#i decided he eventually has to face the facts and disowns his family

[kagekitsuneoflight]

It’s kinda funny that Jason is, in every sense of the word, the most normal Robin. Unironically, there wasn’t anything uniquely special about him before he was Robin. He was a street kid. His dad was a goon (which makes sense for Gotham. It’s a goon breeding ground) and his adoptive mom was a girl who fell in love with the bad boy, got disowned by her upper middle class parents and adopted her boyfriend’s infant son. Even his biological mother isn’t anything special! She was just a doctor who ended up becoming corrupt.

Jason Todd was no circus kid who could do an impossible signature trick. He wasn’t being scouted by some evil hidden organization.

He wasn’t the rich boy genius who lived next door.

He’s not the son of a supervillain (as lame as cluemaster is, he still *counts*).

He’s not the secret son of Bruce Wayne.

And he’s not a metahuman, nor did he led a whole organization of teens to fight when Batman couldn’t.

He’s the most regular boy to ever enter become a hero in Gotham. He wanted to do good things for the sake of doing good. He grew up poor with regular parents, where bad things happened to them. The kinds of things that could happen to *any* person living in Gotham.

There is nothing about him, pre-Robin and as Robin, that makes him Not Like Regular Kids.

His dad was a goon (who, depending on the run, was either killed by Two-Face OR. Just sent to prison and killed in prison! Which makes his backstory even PLAINER-) and his mother was a drug addict with cancer. Jason ends up homeless, and almost steals the bat mobile tires. The only thing that makes him stand out from any other tragedy befallen kid in Gotham is the fact he was bold enough to do that, get Batman’s attention, and continue to be bold enough to go against a crime lord (who was apparently his grandmother, the most interesting person in his family, but since she’s almost never brought up, she’s likely no more significant than a one-issue villain in the crime lord power hierarchy). Batman realized that Jason wasn’t going to really stop, and honestly he kinda grew on him, so he decided to adopt Jason, and eventually allow him to become Robin.

There just isn’t anything amazingly special about his backstory. The few moments where something could have been done to make it more interesting (like his biological mother) but ended up taking the most boring option. You can’t do much of anything now to enhance his past without upsetting much more well established canon, and not without making people wonder “well if his grandmother was such a big name in crime, why hasn’t she been brought up before?”

Jason Todd was a wonderful Robin (providing that he actually has a writer who likes him). He has a golden heart, he’s the voice of reason. He’s everything that a Robin needs to be for Batman. But compared to everyone else, he was nothing special. In a way, his lack of Not Like Regular Kids makes him stand out in a much more subtle way.

As if someone asked the question “Do I need to be someone special to be Robin?” And the answer was “You don’t need to be someone special, you just need to be brave, like Jason Todd was.”

[alwaysforevermaybenever]

YANDERE EX-HUSBAND: INTRODUCTION

× cw: general yandere stuff; malaysian/cantonese slang; reader is implied ethnically chinese (read her dialogue in Steven He’s accent); reader is also female; obsessive behavior; bribery; stalking; being held at gunpoint(?); threats; felony; implied murder; controlling behavior

× note: it's basically renheng/uncle roger and auntie helen

⌗ your beloved ex-husband? Hah! He’s no better than a plate of burnt egg fried rice with no spring onions or meat from a kopitiam(coffee shop). In fact, you’d pick studying at art school over looking at his face for a single second, even if it means your mother disowning you.

⌗ Unfortunately, even after getting divorced, you still live together. That’s because the house is bought under both your names, so you can’t just kick him out. And it’s not like you’ll have enough money to buy a new house after selling your current one, because half the money goes to him. Tsk. What a nuisance…

⌗ Yala, he’s handsome and rich, but he’s such a jerk and a micromanager! He always insists on telling you how to cook your signature noodles. (Mind you, you grew up learning how to make that. Your ma made sure of that.) He didn’t go to culinary school, so who is he to tell you that, huh?

⌗ You can’t stand being married to such a pompous man like him, so you locked yourself in your room on the wedding night. No way you’re gonna do anything with that eyesore (metaphor). That’s why five months later, after countless arguments and fights, you divorced him.

“Haiya, he CEO of a company, his net worth 1 billion. But he cannot even cook rice or defrost chicken for me when I ask him to? And you ask why I divorce him ah?” *slaps table*

⌗ However, your ex-husband doesn’t really care about your rants or complaints. You’re talking for hours on end about him, so that’s already a win in his book. He’s always on your mind!

⌗ He fully expected you to divorce him. That’s why he insisted on buying the house under both your names - you can’t get rid of him that way. All long as he’s under the same roof as you are, he couldn’t be happier. He eats the food you cook (leftovers because you’re used to cooking for all your relatives during family dinner), rolls on your perfectly made bed while you work your accountant job (in one of his other companies that you don’t know he’s the CEO of) and plays the picture perfect husband when your mom drops by (your 28501864817 relatives marching right behind her) with mooncakes and tangyuan (because she’ll beat you up with the tea set heirloom passed down forty-five generations when she discovers that you’re divorced with no sons!!).

⌗ How did you even get married to him if you hate him that much? Well, long story short, your mother and his mother are best friends, and their husbands are brothers, which made daily reunions even longer because they had so much to talk about. When they noticed that he showed interest in you as a child (one time), they decided that you two would get married when you were of age. While you were resentful that you were essentially forced into an arranged marriage, you pushed through it for the wedding ang pao (red packets) and tax benefits (at least until you divorced, which was when you started working and putting that science stream (not art!) degree to use). 

⌗ You hate your ex-husband, but you do admit that he’s a good wallet. Besides, it’s not like he’s obsessive or possessive or a micromanager who stalks you when you go out or a genuinely bad person who commits felonies because he found out you were searching for potential bachelors because after all you’re in your prime! Right? And besides, who wouldn’t want to date and eventually marry you? But don’t worry your pretty little head because he’ll take care of them since he’s the only one you’ll ever need. Yeah, you’re divorced but who’s to say you can’t get remarried? Not the law! 

⌗ And if he has to drag you screaming and kicking and cursing him (and his ancestors) to the ancestral plane and make you stand by the altar, that’s what his strength is for! And if he has to pay hush money to all the people present that’s ok, cuz he’s not rich for nothing and the relatives aren’t greedy bloodsucking money nabbers (me) just for show.

“Once again, until death do us part, my love… You at the back - put down that phone. I’ll pretend you weren’t trying to call the police, for the sake of this auspicious occasion. What do you mean my wife is being held at gunpoint and trying to punch me no she isn’t.”

[shapes-den]

I have news! Ourkan and Xaasa's first puppy, Quohau'ru, is now grown up enough to get her very own boyfriend. She's been drawn in by a good-natured and respectful young male, who loves to tell her amazing stories (but always forgets at least half of it).

Introducing a complete himbo of a wolf, Wuros!*

Poor Wuros's has quite the tragic history, but remains optimistic. His pack did the bare minimum to keep him alive. They gave him a barely acceptable name, insulted him often, and taught him few things when he managed to survive until adolescence. Upon learning this, Xaasa immediately declares a feud against her son-in-law's birth pack.

A bit of context: In the north, year old wolves are encouraged to leave their birth packs, and will pass through most relative's territories with ease. They may then return home or strike out on their own, forming a new pack. Saying that, different packs have different tolerance levels for wolves during their roaming (part of their yearling celebration). Ourkan, for instance, had finished his roaming just before meeting Xasaa.

Had Wuros's pack not done the bare minimum, any yearlings passing through would have carried gossip about the mistreatment. Equally, if they had allowed an adol to roam freely, or even chased him away, any wolves finding him would be obligated to return him home, or start a feud with his birth pack. Wolves treat adolescence as a time of great learning, and making it past puppyhood is seen as passing the test of survival. Therefore, neglecting an adolescent/older puppy is considered extremely callous and disrespectful among the Northern wolves.

*Wuros' name means: Self-centered, gullible, full of useless wisdom, a pretty face with nothing to show for it. This shocks the CVP wolves, as giving a pup such a negative name is nearly unheard of in wolf society.

[yunjinsng]

CODED an introduction

BASICS

full name: yunjin song nickname(s): jinny, jin, little bird

date of birth: march 9, 2000 zodiac sign: pisces

hometown: berwyn, il current residence: chicago, il (some apartment there) occupation: university student, part time intern at a tech company specie: mutant level: four mutation: harpy physiology -  yunjin can turn into a harpy. her arms turns into wings, her hands and feet into talons, her legs and some parts of her body gets covered in feathers too. she retains her face and hair, fortunately she doesn’t grow a beak. she has heightened senses and fast immune system. the scariest part of her mutation is a premonition of someone’s death.

BACKSTORY ⇢ yunjin was born in berwyn, Illinois; a small town where everyone knows everyone. her family’s the known local ranchers and farmers, as they own an estate where they ranch and farm. everyone in her family lives and works there. as far as she remembers, they never really had any employees, it was strictly a family business. ⇢ it was a fairly normal childhood - she goes to school, helps around the estate, play and hang out with her friends - until she turned eight and found out she’s a half-birb. she knows that’s not normal, she doesn’t know anyone who turns into something like that. so the first time it happened, she hid in one of the barns until she turned back to normal. ⇢ she carried that secret around and tried to act fine and okay, her mom did notice she’s a bit distant, of course like any loving mother she was worried for yunjin and became more attentive to her only daughter. ⇢ her mom found out eventually - around the age of nine - and soon they had to let her father know, scared that the whole family will scorn yunjin, they decided to move out from the farm and moved to chicago, where his father started a small korean restaurant he always dreamed of having.  ⇢ when she turned twelve, her late bloomer of a brother, fifteen at that time began to show mutation as well, and that was when their father came clean that it runs in their family, however it was only a few who had it, and they were disowned by their grandfather, that’s why he decided for them to move out.  ⇢ elated that she was not the only one, she helped her brother figure out to fly and what comes along with their mutation.  ⇢ she hated the fact that she always have to hide who she is to everyone else or she will become an outcast. there were also times where she sees herself a monster, especially when she found out she knows when a person is about to die. when she does try to stop it (if its due to accidents), it will only get worst for someone.  ⇢ as much as possible she tried to stay away from trouble, pose as a normal human as much as possible, and go wild at night when she can fly freely.  ⇢ now she’s studying computer science, just trying to live while a lot of uncertainties in life continues to be a bother. 

PERSONALITY ⇢ yunjin’s really understanding and mindful, honestly your go to person if you want to talk about meaningful things. she’s confident in herself and takes a lot of time thinking about important decisions she has to make. if she wants something, she goes for it, as long as she won’t harm anyone. there are times she gives away things or let other people get their away because she wants to avoid conflict. 

WANTED CONNECTIONS ⇢ head empty, but react to a plotting call when i post one in the server. 

[bitsandbobsofwriting]

Soulmate AU part 2; Things drastically change for the better:

Arthur and Merlin’s relationship develops, Uther becomes increasingly annoyed at his failed attempts to control them, Leon continues to have heart palpitations over trying to protect them, and Morgana thinks the whole thing is hilarious.

Part 1   Part 3 Part 4

So that conversation... happens.

To say it was awkward would be a MASSIVE understatement.

Arthur and Morgana spend the whole time answering Uther’s questions, so much so that Merlin barely speaks (he wasn’t great at keeping secrets, so he wasn’t too mad at them for answering for him) and Uther spends the whole time trying and failing to assert his dominance over his two dumbass kids (but they aren’t having it).

Eventually Merlin did speak up, quietly saying:

“I, um... I’m really sorry to interrupt Sire, My Lord... uh... Your Majesty Sir-”

Morgana smirks slightly and covers her mouth with her hand, Arthur rolls his eyes and squeezes Merlin’s hand, and Uther looks upon the whole scene with barely concealed bewilderment:

“-uh... my mum is waiting for me, and I’m usually not gone for this long so... could I... I mean would you mind if I... went?”

Uther looked even more taken aback at that. As much as this whole conversation had been based on Merlin, he hadn’t actually processed the fact that he was a whole person who would have family and places to be and a life outside of being The Prince’s soulmate.

He nods his head slightly and purses his lips:

“Right. Of course. Arthur said that you lived outside of Camelot?-”

He doesn’t wait for an answer before continuing:

“-Well I’m afraid that that is unacceptable. You are the soulmate of the Prince of this kingdom, inform your family that you are to move here as soon as possible, preferably before the month is out.-”

At Merlin’s wide eyes and Arthur and Morgana’s scornful faces, he waved his hand:

“-Don’t worry, housing and anything else that you will require will be provided by the Crown.”

Merlin still looks a bit dazed and surprised at his demand, so Arthur replies instead:

“Father, Merlin and his mother have a life in their village, you can not just demand that they pack up and leave everything behind to live here.”

Uther looks annoyed at this, but patiently (or as patiently as Uther is able) retorts with:

“Well he was going have to move eventually. The two of you are only a few years from being of age, and you can not possibly live in separate kingdoms when that happens, especially as you are Crown Prince. I’m allowing this... bond... to continue, but we are still royalty, and rules must be followed.”

Morgana goes to argue this time, but Merlin tugs her sleeve slightly and says quietly:

“It’s alright ‘Gana, he is right, I was going to have to move here eventually anyway. This way you finally get to meet my mum, and we’ll get to see each other more often. Mum won’t like it, but I know she’s missed Gaius, so it won’t be too bad, and I’ve always sort of wanted to explore the city.”

Morgana and Arthur stare at him for a few moments whilst he looks between them. Arthur sighs before replying:

“Fine, but only if you’re sure. And take your time, don’t pressure your mum into leaving right away, OK?”

Merlin nods, and everyone at the table stands, stepping back.

Uther mutters that they are dismissed, but watches as they say goodbye to each other. He furrows his eyebrows in interest as Morgana hugs Merlin, mentally noting that he doesn’t think he’s ever seen her smile that widely before.

When Arthur embraces Merlin, much tighter, and for much longer, a hand cradling the back of the peasant’s-... of Merlin’s head, and a soft, but powerful smile on his face, Uther forgets for a moment the distastefulness of the situation, and revels in the feeling of pride and happiness; his son had found his life partner. 

The King sweeps any thoughts of his late-wife from his mind, and drops the small smile gracing his face, but not before Morgana spies it and tilts her head at him, giving him a teasing smirk.

The boys whisper something that Uther can’t hear, and Merlin steps back, giving him a quick bow and an awkward wave, before disappearing into thin air. A familiar pop echoes around the hall, and a few gold sparks fall silently to the floor.

Arthur and Morgana bow to him very briefly, before turning and leaving the room without another word, arm in arm.

Uther stands alone in the room for a moment, sighing before muttering to himself:

“This is going to be a bloody nightmare. Public announcement. Before that I have to tell the council. And I have to figure out how I can legally make these people nobles, to justify everything-”

He looks to the ceiling, sighing once again as he says:

“-Gods give me strength.” Before turning and sweeping out the room.

~

The moment Arthur and Morgana leave the room, they turn to each other and burst into slightly hysterical laughter, sputtering about “the look on his face” and “oh my gods, *sire my lord your majesty sir* ” between breaths. 

The whole situation was unexpected, but to be perfectly honest, they didn’t regret it; they knew that the longer they waited before telling Uther, the bigger the problem would be.

Morgana straightens up after a moment, wiping tears from her eyes, before whipping her head around to Arthur in sudden panic:

“Oh my Gods, Arthur. Leon.”

Arthur’s eyes widen, and he curses suddenly before taking Morgana’s hand and running towards his chambers. They almost ran into multiple people, Nobles who tutted, and castle staff who jumped out of the way, not even having time to bow before the two teenagers were out of sight again.

They loudly burst into Arthur’s chambers, out of breath, to see Leon pacing a groove into the floor:

They stand with their hands on their knees, panting, but before they can say anything, Leon rushes to speak:

“Where on earth have you been?? A guard said you were in a meeting with the King all afternoon, what happened? Is Merlin ok?? They wouldn’t let me in, so I came back here to wait but-”

Arthur held up a hand to stop him rambling, and gave him a comforting smile. The Prince straightened up, and took one last deep breath before saying:

“Sorry, for worrying you Leon. But you are not going to believe what just happened...”

Morgana starts laughing again, and with that, the two of them shut the door behind them and explain in great detail what had happened, how Merlin had just appeared and Uther had freaked, and Gaius and Geoffrey had to be called, and how funny the look on his face was when they’d explained. 

Arthur had wanted to skip it out, but Morgana gleefully insisted on recounting just how much she and Arthur had ordered Uther around, and how he’d just taken it.

By the end of their explanation, Leon had collapsed in a chair, looking very pale, and a lot like he’d aged twenty years.

He holds his head in his hands, fingers messing up his curls, and stares at the floor as Arthur and Morgana glance to each other, trying not to laugh at the poor man.

After what seems to be hours, Leon straightens up, and looks to the two of them with a stricken expression:

“I can’t believe that... well I suppose he had to find out eventually but... dear Lord I can’t decide if I’m grateful I wasn’t there or not... oh my Gods I’m going to be demoted, disowned, banished.”

Arthur laughs at that and Morgana rolls her eyes at the man’s panic:

“Nothing’s going to happen to you Sir Leon, don’t panic. We didn’t mention you, as far as my father is concerned, the only ones who knew were us.”

Leon finally smiles briefly at that, muttering a quiet thank you, before standing up suddenly, looking panicked once again:

“Wait... you said he’d be moving here?? What about his... gift?? He can’t live in Camelot it’s dangerous. You may have protected him from the King for now but... if he finds out nothing will stop him from... nothing will stop him.”

The two of them sighed at that. They had been mentally considering it, but they were just taking it one victory at a time. Arthur replied moments later:

“We’ll just have to be careful. He has to be careful in Ealdor anyway, he’s already a bastard, he had to hide magic from the other villagers because it probably would’ve been fatal for him to give them a second reason to hate him. We can set ground rules when he actually moves here and... we just have to be careful. It’ll be a new life for him and his mother, we can be careful.” 

He says the last bit with a decisive nod, and Morgana and Leon relax slightly. Arthur was right, they’d been fine so far, they could keep it up.

He would never say it out loud, but if his father found out... if he tried to hurt Merlin, Arthur knows without a doubt in his mind that he would give up his inheritance, take Merlin’s hand, and run. Without hesitation.

He would love nothing more than to turn his kingdom into a place where Merlin could be free and happy one day, but until then, he would do anything to keep him safe, even if it meant leaving everything behind.

~

The next few weeks rush by.

Uther had tried to limit the number of visits between Merlin and Arthur, but neither of them were having it, and if anything, they were seeing each other more with the upcoming move.

Hunith did in fact freak out at Uther’s demand of her and Merlin moving to Camelot. For several reasons.

First off, she had a life here. It was difficult, but simple, honest work. The winters were hard, but the summers made up for it. The villagers may have started of being a little cruel to her and Merlin, but they warmed to them when the dark haired boy was nothing but sweet and kind to everyone.

Second off, her son was magical. Both naturally and unnaturally magical. Essetir was dangerous, yes, but Camelot? Camelot was so much worse.

She supposes it had to happen eventually. She didn’t like to think of it often, didn’t want to tempt fate, but her son was the Crown Prince’s soulmate. That meant that one day... he would be married to the King. He couldn’t exactly do that whilst living in Essetir, least of all because the Essetir Crown would throw a world ending fit.

In the end, she agreed to the move rather quickly, at least she would be close to her brother, and she could finally meet Leon and Morgana.

As much as Merlin and Arthur urged her not to rush, she really had nothing to do but say goodbye before they made the journey to Camelot, and the three of them were leaving the village behind them within the month, just like Uther wanted.

Though he definitely hadn’t wanted Arthur to pop away one morning, a full travel pack and a sword on his person, intending to make the journey with them. But in the end, Arthur ended the argument by rolling his eyes (much to Morgana’s amusement) and disappearing before The King could get another word in.

No public announcements had been made (they decided to wait until Arthur came of age), but the council had been informed. They were NOT happy. 

Uther would never admit it, but he did feel a swell of pride when Arthur slammed his hand on the table, and firmly told them that this was happening whether they liked it or not, and if they dared complain instead of help, they would find themselves without a chair at the table, and severely lacking in titles and land.

Uther was relieved when he found out that Hunith was Gaius’ younger sister. Gaius wasn’t a noble, but he was a life-long, close friend of the King, and a trusted advisor. Hopefully that would make it easier. 

The Court Physician wasn’t a title that came with land, or nobility, BUT it was the most respected position in the royal household, below actual nobles.

