#i just have been using it cause my mom always described me as raven-haired and i have dark brown hair kinda like brida in s5

[jadoue1999]

Peter Maximoff’s complicated relationship with Star Wars

Summary: Peter didn't like Star Wars. But not because they were bad movies, no. It's because they somehow were very similar to his own life, and they also showed him what might have been, had his twin lived long enough. This is the story of Peter Maximoff, told through the many similarities between the original trilogy and his own life.

*All Star Wars quotes are in italics*

Peter doesn’t like Star Wars

Don’t get him wrong, the movies are great. The first movie had come out when he was 22 years old, and he had found it amazing. He had never seen anything like it before and had sneaked into the movie theater to rewatch it with his twin several times.

‘I need your help, Luke.’

It was almost ironic how his life resembled some parts of the movie. Both he and Wendy had some characteristics of Luke and Leia. He was the goofball, the one who had been recruited to break someone out of an impenetrable prison. Hell, Charles could be Obi-Wan, the old wizard with strange mind control powers (though he didn’t have them at the time), Hank was Chewbacca, the fierce beast who was loyal to his family, and then the claw guy, Logan, was Han Solo. The dark-haired man with a don’t-mess-with-me attitude that would shoot you down without hesitation. That made him Luke, the farm boy that was raised isolated, unaware of the true danger. Only difference was that Erik wasn’t Leia, no he was Vader. Wendy was Leia, the fierce, loud mouthed, badass princess that didn’t let anyone boss her around.

They had loved the first movie, but then tragedy struck. His twin’s powers were always unpredictable, always on the verge of lashing out. He had tried to help as much as he could, but just a few months after their 23rd birthday, it was too much for Wendy to bear. She lost control and died, taking half a block with her. Peter did his best to carry on, but their lost connection was all he could feel. The aching emptiness that had always been occupied by his twin sister. It took awhile, but he did eventually go see the second Star Wars. It was... a bittersweet experience to say the least.

Seeing the big bad Vader being related to Luke really did a number on him. All he could think about was the fact that he too was related to a literal terrorist. Someone who had hurt hundred of people and would probably not hesitate to hurt him as well. And then it was revealed that Luke and Leia shared a connection, where they could hear each other and feel each other, and it just overwhelmed him. Minus the kissing (ew, that was gross, why did they even include that?!) Luke and Leia’s relationship reminded him of his and Wendy’s.

That’s why he wasn’t surprised when they were revealed to be twins in the next movie.

Actually, he had been surprised, but more about the fact that his grief took over for a moment. Seeing Leia try to reason with Luke, telling him that nothing good would come out of chasing Vader, their father... that was a conversation that had really happened after their mom told them who exactly was Magneto. Peter had decided to chase Erik down the moment he had resurfaced.

‘I won't fail - I'm not afraid.’

‘Oh, you will be. You will be.’

His mom had warned him about Magneto, how nothing good came out of chasing ghosts, but he had to try. A confrontation with the Dark Lord of the Sith.

Cloud city The mansion was full of people, and the place was exploding. He saved them all (minus one), of course, because that’s what he did. Why be a speedster if you can’t save people from catastrophe?

‘Luke, don't - it's a trap!’

Yeah, it had been a trap, alright. But unlike Luke, he hadn’t had Leia to warn him. So, the carbon freezing chamber knock out gun had worked. That’s how he ended up captured by the government and woke up in a weird green room. The others, he could understand why they were taken, they seemed to know the man holding them, but why him? Peter was of no interest to them. Unless they knew he was related to Magneto and planned to use him as a bargaining chip, but it seemed unlikely.

Then, they were freed and, on their way to confront En Sabah Nur, or as Hank had described him, the blue god. He had told Raven about his relationship with Erik, and she promised him that she would make sure she would tell him.

‘There is no escape. Don't make me destroy you.’

The cold, cold eyes of Magneto were staring at him with something that seemed almost like interest. “And you?”

‘I am your father.’

It was right there, a perfect opportunity served on a silver platter. An opportunity to make Erik realize he wasn’t alone, that he had more family. Perhaps he’d turn back to the light side if he knew. “I’m your-“

But it was Wendy who was the brave one, she was the chosen one. She never would have hesitated. And he wasn’t his sister. “I’m here for my family too.”

It was all sad and tragic because his life was just like that. He could feel Raven’s eyes on him, she couldn’t understand why he hadn’t told him, but she couldn’t know about Wendy. It was his own painful secret.

With how similar his life was to Luke’s he wasn’t sure why he was even surprised when he got his hand cut off leg broken. Then, there he was, trying to hold on to consciousness as shock settled into his body.

‘Hear me! Leia!’

Oh, how he wished Wendy were here. She would have destroyed them. Peter would have done anything for his twin to answer, like Leia did with Luke. But she was dead, there was no one to answer him. Just the cobwebs of their broken connection and the burning pain of his leg. He didn’t really care what happened next, he was all too focused on getting his message to his long-lost sister. He didn’t really believe in a higher power, of some all-powerful entity that somehow watched over everyone. He did, however, believe in Wendy, his strong, beautiful, powerful sister.

‘I would have preferred her too’

The blue God’s voice resonated in his head, catching him off guard. No one had ever reached in his mind like that, Wendy only could because of their connection.

‘If you will not turn to the dark side, then perhaps she will.’

Would his father have tried recruiting Wendy for his brotherhood? Yeah, definitely. She would have been the true last hope. A daughter to be proud about. One with abilities beyond anything anyone had ever seen. One that truly would have saved everyone, hell, she would have prevented the mansion from exploding and never would have been captured in the first place. The blue god looked at him with disdain in his eyes and Peter knew it didn’t mean anything good. He tried to crawl away, but in his current position, that did absolutely nothing.

‘It is pointless to resist, my son.’

En Sabah Nur grabbed him by the hair and tugged, holding him painfully upright and vulnerable. He’d always hated staying still, he was always too full of energy, always eager to chase after the next distraction.

Peter looked up at his father, trying to see if he would do anything, but he saw nothing but indifference. Magneto didn’t care about him. He was an insignificant mutant, a face amongst a thousand others. Soon to be counted amongst the hundred of corpses that Erik had seen in his life.

‘Now, young Skywalker...you will die.’

The god pulled his head back sharply, exposing his throat. “End him.”

One of his horsemen was approaching him with a sharp sword. Peter was slightly thankful that it wasn’t his dad that was chosen to be his executioner. His powers had kicked in, trying to give him an opportunity to escape. But it only made his imminent doom even worse.

Then, he didn’t die, and the hope of seeing his twin again was brushed aside for another near-death situation. As it turned out, Raven was a great person when the son of her friend was in danger.

En Sabah Nur let him go too quickly to focus on the blue mutant. He gasped and writhed as he fell to the ground as electricity pain coursed through his body. The blue god didn’t care about him, he continued calling for Charles, calling for his true target.

‘Father! Help me!’

He should cry out like Luke did, there was no way Magneto would act if he didn’t. Then again, he didn’t have a clue who he was. It was doubtful he remembered him from the Pentagon, it had been nearly 10 years and Erik had had a whole other family since. He was just the nameless idiot that got a big head and tried to take on a god and got defeated like a loser.

In the end, they were all fine, just a little shaken. Erik gave him a weird look, either he pitied him, or he was wondering what he had wanted to tell him. But Peter was on the verge of passing out, there was no way he could hold a conversation at the moment. They came back to the mansion and Peter decided to stay, maybe getting out of his isolation wouldn’t be so bad.

So, even if his life was similar to Star Wars, in its turns and tragedy, it wasn’t even close to how the trilogy ended. The scruffy Han never came back, Obi-wan wasn’t next to a redeemed Anakin (he just left all together) and Leia wasn’t at his side anymore. A happy ending wasn’t something that happened in real life. Everything he wanted resolved wasn’t wrapped neatly into a bow. He still had his loads of daddy issues caused by a father who didn’t know was a father and Wendy, his amazing long gone twin still wasn’t at his side. Peter figured that some good would eventually come to him, it couldn’t be all bad, right?

‘This is our most desperate hour.’

He had faith in that, so, when he was woken up by a burning sensation in his chest, he did his best to understand. The pain was so familiar, it was grief. But not his grief, no, this came from the connection he shared with his twin.

“Wanda?” he called out. Using her real name because she was calling to him. Because she needed him. Because she was somewhere all alone.

“I had a brother, his name was… Pietro.”

It was painful for her to talk about him, so he made sure to let her know through their bond that he was there for her, she just had to reach out. Wanda was confused to feel him, but her scarlet magic soon opened a portal. It might be a trap, there was no way to be certain, but Peter trusted his sister. He took and deep breath and ran into the portal without hesitation. She was alone and she was suffering, it was his job as her twin to help her.

‘Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope.’

[specsforwoo]

Son of Morpheus | Demigod!Lee Jeno

Parent Deity: Morpheus (God of Dreams and Human Dreamers)

Allegiance: Hypnos

This boy loves to sleep

Like LOVES to sleep

He could be found sleeping anywhere

High key his mom found him sleeping on the kitchen floor one day

And ever since he was little

He was able to remember his dreams with intense detail

His family just thought it was a 4 year old’s imagination running wild

Until the night terrors started

He was tormented with them

They started around the time he was 7

They still happen today, just much less in frequency

But when he was younger

They were really bad

Like he would wake up screaming and crying

And it took ages for him to calm down

It got to the point that his mom was considering taking him to a child psychiatrist

He found a way to calm himself though

He began drawing out scenes from his dreams

No matter what they are

Light and airy or nightmarish

It helped him cope in a way

Life continued on

And he started opening up to his mom about his dreams

He talked about a young man with tan skin and dark curly hair

And wings of a white warblers

He told stories of epic battles

Of courtrooms filled with music and sleeping bodies

Of sleepless nights talking with a man sitting on the moon

Jeno couldn’t tell if he was scared of the man or not

As he entered middle school

He started being able to interpret his dreams

Other’s dreams too

He kept it a secret though

It terrified him

He learned to accept this too

As he did everything else

But then he learned he could predict others dreams

And it scared the shit out of him

He told his best friend, Jaemin first

Jaemin just gave him this knowing look and took him to his mom

His mom sat him down

And for the first time in his 14 years of life

His mother pulled out a photo of his father

And he was shocked

It was the curly haired man that he saw every night in his dreams

Sitting there next to his mother in a cafe in Greece

He was fucking confused

Like really fucking confused

Until it clicked

That was his dad

His dad had wings of a garbler

HIS DAD HAS WINGS OF A GARBLER

Am I going to grow wings too!?!?!?!?!?!?

No, you idiot. Jaemin

I’m not?

No, you have to earn them. Also Jaemin

So that night he was lying in bed

Questioning whether or not he wanted to fall asleep

Knowing he would have to confront his father there

But a cloud with a dreamcatcher with dew drops hanging from the strings shrouded with a calming silver light appeared above his head

And he fell asleep instantaneously

His father was sitting there

Talking with the man who embodied the moon

The man that he didn’t recognize made a comment and vanished after he caught sight of him

His father turned around. It was like he hadn’t aged a day since the photo see saw

Do you know who I am?

Uhhhhh. A dude with white warbler wings??? That haunts my dreams every night. Who also happens to be my father?

He didn’t mean to sound as sarcastic as it came out

Yes, that is all true, though I don’t ‘haunt’ you. But, do you know who I am?

No

He sat him down in the dark pavilion, explaining about the gods and goddess, the war and everything in between, even how he was born.

Do I like…. Have half-siblings??

No, but Jaemin is your cousin. His father smiled

After that, the dream faded off and he was peaceful for the rest of the night

Waking up, Jaemin was passed out on the couch in the living room

Picking up the nearest thing (a remote) he threw it at the boy on the couch, causing him to wake up

WHY IN OLYMPUS DID YOU NEVER TELL ME WE ARE TECHNICALLY COUSINS????

Not my place?

Anyways start packing, Mom said I can take you to camp with me this year :)

Yes, Jaemin calls Jeno’s mom his mom

And so he went to camp with Jaemin that year

It was nothing like what Jaemin described

It was WAY cooler

On the first day people were milling around everywhere

Jaemin led him over to a couple older kids with badges around their necks

Hey Jaemin!

Jaemin introduced them as Johnny and Ten, both sons of wind gods, both camp leaders who were helping all of the new kids get around and find their cabins

They’ll take care of you, I have to go find her.

Jaemin basically dumped Jeno on their shoulders so he could go find his girlfriend smh

Jaemin told us you were Morpheus’ kid, we were thinking about putting you in the Crios cabin? Does that sound okay? We would put you with Jaemin but he said you should get to know other campers your first year here. The shorter one spoke up

The taller one, Jaemin introduced him as Johnny, pulled out a gold coin, flicking it into the air while muttering something, and a wavering rainbow appeared in front of them

Put me through to Taeil and soon the rainbow was showing an older boy as well with a red undercut over some astrology papers

The rainbow??? Was facetime???

Ten obviously saw the shock on poor Jeno’s face, carefully explaining what an Iris message was and how to do it

After that he settled into demigod life pretty quickly

Jaemin introduced him to all of his friends, the Dream team, even some older campers who he was close with

He even liked the Crios cabin so much that he decided to stay there past the first year. The Morpheus cabin was lonely and Jaemin always had his girlfriend over trying to get her to sleep

The night terrors slowly subsided and soon his dreams were more peaceful than anything else

But one time he dreamt about a girl, right around his age, running into camp, a dark aura surrounding her but obvious scared

It wasn’t the dark aura that worried him, Kun and Jaehyun both had a dark aura, both sons of gods related to death

But her aura was different, it was mixed with madness, it was close to driving her insane

Even though it was only a dream, he couldn’t shake it off

He asked everyone that he knew, especially Jaemin, he found out a while ago that he was the one who founded the camp, what the aura could be and no one knew

He also started watching the border of camp everyday

Not stalking it or anything, just glancing over whenever he had a chance

A couple weeks past and Jeno was convinced that it was just a really weird dream

But then you actually showed up

Same way that it happened in the dream

You ran into the borders of camp like you were out of your mind, you were paranoid, no one could even touch you, not even Sicheng

When Jeno had heard what happened, he ran down to the pavilion

There you were, on the ground, covering your ears, eyes wide open, terrified to shut them, and shaking in fear

Once he had pushed his way through the crowd, he placed his hand over your eyes and shortly, you had fallen asleep

After that, Sicheng had moved you to the infirmary with Jeno’s and Johnny’s help

He found that you were severely dehydrated, and even he couldn’t describe the aura around you. It wasn’t that of Kun or Jaehyun’s but it was definitely similar

You were were in and out of consciousness for about 3 days and when everything finally settled down, a raven with a snake in its mouth appeared over your head

It was symbols that no one had seen or heard of, not even Jaemin or Taeyong

The boys spent the next couple of days researching who the symbols could belong to, and eventually they found it: Melinoe

Goddess of ghosts and spiritual passage who brought mortals nightmares that drove them insane

That would explain the way you were when you first came into camp

After that, Jeno stayed by your side every step of your recovery

He also helped you to manage the nightmares and control your powers

He had been there before, dreams were a tricky subject and nightmares made it even more complicated

But slowly you got the hang of it

And slowly Jeno started to have a crush on you, and slowly it turned into more

When he finally asked you out, you were ecstatic, it would be a lie to say that you hadn’t developed feelings for Jeno since coming to camp

And when camp closed for the summer- except for the few that stayed, he found out that you were attending the same university

He had been studying astrology while you were in the art department, soon, everyone in campus and camp knew who the two of you were

Y’all were inseparable

The Dreamies even accepted you into their group

(Jisung is your favorite don’t tell Jeno)

You eventually ended up moving in with Jaehyun

He had become like your older brother at camp

When Jeno wasn’t able to help you learn about your powers, Jaehyun was there to help

He even got his mom to visit personally and talk to you about your own mom and what he role was, and most importantly, that she wasn’t a bad person

Jaehyun knew the pain that you dealt with having a parent being a literal embodiment of death

And soon enough, it was even like Jeno had moved in with Jaehyun with how much he was at the apartment

Jaehyun was okay with it as long as he didn’t wake up in the middle of the night :)

[redmaneroster]

Our Home Away From Home, Away From Home

[1] [2] [3] [4-5] [6] [7] [x-x] [10]

PART 8 – Permutation

Its almost strange to call it home, Yang thinks, staring up at the house she grew up in. She'd spent so much time in a cozy little dorm and a browning two-bedroom apartment that a house in the woods almost seems like a distant memory. (She hadn't spent Summer here either. She was in Menagerie with Blake then Mistral with her dad for a getaway, and the rest she spent kicking back with Jaune).

"A lot happened this year," she says.

Jaune's eying the woods around them, trying to see a break in the pattern outside of a few distant houses lost between the bark and autumn leaves. He swallows cause he knows that, if it weren't for Yang, he'd have been terribly lost. "Hm? Uh… huh?" he garbles, unable to hide the tinge of panic.

"A lot happened this year," she repeats. "What's up with you?"

"The woods are thick is all. How you only got lost in it once is beyond me… So, what's with the nostalgia? Old house got you thinking?"

"Something like that. Mostly, I didn't think I'd end up here, getting ready to reacquaint with Raven, and getting you of all people to meet my parents."

"Yeah, didn't think I'd end up introducing another blonde to my sisters either. Future seemed full of redheads and I stuck with it like an act of defiance."

"Defiance? Why's that?"

"If you haven't noticed, we're all terribly blonde. Even Adrian's hair is a dirty gold and we thought for sure he'd be a brunette. It's either a curse, or fate is terrible at jokes and uncomfortable at parties."

She chuckles. "Calling fate out like a loser isn't going to win you any favors. Besides, can't help it when both your folks are blondes."

"One of my sisters is adopted. A blind adoption, mind you. From Vacuo. You know what we got? Chocolate brown skin and dusty blonde hair. Boom. Curse."

There's the sound of fluttering feathers behind them. Qrow straightens his back with a snap as he shapeshifts. "Ngh, agh! Ha… What are two doing just standing outside? Expecting another invitation?"

Jaune and Yang exchange a look. "Stalling," they say in unison.

"W-what? How did you two…? Nevermind." He pinches his forehead cause the moment is too familiar and he feels an irrational envy creep up his cheeks. "You two coming in or not?"

"Why so impatient all of a sudden?" Jaune asks.

"I don't take enjoyment out of watching a train wreck but if I can't stop it, I'll at least hope it's over quickly."

Yang puts a hand on her hip. "Not very optimistic, are you?"

"I prefer cautious," he says as he waves a dismissive hand and stalks ahead of them. "Besides, I don't want you two walking in there expecting things to go off without a hitch." He glances back to see them roll their eyes at the same time and that uncomfortable shiver is back.

"Now that you're here, a disaster's all but guaranteed," Jaune quips.

Qrow glares but neither of them lose their cheek. He rolls his eyes too, but doesn't show them his smile when he's got his back turned. He isn't too sensitive about his semblance – if anything, he's glad Jaune can treat him like he isn't a wounded animal – but he notices the twitch in Jaune's eye. It's there cause he's too soft a soul to have all the bite that quips demand. He almost wants to say sorry for it. "He's a good kid,"

Qrow thinks.

With a twist of the knob, he opens the door and then kicks up his heel to slam it open the rest of the way. He wanders in with a swagger and a mischievous grin. Both fit him naturally.

"Rae!" he shouts. "Your brat and her boyfriend are at the door!"

Jaune balks and shoots Yang a look. She gives him a quick, "He's just like that when he talks to her," and ushers him in.

"And you didn't let them in like a normal fucking person!?" Raven shouts back and it's like a nostalgic gust has poured over Yang. Raven's every inflection is recognizable, echoing deeply from buried memories. They argued like this often when she was small.

"They can walk through a door just fine," Qrow says, swinging into the archway that leads into a tall kitchen. "And lest you forget, I'm a guest here, too. Not your chaperone."

Jaune lets Yang wander ahead, eying her backside as she inches a trail behind Qrow.

Yang peeks in to see her mother chopping something on the kitchen table by the sink. Bravado has taken a backseat and the very reality of the situation has settled in like a bat to Yang's blindside.

"Do you really have to be difficult with me right now?" Raven says with a huff but there's no bite to it, just lazy exasperation.

"Yeah, I do…" Qrow replies. "This is our normal. The minute I go easy on you, assume I'm dead and you've encountered a terribly tolerable doppelganger."

Raven's cheek quirks and it triggers in Yang things she half remembers, and half convinces herself she'd seen in a dream.

"Hmph. Bold of you to assume I won't just take the trade as an act of divine mercy. Maybe this doppelganger can cook for the house every once in a while instead of free loading off my dinner."

"If you wanted me to cook venison, you could have asked."

"Not the deer again… Tai hates it when you bring the kill into the kitchen. I personally don't care that you track blood on the carpet, but he refuses to agree with my sentiments about a house that's lived in and not one you find sterilized in catalogs. Ugh, I'm getting tired just thinking of that argument."

"I know," Qrow agrees, leaning on the counter. "That's why I do it on purpose."

Raven tilts her head back to give her brother a smirk. "You're a scoundrel, Qrow," she says just before her eyes catch Yang's.

"Hey, Mom," Yang says out of instinct. It's too late to take it back.

"Yang, you–" she crosses her arms, "–who is this?"

Jaune's heat presses against her arm like the partner he is. Not in front like her protector, but beside her like her equal. She can feel the way he's hiding his nerves with the shudder in his arm. "Dad didn't tell you?" she says. "This is Jaune. My boyfriend."

Jaune, borrowing confidence he's learned from her, doesn't back down. "Good afternoon, ma'am," he greets, standing proudly. His fingers twitch against Yang's arm.

"Oh, he told me about him alright. I just wasn't expecting a familiar face." Her eyes lock onto him. She smirks when she sees he doesn't flinch. "You're an Arc, I take it? I recognize that face. Your father was in the news once or twice."

"Oh, you heard about the manticore horde? Or was it the behemoth at Glenn?"

"Neither. He blew up a dust shop."

Oddly enough, Yang feels him relax.

"Yeah," he says, scratching his head, "Arcs really shouldn't have guns."

Raven nods. There's no tension here, and Yang feels it's gone all too smoothly.

"Perhaps you can tell me the story," Raven offers as she turns back to chopping. "I have an old bet with Qrow I'd like to settle."

"What did you bet on?" Jaune asks.

Raven snorts. "And let you lie to give my brother the win? Please. I know you two are friendly." She glances back. It's the only other time through this whole conversation that she's looked Yang in the eye and it's still only for a second. She goes back to chopping. "Why don't you two go into the living room and wait for Tai while my silent shadow of a brother here helps me sort out this recipe."

Qrow shrugs and continues to say nothing other than whisper something to Raven that makes her blush angrily.

Yang peels off of Jaune and her insides broil unsteadily.

"Sounds like she's changed," Jaune says when he's in the living room alone with her on a wide U-shaped sofa.

She shakes her head. "She hasn't though."

"What? But the way you described her before–"

"–is all hearsay. I had a mom who left out of the blue. Before that she was jabbing back and forth with Qrow, needing help in the kitchen, and trying her best to be on top of things. Everything I said about her between that time was just me making assumptions about a woman who wasn't around for me to judge in person. I never actually knew if she changed any since leaving."

"So this is Raven Branwen: Unfiltered? If this is what she was like before, then maybe she's just trying to fit back into place the only way she knows how."'

She raises her knees to curl up but she forces them back down. She doesn't want to appear too obviously vulnerable. Not when her mother is still in the house. She tosses Jaune a meaningful glance. "Is it wrong for me to hate that?"

"Some people might say it is, but I think it's too much to ask someone who has had to raise her little sister all on her own to let her absentee mother just waltz back into her life like nothing's changed."

"I still don't know if you're agreeing with me or not."

"Cause I don't know either. Give me a minute to think on it and I'll probably pick a side but I'd much rather stay right where I am. On neutral ground." He squeezes her hand. "I'm here to be your backup, not your coach." Because they don't solve each other's issues, not every time, but they always help each other along.

She knows this, of course. She hasn't deluded herself into thinking that they could crack every case just because love had lofty ideas about making everything right. Being in love doesn't solve everything, it just gives you a partner to solve them with.

"I think I'm suddenly very tired," she says, leaning on his arm. "Wake me in an hour when dinner's ready."

"Uh… shouldn't it be done sooner?"

"Raven used to wake up at five AM to make breakfast in time for school. She takes breaks cause she doesn't always have the patience for it. Don't expect it to go any faster with Uncle Qrow in there. He's just there to make sure she doesn't skip any steps."

"That doesn't fill my with confidence," he says but she's already snuggling into his arm with a contented sigh.

With the sound of clattered pans and restrained yelling from the kitchen, Jaune decides to shut his eyes too.

-0-

Jaune is violently awoken by someone grabbing him by the collar and shaking him awake.

"You!" says the messy tuft of blonde hair presently pressed against his face. "You're… yer…. Hic!" The scent of alcohol is palpable. The smell is dizzying.

He blinks himself awake. "Uh, you're Mr. Xiao Long, I'm guessing? I'm Jaune. Yang said she mentioned me?"

The tuft of hair pulls up revealing the chiseled scruff of a well-worn huntsman. Faded scars litter his neck and chin, but that's where all the menace in him ends. Despite his tone, Taiyang has the look of a desperate man. His eyes are wide and a solid, beautiful blue. His cheeks have a slight plump to them that make him just shy of an Adonis.

Jaune makes the executive decision not to think along that line any further. But it's clear that Yang's got stellar genes and – No! Bad Jaune! Stop it!

Tai glances at the slumbering Yang, snoring softly against Jaune's arm. "What did you do to my daughter?" he says with a drunken pout that would look more intimidating on a pug.

"Uh, nothing!" he whispers urgently. "Nothing I swear."

He squints so much that he closes his eyes and nearly passes out before he jolts himself awake. "You… You and Qrow really are friends. 'Nothing,' he says… that's just code for plowed her till sunrise."

Still in a sleepy haze, Yang pushes her father's face away until he falls back onto the coffee table behind him. "Dad… leave him alone," she groans. "He wouldn't touch me even if I tore off his clothes and –" Her eyes shoot open, fully awake and painfully aware. Her scream then is almost silent, Jaune thinks, but he's pretty certain that's cause Yang's vivid horror is blasted like shellshock when she abruptly screams louder next to his ear and scrambles over the sofa to hide behind it.

He's still shaking his head to get the ringing out.

Qrow bursts in, Raven meekly peeking behind him. "What the fuck – Oh."

Tai is sprawled over the coffee table, squinting angrily at everything.

"Bird!" Tai accuses, swinging his arm out to point at him but slamming it on the hardwood coffee table. "Ow," he mutters as his aura flares.

