#i am perfectly normal about the forget me nots...

[heph]

Prayer to Nobody

Print will be available at a local Sgean con Doki Doki Anime Market from 8 - 9 Jun! :]

[someonestolemyshoes]

The Keeper’s Introduction

Here is my fic for @levihan-drabbles Fluff Friday! 

Prompt: "I know I just broke into your apartment in the middle of the night but there are some bad people after my special power over alternate universes and I've decided to put all my faith on you to save everything."

They looked oddly at home, expertly navigating his kitchen. As though they had been there before. They grabbed the honeypot from another cupboard, and found a spoon in one of the drawers.

"Oi," Levi said. "How'd you know where I keep all my shit?"

The stranger waved their hand flippantly, "Oh, I'm well acquainted with your layout. It never really changes, wherever you are."

**

Levi had just settled in for the night when a loud echoing crack sounded in the street below.

It was well past midnight, far too late for such a racket. The sudden violence of it was almost enough to make him spill his tea. He waited with his breath held, his heart shamefully hammering in his chest. Levi prided himself on being the type who doesn't scare so easily—but one can't be blamed for being alarmed by an unexpected noise in the dead of night, can they?

The world remained mercifully still and quiet. Levi approached the open window slowly (carefully, not frightfully; there is no indignity in being cautious) and peered out into the night. The sky outside was almost full dark, saved from the pressing black by only a smattering of stars and the moon, a papery sliver of a thing hooked high over the distant rooftops. The window, open only an inch, gave entry to a gentle breeze, still balmy despite the lateness of the hour. The town was drowsy, dozing; only the occasional candle flickered in the darkness, and no sound, prior to or following the thunderous clap, could be heard.

The street, three stories below, was empty. Levi scanned the road, but found nothing unusual. The strangest thing, perhaps, was that his face was the only one peering out. None of his neighbours had deemed the explosion worth investigating.

It was, for all the world, a night as perfectly normal as any other. Levi had seen no reason to expect anything out of the ordinary might occur.

He blew out a breath. Maybe he had imagined it. He had been quite engrossed in his novel, and it was well past time for him to be sleeping. It isn't unreasonable to assume that the sound of a cat, perhaps, rattling the bins in the alley had startled his tired, occupied mind. Resolving to finish his chapter and go straight to bed, Levi gave the street one last cursory glance, and turned away from the window.

He had just settled back into his chair and picked up his tea cup and his book, when the doorbell rang.

The chime in itself was yet another oddity, for Levi received visitors only very rarely, and never at an hour so late as this.

He set down his drink and lowered the book to his lap with a frown. Better, he thought, not to answer straight away. Then they might leave without causing him any trouble—and if they rang a second time, and even a third, Levi would suppose it might be something urgent and might finally be pressed to receive his unwanted guest.

Much to his pleasure, the bell did not sound a second time. Levi waited, poised to stand, but minutes passed by with no sound at all, and eventually, mildly disgruntled now by the persistent interruptions, he settled back and tried, once again, to read.

He turned the page. Picked up his now lukewarm tea, and took a sip. Sunk down more comfortably into the plush armchair. He felt himself begin to settle. The peculiarities of the night drifted from his thoughts as he read, mind too engaged with the story in his hands to think too deeply over the strange events that had occurred.

And then, without any warning at all, a godawful shriek rent the air as Levi's window was wrenched open from the outside, the wood frame protesting with a violent screech. Levi jerked in his seat, book falling from his hands and his tea cup shattering as it struck the stone floor.

There was a person, making no efforts at all to be quiet, unashamedly clambering in through his window. Levi watched, too shocked to move, while they pulled themself over the sill and crumpled in a heap to the floor.

Levi could do nothing but stare as the intruder heaved themself up. They unfurled long limbs, straightening to their full height, and turned quickly to poke their head out of the open window. They looked left, then right, down, and most peculiarly, up, before pulling themself back inside and slamming the window closed. They drew the curtains shut, and turned to look into the room, casting their eyes about the place as though inspecting it.

They walked with a relaxed gate, seemingly unbothered by their rude intrusion. Levi couldn't be sure if they had noticed his presence, for they made no show of knowing he was even there, and Levi was still too stunned to announce it. He watched the stranger rotate in a slow circle, looking everywhere from the ceiling down to the floor. Satisfied, they slapped their hands to their hips and nodded once, and then their gaze fell on Levi, still sitting stiff as a board in his chair. The light from Levi's lamp cast half their face in shadow, glinting off the lenses of their glasses. Their mouth stretched in a wide, manic grin.

Levi swallowed hard. His courage returned to him swiftly, urging him to his feet. He faced the stranger head on with his face twisted in a scowl.

"What the hell are you doing?"

The intruder's grin only widened.

"Oh, Mike was right after all!"

They crossed to him quickly in two great strides. Levi twisted his head this way and that to watch them as they circled him. This close, Levi could better see the sharp hook of their nose, the angle of their jaw and the whiskey colour of their eyes, with strange, dark markings around their irises, like the face of a clock. He could also see the fingerprint smudges on their lenses. They wore all black, from their muddy boots up to the overlarge hood draped over their shoulders like a small cloak.

"Shitty four-eyes, answer me."

They let out a gleeful laugh.

"Oh, Mike my friend, you are a genius!" They said. And then, to Levi, they added, "Mike can sniff out you Guardians half a universe away, I swear."

Levi had no idea who Mike was, or what a Guardian was, and frankly, he didn't care. He levelled his home invader with a sharp glare. When he spoke again, it was through gritted teeth. "I said, what the hell are you doing climbing through my window? How? I’m three stories up!"

The stranger's smile finally faltered. They tilted their head. "I did try the doorbell."

"Why did you want to be in my house?"  

"Ah, well, you see—that's kind of a long story." They turned on their heel and strode into the kitchenette. Levi watched on, incredulous, as they filled his kettle with water and set it on the stove to boil. With one hand, they reached into the cupboard above the sink and rifled through the boxes until they found Levi's stash of chamomile tea, and with the other they reached for the draining board, and plucked up two clean cups by their handles. All of this, while they watched the water begin to simmer in the pot.

They looked oddly at home expertly navigating his kitchen. As though they had been there before. They grabbed the honeypot from another cupboard, and found a spoon in one of the drawers.

"Oi," Levi said. "How'd you know where I keep all my shit?"

The stranger waved their hand flippantly, "Oh, I'm well acquainted with your layout. It never really changes, wherever you are."

"The fuck is that supposed to mean, shitty glasses?" Levi tried to inject an air of disinterested anger into his tone, but the stranger’s words, said so plainly, raised goosebumps on his skin.

They chuckled. "I can't tell you how many times we've had this conversation. I'm Hange, by the way."

Hange brought the tea over to where Levi stood, and held one cup out for Levi to take. He clenched his fists by his sides instead. The tea, upsettingly, smelled perfect; brewed at the right temperature, for the right time, and sweetened with just a drop of honey. When he didn't take the cup, Hange shrugged and set it on the little table by the armchair. They spied the broken china on the floor and smirked, "you never have much luck with that one."

"Excuse me?"

"That cup. It's the one with the gold rim, right? And all the little forget-me-nots around the outside?"

Levi said nothing. Hange, irritatingly and unexplainably, for the cup was in many pieces now and the lighting was too poor to see it in any great detail, was absolutely right.

"You still haven't answered my question," he said.

"Right, right. Like I said, it's a long story. Do you want the unabridged version or are you happy with the footnotes?"

"A summary is fine."

Hange took a great slurp of their tea. "Long story short, I pissed off some very bad people, and now they are after me for my, ah—abilities."

"But why my house?"

"Mike told me where you'd be. And boy, am I glad he did! I barely made it in time. I was aiming to land right in your sitting room, but I guess my calculations were a little off…" they trailed away with a frown. Levi watched their lips work quickly, as though they were running numbers in their head. Then they stopped, and shook themselves off. "Doesn't matter now anyway. I didn't wake you, did I? World hopping can be pretty loud."  

That, at least, accounted for the sound Levi had heard outside. But...

"Hange," Levi said. "You've explained nothing."

"Give me a minute, Levi. It's complicated! There's a lot of history and I already know you don't want to hear any of it. Besides, we wouldn't have the time. We'll have to leave early in the morning."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Sure you are," Hange said. "I have to meet up with Erwin, and I need you to get me there."

"Where's there? Who the hell is Erwin?"

Again, Hange waved their hand at him. "Unimportant. Look, what matters is this: I might've messed with the timeline in another universe, and that may have caused some….upset, with some very important and very powerful people. I only changed a little bit!! I met this guy, Onyankopon—he's so cool, you know? Smart as hell. He had this idea that—well, it was the base model for an airplane."

"A what?"

"Well, see, that's the thing. Onyankopon asked the same question, and I just...told him. A little bit. I went a little too deep into the mechanics of it all, and he...well he might have developed a model that works. Two hundred years before it was supposed to exist in his universe. And now the Bureau is looking for me, but I’m not done with Erwin’s mission yet and so I am putting all my eggs in your basket. I need you to get me out of this in one piece.”

Hange looked more sheepish about this insane indiscretion than they had about breaking and entering.

"You're fucking insane," he said. Hange let out a bright laugh.

"So you've told me, more times than I can count."

Levi pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He felt a headache coming on.

"You look stressed," Hange said, sounding almost sympathetic. "Drink the tea! It'll help, though it's probably a little cold by now."

"You're the reason I'm stressed, idiot."

"Sorry about that," they said, not sounding very sorry at all. "I know the circumstances aren't...ideal. I'd much rather have come to you another time and explained everything properly, but—well, I was kind of in a hurry, and Mike sniffed you out, said you were the nearest you to my location. I didn't have much of a choice."

"Who the hell is Mike? Some kind of mutt?"

"Sort of," Hange said with a grin. "He's a Seeker. It's his job to locate people like you—people like us—when the Bureau needs us. Fortunately for me, Mike isn't overly loyal to our dear overseers—his allegiance lies with Erwin, as does mine. And Erwin is decidedly less strict about most of the timelines."

Hange circled around Levi and set their hands on his shoulders. Something strange sparked there, a heat that sunk through skin and muscle and settled right in his bones. They had already ushered him into his chair by the time he shrugged them off.

"What does any of this batshit garbage you're spewing have to do with me?"

"You are a Guardian. It's your role to protect people like me from harm."

"The hell does that mean, people like you? I’m not fighting anyone to save your scrawny ass from anything. You fucked up, you deal with it. "

Hange stood up straight and puffed out their chest. "I am a Keeper. I'm supposed to keep order in the timelines. According to the Bureau, at least. Erwin has other ideas—but that's a story for another time. For now, we should rest. Like I said, we've got to leave early in the morning."

"To go where?"

"To Erwin!" Hange said brightly. "I don't have my pocket watch anymore, so we're gonna have to take the traditional route. There's no way I'll make it on my own. And don’t worry, you won’t have to fight anyone. I’ll explain it all on the journey."

"Look,” Levi said. “Can't you just...drop out of the sky whenever this Erwin guy is? I'm sure he's got his own window you can climb through."

"No can do," Hange said. "I can only hop between universes. I need my watch to move fast within any one universe, and mine took a dunk in a river, during my escape."

"Magic bullshit technology that lets you, what, teleport across the damn globe? And it can't survive a dip in a river?"

"They aren't watertight," Hange said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And they still run on batteries. Moblit is working on improving the technology."

Levi's head throbbed. He rubbed his eyes and glowered up at Hange, who was watching him with a soft smile. Levi deepened his scowl.  

"What's that shitty face for?"

Hange's expression softened further. They looked at him with so much fondness, Levi felt his face grow warm.

"I've missed you, you know," they said. "Well, not you, but—you. It's been...a really long time."

"That makes no sense," Levi said. He meant it, too—nothing Hange had said to him made sense at all. It was the stuff of storybooks, fairy tales; the product of an imagination run wild. And yet, Hange's presence, alarming as it had been and frankly still was, felt oddly familiar. The warmth of their hands still rested on his shoulders. In spite of himself, Levi felt the corner of his lip begin to curl into a small, absent smile. He wrestled it back down.

Hange laughed, a light, lilting thing, and yawned. They crossed the room to Levi's small dining table and dropped heavily into a chair.

"I suppose you're right," they said with a lazy grin. "It doesn't make any sense at all. You'll just have to trust me."

"You broke into my house. You're not selling your reliability very well. And don't even think about it."

Hange looked over at him, surprised. "Think about what?"

"Putting your filthy feet on my damn table."

"Whatever gave you the idea I'd do something like that?"

Levi opened his mouth to answer, but snapped it closed swiftly as the thought, which had come to him thoroughly unbidden, fully registered in his mind. You do it all the time.

Levi pinched his eyes, staring at Hange. They sat with a curious little tilt of their head, watching him with an open, analytical look. Levi squirmed under their gaze.

"I don't know," he said. "Seems like the kind of shit you'd do."

"Like something I've done before?"

Levi flinched, and Hange smiled all teeth at him, a strange mix of impish and pleased. They propped their elbow on the table and rested their chin on their palm. "There it is," they said quietly.

"What?" Levi asked. Too eager. Hange looked thrilled as they straightened up in their chair, eyes gleaming in the lamplight.

"There are a lot of you's, one in every single universe, just like there are a lot of Isabel's, and Farlan's, and Petra's—"

"How do you—you know what, nevermind. Go on."

"But because you're a Guardian, all your you's are linked. And because you're my Guardian," Hange looked weirdly proud at this pronouncement, "it's only natural that you remember me. It'll happen a lot, I'm sure. Try not to freak out."

Levi snorted. "You say that now?"

"Would it have made a difference if I said it earlier?"

Levi mulled that over for a second. No, he supposed it wouldn’t. He’d have thought them completely unhinged either way. Instead of answering, he picked up the tea from the table and drained it in three gulps. When he looked back at Hange, they were smiling brightly at him.

"Just how you like it, right?"

"I prefer it hot."

Hange kicked their heels against the floor and shot him an affronted look. With a petulant pout of their lip, they said, " So unfair, Levi! That's not my fault."

He shrugged them off. He would never admit it to them, but he took some bizarre delight in watching Hange's tantrum. It felt all too natural. They slumped back in their chair, head tipped over the back rest to stare at the ceiling.

"Ah, you're as cruel as ever," they said. "It's good. Very you."

Hange pushed their glasses up to their forehead and rubbed at their eyes. The scene looked painfully familiar; Hange, smiling sleepily, bleary eyed in the low blush of candlelight. Only, in the image forming in his mind, they were resting against a plump, well-fluffed pillow, and their hair was down from its ponytail, still messy and falling over their face. In the image forming in his mind, Levi's own hand reached out to brush a few strands from their cheeks, and Hange turned into his palm, their lips brushing the sensitive skin there.

Levi shook his head, face a little warm. Hange was watching him again. He scowled at them for good measure, gathering up his own cup and theirs, and washing them in the sink. He let the water run cool over his hands for a long moment.

"You should rest, if you're tired," he said. From the table, Hange hummed.

"Good idea," they said. "The bed's big enough for two, right?"

