted to strangle her. She was just… so insensitive! He would get things for Roman that Roman hated, or something that Logan expressly said Roman wasn’t allowed to have, and directly going against his wishes as his caretaker. She would bring noisemakers, leading Roman to be infinitely noisier, and what person gifts a kazoo to a 10-year-old whose dad still got little to no sleep? Either way, it would be… cruel, to keep Roman’s mother from seeing him on his birthday, especially since she had put forth the effort. So here he was, forcing himself and his son to go through the interaction. At least he would be able to commiserate with Patton. That would give him the energy to get through dinner with her. Roman ran around the corner in his star fire teen titan’s black t-shirt and jeans.

Logan smiled at his son and ruffled his hair as they headed out to the park. He was especially proud of himself for raising his son without the idiotic idea of gender roles. Sure, Roman loved iron man and captain America, but his favorite superheroes had been wonder woman and star fire ever since he had started watching tv or reading comics. When Roman took a liking to star fire from the teen titans’ cartoon, Logan had taken him to the local comic book store and had bought the first 5 issues of the new teen titans comics, having done the research to ensure he got the right thing.

They walked to the park, and as soon as they got within distance, Roman took off running, already seeing Virgil. Logan chuckled, and continued walking. When he caught up Roman was clinging to Virgil who was laughing loudly. He approached Patton with a smile, and Patton held up a bag with a gentle smile.

“Virge said it was Ro’s birthday, so we got him a little something. I imagine once he can stop laughing, he’ll tell him. How are things lo?”

“oh geez, you didn’t have to, he’s spoiled rotten by you guys enough on every normal day.”

“nonsense!!!”

“heh, anyways, things are… tense. Mercedes wanted to come over and celebrate Roman’s birthday, and Roman is… less than excited to say the least.”

“oh gosh, that sounds like a time. Hopefully things are ok?”

“hopefully. I have a strong feeling she’s going to start an argument with me about how she should have custody if I’m not in a relationship because its detrimental or something idiotic, which you know I think is funny considering that Roman literally gains symptoms of anxiety and ptsd when around her, as well as the fact that I am a medical professional who works with children in actual detriment for half of my work days. Besides, even if Roman did want to live with her I wouldn’t be able to let him be there with her new boyfriend. I’m at least 70% sure that on top of his addiction to cigarettes he’s a drug addict, and I’m not putting my son in that situation. Oh, sorry that was, word vomit I apologize.”

“no no don’t worry about it, you have valid concerns and emotions. Its better for you to talk about it now instead of blowing up at her, if not for your sake, for Roman’s.”

Logan smiled and nodded. He often forgot that Patton was a therapist and had similar training in psychology. He looked over to see Virgil and Roman running over, Roman directly at him, and steadied himself for the incoming impact. Roman launched himself at him and Logan caught him and dispersed the energy towards him by spinning the boy in a circle. He lifted him higher with a smile.

“is this my little bumble bee? Hmm, I don’t know, my bumble bee giggles when I do… this!”

Logan flipped the boy upside down and Roman squealed with laughter. He put him back down and Roman surged forward again to give him a hug. Roman looked up at him with a big toothy grin and if there had been a piece of his heart that hadn’t yet melted from that little smile, it didn’t survive much longer. He smiled back and nodded his head in the direction of Patton and Virgil.

“I hear vee and pat got you a birthday present, you wanna go thank them and open it?”

Roman’s face lit up brightly and he nodded. He thanked the other two profusely and gave them big hugs and went to open the gift. He gasped loudly and showed Logan the contents, being a video camera, a set of big headphones and an adult coloring book, one of the few Roman hadn’t gotten yet. Logan smiled gently and silently thanked Patton for the gift, Roman had a tendency to break earbuds quickly, and would play his music on his phone very loudly. It was a much-needed expense that Logan hadn’t been able to get yet.

“you remember the rules with that right bee?”

Logan doesn’t have to elaborate, Roman nods firmly, pulling the red beatz headphones out and putting them on. He smiles even wider than before and launches into a hug for Virgil and Patton. Logan grabs the book and camera and smile at the 3. What he wouldn’t give for this picture to be a constant, where the 4 were simply happy in each other’s presence.

“remember Ro, we only have a few hours, we need to make the house presentable.”

There was tenseness in Roman’s shoulders at the reminder, and god he wished he could cancel, could tell her off, could keep her away from Roman but he had no proof, no evidence, that anything had ever happened, only the few things Roman had told him which essentially added up to ‘moms not here’ and while that could be from neglect or trauma, it could also just be that he was stating the fact of the moment. He had no way of knowing and Roman may not even have those memories stored. Regardless, they had to meet her, or she would try to press charges. And even if he would win, he didn’t have the time or money to deal with it.

Roman and Virgil played for hours, and Logan just talked with Patton until they had to leave. Roma was immediately uncomfortable as soon as they started walking home, and Logan hated it passionately. They cleaned a bit and Roman insisted he had to change. He came back down in a black long sleeve shirt and a white avengers t-shirt over it. He didn’t look comfortable, actively making himself look small, and he looked unhappy. Oh geez, how could he let this happen to him? He had a right to tell his ex off, to keep her from seeing him, she had formally signed over full custody when she first dropped Roman off, he had the right to keeping her out of his sons’ life, especially when her presence caused the poor boy so much stress.

That’s it. This is the last time. If Roman ever wants to spend time with her he will let him of course, but at the moment she was damaging Roman just by being brought up. He would tell her after Roman went to bed. If she had a problem, she could figure it out. She was… as Roman had put it years ago, bad. Plus, she had been a huge drain on his life as well. If he never saw her again it would be too soon…

Knock knock

Speak of the devil and she shall appear…

“hello Mercy, please come in!”