"Drunk," Qrow greets. He hoists the man over his shoulder. "Sorry about this, kids. I think Tai's got his nerves bundled up again. I'll get him to detox upstairs after a nap."

"Uh, it looks like he'll be out for the week," Jaune says, shaking his head still. "I doubt a nap will fix him by dinner."

"Nah. Tai can burn all the alcohol out of his system with enough motivation and calories. He'll be ready by the time Rae manages to get something on the table."

Tai wiggles like an insolent child, fists lightly beating on the man's back. "Back off, Qrow!" he slurs. "You're not taking this one – hic – too… guh…"

"That's my twin sister, you dunce."

"Really?" Tai pushes his head up, eying Raven. "Pfft! Qrow, you are not that pretty."

Once the two of them have rounded the corner into Tai's bedroom, Jaune asks the quietly smiling Raven, "This happen often?"

"Not as much as it used to," she says. "Was a time when there were two whole families in this house and it was never quiet. Two men and enough testosterone to make a third made competition between them frequent. Qrow got Tai to drink and you can see that he hasn't acclimated to it as well as my brother does."

"Do you drink?"

"I'm a Branwen," she shrugs, "our blood is two parts alcohol. Small mercy that Yang hasn't picked up our habits. Or Ruby for that matter."

Jaune raises a brow. "Ruby's a Branwen?"

Yang nearly gasps from behind the couch, hands clutching her mouth.

"No," Raven says. "Well, she should have been but Qrow basically raised her all the same. He even knit her a tiny red hood when she was barely a foot tall, and it's been her motif ever since." Raven, eying him, closes her arms a little tighter around herself. As if guarded. Uncertain. "Despite how it may appear," she says, "I am glad my daughter found you but there's something you should know moving forward…"

Jaune prepares for the inevitability of the 'boyfriend' talk. It doesn't come. Raven is beside herself, eying the floor. "No matter what happens today, I do not intend to reconcile with my daughter."

He realizes that she doesn't know that Yang is in the room, just by the sofa. His heart knots. "You don't know if she wants that yet."

She laughs. It's bitter. "It doesn't matter. What Yang wants isn't coming into the equation. She needs to distance herself from me."

"What was the point of coming here if not to bridge the gap between you two?"

Raven chews her lip, wanting nothing more than to end the conversation and walk out of the room. She doesn't. Can't. "To prove that things have changed here. That me and my brother talk, and that Tai has… met me halfway."

"So this – all of this – is for show?"

Her features darken, her face hardens. "Yes."

He pushes himself up, almost prepares to march up to her. His feet don't push him any further. His willful restraint is there but it's paper thin. "And if she wants more?" he asks, inwardly begging her to give him a reason to meet her up close.

Her eyes narrow at the floor. "All you have to do is make her an Arc and she'll live a life better than anything I can give her!" Her gaze is at him, dangerous and unafraid, but its desperate. She's asking him a favor. "Asking me to be a part of her life is like active theft. You will give her all she'll ever want, but me? I'll only ever take things away. And if you give me the chance, I'll end up taking her too. She'll leave you like I did Tai."

The silence wanes and Jaune can hear the thumping in his own chest. She's making claims for things that haven't happened yet. As if she can't promise to give as well as she takes. As if she can't meet her own daughter halfway. As if she can't compromise. His ears strain to hear anything from Yang, but she's so deftly quiet that he feels alone in the room with her mother.

Muscle fastens onto bone, curling his fist inward till digs into his palm. His aura flares. The sound of it jolts him awake. He'd been holding his breath.

Then… he plops down onto his seat. Tension in his skin unwinds. All his disbelief slips away. Any anger he feels pools into his back to weigh him against the cushions. "But why?" is all he asks, looking up at her.

Raven is so taken aback by his sudden shift that she shows the tangled fear she'd tucked away for a moment. The question is genuine and – like her many nights moonlighting bars – she is tempted to bare her soul to a stranger. "Because I'm a Branwen," she says, eyes deadened. Scowling as if the name is a profane. "And even a terrible mother wouldn't wish that name on her daughter."

When she leaves the room, Yang rises from behind the couch. She doesn't focus on anything. She looks bewildered, pained.

Qrow comes down the steps and they look at him. He looks like how she feels. "I'm sorry if this wasn't what you were expecting," he says.

Yang clutches the backrest of the sofa. "I don't know what I was expecting."

Qrow gives her a worried look. "Maybe… maybe it's better that way."

He wanders into the kitchen, leaving them alone.

Jaune doesn't hold Yang. Instead, he fishes her gauntlets from the duffel bag, takes her by the hand, and pulls her outside.

-0-

She sets fire to a dead tree. The blast of Ember Celica ripples through the woods, scatters wildlife, shakes the canopy, and rustles the owls awake. She doesn't care. The blowback from her gauntlets as it makes contact with the deadwood is cathartic. Reflective of what she's feeling inside.

But it isn't anger.

"What does she even… Ugh!" Another blast, sending out a spent shell, light casting over her cheek and hair with accompanying heat. "I don't get it!"

She breathes in and out. Blinks moisture into her eyes. She's been doing the very opposite of crying and drying the liquid in her sockets. She's starting to feel dizzy. She slumps back onto a rock Jaune is sitting on, using his shoulder as a backrest. "I'm not… mad at her. I'm confused. And I'm mad that I'm confused. Does that make sense?"

"About as much sense as she was making," he says with a sarcastic smile.

She's trying to smile back. Even a little one might do but her lips down-curl. Her frown tightens and she sighs into the open sky. "I wanted to give her a chance," she says. "Maybe see where this goes but… now that I know she won't even try? How am I supposed to process this? Do I just do what she wants and not try either?"

He plucks a twig from a dead branch, snapping its length into little pieces. "Do you even want to do that? I mean, if leaving things as they are isn't what you want, then ideally how would you like all this to end?"

She takes half of the twig – snapping it between them. She picks it apart too.

An answer doesn't come.

They gather the tiny bits of branch and bunch it into Jaune's hands. Yang pulls out a fire dust shell from her gauntlet and cracks it open over them. Red particles filter over and into the loose wood bits. He spools them into a ball and his semblance surges over his arm.

His muscles tighten when he approaches the dead tree. It's barely as tall as he is now. His arm pulls back. The chunks in his palm ignite. He throws them like a man-propelled buckshot, scattering burning holes through it.

Even charred, the thing has dangerous embers dancing off its broken pieces.

"We should put this out," she says.

"Mm!" He kicks it down, unrooting it. Then he hoists it up. "Got another good punch in ya'?"

"I've got a few, yeah, but I'll save the rest for later. I only need one for this."

He crouches low, prepping to toss. "Ready?" he asks.

"Pull!" she shouts.

He tosses it into the air, scattering the scent of ash and char, and she swings her fist into it. The sheer force of the blow consumes the flame as it rockets and splinters into a tall rock.

"Y'know what?" she says. "If it's taking me this long to even answer, maybe this isn't what I want."

"So what now, chief?"

She snorts. "Don't give me ideas. Anyway, I say we take the aggressive approach. We got them a present, I say we break it out instead of handing them the box. Invite them to try it with us."

Jaune turns to the house where they left the duffel bag. He winces. "Are you sure about this?"

"I don't see an elegant solution. And it's probably stupid, yeah, but stupid has worked for us so far."

"Really? How exactly has it worked for us so far?"

"In what universe do hickeys stop two primed teenagers from having sex?"

"Ours, apparently…"

"Gets the tension out. Would be genius if I didn't find it by accident."

"Speaking of which…"

He comes up behind her and pushes her hair off her shoulder, exposing her neck.

"What are you – Ah!" she gasps when he bites her neck. Her aura lowers on instinct, letting him mark her.

He pulls away and wipes her dry with a handkerchief. "You taste like saltwater and ash."

She rubs her neck as the pain subsides rapidly. "We should bathe when we get back. What was that for anyway?"

"Revenge, mostly. Feeling petty."

"On me?"

"Your mom."

"Heh, yeah, she's gonna ask questions or implode trying not to. Actually, since we're getting shiners, we should get ones to match."

He doesn't protest but he's not happy about it. With a sigh he leans down but she's already jumped up to latch onto him.

She bites down so hard that he swears that she was actually trying to eat him. He'd be more okay with it if she didn't keep trying to one-up herself.

-0-

Dinner, somehow, is always pleasant. True to Qrow's word, Tai comes in completely sober. Jaune chalks it up to having a very useful semblance.

Tai is a chill dad. He nudges Yang when he sees the hickey, even when Qrow refuses to make eye contact with Jaune and Raven squints while warring with herself to say something but won't. Tai reintroduces himself and sits next to Jaune to strike up a conversation with him.

It takes minutes for Tai to fish out that Jaune has seven sisters, that he met Yang by throwing up on her boots, and that he used to have a crush on Ruby. The last bit comes as a surprise to everyone but Tai who pats himself on the back for having incredible girls in the family.

Jaune finds out that Tai is very much like Yang. Despite closing himself off for a good chunk of her childhood, he's clearly had a great influence on her disposition. Father and daughter joke and jab at each other, laugh just as loudly, crack the same kind of jokes (he tries not to think of them as mom jokes when he looks at his girilfriend).

Jaune eventually gets to tell the story of how his dad blew up a dust shop during his third year in Beacon. Just a mishap with a loose dust feeder, a weapon he didn't know how to use, and a particularly handsy bully. By the end, Raven cheers when she wins the bet. Apolian Arc punched a cop. Qrow bet that he punched a civilian.

They're unwinding in the living room when Jaune's eying the wall of photos. Summer's only in a handful of the group shots. Qrow explains that she insisted on being the photographer and didn't like being in photos herself. It's why she has the hood. It's comforting when she can pretend to be hiding.

She sounds like Ruby.

"I just noticed," Jaune says to Yang, "your mom's smiling in every photo. Qrow's the only one who occasionally doesn't."

"It was a different time," she says. "Qrow told me that she was cheery and crass. Would even crack a joke or two whenever she found the time to stop training and be a teenager."

"I'll be honest, it's still weird seeing her smile so much. I came in here expecting a variation of Glynda Goodwitch, not Qrow Branwen. Speaking of which," he glances back at the adults huddled laughing by the sofa, "we should probably break out the gift."

"Speaking of speaking of things," she rubs the hickey on her neck, "it still stings."

"Oh, sorry. Let me heal it."

She pushes his hands away. "No, I –" Her eyes widen. Pressing two digits into the bruised flesh, she feels the ache but doesn't hate it. "Okay, heal me quick before this turns into a fetish!"

Warmth pools out of his palms.

"Could you not make out in full view of her family?" Qrow calls from across the room, and they realize they're leaned a little too close.

"We weren't gonna!" Jaune calls out.

Yang rolls her eyes cause she's comfortable with them coming to their own conclusions about her relationship but Jaune's stint with Tai made him want to make a good impression. It was already easy enough what with Tai admitting that as long as Yang chose and continues to choose him, then he'll rest easy knowing she's in good hands, but Jaune wants to pile on the goodwill.

Those thoughts take a backseat when Yang reaches for the duffel bag by the coffee table. Goodwill be damned.

It's time.

Yang parts a few clothes and a hollowed-out cushion for their scrolls to fish out a crystalline bottle. "We wanted to hand this off in the box but we figured we might as well crack it open tonight."

With the way they're all staring at the bottle, it's clear they recognize it.

Qrow roars with laughter. "Ha! Diadem, the dirtiest fucking drink on the planet!" He comes up to it and holds the bottle aloft, fingers running over the bumpy, crystalline surface. "Ah, look at it. All prettied up for the upper class. Diadem used to be homemade and brewed in a shack. Used to be so strong that you could feel nothing for hours."

"'Course, the stuff's a little better refined nowadays. You used to taste fire dust in it too cause their shoddy furnaces were held together by spit and prayers. But look at it! Pricks like Jacques fucking Schnee or that Lucius ass-end-of-an-ass Merrigold would down this like it's water, having no idea that they're chugging the equivalent of desert moonshine."

Tai licks his lips and it almost feels like a bad idea before he shoots up from his seat. "I'll get the shot glasses!" he announces.

Raven is the only one not smiling. She's suspicious, but the minute the drink touches her lips and she's made wide awake, she melts into the same stupor as everyone else.

-0-

Yang barely registers what their plan was supposed to be. Loosening Raven's lips with the stiffest drink since frozen stalactites seemed a half-baked plan at best, but they didn't plan passed that. They might have been able to salvage it if they didn't take many drinks themselves.

Jaune took exactly one and he's already left her alone to start an intimate relationship with the toilet.

He did, however, get the ball rolling about last names for some reason. He might have explained why to her but she can't remember.

"They'll lose sleep over a friend who's had a bad day," Raven says with a snarl that isn't sincere so much as it appears to be her permanent tipsy-face. "Worrying up and down but will leave you alone after a smile cause that's all they need to calm their nerves. Their hearts are too kind…"

"Who…?" Yang slurs, struggles to think of the rest of the sentence, then starts over. "Who… who are you talking about?"

Raven scrunches her nose. "The Roses," she answers.

Yang buries her head in her hands and curls into her seat. "No… I don't wanna hear about Uncle Qrow's god-damn garden again…"

Qrow, sporting alcohol like one does water, kicks back beside her. There's something in his eye though. The alcohol is getting to him. "We're talking about the Rose half of the family. Y'know, Summer and Ruby?"

"Hm?" She squints. "Oh yeah… Ruby's a worrywart."

"Qrow!" Tai calls from beside Raven, looping an arm around her. "What's a Xiao Long like then?"

"They're all fucking crazy," he jabs. Yang and Tai simultaneously pretend to be hurt. "But! I've found that the more obnoxious they seem on the outside, the more worth you'll find underneath."

Raven leans into Tai and stares at Yang's feet curled up on the cushion. It's the closest she'll get to meeting her eyes. "They can be in your face," Raven says, "deftly abrasive, louder than foghorns, and wilder than ursa! But they're steadfast partners…" She looks up at Tai who has a half-lidded gawk to him that's like he's falling in love with her again. "Painfully loyal… and… dangerously persistent."

Yang feels a heat roll over her side. She leans into it until she realizes that Jaune's slid beside her and pulling her in by the waist. "She's right, y'know?" Jaune tells her quietly. "You never did listen when I asked you not to pursue me and, yet, here we are. You never did know when to quit but I'm glad you never quit on me."

She wants to return the sentiment somehow but words don't form and she's making faces that she worries he'll misunderstand. She's just mad at herself for not finding words. "F-fuck… That was a human sentence you just made. Why aren't you drinking?" she says instead, pushing an empty shot glass to his lips.

"No thanks. Diadem will literally kill me. I felt like I was throwing up my own organs. I swear I felt my lungs pull up into my throat. I am not touching that decanter ever again." He turns to Qrow who is squinting at them as if they're all out of focus. "Oh, shit, sorry, Qrow," Jaune says. Cause the man is sat alone in front of two couples.

Jaune tries not to wince when Qrow downs a shot and his eyes go glassy.

He is sat slumped at the last corner of the large U-shaped sofa. His scroll, set neatly below him on the coffee table, flashes over his gawk face as he leans into it. His hands are beside him, palms pointing upwards while his fingers twitch like roots animating in intervals. His slack jaw regards them with his deep gaunt, eyes meeting every face before he points his head to the ceiling as he falls back into the seat. Seems he's not quite as adept with so many drinks in him. Or maybe Diadem is a weakness.

He lets each eye blink individually before he announces, "I'm dating again!"

Everyone sits up. Okay, only kind of. They lean out but can't peel off the sofa. Except for Jaune who is sober. "Since when do you have time to date?" he asks.

"I don't," he chuckles, shaking his head as he comes back to his senses. "I flirt while on the job. Closest thing either of us will get to a date at this point."

Yang mumbles something.

Jaune strains his ears to hear her. Maybe the ringing from earlier hasn't stopped. "What was that? I'm sitting right next to you and even I couldn't hear you."

She pulls up before falling sideways onto Jaune's shoulder. "Who!?" she calls out to the room cause she doesn't know where Qrow is. Her eyes are still closed.

Qrow grins. "Winter… Schnee."

At first, when he starts talking about a mission they had together in Mistral, they think he's going to segway into a conquest. But he doesn't. He starts talking about how he and Winter shared in the fact that they both had a responsibility they shirked for duty. To protect the world their loved ones live in, they've chosen to abandon having lives of their own.

No one calls him out for clearly being drunk out of his mind nor for opening up.

He's got an anthology of moments with Winter. And each time he finishes a story, they're surprised whenever it doesn't end in heat. One time they do end it in a kiss, but it was on the cheek. She'd done it comfort him but they both knew it was hollow. It was an appreciated gesture, but it wasn't something that could help. They aren't wired to let something like that heal any kind of wound.

Winter doesn't know what it's like to have a delicate heart anymore and the idea of quiet comforts like a hug or a kiss feels so… unsubstantial to them both. They either needed more or that wasn't the kind of comfort they needed. Realizing this is why they started dating.

The stories are nicer then. They leave a movie theater ten minutes in when they realize that sitting around to watch actors pretend to be heroes isn't for them. They instead find a quiet corner in a bar but they don't drink. They talk and he jokes and she's smiling and they kiss and…

Raven is curled up into Tai now, staring at her brother with a look that can only be pride.

Jaune is smiling sleepily at him. Yang nestles into his chest as they scoop together on the sofa's corner.

Qrow gets up, scroll in hand, and leaves the room to call Winter.

Tai and Jaune fall asleep.

Yang catches Raven staring but is so out of it that she isn't sure if Raven caught her staring instead. The quiet makes the crickets fill the spaces beside something crackling outside.

"What are Branwens like?" Yang asks.

Raven squints, pulling herself out of her dreariness. "…What?"

"If a Rose cares too much but loves unconditionally, and a Xiao Long is a dependable but gets in your face, then what is a Branwen?"

She huddles into Tai, looking vulnerable. "We…" Her eyes narrow at the floor and she hisses quietly to herself. "I…"

A pang of empathy makes her sit up. "Mom…" she says consciously.

Raven stares at her. Yang can't tell if she's touched or just shocked, but when her eyes draw away and she clutches at Tai's shirt, words pour shaking out of her lips. "Branwens… are a curse." Something awful crawls into her cheeks, her features squeezing together so her few wrinkles cast shadows. There's a pain there that almost looks familiar, as if she'd had this look about her forever but only now is Yang seeing it for what it is. And whatever that pain is, it's old. Maybe even older than she is.

Raven whispers something to Tai before getting up. Halfway up the steps, she looks at Yang and Jaune before saying, "You should take him to bed. I don't care what you do with him but I'm sure he'll appreciate a warm mattress over a sofa."

"That's very considerate of you," Yang says as she eases Jaune's arm over her shoulder. "Thanks."

Raven blushes, deeper than the alcohol might, as she marches back up the steps. "Don't get used to it," she says, not meaning it.

Jaune sleepily wakes up with a good shake. "Ugh, babe, could ya' not?"

"Pfft! Since when do you call me babe?"

"In my head, mostly. Giving you a pet name will actively worsen my experience. You've got enough ammunition to tease me with."

"I'll fish them out of you yet. Pick up your feet a little. I'm taking you to bed."

"Please, no," he says, pretending to resist. "I'm still tender…"

She rolls her eyes. Even in a drowsy state, he still finds time mess around. "Don't cooperate and I'll sling you over my shoulder."

He scoffs playfully. "As if a free ride is gonna stop me."

Her eyes narrow. "I'm really going to do it."

"Whoa, whoa! Hey, I'll do it…" He yawns. "See?" His shin hits the coffee table and he stumbles.

Yang grabs him and leads him by the arm.

Tai stirs when they pass him by. "Honey?"

"Go to bed, Dad."

"Good night, Mr. Xiao Long."

"Please," Tai grins, "call me Tai."

Jaune squints. "Yeah, I'm not doing that."

"You're not –" Yang starts. "Oh, hey, look at us. Still in sync!"

"I think there just isn't a universe where I call your dad Tai." His nose scrunches up. "Yup, even sounds weird saying it out loud."

-0-

Yang's room is as she remembers it. Only, for once, it's completely tidy. She always had a habit of leaving a little mess somewhere. Sometimes it was hidden, like in a drawer or a corner under her desk, but not this time. Her dad (or maybe Qrow) keeps it cleaner than she ever would have.

Even her strung-up photos along the ceiling are still there. Dates and names and faces she thought would be her whole world. Only now she has a new circle of friends.

"This feels like a room for a different person," she says to Jaune after she's laid him in her bed. Her comforter is freshly pressed and still warm. "Like I'm looking at old me through a lens."

Jaune's eyes are still closed but he reaches for her hand over the sheets and says, "Or maybe this is the version of you your dad remembers. How different are you now from back then?"

"Not a lot, I think. I mean, we're only over a year apart," she spies a photo of her and Ruby glistening in the moonlight. It's of her last day in Signal. It was Ruby's last day too, apparently. "Or maybe I just haven't noticed." She shoots him a look and he can feel her stare enough to crack an eye open. "Comparing me now to when we met. Was I different?"

He shuts his eyes again, but he finds her hand and tugs once. Yang willfully falls onto the mattress next to him. "Hm… well you used to have anger issues in the ring. Even Ms. Goodwitch is starting to notice how you've mellowed out."

"Heh, I guess I have you to thank for that."

He places a hand over her face. He's still not opening his eyes but his nose scrunches up again. "No you don't."

She moves his hand off her face. "Eh?"

"That's all you, Yang. You made that change. If I helped at all, our friends did just as much."

Her lip tilts. "I was trying to flirt."

"I know but… we can't about this. Part of me still worries we'll do that stupid couple thing and forget we have friends."

"Hey, we've been good so far, I think… Look, we can talk to them and figure things out."

"Yeah, compromises."

"Yeah!" She curls into his arm. "But not tonight, please… I've enough things to worry about right here."

"Right… Okay, big picture later." He kisses her forehead. "Now sleep. We've had a day…"

"Yeah, a day…"

She gets comfortable under the sheets and on his shoulder for exactly a minute before she remembers something. "Fuck…" she whispers as she pulls out.

"What is it?"

"Forgot the duffel. I'll go get it and be back in a minute."

"Leave it, Yang. Come back to bed."

"Not taking any chances without our scrolls. Ruby might call us." She's already at the door. "Just a minute, I swear."

She finds her dad slumped against the railing that overlooks the living room. Steam billows hazily off his skin and through his jacket, his semblance burning away the alcohol. The area smells thinly like Diadem but mostly of water vapor. Yang's nose twitches at the familiar scent.

He's blinking a lot, head shaking.

"Dad?"

He turns in a start. Breaths pass through him in labored chunks, chest heaving. His eyes are puffy. Fingers twitch and his eyes steal glances at her as he turns away. There's a want – need – to reach out but she can tell that he doesn't think he's worthy of it.

So, she crashes into his back and hugs him.

A palm runs down his face. "I'm so… so sorry, honey," he says.

He tucks his arms into his chest so she can hold all of him. His hands clutch over her encircled wrists. "Dad… Dad it's okay. You were in a rough spot…"

"That doesn't matter… I'm still your father. You needed a parent and you ended up having to be one for Ruby. I… I hate myself everyday thinking about how you didn't have anyone… I… I should have… I'm so sorry…"

She knows telling him that he didn't do anything wrong or that he didn't have any control over himself would only be excuses upon excuses, perhaps only a handful compared to the thousands he'd piled for himself over the years. He knew he did wrong, and none of her strength coming out the other end of it is going to change that.

So, instead, she shifts to his front and pulls up his head. She wraps her arms around his neck. "I don't care about any of that anymore… I already forgive you. I did a long, long time ago."

She feels his tears running down her neck. Then she realizes that some of them are hers.

-0-

Jaune winces. He's been up for over an hour now. Yang slipped into bed with him but she'd been shaking and sniffling. He could tell that she'd been crying but the tears had dried and she'd been fighting off all that was left of whatever it was in his arms. Now she's sleeping soundly while he's been trying to piece together what happened on his own whilst constructing a speech in case it's Raven's fault.

Finally, he settles with getting up and loosening his nerves before really doing anything. Yang groans from the missing warmth as he stumbles out, scroll in hand.

"No new messages…" he mutters. "I hope you're alright, Rubes."

Pushing the door open, he notices an orange glow coming from downstairs. Over the railing, there's nothing below but darkness and moonlight through the windows. Even then, dark shadows waft passed the moon, clawing darkness across the floor.

"Strong, windy clouds tonight… It didn't look like it was gonna rain earlier."

The smell of ash filters into the air. "Ick… Wait."

He's awake now as he stumbles down the steps. The shadows in the window are moving too rapidly for any passing cloud. That's smog, and it clears passed the window for a moment long enough to show the orange glow outside.

The forest is on fire.

"Shit!" he howls as he runs back up the steps. Thinking quickly, he sets his scroll to Seven Rapids and blasts the heavy chorus riff at max. Leaving it in the hall, he can already hear everyone else waking up, groans and thuds all.

He busts through Yang's door. She's rubbing her eyes awake. "Jaune, what –"

"Forest fire," he says quickly, pulling out their weapons from the duffel bag.

She shakes awake. "What?"

Ember Celica crashes into her hands when he tosses them at her.

"The forest is on fire!" he says, not even waiting for her as he busts through the door again and leaps over the railing.

He tucks and rolls along the carpet, nearly colliding with a lamp as he slams through the front door into the suffocating smoke.

Heat rolls through the air like he's sitting in a boiling pot. Even his aura flares at the licking flames that whip in the wind, coiling off the trees like infernal tendrils.

Jaune thinks back to the embers they tried to douse. "Did we do this?" He shakes his head. The thought is useless right now.

The fire burns over a host of trees like charred pillars to the darkened sky, but they're all centered ahead. Most the forest is untouched still. They can contain it if they hurry. They can't stop the fire, but they can stop it from growing.

So he speeds towards the outer rim of the roaring flame where the trees are unburnt and pours his semblance into his arms. One enhanced swing fells a tree, then another, and another, but he knows he can't keep it up. He can't cut these down so easily once he's out of juice.

Qrow blows passed him, slicing a tree himself, clad in only his pants and the greatsword in his hands. "I'm guessing you and Yang have the same plan?"

"Cut off its fuel?"

Tai runs by them as sand pours out of his skin in layers. He's using his semblance and earth dust in his palms to cover the dried leaves on the ground. "Fell those quick!" he shouts. "We don't have much time!"

On the other end of the fire, Yang and Raven are busting a row of trees. Yang's fists tighten with every strike, but even if she can split a tree in a single blow, her aura suffers from the blowback. It isn't any better with Raven whose forearms flare with every swing against the sturdy oaks.

"This isn't working!" Raven shouts.

