#family tree fixits

[nightly-ruse]

I have updated the family tree so much holy shit okay. Not uploading the new one yet but so far I’ve added like fifty more cats through Windclan’s succession, a few touch ups, and a bit of Thunderclan’s leadership

[kingoftieland]

From puny Banner to She-Hulk to Red Hulk to Red She-Hulk, the Jade Giant has one incredible family tree. Let’s take a closer look at the full genealogy! 🌳🧬

[beatrice-otter]

Fic Rec Meme

I love rec lists! Got this meme format from sixbeforelunch. Here are twelve recs in twelve categories: Angst, AU, Canon Divergence, Crossover, Fixit, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene, Post/Pre-Canon, Songfic, Whump.

1. Angst

what this darkness cannot swallow, it must spit out (24750 words) by Dialux Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationships: Caranthir | Morifinwë/Haleth of the Haladin, Caranthir | Morifinwë & Maedhros | Maitimo, Caranthir | Morifinwë & Maglor | Makalaurë, Caranthir | Morifinwë & Celegorm | Turcafinwë, Caranthir | Morifinwë & Curufin | Curufinwë, Amras & Amrod & Caranthir | Morifinwë, Caranthir | Morifinwë & Fëanor | Curufinwë, Caranthir | Morifinwë & Nerdanel, Caranthir | Morifinwë & Original Female Character(s) Characters: Caranthir | Morifinwë, Maedhros | Maitimo, Maglor | Makalaurë, Celegorm | Turcafinwë, Curufin | Curufinwë, Amras (Tolkien), Amrod (Tolkien), Fëanor | Curufinwë, Nerdanel (Tolkien), Finrod Felagund | Findaráto, Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Brother-Brother Relationships, Father-Son Relationship, Mother-Son Relationship, Father-Daughter Relationship, Grief/Mourning, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies, Feanorian Family Feels, Dysfunctional Families Slowly Becoming Functional, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, The Therapeutic Vibe Of Planting Trees, Post-Canon Fix-It, Maedhros' Awful Sense Of Humor Post-Rebirth, No. None of the Feanorians Can Keep Secrets., Alternate Universe - Caranthir Fucks, How To Get A Guy Who Hates You To Kill You, ...how to FAIL at getting a guy who hates you to kill you, Fëanorian Week 2021 Summary:

Caranthir sighs, disgusted, and sits on the bed, as far as he can get from Celegorm without appearing like he’s halfway to crawling out of his skin. “I didn’t come back to life so I could hear how much my dying traumatized you.”

“You fucking bastard,” says Celegorm, and lunges.

[When Caranthir is reborn into Valinor, he must deal with everything he left behind in Beleriand- the annoying brothers, the overbearing parents, the family he lost and will never regain.

But there are things that Caranthir does not know. There are lies that have not yet been unwound. There are mercies he has never expected. It takes orange trees, infuriating brothers, silver ribbons and unseasonal thunderstorms, but slowly Caranthir learns precisely how wrong he is.]

2. Alternate Universe

New Wave (103324 words) by yellow_caballero Chapters: 12/12 Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Batman - Fandom Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Stephanie Brown & Bruce Wayne, Stephanie Brown & Tim Drake Characters: Stephanie Brown, Bruce Wayne, Tim Drake, Alfred Pennyworth, Arthur Brown, Original Male Character(s), Original Female Character(s) Additional Tags: Stephanie Brown is Robin, 1930s mobster movie + 90s kid PBS show + 00s tween girl cartoon, Steph's a skate punk Tim's a leet hacker and Bruce has NO idea what's happening, Can YOU jam with the console cowboys in cyberspace?, The Batman (Movie 2022) + The Batman (Cartoon 2004) + Turning Red basically, Stephanie Brown-centric Summary:

Some lunatic in a bat costume is running around Gotham clowning on fools, but local delinquent Stephanie Brown has way bigger problems. When her father and friends start joining mob wars Steph knows she has to do something about it before Gotham collapses. If that means joining up with rich dudes playing dress up, pasty nerds with hacking and photography habits, and throwing on a costume herself, then that’s just what she’ll have to do. Even if Batman works alone. She’s convincing.

In which Stephanie Brown rocks the radical nineties and becomes the first Robin, ruining Batman’s life and giving Tim Drake a hobby.

3. Canon Divergence

Listen To Your Heart (No!) (67914 words) by yellow_caballero Chapters: 7/7 Fandom: Moon Knight (TV 2022), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Layla El-Faouly/Jake Lockley, Layla El-Faouly & Jake Lockley, Layla El-Faouly/Steven Grant Characters: Jake Lockley, Layla El-Faouly, Khonshu (Moon Knight), Steven Grant (Marvel), Jean-Paul DuChamp, Marc Spector Additional Tags: Action & Romance, Drama & Romance, absolutely unprecedented levels of wifeguy & husbandgirl, layla's a bit of a reylo but we don't hold that against her, jake's over-reliance on WikiHow to navigate social situations, unstoppable 'I can fix him' vs immovable 'I can make her worse', Unreliable Narrator, internalized ableism, Suicide Attempt, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied Sexual Content, Autistic Jake Lockley, Ableism Summary:

One month after Marc Spector crawled inside an Egyptian temple and Jake Lockley walked out, Jake tracks down Layla El-Faouly and offers to help her take revenge and avenge her father. Jake is sure this is how flirting works. Pretty sure.

It's easy to fall in love with a badass protector of the night. It's a little harder to fall in love with Jake Lockley, your everyday assassin. And there's no way Layla El-Faouly could ever fall in love with Marc and Steven. There's no way they will ever meet.

Three acts on the subject of heartbreak.

4. Crossover

Big Hero Martian (42621 words) by althor42 Chapters: 3/3 Fandom: Big Hero 6 (2014), The Martian - All Media Types Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Hiro Hamada, Baymax (Marvel), Cass Hamada, Mark Watney, Annie Montrose, Gogo Tomago, Wasabi-No Ginger, Fred | Fredzilla, Melissa Lewis (The Martian), Alex Vogel, Chris Beck, Beth Johanssen, Rick Martinez (The Martian), Teddy Sanders Additional Tags: hiro goes on a rescue mission, so it's on mars, small details, just build a ship, nbd Summary:

There would have been no rescue for Mark, if NASA had not noticed he was still alive. Unless of course, a certain Big Hero noticed instead.

5. Fix It

god loves everybody, don't remind me (70381 words) by napricot Chapters: 4/4 Fandom: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe Rating: Mature Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Erik Killmonger & T'Challa Characters: Erik Killmonger, T'Challa (Marvel), T'Chaka (Marvel), Ramonda (Marvel), Shuri (Marvel), Okoye (Marvel), Nakia (Black Panther), N'Jobu (Marvel), Erik Killmonger's Mother, Bast, Linda (Black Panther movies), W'Kabi (Marvel), Ulysses Klaue, Everett Ross, Zuri (Marvel) Additional Tags: Time Loop, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Wakanda (Marvel), Djalia | Ancestral Plane (Marvel), Erik Killmonger Lives, Family Summary:

N’Jadaka didn’t believe in the gods of his people. But belief was not a prerequisite of the gods’ attention, and the blood of the Panther tribe ran in N’Jadaka’s veins. Bast took hold of his soul in her mighty jaws and lifted it free of his body. She gave him a warning shake, just as she would a misbehaving kitten, and set him back. With one careful claw, she tweaked his path through time into a twisting loop. Wayward and abandoned though he was, N’Jadaka was still of her tribe. He could set things right, if given the chance.

Erik gets a do-over. Erik gets a lot of do-overs. Or: Erik Killmonger's own personal version of Groundhog Day, only with a lot more murder, dying, trips to the ancestral plane, awkward family conversations, and divine intervention.

6. Fluff

Cat Nap (8883 words) by galwednesday Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers Characters: James "Bucky" Barnes, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov (Marvel), Sam Wilson (Marvel), Clint Barton Additional Tags: Post-HYDRA Reveal, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, modern WS!Bucky Barnes, Captain America Steve Rogers, not sure if that counts as Shrunkyclunks or not, OC stands for Original Cat, accidental pet acquisition, Steve Rogers's Sadness Interior Decorating, Fluff and Humor Summary:

Objectively, losing the Bucharest safehouse and its contents was the least of Bucky’s problems. The balding agent he’d seen directing the raid was apparently affiliated with SHIELD, which was a shadowy government agency that made representatives from other shadowy government agencies suddenly remember urgent appointments when Bucky tried to bribe, threaten, and otherwise shake them down for information on what the hell SHIELD might want with a former brainwashed assassin. Dodging SHIELD should be his number one priority.

Subjectively, he wanted his fucking cat back.

7. Humor

Mountains, Molehills (1175 words) by lalaietha Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Lilo & Stitch (2002) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: David Kawena/Nani Pelekai Characters: Nani Pelekai, Lilo Pelekai, David Kawena, Jumba Jookiba, Pleakley Summary:

Technically, David doesn't live here, but that "technically" is starting to get real thin, and he knows it. Which is why he chokes a bit when Lilo puts her elbows on the table, her chin in her hands, and says, "Are you going to ask my sister to marry you, or what?"

8. Hurt/Comfort

5 Times Tim Spends the Night at Wayne Manor + 1 Time He Comes Home (48695 words) by motleyfam Chapters: 6/6 Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics), Batman (Comics) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Tim Drake & Bruce Wayne, Batfamily Members & Tim Drake Characters: Tim Drake, Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Dick Grayson, Janet Drake, Jack Drake Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Mother Hen Jason Todd, Hurt Tim Drake, Sick Tim Drake, Wayne Gala (DCU), Child Neglect, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, though tim will argue that one, Jason doesn't die, Tim Drake-centric, Concussions, Birthday Fluff, Bad Parents Jack and Janet Drake, not bad people per se, but definitely people who should not have had a child ya feel?, Hospitals, Blood and Injury, Vomiting, 5+1 Things, Family Feels, Found Family, Infection, Stitches, Medical Inaccuracies, i mean i tried my best but i’m no doctor, Kid Tim Drake, Batfamily (DCU), Tim Drake Joins the Batfamily Early Series: Part 1 of Settle Our Bones, Part 1 of 5+1 (expansion pack) Summary:

Tim is good at galas.

No, scratch that—Tim is great at galas. He’s been attending them ever since the age of three, when his parents first stuffed him into his little Gymboree tuxedo and gave him a stern lecture about ‘sitting quietly’ and ‘speaking when spoken to.’ He knows all the rules: what to wear, how to stand, when to smile, what to say, what not to say. He knows how to come across as polite and intelligent and charming, and on absolutely any other day, he would be rocking this.

---

Or, my take on a ‘Tim Joins the Family Early’ AU, told through a series of sleepovers—most of which are unplanned.

Featuring pre-teen Tim, Alive!Jason, and a whole lot of hurt/comfort.

9. Missing Scene

Mercy (420 words) by Selena Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Babylon 5 Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Londo Mollari & Delenn Characters: Delenn (Babylon 5), Londo Mollari Additional Tags: Episode Related, Backstory, Flash Forward, Guilt Summary:

Londo and Delenn and the mercy of the universe.

10. Post-Canon or Pre-Canon

Heartrate (7199 words) by avocadomoon Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: Enterprise Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: T'Pol/Charles "Trip" Tucker III Characters: Charles "Trip" Tucker III, T'Pol (Star Trek) Additional Tags: Grieving, Alternate Universe - Canon Fix-It, Slice of Life Summary:

"I shall endeavor to impress you," T'Pol says. "Even after all these years, I believe I am still capable."

11. Songfic

Do people still write songfics? I mostly find them annoying, because my musical taste is eclectic and so I rarely know the songs they're referencing. Which is why I don't have any of them in my bookmarks. However! I have a fic which is a crossover with a song--Slip Slidin' Away by Paul Simon--so that will have to do.

Assistance to British Nationals Abroad (20372 words) by melannen Chapters: 2/2 Fandom: British Government Cats RPF, Slip Slidin' Away - Paul Simon (Song), Monstress (Comics), Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch, Young Wizards - Diane Duane Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Palmerston (Chief Mouser to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office), Larry (Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office), Tam Tam (First Record-Keeper of the Is'hami Temple), Cronus (Assistant to the Chief Whip), Toby (Rivers of London), Molly (Rivers of London), The Woman Who Became A Wife, The Man Who Wore His Passion For His Woman Like A Thorny Crown, The Father Who Had A Son, Siffha'h (Tower Bridge Gating Team) Additional Tags: Crossover, Cats, London, worldgates, Tentacle Monsters, Spiders, Dogs, Wizards, Yuletide Series: Part 2 of Author's favorites, Part 2 of Rivers of London crossovers Summary:

Three cats, three humans, a dog and a tarantula walk through a Gate -

12. Whump

Clearly Calm and Keeping Terrorized (258290 words) by Batbirdies Chapters: 34/34 Fandom: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd & Everyone, Jason Todd & Titus (DCU) Characters: Jason Todd, Bruce Wayne, Damian Wayne, Barbara Gordon, Tim Drake, Stephanie Brown, Cassandra Cain, Dick Grayson, Leslie Thompkins, Alfred Pennyworth, Titus the Dog Additional Tags: Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Dysfunctional Family, Major self esteem issues, Father-Son Relationship, Adopted Sibling Relationship, injury and illness, Unintended Animal Therapy, Dogsitting, Flashbacks, Nightmares, References to Dogfighting, Some Medium level violence, Deep Seated Issues, Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, bad language, Vaguely Suicidal Behavior, It’s not really how I intended it to go but here we are, Bruce Wayne hasn’t always been a good parent, So much angst, Fluff and Angst, Exposition Heavy, Slow burn family relationships, Lazarus Pit Madness, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Platonic Cuddling, Fix It Fic, canon divergent after Damian’s resurrection, Pre-Rebirth, An attempt to combine all the other timelines Series: Part 4 of Emotional Motion Sickness Summary:

Jason made a deal with Bruce, no killing, and there would be no more conflict between them. At least on patrol. Jason reasoned it would be easier to accomplish his goals without constantly fighting Batman along the way.

It didn’t change anything, not really. Not until he found an old gift he never knew about and Bruce asked him to dogsit Titus while he and Damian were out of town.

Not until the Lazarus Pit started bothering him again.

AKA: My take on a Jason rejoins the family fic.

This was so hard to do, to pick just one fic for these categories! To console myself from having to choose between beloved favorites, I shall simply link to my Pinboard bookmarks and my AO3 bookmarks. Have fun!

[multix-ct117]

DK OC Profile:

*notes below*

+++++++++++++++++++++

Video Game Series: Donkey Kong

Name: Danica "Dani" Kong

Alias: Dani, Grease Monkey, Grease/Greaser, Fixit, Goggles, Kong

Species: Yellow-Tailed Woolly Monkey (Oreonax Flavicauda)

Gender: Female

Parents: Rocket Kong (father), Juniper Kong (mother)

Other Relatives: *under construction*

Abilities: mechanical engineering, arboreal acrobatics, driving/kart racing, sketching (blue prints)

Love Interest: Donkey Kong

Allies: DK Crew, Donkey K, Diddy K, Funky K, Dixie K, Cranky K, Wrinkly K, Tiny K, Chunky K, Kiddy K, Lanky K, Swanky K, Eddie The Mean Old Yeti, Redneck Kong, Mario Bros, Princess Peach, Princess Daisy, Toads, Yoshi, Kirby, etc...

Enemies: King K. Rool, Kremling Krew, Tiki Tak Tribe, Snowmads, King Dedede, Kamek, Cactus King, Wizpig, Manky Kongs, Bluster Kong, Minkeys, Bowser, etc...

she was born in the Jungle Kingdom and lives happily with her family. Well.. as happily as she can....

As a child, Dani enjoyed swinging in the trees as much as any other Kong, yet she never went beyond what she knew, preferring to take a more introspective approach. But don't let that fool you.. once Dani has her hands on some old parts and a wrench, she's going full throttle. She may not have as much interest in exploring the outside's greatest mysteries but when it comes to her work, she loves testing the limits. Dani is ambitious and analyzes anything she comes across. She's more reserved compared to her friends but can be just as outspoken, not afraid to tell anyone when she disagrees on a matter. She'd like to say she's a fairly reasonable and easygoing monkey but her own stubbornness has clashed against Cranky and DK's more than once. Although reserved, Dani is friendly to those around her and is devoted to her friends and family. Her ingenuity, reasonable nature, and loyalty to her friends makes her a valuable member of the DK Crew.

As she gets older, her skills in mechanical engineering improve greatly. Dani is responsible for improving kart conditions and track structure. After helping upgrade the Jungle Kingdom Raceway, she further evolved karts to have hang-gliders and even anti-gravity wheels.

Despite her abilities and supportive friends, Dani often puts pressure on herself for not knowing something or being useful. She stays in her own space and is perfectly happy working on her projects, even at the cost of other things in life. In fact, Dani sees no reason why things should change.. that is until a certain ape prince barrel rolls into her life....

Normally, I wouldn't post an OC profile until I have everything lined up, but due to what happened with my previous OC, I'm doing this to stake claims and avoid more conflict.. This post may be edited as I continue tweaking Dani's story, but thoughts and constructive criticism are appreciated (:

[roxannarambles]

teal mask fixit-fic on the fly part 9

(Current story so far: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 -

Part 5 - Part 6 - Part 7 - Part 8)

"Why am I here again?"

The two students wandered through the small park under the shade of the trees.

"Wow, Arven, can't I just want to go for a walk with one of my friends?"

"Yeah . . . you can, but I know you had me come out here for a reason."

Nemona caved quickly.

"Fine, yeah, I did. But I think you're gonna like this! Because I had a great idea. We're gonna try to find the Loyal Three!"

They stopped. Arven stared at her.

"Nemona . . . did you not pay attention to the little story? You know they're dead, right? The Loyal Three are right there. Buried under ground?"

He gestured at the little monument placed atop the pokemon graves, not too far from where they stood. Nemona rolled her eyes.

"Yeah I know that Arven, I didn't mean it literally. But look, I was thinking, from the descriptions these pokemon sounded pretty powerful. Maybe we could find others of their same species! So I wanted to gather all the information we could about them. Look for any hints as to where we might search for more of their kind."

Arven frowned.

"I dunno. Sometimes powerful pokemon seem to be a one-off sort of deal. There might not be any others."

"I know, but isn't it worth trying? They might just be really rare! That happens a lot too, people think there's only one and then there turn out to be more."

Arven was forced to admit that was true.

"Yeah, I guess so. Although honestly, if you're looking for strong pokemon, I'm surprised you're not trying to hunt down Ogerpon? I mean, that one's confirmed to actually be around."

Nemona chuckled,

"Oh believe me, I tried. Me and Juliana looked all over! Especially where you first spotted it. And also at the place rumored to be Ogerpon's den, and Paradise Barrens, and the Infernal Pass, and Oni's Maw . . . so on, so on. I wanted to ask Kieran more about it, too, but he's been hiding in his room all day."

Arven sighed.

"Yeah. I'm a bit worried about him, to be honest."

Nemona nodded,

"Same. I thought maybe if we found Ogerpon again, his family might let us show it to him and he'd feel better. But that plan kinda got wrecked, so maybe one of the Loyal Three would be good enough?"

Arven considered that. He shrugged.

"Eh, I guess it's worth a shot. What do you know so far on these guys?"

Nemona clasped her hands together, excited.

"Okay!! So far, not a ton. I've been talking to people in town, but mostly they just talked about folklore type stuff. The one called Munkidori is supposed to bring you success in your classes or career if you worship him. They said he used to be very dim-witted until he wished for wisdom. The one called Okidogi is supposed to bring success in relationships, and apparently he used to be small and weak until he wished for strength. And then Fezadip-- uh, Fezanti-- er-- Fezandipi? Um . . ."

She waved a hand,

"Whatever, the bird one, that one used to be ugly until he wished for beauty, and worshipping him brings you good luck and serendipity! Oh, wait. Fezandipiti! I just got that. Haha, that's cute."

Arven raised a brow.

"Okay . . . well. Is that it?"

Nemona glanced down at her phone.

"That's most of it. I also have notes about their physical appearances and personalities and some places that people thought they might like to hang out? It'll all pretty vague though. I was hoping that taking a closer look at the monument might tell us more."

They approached the humble little monument in the far edge of the park. It had a trio of stone statues-- a monkey, a dog and a bird, adorned with handknitted decorations. Nemona leanded down and studied the statues very closely, while Arven read the nearby plaque.

"Long ago, these three courageous pokemon blah blah blah . . . protected the town, defeated the Ogre, yadda yadda. Nothing useful."

"Hmmm."

Arven stood beside Nemona to examine the statues as well. After a long pause, he said,

"Not to be a killjoy, but what exactly do you hope to accomplish by staring at these statues?"

Nemona stood back up and groaned.

"I dunno . . . I guess you're right."

She gave the statues another mournful glance.

"It's not like they're gonna spontaneously appear here or something. I wish they would, though."

There was a deep rumbling, the ground beneath the trainer's feet shaking. Both of them startled.

"Wh-wha? Earthquake?!"

The rumbling increased, growing louder and louder, until the ground right in front of Nemona and Arven-- centered on the Loyal Three's monument-- split completely open, tearing the monument apart entirely. They gasped as they watched three figures claw their way from the dirt and out into the open air.

A monkey, a dog, and a bird. Perfectly healthy and whole.