Please leave and never come back you spineless wretched bi-

“why thank you Logan! Roman!!! I’m glad I get to see you again!!! Happy birthday kiddo, I have a gift for you!!!”

I bet it’s a gift card to an adult shop, you have no tact you wicked monstrous ba-

“oh! Um, yay! Dad made dinner, do you want some pasta Mercy?”

And there was a look shared between the adults, an accusing one that made him out to be a tactless a- uh, jerk… who never referred to her as Roman’s mother as if that was the case… how dare she imply, assume that he would stoop to her standards.

“oh yes please Ro! I would love some!”

Roman gave Logan a look and Logan gave a small nod before Roman dashed into the kitchen. Mercy gave Logan another angry look as Roman rounded the corner, speaking in a hushed tone.

“so, I see you truly haven’t taught him to respect his mom?”

“I do my best to keep my disdain for you under wraps, so he doesn’t see it. Either way I rarely refer to you as anything other than his mom regardless of how little you deserve to be referred to as such.”

“oh yeah well it seems you’ve failed. I was so much more successful taking care of him you really should relinquish custody to me”

“listen if you want to have this pointless conversation again it can wait until Roman goes to sleep. I would prefer not screaming at you while my son is just around the corner.”

“oh woe, however could you let MY son see you being the truest form of you! A vicious monster who hates all women!”

“keep your voice down Merce. None of what happened more than a decade ago matters right now. I’m not vicious and I certainly don’t hate women. I just hate you.”

“why I outta-”

Roman bounded the corner with three bowls of pasta and a content smile on his face. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his parents glaring at one another. Logan turned towards him and the scowl faded into a grin. Mercy also fixed her posture and made her face neutral. She turned and smiled at Roman sweetly, and it made Roman’s skin crawl. Nevertheless, he smiled back and set down their bowls. He couldn’t wait for dinner to be over, then he could go take a shower and go to bed. He just had to make it through dinner…

“thank you, Ro, I made some veggies too, I’ll go make us some plates of that. Why don’t you unwrap your gift Roman?”

Roman nodded and mercy smirked as she handed him a bag. As he walked into the kitchen, he heard the bag open and a small gasp. When he returned, he saw a t-shirt on the table and a plush captain America plushie in his hands. He slowly brings it into a hug and thanks mercy. Logan put down the plates and signals to start eating. Halfway through dinner, mercy asks the question he knew was coming.

“so, what did you get him Logan?”

He refrained from cackling and backed up to grab Roman’s gifts. He set down two boxes and Roman looked at him with stars in his eyes. He opens the top one first, revealing a rotating constellation lamp. He smiled widely and wiggled happily in his seat. Mercy’s face was already less proud and conceited. Then Roman opened the next one, causing him to squeal and tackle hug Logan.

“I really really wanted a ukulele!!!!! Thank you so much dad I can’t believe you actually got one!!!”

He smiled softly as he hugged the boy. He looked up at mercy and felt his smile widen at the distaste on her face. He coaxed Roman to sit back down and finish eating, and he gave mercy the smallest hug afterwards and then Roman went upstairs to get ready for bed. Now he and mercy were in a free for all. No holding back. Logan could already hear the shower upstairs running, nothing here was sacred. Mercy could and would play dirty now. And Logan wasn’t about to back down. They were both ridiculously stubborn and absolutely hated each other and thus why their breakup was particularly ugly.

“you outdo me every time. You know you don’t need to buy his love? You can just try to be a halfway decent father.”

Oh ok. No build up this time, straight to the arteries.

“listen mercy I know you’re narcissistic, but I didn’t realize you projected so hard! If I had realized I would have therapized you sooner! Please, tell me how your home life was like?”

“oh, ha ha! You need to give me custody of him Logan. He needs a stable REAL family and a constant mother figure. Its mentally damaging to him-”

“oh? Oh really? Really please do tell me, a mental health doctor, how it is mentally damaging for him to have a single parent? Please bestow your wisdom on me high and mighty waitress from Denny’s without a college degree!!!”

“listen jackass its been scientifically proven that it causes mental disorders!”

“by fucking who??? Freud??? Because if you listened to anyone ever in your high school years instead of fucking a grand total of 9 guys at once maybe you’d know that Freud is full of shit!”

“its not my fault you’re shit at relationships lo”

“yeah well its also not MY fault that you cheated on me with 8 OTHER GOD DAMN GUYS!!! Its also not my fault that your boyfriend is a fucking druggie!!! Of all the guys you’ve fucking dated I think I’m the only one who doesn’t do drugs, and you know I don’t feel comfortable letting my son that you DROPPED ON MY DOORSTEP and handed full custody of over after 2 years live in a coke den. Don’t particularly want him to get second hand smoke either. I’m not giving you custody. If you wanted fucking custody you would have fucking raised him. You know I’ve taken him to therapy, and I’ve figured something out. Apparently, he likely has DSED. But you don’t know what that means do you? Its disinhibited social engagement disorder. It’s a trauma disorder that has to be related to a traumatic series of events from before the age of 5. Seeing as some of Roman’s first words were ‘mom bad mom not here’ I have reason to believe that you have neglected and abused him and then handed him over to me so you couldn’t be held responsible. Now you want him back so you can claim its my god damn fault well its too fucking late Merce. I’m giving you a choice Mercedes. Either you walk away and keep out of Roman’s life unless he requests you, or I will file a restraining order. Your choice.”