Tai sprints passed them with the familiar glow of Jaune's semblance running over him like a white shell. A layer of sand up to their ankles forms underneath them, burying dry leaves and loose branches. They could really use Jaune's semblance too. Their arms are aching.

"There are people in these woods," Yang says. "We can't let this get any bigger. Vale's never gonna send any help here fast enough without someone getting hurt."

The fire spits pillars of ash and smoke their way by a rogue wind. They turn to shield their eyes. Yang blinks through the haze and sees something in the distant dark of the woods behind them. Glowing red eyes bob rapidly between the trees, charging towards them.

Yang growls. "Ugh, we do not have time for this!" The cylinders in her gauntlets click together as she loads in fresh shells. "Raven, you're clearing the wood better than I can. Keep at it while I cover you."

Raven's hand fall quickly on her shoulder. "No," she says sternly, "this is all pointless. We're destroying our bodies for a cause we've not the strength for."

"I don't care!" Yang hisses. "I'm still doing this. Whether or not you're behind me helping at all won't change that." And with that, she bolts into the dark and the twisting red eyes in the woods collide with her.

Flashes of her gauntlet colliding with grimm flesh light up the yawning dark. Blackened fur rimmed with pale external bone all scorch and smolder with her every blow, a comet to meet the streaks of vicious red eyes.

Raven backs away from the sight, seeing Summer Rose instead.

Jaune comes up behind her and Raven feels a rush of power coursing through her veins. Her pain vanishes. Her strength feels like it's multiplying. Trees fall with ease then, matching rhythm with her daughter as Jaune runs to her side to fell grimm together.

Raven sees Tai in Jaune's place too.

Minutes pass as the fire is choked on all sides but one. Raven sees Qrow and Tai on the other end, making progress. They're exhausted, heaving through labored lungs, and she can feel her own trying to crawl out of her throat.

She dares to glance back at Jaune and Yang. Something looms overhead of them: a single red eye in the canopy. There's no time to parse what it is. Raven's already sprinting over to them.

She cuts a portal mid-sprint and she leaps into it. Her momentum carries through and into the air as she rockets up from the other end of the portal that manifests at Yang's side. Omen surges with dust as she empties the canister in her sheath and swings into the red eye above.

Fire dust surges in a swath against a mass of stone and charred bark. It's a geist amalgamated into solid wall of wood and stone.

Raven swings again, ice dust crashing into it and pushing it up. Again and again and again. Wind, earth, lightning, gravity. The last one splashes a purple glow over the grimm as it slowly floats, all of its form ensconced in a gravity well that tugs it into the sky.

She swings but she's out of dust… And she's falling. Her skin rustles like pinpricks as she starts to shapeshift into a bird, but she stops when Yang zooms passed her. Jaune's semblance is folded over her, making her glow like an ascending meteor as she crashes dead center into the red eye.

With a thunderous crackle, she breaks through and the night sky gleams passed her. She whoops while she's up there against the moon.

Raven falls into Jaune's arms below. His semblance is already working its way to ease the ache but she pushes off of him. "Thank you," she manages behind a heave of her chest, "ha… but the boys aren't done yet. Help them with the fire. They'll need it more."

Jaune nods without hesitating and sprints off towards the remains of the flame.

Yang falls into a controlled descent as Ember Celica slows her momentum with a few blasts. Her arms aren't blasting evenly. They probably still hurt. She lands into a stumble and lets herself fall into a sitting up position. She's breathing a lot.

Raven sits beside her. Somewhere in the distance, the boys are cheering.

"We did it," Yang says.

"You sound surprised," Raven says.

"Cause just like you, I didn't think we could do it either."

Raven lifts a brow. "So why did you keep pushing?"

"To prove to us both that we were wrong."

And Raven laughs, hardy and true till she's tearing up in one eye for a moment. "You really are Summer's daughter," she says. Her smile is infectious.

Yang hides her smile in her knees, huddling them close to her chest. "I'm yours, too."

Raven's mouth thins sadly. "But you shouldn't be."

"I don't think you have a choice."

There's a blue shimmer through the treeline now. The boys are trying to finish this quicker by using ice dust to enclose the largest parts of the fire in pillars of ice. The pale light resembles frosted glass.

"We're pragmatists," Raven says.

"What?"

Raven tilts her head at her. "You asked what the Branwens are. That's it. Pragmatists." Not a curse this time. This is her honest answer.

Yang huddles closer as Raven's gaze turns faraway. She knows what's coming because Raven, in her disheveled shorts and worn shirt, her ragged hair and muddied skin, is vulnerable. Her artifice, the one of strength that championed her tribe, is gone.

"We like to pretend we have room for love," Raven continues. "That's never the case. Never true. My mother and father died at a burning beach while Qrow and I fled with the tribe. Nevermind that our eldest sister died with them, more brilliant than either of us will ever be. It didn't matter that she deserved a life brighter than either us could ever make it. A Branwen is hardwired to protect something bigger than they are. To us, that was always the tribe. The whole of it. Not its members, not its kin, nor the ones we dared to love. Just the tribe. The larger whole."

She sighs slowly, letting her breath catch in the now cold air. "Then Beacon came and Ozpin changed all that. Suddenly the tribe wasn't our greatest responsibility. Ozpin had drilled in us the want to protect the world of all things, and he gave us the means to do just that… I remember being excited to save lives. Plucking civilians from impossible odds and reveling in the praise. Summer and I even seemed like sisters for a while – we were so giddy. Like sisters…"

Yang unfurls when Raven tucks into herself. Yang's hand is warm on her shoulder. "The day Summer died was the day we realized we'd made her a Branwen. That she chose the world over us. Over her daughter." She glances at Qrow slumped against the ice wall. "Over her fiancé."

"It wasn't why I left, mind you. That was different. That was futility on my part. I couldn't save the world from something impossible, not with what Ozpin had us face. The tribe had to be my answer after that. Something I could save. Thought I'd find a little peace in scaling back. Scaling down. It felt like I was regressing but I wasn't like Summer. Didn't have the courage to face insurmountable odds like the compassionate fool she was…"

"Mom…"

"You… don't have to do that. You don't have to call me that. I know it doesn't mean anything."

Yang chuckles. "It means whatever I want it to. And right now, it means this." She squeezes her arm again. She knows it isn't forgiveness – not quite yet – but it's a step in that direction. More than she expects. More than she deserves.

"No room for doubt," Raven says. "You're Tai's alright."

"So, I've got some Rose and Xiao Long in me," Yang says proudly. "Doesn't mean there's any shame in having a part of me still be a Branwen."

Raven's lips thin. "Yang…"

"Hush," she says quickly. "Part of me still wants to save the world but I'm also in it for the thrills. I might not end up like Summer. I might not choose to martyr myself if I know I have people waiting for me. I can be selfish too. We all are. I think… I think there's value in being a part of all three."

"Four," Raven says. "That boy you've tied yourself to. You seem content when you're with him. Comfortable even. If he's involved, you're as much an Arc as you are a Branwen…"

"God…" Yang blushes. "You make sound like I'm married to him already."

"If it comes to that, you have our blessing."

"W-what!? Mom, isn't it a little soon for that?" Yang's shock fizzles at her mother's sad smile. "…Mom?"

Raven's gaze is on the house now. She's tearing up. "It's… it's funny," she says with some difficulty. Not through sobs but grit, almost anger. "I feel like I have everything I dreamed about having. I've got family again, a daughter that might love me, a loyal husband, an honest brother. I've even got a quiet home in the middle of the woods. It already has a rose garden and a dog. All its missing is the white picket fence." Her teeth grinds. Her head shakes in disbelief. "But I have to throw it all away…"

Yang's chest squeezes. "What… what do you mean?"

Raven won't look at her. "By Summer's end, that house will be empty. And it will stay that way until you decide to enter. To come back here." Raven's hand finds Yang's. "Because we – your father, uncle, and I – will be going back to Ozpin. We'll be gone for months doing work for him. And maybe we'll see each other again, but it won't be much and never for long enough."

Yang's skin grows cold and clammy. She doesn't like what she's seeing, the sheer finality in her mother's eyes. Resigned to some inevitability. So this is what it means to be a Branwen. Somehow, she understands but she has coasted along the unknown for long enough.

"What is Ozpin doing, Mom?" She asks. "He sent out Ruby earlier this week and –"

Raven jolts into standing. "What!? He has Ruby!?" Her eyes are white with fear. She doesn't wait for Yang to answer, sprinting back in the direction of the boys. "Qrow! Ozpin has Ruby!"

Yang follows, jogging behind her.

Qrow curses. "No, no, no!" Frantically, he fumbles for his scroll. "This can't be real…" His face is going red with panic.

Tai snatches his scroll from him. "Enough! The both of you!" He breathes. "Enough… If Ruby is with him, then she did so willingly."

"But she… she…!" Qrow stammers.

His hand goes to squeeze his shoulder. "I know…"

"I can't lose another Rose to him," Raven gasps. Her sword is already out, prepared to open another portal. Tai's hand takes her by the wrist.

"And we won't," he assures. "We'll cover every gap and protect her ourselves. Maybe even see her on the field."

Jaune joins Yang's side as the other three huddle together. "What's happening?" he asks her, squeezing her hand. "They mentioned Ruby and I'm more than a little worried right now, I'll be honest."

"I don't completely know either," she says. "But it's larger than we are… Than all of us."

Raven rips open a portal before hugging Tai. She nods to Qrow, and they step into it, leaving Tai behind. With a sigh, he ambles over to Jaune and Yang.

"We should talk."

-0-

Tai explains that they all had a job from Ozpin a long time ago. That there was a serial killer and a disgraced Atlesian scientist, and that those two unsavory sorts were only scratching the surface. It was saving-the-world type stuff, and along the way they lost Summer because of it.

It still isn't done. Those two are still at large and there's word of there being more in league with them. That's all he's allowed to say but Tai has – for the past few years – allowed himself to grow complacent since they went underground.

Not anymore. He, Raven, Qrow, and Weiss's sister, Winter, will spend everyday onward tracking them down.

He lets slip that there's whispers of missing huntsmen in Mistral. Yang mentions that Ozpin had Ruby go out to that kingdom to meet someone. Tai tries not to show how much that bothers him.

They won't be seeing each other much from then on, he says. They'll try to keep in touch but they'll be knee deep in places the CCT has no signal in. He doesn't look forward to it but it'd make Summer proud that they're out there doing what needs be done.

The next morning, Yang wakes up alone in bed.

She stumbles down the steps into an empty living room, but then she hears the clamber of porcelain plates in the kitchen. She runs in only to find Jaune at the sink.

Behind him, the dining table has five plates of a warm breakfast. Omelets, tiny sausages, and a minced venison smothered in soy sauce till it's a blackish brown. Three of the plates are half eaten. They were here but left in a rush.

She slides into her seat. The noise of the chair catches Jaune's attention. He drops a letter beside her. Both their names are scrawled onto the poorly folded note.

He sits beside her. "I didn't get to see them myself but I found this and a set of keys." She shows her the worn keys and drops them neatly by her plate. She recognizes them. They're for the house and they aren't spares. One of them even has the word "FRONT" roughly carved into it. It's filled in with golden stencil. She and Ruby did that, back when they were kids.

She opens the letter and reads it aloud. "Sorry. We'll try to be home by tonight. Don't wait. House is yours."

"Not very eloquent," Jaune says after swallowing, "but they were probably in a hurry."

"Eloquent?" Yang laughs. "Where'd you pick that up?"

"Weiss had a few choice words for my poor poetry back in first year. I told you I picked up a few things from her."

He's already finished the sausages on his plate. Yang remembers to eat.

"So, what now?" he asks her. "We house sit for a few days until Ruby shows up?"

Yang shakes her head. "No… that isn't what they mean by the house being ours. They don't actually know when they'll be back. School year might even end before they do."

"That's… a long time."

"It is, but in the meantime," – she wiggles the keys – "we actually own the house."

Jaune frowns. It's deep and it cuts just as well. "That sounds like a parting gift."

Swallowing an omelet, her head falls onto his shoulder. "It is."

Then the door busts open and they hear Qrow slurring in the next room. He's accompanied with another voice, Winter's, as she shoulders him into the kitchen. She's stringing together insults whilst blushing up a storm. They're quiet them when they find Jaune and Yang.

Qrow squints as if unsure of what he's seeing. "Ohhhh," he bellows before whipping his head back. "They're still here!"

"Ahem," Winter says. "Forgive my intrusion. Present company often ends our meetings this way."

"Which is weird," Jaune says, "cause Qrow can walk just fine when he's drunk."

"He can… what?" She shoots Qrow a glare and he gives her that stupid grin of his. He's not even close to sorry. She shoves him off her and blushes against her pale skin. "You're insufferable. Trying to get a rise out of me.."

He hobbles back a step but his grin seems carved into his cheeks. "Heh, nah. I just like being close to you."

Raven peeks into the room then with Tai close behind. Her hesitation lasts only a moment before she hurries in and Yang's already bolted out of her seat to hug her.

"You came back…" Yang says. Her hands reach out grab her dad so they can sandwich her mother between them.

Raven squeezes. "I'm as much a Rose and Xiao Long as you are. I figured the world could wait till we could all say goodbye. At least."

They pull away. Raven's age shows along the harsh circles around her eyes.

"So, this really is goodbye," Yang fathoms, weaving her digits into that of her parents'. "This… doesn't feel real. Everything's happening so quickly and I just got you back and… and…"

Tai pushes strands of her hair behind her ear. "Life's abrupt," he says. "Especially when you become a huntress. You'll often find that your whole world can change in a day. Adapting to that is a skill you have to learn."

Raven's eyes narrow. "But we're not worried. I was scared for you all my life but every time I looked back, you were already over another hurdle." She holds her daughter again. "And just like then, I'll miss you every day."

Yang's grip tightens around her. Like she's hanging off the edge, held on by a thread. She can feel it slipping, digging into her palm. She knows she has to let go but there's a part of her now that's made her an Arc. She's defiant. Foolishly, optimistically, defiant. And it's with that nonchalance that she peels away and suggests, "We're all home. We should have breakfast. Like a family."

Qrow's already sat down and Winter has already eaten most of his venison. Tai insists on sitting next to Jaune again, and Yang huddles the closest she's had in years next to her mother.

Ruby never makes it to Patch. All they get is a nerve-wracking call from her that's more apology than explanation. Qrow tells them she's in a good hands.

They don't tell him that that isn't the point.

-0-

It's halfway through their second year that Jaune and Yang step back into their dorm rooms. They'd come two days early since they didn't want to stay in an empty house and an empty apartment didn't feel much better.

Jaune finds Ren and Nora snuggling by a bean bag. (Nora's messing with his hair while he goes through a book on Vacuan flora). Pyrrha isn't home since she's with her family, but Sun is lying on her bed and he greets Jaune with the kind of enthusiasm he needed.

It takes him a while to realize that his smile is forced. "Sun, please tell me there's nothing wrong with you and Pyr."

"What? Oh, no! Everything's fine with us!"

"He's been fussing about something else," Nora chimes in as she twists knots in Ren's hair. "And he won't tell his big sister, Nora, so you know it's gotta be big."

"Uh, I'm a year older than you."

She squints. "Why is everyone older than me!? I know Ruby's sixteen but I'm starting to feel like a toddler here."

"Nora," Ren says, "I'm younger than you."

Nora wraps her arms around his head to squeeze him against her chest whilst clasping tightly over his mouth. "Shh, same age, honey."

Sun turns to Jaune. "What…?"

"Nora made them have the same birthday when they were kids. Flipped a coin on who got to keep theirs. Ren lost." Jaune decides not to mention that it was to simplify a holiday for two survivors in the woods. Less stress on their resources when they buy only one cake a year and have to share it. "But enough about them. What's got you all knackered?"

"Knackered? Who even says that anymore?"

"Ylda Braveheart. Now quit stalling! What's going on, man?"

There's a knock on the door. "Come in!" Ren says. He's already put his book down and is snuggling back into Nora. She and Jaune exchange a look. Something's up.

Yang and Blake walk in. Yang joins Jaune on the bed while Blake crouches by Ren and Nora who both drag her into the bean bag with a yelp. They laugh at her expense, and for a moment it seems like it's just a visit.

Then Weiss and Neptune walk in and stand there in front of them all, locking the door behind them.

There's a thickness in the air. Jaune and Yang are already holding each other for strength. Sun curls into his knees beside them but Jaune won't have that. He reaches over and grabs his shoulder. He shuffles a tiny bit closer in response.

Weiss shuts her eyes, squeezes Neptune's hand, and stands tall. Like a performance demands, she is rigid and neutral, but it's too much and her knees wobble. Neptune catches her and reaches for a nearby chair. He rubs her shoulders after he sits her down and she's starting to breathe evenly.

"Nice and quick," Neptune whispers to her, and it's audible in the relative silence.

Yang and Blake have been standing since she buckled, unsure if they should run over and hug her. She spots them and raises a hand. "Sit, please. This will be easier if I do this without having to cry on something…"

Neptune kisses her head. Her hand finds his massaging her shoulder, and her other balls into a fist. "I'm… leaving team RWBY."

PART 9 – Adaptation

Yang is afraid she's hurting Jaune when she hears the news and tenses up, her fingers closing tightly over his. Little parts of her feel pain, like her pulse is bulging in her veins and stretching out of her skin. Then she realizes that it's her body telling her to go and hold Weiss close. Stop her talking cause it's easy to see how much all of this is hurting her and she's still so painfully afraid that her friends are going to hate her.

Yang bites her lip and leans out. Her hand is suddenly cold. Jaune had let go of it. "Go," he whispers.

She's off the bed and crashes into Weiss just as she's inhaling. Neptune backs away just as Blake runs over to join them.

Weiss stops talking cause she can't at this point. Her arms reach around them both but her nails curl into their backs as her fingers twitch and anything she wants to say is lost in her sobs.

"It's okay," Yang says. "We know you have a good reason."

"We'll still love you," Blake adds. "Doesn't matter if you're here or not. We're still a team."

To Weiss, that all seemed enough to uncoil her fears and breathe relief.

-0-

"I have to be his daughter. His heir," Weiss explains when they're all gathered at the empty cafeteria. "I'll have to play his games and do everything I can to keep my integrity and still be me."

Her sister informed her around the time of the boat trip that her father was planning to discredit her and seat her brother as next-in-line. "I know it sounds almost foolish but my plan was always to juggle life as a huntress and as an heiress. To prove that I could follow in my sister's footsteps without needing to make any of her sacrifices." Her hand, the one not holding Neptune's, falls to Myrtenaster resting magnetically at her hip. "Winter gave me so much when she trained me. I wanted to prove to father that none of that was a waste of time. It worked for a while, too. Atlas was abuzz with news on my departure. That I'd taken the strength of the old Schnee vanguard and vowed to marry it with the capitalist empire. That we were still the staunch knights we always were and that our nobility hadn't tarnished that."

"Why can't you just stay?" Nora asks, eyes gleaming like the absent Ruby. "Why does your dad get to take even more from you?"

Weiss smiles placatively at her and wishes Ruby was here too. "Because I've learned a lot in my time here with all of you. I've learned that Remnant will always have enough amazing huntsmen – there's already so many at this table." She eyes them all but stops at Blake. "But I've also learned that there's a lot of good I could be doing. A different kind of good for my people in Atlas. Human and faunus."

Blake gasps. There's a sting in her chest. "I'm… so sorry."

"Don't be. All that time staying up together has given me perspective. The kind I feel is uniquely distinct to a Schnee. I need to use that. Maybe get my brother to see it the same way."

"Will you have help?" Yang asks, locking eyes. "I'm not willing to let you go alone."

Weiss leans into Neptune. "I won't be alone."

"We'll have to keep our relationship secret," Neptune explains, "but I'll be at every function, every gala, every fancy dinner. Dad's a shipping baron so we've already let rumor spread that I'm looking into partnering with the Schnees to get trade into Vacuo."

"In a few months' time we'll be married, too," Weiss adds, giggling in way that's resigned and heartbreaking. "It's hardly the way we wanted it to go but it's how it has to happen so father doesn't marry me off for a business venture. We'd do it today if I was already eighteen."

"Are you sure he won't reject you at the door?" Jaune asks.

"Not when I come in as bargaining chip. I'll flirt my way through a few prospective suitors and he'll see I'm still too useful to throw out." She snuggles into Neptune's side and he wraps an arm around her. "We've spent weeks planning. And though I'm sure things are going to go terribly wrong at some point…"

"…We'll adapt," Neptune finishes.

Even though there's hope here, the moment feels strained. A tension in the air is either like knots in the heart or the tightening of a noose. So Jaune and Yang put on brave faces and stand up.

"This isn't how we should be spending this day together, isn't it?" she asks with a grin.

"It's a going-away party," he says, "so we should have a party. Ren? Join us in the kitchen. Let's bake a cake."

Nora's already on Weiss and Blake. "C'mon! I know a buffet outside of town that sells their raws cheap. I'll even show you two how me and Renny grilled fish! I guarantee that you two princesses won't find anything like that at your fancy dinners."

Blake opens her mouth. "Actually, we–"

"Hush! Mommy's talking."

Neptune and Sun trade looks.

"Should we get the drinks?" Sun asks him. "I know a way into campus we can smuggle alcohol through."

"Actually, just pump me full of sugar. This might be the last time I get to have soda since I'll be spending the next few years getting used to wine."

"Ew!"

"I know!"

-0-

When the semester starts, Glynda Goodwitch announces that Ozpin won't be back for a month or so still, so she'll be acting headmistress.

The sister teams are all worried about Ruby but she sends them messages with a few photos that she's on a mission with Ozpin and what looks to be a farmhand. They don't expect to be back for a while and she isn't even allowed to update them but she slips them messages anyway. (She doesn't know how long she can keep up the ruse that she had a spare scroll from before Beacon).

Yang's nerves get the better of her until Jaune convinces Qrow to give them an update. Somehow the photo of Qrow, Raven, Tai, Winter, and Ruby together like the disjointed family they are is a monumental comfort. She makes it her wallpaper. Jaune promises that they'll all get a chance to get in that picture together at some point.

With Goodwitch so busy, it leaves combat class to Professor Port. It's a blessing in disguise since the extra class drains him enough to sleep through most of his own class. He gets worried for a while until everyone gets visibly excited for what is effectively a free period and some students actually get comfortable enough to sit with him on his desk and share real stories for a change. He isn't always telling them this time either.

The teams spend a lot of time on the roof where they're allowed to grill. Jaune, Nora, and Blake make a show of their techniques and Weiss, who is sitting on the sideline, lets the collective aroma of their sizzling platters soak into her skin.

They also take turns teaching Weiss and Neptune how to cook. It'll be useful when they get a place of their own. They hadn't considered an apartment yet, actually.

"Trust me," Yang says, "after what you two are gonna go through, you could use a getaway that's just yours." She shares a meaningful glance with Jaune who blushes, suddenly unable to keep eye contact.

They make that second boat trip with the same crusty boatman. Sun and Blake tie on the number of lobsters.

They spend a night in the apartment, cramped together and drinking till sunrise. (Pyrrha learned to mix drinks with her uncle over the break and Jaune hasn't puked so much in his entire life).

They joyride in Jaune's new Highway Aries and the boatman's Beluga van to the same cabin they went to with Saph and Terra. Joan can drive too, apparently, and they decide that seating her next to the excitable Nora is a recipe for turning the winding country roads into a roller coaster. (Jaune, Yang, Weiss, and Neptune end up trailing behind the van because of it.)

They rent out a thawed ice rink and have their own school dance. (Jaune spent the week teaching Neptune how to lose his second left foot).

And they skip class on Friday to spend their last day together. Ruby even manages to call Weiss and they find out that they might even meet in Atlas for a while. (Jaune and Yang are starting to suspect that Ozpin already knows about the scroll).

In the next morning, Weiss's bed is empty cause she had to go alone in a separate flight. Neptune has to arrive a day later on a separate trip. It's abrupt and even though they all knew it was going to happen, it still feels like it came out of nowhere. The space Weiss leaves behind is palpable.

She manages to send them all one final message with a photo. She's holding Blake's little triangular team flags she made for them during last year's Vytal Festival against the window of the bullhead.

"We'll always be a team."

-0-

Jaune cracks an eye open at the sound of clicking on screen . He's in the apartment, in his room, but his door is open halfway. Through the dark he can see Yang and Blake's faces lit against a scroll on the couch. Blake is sleeping on her shoulder.

They set her up with the guest room (Yang's long since migrated all her things into his anyway) and they must've gotten up at some point last night to chat.

He shuffles out of bed, scratching his bare chest and blinking away his drowsiness.

Yang can hear him. "Mornin'… Evening? Morning. It's one-AM."

He peels around the doorframe. "Shouldn't we be quiet?" he says in a hush.

"Nope," she says, not even looking up from her scroll. "Blake said she wanted to wake up to the sound of people so the room feels less empty."

Regardless, he sits on the softly beside her. "Is that why she stayed up so late?"

"She used to wake up early with Weiss. Sometimes she'd fall back asleep when Weiss got her early morning shower, but with her gone she's hoping to sync up with me instead."

"Maybe Ren's more her speed. He gets up early to get breakfast prepped for Nora the rest of the team if she didn't eat it all when we got there."

"Too bad they're not roommates."

"Yeah…"

Blake shuffles. Her ears twitch and there's a smile on her lips.

"She seems comfy," he says, laughing. He can't help but think they've adopted a stray though he won't say it aloud.

Yang's thinking the same thing but keeps her mouth shut too. "She met with Sun and Ilia for brunch yesterday. She came in when they were already talking about him losing Neptune. She felt like an outsider listening in."

"She didn't walk away, did she?"

"No, she sat with them and they talked. Even admitted to how she felt. They tried to make her feel comfortable and Sun had no trouble talking about it, but even they admitted that it feels like she's just a step out of her element. She's going with Pyrrha to meet with them again later tonight."

"I'm guessing she's not particularly enthused?"

Yang nods. Blake stirs but doesn't wake. "She thinks losing Weiss is upsetting everything else in her life. She usually doesn't feel that kind of doubt when talking to them. Pyrrha's doing her best to help on her end, too, but she might need some more outside help to get her out of this funk."

Her scroll buzzes. Jaune instantly recognizes the sender. "Ruby?" His voice is hopeful, almost desperate.

She ruffles his hair. "Don't worry about it. If you start losing your cool, then I will too."

He rolls his eyes with a smile. "Sorry, I just miss her."

"She wanted to talk to you but she's only got enough courage to message her big sister. She's still beating herself up for being gone so long. She's afraid you might hate her."

He fishes his scroll out of his pocket, squeezes his face next to Yang and Blake's, and takes a photo. "Morning…" he types, "…Crater …Face." A moment passes after he sends it.