Levi turned sharply to refute them, but Hange didn't give him the chance. They had already heaved themself up out of their chair and kicked off their boots, and now, with the practiced ease of someone who had lived in the house for years, they were wandering down the hall and straight into Levi's bedroom, leaving the door open behind them.

Levi dried his hands slowly on the dish towel. He looked at the armchair, big and well-cushioned, spacious enough for him to recline in for a few hours rest. It wouldn't be the first time, and he had no doubt it would be the last. And then he looked down the hallway, where Hange must have lit the lamp; warm light spilled out into the corridor, and Levi was reminded abruptly of his strange thoughts.

This Hange, they were crazy. Talking the most nonsense Levi had ever heard come straight from another person's mouth. He would be better off resting his eyes in his chair, and kicking Hange out at first light.

That was the logical thing to do. The reasonable thing. That was the desperate plea of his better judgement.

Instead, he blew out his lamp, and stormed down the hallway after them.  

"You lie on my fresh sheets in your filthy clothes and I'm throwing you back out the window, Guardian or not."

[hermits-that-craft]

Love Run, The Song You Know's Begun.

"Though some would harm you, none - not one - no none Would raise to you a hand nor thumb Not while by you I stand and hum" - The Amazing Devil, Love Run Reprise --- The afterlife. Choices. Broken Promises.

Cross posted on ao3. Link in reblog

He wakes up in a meadow, surrounded by lilies, marigolds, poppies and white carnations. He blinks slowly, looking up at the sky. It’s synthetic. Perfectly painted. The sky is a beautiful baby blue, and he can see the paint strokes in the clouds.

He isn’t angry though. He can’t find it in himself to be angry. He hardly remembers who he is.

Where he is.

He stands, running his hand through his hair. He’s wearing a long sleeved white shirt, with a red collar and arms. His pants are beige, pockets filled with rocks and faded photos. His heart yearns, but he doesn’t move, the flowers growing through his feet and anchoring him to the meadow. Blood pools at his feet, runs in front of his eyes. His skin is littered black and blue.

But he isn’t in pain.

He can’t move.

“You have a choice” The universe whispers to him, gently in the breeze. “You can go back, or you can move forward. You were ripped from that world too soon.”

It’s regret, what's on her voice. At least, thats what he thinks it is.

“Why can’t I remember anything?” He asks her. “What’s my name? Why am I bleeding?”

“You have a choice,” The universe reiterates. “You can go back, or you can move forward. I cannot tell you about your past. I will not tell you of your future. This choice is entirely yours.”

“How will I know?”

“You will feel it. You will feel the pull towards one option or another.”

“What if,” He pauses, uncertain. “What if I don’t want to choose?”

“Then you will be split between both. Half will move forward. Half will go back.” The universe seems to want to say something, as though she believes that she is leaving something out that is important.

“Can I stay here?” His voice is small, uncertain. “I don’t want to be hurt again. I don’t want to be an adult anymore.”

A woman appears in the meadow. Her dark, shoulder length hair flows gently in the breeze, golden cloak swaying with the grass. She wears a black, sleeveless top and black cargo pants, alongside leather boots. She turns to him, and her eyes look like the stars. She isn’t Clara - the emptiness of the void does not exist here - but he knows her.

He’s seen her in the photos on someone’s walls. Heard about her in another’s tales. Felt her in a person’s embrace.

She is the universe.

She is Kristen.

She walks to him silently, tears welling in her eyes as she pulls him into a hug. It’s warm, the warmth he craved from before, but not dangerously so. He isn’t cold anymore. She holds him as he breaks. He doesn’t know his name, he doesn’t know what he left behind. He doesn’t know where he is or what he is. But he knows her.

“I can’t keep you here.” She whispers to him. “My boy, my son, how I wish I could. Someone awaits you on both sides. You should go to one of them.”

“But what about you?”

“I will join you when the last member of our family joins you.”

“Mum-”

“You have to decide, now.” She pulls away from him, and wipes the tears from his eyes. “Where will you go?”

“I can’t. Both?” He watches her with sad eyes. “Will I remember both?”

“When half of you decides to move forward, then you will remember what the half that moved back will remember.”

“Then both.” He says, and Kristen - the universe - smiles at him. She is kind.

“Go back to sleep. When you wake up, all will be well.”

----

Ghostinnit wakes in his dirt house, floating just off of the bed. He sits, confused. What does he remember?

“TO REVOKE THE CITIZENSHIP-” “Let’s be the bad guys, Tommy.” “I don’t give a FUCK about spirit.” “Let’s blow that motherfucker to smithereens” “Sorry doesn’t cut it. “The only universal language is violence.” “Down with the revolution boys, it was never meant to be.” “I wanna see WHITE FLAGS!” “We’re fucked, we were fucked the minute we were thrown out.” “He would drop us at the SECOND he realised we’re not in the lead anymore.” “Do you know what happens to traitors, Tubbo?” “L’Manburg can be independent, but L’Manburg can’t be FREE.” “The most logical thing to do. For Tommy to be… Exiled. From L’Manburg.”

Oh.

So that’s what he remembers.

Ghostinnit doesn’t know who he can trust. He remembers dying, painful, slow and full of fear, but he doesn’t remember much from between doomsday and death. Perhaps he was happy? Or at least, not scared? He shouldn’t trust anyone, just in case.

Ghostinnit floats out of his house, ‘walking’ towards Eret’s castle. As much as Tommy wants to hate the king for betraying L’Manburg, Tommy remembers seeing Eret fight alongside him during doomsday. Go head to head with Dream and Techno and Philza. The admin and Tommy’s family. Eret fought to help him. So Tommy should be able to at least forgive the king, or steal from him.

He’ll make up his mind on the way there.

Ghostinnit floats, not paying much attention to his surroundings, until he stops. He’s not sure what made him stop, but he looks at the flower garden that grows around Eret’s base. Wild poppies grow on the lawn, and Tommy sits down, picking them. He doesn’t know what possess him to make the flower crown, but it doesn’t feel right until he stops.

A flower crown made of poppies.

A crown of blood.

Tommy holds the flower crown gently, taking great care not to bend it wrong. He floats into the grand castle, wandering until he hears a shout.

“He’s gone, Tubbo!” It’s Jack, his mind happily supplies. He has a few bad memories of the man, he recognises the shout, but he doesn’t have any recent memories of him, so he surely could trust Jack! “He’s gone and the server is thriving!”

“How could you be so heartless!” Tubbo screams, and Ghostinnit floats over to the doorway. Niki and Jack stand to one side, idly watching as Eret holds Tubbo back. Ghostinnit’s friend (ex-friend? They did have a falling out) is struggling against Eret’s grip, screaming and thrashing. Phil and Techno are there, both glaring at Jack and Niki. Tommy doesn’t understand it.

A casket lies on a pedestal, the L’Manburg flag draped over it. A soldier's burial, for Wilbur perhaps. Tommy knows that getting his body from the prison would be a hassall. One that those who hate him wouldn’t go through, even if those people were his father and brother. Sam and a sheep woman stand guard over it, though their eyes are clouded with pain. Quackity and Sapnap weap, Karl holding onto them protectively. Perhaps not Wilbur’s funeral then, he doesn’t remember Wilbur being close to either of the two, though he might have become close in the happy memories.

“What's wrong?” Ghostinnit asks quietly, floating into the room. The crowd looks at him, and Ghostinnit wants to curl up in the air. There are too many people looking at him, they’re angry, they’re going to kill him-

“Tommy?” The sheep woman’s voice breaks, and somewhere in his mind he digs up a name. Puffy. “Oh Void-”

“You’re Puffy, right?” His voice is small. “I don’t have any memories of you, so you must have been a good memory.”

“What?” Eret chokes out. “I thought-”

“I only have bad memories. I guess the universe wanted me to make better memories.” Ghostinnit shrugs, though he can’t quite make the panic subside. He wishes everyone would just look away-

“You look like shit.” Jack says, glaring at him.

“Well, I was beaten to death by my abuser.” Ghostinnit shoots back, though he floats back from the man. Something is off about him. He doesn’t seem quite right. “And I’m sorry for not exactly having enough time to look at myself. I wanted to come see Eret. Who’s funeral is this?”

“It’s yours.” Sam says, bowing his head. “I’m sorry, Tommy. I’m so sorry-”

“You didn’t kill me.” Ghostinnit says. “You did what you had to do.”

“We’ll bring you back.” Tubbo says, his eyes full of promises he can’t keep. “I don’t care what we have to do. What deals we have to make.”

“Don’t.” Ghostinnit shakes his head. “The revive book isn’t real. I don’t want to come back. I’m only here because I’m waiting.”

“For what?” Techno asks, and Quackity glares at Ghostinnit’s older brother, who ignores Tubbo’s wails. “What are you waiting for?”

“Whoever Kristen says she’s waiting for.” Ghostinnit shrugs. “Then I’ll go back to the meadow.”

And with that, Ghostinnit turns to leave. He’ll talk to Eret after the ceremony. After his funeral. After all, he doesn’t want to watch as his father and brother’s faces fall with the memory of his mother. He doesn’t want to listen to Tubbo and Puffy’s wails. He just wants to let Eret know that he was forgiven. He places the flower crown on a table underneath a mirror, somehow having made his way into one of Eret’s bathrooms.

He sees his reflection in the mirror, and stares at it in shock. The black eye that he was given as he was beaten to death is no more, instead replaced with a bouquet of forget-me-nots. In fact, all of his bruises are the small, blue flowers. The blood that fell from the side of his mouth and his nose is gone, replaced by a poppy. He wears a red sweater, not unlike Ghostbur’s yellow one, or Glatt’s blue one, and his skin is grey.

His eyes are blue though, not whited out like he imagined. Pure blue, no glowing white or void like black. A bright, sky blue.

He smiles, and poppy petals fall from his lips.

---

Tommy hops off the train that left the meadow, a bag over his back. He’s wearing his normal clothes, and the injuries he once sustained are gone. He feels solid, but also not solid. Scared, but not. He remembers everything, and somehow nothing.

He doesn’t know which stop to hop off at, so he doesn’t. He watches as others hop off at different stops, ghosts going to worlds. Perhaps to be reborn, perhaps to meet the afterlife. Maybe even to become a member of someone’s chat.

The train stops, and he’s the only one on his carriage. The end of the line.

Tommy gets off, worry in his gut. What if he doesn’t see Wilbur here? What if Wilbur hopped off at another stop. What if Wilbur doesn’t want to see him?

What if he does see Wilbur?

Tommy looks around the station, hugging himself as he tries to find a familiar face. Maybe Schlatt will be there, maybe not. He’d take anyone , at this point.

He’s the only person who hops off at this station.

“Tommy?” It’s Wilbur’s voice that pulls him out of his frantic searching. “You’re not supposed to be here, the void wasn’t preparing for you. Why are you here?”

Tommy turns, and sees his brother. Still in his Pogtopia coat, but cleaner. Warmer. Tears pool in Tommy’s eyes, and he runs to his brother, getting pulled into a hug. He’s with Wilbur again. He’s nearly home .

“Who hurt you, Toms?” Wilbur sounds choked up, upset. “Why are you here?”

“Dream.” Tommy says quietly. “He beat me to death.”

“I’ll kill him.” Wilbur swears, and Tommy laughs wetly.

“Don’t. I promised that I’d see you soon.” Tommy pulls out of Wilbur’s hug, reaching for his hand. “Let’s go home, I’m tired of being an adult. Let’s be a family again.”

“I’m not supposed to see you for another fifty years.” Wilbur accepts the hand Tommy offers him, smiling sorrowfully. “But I’m glad you hopped off the train here.”

“I wouldn’t have hopped off anywhere else. Too much pull to here.”

They both walk out of the station, hand in hand. Tommy sees the outline of Schlatt and Mexican Dream in the distance, and he knows that his family will come through, sooner or later. He’ll see them around, but for now he’ll spend time with his older brother and his friends.

He has an eternity to spend with everyone else, when they arrive.

[wherewindysurgeswend]

deep  heart’s core: chapter six

chapter 1

chapter 2  

chapter 3

chapter 4

chapter 5

taglist (please dm, send an ask or leave a comment if you’d like to be added or removed): @tunes-on-a-typewriter @rememberedkisses

Anna was sealing an envelope containing a letter to her mother when she realized she had forgotten to mention the name of her hotel in London. She knew her mother would be anxious to reach her as soon as possible, so she tried to pry open the envelope with her fingernails without damaging it too much. This, she reflected, was the kind of situation in which it might be useful to have long nails, like Margaret. That must make it easier to do this kind of thing. Right at that moment, there was a knock on the door. “Come in,” she said, “door’s unlocked.”

 The door opened and in walked Margaret Kittredge, looking flawless as always in a pink silk blouse and pearls. “Speak of the devil,” said Anna. Margaret looked puzzled.

“Come in, Margaret. I was just thinking about you.”

“Oh? Why?” Anna laughed a little.

“Oh, I was just trying to open this envelope and wishing I had longer fingernails.” She held up her ink-stained hand with its close-cut nails. “It occurred to me that you must not have that problem.” Margaret took the envelope from her and opened it.

“Like this, you mean?” Anna laughed.

“Thanks. What did you come here for anyway?”

“Well, I told myself it was because I wanted to tell you about my grandmother, but I know perfectly well Larry’s already told you. I just wanted to see you, is all. Care to go for a walk?” Anna glanced at her watch. “Why not? I’ve got time.” She got up to join Margaret.

“You should take a sweater,” said Margaret, “It’s pretty windy on deck.” Anna picked a grey cardigan up off the bed and tied it around her waist. 

They left Anna’s cabin and headed above deck. “So,” said Margaret after a while, “Who’s Esther Byrne?” Anna gaped at her.

“My mother, but… how did you…” Margaret laughed. 

“Her name was on the envelope.”

“Oh. Right. She’s my mother. I — I already said that, didn’t I?” Margaret laughed again.

“Yes, you did. What are you writing to her for?”

“Just to let her know I’m all right. She worries, you know. I figured I would mail it when we arrive. She should get it pretty quickly then.” Margaret nodded, trying to act like she knew what it was like to want your mother to know what you were doing and whether or not you were all right. It wasn’t so much that Mrs. Kittredge didn’t worry about Margaret, or that Margaret wanted her to be worried. It was just that all her life, Margaret had felt like she was surrounded on all sides by her family. If she were in Anna’s place, she would just be glad for the escape. 

On deck the sun was shining, but, like Margaret had said, a chilly wind was blowing. Anna put on her cardigan and crossed her arms. Margaret watched her do it, wondering at the frenetic energy that always seemed to surround Anna. It was odd, she thought, that such a quiet, cautious person should be like that. No matter what was going on, Anna always seemed to be in motion: pacing, tapping her foot, drumming her fingers on the railing, tucking a stray curl behind her ear. 

Anna noticed Margaret watching her and laughed nervously. “What is it?” she asked.

“Nothing. Just drifted off, I suppose.” Anna nodded and smiled like she understood.

“Your collar is crumpled,” said Margaret, “Let me get that for you.” She reached over and smoothed the collar of Anna’s cotton blouse. The fabric was printed with tiny blue flowers. Forget-me-nots, Margaret thought.  “Thanks,” said Anna, “happens all the time. I never think to check.”