“…you never change do you Logan. I hope you grow up some day. I truly do. I guess this is goodbye.”

“sayonara Mercedes. If I never see you again it will be too fucking soon.”

And she left. She’s gone. He’s never going to have to do this again, and neither is Roman. He lays against the front door once she’s gone and calls Patton.

“hello? Logan its pretty late for you, you don’t usually call this late, is something wrong?”

“no. no something is wonderfully great Patton I’m free. Roman is free, I finally gathered the nerve. She’s never coming back Patton. She’s gone, she’s out of our lives no more whispered arguments just out of hearing range, no more cursing yelling matches while Roman goes to sleep, no more pretending I can stand her for Roman’s sake, its done, its over good god I haven’t felt this happy since Roman spoke his first words.”

There was silence on the line for a minute. Then a chuckle.

“I’m so happy for you L!!! I’m so glad you don’t have to put yourself in that situation anymore! I’m so proud of you!!!”

Logan held the phone with both hands, feeling like a teenage girl in a love song video. He smiled wide and nodded before remembering that he wasn’t on video call.

“thank you, Patton. I’ll let you get some sleep. Good night pat.”

“night L”

He hangs up and make his way upstairs. Roman is sat in his bed patiently waiting for Logan. He dives under his covers when he sees him. Logan sits on the side of his bed with a smile.

“hey kiddo. Guess what?”

“what?”

You don’t have to see your mom ever again if you don’t want to. Any meetings will be completely your choice.”

Roman’s eyes widened and his smile grew.

“you really mean it?”

“yessiree”

Roman gave Logan a huge hug yet again, and Logan stroked his hair. He was finally able to protect his baby boy. When Roman let go, Logan walked to the wall and pulled out a bag and handed it to Roman. Roman looked at Logan and began ripping the bag apart at the nod Logan gave. He opened it to see statuettes of wonder woman, star fire, and Harley Quinn, his favorite superheroes, and villain, ever. He let out a gasp and tackled Logan in a hug for a third time in the last hour. He sets the half foot tall statues on the nightstand next to his bed.

“do you want me to set up your constellation lamp?”

Roman nodded excitedly. Logan hooked up the lamp and calibrated it with the date, so it showed tonight’s stars. He fixed a few other things in Roman’s room, cleaning up his laundry corner, rearranging his book shelf, and putting the last few toys away in his toy box. He hung up the new shirt Roman got and tucked the captain America plushie in with him. He set the new ukulele in a stand on Roman’s shelf. Finally, he unhooked Roman’s dream catcher from the string that hung above his head. He took it to the window and blew on it. He hung it back up and walked right next to Roman’s bed. He began to tuck the boy into bed.

“you want a lullaby Ro? And would you like me to plug in your night light as well as your lamp?”

“yes, and yes please dad?”

“of course, Roman”

Little child, be not afraid the rain pounds harsh against the glass Like an unwanted stranger There is no danger I am here tonight

Little child Be not afraid Though thunder explodes, and lightning flash Illuminates your tear-stained face I am here tonight

And someday you’ll know That nature is so This same rain that draws you near me Falls on rivers and land on forests and sand Makes the beautiful world that you see in the morning

By the time he reached that point in the song Roman was completely passed out. He smiled fondly on him and kissed his forehead before lighting the night light, a bumble bee on a lily, and the constellation lamp and leaving.

He went about his own routine until he laid in bed. He looked at the clock next to his bed. It read 10:03. He impulsively picked up his phone and dialed Patton.

“…uhh, Logan? What’s up? I was just settling down for bed…”

“um, sorry I just uh…”

“out with-it L, I’m too tired to understand your silliness.”

“…I’m in love with you. Have been for a long time now but I just um, I just had a burst of confidence and that confidence is abandoning me so I’m sorry, this is stupid, I’m stupid, ignore this I’m sorry I’ll go, sleep well Patton good night”

“wait what?! Logan wait hold on-”

Click.

Oh good. He’s going to have to own up to that in the morning. Maybe he should go have a drink? No no, much too late for that. He’d just sleep it off. Yeah that’ll work.

When he woke up the next morning his phone was blown up with missed calls, voicemails, and texts from Patton, which makes tons of sense in hindsight, but you know the saying, hindsight is 20/20, and his normal vision is significantly less. Either way, he hesitantly listened to the voicemails, after ensuring that Patton wouldn’t see that he did. There were varying levels of distress in each.

“Logan! Its Patton, please pick up? I need to talk to you about this. Are you ok?”

“Logan!!! Its Patton I swear its not what you think, please just pick up and talk to me!”

“Logan? Its Patton. I don’t know if you’re ignoring me or if you’re just asleep, but I… I need to tell you something too. Call me back when you get the chance.”

“………………”

Logan felt awful. He already felt awful, but now he felt even worse. Look what he’d done! God he was a mess and he had the gall to drag poor Patton into it. God why did he do it, why didn’t he think it through? Imagine what Roman would think of him now!!! God, he messed up so badly. He grabbed his phone and walked downstairs to get hugged by Roman as he met the bottom.

“dad dad dad! Virgil asked if he and pat could come over, can they can they can they???”

Of course. He should have prepared for this. Its Sunday, the only time he and Patton’s work schedules coincided the whole day. Patton worked evenings on Saturday and Logan worked mornings on Friday and it was always Roman and Virgil’s favorite thing to do to come over to their house for breakfast then play all day. The two were never bored of each other. And it just meant Logan would get his just desserts sooner than he intended. Patton lived about a 10-minute drive away and that gave him very little time to look presentable.