Yang's scroll is then blasted with exclamation points before a video call starts. Their hearts soar when they hear her whine for the first time in weeks. "Yang…! I wasn't ready!"

It's dark wherever she is, huddled in a closet judging by the hangars swinging above her. Zwei is whining and scratching somewhere in the background.

"Sorry, Sis, but we're a package deal now!" Yang says.

"We miss you," Jaune says, the look of him is anything but teasing.

"I miss you guys, too…" she looks away, head half hunched in shadow. Her expression is unreadable.

There's a shuffling on her end of the call, she looks up, eyes wide, as some light pours into the closet she's in. "Ruby?" a hushed boy's voice says. "Is everything alright?"

Her eyes dart and she gets up in a panic. Jaune and Yang stay quiet as the closet is shut and the scroll spins in the dark for a moment before her face shows up again next to the same farmhand in her photo with Ozpin. "Keep this a secret. Please?" she asks him.

"I… sure. Lips sealed. What are you–?"

"Yang, Jaune," she says quickly. "This is Oscar. He's my, um, partner for the mission I'm on."

"I, oh, uh, hi," Oscar stammers. "I'm Oscar." He slaps his forehead. "Stupid. She already said that…" Ruby giggles.

"Aw, Jaune," Yang nudges him. "He's you, freshman year."

Jaune huffs. "I like to think I was as confident as I was awkward." He gets up. "I'm getting peckish. You want any coffee?"

"The orange juice, please."

"Weak!" Ruby teases through the screen. "Milk is the way to go. Keep up the store-bought pulp and I'll be taller in no time!"

"I prefer oranges freshly squeezed myself," Oscar adds before he shuts himself up. He seems afraid to add to the conversation.

"They are freshly squeezed though," Yang says. "Right, Jaune?"

"If two days ago counts as fresh, then yeah. Reminds me of home."

Yang sniffs the air. "Are you cooking tuna and eggs again?"

"What? Clove didn't have much fish and poultry. We had beef, pork, and way too many vegetables."

"It's one-A.M.!"

"And we're out of snacks. Now do you want some of this or am I gonna split it with Blake?"

Blake rolls her cheek up the backrest to look at Jaune. The smell probably woke her. "Mm… You'll have no objection from me."

"He was a farmer?" Yang hears Oscar ask Ruby. "I thought he was a huntsman."

"Huntsman-in-training," Ruby clarifies for him. "He grew up in a farm. I don't think that counts as a farmer but he used to herd cows. Even had this brief stint when he was ten where he'd run with the farm dog and bark at the cows to help wrangle the cattle."

"Pfft!" Yang and Blake snicker. "What?"

"What are you laughing at?" Jaune asks from the kitchenette, stood in the lowlight.

"Nothing!" Yang calls back. "Feeling better, Oscar?"

"Oh. You noticed?"

"It's okay. Meeting new people can be scary. Can't have been any easier with Ruby."

"Actually, she could barely look me in the eye." Ruby bumps him but can't deny it. Oscar stays smug. "Ha ha… Had to ease into meeting her. She caught me in the middle of work and she scared me so much that I almost fell off the hayloft with the way she squeaked her greeting. I thought a mouse got in the feed again."

"Oscar!" Ruby whines. "I'm putting you through the ringer for this."

He looks scared. "Uh… mercy?"

They spend the some of that morning together. Ruby builds confidence enough to promise to make another call if Oscar can keep covering for her. They also find out Ruby is training Oscar and Yang couldn't be more proud.

They're somewhere remote and secret so Ozpin isn't taking chances with the security breach but Ruby hopes that a closet is enough to be inconspicuous. She still can't tell them why she's there but she will when they arrive.

They. As in both of them. Oscar is coming to Beacon. It should be exciting, even just a little bit. It's not going to fill the gap Weiss left behind but it means less quiet. Plus, Penny is with them and she might come too. But Yang picks up the sadness in Ruby's eyes whenever Oscar asks about Beacon. There's something wrong.

When Oscar goes off to distract Ozpin and Jaune takes Blake to the convenience store, Yang asks, "Sis, what's going on that you're not telling me?"

Ruby chews her lip. "I can't say," she says for the umpteenth time, but Yang can feel the weight of it now that it's coming out of her mouth and not through text on a screen. Somehow, that makes it harder to let it go.

"I'm scared for you," Yang admits, "I'm worried that something else irreversible is coming and…" No, she tells herself. She can't put this on Ruby. "It's okay. I trust you. I'm worried but I trust you and before you say anything, nothing you say will break that trust."

Ruby curls closer to the scroll, like she wants to hug her. "Thank you…" she whispers.

"Just come home safe…"

"I love you, Yang."

"I love you, too, Sis."

-0-

The dorm room doesn't have the comforts it used to. Yang almost feels ashamed for leaving it behind half the time but Blake tells her that it isn't something she should worry about. She always made time, even if her memories seem like a blur of blonde hair and blue eyes. It doesn't mean she valued her time with them any less.

No one can blame her for falling in love.

Still, with Blake snoozing under some double-wide bedding across the room, Yang feels alone in the room.

She sits up and she hears a startle somewhere. She realizes the silhouette she thought was Blake has been just a mess of pillows. (Blake pulled her and Weiss's beds together to get comfortable. Didn't work. All she's got now is more room to feel cold in. They still miss her).

Another hushed sound reaches her. She gets up and walks around but she stops when she spots Blake sitting on the floor against the wall. Her ears are twitching.

"What's happening?" Yang asks.

"I can hear Goodwitch in the JNPR dorm."

Yang shuffles closer. She can hear the faint tap of the headmistress's heels but nothing more. "What is she saying? Are they in trouble?"

"I thought so at first, but no. It's something about a transfer."

"A transfer? Like a student?"

"I don't know. I'll keep listening."

Yang wants to go back to bed and grab her scroll. Jaune could answer her if she asked. She bites her lip.

"There's someone else," Blake says. Yang's limbs stiffen again. "She sounds familiar but I could be wrong. She's talking about… Moving furniture?" She peels off the wall. "Maybe I shouldn't be listening in."

Yang realizes that she's probably working herself up over nothing too. "Maybe, but it got you out of bed at least." She laughs. "I've been worrying myself ragged about this team, but unlike the other two, you're actually here." Arms wrap around Blake's thinner shoulders. "I hope you aren't blaming yourself for all of this."

"I am but I know it's stupid," she admits. "Weiss having an epiphany was bound to happen anyway. And her father would have forced her to leave whether we turned out to be friends or not. But there's always that little side of me scraping at the back of my head. I'm so painfully aware that it's there that I could almost reach out and strangle it."

"Pfft! You sound like Weiss."

"Heh, well we'd spent over a year together. Some things were bound to rub off on each of us. In fact," she looks at Yang meaningfully, "you didn't explode once during that whole talk about Weiss's dad. Jaune have anything to do with that? You've been minding your temper."

She rubs the back of her head. "No, not entirely. I mean, we've helped each other along but we can't give each other all the credit. I've mellowed out cause we lost at Vytal and I crashed at a bar. Cause I came home a mess and you girls set me straight. I won't say that solved it completely. I think I gave myself enough time to ease out of my anger issues over the summer and finding Jaune and ending up in his apartment gave me places to feel normal and happy for a change." She's blushing now, can't help the heat rolling tight circles in her cheeks. "Did I ever tell you about that? No… I don't think I've told anyone. Being in that apartment let me glimpse a life of being a civilian. Not a huntress-to-be, just a girl living in the city she swears she'll die in. It felt simpler, domestic. And I kind of liked that. I kind of really, really liked that."

"I envy that," Blake says with a knowing smile lying sideways on her knees. "Not the civie life but the happiness. I'm glad you found someone. Honestly, it's kind of crazy you two aren't completely official yet."

"I, uh, I think we are? I mean, it's not like we've talked about it again since all this craziness happened but we've said the three-word thing, named our kids, we own a house together and –"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! What? Rewind there for a second."

"To which part?"

"I don't know, all of it?"

Yang shrugs and that is equal parts everything so like her and everything that's frustrating. "I don't know. They all just kind of… happened?"

"How do you just happen to own a house now?"

"A couple birds left it on my dining table and flew out the open door."

Blake squints. "I… I can't tell if you're joking."

Yang grins.

Blake's ear twitches to the faint sound of a door closing. "JNPR…" she mouths as she hears it. "…moving out?"

-0-

Blake thinks she heard it wrong. Yang tries to tell herself they could be misunderstanding something but when they meet with JNPR, they don't mention a thing. Jaune and Pyrrha are all smiles, whilst Ren is keeping Nora from any more antics. Nothing's changed.

It eats up at Yang more than she's willing to admit but Blake doesn't need to be told in order to notice her best friend writhing inside of herself.

On occasion she can see Jaune stealing glances at Yang. He's noticed that something's off too. Sure, Yang is keeping it close to her chest, but she isn't loose in the way she usually is. And even though her being a little more guarded might make sense given recent events, Jaune's been with her long enough to notice that she's been easing back into her old self. The regression should be obvious.

Blake nudges him at the end of Port's class. "Talk to her," she says.

He nods, a determined look to him. "I was gonna wait till she was ready. I guess I have to act this time."

Blake smiles. "Just like you, she'll need a nudge sometimes."

Jaune jogs over to Yang as she rolls her eyes at something Nora says. She should be laughing instead. His eyes narrow.

"Yang."

"Oh! Hey, sorry, I thought you were with Blake and Pyrrha. Did you need something?"

His hand clasp over hers and people around them pull away and snicker. He takes her hand and pulls her to the wall and out of the way. "Don't think I haven't noticed you worrying about something. What's wrong?"

Normally she'd come out and say it. Even before they got this close. Before they were together. She isn't the kind of girl that lets these things lie. But she's lost so much in the past few weeks and she's feeling more and more vulnerable. More and more fatigued.

And this? What she's worried about? Hushed whispers in the night that might ultimately mean nothing? Half of her thinks it's fears she's digging up for herself to pile on the already rich avalanche of things she has to deal with. Another hates herself for doubting him, and that she's ashamed to reveal she doubted him at all.

But they were supposed to be able to talk about anything, right?

Her mouth opens.

She remembers her mother. She'd looked so stoic when she said goodbye, daring not to fall apart and swallowing her fears. With a sigh, she lets it go.

"It's nothing," she says with an easy sigh. "I'll tell you about it later if you're so curious but I'd like to stop worrying about nothing and focus on the things that actually need my attention."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Now I'm hungry."

"We still have class."

She takes his hand. "I don't care. Your girlfriend needs a pick-me-up."

-0-

Yang walks back into the dorm with a spring in her step. "Evenin'," she greets Blake who's lounging on the bed.

"Had a good night, I see? He not kissing you goodbye at the door?"

"We parted ways earlier. Said he had an errand to run."

Blake stares at her with a smile. Yang returns it before going back to her scroll. Blake's nose scrunches in confusion. "Well?" Blake asks.

"Huh?"

"What did he tell you?"

Yang winks. "Sweet nothings if that's what you're asking."

Blake's face goes through a series of emotion. "Yeah. Good. Great. Perfect." She sits up as her ears sharpen. "But what about last night? With the whispering and all that?"

"Oh! I, uh, I didn't ask about it."

Blake slips out of bed. "Okay, I've had it. Waited all this time to find out so let's just go over there and ask."

"Right. Sure." Yang picks up after her and doesn't bother to put her school shoes back on.

Blake stops just as she exits the door. Across from them is the JNPR dorm and the door is ajar. She twists back to Yang. "Was that open when you passed it by?"

"I didn't notice."

They approach the door and feel a draft coming through. The door swings to the side as they enter and the thud against the wall is the only sound.

The JNPR dorm is empty. Even the blinds have been stripped away and one of the windows is cracked open.

A hole opens in Yang's stomach. Confusion, mostly. Anger, even if she can't place it. She doesn't know what's happening.

Blake's hands are sweating too when they reach for hers. "Your scroll is buzzing," she says and they run back to their room.

Yang has a message from Jaune.

'are you decent?' it reads.

'uh…. Yeah?' she replies after a cursory glance at her uniform.

'perfect'

Yang stares at the word. His scroll didn't even get to auto-punctuate it. She's already typing another message. Where are you right now? I was at your dorm and it's empty – She stops typing when they hear a grunt and a thud.

Blake's ears perk up. "Nora?"

Something breaks, like snapping wood, then Yang can hear it too.

"Hah!" Nora shouts. The thud after shakes something in their room. "Hah!" Another shudder, louder and resonant. "Hng…!" They can feel the way she's inhaling. "Hah!" Then their wall shakes.

"Hah!" Then a chunk of the wall pops out and swings aside like a portal door. They can see Nora behind the hole. She's in the next dorm room. They transferred next door instead of across the hall.

Nora peeks in with a wide grin, the light behind her shining over her features like a beacon. She pulls away and her hammer carves down into the hole till its roughly the shape of her silhouette. She kicks away the loose boards and cement around her and stomps into the room.

"Evenin' roomies!" she announces with gusto and caked in dust.

Jaune slips passed her in shorts and a worn shirt, pillow under his arm and eyes half awake. He walks up to Yang and takes her hand. "Sleepy?" he asks.

She realizes she's exhausted. Relief lets her body feel its fatigue. "Yeah…"

He pulls her to bed and they fall in together. She's confused but doesn't focus on it.

"What is happening?" Blake asks Ren as he comes in with Pyrrha in tow. (Who has already apologized but her smile doesn't slip away even once).

"Jaune said that it was starting to get a little quiet here in your dorm," Ren explains. "So, we hatched an idea to trade rooms with your neighbor's. Team ASHE took a room on a different floor instead of taking ours."

"Miss Goodwitch was very accommodating," Pyrrha says. "Went so far as to levitate most of our things from one room to another."

"She almost said no," Jaune says with a yawn, "but when I explained why we were doing it, she just sighed and drew up the permit."

"You need a permit to switch dorms?" Blake asked. "Wait, there's a permit for that?"

Nora hoists the hammer back onto her shoulder. "Permit's not for the dorm. It's for breaking down the wall."

Blake can't help but a feel a tingle under her skin, and it rolls into heat when Pyrrha and Ren squeeze her between them.

The night draws down and they got rid of the bits of dust and talk about how they're supposed to tear the down the wall. They'll put up two beams they'll have to pay for themselves but the rest of the wall can go away and there will be nothing between the two rooms in a few days.

And when they're all cleaned up (and splitting two bathrooms between six people), they push the four RWBY beds together so they can crawl under the collective sheets. In the middle, Yang sees Blake shiver happily between Ren and Nora, calmer than she has been in weeks.

Nestled against the curve of Jaune's neck, she nudges him. "Thank you for this," she whispers.

"It wasn't all me," he murmurs.

She flicks his forehead. "You're allowed to take credit for the idea, at least. Besides, I feel like I should reward you somehow."

"Fine," he grumbles but his smile doesn't sell it. "As for the reward, I'd ask about the rent but I think we should stay out and keep the bill thin this month. I don't think I can meet the payment this time if it gets any bigger with electric and water."

Yang chuckles. "Hey, you asked for the heavy down payment so you could sidestep the interest. That car is a money sink and you should've seen this one coming." He whines and she kisses his nose, making him whine some more. "Still, I'll still have to find a way to thank you."

"Missionary always works for Sun," Pyrrha chimes in from behind her.

Jaune and Yang's eyes go wide.

"What?" Pyrrha asks as they stare at her. "Too vanilla?"

Yang squeezes a pillow to her own face. "Pyrrha!"

"What? Oh! Sorry. I hadn't realized that you… It's just that Sun's been gentlemanly and I tried to get him to talk dirty to spice things up so I ended up having to do it myself and –"

"Uh, Pyr?" Jaune stops her. "That's not it. We, uh, we haven't done it yet."

She tilts her head. "Missionary?"

"Sex," Yang whimpers.

Nora shoots up. "What!?"

Yang shrinks even further. "Are you all awake!?"

Ren turns an open eye behind him and Blake peers sheepishly over the length of his arm. No one looks sorry.

"Ugh…" she groans. "Is it too late to call this a bad idea?"

Pyrrha pulls her away from Jaune and into the collective cuddle of everyone else. "Not on your life, Xiao Long."

She mouths a "help me" to Jaune.

He reaches under his pillow, pulls out his scroll into its camera, and mouths a coy "No," before the shutter snaps.

The photo goes up with the rest of the stringed ones Ruby set up earlier that year. Eventually, they flood it with more memories till the ceiling is lined with their found family gleaming from wall to wall to wall.

[carcinized]

Ngl I happen to be one of your followers because of summer, and I followed her because I really liked kotlc back then (it’s still good now I’m just not super into it) and I personally would adore some chaos, whatever you feel like sharing is good :D

-🌿

another one of summers friends in disguise... omg O.o probably i should have known based off the fact that youre not into the dsmp and you follow me LMAO

and hmmmmmm

OHHH I FOUND THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT OF MY JOLIE GLIMMER THEORY HERES THE OG THOUGHT PROCESS OF THE THEORY KOTLC FANDOM YOURE GETTING A HISTORY LESSON.

I think Glimmer is Jolie. Jolie could have been forced to fake her death and join the Neverseen. In Everblaze, it mentioned how she loved Brant up until the end, but if that wasn't the end, she would have been committed to the cause after he died even more if she still loved him. And maybe she’s working with a Flasher to save light and then conjure it, making her look like a Flasher (maybe she’s working with Luzia Vacker?). She does snap her fingers to move orbs of light, something that neither Wylie nor Elwin does. They do snap their fingers to create it, but to move it they only flick their wrists, while Glimmer snapped her fingers like a Conjurer, which Jolie is. She is described as having long black hair, unlike Jolie’s blond, but weren’t we all always talking about her Raven Lovelylocks that were on her desk? What if the reason she won’t lower her hood is that it’s worn off by now and she doesn't want to face Grady and Edaline after 17 (is it 18 or 19 now?) years? Someone would recognize her, or at least say "Oh, you look just like Sophie!" and then Sophie would figure it out. I get a young adult vibe from her, which fits Jolie. Mai couldn't be Glimmer because she doesn't have any spare time, whereas no one even knows that Jolie is still alive if this is true. Assuming my Oralie might not be Sophie’s mom theory is true, this gives Jolie another possible motive for joining the Neverseen. What if Jolie was Sophie’s mom and she joined the Neverseen to cover it up? What if she’s a double agent? What is that’s why she was cool with leaving them? Maybe she wanted to get to know her daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ewww i used to use proper punctuation

[talatomaz]

shadow world | izzy lightwood x fray!reader

a/n: I just binged the series and I love Izzy sm. i might make this into a small series, I don’t know. this is mainly shadowhunters x reader tbh but there is still a bit of izzy content towards the end.

warnings: mentions of blood, death & kidnapping

word count: 2.5k

masterlist | navigation | request rules

pt.i | pt.ii | pt.iii

Reader is Clary’s younger half-sister who learns about the Shadow world at the same time Clary does

i do not give you permission to repost or translate my fics on any platform - likes/reblogs are okay and are much appreciated

“Hey, Dad.”

“Afternoon, honey.”

You kissed your father’s cheek and welcomed the cup of coffee he placed in front of you. You sipped the beverage, not caring that it was still hot, welcoming the feeling. You had had a relatively long day. You had to do 2 huge group presentations and managed to complete your college’s weekly newsletter too.

“How was school?”

“It was okay, just glad it’s the weekend now.”

“Have you called your sister yet?”

You paused, gently placing the mug back on the table. It was your older sister’s, Clary’s, 18th birthday today. Though it was an important age, the day wasn’t going to be any different for you. As you always did, you’d FaceTime her, wish her a happy birthday and wait for your gift to arrive to her.

That was the trouble of living on the other side of the world.

When you were 13, you decided to leave your mother and sister to go live with your father who worked overseas in England; he worked for the Government, but doing what precisely, you didn’t know.

It was a welcome change. You didn’t get along as well as Clary did with your mother, often siding with your father on most things.

Of course, when it came to you and Clary, your father treated you both no differently, because even though he wasn’t Clary’s biological father, he was still one of her father figures.

The other was Luke, someone whom your Mum had a past with, though she neglected to share any further details about that.

“I spoke to her earlier but she’d just come out of an interview with Brooklyn Arts Academy. We celebrated a little because she got in but she’s gonna be busy with Simon today so we agreed to talk later.”

“Oh, good for her. I’m glad.”

You looked up when you heard unease in your father’s voice. Narrowing your eyes, you continued to stare at him before he looked at you in confusion.

“What?”

“Nothing. Doesn’t matter.”

You quickly brushed off the subject and your dad started to mention how he had to work late but voiced his reluctance to leave you alone. You frowned once more, he seemed really worried, as if something evil was looming. Shrugging it off once more, you and your father fell into a conversation about nothing in particular until he had to leave for work.

A few hours had passed and you were due to call Clary so you picked up your phone and dialled.

“Y/N, hey, um, can we talk later?”

You moved the phone away from your ear as you heard loud music blasting down the phone.

“Are you at a club? Clary, you know being 18 means you can only legally drink in England, not in the US.” You joked.

“I know. Look, I really have to go. I love you and I’ll try to phone you in a bit. I’m on my way home now. I need to speak to Mum about something.”

“Clary, are you okay?” You asked with concern. She sounded frightened and out of breath and her being in a club was very out of character for her.

“Yeah, yeah, I-I’m fine. Got to go. Love you, bye.”

You stared at your phone, the dial tone echoing in the silence. Sighing, you scrolled through your contacts and paused at the name. With a rush of confidence, you tapped the screen and held your phone to your ear, silently waiting for the other person to pick up.

“Y/N, hi, baby.”

“Hi, Mum.”

You were slightly on edge as you hadn’t spoken in a while. You knew your mother loved you but you always felt like she was hiding something from you, though you could never quite put your finger on it.

“Are you okay?”

“Um, yeah. Listen, the reason I’m calling is because I just got off the phone with Clary and, I don’t know, she’s acting a bit weird. Is there something going on?”

“Yeah about that, your father and I need to have a talk with you and Clary. This isn’t something I wanted to do over the phone but-MOM.”

You winced when you heard, presumably Clary’s voice.

“Clary, what’s wrong? Y/N, give me 10 minutes and I’ll call you back. I love you.”

For the second time in 5 minutes, you had been hung up on, and frankly you were more concerned than you were annoyed. First your Dad, then Clary, now your Mum, what were they hiding?

The sound of key in the door jarred you from your thoughts. Finally, your Dad was home. You were going to get some answers.

As he locked the door behind him, your brows furrowed as you looked at the tattoos on his body. They weren’t there when he’d left earlier this afternoon.

“Dad, when did you get a tattoo?”

You watched as he looked down at himself and then as his eyes widened when he stared back at you.

“Y-You can see them?”

“Yeah, of course, I can see them. What’s going on? Clary’s freaking out. I just called Mum and she was about to tell me something but then she hung up. What is going on?” You repeated.

“God, I told Jocelyn we should have told you both sooner. We need to get you somewhere safe.”

“Dad, what’s happening?” You asked, unable to hide the fear in your tone.

Before he could answer, there was a loud crash and your front door lay flat on the ground, a man standing in the doorway.

“Where’s the cup, Winterthorn?” He hissed your father’s last name.

Your Dad pushed you behind him and you could only watch in shock when he pulled something out of his pocket and, the moment his hand touched it, a large blade engulfed in light appeared. Your father stabbed the intruder with it causing the latter to explode into pieces and disappear.

Your dad turned to face you and you continued to stare at him in shock.

“Here, hold this.”

He handed you the blade and ran towards your bedroom. The smell of smoke filled your senses and you stared at him.

“What the hell is happening?”

“There can’t be any trace of you. We were trying to keep you girls safe. That’s all we ever wanted.”

You opened your mouth to respond but felt yourself being pulled back into someone’s grasp.

“Let her go.”

“Give me the cup.”

With your father’s blade still in your hand, you willed yourself to calm down and remember your training.

From the first moment you moved in with your dad, he expressed his interest in training you to fight. You learned all about Sun Tzu as well as training with bo staffs and the like.

You were successfully able to remove yourself from the second intruder’s grasp but jumped back when his face opened up to reveal tentacles. Going off instinct and what you saw your dad do, you rammed the sword through the monster’s chest until it disintegrated like the one earlier.

“Dad, what the fuck?! I just killed someone.”

“A demon, y/n. You killed a demon.”

Your father grabbed your arm and brought out, what looked like, a pen, and began drawing something. You winced as you felt it burning into your skin and when he had finished, he waved the object over the marking and it lit up.

“This better work. Come on, we need to find a warlock so we can get to your Mum and sister.”

When he turned, another man was revealed to be standing in front of him. You watched in horror as the man stabbed your dad with his sword and then removed it. Your father fell to the ground with a groan, your eyes flickering to him and then at the man still standing in front of you.

“Where is the cup?”

He was now the third person to reference this mysterious cup but you were beyond confused.

He pushed you against the wall and held the sword, now coated with your father’s blood, against your neck.

“Tell me.”

“I-I don’t know. You stabbed him, you bastard.”

“Valentine will do much worse to you and your mother if you don’t tell me where the cup is.”

“What the fuck are you talking about? What cup? Who the hell are you people?” You shouted at him, tears building in your eyes.

When he smirked at you, you felt anger rise through your body and without a second thought, you kicked his knee, giving you a moment to free yourself, only slightly cutting yourself on the blade.

You quickly picked up your father’s blade, having dropped it when he was stabbed, and you began to fight the male in front of you.

For a few minutes, the only sound that filled your house was the clanging of your blades but you winced when the blade cut your arm, blood seeping from the wound. You ducked to avoid another swipe of the blade then you span and stabbed the man in one fell swoop.

As he lay dead on the ground, you kicked the blade away from him and, still holding your Dad’s weapon, you ran back to him and tried to put pressure on the wound.

“Dad, please stay with me. Don’t die.”

“I-I’m so proud of you.” He breathed out.

“Dad, it’s gonna be okay. We’re gonna get help.”

“Take the blade and m-my stele,” he handed you the object he used to mark the symbol on your skin. “Go to where I work, they’ll help you. Don’t let the Circle get the cup.”

“Dad! Dad, wake up!” You shouted, tears falling down your face as your father lay still in your arms.

“Y/N?”

You turned back, looking in shock when you saw your sister standing behind you, with two men and another woman beside her. More shockingly, you saw, what you could only describe as a purple glow, whirling behind them.

A raven-haired woman ran and fell to your side. You watched as she removed a stele from her pocket and waved it over one of your father’s tattoos.

“He’s gone.” She said, solemnly, looking at one of the males behind you who shared a striking resemblance with her, before looking at you with sad eyes.

“Izzy, we have to go. Come on. There could be more.”

She gently grabbed your arm and tried to pull you up but you stayed on the ground, your father in your arms.

