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sign-from-god-complex · 5 years

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Summary: When a quiet evening alone is interrupted by one of their boyfriends, Janus has to reveal a little more than they had been in any way prepared to.

Pairing: Analoceit with briefly-mentioned, background royality.

Warnings: Panic attack, anxiety spirals relating to transphobia (no actual transphobia), mention of underage drinking.

AO3 Link

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It wasn’t meant to go like this.

Janus had planned perfectly for their coming out, down to mentally scripting all the possible reactions their partners could have. They knew neither Virgil nor Logan were transphobic—after all, Virgil was trans himself—but still, they’d been nervous about going through with it.

Their boyfriends were gay. They liked men, they liked each other and yes, they liked them but they didn’t know. Really, it was only natural to be worried about the effect this could have on their relationship.

So, they’d put it off. The flinch every time Virgil referred to them as his boyfriend wasn’t picked up on and the slight frown they adopted when being told how handsome they were was taken as nothing more than insecurity and though, maybe, they were a little put out by how their boyfriends never seemed to notice, they couldn’t blame them. It was their fault for not telling them after all.

It was all their fault.

“Jan, please, open the door,” Logan said, the concern in his voice leaking in through the cracks between solid wood and drywall. Janus could barely hear it though for the rushing of blood in their ears and the heaving sounds of their breath seemed to take up all the space left in the bedroom.

They tore at their clothes, ripping several of the buttons off their blouse as they yanked it over their head, their skirt tossed to the other side of the room as if throwing it to where it was no longer in view would somehow mitigate the weight of what had already occurred.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this! They’d been careless. Their boyfriends’ schedules were predictable—Logan worked till 4:30 pm every weekday, Virgil slept in but stayed out later—and as such, they hadn’t even considered the fact that they would be caught. It was foolish to think they were ever safe, utterly foolish.

Their chest was tight, heavy, and they dropped to the floor—curled up with their legs hugged to their chest and their whole body shaking.

Logan’s voice trickled its way back into Janus’ mind, softer than they had ever heard it outside of late-night love confessions and Virgil’s panic attacks. “Jan, honey, it’s okay. You’re okay. Do you remember Virgil’s breathing exercises?”

And with a jolt, Janus realised that is what this was. A panic attack.

Their breathing hitched and they ducked their head down to press against their knees, hands gripping to each other until the knuckles turned white.

It was a fact that was more terrifying than it had any right to be. Janus was always the one to comfort their boyfriends when they were panicking, they knew all of the techniques, they knew each of their boyfriends’ preferences on touch while they were experiencing particularly heightened anxiety but right now it was all useless. The only thing looping in their head was visions of their boyfriends laughing at them, outing them to everyone, leaving them, kicking them onto the street where they’ll be alone, alone, alone, just when they had finally gotten comfortable enough to let them in.

Pulling in a stuttering breath, they tried to count, managing to hold it for around four seconds before blowing it out.

It felt almost impossible—like climbing the rough side of a rocky cliff face when your body only wants you to stay at the bottom of the ravine to die—but they knew it wasn’t. Despite the siren sounding in their mind, they knew there was no physical danger. And anything else could be dealt with later.

So, they tried again, this time slightly more successfully and with each breath, they could feel the weight of their head getting heavier, the static in their limbs fading away to almost nothing. By the time they could breathe again they were so tired, all they wanted to do was sleep for a year.

Unfortunately, their boyfriends would probably have some qualms with that notion.

There was murmuring outside and Janus knew without a doubt that Virgil had arrived, so they figured the locked door likely wouldn’t hold them back much longer. Virgil had learned to pick a lock as a teen—a skill they’d occasionally utilised to break into their parents’ liquor cabinet when they were both too young to drink—and with the level of worry Janus was sure Logan was holding, they doubt he’d have much of an issue with trying to break into their room.

To the sound of the doorknob rattling, they clambered up from the ground, pulling on a large shirt they’d found beside them on the floor. It must have been Logan’s because it smelt like him—sort of like paper and metal but mostly just like Logan—and Janus tried not to acknowledge the way something in their chest lurched.

They approached the door with probably more hesitance than was warranted and, standing with their hand on the doorknob, they took a moment to catch their breath before turning the lock and throwing it open.

Virgil was on his knees on the ground, a hairpin held in his hand and his tongue sticking out ever so slightly as he concentrated. As the door swung open, though, his expression changed to one of shock, glancing up at Janus in a way that made them feel somewhere between adored and uncomfortable. Logan was much the same—though he wasn’t on his knees—his expression shining with relief and barely contained concern.

There was a moment of silence, punctuated with Janus clearing their throat.

“Go on then,” they said, their hands on their hips and their voice wavering much less than they had been expecting, “Say your piece.”

But instead of the anger or the betrayal Janus had been half-expecting, Logan threw himself forward, wrapping his arms around them and cradling them like they’d been missing for years, like they were something precious, like they were loved.

And Janus melted.

They let out a gasp as they felt the breath being punched out of them, hands going up to grab at the back of Logan’s coat and it was barely a moment before Virgil stood up to join them, his long arms reaching around them both like a shelter from the wind and the rain and the fear.

Far sooner than Janus would have liked, they both pulled away, leaving Janus feeling cold and somewhat lost.

“I’m sorry,” Logan said softly. His gaze was cast to the ground and Janus took the opportunity to run their gaze over his slumped shoulders and furrowed brow, vaguely feeling the urge to soothe the stress he seemed to be holding, “I should have warned you that I was coming home early but I had wanted it to be a surprise.”

Janus laughed but the sound was void of joy, seeming instead rather hollow. “Well, you certainly accomplished that.”

Visibly, Logan winced and Janus felt a stab of guilt go through them. It wasn’t Logan's fault—they knew it wasn’t Logan’s fault—and it was unfair of them to make him feel bad for something that could have been so easily avoided if only they were more careful.

Janus was not known for being impulsive. They thought things through and they made plans and they certainly didn’t jump into things without being entirely sure of them first. The problem with that, however, was that sometimes you can’t be entirely sure.

And now, unfortunately, seemed like it was one of those times.

“I’m nonbinary. I use they/them pronouns.”

They wouldn’t say it was quite blurted but it was certainly close—their words hurried as if given the chance to think for even a moment longer would prevent them from being said. Maybe it would.

Glancing at the two of them, it was clear that they were surprised but it was eclipsed quickly by a look of understanding and though part of them was relieved—breath exhaled, shoulders dropping, loved, loved, loved—part of them could only feel that this was much too good to be true.

“Okay.” Logan nodded, his expression thoughtful. “Thank you for telling us.”

Janus narrowed their eyes. “That’s it?”

Something of a bewildered expression crossed Logan’s face and he tilted his head slightly, as if Janus were some puzzle that he had yet to figure out. In response, they folded their arms tight across their chest. That look always made them feel a little too much like an ant under a magnifying glass and while sometimes they were grateful to have so much of Logan’s attention, now it just made them feel exposed.

“What do you mean?”

They gaped at him for a moment before throwing up their arms in a gesture of incredulity. “You’re gay! You like boys-!”

“We like you,” Logan interrupted. His voice was calm and caring in a way that sort of made Janus want to cry but they refused to show that kind of weakness right now, “In fact, we love you and learning your gender identity doesn’t change that in the slightest, at least not in my case.”

They fidgeted a bit with the hem of Logan’s shirt, feeling the absence of their usual outfit—the weighted jacket and full coverage shirt—like a missing limb. “Virgil?”

Cautiously, they glanced over to him and almost took a step back in shock at the unexpected shine of Virgil’s eyes—wet and teary and full of an unquantifiable amount of love. Janus and Virgil had been friends since they were children and, outside of panic attacks, they’d barely ever seen him cry.

“I’m so proud of you,” he murmured, making something in Janus’ chest crack open like a geode, leaving bits of rock scattered around but exposing something a lot more valuable, “Coming out is really hard and I’m really, really proud of you. And I love you. A lot.”

Janus exhaled, their breath shaky. “Oh.”

There was a moment of silence as the three of them just stood there, unsure of what to do next. Then, Virgil laughed. It was sort of wet but full of love and the others couldn’t help but echo him, feeling all the stress and the tension and the fear melting away with each second that passed. It was ridiculous, really, but Janus thought that maybe they deserved it all the same.

Virgil shook his head incredulously, his lips teasing at a smile but his eyes soft. “God, c'mere, asshole.”

Biting at their bottom lip to stop the way it was wobbling ever so slightly, they stepped forward into Virgil’s open arms, slotting in like they were made to be there.

“Pretty rude of you to call me an asshole while I’m baring my soul over here, dick,” Janus laughed into his shoulder.

They felt a kiss being pressed to the top of their head from behind, Logan worming his way in to join the hug and bringing with him a sense of completeness that made Janus exhale softly into the space between them, their eyes fluttering closed for just a moment.

It felt safe here—truly, safe—and though they are aware that it was okay to be afraid… they couldn’t help but wonder why they were ever worried.

After a long moment of soaking in the comfort their boyfriends brought them, they pulled away, gently extricating themself from the embrace. Despite the fact that they were no longer touching, nobody moved too far apart and Janus could still feel echoes of Virgil’s skin brushing against theirs and the soft exhale of Logan’s breath as if they hadn’t moved at all.

“Gods, this is far too many emotions for me,” they joked, though there was truth in the words still, “And I swear if either of you tells anyone about any of this they will not find the body.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, my love.”

“Not in a million years.”

They rolled their eyes, fondness barely hidden behind a look of exasperation. Their boyfriends were so stupidly earnest sometimes, though they’d be lying if they said it wasn’t endearing.

“Saps.”

Wandering back into their room with their boyfriends trailing after them, they began to get redressed, stripping Logan’s shirt off to pull on one of their own. It wasn’t the first time they’d changed in front of their boyfriends but even still they were cautious of the way the two of them were looking at them, bumping their shoulders together every so often as small talk picked back up.

The conversation was familiar, dotted with exclamations from Virgil about how much he hates his job and overlaid with Logan’s recapping of Roman and Patton’s ridiculous pining recently, Janus occasionally butting in to affectionately berate their twin for being so oblivious. Even they’d figured out their relationship faster than that and the three of them were experts when it came to putting up emotional walls.

It felt… normal. Good, even. And bit by bit, comment by comment, word by word, Janus felt that sense of comfort creeping back in until eventually the three of them were lying on the bed, limbs tangled together and someone’s hand in Janus’ hair, unsure of where one body started and another began.

“Thank you,” they whispered, just loud enough that they knew the others could hear them.

Logan pressed a kiss to the back of their hand, intertwining their fingers and keeping their joined hands pressed tight to his chest. “There’s no need to thank us, my darling. Our love for you was never in question. Not for a single moment.”

And to the murmuring affirmations of Virgil, twin heartbeats echoing in their ears, Janus let themself believe that.

Taglist: @mutechild @super-magical-wizard @shadowsfromthesun @teadays @sandersships @camcam774 @autism-goblin @deadlyhuggles6 @romanthestarstruckqueer @whispers-stuff-in-your-ear @rainboots-are-for-snobs @sanders-and-sides @spirits-in-my-thoughts @hold-my-hat @goodandbadisallmadeupnonsense @stop-it-anxiety @figurative-falsehood @jadedfantasies231 @idosanderssidespromptssometimes @poisonedapples @sanders-screams @another-sandersidesblog @do-not-just-see-observe @mychemicalpanicattheemo @primaryyblogg @localtransgrape @fandomsofrandom @gattonero17 @airiervessel @ollyollyoxinfree .

#sanders sides #sanders sides fic #logan sanders #virgil sanders #deceit sanders #analoceit #trans sides #nb sides #haven't written a coming out fic since understanding pride #been skirting around this for ages hahah #lo can write #2.5k milestone

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hitsuackerman · 4 years

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Unpredictable (Overhaul x Reader) pt.9

a/n: yall ready for the date? >:)

warnings: this cannot be read solo, a bit of harassment

Links: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5, part 6, part 7, part 8

Masterlist to my other fics: here :)

Overhaul’s waiting list: @jjk-biased @infinite-universe-love @dirtypride @blackymomo03 @azzie

You usually loved it when the hours would pass by. However, for this particular time, you hated it. One moment you were facing your desk; Typing and answering emails, documenting files, calling a few people, and praying for a miracle that something would happen in order to cancel the dinner date. The word ‘date’ made you want to puke.

Now, you were on your way home. Hands clenching the steering wheel. The music blasting through the speaker in an attempt to calm your disturbed soul.

The restaurant your chief had chosen was an hour away from the city. It was situated in the mountains. It had a nice view of the city. Even though it was a one star restaurant, the reviews were relatively nice. Their steak was the most recommended dish. The question now was whether or not you would find an appetite.

Opening the door to your unit, you threw yourself to your bed. Hair sprawled everywhere as you suffocated on your mattress. Resting on your cheek, you glanced at your closet and tried to think of obnoxious outfit combinations to wear for tonight. Besides, the chief would never know what you were outside the office.

A buzzing sound came from your pocket. Taking your phone out, you sat down and answered it.

“Yes, Nao?”

“I managed to dig into one of your major cases. The arson one.” He said rather proudly. Letting him proceed, he continued. “So, I looked into the shareholders to see if there were any similarities. It might be me pulling straws, but try to set a meeting with Endeavor.”

“Endeavor?” You repeated. Making sure that you heard him right. “Are you sure?”

“I back tracked the previous establishments. And all of them had a lot of shareholders in common but his name stood out.”

“Nao. That’s like a very thin straw…” You stood up and turned your laptop on. “But I was at a dead end so I appreciate your help.”

“Anytime, (Y/N). How’s the yakuza case?” Him asking questions at this time meant he was on break. It had been a while since you last gossiped with him so you gave him some attention.

“I still have to set a meeting with Birdman. Crud. That reminds me. I have to buy an earpiece.”

“The chief tagged along last time, right?”

“He did. Lucky for my ass, the meeting was short.”

“He was fuming when he arrived back at the precinct. What happened?”

“Birdman somewhat threw a fit since he cut me mid sentence.” The mere memory of it made you chuckle. But, there was this feeling that you shouldn’t have said that. It became second nature to always keep your guard up when you talk to Tsukauchi. It felt as if you had lowered it for a millisecond.

“No wonder.” He breathily replied. “Be careful, (Y/N).”

“With the chief or Overhaul?” You sighed and massaged the bridge of your nose. “Because honestly speaking, I’m not sure who the villain is among those two.”

That statement was rather strange. He was used to your antics but a comparison like that? Tsukauchi on the other line had not been using his quirk on you. Although, he had always felt something off whenever he and the chief talked about you. He was never one to pry but perhaps this would have to be an exception.

“So what are your plans for later?” He asked. Carefully choosing his words.

“Dinner with some dude.” Heading over to your closet, you scanned for some hideous apparel. “You think a Bee Movie sweater will make him cringe?”

“If you cleared your schedule for him, I think your ‘I come with background music’ shirt would do the trick.”

“Damn, you’re right.” Looking for that shirt, Tsukauchi could hear you opening and closing your drawers. That gave him enough time to do some of his research. “I HAVE FOUND THE SHIRT!”

“Would you really wear it, though?”

You wished but you had already given your 3 men cases, Tsukauchi had given you a new lead, and the yakuza case was more than enough you could handle. Casting the shirt aside, you flopped to your bed.

“Any chances you can send a hero later?”

“Give me a name and I’ll see what I can do.” He teased back. “Anyway, my break is over. Enjoy your dinner.”

“So long, farewell.”

You did not wear the shirt, sadly. However, you did wear clothes that hid every single inch of skin your body had to offer. Turtleneck, high waist jeans, knee length boots, and a coat you wouldn’t mind being overhauled.

Taking one last look at yourself in the mirror, you fixed whatever was needed to be fixed.

“You will not go to the restroom. You will not leave your bag unattended. You will put on a fake smile and give him hell.” Hearing the knock on your door, the night was now starting. Inhaling deeply, you swallowed every single ounce of pride.

“You’ve dressed nicely.” The chief greeted you. He wasn’t wearing his standard get up. Instead he wore a plain black shirt with a leather jacket. White pants with complimentary gray shoes. He half expected you’d dress like you always did. Seeing you in your get up made him want to take his phone and snap a picture.

Moments later, you were standing outside your building. The chief had instructed you to wait for him at the drop off area. More than willing to follow, you scrolled through your phone for any messages or emails. The honking of a horn caught your attention.

A Koyota Figo was now parked in front of you. Forgetting that your chief owned a hatchback, you opened the door and began sending out prayers for any gods or telepathic heroes in the vicinity.

The drive was silent. Your gaze fixated on the lights the city had to offer. Wanting to be in a neutral mood, you let your thoughts wander.

Tomorrow, you would schedule a meeting with Endeavor. How? You weren’t sure but hopefully his assistant would let you get 5 minutes with him. An update from Takashi and the rest was also in line. You began to enumerate the stores that sold earpieces that you could purchase for Overhaul to use. Maybe you should buy 2, just in case it fails.

Feeling something resting on your thigh, you stared at the chief’s hand. Biting your tongue, you held on to your breath as well as the want to jump out of the car.

“We’re almost there, sweetcheeks.” He stated. His hand began to pat the area he just infected. “And since we’re outside the office, feel free to call me Yokai.”

“Aight.” There was no way in hell you would.

“Or daddy would be fine.”

That made you wonder. Would it be professional if you would ask Birdman to overhaul your ears and repair them back to normal. Cringing at the statement, you held on to your bag for dear life. Taking your phone out, you began to scroll through your social media.

“No phones, darling.” He warned. Abruptly hitting the brakes.”Wouldn’t want any unwanted people ruining our date. Now put that phone away before we arrive.”

Maybe a trip to the restroom in the restaurant didn’t sound half bad. Doing as told, you leaned on to the seat and closed your eyes. It was getting dull, a bit boring, and a little creepy. Keeping your senses sharp, you fell into a very light sleep.

Feeling that the car had come to a stop, you unstrapped your seat belt and immediately stepped out of the car. Waiting for him to lead the way, you trailed behind him as he told the usher his reservation. For a minute, you forgot that he had booked a private room.

Entering the small room, you were met with a candle lit dinner. The chairs beside each other.

“For a change, you know?” The chief commented. Putting his hand on your back, he pushed you towards the table and let you sit down. Watching as he pulled out his chair, you copied his actions and managed to inch your body away from his. “I have already ordered so for now we can simply chat.”

“Sure.” Your eyes remained glued to the plate.

“So, when was the last time you went on a date like this?” His voice proud of the place he had chosen.

“Years ago.” You forced a smile. “I’m not a fan of fancy restaurants.”

“Well, better get used to it.” He rested his arm on the back of your chair. Moving your back away from the back rest, you fixed your coat to make it less obvious. “How’s your cases going?”

“Fine. Recently got a new lead.”

“You’re using your yakuza ties, aren’t you?”

Finally looking at him, you focused on his glabella, you cocked an eyebrow.

“For the cases I’m handling right now, I had to work 3 of my cases with them.”

“Your side or his side?” He tilted his head.

“I’m sorry. I thought this was a dinner, not some kind of interrogation.” “Always admired how feisty you are.” The chief remarked. “Why are you single?”

Before you could answer, the doors opened and your food was served. The food was being served by two waiters. One of them had blonde hair and the other had blue hair with arrows at the end. Your eyes followed the blue haired man since he wore a white face mask. It made you think of Overhaul.

Pasta was served in front of you while the chief got his steak. Observing how he opened the wine, you took note that both of them wore white gloves. The wine bottle opened with ease and you saw the label. It was one of those wines that Gei didn’t really recommend due to its uneven taste. Once the glasses were filled, you thanked the waiters. When the door closed, you felt the air grow cold.

In all honesty, the pasta was good. And the wine he had chosen, despite it being too bitter for your taste, matched the sauce pretty nicely. The soft classical music somehow calmed your spirits.

As you were quietly enjoying your meal, the chief put his steak knife down and began to brush his pinky with yours.

“Is the food to your liking?”

“I’m liking the pasta. The noodles are cooked just right.”

“How about a toast then?” Taking his wine glass, he turned to face you. “For this new found partnership.”

Sighing, you took yours and merely stretched out your arm to clink your glasses. Sipping on the wine, you savored the flavor a bit and swallowed. Glancing at the chief, you saw him furrowing his brows at his drink. Checking his food, he had only eaten half of the amount. Compared to yours, the food was almost gone.

“Are you okay? You’ve barely touched your food, Yokai-san.” Saying his name made the pasta slither up your throat.

“Don’t worry about me sweetcheeks.” He set his glass down and let out a burp. Thankfully, he had covered his mouth. “Let’s continue where we left off. Why are you still single?”

“I’m not really into dating.” You replied. Eating the last bit of your pasta, you placed the fork down and wiped your mouth with the napkin. “I have too many cases to even think about that.”

“You interested in someone?” He hiccuped and burped. His hands rubbing small circles on his stomach.

“Where’s the fun if you know who I’m interested in.”

“Oh. So now you’re flirty. Wine works wonders.” He took his glass and sipped once more. This had to be one of his favorite wines but it tasted different. Perhaps it was the steak. Seeing that you were still taking yours, he deduced that you had nothing to do with it.