“yes of course ro. In that case, I’m going to fix myself up, and when I’m done, how’s about we make some blueberry pancakes?”

Roman squealed and jumped up and down, before running to his phone. Logan made his way back upstairs. He brushed his hair, his teeth, and he got dressed. He put on blue jeans that he liked, a black t-shirt, and a soft light blue hoodie with a heart on it. It was a birthday gift from Patton from he thinks about 3 years ago. He had treasured it, even though it wasn’t much his style, it was something that felt inherently Patton to him and as mentioned a multitude of times before, he is really really gay. He fixed himself a gaze in his full-length mirror, checking to see that he was truly presentable. He saw the faintest of bags under his eyes, but those were probably from ro. He gave himself a silent pep talk before going to the kitchen. He saw Ro had already gathered all the ingredients and utensils they needed. He smiled and ruffled Roman’s hair. He rolled up his sleeves and put his hands on his hips.

“you ready to get cooking Ro?”

“absolutely!!!”

They had made the mix, and a few pancakes when the doorbell rang. Logan set the scoop down in the bowl and pushed his hair back. He smiled at Roman and asked him to get the door. The second Roman rounded the corner his façade fell. He was lost and scared and had no easy escape from the conversation he knew would happen as soon as the boys went off to play. He wasn’t ready. Not at all, but he had no choice anymore. He’d have to face it sooner or later.

“hi pat!!! HI VERGE!!!!! Come in, dads making pancakes!!!”

“oh, does he need any help?”

He heard Patton ask and he really hoped Roman would cover for him. He needed a bit more time before he had to be alone with him.

“oh no, he’s got this, he’s the most epic master chef to chef the seven stoves!!!”

Oh, thank god. He chuckled at Roman’s antics, always amused at how ridiculous he could be. He finished the last of the pancake mix and brought out 2 plates staked high with pancakes. He set them down with a smile and retreated again to grab sugar, butter, and syrup. He set them down and invited them to seat themselves. He had sat next to his son, and of course Virgil sat next to Roman, leading Patton to sit next to him. He did his best to just… eat and listen to Roman talk about this newest obsession, but his gaze kept wandering towards Patton, and it seemed that every time he glanced at him, Patton was doing the same. It wasn’t long at all before Roman and Virgil were finished and racing each other upstairs. He quickly made himself busy with gathering the dishes, his included, and bringing them to the sink to get rinsed off. He bounded the corner again, seeing Patton still making his way through a pancake on his plate.

“that the last pancake you want?”

“uh yeah, sorry I’m taking so long today, I’m still a bit tired.”

Logan felt himself twitch at that. Had he kept Patton up with worry? Nope nope not yet, not ready yet. He grabbed the extra pancakes and packed them in a bag. He rounded the corner yet again, seeing Patton finish his pancake. He stood with the plate and Logan grabbed it out of his hands. He smiled gentle at Patton, and he could have sworn he’d seen a blush on Patton’s face, but he was sure he was imagining. While rinsed the plate he started his coffee maker.

“you want coffee pat?”

He looked at Patton and Patton shook himself out of some sort of trance before making a sound of affirmation. A few minutes later he poured them both mugs of coffee, pulling out his creamer and sugar for himself and Patton to choose from. After they finished mixing it up, he saw Patton start to think of something to say, and he interrupted. He’d already had one argument in that room, he didn’t need the possibility of another one.

“would you like to step outside?”

Patton, who was staring firmly at his mug, looked up suddenly with an odd look on his face. He nodded quickly and followed Logan out onto the patio. Logan stood next to the fence around the deck, leaning on it and looking out on the little empty field that was behind his house. He had spent so much time there with Roman, he could barely remember a time before he had the kid. He heard soft footsteps approach the railing and smiled down into his coffee, hating the show of emotion and weakness he was having. He heard Patton take a deep breath and he nearly laughed at the situation he was in.

“so…”

“yeah.”

He heard Patton turn around, his back now against the railing. He hated this. He couldn’t stand this he didn’t want to have this conversation, he wanted to go back to sleep.

“so um, what you said on the phone last night… was-was that true?”

“heh, yeah. All of it, I’m-I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have bothered you with that. Especially not as late as it was.”

He felt Patton’s gaze fall on him and he was harshly reminded how much he h a t e d this. He looked like a moron, can’t the time just reverse so he can choose not to decide to ruin his and Roman’s lives. God why did he fuck this up so bad-

“yeah no, if you had told me that literal years ago it would have saved us both some turmoil lo.”

Wait-

“what?”

Logan stood straight up and finally really looked at Patton. He had a gentle smile and soft eyes and god he never thought he would see that perfectly gorgeous look directed at anyone other than Virgil, let alone him. That was the look Patton gave Virgil constantly. It was a look of adoration and affection and love and god that was directed at Logan and he didn’t think he would be able to keep his composure if he kept looking at those beautiful blue eyes that were peering into his soul.

“I-I didn’t think-I mean you were just-god how oblivious am I?”

“only a lot when it comes to emotions. I mean, it’s not like I knew ether, and I literally talk people through their emotions daily for pay, so you know I think its pretty even there. You know you look really nice in that hoodie. I almost forgot I got that for you, I hadn’t seen you wear it in a good long while. I had thought you had gotten rid of it.”

“what? No, I would never! It’s the most comfortable thing I own honestly, and um, I was certain I was going to need comfort for this conversation but I… guess I was wrong.”

“Logan what did you think was gonna happen? That I would reject you and hate you or something?”