“We have to go. It’s not safe.” She said, softly.

Reluctantly, you picked up the blade and your father’s stele, and allowed yourself to be lifted by the woman, whom you now knew was called Izzy. Holding your hand, she pulled you through the purple glow and when you passed through, you found yourself in...well, you didn’t know where exactly.

All conversation had ceased the moment you all had come through but then immediately continued. Through your tear-filled eyes, you looked around to take in your surroundings. The building you were in was filled to the brim with computers and all sorts of tech.

“What? Did you rob a tech store or something?”

“That’s what I said.”

You turned at the familiar voice and smiled despite the pain you were feeling.

“Hi, Simon.” He pulled you in for a hug and then cupped your face in his hands.

“What’s wrong? Why were you crying?”

“Simon-“ He was interrupted by your sister who moved to stand in front of you.

“I’m so sorry.” She wrapped her arms around you, cradling your head against her neck. You reciprocated the hug but didn’t cry, you felt nothing. You didn’t know how to process the loss.

“Where’s Mum? Ry?” You asked, using your sister’s nickname when she remained silent.

“She’s been kidnapped.”

“What?”

Clary then explained what she saw at the club, how someone called Valentine had kidnapped your mother and was after the Mortal Cup.

“That’s what the guys at our house wanted. But Dad and I killed them and they disappeared. Wait, why are we even here? We should be talking to Luke, he’ll help us.”

“No, we can’t trust him. This is Jace, Izzy and Alec. They’re Shadowhunters like us. They can help us.”

“Shadowhunters? What the hell are you on about?”

“We’re angels who fight demons.” Jace said.

“Look, I don’t know what you’ve been smoking but I am not an angel.”

“You’ve got a stele and a seraph blade. Things we Shadowhunters use.”

“I-These are my dad’s. He gave them to me when-before he-“ You sighed, unable to bring yourself to say the words.

“I’m sorry.” Simon rubbed your arm in a gentle caress but gasped when he saw his hand covered in blood.

“Y/N, your arm’s bleeding.”

You glanced at the wound, remembering that it was from the guy who killed your dad, and shrugged.

“And your neck.” Clary said, quietly, as if imagining what you went through.

”Jace, can you do the same healing rune on y/n?”

“Yeah, of course.”

When Jace approached you with his stele, you stopped him.

“No, I don’t want you to do that. I’m fine.”

“At least let Izzy stitch and clean the wound then.” Alec spoke for the first time. He was a bit stand-offish but that was to be expected considering you were complete strangers.

Izzy nodded for you to follow her. You walked beside her as she led you to a room filled with first-aid equipment.

You both sat in silence as she cleaned the cut on your neck; you didn’t even flinch when she rubbed the antiseptic on the wound.

When she was about to stitch the cut on your arm, you stopped her. You took the thread from her and began suturing the cut yourself. She looked at you in amazement.

“I do-did a lot of sports so I got hurt a lot.“ You answered even though she didn’t ask anything. She just continued to stare at you and you couldn’t help but blush which then made her smirk.

“You should have let Jace use a healing rune on you. You’re gonna need it sooner or later.”

“A rune? Is that what they’re called? My Dad did this just before he-“

You trailed off again, instead showing your forearm to Izzy.

“Ah, an anti-tracking rune. Very helpful actually.”

Pulling on the last thread, you grimaced causing Izzy to raise her brow.

“Fine. Just do it.” You relented.

She stood up with a gleam, taking out her stele and marked your arm with the healing rune. You felt your skin burning for a few seconds and when she removed the stele, you saw a pattern on your arm. You looked up at Izzy, her face a few inches from yours, and she smiled at you.

“Look at your arm, y/n.”

You did as you were told and saw that there were no longer stitches on your arm; the wound having been completely healed. Well, that was the point of the rune, you supposed.

“Woah.”

You met Izzy’s eyes and when she grinned, you couldn’t help but smile with her.

“Y/N Fray-Winterthorn, welcome to the Shadow World.”

The Silent Brothers ->

[bh7theseriesblog]

The Origins of Big Hero 7

Big Hero 7: The Series

Origins

*A flicker of black and white starts up for a while, static noises barely blocks out a voice*

Umm…Hello? Can you hear me?

*the flickering and static stops as it shows a 14 year old girl with dyed blue hair and purple eye contacts*

Can you hear me? Oh it's working!

*The girl sits on the chair in front of the camera. She smooths out her sea green skirt as she clears her throat*

Hi! So…after some thinking I decided to make a video diary so I can remember what I said. After all, who knows when it'll come in handy right? Oh right! I forgot to introduce myself! My name is Cora Mizichio.

*Cora chuckles slightly before continuing*

So I guess I should start with my life and such. Let me warn you though, it's kind of a long and wild story.

*she pulls out a phone and starts showing pictures*

I have lived in San Fransokyo for my whole life with my Dad, Mizuchi and Grandmama, Kaguya. My mom, Akemi passed away when I was a baby.

*image of a blonde hair woman smiled warmly before switching to Cora and her family. Her father being Goliath in stature and her grandmother dressed in a kimono with a cane*

Then my family found out that I'm incredibly intelligent for my age. I suppose hacking into your father's computer to send a birthday card at the age of 4 does that. My Dad is very sweet and an old softie, but is very protective of me and wasn't sure that I should go to school. So I was homeschooled, it was fun being taught by Grandmama and such about Marine biology, but…I felt kind of lonely…

After all my studies, I actually made a habit of bot fighting disguised as an unknown cat-masked competitor under the name 'Nekodomo'. It earned good money since at the time Dad hadn't gotten any luck with jobs due to his height. But it was my very first night of bot fighting that I met him…Hiro Hamada

*she flips the photo to a young Asian boy her age, with messy raven hair, large almond brown eyes and a tooth gap in his smile.*

I've never had very much luck when it came to making or having friends, so if I someone told me that I would end up dating this guy I would had laughed. But yeah we did. I was paired up with Hiro in one of those special bot fighting events like the duo duel. We won, but than the cops were coming and I was so scared of getting caught that I couldn't move. But then the next thing I know Hiro grabs my hand and we were running like crazy before the cops even spot us! I have no idea how long we had been running, but to be honest I didn't really care because I was still awe-struck by the fact that Hiro had save me from getting arrested and we didn't even know each other at the time. But that was all about to change, because as we were finally approaching a safe distance from the cops, it was at that moment where I tripped and fell flat on my face, and at the same time broke my mask. Thankfully Hiro picked me back up and we started running again, with me leaving my broken mask behind. Once we finally stopped and knew we were safe, that was when Hiro and I actually first met face-to-face. Now I have to be honest with you, I've never really known if the whole 'Love at first sight' thing was actually real or not, but it's the only thing I can describe how I felt when I first looked into Hiro's eyes. It was there when we properly introduced ourselves to each other and after that, we started seeing each other more. And it was only after 4 months of hanging out together, that I finally got to meet his family, and he got to meet mine.

*The picture now showed Hiro with a woman holding a calico japanese bobtail cat and a young man on either side of him.*

The woman on his left is his Aunt Cass, she runs a coffee shop called the Lucky Cat Cafe. The young man on his right is his older brother Tadashi. And the adorably cute kitty-cat Aunt Cass is holding is Mochi, their family pet. They are really cool people, and they always asked how I was doing and such, and Mochi is such a sweet kitty that he always tries to cuddle up to me whenever I come over. Hiro and I actually became an official thing one night when I saved his butt from Yama's minions. And boy were they surprised! Aunt Cass actually bounced when Hiro told them that I'm his girlfriend! Dad and Grandmama met them that night too, while dad wasn't too happy at first about me dating, Grandmama convinced him…after hitting him on the head with her cane.

*Cora giggled at the memory*

Anyway, After a slight misadventure where Hiro and Tadashi landed in jail and Cass had to bail them out, Tadashi actually took Hiro to SFIT, San Fransokyo institute of Technology that same night. Hiro told me that he met Tadashi's friends. There's Gogo: the cool biker chick, Honey Lemon: the stylish Chem genius, Wasabi: Laser neat freak, and Fred: the secret Billionaire super hero geek. Afterwards Hiro and I actually applied to SFIT by entering the showcase! Hiro made these miniature robots he called Microbots which he can control via head transmitter, I on the other hand did super strength suction cup shoes that can stick on any surface. We both won and we…were gonna celebrate until…a huge fire broke out in the showcase building and Tadashi ran back inside to help Callaghan, a teacher at the school….he didn't make it…

*Cora turned quiet, looking at her hands as she takes a deep breath*

Hiro wasn't himself for a while. I visited him a lot since the fire, and I mostly talked and tried to comfort and be there for him. Then came the day Hiro stubbed his toe and Baymax came along.

*A picture of a white inflated figure came to the picture*

Baymax was Tadashi's project, a robotic nurse to be more specific. He heard Hiro say ow and activated to help him. Then one of Hiro's microbots started acting weird, and Baymax followed the direction it went! It was then we found a guy in a kabuki mask controlling the Microbots. But they were destroyed at the fire right? Once Hiro pieced together that it was the kabuki-masked man that started the fire to steal them, which in turned killed Tadashi…Hiro decided to build Baymax some armor which…well

*the next picture showed Baymax in protective gear*

We traveled down to the port where we saw him take some type of machine out of the ocean. But then it turns out Baymax called the gang to help us, but sadly the guy in the mask saw us. We barely escaped with our lives that night! Thankfully Baymax being a walking marshmallow, also makes him an inflatable raft too. Afterwards we got to Fred's mansion and discussed over what to do next. Side note: it was weird to see that Fred is a billionaire.

*shows portrait of a young Fred and his parents in classy attire*

Hiro and I then built ourselves armor to fight the guy in the mask. Honey lemon got this cute chemistry purse to pull out what she needed, Gogo got some sick skates to zoom past us, Fred got a killer Kaiju costume that breaths fire, Wasabi got awesome laser blades on the backs of his hands, and I got my aquatic camouflage suit with squid strength suction cup shoes! And learning back from his previous work, Hiro turned Baymax from a stay puff marshmallow with bicycle gear to an awesome superhero!

*the next photo shows Baymax in his red armor*

After training and flying around the city we got down to business. We flew to Akuma island where the masked guy was, and it was there we learned something interesting. Krei and some government officials had something called 'Project Silent Sparrow'. It backfired when the portal sucked everything in, and the pilot was stuck. But then the masked guy attacked us! We tried to fight back but….

*a small clip showed Fred jumping only to be punched away *

We bombed, big time.

Hiro and I got lucky to get the mask…but the person was not who we thought….

Turns out Callaghan grabbed the transmitter and used it and the Microbots to protect himself in the fire…leaving Tadashi to die….

It was then that Hiro took out Baymax's health care chip and ordered him to kill Callaghan…

*Cora took a deep breathe before standing up and leaving the room, she returned back with a glass of water and started drinking it. Once she was done She then continued.*

Thankfully the gang got Baymax back to normal but Hiro was furious. He just left with Baymax…but we eventually met up with Hiro at his place, with a video of Tadashi…it was also when we showed him what we discovered. The pilot was no random person Krei hired. She was Callaghan's daughter, and Callaghan was out for blood.

We got to Krei Tech where Callaghan got his portal running. Hiro then learned what we needed to do to beat him; instead of the mask, we take out the Microbots, then he'd be powerless. But despite that, the portal was still open, and ready to tear itself to pieces. Then Baymax dropped the biggest bomb on us, Callaghan's daughter was still alive in there.

Hiro and I got on Baymax to rescue her. We found her pod but Baymax's thrusters were wrecked from the debris…

Baymax…he got us out by rocket punch…but stayed behind in the portal…

It's been weeks since then…

Krei agreed to keep our identities a secret, Callaghan is in prison, and his daughter is making a steady recovery at the hospital. And the news had been exploding over 'the mysterious group of heroes' that saved the city.

Hiro and I had been doing good, we talked to the gang a lot and we actually reapplied to SFIT again.

*Cora then looks at the clock beside her and gasped*

Oh man it's almost midnight! And first day of class is tomorrow! Anyway, thank you for listening! And…Baymax…I don't know if you can hear me..but Hiro has been doing good. We all miss you…especially me and Hiro...wish us good luck, cause who knows what happens tomorrow.

*Cora smiles at the camera before turning it off.*

A.N: This is an updated look for the prolouge chapter of Big Hero 7: The Series!

Liking the new visuals? ;3

This chapter has been edited by WolfWitchHuntress1318 at Fanfiction.net! Thank you for being my patient editor! Thank you for following and reading Big Hero 7! Love ya!

[hazza-bear-care]

Stay Safe (3/3)

A/N: LAST PART BABES!!! Thank you so much for all the love this series has gotten, but the time has come for it to end. Let me know what else you guys want to see and I’ll keep posting from every fandom!!! Also, I know the Washington Football Team is no longer affiliated with the name ‘Washington Redskins’ but their old logo is pretty recognizable, so shut up. #HTTR for all my D.C peeps out there ;P

Summary: After MONTHS of teasing, Spencer and Nova finally seal the deal. 

Warnings: SMUT, oral (female receiving), fingering, unprotected sex (Kinda? Nova’s on the pill, but wrap it before you tap it), daddy kink

~~~~~

The weekend had come sooner than Nova had expected, the tiring cases making the week fell shorter than 7 days. Much to the chagrin of her roommate, Nova spent the better part of an hour in the shower shaving everything but her head in an effort to look perfect. Earlier in the week she had managed to sneak away to a boutique, desperate for a new lingerie set. As she stared at the plethora of colors, Spencer’s voice echoed in her head, describing that males were more attracted to their mates in red which prompted her to purchase a maroon set. She thought about being ridiculous and cheesy by embroidering her own Redskins logo onto the hip, but decided against it seeing as neither she nor Spencer were big football fans. 

After blow drying her hair, she decided on straightening her locks as to prevent frizzing as much as she could throughout the evening. Her makeup came next, opting for a slightly more natural look for the night, noticing that Spencer seemed to like the bare faced version of Nova. 

Already wearing her new lingerie, Nova chose to wear a navy blue polka dotted dress, the extremely low cut neck flashing a decent amount of cleavage without giving away the surprise of her lingerie. The dress fell to the middle of her thighs and she paired the dress with a pair of black pumps and silver accessories, a black cardigan draped over her shoulders. Now she was all ready for a date she didn’t know if she wanted to go on. Her mind kept reeling for days about her stunt in the elevator. Although it was enjoyable for both parties, she still didn’t know if it was smart to pursue a relationship with a coworker, especially with how soon everything had happened. 

Wrapping her cardigan around her thumbs, Nova paced in her room, first date jitters causing her to gnaw at her crimson lips. Her worries were soon interrupted by a knock on the door, indicating that the man of the hour was just outside her apartment. With one final deep breath to settle her nerves, Nova grabbed her purse and opened the door, a very handsome Spencer waiting on the other side. She greeted him with a tight smile as she stepped into the hallway of her apartment building, locking the door behind her. 

“You look.... wow! Nova, you look great! Are you ready to go?” Nova nodded, untucking her thumbs from the cardigan. Spencer led her out of her apartment building and to his car and opening the passenger side door for her. Nova knew this date was important to Spencer due to his hatred of driving, especially through DC rush hour. She, however, still couldn’t shake the feeling that this was wrong. 

“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?” Spencer asked, tapping Nova on her thigh. 

“Um, nothing important, Spencer. I guess I’m just excited,” Nova finalized her thoughts, the unsettled feeling in her stomach still making her nauseous. 

~~~~

Halfway through dinner, Nova and Spencer decided to sit in silence after having many a conversation fall short. Nova’s nerves had made her lose her appetite, so the burger, fries, and side salad sat relatively untouched. With a clatter of his fork against his plate, Spencer cleared his throat and attempted to make eye contact with the girl across from him. 

“Nova, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing. I’m just not very hungry tonight, I guess.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it, Nova! Now tell me what’s wrong,” Spencer whisper-yelled, the irritation very prominent in his voice and eyes. 

“I just don’t think what we’ve been doing lately is... smart. I just started working with you guys and our first case, you fingered me on the jet!”

“I didn’t hear you complaining!”

“Excuse me, Spencer, I’m still talking! My mom always told me to never get involved with people I worked with, and after many failed attempts of aforementioned romance, I finally took her advice and swore to stay away from my coworkers. So this sudden attraction between the two of us threw me off. My anxiety levels have been off the charts thinking about what’s going to happen when and if we break up. I’ll have to quit my job and move to a different part of the country, Spencer.” Nova stopped talking before she choked, the tears in her eyes very prominent when she tried to meet Spencer’s gaze. 

Everything that she said suddenly made sense to Spencer: she was scared. 

“Nova, you have nothing to be afraid of, I promise. I’ll make you a deal: we go out for an undisclosed amount of time. If we break up, I give you full permission to find a taser and use it on me as many times as you want. Deal?” Nova chuckled and sniffed, nodding in agreement to Spencer’s deal. The pair continued to eat, Nova completely ravenous now that the nerves had settled. 

Spencer paid the bill like a gentleman once dinner was over, Nova’s leftover’s tucked safely under her arm as she was escorted back to the car. 

“So, do you want to go back home?” Spencer asked, fully prepared to let the night end right then and there. 

“No. My roommate has midterms to study for so I told her I’d stay out of her way as much as possible.” Nova admitted, not wanting the night to end just yet. 

“Then we’ll go back to my place. Is your roommate going for her Master’s too?”

“Doctorate in Philosophy. Poor girl won’t have a job after she graduates.” Spencer chuckled loudly before defending that philosophy was an acceptable major. The ride to Spencer’s place was fast due to a surprising lack of traffic for 9:30 at night. His apartment was on the third floor, which he explained had more to do with availability rather than the inevitability of hearing his neighbors stomp around above him. Spencer took Nova’s food out of her hands and left to his kitchen giving Nova the opportunity to snoop at his belongings. 

The whole room smelled like books, the multiple shelves almost overflowing with books covering every subject. 

“See anything interesting?” Spencer asked, wrapping his arms around Nova’s waist. 

“You’ve read all of these?” Nova asked, amazed at the impressive selection. 

“Yes, ma’am I have. But you didn’t answer my question: do you see anything you like?” Nova turned her attention back to the bookshelf, a very nice leather bound book catching her eye. 

“This one,” Nova replied, pulling the book off the shelf.

“Proust? Good choice, sweets.” Spencer kissed the top of Nova’s head as he snatched the book from her hands and led her to the couch, allowing her to to get comfortable before he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and opened the book. Spencer began reading one of the most complicated books in the world with such ease as if he’d read it a million times. The words flew out of his mouth with a soothing rhythm that it almost made Nova drowsy. As happy as she was, Nova still couldn’t shake the one question on her mind. 

“Spencer? What are we doing?” Nova asked, interrupting the 20 page sentence her date was reading. 

“We’re on a date, Nova.” Spencer finalized, closing the book on his thumb to remember his place. He glanced over at the girl in his arm and noticed her gnawing at her bottom lip. 

“You know that’s not what I mean. I’ve been on the team for three weeks now, Spencer, and we’ve done more in those three weeks than I’ve done in a three month relationship.... I’m just scared it’s going all too quickly and neither of us are going to be able to enjoy it.” 

“Come on.” Spencer stood from his place on the couch and helped Nova stand herself. He knew she was nervous, granted he knew this wasn’t her first time.

“What? Spencer I....” 

“I know, Nova. But you don’t have to be afraid, okay? I’ve got you.” He brought his lips to hers, the kiss a minor attempt to calm her down. Nova sunk into the kiss, her knees weak and head spinning. Spencer broke off the kiss and lead her to his room, Nova’s nerves twisted her stomach as she followed. Spencer kissed her once more as the door to his bedroom was pushed open and Nova was wrenched inside. Spencer was careful, gentle, as if his actions would cause Nova to shatter completely, He could feel her heart beating faster as he gently pushed her against the wall, his hands coming up to cup her face. 

“Spencer..” Nova whined as his lips moved to her neck, wet kisses making her weak in the knees. He started unbuttoning the top of her dress, the sides of it opening to reveal the maroon lace underneath. Spencer stifled a groan at the sight of what Nova had managed to hide during the entire date, blood rushing to his erection.

“For someone who was nervous three hours ago, you sure did come prepared.” Attempting to lighten the mood, Spencer joked as he lead Nova to the bed, pushing her to lay down on the pillows behind her. 

“Spencer-”

“Shh. Let me take care of you, Nova. I’ve got you.” After repeating himself, Spencer made his way down to Nova’s core, flipping the dress of her skirt up and growling at the sight of her matching panties. Kissing her knees, Spencer spread her legs open and settled between them. Nova tensed as Spencer peppered kisses on her thighs, making his way to her core. She choked on her breath as he placed a warm kiss to her panties, the warmth of his face making her want him more. 

Spencer pushed Nova’s underwear to the side and buried his face in her heat, the gasp she released sounding delicious to him. His tongue danced around her clit as his fingers itched to get inside her heat once again, the memory of her walls clenching around them hazy. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he admired how sweet she tasted, the sounds falling from her lips making her sound like an angel. Deciding she was ready enough, Spencer tested the waters by inserting one finger into her tight pussy, walls already clenching from the intrusion. 

“Fuck you’re so eager, aren’t you baby girl?” Nova whined and nodded, bucking her hips in a futile attempt to get more friction from Spencer. The man in question chuckled at how needy Nova was before coming up from his place and kissing her lips, taking the opportunity to slip another finger inside her. He slid his tongue into her mouth as she gasped, the feeling of Spencer’s fingers and mouth making her head spin. Spencer sped up his movements, his mouth muffling the noises Nova spilled into his mouth. 

“Spencer, please!” Nova whined. Spencer pecked her lips once again before he returned to his previous place, his lips immediately wrapping around her clit yet again. Nova moaned loudly, jumping at the feeling of pleasure. Her hands found a place in Spencer’s hair and tugged rather harshly which evoked a moan from Spencer, the vibrations against her clit causing her to buck her hips yet again. She was close and Spencer could feel it. He curved his fingers, easily accessing the spongy spot that caused Nova to practically scream. Her thighs shook and her toes curled, the grip on Spencer’s locks tightening. When her orgasm finally washed over her body, she froze, eyes rolling back into her head and jaw dropping into the perfect ‘O’ shape. Spencer didn’t ease up until she started pushing him away, her breath stuttering as she tried to catch it. 

Once she had calmed down enough, Spencer sat her up and removed her clothes, dress, shoes, and underwear scattered around the room haphazardly. As Spencer left the bed to get undressed himself, Nova attempted to follow him, determined to return the favor. 

“No. You get back up there, baby girl, this night is about you.” Spencer towered over her, his shirtless physique not comparing to the beauty of Nova’s naked form still on the bed. 

“But-”

“I said no, Nova. Now get back up there.” 

“How about you make me, Daddy?” Spencer growled and practically jumped out of his pants, a hand immediately wrapping around Nova’s throat. He pushed her back into the pillows, lips smashing against hers. The once romantic evening had turned into a night of intense passion, the pair not caring about the shift in emotions. Nova’s hand somehow wrapped around Spencer’s dick, the man above her hissing into her mouth. His grip on her neck tightened as he pulled away and kissed down her body. 

This was the first time he had seen Nova fully nude and he couldn’t get enough of the view: her naked body complimenting his bed perfectly, as if she was what his adult apartment was missing. Spencer didn’t realize that he was staring until Nova wrapped her arms around her breasts and stomach, the insecurities settling in her bones. 

“You’re beautiful, Nova. Please don’t hide from me, okay?” Spencer adjusted his stance, moving Nova’s hands from her body. Still feeling a little insecure, Nova reached up and kissed Spencer softly, the atmosphere once again shifting back to the romantic ease that it had started with. Spencer returned the kiss passionately, his hands trailing up her sides and settling on her breasts. She whined again, Spencer’s warm hands comforting her. 

“Are you ready?” Spencer asked as they both got situated. Nova’s legs spread by her own volition as she tried very hard to look anywhere than between Spencer’s legs. 

“Yeah, Spence. Please do something before I change my mind.” Spencer laughed at her eagerness. He swiped his hand through her folds, gathering some of her slick on his fingers, which caused her to moan, and pumped himself a couple times before lining himself up at her entrance. Watching her expressions, he slowly thrust himself forward, pausing a little when he heard Nova gasp. She met his line of sight and nodded, telling him to move. Spencer thrust again, sheathing himself inside her heat fully, the two of them moaning at the feeling. 

“Fuck, baby, you’re so tight.” Spencer groaned, moving his hips slightly. Nova moaned at the feeling of Spencer’s dick slipping in and out of her. 

“Spencer, please go faster.” Spencer obliged and picked up his pace, the fast movements eliciting loud moans to fall from Nova’s mouth. Spencer gazed affectionately at the girl below him, the view of his dick splitting her open turning him on even more than he already was. 

“You like that, baby? You like the feeling of Daddy’s cock deep inside you?” Spencer asked, wrapping his hand around her neck yet again. Nova’s eyes rolled into the back of her head in pleasure, a very loud moan spilling from her. He wrapped his lips around one of her nipples, biting lightly at the nub. 

“Yes, Daddy, please, more.” The hand that was on her hip traveled to her clit, his thumb rubbing as fast as his hips were going. The rest of his hand was spread across her stomach, the appendage moving slightly as he thrusted in and out of Nova’s glistening pussy. Her head was thrown back in pleasure, the sounds flowing freely making him go crazy. He left her nipples and pressed his lips to Nova’s, tongues dancing frantically. The pair separated but kept their foreheads together, the passion very obvious in both pairs of eyes. 

“Fuck, Nova, I’m close.” Spencer grunted, speeding up his ministrations yet again. 

“Me- fuck, yes! Right there, right there, right there! Fuck, Spencer!” Nova didn’t need to confirm that she was close as well, but Spencer took the note and kept hitting the right spot, going impossibly fast. He rubbed her clit, holding back as much as he could before he came. 

With a shout, Nova came, her powerful orgasm making her numb. She clenched her eyes shut, the fireworks exploding repeatedly as her body shook. She barely heard Spencer’s groan as he spilled his seed in her, hissing at how much her walls were clenching around him. He fell forward, resting his full weight on top of Nova’s body as they both came down from their most intense orgasms ever. 

“Holy...” Nova started, once again running her hands through his hair. Spencer chuckled and nuzzled further into Nova’s chest, never wanting to move. 

“Will you answer my question now, Spencer?” With a sigh, he shifted and held himself up with his forearms. His brown eyes, bore into hers as he tried to find the right words. 

“Nova, I don’t want this to be a one time thing. You don’t deserve to be used like that. You’ve held my attention since your first day at the BAU, so I figured I’d make a move before someone else did. I know everything we’ve done has been... unorthodox, but it’s just because I liked you so much. I promise from now on we will do the dating thing correctly; no sex until you say so. Nova, I know you’re scared, but I promise you’ll have nothing to fear while we’re together, okay?” Spencer’s eyes were wide as he pleaded for a second chance, a better chance. 

