#i need to go back and retag some stuff huh

[huberts-private-counsel-archive]

i know you've written ferdibert angst before....but how about turning the tables? with hubert left behind instead of ferdinand?

:) so remember that post I reblogged from @ferdinands-love-club ? Well... you asked for this anon. I've been working on this on and off all day, so I hope you're happy with what you've got

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It wasn't enough time. Though, in reality, Hubert should've realized from the beginning that no amount of time shorter than an eternity would be enough.

Still, it wasn't enough.

They only had a few more years together, rather than the decades that they should've. They were scarcely able to enjoy the peace that followed before the damned Goddes saw fit to tear them apart.

They may have needed to fight the war against Those Who Slithered, and yet...Hubert couldn't. Selfishly, selfishly, he wanted to spend more time with Ferdinand. Wanted to learn more about the other man, wanted to see if he was just as bright and open in expressing his love as he was in practically everything else.

Lady Edelgard had allowed him leave, just for this. The look in her eyes told him all he needed to know.

They had spent those years together, spending nearly every moment together. Even the days where they needed to take care of one thing or another, they did it together, Hubert being unwilling to spend more time away from Ferdinand when he knew there wasn't long.

And even with the time they spent, even with the affection Hubert had learned to openly give in return for the affection Ferdinand already gifted him, even with Professor Hanneman and Linhardt looking to try and reverse the effects...

...it wasn't enough. If the Goddess truly existed, she must have been laughing in his face as she took his sun and extinguished his light.

Hubert had watched as Ferdinand steadily grew weaker, as he lost his breath more easily and simple tasks grew more exhausting, as his body grew weaker and his light more dim. He watched with a sorrow and fury more potent than anything ever before, a sadness as to who he knew he'd soon lose and a rage that he was too useless to do anything about it.

Hubert had sat by Ferdinand's bedside when he no longer had the strength to move around. Even then, Ferdinand's eyes still lit up when he laughed, still brightened just gazing at Hubert, as if somehow the sight of him was enough to make up for everything he had been through.

"Come now, Hubert." Ferdinand had to pause to catch his breath. He had to do that a lot lately. "In all my years of knowing you.....I have never known you to look so dour."

Hubert had felt his face twist into a scowl, though both he and Ferdinand knew it to be insincere. "Dour? Tch. You of all people should know why I'm..."

Hubert trailed off. Somehow voicing it was always just too much for him to bear, despite all he had done. Ferdinand understood what he meant though - he always had.

"Hubert. You've lived without me before. I know you will be able to do it again." Ferdinand had said calmly, far more steadily than he had any right to be.

Hubert might have been able to live without him before, but that was also before he knew Ferdinand. Knew what it meant to be privy to every side of him, what it meant to be able to bask in the warmth he gave so freely without even a thought to himself. What it meant to love him. And now that he knew, Hubert knew he would never be able to live properly without him.

"That is the furthest thing from the truth," Hubert had begun, the scowl shifting into something more sorrowful neither had wanted to acknowledge. "I may have accomplished such an impossible feat before, but I would not be able to do so again."

Ferdinand had laughed at that. It was a weak one, a far cry from the loud and boisterous laugh he'd often let out at the simplest of things, but it warmed Hubert's heart all the same. "The great Hubert von Vestra, so easily bested by a challenge?"

"Only because I do not have the wonderful Ferdinand von Aegir by my side," Hubert had replied without thinking, taking Ferdinand's hand in his as he let out a soft smile. The rings on their fingers clinked as they connected, though neither of them had paid it mind at the moment.

But now, the noise Hubert had paid no mind to once upon a time would never be heard again, no matter how much Hubert longed for it. For the bearer of the other ring laid six feet under, resting eternally when he should have been able to laugh and speak and breathe and live right by his side.

And in place of the warmth he once felt, all Hubert felt was a numbing cold.

[lilyclawthorne]

Eda's Requiem Thoughts

every week a new episode comes out and every week it's like they're trying to kill me I literally cried but also gasped so much what the heck

you've changed owl lady, it's worth it." the photo of all three of them. the whole list. we're staring off with my 🥺 face then huh

king?? leaving?? 😭

"I guess I'm no substitute for the real thing" oh, oh no eda you're just as important to them do not act like you're some half-assed temporary replacement

side note, absolutely love seeing that her desk/vanity there is also covered in glyph homework showing that even she's gotten really into learning about them

ok what the fuck is up with the reaction between bard magic and Eda's curse rn

im so mad right now I've been spelling it rayne and there's a last name I gotta retag everything

anyways I'm not immediately taken with Raine but they're a dork, like adorkable kinda dork.