“uh, yeah? Well my worst-case scenario was that you would slap me for even thinking about it and then you would cut yourself and Virgil out of my life and then Roman would hate me as much as his mother, but you know its just how it goes I guess.”

“…Logan for such a smart man you can be exceptionally stupid sometimes.”

“I’ve heard that regularly, and I’m pretty sure my ex said something to that effect yesterday, so I mean you’re probably not wrong.”

Patton giggled softly. He continued to just gaze at Logan before stepping closer and placing a hand on Logan’s cheek.

“I really want to kiss you right now.”

“I-um, I uh me-me too-”

“may I?”

Logan nodded. Patton leaned in slowly, and Logan being who he is, impatiently closed the gap. It was… soft. It was soft and warm and everything Logan had imagined. However, cliché it may be, as Logan closed his eyes, he swore he could see fireworks. It felt like his own personal Disney happy ending that Roman loved so much. He was close enough to smell Patton’s hair, like a forest of olive trees and strawberries and happiness and love. Logan had never really been one for dramatics, but at the moment, he felt more at home than he had ever been before. He felt happy and he felt calm and he felt Patton’s arms snake their way around his hips and he wrapped his around Patton’s neck and god he was at peace.

“EWWWWW ROMAN OUR DADS ARE KISSING!!!!!!!!”

Well there goes the moment. Patton quickly broke the kiss and turned to see Virgil covering his eyes and hopping on his feet. He saw Roman run the corner and there were stars in his eyes. He covered his mouth and squealed while hopping around.

“is Patton gonna be my dad too???”

Logan couldn’t help but hide his face in Patton’s neck.

“maybe? We don’t know yet Ro, we’ll need a bit more time to figure that out.”

Logan was eternally grateful at Patton’s talent for answering children while also not revealing everything. He mumbled a small ‘I hope so’ into Patton’s neck and Patton giggled. He whispered back a ‘me too’ and Logan could swear he felt his heart swell in his chest. Virgil uncovered his eyes and looked at Patton with awe.

“wait… does that mean me, and Ro will be brothers??? We’ll be eternal playmates!!! Ro we’ll get to play together for forever this is so cool!!!”

“YEAH!!! I went from having one parent to two and a brother!!! YAY!!!!!!”

“oh gosh they’re excited”

Logan turned his head, now laying on Patton’s chest and looking at the kids.

“you two are so silly. You go back to playing unless you needed something”

“well uh we wanted to ask if you would play with us?”

“yeah!!! We wanted to play princes and villains, but neither of us wanna be villains. Could you please play with us?”

Logan leaned back and looked at Patton who had a bright smile on his face.

“why not? I’m actually already hungry again. I think some little princes would be delicious!”

The boys squealed and ran away, and the two adults gave themselves a moment, as well as the boys a head start.

“you know as over used as it is, I really am glad I get to be with you now. You have been my dream guy for years and now its not a dream anymore. Now I don’t know about you, but I have an appointment with some princes.”

“you know, so do I. how about it then? Ready to go?”

Patton gave a toothy grin and placed a small kiss on Logan’s cheek. He chuckled at the blush that grew on his face before releasing him. He held out his hand to Logan.

“as I’ll ever be! Let’s go!”

Logan grabbed his hand and two rushed upstairs. The two were so completely utterly in love. For once in their life they had another person by their side who they could hold close and trust aside from their kids. It was nice. It was really nice.

Taglist: @fivebyfive-finebyfive @tacohippy56900 @analogical-mess @crookedlyoptimisticdestiny @angels-and-dreams @asleepybisexual @starbucks-remy @idioticsky @ijustreallylovesanderssides @superwholocked-for-life @band-be-boss-blog @llamaly @logicality-trash @fiive-second-cookies @whats-going-on-kiddos @snowshoe-main-blog @007ardra @internetwhy @musikasworld

Let me know if you want to be tagged in my writing!!!

Thank you for reading I will see you later ladies lords and nonbinary royalty!!!

[felicismagic18873]

Beyond the Blaze(9)

Summary: 4 Years old, Alyssa Potter finds her life taking a magical turn as she steps into a world of cute green giants, talking robots and misunderstood aliens. All of it is almost enough to make her forget the probable destruction of her own world.

The night turned to day and soon Tony wasn't the only one awake and working in the tower (except the security that is). But unlike most people, Time wasn't worth more than a casual glance to Tony. What was time anyway but a man-made concept? He could work the same way during the darkest of nights as he did in the brightest of days, plus it wasn't even that obvious if it wasn't for Jarvis announcing the time every few hours, silently indicating that Tony should go to sleep.

Not yet, he still had work to do. Sleep wasn't worth stepping away from the newest model of his suit, this one with back up oxygen, and he needed something to allow him to summon the suit remotely. He was almost done with the structural design just an hour more and-

"Tony? Jarvis said you have Alyssa down here?" Bruce walked in rubbing his eye with the palm of his hand, his other hand holding his glasses." I know you want to spend time with her but this is not the way she needs her.." His slightly chiding tirade trailed off when he reached the point from where the sleeping child was clearly visible. "...sleep. Huh." He tilted his head looking at Alyssa.

Tony raised his eyebrow resting his chin on his hand, "You were saying?"

Bruce looked sheepish, he ruffled his hair, "I didn't see her and sorta-" He looked at a loss for words.

"Panicked?" Tony cut in helpfully. He eyed the fellow scientist knowingly, now he knew what Tony felt like when the kid pulled the disappearance act. Though this time, unknowingly, Tony was the person who lured her in not Loki.