The rest of the walk was uneventful. They made small talk and watched a few puffy white clouds sail across the unbearably blue July sky. Margaret walked Anna back to her cabin right before dinner, and Anna headed to the dining hall. Dinner was equally uneventful. The most exciting moment came when one of Kathleen’s younger brothers dropped his knife and had to ask the waiter for another. 

“Anna?” Kathleen asked as they were watching the sunset after dinner.

“Hm?”

“I’ve asked you three times if you were cold and you haven’t answered. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. Just daydreaming, I guess.”

“You spent the afternoon with Margaret, didn’t you?” Anna nodded.

“Yes. Why?”

“Because whenever you’ve spent time with her you get all dreamy and you don’t listen to anything I say. What’s going on with you and her?”

“Nothing! We’re friends.”

“That’s what I said about Pierre Labonté eight months ago, and look where that got me.”

“Kath, I’ve known you for less than a week. You must realize I don’t know Pierre Labonté from Adam. Well, I do know a Pierre Labonté, but considering mine is over eighty years old and has seven grandchildren, I doubt it’s the same one.”

“My last boyfriend. He wanted to get married. Gave me this.” She pulled at a fine silver chain that hung around her neck and took the end of it out of the inside of her blouse. A gold engagement ring was hanging from it. Anna looked incredulous. “You’re engaged? Aren’t you a little young?” Kathleen laughed. 

“I’m eighteen. It’s fully legal. I haven’t made up my mind yet, anyway.”

“This is beside the point. What are you driving at with me and Margaret? You think I’m in love with her?” Kathleen shrugged.

“If you want to call it that, yes.”

“But she’s a girl. A woman. Whatever.”

“And you’re…” she dropped her voice conspiratorially. “A lesbian, aren’t you?”

“I’m not! Well, I am. Sort of. I don’t know. Do we have to talk about this?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t say anything about it. I’m the same way.”

“I thought you said you had a boyfriend.”

“I did. I do. Whatever. I had a girlfriend before him, though.” 

“Oh. How could you tell, anyway? About me, I mean.”

“Nothing in particular. I’m just good at noticing these things, is all. You’re not obvious about it, if that’s what you’re asking.” There was a lull in the conversation, until Anna found it in her to be annoyed again.”Whatever. I’m not in love with Margaret.”

“O.K. If you say so.” Kathleen didn’t look or sound even remotely convinced, but she dropped the subject. Anna wondered if her friend hadn’t been onto something. Surely she wasn’t in love with Margaret. That was ridiculous. And yet… was it normal that she could perfectly recall what it had felt like when Margaret’s fingertips had brushed her skin earlier that day when she was fixing her collar? When you weren’t in love with a girl, did you blush whenever anyone mentioned her name? Did people who were just friends with Margaret have her appear suddenly in their thoughts at least a dozen times a day?

[princessbunnyblossom]

First and Last of her kind Ch 1 The game in the garden

Hey everyone before you read aid like to point out in this AU fusions are one being. Meaning that two gems didn’t need to do a fusion dance in order to make a fusion it’s just a one being. However gems cam still do fusion dances and create more fusions of their one its just some fusions are one being, I’ve been wanting to make something like this but I wasn’t sure how I’d go about it. Sorry if this doesn’t explain much you can ask me some things in the comments below and be sure to put down a comment of the story. :3 please enjoy.

Thousands of light years away laid an asteroid in the middle of space and there from that asteroid lay a garden rotting and in ruin. It had once held such glorious beauty, blooming beautiful flowers and organic life. However that was years ago and now the unfortunate garden was left to waste away in decay. The in the rotting garden stood a small pink gem standing so perfectly still hands clasped together and a smile that was beginning to fade from her soft features. Yet she stood there waiting patiently for her diamond.

Pink Diamond.

Before leaving the garden to go to earth, which Spinel desperately wanted to go with. The small gem remembers clinging to Pink Diamond’s arms wanting her to stay a little longer and play a little more. Spinel at that time couldn't see the annoyed look on her diamond ‘s face. The flash of annoyance was gone as soon as it came, Pink Diamond kneed down to eye level with the pink heart shaped gem and told her that they could play one more game before she had to leave. Pink had told the small naive little gem to stand still and wait. A waiting game.

“Now remember Spinel. Stand very still.” Pink Diamond said booping Spinel on her nose.

“This'll be so much fun.” Chimed the innocent pink gem not knowing the true horrors and psychological damage she would face in her game.

Spinel watched as her beloved diamond walked off not even looking back not even once, it stung a little but the small pink gem brushed it off as her diamond would come back for her and they could play all sorts of games in her new colony. So Spinel waited and waited, night after night all alone in the garden. Spinel normally didn't like being alone but she tried to focus on winning the game her diamond made up. So the small pink gem smiled brightly looking up at the warp,pad.

She wanted to make her diamond proud. Spinel had lately been causing Pink to become upset with her which caused her diamond to have to ‘punish’ her. Like pulling her hair, kicking, slapping, pinching, whipping or beating her. Calling her really mean names. Throwing her against pillars and threatening to shatter her if she didn't behave. Humiliating her in front of other gems and threatening to break up their friendship. Spinel sniffed trying hard not to think about those horrible memories and blinking away tears. She swallowed a painful lump and tried to keep a happy face.

She was just being a naughty gem and it was normal for her diamond to put herein her place when she was acting out. It was because Spinel was being a very bad girl. So she must deserve those things….right?

…..right?

However the game she and Pink were playing began to last a pretty long time and yet Spinel was determined to win no matter how long it took.

Oh if only she knew.

The game was pretty boring Spinel had to admit and the more days passed on Spinel had taken up on star gazing to try and pass the time. It was so beautiful, the night sky full of so many stars, they looked to be smiling down on the small pink gem waiting in the garden. Pink doll like eyes stared up at the glittering stars that shined bright above her. The small heart shaped gem began counting some of them smiling as she did so. Spinel after some time of counting stars signed wondering how long it had truly been . Spinel looked around the garden again. Had the flowers always looked so….sad.

Spinel’s eyes gazed at a couple of golden flowers that looked to be withered, the small gem fought the urge to move and tend to them and felt a small knot form in her stomach.. Something about this game didn't…..didn't feel right. Spinel shook her head trying to bury all those weird feelings she was feeling. Her diamond would eventually come for her. She was playing this game right.

Wasn't she?

Spinel had to be doing this right. Spinel looked away from the warp pad and up at the stars again. She just needed to be patient that's all. So as hours turned to days and days into weeks which turned into months Spinel could see that the garden was changing. Not right away but slowly.

Slow and painful.

It started with a couple of flowers that withered and Spinel tried her best to not pay attention but then more and more flows began dying off and Sponel began to get nervous and the poor pink gem began feeling a pit of helplessness. When her favorite flowers, the beautiful blue forget-me-nots , withered away and died off, it was the very first time in a long time Spunel cried. She wept sorrowful tears of sadness at the uncork ate loss of her favorite flowers.

Little did Spinel know that there would be many incidents that she would shed more painful and bitter tears. Spinel sniffed and found herself unable to rub and wipe them away. She could only allow them to stream down her cheeks and drip down her chin.

Spinel sniffed as a few hiccups came out of her. She loved those flowers and it was a terrible shame to see them leave and wither and die. Spinel hadn't felt this sad since Pink had…...had. Spinel’s face scrunched up in pain and sorrow as she didn't want to think about ‘that’ memory. The thought made Spinel psychically ill. The nasty, dirty feeling. The tainting, the cold,floor. Spinel didn't want to think about it. The thought alone made Spinel begin to cry all over again.

Something about crying and having no one to wipe them up made the poor gem feel even more alone. It was just the unable ability to while her wet eyes made her want to cry even more. She was all alone. Absolutely no one was here and she was thousands of light years from Homeworld. Spinel really wanted to play this game with her diamond but...it was terribly lonely and dreadfully boring. Spinel only hoped that her beloved best friend would return safely. Spinel missed her. Sponel loved her. So the small gem waited.

...And waited

….And waited

….And waited.

Spinel looked around the garden which was terribly unkept and slowly becoming more and more dead. Spinel swallowed a painful lump in her throat, when Pink Diamond returned Spinel could tend to the garden and make it all pretty again. The sweet thought seemed to ease the tiny pink gem.

She just needed to wait a little longer.

Her diamond would come soon and say that she had won the game and Pink Diamond would tell her that she was a good gem, scooping her up into her arms and finally taking her to earth. Spinel smiled wistfully at that thought and stared up at the warp,pad. That's when the small gem noticed that there were more stars out than usual. More stars than she had counted before.

How much time had passed?

Spinel shoved her questions aside and smiled beginning to count the newly found stars she was given. Jerez there were so many stars but luckily Spinel was a good counter and managed to count all of them she could see. It was a good distraction but that's when the garden began to descend down into darkness.

Spinel’s legs hurt from standing so long, she wasn't used to standing this still for long periods of time. She was meant to run, jump and play.

Not this.

This was a game...so it should be fun right?

Spinel looked at the warp pad…..again.

If this was a game, why wasn't she having fun? Or at least she thought she wasn't having fun. Spinel sighed, she just needed to wait was all, maybe she wasn’t seeing the true nature to this game. The small pink gem kept her eyes closed but listened as there came a crumbling sound not too far from her. The noise had snapped her out of herd and the small gem turned to see that one of the pillars had crumbled to the ground from where it had once proudly stood.

Spinel had yelped our in fear when she saw it happen as the loud noise echoed against the glass dome of the garden. Spinel stared at the pillars around her some managed to remain while most were in shambles with vines weaving between their cracks and broken pieces. It was sad but Spinel tried to not think about them, maybe they could get a bismuth gem to fix up. Spinel winced in pain again. Her legs hurt for sure but her feet were absolutely killing her. Spinel glanced down with her eyes and gasped when she saw that vines had entangled her ankles and feet keeping her in place. There were sharp thorn growing on them which would explain the uncomfortable pain she was feeling.

How?....how did these get here?! How long was she standing still for?! Spinel swallowed a painful lump as she looked on at the overgrown and dying garden. What could possibly be taking her diamond so long? The small pink gem looked up at the sky again, there were so many pretty stars out, many, many more. Where did all the time go?

Did time even excise?

Spinel could feel her heart sink a little. The small gem tried to convince herself that it was just a coincidence and her diamond was just running a little late that was all. Pink Diamond would come fro her soon. She was her best friend after all. She cared about Spinel.

….right?

Spinel could feel her stomach twist and turn. What if...what if her diamond wasn’t coming back? Spinel didn’t like that thought and decided to not think about it too much. She was her diamind’s playmate, her best friend. She had to come back….right? Spinel could feel tears bubble up in the corners of her eyes, she began to doubt herself and it didn’t feel good.

‘Why isn’t she back yet?’ ‘Is she still colonizing earth?’ ‘Am I doing this right?’

Spinel’s mind began to spiral.

‘What I’d I’m not doing this right!’

Spinel bit her lip and shuttered. She didn’t like to think that she had been playing wrong the entire time. That made her stomach hurt more and then there came a sharp pang in her chest that made her wince in discomfort.

What was she doing wrong?

Spinel gasped softly a thought came about, was it because she was looking up at the stars? Instead of the warp pad. The small pink gem bit her lip and kept her eyes fixated on the transportation device instead of gazing at the stars. There were so many of them now she didn’t think she could keep count. Besides once Pink returned they could count as many as they liked. So the small gem in the rotting garden waited….and waited.

Spunel’s back and legs were aching so bad right now, she desperately wanted to stretch or take a break from standing. Spinel’s ankles and feet wer3 so sore she didn’t think she could stand any longer. The vines were entangled and wrapped around the young gem’s legs and they felt as if they were beginning to embed themselves into her feet. It hurt….it hurt a lot. Spinel tried to look on the bright side. Her diamond would come for her her diamond would bring her back to earth and-

‘Stop. She isn’t coming for you.’ Spinel gasped she didn’t like that voice, it cold, and unforgiving. The small pink gems sniffed.

‘She doesn’t want to play with you anymore.’ Her mind hissed.

Spinel bit her lip she didn’t want to think about any of that. It hurt to think about the bad thoughts. She didn’t like it. Pink was coming Spinel just had to wait a little longer. Spinel could feel another wave of tears on-flowing in her eyes but tried her best to hold them back. Spinel didn’t want to cry but knew that was easier said than done. Spinel began blinking away tears and swallowed a painful lump in her throat. She didn’t want to hear that scary and cold voice in the back of her head anymore but hadn’t known that it was only the beginning. That voice would continue on talking to her whether she liked it or not.

Spinel just needed to wait.

How long had Pink Diamond leave? Spinel tried to remember, it must’ve been awhile ago bu5 now the garden truly was overgrown and was slowly rotting away. It was horrible to watch as the one place she come to love was being destroyed right in front of her. Spinel wept pitifully as she stared at the garden which lay in ruin. Even the pond was changing; the once clean and clear water was now a nasty green-black looking goo. Spinel hadn’t realized that her own appearance had changed too.

Her hair was messy and tangled, her appearance was dirty and unkept and her gem was dull and had lost its shine it had once had; years of grime had caused it to lose its glorious gleam. It would be alright Spinel tried to reassure herself. Surely her diamond would understand why she looked the way she did and get all cleaned up and have a good laugh. It would be alright.

Right?

Spinel sniffed staring at the warp,pad and then she saw it go off a blue flash cake from the transportation device and Spinel was so close to running off towards it to tell Pink that she was sorry that the garden looked so a mess but….there was nobody there….absolutely no one. Maybe the warp pad was broken? Yes that had to be it. Spinel sighed and continued playing the unfortunate game. To think she was so close to winning that she almost was about to run and lose cause she thought she saw Pink. How silly of her. She decided to brush it off however that’s when she began hearing something...it was a voice. But it wasn’t inside her head this time. It was.,,here...in the garden.

It was her diamond! Pink Diamond. She was here?! Spinel could’ve sworn she heard her diamond giggling. Spinel loved hearing her diamond’s laugh but this time it sounded more…

Malevolent.

Something about it was not right. It was as if her diamond was laughing at her rather than with her. She wasn’t even laughing at her in the good way either. The poor gem had to listen on as her diamond’s voice began to mock her, telling her all sorts of cruel and nasty things. From telling her that she was worthless to she was never intending on coming back for her. It even came down to she never wanted a clingy spinel in the first place let alone a friend like her at all.

“You’re such a stupid naive little gem thinking I woild want a a clingy little toy like you. A pearl is far more superior than you.” Pink Diamond said coldly.

Spinel’s body trembled, her eyes widened in horror. This...this couldn’t be happening. Why?! Why was she saying all of these horrible things?! What had she done to deserve that? Had she truly not played the game right? Was Pink angry that she had lost? Or was it something that she had done that she didn’t know yet.

“Having you as a best friend was the last thing I wanted. You were merely a replacement for my broken pearl. I can’t believe the other diamonds gave me an old and boring toy which became useless to me over time.” Pink’s voice hissed.