"I supposed you could stay here a little longer" Eda pls just whip out the adoption papers why don't you

AHH the other principals!! interesting!!

oh eda is avoiding her problems 😞 big mood but also what if it spirals

"no coven wants a powerless witch" hmmm why is that, could it be because you're just using the coven system to siphon off power from all of these witches

pls this speech is really cheesy, they're all kinda cheesy. little naive but they got the spirit. I love it.

pls eda and raine are blushing already they're both dorks

"she's the one who inspired me to make the group" Eda your IMPACT

PLS Raine's angry face in the flashback is the same one Eda does in separate tides when the bounty guy told her everyone knows she's powerless now.

rainstorm? nickname? love it.

love to see bump friendly with the other principals. love that one has a giraffe palisman.

oh no, a tip about a raid? shes not gonna make it back in time is she?

EVEN WORSE ITS A SETUP

THIS FUCKERS NAME WOULD BE DARIUS

why is eber kinda adorable though

the abomination magic is throwing me, like what's this dude gotta do to himself to make himself part abomination, I hate it

if belos needs every head witch, couldn't raine just like, run? I know it's not a feasible long term solution, but if they could make it past the day of unity?

pls their duet is so so so beautiful, it made me start crying immediately

I love that raine saw something that eda viewed as a problem and made it work to their advantage. they turned the lack of magic back into a power

and going off of that, we still don't quite know what it is that's happening with Eda's magic, but it kinda feels like a form of anti-magic? like it's taken all of hers and now it's reaching beyond her to taken even more?

maybe since bard magic uses intstruments its not all entirely from the witch, so the curse recognizes it as eda causing the magic, but it's not inside her, so it extends beyond her to take it from everything being affected too?

EDA WAS JUST GONNA SACRIFICE HERSELF LIKE THAT?? NO HESITATION? im so so so concerned

well folks we got it, someone referred to them as Eda's kid. because they are her kids, they are her real family.

anyways I love raine so much now for stopping eda, for telling her not to give up.

raine just sacrificed themself for eda to return to her family if they make it outta here im signing the marriage papers myself for the both of them

oh my god the bad girl coven instagram

OH MY GOD KINGS DAD

OH MY GOD KING CLAWTHORNE

"tell alador he's a hack" im screaming

oh, oh no, this is the kinda stuff I've been worried about regarding coven marks. every witch with a coven mark basically has a kill switch on them rn. so now I'm concerned for so many. the other batts, bump, gwen, lilith (maybe??)

[tibbinswrites]

Prompt: “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”

Prompt requested by @psychicbouquetblaze-stuff​ (sorry I’m retagging you for the same story but the ‘keep reading’ link no longer worked so I thought it would be best to repost. I’ve also edited it a bit because it needed doing).

Prompts are open. I’ve got a few lists to choose from in the ‘Prompts’ section of my blog or feel free to send me an ask or a message if there’s a specific one you’d like ^_^

Dean/Castiel

Prompt #5 from this list: “Wait a minute. Are you jealous?”

Castiel flashed his badge and a smile to the janitor as he opened his front door.

“Mr Faukes? FBI Agent Moore, and this is my partner, Agent Mathers. We were hoping to ask you a few questions about the incident you reported last night.”

Dean held up his own badge with a faint tightening of his eyes at the alias. It had been one of Cas’ spare sets of badges in the glove compartment of the continental, Sam had taken the impala to the next town over, where a possibly related case had also popped up. Dean hadn’t been happy about it, but he had conceded that point that seeing as he had a fully powered angel with him, it was best Sam take the vast majority of their weapons, just in case.

Faukes, after throwing a cursory glance at Dean, looked back to Castiel with a shy smile of his own. He was a tall man, late 30s, with strong arms and rugged features. His clothes looked to be a patchwork of different autumn-coloured fabrics but they blended together well and looked soft and comfortable. His light brown hair was neatly combed and he had kind brown eyes that Castiel found himself trusting.

“Sure thing,” he said, stepping back to let them in with the slightly awkward movements of someone who didn’t get a lot of visitors. His voice had a gravelly tone to it that matched the slight German accent. Castiel liked the sound. They walked past him into the small apartment. It smelled pleasantly of lemongrass and was sparsely decorated with an overflowing bookshelf, a sofa squashed beside it and a rickety desk that looked more like storage space than a place of work. A kitchenette was in one corner with a square table and a single chair for meals. The dish rack next to the sink was stuffed with crockery and there was a small sewing machine on another table, along with a couple of rolls of fabric leaning against the wall. A small electric heater clunked slightly as it fought against the morning chill. It was a messy home but meticulously clean. Faukes gestured them to the sofa and spun the dining chair around to face it before sitting himself on the plush cushion tied to the slats with ribbon, “And you can call me Matt. What do you need to know?”