Nemona and Arven gaped in disbelief at the trio of pokemon.

"N-nemona, are they . . ."

Nemona scrambled for her pokeballs, but the three legendaries were incredibly quick; they were off and running in the direction of the town (well, the bird flew) before Nemona could even whip her Pawmot out.

"AFTER THEM!" she yelled, taking off running.

"Wait, Nemona, what the heck is going on?!"

"NO CLUE! C'MON!"

In Mossui Town, Penny and Juliana were sitting on one of the stone walls, just chilling.

"Carmine ever say when her grandpa's gonna be done with fixing that mask?"

"Mmm, she said it'd be ready soon."

"Cool."

Penny sipped her lemonade.

"If you can't find the ogre how do you plan giving it back?"

"Just gonna leave it in its den."

"Ah. Yeah I guess that works."

Juliana slurped her own lemonade.

"Y'know it's pretty quiet around here. I kinda like it."

"Yeah? I think it's kinda boring. I wish something would happen."

"Juliana, c'mon. Be careful of what you wish for."

"What? I mean it. It's so--"

The ground began to shake.

"Whoa, hey, earthquake?"

"I guess?"

Not long after, they watched as a trio of pokemon rushed down the path from the apple orchard, then ran right by them through town, across the bridge and up the path towards Kitakami Hall.

"Um . . ."

"Penny, am I crazy or did those kinda look like . . . y'know."

"Yeah, they kinda did."

They watched as Nemona and Arven went tearing down the hill next, stopping short as they entered town. Nemona demanded,

"JULES! PENNY! Did you see the Loyal Three run through here?!"

Then she gasped for breath, looking like she was about to pass out. Arven reached out and prevented her from collapsing, saying,

"Easy, Nemona, they're not worth dying over!"

Penny answered,

"Yeah, they went that direction, towards Kitakami Hall."

Nemona panted,

"Quick, we gotta catch up to them!"

"I got you, girl," Juliana said, tossing her pokeball and releasing Koraidon. As Juliana and Nemona climbed aboard, Arven groaned,

"Oh man, do we really gotta--"

"GET ON OR EAT DUST, ARVEN."

Penny hopped onto Koraidon from the wall. Arven sighed,

"Fine, fine, jeez."

As the bright red lizard motorbike went tearing through town, Nemona shouted,

"Wait, we should swing by Carmine's house and tell her too!"

Soon they had pulled up in front of her house-- she happened to just step out into the front yard-- and were shouting at Carmine.

"Carmine, the Loyal Three are alive?? Somehow??"

"Wh-what?!"

"We gotta go after them!"

"Never mind that, Kieran's stolen the mask!"

"What?!"

"We have to go find him!"

"But the Loyal Three--"

"What's wrong with you, they're dead!"

"They're now undead!"

"We don't have time for this crap!"

"Agreed, get on!"

"On-- on that thing??"

Seated furthermost at the back, Arven reached a hand out.

"If you wanna find him fast, you better just come aboard."

Carmine made a displeased grunt but made her mind up quickly, grabbing hold of his hand. He hauled her up, although there was not much room left and she was sandwiched between Arven and Penny, more in Arven's lap than actually on Koraidon.

"Gun it, Jules!"

They went tearing off down the road, Carmine screaming.

"If I fall to my death I'm going to kill you guys!"

The four teens screeched to a stop at Kitakami Hall, seeing that a crowd of people had gathered there. They called to the Caretaker and the Caretaker told them,

"You just missed them! The Loyal Three were here, in the flesh! Such a remarkable blessing on this day. We welcomed them and fed them our most prized mochi and presented them with their Masks--"

"You fed them?! And gave them the masks?!"

"Aw, crap."

"I can't believe this. They're really alive again? This is ridiculous."

Confused, the Caretaker asked,

"I-is there something amiss?"

"Where are they now?"

The Caretaker pointed.

"They headed off as a group, towards the Oni Mountains."

Carmine suddenly gasped.

"Wait. You guys, I just realized where Kieran's probably run off to with the mask! This is awful!"

"You mean--"

"The Ogre's Den!"

"And the Loyal Three are probably--"

"We gotta go, now!"

They ran along the path through the Oni Mountains like they had death itself nipping at their heels. The most terrifying portion was when Juliana decided to continue running full tilt over the narrow stone catwalk that passed over the canyon, but Koraidon navigated it expertly and screeched to a halt in front of Ogerpon's den.

They had been correct. The Loyal Three were indeed here to harass Ogerpon for its final mask. And, it seemed, Kieran was here too-- the young teen had wedged himself into the den's entrance, while the three pokemon cried angrily and threatened him. The bird was pecking at him, and the monkey seemed to be charging up an attack.

"HEY! Why don't you three pick on somebody your own size?" Carmine yelled, jumping from Koraidon. She sent her Sinistcha out.

Juliana jumped down and sent out her Volcarona.

Then Nemona sent out her Pawmot. Arven sent out his Mabosstiff. Penny sent out her Sylveon.

Koraidon stood on his hind legs, unfurrowing his feathery crests and hissing.

The Loyal Three quickly lost all nerve, outnumbered and outmatched. They turned tail and fled in different directions, escaping too fast for the trainers to keep track of where they went. It didn't matter for the moment, though, as they had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Kiki, are you okay?!"

Carmine rushed over and crouched down, helping Kieran stand back up. Looking frightened but mostly uninjured, the boy stammered,

"I-I think so . . . they were trying to hurt Ogerpon, a-and I tried stopping them, but they defeated all my pokemon, s-so I . . ."

He trailed off. Carmine gently touched the light scratches on his cheek. She stated,

"So you guarded the den yourself."

He nodded meekly. She peered over his shoulder, asking,

"And how's Ogerpon?"

"S-she's okay, I think . . . she ran into her den when they got here."

Carmine took a few steps into the den to confirm that with her own eyes. She quickly re-immerged, saying,

"Yeah, it looks scared but okay."

The other teens looked relieved. Carmine continued,

"Which is good, because that means I can ask you WHAT THE HELL YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE DOING?!"

She turned on Kieran with rage.

"I-I--"

"You scared me half to death, running off like that! How could you be so dense--"

"Well how could you be so awful?!" Kieran suddenly shouted back, startling Carmine so much she fell silent. She stared for a moment in shock and then opened her mouth, but he kept shouting.

"ALL of you! I heard everything, you know! All your secret meetings that you had without me! How could you all keep such important secrets from me?! Knowing how important Ogerpon is to me!"

Carmine yelled right back at him,

"We didn't tell you 'cause we were worried you'd do something really stupid, and guess what, ya dingus, you did!"

Kieran glared daggers and snapped,

"I stole the mask because I didn't trust any of you to return it to Ogerpon!"

Carmine gave a short, bitter laugh.

"That's stupid! Why would we bother repairing it if we weren't gonna give it back?"

"I don't know, you mighta decided to just put it up on display like all the others! It's not like you gave those back either when you learned the truth, did you?"

"If we did that the whole village would have been in an uproar, you moron!"

"Hey, hey, guys, come on, let's not fight," Juliana said, stepping in,

"The important thing is everyone's safe now, right?"

The siblings glanced at her, clearly not agreeing. Carmine bickered,

"No thanks to him! Running off alone like that--"

"Me?! No thanks to you, hiding the truth all this time--"

There was a frightened little whimper, and Kieran stopped short. He looked into the den, where Ogerpon was curled into a ball, shaking.

All the vitriol left Kieran at once, his expression shifting into one of sorrow.

"Ogerpon . . . I-I'm . . . I'm sorry . . . we're scaring her . . ."

Carmine glanced away, her anger muted and looking a little guilty. Gently, Juliana said,

"Look, Carmine, I know you were worried, but Kieran's safe now. Okay? He obviously was just trying to do what he thought was best for Ogerpon."

Carmine grumbled.

"I guess."

Juliana stepped a little closer to Kieran. She said quietly,

"And Kieran, you were right."

He looked to her, surprised. She said,

"It was wrong of us to hide this from you. I do believe your family truly were doing it with the best of intentions, but it was still wrong-- so for that, and for my role in it, I really am sorry."

She glanced to her classmates. They all nodded, agreeing. Kieran's shoulders had been squared, but they now relaxed and he glanced away. Quietly, he said,

"You . . . you all did come to save Ogerpon when she was in danger, so . . . I guess I overreacted a little. I'm sorry too."

Carmine sighed. She nudged Kieran a little.

"Hey. Don't look so down. Did you get to give Ogerpon her mask yet? I bet that'll cheer her up."

Kieran frowned, looking worried.

"I-I tried to . . . but that's when the other pokemon got here. She was just about to take it when they scared her back into her den."

He reached into the little cave's entrance and took up the mask that had been propped there. It looked to be in perfect condition, its gems shining brilliantly in the light; Kieran's grandfather had apparently finished repairs just before he'd stolen it. Gently, Carmine suggested,

"Well, maybe now that things have settled down, she'd like it back?"

Kieran looked into the cave nervously.

"I'll try . . ."

Tentatively, Kieran stepped forward.

"Ogerpon? . . . Everything's okay now. My friends scared all the bad guys away. You can come out now."

The others came closer to watch; Ogerpon was still huddled in the far corner of her cave. She looked at Kieran with wide, frightened eyes.

"It's okay, Ogerpon . . . do you want your mask back?"

He took a few more steps forward, holding the mask out. Ogerpon made a scared little squeak and hid her face. Kieran looked crestfallen.

"She's scared of me."

"Oh, Kiki, she's just been through a lot lately. I'm sure she'll want it later when she's calmed down," Carmine said. He came out of the cave, his shoulders slumped.

"I dunno. She was like that when I first got here, too. She didn't trust me."

"Well she's only just met you, Kiki!"

Her brother slid down to the ground to sit, staring gloomily at the Teal Mask in his hands. Carmine made a 'tsk' noise and turned, saying,

"Arven, why don't you try giving Operpon the mask back?"

Arven blinked at her, asking,

"Me? Why me?"

She crossed her arms and answered,

"Because! When we first saw Ogerpon, it looked like you were pretty good at talking to her. Look, somebody's gotta do it, or else Kieran's gonna just sulk here the rest of the day--"

"--all right, all right! I'll give it a try."

He shuffled forward and looked down at Kieran.

"Would that be all right with you?" he asked quietly. Kieran hesitated, but eventually nodded. He held the mask out wordlessly.

Arven took it. He went to the cave's entrance, gazing in at the frightened pokemon. Then he glanced behind himself at the others, who were crowded round.

"Maybe everyone could, um . . . give her a little space? I have a feeling she might be nervous with so many eyes on her."

The others backed off awkwardly, leaving the cave entrance vacant, and Arven took a few more steps into the cave. Then he paused there a moment.

"Hey there," he said, softly.

The little pokemon had her face buried in her hands, but she looked up at the sound of Arven's voice.

"Hi," he repeated, giving a little wave. The pokemon flinched a little at the gesture.

"Hey, it's okay, bud. I won't come any closer if you don't want me to."

Arven set his bag down and then slid to the floor to sit. Ogerpon watched him closely.

"I'm sorry about all the yelling. Actually, to tell you the truth, I hate it when people yell too," he said, with a dry laugh.

"It's not your fault though. I promise."

The pokemon swayed anxiously on her feet. Arven studied her a little. After a bit, he mused aloud,

"Ya know, it's funny that you just happened to show up at that festival when my friends and I came to visit. Guess we were just lucky, huh? Or maybe . . . I dunno, maybe you just got so tired of being alone that it was finally enough to win out over your fears."

The pokemon crept forward just a little bit more. Arven could finally see her face properly for the first time through the costume-like leaf that covered her body. She had bright yellow eyes-- wide and innocent-- and a tiny pair of fangs, her face a vivid orange.

"You're a cute little rascal, aren't you? Honestly I don't get how anyone could be scared of you. Not that I mean you aren't tough, of course. You probably could have given those bullies a run for their money."

Ogerpon seemed to be much more at ease now. Arven zipped open a pouch on his bag.

"Hey, I've got something special to share, if you'd like. I don't give these out to many people, but you can be an exception."

He took a Leichi berry from his bag. At first, Ogerpon startled, anxious over what Arven was doing.

"It's okay, bud, it's just a berry."

He held the berry out. Ogerpon inched forward, gazing at it with her bright eyes.

"These are pretty good, if I do say so myself. I fought off a whole pack of Poochyena for them!"

Ogerpon took the berry with a sudden grab and backed off a few paces. She bit into it and then made a happy little noise. Arven chuckled.

"Told ya they were good."

She finished off the berry very quickly, her little fangs stained in juice. She came forward again and sat down beside Arven, looking at him with wide eyes.

"What, you want another? Well, I was saving these for making some desserts when I went back home, but I guess one more won't hurt."

The pokemon cheerfully ate the fat berry and hopped back and forth, chirping.

"More? You're killing me, bud. You do know how rare these are, right?"

Ogerpon nibbled on Arven's bag.

"Maybe you'd like an Oran berry? How's that sound?"

He tried to offer an Oran berry to her, but she made a garbled little cry and swayed on her feet, refusing to take it.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Guess this one is a bit of a gourmand. Leichi berry it is then."

He handed another over. Fortunately for Arven, it seemed Ogerpon was satisfied with three of the berries. She sat back down, licking the juice on her hands.

"So, um . . . on another subject, I kinda have something of yours. Sorry it took us so long to get this back to you, but we wanted to repair it first."

He took the mask from his bag. Like before, Ogerpon flinched at first, but she calmed down quickly this time.

"It looks good as new! It's supposed to enhance your battle powers or something, right? Probably a good idea to have it, then."

He held it out gingerly.

Ogerpon took the mask. She touched it softly and smiled.

When Arven immerged from the cave once more, Ogerpon followed closely behind him, wearing the Teal Mask. The others cheered at the sight.

"You did it, Arven!"

"I told you he could."

"Aw, I'm glad it worked out."

The shy little pokemon clung to Arven's leg, looking out at the others. Carmine told her brother,

"See, Kiki? Looks like Ogerpon's feeling a lot better now."

It seemed everyone was glad to see Ogerpon had cheered up-- everyone except Kieran. There was a tension in his expression when he looked at her. He muttered,

"Yeah . . ."

Carmine gave an annoyed huff.

"What's wrong now?"

Kieran turned away. He mumbled,

"I just . . . don't understand why she likes Arven, but she doesn't like me."

Arven quickly countered,

"That's not true, she's just a shy little gal."

"You said the Loyal Three arrived at the same time you tried to give the mask back, Kieran?" Juliana asked. Kieran glanced to her and nodded reluctantly.

"It's possible Ogerpon accidentally associated you with the Loyal Three attack," Juliana said gently,

"It was probably very scary and confusing for her, and she didn't understand what was going on."

Kieran's expression dropped into a look of horror.

"Y-you think so?"

Juliana tried to quickly reassure him.

"It's possible, but it's okay, Kieran. I'm sure she'll still warm up to you. You just need to give her a little time."

Her comforts seemed to fall on deaf ears. Kieran suddenly said,

"She probably doesn't trust me because I failed to protect her!"

Looking very frustrated, Carmine shot back,

"Kiki, that's not even true! You risked your life to keep her safe!"

"But my whole team fell, and if you guys didn't come when you did, they would have gotten to her--"

"KIERAN--"

"Whoaaa there, let's not get back into arguing," Juliana cut in.

"Yeah, agreed," Arven said, giving a pointed look towards the pokemon clutching his leg. Carmine sighed and started again at a quieter volume,

"Kiki--"

"I have an idea!" Nemona announced, cutting Carmine off. Everyone looked to Nemona; she had her hands balled into fists as she excitedly proclaimed,

"We should go track down the Loyal Three! As long as they're out there, they're gonna be a threat to Ogerpon, right? So we should go find them! Also, OH, also," she began to pace,

"The Caretaker said they gave them those masks back, so maybe we could get those back at the same time!"

Carmine crossed her arms and frowned.

"That's . . . a good point, actually."

"Those masks originally belonged to Ogerpon, right?" Arven asked.

"Yeah, that's right."

"So maybe we can give them all back to Ogerpon!" Nemona concluded.

Kieran seemed to like the idea, but he shook his head. He said,

"But everyone in the village would notice. You told me that was the reason you hadn't already returned them."

Nemona said,

"Oh. Right. Shoot."

Penny spoke up,

"Well, maybe not?" The group looked to her.

"As far as they know, they've returned the masks to their three guardian patrons. But if we don't tell anyone that we've chased them all down and taken them back . . ."

Nemona beamed,

"Yeah! That's perfect!"

Carmine smirked a little.

"Beat 'em up and take back what's ours? Yeah, I think I'm down for that."

". . . how do we find them, though?" Kieran asked.

Nemona flashed them all a grin.

"Don't worry, I've been doing my homework, unlike all you other slackers."

"Nerd."

"And I've gathered a ton notes on where the Loyal Three are likely to go. We'll split up into three teams of two, and head out in the different directions! That way we can cover the most ground at once and hopefully get the masks back as quickly as possible."

Kieran glanced back warily at the little pokemon hiding behind Arven.

"I think Ogerpon should go with one of us. Just in case they try to come back and hurt her again."

Arven nodded.

"That's good thinking, Kieran. How 'bout this, you and me can make a team and she can come with us?"

Kieran agreed. The others split off into teams as well and figured out where they were going to search.

Then they were off, delving into the wilds of Kitakami, hoping to track down their quarry.

At Wisteria Pond, team Julinemo had an easy time tracking down and dealing with Munkidori. Once they worked out it was Poison/Psychic, it fell quickly to Juliana's Corviknight and Nemona's Orthworm.

"That was almost a bit disappointing," Nemona sighed, once the defeated Legendary had escaped. She wasn't even all that upset that the monkey had given them the slip.

"Yeah, it was a bit weak, huh? Even souped up on those mystic herbs. Maybe we ended up with the easiest one of the three."

Nemona checked her phone, looking worried.

"If that's the case . . . I hope the others don't have too hard a time."

Meanwhile . . .

Carmine and Penny found Fezandipiti in Fellhorn Gorge, after a bit of a hike and a lot of scanning the skies. Carmine sighed in relief when they spotted it.

"Good. I did not want to be the only team that failed to get a mask back."

She turned to her partner and said,

"You're . . . Penny, right? You're my favorite Naranja kid out of the lot."

Penny gave her a confused look.

"I am? But we haven't even spoken to each other until now?"

"Exactly," Carmine said, taking a pokeball from her bag.

"Anyway, let's go make this bird sorry for ever leaving its grave."

The two girls approached their foe and quickly formed a plan; Penny sent out her Jolteon and Carmine sent out Morpeko. Yet, they were shocked when their electric moves did incredibly little.

"What the heck kind of bird is this?"

"Maybe it's not Flying-type?"

Carmine scoffed, gesturing at the pokemon.

"What do you mean? It's flying, isn't it? How couldn't it be Flying type?"

"Plenty of Pokemon that can fly aren't flying type. Venomoth, Magnemite, Garchomp . . ."

"Okay, smartass, I know that, I'm just saying-- wait, Garchomp can fly?! Since when?"

Penny recalled her Jolteon.

"Let's stay focused on the battle. It's been using Beat Up, so maybe it's Dark type?"

Penny sent out her Sylveon and tried using Moonblast, but Fezandipiti hardly even batted an eye at the powerful move.

"That's . . . concerning. Sylveon is my strongest pokemon."

The bird gave a cry, striking both its foes with Disarming Voice. Carmine had been battering away with Matcha Gotcha with equally feeble results.

"Ugh, Sinistcha, use Scald!"

"Sylveon, Baby-Doll Eyes!"

Fezandipiti gave another cry, hitting both its opponents again with the soundwave.

"Why are you wasting your time with stupid Baby-Doll Eyes?! You can see how little we're doing, we need to hit the damn thing!"

Penny lifted a brow and answered her mildly,

"Okay, you need to work on your anger issues, seriously. Baby-Doll Eyes actually helps us a lot here, this is probably gonna be a long battle."

Carmine scowled.

"Not if I can help it."

She recalled her Sinistcha, saying,

"It keeps using that annoying Disarming Voice so I bet it's Fairy type. Which means I get to introduce it to my brand-new ace."

Flinging a ball, she released a large black lizard streaked in hot pink. She called,

"Salazzle! Use Sludge Wave!"

Penny's eyes widened and she said,

"What, wait--"

It was too late; Salazzle quickly created a massive wave of toxic water, sending it out in all directions. The move struck Fezandipiti but did woefully little to it.

Slyveon wasn't quite so lucky. The wave of poison had the little Fairy-type writhing in agony. It didn't actually faint, but then Fezandipiti decided to rub salt in the wound by hitting Slyveon with a Cross Poison, and that was certainly enough to finish it off and for it return to Penny's pokeball.

"What the hell, Carmine?!"

"What?!"

"You don't just go around using Sludge Wave when you have an ally, you freak! Especially when your ally is Sylveon!"

Carmine looked surprised at how angry Penny was, as if she didn't expect it from her. Despite that, she still sassed back,

"We could have ended the battle right then and there, it's not like it would have mattered!"

Penny gestured at their opponent,

"Looks like it's still going on to me!"

"Well I was wrong, so sue me! It was a decent guess!"

Penny sighed, removing her glasses and pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Someone really needs to teach you how to play well with others."

Fezandipiti struck Salazzle and Carmine cringed at what looked like a critical hit.