Spinel shook violently. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“A gem who was so clingy and needy, so annoying you were practically begging for your shattering. You were just a disgusting little parasite p. Clinging to whatever showed it a small amount of attention and love.” Pink Diamond laughed cruelly.

Spinel whimpered choking back painful sobs that she desperately wanted to release. She didn’t want to hear any of this she didn’t want to hear what else her diamond disliked about her. Spinel shuttered as she heard her diamond speak again.

“I hated everything about you Spinel. I hated the way you walked, the way you spoke in that annoyingly high pitched voice. The way your shoes made that awful squeaky sound. I hated how you were presented to me in such a disgraceful fashion with her stupid baby like appearance and your heart buns and clothes. Everyone looked down on me for having such a childish gem like you. They all treated me like a less than...all because of you.” Pink Diamond hissed bitterly.

Spinel shook tremors racked her frame as her eyes wr blinded and blurred by the tears of sorrow that streamed down her soft cheeks. Spinel shut her eyes, her face contorting in pain as she listened on. Was this true?! Had she really been so terribly to her diamond that she was the rea- Spinel opened her eyes to see that...no one was here….it was just her. The small pink gem had blinked..but she had seen...she had seen Pink Diamond..

Hadn’t she?

Spinel blinked a couple more times and shuttered. Maybe….maybe it was all in her head. Maybe Spinel might have imagined all of that stuff. The pink gem didn’t know what happened, it sounded like Pink but Spinel could never see if it was really her. Whatever it was it was both scary and buzzard. Spinel had no idea what had happened to her. Spinel really wanted to move but couldn’t bring herself to investigate the sounds she heard. It was due to fear of upsetting her diamond and fear of what could be in the garden with her.

Spinel tried to ignore the dark feelings and the prickling paranoia that crept up in the back of her head. The young gem couldn’t wrap her Brian around it that she had heard her diamond but hadn’t seen her go through the warp pad. The pink heart shaped gem sighed, she hoped that her diamond would come back soon, she desperately wanted wanted to play something other than this game and move around again.

Her legs, ankles, feet and back were killing her and Spinel was getting awfully tied. Spinel slowly began thinking that what if her diamond really wasn’t coming for her? This left a painful feeling to rattle in her gem causing Spinel to wince and whimper. Pink wouldn’t forget her. Would she? Spinel bit her lip to the point that she had accidentally made it bleed. That was the odd thing about her, most gems don’t bleed yet..,Spinel did somehow.

How strange. Maybe she could ask Oink about it when she got back? Spinel grimaced at the taste of her own blood. That metallic metal taste was both bitter and gross. Then there was a bright pink flash that grabbed the young gem’s attention. Spinel knew that it was the garden's communicator and turned to face it. Was it Pink? Had she connected to the communicator to tell Spinel that she was coming to get her and to be patient.

That’s when Spinel spotted all three diamonds. All three of them. Yellow, Blue, and oh my stars there was White Diamond. She was also there too. Spinel had only seen White Diamond once it was when she wa gifted to Pink however seeing her left the small gem nervous as an aching feeling resinated inside her gem.

[bee-kathony]

Kneading Love | Ch. 2 “Picnic for two” 

a/n: thank you so much for the lovely comments on the last chapter! I love these two cuties and I’m glad y’all do too! as always, thank you to @julesbeauchamp for the cute wee moodboard. enjoy! 

Chapter One 

He spotted her just as soon as he walked through the door. Claire was talking with his sister Jenny about something he couldn’t hear, but their heads were leaned in close. Both of them turned to look at him, smiles forming on their lips.

“Look who finally showed up,” Jenny smirked. “I would introduce the two of ye, but I take it ye’ve met?”

Jamie gave his sister a look, and then focused his attention on Claire. She looked so bonny, with a few curls pinned back to show off her beautiful smooth skin. He felt himself getting nervous, though he didn’t know why.

“Aye, we’ve met,” Jamie smiled and closed the distance between himself and Claire. “I saw my bike this morning. Thank ye for mending it.”

“Oh, you’re welcome!” Claire smiled. “Jenny was telling me you got a new tire for it which is for the best because I’m not sure how long my patchwork job would hold up.”

Moving around the counter, Jamie looked behind him and motioned for Claire to follow him to the back. Without a word, she took that step that turned her from customer to special guest. Jamie felt his sister’s eyes on the back of his head, but paid her no attention. He didn’t want Jenny’s prying ears listening in any longer.

He led her into the back where the kitchen was. It was filled with pans and bowls from this mornings baking. Seeing the bread come out from the oven, that perfect golden brown always gave Jamie an odd sense of purpose and fulfillment. While it wasn’t something grand or exceptionally meaningful, coming in to bake gave Jamie a sense of peace he hadn’t been able to find elsewhere.

“Sorry tis a bit of a mess,” Jamie shrugged, pushing his hair off his forehead. “I usually clean it when I come back in the afternoon.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Claire said. “I like a bit of mess.”

“I suppose ye would,” Jamie replied and then saw Claire’s odd expression and corrected himself. “Bein’ a gardener I mean! Ye would get yer hands in the dirt and such.”

“Ah, yes,” she smiled. “I find most of my clothes have got dirt on them or seeds in the pockets.”

Now that they were back here, Jamie wasn’t quite sure what to do. They knew very little about each other, seeing as how they only met the previous day.

“Do you have any plans for today, Claire?” Jamie asked.

She had been looking around the kitchen and when he asked her the question, her eyes landed on his once more — nailing him in the heart with their whisky color.

“More of the same as I did yesterday,” she sighed. “Cleaning up the shop, trying to figure out what I still need to get. Tedious really.”

“I ken ye dinna know me,” Jamie said, leaning against a counter with his ankles crossed. “But I suppose I am the only one besides my sister that ye ken in town?” Claire nodded. “Would ye like to come out and have a picnic wi’ me? I could show ye a bit more of the town.”

Before she could answer, Jenny burst into the kitchen.

“Jamie, Mr. O’Greggory is here askin’ for ye! He wants to ken why his delivery had one less loaf in it than usual. I tried to tell him about the oven no’ workin’ properly, but he wouldna listen.”

Jamie cursed Mr. O’Greggory for interrupting, but knew the matter must be settled then and there. He glanced at Claire and sighed.

“This won’t take but a moment.”

He walked back out into the front of the store, seeing the small figure of his bereaved customer. Two sets of footsteps followed behind him.

“Good morning, Mr. O’Greggory,” Jamie said politely. “Before ye chastise me, I hope ye can maybe understand that our oven wasna workin’ as it should these past two days.”

“Aye, I can, but I don’t see what that’s got to do wi’ my loaves!” The man shouted.

Jamie could see Claire out of the side of his eye, standing there beside his sister. He hoped the man wouldn’t make a fool out of him in front of her.

“I bake the loaves in the oven, man,” Jamie shook his head. “Ye’ve paid me for yer order and I dinna intend to steal from ye. The oven is back to normal, so will ye take an extra two loaves tomorrow for all the trouble?”

“And a basket of a selection of our baked goods thrown in for yer troubles,” Jenny chimed in.

“Aye, that too,” Jamie agreed.

The small man on the other side of the counter seemed to be weighing his options, and with a curt nod, that was that.

“I’ll have yer order first thing tomorrow morning,” Jamie said. “I’m sorry about all the trouble.”

“Not a worry, lad,” Mr. O’Greggory tipped his hat at Jamie and then left without another word.

With one problem out of the way, Jamie took a deep breath and then looked back at Claire. He was surprised she had waited and hadn’t just left.

“You handled that very well,” she said.

“Och, he likes to pretend he’s tough, but the truth is he’s afraid I’ll squash him with my fist,” Jamie laughed.

“And would you?” Claire asked.

“Jamie wouldna hurt a fly,” Jenny smirked. “He may look strong and tall enough to bump his head on every door he comes to, but he’s a kind man.”

“Thank ye, Janet for interruptin’ me yet again,” Jamie rolled his eyes and saw Claire smiling. “The answer, Claire is no. But that doesna mean that I don’t want to clap him on the ears every time he comes in here wi’ a complaint!”

Another customer walked in, and Jenny went to help them. Jamie stepped aside and Claire came to stand next to him. He wanted to reach out and take her hand, but he worried it would be too soon. There was something about her, some magnetism that drew him to her.

“Before we were interrupted,” Jamie said. “I asked if ye wanted to go on a picnic wi’ me. Would ye like to do that, Sassenach?”

“Sassenach,” Claire said the unfamiliar word, no doubt recalling the first time he had said it to her. “Well, seeing as I would much rather be out on a picnic than pushing shelves around, yes. I’d love to.”

“Och, I’m glad!” Jamie grinned. “I’ll need a bit of time to prepare some food for us, so why don’t I come by yer wee shop in an hour and we can leave from there?”

“Me and my stomach will be happily waiting,” Claire laughed. “Oh! Could you maybe pack a few of those delicious croissants? I had one yesterday, and I’ve been dreaming about it ever since.”

“Aye, of course, Sassenach,” Jamie smiled.

++++++

Claire was grateful for the distraction in the form of Jamie Fraser. If she was honest with herself, she would have been distracted by him no matter if he had asked her on a picnic or not. Ever since their first meeting yesterday morning, he hadn’t left her thoughts. She had never been in love before, or at least she thought at one point she was, but the man turned out to be a bit of a scoundrel.

There was hardly any time for love during the war. When all she had time to think about was the patient stretched out before her in pain. Claire had spent very little time thinking about herself and so making the move to Scotland was one of the first decisions she made for herself in years.

Jamie said an hour. So this gave Claire an hour to make herself look more presentable. When she reached her shop, she leaned the bike against the wall out back and dashed inside. Her belongings were few, but she wanted to look nice for the afternoon.

She found her favorite blue cotton dress and changed into it. The weather outside was lovely, especially for Scotland, but she grabbed a light sweater just in case. The town excited her, and she would be glad for a chance to see more of it, and for Jamie to be the one to show her it. For someone who had only moved into town two days ago, Claire felt she was doing quite well.

Glancing at her watch, she saw she still had a bit of time before Jamie arrived. With nothing else to do to occupy her mind, she went downstairs into the shop and busied herself with small tasks.

What had to be thirty minutes later, a knock came from the door. Claire looked up to see a tall shadow in the doorway and smiled. Jamie stood on the other side, a large basket hooked on his arm and a small bouquet of flowers in his other hand.

“For ye,” he smiled, handing them to her.

“I’m the gardener, shouldn’t I be giving you flowers?” Claire laughed, but took them happily, leaving the door open for him to follow. “They’re lovely.”

“Och, well I picked them as I walked,” Jamie smiled shyly and set the basket down at his feet. “I thought ye might like to see what the town has to offer in way of greenery.”

“Thank you,” Claire grinned and sniffed the assortment of flowers. “I’ll just put them in a vase and we can go.”

She walked to the back of the shop and grabbed the right size vase before putting a small amount of water in it from the sink. The flowers fit perfectly and as she placed the vase on the counter, they brightened up the room.

“They look good in here,” Jamie smiled. “I expect this place will look beautiful once tis ready.”

“I hope it will,” Claire sighed, her hands resting casually on her hips as she surveyed her shop. It was daunting, to see it bare, but also exciting and she knew she could bring life to it. “Would you like to come out back and see the greenhouse? It was the main reason that I picked this place.”

“Aye,” Jamie smiled and followed her through the back.

It was a decent sized greenhouse, with only two broken window panes that could be easily fixed. Claire assumed that someone had previously had a sort of gardening shop here at one point. When she asked around for a space with a greenhouse, she had never imagined to find one with everything she needed.

“I’ll have every herb you can imagine,” Claire pointed out to Jamie as he walked beside her. “Ones for eating or for medicinal purposes. Then of course, I’ll have all sorts of flowers from roses to hydrangeas. I would love to grow some forget-me-nots as well if I can get a hold of some seeds.”

When Claire looked at Jamie, he was looking at her with a funny expression on his face, and Claire felt self-conscious. She reached up to her face, wiping at her cheeks, wondering if she had something on her face.

“What are you looking at?” She asked.

“Och,” Jamie shook his head, as if he had been in a trance and hadn’t realized it. “I just like hearin’ ye talk about yer wee plants. Tis no’ often ye get to talk wi’ someone wi’ such a passion for things.”

“I could say the same about you and your bakery,” Claire said. “You do love it, don’t you?”

“I do,” Jamie nodded. “I’ve been around it my whole life.”

Claire wondered then what it must feel like to grow up in the same village where one was born. She had only vague memories of her parents — they died when she was only five years old, and for the rest of her life until she was eighteen, she lived with her Uncle Lamb traveling all around the world. Meanwhile, Jamie had been born and raised in the same city, he probably had memories of walking through the village as a boy.

“Do you live near here?” Claire asked.

“Aye, my sister and I live just a short walk from here wi’ our mam,” Jamie said and a sadness came over his face. Claire took a step closer to him, reaching out instinctively and touching his arm.

“My Da passed just a few years ago,” Jamie said, confirming what Claire had wondered previously. “The shop was his, and I took it over after he was gone. I suppose tis why I feel so passionately about it — because he did.”

“I think that’s a wonderful thing to do for your father,” Claire squeezed his arm.

They both stood there quietly for a few moments before Jamie drew in his breath. “Shall we go? I ken I’m famished and I reckon ye are too.”

“Let’s,” Claire grinned.

Claire let him take the lead, as she clearly had no idea where she was going. He offered her his arm which she took and together they started walking down the street. There were a few people out and about, but it was quiet and peaceful.

“Ye said ye moved from London?” Jamie asked.

“Yes, I did. I lived there before the war and then I volunteered as a nurse and spent the next several years in France,” Claire said.

“Och, I went to university in Paris,” Jamie said, shocking Claire.

“Really?” Claire squeezed his arm. “But I thought you said you had always lived here?”

“I was born and raised here, aye, tis true,” Jamie nodded, seemingly pleased to have shocked her. “I studied there for three years, but sadly I didna finish my studies. I received a letter from my mam… about my Da.”

“Oh, Jamie,” Claire gasped softly.

“He had fallen ill, ye ken,” he said sadly as they walked over a small hill. “So, my mam suggested that I come home to say goodbye, only that he hung on for a bit longer than we all expected. And when he passed, there was a lot to figure out wi’ the shop. We would have had to give it up had I no’ taken it over.”

“What were you studying at school then?”

“I wanted to be a teacher,” Jamie smiled wistfully, glancing down at Claire. “Does that surprise ye?”

“Well, I don’t know much about you,” Claire smiled. “I suppose anything would surprise me at this point.”

“I planned on coming back here or maybe going to Edinburgh and teachin’, but I never finished my studies,” he shrugged. “But I suppose it all worked itself out. I love the bakery and my Da loved it as well. I can feel him there sometimes if that doesna sound too silly.”

“Not at all,” Claire felt her throat closing.

“Ah, there it is,” Jamie pointed out in front of him to a wide open grassy area. Claire had been so captivated by Jamie’s story that she hadn’t been paying any attention to her surroundings. They had been walking alongside the road that led out of the village and were now looking out at a great wide open glen with mountains surrounding them.

“Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ!” Claire exclaimed, her hand flying to her chest. “I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in all my life.”

“Neither have I,” Jamie grinned, but he wasn’t looking out at the glen. “Shall we sit?”

“Oh, I should have brought a blanket of some sort,” Claire cursed herself.

“Dinna fash, Sassenach,” Jamie said proudly and reached into the basket he had brought along. “I’ve thought of everythin’.”

He pulled out a deep red tartan plaid and flung it out in front of him, letting the wind unfold it as he placed it down on the grass. They both took a seat, and began to take things out of the basket.

“My goodness,” Claire said with wide eyes. “This basket must weigh a ton! How did you manage carrying it all this way?”

“Kneading dough is good for the muscles,” Jamie smirked and Claire shamelessly let her eyes drift over his body. It was true, he was very fit and this wasn’t the first time Claire had thought so.

“I didna ken exactly what ye might like so I just brought all the fixings for a sandwich. Plus those wee croissants ye like so much,” Jamie smiled.

“It all looks so delicious,” Claire licked her lips and felt her stomach growl at the spread before her. “I do have to thank you, Jamie. For being so kind to me — a stranger.”

“Well, yer no’ a stranger anymore,” Jamie smiled and laid his hand gently over her knee. There was a buzz of electricity in the air as he touched her.

“I’m starving,” Claire blushed and Jamie moved his hand, coughing to clear his throat. They fixed their sandwiches and Claire embarrassingly moaned as she took the first bite — it was heavenly.

“This bread is absolutely delectable,” Claire wiped her lips with the back of her hand. “Compliments to the chef.”

“I will let him know ye are verra pleased,” Jamie laughed. “Ye know, I could teach ye one day to make yer own bread. Tis no’ verra hard once ye learn it.”

“Really?” Claire asked. “But then if I made my own bread, I wouldn’t need to come round to the bakery anymore.”

Claire bit the inside of her cheek, wondering why on earth she had said that out loud. She had known this man for all of two days and here she was, admitting she had only come to his shop to see him.

“Well,” Jamie coughed, the tips of his ears turning a bright pink. “Perhaps I shouldna teach ye then if that’s how it’s goin’ to be.”

Claire took another bite of her sandwich to stop more words coming out of her mouth.

“I said I’d teach ye how to make one type of bread,” Jamie said thoughtfully. “There’s still more things at the bakery ye’d come by for… like these croissants.” He held up one and took a bite out of it.

Claire reached for it, but he pulled it back, laughing. Abandoning her own sandwich, Claire lunged for the croissant again and Jamie moved his hand high into the air.

“Give me it!” Claire laughed and reached up, but lost her balance, tumbling on top of Jamie. She lay there in a fit of giggles on his chest. He brought the croissant in between them, and Claire held Jamie’s gaze as she took a bite out of it.

“Delicious,” she said with a mouthful. One of Jamie’s hands settled on her waist and she has the urge to push the croissant away and kiss him, but she didn’t want to come on too strong.

All of a sudden, Jamie’s face turned red and he was pushing her off him. He crossed his legs awkwardly and then it dawned on her. She had just been lying on top of his body, chewing on one of his own baked goods. Claire didn’t want to assume Jamie had caught feelings for her, but the deep crimson of his cheeks and position of his body just now told her otherwise.

“Sorry,” Jamie coughed.

“Don’t apologize,” Claire smiled softly and tried not to laugh. There was a reason why this blue dress was her favorite. “I think I’ll take you up on that offer. For you to show me how to make my own bread.”

“Really?” Jamie grinned, his body already relaxing. “That’ll be great! And then maybe ye’ll let me come and help ye wi’ yer shop. Surely ye canna fix it up all on yer own?”

“Actually,” Claire mused. “I would be grateful for your help with the heavier things. And I have a bit of painting that I would like to do on the outside of the building.”

“I’ll help wi’ anythin’ ye need, Sassenach,” Jamie grinned. “Anything at all.”

Claire put her remnants of her sandwich back in the basket and then lay down on the plaid. “Do you mind if we stay out here a while longer? It’s such a lovely day.”

“I dinna mind,” Jamie said, laying down next to her.

A light breeze drifted past them, and Claire let her eyes shut as she took a deep breath of fresh air. She was all too aware of Jamie’s presence next to her — his body radiating heat in every direction. With her eyes still closed, she felt his hand move next to hers and then his pinky finger nudged hers.

With a burst of joy, Claire moved her own little finger and wrapped it around his, feeling hopeful for the first time in many years.

[babywarg]

Ironstrange Bingo Entry 16: Memory

Title: Hold Back the Night

Summary: Tony wakes up from a dream of a future that never happened. The very first thing he’s compelled to do is to arrange a romantic date with a man he’s never met. 

Notes: Tumblr folk: this is NOT related to the excerpt I posted last weekend. This is a completely new monster and it ate my brain because of the shameless flood of sentimental music I suffered while out of town.

Also inspired by this post by @silent-night-for-me​. I couldn’t make a fic that followed it exactly, I’m sorry T_T I would love to read a fic that does right by the post, though, because it comes with a lovely premise!

Set shortly before the events of Infinity War, and uses IW quotes liberally, but pretends Pepper and Tony never got together and aren’t going to get married soon. I’m sorry. I AM a Pepperony fan, for the record!! I just feel like I have to warn people of that before they proceed to the fic.

Also, this fic WILL rag on the one tiny part of Ed Sheeran’s “Perfect” that bugs me XD Sorry again. For being petty, this time.

The restaurant I had in mind was Eleven Madison Park, but feel free to imagine your own fancypants location.

A few extremely sappy songs to listen to while reading:

Coles Corner - Richard Hawley (seriously, this was the one song I had playing in my head while thinking of Tony in a fancy suit with a huge bouquet of flowers in his arms. The fic's title also came from its lyrics.)

 On the Street Where You Live - Dean Martin

 Perfect - Ed Sheeran (violin cover by Andre Soueid)

For the @ironstrangebingo​ entry "Memory."

***

Tony Stark woke up, thoroughly exhausted, from a very long dream.

The dream was fast fleeing his consciousness, until there were only three things left in his brain.

He repeated them over and over, to keep them in his head longer:

1) Flowers.

He knew nothing about them.

Except that he had to get some.

He’d always trusted his stylists to pick out flowers for him, if they were absolutely necessary. Attending a wedding? A funeral? Sending “get well soon” flowers to random hospitalized people? They’d know best.

But there was one thing he knew about the bouquet he had to get...

It had to have forget-me-nots.

Blue ones.

Non-negotiable.

He called his stylists with this information, and trusted they would put together the perfect bouquet in time for 7 PM that evening.

2) Reservations at a posh restaurant.

He had to swallow his pride and ask Pepper for help with this one.

He really didn’t want to bother Pepper with this. But Tony was a Burger King kind of guy. He had never needed to personally set up a romantic rendezvous before, much less needed to impress anyone he wanted to go with.

Meanwhile, Pepper had a hook on each of the best places, as she handled his social calendar. All he had to do was ask her where to go, if he wanted to take someone out to somewhere nice.

First, she had to blink, and ask, “As in, a date?”

He said Yeah a date, and after a befuddled pause, she said Okay...

Then, she said the name of a restaurant. It was going to be hell and a half to make a dinner reservation there on short notice, she said, but Make it happen, he said to her.

Finally, she sighed a long-suffering sigh and made it happen.

3) 177A Bleecker Street, Greenwich Village.

This, he had to say over and over to himself. This was the weirdest, most specific thing in his head, and he wasn’t about to let go of it.

In spite of having been New York born and bred, he had not been to that part of town ever, and he wasn’t sure what to expect.

But he was ready for the novel and weird. He was certain of that, at least.

***

At exactly 7 PM that day, Tony found himself standing in front of a perfectly ordinary brownstone on a perfectly ordinary street.

Finely dressed, bouquet of flowers in one arm, unusually nervous, he stood poised to ring the doorbell.

The plaque below the doorbell said “177A Bleecker St.” He wasn’t sure why the sight of the perfectly normal plaque disappointed him.

He had expected it to be...more magical, maybe.

But then, he wasn’t here for the building; he was here for the person who lived inside it.

And as for that, a part of him was already prepared for their first meeting.

It burst into a mess of colors inside his chest as soon as the door opened.

Blue eyes with flecks of brilliant green froze him where he stood.

Gorgeous. Jesus God.

He felt like his heart, freshly recovering from an operation to make it independent of an inorganic power source, was trying to fly out, and he had to physically restrain himself from dropping the flowers in his arms and enveloping the taller man in a crushing hug.

“Tony Stark,” the silken voice very reluctantly greeted. “I think you must have the wrong house.”

“I disagree,” Tony confidently answered. “Strange, right? Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange. I need you to come with me.”

[Read the rest on AO3]

[chrysalispen]

Prompt #27 - Palaver

aight y’all i got asked for nero/wol wedding fic and since it fit today’s prompt, here’s the whole thing

ask and ye shall receive, etc etc

=========

“I can’t believe you’re actually letting me go through with this,” Nero said yet again, resuming his agitated back-and-forth pace about the cathedral vestibule. He’d worried his cufflinks undone for the third time in the last half-bell, and he still hadn’t managed to get his cravat fastened. “You’re supposed to save me from my matrimonial fate, and here you are consigning me to it instead.”

“You did this to yourself. Hold still.” It took him a few tries but Cid was finally able to intercept the other man’s circuit over the ancient stones of the church long enough to grasp him by his wrists. “And stop fidgeting with your cuffs, this is the last time I’m fixing them for you.”

“This is all your fault, you know.”

“…How is this my fault?”

“Well, I don’t bloody know, but clearly it’s your fault, Garlond. Otherwise that makes it my fault, and I don’t like that.”

Cid almost laughed, but the wild shine in those eyes told him that would be extremely unwise. He hadn’t seen the other engineer this anxious since he was a young boy; Nero was such a tightly controlled man under most circumstances that it could be difficult to tell what was actually running through his mind, but in this instant the stress had worn down his emotional defenses, and the poor man was perilously close to panic.

So, he decided to pick a fight with him.

“You gave her a ring, bent the knee, the whole nine yalms. What did you expect her to do, turn you down?”

“Yes! No. I… don’t know.” His fingers twitched, obviously wanting to go right back into his hair or to his cuffs, but Cid slapped them away and kept working at the fabric. “The Warrior of Light has any number of admirers and assorted hangers-on, you know that.”

“So she does. And you’ll notice she isn’t marrying any of them.”

“And if something goes wrong? If she decides this isn’t really what she wants?” At his exasperated sigh, Nero snapped, “It could happen and you know it.”

“What could happen?”

“She could simply leave me at the altar, for one.” Cid did laugh, then. Nero shot him a withering glare the likes of which he hadn’t seen since their Academy years, and he noted with satisfaction that the other man had mostly stopped fidgeting with his cufflinks.

“Tell me you aren’t actually being serious, Nero. This woman has seen you at your absolute sodding worst. You were her enemy once. You tried to kill us-”

“Point of order, I was not trying to kill her. Or you.” A pause, then the ghost of a smirk. “Perhaps I might have liked to singe your short hairs a bit. The notion of hauling your arrogant carcass about the castrum in one of those claws like a scruffed kitten was half the appeal of deploying them in the first place.”

Cid rolled his eyes.

“Thank you for making my point for me. As you’ve so helpfully demonstrated, Aurelia knows what a pillock you are. She’s seen it for herself.”

“I am not a pillock.”

“Yes, you are, Nero. And she knows it and she still said yes. That has to be worth something.”

“…I suppose,” the engineer groused.

“She’s not going to leave you standing in the vestibule,” Cid grunted, pulling the silk tie around the taller man’s neck as taut as he could manage without choking him, then arranging the knot. “She’s just running a bit late, that’s all. It happens- don’t you dare touch those cuffs.”

Nero scowled, but his hands dropped back down to his sides.

After a few moments spent in silence as Cid examined his work on the cravat with a critical eye, he finally said: “I’m happy for you. You know that, right?”

“Don’t get sentimental. I’m barely keeping my breakfast down as it is.”

“Shut up, you great lout, I’m talking.” He busied himself pinning the Nymeia lily back in its place on Nero’s lapel; it had fallen askew with all the pacing. “We’ve known each other since we were boys and in all this time, I never thought you’d take interest in anything that wasn’t related to magitek. But you weren’t happy in the Empire any more than I was, and lest you think otherwise I know full well that was why you didn’t warn anyone I’d planned to defect. I never understood why you stayed.”

“You know very well why I stayed.”

“Aye, I do now, for all the good it ever did you. You’re happier as a defector than you ever were as a tribunus. Not the least of those reasons being you finally found someone willing to put up with you, and out of all of the women in Eorzea – hells, Hydaelyn – of course it had to be the Warrior of Light. I’ll give you this, you never did do anything by half-measures.”

Nero hesitated, then offered him a rueful, lopsided smile.

“On that much, I suppose we are in agreement.”

Cid reared backwards, clutching his chest in mock surprise. “Hells below, did we actually reach consensus on something? Does this mean marriage might actually turn you agreeable for the nonce?”

“Agreeable? You think a walk down the aisle with the woman I love means I shall march in lockstep with you, Garlond? And risk destroying the fundamental underpinnings of our relationship? Perish the thought.”

Nero’s smile had stretched into that toothy, idiotic grin he normally hated, the one the man used when he was getting ready to tease. But this once, just this once, Cid Garlond grinned back at the cocksure git that passed for his best friend in the world.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Oh, she’s here!” someone gasped out in the foyer. “And the Count’s with her! Places!”

There was the sound of hurried whispers and the patter of feet, and the rustling sound of silk, followed by the deep creak of the doors opening on their ancient hinges.

“I’m going to be ill,” Nero muttered, and further inspection revealed that he was shaking from head to toe. Somehow, Cid marveled, he was actually vibrating in place, as though he were an idling combustion engine.

With a short laugh, he took the man by the elbow and held him fast–both to keep him from making good on his threat, and from bolting for the door like a spooked animal. 

“Just mind you don’t ruin your bride’s dress if you are,” he said, “because she’s coming into the foyer as we speak.”

Cid just so happened to be looking right at his friend’s face as aforementioned bride entered the cathedral with Edmont de Fortemps as her escort. He was glad in retrospect that he did, for he was rewarded with the quite remarkable view of watching a man fall in love all over again, in real time.

It was in his eyes, he thought. Despite being rather passionate by nature, Nero was not outwardly expressive when he did not care to be - lessons, Cid assumed, he’d learned during his wheat-counting days. But those frosty eyes had turned bright and soft and warm, like the spring sky at midday. He had stopped shaking, and the tension in his slender frame had all but disappeared.

All he appeared to see in that moment was the Warrior of Light–who was herself, admittedly, quite a vision. Jandelaine had overseen her preparations personally, being a good friend of hers, and the eccentric aesthetician had outdone himself this time in every sense of the word. He had arranged her hair in a long spill of golden curls over one shoulder, interwoven with orange blossoms and forget-me-nots secured into myriad small braids throughout her coiffure. Combined with the lavish, lace-trimmed dress she wore, it was a sight to knock the breath from the lungs.