"Yes," Bruce put on his glasses. Tony hid back a smile seeing the 'Zen Sloth' T-shirt Bruce was wearing, so he liked Tony's gift after all.

"How long has she been down here? I put her to bed myself." Bruce leaned against the desk which Alyssa had occupied last.

"Came in about 1-ish in the morning, dropped to sleep half an hour later. She was apparently 'worried' ." He made air quotes with his fingers while simultaneously rolling his eyes pretending he didn't care for the gesture. The kid was so...so kid-like and innocent that it was just ridiculous.

Ridiculously, feelings. It's just that, this sorta thing just didn't happen to Tony. He could count people who worried about his eating habits of all things on one hand and still have fingers left.

"Makes sense. She asked me about you our times before finally agreeing to go to sleep, which she obviously didn't" He shook his head staring at the sleeping kid with a fond but exasperated smile. Tony Hmm-ed in reply.

For a while, Tony worked and Bruce stayed silent.

"The structural design is complete sir. The newest model will have increased mobility of 12% with the revised adjustments. Oxygen supply should allow for flying on higher altitudes."

Some tension left Tony's shoulders as he realized he wouldn't have to worry about suffocation in the suit ever again.

If Tony had looked he would have seen Bruce's eyes moving from Alyssa to rest upon his slumped form with something akin to pity and understanding in his eyes. If Tony had looked he would have joked until the thought of his near-death experience left both his and Bruce's mind.

But Tony didn't see so none of that happened instead it was Bruce who distracted him with casual observation," She needs more pajamas. She has been sleeping in that one for days."

"Well, you're the one who wouldn't let me buy her all the stuff I wanted to.", Tony pointed out.

"Because, " Bruce stressed the word, "You wanted to buy a whole wardrobe for her. The last thing she needs-Tony she'd be overwhelmed plus we have no idea what's gonna happen once people find out about her. And they will." He added seeing Tony opening his mouth to interrupt.

Secrets had a way of spilling, especially the ones that you wanted to stay hidden. And if your secret was a three foot five inches tall kid, well then the chances were that it wouldn't even last a month. After all, they couldn't keep her inside forever.

"She does need pajamas though," He continued lightly, not wanting to touch that particular can of worms, ", and a few more sets of clothing." He once again stressed on 'few'.

Tony pointedly rolled his eyes, took out his stark phone from the pocket of his sweatpants and with quick taps placed the order, "Done, it'll arrive in an hour or two."

Bruce refrained from commenting on it not being that urgent of a task and went to get the kid. It couldn't be comfortable sleeping on the sofa.

He gently shook Alyssa's shoulder, "Time to get up, Alyssa. Let's go upstairs. Then you can sleep for a while longer. Okay?" Alyssa smacked her lips together a few times before licking them and absently nodded.

She peered at Bruce with half opened eyes as she slowly got up. She leaned against him with a jaw-breaking yawn. Bruce stood up and placed his hand on her back to guide her, Alyssa pretty much sleepwalked to the elevator with him, her steps unsteady and eyes almost closed.

Bruce looked over his shoulder at Tony, "Come up for breakfast, okay?"

"I'll be there for the delivery." Tony absently said, already back to work.

Bruce shook his head and walked into the elevator with Alyssa.

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

The package arrived exactly two hours later and true to his word Tony showed up soon after it did. Bruce was putting the dishes in the dishwasher while Alyssa was playing with the projections again, she'd slept for another hour before getting up for breakfast.

Bruce didn't stop her from gathering things for her own breakfast (Fruits and Milk, she couldn't stomach bacon or eggs first thing in the morning) but he made sure to keep an eye on her and he insisted on cutting the fruits making it clear that knives were dangerous and yes, he knew that she knew how to use them but that was not the point. She didn't need to do it when an adult was near and she definitely wasn't allowed to do it when one wasn't. She could eat the fruit that didn't need to be cut up if she was alone.

"Goo' Morning, Mista Ro-Tony." Alyssa grinned at him, her eyes squinting a little.

"Good Morning, Kid," Tony didn't mention that since he didn't get any sleep or coffee last night, it was more like 'dead exhausting morning' for him. "Did you see the stuff that came for you?" He inclined his head towards the package laying on the table in front of the couch (which he had replaced with the exact same one yesterday) He plopped on one of the chairs near the table.

Her eyes widened a bit, "That's for me?"

Tony nodded, contemplating whether or not he wanted to get up and sit on the couch instead, it was much more comfortable than the chair but it'll require getting up. He was still deep in thought when Bruce handed him a plate and he shockingly accepted it. It was only a second later when he was raising the grilled cheese sandwich to his mouth that he realized Bruce had handed him the place. And he hadn't felt the bone-deep discomfort that he usually did. Huh.

He took a deep gulp of the burning nectar of life that Bruce had placed near him and decided to put this thought away with all the things he needed to think about later (along with why he hated when Bruce reminded him of the kid's stay was temporary.)

"You can open it, Alyssa." Bruce gently guided the kid towards the package. Tony barely stopped a yawn from breaking through, his eyes watered a bit but he blinked it away rubbing a hand over his slightly stubbly jaw. He felt exhausted all the time now, maybe it was because he hadn't got a decent sleep for days. Since the inva-since that day really.

The kid who was looking for a green light apparently quickly began to open the package with Bruce helping her whenever she got a bit stuck and then-

"Is that Iron man pajamas?" Bruce sounded bewildered.

Tony grinned, "The hulk ones will arrive tomorrow, personalized ones take time."

The kid was staring at the red Iron man shirt in her hands with a slightly open mouth.