"I'm a sitting Ducklett out here as the only target, Penny--"

"Oh so now you want an ally?"

Carmine growled,

"We can argue after the battle, all right, for now let's just finish this!"

Penny sighed again and sent out another pokemon.

"Salazzle, use Flamethrower!"

"Flareon, Fire Spin!"

The flames engulfed their foe, but it still did not fall. Penny shook her head and said,

"Jeez, this thing has to have ridiculous special defense."

They watched as the bird swooped down low and landed on the ground before them, a soft glow enveloping its body. Carmine shouted,

"NO! Seriously?!"

Penny's reaction was not as loud, but she did groan-- she wasn't any happier with the battle being extended with Roost.

"Salazzle, return!"

"Flareon, Baby-Doll Eyes!"

Carmine sent out her Mightyena, and she looked like she was rapidly losing all patience.

"Mightyena, use Take D--"

She stopped short, hesitating for some reason. She glanced at Penny, then away, apparently pondering something-- then sighed. Her voice was strangely awkward as she asked,

"Um, d-does your Flareon have any physical moves?"

Penny nodded at her slowly.

"Yeah . . . Flare Blitz."

Carmine nodded, then turned back to Mightyena. In a calmer tone, she said,

"Okay, Mightyena. Use Howl."

The canine's cry pierced the air, raising the attack of both Mightyena and Flareon. Penny gave Carmine a surprised look.

"What? You wanted me to be a team player, right?"

Penny smiled at her.

Carmine said,

"Keep spamming those dumb Baby-Doll Eyes, I'll keep spamming the Howls. Let's finish this."

Penny nodded,

"Right!"

Meanwhile . . .

Arven and Kieran had the longest hike of the three teams by far. They had to travel all the way out into the Paradise Barrens before turning up the final member of the Loyal Three. When they finally spotted the huge green canine, Arven cheerfully patted Kieran on the shoulder, saying,

"There he is, I told you we'd find him eventually! Hard to miss something that big."

Kieran had been very quiet the whole trip, but he nodded gratefully now, saying quietly,

"You were right. Thank you for helping us find him."

"Of course! I'm a bit of a Titan pokemon expert, you know, so if you're worried about the battle, I'm sure things will go fine! We just gotta work together and--"

Kieran turned away from Arven, interrupting,

"Actually, I'd like to face Okidogi alone, if you don't mind."

Arven balked.

"Wh-what?"

Kieran began to approach the legendary, Arven following quickly behind him.

"I have to prove myself for Ogerpon. She needs to know I can protect her."

"Kieran, I'm sure Ogerpon knows--"

Kieran stopped so suddenly that Arven almost ran into him; the young teen shot Arven a gaze that was disturbingly cold.

"How do you know that? Did she tell you?"

"U-uh . . . no?"

Kieran nodded, looking to the innocent little grass type that still followed closely behind Arven.

"Yeah. Thought so. So maybe don't assume you know what she thinks and feels."

Arven stared, at a loss as to how to respond. After a few beats, Kieran said,

"Look, after I messed up the last time, I need to prove I can defeat at least one of Ogerpon's enemies. Please, Arven."

Arven looked to the nearby legendary, clearly not liking this at all. But he fought back against all his reservations, and eventually nodded.

"All right, I'll stay out of it. For now. If you get into a tight spot, though, I'm still gonna bail you out."

Kieran gave a single nod and then turned. He walked out into the clearing where Okidogi was lounging.

When the pokemon noticed him, it stood quickly to its full height and growled, leering down at him with sharp teeth and a vicious gaze. The shadow from the pokemon fell over Kieran and engulfed his entire body.

Kieran took a pokeball from his bag, fighting to keep his hand from shaking. He squeezed his eyes shut, holding the pokeball tightly.

Then he threw it. His lead pokemon appeared.

"Yanmega, Bug Buzz!"

The speedy insect sent a shockwave out, striking the canine, but the move didn't seem to even tickle. The dog made a noise that was alarmingly close to a laugh and then lashed out savagely with a Poison Jab. The dragonfly cried weakly and immediately fainted.

Kieran's eyes widened. Not a great start.

Clearly rattled, Kieran sent out his Poliwrath. Arven guessed it was his ace pokemon, based on the fight he'd watched earlier between Kieran and Juliana.

"Poliwrath, use Brick Break!"

The beefy water type leapt forward and struck Okidogi with a powerful chop.

They watched as Okidogi began to glow orange, raising one of its mighty fists; it sent its fist crashing down on Poliwrath with incredible force. Poliwrath was knocked clean backwards, immediately fainting from the Counter.

Worried, Arven couldn't help but call out,

"Kieran--"

His voice high and taut, he yelled back,

"No, let me do this, I can still do this!"

He sent out Cramorant, calling,

"Th-thrash!"

The bird flapped its wings and ran directly towards the huge dog without any hesitation. When it reached its foe it began to peck and beat at it with its wings, as furiously at the little bird could muster.

Okidogi looked more annoyed then genuinely hurt by the attack. It lowered its head and bit down on the bird, hard, its sharp teeth sinking into the poor creature.

Cramorant cried feebly but continued its attack as well as it could manage, flailing and pecking-- but it soon fainted.

"Okay, I'm really sorry, Kieran, but I gotta help you out here!"

Arven rushed to Kieran's side, but the boy stubbornly argued,

"I need to defeat him, you don't understand, I can't have help!"

"We all need help sometimes, Kieran, Ogerpon isn't going to think less of you for that!"

Ignoring him, Kieran tossed a ball, sending out his dragon type.

"Dipplin, Syrup Bomb, quick!"

Unfortunately, 'quick' was not a thing that Dipplin excelled in. Okidogi hit the little dragon with a Poison Jab, the apple rolling away for quite some distance. When the dragon poked its head back out, it looked weak and dizzy from poisoning. It still managed to fire a red, goopy shot at Okidogi, but the grass move didn't do much to faze it.

"O-okay, Dipplin, try Dragon Pulse!" Okidogi stomped up and smashed Dipplin with a second Poison Jab before it could react.

"No!" Kieran cried as the pokemon returned to its ball.

He looked devastated. Arven told him calmly,

"It's all right, Kieran. We'll beat him together."

He threw one of his own pokeballs.

"Mabosstiff, we need your help! I know he looks big but the bigger they are, the harder they fall-- we can do this! Use Psychic Fangs, boy!"

Mabosstiff turned to face his foe and barked defiantly. Okidogi growled in return.

Mabosstiff charged headlong at its foe. Okidogi swung a fist, but before the attack could connect Mabosstiff latched its jaws down on its hand, biting hard.

Okidogi howled in pain. It swung its hands together and smashed at Mabosstiff, with the shuddering impact of a Counter. Mabosstiff's fierce grip slackened and he fainted.

"It's okay, you did good, boy," Arven said, recalling the pokemon. Okidogi whined, licking his injured paw.

"Why did your pokemon do so much more damage?" Kieran asked, the frustration clear in his voice. Arven shrugged,

"Well, I was guessing this big brute's either Poison or Fighting type."

Kieran balled a fist, shouting,

"But I was so sure it's a Dark type! They're evil, all three of them-- it just makes sense!"

"It was a good guess, Kieran, but you saw how little your Bug and Fighting moves did to it."

Okidogi stood back up to its full height. It was glaring down at the two humans, snarling.

"Ooh boy, he looks mad. Quick, Kieran, we'd better send something else out."

Arven tossed a pokeball, releasing his Scovillain. When Kieran sent out his last pokemon, Arven turned to him.

"A Gligar, perfect! Use a Flying or Ground move, Kieran, let's hit him where it hurts!"

"O-okay . . . Gligar, Dual Wingbeat!"

"Scovillain, Zen Headbutt!"

The pokemon closed in and attacked Okidogi at once, Gligar swooping in and striking with its batlike wings at Okidogi's head, Scovillain smashing into Okidogi's torso with a pair of glowing heads. The dog howled and flailed, whipping its arms around. The Poison Jab caught Scovillain in the face(s) and it soon fainted to the move.

"Great work, Kieran, keep it up-- we have him now!"

Arven threw a ball, sending his Toedscruel into the fray.

"Gligar, Dual Wingbeat!"

"Toedscruel, let's teach this dog to sit and stay! Use Earth Power!"

Toedscruel's long tendrils wriggled down into the earth, and not long after, a volcanic blast of energy erupted beneath Okidogi's feet; meanwhile, Gligar dove at Okidogi's head, its wings slicing the air with a sharp noise before hitting its target.

Finally, the large canine succumbed to his attackers, staggering and then falling, collapsing onto the ground.

"Yeah! We did it!" Arven cheered, patting Kieran on the shoulders roughly.

"I knew we could do it together, little bud! Let's go see if he has that mask!"

The two trainers were indeed able to retreive the stolen mask from the oversized pokemon. Arven suggested that Kieran try giving the mask back to Ogerpon.

Kieran looked very reluctant, but he tried it anyway. Ogerpon's first reaction was to shy away, apparently still anxious about Kieran approaching her. But with Arven comforting Ogerpon a little and encouraging her, she eventually accepted the mask from Kieran.

When she did, Arven took a selfie with the three of them. Ogerpon wore her returned mask, chirping happily, while Arven grinned at the camera with a Victory sign, arm slung over Kieran.

Kieran's gaze was elsewhere, though, his eyes sad and his face stony.

[lifetimeshipper]

New Life, New Obstacles

Chapter 22

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

"You look so much like your mother," Tarn purred as he shoved her up against a tree. Leaning in his mask smashed against her lips as if he was kissing her. He held her arms above her helm as he pinned her to the tree, "I'm going to enjoy this."

"LET ME GO!!!" She yells as she starts squirming trying to fight him off her, "I already have a mate!"

"Does it look like I care?" He growled as he started removing her interface panel.

"No, don't!"

"Your mother begged for me to stop, saying that her mate would come for her. When he did she was already laying in a pool of her own Energon," he whispered into her audio receptor as he removed his interface panel, "And no one is going to save you."

Steeljaw seemingly came out of nowhere punching Tarn away from his mate, "KEEP YOUR FILTHY SERVOS OFF MY MATE!!!" The force of his punch sent the mech to the ground.

Tarn looked up at him, "You're quick, I'll give you that," he chuckled, "I'm going to enjoy toying with you," he grinned, each word aiming for his spark. "You can feel it already, your spark's slowing down."

Steeljaw could feel his spark slowing down but the wave of love being sent to him from his mate helped it get back to normal, "Not gonna work."

"I was hoping to save this for the finale," Tarn whispered as he tackled Steeljaw, sending him to the ground. Steeljaw slashes him on the back then turns over putting him on his back and raises a servo to strike him. Tarn grunted in pain as he grabbed Steeljaw's wrist, his tight grip crushing the Wolf-Con's wrist causing Steeljaw to howl in pain when Magnus ran up to them and punched Tarn really hard on his helm.

Tarn cried out from the punch before looking up with a chuckle, "Well, isn't this a lovely reunion."

"Release my daughter."

"And what will you do if I don't?" He asked as he got up off the ground while focusing on the Wrecker's spark pulse, making it race.

Magnus launched at him, "I'm gonna tear you apart!"

Tarn quickly pulled Strongarm in front of him, using her as a shield. Magnus quickly came to a halt not wanting to hit his daughter.

Tarn threw his helm back as he laughed, "You Autobots are too easy. Now why don't you two get comfortable as I -"

Tarn was interrupted when Steeljaw grabbed Strongarm and pulled her away giving Magnus an opening to throw a punch at Tarn. Tarn's mask cracked under the force as he backed away from the commander. Steeljaw helps Strongarm get her interface panel back on while Magnus has another round with Tarn.

Tarn caught Magnus' servo crushing it under his grip, "It will take a lot more than that, Ultra Magnus."

Before he could tear his arm off he felt something dripping down his chest. Looking down he saw a servo, with pained groans he turned his helm only to see Tesarus, "What are you doing?" He asked the mech.

"You will not... harm my family," he spoke in a voice that was not his own. Magnus' optics widened, he knew who it was. But how?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Drift screamed in pain when he felt Kaon's servo digging into his stomach. He deserved this pain, after all of the lives he had stolen, this was his punishment and he was going to take it. As his vision started to grow dark he thought he heard a roar. Please someone help me.

Then suddenly the servo was removed from his stomach as Grimlock came running over and punched the mech. Holding his servo on his wound, Drift picked up his sword, slashing it across Kaon's neck. With a garbled scream, the mech tried to stop the leaking with little success.

"Hang on, Drift. We'll get you to Med Bay," Bumblebee tells him.

"When did you guys get here? How did you know we were in trouble?"

"Ultra Magnus called us. Also, Fixit spotted some strange signals."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Arcee fell to the ground as Wheeljack continued his fight with Helex. Every time she tried to help her mate Helex would push her aside. She brings out one of her blades and slices him in the back.

Grunting from the pain he grabbed her whole arm, lifting her off the ground, "If you had a death wish then I will grant it," he slowly started breaking her arm. Her other servo transforms into a blaster and she shoots him in the chest before kicking him back and getting out of his grasp. Holding his chest he reached for her only to feel something slash across his back.

Quickly turning around he stopped Wheeljack's blade from impaling him as he headbutts the smaller mech. Wheeljack falls back with his helm reeling. Arcee shoots at the mech, trying to get him away from her mate, and Bulkhead comes running over while transforming his servo into his wrecking ball, and he slams his wrecking ball into the mech's face.

Helex stumbles back but quickly regains his composure, "Three against one, sounds like fun," he says before he feels Wheeljack's sword piercing through his spark chamber. Helex falls to the ground as his spark ceases.

Arcee fell to her knees while transforming her servos, Wheeljack ran over to her, "You okay, babe?" He asked as he held her. She didn't respond, just held him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Metalsound backed away as Vos took off his face trying to force it on her. Thunderhoof rams him from behind throwing him a few paces.

"You guys aren't playing fair," he complained.

"What do you know about fairness?" Thunderhoof asks him.

"At least we always fight one-on-one," he growled as Metalsound bit his arm. Then a sword comes raking across his chest. He grabs his chest screaming in pain as he looks up at the red mech who had just arrived.

"Thanks for the help, kid," Thunderhoof tells Sideswipe.

"It was no problem, that's what teammates are for," Sideswipe says with a grin.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steeljaw holds Strongarm tightly, "Are you alright my love?" Strongarm couldn't say anything, her body was shaking with fear of what could have happened if Steeljaw hadn't arrived in time. "Don't worry, there's no way I would allow another mech to touch you or harm you in any way."

She buried her face into his chest as she started crying. He caressed her helm as he sent a big wave of love to her through their bond.

Tesarus watched them in silence, having removed his hand from Tarn's body, "She.. is.. in.. good.. hands," he replied.

Steeljaw looks at him, "Who are you?"

The large mech knelt beside Steeljaw, just barely touching Strongarm's helm. Steeljaw pulled Strongarm out of the mech's reach as he growled at him.

"Take... care... of...them," he told Steeljaw as he fell to the ground. Steeljaw just looked confused, he wasn't sure what to make of that. What did he mean by them?

Bumblebee comes running over to them, "Are you guys okay?"

"Bumblebee, we need to get everyone to Med Bay," Magnus tells him before running off to see the others. Bumblebee calls Soundwave for a Ground Bridge.

Magnus runs over to Drift's side to stop the Energon from seeping from his body. Metalsound, Thunderhoof, and Sideswipe had managed to take Vos down. "Is everyone alright?" Magnus asked as Metalsound slowly fell to the ground.

"Do we look like we're alright?" Arcee snaps.

Thunderhoof carefully picked up his mate as he glared down at Vos. Ultra Magnus growled as he tried to tend to Drift's wound. He wasn't a medic. A Ground Bridge opens up and Bumblebee, Grimlock, Sideswipe, and Bulkhead help them all get back to the scrapyard.

"What on Cybertron happened?" Fixit asked as they all returned.

"The D.J.D happened," Magnus replies and he and Grimlock help Drift walk to his ship and Med Bay.

"Is anyone else injured?" Fixit asks looking around.

"Only Drift, Steeljaw, and Arcee. Wheeljack got his helm banged up a bit," Bumblebee replied.

"Oh dear, it's going to be a long night," Fixit replied as he led them to Med Bay. Fixit fixes up and bandages them all, "I wished there was more of me," he stated softly while he worked on Steeljaw's wrist.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter 1

Next Chapter

[annieandropinkpawsfan]

Annieandro Pinkpaws Stories Part 4

Fraggle Rock: Goodnight Wembly Fraggle

Muppet Babies: Meet The Muppet Babies

Fraggle Rock: Cotterpin's Perfect Building Fraggle Rock: Waggle by Of Fraggle Rock

Fraggle Rock: Sporcket, Dog Detective

Muppet Babies: For Baby Piggy

Walt Disney: Thunper's Little Sisters

Winnie The Pooh: King Of The Beasties

The Story Of The Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business

Care Bears: The Care Bears and The Ice Dragon

Dave The Brave Meets A Big Orange Monster

Sesame Street: What's Up In The Attic

Yo Gabba Gabba: Be Careful Friend

Dora The Explorer: Dora's Book Of Manners

Blue's Clues: Blue's Big Pajama Party

Little LuluSmelly Socks

The Tiny Seed

Fraggle Rock: Mokey's Birthday Present

Muppet Babies: Baby Piggy's Night At The Ball

Muppet Babies: Even Kermit Get Grouchy

Ten Apples Up On Top

Cheeky Little Kitten

King Rollo and The Tree

The Busy World of Richard Scarry: Snow Storm Busytown boat race Camping out and A trip to the moon

About animals

Mr. Fixit's lucky day

The adventures of Lowly Worm

Richard Scarry's best busy year ever

Best storybook ever

Busytown Mysteries: The mixed-up message and The big tooth mystery

Richard Scarry's chuckle with Huckle! : and other funny easy-to-read stories

Richard Scarry's Lowly worm storybook

Richard Scarry's bedtime stories

Spot's Easter Basket

Sesame Street: Shapes and Up and Down

Sesame Street: Ernie's Work Of Art

Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks From A To Z

Yo Gabba Gabba: Lovely Love My Family

My Little Pony: Pony Pop Stars

Berenstain Bears: On The Moon

The Penguin That Hated The Cold

Cooking With Sam I Am

Cooking With The Grinch

[thefreakymunson]

Exact Copy

Summary: Eddie Munson went missing nearly ten years ago, living a a young Y/N to fend for herself. But sometimes, just sometimes, wrongs can get put right. T/W: Death, murder, angst. A/N: This is my version of a fixit fic. I hope you enjoy.

Hawkins, Indianna 1996.

You were standing at the ten year Hawkin’s high school reunion. It’s crazy how much everyone had changed over the last decade. So many of your friends had families now, children of their own, and careers you could’ve only dreamed for. They got out of this town. They got out and stayed out. They only came back to visit family and then they got to leave. Not you.

You never got over his death. You never got over the hurt and anger. How could he put himself in that position and leave you here all alone? Eddie was your everything. Everyone in town knew it and everyone in town shunned you after he was named a suspect. But that was ten years ago and no one remembered him now. They remembered Chrissy, Patrick, and Jason. But Eddie “The Freak” Munson was a name that the town kept hush-hush about.

You weren’t allowed to talk about him. You were shunned by your friends. The therapist told you that you just needed to move on – forget about him, that there would be other guys for you. As if you could just forget about the love of your life. As if you could forget the memories you shared. As if you could forget how good it felt to be loved by him. As if the ten year old boy at home didn’t remind you every day of him.

He never got to find out he had gotten you pregnant, that you gave birth to a son you named Ozzy that looked identical to him more and more every day. His long shaggy black hair and the same wide smile as his fathers. He was the spitting image of Eddie Munson.

You weren’t even sure what lead you to coming here tonight. It wasn’t as if you were going to bump into him. It was just a reminder of how hard your life had suffered. Classmates who were rich and successful, married, living happy lives. And you were still hung up on the guy who the town deemed a murderer ten years – a decade ago.

Tonight you’d hopefully change that. It was time to move on for your sanity. You deserved to be happy, too. Eddie would’ve wanted that. Tonight you were able to fully say your goodbyes to the man you loved and longed after for so many years.

You made your way out past the football field, through the overgrown brush, and back to where you had walked so many times before to meet him during lunch or your free period. So many conversations you had here. This was where your first kiss was the day that your ex boyfriend broke your heart. This was where he got you high for the first time. And your favorite memory - this was where he told you he loved you for the first time as well. So many memories in this small secluded spot that for three years belonged to just you and Eddie. No one else.

“Y/N” you heard his voice, like a ghost coming from the darkness of the surrounding trees. Tears filled your eyes. It wasn’t a new thing. You had heard him every once in awhile for the last ten years, especially when you missed him. In the dark nights, in the sunny warm mornings – when you were curled up with his vest he used to wear. You kept it in a bag to keep the scent of him on it, only bringing it out when the ache in your chest got too bad just to give yourself a reminder that he was real and he loved you – he existed no matter how many people wanted to forget about him.

“I miss you,” you said, voice quivering as you sat down at your picnic table, “I miss everything about you. This...this town has moved on...and for the most part, they’ve forgotten all about Chrissy and everyone else. Forgotten about you...but I can’t. I never could, Eds.”

“Y/N,” you heard his voice so clearly this time.