If Gaius could take Merlin on as his apprentice... then he would be an almost fully trained physician by the time he came of age, and that would be respected. Then at least he would have a role outside of being the Prince’s Soulmate.

It was all coming together in Uther’s mind. Of course it wasn’t perfect. The absolute ideal outcome would’ve been if Arthur’s soulmate had been foreign royalty (if only anyone knew about Merlin’s father...), but he could make do with this. He would have to, if he didn’t want to lose his son and his ward.

~

The day of Hunith, Arthur, and Merlin’s arrival finally comes.

Uther didn’t greet them in the courtyard (it would be unsightly for a King to greet two commoners, even if The Prince was with them) but Gaius, Morgana, and Leon did.

Everyone breaks into wide smiles when the castle gates are opened, Arthur and Merlin rushing forward to meet Morgana and Leon in a big hug, and Hunith rushing forward to meet her brother, whom she hadn’t seen in several years.

There is laughter and hugs all around before Merlin finally steps back and takes his mother’s hand, realising he should probably give actual introductions:

“Mum, this is The Lady Morgana, ward of the King-”

Morgana gives Hunith a wide smile and curtsy, before stepping forward and giving her a brief hug. Morgana was very touch averse with everyone but Merlin, Arthur, and Leon, but in her books, any woman who raised Merlin into the young man he had become, was a woman who deserved her trust. And a hug:

“-and this is Sir Leon, Knight of the King.”

Leon took Hunith’s hand, placing a brief kiss on her knuckles before stepping back respectfully. Hunith quickly followed him, and to his great surprise, wrapped the taller man in a tight hug. He wraps his arms around her after a few moments in shock, when she whispers in his ear:

“Thank you for keeping my boys safe.”

He steps back, a wide smile on his face and his hands on her shoulders. He replies quietly so that only she would hear him:

“It has been my genuine pleasure, and I plan to continue to do so for the remainder of my service.”

Hunith gives him an even wider smile, and pats his hand, before the two of them step back. The others watch on in adoration, before Leon clears his throat and addresses the group:

“I have been instructed to show the two of you to your new residence, before you are to meet with the King.”

Arthur steps back before saying regretfully:

“Unfortunately, Gaius and I should go and meet with my father immediately. Leon, you lead the way, we shall remain with him until you return and we can get this over with.”

He says the last bit with a grimace, and Morgana gives him a sympathetic smile as Merlin squeezes his hand. 

The group separates, Arthur and Gaius heading up the castle steps, and Leon leading the rest of them back out the gates.

Hunith and Merlin had been gifted a small house in the upper city, close to the castle, but not within it’s walls. Arthur had argued endlessly against that, saying they deserved chambers inside the castle, but Hunith was the one who refused.

She wasn’t nobility, and she enjoyed her simple life. She had already given up her farming and livestock, she refused to be cooped up in a giant stone castle where she would have nothing to do, and didn’t understand how anything worked.

Arthur finally saw the sense in that, he can understand that it would be difficult for Merlin and Hunith to live in the castle. He hated to admit it, but they would certainly be looked down on, and Arthur was almost of age, he didn’t have the time to spend all day entertaining Merlin, even if he wanted nothing more than to spend all day every day with him.

The house was small, but still three times the size of their place back in Ealdor. They had separate bedrooms, a large kitchen/dining area, a small storage room, and an extra room for relaxing (”City folk call them living rooms apparently.”). There was a small, fenced off grass area out the front, which Hunith was particularly excited about; she wouldn’t have to give up growing things after all.

The home came fully furnished, and Hunith was speechless at the large, comfortable beds, the soft chairs, and the abundance of cooking equipment. The living room also had a large hearth, and two ceiling-high bookshelves, though they were empty.

Once Hunith had had a good look around (the others had already seen it, and Arthur had been checking with Merlin at every step to see if he approved), Morgana excitedly grabs her hand and drags her back to the slightly larger of the two bedrooms.

Merlin follows confusedly, but Leon follows with a small smile on his face, he had seen what Morgana was planning, despite her best attempts to keep it secret.

Morgana finally stands Hunith in front of the wardrobe and gestures for her to open it. The older woman opens the doors with a little hesitation, before stepping back and gasping, her hands over her mouth.

Morgana grins proudly before speaking to a speechless Hunith:

“My gift to you. I organised a few things for Merlin as well. Of course they’ll all have to be adjusted because I could only pass on to the tailor Arthur and Merlin’s descriptions of you. I thought that could be something nice you and me could do at some point in the next few days, after you’ve settled.”

Merlin steps around Leon to try and see what’s got everyone so wound up, and takes in a quiet gasp at what he sees. The wardrobe is filled with new, tailor made dresses, a few thick cloaks, and two pairs of good quality shoes. Two of the dresses were incredibly nice, royal-gala kind of nice, and the others were a mix of practical, casual, smart. 

He smiles widely, tears in his eyes at what Morgana had done for his mum. He’s always felt a little guilty at being the soulmate of royalty, but not being able to provide her with more than she had, but that changed, starting now.

Hunith finally rips her gaze from the new clothes, staring at Morgana:

“I can’t possibly...-”

Morgana’s tilted head and raised eyebrow forces Hunith to change tracks. The boys have told her how stubborn Morgana was, she has a feeling she wouldn’t be able to return the gifts:

“-I don’t know how to thank you, My Lady.”

Morgana rolls her eyes fondly, and brings her into a hug before stepping back:

“Oh none of that “My Lady” shit, and you don’t have to thank me, you and Merlin are part of the family now.”

Merlin gives her a grateful smile over his mum’s shoulder, which she returns, before Leon speaks up:

“I’m sure you can find time to get them all properly fitted in the coming days Morgana, for now we should get back up to the castle. I imagine The King and The Prince are waiting for us.”

Morgana nods, and Hunith subtly wipes her eyes, before allowing The King’s ward to intertwine their arms. Merlin smiles at the sight (he knew they would get along) before turning and following Leon out the house, and back up towards the castle.

Merlin was only a little nervous, he’d met the King multiple times now, and whilst the man was always painfully polite, it was clear that it was only because the whole situation bewildered him a little. But he’d never met his mother yet, and this next meeting would make the rest of his life go very smoothly, or very difficultly.

Leon pauses a moment outside the door to the throne room, glancing back at Merlin, who takes a deep breath before standing straight and nodding.

Leon smiles encouragingly at him, before pushing the doors open and walking into the room.

Arthur, Uther, and Gaius were stood in front of the thrones quietly discussing something, but look up when they hear the doors open.

Arthur smiles widely and walks forward, giving Merlin a brief hug (which Morgana lovingly rolls her eyes at, they’ve only been apart for half an hour) and Uther straightens his back, before walking forwards regally, a practiced blank look on his face. Gaius gives his sister a reassuring smile, but stays back.

Leon and Merlin bow (Leon deeply, before stepping aside, and Merlin briefly and shallowly) and Hunith curtsied as best she could with Morgana protectively gripping her arm.

Arthur and Merlin stand next to the girls, hand in hand (Uther’s mind bounces between wanting to smile fondly, and wanting to grimace at the PDA), and Uther stops just in front of Hunith:

“Welcome to Camelot, your swift arrival was pleasing.”

Hunith nods, a polite, but strained smile on her face:

“Thank you, My Lord. Anything to make the boys lives easier.”

Uther clenches his jaw, and Morgana has to hide a smirk at the implication that she’d only moved to help out the boys, and not because Uther had ordered it.

“Of course. I hope your new home was to your liking?”

Hunith nodding in reply, the smile on her face a little brighter this time:

“Yes, My Lord, it’s wonderful, I can not thank you enough for providing it. I look forward to exploring your city.”

Uther nods slightly before saying:

“Yes, yes, it’s rather lovely this time of year. The Crown will provide a small allowance for a time, until you can get yourself on your feet. I’ve already discussed it with Gaius, and arrangements have been made for Merlin to become the physician’s apprentice, at Gaius’ earliest convenience.”

“Thank you, I’m sure it won’t be long before I can find work, in such a bustling city.”

Uther nods tersely, before turning back towards Gaius. He waves his hand dismissively over his shoulder as he says:

“I have other matters to attend to for the rest of the afternoon. Sir Leon, Arthur and Morgana, you have the rest of the day off to show our new... residents, around. You’re all dismissed.-”

Leon is the only one who bothers bowing to Uther’s back, and Morgana raises an eyebrow at him, before rolling her eyes and turning to leave, dragging Hunith with her, closely followed by the boys.

Just before Leon can exit the room, Uther turns around hurriedly:

“-Before I forget, Sir Leon, I would like a word.”

Leon turns around after wiping the panic from his face. He shuts the door after the others, who look at him worriedly, before turning around to face The King:

“My Lord?”

Uther settles an assessing gaze on the knight, and Leon has to stop himself from gulping in response. Uther sighs, and speaks after a moment:

“After paying a little more attention to the relationships between yourself, the boys, and Morgana, I have realised something. You obviously knew of this... relationship, long before I did. Do no deny it.-”

Leon does gulp at that, but before he can defend himself, Uther asks:

“Can I trust that it would have been brought to my attention had anything problematic started?”

Leon widens his eyes in shock, before gathering his thoughts and replying, injecting as much confidence in his voice as possible:

“Of course, My Lord. I kept a close eye on them myself, and made sure that the Prince’s safety was my highest priority at all times. Had anything worrying happened, I would have come to you immediately. I am loyal to the throne, My Lord.”

(A big fat lie considering the whole “Merlin is a sorcerer” thing, but the King certainly doesn’t need to know that.)

Uther nods thoughtfully, before meeting Leon’s gaze again:

“Good. I am glad that Arthur has someone looking out for him. I trust you will continue this?”

Leon nods:

“Of course, My Lord.”

Uther nods once again:

“Excellent. Make sure none of... this, interferes with his studies. You are dismissed.”

Leon bows deeply, before leaving the room. He shuts the door behind him, leaning on it and taking a deep breath, before looking up to meet the worried gazes of the others, who had waited for him. He smiles shakily:

“Nothing bad, I’ll tell you later. Come on, let’s show these two around the upper-town.”

Arthur fixes him with a scrutinizing gaze, but Leon meets it (Arthur has yet to win a staring contest against Leon, in fact, Morgana was the only one who ever came close), and after a moment, Morgana shakes her head, and begins to walk down the corridor, the boys trailing after her and Hunith.

They spend the rest of the afternoon showing Merlin and Hunith around the upper-town. The tour leads them around the market, the town square (where the well is) and other important fixtures of the town, such as the tailor, blacksmith’s, and some of Morgana’s favourite shops (Uther hated it, but Morgana and Arthur regularly sneak out of the castle to spend time in the city).

By the time the sun sets, the group is relaxed and getting on well. Merlin knew Morgana and Leon would love his mum, but it was still nerve-wracking, and he was overjoyed by how well it was going.

The kitchen of Hunith and Merlin’s new home had yet to be stocked, so they stopped off at some street vendors before heading back to the house. Hunith tried to argue when Arthur insisted on paying, but she was shut down pretty quickly when Arthur reminded her that he was The Prince, he could more than afford it, and anyway, “I like contributing to the local businesses, I wouldn’t be a Prince if I didn’t have my people around me, I like to give back where I can.”

Leon and Morgana smiled proudly at that, but the smiles on Hunith and Merlin’s face were more fond. 

(Morgana quietly thinks about how differently he would’ve been without Merlin to ground him. With a father like Uther, Arthur easily could’ve turned into an absolute prat.)

They stay together long into the evening, talking and laughing, before Leon finally says it’s time to go. Morgana, Hunith, and Merlin may have tomorrow free, but Leon and Arthur had training early, followed by a day full of meetings.

Morgana smirked at Arthur’s grumbling, but dutifully stood up. The three of them give Hunith and Merlin tight hugs, before leaving them alone, heading back to the castle.

Hunith and Merlin sit in comfortable silence, wide smiles on their faces, before Merlin breaks the silence:

“So what do you think? I know Uther is a bit of a prat, but he’ll want to see as little of us as possible, so it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Do you... like it here?”

Hunith smiles at him fondly, and runs her hands through his hair when he rests his head on her lap:

“You’ve really made a life for yourself here, haven’t you Merlin? I’m proud of you. Lady Morgana and Sir Leon are exactly how I expected them to be. The house is far more than I expected, but I’m grateful, and I’m sure it won’t take me long to find a job. I’ll always miss our rural village, but nothing is stopping us from visiting every once in a while, to get away from the city, and we have a nice little garden here.-”

Merlin closes his eyes, soothed by his mother’s fingers in his hair, and hums thoughtfully before Hunith continues:

“-You know, I had always considered sending you here to apprentice under Gaius when you were older anyway. Funny, how things turn out. Though perhaps I should’ve realised that nothing was going to go to plan when the little blond boy that appeared in my kitchen all those years ago turned out to be foreign royalty.” 

Merlin huffs out a laugh from when he laid, and responded sleepily:

“Yeah. You know I don’t even think of him as royalty, most of the time. He’s just... Arthur.”

Hunith smiles gently down at him, and takes a few minutes to respond:

“I know what you mean. I’m glad you found your person... or more accurately, I’m glad your person found you.-”

She chuckles, before adding the next bit on quietly:

“-Your father would be proud of you.”

Merlin opens his eyes, and looks up at her blearily:

“You think?”

Hunith’s smile widens, and the both of them politely ignore the tears gathering in her eyes:

“I know.”

~

Time passes quickly. The next day, Merlin, Hunith, and Morgana spend the whole day shopping and stocking up on food and other necessities (the small allowance Uther had provided for them actually turned out to be quite a lot, especially compared to the amount of money Hunith was used to having around).

At some point over the next week, like Morgana had suggested, her and Hunith spent a day in the tailor’s, having all of her new clothes adjusted properly. 

Hunith was also ecstatic to get a job off the back of that. She may not be at quite the professional level yet, but she was the one most of the locals would go to, to fix and patch and re-sew old clothes back in Ealdor.

Merlin started his apprenticeship with Gaius, which meant the days being near, but not with Arthur, were less boring, and slightly more bearable.

He picked up healing quickly (after seeing all the various injuries Arthur and Leon had sustained over the years during training, he was eager to learn how to help them), and he soon became known around town as Gaius’ Boy.

His cheerful demeanour and wide smile endeared him to all of his patients, and he made a point to try and be polite to everyone he came across. Suddenly living in a bustling city, and having what was basically a full time job, was a little overwhelming, but being here meant being with Arthur, so he was determined to make the most of it.

The boys spent the evenings together whenever they could (and still slept in the same bed most nights, out of habit. Merlin’s nightmares had made a brief reappearance after his first meeting with Uther, but they stopped again fairly soon.), and Arthur would often pop out of the castle to share meals with Merlin and Hunith, Morgana and Leon joining them when they had the time.

This did however, involve a few instances of Merlin or Arthur appearing at inopportune times. 

An emergency patient coming in meant Arthur appearing in the physician’s chambers, instead of Merlin’s home, like he had expected. 

Luckily the patient was unconscious at the time. 

(Uther had informed them that the council members and guards who worked in the castle had been informed of the situation (so that Hunith and Merlin wouldn’t be bothered), but the public wasn’t to know at all, at least until Arthur came of age.)

A council meeting overrunning meant Merlin appearing just behind the Prince’s seat, and turning wide-eyed and red-faced before squeaking out a quick apology and disappearing again.

The meeting was side-tracked for a good five minutes as Arthur tried to cover a smirk, Morgana (who insisted she be involved in important meetings when Arthur was) openly laughed, and Uther held his head in his hands, rubbing his tired eyes and muttering something about “stupid kids” and “stupid soul-bonds”.

They tried to be more careful after that incident, and they got better at exploring the bond. With some focus and practice, the boys got fairly good at sensing where the other was, and sometimes, if they were with other people (though that particular sense wasn’t as reliable).

About a month after they moved to Camelot, Merlin was introduced to a lovely girl called Guinevere. Her mother had served Leon’s family, and once she was old enough to have a job herself, Leon swung her a position in the castle as Morgana’s maidservant.

Arthur was oblivious at first (until an amused Merlin explained it to him later on), but Merlin and Leon definitely noticed the... bond, between the two girls, though all four would deny it to anyone who asked, in order to preserve their privacy.

Guinevere, or Gwen, as her friends call her, quickly joined the group. Morgana was grateful for another female presence, and Leon was most certainly grateful for the addition of someone who cared about safety and being careful.

He loved his kids, (”Oh my Gods... I’m a father... how do I... Gaius I know nothing about teenagers, what do I do?? I’m not ready to be a father!”), and Hunith was a good influence, but they couldn’t be around all of the time, and the boys had a bad habit of making trouble, especially with Morgana egging them on. 

He stressed a little less when he knew that Gwen was with them.

~

Shortly after Gwen’s appearance, the group (unfortunately without Leon, he had a patrol:( ) went exploring in the woods beyond the city. Uther was stuck in meetings all day, but Arthur and Morgana had a free day, and after much begging, Gaius let Merlin off as well. 

Morgana having a free day, meant that Gwen had a free day as well (not that Morgana ever made her do many chores anyway, only enough to keep up the pretence that they were Lady and Servant and not... something else).

They put together a picnic, took some horses from the stables, and headed off at first light. It was a warm, summers day, and they planned to spend the day in the sun, Arthur didn’t have to worry about duties, Merlin didn’t have to worry about memorising herb lists and symptoms, Morgana didn’t have to worry about being a Lady, and Gwen didn’t have to mind her place as a servant.

It was planned to be the perfect day, and it almost was. 

After a couple hours journey, they found a beautiful lake, and they spent the morning splashing around in the water, playing and laughing and messing around. 

They spent the middle of the day drying in the sun and snacking on all the sweet meats and fruit that Arthur had snuck from the kitchens. 

They spent the afternoon playing stupid games, and relaxing in the shade, holding hands with no worries, and even sneaking the occasional kiss, revelling in the freedom of being alone.

They were sad to have to leave, but it became an agreement that at least once a month, whilst the weather held out, they would come to their spot by the lake, and relax with each other. No responsibilities, no obligations, no “My Lord”s or “My Lady”s, just four friends, hopelessly happy and in love.

It was on the way home that things went a little wrong.

Usually this stretch of the woods was completely safe and bandit free, but the group was not so lucky as to have an eventless journey home.

When they were about halfway home, Merlin halted his horse suddenly and sat up straight, letting go of Arthur’s hand and tilting his head, eyes closed, listening to the woods around him with a frown on his face.

Arthur looks back and frowns, before calling to the girls, a few metres ahead of them, to wait for a minute.

He looks to Merlin, still with a frown on his face:

“Merls? What is it?”

Merlin waves his hand in Arthur’s direction, gesturing at him to be quiet. He is silent for another few moments, before he opens his eyes wide, and speaks in a low, but rushed voice:

“Gwen, ride ahead with ‘Gana, everyone get your swords out, we’re being watched.”

Arthur tenses at that, and he and Merlin pull their swords out (Leon had insisted that Merlin learn, he wasn’t nearly as good as the others yet, but he could hold his own. Leon was also the one who insisted they be armed when he learnt of their plan for the day.), quickly followed by Gwen and Morgana. 

Instead of riding ahead, Morgana speaks up quickly:

“Gwen can fight just as well as me, I’ve been training her, we should stay together.”

Arthur looks worried, but Gwen just rolled her eyes before adding quietly:

“I’m also the daughter of a blacksmith you know, I’ve been handling swords since before I could walk.”

Arthur sighs and nods, before looking back to Merlin, and quietly, so that only Merlin can hear him:

“How many, and where from?”

Merlin tilts his head away from Gwen, so she can’t see the gold of his eyes, before flexing his hand slightly, and responding:

“Six or seven, I think from the South.”

Arthur nods once more, before turning his horse to be facing South, and he peers into the trees. It wasn’t quite dark out, but it was dimming, and the forest was so thick, the underbrush so overgrown, that it was difficult to see much beyond the edge of the path.

The girls urge their horses back the way they came, to be close to the boys, and stay alert, swords raised, feet braced and ready for action.

Merlin clenches his hands and gasps slightly, before murmuring, loud enough for everyone to hear him this time:

“Twenty seconds.”

Gwen goes to question how he knew that, but a quick look from Morgana, and a shaken head meaning “Later” stops her, and she instead focuses her gaze on where the others were looking into the trees.

Like Merlin had said, twenty seconds later, the treeline breaks, and seven men burst through yelling, and brandishing swords, the shock of which sends the horses scarpering, and the four of them have to jump off and let them go.