"Tony," Bruce was trying his best to hold back a smile holding up an iron man onesie but Tony could see right through it, "when I said clothing-"

"Can I wear this now please?" Alyssa finally spoke up, hugging the pajamas to her chest excitedly. Her smile was so wide, Tony wondered if it hurt her cheeks. But that was the best sorta smile, wasn't it?

"They're pajamas, Alyssa," Bruce said but Tony knew he didn't have the strength to say no to those happy smiles.

"Its still morning, can I? Please oh please." Alyssa was almost bouncing on her feet. Tony chuckled, she looked so pleased with her argument.

Bruce sighed, "Sure go ahead. It won't hurt anyone."

She circled the couch to run into the bathroom with the clothes, it seemed like she couldn't even wait to go to her room.

"Whipped," Tony sing-songed a few minutes after the kid was gone.

Bruce raised an eyebrow, "You're one to talk."

Tony opened his mouth to defend his reputation but a blur passed him by. Alyssa stood next to the box looking all shy and adorable. She then grinned and posed putting her hand on her waist, "I'm the Robot now."

Tony let out a laugh.

The top was a perfect hot red colour with the same design as the iron man chest plate (Almost same, but Tony could see the differences no one could) The arc reactor was shown as a small circle of white light (Blue, it was supposed to be blue!) But Alyssa looked so happy that Tony reigned in his comments.

"Quite the look, you've got there Sabrina," He winked at her, Bruce shook his head at their antics and opened a pack that he had ordered.

He signaled Alyssa to come near him and handed her a notebook. Alyssa tilted her hear with a curious expression, "This is a workbook," He explained, "Have you started school, Alyssa?"

"No, not yet." Alyssa shook her head. She was supposed to start this year actually.

"Okay, then. I want you to do a little every day so that you're not too far behind when you finally go to school. "

Tony made a face, there Bruce goes again. Implying how she'd have to leave soon.

"Okay. Can we watch Wall-e? "

"Well, "Bruce looked hesitant. " I have some reading to do, so how about you do some of your workbooks and then we can watch Wall-e."

Alyssa looked down at the notebook she was holding and nodded her head.

"See ya Mista' Tony", she said to Tony who looked half asleep.

"See ya kid,"

She then ran up the stairs to her room, probably to do her work.

"No running on the stairs, Alyssa!" Bruce called out after her but she was long gone.

Tony turned towards Bruce to go to say something about the workbook and how parent like he was acting but Bruce cut him off by raising a hand.

"Just don't Tony," He pinched the bridge of his nose, " You're sleep-deprived. Please go to sleep."

Tony stood up, "Fine," He huffed, "But I am doing it because I want to, not because you told me to Brucey Bear." He then turned away with a flourish and strode to the stairs to go to his room but it probably would have looked more impressive if he wasn't yawning and his eyes weren't red.

Bruce shook his head, leaning back in the chair he was sitting on.

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

Bruce looked up from his Stark pad due to a sound. He could feel the telling stiffness in his neck indicating that he must have been working for quite some time, it was easy to lose himself in work when he wasn't worried about being captured... He gently massaged his neck to ease away some of the tension. He looked towards the elevator to see who had come in since Tony was sleeping.

"Hello, Doctor Banner." Steve Rogers stepped into the penthouse. Bruce looked him over, taking in tension in his shoulders that wasn't there the last time Bruce had seen him.

"Captain," Bruce nodded towards him in greeting. "Hope you don't mind me saying this but you look run down."

Captain leaned against the couch, he cast a fleeting glance at the glass shelves in the kitchen which no longer housed a line of alcoholic drinks (Those were now hidden in a compartment below the counter easily accessible to Tony, not so accessible to a kid). Then he turned his eyes towards Bruce.

"Yeah, Its been a rough couple of days," He tiredly

Bruce placed his tablet on the table in front of him, "The assassin." He simply said.

Captain stilled, " Yeah," He finally answered. He looked a bit confused.

"Clint told me," Bruce answered the unspoken question.

"Of course. Right." Steve shook his head," I just wanted to let you and Stark know that we'll be going underground for some time. Me and Miss Romanov. " He crossed his arms in front of him.

Bruce remained silent. He didn't know what he could say. Did he wish him good luck or offer his help?

Steve kept staring at the box on the table like it held answers to all his dilemmas, "The assassin, " He finally spoke again, "He's good-too good." A pained expression showed on his face. "He-Well, he disappeared before we could do much but Nat thinks we may have a trail. We're going to follow it." The expression was gone the next second and Steve's face closed off again.

There was a sound of footsteps, Bruce looked towards the stairs. Alyssa still in her Iron man Pajamas, was running down the stairs. She was hugging her workbook to her chest.

'No running on the stairs!" He almost said again but she stumbled to a stop at the bottom of the stairs on seeing Steve. Immediately the smile wiped away from her lips.

"Hello," Steve visibly softened his face and smiled in greeting.

Alyssa stared at him for a while then she turned to Bruce. "I am done with my workbook,"

She held out her book "Can I watch Wall-e now?"

"Sure thing, kid."

But Alyssa didn't move to sit on the couch to watch the movie. She turned her eyes towards Steve again who was confused to see that she was almost glaring at him. She narrowed her eyes, which would be cute if the other two members weren't so perplexed.

"I think I'll have some juice first." She strode off into the Kitchen.

Steve looked surprised and confused. Bruce shrugged, he had no idea why Alyssa was acting like that. He finally decided to say what he was dreading, "Do you need any help?" He mentally prayed that they didn't.