A small smile spread across your face as you remembered the way he used to playfully dance around to make you smile if you were having a bad day. He was the goofiest person you knew and he never failed to make you smile even on the worst of days.

“I miss your laugh,” you said, “And the way you smelled. I still miss those nights we’d spend on top of your trailer...two stupid kids, ya know? Getting high as shit. We’d get in trouble for being too loud all the time...we never listened.”

“Y/N, look at me.” His voice came again from behind you.

“You’re not real,” you whispered quietly, tears filling your eyes, “I’ve heard your voice so many times and every time I look, you’re not there. You haven’t been here for ten years, Eddie. I keep hearing your voice and seeing you in everything. You’re everywhere even still. I’ve gotta move on, Eds. I can’t live another ten years like this. My heart feels so empty every day that I don’t have you here. The hurt is the same every fucking day.”

A hand reached out and grabbed your arm gently, making you gasp. A hand – a warm hand with three silver rings: a cross with four skulls, a pig head, and a skull. They weren’t as crisp as they used to be, obviously a little worn down now. The voice had obviously never touched you. You turned around to see him – your Eddie standing there. Except he didn’t look the same.

His hair was cropped short and slicked back. He had facial hair now. He looked older and mature, almost as if he was a completely different person now. But you knew by those eyes – those big brown warm eyes, this was your Eddie.

“You’re not real, Eddie.” You said, voice trembling as you stared into those big brown eyes for the first time in a decade. You felt your knees almost give out from underneath you as you stumbled back and away from him,“You can’t be real. You – you died, Eddie.”

“No,” Eddie whispered, “It’s too complicated to talk about right now. I’m not even supposed to be here. I just...I knew you would be here. I knew you would be out here in our spot...well, I had a feeling at least. I’m staying in the hotel just out past route 8. Room 4. Will you meet me there?”

You stood there dumbfounded as tears streamed down your face. Panic rose in your throat as you struggled to breathe. Was this a joke? How could someone do this? Didn’t they know you loved this man with everything in you? And you never got over him?

“Eddie-” You were cut off by the sound of a few footsteps and laughter, a passing couple walking through the woods for whatever reason.

“Meet me there, okay? I can’t risk being seen.” His voice was frantic.

And just as soon as he was there touching you, he was gone again back into the vast darkness. Route 8 hotel, room 4. Route 8 hotel, room 4. Route 8 hotel, room 4. You must’ve repeated it a thousand times as you rushed back to your car, fumbling with the keys to unlock the door. There was a nagging feeling in the pit of your stomach as you sped out of the schools parking lot, like this was a dream or a prank. But it couldn’t have been – no one could be this cruel, could they?

You knocked on the door, hands moving rapidly. There was no way this was real. This was just another delusion. But when the door opened, there he stood again. You rushed inside the door and wrapped your arms around him so tightly, sobs wrecking your body. He was real. You could touch him – you could see him and smell him. He was there in front of you for the first time in a decade.

“Oh my god,” you cried, pressing your face into his chest.

“I know, I know.” Eddie said, his hand cradling the back of your head as you sobbed, “I know. I’m so sorry.”

You leaned back from him, your reddened tear streaked face a sight for sore eyes as you shook your head in disbelief, “How, Eddie? Where were you? What hap-”

“Shh,” Eddie whispered, soothing your hair back from your wet cheeks, “I know you’ve got questions. But you have to calm down first, okay? You’re going to have an asthma attack.”

After all these years, he still remembered your horrible asthma. You couldn’t stop yourself as you stood up on your tip toes and kissed him. His hands came up to cup your face, tears of his own mixing with yours. He tasted exactly how you remembered – how you craved. Your thumbs stroked his cheeks, his beard tickling your fingers.

“I’ve missed you,” you whispered, unable to say anything else.

“I know,” he whispered, “Uncle Wayne told me you still come to visit him sometimes. I missed you so much, Y/N...I’ve wanted to contact you, tell you what happened to me-”

“Wayne knew?” Your eyes widened.

“Yeah.” Eddie whispered, “I had to swear him to secrecy. He hated having to lie to you as much as I did, princess.”

There it was. Princess. The word made you melt inside all over again, still having the same effect it did a decade ago.

You stepped back, holding him out at arms length to get a good look at him. He still looked the same except for his shorter hair and beard. He looked like the love of your life, just aged a few years. The beard looked great on him, and his short hair brought out his curls. He looked amazing.

“Can’t believe your eyes, huh?” He asked, smile lighting up his face the exact same way it used to.

“I can’t,” you smiled through your tears, “I really can’t, Eddie. You look….”

“Different?” He snorted, “Yeah...well...had to change to protect myself.”

“Where were you?”

He took a deep breath and nodded to the bed, “Wanna sit down while we talk?”

“I’m going to stand,” you said softly, letting go of his arms, “Keeps me preoccupied.”

“Understandable,” he nodded, but flopped down on the edge of the bed. He was quiet for a moment as he looked around the room and sighed softly, “Okay. Well. I guess...where do you want me to start?”

“From the beginning,” you nodded, “After...ya’know, Chrissy.”

He nodded and bounced his knee as he fiddled with the rings – just like he used to do when he got nervous.

“I didn’t murder her. And I didn’t murder anyone else. I wished they would’ve listened to me and relocated you-”

“Relocated me?”

“I’ve been living in a place called Lenora. It’s in California.” He sighed, “There was...there was no other way to go about it, though. If we suddenly both disappeared...they would’ve tried to pin another murder on me.” He looked up at you, “A new identity...a new name...new life. Alexander Simpson.”

He looked up at you as if he was waiting for another question, but when you were silent, he continued on:

“You know, I...begged them to let me bring you with me. But they said it was a safety risk. I’ve tried to contact you over the years but they always intercepted it. The risk is finally low enough now, ya know, it’s been ten years. Everyone’s sort of forgotten about it.”

“If you didn’t kill her – and I know you didn’t. I’m not saying that I believed what they said. I just...what actually happened, Eddie? I seen her body...how was that possible?”

He took a shaky breath in as he looked up at you, and then right past your head. His eyes held a painful look as he chewed on his bottom lip as if he was hesitant to speak about it. A hand came up to scrub over his tired face before he spoke.

“Hawkins isn’t safe, Y/N. Apparently, it’s never been a safe place. There’s an alternate reality...dimension, if you will, and these...monsters from the other realm...they can attack us. They can step through the barriers...and that’s what happened to Chrissy. And that’s what happened to Patrick. I don’t know how, or why or if it because I was near them when it happened and that fuckwad Jason...I got the blame. I know it sounds insane, princess. But there are people that can confirm. Even Henderson will tell you.”

“He said he watched you die,” you said, unshed tears welling up in your eyes, “He said he held you while you passed away and that they left your body in the woods because you didn’t want to be brought back.”

“I did get seriously hurt,” he nodded, “And I’ve got the scars to prove it. But Henderson was there when I got attacked-”

“Attacked?”

“Demobats,” he nodded, “Or that’s what the others called it.”

“What others?”

“Harrington, Nancy, Henderson, Robin…”

You felt your heart drop to your stomach. They knew. They all knew he was alive for these past years and they lied to you. People you considered friends, who helped you raise your son along the years – they knew. They fucking knew.

“Do you know...about him?” you asked, shifting your weight to your other foot.

“About who?”

“Ozzy.” You felt your stomach turn.

He was silent for a few minutes before he looked up at you and mumbled, “Osbourne?”

“No,” you laughed softly, “You...we have a son.”

The news seemed to shock him as he looked up at you with wide brown eyes. He was quiet, too stunned to speak or even move.

“A son?” He muttered a few moments later.

“Yeah,” you smiled, “He’s turning ten in a month. He’s – he’s quite the character. Just like you.”

“Jesus,” Eddie said, standing up from the bed, a hand clamped around his mouth, unshed tears in his eyes. “Is he...is he okay, Y/N? Is he safe?”

“He’s perfect,” you smiled, “He’s what kept me going all these years...when you died, I thought that was it for me. And then the morning sickness started. And before I knew it, he was here.”

He bent over, hands on his knees as he looked up at you, and you knew the thought that was running through his mind. ------- “When I finally graduate,” Eddie smirked – it was a inside joke between the two of you, as he walked out of his bedroom, “How cool would it be to get married and start popping out babies?”

“We’re still young to be having babies,” you laughed, legs resting on the arm of the couch, “I’d marry you tomorrow though.”

“You’d marry me tomorrow?” He smiled down at you as he walked closer.

“Edward Munson, I’d marry you in a heartbeat.” You said, watching as he got down on one knee – what the fuck was he doing?

He fished inside his back pocket and pulled out a small ring box, opening it to reveal a small and simple diamond ring.

“Tomorrow then, yeah?” He smirked, brown eyes smiling as much as his lips were. ------

“I still have it, you know? My ring.” You pulled the necklace out of your shirt, revealing the engagement ring dangling from your neck.

He walked over to you, picking the ring up from your chest as he stared down at you. You should’ve been mad, maybe, or devastated. But he was there in front of you, looking down at you with so much...love? In his eyes. It made you weak all over again.

He pressed his forehead against yours as he closed his eyes, letting the ring fall back to your chest. His hands came up to grasp either side of your face as if you were going to fade away. It was insane how much he felt the same – his presence calming and welcoming you.

“Come to Lenora with me,” he whispered, “I’ve already talked to Owens about it and he’s willing to help you move.”

“Eddie-” you sighed. You knew it was coming as soon as he looked at you that way.

“I know. It’s a lot to ask.” He sighed softly, “Especially with the kid – our kid. But I want to meet him and know him. I deserve to know him and I can’t do that here. I can’t move back to Hawkins. They’d have my head on a pike in a split second, you know that, Y/N.”

“I know,” you whispered.

“These portals are only going to keep happening,” Eddie said, “It’s safe in California. They can’t get to us there. It’s just here.”

“But Eddie-”

“But what, princess? I’ve kept tabs on you here. Harrington’s kept me updated with you. I know you’re not living the life here. I know about it all. I’ve got a good job and a good house back in Lenora. I can provide a good life for us there. I can give you everything we talked about back then.”

“I can’t just say yes, Eddie. I’ve got to think of Oz, too.” You sighed.

“What does he know about me?” Eddie’s voice cracked as he bit his bottom lip, “Does – does he think I’m dead or that I just left him? Does he think I’m a piece of shit like my dad was?”

“No,” you said, cupping his chin, “I’ve told him countless times that you would’ve loved to have known him. How good of a dad you’d be. I told him you were dead because that’s what I was lead to believe.”

“Can I meet him, Y/N? Please?...just – I don’t want him to hate me like I hated my dad, you know?”

“He doesn’t think that,” you said, fingers moving to gently wipe his tears away, “Let me talk to him first, okay? Prepare him...let him know you’re not really dead. I don’t want him to know about what you said-”

“Has he heard about the murders?”

“Yes,” you whispered, “He did. He knows. We lived through fuckin’ hell the first few years of his life, Eddie. They called him the son of the freak...ridiculed me for keeping him.”

Eddie sobbed at that – the sound leaving his pinched lips, “You can’t raise him here, Y/N. He doesn’t deserve that.”

“I’ve got to go pick him up in a few minutes,” you said as you noticed the time, “But...is there a way that you could come by the house tomorrow? You can sneak in the back door. I still live in my moms old house but it’s just the two of us now.”

“Yeah,” he nodded, sniffling as he wiped his eyes, “Definitely. I’ll get to meet him, yeah?”

“Yeah,” you gave him a small smile, “Please...don’t just disappear again, Eddie. I don’t want to get his hopes up, okay?”

“I’ll be there,” he nodded, “I swear to you.”

----

The next morning, you were awake bright and early in the kitchen. As if it was some built in clock, you heard the slow footsteps of your son descending the stairs. He rounded the corner, revealing his wild black bed hair as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

“Morning, bud.” You said, watching as he slung his blanket up and over his shoulders.

“Morning, mom.” he yawned, “You’re cooking breakfast this early?”

You looked down at the pancakes on the plate in front of him and nodded, “Yeah...I’ve got something important to talk to you about.”

“Okay,” Ozzy mumbled, “...is everything okay?”

“Well...that depends,” you said as you poured syrup on his plate, “You remember what I told you about your dad?”

Ozzy looked up at you with one eye as he rubbed his other free of the grittiness of sleep, “Um...yeah. That he was killed because they thought he was a murderer.”

“Well…” you sighed, “Okay. I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it. He’s alive, Ozzy. And I seen him last night for the first time in ten years and he wants to meet you.”

Ozzy stared at you for a few minutes as it registered in his brain what you were saying. He went quiet as he looked down at his plate and then back up at you with tear filled eyes, “He...left us, mama?”

“It’s a long story, Oz.” You sighed softly, “But he was sort of put into something called witness protection due to what everyone said about him. It wasn’t his choice, bub. He didn’t want to leave us.”

“Does he know about me, mama?”

“He does,” you said as you walked over to him and sat beside of him, “And just like I said he would be, he’s so excited to meet you. I got to tell him last night. And if you’re okay with it...he’s going to be coming over in a little bit. But you can’t tell anybody about this just yet, okay? So if you see any of your friends, you can’t mention it.”

“Where does he live?”

“A place called Lenora...it’s out in California.” You said, thumb wiping his tears away from his small cheek. His bottom lip quivered as you pulled him into your lap and hugged him to you, “Hey...it’s okay. It’s okay, Oz.”

There was a knock on the back door and you knew who it was. Ozzy seemed to get the same feeling as he sat up and climbed out of your lap.

“That’s him, isn’t it?” Ozzy looked up at you, “That’s – that’s my – that’s Eddie?”

“Yeah,” you said softly, “It is.”

He wiped his face as he watched you stand up and walk over to the door, opening for Eddie to step inside. Except he wasn’t alone. There was a old gray headed man standing behind him and before he could walk in, you stopped him.

“Who is that?” you pointed at the strange man.

“It’s okay,” Eddie nodded, “It’s Owens. The guy I was telling you about who could help. He’s safe.”

You stared at him for a moment, your fierce protective instincts kicking in as you blocked them from entering your home.

“Y/N,” Eddie said as he gently grasped your arms, “I wouldn’t do anything to hurt you or bring anyone near you like that. Owen’s is safe. He’s the one who helped me.”

“Here’s my badge,” the old man said, showing you his I.D and his waist to prove he had no weapons, “I’m here to help.”

You took a deep breath and nodded, stepping to the side to allow the two men into your home. You lead them into the kitchen where Ozzy was standing bashfully behind the kitchen counter, peeking out at the strangers. It was nearly like watching a two way mirror. You knew he resembled his father, but seeing them both in the same room made you realize just how similar they truly were.

Eddie walked a bit closer and squatted down to his level and to the surprise of both of you, Ozzy ran to him and wrapped his little arms tightly around his neck. His cries filled the room as Eddie hugged him tightly, his tiny body overcome with so many emotions that his knees buckled and he collapsed against Eddie.

You squatted down beside of them, your hand gently scratching Ozzy’s scalp to try and calm him down. Eddie looked over at you, a look of complete and utter shock and...happiness on his face.

“It’s okay, Ozzy.” You said as you kissed the side of his face, “I know it’s wild, huh?”

“Totally wild,” he hiccuped as he leaned back and wiped his nose on a napkin you handed him.

They both took a minute to study each other before Ozzy spoke.

“You’ve got my face,” he said, small hand patting Eddie’s cheek.

“Nah, man. You’ve got my face.” Eddie smiled despite his tears, “I’m so happy to meet you.”

“Ar – are you here for good?” Ozzy’s voice cracked as he struggled to maintain eye contact with his father, “Or are you going to leave again?”

“Well...I can’t stay here. This town doesn’t like me very much,” Eddie said as he wiped away his sons tears.

“They don’t like me very much either,” Ozzy cried, “The kids...they’re mean to me. I’ve only got a few friends and we play DnD together when mama let’s me-”

“No way,” Eddie said, a small smile forming on his face, “What’s your role?”

“Dungeon master, just like you.” Ozzy said as he pulled his long hair over his mouth, getting bashful all of a sudden, “I’ve even got your binders and your screen...use it in every campaign...but you can have them back.”

“You keep them,” Eddie said with a soft smile, “They’re in good hands, I hope?”

“Mom says I’m the best,” Ozzy smiled over at you, “Ain’t I?”

“You are,” you smiled softly, “You definitely are.”

Eddie looked at you as if to silently ask permission. You knew what he as going to ask and you nodded softly. You hadn’t slept a wink all night thinking about finally escaping this hellhole of a town. And now was your perfect chance, but only if Ozzy agreed.

“Hey, can I ask you something really important?” Eddie asked softly, cupping Ozzy’s small chin in his hand.

“Okay,” he nodded.

“What do you say about leaving here and coming to live with me? It’ll be me, you, and mama.” Eddie said as he fully sat down on the ground now.

“Are the people nice there?” Ozzy whispered, brown eyes searching his fathers face, “Do...do they know about the murders?”

“No,” Eddie shook his head, “And they’re pretty cool people. No one will be mean to you...no one will know anything about the accusations. It’s a fresh start, yeah?”

Ozzy looked between the two of you and the strange man standing behind you. You wondered what was going through his mind as he thought about it for a few minutes.

“Can I bring my guitar?” Ozzy looked sheepishly up at Eddie.

“Dude – you can so bring that guitar.” Eddie smiled, “I’ll even let you play mine-”

“I do have yours,” Ozzy spoke up, “Mama said you called her sweetheart…”

It sounded as if all the wind had been knocked out of Eddie’s body as he bit back a sob. Your hand came up and slowly rubbed his back to comfort him as he stared at his son in disbelief.

“You have my guitar, too?” Eddie asked, voice cracking with emotion.

“Yeah. I’m not very good at it, but I like to practice.” Ozzy said proudly, “I can play some Iron Maiden songs so far. I’m gonna go get it.”

You two watched as Ozzy walked quickly out of the kitchen, his feet padding up the steps quickly. Eddie turned to you and smiled softly, “You raise a kick ass kid, Y/N.”

“An exact copy of you,” you said softly, happy tears filling your eyes.

[oficmag]

Spotlight: Anna | Art Director

We at OFIC Mag love to celebrate those we love, especially on their birthdays. That’s why we’ve conducted our own little interviews with our team members to share on their respective special days.

Today’s spotlight is on Anna, who is our brilliant Art Director!

Tell us a bit about yourself!

I’m a graphic designer who loves reading! Professionally, I focus on branding as well as font design. Personally, I’m a huge fan of sourdough bread, recently took up crochet during the pandemic, and always have a TV show on in the background. 

How did you find fandom?

My first exposure to fandom was through an Avatar: The Last Airbender fansite, where I lurked almost daily. In my spare time, I read back through all the different discussion threads, and when I was done with that, I followed my favorite commenters’ links to fanfiction. I still remember some of those first fics so clearly!

What fandom are you in now and what brought you here?

I have been enjoying the Supernatural resurgence from afar. The fandom I’m most active in currently is probably Black Sails. In both cases, what brought me here was my mutuals. I love to get invested in something my friends are invested in! And then, of course, I am always and forever a Star Wars fan. Anakin’s been my blorbo since 2002, and my avatars have been some brand of OT photo as long as I’ve been online. 

What’s your favorite book of all time and what do you love about it?

Difficult to pick, of course! I’m going to say my favorite book is the one that’s affected my thinking on narrative the most, and that’s Annihilation. The entire Southern Reach trilogy is meaningful to me as a meditation on identity, but I particularly like the way Annihilation uses both dream-like surreality and what first appears to be hard scifi to shed light on human nature. “The trees are not trees the birds are not birds and I am not me but just something that has been walking for a very long time…” That’s the good shit. 

What projects are you working on right now?

Stranger Things fanfic (my usual post-season fixit), Critical Role fanfic (Campaign 3 has character dynamics I need to explore), and I’m working more on original work as well. I’ve nearly finished my second draft of a novel, which features magical girls in a small midwestern town evading the plot at all costs. 

What are your aspirations as a writer, big picture or small?

Since my profession is creative, writing has always been my true outlet. I’ve always aspired to create characters people are invested in, either working with someone else’s canon or with my own. I’ve found I really enjoy complex journeys—I like the challenge of changing someone’s mind about a character, winning them over. I try to write things with re-read potential. 

If you could give one piece of advice to beginning writers, what would you tell them?