“Okay. I swear to God you make me regret this, I’ll do more than just use a taser on you.” Spencer and Nova chuckled, smiling into yet another kiss before settling into a more comfortable position, both of them hissing when Spencer pulled himself out of her heat. He stood from the bed in all his naked glory and left the bedroom, which of course confused Nova. When he returned, he had a glass of water and the abandoned Proust. He handed the glass to Nova, who gulped down a majority of it before settling back into Spencer’s arms as he picked up from where he left off. Soon, Nova fell asleep feeling safer than she’d ever had before and she wasn’t complaining about who held her close. 

Spencer kept reading long after Nova had fallen asleep, but he promised to catch her up the next morning. For now, she’d sleep in his arms, in his bed, in his apartment. And he wasn’t complaining at all. 

[mlb-au]

The Things We Lost

This is my attempt at writing an angst MLB au where Marinette is too overwhelmed at everything she has lost to Lila and loses control. This story does contain suicidal thoughts, strong language, and suicide so be warned.

If asked a few months ago about what the young girl was like, people would talk about how sweet and caring she is. She works hard, puts others first, and is a bit clumsy but is so loving and helpful. They might also say how expressive and optimistic the girl is, like she’s a ball of sunshine. Cut back to the present and none of these words would be used to described the baker’s daughter. Marinette knew that Lila could be trouble. She was telling so many lies, each one getting bigger and more threatening, how could she not be concerned. She had hoped that after everything Lila had done that people would stop believing her. They did not. Instead all blame was placed onto the dark haired girl. Thief. Cheater. Liar. Jealous bitch. Bully. These words and more were thrown at the girl until she felt like they coated her body like a second skin. Even when she was adorned in her red and black suit, she still felt the presence of these comments. It was a miracle that she hadn’t slipped up and allowed Hawkmoth to akumatize her yet.

Her friends, classmates, teachers, and even parents were against her. Her only comfort was the kwamis. Each night they would comfort their guardian in hopes of doing something for the girl. Each night she cried herself to sleep. Each night she hoped that tomorrow would be a better day. It seemed like her wishes never came true. She went through the day like a zombie. She walked into class and went into her seat in the back. People’s eyes putting holes into her body as they whispered about her. Freak. Stalker. Crazy. Jerk. She stare blankly at the front as class went on. If she was lucky, she could go home without being stopped. However most days she wasn’t.

Lila would corner her. Her smirk and eyes were like daggers into Marinette’s soul. She would bark and laugh about how she was good on her promise to rid Marinette of all her friends. Somedays she left it at that. Other days she would hit her or push her. Of course no one noticed her bruises. They even failed to notice the scars forming on her arms, just hidden by her jacket. Marinette stood on her rooftop balcony. She was in her pajamas, and the wind stung her freshly made cuts. She glanced down wondering what it would be like to jump. Tikki and the other kwamis gently nudged the girl back inside. She couldn’t leave them.

Even her partner noticed the difference in her behavior and tried to ask her about it. He expected something simple and easy to fix. He never would have expected what she said next. “I’m looking for a new Ladybug.” “What, why?” Ladybug stared out onto Paris. “I can’t do this anymore. If I continue to be Ladybug, then Hawkmoth will win. I’ll continue to be the guardian, but Paris needs a new Ladybug.” He looks sad but then turns it into a smile. “So does that mean I can find out who you are?” Marinette didn’t even have the energy to yell at him. “I’ll let you know when I find one.” She stood and swung off, leaving him to wonder what he did wrong. Marinette detransformed and couldn’t quite understand why she was crying.

She eyed everyone in the city closely. She needed to sink into the background, and the sooner she did that the better. She did discover someone. A girl her age who went to a different school. She had some friends, did a school club, and most of all was kind and selfless. She waited for a few more days, watching in the shadows, before approaching the girl. Her name was Raven, a nod to her parents dark black hair. Marinette came to her as Mutlimouse. (Only Chat knew that Marinette was Mutlimouse, and it wouldn’t matter once she was gone.) The girl was shocked, but trusted the hero’s judgement. She helped trained and coached the girl, and it was time for the world to have a new, permanent, hero. Mutlimouse and the new Rubybug met with Chat Noir. Chat Noir didn’t even give Marinette a second look.

Over the week she carefully watched the two worked together. It was a bit of a shake up at first, but Rubybug was able to save the day and gain the love of Paris’s citizens. At the end of the week, Marinette said her last goodbyes to Tikki and that was that. However, Tikki had one last parting gift. Hidden in Marinette’s sewing box was a small book. Tikki had wrote out so many messages, all comforting her chosen one. For the first night in a while, the tears she shed were happy. One thing was clear though, she needed to escape more of her life.

Marinette carefully worked. She found a place hidden in plain sight. It was fair enough from her old life yet close enough to be reached in case a different miraculous holder was needed. Not to mention that it wouldn’t be searched or questioned. She moved as much stuff over to the new location as she could without raising suspicion. Then she waited for the day. The day when she would no longer be around. Everyone at school made sure to mention the date. Lila had been working on her final scheme: to get Adrien to be her’s. They would have a date and talk while going to André’s ice cream stand. They would get ice creams that matched each other and would kiss. That was Lila’s plan.

Marinette stood on a newby building, as Scarlet Vixen, and waited. Sure enough Adrien and Lila came around the corner. The rest of the class waited and watched. Alya was recording the whole thing in a livestream. Scarlet Vixen waited for the right time. Lila had just gotten her ice cream, and it matched Adrien. Now it was time to get his. “Strawberry for her blush, blackberry for her hair,” Adrien couldn’t help but get a sense of dread in his stomach. Something bad was about to happen. He glanced around and noticed Marinette standing on the railing. As André said “blue bell stare”, Marinette’s eyes turned to him. She had tries rolling down her eyes, and before Adrien could process it she jumped. Alya had turned her phone to record the girl moments before she jumped, so the whole livestream saw it. The class around her stared at where the girl once stood. She never did resurface from the water.

*

*

*

It was a week after the incident and Lila had a sick feeling of pride. She had done this all before. Take over the school, have everyone love and fawn over her, and destroyed anyone who opposed her. However she never had someone so distraught to have killed themselves, but it’s whatever. She can use this to her advantage. Claim that the girl had really wanted attention so badly she was willing to jump for it. Maybe state that the incident has made herself distraught and needs people to love and support her. But things were different than what she had planned.

First was Marinette’s parents. The night of the incident, Sabine was calling for Marinette to come down and banging on her trap door. Earlier that day she and Tom had yelled at the girl for hurting Lila again, and the girl ran up to her room to hide. Now Sabine was going to yell at her daughter for her grades. It got to a point where she had Tom take off the trap door. The bedroom was a mess. Things were thrown around and out of place. The mom was gonna yell at her daughter for having a  temper tantrum when she spotted the blood. A small box cutter laid on the ground, with fresh blood still on it. As Tom looked around, he found a note on their daughter’s bed.

“Dear Mom and Dad,

I know that I am an awful daughter and don’t deserve you. I am sorry for causing trouble and for making me mad. I know you can never forgive me. I won’t come back, so I hope you will live a happier life.

- Marinette”

It was thirty minutes later when they were informed that their daughter had jumped into the river never to be seen again. The parents were in shock, and they had the bakery shut down for the rest of the week. They could only walk around their house, staring over to the opening where the trap door to the pink room once was. They hadn’t expected their only child to just be gone.

Next came Alya. She was at first in denial. There was no way that Marinette would do that. Bully and hurt Lila? Sure. Steal important test papers to cheat? Of course. Throwing herself into a river was not on the list of things that girl could do. It took her several minutes after seeing the incident to realize that she was still recording. The next day she woke up thinking everything was a bad dream. Or even some sick kind of joke that the brat pulled in hopes of gaining attention. However, when she checked her phone to see several messages concerning the content on her blog, she realized it was real.

Next was her general classmates. They didn’t want to believe what they saw at first, but what else was there to do? They couldn’t have done anything to stop it.

However the person who was effected most was Adrien. He had reluctantly agreed to go on the date with Lila, as pushed by Nino and everyone else in the class. He expected his ice cream to be like what he had ordered the first time, to represent his love of Ladybug. However André said said something different. Strawberry for her blush. He had never seen Ladybug blush before, it was never in her nature. The only girl with blue bell eyes and dark hair was... Marinette. The last time he saw her was when she jumped into the river with tears in her eyes. He didn’t know what to think. Why would she jump? She was always so happy. “Not when she was getting harassed and bullied.” Plagg supplied with a scoff. “So much for take the highroad.”

As the week of the incident progressed, the world seemed to stop. However once the week was up the world unpaused, but only to show the darkness of the situation. The bakery was permanently closed when Tom and Sabine were charged for Marinette’s suicide and providing an unsafe home for a child. Alya’s blog was shut down for recording a suicide. The students kept staring at where the girl used to sit, feelings of guilt leaking in. Adrien could barely function, and Gabriel had to rework his schedule to try to get Adrien under control. Adrien was even effected as Chat Noir. While Rubybug was sweet, quirky, and hardworking, he couldn’t help but miss the old Ladybug. The one who, while she would be serious most of the time, was always looking out for him. Rubybug had to save Chat Noir several times during attacks since he began to get distracted so easily.

Lila had expected things to be easier for her. She tried to do some sob stories about how much the death was impacting her but it backed fired. Not because they didn’t believe her, but because the school was now being forced to give more counseling and care when it comes to bullying. Lila was put into therapy and had her lies backfire on her when concerned classmates filled in their teacher on the awful things Marinette said and done to the girl. Not to mention all those other things. Her mom and the school had a several hour long discussion before the truth was exposed.

The school year continued on. The class was two students down for the count. One was simply transferred out and the other was gone forever. Sometimes the students would forget that Marinette was gone. Alya had gotten to talk to the new Rubybug and was about to call Marinette to talk before remembering that she was gone. The members of Kitty Section were discussing new costumes before remembering that their old designer couldn’t help anymore. Her parents still felt like they could hear their daughter’s voice coming from the bedroom. Adrien sat on top of rooftops at night staring at the lucky charm Marinette had made him. Their everyday ladybug. Gone without a trace and never to be seen again.

Of course, she was still around. Hidden away in the shadows of Paris. The miracle box and kwamis as her sole companions. Waiting for when her new bug would come by to seek out help. She saw the world fall before her and watched. Her soul had died long before. It didn’t matter to her how any of those people felt. After all, she had lost more. She had lost her family, friends, dreams, hopes, and her partner in one go. Why should they care about her now that she’s gone. It’s not like they lost everything. No. They only lost one stupid girl. She didn’t matter to them before she was gone, why did they care now that she was gone. Ah, such is the way of life.

[gloomyhearts]

Always by your side || Luke Patterson

Chapter nine ~ you just left

people grow together through darkness. does this band will make it without their most important human being.

After years will everything keep the same?

____

Luke patterson x oc

2020

Sabrina knew exactly where they'd be staying at so the next morning she visits the studio. She poofed in behind Alex drums expecting the boys sitting on the couch but it was empty, just a girl walked into it searching for some guys.

The girl sat down at the piano Sabrina loved to play. And the girl herself began to play some chords. Her voice was angelic.

An older man arrived at the front and looked to the garage, he had a smile on his face, looking relieved.

Sabrina studied her face, her movement and her emotions, somewhere she'd seen this face.

Suddenly the three faces she tried to avoid where behind the singing girl. They didn't seem to notice her again, thank god.

When she finished Alex was about to touch her shoulder to take her into an embrace but Luke stopped him.

The next moment the boys were right next to her. Luke's back was facing her and so did Reggie's. Alex eyes glued on her but he decides to ignore her.

"Oh, dude why'd you stopped me? Julie needs a hug,"

"Bro, a ghost hug isn't the feel-good moment that you think is. All right," he explains.

"Trust me. What Julie needs right now is just a bit of privacy" well Luke wasn't wrong nor right.

The fact that Luke didn't had a girlfriend himself as he was still alive is mostly due to his lack of understanding women or was it?

1993

"Why don't you just go over? They're staring at you since we arrived," Sabrina points over to the group of three girls which all began to wave as Luke's graze fell on them.

"Nah, all they do is to apply make up and tattle about other" he argues.

"You're an idiot" she laughs. At this sight in front of him, her, his mouth curved into a smile.

"You're just jealous," he joins her laughter.

"I'm jealous? Ab- about what? Girls looking at you? You're totally an idiot"

'of course I am' 

Maybe it was because they always had a thing for each other or maybe they didn't found anyone that was as similar as the others. They had a connection no one understood. Alex himself tried to understand it, really he tried his best but somehow nobody else has what they had.

2020

"You know what? I think you poofed us out because you can't handle when people cry," Alex states.

"I should know. I cried in a room for 25 years, and I didn't get a single hug from either of you, just.." he ends before he could say more.

"All right, being it on" Reggie opened his arms to embrace Alex.

"Don't touch me," he threw his hand in the air to imply to him to stop right there.

"That is why no one hugs you," Reggie explains.

"Just what? What do you have to tell us Alex. You're poofing out and then you'd come back crying, obviously and don't tell us where you've been and.. and," Luke starts to stutter at the end.

"I promised. I can't tell you. She.." he stops, his eyes searching for his sister no where to found.

"She?" Reggie questions.

"As in Sa.. Sabrina?" His voice shaking.

The blonde girl hid behind a hedge not knowing if her 'powers' would just make her visible for them.

"N.. no, she wouldn't hide for you guys, I.. I mean you were her family," Alex insists.

"I avoid you." Goosebumps forming on Luke's body as her sweet voice reached his ears.

The girl stepped out from behind the spot.

The sunlight shone on her body and make her look like an angel, Luke thought.

"Brina," he exhales, his view starts to blurry.

"Just hear me out, please, Alex,' she didn't dared to look into his eyes nor his face.

"It wasn't easy for me to leave you all behind. And when I came back as you all played for the first time again. I.. I tried everything to let you know I'm with you. I was in the Orpheum when you had rehearsal, when you talked to the woman and... and when," she gulped tears were streaming down her face

"I just couldn't," Sabrina shook her head as she placed her hands in front of her face.

"You kissed my temple right?" She nodded.

"This whole time. Why didn't you say something, you could have found us. Did Alex, did he knew?" And again she just nodded.

"And you didn't told us Alex? Are you serious?!" Sabrina began to move towards Luke her hand reaching for his and he pulled away.

"Can we talk Luke? Alone?" She suggests.

"No" he coldly says. Sabrina needed to get out of there and poofed herself out. The group was quiet, frozen in tracks.

After collecting his thoughts, I..I think we should, when we have the Courage, ask Julie why she lied go us about the piano," he spoke.

"Yeah, maybe tell her how amazing she's."

"She's legit. I got ghost bumps," he shoved his sleeves up.

A sobbing girl walked past the group to the door of the studio.

" Oh my gosh, was she crying too?" Alex whispers towards his friends.

"Yes," Luke hisses while turning around.

"And the only thing scarier than one girl crying is two girl crying."

"He's right." Alex experienced quite a few times with Sabrina and her friends.

"Guys, we definitely can't go in there," Luke states.

"But we can listen," Reggie points out. And so the three teenager made their way over to the door and peeked through the windows. When Julie's graze rose up to the other girl the boys went down abruptly so they wouldn't be seen by her.

The teenage girls walked out of the garage and Julie greeted the boys which irritated her friend.

They moved past the group and to the stairs.

Reggie calls "don't worry! We weren't listening" in her direction and Luke kicked him.

In the next second the boys were in the garage.

"I wonder why Julie didn't tell us she could play the piano," Reggie began.

"And sing. That girl can sing," Luke added.

"I didn't heard a voice like thins since.." he stopped.

"You know," he shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, you're right," Alex agrees.

"I think it probably has something to do with her mom. You know."

"Must've been hard," he went on and moves to the stairs .

"Anyway, I really feel for her," he says at he climbs up.

"Yeah, but," Luke took a seat at the piano.

"Now that she's got music back in her life, just like us."

“Yeah, I’m not sure you can call what we have a life,” Alex calls from the little loft in the garage.

“Oh hey, some of the clothes we left behind are still up here.” He threws the bag down.

“Sweet,” Luke tears his sweater and shirt off his body.

“Oh, same clothes since ’95, boys.”

Julie’s dad steps into the garage, walking through Reggie, “Oh, that was weird!”

“But somehow I can tell this man has a kind heart,” he describes.

Alex sat down, his legs hanging down, his arms resting on the railing. He watched his friends.

“so how have you been?” the older man began. Reggie concernd that the man was talking to him.

“Honestly, not that good. See we ate these hot dogs, and—”

“Julie sang for the first time this morning,” his feet

“Ah!”

“She hadn’t done that in almost a year. You would’ve loved it.

“Yeah, we saw cause we were.. Oh!” It hit Reggie like a rock. The man hold his camera up and the clicking of the shutter filled the room.

“Oh, I get it.” Reggie waved his hand in front of his face.

The raven haired boy turned to his friend, “He.. He’s not talking to us.”

“you are so lucky you can play bass.”

“Pretty sure he’s talking to Julie’s mom," Alex insists.

“She’s such an amazing young woman,” he reached the piano.

“Every day she reminds me more and more of you.

“Called it,” the blonde exclaims.

“Oh, I’m.. uh.. I’m taking for the real estate website. I don’t reall wanna move, but.. It’s the best for Julie,” the three ghost’s were now assembled around the piano.

Luke leans on the piano facing Julie’s dad, “Move?”

“There’s so many memories of Julie playing next to you, and.. Carlos trying to sing with his missing two front teeth,” he remembers chuckling. The shaggy jaired boy breathed shakily bringing his hand up his face to cover it.

Reggie turns to his friend, “Oh no, Luke, not you too.”

“He.. He’s talking about moving, but the poor guy, he doesn’t wanna move,” he explains like the other two haven’t widness it.

Their little scene was interrupt by the man again, “It’s like they grew up.. out here.”

“Oh man, now’s he’s got me too,” Reggie sobs, fanning himself.

“Okay, how am I the emotional one?” Alex argues.

“C-C-Can we go see my family and see how they’re doing?”

“Yeah listening to this feels wrong.”

“Hey, do you remember when the kids were at your sister’s, and we came out her eon our anniversary..”

“Yeah. No definitely wrong,” Luke poofed himself out of the picture. The other two mirrored his action.

[border-spam]

Leech Lord ficlet - What's mine is mine

The first time she’d tried to leech Troy they were 11, and she’d grabbed his hand to pull him down into the warm soil around a Nekrotree’s roots, laughing through gap teeth that it was time to share the warmth in her tummy from the glowpods he’d found for her.

It wasn't on purpose, it's not like she'd planned ahead or given it thought, it was just.. it just happened. The question of if she could whispered through her mind in a fraction of a second as their hands touched and she felt the cool pull of passing energy to her twin.

She'd paused, rolling it on her tongue for a moment as she watched him lean back against the rough bark, letting his eyes slide closed and those lines that already scoured his little face relax.

It wouldn't work, right?

It wouldn't. They shared, nothing would happen if she tried to take.. would it?

Ty had twisted her free fingers in the hem of her threadbare shirt, squinting at the markings that glowed across their joined hands with the gentle thrum of power she felt him pull through her core. It felt like exhaling with a heavy wind at your back, a subtle assistance that wasn't sinister in any way just... it was hungry. He was hungry, and a tiny pang of guilt tightened her chest as she watched their markings pulse slowly. Maybe she should have shared sooner, but Troy would never ask.

He was pretending he couldn't hear the sounds as they felt the bond seal, he always did that, it was stupid. He'd insist nothing was happening while she knew he heard the same thing, the wash of confusing background noise that would fill their heads with static when they joined like this. She turned to stare back at the entrance to the vault, thinking of Dad and his crackly old E-Com, the garbled audio that was almost language it would hiss out of a broken speaker. That's what the sound was like sometimes, or at least, the closest comparison she could think of in her isolated little world.

She swallowed hard, half her insisting she should forget the question that had just fluttered across her thoughts, half eagerly egging her on to find out. What would happen if she tried to take power from him? How would it feel? What would it look like?

Would it hurt? Would it be like that time Mom had told her not to get too close to the fire but she'd had to know for herself why? Would it burn as bad? The urge to do it felt the same as that time had, curiosity too strong to ignore despite the warnings surrounding it.

She knew that now she'd thought of the question once, she couldn't pretend otherwise, wouldn't be able to forget it had been asked. It would bounce around in her little head till she found out the answer, mom had always said Ty was going to be an adventurer one day, a great one just like dad. Leda had smiled and told her it was because wanting to know the answer to questions was the greatest reason to explore. That if she hadn't wanted to know the answers to her own questions, she'd never have her Starlight and Moonbright, never found this home and her family.

Tyreen would try then. Just for a second. Just once. Just like dabbing a battery against her tongue to feel the shock. Just like passing her hand through that flame, because she was an adventurer like mom had said, and she needed to know.

A slow, even breath out as she loosened her shoulders and settled back into her spine, then Tyreen focused, gathering the threads of wavering energy she could feel shimmer through her body and into his, and with just a twitch, the most subtle shift of the flow, pulled back.

Then nothing happened.

The lack of response was more jarring that anything she'd been prepared for. If it had burned, if Troy had yelped and pulled his hand away, if anything had responded, it would have been less disturbing. Nothing. The tug hadn't even registered, the same complete lack of response as if she'd yanked at a rope tied to Dad's old ship. No movement, no give. He hadn't even opened his eyes.

Ty sucked at her lower lip and shuffled her knees under her, glaring unblinking at where their thumbs crossed. Maybe she just.. maybe it needed to be harder. She never had to pull normally, she couldn't stop pulling normally. Maybe she just didn't know how to do it on purpose. She'd try again. Just a little harder. Just so she could be sure and not have to question it ever again.

She screwed her eyes shut, biting down with slowly increasing pressure on her lip as she focused on the whistle of his breathing, on the blistering heat of the power beginning to roil and churn inside her ribs, the tendrils of heat snaking inside her arm to taste and squirm against his cool skin, and she pulled.

She pulled, harder, harder, waiting to feel the give, there must be a give, everything else crumbled against this magic warmth when she didn't even try, there would be a give, of course there would be a give if she kept pulling and -

Nothing.

The taste of blood broke her concentration before the realisation she hadn't breathed in half a minute did, she gasped in a shaky breath and yanked her hand out of his, wild-eyed as she watched him fumble in confused fright and scrabble to his feet.

"Ty??"

Her ears were ringing, unsure what he was saying when he awkwardly dropped to his knees in front of her in a heap of gangly limbs and crookedness, and mouthed something while his hand gently squeezed her shoulder.

"..u ok Ty..n?"

It felt like she was drowning, breath wasn't filling her lungs right and his gaunt face swam in her vision, blurred and concerned as the dull roar in her head slowly cleared.

"Ty you're b-bleeding.."

She jolted back as his hand moved from her shoulder, and Troy froze, eyes dark with worry as he glanced down. Her gaze slowly following his to the blood dripping onto her thighs from the nosebleed she realised he'd been about to wipe, sticky and glinting black in the dim light.

Her ribs felt like glass, everything was empty inside, what did he do, what.. what...

"What happened..?" he whispered, looking back up through tears as hers began to spill past her lashes.

She swallowed again, running her tongue slowly over her swollen lip as gnawing doubt crept into the back of her throat, the first flicker of an emotion she'd never felt before settling in her tummy.

"I don't know, Troy."

She wished that wasn't the truth.

--------

The second time they were 18, wasting away on the dead planet they called home, watching their pathetic lives tick by slowly.

She'd been so damn tired, another night unable to sleep. The constant drone of singing Korax just too loud to manage to blank out. It got this bad every year during breeding season, and the nights always felt long. Typhon would snore through it, but the twins usually couldn't sleep properly till the month ended and would nap in the cool shade of tree boughs during the day instead. Shift their sleeping patterns around the creatures that made this place home and wait for the Korax to move on. They belonged here, after all. The twins didn't.

Ty had given up on resting through the chirping echose and had carefully padded out of the sleeping area, noting Troy's empty bedroll as she wrapped a thin blanket repurposed from panelling insulation around her shoulders. The night was cool and heavy, amplifying the animal's whistling calls through the clarity of the air. It smelled like damp soil and rotting wood on nights like this - lovely in a way she'd come to appreciate. That was the smell of life, of death and growth blooming and decaying all around them. Clean, like mom used to describe it. Ty had quietly shuffled across the smooth rock of the vault and towards the outer camp, filling deep lungfulls with that delicious air as she searched for her missing twin.

She found him cracking bones from the meal he'd eaten with dad earlier by the campfire, a spindly mess of jutting shapes and harsh shadows, picking desperately at marrow from where it hunched in front of the embers.

He quickly tossed the remnants with a panicked flick of his hand as he heard her approach, and she didn't need him to turn to know he was flushed in shame at being found like this. She could hear that clear enough in the shaky greeting he grumbled over his shoulder.

It took him a moment to answer, hair fluttering in the firelight as he shook his head tiredly, staring at the dust in front of him as she slowly lowered herself to the ground by his side.

"Hey... hungry again?"

A stupid question really, she knew he was. He always was, not in the exact same way as she felt it, but still ravenous. Hunger was something they both knew intimately.

"Yeah. Didn't really.. d-didn't really get much today, not after sharing with dad. It just ain't ever enough Ty, it's n-never enough..." he paused to lean into her a little.

"I try and like, I try and be fair, I can't give him less cause he needs to eat and he can't go hunting anymore but.." he trailed off worldlessly, warm light glinting reflections in the darks of his eyes.

She shifted the cloth around his shoulder too, pressing hers against his empty right as they rested their heads together side by side.

"Is it the, you know, our power thing?"

He nodded slowly, still staring at the fire.

"Yeah. Always is. And it's not like there's payoff, it doesn't do anything bar make me so hungry, Ty."

She waited quietly, something unsaid was on the air, and she could feel him tense against her as he mulled over the words on the tip of his tongue.

"...It's not even that, it just, it feels like I... feels like it should be doing something, you know? There's something inside me, it's not just the markings, there's Siren in me. I know there is, it's just under my skin. It's right there and I c-can't touch it or make it work. I don't know what it does or if it does anything bar... this. "

She took his outstretched hand and waited for it, that song strumming between their veins neither could fully hear. Trying to explain, trying to communicate but language broken and voice backwards - inside out. Nothing and everything crashing together in a wave of cosmic frustration both twins felt viscerally.

He pulled away, grimacing in disgust as he shook his hand slowly, trying to fan that grotesque sensation out of his fingertips.