Battle broke out immediately, the teenagers aiming to incapacitate or injure, but the bandits not being so kind with their attacks.

The battle is intense, Merlin using little bits of subtle magic here and there to trip or confuse various attackers, Arthur and Morgana slowly but surely taking down men, one by one, and Gwen easily enough holding her own.

But, four, mostly inexperienced (Arthur had only had to actually fight for his life once or twice at this point, and before, he was surrounded by fully trained knights whose top priority was keeping him safe, even to their own detriment) teenagers, aged 15, 16, and 17, were no match for seven seasoned attackers.

In the end, it’s the four of them left (each with bruises and cuts, but nothing serious) vs three remaining attackers, but the battle quickly stops when Merlin turns around (a gut feeling) to see one of the men silently raise a sword, readying to bring it down on to Gwen’s turned back.

He instinctively raises his empty hand towards them, and yells:

“NO!”

He sends the man flying back, head hitting the tree behind him with a thwack.

Gwen stares at him (or more accurately, the golden glow of his eyes) in astonishment, and Morgana and Arthur use the momentary distraction to deal with the last two attackers, giving them swift knocks to the head.

Morgana rushes forward to Gwen and tugs at her shoulder, trying to get her attention to see if she’s ok, but she ignores her just staring at Merlin.

Merlin drops his hand, and his face morphs from anger to shock to fear, the gold in his eyes fading back to blue as Arthur reaches his side and takes his hand. 

Gwen finally stutters out a:

“What... you’re... but Uther?-” before wiping the shock off her face, and setting it in grim determination, clenching her jaw.

Merlin’s eyes widen at her expression, and he takes a fearful step back, Arthur steps in front of him and Morgana tries to grab Gwen’s arm as she begins to stalk quickly forwards, but it slips from her grip.

Arthur holds his hands out, and begins to speak, seemingly trying to talk her out of hurting Merlin, but she ignores him, and pushes him to the side with surprising strength.

Merlin gasps and tries to take another step back, tears in his eyes, but she grabs his shoulders and, before anyone can say anything more, pulls him into a crushing hug.

Merlin takes a few moments to respond, clearly not expecting such an affectionate reaction to being discovered as an evil sorcerer, but hugs back at Gwen’s watery “Thank you.” whispered in his ear.

Arthur lets out a breath, and he and Morgana smile, not really sure why they were so surprised at Gwen’s acceptance. I guess that’s what happens when you grow up in Camelot, expecting hatred and violence and fear in response to magic is ingrained in you.

Gwen finally pulls back, and takes Merlin’s hands, the both of them have tears on their faces, and Gwen sniffs before quietly saying:

“I’m sorry that you have to live in fear, and I’m sorry I wasn’t clear enough in my adoration for you that you felt you had to be scared of my reaction. I promise to keep you safe, to the best of my ability.-”

She fondly punches him in the arm, before continuing with a smile:

“Next time, you can just do that right at the beginning, and save us all the trouble, yeah?”

Merlin nods slowly, before pulling Gwen into another tight hug. He buries his face in her neck, and she runs her hands through his hair and they both quietly weep.

Arthur and Morgana both feel the strong urge to step in, and comfort their own soulmates, but they resist, and instead give them a moment of privacy as they round up the horses, and search the bandits.

After a few minutes, Gwen and Merlin pull back, and walk towards the other two, holding each other’s hand comfortingly. 

Whilst searching their unconscious bodies, Arthur hadn’t found anything identifying, but had found a length of rope in one of their discarded bags, hidden in the underbrush.

He cuts the rope into separate pieces and ties the bandits up, to individual trees, before looking back to the group:

“This won’t hold them long at all, but we don’t have the means to transport them back to the city. I can get my father to send a search party to look for them, but by the time we get back to the City, and the Knights get out here, they’ll probably be long gone.”

Morgana raises an eyebrow and replies:

“I thought you Knights were excellent trackers. They won’t wake up for a while, and they’ll be dazed, so it’ll take them a while to get out of the rope, if your knots are any good-”

Arthur goes to retort, but Gwen quickly interrupts him:

“That’s not the point. What if one of them remembers what Merlin did? And accuses him? Uther probably wouldn’t take their word against all of ours, but it would attract unwanted attention, wouldn’t it? And, no offense Merlin, but he’s already not exactly fond of you.”

Arthur nods at that, and Morgana hums thoughtfully, whilst Merlin just stares at her in shock. He speaks up after a moment:

“We could loosen the knots, and wake them up a little before leaving? That way they’ll have plenty of time to escape before the knights get here? But we have to report it. The types of men to attack four teenagers, none in armour, and two of whom are women, need to be warned about.”

Arthur and Gwen look troubled at that, and Arthur speaks up first:

“Morgana is right though, the Knights are brilliant at tracking, what if they find them anyway? I won’t risk one of them remembering what you did.”

Merlin looks annoyed, always the one to sacrifice himself, and Morgana furrows her brows before looking up, and speaking slowly:

“You could... over exaggerate how violent they were? Request a kill on sight order? That way, none of them make it back to testify, but they’re also no longer a problem for travellers.”

Arthur tilts his head in surprise, and Gwen widens her eyes at the suggestion.

Arthur looks like he’s genuinely considering it, when Merlin gasps:

“Oh!! Wait! The other day, I read about a spell. It’s like a memory charm, I can make them forget the last ten minutes or so, if it works, and we time it right, they’ll remember attacking us, but not how the fight ended!”

He has a grin on his face, but Morgana and Gwen look doubtful, whilst Arthur looks thoughtful, before speaking:

“Have you tried it before? Do you know it would work?”

Merlin turns a little pink, before looking to the floor, and saying:

“Well... do you remember agreeing to let me try it on you last week?”

Morgana grins as she realises the implication of the question, and Gwen gasps as Arthur’s eyes grow wide, and he shakes his head slowly:

“...No.”

Merlin finally meets his eyes, with a nervous smile on his face as he says:

“Then yeah, I’ve tried it before and it worked fine.”

Morgana and Gwen start laughing as Merlin bites his lip and Arthur blinks a few times, before speaking again:

“...Ok, you cast the charm or whatever, I’ll make sure the ropes are done tightly, then we’ll wait for one of them to wake up, to check that it worked, then we’ll leave, and send a patrol back to arrest them.”

With the girls still laughing in the background, Merlin goes to the three attackers who had witnessed him perform magic and cast the spell, whilst Arthur double checked all of the bindings.

The group only has to splash cold water on the face of one of the attackers for him to cough himself awake. He looks around, clearly bewildered, and yells:

“What?? How the fuck... what did... how hard do you hit, kid? Jeez, how the fuck did I-”

He’s cut off by Arthur hitting him in the head again with the hilt of his sword, before he steps back and says:

“Ok. It worked. I think it’d be best if we got home as quickly as possible, we’re already going to be late.”

With that, the group takes one last cursory glance (and fill with pride at the idea that they’d managed to fight off a group of thieving murderous bandits all on their own) at the bound bandits, before mounting their horses, and urging them into a gallop towards Camelot.

The report to Uther was definitely intense, The King was furious that a group of violent criminals were attacking citizens, especially women (though Arthur made sure to point out that Morgana fought just as well as him, and Gwen held her own just fine) so close to the city.

He immediately sent out a large patrol to scour the woods, focussed especially around the path they used, and to not come back until the seasons changed, or the criminals were found.

Arthur was right, the ropes hadn’t held them for long, but he was also right in saying that Camelot Knights were excellent trackers, and they were hunted down within a week, and brought back to Camelot for sentencing.

Arthur and Morgana tried to speak against it, at Merlin and Gwen’s request, but Uther ultimately sentenced the offenders to execution, for crimes against the Crown and Citizens of Camelot, and didn’t question why they couldn’t even remember half the fight.

In fact, that actually had Uther praising the group for fighting well, and he begrudgingly admitted that Morgana’s sword lessons (which she had been ruthlessly demanding since she was a child) and Guinevere’s subsequent training, had paid off well.

~

THE END OF PART 2

Wow so I finished this way quicker than I was expecting, I just really love this concept, thanks anon, for requesting :)

Anyway, hope you enjoy gang

[monstersandmaw]

Male drider x reader (sfw) - Part One

Edit which I’m including in all my works after plagiarism and theft has taken place: I do not give my consent for my works to be used, copied, published, or posted anywhere. They are copyrighted and belong to me.

It’s Wednesday, so that means it’s ‘new’ story time. This one has been up on Patreon for a week already, and Part Two has gone live today already.

Content: Female reader takes up a job as an archivist in a creepy old house and is surprised to find that 'the master' refuses to be seen at all... Very much ‘Beauty and the Beast’ inspired, if you will. Cameos from Sarrigan Silkfoot and Damien the orc chocolatier (Tumblr links). Wordcount: 2464

EDIT: my favourite comment from patrons on part two has been ‘cranky spooder’

WANTED: Librarian to take on an extensive, re-cataloguing project in a large, private collection. Diverse collection includes books, clay and stone tablets, scrolls, parchments, and various other media.  Applicant must be willing to live on-site in a relatively remote location, and archival qualifications preferred, though demonstrable experience may suffice. Board and lodging will be provided throughout the duration of the project. It is anticipated that it should take between four to six months. More details to be supplied to the candidate following a successful interview.

---

You stared at the strange advert in the paper and let your teeth sink slowly into your lip, a frown playing across your forehead. This was… honestly right up your street in terms of experience and qualifications. In that moment, sitting at the table in your favourite coffee shop in Starfall Springs while a summer rain shower hammered down outside, you wanted to wave that advertisement in the face of everyone who’d said a postgraduate qualification in archive and records management would render you essentially bankrupt and completely unemployable. If this was anything to go by, they were only half wrong. You were practically bankrupt. Well, up to your eyeballs in student loans at least.

“Fuck it,” you hissed under your breath, ripping out the advert and getting out your phone. There was no email contact, but there was a number, and you saved it to your contacts in case you lost the little shred of newspaper, and decided to call as soon as you got home.

The phone wasn’t exactly your preferred method of communication, but it was all you had, so after psyching yourself up, you punched in the numbers and paced about, waiting for someone to answer.

Abruptly, the dial tone cut off, and a crackling on the other end of the line announced that someone had picked up. “Hello…? I’m… I’m calling about the archivist’s role advertised in the Starfall Chronicle… I was hoping for a bit more information.”

“Oh,” came a reedy, thin voice. “Your qualifications?”

You told them and then waited for them to speak.

“Hmm. And your experience?”

You swallowed. “I… I helped the Starfall Museum in transferring their computer system from the manual catalogues…” you said, suddenly feeling like this was the interview already.

“Mmm. So your experience is not extensive then.”

It wasn’t a question, and you ground your teeth.

“Just how am I supposed to get this vast acreage of mythical experience if no one hires anyone without it? I can get you three stunning references from the museum curators and staff, as well as from my professors at university,” you said hotly. And instantly regretted it. “I’m sorry,” you added hastily. “I didn’t mean to…”

“Yes you did,” they chuckled, voice husky and fragile. “And you’re perfectly right. I think you might do well at this in fact.”

“I… what?”

Another soft snort. “What information would you like to know then?”

“Where is it, for a start?”

There was an uncomfortable pause, and you’d just been on the point of asking if they were still there when they spoke again. “There’s an old estate to the north of Starfall Springs.”

You frowned. You’d heard rumours as a child growing up here that there was some mad old nightmare creature who lived in the woods on the slopes of Starfall Mountain and came down into the town on the new moon snatched naughty children from their beds, but you'd long dismissed it as nonsense to make kids behave. Still, it sent a tingle of apprehension down your spine.

“I’ve heard something of it,” you said carefully. “Not much.”

“Widowsweb Court,” the person said with reticence. “The estate dates back centuries, and the collection is in need of some care and attention. If you would be willing to live on the estate in your own, self-contained apartment, with meals provided in the kitchens of the main house should you wish it, then I think you sound like the right person for the role.”

“When would you want me to start?”

In the end, it took you less than a month to get everything organised.

On the evening of your departure, you and your friends celebrated on Temple Meadow, the huge swathe of public park surrounding the town’s religious building, and as you lay back on the blanket, staring up at the sky and surrounded by friends, you saw a shooting star sear through the canopy of glimmering stars above.

Sarrigan Silkfoot and his partner lay curled up nearby, and Damien, the huge orc from the chocolaterie in town, had tucked his own partner’s head against the crook of his colossal shoulder. A thought occurred to you as you watched Sarrigan toss his head back and laugh at a joke whispered in his ear, and you sat up.

“Sarrigan?”

“Mm?” he hummed, laughter still dancing in his eight red eyes.

“I know you don’t talk much about your family, but do you know of any other estates around here?” You hadn’t mentioned exactly where the job was, just that it wasn’t in Starfall Springs itself.

“Why d’you ask?”

“The place I’m going to for this job is called Widowsweb Court, but the library said it’s been abandoned for years, and I couldn’t find much about it on the internet either.”

He went still at the mention of its name. “Widowsweb you say?”

You nodded and realised you had the attention of everyone in your small group.

Sarrigan straightened and tucked a strand of his long, black hair behind a tapering ear. “It used to be part of the Silkfoot family holdings… way, way back,” he began, gesturing with his hand. “But about four hundred years or so ago, there was a disagreement between the then patriarch of the family and the dowager, his mother. He essentially annexed the property and disowned the entire estate. He could have sold it, but apparently he felt just guilty enough not to turf her out onto the street…”

“Why? I mean, what did she do?”

Sarrigan shrugged. “No idea. Knowing my family, it probably had something to do with anti-human sentiments…” he winked at you and added, “We really didn’t like your kind invading these parts…”

“We’re not exactly a majority round here,” his partner said, thwacking him in the belly with the back of a hand.

“True,” he said before turning back to you. “But you’re saying someone actually lives there?”

Damien leaned across and grinned, “Could be a long-lost relative, Sarrigan!”

“Well, whoever my employer is, they have a huge collection to reorganise, so I’m in.”

“You don’t even know the name of the person who’s paying you?” Damien gawped.

You shook your head. “A Mr. Ambleside is taking care of that. He’s apparently employed to keep the estate running and such… He’s the one who interviewed me.”

“Ambleside is an old family name from these parts,” Sarrigan said thoughtfully. “Well, you make sure you keep in touch, hmm?”

“Will do,” you nodded.

The only problem was, you discovered after Damien had dropped you off and fussed endlessly over you outside the tumble-down gates of the estate, that there was no phone reception way out here. Not even a single, sputtering bar.

As the tail lights of Damien’s truck disappeared, you pushed the iron gates open, the hinges screeching in protest loud enough that you thought your arrival would be announced all the way back down into Starfall, a two hour drive away.

Heaving your huge suitcase into your hand, you began to struggle down the driveway. Overgrown, potholed, and muddy, the road was barely even a road after the recent rain.

Ancient, thick-boled trees hung over the drive, branches meeting in the middle like lovers fingers interlaced, and after half a mile of walking, you stopped, exhausted, and sat on your suitcase. You’d made it out of the small, gnarled copse that bordered the edge of the estate, but the parklands that lay beyond seemed to stretch for miles. The thought of hauling your sizable suitcase all that way made you feel faint, especially in the stifling sun. There was at least a cooling breeze that lifted your hair and caressed your skin, but honestly, it was hopeless.

Eventually, after perhaps a quarter of an hour of sitting there, getting warmer and thirstier, and growing no less exhausted, you caught sight of a movement on the driveway. Squinting, you made out a horse and cart, and sitting atop the driver’s bench, a figure with a wide-brimmed hat on their head.

The closer they got, the more you were able to make out, and when they were perhaps fifty yards away, you stood up. They looked to be an elderly firbolg, with warm-brown skin and flaming red hair and beard.

The horse was an elderly, bony looking thing, and the cart just as rickety, but the firbolg drew to a halt beside you and barked your name in a familiar voice.

“Mr. Ambleside?”

“Yes, that’s me,” he said. “You’re early.”

“A little, yes.”

“Well, climb in. Do you need a hand with your bag?”

You looked at it, and then at the height of the cart bed. “If you wouldn't mind?”

He nodded and climbed carefully down. You weren’t sure how old firbolgs got, but he didn’t exactly look young. Having said that, he hauled your bag into the back like it weighed nothing at all and then helped you up to sit beside him on the bench before turning the cart around and heading back up the driveway.

The house itself was nestled in a clump of massive elm trees, masked from view until almost the last moment. “I’ll show you to the cottage, and then you can come up to the house for some refreshments. You’ll start work tomorrow at nine.”

You nodded, not wanting to rock the proverbial boat. “Is it just you and… er… your - our - employer here then?” you ventured after a few minutes of silence with only the rumbling of the cart for background noise.

He shrugged. “My boy works here in the grounds too, and there’s Chiara who tends to the household. Other than that, yes. And the master, of course.”

“Will I be meeting him?” you asked.

Mr. Ambleside looked positively scandalised. “Oh heavens no!” he gasped.

“Right. I see. He’s… unwell?”

That drew a deep scowl from the firbolg’s thick, heavy brows. “No,” he said, but it sounded like he was buying time. “No, he’s not unwell. He just… prefers a solitary life. You are to enter through the back door to the kitchens, proceed up the route to the library that I will show you, and return the same way when you’re done, is that clear?”

“Perfectly,” you said, wondering just what you’d got yourself into.

“If you need to use a telephone at any time, you may use the landline in my office.”

That news came as a huge relief, and you clung to it as you were shown the slightly dusty stable-house apartment just across the courtyard from the main house. Widowsweb Court was a massive country pile, with filigree stonework and steeply pitched, slate-tiled roofs, and it wouldn’t have looked out of place in a horror movie.

Your first week passed without incident. You assessed the vast, rambling collection, and saw immediately that it would definitely take much, much longer than the six months for which you’d been contracted to get to grips with it and get it into a decent order. Even if you had a team of ten strong people to help you, there was no way you could reorganise all the shelves in the cavernous library. It was as large and as varied as any national archives, and contained books and scrolls on everything from ancient magic to the development of medicine in various countries across the world.

Travel journals were rammed in next to tomes on mathematics, poetry beside animal husbandry, and gemology beside botany. There was no scheme to it, and after two weeks, you nearly had a complete breakdown.

Covered in dust and suddenly vastly overwhelmed by the looming, dark bookshelves, you simply sat down on the floorboards and let your head fall forwards into your hands. This was a gargantuan effort for one person to tackle alone.

Something rattled in the stacks and you gasped, sitting up straight, heart hammering. “Hello?”

Silence followed, but after only another few seconds, you heard a skittering of limbs and the slam of a door. Except, there was only one doorway to the library, and it was behind you.

Standing somewhat shakily, you swiped your tears away and paced steadily along the floorboards towards the source of the noise. When you found nothing but dusty stacks and silent  books, you swallowed and turned away.

At supper that night, you ate with Mr. Ambleside and his son, Naril, who was perhaps a year or two younger than you, and looked very much like his father. Noticing your pensive expression, he leaned over and asked in his softly-articulated purr if everything was alright. “You look… I don’t know… Did something happen?”

You sighed, nudging food listlessly around your plate. “I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the project today…” you said. “And… I heard a noise in the library that startled me, that’s all.”

The two of them exchanged looks and then Mr. Ambleside said, “That was probably the master…”

“But I thought…” you began, though you hardly knew what you thought about the mysterious person who supposedly ran the estate, pulling all the strings from a hidden room in the old house and never revealing himself to anyone.

“Why do you think he wanted the collection organised?” Mr. Ambleside chuckled into his potatoes. “He’s an avid reader, but doesn’t have the patience to do it himself. Plus, he doesn’t see too well any more.”

“Oh,” you breathed. “All those books, and… that seems so cruel… Is he very old?”

Naril shook his head. “No, he’s maybe ten years or so older than us? Chiara reads to him in the evenings if his eyes get tired, and —”

“—Naril, that’s enough,” Mr. Ambleside barked, and Naril’s fluffy ears tucked right back against his head. “We do not gossip about the master.”

“Sorry, father,” he said, shooting you a look that conveyed a fair bit. ‘If you want to know more, ask me when he’s not around’ it said.

For another week, your recataloguing was left undisturbed by noises, but after four weeks of being at Widowsweb Court, you encountered ‘the master’ for the first time, and he was nothing like you’d thought he would be, though perhaps the name of the place should have given it away.

Part Two --->

To be continued next Wednesday... Part Two is currently up on Patreon so you can read it right now on the Pixies and Goblins Tier.