This is something I find true about both design and writing—you need to create for yourself before anyone else. You need to be having fun! Marketability and popularity do matter, but if that’s your mindset from the start it’s so easy to get burned out. So don’t create with other people in mind at first. Make things that make you smile! Make more of them! Your people will find you.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANNA! THANK YOU FOR BEING A PART OF THE OFIC FAMILY. WE HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY. <3

[arofili]

how’d u get into writing? like, writing fic and being part of the silm community, being Known, that stuff? i’m really new to being a silm cc and i’d love to know ur advice! also: how’d u build up the confidence to start posting meta/hcs? bc i have a Lot of hcs and meta ideas but also i’m really anxious abt posting them bc yknow anxiety is like that

these are some great questions, anon! I’m gonna go through them one by one :)

how’d u get into writing?

not to be like, super cliche, but I’ve...kind of always been a writer? as long as I can remember I’ve been telling stories, and when I was too young to read or write I would dictate them to my mom, who would type them up for me and help me choose clipart illustrations to accompany them. when I got old enough I would always be writing; I attempted my first novel at age 9, and while that never really went anywhere I did finish the darn thing and it had some pretty sophisticated plot twists for a 9-year-old!

like, writing fic

around the same time I got into fandom! I was deep into Warrior cats (like. really deep) and I believe I started writing my first fics when I was like? 10 or 11? my memory is kind of fuzzy on the order of things, but I know I got an account on the Warriors forums when I was 9, and that I was already posting my fic there when I made my FFN account. I believe I was 12 when that happened, but who knows. I haven’t the faintest idea of what happened with those forums, but uhhh pretty much all of my Warriors fic is still up on FFN lmao. you could probably find that if you want to but um...maybe don’t?

my first Big Fic was a self-insert of...my entire 5th/6th grade class into the then-current timeline of the Warriors books...well. I honestly think that might still be my most popular fic of all time l m a o though I try not to think about it because Hashtag Cringe. though as much as I look back on that time with a “yikes,” I am very grateful for the Warriors fandom in a way? that place was so accepting and encouraging of OCs, of AUs, of completely disregarding canon, of worldbuilding that is completely alien from canon - it was a fantastic sandbox to begin with, there were so many ways to write stories and practically all of them were accepted and had fellow fans invested in them!

and being part of the silm community, 

soooo I wrote Warriors fic until my freshman year of high school (wow sdjfhkdsjfh), which was when BOTFA came out, and I was absolutely wrecked by the ending and immediately started writing my own fixit fic. I was also super hooked on Kiliel! so that was my intro to the Tolkien fandom; and simultaneously, I joined tumblr, and, well, the rest is history tbh.

I honestly do not remember when I first read the Silm, but I kind of got into the more obscure parts of the Tolkien fandom through fandom osmosis, and I do have a vague memory of doodling the Finwean family tree in geometry class so it might have been later on in freshman year? that was also the same time I was having my Queer Awakening, and Russingon definitely contributed to me unlearning my internalized queerphobia, so probably around then.

anyway - queer awakening, tumblr, Tolkien, transitioning from FFN to AO3 - all of that was happening around the same time. I know I dipped my toes in the Silm fandom then, but I was still primarily a Hobbit fic writer focusing on Kiliel. toward the end of high school I kind of shifted to LOTR and (qp) Gigolas...but somehow the Silm fandom is the most active of the Big Three within the Tolkien fandom, and I was getting dragged further and further in.

it wasn’t until @backtomiddleearthmonth 2019, my freshman year of college, that I really dove into writing Silm fic! I picked some Silm-specific bingo cards and never looked back :D that was really not all that long ago but I am obsessed in a way I don’t really remember being even with TH/LOTR, I obviously cannot see the future but I anticipate hanging out here for a long time. the Silm fandom is great overall and there’s just so much material to work with!! <3

being Known, that stuff?

so I don’t really have a whole lot of context on how “well known” I am in the fandom?? definitely within the past year and a half or so I’ve noticed that I like, get asks like this, and get a significant amount of notes on my posts, and I’ve made a lot of fandom friends especially since I joined some Silm servers on Discord (hmu if you want invites; I’m on the SWG server and 2 general Silm servers and the Russingon server) this past year. and I have 3,000 followers as of this month - and while ever since I hit 1k I don’t particularly pay attention to my follower count I can definitely say that I have more engagement now than I used to! but it took me a long time to build this “audience,” I suppose; I’ve been around the Tolkien fandom since late 2014, so nearly 6 years of this, lol.

really the best way to build a following, in my experience, is to just post a lot of stuff. when I started making edits I got a lot more engagement, because for a long time I would post one every day! (I made them in batches and queued them; I didn’t actually make one every day lol...and now I’m too busy to do that, so I just make edits for events and whenever I feel like it) And I have [checks ao3] 145 works in the Silm fandom as of today - I’m fairly prolific! I’ve come to generally expect 3-10 comments on most of my oneshots, which is a lot more than I used to have back in the day. consistency and quantity are more likely to attract people to your work - and quality, of course.

also: how’d u build up the confidence to start posting meta/hcs?

I’ve been writing since I was very young, and I’ve been writing fic for like...11 years? I think? in that time I’ve produced a lot of garbage, but imo most of that was in my Warrior cats phase, so I came into the Tolkien fandom with confidence in myself and my writing. I’m also working on original fiction on the side (I hope to eventually become a published fantasy author, but right now school takes up most of my time that I don’t devote to fandom, which gives me more immediate gratification and also is just Very Fun) and I know I’m a good writer.

basically, I’ve been doing this for like...half my life, and I’m still fairly young, so I’ve had time to build up my skill and confidence and I know I’m only going to get better with time. you will get better with practice. like I said, I’ve written a lot of terrible stuff, and it’s only through sucking for a long time that I’ve gotten to the point I am now. and I am far from perfect; I know I still have lots of room to grow!

for meta and headcanons specifically, I started with writing fic, and then when I didn’t think I could stretch something into an entire fic I would just make a hc post. I have a vivid memory of writing my first meta in a notebook during driver’s ed because it was so goddamn boring and I had Thoughts about Tauriel and Thranduil!

in my experience, meta comes from having Opinions and wanting to share them and most importantly to back them up - you need to have sources! you need to have reasons! you need to have justification! otherwise it’s not meta, it’s a headcanon or an AU. which is fine!! I love hc/AU!!! but they are not the same as meta, and I’m a stickler for being accurate when it comes to meta. if you have sources and shit to back you up, that will help you build the confidence to share your meta.

sharing disinformation and passing it off as meta instead of just coming out and saying this is a headcanon/baseless theory/AU or whatever is such a fandom pet peeve of mine; it’s not bad for something to not be Accurate! you just have to have that disclaimer - and even when you’re writing meta, you’re offering an interpretation of the text, and you need to acknowledge that other interpretations also exist and are valid.

um. I hope this answers your questions? and sorry for basically word-vomiting my entire life story, lol. this post got long; the main reason I’ve written so much fic is because I really just cannot shut up for the life of me. sooo if you can tear of that filter of being shy and just. say shit. you can go so far~!

OH and one more thing - I can’t believe I almost forgot this - but part of being a writer is participating in the community. this is code for LEAVE A DAMN COMMENT IF YOU LIKE A FIC. that’s how I made most of my fandom friends before Discord! I follow @ao3feed-silmarillion and stalk that blog for new Silm fics; I read the ones that interest me and comment on them.

I know this is not really the most common way for folks to find fic but it’s so rewarding to interact with new fic, new writers, new commentors, new stories - you can find gems that don’t rise to the top of the kudos/bookmark lists; you become friends with your fellow writers; you can watch people grow and change; you support smaller content creators. yeah, you might not be getting Just The Best Stuff, but it’s so so so worth it!!

and if you make friends in the comment section of other people’s fic - I guarantee you some of them will go to your AO3 profile and check out your fic, too! and they’ll leave comments! this is a fic community, and that’s what I cherish about fandom most of all, tbh.

anyway - again - sorry for rambling so much, but I hoped this helped! feel free to send in another ask, or to come talk to me off anon if you’d like! and definitely send me your stuff if/when you decide to share it; I would love to support you!!! <3

[the-delta-42]

Cody & Frankie

Cody & Frankie

Cody watched as Blaster lifted a barrel off of a car. Ever since Blaster had joined their team, he’d been left behind at the Firehouse with Cody, as he was a Communications Officer, which left him paired with Cody.

“Why am I completing training exercises when I’m never going to be out in the field?” Asked Blaster, as Chase observed him.

“In the event of Cody being in danger.” Said Chase, getting stares from Blaster and Cody.

“No offense,” Started Blaster, “but Autobot City is practically a fortress, any Decepticon that is stupid enough to get too close to here is scrap.”

“You mean like the ones of the Alchemor?” Asked Chase, making Blaster go silent.

“Well, if you guys are busy,” Said Cody, getting up, “I’m going to meet Frankie.”

“Cody, I must ask you to postpone your date with Francine,” Said Chase, making Cody blush, “you may be required for the training scenarios.”

“RiGht,” Cody’s voice cracked, “First thing, I’m not dating Frankie, we’re just friends, second, you have that training dummy that can stand in for me.”

Chase and Blaster both stared at Cody, “Need we remind you of the Velgrox incident?”

“That scenario doesn’t count,” Protested Chase, “You and Francine instigated that incident.”

“Yeah, but it showed that Blaster doesn’t need to go through any more scenarios,” Said Cody, folding his arms, “He protected me just fine.”

Chase remained silent, which Cody took as his que to leave. The two Autobots watch Cody limp away.

“I think he’s still upset about Prowl.” Said Blaster, frowning.

“I thought it was just me.” Agreed Chase, as Cody disappeared from view.

C&F

Cody parked his bike outside the park, the lock activating automatically, before heading off to find Frankie. He’d usually be able to find her at the memorial statue that had been erected in the middle of the park after the Decepticon Attack two and a half years ago. Cody remembered the attack, because it was when he, truly, first met Starscream.

“Cody, over here!” Called Frankie, waving at him.

Cody smiled and started towards her, she was sitting on a bench in front of Prowl and Quickshadow’s legs. The two statues’ shadows casting a shadow of the area, Brawn and Windcharger’s Statues stood over by the lake, while Huffer, Hound and Beachcomber stood in a field of trees, bushes and flowers. The seven Autobots had been killed when Starscream led his Decepticon ‘loyalists’ against the city, it was because of those seven that no humans were harmed in the attack.

“CeCe got her first Science Fair prize,” Said Frankie, showing Cody a hologram of the nine-year-old, braces and all, holding a ribbon and her project, “It collects glitter from all surfaces, Daddy wants to see if more can be made, since, well, you know glitter.”

“Small, sticks to everything and almost impossible to remove.” Said Cody, sitting next to Frankie as Fixit rolled past, “Blurr’s gotten a new paint job.”

“Yeah, blue really suits him.” Said Frankie, as Cody pulled a hologram out of his bag, “Nearly three years.”

Cody looked up at Prowl’s statue, he couldn’t get the sight of smoke pouring out of his optics and mouth as his body slowly greyed, the resulting explosion revealed that his internals had all but melted. Prowl’s corpse had landed on Cody’s leg, resulting in the limb being amputated. The only bright thing that came from that day, in Cody’s opinion, was Arcee taking Starscream’s head off.

Cody quickly looked to the ground, before placing hologram emitter at the feet of the statues. A small Autobot symbol appeared, Ratchet had told them that placing a hologram with the faction’s symbol was the Cybertronian equivalent of placing flowers on a grave.

“Jolt’s been working with Daddy on something,” Said Frankie, from her spot next to Cody, “I think it’s related to the power spikes.”

Cody hummed, before Frankie took his hand and said, “Let’s go get something to eat.”

“Anything to keep me from Chase’s scenarios.” Said Cody, walking with Frankie, their hands still entwined.

“I’m not sure if we can keep this up,” Said Frankie, her grip on Cody’s hand tightening, “Dad only not questioning why we’re meeting up so often because he’s working with Jolt, I don’t know how he’ll react to us, you know, dating.”

“Chase came close to finding out as well,” Said Cody, sighing, “he said our date would have to be postponed. I think he and Blaster are trying a little too hard to make up for Prowl.”

“HA! I knew it!” Cried Blades, making Cody and Frankie jump, “I knew you two were dating!”

“Blades!” Hissed Cody, as everyone stared at them.

“What?” Asked Blades, before looking around, “Oh…right, sorry.”

“Blades, why are you here?” Asked Cody, his face red.

“Oh, press conference, you know, live broadcasts, Q&A, that sort of thing.” Said Blades, as Cody spotted Huxley Prescott filming them.

“Y-you said ‘live broadcast’,” Said Cody, colour slowly draining from his face, “So, everyone watching heard your outburst?”

“Yup.” Said Blades, as Frankie caught on.

“Okay, maybe they’re not watching tv?” Suggested Frankie, just as their phones went off, “Oooh, it’s my Dad.”

“Kade.” Said Cody, confused, “Hello?”

Cody suddenly pulled the phone away from his ear and winced, “Dani, why are you using Kade’s phone? Oh, that noise was you, Kade.”

Frankie nervously answered her phone, as Cody’s face went beet red, “Hi, Daddy…”

Frankie was stiff for a moment, before relaxing, “Right, thank, Dad. Love you too.” Frankie hung up, before looking at Cody, who almost seem purple.

“Kade…I don’t need you to give me the Talk again,” Said Cody, “The first time was traumatising enough. No, don’t put Dad on the phone… hey, Dad. Yes, I do know how that stuff works. No, I don’t need Chase to make a diagram. I, I don’t think that’s an appropriate question Dad. Yeah, sure. Love you too. No, don’t break out the pictures!”

Cody lowered his phone and stared at the screen, “Dad’s going to break out the baby pictures.”

“Please, as if I haven’t already seen them.” Smirked Frankie, before looking up at Blades, “Where’s Dani?”

“With Taylor,” Sighed Blades, looking dejected, before looking down at Cody and Frankie, “Wanna go flying?”

“Is energon blue?” Was Frankie’s response, before Blades Transformed and Cody and Frankie climbed into his cockpit.

“Any requests?” Asked Blades, waiting for their input.

“Somewhere private.” Said Cody, immediately.

“Somewhere private coming up.” Said Blades, as he took off.

“I’m sure that could’ve gone better.” Said Frankie, as soon as Blades arrived at a waterfall that was difficult to access from the ground.

“Yeah, Kade tried giving me the Talk, again and Dad wanted to know if we were physical and if we were protection.”

“What is it with parents and thinking their kids are interfacing?” Asked Blades, making Cody and Frankie look up at him, confused, “You know, how humans make sparklings.”

Cody and Frankie blushed and looked at the ground, “Sooo, what now?” Asked Frankie, looking at Cody.

“We wait up here for a couple of hours and then head back,” Said Cody, sitting at the water’s edge, “I don’t think Kade’s going to let up on the Talk.”

Frankie smirked playfully, “Well, you know what we could do to fill that time up?”

“Oh, what?” Grinned Cody, before Frankie pushed him in the water, only to be dragged in herself when Cody grabbed her wrist.

Both teens were laughing as they threw water at each other, Frankie tackled Cody, making the young man fall on his back with Frankie on top of him. The young woman giggled and kissed Cody, resting her forehead against his.

“I love you.” Whispered Frankie, getting comfortable on Cody’s chest.

Cody returned the kiss, “I love you too.”

Frankie buried her head in the crook of Cody’s neck, getting comfortable as the pair drifted off into sleep.

C&F

Blades glanced over at the two humans, both cuddling each other in their sleep, and checked his internal chronometer before deciding to wake the pair up.

“Guys?” Said Blades, his voice soft, “It’s time to go.”

The two teens groaned, but started to get up, both shivering as the cold started to set in.

“Next time we’re up here,” Said Frankie, looking at Cody, “We bring a change of clothes.”

Cody smiled, before climbing into Blades with Frankie. Blades took off and took them back to Autobot City, landing on top of the Firehouse. The pair were greeted by their families, Doc Greene and Chief Burns holding a set of dry clothes.

“Blades said you’d need them.” Said Chief, as the pair took the dry clothes, “But, we need to talk about you running off.”

“I’m partially to blame, Chief,” Said Blades, crouching, “I suggested that we go flying and the fact I kind of outed their relationship on live TV.”

Chief sighed, before looking at the pair again, “Come on, you’re probably hungry, but, please, get changed first.”

Cody and Frankie nodded and headed off to dry off and change, leaving their parents on the landing pad.

“They do grow up fast, don’t they?” Asked Doc Greene, as Charlie frowned.

“I just wish that Cody didn’t grow up so fast.” Said Chief, as he watched Cody and Frankie messing around with each other.

“I just hope I win the next bet.” Said Doc Greene with a small smile.

C&F

Cody fiddled with the guitar strings, as Miko showed him how to play a chord.

“You’re doing great, Cody.” Said Miko, getting Cody to smile. Frankie was discussing some science stuff with Raf, while Jack was flicking through some paperwork given to him by Fowler, “I’d say we’re almost finished with the lessons.”

“It’s nice to be with you guys,” Said Cody, leaning back in his chair, “It’s almost as if things are as, they were before the Omega Lock incident.”

“Yeah, there are times I half expect Ratchet or Arcee to walk in and ask what we’re doing.” Sighed Miko, looking out the window, “I mean it’s nice having the Autobots here, I think I speak for everyone when I say we miss our partners.”

Cody’s smile turned sad, “I remember the time Prowl walked into that power line, I don’t I ever saw anyone move so fast.”

“Or that time Bulkhead screamed his head off when we showed him that mouse.” Grinned Miko, looking over at Jack.

“That’s nothing compared to Arcee calling an exhaust a ‘dowhicky’.” Said Jack, abandoning the paperwork.

“How about Bumblebee sneaking out of the base to go racing?” Asked Raf, as he joined the three.

“How about Kup’s cy-gar trick?” Asked Frankie, remembering the old bot.

“You mean the one where he turned it into a bullet?” Responded Miko, looking at Frankie.

“Yeah, that one!” Laughed Frankie, as Cody went to stand up, only for his prosthetic to buckle under his weight, “Cody!”

Jack caught Cody before he hit the ground, helping him back to the chair.

“It’s fine, it’s been acting up for a while.” Said Cody, as he rested the prosthetic on his other leg and pulled his trouser leg up. The light blue glow from the power cell flickered as the group observed it.

“I could get my dad to look at it.” Frankie offered, making Cody smile.

“I probably forgot to charge it properly.” Said Cody, getting back to his feet. Frankie held his arm, in case the leg gave out again, “You’re just looking for an excuse to steal me away, aren’t you?”

“How could you tell?” Smirked Frankie, as Jack sighed.

“Just remember to use protection,” Smirked Miko, making Cody and Frankie blush, “I’m too young to be an aunt.”

The two eighteen-year-olds quickly left the room to escape twenty-one-year-old, as Jack levelled her with an unimpressed stare.

“Old enough to be a mother, but too young to be an aunt.” Said Jack, folding his arms.

“Shut up.” Giggled Miko, as Raf decided to go back to his computer.

C&F

Cody winced as Doc Greene removed the power cell from his leg.

“Hmm, it seems that the power cells developed a fault.” Said Doc Greene, rubbing his chin, “I don’t know what could’ve cause it, unless you went for a sudden swim.”

Cody and Frankie froze and glanced at each other, thinking back to the week before and their dip in the pool of water.

“I know that look.” Said Doc Greene, folding his arms, “I’ll see about making your next prosthetic waterproof, Cody.”

“Thanks, Doc.” Said Cody, as Doc Greene reinserted the power cell.

“Frankie,” Said Doc Greene as the pair were leaving, “do try to be home at a reasonable hour tonight, your mother and I heard you knock the planter over.”

“Daddy!” Exclaimed Frankie, her face going red with embarrassment.

“I’m glad that no one heard me knock an entire shelving unit over.” Muttered Cody, as Blurr shot past.

“Higuys,byeguys,I’dlovetostopandchatbut,I’mbusybusybusy!” Said Blurr, speaking a mile a minute.

“That red energon must be some really strong stuff.” Said Frankie, as Blurr turned a corner.

“Apparently, Blurr’s body was built to use it,” Said Cody, shrugging, “Something about Velocitron and speed?”

A red and black semi with a yellow cab pulled to a stop in front of the pair.

“There you guys are,” Said Blaster, opening his door for them, “Chief has an announcement down at the Firehouse.”

“What is it?” Asked Cody, as he and Frankie climbed in.

“I don’t know,” Said Blaster, driving off, “Blurr was supposed to pick you up, but then he got called away by Bumblebee for something. Oh, and be warned, I think Chase’s sister is visiting.”

“Chase has a sister?” Asked Cody, cocking an eyebrow.

“The way Strongarm acts?” Snorted Blaster, “She might as well be!”

Blaster pulled to a stop outside the Firehouse, allowing Frankie and Cody to climb out. Blaster transformed and followed them inside, joining the joint crowd of Humans and Cybertronians. Cody and Frankie made their way through the crowd of Autobots with ease and then weaved through the humans.

“Graham, what’s going on?” Asked Cody, as soon as he spotted his brother.

“Dad has an announcement to make,” Said Graham, frowning as he looked at his notes, “Something about work.”

Cody noticed pink glittery ink on the paper, “Sarah’s really learning how to draw, huh?”

“Yeah, she’s either drawing or running Amy and I into the ground.” Said Graham, yawning.

“I heard Kassie’s been a nightmare for Kade and Hayley.” Said Frankie, folding her arms.

“Yeah, even I can hear her temper tantrums.” Groaned Graham, shaking his head.

Everyone went silent as Chief Burns walked/shuffled onto the stage.

“Okay, I’m going to keep this short and sweet,” Said Chief Burns, looking around, “I’m retiring. I spent a good 45 years serving on the police forces and, frankly, I’d love to spend more. However, I’m not getting any younger and the resident doctors, thank you Doctor Darby, have told me that my body can’t keep up with the rescue anymore. I’ll be making the official announcement tomorrow. That is all.”

Cody watched as his father left the stage, wincing as he stumbled a bit when he reached the steps. Carin helped Charlie with the last few steps. Cody felt a tug on his trouser leg, drawing his attention to the twins, Kyle and Maggie. Kyle and Maggie were Cody’s younger half-siblings, born shortly after his dad married Carin when they first moved to Autobot City.