The old Count was murmuring something to her, something that made her smile, laugh softly, and kiss him on the cheek with the sort of familiar fondness reserved for parental figures–that was right, he remembered; in the eyes of Ishgardian law she was technically a Fortemps, though he was fair certain that the man’s fatherly affection for her was in no wise any sort of mummery.

Edmont dropped his arm from hers and stepped back, leaning on his walking stick. She approached the two men on slightly slowed, hesitant footsteps. Her eyes were fixed on Nero, and they were very blue and very wide.

After a moment, she smiled her usual smile- albeit with perhaps a touch of shyness- and Cid heard an exhalation at his side.

“See?” he said. He released his death grip on Nero’s arm. “You’ll be fine. Now go see to her. If you need me then give a shout, but I don’t think you will.”

Almost instantly, it seemed, it was just the two of them, the sound of retreating footsteps, and a closing door. Music played from the hall beyond, muffled and ponderous, and they regarded each other in a sort of awed and awkward silence.

Then Aurelia grinned from ear to ear and started to snicker in a decidedly unladylike fashion.

“Gods,” she blurted. “I feel ridiculous. Look at me. I look like a window advertisement for lampshades sold to bored Ul'dahn housewives.”

“You didn’t have to say yes when I asked, you know.”

“Of course I did. I couldn’t very well turn you down after you were half-dead from panic just trying to ask at all. As it was, you almost immediately started trying to talk me out of it.”

Nero glared at her. “I was nowhere near that bad.”

“Oh yes you were. You were being very reasonable about it all, too, coming up with a half dozen perfectly good reasons why I’d be stark raving mad to even consider accepting your proposal.” The edges of her smile softened. “But anyroad, we’re here now.”

“So we are,” he said.

There wasn’t much left to say that hadn’t already been said, and Nero wasn’t entirely sure he could find the words to say even if that weren’t the case. He could feel the anxiety creeping up on him again by ilms, running its invisible fingers up his spine. 

She must have noticed; he saw her expression darken a bit with her concern.

“Are you all right? You don’t look well.”

He began to say of course I’ll be all right, let’s just get on with it, but what came out instead was:

“Seven hells, all this godsdamned palaver for two rings and five minutes of vows. Are you quite sure you’d not rather elope?”

“Right,” Aurelia snorted. “We can run away to Dravania and get married by the moogles. Though I’m not sure ‘now you may kiss the bride, kupo!’ is terribly binding in the eyes of the law.”

“And I don’t know that goblins actually have marriage traditions of any sort, so I suppose that settles it. Bugger.” He ran a thoughtful hand over his currently clean-shaven jaw.

“I suppose we’d best–oh, Nero, wait!” She reached into his pockets, heedless of his sudden flush. “Your gloves.”

“…I’d hoped you might forget about those.”

“No, you have to wear them, at least for the first bit. Here, hold out your hands, I’ll put them on.”

Biting back a sigh, he obediently held out his left hand.

She bent over his forearm, one of her slim healer’s hands bracing his wrist delicately in one hand as she slid the kidskin over his fingers, smoothing it out with the deft and gentle touch of a woman well accustomed to such trivial luxuries, and it struck the engineer then just how strangely intimate the act was. Such a simple thing, the act of putting a glove on his bare hand, but something he knew no one else would have done in quite the same way.

Once she’d fastened the little pearl-button closure to fit the glove properly, Aurelia lifted his hand, and placed a small kiss to the smooth skin of his inner wrist, where the base of his palm met leather. Intimate, indeed. He swallowed, hearing the sound of it click in his ears.

“Hand me the other one?” he asked.

She did. Hastily he slipped the remaining glove onto his other hand, hoping she wouldn’t notice how much she’d flustered him.

“You know,” she murmured, her grin edging into something almost wicked, “that kiss would have had the ton all aflutter and speculating, back home.”

“Would it?”

“Mm. Absolutely scandalous in polite society, as it happens.”

“Us? Polite society? And here I thought we were just a couple of especially dodgy imperial defectors borrowing Saint Reymanaud’s on a lark.”

Aurelia’s soft laugh echoed against the stones beneath their feet. 

“I think that Halone, on the wild off chance she might actually exist beyond the fond hopes of the masses, would be willing to forgive a couple of godless heretics just this once given their history of service to Ishgard,” she said. “So, Scaeva- are you ready for us to go make an utter spectacle of ourselves in front of the assembled leadership of an entire continent?”

Beneath the finery and the fuss and bother of the event, he could still catch that lavender scent about her, and her smile was the same smile it had always been–the smile he especially loved to see when he knew it was meant just for him. Bit by bit the not-so-secret fears he’d harbored that she might renounce him publicly at the altar, or simply not show at all, dwindled to nothing.

For all his outward self-assurance, Nero knew he wasn’t really worthy of her: not just as the Warrior of Light, but as the very mortal woman she was. He was painfully aware of that fact, had always been aware of it. But that said, neither was anyone else he could have named. As Garlond had said, she had her choice and she’d chosen him, and that had to count for something.

Besides which, he loved her. And maybe that was a place to start.

With that thought squarely in mind, he held out his hand, and let her clasp it in her smaller one.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he said aloud. “Shall we?”

She nodded, still smiling.

“On my count,” she said. “One, two-”

And beneath the Fury’s watchful gaze, Nero Scaeva and Aurelia Laskaris stepped across the threshold together, hand in trembling hand.

[freshly-picked-pineapples]

Fic list

 Looks like I’ve written quite a lot of stuff. Here is a list. I’ll most likely add to the list as I write along. Pairings below the gen list.

Tokyo ghoul

Gen:

Halcyon[Angst]: Urie and Saiko deal with Shirazu’s death.

A song of Haise and fire (AU//crack) : ASOIAF-AU one-shot.

Trash Prince (AU, Tsukiyama and Touka) : In which Tsukiyama writes a letter (drabble).

Garden [Eto, Kaneki// Angst]:  Out of all the flowers in her garden, the spiderlily is her favourite (drabble).

Pocket full of sunshine[Angsty-ish]: Kaneki’s gains his first friend when Nagachika Hideyoshi declares himself his best friend for their entire class to hear.

Requiem: Instead of a person who hurts others, become a person who gets hurt [Kaneki-centric. CW: child abuse , suicide, character death].

Masterpiece (Eto, Kanae) : Eto loves her needlework.[Angst// Torture]

Puriemotion: Urie doesn't think he has a problem, but he does. [Urie centric]

Echo [ Amon /Akira ] :  They dance back and forth across the sea of dead bodies, and she can’t help but think that there is something oddly familiar about his movements .[Angst] 

Scattered [Sasaki-centric] : “Shhhh,” the white haired child tells him, finger pressed against the lips. Don't tell. [Angst]

Martyr [Haise, Hinami]: He would save Hinami, no matter what.

Trash Prince [Touka/Tsukiyama, AU, crack] : Tsukiyama writes a letter. 

The many types of Shuus [Tsukiyama] : Once, Shuu got a shoe for his birthday.

This trash can [Tsukiyama]: Tsukiyama embarks on a journey to prove himself as the newest mop-boy of :re.

Salad King [Tsukiyama]: Tsukiyama has a plan to make :re great again.

Food for thought [Tsukiyama]: In which Tsukiyama flirts for all the wrong reasons.

Upside-down [Akira]: Akira isn’t sure who she is supposed to hate anymore.

Turning tides [Saiko// spoilers till :re 134]:  It just isn’t right. Saiko doesn’t understand how none of them can see it.

Ayahina

Parental Guidance: In which Ayato thinks he is an adult and Hinami is a good little girl.

Sayoshigure [Ayahina// Angst, character death and gore] (A collection of Ayahina one-shots)

Part i : I won’t be able to ask Nii-chan the meaning of the characters, she thinks dully,I’ll have to get a dictionary (In which Hinami joins Aogiri).

Part ii :  “What, we are recruiting preschoolers now?” he sneers. The girl looks like she is ten, standing in the courtyard with her arms around herself.

Part iii : They take her away, and he is powerless to stop it (post nutcracker arc)

Part iv:  People change- they move on and evolve, people forget, people become quinques- these were just facts of life you couldn’t argue with.

Part v: In the bellies of her underground prison, Hinami waits.

Touken

i. Canon complient:

(All stories are one-shots unless otherwise indicated.)

I knew you once : The rabbit stands before him, arms supporting an unconscious girl. [Angst]

Forget me not : How ironic was it that out of all the flowers in the world, he would bring her forget-me-nots?

Playdate : In which Haise asks Touka out, sort of. 

For better or worse [Cannon divergence from :re 42] :  It’s better to stay away, she tells herself, you’re not part of his life anymore[Angst//Dark] .

All part of the job :  “We’re not stalking her,” Haise tells Urie much more sharply than he intended, “That man she’s with looks suspicious.”

11 facts about Kirishima Touka [Angst, Character death// canon divergence]  they were doomed to live Shakespearean tragedy should they fall in love. (This contains two drabbles- unintentional and showdown. I compiled them after I’d written them because of a prompt)

Weltschmerz [Post-canon, slight Etoken// Some Angst] :  She refused to think of the smokey-grey eyes or the face that seemed so familiar and out of place at the same time [Spoilers till :re 66]

Wind[spoilers till :re 69//some angst] :  The blood pooling through their fingers looks black in the dark, and he can hear the drip, drip, drip of it onto the cement floor.

All the stars in the sky [Spoilers till :re 126// Character Death]: Sometimes, Kaneki wants so badly to have a chance to fight with Touka over something as silly as the TV.

Fragments [Spoilers till :re143// Character Death/Angst]:  A dream is the only hope she has. After all, you always wake up from dreams, don’t you?

ii. Alternate Universe

(All of the AUs are one-shots unless otherwise indicated.)

Parallel [AU, Canon Divergence] : Kaneki wasn’t taken in by Anteiku. [AU] where Kaneki makes a name for himself by hunting ghouls for a living. [Angst]

Centipede :  [Re-telling of the frog prince] In which Kaneki is a centipede and Touka finds him in the garden[AU].

Castles in the air :  Sometimes, dreams are meant to be just that; dreams. [AU where Touka and Kaneki meet as children, and Touka joins Aogiri] [Angst/Character Death]

Sugar, Spice and Everything nice [Post canon, Au-ish]:  Haise is weird but then again, what else is new?

Newton’s first law [AU, slight Akiramon]: All Haise needs is a huge shove and a lot of meddling for his love life to work out.

Let go [Human AU]: In which Touka goes to the local police station (and she most definitely is NOT a pedophile).

The Prize:  In which Touka rescues Kaneki from a tower guarded by a smelly dragon [Retelling of sleeping beauty].

Pie Day:  Because turning up at your neighbour’s apartment with pie at two a.m is a perfectly reasonable thing to do [Touken/ AU].

Oblivion [AU]: Do you remember the day I found out you were dying?[9000 words, some angst, character death]

iii. Drabbles: [AU drabbles are indicated]

Fellowship of the doves : Sometimes, Haise loves his job.

Birthday cake : Sasaki’s birthday (drabble, post-canon)

Warning signs : There is something familiar about the waitress at :re.

Date and dates  : The Quinx stalk Touka and Haise.

Of diaries stolen : Finders keepers, right?

Miss : She misses him.

Unintentional [Angst] : I never meant to fall in love with you.

Apparition [Angst] : “You’re not real,” he tells her, shaking his head.“Oh, but I am.”

Showdown [Angst] : “What are you waiting for?” she asks the man who does not know her. 

Proposals [Post-canon]: It takes Haise three months, two weeks and four days to pop the question.

Bubble bath : It is hard to mourn without any closure. [AU, warning: gore, character death]

Thankyou [AU, character death] : She is dying in his arms and he is helpless to stop it.

Familiar faces [Drabble, AU] In which the roles are reversed and Touka is the dove.

Poison [Spoilers for :re, Renji-centric]: History has a way of repeating itself, and love is a poison for which there is no cure.

Ghost [Spoilers till :re 132, Renji-centric]:  Renji does not approve.

Dear you [Spoilers for :re 150 ish//Implied Character Absence] : Ken writes a letter to his unborn child.

Ordinary [Post canon] :  He likes how normal their life has become, how ordinary.

Bad hair day [Spoilers for :re162 but not really] : “I can cut your hair,” she’d said, “It’ll be fine.”

iv. Series/ Semi-related one-shots: Post-canon.

Of running and other things: In which Touka is unhappy about Root A and Sasaki does what he does best.

Puddles of faith:  Who did she think he was? A child? He’d have her know that he’d taken care of four adolescents just a few years back. (In which Haise baby sits)

Uncle Ayato: Ayato is a champ.

The octopus and the fairy  : Touka’s daughter has questions.

The octopus and the fairy ii

The babysitter’s club : In which Haise babysits.

[fromchaos]

50 ~little sarchengsey things~

1. who is the early bird/ who is the night owl?

well,,, they are all modern day teens, so not a single one is actually an early bird. normal bedtime for blue and henry is 1-2am, and gansey joins them when he thinks he can sleep. henry is best at mornings tho.

2. who is the big spoon/ who is the little spoon?

i’ve said it before and i will say it again: blue is the supreme big spoon. she hates being in the middle. if gansey’s insomnia is flaring up, henry goes in the middle. if henry’s claustrophobia is worse that night, gansey goes in the middle.

3. who hogs the cover/ who loves to cuddle?

they all love to cuddle when they’re awake/falling asleep, but they are all rude and grabby when they’re unconscious. the first few weeks they share a bed, blue regularly wakes up on the floor having pulled the covers so hard she launched herself off the side.

4. who wakes the other one up with kisses?

blue or henry depending on who wakes up first. blue cares more about morning breath, so she does it less often than henry. gansey has either been up all night and is too exhausted to be super affectionate or he’s too in his head when he wakes up naturally and sort of forgets the others are there. however, he very much likes morning kisses from his bf and gf U u U

5. who usually has nightmares?

HOO BOY. MORE LIKE WHO DOESN”T, AM I RIGHT LADIES?

6. who would have really deep emotional thoughts at the middle of the night/ who would have them in the middle of the day? 

even tho gansey has terrible insomnia, i feel like he usually distracts himself and tries to stuff down the deep thoughts in the middle of the night, though he will engage in deep discussions with blue at 3am bc she likes it. henry’s late night thoughts are just faux-deep shitposts. then the next day they’re looking at the world’s biggest rubber band ball and gansey and henry are having existential crises. 

7. who sweats the small stuff?

ganseyyyboyyy does (but i think he’s also weirdly more zen after his 2nd death). he’s haywire in everyday life and deathly calm in a calamity. blue will get stressed if there’s A LOT of small stuff all building up at the same time, but is normally chill. henry can seem like a bit of a mess under pressure but actually things work out weirdly well for him most of the time. (think dirk gently lmfao)

8. who sleeps in their underwear (or naked)/ who sleeps in their pajamas?

i don’t think any of them have proper pajamas? comfy t-shirts and underwear all around. especially henry and blue stealing gansey’s t-shirts and underwear to sleep in.