“No. It’s just that you have no business regarding that matter.” By now, you were fully facing him. The sudden change of his facial features showed signs of discomfort. The room was comfortable yet you could see sweat forming on his forehead. His chappy lips were now pale. The constant rubbing of his stomach only made your suspicions grow. “Are you really sure you’re okay? You look like shit.”

“Okay. Ya got me.” Pressing the buzzer on the side of the table, he waited for the waiter to arrive. Not a moment too soon, the door opened and the same waiter from before appeared. “Boy, the food you served is making me sick. There’s no way in hell I’m paying for this.”

“I apologize.” The waiter with arrow-tipped hairs responded.

“Useless employee.” He leaned in and whispered to your ear. All you could do was lean away. “May I speak to your manager?”

“Unfortunately, the manager is still in a very important conference.”

“To think this place has a 1 Michelin star.” He mumbled as he took his wallet. Fumbling for his card, his stomach let out a rather loud sound. Biting your inner lip, you tried to suppress the smile forming. When he took his card, he tossed it to the table and demanded. “Swipe the card. We’re leaving.”

Taking his card, he excused himself but left the door open.

“You’re not playing tricks now, are you (Y/N)?” He held your wrist a little too tightly. “You know what happens when you mess with me. I can give you more than 10 cases if this little incident is caused by you.”

“In my defense, I have never set foot in this restaurant.” You fought back. “And if you even wanted to impress me, WcDonal’s or even just Burger Queen would be more than fine. If you think these kinds of things would do the trick, sorry but you’re terribly wrong.”

You closed your mouth shut. Anger had somehow taken over and the words you said were not the best. Biting your tongue, you cursed at the sight of his mind moving and plotting as to what to do next.

The blonde waiter came with the receipt and apologized once more for the issues. Standing up, the chief told you to wait for him in the lobby. Leaving you alone with the waiter, you took your bag and bowed to him.

“I’m sorry about that person.” Your eyes darted to the men’s room where he entered. “But, if it helps, the pasta was really nice. Just sucks he had to experience that. Though he deserves it if we were to be honest. The amount of times he’s invaded my personal space is just revolting.” Shocked that you had uttered your last sentence, the wine must be a little stronger than you had expected.

The blonde waiter chuckled and went off to the kitchen.

While you were waiting at the lobby, checked your phone and saw messages from Gei. Smiling at the story he had to share via message, you quickly put your phone away once you heard a door closing followed by a burp.

“Looks like I’ll have to take you home now, love.” The chief said.

Not wanting to waste another second, you lead the way back to his car.

Chrono and Nemoto stared at the window. Undivided attention as you stepped into the car with a happy face. In Nemoto’s hand was a glass vial. When the vehicle was now out of sight, they walked towards the manager’s office.

“It’s been a while since we had this kind of fun.” Nemoto commented.

“Agreed. Did you actually down the whole bottle into the sauce?”

“It would be a waste if we didn’t empty this. And, the boss would be most pleased to know that the laxatives work well.”

Knocking on the door, Overhaul gave them permission to enter. He was seated on the sofa with a stained cloth wiping his bloody hands. A huge splatter of blood painted the wall beside him. Next to the sofa, the two men saw a pair of legs lying lifeless on the floor.

“It went smoothly, I presume?” He leaned his head on the sofa back. When he heard the grunts of his men, he stood up and faced the decapitated body. Squatting on the floor, he could feel the hives starting to form. “Nemoto. Prepare the propranolol. Kurono. Give the drug to the two waiters as well.”

With a disgusted look, he touched the leg of the deceased body. The blood on the walls began to morph and the next second, the manager’s body was whole once more. When the manager’s eyes opened, he was face to face with the masked man who had just killed him a while ago. Just as he was about to scream, Overhaul knocked him out.

Instructing Nemoto to administer the drug, he began to itch on his forearm. Cursing at the mess he had just made and fixed, it took a lot of his willpower to push those thoughts aside. Instead his mind focused on one thing.

The memory of you smiling and the want to make sure no harm comes to you.

Besides, he could care less about the consequences.

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propanolol- a drug that supposedly erases memories

and yes, Chisaki to the rescue ;) just had to write the trio cause they deserve love and all of them are hot.

do you guys have any questions? feel free to comment and ill gladly answer them :) take care and i hope you guys like this chapter <3

#overhaul x reader #overhaul #bnha overhaul #mha overhaul #chisaki kai x reader #bnha chisaki kai #mha chisaki kai #chisaki kai

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metaphorical-love-for-a-car · 5 years

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An Unexpected Reunion-- Malcolm Bright x Reader

oRequest; “the reader is an FBI agent who met Malcom in Quantico but they lost contact cause she went to do undercover work and now shes put in New York on. A case and they just catch up and be happy cause malcom needs happy” (anon)

Warnings; specified fem! reader, language, bits of violence, terrible writing

Word Count; 2.1k

Notes; I rewrote this like 5 times so I hope y’all like it lol

Trainees were separated into groups for various training sessions throughout the day, and a group was never the same. Everyone was rotated around. Your group for the day happened to do incredibly well in the training exercises. “Best so far,” you were told. They decided to reward the group by allowing all of you to have a paintball fight, writing it off as combat practice. Everyone darted to various corners of Hogan’s Alley. You hid behind a dumpster and readied yourself for the battle to begin. A thud from the inside caused your brows to furrow. Since the Alley was a mock town, you knew that there wasn’t any trash inside that would attract any critters. Nevertheless, you decided to check it out. You cracked open the lid, only for something to latch around your arm. “What the fuck, Bright?” He shushed you.

“Come on, this is the best hiding spot here! Anyone comes around, and you can easily take them out without being spotted. Just... just hurry up and hop in before you blow our cover.” You stared at him, blinking slowly. Was he serious? Malcolm’s eyes widened, causing him to look slightly frantic as he motioned you inside. Alright, he was completely serious. You clamored into the dumpster and hoped that no one heard the lid slam shut. Malcolm clicked on his flashlight. He raised a brow and grave you a sly grin. He started to speak, but you interrupted him.

“If you’re about to make this sexual, I swear to God I will shoot you in the crotch right now.” Malcolm grimaced, looking highly offended.

“What? No! I was about to ask if you had heard about how Johnson from the second group pissed his pants in the hostage simulation today,” he rapidly explained. Then he froze for a moment, giving you a doubtful look. “You wouldn’t shoot me this close range. You’re not that cruel.” You held up your gun.

“Wanna bet?” Malcom narrowed his eyes at you. He was challenging your capabilities. What was once a game of hide-and-go-seek turned into a game of cat-and-mouse. Either way, you weren’t losing. You leaned back and pulled the trigger. The paintball hit its target with a loud twap! Malcolm shouted a string of profanities as he curled into fetal position. You clasped a hand over your mouth to keep from laughing. “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.”

“Bitch...” he groaned.

“You practically told me to!”

Fond memories of your old life were what got you through your secret life. Being assigned to go undercover for months on end was no easy feat. There were plenty of times you wanted to call it quits, but you couldn’t. So, you’d think of moments that made you happy. You were beyond relieved when you were able to return home. It was as if you could finally breathe again. You wanted nothing more than to sleep for at least two weeks straight, but, of course, you weren’t allowed such luxuries.

You had awakened too early for your liking but decided to spend the time catching up on all the shows you missed while undercover. You had just sat down with a cup of coffee when someone started banging on your door. You sighed, taking a long sip of your coffee and hoping that they would go away. Luck wasn’t on your side, as the person continued to try to punch your door down. You groaned and shuffled over towards the door. It revealed a woman with curly hair. She gave you a small grin and held up a badge. You squinted at it in an attempt to determine its authenticity. “Hi, I’m Dani Powell with the NYPD. Are you Ms. (Y/L/N)?” You eyed her for a moment before finally deciding that she was telling the truth about her identity. You slowly nodded, slightly confused as to why she was there. “Mind if I talk to you for a few minutes?” she asked, putting her badge away.

“Yeah... what’s... I’m sorry what’s going on?”

“Your neighbor was murdered last night.”

Your body tensed. Was she serious? Could a murder have seriously taken place right under your nose? You turned on your heel and hurried further into your apartment. Dani looked confused, hesitantly stepping inside. You fumbled through a drawer before returning with a badge of your own. “I’m with the FBI. Could I see the crime scene please?” Dani raised a brow at you.

“Let’s go talk to my superior first.” You nodded and slipped on a pair of shoes. Following Dani down the hall, she approached a man leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “Where’s Gil?” The man furrowed his brows at the sight of you. Okay, so maybe you could have at least brushed your hair before you walked out. You probably looked like a hot mess.

“Inside. Who’s your friend?”

“Special Agent (Y/F/N). FBI. I live down the hall,” you answered. The man seemed surprised, causing Dani to roll her eyes.

“Oh shit, really? I’m TJ.” He started to say something else, but Dani interrupted him.

“She wanted to see the scene, but I was gonna let her talk to Gil first.” You pursed your lips. Surely, it wasn’t the same person you were thinking of. There was a slight commotion from inside the crime scene before two men emerged into the hall. One was waving his hands widely, while the other looked done with his shit.

“Okay, so we’re looking for-” Your jaw dropped. Malcolm? Here, of all places? The world is quite a small place. “Cookie?” TJ and Dani’s faces wrinkled.

“Stinky!” Malcolm laughed at the familiar nickname as you threw your arms around him in an embrace. Gil smiled at the two of you.

“What am I, chopped liver?” You scoffed before giving him a hug too. TJ and Dani shared a look of confusion, which wasn’t lost under Malcolm’s gaze.

“Team, this is Cookie. Cookie, this is the team.”

“I’m sorry-- but Cookie?” TJ asked, almost astonished at hearing Malcolm call someone by their pet name. The profiler nodded. A smirk crossed his lips.

“We’ve been friends since Quantico. During training, (Y/N) snuck out of her room to steal some treats. Everyone’s called her that since.” You rolled your eyes at the mention of your nickname.

“And you’re... Stinky?” Dani asked with a laugh. You beamed at the opportunity to share your favorite memory from training.

“At some point during your time at the academy, a handful of trainees are dropped off at random points in the Prince William Forrest Park to test your survival skills. We somehow managed to bump into each other while wandering around and decided to team up. Two heads are better than one, right? So, we were trying to figure out a shelter situation when Stinky discovered a foxhole type thing. I warned him not to go in, but-” Malcolm interrupted you.

“I’m pretty sure you said, ‘We can’t go in there because your head’s too big. You’d get stuck and die before we even get a chance to go on a real mission.’”

“Shut up, Stinky, I’m telling a story. Anyways, the bastard decided to go in. Lo and behold! There was a family of skunks living inside, and he just barged right on in. The dude stunk. Bad. No one would go near him for about a week. So, the name Stinky was born.”

After telling the group a few more stories about Malcolm and learning a bit more about the case, you went back to your apartment to change into some actual clothes. They still required you to go down to the station and make a statement. Malcolm offered you a ride, which you gladly accepted. You hadn’t seen him since before he got fired.

As the two of you got in his car, you couldn’t help but notice how awful he looked. His hands were shaking, and he had heavy bags under his eyes. “You’re staring,” Malcolm joked, but, this time, the smile didn’t quite meet his eyes. You shook your head.

“Yeah, it’s cause you look like shit, Malcolm.” He turned his attention back to starting the car. He knew that you were being serious when you used his actual name. You watched his inner turmoil, no doubt debating whether he could confide in you. Turning your gaze away, you didn’t want him to feel like a bug under a microscope. “How long has it been this bad?”

“It’s been bad for a while now, but it’s gotten worse over the past few weeks.” His voice was small, and it made your heart ache. Shaking your head, you got out of the car. Malcolm’s brows furrowed. You poked your head back inside.

“Well? Are you just gonna sit there like a fly on the wall, or are you going to tag along with me?” Without a moment’s hesitation, Malcolm switched the car off and appeared by your side. You linked your arm with his, tugging him along. “Don’t ask questions, just follow my lead.”

You led him to a rather posh boutique not too far from your apartment building. Malcolm seemed a bit concerned as to what you had in store for him, and you couldn’t help but laugh. The older woman working there seemed a bit disapproving as the two of you walked in, giggling over some old inside joke. “Okay, seriously, why are we here?” Malcolm finally asked. You grabbed his wrist and looked at his watch.

“You have five minutes to put the most ridiculous outfit together. Loser has to buy lunch. Go!”

You scurried away, hoping that he would let loose and have some fun. Luckily for you, Malcolm wasn’t the one to back away form a challenge. Five minutes passed faster than you would have liked, but you thought you did pretty good. You were wearing large sunglasses, a tiara, and a jacket almost entirely made of rhinestones. You turned around and nearly fell to the ground with laughter. You hadn’t expected Malcolm to take the challenge that seriously. He was wearing sunglasses similar to your own, a feather boa, a shiny necklace, and he was even holding a single earring to one of his earlobes. What got you the most was his ridiculous hat, something you would only expect to see at the Kentucky Derby. His smile widened at your reaction. “Looks like you’ll be the one buying lunch.”

“I lost?”

“Obviously,” Malcolm scoffed.

“Oh, but did I really?” You quickly pulled out your phone, snapping a couple pictures. “I can’t wait to show these to Gil. He’s gonna die.” Malcolm’s jaw dropped. He put his earring down and held a hand out to you.

“Gimme.”

“What? Hell no, Stinky. You’re gonna have to pry this thing out of my cold, dead hands.” His eyes narrowed, and you immediately regretted your statement. Malcolm lunged at you, causing you to shriek and dash away. He cornered you near some clothing racks. His arms wrapped around you as he attempted to wrangle your phone from your hands. The two of you were too busy laughing and fighting each other to realize that you were inching closer and closer to the racks. As you struggled to get out of his grasp, Malcolm had the bright idea to suddenly let go, sending you tumbling forward. You landed on a clothing rack, taking the whole thing down with you. Malcolm roared with laughter and had to lean on his knees for support. “Fuck you!” you called out. He held out a hand, helping you to your feet. “You’re a jackass.”

“Oh, come on, you know you love m-” He was interrupted by the older woman clearing her throat. Her arms were crossed, and she was tapping one foot.

“I think it’s best if you two leave. Now.” You both apologized profusely and even offered to help clean up, but she shooed you out of the store, after taking back their clothes of course. You gave Malcolm a hard time, blaming him for getting you both banned from the store. After the two of you fell into a steady silence, walking side by side, you prompted him with a question.

“What were you saying earlier? I know I love what?” Malcolm laughed, almost nervously.

“I was going to say that you know you love me.” You pursed your lips and hummed.

“Maybe that’s why I’ve put up with you all these years, Stinky.”

“You’re not a ray of sunshine either, Cookie.”

“At least I don’t smell like skunk ass.”

“That was five years ago!”

~*~*~

Prodigal Son Tag List;

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@blitchen-fics

#prodigal son #prodigal son fox #prodigal son fic #prodigal son x reader #malcolm bright #malcolm bright x reader #malcolm bright imagine #malcolm whitly #malcolm whitly x reader #tom payne #tom payne x reader #tom payne imagine #request

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jowritesthingss · 4 years

Text

fly away with me

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Pairing(s): Roceit (Creativity | Roman + Deceit | Janus), platonic but could be read as romantic if you want

Rating: General Audiences

Content Warning(s): blood mention (teeny, non-graphic, in passing), can’t think of any others, but let me know if you think I should tag something!

Length: 1,773 words

Brief Summary: Life isn’t a fairytale. Roman knows this, even as he wishes it were. (But perhaps...perhaps life doesn’t have to be like the stories to be magical.)

TS Masterlist + AO3 Links

“Hey.”

A voice pierces through a groggy Roman’s mind, slicing through what had been a rather nice dream about...he thinks it was sword-fighting. And flying. Yes. Sword-fighting and flying about on the deck of a ship, sword-fighting a hook-handed pirate with a mustache and a cackle that looked and sounded suspiciously similar to that of his brother’s.

Yes, whatever it had been, it was a nice dream. Roman would quite like to get back to it now, thanks.

Letting out a quiet, annoyed little “mmrmph,” Roman rolls over and blindly grabs for one of his spare pillows, snuggling tightly into it.

The voice sighs heavily, growing irritated as it speaks next. “Come on, you great big oaf.” Hands slither across his body and attempt to roll him back over. “Wake up already.”

“Nooo,” Roman protests sleepily, clutching his pillow more tightly to his chest and curling his legs up and in on himself.

The hands briefly disappear from Roman’s torso, and he thinks that maybe whoever it is has finally given up. Good, that means he can go back to sleep. Already he can see the pirate ship and his sword and a strangely masculine Wendy reappearing; already he can hear the cries of the gulls and the tinkling of Tinkerbell; already he can smell and taste sea salt and blood and the pirates’ bitter defeat—

—and then the hands reappears, roughly yanking Roman’s pillow out of his grasp.

“Nooo!” Roman whines, more petulant this time, and he reluctantly rolls over to see who or what is so important that they had to interrupt his beauty sleep.

Roman slowly blinks tacky eyes at the blurry, somewhat familiar figure standing beside his bed. “Who...izzat?” he slurs. “Who’re you? Why—”

“Roman, you idiot,” the person sighs, sounding annoyed and affectionate all in one—and he knows that voice, Roman does, only one person he knows can manage to properly pull off that tone—but who? The answer dances on the tip of his tongue, just barely escaping him in his drowsy state.

With the help of the mysteriously magnificent stranger, Roman slowly sits up in bed, his sheets clutched tightly in his fists and strewn about him. He relinquishes his grip on them to reach up and rub at bleary brown eyes.

Once he has successfully rubbed most of the sleep out of his eyes, Roman turns and takes a closer look at the stranger who had so rudely awakened him.

And—oh.

There, at the side of his bed, clothed in a ridiculously formal black and yellow outfit, as per usual, stands Janus, arms folded across his chest, toes tapping impatiently at the wooden floorboards of Roman’s bedroom.

Somehow, knowing who the person is makes both more and less sense in Roman’s head all at once.

“Jan—Janus?” he mumbles, tilting his head curiously at his best friend. “What—what’re you doing here? Why’d you—”

“Yes, because now is definitely the time to play twenty questions,” Janus groans. His arms uncross—Roman has to tear his eyes away from those beautiful, beautiful arms—and he grasps at Roman’s forearm with one hand. “Come on, Roman, we have to go.”

“Wh—” Roman’s bewildered stare meanders its way up Janus’ very pretty chest and up to his very pretty face once more. “Why?”

“No time to explain,” Janus hisses, pulling him out of bed. “Just—come on already, dammit. Get up and get dressed.”

Roman blinks dumbly, and in his half-asleep, half-awake state, he wordlessly lets Janus stand him up and dress him without a fight.

Janus unbuttons Roman’s pajama shirt and exchanges it for a more appropriate long-sleeved shirt and his beloved ITS hoodie. He wriggles off Roman’s pants, switching them out for jeans as Roman’s head lolls against the soft cotton of his hoodie.

Throughout the process Janus sees Roman’s bare chest and sees his bright cartoony Mickey Mouse boxers, and if Roman were more awake, he would most probably shriek and jump halfway across the room, his already-dark cheeks darkening even more with embarrassment. But Roman is still blissfully half-asleep, and Janus’ deft fingers feel so nice as they gently thread a comb through the kinks in Roman’s curls—so nice that he just might fall back to sleep again.

Janus has him sitting back down at the corner of his bed, jamming socks and shoes onto his feet, when Roman finally snaps out of his trance and into full wakefulness.

“Wait—now hold on a minute, pretty little liar!” Roman whisper-shouts, careful not to get too loud even as he chews Janus out. If his parents were to find the two of them now, it would be very awkward indeed. “What exactly is going on here? And—” he elbows Janus out of his bubble of personal space, “—I can tie my own shoes perfectly fine, thank you very much.”

“You sure you can manage it on your own?” Janus scoffs playfully, raising an eyebrow. “Who’s the one that just had to put your jeans on for you as if you were some big overgrown baby?”

Roman’s cheeks heat up. “I changed your diapers when we were younger,” he reminds, “so we’re even.” He’s already bent down to lace his own shoes up before he realizes that Janus has gotten Roman to do exactly what he wanted. He pops his head up to glare at his younger friend, but he relents and ties his shoes nevertheless.

“Touché.” Janus tosses his hands up in mock-defeat. “I surrender.”

Shoes tied—much better than Janus would be able to do, might he add—Roman sits straight up once more, although he refuses to stand up—one last, pathetic attempt at rebelling, even though he knows that Janus’ bright eyes and rare but manic smile will win him over as they always seem to. “Seriously, what exactly is going on here, lord of the lies?”

Janus pinches his fingers together and brings them up to his lips, miming zipping his lips. He shrugs and flicks his finger as if to to ‘throw away the key’.

“Typical.” Roman’s eyes fall on the open window behind Janus, and his mouth drops open in a little ‘o’. “Oh, by the pharaoh's crook and flail—did you—did you climb through the window?” Horror twists through his voice. “Janus, our apartment is on the fourth floor!”

The grin on Janus’ face is something to be worried about—something to be very, very worried about. “Yeah, I totally climbed all the way up to your window. Mm-hmm.”

After a moment of letting Roman stew in his worry, though, Janus snickers and shakes his head. “Nah. Remus is still up. He let me in on the condition that I get him video of you drooling and snoring in your sleep.”