“What’s daddy we-tyre ring?” Asked Kyle, looking up at Cody.

“Retiring?” Asked Cody, getting a nod from Kyle, “It means he’s going to stop working because he’s starting to get too old.”

“Why?” Asked Maggie, her teddy trailing behind her.

“Because he’s a grown up,” Said Cody, crouching down to their level, “and, eventually we grow up so much that we can’t work anymore.”

“Then what happens?” Asked Kyle, making Cody freeze.

“Uh, well, then we, er,um…” Cody was saved from explaining death to the twins by Carin walking towards them.

“Come on,” Said Carin, hoisting Maggie onto her hip, “time for your nap.”

Cody picked up Kyle and followed his stepmother, Frankie following behind them, leaving Graham with his work. Getting the twins in bed and a sleep was fairly easy, Maggie and Kyle were quick to nod off. Soon the family, plus their significant others, were sitting in the living room.

“I know it’s short notice,” Said Charlie, looking at his children, “but, I think it’s time to face the music, I’m not the man I was.”

“It’s fine, Dad.” Said Dani, resting her feet on Taylor’s lap, “You’ve earned it, more than any of us at this rate.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Demanded Kade, crossing his arms.

“I don’t think Dani was looking to start a fight, Kade.” Said Cody, from his place curled up with Frankie.

“I saw you explaining retirement to the twins, Cody.” Said Carin, smiling softly as he flushed red, “I also saw how you tried to avoid explaining the concept of death to them.”

“They’ll probably have to be told sooner or later.” Mumbled Cody, his grip on Frankie’s hand tightening softly.

“We will when the time comes.” Promised Carin, her smile turning sad.

Shortly after Prowl’s death, Cody had vanished, along with some weapons Wheeljack had been working on. Cody was later found next to the remains of a Decepticon known as Thundercracker. Thundercracker’s optics had been torn out and parts of his body had been subjected to small explosives. What killed Thundercracker, however, was a small vial of cosmic rust that had been poured into the remains of his optics. Just shy of where Cody was found was the burnt out remains of a Decepticon energon mine, with the melted remains of MECH agents. Ultra Magnus had said that he’d assumed some humans were working with the Decepticons, he just didn’t expect them to be wiped out in one strike.

“How’s your studying coming along?” Asked Charlie, swiftly changing the subject.

“Doctor Darby thinks I’m progressing well,” Said Cody, his frame relaxing, “if I keep at my current level, I’ll be able to continue on and become a doctor by the time I’m 25.”

“Know you,” Smirked Dani, her hands cradling her bump, “You’ll probably find a way to become a doctor before then.”

Cody let out a laugh, before the robotic lion that was Steeljaw tumbled into the room. Everyone watched Steeljaw chase something that looked like a ball of light, before he vanished down the stairs.

Kade smirked as Hayley adjusted Kassie on her chest, “So, Cody, what are your and Frankie’s plans for the future?”

“Decent paying jobs before getting married and having kids.” Said the pair, simultaneously.

“Why do I get the feeling you two rehearse that?” Asked Dani, as Sarah toddled up to her parents and presented them with a picture.

“Ta-Da!” Sang Sarah, as Amy took the picture.

“Oh, Graham, look at this,” Gushed Amy, showing Graham the picture, “it’s another work of art.”

“A Masterpiece.” Agreed Graham, picking the toddler up.

C&F (Time skip)

Cody rocked back and forth on his heels, the weight of the small box in his pocket was impossibly heavy. He’d been waiting for Frankie to turn up for nearly an hour and was beginning to think she wasn’t going to show. The sounds of a fight caught his attention, Cody spotted a guy that worked with Frankie having his ass handed to him. The guy, Matt, Cody thought, had been flirting with Frankie, despite her saying she wasn’t interested. Cody caught sight of the person knocking sense into Matt. Frankie was dressed up nicely, despite still having her lab coat on, while hitting Matt with her handbag. Cody winced as Matt hit the doorframe and slid, before walking over to Frankie. It was only as Cody got closer, did he see that Frankie’s hair was dishevelled, as if someone had pulled on it, there was a bruise forming on her neck and the necklace Cody had given her for her 21st Birthday was missing.

Cody reached and touch Frankie’s shoulder, making her whip around with a snarl on her face. Frankie completely relaxed at the sight of Cody, while Matt struggled to get up off the floor.

“What…happened?” Asked Cody, frowning.

Frankie threw a disgusted look at Matt, “He didn’t know how to take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“Are you alright?” Questioned Cody, looking into Frankie’s eyes.

Frankie sighed, “Yeah, he only turned violent when I entered the restaurant, but he only followed me here from work.”

Cody’s gaze turned to Matt, before it fell to Matt’s right hand, “Aren’t you going to give that back?”

Matt froze at Cody’s cold tone, something Cody had picked up from Prowl. Matt looked at the necklace in his grip, before throwing it into the restaurant and trying to run off. Cody grabbed the necklace from the air and looked at the damage. Cody sighed when he found only the clasp was broken.

“Your mum’s necklace.” Gasped Frankie, upon seeing the damaged necklace.

“It’s an easy fix.” Said Cody, carefully putting the necklace with the ring box, “Do you want to go home?”

Frankie took a deep breath, before nodding. Cody gave her a small smile, before going to the manager to cancel the reservation. The two twenty-six-year-olds drove home in silence, Frankie closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat.

“What did you want to talk about?” Asked Frankie, almost making Cody jump.

“Let’s, let’s deal with that when we get home.” Said Cody, suddenly remembering the box.

“Right.” Said Frankie, her tone despondent.

“Don’t worry, it’s a good thing,” Said Cody, before frowning, “well, I think it’s a good thing, I mean the others said it’s a good thing and, I’m rambling again, aren’t I?”

Frankie giggled, Frankie had been terrified that Cody was going to break up with her, after she found that ring in the draw. Cody had been giving her gifts recently, when she brought it up with Priscilla and a couple other friends, came to the conclusion that they were breakup gifts, something to help with the actual blow of the breakup. Frankie knew that Cody didn’t class breaking up as a good thing, unless he took a heavy blow to the head.

Cody pulled into his usual parking space and went inside the home with Frankie, both taking a seat on the sofa.

“Are you okay? Really, okay?” Asked Cody, looking into Frankie’s eyes.

Frankie averted her gaze and sighed, “I was scared, the entire time he was following me, I was scared he was going to do something. I took the longest possible route to try and get away from him, but when I arrived at the restaurant, I found he was already there. I thought if I ignored him, he’d leave me alone.”

“Then he decided to grab you.” Said Cody, making Frankie nod.

“He was fired today because he damaged something that the Autobots are keeping top secret,” Explained Frankie, as Cody wrapped an arm around her, “we don’t know how he got hold of it, but Hardhead found it in Matt’s locker and demanded an explanation from him. He didn’t give one.”

Cody pulled Frankie closer to him, rubbing comforting circles on her arm, “It’s like something in him snapped. I wasn’t expecting but, I kinda was? It’s difficult to explain.”

“I doubt he’ll hurt you now,” Said Cody, pulling Frankie close and allowing her to rest her head in the crook of his neck, “I saw Streetwise picking him up.”

Frankie smiled, before looking at Cody, “What is it you wanted to talk about?”

Cody swallowed the sudden lump in his throat, “Right, er, yes, well…screw it.”

Cody got off the sofa and got down on one knee, taking the ring box out of his pocket, “Frankie, you’ve made me incredibly happy in the time we’ve been together and, frankly, I don’t want that to end. Will you marry me?”

Frankie’s eyed danced between the ring and Cody’s face. The next thing Cody knew, he was on his back with Frankie laying on top of him and kissing him.

“I’ll…take that as a, yes?” Asked Cody, as Frankie grinned and nodded her head.

Cody grinned as well and slipped the ring on Frankie’s finger.

[chocolatequeennk]

The Full Christmas Experience, 1/3

The Doctor and Rose are on their way back to London to celebrate Christmas with Jackie. But they make a few stops along the way...

Ten x Rose, post Doomsday fixit, telepathic bond

This is part of True Things, and comes after Lesson Learned

This is for @doctorroseprompts​ 31 Days of Ficmas. This is for Day 3: Shopping.

AO3 | FF.NET

The Doctor moved slowly around the console, shifting each dial deliberately. Rose rolled her eyes; he was purposely stalling, and they both knew it.

Still… She stuck her tongue out slightly while she thought.

“You know what?” she asked, after making up her mind.

The Doctor looked at her hopefully, his hand stopped in midair halfway to the dematerialisation lever.

“There’s one thing we’ve forgotten—presents!”

He blinked owlishly at her. “Presents?”

Rose bit her cheek to hold back her laughter. “Yeah. I mean, if we’re gonna go to Mum’s for Christmas, we should bring presents, shouldn’t we?”

The Doctor stared at her for a few more seconds, then his face brightened and he spun away from the lever, moving back to the navigation controls.

“Right you are, Rose Tyler! And if we need Christmas presents, there’s really only one place to go: the holiday market on Noel.”

“Noel.”

“Yep!”

“There’s a planet named Christmas?”

“Well yes, but we’re going to Noel. We can visit Christmas next year.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “All right, fine. Tell me more about Noel,” she said.

The Doctor finished setting their new coordinates and then shoved the lever into place. Holiday music started playing as the TARDIS shifted into the Vortex.

“Noel was settled in the 34th century.” He hopped up on the jump seat with Rose and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “A group of human explorers landed on Christmas Day, and for some reason beknownst only to them, they decided to name it after the date.”

“Like Easter Island,” Rose interjected.

“Exactly,” he agreed. “Anyway, they didn’t really intend to become a holiday destination, but with a name like that, it’s hard to avoid. Eventually, after two centuries, they quit fighting the inevitable. Now, the entire planet becomes a massive Christmas market during the winter.”

Rose raised an eyebrow. “Unless their star system is different than ours, the entire planet doesn’t experience winter at the same time,” she pointed out.”

He rolled his eyes. “All right, fine. The main city on the main continent becomes a massive Christmas market during the winter months.” He huffed. “That just doesn’t sound nearly as dramatic.”

Rose laughed, just as the TARDIS wheezed and dropped them onto Noel with a gentle thud. “Come on, I think this is going to plenty impressive, even if it isn’t a planet-wide market.”

She hopped off the seat and wrapped her scarf around her neck. The Doctor darted past her and opened the door for her.

Rose started smiling when she heard the merry strains of Christmas music floating into the console room. She jogged up the ramp and stopped stock still at the door.

The entire city looked like something out of a fairy tale. There were hints of a modern society if you knew where to look—hover carts, etc—but the buildings and the streets looked incredible.

Garland was strung between the buildings on the narrow street. A light dusting of snow covered the cobblestones, and the sun shone down on it, making everything glisten.

A familiar scent teased her nose, and she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Smells like cinnamon and clove,” she said, without opening her eyes.

“And apple and roasted chestnuts and mulled wine.”

Rose opened her eyes and looked at the Doctor, taking in the broad grin on his face and the way he bounced on his toes. “You think you’re so impressive,” she teased.

The Doctor had to swallow a giggle, he was feeling so giddy. He rocked back on his heels, his hands in his coat pockets. “I mean… I did bring you to the perfect Christmas market,” he said nonchalantly. “I think that’s a little impressive.”

Rose closed the door and walked towards him, her tongue teasing him from behind her teeth. He watched her, holding still as she placed her hands on the lapels of his coat.

“Maybe a little,” she allowed. “So… what’s next, Doctor?”

He placed his hands on her waist and pulled her close. A Christmas kiss, to start the day? he suggested as he bumped his nose against hers. She giggled, and he quickly shifted and pressed his lips to hers.

Rose leaned into him for a moment, but too soon for his taste, she pulled back, ending the kiss. “Come on,” she said. “We can find mistletoe later and continue. Right now I want to find out what smells so good.”

The Doctor took her hand, lacing their fingers together. “Excellent idea,” he agreed.

He watched Rose as they walked down the narrow street. She’d been impressed by her first sight of Noel, but she had yet to see the true beauty of the market.

Rose’s eyes widened as they stepped out into the open town plaza. The space was as large as Trafalgar Square, and it was absolutely packed with holiday booths and people doing their holiday shopping.

An enormous tree stood in the centre of the market, its boughs decorated with red garland and gold bows. High on top sat a star that lit up the square every night.

On the town hall stairs, a small group of carollers were singing. Shoppers rushed by, but no matter how hurried they were, every one of them stopped to drop a few coins in the bucket placed on the street in front of them.

“Doctor, this is…” Rose turned in a slow circle, trying to take it all in.

The Doctor let her soak it in, then tugged on her hand. “Come on, food is this way.”

They followed their noses and were very soon standing in line at a concessions booth selling pastries.

Soon they were walking away from the stand, pastries in hand. “This is amazing,” Rose said around a mouthful of food. “Is it apple, or something like apple?”

The Doctor took a bite of his own pumpkin scone and hummed before answering. “Close enough to not make a difference,” he answered once he’d swallowed.

While they ate their pastries, they did a full circuit of the market. The Doctor was surprised when Rose grabbed his hand and pulled him in a very determined direction as soon as their pastries were done.

“Come on,” she told him, sensing his confusion. “I saw some places I wanna check out.”

He understood then; Rose had paid attention to the shops and booths as they’d walked and made a mental map of the path she wanted to take.

The market was busy, but Rose wove her way in and out of the crowd, intent on returning to the clothing booth she’d spotted. Several sellers tried to catch her attention, but she didn’t stop.

“I thought we might find something for Mum here,” she told the Doctor when they reached the booth.

The Doctor reached out and touched one of the tops, and nodded approvingly. “Excellent idea.”

“May I ask who you’re buying for?” the vendor asked.

Rose smiled at her. “I need a Christmas present for my mum. Do you have anything that might be especially appropriate for someone living in a city where it rains all the time?”

The seller brightened. “Of course!” She walked straight to a rack of jackets and coats. “These are all 100% waterproof,” she told them.

“Oh!” Rose walked over and looked at the jackets. “They’re pretty, too.”

“Thank you. My family makes them.”

Rose felt the Doctor come up behind her. He reached around her and touched one of the jackets. “Is it rezista?” he asked.

“Yes, it is.” The woman raised an eyebrow. “You’re more familiar with our native fibres than most visitors.”

The Doctor flashed her a winning smile. “Well, when a world has a truly waterproof fabric, that’s pretty appealing to travellers,” he pointed out.

Rose tuned them out for the most part, browsing through the rack of jackets looking for one she thought Jackie would like. There were some that appealed to her, with sleek, slim lines etc etc. But she knew her mum—if she offered anything with a style too different from her own, Jackie would get upset and think she was trying to change her.

When she got to the last item on the rack and still hadn’t found anything she thought Jackie would like, she sighed. The shopkeeper, attuned to the sound of a disappointed customer, turned immediately.

“I have a few other items that I haven’t put out, plus some of last year’s items that didn’t sell,” she said. “Would you like to see those?”

Rose bit her lip. There was nothing on this rack to indicate that the shop had anything that would appeal to Jackie, but she really didn’t want to walk away empty handed.

“Yeah, all right.”

The woman nodded and hurried to the back of the booth. Meanwhile, the Doctor moved closer and wrapped an arm loosely around her waist.

Nothing that you think Jackie would like? He asked.

Nah, everything so far would make her rant about airs and graces again, and how living on the Estate was always good enough before and why did we need to change?

The Doctor grimaced; he’d overheard that argument more than once since meeting Rose. It never made any sense to him that a parent wouldn’t want their child to have a better life than they’d had. But, he supposed it was the implication that the old life hadn’t been good enough that grated.

He felt Rose tense slightly when the saleslady came back with an armful of coats. “Here we are,” she said, draping them over her table.

The Doctor and Rose both spotted the right one immediately.

“That one,” he said, pointing to the puffy jacket.

“Yeah, definitely,” Rose agreed.

The woman smiled. “I can give you a discount on this coat,” she said. “This is the one I spoke of, the style we tried last year that no one seemed to be interested in.” She set the coat aside. “Is there anything else you would like?”

Despite knowing it was a sales tactic, the Doctor still felt interested in looking around the shop some more. The benevolent gesture of the discount had done its work once again.

“What about you, love?” He gestured at the coat and warm tops. “You don’t really have a good coat to wear in the rain.”

Rose rolled her eyes. A raincoat would be more helpful if we knew it was going to be raining when we left the TARDIS, she pointed out.

The Doctor tugged on his ear. It was true that most times when they got caught in bad weather, it was because their landing had gone a bit south. Or north, or early, or late… Anyway. If they landed when he expected, they rarely ran into foul weather.

Still…

I can keep it in my coat pocket, he reminded her. Stashed away for a rainy day.

Rose rolled her eyes again at his ridiculous pun, but she did move back to the first rack of jackets. The Doctor wasn’t surprised when she pulled one out without needing to browse the rack again. The deep blue, knee length coat had caught her eyes when she’d looked the first time.

“We’ll take these,” he told the shopkeeper, handing over their credit stick.

Two minutes later, they were leaving the shop with a bulky package in hand. Without needing to consult each other, they wordlessly went back to the TARDIS to drop them off.

“All right, what’s next?” Rose asked the Doctor.

“Don’t you have other shops you want to check out?” he asked.

“Well yeah, but why don’t we just roam for a bit? See if something catches our eye.” She winked at him. “See if maybe there’s some kind of dangerous alien activity that needs our intervention.”

The Doctor pouted. “This trip has been perfectly—”

Rose slapped her hand over his mouth, muffling the rest of his words. “Don’t you dare,” she said, laughter in her words. “Don’t you dare jinx us like that.”

She felt his lips move, but the sound was still muffled. With one more warning glare, she pulled her hand back.

“Fiiiiiine,” he said, with an exaggerated pout. “Let’s go walk through the market and see if we can find any nefarious aliens looking to overturn the holiday fun.”

Rose nodded once, sharply. “Better.”

She slid her hand through the Doctor’s arm as they walked back to the main part of the market. There were a few other booths she wanted to explore, but honestly it was enough to just be here, on this magical planet, exploring it with her Doctor.

The Doctor hummed when he picked up on that thought, and a moment later, he let go of her hand and wrapped his arm around her waist instead, pulling in close.

I love you, he told her as he brushed his lips over her temple.

Love you too.

They stopped in front of the city hall again and watched the new group of musicians. This time, it was a brass ensemble. Thankfully, they weren’t dressed as Santas. Rose didn’t think she could have stood there watching a group of trombone playing Santas.

The Doctor laughed. “Quite right,” he agreed.

She pressed her tongue to the back of her teeth. The Santas had brought back another memory from the previous year.

“Could we take Mum a new tree?” she asked. “I mean, she thought we sent her a new tree last year—that’s why she accepted it.”

“And you’re thinking that maybe she’d actually appreciate a new tree?” the Doctor said.

Rose nodded. “She’s had hers since I was… God, I don’t even know. Since I was a kid,” she said. “Maybe she’d like something new.”

The Doctor looked down at her, and Rose bit her lip to hide her excitement. He had a plan.

“Is she set on having an artificial tree, or would she maybe be interested in a real tree?” he asked.

Rose put her hands over her mouth. “We never had a real tree,” she said. “I always wanted one, but we never could.”

He nodded. “There’s a Christmas tree farm outside of town. We can go later this afternoon, or maybe tomorrow if we end up spending the whole day shopping.”

Rose clapped her hands. “That would be amazing. Thank you, Doctor.”

Shouts of laughter drew their attention to the large park that ran along one side of the market square. “Come on,” Rose said, pulling the Doctor in that direction. “That sounds like something I want to be involved in.”

As they wound their way through the park, Rose noticed the wide swaths of pristine snow covering the ground. Tall evergreen trees towered over the park, their branches weighed down with snow.

“It’s like something off one of those old Christmas cards,” she said.

The Doctor nodded. “It’ll nearly be like a picture print by Currier and Ives,” he sang.

“These wonderful things are the things we’ll remember all through our lives,” Rose replied.

The Doctor grinned at her. Despite the cold, his hearts were warm as he walked through the park with his wife. As far as ideas went, this was one of… He paused. One of Rose’s better ones.

They drew to a halt suddenly when a snowball whizzed by them. The Doctor looked around and realised they’d walked right into the middle of a snowball fight.

“Mind if we join in?” he called out.

A second later, a snowball hit him on the shoulder. The buzz of giddy amusement and exhilaration he felt over the bond told him exactly who had thrown it.

“Oh, you will regret that Rose Tyler,” he growled as he spun around.

But Rose wasn’t standing next to him anymore. He spotted her red coat disappearing into the trees and took chase. Snowballs flew through the air all around him, but he ignored the rest of the party.

Another snowball flew out of nowhere, and the Doctor only missed it by ducking and rolling. Rose laughed, and he leapt to his feet and chased after her as she ran from one cover to another.

Rose darted from one tree to another, trying to hold back her breathless laughter. She could feel the constant tug on the bond as the Doctor used it to keep track of where she was. However, that advantage worked both ways, and she was easily able to stay one step ahead of him.

But skulking in the bushes wasn’t really her style. A large snow fort stood on the opposite side of the clearing, and Rose was itching to reach it.

She peered around her tree, looking in both directions. At the same time, she tried to pull back from the bond as much as possible, hoping it would temporarily make it harder for him to find her.