9. who makes the coffee (or tea)?

gansey and henry each brought their own french press on the roadtrip lmfao. gansey usually winds up making it tho because one time henry was dared to mix a monster energy drink and black coffee and chug it by lee^2 and it killed his taste buds and his caffeine tolerance so he makes his way too strong now. blue starts the roadtrip hating coffee but by the end she’s a caffeine demon living off of gas station sludge.

10. who likes sweet/ who likes sour?

blue likes the two together (idk i find yogurt a bit of both so). gansey doesn’t really have a taste for either; he likes blander savory foods. henry likes sweet things, but more rich-sweet than sugar-sweet.

11. who likes horror movies/ who likes romance movies?

i can’t imagine any of them being super into horror??? if they watch a horror movie it’s just to rip apart the lore for inaccuracy. gansey and henry like romcoms and have to bribe blue to watch them with them. gansey’s faves are love actually and notting hill, and henry’s are you’ve got mail and he’s just not that into you.

12. who is smol/ who is tol?

blue < gansey < henry

that’s pretty much canon, but body type-wise i think blue is chubby all-over, gansey is pretty solidly built w/ broad shoulders, and henry is skinny but with a small beer belly lmao.

13. who is considered the scaredy cat?

tbh i don’t think any of them really fit that role? and when they do it’s because they’re traumatized??? i just can’t see them teasing each other for being afraid because they all know TRUE BONE-DEEP HORROR.

14. who kills the spiders?

blue carries the spiders outside. henry screams and gets up on the couch. gansey either doesn’t notice or just freezes in fear.

15. who is scared of the dark?

none of them usually? but certain scenarios can give any of them flashbacks, so i’d say more wary than scared?

16. who is scared of thunderstorms?

i could see henry being a little afraid of thunderstorms? and gansey is autistic, so he HATES thunder but isn’t exactly scared of it.

17. who works/ who stays at home?

they all work, but i’m not sure any of them have traditional 9 to 5 jobs? when they have kids, they probably spend equal amounts of time at home taking care of them. blue travels less at that point, but is sometimes gone for longer periods of time that she makes up for with long periods of time spent at home.

18. who is a cat person/ who is a dog person?

they are all cat people. blue loves all animals, but if she were to get her own pets, they would be cats. i’ve written about it before, but they have so many cats. they adopt like 5 and feed all the neighborhood strays and let them roam in and out of their home.

19. who loves to call the other one cute names?

oh wow NO IDEA who could that possibly be???

20. who is dominant/ who is submissive?

literally the only person gansey could dom is ronan r u kidding me?? that boy is subbier than a 5 dollar foot long. (then blue and henry are about equally weighted toward dom, like 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10)

21. who has an obsession (over anything)?

obsession is literally what brings them together. they recognize that intense passion that drives all of them in each other. none of them could be with someone who wasn’t completely obsessed with something because it shows a lack of that passion. also, they’re totally obsessed with each other.

22. who goes all out for valentine’s day?

is it weird that i think it’s blue? she goes on some tirade about the commercialization of valentine’s day, how it’s a bullshit hallmark holiday, how it makes single people feel less than, blah blah blah, so henry and gansey figure they should keep it lowkey and just have a normal date or something. BUT the day-of blue has made them both extravagant cards and thoughtful homemade gits. because authentic love is best honored with DIY. (blue contains multitudes, y’all.)

23. who asks who out on the first date?

this is hard?? what’s a year-long roadtrip other than one humongous first date to woo your third partner? but real talk, post-trk, gansey realizes he and blue have never had an official date but also the only place in henrietta is nino’s and u can’t go on a date to a place u work, so they just go out for drives like they did before. and drives turn into daytrips. and datetrips turn into “oh henry you have to come with, you’d just love this place!” and suddenly polyamory happens.

24. who is the talker/ who is the listener? 

this like,,, isn’t really how relationships work lmfao. gansey is the most genuinely extroverted (henry can be super extroverted obviously, but that’s 50% for show), but unless the topic of discussion is one of his special interests, he’s more of an active listener than a talker. but a conversation with these 3 is basically all of them taking turns ranting because they are all very opinionated and have a lot to say.

25. who wears the other ones clothes?

blue will steal ur clothes and transform them so completely u hardly notice. both her and henry like wearing gansey’s shirts as pajamas, but they are all such different sizes and have such different styles that actual borrowing isn’t all that common. (tho blue does make clothes for henry pretty often)

26. who likes to eat healthy/ who loves junk food?

i don’t think any of them are super obsessed or even like,,, concerned with eating healthy, and they all have a good appetite for junk. henry probably has the most balanced diet tho because mrs. woo made all the litchfield boys eat dinner together on weeknights. (think traditional korean cuisine meets deep south comfort food, both of which love their side dishes) meanwhile, blue’s idea of a balanced meal is the signature dish of each 300 fox way lady and a yogurt. and gansey is an autistic boy who has been feeding himself for a few years, so he eats the same 3 things in various combinations.

27. who takes a long shower/ who sings in the shower?

blue is used to taking super fast showers with orla banging on the bathroom door, and gansey is perfectly perfunctory when it comes to hygiene, so henry. he makes 45 minute pop-filled playlists for his showers.

28. who is the book worm?

gansey. the others love reading and learning for sure, but gansey is the one with the overflowing bookshelves, half full of books he hasn’t read yet. and blue and henry like listening to him rambling about his recent reads like a human audio book because he’s a pretty good storyteller.

29. who is the better cook?

henry is the best cook, and he makes most of their meals once they’re settled down and living together. litchfield definitely had a chore wheel and all the boys took turns helping mrs. woo cook. gansey is used to eating takeout all the time, and blue only eats yogurt.

30. who likes long walks on the beach?

blue!!! she sees the ocean for the first time on the road trip and loooooves it. she’ll let the boys bury her in the sand without fuss because it’s like a lil warm cocoon. she doesn’t go too deep in the water, but she likes standing where the waves break and looking for signs of life underneath the sand. henry and gansey grew up taking vacations to tropical beaches on the reg, so it’s nothing novel or special for them, but they love seeing it through blue’s eyes!!!

31. who is more affectionate?

well i think it depends on the type of affection?? (warning: this is really fucking gay) henry is the most verbally affectionate with all the nicknames and the affirmations and the enthusiasm. sometimes he’s more reserved with deeper emotional statements, but he’s never cold or distant. blue is the most physically affectionate, wanting to be constantly touching and feeling her boys beside her. she always has an arm around someone’s waist or a hand on someone’s knee to ground them and herself. and with gansey it’s all in the eyes and the gestures. he’ll look at them like they’re magic and then suggest the perfect thing they need right at that moment. 

32. who likes to have really long (deep) conversation?

blue and gansey have really long deep conversations together where they dance around and circumnavigate the issues. henry cuts straight to the point in deep conversations because he’s been thinking about the thing for ages and just wants to get to the point and know their answers already.

33. who would wear “not guilty” t-shirt/ who would wear “sin” t-shirt?

oh jeez. either blue and gansey wear “not guilty” and henry wears “sin” or gansey and henry just dress normally while blue wears the “sin” t-shirt while trying to look her most badass?

34. who would wear “if lost return to…” t-shirt/ who would wear “i am…” t-shirt?

the boys definitely wear “if lost return to blue sargent.” someone has to be the sensible one.

35. who goes overboard on the holidays?

they probably all do in their own special ways. blue spends all of december making gifts for her loved ones that are filled with love and couldn’t come from anyone else. gansey gets people the one big perfect present he definitely spent way too much money on. henry overwhelms them with multiple small presents, each inspired by an inside joke they share or an offhand comment the person made and winds up spending as much as gansey.

36. who is the social media addict?

idk if he’s a social media ADDICT, but henry uses social media the most. blue grew up without a home computer or a smart phone, and gansey uses both for only 3 things: schoolwork, research, and GPS. so henry is really the only one that uses social media a Normal Teenager Amount. and he loves memes.

37. height difference or age difference?

height difference. i’d say gansey has 6 inches on blue and henry has 6 inches on him, so sometimes when they stand or walk together they look like cellular bars.

38. who likes to star gaze?

all of them. stargazing is one of their go-to date activities, especially for blue and gansey since it reminds them of their early days. they both have special individual things they do with henry too, of course.

39. who buys cereal for the prize inside?

either blue or henry depending on the prize. blue never got prizes as a kid bc they only bought generic cereal in the big plastic bags, and now she is living The High Life (more like the small luxury millennial life). henry is probably the one that first points out the cereals with the best prizes. gansey eats the cereal because he lovs the cronch.

40. who is the fun parent/ who is the responsible parent?

i feel like they have pretty good balance here?? gansey is a professor/writer so he stays at home with the kids most often and is about the same proportion of stern/pushover with them as he is with ronan in canon lmfao. the more deeply involved in a project he is, the more he can be convinced to let the rules slide. 

henry is an environmental activist with a nonprofit and an occasional lobbyist, so he has much more typical 9-5 hours. he is probably much more fun than gansey, but their kids think he is insufferably, adorably uncool with his retro pop music and graphic tees under blazers and nicknames. 

blue does ecological field research for weeks at a time and then comes home and writes papers for the next few months. she has 2 competing desires as a parent: 1. make up for lost time with lots of spoiling and 2. make up for lost discipline and moral instruction with lots of discourse.

41. who cries during sad movies? 

gansey and henry cry really easily at sad movies but like,,, rarely cry over real life stuff. meanwhile, blue is the opposite because she’s pretty bad at suspending her disbelief when interacting with fiction.

42. who is the neat freak?

i think blue and henry butt heads a little bit here because blue likes for everything to have its place and hates actual mess and unclean things BUT her idea of neat is a lot more cluttered and homey, very much inspired by 300 fox way. henry doesn’t clean often, but when he does he wants things to ACTUALLY be neat and tidy and put away. 

meanwhile, gansey has his office where chaos rules and only he knows where anything is.

43. who wins the stuffed animals at the carnival for the other one?

they probably go to a carnival or town fair on their road trip and gansey and henry compete to get blue stuffed animals (only 50% ironically) and blue gets mad and gets her own damn stuffed animal and then for good measure one for each of her boys.

44. who is active/ who is lazy?

idk about “”active”” as in fit and sporty but blue likes to keep herself busy. she always has 5 projects going and likes to get out of the house at least once a day even if it’s just for a walk around the block. gansey has homebody phases and active phases. henry feels like he works pretty hard and has enough adventures to justify a little bit of lazing about the house.

45. who is more likely to get drunk?

i mean, on the road trip if they’re drinking, they pretty much always all get drunk together unless a designated driver is needed in which case they take turns. gansey has the lowest tolerance tho, so he’s always first to get drunk.

and while henry and gansey are at school together, blue gets a lot of midnight facetime calls from her boys, sloppy drunk and over-affectionate and cute.

46. who has the longer food order?

it’s definitely gansey, and it’s definitely 50% a picky eater thing and 50% an entitled rich white man thing. like, okay, gansey ii seems like a good dad but he’s definitely that guy whose like “i’m a paying customer i deserve to get exactly what i want and am paying for,” and gansey sort of grew up seeing that as pretty normal, so he gives all sorts of unnecessary extra instructions to the waiter.

blue’s like “u know u can just tell them u don’t want pickles or onions on the burger, right? u don’t have to teach them step-by-step how to grill it. the waiter isn’t even cooking ur burger, tho know she is definitely spitting on it.”

henry chimes in a very helpful “yeah, stop mansplaining the burger.”

47. who has the more complex coffee order?

henry. gansey likes black coffee or ridiculous fraps, no in between. blue gets really simple coffees and totally makes them over at the counter w/ the cinnamon and vanilla and cocoa shakers. meanwhile, henry has to inquire as to whether the beans are ethically sourced and ask about all the specials and what is most popular and what does the barista like best and after all that just gets the thing he saw recommended on instagram the other day.

48. who loses stuff?

losing stuff? excuse you, this crew’s game is FINDING (bunch of hufflepuff wannabes). the only exception is gansey pulling a velma with his glasses.

49. who is the driver/ who is the passenger?

they rotate on the road trip because like,,, u gotta. but i think gansey likes driving the most, and henry likes it the least. when they’re in college and blue comes to visit, she does all the driving in her ecopig. henry always calls shottie no blitz because the passenger seat comes with all the best jobs: music duty, navigation, hand-holding, feeding french fries to ur s.o. in the driver seat, etc. if blue’s not driving, she actually likes the backseat best most of the time bc she can fully stretch out across it lmao.

50. who is the hopeless romantic?

ALL of these fools. have you HEARD their narration?!

[goatssin]

Thanks @piidiot for the tag. It perfectly fits into my procrastination plans.

1) Name: Michaela

2) Nickname: Elem, also abbreviations of my family name

3) Sign: Virgo

4) Height: 165 cm (5’5’’)

5) Orientation: I think I already used the “love live straight tumbler” joke way too many times so I’ll just answer this normally. Gay.

6) Nationality: Czech

7) Favorite fruit: Mango (especially in ovocná přesnídávka)

8) Favorite season: The first one of course, sequels usually suck. (It’s winter.)

9) Favorite book: Hahaha, I can only think about the 20 books I have chosen for maturita so I have really hard time thinking about other books. So I will just say Hobbit because I still can’t believe we really can choose it for the exam. 

10) Favorite flower: Forget-me-nots

11) Favorite scent: Freshly baked goods

12) Favorite color: Green

13) Favorite animal: Mentioning just one species just isn’t fair, but I collect alpaca plushies and I think I hadn’t mentioned them yet in those type of things, so... alpacas :D.

14) Coffee or tea: I like coffee way more but I don’t drink it anymore (#healthylife) and I don’t really drink tea unless I am sick and when I do it’s only black. Green tea is probably my least liked beverage oat.

15) Average hours of sleep: Lately it’s something like 5 sadly. I really need to up my sleeping game.

16) Cat or dog person: I prefer cats but I like dogs too, I just get scared too easily if they are big or jump excitedly on people.

17) Favorite fictional character: Korra

18) Number of blankets you sleep with: One or two, depends on the weather.

19) Blog created: Archive says October 2012

20) Number of followers: 143

[nibsthebravelostboy]

Finn’s Job [Nibs x Misty x Finn]

@itslostgirlmisty @finnthelosttwin

[Finn] Mark had told Finn where to go and where to find Misty when he got there so Finn followed those instructions and ran into Misty as she was walking. “Hey Misty, long time no see right. Um I got you these...for my first day of work.” He said handing her a bouquet of flowers. “Um they are forget me nots so um...I hope you like them.”

[Misty]

Misty was surprised to see Finn but just gave him a small smile as she took the flowers. “Thank you but you didn’t have to do that. I do like them though.” She reassured him. “We should probably go see Nibs so you can check in with him.”

[Nibs]

Nibs had gotten up and gotten dressed for the day after taking the nap. Looking at the time, he figured that Misty should be finishing up her work and he wanted to have a nice surprise for her when she got back. He asked some people to bring in chocolate covered strawberries and fried rice since he knew that they were always Misty’s go to whenever she was in the mood for being spoiled.