___

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Currently I’m also running a CYOA for all tiers, with episodes releasing every Friday.

__

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[im-in-love-with-pizza-bites]

It Takes A Village Chapter 2

Chris Evans x Pregnant!daughter!reader

Series Master List

Series summary: You find out that your pregnant. After being kicked out of your mom's house you go to live full time with your Dad who you only saw once every few months. Will he react badly to you being a mom at such a young age?

Chapter Summary: You move in with Chris and decide what your doing with the baby.

Series warnings: swearing, fighting with a parent, teen pregnancy, speak of abortion.

Chapter warnings: swearing, teen pregnancy, hinting to abortion I don't directly say abortion but y'know it's hinting to it so.

Y/n means your name. (Divider isn't mine)

It had been a few days since everything, your mom has been giving you a cold shoulder, Jake told his parents and Grandma, they were mad at the both of you, and believe you should terminate your pregnancy because your so young. Your dad and you talked every day, after a few days he did give you a lecture about using protection, and let you know he would've preferred being a grandpa a little later in life. He told you that your room was all ready for when you got there and that your grandma was excited to see you though no one except your parents and Jake's family actually know why you're moving back to Boston. Now you're on the airplane going to Boston. It's only a three-hour flight so you began thinking over all the decisions you made leading up to this.

First, you met Jake when you moved to town when you were five, started dating at 14, then you got pregnant with his kid and your mom disowned you at 15. Now you need to decide, be a mom at 15 or terminate the pregnancy. Since you had found out about the baby your hands kinda self consciously went to your stomach to rub it, not like you are showing yet it just gave you comfort. You looked out the window deep in thought, if you kept the baby you would have to deal with the whole pregnancy and then raise a kid at 15 alone because your boyfriend broke up with you. If you didn't keep the baby you could keep being a kid, but what if you regret not keeping them. Your dad already told you he'd support whatever you do and would even help you set up a nursery nook in your bedroom for the baby if you decided to keep them, and with him there to help you the baby would at least have a male figure in their life even if it was not a dad. Dating would be hard with a kid but it's not like you were planning to date for a while anyway. What would people think? Chris Evans' precious daughter pregnant at 15. After a while in your thoughts you decided, it was the choice you had been leaning toward since you and your dad had that talk.

The plane eventually landed in Boston and you nervously looked around the airport for your dad, and uncle who your dad told you wanted to come with. You eventually spotted Chris standing with Scott smiling at you. You ran into Chris' arms feeling relieved to finally having a comforting hug only your dad could give you. "Howdy dad!" You said smiling. Since you lived in Texas since you were 5 you began saying southern words but still have a Boston (ma) accent. You'd pretty much go from full blown Boston accent to saying yall and other southern words.

"What about me?" Scott asked when you pulled out of the hug with your dad.

"Howdy Uncle Scott!" You gave him a quick hug before the three of you began to walk to the car. The decision you had made on the plane ride here was hanging over your head and you knew you had to tell him soon but not when your uncle was here so you'll wait for when it's just you and your dad.

"Chris won't tell anyone why your moving back what happened?" Scott asked you. He knew you loved it in Texas with your friends and especially your boyfriend.. Which your assuming he doesn't know you and Jake broke up or if he does he doesn't know the real reason.

"Mom kicked me out..." You mumbled as you made it to the car tossing your bags into the trunk.

You didn't see how Scott looked at Chris questioningly. There are so many different reasons your mom could kick you out for but he just couldn't settle on one. Chris just shook his head, telling Scott not to ask. You got into the backseat while they both got into the front. You pulled out your phone looking through your friend's Instagram. Eventually your dad pulled up to his house and you excitedly jump out of the car to go say hi to Dodger. You heard the two men chuckle as you ran up to the house. Dodger ran straight to you when you walked in. Your dad and uncle grabbed your bags before going inside to find you playing with Dodger on the floor.

"Someone missed you." Scott said smiling at you. You smiled back before continuing to pet Dodger.

"Yeah." You laughed as dodger licked your face. You finally stood wiping off your face before following Chris up to your room which hadn't changed in the two years since you had been here. (He was in LA the last time you visited him) "Home sweet home!" You said jumping onto your bed a relaxed sigh leaving you as you closed you eyes.

Scott and Chris smiled as you took in being back in Boston. You opened your eyes and smiled at them before you smile faltered remembering you still have to tell your dad about what you're doing with the baby.

"Missed your room?" Chris asked raising an eyebrow at you as they walked in. He sat your bags down.

"Yeah!" Other then the fact this room was still decorated for young you since you had never really bothered redecorating it since you only wanted to spend time with your family, it was definitely the place you felt most at home.

---------

After a little while of catching up with Scott on everything except why you got kicked out he went home. You and your dad were now sitting in the kitchen eating pizza in silence.

"Dad? I decided what I want to do." You said quietly.

"Okay, what do you want to do?" He asked you looking your way.

"I'm keeping the baby." You said giving him a nervous smile. He smiled at you secretly excited that he was going to have a grandchild.

"Okay! I'll help you book an appointment. Make sure the little one and you are both healthy." He assured patting your back reassuring you. 

"Thanks." You smiled less nervous than before.

A/n: I started a Taglist! just ask to be in it!

Taglist: @toastisgood

[cheryblossomdreams]

A Discussion About Dramione

This is a very difficult ship in the HP fandom, alongside others like Drarry etc.

However, I think there is something to be said for it regardless, since I’ve seen a lot of anti-Dramione content with some valid points and a lot of non valid ones too, so I suppose I’d like a try my hand at rebuking some of them.

1. Dramione shippers romanticize abuse and bullying.

At first glance, it certainly looks that way. Draco Malfoy was a racist, petty, spoiled bully that jumped on every opportunity to bully Hermione Granger and her friends. He is not a good character. In the Dramione fandom, no one claims he is a good character either. Instead, the Dramione fandom recognized the canon potential for change in Draco and uses that to shape their fanfics. The largest majority of the fandom (There do exist those really young fans that don’t quite yet understand everything that will blindly defend him or create extremely problematic fanart, but they are truly a minority) acknowledges entirely all the wrongs Draco has committed, and they are many. Actually, in most Dramione fics, the writers go to great lengths to process the part of DHr’s past that was filled with hatred and insults. You can find examples of this in the fic Measure of a Man by @inadaze22​. Also to the point, most of Dramione fanfiction is written and set in a time many years after the War, after their school years, where they’ve both grown, matured and become adults, changed by time and what they went through, so it is a null point to say Dramione shippers romanticize bullying when their content is almost always set in a time where Draco is no longer a bully and Hermione is no longer a victim.

What the Dramione shippers like to emphasize is the fact that even though Draco used to be a horrible person, he had changed and grown past that, owned up to his mistakes and is now a different man. That’s what the stories they write are about. He had the potential to change already established in canon that he used later through his life to become someone better Hermione could eventually forgive and love.

You’ll be hard pressed to find a Dramione shipper that would say that while they were still in school they should’ve gotten together. Absolutely not. The content most of the Dramione fandom creates is always set post-canon, at a time where Draco’s changed and grown up from who he used to be, and Hermione recognizes his change and forgives him.

She certainly doesn’t have to forgive him, she doesn’t owe him anything, but part of Hermione’s bravery and overall character is that she would have been able to forgive him when she realized he’d changed. Plus, he saved her best friend’s life at a critical point in the war and, even though he did nothing to help her because he literally couldn’t have, which is something I’m pretty sure Hermione would have been grateful for, even a little bit. 

The Malfoy family saved Harry’s life TWICE in HP, in both extremely critical moments in the war (Draco lying at the manor, Narcissa lying to Voldemort), which is something Hermione wouldn’t have been able to just ignore and pretend like it never happened, because that’s not who she is. 

There probably is a very small percent of the Dramione fandom who create problematic content, but every fandom and every ship has toxic shippers, besides they are simply not the majority.

2. Dramione shippers use Hermione to redeem Draco.

The redemption arc Draco got in HP is extremely flimsy at best, especially considering the amount of damage he’d done prior. He saved Harry’s life, yes, but he did nothing to protect either Ron or Hermione, so personally I wouldn’t harp on about that being much of a redemption arc at all. However, I don’t think any Dramione shippers use Hermione to redeem him. In the Dramione content the things he did wrong and the hurt he inflicted is something Hermione recognizes and then, through the story, eventually chooses to leave behind. Besides, she doesn’t have to redeem him, since we know from canon he’d grown out of his beliefs eventually, privately at least if not publicly (more on this later).

3. Draco had a choice in how to act, if he really didn’t believe in blood supremacy.

No, he didn’t. Let me break it down why.

When he was 11 years old and first coming to Hogwarts, he was too young to understand the beliefs his parents ingrained into him were wrong and harmful, he simply didn’t have the mental capacity to comprehend that. He was a child that hung to every word their mom and dad said and he acted accordingly.

As he grew up though, started going through puberty and maturing, he would’ve realized that blood supremacy is wrong. Let’s say this realization came when he was 14. Lucius and Narcissa weren’t with him at Hogwarts, so if he changed his behavior to reflect his new realizations, they wouldn’t have known, right?

WRONG.

Do you really mean to tell me that if Draco Malfoy, only son and sole heir to the Malfoy family, an extremely wealthy, influential family in the Wizarding World and its politics, part of the sacred 28, well respected and with a high status in society, suddenly started being kinder and friendlier to Muggleborns and Halfbloods, people wouldn’t talk? People wouldn’t wonder, get suspicious? That such news wouldn’t reach his father, who’s got eyes and ears everywhere (evident by the fact he was able to bribe someone in Hogwarts to buy his son a position on the Quidditch team). And how do you think Lucius Malfoy, a devout Death Eater, would have reacted to receiving such news? What do you think would have happened to Draco when he came home that summer?

Draco was never abused and I doubt Lucius would start then, but I am positive he would’ve been disowned, for betraying the values his family had upheld for centuries. Lucius is a staunch blood purist and he absolutely would cut all contact with his son (disown him) when news reached him Draco was making nice with Muggleborns and Halfbloods.

And Draco knew this, he knew how strict his father was, he knew how deeply he believed in blood supremacy and he knew the consequences for stepping out of line and being anything less than the perfect son.

What would a 14-year old kid do being disowned? Homeless essentially?

So, even if he had realized the wrongs of his beliefs and renounced them, he couldn’t have done that publicly, and certainly not with Hermione Granger or Harry Potter much less, seeing as Harry Potter is the nemesis of the man his father believes in.

By the time he reaches 15 and 16, Voldemort is already at full power again and living in Draco’s house. Now things get even worse. After Lucius fails to get the Prophecy in the Department of Mysteries, Voldemort decides he has to punish him for his failure by having Draco take the Dark Mark. By this point, Draco had abandoned ideas of blood supremacy, but at this point, what the fuck is he going to do? Refuse The Dark Lord? The Darkest Wizard in all of Wizarding History? The guy who is living in his house AND holds the lives of him AND his entire family hostage? Who could and would murder Draco’s mother and father and Draco himself if Draco disobeyed? The man who murdered a person right on Draco’s kitchen table and had Nagini swallow them whole?

Even if all of that wasn’t true, and it is, how’s a 16 year old kid going to fight off a house full of seasoned Death Eaters, proficient at the Dark Arts who will use Unforgivables on him, plus Voldemort himself, plus a giant terrifying snake?

At that point, Draco is left with literally zero choice but to take the Mark and obey his mission to murder Dumbledore.

He hatches several plots to kill Dumbledore, all of which fail. When they stand at the Astronomy tower, even Dumbledore himself calls all of his plots halfhearted and weak. Dumbledore offers him help, but Draco is very clear in his regret of the things he’d done and the fact there’s no going back now.

‘I have to do this, I have to kill you, or he’s gonna kill me.’

AND

‘What do you know about me? I’ve done things that would shock you.’

(I’m paraphrasing here, these aren’t the exact quotes).

At which point Snape shows up and kills Dumbledore in Draco’s place because of the Vow he made to Narcissa.

Any way you look at it, he really didn’t have any choice, even if he did at some point during school renounce his beliefs and grow past them.

4. He tried to kill Ron.

I’ve seen antis blame Draco for this one, which is a bit ridiculous. He did not. He had madam Rosmerta poison a bottle of wine, which he sent to Horace Slughorn, hoping Slughorn would pass it onto Dumbledore. Filch hadn’t noticed any traces of poison in it, because he is a Squib, he also didn’t doubt a shipment from Rosmerta, and so he just gave it to Slughorn. Slughorn kept it around and then later he was the one to offer Ron a glass of that wine. In Draco’s plan, Ron wasn’t ever even mentioned nor included in any way. It had been an unlucky coincidence for Ron, and Draco couldn’t have possibly known that Slughorn would hold onto the wine, that Ron would ever be around Slughorn OR that Slughorn would offer Ron that same wine. Sufficed to say, Draco never attempted to murder Ronald Weasley.

5. He did nothing while Bellatrix tortured Hermione.

We’ve been over this, what could he have done? He had saved Harry’s life earlier, but that one lie couldn’t of spared Ron or Hermione, their faces were too recognizable, even if Harry’s wasn’t.

A room full of Death Eaters, some of the cruelest, most dangerous ones mind you (Bellatrix Lestrange) and he’d be 17, if I remember correctly, still not even an adult, plus at this point in the war even more powerless (considering the fact the Malfoys had fallen out of favor with Voldemort, evident by the fact Lucius tells Draco that if they deliver Harry Potter to Voldemort, all would be forgiven).

What did you expect him to do? Leap into battle and try to fend off dozens of Death Eaters, effectively betraying the Dark Lord in the process and single-handedly getting his entire family killed, if not even himself?

Would you have done that? No, of course not.

6. Draco Malfoy is not redeemable.

Now Draco’s “redemption arc”, if it can be called that, is a powerful moment but it’s flimsy. JK didn’t really ever intend for him to be redeemed or liked either, but let’s take a look at it anyways.

It is canon that Draco stopped believing in blood supremacy at some point during their school years, though we can’t know exactly when.

How can I say this, when his behavior never indicated that?

Well, I’ve already been over why he couldn’t have suddenly changed his behavior, now let’s go through how I can claim it is canon.

The scene where Draco lies to everyone about Harry’s identity.

That moment could only exist IF Draco didn’t believe in blood supremacy anymore.

Think about it, if Draco was devout to Voldemort and his beliefs like his father, he would have had no problem or conscience to tell everyone ‘Yes, this is Harry Potter, hand him over.’ It would have been favorable to him if Harry died.

And let’s be clear, if Draco had said the truth in that moment, Harry would have died. He was captured, wandless (his is broken, when they escape the Manor he steals Draco’s), Ron and Hermione captured as well, he was entirely helpless and surrounded by powerful Dark Arts wizards and witches who would lead him directly to Voldemort the moment they got confirmation it was indeed him and that would have been it. Voldemort would have killed him. Voldemort would have won.

But that isn’t what happened.

Draco looked at Harry, recognized it was him (evident by a later scene where Harry straight up says that. “Why didn’t you tell her? Bellatrix? You knew it was me, you didn’t say anything.”) and at first, still unsure what to do, asked why Harry’s face was like that, and he’s told Harry just came in like that.

Draco says “I’m not sure.”

At that point Lucius grips him and tells him that if they gave up Harry Potter to Voldemort all would be forgiven, Bellatrix brings him closer to get a second look.

Draco knows all the consequences of what he’s doing at this point, he knows what he’s risking, the literal lives of everyone he loves, and what does he do?

He still lies.

‘I can’t be sure.’

It’s a powerful moment for his character, BUT it’s not enough for redemption. The amount of pain and hatred he’d spewed for 6 years (I say 6 years because The Golden Trio wasn’t attending Hogwarts for year 7) is not redeemed by this one instance. His actions, letting Death Eaters into Hogwarts, likely torturing people on command of the Carrows in 7th year, are not redeemed by this moment, even if he did save Harry’s life.

However, though this instance doesn’t constitute redemption, it is telling of the fact Draco has changed, and changed significantly from the hateful, angry, spoiled, racist brat he used to be, which gives him potential to grow up into a different, better man.

Whether JK intended it or not, the way that was written makes Draco Malfoy more than redeemable, if not for the duration of the books, then later through his life.

Being a horrible person at one point in your life does not make you forever evil, does not mean you can not ever change. To prove this, I’d like to humbly request you to watch this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSH5EY-W5oM

Voldemort’s regime is very similar to Hitler’s Nazi movement, so this video is very fitting to my point and HP in general.

Here’s another three:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORp3q1Oaezw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw0vS0qvYo0&list=TLPQMTcxMjIwMjBZfqJdkbbQJw&index=2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4gly9n9RBo&list=TLPQMTcxMjIwMjBZfqJdkbbQJw&index=3

If you don’t have time to watch, let me sum it up for you.

The first video chronicles the story of a man who’d been part of the Neo-Nazi movement, managed to leave it behind and become an activist and overall an amazing guy now.

The other three links chronicle the story of Daryl Davis, a black man who’d attended KKK rallies and even met with the Imperial Wizard of the KKK Roger Kelly, somehow despite all odds became friends with him and eventually managed to get through to Roger Kelly to the point where this man (The leader of the KKK on a national scale) stepped down from his position and left the Ku Klux Klan.

That’s real life, something like that happened, truly happened, but Draco Malfoy is irredeemable?

PLUS, Draco is hardly the first case like this.

Take James Potter as an example. James was also a rich, racist, privileged white boy, and a bully. He’d bullied Snape severely, even set up a “prank” with his friends that would lead to Snape getting attacked by a WEREWOLF, putting him in mortal peril, with great potential of killing him, that required then a rescue operation.

James attempted murder, or if you don’t want to go that far, he set up a situation that quite possibly could have gotten someone killed, and he got to mature and grow past his behaviors and redeem himself, fall in love with Lily and have a wonderful son.

Why couldn’t Draco change when James had?

~

In conclusion, I think there’s a big diifference between what the Dramione fandom actually is and what antis think it is. 

The heart of the Dramione fandom is about growing and changing and maturing and forgiving and falling in love despite the differences of the past.

It’s not about romanticizing bullying or toxic relationships, life is not black and white people, people can change and grow from their past actions and people can also forgive and move on. 

There’s plenty of examples in the books of Harry and Ron mistreating Hermione and they all move past those instances (obviously that can’t be compared to what Draco did, I’m just making a point here).

I do acknowledge that the Dramione shippers have some bad apples among them, some problematic people that take it all too far, but honestly, every fandom and every ship has bad, toxic people so you can’t really use that against them.

All in all, things aren’t the way antis always present them, there’s a lot more gray there, and I hope this entirely too long post helped some of y’all see that.

[filthy-reckless-rp]

♛ Spotted on the Upper East Side…

Name: Caisson Andrews Pronouns: He/Him Age: 20 years old Hometown: Upper East Side, NY Occupation: Sophomore at MIT Social Status: Insider Faceclaim: Thomas Doherty

Who Is Caisson?

“I want to riot. Let’s start a riot, me and you,’cause a riot’s overdue.”

Caisson Andrews, you really are a little--- Nevermind. I should probably give you some credit for getting so close (yet so far) from discovering who I really am. Without you, Jesse’s little coup d'état would have fell flat on its face and even if it hadn’t, they wouldn’t have gotten so close. Of course, you’ve always been tenacious. Annoying. You’re smart but you can never bring yourself to miss an opportunity to be a smartass. Causing chaos is your favourite pastime and there’s rumours that you might actually be an evil mastermind. You love pulling elaborate pranks, playing around with chemistry sets and other people’s minds. You can pull out the charm when it matters but you have a hard time taking anyone else seriously (since you think you’re smarter than everyone else). I can only imagine the trouble you’ve gotten into undetected since I’ve been gone. Believe me, I’ll be seeing you soon. XOXO ---Gossip Girl

A Little Extra

Caisson Andrews has always been too smart for his own good. He’s quick to figure other people out, rarely surprised or shocked by anyone or anything and he’s seen every plot twist coming at least five minutes before everyone else. Sounds exhausting, right? Well, more like boring in Caisson’s opinion. That’s why he’s always trying to stay entertained, seeking out something- anything- that’ll thrill him. That might be where his penchant for minor explosions came from but let’s not get into it. Caisson likes to push other people’s buttons, figure out their secrets and decide whether or not to use them for good or evil. As an Andrews, there’s expectations on both him and his brother, Oliver, but Caisson has never had a problem with excelling. With winning. Which is handy because it keeps his parents off his back especially since he decided to become BFF with the family’s sworn enemy: a Baizen. The Baizen-Andrews business and family feud has been another that seems to have gone on for generations. The idea is that every Baizen and every Andrews will eventually contribute to the family businesses and scheme to outshine the other. Things can get a little intense and well, playing dirty is hardly frowned upon. Caisson doesn’t really want to play by his family’s rules but he also knows that the smart move is to not rock the boat too much. For example, he can be all buddy with Lucas Baizen all he wants but when push comes to shove, they will expect him to on the right side. As for anything more than friendship, with any Baizen, that’s just asking for instant trouble with a capital ‘Disowned’. Caisson tries not to dwell though. In fact, his exterior is kept so cool and so calm, you’d never know he was bothered by anything. You’d be wrong of course but just like Gossip Girl always says, that’s one secret he’ll never tell.