"F-fucking hate when that happens, it's like feedback, a power surge or something. Feel like it's going to blow my skull out... man. Is that really all I've got? Eating your energy and.. and.. blowing fuses inside my brain when we touch? That's it Ty? God... I wish I could just give it back..."

He'd whispered the last part but she'd heard clear enough despite her teeth chattering through nerves still firing from the blast of sensation a moment ago. He wishes he could give it back...? If he was anyone else she'd have ripped him apart to drag it out of his entrails by now. The wave of anger that blossomed at that statement dulled slowly into the back of her mind as a possibility arose, a question she'd forgotten about for so long.

"Maybe" Tyreen whispered, turning to face his side.

"...maybe you can try giving it back."

He looked like he'd just been shot, eyes wide and mouth gaping in shock as he whipped to look at her.

"What? Will that work?"

She rubbed the tips of her fingers against her thumb, glancing to the fire in front of them, the memory of passing a tiny hand through flame.

"I don't know, Troy. But we could try."

He grabbed her hand before she could react, screwing his eyes shut as he pushed.

Something happened, she felt winded for just a second, something moved inside her chest and she gripped his hand tighter, grabbing his wrist with her right and squeezing as she focused and pulled.

The screeching wail filled both their minds like warning sirens, voices over voices in octaves that pitched madly, and the twins grimaced in pain as he opened everything inside him and she desperately tried to drag it outwards, but nothing happened.

Nothing.

He gasped out a pained breath as he pulled his hand away and started to cry, crackly voice-breaking whines that fell into desperate sobs as she wrapped her arms around him and shushed into the black of his hair.

"Its ok Troy, we'll be ok."

--------

The third time they were 26, and he had her pinned against the wall of her personal ship, monstrous prosthetic claws digging into the hull panel beside her head.

She scratched blindly at his forearm as it pressured against her chest, spitting venom at him as he roared in her face to stop LYING TO HIM ALL THE TIME.

That he knew what she'd been doing, the same thing she always did when she thought anyone else was threatening how much time he gave her. That his friends DID like him, they did, they weren't feigning caring about him, they weren't manipulating him to get something, they weren't.

That she was wrong, as she kicked against his shins and snarled up into the rage in his face, that she just didn't get it, because what the fuck would SHE know about KINDNESS???

Her fingernails bit into the muscle of his forearm as she leeched him, the thing inside her screaming at her mind to punish him, to show him who had the real power in their rivalry. To make him beg for forgiveness.

She pulled with such force, such intense fury, that his words were drowned out by the swell of blood in her ears... and nothing happened.

Nothing.

She hated him so intensely, hated what he'd taken from her, that she didn't stop the crushing effort of the pull against his immovable barrier till she felt a vessel in her eye burst, and he choked, stepping away from her in shock.

She panted against the wall, palms burning as he whispered in apology. As her twin stuttered that he was sorry, while blood from the nail punctures dribbled down his forearm. That it was an accident and he didn't know he was pushing against her that hard, that he hadn't meant to hurt her.. as he asked if she was ok.

She slapped him so hard that she heard a crunch.

--------

The fourth time they were 29, and he was renouncing her.

It was in desperation as she felt it flow into him so effortlessly that it was almost like it wanted to escape her soul, dragging ice from her fingertips through her spine as he leeched her power from the tomb of her core. A final, sad attempt to defy Troy, to pull back feebly against that wall of his inner self as she realised in panic that there was no one left to stop him.

That no devout was coming to help their Queen, all rallied under his banner now.

That no loyalty remained to the Vault Mother, and she'd been the architect of her own fall from grace. That Tyreen had destroyed the goddess she built from scratch... and as she began to lose consciousness, there was a flutter at the back of her mind that was so glad.

[purplesurveys]

1131

survey by lilprincess

Approx. Time you began this survey: 6:46 on a Wednesday evening.

Describe your mood right now: Erm, a bit exhausted because I just ended a work shift; but content for the same reason. Right now I’m simply looking forward to dinner and crashing on the couch or my bed, wherever I feel like sleeping tonight.

Spell your first name without vowels: Rbn. Let’s just also remove y for this one.

Age you will be on your next birthday: 23.

Zodiac Sign: Taurus.

Do you believe what your horoscope says about your sign? I do not believe in astrology whatsoever.

What state/region do you live in? Somewhere in the Philippines somewhere close to Metro Manila.

Height: Like 5′1″ ish. I had a massive growth spurt in 4th grade that also ended in 4th grade, which will always be a funny story to tell people lmao. I went from being placed at the back of the class line to the front really quickly.

Do you smoke? Super occasionally. My last cigarette was like...all the way back in February last year. It was easier to hide the smell around my family before, but because my parents and siblings have mostly been staying at home in the last year it would be so easy to weed out the smell. I never feel like smoking anyway since I vape, so there’s been no reason to seek it out.

Do you drink? Yeah, sometimes socially and sometimes on my own if I wanna unwind and feel a lil buzz come through.

What's your ethnic background? Southeast Asian, specifically Filipino.

What's your religious background? Technically my ~background~ would be Catholic since I was born and baptized in that faith, but I’ve long let go of this. Excluding one very brief period in high school, religion was something I never held much belief and faith in, even if I've been taken to literally every Sunday mass for the last 23 years and even if I was enrolled in Catholic school from preschool to high school.

What's your natural hair color? Black.

What;s your natural eye color? Dark brown, almost black.

Do you have any bad habits you want to break? I do overtime work a lot but used to seldom file it on our company shift log sheet because I get shy that they must think I’m doing it just to be paid more, lol. I’m starting to file them every time I do OT though because fuck it, pay me.

Name a few of your positive habits. I like that I always find a way to meet deadlines. I like that I’m selfless, even though some would see it as a flaw. I’d rather do too much than say I never did anything at all.

Have you ever lived in a foreign country? No, the most I’ve done was travel to one for a week.

Did you vote in the Nov. 6 2012 presidential election? No because I am not American -___- The last election that took place before I was eligible was in 2010, and had I been able to vote then, I would’ve given mine to Gibo Teodoro, who I believe was the most qualified at the time.

Are you even eligible to vote? Yeah, I’ve been for the last 5 years. I’ve voted twice - once for the presidential elections back in 2016, and the next was for the senatorial elections in 2019.

Are you right handed or left handed? Right-handed.

When you write, is your penmanship usually neat or do you tend to scribble? It starts off neat for the most part, but it gradually gets messy and becomes more like a scribble if we’re talking about writing several essays in one sitting, which was usually the case in my exams in college.

Have you ever experienced an accident? (of any type): Sure, I’ve been in car accidents before. I’ve also been shocked once.

Do you have/want children? They would be nice to have, yeah. 

Are you environmentally conscious? For the most part, yeah. But there are some things that can’t be helped, like me driving. Unless the government does something about the shitty public transport system that we have and have had for decades, I refuse to take it.

What's your favorite mode of transportation? Like I said, my own car. If I’m traveling, by plane.

Do you prefer 80's - 90's music compared to today's music? Eh, not at all. I prefer music produced these days.

Are you more of an introvert (quiet/shy), or extrovert (social butterfly)? I’ve been more of an extrovert in the last few years but I will always be shy at first upon meeting new people, like that will never change. I warm up a lot quickly now, though.

What's your favorite emoticon? :)

Do you miss the good old days of hand-written letters? I caught the super super super last part of this era, so I didn’t even get to experience it. I know snail mail was still kind of a thing when I was a kid, but at the same time that was happening my mom was also already using email to keep in touch with my dad, so.

Nowadays, though, when I do write letters to loved ones, I will still prefer to make handwritten ones, especially for a significant other or best friend. I don’t think I’ve ever sent out a computerized long letter.

Do you enjoy receiving or giving more? Giving, but it’s nice to be treated too sometimes.

Are you good at keeping secrets? Sure.

Do you take or give advice more often? I don’t usually get into situations wherein I’d have to do either, but I think I’ve been asking for advice more, especially over the last few months.

Do you have your driver's license? “I got my driver’s license last week, just like we always talked about...” Haha this question made me sing a bit. Anyway, yeah, I got it shortly after I turned 18 since I needed to quickly learn before college started.

Would you rather be poor & happy or rich but miserable? Rich but miserable. Soz but I’d solve 4854983594857 of my problems if I never had to worry about money.

Have you ever had a pregnancy scare? Never.

Have you ever blocked someone on Facebook? Probably not blocked, but I’ve unfollowed some current Facebook friends and unfriended others entirely.

Do you think recreational marijuana should be nationally legalized? Idk much about the topic since it’s taboo enough where I live, but sure, I guess?I haven’t heard one bad word about the effects of marijuana.

Describe your perfect first date. I’ve never really had a first date, but I imagine an ideal one would be pretty lowkey, just a stroll around a nice city and maybe have fancyish dinner somewhere.

Have you ever been high? Nope.

Have you ever watched a NC-17 rated film? Sure. A good handful of Kubrick films pass for NC-17, right? I’d be surprised if they weren’t, lol. I’ve been scarred by some of them for sure.

If you ever become reincarnated as an animal, what would you want it to be? A dog.

Do you remember where you were/what you were doing on September 11, 2001? No; I was 2 years old. I did ask my parents where they were in those moments, and my mom understandably missed most of it since the entire thing unfolded in the late evening in the Philippines. The only thing she can recall was being insanely worried for my dad, who had just started to work in the US back then.

Do you ever wish you were of a different nationality/religion? Yeah, to a certain extent, just because the political and socioeconomic situation here is very messy and it doesn’t really give us the nicest reputation in front of the world. I’m proud of my Filipino culture and heritage though.

Are you more of a junk food addict or health nut? Health nut is the last thing anyone should be calling me. But I’m not so much a junk food addict either? I do like spoiling myself with food, but I still monitor my intake.

Do you believe Antarctica should be considered the 7th world continent? Isn’t it already though?? We’ve always been taught there were 7 continents and Antarctica is one of them lol.

Describe your own sense of humor in 1 word: Gen-Z, if that counts as one word.

Have you ever quoted the Bible (or any other Holy Book)? If I ever did it was probably meant to be sarcasm.

Have you ever completed a Sudoku puzzle? No. Never figured out how to play it either.

Would you rather be a nuclear physicist or marine biologist? Marine biologist. That’s one step closer to one of my loves, biology. Plus I was never any good with physics, so.

Do you have a deep, dark secret you're hiding from every one? I guess.

Would you rather be able to soar like an eagle or swim like a dolphin? I’d make my childhood self happy and go with flight.

If you wanted to learn a foreign language, what would it be? Korean so I can finally stop reading subs, hahah.

Are you bi-curious? No.

Did you watch the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon more as a kid? The Nickelodeon cartoons were far more interesting to me. I think I only got into Disney when I got a little bit older, once I was able to appreciate the more mature content in shows like The Suite Life, That’s So Raven, etc. But for the most part our TV was always tuned into Nick Jr., Spongebob, Jimmy Neutron and the other Nick shows.

Name 5 films that were made the year you were born: American History X (great watch), The Truman Show, Mulan, La Vita e Bella if I’m not mistaken (one of my faves, no matter how gut-wrenching it is), and Shakespeare in Love.

Did you have a lot of friends in high school? Yes, eventually I did.

Do you rely more on the newspaper, Internet or TV as your news source? Social media these days since I find that online writers are far more discerning in their reporting than TV anchors, who stay neutral at best.

True or false: Bigger is better. Very vaguely put, but not always, I guess.

Do you think religion is the primary cause of war? No? There’ve been plenty other reasons for war.

What's your favorite pizza topping? ...Cheese.

Think of your wardrobe. What color do you wear the most? It’s still black, I think.

Have you ever been to a planetarium? Just once, on a middle school field trip. I’d love to come back, though.

Do you feel like you connect more with animals or other people? I don’t get to be with animals a lot other than my dogs, so I’ll go with people.

Do you feel like sometimes you have to lie in order to protect yourself? Wow so dramatically put haha but yeah, I suppose it does feel that way sometimes.

How often do you exercise? Literally never. I’ve stopped working out this year since I didn’t see the point, and I’ve stopped feeling like I had to ‘get back’ at my ex just by getting a more toned figure. I’m totally at peace with how my body looks, plus I never want to give up on my favorite foods and snacks lol so there’s that.

Can you swear in a different language? Putangina mong bobo kang gago ka. That’s three for ya.

Do you think teachers/doctors deserve to get paid more than pro athletes? Everyone deserves to be paid fairly to the point that no comparison should be necessary, period.

From a scale of 1- 5, you would rate this survey: Erm, a 4.5. I had to delete some questions I didn’t feel comfortable answering or that I found a little meh, but the rest I fairly enjoyed.

Do you think most of these questions were more original or more ordinary? It’s a bit in between.

Approx. time you completed this survey: Hahahahah 10:38 PM. I took a million breaks.

[talk-geek-to-me]

All the ones you didn't do in the last ask!

So I’m finally getting around to doing this. and you fUCKING HATE ME. This is gonna be hella long.  (she asked for all of them)

This is for the WaterColor asks that I posted last night

Zinc White: how are you really feeling today? I’m very tired tbh like all i wanna do today is sleep rn. very tired

Cadmium Yellow: When you think of the word “happy” what's the first thing that comes to mind? ummmmm probably my boyfriend and the very funny moments you and i share

Lemon: What’s your comfort food? Ben and Jerry’s Brownie Batter Core Ice cream. that shit makes me feel better immediately

Hansa Yellow: What’s your guilty pleasure song? honestly idk, but i will tell you the song that I cant get enough of and its All Time Low by Jon Bellion. like i honestly cant get enough of it rn

Yellow Ochre: Name an artist/band whom you just discovered and cant get enough of. right now its the song that I just said in the last ask. but the band? shit ummmmmm, idk but i’ve been listening to anything in my liked playlist from spotify. so it varies

Naples Yellow: where do you feel most at home? uh, i dont really know. I moved to Idaho so i haven’t figured that most yet

Raw Sienna: with whom do you feel most at home? my boyfriend. I miss him so much and I honestly cant wait till i see him next

Golden Ochre: describe the relationship with your closest friend. JESS *insert random thing that im currently screaming about*

Golden Deep: what’s your favorite season? fall, i can wear converse and hoodies and be comfortable

Cadmiun orange: What do you like to do on your days off? i love to do things that have to get done. like today, i did more homework than i thought i was gonna do and cleaned my bathroom. it’s been a good day.

Orange lake: do you have anyone you can turn to when you’re sad? I listen to music and not do my homework, just focus on me

Titans: do you prefer slow mornings or relaxing evenings? tbh i think i prefer slow mornings cause im not a morning person so that gives me time to sleep in

Shaknazaryan Red: are you currently binge watching anything? CRIMINAL MINDS

red ochre; are you more right-brained (creative) or left-brained (analytical)? i think i’m a bit of both

burnt sienna; is there a painting that brings you peace when you look at it? not really theres a picture i really like tho. here’s the link! https://www.pinterest.com/pin/46865652355803785/

english red; what animal do you relate to most? honestly, a raven

vermilion; what’s your favorite accent? british, like tom holland and tom hiddleston british

cadmium red; do you have a “type” when it comes to a significant other? ....jess you know. but for those of you who don’t know, its the bad boy type... seriously, bucky barnes, loki, and according to jess its the dark-haired, chiseled features, built af, don’t worry, she made a point, like all the famous people im attracted to... all contain the same things that my boyfriend contains. my boyfriend is dark haired, chiseled features, thicc 

scarlet; describe your current crush/es. DARK HAIR, CHISELED FEATURES, BAD BOY TYPE BOYFRIEND

ruby; what does your ideal first date look like? honestly, i dont have one

carmine; what does your ideal second date look like? dont have one

madder lake red; would you ever kiss someone (or accept a kiss) on a first date? considering i kissed my boyfriend within the first hour of meeting him, sure

rose; what’s something really positive going on in your life right now? im actually keeping up with school rn and im fairly proud of myself

quinacridone rose; what’s something you’re really looking forward to? sleep

violet rose; what does your dream house look like? windows. so many windows big kitchen, comfortable

violet; is there any place in particular you’d like to settle down? not really, i’d settle down anywhere as long as im with the man i love

blue lake; what would you like to do/accomplish before you settle down? traveling

cobalt blue spectral; what is the most beautiful place you have ever been to? honestly, i havent been there yet

ultramarine; when was the last time you were in a good mood? do you know/remember what sparked it? ummmm, im kinda always in a good mood?

blue; what’s the most recent dream you remember? [redacted] [redacted] [redeacted] [redacted] [redacted]

bright blue; what does your dream family look like? any kids or pets? how many of each? 2 or 3 kids, 2 dogs and hopefully a cat. married to my boyfriend

blue cobalt; do you like your name? would you give yourself a different name if you could? NO it’s too common, its why i prefer people call me meg or megs. i hate my name.

prussian azure; what’s your favorite scent? vanilla

azure blue; what’s your favorite type of tea, if any? lipton pure leaf raspberry tea, and it has to be cold

turquoise blue; if you could start a garden, what would you plant? literally anything that i could water every once in a while and it still be alive

cerulean blue; if you were guaranteed to have a viewership, would you start a youtube vlog? no, my life is really boring

glauconite; describe your body without using any negative adjectives. curves, well built, purple red hair. honestly, im super comfortable with my body

yellow green; picture yourself walking in a field. what do you see & hear in this scenario? ya know that scene in vampire dairies when Damon is comforting Rose as she’s dying? yea it looks like that

green light; are you in a comfortable place in life? if not, what do you think might make it better? im pretty comfortable with it, just wish my boyfriend was with me

green; name three countries you want to visit; do you have any actual plans in place to visit any of them? ready? you’re gonna laugh jess, Romania, Ireland, England

emerald green; do you speak any languages besides english? are there any additional languages you want to learn? so my mom is from Chile, and she’s native in spanish, but im native in english and cant speak a lick of spanish, but i have been doing the duolingo spanish lessons and its like my latina side has woken up, but i cant speak spanish, i can read it and hear it and probably translate it for you

oxide of chromium; what’s your favorite book? Stalking Jack The Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco

olive green; are you currently reading anything? how do you like it so far? no, im too busy with school and work that i dont have time to read anything and its making me sad. but i always have a book in my backpack just incase

mars brown; what’s a movie that always puts a smile on your face/makes you laugh? the first Avengers

burnt umber; what’s something you plan to do before the day is over to take care of yourself? clean my fucking greasy ass face

umber; have you drank enough water today? nope, thank you for reminding me tho

voronezhskaya black; what or who is your go-to outlet for when you need to vent? you, cause you always provide the best advice and make me feel like my emotions matter to you too

sepia; name five things that always make you happy. Superheroes, music, my boyfriend, my friends, and books, etc

indigo; what’s the best/sweetest compliment you have ever received? today, i was sitting in my car ordering my drink from dutch bros and someone told me that they liked my hair even tho he couldnt really see the color of it. But i get a lot of compliments from my boyfriend about my eyes

payne’s gray; describe your aesthetic? shit, uhhhh, superhero murderer? 

black; post a selfie because you are so beautiful! I’m gonna share with you the one that has my boyfriend going crazy 

[theladydrgn]

Thanks in no small part to @icibue I just spent the last day crafting RWBY/Pokemon AU headcanons. Please keep in mind that this is 50% funny, 50% serious and 100% self-indulgent!

·         Ozpin gives each new student an Eevee egg to hatch and train as part of their course work.

·         All the schools give different particular pokemon, Ozpin is just very fond of Eevee because of how much it can ‘change’.

·         Mythical and God-like pokes cannot be captured and instead ‘choose’ trainers. Being chosen by such a Pokemon is considered a very high honor but also puts that trainer at risk of being targeted by Salem.

·         Xerneas and Yveltal take the place of the God of Light and God of Darkness.

·         Celebi chose to be Oz’s partner centuries ago and is always the first to find him again after reincarnation.

·         The Xiao-Long family have raised the Kommo-o line of Pokemon for generations and it is customary for a Jangmo-o to be their child’s first Pokemon.

·         The Roses were known for raising Roselia and Roserade for show.

·         The Honchkrows Ozpin and Qrow have are from the same clutch of eggs.

·         Ozpin owns and cares for many pokemon but keeps two teams at the ready. One is a public team that is well known. The other is a private team that contains pokemon he has had through many lifetimes.

·         Because of the presence of Pokemon on Remnant, the world is a little safer for everyday citizens, though Grimm ARE attracted to pokemon just like humans.

·         The Huntsman Academies teach how to hunt Grimm and how to raise Pokemon.

·         Beacon Academy focuses on living in harmony with Pokemon and working together with them. Using pokeballs is optional for Huntsmen who have demonstrated close bonds with their Pokemon.

·         Atlas Academy focuses on Pokemon’s use in military tactics and has an extensive breeding program focused on breeding the strongest Pokemon. Pokemon are not allowed to be out of their pokeballs without military sanction.

·         Haven and Mistral are well known for their Pokemon Contests and shows. Battling is taught at Haven but definitely takes a backseat to the ‘art’ of raising Pokemon.

·         Since law and order is rare in Vacuo, almost anything goes. Having a strong team that can protect you and yours is what gets taught at Shade Academy. Since pokeballs are easily stolen they are very rarely used.

Now for Team Headcanons along with my personal reasoning for why I chose the teams I did. I was getting very tired towards the end of the team building, so I apologize if some teams aren’t as ‘fleshed-out’ as others.

STRQ

Summer Rose

1.      Shiny Roserade – Obvious choice honestly

2.      Alolan (Menagerie) Cubone – Summer having a poke that lost it’s poke-mom and human mom was too entertaining to not do.

3.      Sylveon – Summer being the ‘heart’ of team STRQ

4.      Blissey – Since Yang described Summer as ‘super mom’ having a pokemon described at ‘nurturing’ seemed fitting.

5.      Gardevoir – The entire Gardevoir line is very sensitive to emotions and I headcanon Summer as being fairly bubbly.

6.      Altaria – I didn’t have any super specific reasons for this one. Just seemed like a poke Summer would have ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Taiyang Xiao-Long

1.      Jolteon – Jolteon fits Tai’s color scheme. Sue me.

2.      Pangoro – A fighting type that doesn’t like it when the weak get picked on

3.      Kommo-o – The only fighting dragon pokemon and it just so happens to fit Tai’s color scheme

4.      Herdier – I mean, it’s obvious isn’t it?

5.      Bewear – Another fighting bear but this one loves hugs

6.      Drampa – A dragon that protects kids

Raven Branwen

1.      Mandibuzz – Specifically said to hunt ‘weak’ prey

2.      Salazzle – Rules over similar pokes and fits Ravens color scheme

3.      Weavile – Hunting in small groups to take down larger prey sounds a lot like the Branwen tribe

4.      Umbreon – The only Eeveeloution that fit ravens color scheme ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5.      Hydreigon – Brutal and destructive

6.      Bisharp – Rules over packs of similar pokes and is called ‘pitiless’

Qrow Branwen

1.      Honchkrow – Do you have to ask?

2.      Absol – A pokemon said to bring misfortune/bad luck.

3.      Umbreon – Fits Qrows aesthetic and the twins having the same Eeveeloution is funny to me.

4.      Alolan Marowak – This is actually Summers Cubone evolved and I felt like Summer wouldn’t have brought a young untrained poke on a possibly deadly mission. Also seems fitting that Qrow would take to raising it since Tai would have his hands full raising his own team and the kids.

5.      Staraptor – A loner birb that leaves its flock after growing up fits Qrow pretty fucking well.

6.      Scrafty – A poke that comes off as rude and actually cares about its loved ones.

RWBY

Ruby Rose

1.      Scyther – It has scythes for hands, what’s not to love?

2.      Roselia – Wanting to keep Ruby’s family legacy going, Tai gives Ruby a Budew as her first Pokemon

3.      Shiny Eevee – I mean silver Eevee… silver eyes… Also, it hasn’t evolved yet cause Ruby and Eevee are unsure of what they want it to be.

4.      Rockruff – A pup that turns into a wolf, nuf said (it will probably turn into the midnight form…).

5.      Electrike – A speedy boi that gives of showers of sparks as opposed to Ruby’s showers of petals

6.      Zigzagoon – Another speedy boi

Weiss Schnee

1.      Glaceon – Obvious is obvious

2.      Alolan (Atlesian) Vulpix – Pretty snow fox for the pretty ice queen.

3.      Dratini – Of course the rich kid would have something really rare

4.      Furfrou – Fancy dog for the fancy girl

5.      Brionne – A pretty poke that sings? 100% Weiss’s aesthetic.

6.      Braixen – You can only have so much blue and white before you need a splash of color and a poke that uses a wand like how Weiss uses her weapon seemed fitting

Blake Belladonna

1.      Litten – A cat that like to be solitary and doesn’t often display emotion… sounds like Blake to me!

2.      Umbreon – Somehow Umbreon just fits for way too many people but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

3.      Purrloin – Cute purple cat

4.      Litwick – Blakes shadow clones kinda remind me of a ghosts sooo purple ghost poke?

5.      Frogadier – Blake is a ninja. She absolutely needs a ninja Poke

6.      Noibat – It’s purple and has great hearing ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Yang Xiao-Long

1.      Jangmo-o – It’s a punchy dragon and fits her color scheme ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2.      Makuhita – Yellow, punchy, never gives up

3.      Flareon – Yang’s hair literally lights on fire. I would be dumb to NOT give her Flareon

4.      Combusken – I mean it’s fire, it’s fighting, and warn when hugged!

5.      Rufflet – Ok SO Rufflet and it’s eventual evolution into Braviary fits Yang really well. Rufflet starts out feeling like it needs to prove itself and fighting everything it can (including it’s own parents). After evolving it still fights like a champ, but for more ‘noble’ reasons, aka to protect friends and loved ones.

6.      Corphish – JuST hear me out on this one. Corphish are said to be REALLY hardy and able to survive in the worst conditions. They also like to fight a lot.

JNPR

Jaune Arc

1.      Growlithe – Friendly and loyal ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2.      Eevee – His Eevee eventually becomes Sylveon because Jaune is a cinnamon roll

3.      Buneary – Won the egg from cereal box tops

4.      Riolu – Riolu and Lucario are described as loyal and having a very strong sense of justice

5.      Honedge – This one has been in has family for a long time

6.      Skarmory – Jaune only had a team of 5, but when Pyrrha died her Skarmory was the only survivor and Jaune took it upon himself to raise it.