And then she ran. Halfway across the clearing, she heard a familiar shout and footsteps crunching through the snow. She stretched her legs, trying to run just a little bit faster, but about ten feet from the fort, the Doctor slammed into her from the side, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her to the ground.

Rose rolled, trying to get out of his hold, but the Doctor rolled with her, pinning her to the ground every time. “Gotcha,” he growled.

The rough voice sent a shiver down her spine that had nothing to do with the snow going down her back. “Yeah, you do,” she said breathlessly. “What are you going to do about it?”

The Doctor didn’t need any other invitation. He swooped down and pressed his lips to hers.

Rose sighed and tilted her head, letting him deepen the kiss. It might be cold and wet, but there was still no place she would rather be at that moment than on her back in the snow with the Doctor kissing her.

Finally, though, the jeers of the kids around them penetrated their private world. The Doctor pulled back and smirked down at Rose. “I suppose we’ve given them enough of a show.” He rocked back on his knees, then jumped to his feet.

Rose accepted the hand he offered and let him pull her up. She shivered when the air hit her wet back.

“I wish I was wearing that waterproof coat right now,” she said, rubbing her hands briskly over her arms. “I hate to take time to go change, but I think we need to.”

The Doctor shook his head and twirled his sonic screwdriver around his fingers. “Nah, I can dry us off in a jiffy,” he said.

Rose sighed in relief. “Come on, let’s get out of the way first.”

The Doctor nodded, and they walked away from the main snowball fight back to the path that led around the park. Once they were no longer in danger of being smacked in the face with an errant snowball, he stopped walking and started waving the sonic round her in circles.

“The sonic is creating molecule excitation,” he explained. “The water molecules in your coat are vibrating in tune to the frequency of sonic waves, and that’s causing them to evaporate.”

Rose sighed when he was done. Before he could start waving the sonic over himself, Rose took the device from him. “Like this, yeah?” she said, waving it over him in slow passes.

She was fascinated by the steam rising out of the brown wool coat. “That is amazing,” she murmured.

“Faster than a laundrette,” the Doctor said as he turned around to face her.

Rose laughed and finished drying him off. “Much,” she agreed. The Doctor took the sonic back and offered his hand, and they strolled through the park the way they’d come.

They were almost to the entrance of the park when Rose started shivering. Even though the Doctor had dried them off with the sonic, now that she wasn’t running across the park trying to avoid being hit by a snowball, she could feel how cold it was.

The Doctor pulled her close. “Come on,” he said. “It’s time for some Christmas cheer.”

Rose hummed her agreement. Some kind of hot beverage was exactly what the Doctor ordered at this point.

Thankfully, the beverage stand was one of the few that was completely enclosed. Rose sighed in delight when they stepped out of the cold wind. They still had to wait in line, but even that just gave them a chance to warm up.

“What do you want?” The Doctor pointed at the menu on the wall behind the person selling drinks.

Mulled wine was the first item on the list, and Rose almost selected it without looking further. She kept going though, reading past the various hot chocolates, coffees, and hot toddies.

The last item on the list caught her fancy. “Hot buttered rum,” she told him.

“Ooh, I like that. I haven’t had that in… er, ages,” he said.

Rose giggled. Well done, she told him. Not spouting out that you’re well over a thousand years old.

The Doctor tugged on his ear. “Welllll…” he said.

They finally reached the front of the line, and the Doctor placed their order. A few minutes later, they were walking out of the shop holding steaming mugs of hot buttered rum.

“I like that it comes in a mug,” Rose commented. “It’s like a little souvenir of this trip.”

She brought the mug up to her nose and sniffed. “Smells all warm and rich and spicy,” she said.

The Doctor took a big swallow of his drink and somehow managed to swallow it even though it was still steaming. “It’s delicious,” he said.

Rose grabbed his tie and tugged him down for a kiss. The Doctor flailed slightly, but managed to keep his mug upright while she snogged him thoroughly.

When she stepped back and straightened his tie, he gaped down at her. “Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?”

Rose looked up at him through her eyelashes. “You had a moustache,” she explained. “I was just helping.” It sounded very innocent, but the way the tip of her tongue showed through her smile suggested otherwise.

The Doctor chuckled. “Well, feel free to kiss anything else off of me.”

It was a sentence that only six months ago would have made them both blush and start stammering explanations. Today, he leaned into the innuendo, using their bond to offer a whole host of suggestions.

Rose sucked in a breath, but somehow managed to speak. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said, her voice almost even.

Then she immediately took a sip of her own drink. “Oh, this is divine,” she moaned, licking the foam off her upper lip.

“The perfect thing to warm you up from the inside out,” the Doctor agreed.

The sun was low in the sky as they circled the market another time, drinking their hot buttered rum. There was one kind of shop Rose hadn’t found yet, much to her surprise. Finally, just as the sun was setting, she found it—a large shop specialising in Christmas decorations.

“I wanna get Mum an ornament or something,” she told the Doctor when she slowed to a stop. “Maybe something with the planet name on it? It’d be fun for her to have something that represents our travels, and no one else would bat an eyelash.”

The Doctor agreed, and they ducked into the packed store.

Unlike the first booth, here the salesperson left them alone to browse. Rose felt herself relax. It was a cultural thing, but even after years travelling with the Doctor, she wasn’t used to the overly helpful salesperson.

Left alone to browse, she slowly wandered the store, handing things to the Doctor as she found them.

“This is beautiful,” she said, carefully taking the delicate ornament off the tree. She held it for a moment before she noticed something different. “Doctor?”

He smiled. “Yep! Futuristic snow globes don’t need to be shaken for the snow to… snow. That ornament will constantly show snow falling, whether someone touches it or not.”

“I love it.”

oOoOo

It was dark when they left the shop. The market hadn’t slowed down; if anything the crowds had gotten thicker. “What are they all here for?” she said.

The Doctor took her hand and led her to the edge of the square. “Just watch,” he said.

Rose stared out at the plaza, trying to understand what she was watching for. Then she saw a light. First one, then a second. Then after that, dozens of lights floated up from the square.

“What are they?” Rose whispered.

“Remembrance lanterns,” he said, just as softly. “Every year, the city gathers on the third day of the festival to celebrate those who have been lost in the last year. The families make their own lanterns and bring them to the square on this day. The holiday lights are dimmed, and the lanterns are lit and released to the sky.”

Rose’s breath caught as she watched the spectacle. It was beautiful before; knowing what it symbolised made it absolutely stunning.

“I’m glad I don’t need to let one go,” she said, the words escaping her before she really thought them through. “I could set one off for Mickey, I suppose. It hurt to lose him. But it doesn’t hurt nearly as much as losing Mum would. And…” She bit her lip. “And sometimes I can’t help but remember that we almost lost each other.”

The Doctor shivered and pulled Rose close. The way the timelines had been pulling, trying to get Rose to leave him, he suspected that had been the primary timeline. But they had changed things. Jackie had changed things. And that’s why they could all be together.

“Happy Christmas, Doctor.”

“Happy Christmas, Rose.”

[popculturebuffet]

Donald Duck: Christmas on Bear Mountain Review!

Happy Birthday Uncle Scrooge! Yes it was 73 years ago that everyone’s favorite stingy adventurous billionaire entered this world. And I only NARROWLY missed it as I only found out this was coming up when looking up various character birthdays during the writing of my review of “The Three Cablleros”. I now have a word document with all the various important duck characters birthdays so this doesn’t happen again, but i’m glad I did my homework as I can celebrate one of my faviorite character’s birthdays.  And Scrooge is one of my favorites. While I relate to donald’s everyman slacker spendthrift was a tad more, I still love this old bastard. He’s badass, quick witted, and earned every bit of his fortune square outside of one moment of weakness. But he has his flaws: He’s horribly cheap, quick to anger, and very dismissive and distrustful of people for good reasons and bad. He’s a complicated, interesting character and one that still works today in the reboot.. if with some slight tweaks to make him less of a greedy monster by modern standards. He’s one of my favorite comic book characters, and one of Disney’s finest, so it only felt right to honor him by going back to his roots with his very first appearance and a story that like him is 73 years old today. It’s also one I had never read until today’s review. So does this storied tale still hold up? How diffrent was Scrooge? and are there any actual bears in the story? Well come along with me as we take a trip up to Bear Mountain and find out.  This story, if you didn’t know, is by Disney Legend and Scrooge Creator Carl Barks, easily the most influential and well known duck artist.. felt like it was worth mentioning since without Carl none of this would be possible and as usual his art is gorgeous and unique to him. On with the show. 

We open with Donald and the Boys depressed, as Christmas looks to be pretty drab. While the boys are sad they don’t have a winter Cabin like everyone else...

Donald is even more bummed he can’t afford dinner or presents as he mentions this to the boys, being flat broke. It’s also a nice character beat that Donald, despite his usual hedonism.. would be just fine, with his depression coming from the fact he can’t even give his boys a proper Christmas let alone presents. It’s a stark adult fear and something that really hits as I find the money to buy Christmas presents for all my friends and family during my current unemployment, though commissions, have been helping. 

But yes i’m doing my first Christmas review before thanksgiving’s even come in. But given the serendipity of Scrooge’s birthday and the fact I wanted to read it at some point before covering the last chapter of life and times anyway, since said story takes place DURING this one. I’ll explain how in a moment. Plus frankly with me already having to do my christmas shopping while I have money, I still feel the spirit of the holiday, so I honestly figure why not. 

But all that aside, the Nephews muse things might be better if their rich Uncle Scrooge would remember them, but probably not. We’ll meet scrooge, if you care to continue, after the cut. 

We then cut to Scrooge’s mansion. Two things to note. The first is that he has a mansion here. Now for us Ducktales fans, it’s not unusual, he lives in one in both series. But being even MORE frugal in the comics meant after this he mostly lived in the money bin to save .. well money. So he dosen’t have the mansion after this and Don Rosa explained it, as he did really most aspects of scrooge’s life, in life and times, having him decide to sell the place after also deciding to reopen the bin. Just a neat fun fact. The other fun fact is that his angry pose and expersion here were later homage in “Last Crash of the Sunchaser!”, in one of Ducktales 2017′s easily most heart pulling moments: the ending of the episode showing Scrooge truly alone once again. It’s also a nice refrence to Life and Times as at this point scrooge was just as miserable and alone according to Rosa’s masterwork, with the boys and Donald coming into his life being the thing that revitalized him. So let’s get on that shall we?  Scrooge is wallowing in his misery, having never had any fun according to himself and thinking maybe giving a present could be fun.. and decides on his Nephew as the one to give it to. But in typical Scrooge fashion instead of just giving his Grandson a gift, he’s going to have to earn it. He sends a letter to the Boys and Donald offering up his cabin, fully stocked with goodies and presents. A bit pricey for who Scrooge would become, and a bit odd to see him not complain.. but it still sets up his character as someone who wants people to WORK for what they get, but can genuinely get behind someone who shows good character, in this case he’s hoping, but Doubting, Donald will end up showing himself to be brave. And it’s STILL more plausible he’d buy luxury items to prove a point to himself, than it was in that one Ducktales comic I reviewed where he spent presumably millions to teach a ten year old a lesson about getting everything you want. Which yes really happened. 

Still not over that one, what the actual hell, let’s move on. Basically if Donald passes the test, he’ll get a real true present and if he doesn’t, well Scrooge will have fun anyway. It is easy to see the difference in character here: While parts that would later become bedrock, his code of honor and his wanting people to EARN things instead of just having them handed to them, as well as him sometimes being a huge dick about that are there, he comes off more as a golden age villain cackling in his lair than the awesome but flawed adventurer we’d all come to know and love. I mean while he’d be no less kind to the Boys and Donald about their poverty later, this time he’s especailly bad tempting them with a nice christmas they couldn’t afford and planning to scare the bejeezus out of them. But I do like seeeing where Scrooge came from, STARTING as a decrepit old bastard and transitioning into the adventurous old bastard we all know and love. I have come to realize I do have a soft spot for characters earlier appearances, seeing what changed, what was there all along, and what was tweaked. It can be a mixed bag: with Marvel for instance sometimes you get Spider-Man, who was starkly anti-social and on the verge of understandably lashing out at the world a LOT in the first few issues, and prone to issues you wouldn’t see in a superhero comic back then. Hulk started out much smarter, greyer and meaner, eventually leading to the Joe Fixit persona being created as a result of this decades later. 

On the other hand some examples are less enjoyable like Sue and Reed Richards, who back at the start were a sexist “panicky female” stereotype and a sexist mentally distant jackass, while Hank Pym and Wasp were again, a sexist mentally distant jackass, and another stereotype this time thinking almost entirely about fashion and boys. All four would go on to be MUCH better characters with age, with the occasional slip up. I bring this up because Scrooge... is still a good character even here. While he’d become even BETTER, he’s not bad at all here, just a bit different is all. 

Back at the plot Scrooge reveals his plan by scaring the shit out of his butler: To dress up as a bear, head up the mountain and scare his nephews to see if any of them have any bravery. While Donald whimpers over the thought of bears and we get an okay gag of him thinking a squireel was one, Scrooge is forced to turn around due to the weather and gives a villain monologue about never having given anyone nothing in his entire life. I swear to god he’s basically Mr. Burns in this one. 

Then again I would also FULLY expect Scrooge to do this to Donald in the barks stories, just maybe not have it be lethal. MAYBE. 

While Scrooge harumphs over his bad luck the boys and Donald enjoy a wonderful sleep. Despite Donald’s fear of bears, which the boys insist are hibernating, accurate, the boys force him to go out and get a Christmas tree by the age old tradition of whining until he does so. After going out back to find a tree to chop down Donald finds dead, ugly looking tree that’s weirdly heavy. To no one’s suprise, and to Donald’s natural luck, there’s a baby bear inside and as Donald gets a nice Christmas eve dinner ready for the boys, though after hearing some rustling he assumes a bear is present.. which it is. A baby bear. Awww. The little guy toddles around, and we get af ew pages of antics, with the boys chasing the bear, donald being a coward, and the bear getting into things and ending up on a rollerskate, which is referenced in life and times. However while the boys eventually find the baby.. it’s MOTHER, angry it’s cub is missing finds them and once Donald finds her, the four naturally hightale it out of there. The bears then eat all their food.. though the boys assume “there goes our presents”. Uh guys.. the presents aren’t gone you just don’t have them right this second. They aren’t showed destroying them or anything just leaning on them slightly. I mean the well stocked pantry and any candy in the presents are toast but there’s still a pretty sweet saxaphone there. Take a look. 

See the most their doing is likely wrinkling some clothes, at worst flattening that skateboard.. or whatever that  Mama Bear is sitting on. I mean I get in the larger sense they can’t get them because bears, but still. Once they pass out the boys send in Donald to get ripped apart by a bear.. er to tie up Mama Bear so they can get the house back, rightly pointing out that they’ll freeze to death anyways.. even though they you know have a car and could just leave. Then again knowing Donald’s luck i’td probably jsut lead to this. 

The boys aren’t slacking though and are going after the cub while Donald passes out in fear next to the bear. Scrooge arrives, but is spooked by the cub and is proud to see his young nephews valiantly chase the bebe, and is impressed by Donald’s seeming bravery, decides, after fleeing in terror which is funny. Not in line with what he’d become but STILL really funny. But anyways he decides to throw them a proper christmas as a reward.  So the next day and, thanks to Don Rosa one part of life and times later, we end on Christmas Day as for the first time in decades, Scrooge basks in the warm glow of family, and is happy probably for the first time in years. He gifts Donald a bear skin, he faints, haw haw haw the end. 

FINAL THOUGHTS: This story holds up extrodinarly well. While some aspects like Scrooge being generous or cowardly don’t jibe with his later character, it’s forgivable since, again, first appearance, and it’s an entertaining story. Granted his plan hasn’t aged well, but it’s still a fun Christmas set story with some good gags and an entertaining villian. While not Scrooge or Donald or Barks finest hour, it’s still a good bit of hollday fun that gave us one of the best characters of all time. And for that, ill be forever greatful.  If you liked this review, you can comission one of your own via my ask box, direct message or discord (technicolormuk#6550), if your more comfortable not doing buisness on here. UPCOMING REVIEWS TO KEEP AN EYE ON THIS SPACE FOR Loud House Coverage: Band Together/ The Other One Ducktales: The First Adventure! Ride of the Three Cablleros: The Three Cablleros Ride Again! 

Until then you can check my backlog on my various pages and remember, there’s always another rainbow. 

[beatrice-otter]

1, 7 & 9 for the fic writers meme?

1: most popular fic. By hits, it is Lieutenant Bennet’s Visit, a P&P/Temeraire crossover that has almost double the hits of my next-most-popular work. By every other measure, it is Past Lives, a Star Wars Finn time travel fixit that I really plan to finish someday, no honest really I do.

7: trope I love to write. I don’t ... tend to write in terms of tropes? Tagging would be easier if I did. I tend to go for character development as the main thing that inspires me to write. Beyond that, I am also very motivated by having a problem with canon or a fanon interpretation of canon that I want to address. The classic example of “having a problem with canon/fanon” is the first fic I ever wrote Consequences, a Stargate SG-1 Sam/Jack fic that was a reaction to allllllllllllll the fics at the time where Sam and Jack get together and everything’s wonderful and the Air Force is fine with it and the relationship is puppies and rainbows and unicorns. Which really annoyed me because that’s not what would happen.

9: favorite scene I’ve written. Aha. Ahahahaha. I can never come up with a favorite anything, because I dither so much. Also, I’ve been writing fanfic for almost 20 years now (not counting my adolescent juvinalia, which filled notebooks with worldbuilding and family trees without ever actually writing the stories down). I tried going through my works on AO3, and got overwhelmed with trying to choose before I got to the end of page 2 (of 12 pages of fics total). If you ask me what my favorite scene is of a particular fic, I could probably tell you that.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

hi steph! know of any fics where sherlock dates someone else and john gets jealous and confesses his feelings?

Hi Nonny!

AHHHHHHH Okay, so I have this weird thing where I have a hard time reading fics where Sherlock is dating someone else, LOL, because I’m garbage. I dunno why… the closest I can get is fics with Victor Trevor in them as a “replacement” or “past bf” D: I’m so sorry I’m useless in this regard… Methinks these lists may help you out a bit? :)

MY FIC LISTS:

Jealous John

Jealous John Pt. 2 and Jealous Sherlock Pt 2

Jealous John Pt 3 and Jealous Sherlock Pt 3

Jealous John and Sherlock Pt. 4

ALEXX’S LISTS

John is Jealous of Victor Trevor

Victor Trevor Appears

MORE Victor Trevor/Sherlock (Part 2)

Jealous John

Sherlock with Other Men

John thinks of Sherlock with Other Men

EDIT: ACTUALLY NONNY, I just found an offline list in my folders that I think you will like; I’ve been waiting to post it anyway :P I hope this is good :D

VICTOR TREVOR / VICTOR IS SHERLOCK’S PAST FRIEND (S4)

Unforgiven by 221b_hound (M, 4,721 w., 1 Ch. || Marriage Proposal, Victor Trevor, Jealous / Protective John, Jealous Sherlock, Sherlock’s Past) – Sherlock’s latest case is for his ex boyfriend, the brilliant and handsome Professor Victor Trevor. John is not too happy about that. But things aren’t what they seem, an old friend of John’s is involved in the case, and John has a few surprises up his sleeve. Also - a proposal! Part 16 of Unkissed

Laid Bare by esplanade (T, 6,529 w., 1 Ch. || Romance, Fluff, Pining, Angst) – “I suppose it comes as no surprise that I always rather detested grand romantic gestures. They struck me as unnecessary and contrived, feeble attempts at desperately holding together relationships, most of which should have been allowed to fall apart.”

I can’t pretend by Salambo06 (E, 7,692 w., 1 Ch. || Fake Relationship, Victor Trevor, Jealous John, Miscommunications, Bed Sharing, Love Confessions, First Kiss/Time, Anal, BJs) – They had arrived more than a hour ago, and the moment they had walked inside the hotel reception, John had understood why Sherlock hadn’t wanted to come. Two men, posh suits and expensive watches on their wrists, had come to greet them with sharp remarks and badly hidden mockery, and John had seen red. Sherlock hadn’t said anything, mostly ignoring the two men entirely, and without thinking twice about it, John had slid an arm around Sherlock’s waist and introduced himself as his husband.

My Life for His by QuinnAnderson (E, 8,816 w., 1 Ch. || Guardian/Protector, Greek Mythology || Growing Up, Sex, Religious Themes, Suicide, Minor Character Death) – It began when Sherlock was eight, and he attempted to climb all the way up to the highest branch in the old willow tree in his back garden. He’d thought he was still small enough that it could support him, but the second he’d grabbed hold of it to pull himself up, the branch snapped, and down he went, plummeting a solid twenty metres. The odd thing was, he never actually hit the ground.

Illogical, even. by magikspell (E, 9,119 w., 1 Ch. || Grey-Ace Sherlock, Character Study, Growing Up, Victor Trevor, Romance, First Time/Kiss, Sherlock-centric) – Five reasons Sherlock never believed in love and one reason he does now.

I’m content as we are (but) by inqui (The_Circus) (E, 13,086 w., 1 Ch. || Jealous John, UST/RST, Pining, Victor Trevor, Minor Whump, First Kiss / Time, Misunderstandings) – In which John Watson sees something unusual, becomes jealous, and makes too much of a small thing as an old friend of Sherlock’s shows up in the middle of a case.