What Does Gossip Girl Have On Them?

Oh boy, was Caisson ever a part of the Original Takedown(TM). He was only a little bit interested at first and then Gossip Girl started sending out texts, coaxing and lightly threatening her beloved Upper East Siders to stop the gossip drought. That made it all the more interesting and suddenly Caisson was in. He was the brains, the hacker, electronically setting out to end Gossip Girl’s tyranny (blah blah blah). He even found it- in theory- the laptop. Caisson couldn’t help himself, he started to rake around in it, looking more for secrets than shutting Gossip Girl down. Unfortunately, the laptop self-destructed and GG disappeared after that. C’est la vie. As for what GG has on Caisson, let’s just say his romantic life has been a mess... Note one Vegas hook up (with rings) and kissing Elizabeth Baizen!

Connections

Oliver Andrews - the big bro! Caisson was always closer to Oli and Oli’s friends than anyone in his own year (except Luke, of course). They’re really close and always have each other’s back.

Agnes Andrews - the wild child cousin!

Lucas Baizen - the best friend, partner-in-crime, basically the other half. These two are always together, plotting. Luke is the planner, Caisson puts things into actions. Spends most of the time in the day with Luke. 

Elizabeth Baizen - Elizabeth is...endlessly fascinating. Caisson thought he had Elizabeth all figured out but he doesn’t know the first thing which only makes him all the more interested.

[fuckingthefictional]

All I want- (part one)

Michael Gray x reader

Written version of this gifset that I made, bonus points for anyone who can find the lyrics to a certain song that inspired this.

Next Chapter is found —> here

For @finallyforgotten who wanted more of this :)

Henry used to be Y/N’s knight in shining armour. He was always there, he was perfect and filled her up with all the love that she could possibly want or need.

He used to tell Y/N that she was a star in his eyes, he’d hold the door open for her and hold her hand in the dark.

He was just always there.

And Y/N felt as if she was never alone. Until one day she was.

When Henry suddenly left, it caused a brewing storm to swirl inside of the pit of the young woman’s stomach.

But when Y/N brought it up with her mother, the only claim was that “men like Henry were perfect on paper, but they lie to the face.”

It frustrated her- did Henry think she was the kind of girl who needed to be saved. Is that why he took such interest in her? Because she was an easy target?

All of these questions just created more stress and sadness to strike Y/N’s body. She didn’t know who to trust or believe anymore.

It didn’t matter what she conjured up in her mind- All that stood was that Henry had left and with him he took Y/N’s heart.

But he’d left something with her, something that he didn’t know about. And that was his child- the same child that grew within Y/N.

“Ticket ma’am?”

Y/N looked up from her book to see a portly looking train conductor stood in front of her.

“Yes, sorry.” She reached down to her pocket and pulled out the slip of paper, handing it to the gentleman.

He inspected it for a moment, before puncturing a hole into the side, “Are you sure you’re meant to be taking a single to London miss?”

Y/N’s heart leapt up into her throat, “Yes, my mother purchased the ticket for me, I’m to meet my cousin at the station.” She rambled on.

The train conductor passed the slip of paper back, “if you say so.” He mumbled before walking away.

It was only half true, Y/N mused, she was meeting her cousin at the station and her mother did purchase the ticket for her. But she was going to London indefinitely, to have her baby out of the prying eyes of her neighbours.

As her father said before she left, ‘she and her cousin could be the family disgraces together’.

Y/N watched as the world went past, flashes of green melted into a drab mix of greys.

Her new life was moments away, as the train pulled into King’s cross station.

Taking a deep breath, Y/N heaved down her luggage (careful to avoid her stomach region) and began to disembark off the steam engine.

She scanned around frantically, praying that she hadn’t been stood up by her cousin.

“Y/N!”

Whipping around at the sound of her name, she came face to face with her older cousin.

James, wasn’t much older than she was. He was a few years older than she (but he took great pride in bragging about it and holding it over her head).

In fact it had been a good few years since Y/N had even seen James, as he was banned from the family when he was 17.

After he was caught in bed with another male- it meant nothing to Y/N then and nothing to her now.

He was happy, if he found love in the arms of a man then who was she to judge? - she was 17, pregnant and unmarried.

“James!” The pair embraced, swaying as the did so.

“Come on,” the man exclaimed, “we can talk more when we get home.” And with that he picked up the luggage and guided her through the station.

~

“So how come you’ve suddenly decided to come and live with me hmm?”

Y/N paused, debating on what to say but ultimately deciding that there was no point in hiding it at this point.

“I’m pregnant.” She spoke, “and father is ready to disown me so, they sent me to you.”

“Jesus Y/N/N you’re 17,” he rubbed his face with his hands, “You’re practically a child yourself.”

Y/N felt her body shake, “you know if I had a bobbin for every time someone has said that to me, I’d be a fucking millionaire,” she laughed without humour, “I’m going to be a mother james, and every single time someone says what you said, I become more determined to be a good mum.”

“Y/N sit down for a second and stop ranting.” James pointed opposite to the chair she’d previously been occupying, “What I was going to say was that you’re young, so you’re going to need all the support you can get. Which is why I’m going to be here for you every step of the way.”

-

Months later, Y/N was nearing the last month of her pregnancy.

It wasn’t an overreaction to say that she was big. She felt like a bloated whale.

But the young mother found herself getting support from both James and Ada.

God, Y/N was so thankful for Ada. She was the most genuine, caring and hardworking woman that Y/N had ever met.

They’d become great friends ever since they had first met.

The older woman was understanding, but not disconcerting. Loving, but not in a smothering sort of way. Supportive and just damn genuine.

Ada became like the older sister she never had growing up, and the latter was but all happy to take on that role.

She was the one that Y/N could confide in- even about Henry.

“What about the father?”

Y/N looked down, tears already pooling in her eyes, “He’s a boy from my past.” She sniffled,”We fell in love but it didn’t last.”

Ada looked sympathetic, “What happened?”

Y/N found herself shrugging, “It was just like- the second I figured it out he pushed me away,” she steadied her voice, “And I won’t fight for love if he won’t meet me half way- I won’t do it Ada. And I say that I’m through with him, but here I am talking and crying over him.”

Y/N looked at her friend who seemed to be waiting for her to carry on, “All I want it a good guy,” she stated, “Are my expectations far to high? Is there something wrong with me for wanting that?”

Ada just leant forwards, placing her hands on top of Y/N’s shaking ones, “Look- I’ve been through all of these questions. There’s nothing wrong with you okay- I mean look at you Y/N,” she pointed at the other girl’s body, “You’re trying your best at the end of the day, you’re not alone, you have me, Karl, James and Your own child and that is enough for me. You should be proud.”

It was through Ada that Y/N met Thomas Shelby for the first time- which at the time she hadn’t known but would become her future employer.

What was there to say about Thomas Shelby. He was intimidating, he demanded the power of the room. And his eyes- God his eyes. They were piercing blue and just made you cold by looking at them.

The first time Y/N had met the man, she swore she could feel her child squirm inside her, almost as if they were turning away in comfort.

But Ada soon set the record straight, reassuring her brother that Y/N was trusted by her and that the younger girl was a close friend.

The second time that Tommy and Y/N ran into each other was quite literally so. Y/N had been going out for walks (something recommended by her doctor), she was due any day at that point.

She’d been walking in her own little world, fantasising about what her child would look like. Whether they would have Henry’s unruly curls or her eyes.

And then she walked into a wall. A rather tall, slim wall. That spoke with a Brummie accent...and wore a pocket watch.

It was by then that Y/N had realised that it wasn’t actually a brick wall she’d stumbled into. But in fact Thomas Shelby.

Immediately you had stuttered an apology, explaining why you had been so out of it.

He took one look at you. A quick up and down. Before he spoke, “When’re you due?”

The answer caught Y/N completely off guard, she had been expecting a threat for scuffing up his shoes.

“Um, actually I’m due any day now.” She stammered, rubbing her belly lovingly. It was strange really- just how quick she’d grown to love the life inside of her.

The Brummie hummed in understanding, “I remember when Ada was that far along with Karl- a right bloody firecracker she was.”

Y/N smiled slightly, it sure sounded like Ada.

“Listen- Ada would ‘ave my bollocks on a silver platter if I didn’t walk you back to the ‘ouse,” Tommy licked his lips, “So.” He gestured to the arm he was holding out.

“Thank you Mr Shelby.” Y/N said, holding on his arm as they walked the last few streets.

“Tommy- call me Tommy.”

-

Matthew James Johnson was born kicking and screaming on the 14th of February at exactly 2 o’clock in the morning.

He weighed in at 6 pounds and 4 ounces and was everything Y/N could’ve ever imagined or hoped for.

As predicted Matthew held a head full of soft, blonde curls (just like his father) and his eyes were her own Y/E/C. He was just the perfect little mix of her and Henry.

And even though it broke her heart at first, she eventually began to see it as a blessing. Her baby was someone who she would love forever, who she would never let down.

-

A months later Y/N strolled into the apartment angrily. She was turned out of a job, yet again. It felt like it was becoming an impossible feat.

She was simply just unemployable, which angered her hugely.

Y/N was a mother for Christ’s sake, she had a baby who depended on her. How on earth was she supposed to do that for someone if she couldn’t even get a steady stream of income coming through the door.

Matthew was around 8 months old now, he was a troublemaker- but still managed to capture his mother’s heart at every glance. He made Y/N’s life worth it, he really did.

Slamming the large door behind her, she shrugged off her coat and hung it up on the coat rack. There was another that had been added to the normal pile.

Ada’s family must’ve been visiting again. She quietly crept through the hallway, attempting to stay out of the eyes of the Shelby family.

It would’ve worked mind you- if Matthew hadn’t spotted you through the crack in the doorway.

“Ma-ma-ma.” He babbled happily from the floor.

Y/N walked in almost guiltily, scooping up her baby boy from the carpet and planting a soft kiss on his rosy red cheeks.

Ada stopped mid conversation and looked up at Y/N hopefully, “So?”

“Turned away.” The young mother answered frustratedly, “It getting tiring now Ada, I-“

“Ada love, are you going to introduce me to your friend?” The voice came from a stern looking woman.

“Pol,” Ada turned the woman, “This is Y/N- James’ cousin and a close friend of mine.” She turned to the girl who was still holding the wriggling baby, “And this is Matthew, Y/N’s baby boy and my godson.”

Polly was stared intently at the boy in Y/N’s arms. The stare itself was calculating and judgemental but Y/N felt...oddly safe around the woman.

“He’s a beautiful boy,” She spoke softly, “reminds me of my Michael when he was this size.”

Y/N just smiled awkwardly, she had no clue who Michael was, she cleared her throat, asking timidly “Would you like to hold him?”

The older woman opened her arms for the child, and when Matthew was safe in them he gurgled happily.

The door creaked open again, this time Tommy walked through the frame.

The pair had actually become quite good friends of the past months. There was nothing romantic, or remotely sexual about their relationship. It was just a friendship.

Tommy was an the older brother, he kept and eye out and looked out for the girl and her son.

“Y/N.” He nodded to the girl, “When did you get in?”

“Just now,” she replied, “Job interview ran over.”

“And?” He prompted, hand digging in his blazer pocket for a cigarette.

“No smoking around the children Tommy- you know the rules,” Y/N reminded him, “And it didn’t go well- they turned me away.”

Tommy appeared to be deep in thought, “My fiancé is due to have a baby in May.” He paused again, “If you’d accept- I’d be happy to hire you as the baby’s nanny.”

“But Matthew-“

“Can stay with you while you work, it’s only a matter of balancing your family life and work life.”

“Has your fiancé agreed with this arrangement?” Y/N folded her arms.

“She will, she trusts me- and I trust you.” Tommy looked deeply at you, “So?”

“Okay.” The young woman looked at Ada, “I’ll do it.”

[dwimpala-67]

As Time Goes By

Written for @spnabobingo.

Square Filled: Non Traditional Omega Traits

Title: As Time Goes By

Rating: Mature

Pairing: Jared/Jensen

Word Count: 5425

Warnings: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics

Notes: Special thanks to C and J for being absolutely amazing betas. 

Part 1

When he entered his Pack territory and reached his home, Jared Padalecki was greeted by his family.  His mother was emotional, his father was proud, and his younger sister Margaret punched him in the arm while welcoming him. They happily received the gifts that Jared had brought with him. They had dinner  and everyone was sitting in the living room when it struck him that his brother was nowhere to be seen .

“Where’s Joseph?” Jared asked about his brother, as three sets of eyes went from joyous to sorrowful. He was immediately on alert. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing’s wrong JT. It’s just that  he’s mated now.” Margaret answered, a hint of edge to her voice.

Jared was confused. Why didn’t his family seem happier? Wasn’t this supposed to be a joyous occasion? His brother was mated. “That’s wonderful. Why didn’t you say anything to me?”

No one spoke for a while as Jared looked at each one of his family members. He was missing something, something big. He felt uncomfortable with the fact that his family was hiding something about his brother. His impatience won out. “Well, would anyone bother telling me what happened?”

“He mated with Chad.” His mother spoke in a hushed tone as if she was referring to something sinful.

Now that … that was something he never expected would happen. Jared stared at his parents in shock. He had lived here until he graduated high school and went off to college. Being a male Omega, he had stayed home most of the time because his schoolmates would make fun of him. He also remembered how his brother was always there, protecting Jared from the bullies. It was expected that male Omegas should be submissive, one day to be the spouse of an Alpha and raising his babies.  

But, his father Greg Padalecki, an Alpha, never discriminated against any of his children even if he was constantly given unnecessary advice by people about raising his children. All of his children went against the usual gender assignments, in that one son was a Beta, one an Omega and his only daughter was an Alpha. He raised them all with the same set of rules. He was strict about their studies and their playtime. But he was also loving and never stopped his children from exploring new facets of life. He motivated his kids to be self-sufficient and independent. He nurtured them to grow up to be   independent persons, irrespective of their biology, and Jared's  mother Sylvia Padalecki always pampered and showered the siblings with love and affection. All in all, Jared grew up to be a fiercely independent, and a very tall Omega.

Jared had a good childhood until he hit puberty. Then he  suddenly hit a growth spurt, growing up to be a tall, gangly, big Omega with floppy hair. The only downside of being a tall Omega was that he was never courted. The thing was, even if Omegas had equal rights and were no longer looked upon as a birthing machine, prejudiced minds still lived in the society. Most of the Alphas wanted a petite, demure, and docile Omega for a mate. They didn’t like an Omega who was taller than them, or one who was independent and working. They wanted someone who would do as  told and basically be their housekeeper and child-bearer. Jared wasn’t one of those .

Initially, he was upset that no one would want him. He never had a boyfriend and he never went on any date. There were Alphas in his school who would tease him for being tall and gangly . There were times that even Chad, his best, but most annoying friend, had managed to score a date and Jared was left on his own. No one had shown any interest in him. Not one ever desired to court him. “Who’d want the freak?” they’d whisper behind his back.

Those were the days when he’d run to his mother, crying his heart out, and seeking comfort in her arms. Those were the same days when Jared learned a very valuable lesson. Life sucked, but he had the control to turn it around. His father had always told him, “No matter your biology Jared, you don’t bow to anyone’s authority except for Pack Alpha and High Council. You’re an independent person with equal rights like  that of any other werewolf.” And he had been inspired by those words. And Jared had lived by that gospel.

Their  Pack didn’t allow Omegas to have higher education, so, after graduation, he had made the  decision to leave the Pack and his home town of Overbrook to pursue higher education. His father had urged him to go to Australia where his maternal grandparents moved after retirement, to pursue a degree in architecture. His maternal grandparents had moved there after retirement, and would be happy to have Jared join them.  It seemed like a safe destination as Packs in Australia were known to be much more progressive than American Packs. Fortunately, Alpha Anton had permitted him to leave the pack. It wasn’t as if he was a traditionalist. Alpha Anton was quite open in his ideology, but he had limits. Jared counted himself lucky  to have been granted release by his Pack Alpha. He would have hated to be an outcast from his Pack.

Going to Australia had been a good decision. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have to face the same prejudice, being viewed as a freakishly large Omega , but it was bearable because he was relatively unknown to the people there and used scent blockers to hide his true nature.  It was no one’s business to know that he was an Omega . His height and  build  were  enough for him to easily pass  as an Alpha or a Beta . Only those who got a close sniff at him  would come to know about his true nature. However, no one bothered him for that. They did talk behind his back, but  he just didn’t  care anymore. He buried himself in his work and as long as he was doing a good job, no one bothered him at all.

Jared had gone on to become an architect, and a successful one. He had worked at various firms in Australia and also in the US, and  was now looking to establish his own firm. He was back in  Overbrook after being away for six years. It was a long time. Everything had changed, including his Pack Alpha. Back in high school, Jared had been side by side with his brother and never noticed any attraction between Joseph and Chad.

It baffled him because all this time never had he seen Chad and his brother even talk to each other so spending time together was out of question. In fact he specifically remembered Joseph complaining about  Chad to him.

They were sitting in their living room, playing video games when his brother spoke up, “Why do you hang out with Chad?”

“What do you mean?” Jared replied, completely focused on his game.

“He’s an asshole. He’s always leering at the Beta and Omega girls.” Joseph answered. The disgust in his voice alerted Jared. Something was disturbing his big brother.

“Yeah, he’s a little annoying. But I  don’t see why it should bother you. I mean not one of those girls has ever complained.”

Joseph remained silent at that.

“Is he hitting on someone you like?” Jared had deduced that must be the issue.

“Maybe,” Joseph had mumbled, and Jared had pushed  him to talk to Chad about it. That had been the end of the discussion. The issue of Chad had never come up ever again.

“Wh...when ...how...when did this happen?” Jared finally found his voice.

“Two months after you left.” This time his father spoke. Jared looked at him to observe a poignant look on his face.

“Okay. I mean Chad is not exactly the kind of person everyone would be glad to associate with, but it must be good I guess. They must love each other if they  mated.”

“That’s not the issue, Jared. Chad is  a Beta and we all know he liked to fool around. It was just that on a full moon night, Chad was at the bar and no one knew what happened. But Randy, the bartender, said one moment Chad was flirting with a stranger and he saw them leaving together. The next thing they heard was  a loud howling coming from within the woods. Those in the bar rushed towards the  site and Randy notified Alpha Anton accordingly.  By the time the Guards reached the site, all they saw was Chad, lying on the ground , bleeding and stabbed with a silver knife.”

Jared was horrified as he heard the account of the events from his sister. His family looked deeply disturbed  while listening to the retelling of the account. He didn’t like the implications of it. His mouth dried up as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. It made him sick to his  stomach to think that something bad had happened to Chad. Sure, he had lost  touch with all his friends, but it was Chad! His best  friend!

“What happened?”

“He survived, Jared. He’s okay. It’s just that the attack left him wounded. The silver with which he had been stabbed penetrated his uterus and he was left a Beta without the ability to conceive. It wasn’t good, Jared . You already know the Murrays didn’t like Chad’s Beta status, and after the incident, they disowned him. His father proclaimed that a Beta son who couldn’t procreate was good for nothing. Alpha Anton decided to mate Chad with one of his guards so at least he would have someone to look after him. However, Chad didn't want to be mated. He was devastated, Jared. That’s when Joseph stepped in. We never knew he loved that boy. And he was ready to accept him, even after that incident. It took some time, but he eventually convinced Chad and they were mated.”

“What about the attacker though?”

“Some Pack members took off in direction of the scent of the attacker. He was a rogue human. The Human Council took matters into their own hand and decided to conduct a trial. He was found guilty on all charges  and handed over to us to execute the punishment. We were shocked to know that Chad hadn’t smelled the human at first, but it seemed like the man had used the synthetic scent on himself to disguise  as a were.”