Nora Valkyrie

1.      Jolteon – What did you expect?

2.      Rhyhorn – It has the lightning horn ability for obvious reasons

3.      Flaaffy – Happy, fluffy, pink, and electric

4.      Teddiursa – Cute, loves sweet things, and it’s evolution is a rage bear. Nuf said.

5.      Munchlax – They both have bottomless stomachs

6.      Woobat – If Nora’s heart cannons are anything to go by, she would love this Pokemon

Pyrrha Nikos

1.      Magnemite – Polarity… Magnetism… Magnemite… I’m not very original

2.      Eevee – Pyrrha’s Eevee would have become a Jolteon if she were still alive.

3.      Skarmory – Steel types really are obvious choices.

4.      Nosepass – It’s nose is literally magnetic

5.      Victini – With all of the talk of Pyrrha being ‘fated’ for victory, it would be silly to not give her the pokemon that makes that true.

6.      Buneary – Pyrrha ended up being given one of the Pumpkin Pete mascots

Lie Ren

1.      Espeon – When I think of Ren I think of psychic pokes so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

2.      Natu – Calm and cautious like Ren

3.      Nincada – Only other ninja poke that isn’t Froakie

4.      Espurr – Another calm psychic ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

5.      Joltik – A cute little critter to remind him of Nora

6.      Zorua – Can hide it’s self which is closeish to Ren’s semblance

Misc.

Ozpin – Public Team

1.      Espeon – Espeon’s tail fork is said to be able to sense danger so it makes sense Oz would keep one around.

2.      Klinklang – I mean, the gear aesthetic it obvious isn’t it?

3.      Mimikyu – I headcanon that Oz can very easily see the worth in literally anyone so giving him a poke that thinks it can’t be loved was a no-brainer

4.      Shedinja – Pokemon with no soul VS man with too much soul

5.      Honchkrow – Oz having a ‘dark’ pokemon and people think he’s shady? No way! (also, I’m a shipper shhhh)

6.      Ninetales – Of course Oz would have a stupidly long lived Pokemon

Ozpin – Personal Team

1.      Celebi – Of course the one person who can be found in almost any time period ever would be chosen by the literal time travel Pokemon… Also, Green.

2.      Dragonite – Dragonite’s are kind, altruistic, and long lived.

3.      Magearna – Man-made poke that has a gear aesthetic ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

4.      Metagross – Made from fusing two Metang together.

5.      Aegislash – Despite Ozma being a ‘wizard’ he was also a ‘warrior’

6.      Zoroark – Uses illusions and would even sacrifice its life to protect loved ones.

[betelgeusessonajblog]

I shall be a dick cause I love you 😜💕 1 - 150

1. Who was the last person you held hands with?

AJ: Raph

2. Are you outgoing or shy?

AJ: Outgoing

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing?

AJ: Raph, duh he’s everything.

4. Are you easy to get along with?

AJ: Nah, not really haha

5. If you were drunk would the person you like take care of you?

AJ: Obviously he would

6. What kind of people are you attracted to?

AJ: Tough but caring, smart, funny, can pick me up when I’m down.

7. Do you think you’ll be in a relationship two months from now?

AJ: Without a doubt *holds up hand with wedding ring on it* 

8. Who from the opposite gender is on your mind?

AJ: Raven….I wanna save her…

9. Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

AJ:…HAHAHAHAHA!!!! no

10. Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with?

AJ:…Raph.

11. What does the most recent text that you sent say?

AJ:….Uuum….it’s just an ass pic I sent Raph before he ran into our room and fucked me senseless

12. What are your 5 favorite songs right now?

AJ: Don’t have a 5 fave songs tbh

13. Do you like it when people play with your hair?

AJ:…I…is my spikes hair….? cause no one touches them 

14. Do you believe in luck and miracles?

AJ: Yep

15. What good thing happened this summer?

AJ: Since this is 2020 and Summer hasn’t happened yet I’m gonna say last year’s summer was good. Lots happened though

16. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again?

AJ: That’s my husband so yes17. Do you think there is life on other planets?

AJ; Yes, I have an Alien son18. Do you still talk to your first crush?

AJ: Brock? Eh not since a huge fight me and Raph got into

19. Do you like bubble baths?

AJ: Never tried them I don’t think

20. Do you like your neighbors?

AJ: Me and, Raph live away from people so

21. What are you bad habits?

AJ: God….um…shit I know I have a lot but I’m struggling to figure it out22. Where would you like to travel?

AJ: I like travelling so yeah23. Do you have trust issues?

AJ; Not really just depends24. Favorite part of your daily routine?

AJ: Breakfast with Raph, it’s fun talking.25. What part of your body are you most uncomfortable with?

AJ:….my…scars…26. What do you do when you wake up?

AJ: Depends its usually Afternoon or some times morning27. Do you wish your skin was lighter or darker?

AJ: I’m monochrome, I’d like different scale colours

28. Who are you most comfortable around?

AJ: Raph29. Have any of your ex’s told you they regret breaking up?

AJ: No, Brock never said that once

30. Do you ever want to get married?

AJ: ALREADY AM!31. If your hair long enough for a pony tail?

AJ:…No hair32. Which celebrities would you have a threesome with?

AJ: Don’t know33. Spell your name with your chin.

AJ:…Bite me bambi34. Do you play sports? What sports?

AJ: Mostly Martial arts stuff35. Would you rather live without TV or music?

AJ: Ugh…neither36. Have you ever liked someone and never told them?

AJ: One guy years back but I didn’t know my sexuality then so…

37. What do you say during awkward silences?

AJ:…Nothing really just…38. Describe your dream girl/guy?

AJ: Raph39. What are your favorite stores to shop in?

AJ: I don’t really have a fave store to go to40. What do you want to do after high school?

AJ: I went to MU and that was a disaster41. Do you believe everyone deserves a second chance?

AJ: Some do…42. If your being extremely quiet what does it mean?

AJ: I’m thinking of something or i’m too down to talk43. Do you smile at strangers?

AJ: Not really no44. Trip to outer space or bottom of the ocean?

AJ: Been in space45. What makes you get out of bed in the morning?

AJ: Raph, without a doubt46. What are you paranoid about?

AJ: Fucking things up with my family

47. Have you ever been high?

AJ: No48. Have you ever been drunk?

AJ: Repeatedly49. Have you done anything recently that you hope nobody finds out about?

AJ: Nope50. What was the colour of the last hoodie you wore?

AJ: Dark red51. Ever wished you were someone else?

AJ: For years I always did52. One thing you wish you could change about yourself?

AJ: No scars….53. Favourite makeup brand?

AJ: Don’t use make up54. Favourite store?

AJ: None55. Favourite blog?

(Mun one: @thelostandforgottenangel cause she’s awesome56. Favourite colour?

AJ: Red57. Favourite food?

AJ: Hmm…Spaghetti58. Last thing you ate?

AJ: Raph’s ass *Sticks tongue out*59. First thing you ate this morning?

AJ: Cereal60. Ever won a competition? For what?

AJ: never61. Been suspended/expelled? For what?

AJ: ALMOST got Suspended/Expelled62. Been arrested? For what?

AJ: Nope luckily63. Ever been in love?

AJ: Currently in love with the man of my dreams64. Tell us the story of your first kiss?

AJ: God…that was way back in College me and Brock were talking then…we kissed after admitting we liked each other65. Are you hungry right now?

AJ: Nah I’m fine66. Do you like your tumblr friends more than your real friends?

//YEP 67. Facebook or Twitter?

Twitter68. Twitter or Tumblr?

Tumblr69. Are you watching tv right now?

AJ: Watching repeats of some old TV Shows70. Names of your bestfriends?

AJ: Besides Raph? Leo, Mikey, Donnie and, Raven71. Craving something? What?

AJ: Raph’s big cock72. What colour are your towels?

AJ: Eh white I think72. How many pillows do you sleep with?

AJ: Three73. Do you sleep with stuffed animals?

AJ: No, never had that kinda thing74. How many stuffed animals do you think you have?

AJ: None75. Favourite animal?

//Dog76. What colour is your underwear?

AJ: My jockstrap’s red77. Chocolate or Vanilla?

AJ:…Chocolate78. Favourite ice cream flavour?

AJ: Strawberry79. What colour shirt are you wearing?

AJ: Black80. What colour pants?

AJ: Also Black81. Favourite tv show?

AJ: The Walking Dead82. Favourite movie?

AJ: Rocky Horror Picture Show83. Mean Girls or Mean Girls 2?

AJ: Neither84. Mean Girls or 21 Jump Street?

AJ: neither85. Favourite character from Mean Girls?

AJ: Never seen it don’t wanna86. Favourite character from Finding Nemo?

AJ: None87. First person you talked to today?

AJ: Raph88. Last person you talked to today?

AJ: Roger89. Name a person you hate?

AJ: My mom90. Name a person you love?

AJ: Raph91. Is there anyone you want to punch in the face right now?

AJ: My Dad92. In a fight with someone?

AJ: Not currently93. How many sweatpants do you have?

AJ: None94. How many sweaters/hoodies do you have?

AJ: Um one or two95. Last movie you watched?

AJ: one of the Fast and Furious movies, me and Raph watched it last night96. Favourite actress?

AJ: Hmm….too many tbh97. Favourite actor?

AJ: Same as before98. Do you tan a lot?

AJ: Never99. Have any pets?

AJ: a shared pet with Raph, one I bought him100. How are you feeling?

AJ: Tired to be honest101. Do you type fast?

//Yes102. Do you regret anything from your past?

AJ:….people I met in MU….Breaking promises to people103. Can you spell well?

//not really104. Do you miss anyone from your past?

AJ: No105. Ever been to a bonfire party?

AJ: Nope106. Ever broken someone’s heart?

AJ: Yeah Brock’s with breaking my promise to never drink107. Have you ever been on a horse?

AJ: Nope108. What should you be doing?

AJ: Raph~

109. Is something irritating you right now?

AJ: Not being able to help Raven110. Have you ever liked someone so much it hurt?

AJ: Raph, without a doubt111. Do you have trust issues?

AJ:…No this was already mentioned before112. Who was the last person you cried in front of?

AJ: Raph113. What was your childhood nickname?

AJ….pass on that one114. Have you ever been out of your province/state?

AJ: Yep115. Do you play the Wii?

//Yep116. Are you listening to music right now?

AJ: Nothing currently117. Do you like chicken noodle soup?

AJ: No118. Do you like Chinese food?

AJ: Nope119. Favourite book?

AJ: Tomorrow When The War Began is one I love120. Are you afraid of the dark?

AJ: No121. Are you mean?

AJ: only when someone pisses me off122. Is cheating ever okay?

AJ: Never okay EVER123. Can you keep white shoes clean?

AJ: I don’t wear shoes124. Do you believe in love at first sight?

AJ: Kinda yeah125. Do you believe in true love?

AJ: I have that with Raph126. Are you currently bored?

AJ: Yeeeep127. What makes you happy?

AJ: My family128. Would you change your name?

AJ: Nah129. What your zodiac sign?

Libra130. Do you like subway?

AJ: Nope131. Your bestfriend of the opposite sex likes you, what do you do?

AJ: Turn them down 132. Who’s the last person you had a deep conversation with?

AJ…I Already said RAPH133. Favourite lyrics right now?

AJ: Don’t have any134. Can you count to one million?

AJ: Never had to135. Dumbest lie you ever told?

AJ:….too many tbh136. Do you sleep with your doors open or closed?

AJ: Depends tbh137. How tall are you?

AJ: 6′6138. Curly or Straight hair?

AJ: Don’t have hair so139. Brunette or Blonde?140. Summer or Winter?

AJ: Summer141. Night or Day?

AJ: Night142. Favourite month?

AJ: Dunno143. Are you a vegetarian?

AJ: Nope144. Dark, milk or white chocolate?

AJ: Doesn’t matter145. Tea or Coffee?

AJ: *Shrugs*146. Was today a good day?

AJ: Kinda147. Mars or Snickers?

AJ: Mars148. What’s your favourite quote?

Limits are meant to be overcome

149. Do you believe in ghosts?

AJ: I am one

150. Get the closest book next to you, open it to page 42, what’s the first line on that page?

AJ:…Spell shit

[jae-in-a-trenchcoat]

IT fic exchange

Here’s my fic for @notafightr who did an amazing fic for me! It was so good I feel bad giving them this piece of garbage 

No warnings

Richie was never one for being able to express his feelings. It didn't matter if it was how he was feeling about a situation or how he felt about a person, it was just so hard for Richie to let people know how he was really feeling. Weirdly it didn't come from the environment he grew up in, it developed from Richie as a kid wanting his friends to see him as a tough man (even though he was only 7 when this began). Richie bottling up his feelings led to him being unable to read the mood of a situation and making stupid jokes basically 24/7. So when he started to grow up and find himself developing a crush on his best friend Eddie Kaspbrak, life became more complicated for Richie. What made it worse is that at the ripe old age of 16, while Richie waited for Maggie (his mom) to pick him up, Eddie fucking Kaspbrak was standing next to him asking a question never expected to come out of the smaller boy's mouth.

"Will you be my fake boyfriend?" Eddie asked out of the blue on this slightly cold day. Richie, who was leaning against the bike rack, felt his hand slip off the metal pole and he nearly fell face first on the ground. Luckily he was able to catch himself before letting that end in disaster. Eddie tried to stifle back his laughter as the taller boy tried to recover.

"I'm sorry what?" Richie choked out. Eddie bit his lip.

"Will you be my fake boyfriend," he repeated, softer than the first time. Even after saying it twice, Richie was unable to comprehend what Eddie was saying. His crush, his love of his life, was asking him to fake date him? Richie didn't need to ask why. It was to make Eddie's crush jealous. His name was Jake: he had the brightest green eyes that were hard not to get lost in, auburn hair, he was apart of the debate team and he was WAY too nice. Richie knew he could never compete and, even though it kinda hurt him, he just let Eddie try and go after Jake.

"Eds I don't know that seems more stupid than your mom," Richie snorted. Eddie stared at him with with his big adorable eyes.

"I'm being serious ‘Chee," Eddie said. "I-I wanna do this." He took both of Richie's hands into his. Richie felt his cheeks heat up. He could barely feel his body . This was a hard decision to make but it didn't look like Eddie was gonna give him time to decide. Richie would never admit that this would hurt him, even if he wanted to it would come out as jumbled and not clear. 

If I do this I'd be able to spend more time with him though. He pulled his own hands away from Eddie's.

"I guess I could, but don't go developing feelings for me spaghetti man." Eddie let out a little laugh.

"Keep holding your breath trashmouth." The two shared a chuckle before Richie noticed his mom's car pulling up.

"Gotta go Eds, see ya tomorrow!" He exclaimed with a salute, before starting to move towards his mom's car. RIchie swung open the car door open and climbed into the passenger seat, accidentally knocking Maggie's coffee out of the cup holder in the process.

"C'mon Richard you've got to stop knocking over my coffee whenever you get into the car," she sighed.

"Sorry ma." Maggie shook her head with a smile. As Richie turned around to sit properly into the seat, he caught a glimpse of Eddie biting his lip but thought that he was just trying to stop himself from yelling 'Don't call me Eds!"

~

Bev tugged at the elastic band around her wrist, fuming.

"Son of a bitch," Bev muttered under her breath as she aggressively picked up the fake money and basically threw it across the coffee table. Opposite her was Stan who couldn't help but let a smirk form on his lips.

"Well sorry for properly investing my money instead of just buying random shit," he said with some sass. She rolled her eyes, annoyed with Stan's smart ass.

"It's monopoly Stan, not real life," she snapped back. Grabbing the dice Bev got ready to roll, until the front door flew open with so much force it could've come off its hinges. Richie stood there panting and out of breath.

"Guys, guys I've got a massive problem," he managed to get out between heavy breaths. The dice took a detour and rolled off the table and under the couch. Bev turned and gave Richie a death glare.

"Whatever it is, it better be fucking important," she growled. Richie averted his gaze to Stan, mouthing a 'what is going on with her?'. He mouthed back 'monopoly' before looking back at an angry Bev. Richie understood completely, it was basically what happened every Friday. The three went to Bev's aunt's house every Friday after school and played some board game lying around, Richie always got dropped off late and (almost) always walked into Stan whooping Bev at the board game chosen and Bev being a sore loser. Today though, he didn't feel like playing Monopoly. All he wanted to do was (try to) let out everything he was feeling about this whole 'fake dating situation', not play some stupid board game. Richie flopped onto the armchair dramatically with a loud sigh, his long legs dangling over the arm of the chair

"Well Richard what is so important you had to interrupt our game?" Stan asked. Richie adjusted himself so that he was sitting upright, though he found the other position much more comfortable. 

“Well here it is Stan the man,” Richie began. As he explained his dilemma, the two listened carefully. Richie found he was the most comfortable telling Stan and Beverly his problems no matter how uneasy his insides felt. They were a trio that helped each other out. The three musketeers Richie would call the trio, even if Stan hated it with every bone in his body. 

“Well how do you feel about the situation?” Stan asked. Richie opened his mouth to speak, then quickly snapping it shut. He tried finding the right words to say, any words at that point, but his mind was as blank as his page while writing an essay. C’mon it isn’t that hard Richie, for fucks sake say something! Nothing came out except a long stuttered mess of a sentence. Bev gestured for the raven haired boy to scoot over as best he could. As he did, she squeezed into the tight space and swung an arm around Richie’s shoulders. He turned his head so that he could see Bev’s much softer expression. 

“Hey, hey it’s okay, we know how hard it is for you to talk about this sort of stuff,” Bev reassured. She then turned her head to face Stan. “Don’t we Stanley?” Stan threw his hands up in defence.

“Sorry, I didn’t realise you were my mother.” Richie watched as they bickered back and forth and let out an inaudible sigh of relief. It gave him the comfort of knowing that there was at least something was still normal and not messed up. Richie pushed himself off the armchair, causing Bev to fall to her side.

“Red, Stan the man, please save that for the ring,” he said with a presenter voice. Bev rolled her eyes at the stupid nickname.

“Shut up Richie,” Stan groaned. Richie snickered at their reactions. He knew he’d have to enjoy today because he had a feeling that after today, everything was going to be different and it would never go back to being the same. Ever. He helped Bev get the dice from under the couch with his long, lanky arms and sat down around the coffee table, deciding to let his two friends finish their game before joining in. The game didn’t last very long, Bev went bankrupt in 10 minutes and, although Stan just sat there with a small smirk, it was clear to Richie that he was enjoying his win against Bev very much. He had known Stan for so long and knew how to read basically every facial expression of his. Bev angrily cleaned the board so that they could play another game. As the new game progressed, Richie felt his heart slowly sink to the bottom of his chest. 

This is it, this is my last day before my world turns to hell.

~ 

Derry High’s hallway bustled with teenagers as they all tried to get from one place to another, either to their locker, friends or next class. Richie used all his might his lanky body had to push through the crowd.

“ Please, ‘scuse me, coming through trynna find my Eddie spaghetti!” Richie shouted over the noise. People gave him looks of confusion and but he didn’t care. He finally saw the short, adorable boy leaning against his locker, foot impatiently tapping against the floor. Richie’s breath hitched. He was wearing a pale blue sweater that was definitely a bit large and those damn red shorts. Richie shook away his feelings before putting on a goofy smile and striding towards Eddie.

“Heyo Spaghetti-o,” Richie leaned against the locker next to Eddie. The smaller boy let out an exaggerated sigh of relief.

“Thank fuck! I thought you weren’t gonna show,” Eddie punched Richie’s arm harshly. Not enough that it would bruise but enough for it to hurt. He rubbed his arm and gave Eddie a fake pout.

“Of course I would, you didn’t have to punch me so hard for being-,” He quickly checked his watch. “2 minutes late.” Eddie lowered his head.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. It was as if something punched Richie in the heart. Something about seeing Eddie look so vulnerable did something that, really, no one else could do. Make him feel like his world had been shattered into a million piece. He gently grabbed Eddie’s chin with his forefinger and thumb and lifted it gently. Looking into his deep brown eyes made it hard to focus on anything else going on around him. He could tell that Eddie felt the same way, except Richie brushed it off as Eddie trying to make their relationship believable. Both their breathing started to become like small pants.

“No need to apologise,” Richie breathed. In the corner of his eye, he saw Jake staring curiously at them. Richie took this as a perfect opportunity to make a move and help Eddie achieve his goal. He swiftly pecked Eddie’s surprisingly soft lips. His body tingled with warmth. The feeling was hard to describe but Richie knew it was a good one. Eddie stared at Richie with wide eyes and red cheeks, redder than Richie had ever seen them before. For a second he thought he had made a mistake from the look on the shorter one’s face.

“I-I’m so sorry Eds I just saw Jake and-,” he was cut off when he was pulled into a much deeper kiss. Richie’s hands snaked around Eddie’s waist and he pulled him closer. Neither of them cared that there was a crowd, neither of them really realised there was a crowd. Richie didn’t want the moment to end. Unfortunately he had to pull away for air. His eyes darted up and down Eddie’s body, which was shaking slightly from adrenaline. The crowd of students stood there for a second staring before quickly dispersed and revealing the rest of the losers standing there. 

“So, you two finally got together?” Mike asked. 

I guess Eddie didn’t tell the others we were fake dating 

He looked at his ‘boyfriend’ to see if Eddie wanted to say anything. He vigorously shook his head no. Richie was a little hurt that he didn’t want to tell their closest friends but he wasn’t going to show that.

“Right you are Mike-o,” Richie nodded. After a bunch of congratulations and a few pats on the back (mostly from Mike), Bev sent Richie a look. It was a look of ‘don’t fuck this up or everything will be ruined.’ Richie nodded his head slightly so that only she could see. He turned around to ask Eddie a question but he was gone. He glanced around and caught him talking, more like laughing, with Jake. Richie knew this was fake, knew he shouldn’t fall for Eddie more, but seeing him with the person that started this really crushed him. Something washed over Richie that caused his brain to basically shut down. Without realising he was already behind Eddie, arms wrapped around his waist and head nuzzled into his neck. Jake ran a hair through his hair and smiled.

“Sorry didn’t mean to take you away from your boyfriend,” Jake chuckled. “I’ll see you around Eds.” The aurburn walked off down the hallway, leaving the two.

“Bye Jake!” Eddie called out, giving a little wave. Jake turned around with a charming smile and a wave too. He let out a love filled sigh, then escaped Richie’s grasp and looked at him with rage in his eyes. 

“‘Chee I was making progress!” he groaned. 

“Sorry it’s just-,”

“Just what? What Chee?” 

“I wanted to make our relationship believable.” Richie would’ve confessed his love for Eddie right there but he bit his tongue and held back. 

“Well thanks I guess,” Eddie sighed. “I gotta get to class.” He stood on his tippy toes and kissed Richie on the cheek. Walking off, Richie was stuck there alone. He knew he’d fucked up. Literally doing the opposite that Bev ‘told’ him not to do. 

~

2 months had passed and Richie couldn’t be more crushed inside. It was like the universe was teasing him. Every passing day spent with Eddie was torture. They were growing closer as friends, Eddie would say. They held hands everywhere they went, small little kisses, passionate ones too. while they were out in public and the smaller boy started sitting in the taller boy’s lap either at lunch or when they went to the diner. He hadn’t told anyone, but he was falling for Eddie harder than if he were to fall off a building. Jake had started warming up to Eddie though and Richie knew that their fake relationship would be ending soon, as the brunette had planned how they were gonna break up. Yet he didn’t want that to come. He couldn’t tell anyone what he was feeling, either he’d mess up his words or everyone would tell him that he shouldn’t have agreed if he knew he liked Eddie. Eddie eventually told the rest of the losers, a little angry that Richie didn’t tell him that Stan and Bev already knew but all anger washed away when he gave Eddie an apology kiss. Richie had woken up that day with a knot in his stomach. He had almost forgotten about the losers sleeping over that night, that is until he rolled out of bed and accidentally stepped on Stan’s hair. His shriek woke up all the other losers. The knot in his stomach quickly disappeared. Richie noticed that neither Bill nor Eddie were in the room.

“Where’s Big Bill and Eds?” Richie questioned. Stan sat up, rubbing his scalp to try and stop the stinging.

“I thought my boyfriend told you to stop calling him Big Bill.” Stan grunted. Richie shrugged with a smirk. 

“I think they went to the kitchen,” Ben said groggily, pulling Bev a little closer to his chest in the sleeping bag. 

“Thanks haystack!” Richie did some finger guns before making his way out his bedroom door. He let his legs take in control as he descended down the stairs, the sick feeling slowly coming back to him. Richie heard soft voices coming from the kitchen and immediately recognised them as Bill and Eddie’s. As he approached the kitchen door, he stopped right in his tracks when he heard Eddie say something never thought possible.

“I think I actually like him.” It was muffled but Richie heard it loud and clear. As quiet as possible, he scurried to the door and held his ear to it.

“T-t-trashmouth?” 

“No Bill, another Richie. Yes Trashmouth!” 

“W-w-what about J-J-Jake?” He heard the clink of a mug hitting the bench.

“I guess I didn’t really like Jake. You know I had a crush on Richie in 7th grade and spending all that time with him I realised that I still like him.” There was a brief silence. “Scratch that, I love him.” Richie’s body nearly turned to jelly.

 Eddie just said he loves me. 

The door started to creak open slowly and by the time he realised, it was too late. He fell onto the floor face first. He groaned both in pain and embarrassment. Eddie squealed.

“Chee! What are you doing here? How much did you hear? Are you okay?” Eddie asked in a panic. Bill leapt off the counter and quickly rushed to his side to help him up, Eddie staying on the counter. Richie stoop up and dusted off the non existent dirt on him. 

“I’m fine,” Richie reassured. “Just a little tumble was all.” Richie took a couple of steps forward so that he was next to the island bench. No one in the room dared to make a sound, it’s as if someone who made a noise would ruin the moment. Richie took more steps forward until he was in front of Eddie. He stood there for a second, just taking in the way the brunette looked so cute just sitting on the bench. Richie felt his heart beat faster at the sight. He leaned in and smashed their lips together. Eddie immediately leaned into the kiss, enjoying how this kiss really meant something and it wasn’t just for show. Richie pulled away painfully slow.

“I’m guessing you heard a lot,” Eddie said sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. 

“Look, I’m not good at-at feelings basically so this is hard for me to say. I love you, I have ever since we met in grade school. I guess I never had the courage to tell you how I was really feeling and I regretted it so much because knowing you liked someone who wasn’t me, well it really hurt. Just the thought of losing you to Jake even if we weren’t together, made me get all weird and caused a lot of mixed emotions. I guess what I’m trying to say is I wanna be with you, I wanna be your actual boyfriend. Only if you wanna-.”

“Shut up trashmouth.” Eddie pulled Richie into another kiss, giving him the answer he wanted. Their lips stayed connected until Bill cleared his throat.

“G-get a room,” Bill laughed. Richie chuckled before pulling his now real boyfriend in for another kiss.

Not how I expected to start my morning. Definitely much better though.

Sorry that I didn’t do a better job but I hope you like it 🙂