“Your report said you found a jar of eyes in your boss’ office?” Dean cut in as Castiel opened his mouth. His tone was sharp, accusatory, as though Matt was their prime suspect when in reality he was just a witness. Matt looked a little unsettled at the heavy scowl Dean was levelling his way and Castiel couldn’t blame him, he shot Dean a look to take it easy, which was ignored.

“Um… yeah,” Matt said, dragging his eyes from Dean back to Castiel, who nodded encouragingly. Matt cleared his throat, fiddling with a stray thread on the hem of his shirt and began to speak, “So, I was cleaning up after we closed and I noticed the door to Mr Hitching’s office was open. I thought it was strange because even when he’s in he keeps it shut, and he’s supposed to be on holiday for the next two weeks. I figured his one of the other owners might have needed some papers or something and called up his secretary to come and fetch them so I thought I might as well just pop in to vacuum and empty the trash. But I saw it as soon as I turned the light on. It was just… sat on the desk. Like a paperweight, like it wasn’t something important enough to even hide. Five eyes. I remember thinking how weird that was, why five? That’s not even three people… That’s horrible, right? I shouldn’t have thought that.”

“Not at all.” Castiel assured him, leaning forwards intently, “When faced with trauma, the human brain—if it doesn’t reject the trauma entirely—might try to focus on certain details to distract from the trauma itself. You’d be surprised at some of the things people notice when faced with things of this nature. Sometimes their observations are vital to solving the case.”

Matt smiled again, smaller this time, but grateful. It was nice, Castiel decided, making this man smile.

“I bet you’ve got a load of stories like this, huh?” Matt said, shifting forward slightly too, sounding awed and impressed at the idea, “Job like yours. God, I couldn’t do it.”

“Well, we can’t all be janitors.” Dean muttered. The comment was innocuous enough, and Castiel would have ignored it if it hadn’t been for Dean’s tone, practically dripping with venom. Matt’s face immediately fell and Castiel shifted on the couch to glare his ‘partner’.

“Agent Mathers, that was incredibly rude. I think you owe Mr Faukes an apology.”

Dean flushed, an angry red tinge creeping up the back of his neck. He stared at Castiel and the angel saw a kaleidoscope of emotions flash across his face, too fast to catch any of them, but after a moment he relented and turned back to Matt.

  “Sorry,” he mumbled, “my partner’s right. I was out of line.”

“It’s alright,” Matt said, looking more confused than offended now, “but thank you.”

Castiel took over the questioning from there, gently prying for all the details Matt could remember. Castiel found himself intrigued by the man, it was clear he was very self-conscious, about his job, his home, himself, but there was also a confidence to him born of self-reliance that Castiel couldn’t help but respect. He also seemed grateful to talk. From what he told them, he didn’t have many friends in the community.

“It’s a small town,” he said, when Castiel asked him why that was, “around here, everyone knows everything about everyone, and they’re pretty quick to judge. Most of them are heavy church-goers. And not the kind that preach love and acceptance, if you get my meaning.”

“That must be difficult.”

Matt shrugged, “It is what it is,” he said, his head tilting slightly to the side as he met Castiel’s eyes, “but it’s nice to talk to some folks with a different mindset for a change.”

Castiel nodded, trying his best to ignore the click of Dean’s jaw and the tension oozing from the seat next to him, “I understand,” he said, “I too find it difficult to ‘branch out’ when it comes to socialising.”

That was an understatement. Excluding other angels, who were less likely to want to catch up than they were to want to bury an angel blade in his chest, most the social interaction Castiel had experienced was through the Winchesters. Sam and Dean were the best men he knew, and their chosen family was a good one, but that didn’t stop Castiel from thinking that it might be nice to have people to talk to without the weight of world-shattering consequences as a constant looming presence in every conversation.

“Anyway, thank you for your time,” he continued, standing and indicating that Dean should follow suit, “you’ve been very helpful.” He produced a card and handed it to Matt while Dean made a beeline for the door. “Here’s my number. If you remember something else, or if you just need to talk to someone with a different mindset, don’t hesitate to call.”

“Oh, I’ll definitely call.” Matt said with a wink. “Agent Moore, would it be terribly inappropriate if I were to ask you on a date?”

Dean froze, his hand on the doorknob.

“I- it would,” Castiel stuttered, heat rushing to his face, “but I think I would like that. Perhaps once this case is over?”

“Keep me updated.” Matt grinned.

Dean yanked open the door and strode off down the hall, not even waiting for Castiel to catch up. The angel rolled his eyes and glanced at Matt, who snickered and held up his card.

“Good luck with the case.”

Xxx

“I can’t believe you, Cas. First of all, you made me a rapper, what the hell? Second of all, how do you go into a freaking suspect’s house and come out with a date?”