Jared was satisfied with it. They had a peace treaty with the Human world. The Human Council was the authority that dealt with human miscreants,  while The High Council was the authority that dealt with werewolves. They had a strict policy that anyone who  violated the treaty or  abused any species  were to be handed over to the other council and they’d be dealt with accordingly. In this case, the guilty  man would have been chased into the woods before being ripped apart into pieces, literally.

“So, they live separately in an apartment or something now?” By the look on his sister’s face, he knew there was more to the story than he was being told. “Come on, Marge, tell me.”

“After that incident, Chad was looked upon as a cripple. He was taunted by other Alphas as a good for nothing whore.” Jared’s blood boiled at the thought of Chad going through these things alone. Unaware of  the emotions coursing through him, his sister continued. “ Chad wasn’t able to live here Jared. He shut himself in his house. It was affecting him deeply. So, Joseph decided to leave Pack Territory and settle down somewhere else. But Alpha Anton refused to let go of them. He was adamant that this Pack was the place where Chad would find peace and would heal. There was a heated argument between them. Alpha Anton gave Joseph an ultimatum that if he wanted to live elsewhere, he was to surrender his pack loyalty and leave this Pack  immediately and to never  step his foot back on Overbrook Packlands.”

“And you let him go? Why didn’t you tell me anything? What were you guys waiting for? I would have tried to convince either Alpha Anton to let them go, or Chad and Joseph to stay. I would have figured something out. Why did you keep such a big secret from me?” Jared asked his family, angry at them for not stopping his brother and Chad from leaving. Angry for not being told anything.

“You’d just settled down in your new life, JT. We didn’t wanna disturb you. Besides, you had to concentrate on your studies,” His father replied.

Rage was an understatement. How dare the Alpha be so heartless? How could he abandon his own pack members in times of need? Did he not have any heart? Would it hurt Alpha Anton to think about a single person  for once instead of the entire Pack as a whole? He was furious. He needed some answers and he was gonna get them  now. He stood up, determined to get some answers right away.

“So? You should have told me something...The Alpha, where is he? I wanna talk to him, right now.” Jared said.

“Jared stop, it’s late, besides…” But he didn’t care about anything else. He wanted to know what had prompted the Alpha to  take such an extreme step. He rushed out of his home without paying attention to his family’s warnings. He rushed to his car and drove hastily towards Ackles mansion.

Once in front of the house, he parked his car in front of the gate, not caring about anything, and walked down  the front path towards the door. He rang  the bell. No one answered so he started banging on the door. A minute later, he heard footsteps and he stepped back as a man opened the door. That was the moment that Jared’s life changed forever. Because standing across him was the most beautiful man he’d ever seen.

The man was dressed in grey sweatpants and a black t-shirt, his hair was spiked, and he was wearing glasses. Even in the dim  light reflected on his face coming from the foyer, Jared could spot the freckles dusted around his nose and cheeks. Jared stood still as the earthy aroma washed over him with a hint of raindrops,  wet soil, and thunder hit his nostrils. It wasn’t a scent of just any  Alpha. Jared knew that scent. It was his favorite scent in the whole wide world. He looked at the man's green eyes and watched them go wide at the implication. A jolt of electricity rushed through him as he took in the man standing right in front of him.

“You..you’re...you are my…” Jared stammered, trying to spell the words out.

“True Mate, ”  the man said.

“True Mate is something that is extremely rare and only happens to those who are destined to be together, two souls entwined by destiny to become one.”

Jared had only heard rumors of it. Living in Ackles Pack, there were plenty of elders who would entertain the kids with stories of True Mates and Eternal Love on a full moon night. No one believed it of course because the people of his age had never seen a True Mate . But they had heard that True Mates did happen and they had one in their Pack. The head  Alpha, Anton Ackles and his Beta, Diane Ackles were True Mates. It was a story that Jared’s generation had heard, that the pair had mated within days of knowing each other. The pull was too strong for them to resist it. They said it’s like your soul has found its other half and it aches to be joined as one.

However, in Jared’s case he had completely let go of the idea of ever being mated to anyone. All his life he had heard the slurs, “No one wants a freak Omega.” Sure enough, no one had wanted him. He had tried his best to be desirable, but the Alphas had never given him a second thought. It had been his dream, ever since he found out he was an Omega, to find a mate, have kids, and settle down with a job and house with a backyard, maybe with a swing. But then, life happened and all his dreams were shattered. He had even prepared his parents to see their beloved son remain single, for all of his life.

After going through all that, he had almost given up on ever getting together with anyone, yet suddenly he had stumbled into his True Mate. He had been on his way to Ackles Mansion  to demand some answers from the Alpha for throwing out his brother and his mate just because they wanted to move away from the Packlands. He had been determined to get his curiosity satisfied, when the door had opened and with one sniff of the scent, he instantly knew. As if Jared wasn’t already gone for the most beautiful man he had ever seen, the man also had a strong, husky voice that immediately did things to Jared's most intimate  body parts. The next thing he knew he was barely trying to keep it together when the man stepped forward  and Jared automatically took a step back. He could smell the Alpha pheromones that the man was giving off, and it made his dick take an interest. He was embarrassed,  standing in front of the Pack Alpha’s home and getting a hard on. He really was a freak.

“You’re beautiful,”  the man said.

It  made him blush. He knew he must look like an idiot. He needed to say something before the man  decided that Jared wasn’t worth it. The idea made him think back to all the bullying he had suffered at the hands of other Alphas when he was in high school. Those memories themselves  were like being doused  with a bucket of cold water and he immediately came to his senses. This man must be making fun of him. Of course, because everyone had always said that Jared was a good for nothing Omega who no one ever wanted. The look on his face must have given away his nerves as the man took Jared's  hand in his as his thumb slowly circled the knuckles and the mere touch of  skin on skin sent a jolt of electricity coursing through his veins. He was well and truly fucked.

“Believe me, you’re the most beautiful thing I ever had a chance of coming across. I’m not making fun of you. Promise.”

At those words, Jared snapped up his head and stared at the man as if he was speaking in an alien language. Was this for real? Could the Alpha read his mind already? Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t realize he had spoken these words out loud when he saw the man throw his head back and give a hearty laugh.

“Aren’t you the cutest thing?” The Alpha then proceeded to close the distance between them and planted a lingering kiss on his cheek. Jared was rooted to his spot, completely awestruck and stunned to his very core.

No one had ever been so sweet to him. Scratch that, no Alpha had ever touched him, let alone kiss him, even on his cheek. He felt the Omega in him bouncing with happiness, but the human in him was still trying to comprehend the strange and sudden turn of events.

“Oh, where are my manners, I find my mate and all I do is act like a knot head. I’m so sorry.” The Alpha spoke softly, trying his best to keep his actions as gentle as possible so as not to startle Jared. As if he would run toward the hills the moment Jared was out of his  trance. Jared watched as the Alpha ran his hands through his hair, inhaled loudly, and took a step back. “I’m sorry, it’s just your scent...Anyway, I’m Jensen, by the way” the Alpha offered his hand to Jared to shake.

Jared looked at the hand and then back at the man er...Jensen. He took in the man standing in front of him and decided to take a shot. He shook the hand and found it had a strong grip.

“I’m Jared.”

“Hmm..Jared,” Jensen almost purred, smiling seductively at him. “Well, you must be  new to the Pack. What are you doing here at this time of the night?”

Jared had a hard time trying to remember why he was here. But it clicked and he sighed as he spoke. “I wanted to speak to the Pack Alpha.”

Because he had been  away for more than five years, he didn’t know the many changes that had happened within the Pack. That was why he was surprised once again when Jensen chuckled and said, “Well, you’re speaking to him.”

Jared was sure he must look like a dork when he almost squealed, “Whaaat?”

“I haven’t seen you around, are you visiting the Pack or something?”

“Umm..no, I’m ...I’m actually the son of Alpha Greg Padalecki.”

“Oh, so you’re the elusive Omega son that was shipped away to pursue higher education. I’m happy to finally meet you.”

“Likewise. I’m sorry, I didn’t know you were the new Alpha, ” Jared said, once again cursing himself for acting stupidly.

“It’s okay. God, you look so adorable when you blush.”

“I do?” It seemed like his brain to mouth filter wasn’t working anymore.

Jensen laughed once again, his  voice booming deep from within his chest.

Jared was once again struck with lightning. This man was  invoking something deep within him. No one had ever made him feel like this. It was like Jared couldn’t stop himself from being attracted to this man. Never in his life had anyone shown any interest in him and all of a sudden this guy barges into Jared’s life - more like he barged into Jensen’s -  and boom...his world turned upside down.

“Have you looked  in the mirror lately? You’re gorgeous, Jared.”

Not only was this Alpha super-handsome, but he’s also openly flirting with Jared. Jared was quite stunned and  he doesn’t know how he should tackle this situation. It's the first time someone’s flirting with him!

“Oh, you’re adorable. Just my type actually.” Jensen spoke, clearly checking  Jared out as he gave him an appraising look. Jared blushed a shade of deep red that seemed to be very fascinating to the Alpha. “Go out with me.”

This was a dream. Jared was sure of it . His eyes went wide, eyebrows rising  up, and he had to stop himself from opening his mouth like a fish . “Come again?” Because he must have heard wrong.

“Go out on a date with me. Just once, please?” Jensen asked, his voice gentle, like if he spoke up Jared might just run away .

“You...Jensen Ackles, Alpha of the Ackles Pack, want to go out on a date with me? Really?” Jared asked, pointing fingers at Jensen and then at himself as he spoke. He was having a hard time believing it all. Why would an Alpha,  Pack Alpha nonetheless  want to go out with him when he could have anyone who he wanted? Surely there must be plenty of Betas and Omegas ready to beg and fall on their knees to score a date with him. So why was the Alpha insisting on going out with him ? With Jared, who was an overly tall, well-muscled, and independent Omega. He was nothing like the docile Omegas that others wanted.

“Well yes, why? Do you have a policy of some sort that you don’t go out with Pack Alphas?” Jensen’s face was both curious and amused at the same time. Jared was sure he was making a fool out of himself. Well excuse him, he’s still having a hard time  understanding the fact that he’s just getting asked out by an Alpha for the first time in his life.

“No, it’s just, Alpha’s usually want a small, petite, and demure Omega. And I’m the exact opposite of that. So, I’m not so sure you really wanna go out with me, ” Jared shrugged as he replied.  

“Not all Alphas clearly.  I’m an Alpha and I want you. You’re stereotyping us a bit. In fact, I’d like to publicly court you. I’m sorry if you had a different impression. I agree most of us are stupid knot heads and think with our lower brain, but if you give me a chance you’ll find out I was raised differently and I’d like to show you that an Alpha  really can be patient and caring.”

Jared was having a hard time breathing. There was a vast difference between Jensen dating him and Jensen wanting him and courting him. He didn’t know why but he wasn’t ready to refuse. His Omega won’t allow. “Okay. One date. Let’s see how much  patience you've got.”

“Wonderful. How is tomorrow for dinner? You aren’t busy, are you?”

“Dinner is good.”

“That’s great. So, I’ll pick you up in the evening?”

“You’ll pick me up? I thought we'd drive separately and meet somewhere ”

“Nah...I asked you out, didn’t I? And if I’m asking you out on a date, then it’s my responsibility to pick you up. It’s common courtesy. Besides I’d like a chance to impress you.”

That was some weird ass logic. “You wanna impress me by picking me up from my home?” Jared quirked  up his eyebrow once again.

“Well Mr. Padalecki, I come with secrets.”

“Do you now?” Jared was now full on leering as he took in his fill and smirked at the excited Alpha.

“You’re about to find out. Anyway, so what brings you here. Oh I’m so sorry, it’s late in the night and I didn’t even ask you to come in. Please, I…”

“It’s okay. I mean, it wasn’t that bad, talking to the Alpha in his front yard. It scored me a date.” Sometimes Jared wondered why his brain to mouth filter stopped functioning when it was really needed.

“Well, you must have something important if you came up at this time of the night.” Jensen insisted, a hopeful look on his face.

“You’ll find out tomorrow in that case. We aren’t going anywhere, are we now?” Jared said. He was sure that the Alpha would give up within minutes. And one of the reasons would be Jared’s bratty mouth.

“Ouch. I can see you have sharp teeth, Omega.” Jensen almost purred, hinting at something far more  between them that just dates.

“You have no idea what else I’ve got hidden inside my pocket, Alpha.”

“I’m eager to find out. See you tomorrow, Jared.”

“I’ll be waiting. Goodnight, Alpha. Hope you sleep well. Sweet dreams.”

Saying that, he walked out of the mansion, back down the path, and hopped into his car, heading  home.

Jared was dazed as he entered his living room  where his family was waiting for him. They started questioning him the moment he stepped in. He blocked out the voices and headed for the couch and flopped down, elbows on his knees, head down and his hands scratching his head.

“Jared, what happened?” His mother  asked, while his sister spoke rather loudly, letting her Alpha voice out.  “What did the Alpha say?”  

His father seemed to be the only sane-minded one. “Jared Tristen Padalecki, what the Hell were you thinking, barging into the Alpha’s home so late at night without any prior intimation. Where are your  manners?”

Jared knew they were speaking to him, but his mind was still replaying his conversation with Alpha Jensen Ackles. What the Hell just happened?

“Alpha Ackles asked me out on a date.” He whispered, thinking that if he said it out loud it wouldn't be real anymore.

“What? What are you talking about?” Margaret perked up immediately.

“I have a date. With Jensen Ackles.” This time, he said it out loud. He was freaking out internally. He had never been on a date, let alone with an Alpha.

Dead silence followed the announcement. It was eerie and it made him more uncomfortable so he looked up only to be greeted by surprised faces, some of them staring at him wide- eyed with mouths hanging open. “Say something, guys.''

His father was the  first to recover . Greg Padalecki cleared his throat, trying to comprehend what his son had just told them.  “JT, details.” His voice was deliberately neutral.

“The new Pack Alpha...I went to talk to  him. He opened the door when I knocked and...and…” Jared couldn’t complete the sentence as he was at a loss of words as to how he should tell his family  that not only did he score a date with the Alpha, but he had also found his True Mate.

“JT,  you know, you can tell us.” His mother spoke softly and sat down next to him, soothingly running her hand against his back, trying to calm him down. It seemed to work as he started to relax under her touch. It was a habit of his, only his mother knew how to calm him down when he was agitated.

“ Mama,” he looked at her, seeking comfort, and her small smile encouraged him to explain further, “I found my True Mate.”

His father gasped and his sister squealed while his mother promptly burst into tears.

“Oh JT, I’m so happy for you!”  Sylvia Padalecki spoke, full of emotion, as she hugged her son. Her happiness knew no bounds as she had hoped and prayed hard that her sweet Jared would find happiness one day. As he grew up, she had given up hope that her  younger son would ever settle down. But now as she sat there listening to the words that her ears had been desperate to hear, all the bound up emotions that had held her strong until now burst open.

Jared felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see his father smiling and his eyes shining, “Is Alpha Ackles…?”

“Yes, Dad. It’s Jensen. He’s my True Mate.”

“So it’s Jensen, huh, ” Margaret teased her older brother, all the while she sat giggling on the chair next to the couch.

“Shut up, Marge,” Jared said, good naturedly, no doubt feeling a little warm whenever Jensen’s name was mentioned. And he seemed like a cool guy. Even with all the freaking out, Jared still felt a twinge of excitement run through his body. He was nervous, but he also was looking forward to getting to know  the man.

Jared spent the next hour or so answering the questions of his family members, and then trying to calm his sister down when she started planning their wedding. He also had to sit there and try not to run as they all immediately started discussing the names of their future babies.

“How about Ronald for a boy and Regina for a girl?” Greg perked up in the discussion, unable to hide his happiness at the good news.

Jared flushed, “Dad, not you too.”

Greg laughed as he saw his son hide his face behind his hands. He too had given up hope that his middle child would settle down. He always felt a little sad whenever he thought of Jared living his life without a mate. His heart hurt every time he thought about how Jared would never be able to experience the love, companionship, and happiness that comes along with  being mated. And now to find out that his son had stumbled upon his True Mate, it was an extremely happy occasion. Especially because it was none other than Jensen Ackles. Greg had watched  the man closely for the past two years. He even had an opportunity to work with the Alpha when he created a select committee to review all the archaic laws that the pack followed, and ordered the council to work on abolishing them and modernizing the Pack Law. Greg found him to be a formidable wolf. Jensen was also a kind, patient, and caring young wolf. He was an exceptional leader and a gifted fighter. If there was one wolf who could heal Jared’s wounds and give him the love and happiness he deserved, it was definitely Jensen. Now that he thought about it, Jensen and Jared would  make a lovely couple.

Part 2

[stupouid]

Unity (ATLA boys x reader) Chapter 2

Chapter 1| Chapter 2

A/N: this one has lots of cute sokka moments for Y/N!!!!! you go girl!!

I kind of edited this so yeah<3

Warning: like 3 curse words

Word count: over 3k words lelele

ask any questions in my askbox!

Chapter 2

The Swamp Meeting Sokka and Katara, formally, was… interesting, for Y/N. When Katara saw Aang walking towards the two siblings with Y/N, her first instinct was to freeze her, not even acknowledging the way Aang wasn’t even troubled by Y/N’s presence.

“Katara!” Aang shouted, as he unfreezed the ice that entrapped Y/N. “This is Y/N. She’s King Bumi’s granddaughter, and more importantly, she’s a friend. She defied Princess Azula, Zuko’s sister, to save me. If it wasn’t for her King Bumi and I would probably be fried.”

“I don’t believe you.” Sokka stated. “If you were really King Bumi’s granddaughter, we would have met you weeks ago, the last time we were here.”

“It’s a long story, but I can assure you I’m no threat. I’m not a fire bender or an earth bender, I’m already considered a traitor to the fire nation, and I left my sword and my throwing knives back home. The only way I could possibly hurt you is by chi-blocking, and I’m not even as good as Ty Lee!”

“Hold on. Why’d you say earth or fire bender? And why do we have matching necklaces?” Sokka questioned.

“She’ll tell us while we’re on Appa. Now come on, I have an earthbending teacher to find. Y/N, you wouldn’t happen to know any great earthbending teachers, right?”

“No, I don’t, but I’m tired. And your sky bison is so cute!”

Y/N told Sokka, Katara, and Aang the whole story. How her mother was the princess of Omashu and how she traveled the whole world and had many suitors from different nations (Y/N's mother had multiple water tribe suitors and her favorite had given her a necklace similar to Sokka’s, hence as to why they match), how Y/N's mother had Y/N with a fire nation noblemen which led to Y/M/N being disowned by her family, how Y/N grew up in the fire nation and how Y/N moved to Omashu after her mother’s death, and how Y/N was too scared to set foot anywhere near the royal palace. 

It was a lot for the watertribe siblings to take in, but they sympathized with her as they both lost a mother as well. Ultimately, they decided she wasn’t a threat to them and would help them out when navigating the fire nation and Ba Sing Se, as the girl traveled to many places due to her father and mother’s high status.Katara may have trusted Y/N right away, but Sokka was still suspicious of the girl, and most likely jealous too. 

Sokka certainly didn’t appreciate the fact that Y/N was a better warrior than him even though he was older than her, and he was jealous because of the way she had with a sword. 

Days passed and the four teens were flying over a large forested area, covered with a blanket of fog. Aang was in some sort of trance and Y/N was eyeing the swamp suspiciously, while Sokka sharpened his machete and Katara studied some scroll.

“Hey, you taking us down for a reason?” Sokka questioned. There was no reply from Aang, and Y/N didn’t bother to answer Sokka. The swamp was too… ominous. 

“Aang, why are we going down?”Aang must have snapped out of his trance because he then said, “What? I didn’t even notice.”

“Are you noticing now?” The watertribe boy retorted. Noticing Sokka’s harsh attitude, Katara moved up to the front of the saddle, and said, “Is something wrong?”

“This is going to sound really weird,” Aang started, “but I think the swamp is calling to me.”

Y/N interjected with, “I feel it too. I can hear some sort of… ringing, I guess. It’s weird and I don’t like it.”

Sokka ignored what Y/N said and targeted his next question to Aang. “Well, is it telling you where we can get something to eat? I’m starving!” At this, Y/N rolled her eyes. In the short time that she knew Sokka, she had pinned down three of his personality traits to be talking about food, girls, and his boomerang. Disgusting. 