“Wh—I do not drool in my sleep! Or snore!” Roman huffs. “Preposterous.”

Janus’ lips twist into a thin, sly smirk as he holds up his phone. “Oh, but I’ve got evidence suggesting otherwise,” he croons, tantalizingly holding the phone just out of Roman’s grasp.

Roman nearly falls for the ploy. Nearly.

“You’re just trying to get me up to follow you to...wherever you’re trying to take me,” Roman accuses, stabbing a finger towards his friend.

“Think what you will.” Janus shrugs, nonchalantly bringing a hand up to examine his nails. “It was worth a shot.” He slips his phone back into his back pocket.

“Well, I’m not falling for any more of your tricks,” Roman swears.

Janus raises a singular thin eyebrow. “You sure about that?” His left hand reaches into the pocket of his pants, and he fluidly pulls out a set of shiny new car keys, rattling them gently in Roman’s face. “So then...you don’t want to see what my parents got me for my birthday?”

Roman’s eyes grow wide, and, well, maybe he’ll fall for just one more of those tricks—wait, no! He must remain strong!

“No!” he forces himself to insist. “I—I can’t.”

“Well, why not?”

“...I’m not Remus,” Roman admits quietly, looking down at his sneakers. “I’m not as spontaneous as him, I’m not a daredevil like him. And I mean, what if my parents wake up and find out?”

Janus tiptoes over to Roman, placing nimble fingers on Roman’s chin and lifting his head up to look Roman in the eye. “I don’t want you to be Remus,” he says simply. “I want you to be you, and I want you to trust me when I say you’re going to love where we’re going.”

Janus’ eyes twinkle as his fingers pull away from Roman’s gobsmacked face. “And if your parents catch you...well, doesn’t that make things just a bit more fun?” he purrs. “Just a bit more exciting? Just a bit more...dangerous?”

Roman tries to fish around his mind for a coherent response. Tries. Fails. Instead, a noise not unlike a squished dog toy leaks out of his mouth, and he gapes at Janus where he is by the window, silhouetted by moonlight from above and streetlamps from below.

“So.” Janus’ voice is warm as he speaks next. Warm. Inviting. Home.

“Do you trust me?”

Roman stares at Janus, standing there at the window, heterochromatic eyes sparkling with the stars of faraway galaxies. He is bathed in the moonlight, the lighter patch of skin on the side of his face a shimmering silver, and the sight is ethereal, breathtaking.

Roman stares at Janus, with his hand stretched out invitingly towards where Roman himself sits on the side of his bed.

Sure, life may not be the fairy tales that Roman reads more religiously than he does actual religious texts. Perhaps there isn’t a distressed damsel to rescue, or a prince to sweep him off his feet, or a sword to pull from an anvil, or a frog prince to kiss, or a fairy to sprinkle the power of flight over him. So what?

What does it matter if his life isn’t like the fairy tales he reads, when he can simply create and live out his own?

Janus is getting a tad impatient now. Roman can see it in the patchy hand that props itself against his waist, in the exasperated yet fond smile lingering on his face. “Do you trust me?” he repeats, rolling his eyes—no doubt at the sappy look that is spreading across Roman’s own face.

Roman smiles. Reaches for Janus’ hand. Takes it in his own.

“Yes.”

Sepia skin holds firm onto multicolored, and matching grins echo across both faces. Janus darts over to the door, pulling Roman towards him.

They fly.

Fin

This was supposed to be under 1k words and it is Not. That is all I shall say on that. Also, title’s from Leaving London by Steffan Argus.

Want to be added onto any of my taglists? Shoot me an ask or a message here or via my other social media!

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veryimportantsparkles · 5 years

Photo

Alright I’ve kept meaning to do sort of an infodump on my projects because I’ve been really slipping lately. I dunno how obvious it is? Probably kind of obvious. I’ve also been really bad about checking messages and responding to people. So I figure I can write up a status report and then point to it when I’ve been inadequate about communication.

My IRL job has been wiping me out. I’ve been getting short, labor-intensive shifts in the evenings, and then random surprise morning shifts shortly after, which has been really hard to manage my time around. My sleep schedule has been extremely broken and it’s affected my productivity a LOT. Leadership in my department is about to shuffle around and I’ve been interviewed for the manager position. If I get it I’ll be working an entirely different schedule, which could potentially be good for my sleepy brain but will definitely leave me with less art time overall. I’ve also been enduring some back/shoulder issues over the past few months. Nothing urgent, but it’s limiting how much I can draw each day. I think replacing my desk chair is going to be a big factor but it’s not the only factor. I just need to be a smart human and take care of my joints and not hunch over so much. Working on it.

Here’s the current status of my various art projects:

Laserwing

I ended chapter 5 in June and said I would finish up some other side projects before I start concept work for chapter 6. One of the projects I needed to finish was the Popkas Yugioh season 4 special, which I finished. The other big one was my Neonmob card set, which is most of what I’ve been posting lately. Once that’s out of the way (see below) I need to do concept art. Chapter 6 will put all the Laserwing characters in new outfits which will need reference sheets. I’ll need background sketches and layout diagrams so I don’t have furniture shuffle randomly around between scenes. I also need to sketch out the chapter 6 draft page by page. I’ve made Laserwing in GIMP up until this point and am going to try switching to Krita for chapter 6. I might need to do a test page to make sure my process transfers over well into a slightly different system. Once I’m ready to make real pages, those take a while. Chapter 5 pages were going up maybe every 2-3 weeks. I don’t know how many pages are going to be in chapter 6, nor can I say for sure how many chapters are in Laserwing. An old outline had maybe 40 chapters. It’s a story with a defined end point, I can say that for certain, but it’s intended to be long.

Popkas

I’ve had issues with Popkas for a while. I keep picking new themes for dailies, thinking they’re going to be quick and easy, but then end up making them hard for myself. It’s been to my benefit, I’ve forced myself into learning new art programs and techniques through Popkas. But it’s hard to keep up the daily schedule. Currently I’m doing the Paper Mario: TTYD bestiary, which has 124 enemies. At a rate of one per day, by the time I’ve finished them, Pokemon Sword and Shield should be released and we’ll have all the info about the new Pokemon. Those will be drawn in ‘Popka classic’ style (scribbly shitposts). After those are finished, unless my IRL work situation dramatically changes, I’m considering putting Popkas on pause. In order to do any other monster dexes I’d have to do a lot more research (for example, people have suggested Yokai Watch but I’ve never played one) in order to have anything meaningful to post. Same deal with Popka Specials (the anime writeup things), those take prep time and anime-watching time that I might not have. I don’t ever want to end Popkas, but a hiatus might be necessary.

Angelfire Hime

Did anyone even know about Angelfire Hime? Well I want to post more but that involves finding, scanning, retouching, and transcribing my old high school scribble comics. It takes as long as any other project but is also low priority because it’s all old content. Nobody is waiting for the latest update because nobody but me actually knows what that content is, and possibly nobody but me can even read it. It’s more a personal journey of self-reflection than anything. I want to return to it but not at the expense of better work.

MeganFantastic dot com

I had a domain name linked to a tumblr that was supposed to be my news blog/front page and I barely use it. Also, I let the domain registration drop. Also, I had let a typo in my banner graphic go unnoticed for YEARS and still haven’t fixed it. Even now, I’m writing this big post to my personal blog instead of the one for news. The idea was to eventually buy some real hosting and make MeganFantastic a whole site of its own, but that’s a lot of work. I’ve got a generally good idea of HOW I’d do it (probably wordpress) but I’m not a coder, it would take a lot of trial and error. This would be a huge undertaking and eventually Laserwing, Popkas, and all my other junk would be contained on one big non-tumblr website. But it’s uhhhhh not happening yet.

Hundera Youtube

My contribution to our LP channel is to show up, talk about video games, and then draw title cards. All recording, editing, and channel management is maintained by Josh, and I can’t speak on his behalf about our update schedule. I will say there are a lot of half-finished games we want to return to. I will also say that when the new Pokemon comes out Josh is dead set on recording it. I don’t know if he intends that to be a stream or a regular LP. In the meantime he streams Minecraft with his friends every Sunday and we fit in our own streams and recordings when we can.

Commissions/Patron Art/etc

I’ve not been very good about this lately and I’m truly sorry! I have a few things I’m working on, a few things I’ve promised to start working on, and a few things I’ve told people I can do once my workload lightens up, which hasn’t been happening yet. I really don’t have an answer. I almost never delete anything so if I’ve been sent a message in any form I should still have it, and I’ll be sure not to forget anyone. And if I do forget someone feel free to throw rocks at me!

Rane Story 2

What the heck is Rane Story 2? Well I guess I have to explain Neonmob. Imagine if ChickenSmoothie and DeviantART had a baby. It’s a virtual trading card site, which is fun and cute, and I’m drawing out a card series to release on there. I’ve been using it as practice for painting backgrounds and to fill out some backstory for some 4th-string Laserwing support characters. Before Mistaire came to Earth, she went to space high school, and that’s where Rane Story takes place. You can preview the series, and when it’s finished I’ll post about it. I’ll also repost all the art to DA. If you scroll through the last several pages of this blog you’ll see some of the art. I’ve put a lot of my brain energy into getting this done in spite of my work/sleep issues because I don’t want to resume Laserwing until I’ve finished it. This is what’s stolen my life, guys. Right now I have 6 more cards to make, and then I have to write and finalize all the text. I should be done SOON.

Pokemon Nonsense

When my back and shoulder get too hurty and I have to take a break from drawing, one of the easy things to do is whip out a DS and play Pokemon. I’ve done a lot of twitter shitposting about it lately. I’ve also drawn up a bunch of gijinkas for my Pokemon. I’m talking about it now because I also intend to draw up gijinkas for Pokemon to trade away. I’ve already done a few. However, I don’t know for sure how I’m going to distribute them. The idea is people can trade actual Pokemon with me (in either X or Let’s Go Eevee) and the Pokemon they get will come with a character design for you to keep. I was thinking I might do a discord server for organizing trades and such, but I haven’t yet. Mostly because it’s low priority and I have SO many other things going on. But actually playing Pokemon can happen when I’m too fatigued for real work, so the horde keeps growing. Hopefully my posts and scribbles about it are entertaining.

I feel like there’s other projects on hold that I wanted to discuss, but right now I’m too braintired to remember, and some of my ‘projects’ never actually got talked about online so nobody’s waiting for an update. My greatest problem seems to be that I try to juggle too many pointless side projects and then drop them all over the place. Sometimes I’ll shitpost about an idea and even I won’t be sure if I was serious or not. How do I end this post? I don’t know.

tl;dr Megan is SLEEPY and dropped her spaghetti everywhere but somehow still has time to play POKEMON and WON’T STOP TALKING ABOUT IT

#long post #what do i even tag this as

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theeeveetamer · 6 years

Note

👀 really up for any sort of soft and romantic. They’re the cutest! (Previous anon)

Hey! Sorry I’ve been sitting on this for awhile! This is doubling as my Valentine’s Day fic for the year BTW (even though it’s not about Valentine’s day)

Tags: Fluff, Pure Unadulterated Fluff, Some Family Fluff Too, Omegaverse, Omega!Takumi, Alpha!Leo

AO3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17666066

He’d been prepping for this day all week; He was going to cook the kids’ favorite meal, get them all dressed up, and they were going to have a nice family dinner. Now that he thought about it, why did they never do this when Leo was in town?

And why the hell hadn’t he done laundry?! He only had about five decent looking shirts left because he’d been waiting to do the washing until after Leo got home so he could just do it all at once. He grabbed the nicest looking one and threw it on, then went back to rapidly attempting to towel dry his hair to an acceptable state.

“Papa, what do you think about this one?”

Forrest came into the room, already dressed up in his prettiest purple dress, complete with earrings, bracelets, amd just a hint of makeup. Wow, when he told the kid to dress nice he really went the extra mile. Forrest had even curled his hair to perfection. He was so thankful that Camilla had taken some time to help him learn how to do all of that stuff, since he and his mate were so useless when it came to that. When he’d been handed a little boy in the delivery room he’d never thought that one day he’d have to buy his thirteen year old dresses and makeup, but life was funny like that sometimes.

“You look great, baby.” He paused in agonizing over finding the right ribbon for his hair. “Is your brother home yet?”

“Not yet.”

He let out an exasperated sigh. “He better be back soon!”

That boy… He always stayed out too late. Takumi swore if he had to march down to the park and drag him back for dinner one more time. Tonight was special, damn it, he didn’t care how much he embarrassed Kiragi in front of his friends. He didn’t have time to go grab him though, the house still needed some cleaning and he still had to make the whole dinner.

Takumi passed the vacuum off to Forrest while he started prepping the food, and he was almost done cooking by the time their youngest got back. Takumi didn’t even look up from his stew when the front door opened.

“Papa! I’m home!”

“Perfect! You’re just--” He stopped cold when he saw his eleven year old son standing in the entryway, coated head to toe in mud.

“What happened to you?!”

The little blonde boy grinned. “We had a mud fight! It uh… It got a little out of hand.”

“Kiragi! You know what tonight is! Go shower and get changed, I’ll not have your father sit down to dinner when you look like a pig wallowing in mud!”

“Yes papa!” He scrambled off to the bathroom.

“Forrest can you go pick out an outfit for him? You know how awful he is at it.”

“Of course!” He set down the dinner plates and ran over to his brother’s room. Normally he wouldn’t care about what Kiragi wore -- and thank gods he didn’t. Takumi had never had the best fashion sense himself, but his youngest was still a child, and he tended not to care about what he wore. This usually worked out, like when he decided to get into mud fights right before the special dinner he’d been planning all damn week.

Well now he would just have to set the table and finish cooking dinner. He checked the time: almost five thirty. Leo was going to be calling around then. He set out the serving platters and finished setting the table just in time for his tablet to get a call.

“Forrest! Kiragi! Get down here, it’s time to eat!”

Both children came running as soon as he called. Kiragi’s messy blonde hair was still wet and dripping from the shower, and his shirt was getting a little damp in the back but otherwise he looked presentable. Takumi tapped the little green ‘accept call’ button and set the device up on its stand at the end of the table. He checked the little camera in the corner as the call connected to ensure that everything could be seen perfectly, then he ran back to his place at the table and sat down.

The face of his mate appeared on screen. He looked tired and slightly annoyed, but he was there. He seemed to be distracted by something just off to the side, but his attention snapped back when he heard a small chorus of “Dad!” coming from the other side of the screen. The slightly aggravated expression melted off of his face when he caught sight of them.

“Hey guys, how have you been?”

Both of them started talking at the same time, each of them so eager to share the details of their day that they ended up talking over each other and making it completely incomprehensible.

“Hey, hey, one at a time!” He scolded gently. “And start eating, I didn’t make this food just so it could go cold!”

They both went silent and started dishing out food from the center of the table.

“And what about you, love? Have you been holding down the fort well?”

“As well as can be expected.”

Leo chuckled. “Well, don’t worry. I’ll be home by this time next week.”

“Gods, I hope so.” He sighed. It was always difficult whenever Leo went away. His trip was only supposed to be two weeks, but he was already missing him like crazy. But now wasn’t the time, so he tried to keep the mood light. “What did you order?”

“Steak? I hope it’s good, though I’m sure it can’t compare to your cooking.”

“Expensive tastes, huh?”

“Hey, if they’re going to drag me away from my lovely mate and two beautiful children for two weeks, then you can bet that I’m going to spend every cent of my company allowance.”

They finished serving and everyone began tucking into their dinner. Well, for Leo it was more of a late lunch, but either way.

“Alright guys, one at a time this time. How have you been?”

Forrest and Kiragi — finally — just took turns chatting about their days. Auntie Elise took Forrest to the mall and got him some new school clothes. Kiragi regaled them all with the epic tale of his mud fight, and despite how upset he’d initially been he had to admit that it was a pretty funny story.

They spent a good thirty minutes to chat and eat together. Then, Leo checked his watch.

“Hey, I have to go now. There’s a meeting in ten.”

“I thought you were supposed to have Saturdays free there?”

The Alpha rolled his eyes. “Tell me about it. It’s informally mandatory. I gotta go okay? I’ll call you later. Love you.”

He grinned as three voices echoed the sentiment back. Then, the screen went dark. With dinner finished the two kids scampered off, and he started collecting up dishes.

The rest of the night was fairly monotonous. He finished the dishes and sat down with the kids to watch their evening shows together. He offered to teach Forrest how to do a fishtail braid, which was about the only unique thing he knew how to do with hair, while Kiragi ran around yelling about whatever cartoon was playing.

It was only after they were both tucked safely in bed and he was heading that way himself when his tablet screen lit up again. He dropped his comb on the dresser and sat down on the bed with the device, feet tucked neatly underneath him. His mate’s face popped up on the screen again, though this time he was all smiles. Or, well, as close to smiling as Leo got. More of a restrained grin, really.

“Oh good, I was hoping to catch you before you put your hair up for bed.”

“Weirdo. Was it a good meeting? You’ve got that stupid look on your face.”

“Just some company drivel. What, I can’t be smiling because I get to see my lovely mate before bed?”

“Now you’re just trying to make me blush.”

It was working, too.

“Guilty as charged. Seriously though, how have you been?”

“Honestly? You’ve only been gone for a week and I feel like a fucking wreck.”

It was getting harder and harder to sleep the whole night through when his mate wasn’t around. They were only a week in and already he was spending more time tossing and turning that he was actually sleeping.

He grabbed a few hair ties and started absentmindedly braiding his thick silver hair.

“Plus you’re going to miss our anniversary.”

He didn’t usually take too much stock in those kinds of things but it was a big deal this year! They’d been together for twenty years! And Leo’s stupid job was forcing him to fly hours away to do a stupid work training across the country, so he wouldn’t be home.

“I know, I know. But I’ll be home soon. Besides, we don’t need to celebrate on the exact date.”

“Clearly you don’t understand what the term anniversary means, Leo. It means exactly one year from the date.”

“Alright, don’t lecture me love. I know, I’m disappointed too.”

“Sorry, I’m just looking for an excuse not to go to bed.” He wasn’t exactly looking forward to another sleepless night by himself.

“Would it help you fall asleep if I stayed on the line?”

“Don’t you have to sleep?”

“Relax, there’s like a three hour time difference.”

He plugged the dying tablet in and got under the covers. It was still late summer, but he couldn’t sleep unless he pulled the blankets all the way up to his chin… Something Leo would be complaining about endlessly were he here.

Gods he wished he was here.

He flicked off the lamp and shut his eyes.

“Alright then, as long as it's not too much of an inconvenience.”

“You’re never an inconvenience, love.”

He yawned. “Go ahead. Talk about whatever you want to talk about.”

He struggled to stay awake, but Leo barely made it halfway through an explanation of the book he’d read on the plane before he was out cold.

_________

He woke up the next morning to a dark screen and a cold bed. He wasn’t feeling totally refreshed, but it was the best night of sleep he’d gotten all week. Seeing Leo’s face and falling asleep to his voice somehow managed to make him feel even lonelier than before. He grabbed one of Leo’s shirts out of his dresser drawer and headed off to the shower.

When he was done he pulled his pajama pants back on. Then the black button up went on and he buried his nose in the collar. His mate’s scent was stale and faint, but it was still there. He let that comfort him through his morning routine.

It was still early in the morning, and the kids would be in bed for awhile. He really just wanted to curl back up in bed with a good book, but he should probably start on breakfast before Kiragi and Forrest woke up and threw his life into chaos.

A few pots and pans clanged around as he went through the drawers looking for what he needed. Maybe he’d do scrambled eggs? But they had a lot of veggies and cheese that were going to go bad soon, maybe he could do omelettes? But that was so much work…

As he straightened up, pan in hand, something grabbed him around the waist. He yelled and whipped around, cookware primed and ready to hit whoever this was upside the head. He didn’t even look, he just swung.

A hand grabbed his wrist before he could make contact, so he started kicking, eyes wild like a cornered animal.

“Woah, woah! Calm down love! It’s just me.”

“L-Leo?” He immediately recognized his mate’s stunning red eyes, and the pan clattered to the floor.

Takumi shoved him in the chest; The blonde stumbled back a few steps.

“You complete asshole! I thought you weren’t coming back until next week!”

“Yes well… At that informally mandatory meeting they notified us that the leader of our workshop got food poisoning, so we were rescheduling for another time. I took the first flight home.”

“You mean you knew about this when you called me back last night and you didn’t think to tell me?!”

“I wanted it to be a surprise!”

“Well congratulations! You gave your mate a heart attack!”

He closed the distance and hugged Leo anyways. He buried his nose in his soft shirt and drank in his warm, comforting scent.

“I hate it when you leave me.”

He wrapped one arm around his waist and placed the other on the back of his head to draw him close. His Alpha started gently stroking his hair.

“Shh, I know love.”

He balled his hands up in the back of his shirt and nuzzled his mate’s chest. He wanted to bathe in that scent. He wanted to live in that moment forever.

Unfortunately, all good things came to an end. Their little moment was interrupted by the piping voice of their youngest son.

“Dad!”

They broke apart to look at their new arrival. Kiragi was standing at the other end of the hall, baseball bat in hand. His brother was trailing a few feet behind him. When they saw Leo both of their faces lit up, and they ran over to join in on the hug.