“Nothing’s been arranged,” Castiel said calmly, watching from the end of one of the twin beds as Dean wore a path in the already threadbare carpet of their motel room, “besides, Matt isn’t a suspect, he’s a witness.”

“Until we can prove he’s not the one carving out eyes, he’s both.” Dean insisted. “I just… I don’t get it, man, I thought you liked chicks anyway?”

“I’m indifferent to gender.” Castiel said, frowning. “I’ve never understood why it matters so much to humans what pronouns their partners use. I liked him. He was interesting and kind and I would like to get to know him better, what’s wrong with that?”

“We’re in the middle of a case, Cas, you can’t afford to get… you know, distracted.”

Castiel raised an eyebrow, “and how many bartenders and waitresses and almost-victims have you gotten ‘distracted’ with, Dean?”

“That’s different!”

“How?” Castiel demanded, truly irritated now. Dean had many wonderful traits that Castiel admired but his hypocrisy was not one of them. He supposed it stemmed from being the older sibling, more often left in charge than not, ‘do as I say, not as I do’ was practically etched into his bones.

“Because...” Dean spluttered, “because they’re just a bit of fun, alright? They knew the drill, we’re not exactly planning to settle down, and were never go out on dates.” He spat the word like something filthy, “What kind of future do you expect you can have with this guy, huh? Are you gonna tell him what we do? Bring him home and introduce him to your half-archangel son and all the people we yanked from another world? The guy was squeamish about a jar of eyes, how do you think he’d handle literally any of the crap we go through?”

“A first date is not a marriage proposal, Dean. What’s the harm in dinner and a movie?”

“You don’t eat.”

“I can, I just don’t need to.” Castiel shot back, “Random sexual conquests don’t appeal to me. I would rather find a person I have a connection with, and I felt I had a connection with Matt. Why are you so angry? The last time I had a date you were happy for me. Is it really because he’s a man?”

“No!” Dean yelled, a little too loudly, he winced as the sound bounced back to him from the cheap cinderblock walls and lowered his voice to a hiss, his arms folded tightly across his chest and he finally stopped pacing, “It’s because I think you’re being irresponsible. We don’t know that we’re not gonna have to gut that guy before the week is out. And what are you talking about a connection? You spoke for half an hour, you don’t build a connection in half an hour.”

“You’re not angry-” Castiel realised, squinting at the man in front of him. His hands were tucked up into his armpits and his shoulders were slightly rounded, almost as though he was trying to curl into himself, “you’re hurt. Wait a minute, are you jealous?”

“What?!” Dean exclaimed, “Jealous? No, I’m not jealous. Of what? I didn’t like that guy.”

Castiel tilted his head, “Then what?” he asked, his voice low and even, “You don’t like that I like him? You don’t like that I could possibly show interest in anyone other than you?”

Dean took a step back like Castiel had hit him. All the blood drained from his face.

“What are you talking about?” He said, which is what Dean always said when confronted with something he didn’t want to admit to.

“Come on, Dean,” Castiel said impatiently, “you’re not stupid and subtlety isn’t my strong suit. You know how I feel about you, you’ve known it for years. So you don’t want it but you don’t want anyone else to want it either?”

“That’s… that’s not-” Dean choked out, looking sick now, “I didn’t mean-”

“Then what?” Castiel cried, finally standing to be on even ground with Dean. He was frustrated, he was angry, he was overwhelmed, “Explain it to me, because I don’t understand.”

Instead of speaking, Dean’s jaw snapped shut and for a moment, Castiel was sure he was going to bolt from the room. Instead he strode forward two steps and cupped Castiel’s face with his hands before bringing their lips together, effectively shorting out his brain.

“I’ve always wanted you.” Dean murmured against his mouth, “Since Purgatory I’ve let myself want you. But if I had you, I could lose you. And I’m not strong enough to lose you.”

They stayed that way for a while, breathing each other’s air, foreheads pressed together, lips barely brushing. Dean’s hands were warm and calloused and gentle against his skin, Castiel’s hands gripped at the fabric of Dean’s shirt, though he didn’t remember moving.

“It’s worth it for this,” Castiel whispered back, half-lost in the feeling of Dean so close, “isn’t it?”

“Losing you sucked bad, Cas.” Dean said shaking his head and pulling back slightly, just enough that they could lock eyes, “I gave up.”

Castiel sighed and pulled away completely, stepping back, feeling cold as Dean’s hands left him. “I understand,” he said, “but I disagree. Neither of us can guarantee forever and it’s not fair for you to try and keep me from seeking elsewhere something that you aren’t willing to give me.”

“I know,” Dean said, but he reached out to take his hand and slot their fingers together, “So this is me realising that I’m willing, I guess.”

Castiel squeezed his hand and quirked a small smile, “Finally.”