[Finn] “I know I didn’t but you know I thought it would be nice. I don’t get to do this kind of thing often. I’m just used to pulling pranks with Jack but I promise you will be spared of them...so long as I’m working. Out of work you are free reign.” He smiled. “But yeah lead the way and I’ll follow.”

[Misty]

“I haven’t seen Jack in forever it’s good to know you guys are still pranking people.” She smiled back before gesturing to the door. “He’s in there.”

[Finn]

Finn smiled at her before blushing softly at her words. “I will tell Jack he should stop by. You were his favorite lost girl.” He teased.

[Nibs]

Nibs could hear Finn flirting with Misty outside the door and he just growled. Opening up the door, he saw both Misty and Finn. “There you are princess. Everything went well I assume? I have a surprise for you in the bedroom by the way.” He purrs into her ear before kissing her rather intimately. He then turned his attention to Finn, “Nice to see you around. I heard Mark gave you a job as guard. That means we get to work together, just like old times.”

[Misty]

She laughed at his words and nodded. “I better be, Jack was always one of my favorites. And don’t tell Xander but I personally think Slightly and Jack are very cute.” She responded before seeing the door open and seeing Nibs. “Yeah everything went fine. Just more paperwork.” She replied to Nibs before kissing him back. The kiss was rather intimate for a hello kiss but she didn’t question it as she nodded once he said he had a surprise.

[Finn] Finn nodded as he laughed he nodded with Misty, “I think the same thing. But hey that’s his life, I will support whatever he wants.” He smiled before seeing Nibs. He looked away while the two kissed and smiled as he nodded at Nibs words, “Yeah we will, it should be fun. Did you want me to put those in water for you Misty? Or you know I could take them so they are out of the way.”

[Nibs]

“Speaking of which, where has your brother been? I haven’t seen him in forever either, maybe he can come work with you too. I would have to say that you should both be careful of the whole pranking thing.” He responds with a small laugh as he wrapped his arm around MIsty’s waist and pulled her closer to him.

[Misty]

She shook her head as Nibs pulled her closer, “No it’s fine I can have them put in some water. I’m sure there are vases in the room. Thank you though.”

[Finn] “I think he ran away with Slightly I don’t know, I’m not too worried. I’m sure he’ll back soon.” He smiled before snapping his finger. “Oh Misty I was doing some research of this place and they have this cave where the water is pink because of these tiny crystals and sapphires and alexandrite that line the caves. I thought you would want to know because your favorite color is pink and your birthstone is alexandrite.”

[Nibs]

“You aren’t worried about your own brother?” Hearing Finn’s words, he shook his head. “Alright I love you and all but you really should stop with the facts about my wife. It’s impressive but also creepy because we are married you know? How come you don’t know facts about me hm? You are my best friend remember? Pshh I don’t see you going to find a cave with my birthstone in it.” He pouts and jokes playfully with the other.

[Misty]

“I don’t think it’s creepy, it’s actually super interesting I will stop by with Nibs and let you know what it’s like. I’ve been to this kingdom a lot and I haven’t heard of that so thanks for bringing it to my attention.” She responded. “I will be right back I’m just going to set all this stuff down.” She said heading into the room.

[Finn] “Your favorite color is red and your birthstone is a diamond.” Finn responded before blushing slightly. “I didn’t mean for it to come off as bad though, I didn’t know you were going to be here Nibs and I wanted to impress Misty since it’s my first day and all. And I remember she said she used to go to a place on the mainland where if the light flashed just the right way when it rained the water would turn pink. I was just trying to be helpful.”

[Nibs]

“You don’t have to worry about impressing her, you are mostly going to be working with me anyway so if anything you should be sucking up to me.” He teases lightly. “There are a lot of things that Misty likes. Some of which are in the room.” Watching as Misty walked into the bedroom, he turned to Finn. “So then how was your first day as guard? Was it as exciting as Mark told you it would be?” He asks while giving the other a nudge.

[Finn] “I don’t know...guess it’s that crush I have or I mean had on her that makes me act like that. She makes me so nervous. I know you are married to her and I totally respect that...I don’t know she’s just so pretty. I will get over it and stop making a fool of myself soon.” He shrugged before nodding, “Yeah it’s been fine, Mark just told me to stick by Misty’s side so I will just continue to do that.”

[Misty]

Misty walked into the room to put the flowers away and saw the chocolate covered strawberries and fried rice and just smiled knowing Nibs was spoiling her. She placed the flowers in a vase and went back out to Nibs. She moved to kiss him passionately before pulling away, “Thank you for that.”

[Nibs]

“I understand that and that is perfectly normal. You are a great guy Finn, you will find your perfect woman out there someday I am sure of it. You just have to be patient enough to find her.” Hearing his words, Nibs ears perked up. “Mark told you that you were in charge of Misty? I thought he said you were in charge of me?” He asks curiously before hearing Misty coming back. When she kissed him, he kissed her back as he nodded his head. “How about we go enjoy your surprises then hm?” He then turns his attention to Finn, “I have it from here thanks. We will see you later.”  

[Finn] “I don’t think he knew you were coming, he told me to stay with Misty for this trip so yeah.” He nodded before seeing Misty come back. “So Misty I’m supposed to watch over you, what would you like me to do?”

[Misty]

She heard Finn’s words and looked away from Nibs to look at Finn, “Oh I guess...um well I don’t want you to be bored so maybe we can figure something out to do. So you are entertained?” She suggested before looking at Nibs. “That is a shame though, I was really looking forward to seeing how sorry we both are for fighting. But I guess I can do that when I come back.”

[Nibs]

Nibs let out a small laugh, “I think he can find something to do while we take care of some royal business. You are dismissed for now Finn, come back in a bit or you can stand guard outside the door but you might want to listen to really loud music or something.” He responds before taking Misty’s hand and bringing her inside before anything more could be said or done. Nibs shut the door behind them and pinned her to the wall and kissed her in a heated passion while his fingers locked the door.

[Misty]

Misty laughed as she went in the room with Nibs and felt him pinning her to the wall and kissing her. She kissed him back as her hands went to his shirt desperately trying to get all the buttons undone and throwing his shirt somewhere on the floor in the room.

[Nibs]

Nibs didn’t have time as he ripped Misty’s clothes off in one rip. He had missed her all morning and the fact that she wanted to just go and hang out with Finn casually really got under his skin and he knew that she knew that. “You really would want to go and hang out with Finn instead of spending time with me?” The male growled while grinding his hips against hers.

[Misty]

Nibs knew how much she liked when he ripped her clothes off and once she heard his words she only smirked. “Yeah I would. He didn’t piss me off and then sleep on a couch away from me when you know how much I like cuddling. So maybe that will teach you next time.”

[Nibs]

“Hey you are the one that asked for space so…I happily gave you space.” He responds while letting his fingers tease over her folds. “You could have told me to come to bed if you really wanted those cuddles you know.” He explains while looking at the other before sliding his fingers inside of her.

[Misty]

“Oh fuck.” She moaned as she held on tightly to his shoulders. “You shouldn’t piss me off and I wouldn’t ask for space. I hate when you leave.” She responded bucking her hips into his hand.

[Nibs]

“It’s not like I purposely try to piss you off.” He growled before making his own clothes disappear before teasing her entrance with just the tip of his cock. “I hate when you make me leave. I hate being away from you.” Nibs hissed while slamming into her as he made sure to hit her sweet spot.

[Misty]

“Then stop leaving. Fight with me and make up with me, don’t leave me anymore. No matter what I say. I am your wife for better or worse.” She moaned ignoring the marks in her back from the door.

[Nibs]

“You get mad if I don’t give you space. I insist on staying and you get more irritated and tired of being around me and I don’t want you to get bored or tired of me.” He responds while his eyes flashed blue before resuming back to being red. “I don’t want you to feel trapped when you are with me.”

[Misty]

“I could never get bored or tired of you and you don’t trap me. When we fight it gets so bad and I feel like I need to get away before we ruin it all. I am scared one fight will break us so I step away. I don’t know what else to do.” She admitted looking at him.

[Nibs]

“Princess, there isn’t a fight in the world that can break me away from you. No matter how bad it gets, we always have each other and that is all that really matters at the end of the day. Our love for each other is always going to be there just as I will always be there for you, just like you said. For better or for worse.” He reassures her as he kisses her.

[Misty]

Misty’s eyes turned blue as she heard his words and nodded as she kissed him back. “I love you so much. I don’t care about the past, what happened, what didn’t happen, I just want to be with you now and continue to build on what we have. I miss how we were, everyday was like it was our first.”

[Nibs]

His eyes turned pink at her words, “I love you so much. We can still bring that back. Every day being our first, I remember how fast my heart would beat whenever I was with you. I feel that everyday whenever I see you, it always reminds me how lucky I am to have you.” He smiles while thrusting into her and brushing against her sweet spot slowly.

[Misty]

Her eyes turned pink as she felt her heart swell at his words. “I would like that a lot. Just let’s make a promise that we will always work through things, I promise I will never ask you to leave again. I never want to be without you.” She responded before moaning out his name.

[Nibs]

“That sounds like a good promise. I promise that we will always work things though. I never want to be without you either.” He smiles before kissing her gently while continuing to thrust into her a little faster this time as he brought his hand down so his thumb could rub circles against her clit.

[Misty]

Misty smiled as she kissed him back and tangled her hands in his hair. She could feel the knot growing in the pit of her stomach as she clenched around him. “Cum with me Nibs.”

[Nibs]

Nibs didn’t hesitate when he thrusted deep into her as he felt her clenching around him as the knot started to grow and seal them both together when he came inside of her. “I love you so much Misty.” He smiles before kissing her.

[Misty]

She came with Nibs moaning softly as the knot grew and pressed against her sweet spot. “I love you too Nibs. More than you know.” She smiled.

[Nibs]

“Mhm I love you more than you know too. I can’t wait for our newest arrivals to come too.” He responds while noticing the small bump starting to appear as well. “I think we might have a difficult time hiding this from people soon.” He teases lightly.

[Misty]

Misty looked at her stomach and smiled before looking back at Nibs, “Are you telling I’m getting fat because that is what it sounds like?” She asked teasingly.

[Nibs]

“What? No of course not. I am just saying that our little ones are coming along nicely. That is something we should be proud of and besides Mark would throw a fit if he doesn’t know about it soon.” He lets out a small laugh.

[Misty]

“Hm I guess we can tell people now. I will greatly appreciate wearing clothes that I can breathe in but we need to tell the kids first. I don’t want them to think we are replacing their siblings. I want to explain things to them before we tell all of the royals that will try to force us apart.”

[Nibs]

“We both know there is no way I am letting the royals force us apart.” He responds while looking at her with a smile. “We can both sit the kids down and explain it to them for sure. I think they will be very understanding of it though.”

[Misty]

“Nibs we lost a lot, me being in the queen’s quarters would be for the safety of our children not because they don’t want us together. And this is the first pregnancy no one has tried to kill me so I think we should be just go with the flow.” She smiled.

[Nibs]

“They can’t keep me from seeing my wife though. They know I get grumpy when I don’t get to see you.” He explains, “Besides you said you would feel safer with me by your side so... “

[Misty]

“I do, I always feel safe when I’m with you. But you do have a job you have to do. It’s why I don’t call you when I’m puking. You have things you need to do.” She responded kissing his cheek.

[Nibs]

“That is true but I made a promise that I wouldn’t leave your side so I should stay true to that promise shouldn’t I?” He asks while looking at her as the knot starts to shrink.

[Misty]

“You have never broken a promise to me, I don’t ever think you will. So if you want to stay by my side and not work as much you know I will support you, just know the royals won’t be happy and I am letting you break your promise if you need to.”

[Nibs]

“I can find a way to manage both don’t worry about it. I can work something out, I always do..or at least I try to.” The male moves down to clean Misty up before kissing his way back to her lips. “How about I take you up on that offer of cuddles now?”

[Misty]

She smiled as she kissed him back, “Yes but I definitely want some of those strawberries and fried rice. So if you can make all that happen I would greatly appreciate it.”

[Nibs]

“Oh yes of course, I almost forgot.” He lets out a small laugh before going over and warming up the fried rice with magic and then bringing the bowl of chocolate covered strawberries over to the bedside. “We can eat the fried rice at the table unless you would rather we eat them in bed?”

[Misty]

Misty grabbed her dress and threw it over the chair as she nodded, “Yeah we can eat in the bed.” She responded before moving to her bags to find some clothes to change into.

[Nibs]

Nibs goes over and looks through his bag to find a pair of boxers and throws them on. He then grabs a shirt and puts it on as well before getting into the bed.

[Misty]

She changes before joining Nibs in bed and takes the bowl from Nibs before kissing his cheek. “Thank you baby.”

[Nibs]

“I figured you would like some after a long day. Maybe I should make some ice cream for tomorrow...you know since we have the chocolate covered strawberries right now.” He smiles while giving her the rice.

[Misty]

“Hm can I have cupcakes instead? Ooh and cookies. I would really like cookies. I have been craving them all day.” She smiled before leaning against him.

[Nibs]

“What kind of cupcakes or cookies would you like?” He picks up a bowl of rice for himself as well before eating some as he waited for her answer.

[Misty]

“Red velvet cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies.” She responded before she started eating.

[Nibs]

“Red Velvet and Chocolate Chip, sounds good to me. I will make sure that there is some here tomorrow but we can also have one of each tonight.” He snapped his fingers and a red velvet cupcake appeared on the nightstand and a chocolate chip cookie appeared as well.

[Misty]

Misty looked to see the sweets on the nightstand and smiled happily before looking at Nibs, “What did I do to deserve being spoiled like this?” She asked teasingly.

[Nibs]

“Well, I know there is a saying...happy wife, happy life. So, that means that if you are happy then I am happy. Besides, if you are craving cookies and cupcakes, it is only right that I get them for you.” He smiles. “I think our twins might have a sweet tooth though if you eat a lot of sweets.” Nibs jokes teasingly.

[Misty]

“I am beyond happy. But you should probably tell me no or I will just continue to eat sweets forever. Like I could eat all of this everyday and I swear it’s our twins that make me crave this stuff.”

[Nibs]

“Everything in regulation. It’s good to have some every now and then.” He responds with a smile. “I will make sure you don’t eat so much that you have a stomach ache don’t worry.” His words were reassuring as he wanted to make sure she wouldn’t stress out about it.

[Misty]

She smiled at his words as she nodded, “I know you will.” She finished eating her rice before placing the bowl on the nightstand. “Can I have my cuddles now?” She asked looking at him.

[Nibs]

“What about your cupcake and cookie?” He asks while putting the bowl on the nightstand after he finished his own rice.

[Misty]

“I just want your cuddles. I’m sleepy.” She pouted looking at him.

[Nibs]

He kisses her pout before nodding his head. “Okay cupcake and cookie for tomorrow then.” Snapping his fingers they are put in the fridge as he pulls Misty closer to him so that they could cuddle.

[Misty]

Misty smiled as she snuggled up closer to Nibs and sighed happily. “I love you Nibbles.” She joked.

[Nibs]

“I love you too Misty.” He responds before rolling his eyes at her nickname for him. He kissed her and then got comfortable enough for them to both take a nap.