“What are you doing with that bat, kiddo?”

“We heard Papa scream, so I was gonna scare the bad guys off!”

He swore, if his youngest son wasn’t an Alpha he would eat his own foot.

“Well, I’ve already called Auntie Camilla to come pick you up, so go get dressed okay?”

They both nodded and ran off back to their rooms.

“Geez, did everyone know about you coming home early but me?”

“I wanted to make today special. So…” His mate took him by the hands and pulled him out of the kitchen. On the living room coffee table was a beautiful bouquet of lilies and snapdragons already set up in a fine china vase. It was just like his mate to think of everything. Where did he even get a bouquet on such short notice?

“You’re such a damn perfectionist.”

“Only the best for my lovely mate.”

“Gods I haven’t even gotten you a present… I’m not even properly dressed!”

“Don’t worry about it, we have all day. And…” He leaned in close, sly smirk on his face. “I asked if Camilla could keep them for the night, too.”

He pushed himself up onto the tips of his toes to kiss Leo.

“Gods it’s good to have you home.”

His mate gave him a toothy grin, right thumb brushing gently over the bond scar on his neck. He shivered under the blonde’s touch.

“Happy anniversary, Takumi.”

#Leokumi #Fanfiction #Fluff #Omegaverse #Omega!Takumi #Alpha!Leo #Family Fluff #Anonymous

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xcherry-popx · 5 years

Note

I have to go to bed now so I won't see your reply for a while but please feel free to like,, tell me as much about ur daydreaming/your experience with madd!! it helps me figure stuff out and I really enjoy reading ur thoughts and stuff (sorry if that,, doesn't make sense I'm sleepy orz)

you have unlocked: info dump!

im going to split this up into parts!

part one: what it feels like

for me, it tends to be super immersive, especially if im not on any mental health meds! everything else turns into a dark grey, making my daydream more and more appealing. i think my daydreaming is also linked with my dissociation, but i can daydream without it. inside my daydreams, i personally can see both what my pov would look like and also everything else at the same time, kind of like when you know what your room looks like blindfolded. i can still see the outside world, but i tend to ignore it or do an easy task like pacing.

i can also feel things like things im touching, or if i have, for example a different outfit or longer hair, im able to feel that too, along with any injuries! however, i know my daydreams are unusually immersive, so i know it may be different for others

part two: triggers for my madd

songs tend to set things off, as do fanfics or headcanons i read about! also, when i read, my daydreams go wild, and the pov becomes the main character. after i read, i tend to add different details or rerun scenes as part of my own daydreams! that happens after watching game playthroughs, too. also, all my kin memories are pretty much just daydreams that i realized i couldn’t control or change, or that felt way to familiar

part three: side effects i experience

as i mentioned before, i can feel any injuries. it hurts, and plays on repeat over and over, even if i try to drown it out with different daydreams, often for at least a few hours. i also have intrusive daydreams about violence happening, or scenes involving my parents.

often times, my parame has an abuser (often a relationship partner, although parental abusers do occur), and i become extremely scared of things that remind me of in daydream abusers. the things that happen to parame can feel like they happen to me, and i end up with new fears afterwards.

i tend to have intrusive daydreams whenever i am in a dark place, causing me to have an extreme fear of being alone in the dark as a result.

my feet often ache due to pacing for so long, and i usually forget to eat or drink while daydreaming. my ears also have begun to ring at times, i suspect as a side effect of listening to music loudly to create a more immersive daydream.

i often tend to adopt my paras habits, but since all my paras tend to be unhealthy versions of myself, it tends to also include negative habits.these are most often rudeness, isolation, and suspicion of everyone else around me irl.

i feel my parames feelings, so i end up being angry at others or extremely sad for days on end. my feelings tend to change fast, and my heart will begin to ache deeply if the daydreams switches emotional tones too often

i have intrusive sexual thoughts due to my ocd, and to combat this i try thinking up sexual daydreams with my f/o’s, even if i dont really want to, and it tend to leave me feeling distressed.

theres probably more, but those are the ones that come to mind right away.

part four: paracosm dump

i wanted to include a positive end after discussing the negative side effects, but this part will be under the cut

glitch: set in the bnha universe! glitch is the quirk parame has. the story is mainly set in an alternate universe. pretty, much, i was brought into the checkpoint (a small pocket universe created by one of my paras quirk) by the use of a timeline swap quirk and checkpoint working togther, bcs im the alt version of someone they know i guess. i have a lot of knives in this one, and me and checkpoint attack each other alot its fun. checkpoint brings a bunch of the bnha chracters into the place, before putting everyone back, including me. i focus on the time in the pocket universe though

saccharine daydream: set in the bnha universe! saccharine daydream is my hero name. i was discovered with no memories by the us government as the child of a well known cult of villians. im brought with another character over to japan under the guise of a transfer, and join class 1-a. after moving into the dorms, im kidnapped by the cult again. this is where it splits into different timelines! one version is that im successfully restolen by the heroes, and recover, becoming devoted to being a hero and destroying the cult, which also happens to be lead by a para version of my mom. the other version, the heroes fail, and some of my favorites are caught and held as prisoners. i fight in this ring thing every night to earn extra rations for them to have more to eat. this timeline is… sad….

time god: set in the death note universe! i’m the god of the world, and there’s multiple timelines i manage. i am the god of time. i have an assistant whos tired of my shit tm but wants to live forever so tolerates me. the whole kira event is the most iteresting thing ive seen in a long time and im very bored, so i bring everyone back to life and put them back into the timeline. they are able to regain there memories to make things more interesting. at some point i decide i want to be super involved and drop myself into the world. shinigami dont know i exist and i choose to ignore them because theyre boring. my tragic backstory is i committed suicide and was brought back to life for a killing game to choose the successor to the old god. everyone had one power each and mine was going back in time. i didnt want to die so faked a relationship with someone who scared me and made me do traumatizing shit and then eventually killed her in her sleep to win.

arcade master: set in the ndrv3 universe. im the ultimate arcade gamer. i have an abusive twin whos the ultimate youtube singer or something like that. in one timeline i kill her out of fear and am executed, in another she somehow dies

thats not all of them but my infodump urge was killed by my irl mother calling

#actually madd #zero daydreams #mothers /#madd

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botwriter · 6 years

Text

Desert Sun, Chapter 5

As Kakariko woke the next morning, so did Zelda, pulled from her slumber by the sounds of carts rolling and dishes clattering and soft voices from outside. It was an incredibly nice and easy way of waking up, although she missed the sound of running water that her room had in Gerudo.

As she sat up rubbing her eyes, blood stains on her sleeves distracted her. Oh for- she was wearing the same outfit as yesterday, and the shirt was a mess. She sighed, but as she pulled the curtains away, was surprised to see a bag sitting there next to her bed. She pulled it close and untied the top, and inside was a small selection of her own clothes, as well as her scimitar. Urbosa must have put it together for her before they’d left the day before. What she hadn’t been expecting to find in it was her Hylian prayer dress - and a desert outfit. Nothing more for clothes. She couldn’t very well wear the desert outfit in Kakariko - she’d want it for going back to town - so the prayer dress it was.

“Great,” she muttered as she changed, slipping awkwardly into the delicate white fabric while trying to stay within the curtains of the bed at the same time. Her hair was at least manageable, thanks to the tight braid she’d had it in the day prior. Now that she took out the elastics and golden clips, it cascaded down in waves, and she smoothed out the top absently as she pushed back the curtains and left the inn.

Link’s bed had already been cleaned up by the innkeepers, but it didn’t take Zelda long to spot him outside by the cooking pot.

“Sav’ot-“ the voe cut himself short as his eyes landed on her, and Zelda was confused at first, but remembered promptly what she was wearing.

“Sav’otta,” she replied firmly, pulling the dress forward as she took a seat on a log bench across from him. “I take it Urbosa packed my bag for the trip?”

He only nodded in response, his eyes now back on the omelette cooking in the pan ahead of him, sizzling over the fire pit.

“That looks delicious,” Zelda said honestly, happy to change the subject and having just realized how hungry she was. “I didn’t know you could cook like that.”

“I hope it’s good,” Link replied, lifting the pan a moment later to flip the omelette onto a plate, “because this one’s yours. It’s hot,” he warned, passing it to Zelda, who took it in surprise.

“Thanks,” she said, taking a pair of utensils from him a moment later, resting the plate on her knees, and beginning to eat. She scarfed it back, careful not to let anything fall onto her dress, and her eyes fell shut at the first bite. It was just as tasty as it had looked. He’d put some meat into it, cheese, and peppers.

“It’s really good,” she admitted to Link, looking at him momentarily before eating the rest in silence as the blond leaned back and looked out at the village. Something about him made him easy company, though she wasn’t sure what, and it inspired her to be a little easier going herself.

“Does Impa know we’re here yet?” Zelda asked shortly after finishing her meal.

“I asked her guard to let her know this morning. We’re good to see her anytime now,” Link replied, taking Zelda’s plate back from her and giving it a quick wipe off before tucking it and the utensils back into a bag.

As they stood and readied themselves to see Impa, Link stopped at the bottom of the stairs. Zelda turned, looking back at him curiously.

“That - that dress looks nice on you,” he said quietly, and for once, his blue eyes weren’t looking straight at her. He seemed… almost nervous.

“It’s not my favourite,” she replied, taking a moment to savor the rare compliment, and as she turned back around she was unable to resist smiling to herself. “But thank you.”

Impa’s house was dim compared to the bright and bustling Kakariko. The Sheikah sat atop a small pillar of pillows, surrounded by books, and turned towards Link and Zelda as they pushed the giant wooden doors open carefully.

“Ah, it’s so good to see you two,” the woman greeted them, moving long white hair out of her face. “Jun told me to expect you this morning. What brought you both here on such short notice?”

Link and Zelda exchanged glances, and so the Gerudo walked hesitantly forward. On one hand, she was happy to see the Sheikah leader again, but on the other, she was nervous to hear what she might think.

“I’ve been having - well first off, we found notes the other day on each of our pillows, warning us that we had one month left,” Zelda began, figuring that some context was needed. Impa’s brown eyes narrowed sharply.

“One month until…?”

“I’m assuming… until Ganon returns to conquer Hyrule,” Zelda replied simply, and Impa nodded, gesturing for her to go on.

“So, I haven’t been sleeping well since that, and then I started to have these… vivid dreams. I passed out yesterday because I was so tired, and so Link brought me to you.”

“Smart man,” Impa noted, grinning towards Link.

“Your dreams are likely trying to tell you something. Tell me dear, what did you see?”

Zelda paused before she began. It would be a little awkward to say she dreamed of Link, but there was no avoiding it.

“I saw… myself, first, trapped inside Hyrule Castle,” she began, voice shaking a bit as she recalled how terrified she’d been in the dream. “And I saw Link, but it wasn’t quite him, wearing a red scarf and flying on some sort of scarlet bird,” she continued, sure she could feel his eyes on her. “I saw - I saw lots of Link. And myself.”

Impa nodded solemnly, but clearly knew Zelda had more to share.

“There was - there was a beast, and it was going to just swallow up everything. And a flood - and a moon. And then the sword was… talking to me,” she finished, wondering if she sounded simply like a lunatic.

“Mmm. Your dreams sound more like memories than something prophetic, but there could be a deeper meaning,” Impa mused, standing from her nest of pillows. “I’ve read many a book on legends past, my dear. You and Link - your souls are intertwined, and have a history tens of thousands of years old,” she continued. Zelda’s mouth dropped open as the Sheikah strolled past her. ...intertwined?

“It is said that an ancient voice resonates within the Master Sword,” Impa continued, and Zelda turned to see her pause in front of Link. “May I?”

Link obliged, unsheathing the sword and holding it out for Impa. She only examined it briefly, and then waved for Zelda to come closer.

“We cannot wield it. But perhaps… place your hand upon it.”

Zelda reached forward warily, touching her fingers to the blue hilt. All at once, Impa’s house had disappeared. Images flashed through her mind one after the other. There were too many for her to even hope to remember, but she remembered the image of a spring in the moonlight, the temple of time - one not in ruins like on the plateau - and the sound of Link yelling out her name in desperation. Her heart jumped. A blue face lingered in her memory, and her hand dropped from the sword.

Both Link and Impa were staring at her with a mix of confusion and curiosity, and each with one arm around her to keep her steady. Zelda blinked through tears she didn’t know were there. An inexplicable sadness tugged at her heart. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d somehow forgotten someone important to her.

“Visions, I assume?” Impa said suddenly, watching Zelda curiously. She hastily wiped away the tears from her cheeks.

“Yes. A spring and a temple,” she said, deciding to ignore the bit about Link yelling for her. It was already awkward enough.

“A spring? Tell me, have you traveled to the springs of Power, Wisdom, and Courage yet?” Impa asked, settling back into her pillows. Zelda nearly jumped as she heard Link sheathing the sword behind her.

“Yes, on a prayer trip not long ago that didn’t help anything,” she replied bitterly. Impa frowned.

“The Gerudo do not worship Hylia,” Impa said, though it was something of a question, and Zelda nodded in response.

“We look up to the seven - well, eight, traditionally - heroines,” she answered. “But I frequently make prayers to Hylia. Urbosa urged me to do so.”

Impa nodded, but otherwise said nothing, and it was painfully silent for some time. When she did speak, the Princess looked up hopefully.

“Zelda. I fear the sword is trying to tell you that time is not on your side. You and Ganon being born Gerudo was not in the stars, you know. Let alone the Calamity opting for a human form... But it is sounding more and more likely that he is in possession of the triforce of power.”

“I mean - I know he has it, but didn’t he already?”

“It is always within him, like wisdom is within you and courage in the Chosen Hero. But it often needs… a little something to wake it from its slumber,” Impa explained, chuckling a little in spite of the heavy conversation.

“There will be no hope in defeating him unless you and Link can both activate your triforces. However, if that note was accurate… you do not have much time,” she added, shaking her head. Zelda once again looked at Link, but his eyes were on Impa still. This was finally something that the two of them were on the same page with. She hated that she felt any relief at all in that fact.

“I do not know if I can provide any further help. But I implore you to take Link to the heroines, and for Link to take you back to the springs, if you can manage it,” Impa said strongly, looking at each of them in turn. “Do not take this the wrong way. But the two of you being born so far apart is to Ganon’s advantage. You must become more familiar with one another, more trusting. The Champions are a boon. But you two-”

The Sheikah sat up abruptly from her pillows, pointing two fingers towards Link and Zelda.

“- you two are the only real hope in defeating Ganon. You must be in harmony.”

Impa’s words hung heavy on Link and Zelda as they thanked her for her time, and left back down the wooden staircase into Kakariko. It was still early morning, and although Zelda wanted to stay and enjoy the village, they now had more on their to-do list.

“I can’t shake the feeling that I should go back instead,” Zelda complained as they reached the inn, feeling more than uneasy with everything Impa had said.

“Is it a gut feeling, or is it just guilt?”

The question gave her pause. She fell quiet as they entered the inn and Link asked the keeper for a map to borrow. As he studied it, she became a little lost in thought. He was right. It was strange not being with her people, but Impa really was the expert. As much as she wasn’t happy for having to spend more time alone with Link, it was nice to be away from home. Sort of.

“The Spring of Power is just north of here,” Link muttered to himself, pulling out some charcoal and making a line on the map. “Then wisdom on our way back. Courage in Faron last.”

“You’re… really going to come with me?” Zelda asked, almost disappointed. Her tone didn’t go unnoticed by the knight, who frowned.

“Impa knows what she’s talking about. We should give it a chance,” he replied, and the way he looked at her, she knew there was no arguing it. “Plus, it’s true, I- we barely know each other.”

Zelda watched him then as he looked back down at the map. He’d wanted to say I barely know you, she knew it, but then again she barely knew him either. Despite her impatience with the voe, she was curious, too. Especially after what Impa had said.

“How long will this trip take us?”

Link was quiet as he pondered it, and Zelda’s stomach sank as she saw him count on his fingers.

“Let’s say a week,” he finally said, and glanced up at her.

“That gives us only two weeks left when we get back,” she replied, feeling more and more disheartened. Link didn’t say anything in return. There was no way around it. When would she ever feel ready, realistically, to fight for her people and seal away some unknown horrible evil entity? No one knew better than Impa how to prepare for that.

“We have to send a hawk to Urbosa,” she said then.

“They have some here in Kakariko.”

“Fine,” she replied impatiently, “there’s really no shortcuts with this, are there?”

“No,” Link said simply, looking back down at the map. “So let’s go.”

She took the back of the horse this time, her arms secured around Link as they left north for Akkala. Part of her regretted not being in the front again, as now she simply felt like if she let go of him, she’d fly straight off. At least he wasn’t traveling at the same ridiculous speed as the day before.

Zelda had only seen Akkala once before, and they slowed as they reached the plains. It was late afternoon by the time they’d arrived, but at least the weather had held up; it was notoriously rainy there.

At first she wasn’t sure where the spring could possibly be. She’d forgotten almost everything about it. Link changed course suddenly to take them downhill into a rocky valley, and she watched curiously as pillars of stone and crumbling cliff flew past. When they stopped at one of the cliff faces and Link dismounted, Zelda thought he must have been playing a trick on her.

“Here,” he said, offering a hand to help her get down off the horse. She took it and slid off a little less gracefully than she would have liked, but Link only smiled a bit to himself and said nothing as he walked towards the cliff. She looked sideways at his horse, who sniffed her briefly with disinterest and then began grazing.

Strange animals.

“Here it is,” Link called suddenly, and she jogged towards him to see the voe pulling away a curtain of vines to reveal a tunnel. Now she remembered.

“Right,” she replied, “that’s why I thought this one was underground or something.”

“Maybe it once was,” Link replied thoughtfully, following behind her as she ducked under the leaves and headed through the tunnel. It was cool and damp, and at the end, the spring opened up beyond pillars decorated with the Hylian Crest. Like the other springs, it was somewhat in disrepair, but still beautiful. Water poured in on the cliff walls above, creating a pool that surrounded a particularly tall statue of Hylia. The setting sun dyed the water a deep golden colour.

She supposed now, the prayer dress had come in handy.

Link stood to the side as she walked forward, stepping slowly into the surprisingly warm water and approaching the statue. This corresponded to Gabon’s triforce, but it was worth a shot, anyways.

“I come in prayer, to ask your assistance as the Goddess reincarnate,” she began, “and as Princess of the Gerudo.”

It was silent except for running water behind her. She felt like it was futile already, and hated knowing that Link was behind her, listening.

“Prayer will awaken my power to seal Ganon away,” Zelda said, a little more firmly this time, as if saying it would perhaps make it more likely to be true.

“Or so I’ve been told,” she trailed off, falling quiet. Her hands fell to the side, hitting the water with a sort of finality. It didn’t feel good, being stuck in the dress from a place that wasn’t hers, standing in a pool of some water at a spring that was for her enemy’s source of power - true power. What wisdom did she have to show for herself? Everything felt… wrong.

“I’m done,” she said, turning on her heel and walking back through the water towards the landing. Link reached forward, but she ignored his hand and stepped up onto the stone.

“Already?”

“I think I’ll have more luck at Mt. Lanayru,” she replied simply, though she felt skeptical about even that. “I don’t know. This just… this isn’t me,” she protested suddenly, tossing the white fabric of her dress briefly in frustration. “This was made for a Hylian Princess. The one that would have had her sealing power by now. The one that wouldn’t be ruling her people already at such a young age. The one that would - that would know her destiny, and that would know - that would know-” she cut herself off, searching Link’s expression for anything to help her find the words.

“Me,” Link replied carefully. “I want to know you, too.”

She studied him for a moment, trying to judge the honesty of his words, but then again… he wasn’t one to lie. In all honesty, she was glad to see some sort of vulnerability from him. The only thing stopping her from believing him was wondering why. What about her was so intriguing to him? What did she have to offer him, anyways? Too many people got close to her purely to expect something in return, but Link so far hadn’t given anything of the sort away. It was still a little too good to be true to trust him as a friend, so far.

Once they’d left the rocky spring valley, Link slowed his horse, and Zelda noticed them turning the opposite way she’d expected. She glanced back towards Eldin Volcano to make sure she hadn’t just imagined it.

“We’re going to get you a horse,” Link said suddenly, and Zelda’s mouth dropped open a little. She didn’t want a horse, but she did want to ride separately from Link. Perhaps they could travel a little slower, then, and she wouldn’t have to have her arms latched around the voe constantly...

“I can’t bring it into the desert with me,” she reminded him, but Link shrugged.

“I’ll look after it for you.”

Link was insistent, so Zelda fell quiet as they slowly approached a group of wild horses. One black, one brown, one brown speckled, and one white, grazed quietly together nearby. Link dismounted suddenly, helping Zelda down, and together they peeked out from behind his stallion.

“One of them catch your eye?” he whispered, and Zelda gave it some thought. None of them looked like they particularly wanted to stop being wild, but she trusted Link and had seen him in action with animals already. His own horse had once been wild, but still seemed quite happy.

“The white one,” she admitted. “So… how exactly do you do this?”

“It can be dangerous, so I’ll get one for you and introduce you, ok?”