Y/N tuned out the rest of the conversation until she heard Sokka scream, “You better throw in an extra yip! We gotta move!” And that was when Y/N saw the tornado.

Y/N had never liked tornadoes. She also wasn’t fond of lightning. As Y/N was panicking, she saw Sokka fly off Appa’s saddle. She instinctively reached out for his hand and he grabbed on to it. Y/N saw the look of panic on his face, since Y/N was the person who would decide if he would live or die. She could either let him go here and risk Katara freezing her to death, or bring Sokka back onto the saddle and have him owe his entire life to her. The princess went with the latter. 

As Y/N helped Sokka onto the saddle, Aang created an air shield around Appa. However, Aang was struggling with keeping it intact, and eventually the shield broke and Appa and the rest of the team fell into the swamp. Fortunately, Y/N fell right next to Aang, so he bended the air to give them a soft landing. 

Aang stood straight up and looked around, asking, “Where’s Appa and Momo?” When he didn’t find them right away, he shouted, “APPA! MOMO!” Y/N was laying on a tree root and had no intention of moving until Sokka appeared right before her with a huge-ass grin on his face.

“What? Did ya’ get too tired Princess?” Sokka teased. Y/N's face turned red, totally not from Sokka calling her princess. Her face turned red because he was teasing. Yup.

Fuming, Y/N replied with, “Funny, because I was the one who saved you. Now you owe me your life.” Y/N stood up and brushed off the dirt from her clothes. Sokka was left speechless by the girl, because everything she said was factual. 

Soon the four of them were united and Sokka suggested they start a fire. Aang and Sokka argued while Katara noticed that Y/N was just in the background. Walking over to Y/N, Katara said, “Hey. Are you, uh, okay?”

“What?” Y/N replied, “Oh no, I’m fine. Really. I’m just not a big fan of this place.”

“Oh, okay. Just… let me know if you need anything, yeah?” Y/N simply just nodded in response to Katara. The four kids had dinner and then went to sleep, huddled against each other for warmth. Or more like Katara and Aang were huddled together in the middle, and Sokka and Y/N were on the outside. Suddenly, Sokka screamed, and the rest of the three teens woke up, only to be dragged away by some vines. Y/N tried her best to get out of the vines, but with no weapon (it was with Sokka) or no bending, she was stuck. 

“Guys? GUYS!” she screamed, but no luck. Y/N kept wiggling inside of the vines until they randomly let go.Stepping out of the cage of vines, Y/N was met with a figure. Y/N could tell that the figure was most likely female, so she called out, “Hey lady! Could you uhh… help me find my friends?”The lady didn’t respond, so Y/N started walking towards the woman. Y/N was just about 5 feet away from the mysterious woman until she turned around, and Y/N was met with the face of...her mother.  

“Mom?” Y/N asked, with tears coming to her eyes.“Mom, is that really you?” The mysterious woman just nodded, and Y/N ran over to her, tears streaming down her s/c skin. “Mom!”

“Y/N,” the lady started, “I want you to know that… that the heart wants what it wants. The person you end up with may not be the person you expected. The person you may end up with may have crossed you many times before. But just know that they’re with you for a good reason, and that they love you for you. The person you end up with is an amazing warrior with an intelligent mind.” Y/N didn’t know what else to say. She wasn’t even thinking about love yet, she was only fourteen for spirit’s sake! Nonetheless, Y/N accepted her mother’s advice with a thank you. The young girl was about to embrace her mother when her image started shimmering.

“Mom? Mom!” Y/N called out. 

“Y/N! I love you so, so much! Don’t forget what I said!” Screamed Y/N’s mother, and then she disappeared into the night. Y/N stood there, processing what her mother had told her. Why was it important that she know who she would end up with? She had expected her mother to apologize for not telling her the whole truth, or some information on a powerful earthbender so she could help Aang with his search. 

Y/N shook her head and her h/c hair framed her face. The girl started walking, not sure of where she was going, until she came upon a large clearing. (in reality some vines pushed her until she reached said clearing.) She found a tree root and sat on it, thinking about whatever the hell her mother had just said, until Sokka appeared, along with Katara and Aang.

“What do you guys think you’re doing!?” Sokka shouted, as he put away his machete. “I’ve been looking all over for you!” 

Katara, obviously agitated, replied with, “Well, I’ve been wandering around looking for you! And you, Y/N, where were you?”

Y/N was about to speak, but Aang cut her off with, “I was chasing some girl.” Y/N couldn’t help but laugh a little.

“What girl?” Katara asked. Y/N couldn’t tell if she was jealous or just plain confused.

“I don’t know. I heard some girl laughing and I saw a girl in a fancy dress.” Aang replied.

“Well there must be a tea party here and we didn’t get our invitations!” Sokka screamed sarcastically. Y/N giggled. Who knew Sokka could actually be funny? “What are you laughing at, Y/N?” said the watertribe boy.

“Nothing!” the h/c haired girl replied. “Nope, nothing at all.”

“I thought I saw mom.” Katara stated. 

“Oh. I thought I saw my mother too.” Y/N uttered. Sokka frowned as he noticed Y/N didn’t seem too happy about it. 

“Really? Did your mother say anything to you? I tried to reach out to my mom but she disappeared before she could tell me anything!” Katara blurted.

“She talked to me about the person I be with in the future. She said they were a skilled warrior who was very intelligent. I don’t know anyone like that though. Except some people in the fire nation, but based on how things are going, that’s a no. But she also said that the person I end up with is not someone I would expect.” Sokka mulled over her words.

“You don’t know anyone like that? What about me? I’m intelligent! And I’m the best warrior in the Southern Water Tribe!” Sokka exclaimed. Hearing Sokka’s words made Y/N blush, but also made her laugh.

“Well, I’m sorry that you were so offended by my mother. I’ll admit, you’re smart, but you could work on your skills with a sword.” Y/N breathed. 

The two kept bickering until Sokka said, “Look, we were all just scared and hungry and our minds were playing tricks on us. That's why we all saw things out here.” 

Katara looked surprised. “You saw something too?” 

Sokka looked away, obviously thinking about what he was going to say next.“I saw… I saw Yue. But that doesn’t prove anything! Look, I think about her all the time, and you and Y/N saw your moms, who you guys probably miss a lot.” 

Y/N knew who Yue was. Despite constantly bickering, there were some times where Sokka and Y/N had deep conversations, conversations Sokka was too scared to have with Katara. They talked about Y/N's past, and how Yue’s death deeply affected Sokka. 

“What about me? I didn't know the girl I saw. And all our visions led us right here.” Aang started walking around, thinking deeply, trying to connect the dots.

“Okay ... so where's here? The middle of the swamp?” Katara questioned.

Y/n cut in. “I think… I think this is the heart of the swamp. It has to be the center. I think it was calling us.”

“It's just a tree. It can't call anyone. For the last time, there's nothing after us and there's nothing magical happening here.” As soon as Sokka said that, a huge seaweed monster appeared before them. 

Sokka screamed and ran straight to Y/N, wrapping his arms around her, while Y/N just stood there trying to understand what the hell had just appeared right in front of them. The monster started attacking the four friends, so they all split up. 

The monster got to Sokka first, picking him up and swinging him around like an infant would with a toy. Aang bended the air to chop off one the arm that was holding Sokka, only to become the next target for the seaweed creature. 

After Sokka was free from the creature’s grasp, Y/N helped the tan boy tear up some of the vines, as he gave her back her sword just seconds ago. Things were going smoothly until Sokka was swiped from the ground, (yes, again) but Y/N chopped off the arm that was holding him. 

Katara was using her water to slice another arm of the creature but the holes the water bender created kept on growing back. Aang was running around trying to lose the vines that were reaching out towards him. Sokka was randomly sucked into the chest of the creature while Y/N was trying her best to reach for his hand. 

Katara froze and then unfroze Sokka, allowing him to get out of the seaweed monster's chest. 

“There’s someone in there!” Sokka shouted to Katara. “He’s bending the vines!” Katara looked over to Y/N and the both nodded, signalling they were about to do something badass.

Katara ran to the left of the monsters body and sliced the monster’s head on using her water bending while Y/N hacked away at the right side of the monster’s body using her sword. The seaweed head of the creature slid off the body, and the man inside the seaweed was exposed. 

Aang shouted, “Why did you call me here if you wanted to kill us!?”

The man inside the monster said, “Wait! I didn’t call you here.” The man was wearing nothing but a loincloth covering his, you know, and a leaf hat on top of his head. 

Almost instinctively Sokka covered Y/N's eyes. Annoyed, she put his hand down and said, “I’m only a year younger than you. I don’t need your protection. I’m mature and I can defend myself just fine. I don’t need you.”

“Whatever. How am I gonna be a warrior if I have no one to protect?” Sokka started. 

“You can protect your sister-”

“The last time I tried to do that, she found the Avatar. Plus, she’s a bender. And the last princess I had to save turned into the moon. You may not be a princess yet, but I’m going to protect you. Think of it as my... redemption.”

At this point Y/N’s face was extremely red. 

“Well I think your redemption is a whole lot of bull. I’m not just some replacement for Yue, Sokka.” Y/N scoffed and started walking towards where the water benders were.Sokka reached for Y/N’s wrist tugged on it, pulling the s/c girl to him. Y/N couldn’t help but think of what happened with Zuko before she left. 

“I didn’t mean it that way, you idiot. You aren’t a replacement of Yue for me. We may fight a lot, but I care about you, Y/N.” 

Y/N thought about his words. She gave him a smile and said, “I guess,” then started walking towards Katara and Aang, who were following the weird swamp man. 

“So, who are you then?” She heard Katara say. The strange man started bending vines out of the way to create a path. 

“I protect the swamp from folks that want to hurt it, like this fella with his big knife.” 

Embarrassed, Sokka put away his weapon, but then said, “See, completely reasonable. Not a monster, just a regular guy defending his home. Nothing mystical about it.”

The strange man, who’s name turned out to be Huu, laughed. “Oh the swamp is a mystical place all right. It's sacred. I reached enlightenment right here under the banyan-grove tree. I heard it calling me, just like you did.” He sat down on the said tree. 

Sokka elbowed Y/N in the stomach and said, “Sure you did. It seems real chatty.” Y/N couldn’t help but giggle and Sokka looked over to the younger girl with a look of confidence on his face. 

“See, this whole swamp is actually just one tree spread out over miles,” Huu started. “Branches spread and sink, take root, and spread some more. One big, living organism. Just like the entire world.” Y/N was amazed. She looked around, her face filled with awe of the place. 

The princess didn’t bother to listen to the rest of their conversation, and rejoined the group when she saw they were all sitting down. 

“In the swamp, we see visions of people we've lost, people we loved, folks we think are gone. But the swamp tells us they're not. We're still connected to them. Time is an illusion and so is death.” Confusion washed over Y/N’s face. Was death really an illusion? Sokka noticed Y/N’s troubled looks and placed an arm on her shoulder, feeling pride in the way she relaxed against his touch. 

“But what about my vision? It was someone I had never met.” Aang questioned. 

“You're the Avatar. You tell me.” replied Huu. Aang mumbled something about how time was an illusion but Y/N didn’t pay attention. 

She was daydreaming about who-knows-what until she heard Aang shout “Come on! We’ve got to hurry!” 

The rest of the teens followed him through the swamp until he led them to Appa and Momo. There was a fight about the creatures, but eventually, Aang had his precious animals back.

Time passed quickly, and suddenly it was night time, and the GAang and the swamp benders were huddled around a fire. Y/N had complained about being too cold despite the swamp being normally warm and Sokka had wrapped his coat around Y/N’s shoulders. 

“How you like that possum chicken?” A swamp bender named Due asked. 

Sokka responded with,“Tastes just like arctic hen.” He shoveled another spoonful of soup into his mouth, then swallowed. “So why were you guys so interested in eating Appa? You've got plenty of those big things wandering around.” 

Sokka pointed at the catgator right next to the swamp benders. Due looked shocked. 

“You want me to eat old Slim? He's like a member of the family!” Due then grabbed a fish from wherever and tossed it towards the catgator. The catgator catched it and Sokka laughed. Y/N couldn’t help but smile when she heard him chuckle, it was like music to her ears. 

“Nice Slim!” Sokka cheered. He then threw a bug at Slim, but the catgator just growled. Y/N giggled.

“Catgators don’t eat bugs, Sokka.” The girl said. Sokka turned his head towards Y/N.

“And how do I know that you’re right, Princess?” Sokka inquired as he poked Y/N’s sides. By now Y/N was giggling like crazy and Sokka looked at the girl like she was the only person on Earth. 

“The girl is right! Bugs are people food!” Due laughed. 

“Where'd you say you was from?” another swamp bender named Tho, asked. 

Katara responded with, “My brother and I are from the South Pole. Y/N was born in the Earth Kingdom Omashu, but lived in the Fire Nation Capital for most of her life. And Aang is from the Southern Air Temple!” 

“Didn't know there was waterbenders anywhere but here.” Tho breathed. “They got a nice swamp there, do they?” Y/N giggled at his statement. According to her mother, Sokka, and Katara, there were zero swamps in the northern or southern water tribes.  

“No, it's all ice and snow.” Katara corrected. 

“Hmm. No wonder you left.” Y/N found this strangely funny for some reason, and she placed her face onto Sokka’s shoulder to stifle her laughs. The watertribe boy’s face turned crimson red, as he had never experienced something like this, not even with Suki or Yue. 

Sokka cleared his throat, and to Katara, he said, “Well, I hope you realize now that nothing strange was going on here. Just a bunch of greasy people living in a swamp.” This made Y/N laugh even harder and Sokka felt extremely confident. 

“What about the visions?” Katara countered.

“I told you, we were hungry. I'm eating a giant bug!” Tears were coming out of Y/N’s eyes, Sokka was acting incredibly stupid. And the way he ate the bug’s abdomen was disturbing and hilarious at the same time. Sokka placed his arm around Y/N in an attempt to be smooth. Y/N, just thinking it was a friendly gesture, allowed it. 

“But what about when the tree showed me where Appa and Momo were?” Aang added. 

Y/N had calmed down a few moments before and was currently sitting straight up, no longer leaning on Sokka, much to his dismay.

“That’s Avatar stuff,” Y/N started. “That doesn’t count.” Y/N fixed her h/c, h/l, and then asked Huu, “How did you make that tornado that sucked us down? It was pretty freaking awesome.”

Huu looked confused. “I can't do anything like that. I just bend the water in the plants.” 

Sokka stood up, then announced, “Well, no accounting for weather. Still, there's absolutely nothing mysterious about the swamp. I’m also tired, so I’m gonna go set up our sleeping bags. Y/N? Care to assist this handsome young fellow?” He held out an arm for Y/N to grab onto. With nothing else to do, Y/N took his arm and stood up. 

“I’m not sure that the term ‘handsome young fellow’ is suitable for you, but I’m tired, so why not?” The two started walking towards Appa, on their way to get their supplies. 

taglist: @emberislandplayers​ @eridanuswave​ @fandomobsessedlife​ @hopefuloperaangelnerd​

[help-i-need-a-cool-username]

@taiqrowweek

SINCE ALL THE FICS ARE SAD im going to go ahead and make a happy one. (Well... its bullet notes so maybe more of a fic outline?). Can be consider as Free Day or AU Day since its canon divergence

Ive been dying to see a Tai comes to Atlas fic so im making this one a reunion in Atlas fic

Qrow isnt in Atlas when Tai arrives. Hes out on a Amity Tower mission with Clover

Qrow and Clover are actually in the middle of flirting with each other when Qrow gets the call

Its Ruby and shes talking so fast Qrow cant understand a single thing. "Woah Ruby slow down. Whats going on" theres a deep gasping breath and then "DAD IS HERE. DAD IS IN ATLAS"

Qrow is stunned. Tai made it to Atlas?

Clover is thinking about how on Earth he could of gotten into the Kingdom.

Qrow finds out through Yang (she had to take Ruby's phone away since she wouldnt stop screaming) that the girls are waiting for Tai since Ironwood is having Winter personally escort him (Qrow figures that either he got arrested on arrival like they did or that Ironwood wants to know everything Tai knows about Salem despite being removed from the situation since STRQ fell apart)

Clover notifies him that they wont be able to get back to the city for another three hours, and then Qrow tells the girls, who are disappointed but tell him theyll "let Dad know when he gets here"

Most of the way back Clover is trying to get information out of Qrow about what Tai is like. Its both friendly small talk and adding to what Clover knows about this group of children + Qrow. The group is part of Ironwood's inner circle now which makes them important

Qrow briefly wonders how his reception will be. These days hes always the one coming to see Tai, and its 50-50 on if Tai's happy to see Qrow. Qrow considers running away from the encounter entirely but hes trying to be a better man now and that means sobriety and facing his problems. Besides he'll have to see Tai eventually

So lets backtrack a bit. Tai and Qrow used to be a thing wayyyy back in the day. Defining their romantic relationship is complicated. They tried dating before Tai ever got with Raven and it only lasted a few days because they realized the attraction was just sexual so they went back to being teammates who makeout when theyre drunk (thats how they decided to start dating in the first place). So through the early years they were Friends With Benefits. After the dark years of Raven and Summer they became Friends With Benefits That Only Get Together When Theyre Feeling Heartbroken. Its sad sex and half the time one of them is crying. Their friendship is good while the the girls are young. They disagree on a lot of things when it comes to the girls as they get older. That animosity plus arguments about Qrow's  espionage job plus Qrow's worsening alcoholism are the reason theyve drifted far apart today. Theyve still been through so much together so that history and Qrow's dedication to being a uncle are the only things holding their friendship together.

So anyways lets get to the good stuff. The reunion:

Tai is actually waiting for Qrow at the garage

The girls are with him because they missed him. Ruby has her arms around him while talking and Yang is standing besides them smiling

Qrow gets a little scared. The fact Tai is waiting for him doesnt bode well. Him and Tai try to have their disagreements when the girls arent present. Qrow thinks its fair to assume that Tai is so absolutely pissed at him that he cannot wait another moment to yell at him. Clover goes "i guess you wont have to hunt him down after all. He mustve really missed you all" and Qrow really hopes thats the reason

Qrow decides to break the ice before it forms by insulting Tai as he's getting out of the truck

"Two and a half continents away and i still cant escape the sight that is your hideous cargo pants" "says the man who's idea of fashion is a 25 year old ripped cape"

As soon as Qrow gets close enough Tai puts his hands on his shoulders, takes a deep breath, and yells "YOU GOT POISONED"

Turns out Tai was just worried about him after Ruby explained what happened on her trek through Mistral

After answering his questions they hug and its the kind of hug where you sway a little bit

For the next few hours Tai yells at Ruby for running away, Tai yells at Qrow for going sober and not telling him, and Qrow goes with Tai to meet Ironwood (and stop Ironwood from asking too many questions. Hes actually soley focused on Salem and he doesnt even ask Tai how he got through his military blockade)

That night in Qrow's room Tai explains to Qrow how he got there. He lied to the girls. Made up some story that had plenty of holes in it. It was Raven. She opened her portal to Yang as far away as she could and Tai landed there. She had come to him after Haven, told him a few things but clearly left most of it out. Tai managed to get her to promise to take him to the group whenever they got to Atlas and had adjusted.

He came for two reasons. 1) to see exactly how close his children were to Salem. 2) to see if he could protect his kids any way he could, knowing they wouldnt back out now. But the reason he was telling Qrow all this (instead of sticking to his if-it-involved-Raven-i-dont-talk-about-it mentality) was because of one of the few things she mentioned about Haven: the disowning.

Tai wanted him to know that despite all their problems that Qrow was still his family. Not because Raven is still legally married to Tai, not because hes Yang's blood uncle, but because Qrow has been apart of Tai's life and chosen family as far back as STRQ.

Qrow's felt like a outsider to Tai ever since (and every time) things got serious with whoever Tai's dating. Qrow felt like a third wheel when Tai was with Raven, and Qrow was to raw from the increasingly strained relationship with Raven to let go of Summer and Tai when they got together. And ever since Qrow has felt like he was there in Tai's life but no longer apart of it. Even after Tai recovered from his depression, Qrow felt like a visitor in the house he still considers his home despite being called "uncle".

And Tai knows Qrow broke ties with Tribe soon after Beacon, and Raven hadnt truely been his sister in 20 years, but to have what you known from literal birth taken from you still hurt. And now Tai knows Qrow isnt drinking so the only way he can cope is by not thinking about it.