"No. No thank you." Steve held up his hands." Just letting you know, " He shrugged, focused on the conversation again, "Shadow work isn't really Stark's style and the last thing we need is the Hulk showing up when we are undercover, no offense. "

"None taken," Bruce almost let out a breath of relief. "Get in contact when you're done with the mission?"

"Sure thing." Steve let out a small smile and extended his hand, Bruce shook it. "See you soon, Doctor. "

"See you, Captain."

With that Steve stood up and walked towards the elevator again, the last thing Steve saw before the elevator door closed was bright green eyes glaring at him again.

[bujorulgalben]

ooc: eve goes to romania

oh yes, nailed that cover shot for you guys. took this at the top of the slope i hiked down a few times in the month i spent over there in that beautiful country.

i figured that i would bullet point the most important things that happened on this trip for you. know that i did try to keep a travel log while i was out there, but dear god i was so busy and so, so tired!

in the meantime, let’s get started:

- made new friends from across romania; notably from suceava, bacău, cluj, and maramureș. they were all eager to tell me their stories (a couple older staff members had strong childhood memories from the communist era), and share some insight with me; especially when it became obvious how curious and genuinely interested i was. i was more than happy to listen and quiz them!

for the record, maramureș palincă is easily the best i’ve had so far. smooth, despite still being fire water. i’ve also been told to visit cluj next time i’m in romania, so as to see everyone again.

my favourite romanian beer is silva blondă. i did try to like timișoreana! i did! it wasn’t happening, lads.

- the insight from my romanian friends and colleagues contributed to some great advice the camp director gave to me on buying a handmade ie; a traditional romanian blouse. i met a sweet old bunica in a local crafts fair near bran castle - maybe they were hoping to cash in on the dracula-hunting tourists? i can hardly blame them.

this bunica helped me pick an ie that matched my director’s recommendation; not loud, subtle, but undeniably elegant (”like you”, she told me. bless.) here’s what i chose:

it’s very light and breezy, which was ideal for the hotter days in the cities! the embroidery reminds me of forget-me-not’s; one of my favourite flowers.  

- speaking of traditional crafts, i got very lucky and stumbled across an arts fair at the open air in sibiu. craftsmen and women around the country had gathered to show and share their goods; dolls and ceramics and rugs and painted eggs. i bought one painted egg from a lovely woman who insisted that she was more thankful than i was.

i also bought one of the dolls; very simple wood and cloth doll.

many, near all of them screamed anica energy, but i managed to control myself and buy just one. i also bought some ceramic magnets to decorate my pc with.

- uh.

nearly got hit by a pickup truck flying over a sand bank in the road. the driver slowed, lowered his window to call me a “stupid whore” in romanian, and then sped off. it wasn’t going to be a trip to ro without a near-death experience on the road.

-second “uh” moment.

i got stopped by police on the roadside early into my trip. i was quick to try and pardon myself by saying i didn’t understand what they were saying, and that i was english. i said all of this to them... in romanian. which they found very funny.

turns out they were only trying to make small talk with me. they thought i was pretty.

- teaching kids who would arrive in from around the country allowed me to get a glimpse of the city rivalries that exist here, and also ask about their/their countries’s perception of their home. the most interesting answers came from kids arriving from bucharest (european capital discourse is so fucking interesting) and ilfov; the county neighbouring bucharest.

i had been meaning to work on ileana-cosmina - my bucharest oc - and i’m much better equipped to, now.

- the kids made me an honourary romanian when i reflected on my favourite food of theirs being  papanași, and spoke fondly of mămăligă.

...they then retracted my title when i said i hated pufuleți (corn puff snacks) and that i bought my cozonac for this trip from a store brand. i have got some recipes to try making that myself and to right my errors.  

- with the younger kids, a “cultural exchange” worked wonders for the last days of teaching. in that, i would allow them to teach me a word in romanian, if i taught them a word in english. my accent, that i adopt when speaking romanian, surprised a lot of students and people outside of camp. even leading them to believe that i was romanian. i had to be, by their logic, as i wasn’t speaking english. i wish more people would try.

i got to chat to a lot more with my friends, the romanian translators, about romanian movies and popular media. many of the translators were also political science students; we chatted at length abt the political situation here. 

i’ve been asked to revise my master’s dissertation for their reading pleasure. lol dammit.

- living in the cindrel mountains meant that i got to take my water every water from a spring. well, a hose redirecting water from a spring. sometimes you get small queues of people with petrol tankers from all over, filling em with water.

- i met a math teacher from iași here at this spring, actually! he had previously done construction work in london, chasing a well-known dream, and hated it. he hated everything about it, so returned to romania and to his teaching job. he wanted me to know that “so long as i have ideas, i don’t need money”. many adult men i spoke to here echoed the same sentiment, and pride themselves on their resourcefulness.

- the stars are something else here. got me feeling a certain way.

- third “uh” moment.

on most nights, the camp hosts an outdoor disco for the kids. most nights, at on point, included the assumption of mary; a religious holiday. the weekend after this holiday apparently counted, also, as the hotel lower down on the hill felt the need to make multiple noise complaints.

the police eventually turned up and forced the night of dancing to end early. i recognised a few exchanged curse words.

- asides the fridge magnets and ie, a car icon, and a hand-painted plate for my future homemade cozonac, i also frequented a literature/history bookstore and found some textbooks i used heavily as points of reference for my research, but in romanian. so i might practice my translation skills, soon!

- okay i’m done. thank you for reading. :)

there’s photo posts to look forward to, as well, i promise.