“Oh, alright,” Zelda said, watching curiously as Link began to creep forward in the tall grass. The horses didn’t notice him at all, but she was covering her eyes as he got closer. One kick could knock him right out. She gasped as the voe jumped atop the white one, steadily but slowly calming it down even as it desperately bucked and the other horses took off. For a moment she regretted it. There was no way that horse would warm to her.

Link rode it bare-back towards her - it looked disgruntled, but not angry like it had a moment ago, and as he slid off he took Zelda’s hand in his.

“What are you-”

She blushed, but he only lifted it slowly to the horse’s face, resting it on the animal before letting go. Zelda blinked. The sand seals were so much smaller. This horses looked alright from a distance, but up close, face-to-face, was intimidating. Link’s horse sniffed the newcomer absently. It wasn’t trying to run away, so that was good news, at least.

“I’ll help you on, and we’ll take it to the stable nearby. They can get you a saddle. Don’t be discouraged, it takes a bit for them to trust you,” he reassured her, linking his hands out and holding them next to the horse for her.

Hesitantly she stepped on, pulling herself over the horse carefully and thanking the heroines that her prayer dress was long enough to bundle some of the fabric between her legs. Link got back onto his own horse, and she dug her heels in a little to the horse’s sides, trying to urge it to follow him. It was clearly less than happy with the scenario, and more than once tried to turn a different way, but she did her best to calm it as they headed for the stable.

The workers there were kind enough to give her a locally-made saddle, which Link showed her how to put on the horse. She’d been asked to come up with a name, and although she didn’t want to use Link’s suggestion out of principal, as soon as he mentioned “Lilac” it seemed to fit the horse perfectly.

It wasn’t as warm riding without Link, but it was a little easier, and he gave her a brief lesson that evening. It proved useful, as Lilac warmed to her quickly, but Zelda wasn’t sure if the horse actually liked her, or just all the carrots and apples she’d been giving her.

They decided to stay at the stable overnight and begin their trip - a long trip - to Mount Lanayru the next day.

#zelink fanfiction #botw fanfiction #breath of the wild fanfiction #zelink #desert sun

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catsdaydreams · 7 years

Text

King

Chapter 7 of When the Crown Calls. Check out the other chapters here.

Maxwell x mc x Liam

Rated Mature. Like the unsolicited Dick pick my ex just sent me.

I keep trying to make this whole scene quick, I wanted to end “while you were sleeping” with the end of this event. But the story decided that it wanted more details and kept pushing it out further..

Requested Tags: @decisso @marcela13mars @viktoriapetit

I shook my head and looked him in the eyes, “I don’t back down.” I said, forcing steel into my vice. “No one is going to scare me away from court.” I stated icily.

We looked on as the estate grew ever larger in our vision. The limo pulled around the back of the estate as help came out to grab our bags. “Oh,” said a redheaded servant, noticing me as I stepped out of the limo. She fumbled on her words, “L-Lady Kendra. We weren’t aware of your arrival, we only have one room prepared for Lord Maxwell.”

I smiled politely, “No matter, I supposed Lord Maxwell will have to share.” I said, helping unload the bags. “T-There’s only one bed, M’Lady.” She said, looking appalled. My smile continued, “I’m sure there is an entertaining couch in the suite that he can sleep on, at very worst I’m sure Drake wouldn’t mind a bunk mate.” I said casually, ignoring Maxwell’s protests.

The servant smiled and nodded as she turned to lead us up to our room. She lead us to an extravagant Victorian themed suite, I noted that the room spared no amenities as the bar was extra stocked. “They sure do know how to make a guest feel welcome.” I chuckled and Maxwell. “Ah yes, this is our best suite, Duchess Adeline insisted that we let Maxwell have this room instead of King Liam.” The servant gushed looking around the room.

I stifled a laugh, and noticed Maxwell’s face paling. “And where is Drakes suite so I know where to crash tonight?” He asked fearfully, making it harder for me not to laugh. The servant lead Maxwell down the hall as I looked through the outfits Bertrand had sent in my suitcase. A form fit wrapped pink dress was folded on top with a note on the top. Maxwell insisted that we do our part to help you. This is designer, and will ensure that your return is all the statement you hope it will be.

I started for the bathroom when Maxwell re-entered, servant trailing not far behind with a dress bag in tow. “Hey, I brought something for today. Eyes are going to be on you and-” He stopped noticing the pink dress in my hands. “Where did that come from? It’s beautiful. Not exactly what I would wear to make an ‘I’m back bitches’, but still beautiful.” he said, splaying his arms out for effect on his statement.

“Bertrand said it was from you?” I questioned. Maxwell smiled and shook his head, “Good old Bertrand. He wanted to help.” He stated ushering for the dress bag, “however, I think you should save that, and wear this instead.” He pulled out a gorgeous floor length deep blue dress. The top was an embroidered design, and the satin bottom pooled perfectly.

“Maxwell, where on earth did you get your fashion sense?” I gaped at the gorgeous dress in front of me. Maxwell nodded his head in thanks as the servant slipped out quietly. “I always kind of hoped that the noble girls would take me shopping with them and let me watch them change.” Maxwell admitted. I turned and swatted his arm, “Maxwell Beaumont!” I gasped, giggling. “Hey!” He complained. “I didn’t say it worked,” he muttered.

Maxwell grabbed his suit and entered the bathroom once I had the gown on. I was applying make up as he slipped into his blouse and trousers. “You know you don’t need that.” He mused, as he tied his bow tie. “Somehow, you make that gown impossibly more beautiful.” He said, as I finished applying the final touch of mascara to my blue eyelids.

I started putting on the diamond necklace and earrings, as Maxwell started fiddling with my hair. I watched as he quickly braided it into a perfectly messy crown braid. I smiled at him, “Let me guess? Another sex tactic?” I said playfully.

He gave me a sad smile, “No. my mom. She always told me that it would be important to be able to connect with the love of my life on a more intimate level than the average man. She always said that I would have a happier life if I could help my wife with her hair now and then, or cook for her instead of trusting her or servants to do it all the time. She taught me that being together was a partnership and that being able to cross traditional lines might help me have a deeper connection.”

The melancholy laced in his voice pulled on my heart as he pinned in a loose strand of braid. He met my eyes in the large mirror in front of us, and smiled as he placed a kiss on my shoulder. He took a step back as he lifted his elbow to me. “Are you ready Lady Kendra?”

“I am, Lord Maxwell.”

We made our way to the ballroom and Maxwell stopped me before we entered the doors, “Kendra, a quick word of warning. They have a sunken ballroom, forcing both of the entrances to lead to grand stairs. So, it’s going to be an even more dramatic entrance than you might be thinking.”

I smiled, “How perfect. Honestly with how extra Madeline and her family are, I bet in another life we’d be friends.” I said, squaring my shoulders and raising my chin, nodding to the servants on either side of the door. Maxwell, shook his head and led me in using his usual jovial demeanor.

Maxwell wasn’t kidding, the over sized doors opened to a beautiful marble grand stairwell. The flashes instantly started, as did the whispers, as we made our way down the steps. At the base of the steps I heard Maxwell whisper some encouragement to me over the barrage of press questions in cordonian. I tried to make out what they were saying.

Being semi-fluent in Greek only gave me a slight advantage, as Cordonian was an older variation of common Greek. I smiled at a blonde lady waiting patiently at the front of the press for her turn to speak, I motioned to her as the rest of the group lowered there questions to a bearable buzz.

“Lady Kendra,-” She begins but is cut off by a beautiful woman in her thirties pushing her way through the crowd with authority. I notice Maxwell shuffling his feet next to me uncomfortably. “Lord Maxwell,” she begins coyly, “I see you’ve brought a most interesting plus one.” She says looking me from head to toe. Her eyes narrow at our arms linked together. She smiles warmly at me, “It would be a rather boring party without at least a little scandal, hmm Lady Kendra? Welcome to Fydelia.” She says offering up her hand.

“You must be Duchess Adeline.” I smile back,taking her hand suddenly understanding Maxwell’s discomfort. Internally I bristled with jealousy. I spot Penelope and Kiara whispering to each other, eyes wide, over her shoulder. She followed my gaze and gives an amused smile.

“My daughter will want to greet you personally. You should go and speak to her, I can keep Maxwell entertained in your absence. We have something to discuss anyway.” She said, added an edge to her voice at the end, and staring daggers at Maxwell.

“I, uh, need to talk to Drake about something.” He says, darting off. I decided to follow suit and make my way around the frowning duchess. I spotted a walking server in the crowd and chased down the flute of champagne I had been eyeing.

Madeline greeted me as I lifted the glass to my lips. “Lady Kendra! I am so glad to see that you are awake, and even discharged!” She feigned joy, “Are you sure that you shouldn’t be home resting.” She said pointedly. I gave her a charming smile, “I couldn’t miss the engagement tour of not only my king, but a close friend.”

She kept her face neutral, sidling up to me and dropping her breath so that no one could hear but us, “he’s hardly your friend, and Americans don’t have kings. They have presidents.” She seethed. I frowned at her, my volume matching hers, “Cordonia is my home now, and he is very much my friend. I have no intention of attempting to break up your engagement. Congratulations by the way.” I said, taking another sip of champagne.

Madeline took a moment to study my expression. “Well, I-” she stuttered. “Thank you. Welcome back to court.”

“You know, it was a stupid decision to show up here. It makes the target on your back larger, I’m sure it will make whoever initially set you up more desperate to force you to leave.” She said, matter-of-factly.

I tried to hide my surprise, “You knew I was set up?” She scoffed. “Of course I did. Anyone on the inside track knows that you were too focused on Liam to bother with a side piece. Never-minding the fact that you aren’t exactly Tariq’s type if you know what I mean.”

I gasped, “Tariq’s gay?!” She side eyed me, sipping her champagne. “What, you think all those late night smoke runs with Drake were actually smoke runs?” I frowned further. “Wait, Drake’s gay too?”

She shook her head, “God, you are so clueless. Drake doesn’t discriminate against either gender, and Tariq is practically on fire. He is the fashion coordinator for 95% of the court. Including the royal family.”

I paused for a moment and thought back on my time at court. “That explains why Drake never smelled like smoke when he came back.” I frowned, kicking myself internally for not noticing it sooner.

Liam appeared at Madeline’s side, slipping a kiss on to her cheek, causing both of to jump. “Darling you scared me,” she gushed. She motioned to me, “look who managed to make it.” Liam met my eyes, concern instantly filling his face.

“Kendra! What are you doing here? You should be at the Beaumont estate, resting. Not to mention all the press here.” He said irritation on his face, scanning the crowd for what I presumed was Maxwell. “Liam, I’m fine.” Madeline bristled at his almost over concern for my well being. “King Liam.” She corrected me, glaring as she looped her arm through his. “We need to make our rounds, being the couple of the hour is a demanding position.” She said sweetly, continuing her glare.

I nodded politely and brushed past them, lowering my voice for Madeline as I passed. “Claws down kitty cat.” I whispered. Turning my attention to the rest of the room. I noted Maxwell, Drake, and Hana standing with Penelope and Kiara.

Kiara stuck her nose up as I approached, attempting to discreetly pull Penelope away. I rolled my eyes as Penelope gave me a sad wave and walked off with Kiara. I shot her a grateful smile as my friends turned to greet me. “Kendra, you’re awake!” Hana said, pulling me into a deep hug. I relaxed, finally amongst friends. “I thought your parents pulled you out of Court?” I asked.

She smiled sheepishly, “one of my best friends was in a coma. There was no one that could pull me out of here.” Drake simply took a long sip of his whiskey. “Well you know me, Hernandez. Wherever King Ken-doll goes so do I.” He says, swirling the ice in his glass, bitterness in his voice.

I caught his eye and cocked my head questioningly. He shook his head in response. I suppose I would try to catch him alone later to figure out what was wrong. I turned back to the rest of my friends. “Okay scooby gang, what clues do we have as to who set up Tariq and I?”

Hana gave me a look of surprise, “aren’t you a little more concerned with the person that put you in a coma?” She asked incredulously. I shook my head, “No, Liam has Bastien on it.”

“King Liam.” Maxwell and Drake corrected simultaneously. I frowned at the two of them. “What is wrong with everyone today. I obviously know he’s the king, but were all on first name bases here. None of us ever use our titles.”

“It doesn’t matter Kendra. Things are different now that King Liam has been crowned. Even we need to use his title in public. The only person awarded the luxury of a public first name basis is Madeline.” Drake stated.

“To call him Liam in front of anyone at an event like this, is a blatant disrespect to Madeline.” Maxwell shrugged. I nodded in understanding, “that explains the daggers she was staring at me earlier.”

Drake smiled into his glass as he took another swig. “Classic Hernandez.”

“Has anyone seen Tariq?” I asked, attempting not to directly ask Drake. His statement was the best way to discredit the rumors that the photos had started.

“He left court after that night. He didn’t even make it to the coronation.” Drake mumbled. I frowned, realizing that Drake may have wanted to escort him.

The music signaling the arranged dances began, as per usual I grabbed Maxwell’s hand and led him on the floor. We danced our turn and it was close to switching time, Maxwell leaned into my ear. “Stay with me?” He whispered huskily.

I pulled back to look at his face. “That is incredibly bold, Lord Maxwell.” I giggled. He smiled, “Maybe its all this time hanging around an american.” I leaned into his shoulder, allowing him to pull me a little closer than necessary. It was only then that I realized his next dance partner was supposed to be Adeline. I smirked, putting the appropriate distance between us, as Maxwell frowned.

“Sorry, M’Lord. But this American has enough scandal under her belt.” I said, as we bowed to each other, prepping to switch partners. “Kenze, please. Stay with me.” He pleaded urgently, using the nickname he only used privately. I stifled a laugh. “Have fun with the Duchess.” I whispered, half laughing as I spun to my next partner.

Over the next 3 partners I heard about my own scandal non stop, Two inquires on how I had been so bold as to return to court, and one improper proposition. I sighed, moving onto the next partner not paying attention.

“Well hey there,” familiar arms wrapped around me. I looked up to see Drake smiling down at me. I breathed in relief, “Thank God. Someone who wont ask me about Tariq.” Drake frowned, “Actually,” He started. I shook my head.

“I should have known, Drake Walker doesn’t dance.” I said, annoyed. He glanced around the room. “I wanted to make sure you were okay. A lot has happened in the last year.” He said giving me a twirl. “I could ask the same thing. I know about you and Tariq.” I said quietly. Drake chuckled, “Don’t worry about that. Tariq knew how to have fun, but that’s all it was.”

Drake was surprisingly well versed at these dances for someone who refused to do so. He led me around the floor with ease. “You’re much better at this than Maxwell or King Liam.” I mused. Drake blushed, “yeah, well someone had to teach the two of them.” He muttered. His eyes met mine, searching for something as we bowed to switch. I spun to meet my next dance partner.

I blushed as I met Liam’s gaze. We didn’t speak as we continued the waltz, simply enjoying dancing together. My eyes met Maxwell’s over Liam’s shoulder, his expression hooded.

I frowned as Liam let me into the dip and pulled me flush up against him. “Oh.” I said, breaking the silence between us. “This seems a little close for the dance floor.” I whispered, swaying with the music. I felt his smile, “don’t worry. At this point I think the only one sober enough to notice is Madeline, and she doesn’t mind.” I pulled back, keeping rhythm with the song. “She is your fiancee. Of course she cares.”

Liam let a short breath out of his nose, “This is Cordonia, mi amor.” He said silkily. I was startled at his use of Spanish, his greek accent curling around the words. He noticed my confusion, “You know my native language, I figured the least I could do was learn a few phrases in yours. As I was saying.” He continued.

“Madeline and I have a deal. In the public, we maintain our appearance. But privately, we don’t owe each other anything.” He said, the end of the dance rapidly approaching. “Meet me on the balcony at 12?” He said, bowing his head to me.

“Ill be sure to leave my glass slippers in my room.” I quipped back. He smiled and kissed my hand politely, as I swung into the arms of Maxwell bringing the dance to a full circle. Signifying the end of the dance.

Oh look, a representation for my life. I thought as Maxwell shot a look of jealousy at Liam.

I wasn’t going to be able to keep this dance up for very long. I was going to have to end it somewhere.

Shit.

Next chapter

#maxwell beaumont #maxwell x mc #mc x liam #liam rys #trr #fanfic #au #trr book 2 #choices #play choices #choices fandom #when the crown calls #the angst is about to be real #hope yall are ready because the next chapter is LIT #sorry that the details made it so long

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fortisfiliae · 7 years

Text

You’ve Changed - Chapter 2

Characters involved: Sirius Black x Amy McConnell, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Lily, James and Harry Potter

A/n: A lot of plot and explanations, of how the marauders grew since Hogwarts, what jobs they have and what they’re up to, in this chapter! (Also five-year-old Harry being cute!!!)

Find the other parts on my Masterlist linked in my bio!

Warnings: mentions of war and fighting; alcohol, smoking and drama at the end

Word count: 2.7k

Chapter Two - Dinner Disclosure

Piles of clothes were spread everywhere across Amy’s bedroom after she desperately tried to find the perfect outfit for dinner with her former schoolmates. She needed something that said ‘I got my life together, but I’m still having the best time of my life’, even if she knew, both of these statements were only partly true. Would this black skintight dress be too formal? The others have always been rather casual back then, but were they still like that? Another reminder of how little she actually knew about the Gryffindors she once shared classes with, since none of them made an effort to stay in contact. Not that they were obligated to, Amy couldn’t be bothered to try either, because they haven’t been friends in Hogwarts - just students that happened to be in the same year and got along without any noteworthy incidents. They haven’t been friends, so why would they invite her anyway?

‘Screw it’, she thought and went with the first things she had tried, a pair of pitch black skinny jeans, a burgundy blouse, her cream coat and a pair of every-day black ankle boots, before she cast a tidying spell, that made the mountains of unused clothing float back neatly into the wardrobe. She fished the piece of paper with Lily’s and James’ address out of the back pocket of her working trousers, took a deep breath to concentrate before she closed her eyes and disapparated.

Amy arrived directly at their doorstep, as she had intended. ‘Still got it, not a bit rusty’, she thought, as she raised her hand to knock on the door, but ended up hesitating, wondering if she really was welcome - for Godric’s sake, she didn’t even know anyone in there properly. What if she wouldn’t connect with this group of best friends? What if they had no topics to talk about, resulting in awkward silence, while cutlery scratched on dirty plates? She quickly shook off those thoughts, they had invited her, after all. It would be fine. And if not, she could leave and never had to see anyone, except for Remus, again. So she exhaled sharply and finally knocked three times.

The door swung open, Sirius standing in the frame. “Thought you’d never knock”, he said jokingly. “Second guessing?”

“Reconsidering maybe”, she said with a slight smile, as she stepped in. “Did you watch me?”

“I heard you apparating outside and came to check who it was”, Sirius told her and pointed at the spyhole. “Hello by the way”, he added and leant in to air kiss each of her cheeks, his stubble ghosting her skin.

“Hi”, she breathed in between them, wondering when this form of greeting has become a thing, while she unbuttoned her coat.

“Let me help you with that”, he said and took it off her shoulders. “The others are in the living room, over there.”

Amy went through the half-open door into the cosy room, which had a nice little fireplace next to two small sofas, some bookshelves in the corner and a dinner table on the other side of it. Remus was leaning against a chair, talking to James, both turning their heads her way when she approached them. Each of the two shook her hand and pulled her a little closer by the shoulder, greeting her with a warm hug - no air kisses this time.

Before they could start talking, Amy felt something gripping her pinky and pulling on it. She turned around and looked down to a small boy, who was without a doubt the Potters’ son. Every inch of his face, including his wild black hair and a mini version of round glasses, looked like an exact copy of James, except for the green eyes - they were Lily’s. He was about one meter tall, reaching a little bit above her hips, so Amy squatted to match his size.

“Hi there”, she said as he still held her pinky, yet didn’t look into her eyes as she spoke.

“Who are you?”, he asked and swung her hand from left to right gently.

“I’m Amy. And who are you?”

“Harry”, he said with a grin, before he finally made eye contact again. “Are you uncle Padfoot’s girlfriend?”

“What?”, she laughed. “Who is uncle Padfoot?”

Harry turned around and pointed at Sirius, who just entered the living room, making Amy raise her brows, which led Harry to giggle, swinging her hand more powerfully.

“No, I’m not his girlfriend. Why did you think that?”, she asked.

He let her hand go and began to explain, using various gestures to emphasize his words: “Uncle said a new friend would come today. And you’re a girl, you know. A friend who is a girl, is a girlfriend, obviously.”

James and Remus snorted at his cute answer and Amy bit back her laughter, saying: “Sounds very logical to me. Maybe your Dad will explain what a girlfriend is, some time.”

Sirius joined them and ruffled up Harry’s hair even more. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Girlfriends”, Harry told him and clumsily tried to fix the mess on his head.

Amy stood up laughing and looked over to Remus and James, who have been watching them amusedly. “Lily’s in the kitchen, if you want to say Hello”, James whispered to her and gave her a chance to escape, before Harry would demand more details regarding girlfriends. She smiled thankfully and pointed to the door on the other side of the room, raising her brows questioningly, to which James nodded.