So Tai had to tell Qrow what he meant to him

And when he found out about Tyrian he realized Qrow couldve died not knowing Tai still loves him

Tai ends up ranting about all the things he loves about Qrow, about how he regrets that almost every word said to Qrow in the last 15 years has been unkind

Qrow is now confused to if this is a fixing my mistakes kind of thing or a love confession

So he asks

And Tai gets a little sheepish because it was a fixing my mistakes because i love you thing but a little past halfway into his rant he realized hes IN love with Qrow and has been for a while now

And Qrow decides f it. Tai is doing his embarrassed thing Qrow still finds cute even now when theyre middle aged adults getting their first gray hairs. So Qrow gets up from the cheap academy table theyre sitting at and kisses Tai

"After the world stops ending do you wanna try that dating thing again?" "You think we'll make it past one week this time?" "I actually meant since you havent gone on a date in about 15 years." "Oh. Well im pretty sure you havent been on a proper date since Beacon" "Are you gonna take me on a proper date then?" "Yeah"

[emmelineparker308]

Secrets Part-2

Fandom: Harry Potter: Marauders Era

Pairing: Remus x Reader (eventual)

Warnings: Angst but nothing major

Summary: Remus and you have been dancing around the fact that you are both in love with the other. As a new year starts, Remus is determined to tell you about his secret as well as his feelings for you. However, something is off about you, you are keeping a secret that he does not know. A secret that could destroy everything they have.

Y/N/N= your nickname

A/N: I know it’s a small one this time but I promise more is to come :)

Alright, well, maybe not love but you were sure that he liked you a lot. The longing gazes he didn’t think you noticed, the finding any and every reason to touch you, the constant drop gazes to your lips every time the two of you talked. You noticed all of it and put it all together to figure out that he liked you, yet something was holding him back from acting on the feeling. You didn’t know what it was and frankly by the end of third year, had gotten very tired of waiting for him to make a move. You had planned to ask him out via letter during the summer holiday but...well… that night happened and your hopes of ever having a romantic relationship with anyone was ruined. 

“Alright you lot, I reckon we best change into our robes,” James stated as the sun set giving way to darkness. It was a third quarter moon tonight which means you have less than a month till the next full moon. Even thinking about that night puts a frown on your face. 

“Hey, are you okay?” the long haired heartthrob of Hogwarts asked. He had grown a lot since the last time you saw him. So the whole protective brother role fit him more than ever. Sirius Black might be a heartbreaker, but if anyone even dared to think of hurting you he would gladly put them in St.Mungo’s himself. Maybe it was due to his own brother disowning him, or maybe it was because he didn’t have a little sister but ever since you two had become friends, he had adopted your big brother role. 

“I’m just peachy,” you said, putting on the biggest smile you could muster. He nodded unconvincingly but decided to drop the subject for now. You knew Sirius well enough to know that if you told him about your problem he’d try to help you but the last time someone tried to help you they ended up regretting it. 

When getting into the train you were somewhat confident that you could take care of this problem but the closer you got to the school the faster you wanted to run to the safety of your fathers and mothers embrace.

Remus has noticed the change in you, sure you grew just like he had grown however, you seemed more mature. That sounded creepy, he knew it did but he could see it in your face, you looked as if you had aged 5 years mentally. You also looked rather tired which he attributed to the last minute packing he knew you ended up doing. You were currently seated next to the window staring at the moon, the light from the compartment and the darkness from the outside left a rather beautiful glow on your face. Your red and gold tie was a stark contrast to the black of the night. How could anyone not fall in love with you? It baffled him that no one had asked you out yet, he was sure he’d have to wrangle some boys this year because over the summer not only did you grow and get more mature mentally, but if possible you had grown more beautiful. He wasn’t scared though, all he had to do was rile up Sirius enough and he’d join in on scaring away any potential dates. 

“So (Y/N/N), you never told us how your summer was,” James spoke, bringing Remus out of his trance. Remus glanced over to the other three who were all giving him a knowing look. They’ve been pestering him to ask you out since the Hogsmeade date you two had. Remus of course in classic Remus fashion stated that you were too perfect for a monster like him. 

You were panicking on the inside, what were you supposed to say, ‘Oh my summer? It was wonderful, I got to spend time with my mom and dad. We were thinking about taking a trip to Egypt and the night we were supposed to fly off we got attacked. Ever since then my family and I have been trying to come up with solutions to keep the secret on the down-low. The summer fun didn’t stop there, my dad got attacked again and this time he almost bled out. OVERALL SUMMER WAS FUN OVERLOAD!’

“My summer was quiet and boring. Spent a good half of it just catching up on some reading,” you blurted out. It wasn’t a total lie you did spend the right half of the summer reading up on how to control yourself. 

“Ah, I should’ve guessed. Don’t think you’re going to top me this time (Y/N/N), I come prepared as well,” James stated cockishly. Every year since the first James and you had a playful competition over your marks. For the past three years, you were able to top him, with the help of Remus unbeknownst to James.

You smiled at your glass-clad friend, “You’ve been saying that for the past three years mate. Still haven’t been able to beat me.” 

“Well, this time is different. I’ll top your marks just you wait.”

“Sure, sure. I’ll top your marks, I’ll get Evans to go out with me,” you mocked him which earned you a glare from him and laughter from the rest of the group present. Soon enough you joined in on the laughter, sure there were problems in your life that you’d have to deal with but for now you could forget and enjoy time with your mates. 

You sat at the Gryffindor table listening to your headmaster. You always admired the man on how he was able to set ground rules while being so entertaining. You could tell McGonagall’s gaze was on you a couple of times during the night, her look was unreadable but you hoped to God that she didn’t hate you for what you were now. “Sho I- gm- ‘old them I didn’t chare ‘bout the ‘ules” Sirius said through bites of chicken, spraying food bits here and there. You were seated between Remus and him sitting across from James, Peter, and Lilly. The three across from you and you got pieces of chicken on you from Sirius' statement. 

“Haven’t your parents ever taught you not to talk with your mouth full?” Lily stated with disgust wiping away the food with a tissue. 

“No, Evans. They were too busy trying to etch into my brain that purebloods will rule the world one day,” he sassed her back while taking another bite of chicken and opening his mouth to speak again. However before he could spit food everywhere you grabbed the top of his head and the bottom of his chin, “That’s alright Sirius, Mama (Y/N/N) will teach you table manners. Rule number one, you don’t chew and talk, you’ll get food on others darling,” you state keeping his mouth shut until he promised you not to be an ass. 

“Hey,” Remus whispered in your ear, getting only your attention. 

“What’s up Remus?” you questioned.

“Would you like to come with me to the astronomy tower tonight? There’s a star shower that’s supposed to happen at midnight. I know how much you enjoy watching the stars,” he asked blushing wildly. 

“I would love to,” you answered, not thinking twice about it. It was only after the answer left your mouth that you realized this might be a date. A date with Remus Lupin, that’s just great. One of the most awaited moments in your life and it happens after everything in your life has gone to hell.

Taglist: @this-silent-area​   @lullabylike​

[sanderssideswriting]

Youtuber Life Chapter 2

Ships: familial sleepxiety and eventual Prinxiety

Words:???

first next

Summary: Remy Sanders is a famous beauty vlogger and just moved to LA with his teenage son Virgil after their location was leaked by fans. Remy AKA CoffeeAddiction has several million subscribers. Virgil also has a secret Drama channel, where he doesn’t show his face and uses a voice modifier. He just hit a million subs and grows more everyday because of the level of production his videos have, the mystery around who he is and the fact that he ALWAYS has the latest information regarding youtube drama.

They’d been in LA for three months now, and it was going well, Virgil was best friends with Patton, Logan and Roman. And he called Janus and Remus all the time.

Virgil had to help his dad with a video, it of course involved getting some very expensive and almost impossible to get pallet which he’d compare the stuff from a drug store. He had to get it.

Janus called him after he saw the video “hook me up bitch,” he said.

Virgil laughed “no,” he said monotone.

“Come on! You have the connections! You can get two!”

“I know, but I’m not for hire.”

“I am your best friend, hook me up.”

“Still no, get it yourself or don’t get it. I’ll mail you the leftovers if you want.”

“You better not destroy it you bitch!”

“I buy it, I don’t decide how it’s used, later loser,” Virgil hung up, with Janus screaming bloody murder.

“Hey Virgil, how did you get an A on the English essay? I’ve been trying all year to get a good grade and I’ve only ever gotten a B,” Roman said looking at his latest grades.

“Pick a point that sort of makes sense and defend it like your life depends on it,” Virgil said not looking up from his phone, Janus was spamming him about the pallet.

“And she just assigned a partner project! Partners?” Roman said in disbelief.

“Sure, I don’t want to be partners with a straight girl again, that was a disaster.”

Roman gave Virgil a questioning look.

“Wanted me to be her ‘gay best friend’”

“Want to go over to one of our houses to work on it after school?”

Virgil nodded “we can do my place, my dad won’t care.”

They of course stopped by Starbucks to get coffee. Remy called.

“Get me coffee.”

“I’m not even at Starbucks.”

“SnapMaps says otherwise, get me Starbies I’m doing a charity livestream,”

“No, I’m here with a friend.”

“Are you-? Oh my god! You are!”

“OH MY GOD NEVER IMPLY THAT AGAIN! I will get you coffee just never ask me that again!” Virgil hung up.

“Hi, I’ll get five venti iced coffees, black, and make two of them decaf.” Virgil said to the barista.

The newest video on CoffeeAddiction’s channel was about said decaf coffees and how he had been betrayed by his intern.

Dukey: Your dad is so dramatic Raccoon: I know, I’m grounded for “all of eternity” hiss hiss motherfucker: so no Office this weekend? Raccoon: I’ll be watching with you guys Raccoon: If he actually grounded me I wouldn't be able to get him the pallet Dukey: you’re dad’s really cool Raccoon: are you kidding me? I’M A FUCKING MEME Raccoon: LITERALLY, on multiple occasions people have made me a meme hiss hiss motherfucker: what are you doing for Halloween? Raccoon: Something really fucking scary, as scary as I can get without a detention anyway Dukey: My brother likes make up, I COULD tell him that YOU said that he probably couldn’t do good make up, and then his pride would take over and you’d have a challenge Raccoon: DO IT! That’ll be SO fun Dukey: already did

Roman looked up from his phone “my brother just said that you said I can’t do make up?”

“Yeah, Like sure you can make yourself have a pretty face but can you scare the shit out of people? Halloween’s in a few days.”

Roman rolled his eyes “Make up is an art! I doubt you know much emo nightmare, all you have on is that horrendous eyeshadow.”

Virgil smirked “Then it should be no worry of who will win.”

“A challenge then, to whomever can do the best make up.” Roman said with a flourish.

“I accept, after school? That gives more creative freedom.”

Roman agreed and they shook on it.

Dukey: O F F E N D E D P R I N C E Y N O I S E S hiss hiss motherfucker: what the fuck Remus Dukey: It’s true

Virgil went into the make up closest (yes they had an actual make up closet) to get his supplies. “Dad! I need to use your make up!” Virgil shouted.

“Don’t break anything!”

“Why the fuck would I do that?”

So Virgil got to work. It took several tries to get it just right but by the end it looked perfect. Prefect enough to scare the shit out of Roman that is. 

They met up at the Halloween party, or Virgil did, he got their early and waited for Roman to arrive.

And he did.

Virgil saw him walk in so he jumped up and into Roman’s face.

Roman screamed and so did several other people.

“Sup Princey,” he said.

Roman put his hand on his heart “that was the most terrifying thing ever!”

“Then I won, clearly. I mean that...….. mummy costume isn’t that impressive or scary.”

Roman once again looked offended.

“Well, I’ll take my leave, see ya later Princey.” And Virgil left the party.

He walked inside the house in triumph.

“Where did you go Virgil? You’re all decked out in Halloween stuff. OH. MY GOD. You went to a party! You’re first party!!!” Remy said. He was filming, presumably for a vlog or something.

“I just went because I challenged a friend to see who could do better scare make up,” Virgil explained.

“Gurl, if you lost I’m disowning you. We are the queens of make up in this house and I will not see my son lose at a makeup competition,” Remy said.

“I scared him shitless of course I won.”

“THAT’S MY SON!” Remy cheered.

Virgil left to go change while Remy resumed his vlog.

He texted Remus and Janus.

Raccoon: I scared your brother shitless Raccoon: ngl it was pretty funny Dukey: I WISH I could have seen it hiss hiss motherfucker: Why do you like tormenting him? Dukey: well he’s MY twin, it’s my job Raccoon: His “o f f e n d e d p r i n c e y n o i s e s” are funny hiss hiss motherfucker: get a video and I’ll make my verdict Raccoon: Alright judge Janus hiss hiss motherfucker: YOU ARE NOT MAKING THAT MY CONTACT Dukey: You don’t like Jay-nus? Raccoon: Mine for him is hiss hiss motherfucker hiss hiss motherfucker: I fucking dare you, raccoon eyes Raccoon: now you’re definitely not getting that pallet

At school Roman practically begged to show Virgil how he looked so creepy.

“Oh my god! Fine princey, this weekend I’ll fucking show you how I did it,” Virgil said after two days of nonstop begging.

Roman looked triumphant ta getting what he wanted.

When Virgil texted his dad. Virgil: In the closet this weekend Remy: awww is it that boy at the Starbucks? Virgil: You mean the one I scared the shit out of and now wants to know who I did it? yes Remy: ok, tell me what time so we can go into the closet Virgil: I will

That Saturday Roman would come over. So on Friday that ad to “go into the closet” their code meaning they had to clean up all the stuff that where indicators of them being YouTubers and hide it in a literal closet. The makeup closet was locked and so was the basement so no one could stray down there. 

Roman arrived a few minutes early.

“Dad! He’s here!”

“I know that Virgil, I’ll be “working” if y’all need me, but I know you won’t,” Remy said going into the basement and locking the door, he said he would edit but it was more likely he’d watch the Office for the sixteenth time. 

Roman knocked on the door “hey emo nightmare! So this is your humble abode I see,” Roman said looking around.

“Yeah, my dad’s working in the basement, he said he’s doing something important, but he’s probably watching the Office again, either way he said not to disturb him,” Virgil said.

“I can hear you Virgil!” Remy shouted.

“Anyway, let’s go to my room so I can show you how I did the whole vampire look,” Virgil said.

When Roman saw his room he looked around “I pictured your room having a lot more black then this.”

Virgil’s room had only one wall where his bed was that was black, the rest was white, he had to admit it made the room look a lot more open then if it had been all black. Over the past two months Virgil had been painting purple patches on the black like in his old room in Atlanta.

“My dad refused to let me paint the whole room black because it would look terrible and I’d ruin the vibes,” Virgil said.

“He was right, but alas I’m not here to admire the décor of your room, I’m here to see how you did that makeup,” Roman said.

Virgil already had the stuff out “I know that Princey, come on, I’ll show you how to do it,” Virgil said.

They where halfway through when Roman said “you sound like a beauty channel,” he said.

Virgil stopped for a second before saying “well I’m doing it on your face, it would be a waste of good make up if you didn’t understand how I did it.”

“True, but you totally sound like James Charles,” Roman said.

Virgil winced “don’t let my dad hear you say that, he hates that guy.”

“Is he homophobic or something?”

Virgil smirked “no, we’re both gay. He just hates him and if you say his name around him, he might deck you. Or ban you from the espresso machine.”

Roman gave Virgil a weird look. “State of the art espresso machine, trust me, after you’ve had some you’ll regret ever getting banned.”

He laughed “so you’re both coffee addicts.”

“You should have seen his reaction when he realized that some of the coffee I got him was decaf.” Virgil smirked.

Roman laughed “like the Coffee Addiction video, I didn’t watch it but I saw it at number 1 on trending.”

Virgil almost lost his cool, for a minute “I guess, I wouldn’t know, I don’t watch CoffeeAddiction, what’s so great about it?”

Roman looked shocked “I’m surprised, I mean he’s one of the biggest youtubers in the beauty community,”

Virgil snorted “that explains it, I don’t watch beauty vlogs. Anyway, do you want to wash all of that off or go freak out some random people on the drive home?”

Roman chose to wash it off and left unknowing leaving Virgil and Remy to once again “youtubeify” their house.

[hezuart]

in your baby brother charlie au it it says that unlike like her dad charlies mom loves her childern both of both does that mean does that mean her dad dosent love her

“Why have I always been a failure?” 

“I think dad was right about me....” *starts to cry* 

In the Hazbin Hotel pilot, it was made clear that Charlie’s dad doesn’t think very highly of her, and I transferred that over to this AU. 

I’ll copy and paste what I said on my deviantart regarding the parents’ relationship with their children in this AU so others will know what I mean!

Evan & Charlie ~~Evan was created hundreds of years after Charlie, so they never had to fight for affection or the spotlight. If anything, because Charlie is old enough to be an adult, she acts like a third caretaker to her little brother.Her parents dropped the news on her very suddenly, and before she knew it, she was holding the little guy in her arms. Her mother, much to her father's reluctance, handed Evan over to her for babysitting. So the rest of her hotel staff got wrapped up in caring for him too. They simply couldn't help themselves. He was too adorable to resist. Charlie loves to sing, dance, read stories, and play patty-cake with him. Having a little brother... real blood-related family that actually can spend time with her, was the best thing to ever happen to her. It's elating. 

Evan & Lucifer ~~ It's unknown as to why Lucifer and Lilith had Charlie to begin with, but now that she's older, her relationship with her dad has become strained due to the fact he thinks of her as a failure for not living up to his expectations, whatever they were. Perhaps for this reason, he considered having another child. Charlie makes a fool of herself and is not the weapon against heaven (?) he may have wanted her to be, so he decides to try again, producing Evan. Evan looks strikingly like his father, but he inherited his mother's eyes and parts his hair in front. He also inherited his mother's calm yet charming demeanor and smiles like her as well. Evan is careful of his reputation and showcases his demonic attributes more often than his sister, and therefore Lucifer has taken a strong liking to him, which causes a bit of horrid jealousy from Charlie. Even so, Charlie refuses to let it show that her father's favoritism bothers her. Evan & Lilith ~~Lilith, unlike Lucifer, loves her children unconditionally. However, because she and her husband are booked with work, they simply cannot find the time to constantly care for Evan. Lilith, much to Lucifer's strong rejections, turned Evan over to Charlie to babysit. Lucifer did not want their son in their failure of a daughter's hands, but Lilith insisted Charlie interact with her sibling. When Evan grows older, Lilith finds him quite adorable as a spitting image of his father, but with some of her attributes. She squishes his face, hugs, and kisses his blush-covered cheeks in adoration. Of course, she does the same for Charlie. Evan finds his mother's presence very comforting. His sister and father have the charisma of an earthquake, so it's nice to have a powerful demoness that keeps her energy to a minimum. 

~~

So yes, there’s favoritism. Lucifer prefers Evan over Charlie, and even heavily implied that Evan will be bumped up in terms of kingdom inheritance. 

Lucifer will eventually make it known that he intends to bestow Evan with the title of next-in-line to the throne instead of their firstborn Charlie. 

While Charlie is aware of her reputation and has no true desire to rule Hell, it still hurts her immensely that her dad came to this decision. She knows Evan would make a better heir than her, but she hates the thought of being forgotten about. Simply brushed off with the threat of being thrown out of the Magne family. 

If it weren’t for her mother Lilith, (and her good-standing relationship with her brother) she fears her father would have disowned her long ago. 

Of course, we still haven’t seen the true stones of their relationship in canon. I heard Lucifer gave Charlie enchanted dolls (aka her bodyguards Razzle and Dazzle) to play and take care of her when she was young. For a father to do that seems quite caring and considerate. Charlie seems to have inherited a lot of her father’s appearance, smile, and charisma. So surely they spent a lot of time together back then. 

But as she got older, and still acted what Lucifer considers to be “childish”, I think he lost his patience with her and started behaving coldly. 

Most demons would have children for heirs, power-expansion, or weaponization. It’s not clear why the Magne family decided to produce Charlie. Lilith is a strong advocate for fighting back against Heaven’s executions, and I can only assume Lucifer feels the same in some way. Maybe they intended for her to be a powerful asset to their kingdom to fight against heaven? 

But instead, they kinda gave birth to an angel rather than a demon, so... things didn’t work out as they had maybe planned. 

Which is exactly why I’m shocked they didn’t try again, especially with Lilith’s historical religious origins being entwined with child creation. 

So I made this AU to settle my confused little mind and put me at ease!