Say For Me, Love by MirabileLectu (T, 13,147 w., 1 Ch. || UST, First Kiss, Drama, Pining John, Victor Trevor) – If you had asked John this morning what the result of his quiet afternoon at home would be, discovering a truth about Sherlock’s past startling enough to shift the foundations of their friendship would not have been his first guess. So naturally, that was what was bound to happen.

Let’s Make a Bed Out in the Rain by theimprobable1 (M, 17,664 w., 11 Ch. || Pining Sherlock, Angst & Fluff, First Kiss, Unrequited, Jealous Sherlock, Protective Sherlock) – John is devastated after his long-term girlfriend leaves him. Sherlock helps him through it.

That Partitioning of the Things of Youth by wearitcounts (E, 35,353 w., 7 Ch. || Humour and Angst, Post-TRF, Fake Relationship, UST / RST, Friends to Lovers, Jealous John) – Victor Trevor is in town, and nobody’s happy.

(Never) Turn Your Back to the Sea by DiscordantWords (M, 39,968 w., 7 Ch. || Post S4 Fix It || Grief / Mourning, Victor Trevor, Friendship, Sherlock is Not Okay, Nightmares/Flashbacks/Panic Attacks, Parentlock, Pining Sherlock, Angst with Happy Ending, John Comes Home) – Baker Street is very much the same. Only different. And Sherlock is just trying not to drown.

Resistivity and Relative Charge by liriodendron (E, 41,750 w., 8 Ch. || Synesthesia, Angst, Case Fic, Romance, Est. Rel., Homophobia, Religious Content, Victor Trevor, Mild Jealous John, Mild John Whump) – In which Sherlock Holmes meets an old acquaintance, John Watson doesn’t enjoy a trip to the country quite as much as he thought he would, and the past absolutely refuses to stay where it belongs. Part 3 of Conductivity

Sacré Coeur by Mamaorion (M, 95,236 w., 27 Ch. || S4 Fix It Rewrite, First Kiss, UST / RST, Eventual Happy Ending, Coming Out, Holmes Family, Marriage Proposal, Husbands, Healing, Evil Mary, Beekeeping, Caretaker Sherlock, Mind Palace, Alzheimer’s Disease, Protective / Big Brother Mycroft, TD-12) – In this s4 fixit, John must piece together the gaps in his altered memory if he and Sherlock are to face the terror that has plagued Sherlock since childhood. As they untangle the web, seven years of hidden love ignite. (TO READ)

A Further Sea by i_ship_an_armada & ShinySherlock (E, 125,492 w., 23 Ch. || Historical Pirates AU || Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Doctor John / Pirate Captain Sherlock, Sailing, UST / RST, Masturbation, Action / Adventure, Mild Angst & Peril, Romance, Shaving, Molly/Janine, Bottomlock, Hand / Blow Jobs, Past Drug Use, Slow Burn, Mild Violence, Happy Ending) – Here be a tale of adventure for both body and soul, but beware if ye be not of stout heart, for this be piratelock, ya savvy? Luckless ship’s surgeon John Watson takes a chance, and finds himself eye to eye with The Ghost, the scourge of the seven seas and a definite thorn in the side of the blaggard, James Moriarty. But when John finds there’s more to this most cunning pirate than be meetin’ the eye, he has to choose… is it a pirate’s life for him?

Colors by Quesarasara (E, 140,537 w., 17 Ch. || Pleasantville-Inspired AU || Soulmates, Colour Bonds, Alternating POV, Angst, Fluff, Pining, Case Fic, Medical Procedures) – Everyone on earth is born with eyes that see in black, white, and an endless series of greys. When you meet your soulmate, you finally see the world in color. We’re all searching for the person who brings color to our lives. John and Sherlock are no exception. Part 1 of The Colors ‘Verse

SHERLOCK AND OTHER MEN

Nothing to Make a Song About by emmagrant01 (E, 36,833 w., 10 Ch. || Post-TRF, First Time, Reunion, Jealous John, Pining Sherlock, Romance, Angst with Happy Ending) – When Sherlock returned from his faked death, John could not forgive him for the deception and broke off their friendship. Ten years later, John returns to London in search of yet another new beginning. Sherlock, not surprisingly, is waiting.

Drawn to Stars by Silvergirl (E, 66,392 + w., 42/56 Ch. || WiP || S4 Compliant to TLD / TFP Doesn’t Exist, Sherlock’s Italian Adventure, Jealous John, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, First Kiss/Time, Idiots in Love, Angst with Happy Ending) – After the Culverton Smith case Sherlock is clean, working, and looking for a romantic partner—since John has told him that’s what he needs. Shame John didn’t mention he was interested in that role himself, before Sherlock went off to Rome with a gorgeous Italian copper to try to fall in love and become a complete human being. (MARKED FOR LATER / TO READ)

[fanfic-collection]

Loki x Reader - A Family Christmas

Don’t think it came out great... umm yea

Post endgame au fixit

-

Walking arm in arm beside Loki, you worried at your lower lip, 'It really was nice of your mother to send these dresses so I would be prepared and wouldn't stand out when I got there.' You murmured as you finally reached the an empty spot on the grass.

Loki had a forced smile as he looked down at you. As his eyes met yours, the smile became more natural. 'She meant well, she really does look forward to meeting you.' He responded, gazing at you fondly. Loki brushed a loose strand of hair behind your ear before gripping your arms tightly once more. 'Are you ready?'

Swallowing hard, you glanced down at the suitcase you had packed. 'Is it safe?'

'Traveling is perfectly safe.'

'Err my things?'

Loki's eyes flickered to your things. 'They should be fine. They can be replaced if not.' He looked back at you and managed another uneasy smile.

You shook your head wearily and wrapped your arms tightly around him, hugging Loki tightly. 'Alright, I really am nervous about meeting your family.'

'It'll be fine, I imagine.' Loki muttered weakly, swallowing hard.

'You didn't even try to lie.'

'It wasn't worth it.' Loki responded, looking up at the sky. 'Heimdall, we're ready. As we'll ever be.' His grip tightened vise-like on your arm, almost painful as a bright beam of light burst from the sky, engulfing the two of you.

Stars blared across your vision and then you were flying, zooming through the galaxies at a million miles per hour, racing through the cosmos. The wind whipped at your face, you were vaguely aware of planets flying by realms existing all around you, lights and worlds racing beyond, the sheer power all around you.

And then you were still.

Loki held you steady as you swayed for a moment, your suitcase tumbling to a stop beside you.

You blinked, looking at the large circular room that had been spinning, and not in your imagination.

A man in gold armor removed a golden sword from its plinth and stepped down from the center of its room, walking over and stared down curiously at your suitcase.

'Welcome back, Loki, I take it this is your wife.'

'Hello Heimdall.' Loki responded, in a not unfriendly tone. He nodded as he introduced you to the gatekeeper.

Heimdall bowed his head in greeting to you, 'A pleasure to meet you, my lady.'

'Hello.' You said, bowing stiffly at the waist as that seemed an appropriate thing to do.

Heimdall chuckled at your actions, 'It is good to have you finally on Asgard. They await you at the palace.'

'Wonderful.' Loki drawled. Stooping down, Loki picked up your suitcase, taking your hand in his other hand and walked you to the door where there was a waiting boatlike skiff, 'Is... everyone there?'

'Your whole family, yes.' Heimdall responded.

Loki grit his teeth, 'Even better.' With no apparent effort he tossed the suitcase into the boat before turning around and lifting you in before climbing in after.

'It's Christmas Loki, everyone knows you have to pretend to like your in-laws, and for you, you have to pretend to like your own family.' You smiled at him, settling into the seat as he began to steer it towards the golden castle. As you turned to look at what he was steering it towards, your mouth fell open, agape at the grandness of Asgard.

Loki chuckled, seeing your expression. He scooted closer to you, gently rubbing your back through the material of the dress Frigga had sent.

'Wow...' you breathed.

'Yes, though it would probably be best if you don't fawn over it around Hela.' Loki murmured, shifting uncomfortably.

You snapped around, spinning to look at him. 'Hela?' You raised an eyebrow.

'Yes...' Loki drew the word out slowly, looking uncomfortable.

'You didn't say anything about Hela.'

'I wasn't aware that she was back either.'

'Well clearly you were aware before me, when were you going to share this with me?' You blinked.

Loki sighed, 'I've been trying to find a good time to tell you.'

'Well sooner would have been better.' You felt your voice going up a few octaves.

Loki sighed, 'I was hoping you would react better.'

'It's Christmas Loki.'

'We do celebrate Yule here but the point stands, a holiday.'

'She tried to kill you.'

'And with the snap, Asgard was returned and many others. She was one of them.'

'So she's fine now, decided that she no longer wants to kill everyone?'

'Mother wishes to give her a second chance, given that it was something of Odin's fault.'

'I see.' You trailed off, staring at Loki.

Loki sat uncomfortably, hands between his legs, knees together as he stared at you, occasionally looking away to pilot the boat. 'Are you mad at me?'

You sighed and moved closer to him, wrapping your arms around his shoulder, 'I could never be mad at you. She was the one who hurt you. I just... I'm not a fan of homicidal relatives being invited to holiday dinner.'

Loki nodded and smiled weakly at you, 'I guess you'll get to meet her on better terms.'

'We both will.'

You looked up as snow started falling. Flecks of white spiraling down, twirling flitting, landing in Loki's thick black hair and settling on his shoulders before quickly melting. You smiled at him before wrapping your cloak tighter around yourself and huddling against him for warmth, the breeze made all the worse as the boat traveled at a fast speed.

Before too long you had reached the palace, an envoy of guards waiting and a person who you only knew described as the queen herself standing before you. Loki jumped down, helping you first, before rushing to envelope her in a hug, 'Mother!' He greeted her happily, wrapping her tightly, bending down and kissing her forehead.

'My son.' She responded warmly, 'It is good to have you home again.' She smiled up at him, stroking his hair from his face and smiling up at him. She gripped his arms before ushering him to the side that she could see you, 'And this must be the woman that Heimdall has told us about. I wish I could have heard about her through you, but I understand your secrecy this time.'

'Only this time?' You muttered under your breath, loud enough for Loki to hear as you walked over and bumped him with your hip. Though a part of you swore the queen heard you for you saw a trace of a smirk on her face.

'Happy Yule, although for you it is Merry Christmas. So Happy holidays.' She spread her arms wide and brought you in for a hug, 'A pleasure to finally meet the one who could settle my youngest and give him happiness that he has so long sought. He truly deserves this.'

You smiled at her, 'Thank you, he does.'

Loki smiled as he looked between the two of you.

Frigga nodded, 'He does, and I'm glad that you think he does. Now come the snow grows bitter and the night comes fast, even here on Asgard.' She motioned for you, Loki, and the guards to follow in side as the wintry winds picked up. The snow now fell heavier, sticking to the ground and leaving white mounds.

Leading you inside the great double doors, there were great evergreen trees inside, decorated with glittery ornaments, wreaths, and all manner of candles. Candles of all shapes and sizes and colors all over, they seemed to be magically lit though, somehow protected from being a fire hazard by supernatural means. And yet others seemed to be natural fire.

Suddenly a great thundering booming sound rattling the palace came, the sound of something large approaching, it rattled the very structure. Terrified, you clung to Loki.

Loki reached for his dagger uncertainly, looking to Frigga and the guards. The guards looked on edge and Frigga just looked... irritated?

Frigga pursed her lips.

Rounding the corner, claws scrabbling on the floor, a massive dog skittered on the smooth surface, massive tongue lolling out from even larger canines. Its fierce glowing green eyes bore down on your group of soldiers gazing intently at the newcomers, leaning down to sniff intently at you and Loki, its whole mouth capable of swallowing you whole. You froze at the size of the beast.

'Fenris.' Loki hissed, putting his dagger away. 'Where is Hela? Can she not keep her beast under control?'

Frigga sighed, as she stepped forward to pat the dog's nose, really the easiest part of him to reach. 'She can control him, he's quite well trained, he just likes to greet new people.'

Fenris barked, a deafening sound and you covered your ears as a blast of noise echoed through the halls.

'Fenris no barking.' Frigga ordered in a calm even voice.

Fenris bent down, burrowing his nose in between his front paws staring between you and Frigga as he looked back at you then at Loki.

Loki sighed, walking over to reach up and scritch the dog's ear. Fenris began to pant happily, flopping over on his side and effectively blocking the hall. There was a crashing sound and you knew something had been knocked over, probably expensive.

Frigga groaned, 'Fenris.'

Fenris whined, his ear perking up.

'He's just a cute puppy.' You cooed at him.

Loki laughed weakly, 'Yes, I suppose.'

'And you can't leave him outside in this weather.' You walked over to his tummy and began to rub it. Fenris' tail began to thump on the floor, loudly shaking the palace. 'It's not your fault your mommy made you fight family, is it?' You cooed. Fenris kept panting as he looked at you, paws curled up on his chest, legs splayed apart.

'Dear,' Frigga called, 'The dog is blocking our path.'

You stopped scritching Fenris and sighed, 'We need to get through this hallway though, would you move for us?'

Fenris whined for a moment before slowly rolling over and standing up, then sitting down to the side. Loki sighed, shaking his head and walking back to take your hand beside you, 'Love, if we get a pet, I'd prefer a cat.'

'I wouldn't mind a cat.' You waved at Fenris, 'But he's a cute boy.'

Loki guided you back down the hall, following after Frigga and her guard. 'Yes, he is very cute, but I don't think we need a pet that size.'

'But if we get stuck with one who grows up that big, you won't send it away?'

'I will not.' Loki sighed, rolling his eyes.

You smiled, wrapping your arms around his waist.

Each person in your party carefully stepped past the up-ended tree, mindful of what had been broken and the magically burning ornaments, grateful that it wasn't a real burning candle.

Finally your party arrived at a grandhall, where you figured the party was effectively in full swing but the tension was palpable.

Odin sat at the head of the table, Frigga's vacant chair empty beside him. Next to Odin sat Thor, staring glumly at his plate of food trying to figure out how to eat or engage in conversation. Beside Thor sat Lady Sif, half attempting to talk to Thor her food also untouched.

Beside her sat the warriors three, Volstagg had heroically managed to eat his food, but even that seemed with great difficulty. Hogunn beside Volstagg, food untouched, and Fandral looking at the waitresses who were giving him a wide berth; Fandral's food was also untouched.

On the other side of the table, seeming to enjoy herself immensely, lounging on three seats sideways and drinking wine, was Hela. Behind her was a large doggy bed, now vacant.

Everyone turned to look at the sound of your party entering the room.

Thor's face lit up immediately upon seeing you and Loki entering the room. 'Brother!' He stood up, pushing back his chair so that it loudly scraped on the floor.

Odin grumbled, hunching further in his seat.

Thor rushed around the table and hurried over to greet Loki in a bear hug. Loki smiled, accepting the hug and patting his back, 'It's good to see you.'

'And you! It's been altogether too quiet without you.'

Hela laughed, straightening up from how she was sitting and looked over before straightening up and coming over to join the hug. 'Look at you two.'

The brothers exchanged and uncomfortable look at Hela.

'No, no. We are not doing this. No odd woman out. I am back and part of this family now, we got a fresh start and I am a Odindottir once more so I am part of this happy bunch.'

Loki raised his eyebrow, gritting his teeth.

Frigga sighed, sitting down beside Odin.

'So this must be your better half?' Hela asked, looking at you.

Loki's eyes darkened, 'This is my wife, yes.'

Sif snickered into her drink.

Loki's eyes flashed as his gaze fell on Sif.

'How about we have dinner?' You offered meekly.

'A peacekeeper?' Hela asked, reaching for her goblet of wine. 'Just like dear old mum, you really are fitting in already.' She turned towards Frigga and raised a toast before taking another drink and winking, 'Here's to a family dinner.'

-

'I'm going to kill her.' Loki muttered as the two of you stood in the hallway on pretenses of you needing to use the bathroom and asking Loki where to find it.

'Loki it's been five minutes. They're going to think I have an illness if I have to ask for a bathroom break every five minutes.' You were standing outside a bathroom somewhere, anywhere in the Asgardian palaces. It didn't matter where, just some place to be away from that grandhall as Loki leaned against his arm, face red as he carefully breathed in and slowly breathed out.

'Every slight, every jab. Between her and Odin.' Loki grit his teeth, grinding his jaw before slowly trying to relax his muscles.

You rubbed his shoulders, trying to ease out the tension. 'Hey, we're a team, I'm here with you. I don't like hearing it anymore than you do.'

'It's all aimed at you!' Loki snarled.

'Well I already know I'm not good enough for you.' You whispered.

'That's not true and you know it.' Loki turned, rounding to face you, he cupped your cheeks, stroking your face, pressing his forehead to yours, 'That's not true at all. How could you not be good enough for me, a broken man?' He inhaled slowly and breathed out a shaky breath, closing his eyes as he tried to memorize every detail of your face. 'How could I ever be good enough for you...'

You felt a gurgle of a tearful laugh in the back of your throat as tears welled in your eyes. 'Christmas with the inlaws, never thought it'd be this rough.'

'You don't say... At least Thor's friends aren't saying much yet.'

'Would they in front of Thor?'

'I don't even know, but Odin is bad enough, and then Hela insulting you...'

'Odin insulting you.'

Loki closed his eyes and nodded. 'I think I preferred when Hela was outright trying to kill me.'

You gasped, 'Don't say that.'

'At least she was more upfront about her intentions.'

'Fenris is nice.'

Loki chuckled, 'Yes, the dog is nice. We'll keep the dog and get rid of my sister. How does that sound?'

'I know some families and friends, or parties that work that way.'

Loki sighed, a weak laugh breaking free, 'Alright, my temper is managed.'

'I know, you're not one to lose it.'

'Just for you.'

You sighed, taking his hand in yours and began to tug him back towards the grandhall. Loki took the lead when you were uncertain of which way to go, guiding you as you grew lost. As the two of you walked, you smoothed your thumb along his knuckles, squeezing his hand, feeling the weight of his fingers in yours and just enjoying the spaces between your fingers lining up with his.

'I don't want you to lose your temper for me.'

'I endeavor not to.' Loki murmured.

You nodded, leaning your head against his shoulder, 'I do appreciate your passion though.'

'I will always fight for you, but I do reign in my temper, I do not suffer the fiery outbursts my brother does, but I understand what you're saying. And I know what you're about to say, I am not my brother, it does not matter what he does.'

You smirked up at him and he smirked down at you, unable to help yourself you flicked his nose, 'Then you are learning. Good.'

Loki caught your hand and tapped your nose with your own finger. 'I am older, and wiser.' He sighed as you rounded the last corner, 'Shall we continue the abuse?'

-

'Welcome back, we thought you had gotten lost, almost sent a search party.'

You sank into your seat, you between Loki and Hela, and managed to get Loki beside Frigga.

More food, more insults, more retorts, more heated discussions.

However with Loki moved, Hela seemed more subdued, content to focus on her wine, and Fenris soon returned and she lost interest in the conversation altogether, leaving to sit beside her dog and share her dinner with him.

When Fenris returned, Odin, in disgust, excused himself, and with only a small amount of fuss from Hela, all was soon returned to a calm dinner again.

-

Thor leaned back in his chair, dinner finally finished. 'Well that was... eventful. Are your Christmas feasts usually like this? I can't say I recall being on Midgard for one like this.'

'Uh, family dinners, Christmas dinners, can be like this yea. But this kinda takes the cake.' You muttered, glancing over your shoulder at Hela dozing on Fenris with an empty goblet of wine, beside the fireplace.

Frigga lowered her voice and placed her hand on yours, 'Thank you for being patient with her.'

'You should thank your son as well.' You responded, glancing at Loki.

Frigga raised her eyebrow then looked at Loki.

Loki sighed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

'You're right. It's nice to have the family together after so long and I appreciate everyone making an effort, I know it's not easy.' Frigga continued.

'Some making more of an effort than others.' You muttered under your breath.

Loki squeezed your thigh under the table, and you jumped, knee banging the table with a softly uttered curse.

Thor looked at you with concern.

'I'm very grateful to all of you.' Frigga finished, 'Thank you.'

'Of course mother.' Loki murmured.

'Yes, mother.' Thor said with a smile.

-

After you had said your good night's to everyone and made your way back to Loki's old room, which to his surprise was still in pristine shape.

Frigga smiled, assuring him that she had had it done up as he would have remembered.

Loki stood in the doorway, smiling as he looked around, snow falling heavily outside the balcony, a tree decorated in his room and a fire in the fireplace.

The two of you changed into your nightwear, made ready for bed and crawled into bed, cuddling together.

Laying together, you rested your head on his chest, listening to the rhythmic beating of his heart, stroking your fingers over the smoothness of his chest, gazing absently out the window, watching the snow falling outside. Loki had his arm wrapped around your waist, the other arm under his head, he too was looking out the window with you.

'I'm glad we came.' You said quietly. 'Overall.'

'I am too.' Loki responded, 'I'm glad you were able to see my home, and my mother.'

'She's nice.'

'My home is wherever you are though.'

'So we're home right now.'

Loki nodded, looking down at you. 'Yes.'

'We're always home together.'

Loki squeezed you tight, 'Good night, my love.'

'Good night, Loki. Merry Christmas.'

'Happy Yule.'

And together you said, 'Happy Holidays.'