Entering the kitchen, Amy found Lily preparing dinner, surrounded by steaming pots and pans, some already cleaning themselves in the sink. She clearly knew how to combine muggle and wizard cooking, as she effortlessly swung her wand, as well as a wooden spoon.

“Sorry to interrupt you”, Amy raised her voice, to not get drowned by the steaming and sizzling sounds from the stove. “Can I help out somehow?”

“Oh hi Amy”, Lily cooed, turning her way and greeted her with a small hug. “No way you’re helping, you’re our guest.”

“Alright then. Thank you for the invitation by the way. I wouldn’t have thought that Remus and you wanted me to drop by”, Amy said.

“Remus and I?”, Lily asked, before she dipped a spoon into the pot with gravy and gave it a taste.

“Yeah, Sirius said you wanted to meet again. Because we were fellow prefects back in school.”

“Oh... Right. I think Sirius may have fibbed you there. He was the one who asked us if he could invite you.”

“What?”

“Yes, actually I wasn’t really sure about bringing someone new to our house, given the circumstances. But he and Remus assured that you’re trustworthy. So we agreed and we’re happy to have you here now.”

Great start. They didn’t even want her to come and now she was there, a gatecrasher, untrustworthy at that. She could already sense the awkward silence that was going to linger during dinner. “I’m really sorry. I can leave if you want. Sirius told me... He... That git”, Amy struggled for words, her embarrassment spreading in dark red on her cheeks.

Lily took a step towards her and tried to calm her down: “No, stay. Please. As I said, I’m really happy to have you and we all need a breath of fresh air in here. If I really didn’t want you to come, I wouldn’t have let him invite you.”

Peter arrived just in time for dinner, the others joking about his bad habit of always being late, but never late for food. He shook Amy’s hand quickly, his palm was sweaty and he seemed tired but jittery. She remembered how Peter has always been the shyest of the group, in school. He had been chubby back then, still was somehow, but he looked like he had lost some weight recently.

They sat down at the table, three people at each long side of it and Harry at the top, in his highchair. Lily sat next to him, with James and Peter on one side, while Amy sat on the opposite, Sirius to her left and Remus to her right. Lily had really outdone herself with the dinner she prepared, it was delicious. While everyone munched on it, they talked about the things they have been up to since Hogwarts. James had ditched his Quidditch career because he didn’t want to show himself in public all the time and had become an Auror for the ministry, while Lily stayed at home with Harry for now. Remus worked at Being Division, Peter at Obliviator Headquarters - both in the ministry as well, making Amy wonder how 75 per cent of the infamous Marauders managed to get those jobs. Sirius told that he had also applied as Auror, but got rejected each time, due to his family’s reputation of glorifying dark magic. He eventually accepted the ministry’s decision and started a business as a tattoo artist, after apprenticing enchanted body art.

They wanted to know how Amy got her job at J. Pippin’s Potions, so she explained that she went to Greenock straight after Hogwarts. Professor Slughorn had offered her to go there and get vocational training in Potions, from his dear friend Ilona Marth. A chance she couldn’t deny, so she accepted and had been living there for two years.

“So you’re a Potions master now, right?”, Remus asked as he put the last bit of mashed potatoes on his fork.

“I am, yes. And sort of a Mediwizard too, as they go hand in hand”, Amy replied.

“And you never thought about teaching in Hogwarts?”, Lily asked impressed.

“Not really. I wanted to experience the ‘real life’ outside of school for a while. Maybe someday, but as far as I know, they got Severus as a Potions master at Hogwarts now.”

“Gosh, Snape”, Sirius mumbled before sipping on his wine.

“Yeah, I think we can agree not to talk about Snivellus again”, James jokingly added.

“James”, Lily rolled her eyes at him and got up to pick up Harry from his chair, before she went upstairs with him and put him to sleep.

Conversations went on very easily, against Amy’s expectations. They had a lot to talk about, possibly because they still needed to get to know each other. After her second glass of wine, Amy was confident enough to ask the burning question she had been thinking of, for a while.

“So, are the rumours true?”, she asked carefully. “Did you-know-who attack you?”

The others shared a quick glance, seemingly checking if someone disagreed with telling. As no one intervened, James said: “He tried. But we were prepared.”

Lily went on: “We used various protection spells on our house and made Sirius our secret keeper, so no one can find it unless he tells them. We’re safe here, but have to watch out everywhere else.”

That’s why she has been unsure about Amy. Sirius wanted to reveal their secret to her. And she let him. “Where is he now?”, Amy kept asking.

Remus began to explain: “He and his Death Eaters attacked us during a mission for the Order.”

“The Order?”

“Guys, don’t you think it’s a little early for disclosing that?”, Peter whispered, picking his fingernails.

“Don’t kick up a fuss, Wormtail”, Sirius shushed him.

“We’re all part of an organisation called The Order of the Phoenix. Dumbledore founded it years ago and we joined right after school”, Remus continued to explain.

“We could use a Potions master slash Mediwizard among us, actually”, James said invitingly.

“And what exactly does the Order do?”, Amy asked, more baffled than anxious.

“Guys”, Peter tried to stop them, in a breathy tone. “Enough!”

“Shut it, Peter!”, Sirius simply clipped.

“We’re fighting Voldemort and his allies, trying to destroy them”, James told her.

Lily ran her finger on the rim of her wine glass and sighed. “You surely have heard of the prophecy about Harry. Since Voldemort found out about it, he tried to kill my boy, along with all of us. But we managed to fight him off. We damaged him pretty severely last time.”

“Damaged?”

“He escaped. I don’t think he’s dead, just very weak”, Lily went on.

“I tried to find them multiple times, but the Death Eaters always seem to be one step ahead”, James conceded and shook his head slightly.

Peter suddenly jumped from his chair, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “I said enough!”, he hissed. “You invite a stranger to our house and credulously tell her all of the things we swore to keep a secret after we had dinner once?! And even ask her to join the Order, despite knowing nothing about her. She could be a spy!”

There was the awkward silence. They watched him open-mouthed, as he stood there in a rage, chest heaving heavily.

“I, I’m sorry”, Amy mumbled. “I didn’t -”

“Peter”, James tried to stay calm. “First of all, this isn’t your house. It’s Lily’s and mine.”

“I’m aware of that. Amy, this is nothing personal, but I can’t believe you guys just trust any stranger Sirius obviously just wants to shag”, it blurted out of him.

“What the fuck, Peter! Are you out of your mind?”, Sirius shouted as he got up himself.

“Okay, I’m going to head home now”, Amy interrupted them, feeling both angered and humiliated. “I’m sorry I caused this. Thank you for dinner, it was lovely, Lily. It’s been nice seeing all of you again. Peter.” She looked at him one last time, his face wrapped in a frown before she headed to the door.

“Wait! Don’t go”, Sirius tried to stop her, as she put on her coat. “I don’t know what’s gotten into him. He’s talking utter bullshit.”

“Well, I can’t know that. Because he’s right. We don’t know each other. You don’t know if I can be trusted. But I can assure you, I’m not a quick shag”, she replied, hastily buttoning up her jacket and walked outside.

Sirius followed her, grunting: “He knew that would make you leave. That’s why he said it. Bastard.”

Amy stopped on the doorstep, turned around to face him and said: “I’m certainly not staying if someone inside clearly doesn’t want me there.”

He sighed, reached into his back pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one with his wand, taking a drag before answering: “I understand that.” He blew out a cloud of smoke and continued: “But you know everyone else thinks you’re to be trusted. Peter will settle down. And I don’t see you as a quick shag.” He inhaled once more. “I mean. You know I’m always down, but you’re not like that.”

Amy let her head fall back and laughed at his comment. “You lied to me. Lily told me they didn’t want me to come in the first place.”

“True”, he mumbled. “But would you have agreed to come, if I said that it was only me that wanted you here?”

“Probably not”, she admitted.

“See? And aren’t you glad you came?”, he asked ironically.

“I was until five minutes ago”, Amy chuckled once more, while she took a step closer to him, glanced at his lips, where the cigarette lingered and took it from there, between her index and middle finger. His eyes followed her hand, his head neared hers slowly, as his view wandered up to her mouth.

“Good night, Sirius”, she whispered, brought the cigarette up to her mouth, took a drag and disapparated.

Find the other parts on my Masterlist linked in my bio!

I so hope you like where this is going, as I am really excited about this story! It would mean the world if you told me what you think and feel free to tell me your suggestions for the plot. Thank you for reading, xoxo

Permanent tags: @geeksareunique @little-hufflepuff-badger @marauderskeeper @giggleberts @way-obsessed5 @oreofrappiewithblueberry @draqcnheartstrinq @stxxphi @whatisthisthingcalledlife Let me know if you want to be tagged (permanently, or just in this series)!

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starlightsmusings · 7 years

Text

AO3 Link

Promnis Week Day 1: First meeting / “Can I take a picture of you like this?”

Prompto struggled with the drawstring on his now too-loose sweatpants. Every time he managed to tie a knot, it always seemed to loosen just enough for the pants to feel like they were falling off, or occasionally the knot would be so tight he could feel every inch of the rope dig into his skin. Part of him knew he should just get new pants, and part of him knew school was still a month away and he was planning on exercising every day between now and then.

He sighed before tugging the knot one last time, hoping that it would stay for at least half his run. He slipped his shoes on, put his music on, and locked his door behind him before starting his morning run.

When he first started running, he ran in the afternoon.To him, it made sense. A lot of people ran in the morning, and he could avoid running into (more fit) runners by going in the afternoon, plus it gave him the morning to do chores or, if he was truthful with himself, to sleep in on days he wasn’t in school.

After a few afternoon runs, he realized that the morning joggers had the right idea.There were too many people in the afternoon and it was too hot to run even a short distance most of the time. He tried going whenever he woke up for the day, but found he was still having to awkwardly jog around people, which meant he still had to deal with staring from everyone. Even the quieter pathways were still pretty busy so he knew he had change when he ran.

Mornings were, generally, a lot better. Sure, getting up early still sucked, but having to only deal with other joggers, who were often too focused on their self to pay him much attention, and the occasional shop owner who was fine having him help out in exchange for food was totally worth it.

“Mornin’, Prompto!”

“G’morning Miss Rosa!” He slowed his jog down as he approached her as she finished unlocking the door to her bakery. “Need any help this morning?”

The brunette chuckled. “I was hoping you’d ask. I have a couple of things that I can’t move on my own, and Emily won’t be up for at least an hour...”

“Just point the way!” He ducked into her store and immediately saw the bags of flour and other ingredients next to the counter.

“The delivery man came right as we were closing so we didn’t get a chance to move them.”

Prompto picked up the first bag, shifting it so he could at least see around it. “Put it in the kitchen?”

“Oh, Prompto. Let me help--”

“Nope!” He quickly turned so the bag was out of her reach and started moving towards the back of the shop. “I got it. And b’sides, you shouldn’t be lifting anything.”

“You’re just as bad as Emily.” Rosa put her hands on her hips, which only accentuated her ever-growing stomach. “Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I can’t help.”

Prompto didn’t bother responding when he came to pick up the next bag.

“Fine,” she sighed. “I’m going to check what’s in the oven. If a customer comes in while I’m finishing up, can you at least greet them?”

He shrugged as best as he could while holding the bag. He didn’t expect anyone to come in this early, so he didn’t see it being an issue.

The bell on the door dinged just as he placed the third bag in the supply room. He looked over to Rosa only to have his hopes squashed as she was still very obviously getting a few more things ready to sell.

I can totally do this. It’s only one person….I hope.

“Good morning!” Prompto started as he walked into the room. “Is there anything I can...help you with?” He barely managed to get the words out once he took a look at who was in the store. The man who had entered the store was definitely not from this part of town--His glasses alone probably cost more than Prompto’s entire wardrobe, and his entire outfit seemed to be coordinated down to the last detail. Prompto awkwardly reached up to adjust his own tape-covered glasses, and then his shirt in a futile attempt to look slightly more put together.

“Yes. I was hoping to procure a few loaves of bread.” Plus apparently an accent that he hadn’t heard before.

Prompto nodded before realising that the man wasn’t looking in his direction. “You, uh, came to the right place then.”

“Do you happen to have any whole grain or sourdough?” he asked, turning to face Prompto.

He has really nice eyes. Prompto shook himself to stop his thoughts, though that didn’t stop his face from heating up. “The sourdough is over there on the wall, and if you want to wait a bit the whole grain will be ready.”

The other man thought for a moment. “Unfortunately, I’m on a bit of a schedule. They’ll just have to live with sour dough I suppose.”

“Oh.” Prompto paused for a moment. “I don’t know what exactly your tastes are, but I’ve always liked the rye. I mean, I all the options are good and I only get it occasionally and its normally a day or two after.” He quickly shut his mouth once he realized he was rambling.

The man gracefully adjusted his glasses before speaking again. “It’s not typically what we get, but it wouldn’t hurt to broaden our horizons.”

Prompto nodded and put the loaves in a bag as quickly as he could so he wouldn’t make a bigger fool out of himself. He almost managed the full transaction without too much more of a hiccup, but then they happened to touch as he was handed the money, which caused almost all of it to fall on the counter. The other man started to apologize and help Prompto pick up the money, but he had somehow managed to gather all of it to his own side.

“I, uh, got it. Thanks though.”

He let out a shaky exhale when the man finally left the store. Dealing with people, he decided, was definitely not his strong suit. Especially well-dressed men with accents and very nice eyes.

“So, who was the guy I just missed you fawning over?”

“Rosa!” Prompto whined. “Why didn’t you help me?”

“I’ll need a story to tell at your wedding one day,” she teased before handing him a bag with a few loaves of bread.

“I’m not helping you anymore,” Prompto grumbled.

“Sure, Prompto. I’ll see you in the morning.” She started guiding him out of the shop. “And who knows, maybe he’ll be back tomorrow!”

Prompto could only groan since he knew she wasn’t going to drop it any time soon.

Over the next few weeks, he still occasionally helped out at Rosa’s bakery in the morning, but as he geared up for school starting, he started his morning runs a little earlier and had to actually stick to a schedule. She still teased him about the man who had stopped in, especially since he was now somewhat of a regular at her store. According to Rosa, he actually wasn’t that much older than him and was finishing up school fairly close to where Prompto was going to school.

Prompto knew she meant well, and that she really just wanted to make more friends closer to his age, but well, after miraculously befriending the Prince, the guy he had only met once wasn’t as much of a priority in his mind.

“Hey, want to hang out tonight?”

“Uh, sure. If you don’t mind.”

“Sweet. I’ll text Specs to pick us up.”

Within minutes a car had pulled up in front of their school and Noctis got in, motioning Prompto to follow him.

“Did you two have a good day at school?”

Prompto froze as he was putting on his seatbelt. It couldn’t be.

“It was boring.”

“Then I’m assuming that your homework won’t take you that long to finish tonight then.”

Prompto quickly finished putting his seatbelt and turned his attention to anywhere he didn’t have to make eye contact with the man who was driving. He knew he was probably bright red and drawing the attention of him anyways, though I doubt he even remembers me. He was thankful that Noctis and the other man were talking because he knew would turn into a bumbling mess if he were to try right now.

The drive itself was luckily very short, though it did not stop his brain from running a million different scenarios in his brain.It took him a few moments to realize that they even stopped and that Noctis was already getting out of the car.

“Prompto.”

He managed to look up and meet the other man’s eyes in the rearview mirror.

“The rye was an excellent choice. Thank you for the recommendation.”

“I, uh. You’re welcome?” He managed to stammer out. Without another thought, he started getting out of the car. “See you inside?”

Prompto thought he heard a soft laugh, but he was pretty sure his ears were playing tricks on him.

“You most certainly will.”

Prompto gave him a quick nod before following Noctis inside one of the many doors.

Well, maybe they would be seeing more of each other than he ever thought they would.

#promnisweek #promnis #ffxv fanfiction #starlights fanfics

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texanredrose · 7 years

Text

All the Steps

Yang couldn't help but smile, watching her girlfriend fidget out of the corner of her eye. Seeing the typically calm and poised Specialist Winter Schnee genuinely nervous already made for a peculiar sight but add to that the way she kept smoothing her hands down her pant legs and picking nonexistent lint from the fabric pushed the situation from concerning to amusing for the blonde.

"You're freaking yourself out, you know," she said, failing to keep the smile from her voice as the woman jolted in the passenger seat of her sporty little coupe. Yang hadn't put up much fuss when Winter insisted they leave Bumblebee behind but being asked to do the driving raised a red flag or two. She didn't mind, of course, seeing as she got a kick out of driving itself- two wheels or four, didn't matter. However, her girlfriend preferred being in control when it came to the car and only ever abstained when she wanted to make especially clear that she trusted the blonde fully or when her thoughts tended towards the heavy side. Given the quiet ride, she had the distinct impression it was a bit of both this time. "It's going to be fine, Winter. We've made it through much worse than this."

"I know that but I've never done this, Yang." The woman sighed, catching herself combating imaginary wrinkles and instead curling her hands into fists atop her thighs to stop the anxious gesture. "It's a big step. Comparatively speaking."

"Really?" She glanced over, cracking a smile before returning her gaze to the road. "First date, first kiss, first time sleeping together- and not in that exact order- those were the small steps?"

"You know what I mean." Despite the lack of laughter, the woman seemed to relax a little. "Before, the only opinions that mattered were our own. This invites others to give theirs, and that's not something to be taken lightly."

The blonde hummed, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the point. Three years ago, she might've laughed at the thought of someone's opinion having any real bearing on her, but then Beacon fell and she lost her arm trying to protect her best friend from a madman. After wading through a pit of despair and pulling herself together enough to get back into the fight, Yang had a much firmer grasp on the detrimental impact a few choice words could have on a person. The past year of their relationship, free of the struggle to keep that demon witch from plunging the world into darkness and shadow, had strengthened her faith in the Atlesian, so she didn't fear that today might bring an end to their relationship; at the same time, no reason to burn those bridges if they didn't have to, though keeping their relationship low key had become a burden in recent months.

"You think they won't like me?" Yang kept her tone light despite the small tendril of concern worming its way into her heart. Weiss hadn't spoken of her family- save Winter- with much fondness over the years, so she had some idea of the lions' den they would be entering. She'd come to terms with the idea that following through on the assurances she'd given to her teammate years ago would never come to pass, or at least not in the same manner; while she doubted the sisters would hold it against her, punching their father straight in his face didn't seem like the best way to make a first- or subsequent- impression.

A hand appeared on her wrist, gently pulling her hand from the steering wheel so their fingers could interlace. "It doesn't matter if they do or do not, Sundrop. We make each other happy and that's what should matter." The woman sighed, giving her metallic hand a reassuring squeeze. "I just... would greatly prefer if they see you the way I do."

"As a drop dead sexy, hilarious bombshell, you mean?" The blonde flashed a smile while slowing down for a red light.

"As a caring, compassionate, strong and vibrant companion who makes me very happy," Winter replied, raising their joined hands to brush a kiss against the prosthetic, somehow making her blush slightly as the car came to a complete stop. The sensors weren't quite that sensitive- she certainly couldn't feel the light pressure or the texture of her girlfriend's lips- but it never failed to make her heart skip a beat when the woman treated her artificial limb as though it was real. Not to say that she ignored the prosthetic's presence, of course, but she didn't show favoritism to either hand the way others tended to, either falling on the side that found artificial limbs disturbing or those who found them a bit too... interesting. "Plus all those other things."

"Aw, you think I'm hilarious?" Now in no danger of causing a wreck, Yang leaned over and drew her girlfriend into a proper kiss, their lips sliding together with practiced ease. Even after the kiss broke, they stayed close, foreheads touching as they looked into each other's eyes. "See, this is why I Schneed to keep you around. You're great for my ego."

Xiao Long are you going to keep this up?" The woman raised a brow, a smile curling her lips. "You keep me around for more than just your ego's sake, and we both know it."

"Well, you're quite the Specialist when it comes to making me happy." She managed to sneak another kiss before the light changed and her attention returned to the road, though their hands remained clasped on the arm rest between them. "You're strong, stubborn, perceptive- I could keep going, but you're especially confident in your decisions, and you decided to stick with me. Anyone who truly cares about you will respect that." She paused. "Unless I screw this up somehow. Then, they'll help you with an air tight alibi and a six foot ditch."

"Morbid, but not untrue," Winter said, a sigh slipping past her lips. "You're right. I'm worrying over nothing. This meeting changes nothing no matter how it goes; it's just a polite formality and everything will be fine."

"That's the spirit," she said as they pulled up to a fancy restaurant in downtown Vale, the sleek coupe left running as valets came to open both doors. The duo split their time between a small, cramped officer's quarters on Winter's assigned base in Mistral and an apartment near the newly reconstructed Beacon grounds. On occasion, Winter went back to the Schnee estate in Atlas on her own while the blonde went to Patch to see her Dad, and they hadn't quite decided on where to dettle down when the time came. They agreed moving between two or three kingdoms wouldn't be good in the long term, especially for little ones, but Winter's position in the military only offered so many opportunities for stabilization, and there weren't any open in Atlas or Vale. For the moment, they'd agreed to table the discussion until they tired of the traveling or their feelings on the matter dramatically changed, but Yang found herself itching to bring the topic up again soon. She might still be five years shy of the big three-oh, but with that milestone coming up next year for her girlfriend, the idea of starting their own family seemed... well, appropriate. She thought, anyway. Tearing her thoughts away from that tangent, lilac eyes traced over the marble facade of the building, letting out a low whistle. "Man, this place is classy, huh?"

"It's the best restaurant in Vale that serves traditional favorites, even those little desert cakes you love. I thought it appropriate." The woman stepped up beside her, offering an arm. "You deserve the best."

"Guess that's why I have you," she replied, linking their arms together with a bright smile. "I love you, Snowdrift."

"And I, you, Sundrop."

After exchanging a quick kiss, they proceeded up the steps with Yang's off hand lifting the hem of her dress just a little. Although she didn't share her sister's disdain for 'lady stilts', the blonde still didn't wear dresses or heels often enough and enjoyed the excuse to trade her typical Huntress attire- perfect for just about any occasion, as it greatly mimicked Winter's military uniform nowadays, with white lining the edges of her coat- for a simple yellow sundress and a bit of jewelry. Nothing fancy, just a chain around her neck and some nice earrings, but she'd put in effort to at least look not entirely out of place among plush carpet and marble columns, soft strings and hushed chatter.

However, with the blink of an eye, her mind suddenly shoved a memory forward- from when they'd returned to Beacon's ruins, had trekked down the very road outside the restaurant and seen with their own eyes the damage wrought during the Fall, and suddenly that imagery became her reality. When she opened her eyes, she tensed, unsure how the broken walls had suddenly rebuilt themselves, the restaurant's trademark no longer in smashed pieces across the foyer but hanging above the host's stand on display, and the pristine white carpet beneath her had lost its blood stains. A lance of hot pain shot through her right arm, making her fingertips tingle- except, she hadn't had proper fingertips in years, but that didn't stop her wince.

"Yang? Are you alright?" Concern colored her girlfriend's voice, white brows pinching together while she soothingly rubbed at the skin just above her anchor with her right hand, the woman's left arm seeming ready to quickly wrap around her if need be.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She covered gentle fingers with her own, a tight smile on her lips. "Just some phantom pain, that's all."

"Did you bring your medicine?" They stopped short of the podium and Yang wouldn't put it past her love to turn them around and head back to the apartment to retrieve the pills in a heartbeat.

"Left it in my jacket," she replied, anticipating the lecture she was sure to receive for that oversight. In her defense, she'd never liked carrying purses and her scroll had been built into her arm since the third iteration, so she didn't exactly think to carry anything with her usually. Had she worn her usual outfit, this might've been avoided, but catching their reflections in a mirror set in the entryway- Winter in a crisp pantsuit, tailored jacket accenting her figure while the white and gold made blue eyes pop, beside her, a soft dress coupled with hard won muscles and the gleaming metal of her prosthetic- reminded her that a little inconvenience was worth it. Besides, the episodes passed quickly enough, and already the images had faded from the front of her mind. "It's nothing, I promise."

Her girlfriend frowned, concerned blue eyes flicking over the blonde's form before she sighed. "I should've reminded you. I usually do, but I've been so distracted recently." She leaned over and pressed a kiss against Yang's temple. "We can always reschedule this. We can leave right now-"

"Snowdrift," she said, a chuckle escaping as she leaned into the woman's side, forehead brushing against Winter's cheek. "I'm fine. It's just a bit of bad memories touched with phantom pain, nothing worth stressing over. And this is just lunch; if it gets worse, I'll let you know, okay?"

Although reluctant to do so, her girlfriend ultimately relented with a soft smile and drew her into a gentle embrace. "Promise me you'll say something before it gets too bad. I know you like to tough it out, but you really don't have to today, okay?"

"Okay." Yang smiled as lips pressed against the top of her head. Sometimes, she really couldn't believe how, after all the pain, she'd done enough things right to warrant this happy outcome. "On the plus side, if things get awkward, we have an excuse to leave."

She both felt and heard the woman's chuckle. "Indeed we do."

The soft clearing of a gruff throat, however, reminded both of them that they weren't alone, though neither seemed in a hurry to break the embrace. Still, Yang did her best to marshal her thoughts now that they'd arrived at the moment of truth, her posture stiffening every so slightly. Thankfully, it seemed like her girlfriend didn't mind the interruption, no little bit of anxiety shooting through her as she remained relaxed and content, even while moving to acknowledge the newcomer. Gathering her courage, Yang turned and did her best to hide her surprise.

She expected Jacques, the forceful, controlling, downright lovely bastard who considered himself head of the Schnee family- or at least, he did up until a few years ago. Weiss had managed to back the man into a corner after Salem's defeat and reclaimed the family business, estate, and name, much to his bitter disappointment. Between sisters, she'd yet to hear a kind word said about the man; out of all the things that could happen today, the blonde had promised herself that causing her girlfriend's father bodily harm wouldn't be one of them. At least, she would try.

So, to say Yang was surprised when she turned and found, rather than the bitter old man she'd yet to meet, a distantly familiar face proved to be a massive understatement.

"Thank you for coming, Sir," Winter said as she stepped away and offered her hand.

"I wouldn't miss this for anything." General Ironwood, the block jawed military man who'd detained Yang during the Vytal Festival what felt like another lifetime ago, took the woman's hand and gave a gentle tug, his other arm wrapping around the woman's shoulder. "And we're both on leave and out of uniform. Until we're back on duty, James will suffice. It's good to see you, Winter."

Before the woman could reply- though she didn't miss the little smile on her lips at the familiar address- another man approached. He was a bit on the short side and balding on top with gray eyes, wearing a smart suit that spoke of class rather than power, so definitely not Jacques either. "Speaking of leave, the time off is doing wonders for you, my dear." James released her and stepped back, allowing the man to wrap Winter up in a hug without hesitation. "This is the happiest I've seen you in years!"

"There's good reason for that." Blue eyes fell on the blonde, her smile beaming and proud. "Allow me to introduce my girlfriend, Yang Xiao Long. Yang, this is General James Ironwood, my superior officer, and Klein Haskoff, who raised Weiss and I."

Snapping out of her confusino, she smiled at the men and shook their hands- initially reaching forward with her left before switching to the right when the General seemed to wordlessly insist. Klein didn't seem the least bit concerned about which hand she used. "Pleasure to meet both of you. Properly, anyway."

"Indeed, and I'm glad this time is under better circumstances." James offered a smile.

"Absolutely charmed, my dear." Klein nodded towards the host. "But a strapping young woman like yourself is probably hungry, no?"

Winter chuckled fondly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You're on vacation. Let someone else worry about everyone's well being for a change."

"She's right," the General said, waving a hand. "But I think we're all ready for a good meal and the majority of us are supposed to be relaxing. Let's all go sit down." As James led the older man towards the awaiting host, he bent down, though he did a poor job of lowering his voice. "If we're lucky, we might hear her laugh again before the meal is through."

"Ah, it's a good sound to hear!" The shorter man sighed. "Between her and her sister, I'd begun to worry they'd forget to laugh at some point. It's good to see them both so happy now."

As everyone began following the host, Yang looked around, slightly confused.

"Is something the matter, Sundrop?" Winter made her inquiry with a soft voice as they both dropped back a bit, allowing the two men to talk between themselves.

"Well, not really, it's just..." The blonde sighed, opting to bite the bullet. "Where's your dad?"

"Still in prison, thankfully," her girlfriend replied, a slight furrow to her brows. "His appeal failed."

Made sense; Jacques had racked up quite a few charges by the time Salem fell and Weiss' evidence against him proved too damn good. However, she hadn't expected the Atlesian judicial system to take such rigorous measures as sticking to the initial sentencing- by this point, she would've expected house arrest or something of the like. "And your mom?"

"If I was to hazard a guess, I'd say drunk in a garden at Schnee Manor." She frowned. "Thank you for bringing that up. Although harmless, I've been meaning to talk to Weiss about that. It's far past time for her to quit drinking. Perhaps I could enlist Qrow's assistance; he just reached his one year mark, did he not?"

"Yeah, he made it, got the pin and everything. Still sober, too." She blinked, more confused with each answer. "What about your brother?"

Winter came to a dead stop and looked at her then, absolutely baffled. "Who?"

"Whitley? Your brother?" The blonde raised a hand to just below her collarbone. "This tall, kinda a huge douche, I called him 'Shitley' to his face for the whole celebration after we beat Salem?"

"You said you were drunk."

"No, I said I had a few drinks; I knew damn well what I was doing." Yang sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I thought that's what had you so stressed out when you brought up introducing me to your family. Figured it'd be kinda hard to win them over but I was going to give it a shot."

"I neither want nor need their approval; as I said, my... hesitations-" the woman rolled her eyes at the pointed look shot her way "-my anxieties, stemmed purely from the idea that my personal and public life will now be intertwined. I've been very good about keeping them separate since I left Schnee Manor to attend Atlas Academy. This is an adjustment but one I'm more than willing to make."

"Still, what about your blood relatives?" Yang bit her lip and offered a small shrug. "We're going to have to cross that bridge eventually, too. Right?"

Winter remained silent for a moment before speaking, her voice soft. "I've found that blood can mean many things. It can give life, bind people together, and even signal death. What it is not, however, is an excuse. My father and brother turned their backs on Weiss when she needed them most and mother was never there for her to begin with." Her lips drew into a tight line, the only sign of her anger she would allow. "Just because they share a blond bond with me doesn't mean I must forgive them their transgressions or include them in my life." Blue eyes darted towards the reserved table the host had brought James and Klein to, menus being placed on the settings as a waiter brought over a pitcher of water. The man continued talking to each other, obviously aware of their absence but making no move to acknowledge the hushed conversation. "These men have been better parents to me than Jacques and Willow." She sighed, a slight groan slipping past her lips. "And don't tell him I said this, but Qrow's been a better brother than Shitley ever was." Yang did her best to stifle her giggle, causing her girlfriend's expression to break into a soft smile. "Weiss and I made our decisions shortly after Salem's defeat. All of Remnant is rebuilding- replacing the old and destroyed with new and better. We did, too." She reached out then, guiding the blonde's arms to wrap around her waist, one hand lifting up to cup Yang's cheek while the other rest on her anchor, two fingers on flesh and two on metal. "We will fill our lives with those who care for us and for whom we will go to the ends of this world and the next to protect. Our family are those who supported us in our darkest times, our friends are those who fought beside us against unimaginable odds, and our loves are those who holds our hearts so dear. You are my love and my friend, Sundrop. So, come, meet the rest of my family."

Yang smiled, tears stinging at her eyes. "Yeah. Okay." She leaned forward for a kiss, squeezing the woman's waist a little. "I love you, Winter."

"And I love you, Yang."

They stayed like that for a moment more, locked in a gentle embrace, before the blonde reluctantly pulled away, taking her girlfriend's hand and threading their fingers together. "Let's go."

They joined the two men at the table, all of them smiling as they struck up a conversation that veered between pleasant remarks about Remnant's rebuilding efforts and shop talk regarding either the military or the Academies, and she didn't miss the few, vague inquiries into whether or not Winter would be renewing her commitment to the Atlesian military and the equally vague assurances that she hadn't decided yet. All the food was delicious- though Yang was willing to bet she could cook a better steak- but the company even better, and they stayed for a good two hours before opting to head out. Apparently, Klein had a little sight seeing he wanted to do before heading to Menagerie to having dinner with Weiss; apparently, both sisters had decided for a 'meet the family' meal that week, though Klein had spoken with Blake many times over the past few years.

Yang couldn't help but laugh at that, finally aware of why her partner seemed so on edge recently, likely thinking along the same lines she had. However, rather than give away the surprise, the blonde promised not to mention it, and gladly joined her girlfriend on giving the man a tour of Vale from one who'd spearheaded the recovery efforts, right alongside her sister. After a quick scroll message, she even managed to get a private tour of Beacon courtesy of Ruby, who seemed absolutely ecstatic to meet Klein in person.

All in all, when they settled down for bed that night- her prosthetic laying on the bedside table and Winter's arm wrapped around her waist, Yang had to smile to herself.

Maybe it was time to invite Winter back to Patch, introduce her to Taiyang properly- they'd talked via scroll a few times, but one of the three of them always seemed to be needed elsewhere any time they tried meeting before.

And, maybe... it was time to go a little further than that.

The following night, Yang sat at her makeshift workbench in the little study- tinkering with Ember Celica's attachment to her prosthetic and trying hard not to curse as her left hand wasn't very good at doing such fine, detailed work- when her scroll began to ring. Reaching over, she tapped at the answer icon without looking at the ID. "Yello?"

"Yang." Blake's voice sounded... well,a mixture of things, like she was confused, overwhelmed, lovestruck and, ultimately, completely in awe, all at once. While the Faunus herself was enough to pull her attention away from her work for the moment, Yang found herself more interested in what, exactly, would prompt that before she remembered lunch from the day before.

"So, how'd meeting Weiss' family go?" She smiled wide, looking at the screen to see that her partner looked exactly like she sounded, expression frozen in something akin to shock but with that little tilt to her ears that only seemed to occur around Weiss. "He didn't give you a hard time now, did he?"

"You knew?" Blake blinked. "Of course you did; he came from visiting you, didn't he?"

"Yup." Yang laughed, shaking her head as the gears continued to spin without catching in her friend's head. "You're really that surprised? Klein's a nice guy, Blakey. And, ya know, James wasn't so bad either. He's actually a lot more chill than I would've thought when the world isn't being threatened by a being of nigh pure evil."

Her friend looked confused at first and then even moreso. "James?"

"Oh, right- I mean General Ironwood."

"The Faunus' ears perked up. "You two are on a first name basis now?"

"When he's off duty." She glanced at the clock, noting the late hour. Her girlfriend had to run to the outpost to file some report or other- a minor emergency she'd not been happy about before she left-and should be returning soon. "I got to spend a little time with him. He treats Winter like a daughter, and I think she looks up to him as a dad, just like Klein. The four of us had lunch together yesterday and talked. It was nice."

"Just the four of you?"

"Yeah, why?" Her gaze came back to the scroll, brows furrowing. "Who all did Weiss introduce you to?"

"Well, Klein for one." The confusion and lovestruck came back in full force. "Then she introduced me to my parents." Yang snorted; in hindsight, they both probably should've expected that. Team RWBY had enough reunions in every kingdom due to their differing paths after Salem's defeat that Yang had become just as familiar with Mama and Papa Belladonna as the others, the Faunus always welcoming to their daughter's friends and thankful to them for bringing the whole team back intact. "And then she introduced me to Taiyang."

She couldn't help but blink. "... uh, what?"

"I'm not even kidding, Yang." Blake's expression morphed back as a little bit of fear crept into her voice, clearly overwhelmed by what she was about to say. "Your dad showed up and it really got me thinking."

Snapping out of the momentary breakdown of synapses in her brain, the blonde shook her head and refocused on the screen. "About what, partner?"

"I really don't think I can go back at this point. Weiss is... she's part of me now."

"Yeah..." Lilac eyes scanned the room, military order somehow juxtaposed with her own messy tendencies rather well- a half empty bottle of wine from the night before still sitting on the table while the glasses were drying on the rack in the kitchen, Winter's desk kept nice and clean while Yang's workbench had smudges from oil worked into the wood, a single bookcase with technical manuals, military training aides, and a few books of fiction that one, the other, or both enjoyed. Imagining her girlfriend's part of the room taken away, erased... she honestly had a hard time picturing it. "I know what you mean."

"Mom and Dad already call her their 'other daughter' and I think... it's time to make that official." Amber eyes turned hard, just like whenever the Faunus made a decision that she would see through to the end come hell or high water. "Seeing everyone together tonight- it really drove home how we've banded together and made this... little communal family of our own between everyone. And I know everyone can take one look at our kids and know that Weiss and I are their parents but... I want more, and seeing everyone together- thinking of how all our individual bloodlines come together, it just drove the point home. I love Weiss like no one else. It's time everyone knew that." She nodded, more for her own benefit- or perhaps to be appropriately dramatic, tough to say- before continuing. "I'm going to propose. At this point, the White Fang can survive without my direct supervision and I can turn my focus to personal matters. I don't want to keep going through life, saying I'm going to eventually do it; that time's come. I'm going to ask Weiss to marry me." Her ears and shoulders fell slightly. "Which, actually, brings me to why I was really calling, aside from thinking you had something to do with this- are you free any time next week? I need to go ring shopping."

At that, the blonde couldn't help but bark out a laugh. "You need to go shopping?"

"Look, I might've known I was going to eventually marry her for a while but-"

"But, you and her are workaholics who only pry yourselves away from your jobs when Ruby and I break out the crowbars, like the excellent friends we are," she said, getting up from the workbench. "Hold on one sec."

Yang shouldered her way through the study's door, heading for the living room. The apartment wasn't much- two bedrooms, one bathroom, a living room, and a kitchen/dining room- but it had only just started to feel too cramped. Of course, any talk of moving would bring up the whole 'where do we actually want to settle down' thing, which she still hadn't touched yet, wanting to savor the majority of Winter's leave for the moment. Plus, she knew the woman would prefer a little time alone to really think things through and process, especially something as huge as deciding where to stake their claim. Atlas and Vale were strong contenders, but Winter had grown fond of Mistral during her time stationed there, and even then the specific location would vary, like Patch or Vale proper.

Kneeling down by the couch, she lifted it up and set the edge on her shoulder, not even bothered by the timing of it all and more than practiced at doing so for a variety of reasons, the main one ensuring that her little hiding spot wasn't uncovered. After recovering the little box from a carefully made rip in the bottom of the couch, the blonde set down the furniture with a dull thump and went back to the study. Using her mouth, she pried open the box and sat back down, turning it so the contents were on display for her scroll.

Blake's eyes went wide. "You... how long?"

"I picked it up last year," she said softly, turning the box back around to admire the ring inside. Inlaid with diamonds so it could be worn under the woman's gloves but also with a thin chain, to be worn around the neck. It also had precise carvings in the band- a dragon and a wolf, hearkening back to a joke she'd made when they first met- a glittering sapphire in the wolf's eye and an amethyst in the dragon's as they touched noses to the big diamond in the center of the ring. "The guy who made it does good work. Took a bit to save up the money but... it's worth it."

"And you haven't asked yet?" The Faunus looked concerned, lips turned down in the corners.

Yang laughed. "Look who's talking!" She set the box down on the table and waved off the reply she could see her partner preparing, a teasing smile on her lips. "You honestly think Weiss would've let you live it down if I proposed first?" Her expression softened. "We've had a lot going on the past few years. Even if I'm sure, it wasn't the right time. Too much going on, not enough space to think- I went with my gut." She glanced down at the ring box. "But now? I've had time to think it through, and I'm definitely sure. This is what I want. She's... everything to me." Shaking her head, the blonde looked at her friend with a wide smile. "Anyway, I didn't drag this out for bragging; I still have the guy's number. Think you can whip up a design?"

"Yeah, I can do that." Blake chuckled, reaching up to tuck a lock behind her lower ear. "We're... really going to do this, huh?"

"Hey, Ruby doesn't have a monopoly on chasing down fairytale endings." She closed the box, smiling at the screen. "Drop by anytime next week. Winter leaves to go back to Atlas on Saturday and classes don't start for another month, so I'll be free."

"Deal." The Faunus smiled just as wide, her feline ears twitching erratically. "I'll make the arrangements tomorrow."

"Sounds good, partner." She waved. "I'll catch you later."

Yang got up, heading back to the couch to replace the ring when she heard the telltale sounds of a key being slid into the lock on the front door. She immediately shoved the ring box into the pocket of her pants and prayed the baggy, around-the-house wear would keep it from being obvious as Winter pushed through the door.

"Oh, good, you're still awake," the woman said, quickly shedding her jacket and tossing it towards the coat rack- an abnormal action, to accompany her odd statement.

"Yeah, it's hardly- mmph!" The blonde found her reply cut short by lips pressed against hers, eyes falling shut as she fell into the embrace like a comfortable bed, relishing the restrained embrace that accompanied it, like it took conscious effort to keep her girlfriend from squeezing too hard. When they parted, she felt a bit lightheaded and couldn't help but laugh. "Well, someone's in a good mood. I guess everything went well with the report?"

Winter opened her mouth but stopped, eyes flicking about as she seemed to grasp for an answer. Finally, her gaze fell on the anchor. "You're likely in the middle of your routine but... do you think it can wait a while? The explanation is a bit... long and involved." She paused. "Perhaps it would be better to wait-"

"Nuh uh, it's not often you're this excited." Yang laughed, grabbing her girlfriend by the hand and pulling her down onto the couch, absolutely unsurprised when she found herself pulled into the other woman's lap and lips pressing against her neck and collarbone. Reaching up, she lightly pulled at the pins keeping Winter's hair in its strict bun, the whole thing becoming looser until she could unwind it entirely, depositing each bobby pin on the coffee table behind her while hands roamed over her back, tracing along the tense muscles that had started to knot from an hour spent working on her prosthetic. Once freed, she ran her hand through silky white strands, smoothing out the waves and kinks that developed from being tied up in a severe bun all day. "So how long you gonna keep me in suspense, hmmm? Or do I get to guess?"

"I don't think you could." Her head tilted up, trailing kisses along the blonde's jaw for a moment before pulling back enough to look in each other's eyes. "Mainly because I wasn't entirely truthful about the cause for my absence."

She raised a brow. "So, there wasn't a report that needed to be filed?"

"Not exactly. Headquarters finally made their decision on my options." Winter's hands settled on her hips, smiles coming to both of them easily. "My window just opened up, so I can put in for a new contract with the Atlesian military. They sent me the options I have available and it's... better than I could've hoped for."

"Did you get that promotion?" Yang did her best to keep her excitement in check, not wanting to guess incorrectly and sour the woman's mood.

"No, but I'm glad for it." She leaned forward, pressing a kiss to the blonde's cheek to soothe her. "There's six positions to consider and I'd like your input on which I should take." Before she could object, a finger pressed against her lips. "All of them are roughly the same- I'd be doing essentially what I do now- but some have some... special assignments I wouldn't be opposed to undertaking."

She mulled the thought over. "So, what's the difference, then? How long they last?"

"No, they're all the same commitment length." Winter paused, some of her excitement sliding away as she turned serious. "I know we've opted to avoid discussing long term living arrangements for a while now but... that's where the difference lies. Each position is largely the same, but differing locations. Well, except one, which is considerably different, but something I specifically requested."

Although she couldn't truly know what reaction her girlfriend expected, the wide smile that spread across the blonde's face probably wasn't it. However, she also couldn't hide her excitement at being confronted with the very topic she wanted to address; seems like an all too perfect coincidence. "Well, we're not going to get much farther talking about anything until it's all laid out. Hit me with what you've got." Before the explanation started, her girlfriend captured her lips in another kiss, reaching up to gently cup Yang's cheek. When they parted, she let out a breathless laugh. "You're really trying to butter me up, huh?"

"I'd like to think I'm setting a suitable baseline." Slowly and carefully, fingers carded through golden strands. "Some of these suggestions you might not like, so think of how happy you are right now. Whichever options gets closest to this or surpasses it, that's the one I should take, correct?"

"Oh? So this is just based on me?" She leaned their foreheads together. "What about you?"

Winter inhaled deeply, letting her breath out slowly. "I've opted to take a break from focusing on my career for the time being. At this stage, I can linger in my current rate without suffering ill effects, I make more than enough lien to cover my expenses, and I enjoy the work I do. It means no more promotions in the near future and I'm perfectly fine with that." Her voice lowered slightly. "So, realistically, any option I take will suit my needs. What matters is how they affect you and us, and your assistance is instrumental in determining that."

"Alright," she replied, sneaking a little kiss of her own. "Lay it on me."

"There's a position at Atlas military headquarters, in the heart of the capital city. There's one at an outpost in western Vale, near the Vacuon border, and another on the coast just outside the city. There's also one at a small island off the coast of Menagerie." The woman paused. "Those, obviously, are mostly instructor positions, where I would be overseeing integrated training between Atlesian and local forces. Except the first- there, I'd be coordinating those training posts."

"Well, that's four." Yang wanted to jump ahead and cast her vote for the coastal Vale position but refrained by the barest margins. Either her girlfriend had saved the best for last or the worst. "What about the other two."

"Well, one would be taking an instructor position at Atlas Academy. It's a nine-to-five position, for the most part, with rotating duty on the nights and weekends." Winter licked her lips. "The other is the same schedule... but at Beacon Academy."

Her eyes widened, mouth popping open in surprise. She probably looked like a fish out of water but the blonde managed to snap out of it quickly. "Wait, really? That last one? You- you can-"

"James finalized the possibility of a transfer yesterday after we had lunch." A hint of smugness infected her expression, one brow raising. "And did you honestly think my airship got delayed four hours? I interviewed with the Beacon Headmaster the first day of my leave."

"Beacon Hea- you mean Ruby knew and she didn't tell me?" Yang feigned offense, leaning back and putting a hand to her chest. "My own sister and employer would keep such secrets?" A small pause. "Actually, I'm genuinely surprised she managed that."

Her girlfriend's laugh was bright and clear. "It wasn't a for sure thing until yesterday, when everyone agreed to the terms. But, I still haven't accepted-"

"Well, why not?" Her lips stretched into a wide smile. "We'd have the same schedule, mostly, and we could be together more outside of work." Lilac eyes darted around the room. "Plus, this place has started feeling a little... small, recently." She looked at Winter. "I actually wanted to talk to you about that. Seems like good timing, huh?"

In blue eyes, she could see a little glint of something- humor, maybe- as the woman nodded. "Serendipitous, even. We could start looking for houses tomorrow, Sundrop." Her expression turned serious again. "However, if this position is the one we agree I take, we will conduct ourselves as professionals in front of students. I want to make that clear now."

Yang made a show of pouting. "So, that means no quickies in the faculty lounge?"

"I didn't say that." A wicked little smirk came to the woman's lips, voice hitting that special timbre that never failed to get her heart beating a little faster. "There's no students in the faculty lounge, are there?"

"Maidens, I love the way you think," she said, catching another kiss from her girlfriend's lips. It continued on for a good, long while before they broke apart. "So. Let me get this straight. You have the option to come here to Vale and become a Professor at Beacon, just like me. And we can get a little house of our own, maybe on the outside of town?"

"No more long stretches away from each other. Dinner together almost every night." Winter traced a hand up her side. "No packet deadlines or field reports. Just you, me, and a few hundred students. An improvement, I think."

"How long until the transfer goes into effect?"

"I have the message ready to send on my scroll. After I accept, I have two more months before the paperwork gets finalized and half a year after that before it goes into effect. I would start at Beacon next year, just before initiation."

"What are the downsides? I mean besides the ones you already mentioned." Her lips pulled into a small frown, trying to see past her own excitement at how everything seemed to be working out. "There's gotta be a reason this hasn't come up before."

"Typically, Atlas is quite insistent on maintaining their numbers. James agreed that it's time to move away from that mentality and be more cooperative with the other kingdoms, so this is the test of a much larger program." The woman tilted her head, a twinkle coming to her eyes. "Really, the only downside that exists is that you won't have any more long stretches of alone time while I'm off in Mistral or elsewhere." A flicker of nostalgia crossed her expression. "I will miss it, of course, but I think it's time for a change of scenery anyway."

"When it comes to alone time, you usually like that more than I do." Yang pointed out.

"True." She nodded, pulling the blonde closer and speaking softly. "But my feelings on solidarity have changed recently. The more time I spend alone, the more time I spend missing you." A soft kiss. "I've changed my mind about the whole 'lone wolf' routine. Grown out of it, one might say." A smile. "And I can always run off to the Emerald Forest if I need a reminder of why I did that."

They both laughed. "What about teaching at Atlas? Would that keep you in the system?"

"Yes, but, that would make seeing you almost impossible during the school year." She winced. "Personally, it's my lowest ranked option, but it would leave us relatively free during the summer months."

"The Vale posts would keep you in the system too, right?" Yang probed a little deeper. "They're also closer."

"That's true, but the training schedules can be erratic. It wouldn't be a sure thing like a teaching position."

"You're trying to talk me out of these other options, Snowdrift." The blonde narrowed her eyes, a smirk coming to her lips. "You already made your decision, didn't you?"

"I have my hopes but I do want to make this decision together." Her girlfriend sighed, dropping all pretense. "I pushed for the Beacon position because I thought that would be the best option for us. I still enjoy my work and this is a compromise; I've no doubt I'll be called upon for something or other by the military, but the majority of my time will be given to Beacon. That means a steady schedule and proximity to you- two things I want very much." She leaned forward, placing a kiss just above the hollow of the blonde's throat. "I've done enough for Atlas and Remnant right now. I want to be selfish. I want to be here, with you, but I understand if you'd rather us not share a place of employment."

Lilac eyes flicked over to where she'd hurriedly stashed the engagement ring. Apparently, they both had reached that stage of wanting more but tried to approach it as if they didn't throw themselves headfirst into every decision they made. Feigning caution when it seemed so unnatural for them; sometimes, they were so alike, it was funny. If Blake got her act together, she'd probably be proposing by the middle of the school year, and Yang wouldn't be far behind. Maybe wait until they'd moved in together officially, or after Weiss and Blake married. Then again, there wasn't a time limit on engagements; they could stay engaged throughout the younger Schnee's wedding process and set the actual date for themselves much later.

And that reminded her. "Have you talked to Weiss about it?"

"I did- when we were discussing Klein meeting our respective girlfriends, we talked about our near term plans." She paused for a moment, briefly debating with herself before continuing. "Act surprised when you find out but I'm quite certain she plans on proposing soon."

"Really?" Yang chuckled. "She already has a ring?"

"Not yet, as far as I'm aware."

"Well, just between us, Blakey's on the same wavelength." She shrugged. "We're going ring shopping next week. Promised I'd help her out." Her expression lit up as a beautiful idea crossed her mind. "Hey, what if we played both side of it and made sure they propose to each other the same night? How romantic would that be?"

A brow raised. "You think that sounds romantic?"

"Yeah!" The blonde chuckled, brushing their noses together. "I mean, think about it. Them both being nervous because of what they're about to ask, and then one starts, fumbling over the words, and the other clues in and gets ready. Then, one gets down on a knee and asks, and the other just blubbers and asks too- doesn't that sound like an adorable mess?" In her mind's eye, she could see Weiss being the first to actually getting the words out and Blake being overcome with emotions- relief and love and so much else- and the two of them turning into happy, teary eyed saps on the floor beside a candle lit table at some fancy restaurant while the wait staff pretends it's just another night. "Mutual proposals are those things that only seem to ever happen in the books Blake reads but, with our help, they could have that, ya know?"

"I suppose that sounds rather nice." Winter furrowed her brows for a moment, nodded, and then smiled. "Alright, then, Sundrop. They might be a little upset with us initially, but I can see how neither beating the other to the punch could work out rather well. I'll do my part and motivate Weiss to start looking for a ring."

"And I'll let you know of any engaging news to come from Blakey." Her girlfriend laughed and Yang beamed. It just seemed like everything would fall into place. Maybe it wasn't picture perfect but, damnit, it still seemed like paradise after the hell they'd walked through.

"Well, I propose that we make our decision and celebrate." The woman cast a glance over the back of the couch. "We still have some wine left, yes? We could order in from that Vacuon place you like, watch a movie, and cuddle up on the couch."

"Well, I've got no problem with you working at Beacon, and the whole 'living together in a bigger place' thing sounds right up my alley." Her eyes flicked back over to the ring box. "I mean, if you're good with it, I'm good with it... seems like that's already decided, right?" She smirked. "And I'm not hungry yet. Maybe we should... work up an appetite first?"

Winter chuckled, low in her throat as she leaned forward, lightly nipping at the blonde's earlobe. "What, my dear, do you mean by that?"

"You're smart, Snowdrift," she said, easing herself off her girlfriend's lap and heading towards the bedroom with an extra little sway to her hips. "You'll figure it out." Yang made it three steps before the woman swept up behind her, arms around her waist and lips against her bare shoulder. She couldn't stop the giggle that burst forth, her feet leaving the ground as Winter picked her up and spun her once before setting her back down. "Wow, you're really excited about this, huh?"

"Admittedly, moreso than I can articulate," her girlfriend replied, holding her and smiling against the side of her neck. "It just... seems like something a long time coming. A step we've taken in half measure before now but finally embracing fully. It's liberating, in a way." Yang reached up, threading her fingers through the woman's hair and smiling until it hurt, because Winter habitually moved her head to whichever side would be easiest for the blonde to reach and that never failed to warm her heart. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow. And every day after."

Now that the woman couldn't see where her gaze landed, lilac eyes fell on her temporary hiding spot as she spoke. "Yeah. Me too."

#Elderburn #Monochrome #this is based off a terrible joke I made so here #it's basically Yang and Winter being sentimental fluff balls for 8k words #TRR writes

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amidalogicdive · 7 years

Note

160: “ Do you think you can teach me that? ” cindylu again and going to torment you with this couple! And if you wanna go ahead and still add some nyxnoct 😆

Car Repair

Pairing: Cindy/Luna w/a side of NyxNoct

Ao3 link: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10779102/chapters/27578694

It had been a year since Luna and Cindy had met, and in that time they had seen one another three times. They both knew it would be hard, Cindy having a garage to run, and Luna being the Oracle. Despite the trials that stood in their way, both had dedicated themselves to making this relationship work.

So when Luna had an unexpected chance to come to visit Insomnia, she took it! Of course, it came with the normal trip to Hammerhead, longing to see Cindy, if only for a few hours. “Once again, I am sorry to always inconvenience you when I come.”

“Not an issue Princess, glad to help with this surprise.” Nyx had taken the wheel for this trip, the prince dozing in the passenger seat as Luna enjoyed the scenery from the back.

“Darling Nyx, are you sure Noctis is well?”

The glaive nodded, glancing back at her in the mirror. “He was up late helping his father, then got up early to come with us. He’ll be fine.” The moment they had arrived, Nyx and Noctis had politely excused themselves and rented the caravan for the remainder of the day. They said it was for Noctis to get a few extra hours of rest. She felt it was best to not question them, but doubted there would be much sleeping involved.

Luna made her way into the garage to find the mechanic hard at work on a car someone had dropped off. “Pardon the intrusion, but would the mechanic have time for a visitor?” The blonde head popped up so fast, the Oracle couldn’t help but giggle.

“Lu!” Setting down the wrench she hopped over, fussing for a minute before kissing her cheek. “Look at me! I’m all dirt and grease, don’t wanna get your pretty dress dirty! Why didn’t ya tell me you were comin’ out here today!”

“I longed to inform you of the trip, but I wished for it to be a surprise. In all honesty, Insomnia was an unexpected stop. I did not wish to get your hopes up if I was unable to make it.”

Cindy chuckled, kissing her lips tenderly. “Any bit of time I can get with ya is amazin! Sorry, come on over. We can get some chattin’ in while I finish up this heap o’ metal here!” Grabbing a clean chair, Cindy sat it beside the car for Luna and went back to work.

“May I ask what you are working on?”

“Hm? Oh, ya see this engine here is havin’ some issues. I need ta replace a few parts. This fuel line is bad, and some of these spark plugs… well just aren’t sparkin! Just a few adjustments here and there, my lovely.”

“Oh,” Rising from the chair, she glanced into the engine as well. “Do you think you can teach me that?”

Green eyes glanced up, rubbing the bridge of her nose with the back of her hand. Somehow, she still managed to get grease on her face. “Are ya kiddin’ me sugar?”

“I just…” Luna regretted asking, Cindy wouldn’t request her help if it would only slow her down. A tap to her chin made her look back up as Cindy grinned, the happiest she’d ever seen her.

“Just the thought that ya wanna learn, Lu, I’m touched. I’d love ta teach ya! But, first, we gotta change out of those pretty whites, love!” Those words made the Oracle smile as well, feeling the mechanic take her hand as they went into the back room to find her a more suitable outfit.

Despite what Luna might have thought, Noctis had actually slept and had woke up hungry. Rubbing his eyes, he weakly glaring at the bright sun. “Don’t they ever have clouds here.” He made his way over to the garage to find Luna and Cindy while Nyx went to Takka’s to grab them a table.

“That’s right baby, now just twist this tool a bit and tighten.”

“The wrench right?” Cindy nodded, looking 100% in love as Luna worked on the car’s engine.

Noctis blinked, confused for a moment. Luna stood in front of a car, wearing a dirty tan jumpsuit. Cindy leaned on the side, watching her and looking happy as a cat who’d got the cream. “Ah, Luna?”

“Noctis!” She turned, handing Cindy the wrench. “I hope you received the rest you needed?”

“Yeah… um, lunch?”

Luna glanced over at the other blonde who nodded, as she picked up a rag to wipe her hands off. “Ya bet there, Highness! Ya go on now, we gotta get cleaned up!”

“Ok…” Blinking, he shook his head and went back to the diner, sitting beside Nyx.

He could see the prince looked a bit confused. “You ok there, love?”

“Yeah, just…” Shaking his head, Noctis laughed and ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah, everything’s great Nyx. Luna and Cindy will be here in a few minutes.” While he’d never thought in a million years he’d see Luna fixing a car, whatever made them happy he would support.

#Cindy Aurum #Luna Nox Fleuret #Noctis Lusic Caelum #Nyc Ulric #nyxnoct CindyLu #logicdive #logicdive writes #ffxv fanfic #ffxv fic #ffxv fanfiction #i write things asdfghjkl #kouaka

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lightsaberss · 7 years

Text

Victims Of Their Own Device

This isn’t new fic, so if you’ve been reading my prompt fics on AO3 then you’ve probably already seen it. However, I never posted it on Tumblr for some reason, although I did post a link, so I thought I would. Hope you enjoy it!

At some point this idea must've seemed perfectly reasonable to not only her, but to her superior, and more importantly, to his superiors.

They'd been tracing a weapons smuggling ring for the past month, inching closer and closer to the person at the top. They'd hit multiple frustrating dead ends, until they'd come across one that looked like it might pay off. It wasn't a trail back to a person, but to a place, a suburban district of a small city towards the north.

It had been decided that the softly, softly approach would be the best option. Going in undercover in order to gather intel before making a move. After all, they weren't sure exactly who it was that they were after, just that they happened to live in this one particular neighbourhood, and they didn't want to spook him (or her) by going in guns blazing.

They'd talked about different ways to get in, the possibility of being military recruiters (too obvious), handymen (with the exception of Fuery, who had some electrical knowhow, none of them would be able to pass as handyanything), and had even thrown around the idea of infiltrating the local schools and businesses, but there was no guarantee that it would work.

Of course there was no guarantee that this would work either.

This being herself and Colonel Mustang pretending to be newlyweds, recently moved to the area.

"The house does look nice." Riza commented from the passenger seat. They were parked in the driveway of a quaint, suburban house, which had even come with a white picket fence. It was the sort of place you'd see at the pictures, an example of an idealic home.

Honestly, she'd have prefered something a little less… perfect looking, but the Riza (short for Theresa in this case) that she was pretending to be had always wanted a lovely little house like this.

"I didn't think you wanted a white picket fence." Roy leaned over and rummaged around in the glove compartment for something.

"No, but there are worse places to spend a week." She could think of several. "What are you looking for?"

"Oh, these." He pulled out a small ring box, and Riza tried to ignore the way her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him holding it out to her. He flicked it open and nestled inside were three rings. "We need to look the part, after all."

The engagement ring was pretty, but too large and impractical for her personal tastes. It was the matching simple gold bands that had caught her attention. She tried not to think about it too much as they both slipped the bands onto their ring finger, making them fictitiously married.

"Ready, Mrs Martin?" He asked.

"As I'll ever be."

She exited the car and retrieved Hayate from the backseat. He wagged his tail happily as soon as he was out of the car, and proceeded to sniff around the front garden. "Oh, darling!" Riza called out, her voice softer, her smile bigger, and she pretended she didn't notice the way his eyes widened slightly.

"Yes, dear?"

"I'm just going to take Hayate out for a walk around the neighbourhood, he's just been cooped up for the entire drive. You don't mind, do you?" More accurately, she wanted to case the neighbourhood, and maybe part of her wanted to put some distance between her and Roy.

"But, sweetheart," He teased. "I wanted to carry you over the threshold."

Oh, now he was just being ridiculous.

She laughed, "Maybe another time, honey."

Riza retrieved Hayate's lead from her purse and clipped it to his collar before she took a gentle stroll around the neighbourhood. The further she got from the house, and Roy, the clearer she could think about the mission. It was clear, after only a few minutes of them being married, that the problem wouldn't be finding the smuggler, it would be keeping the boundaries of their relationship in place.

The day went quietly. Riza stashed guns in unexpected places, such as the grandfather clock in the dining room, and under the sink in the kitchen.

She tried not to watch Roy too closely.

The neighbours came home, and she noted down the times in a notebook;

House 3 - 18:02

House 6 - 18:37

And so the first day went.

The bedroom was dark, and they had been lying there for what felt like hours. Roy shifted, and fidgeted, while Riza tried lying still in the hope that sleep would come. Some nights it didn't, but not for this reason. For being so close to him, to be able to move millimeters and brush her fingers against his skin. It was so tempting, she had to fight to keep herself from doing it, and had to keep reminding herself why she couldn't.

There was the goal. For Roy to reach the top and change everything rotten about this country. He couldn't do that if he got caught with his subordinate.

Touching him could ruin everything they wanted, because she knew if she started that she'd never be able to stop.

Riza squeezed her eyes shut and hoped sleep would take her soon.

Somehow in the night, they'd shifted so that their limbs were partially entwined. She blinked awake slowly, smiling at the sight of him, his hair messier than usual, sticking up at all sorts of angles. He looked carefree, and frankly down right adorable. It was a nice sight to wake up to.

She watched him carefully, loathe to wake him up, or move out of his sleep created embrace. They shouldn't do this, she shouldn't allow it, but he was still asleep and she could wrap this moment up and keep it to herself.

In a different world, she'd wake him with kisses and laughter. She'd weakly protest that they'd be late for work as he tried to convince her to stay in bed for just a little while longer. In a different world, where they'd never gone to Ishval, where she hadn't shared her father's research with him, where they could be young and in love.

It wasn't that world though. It was this one. The one they had made for themselves with a series of ill thought out decisions and horrific circumstances.

She slowly untangled herself from him, and slipped out of bed.

"Riza….?" He asked, voice thick with sleep.

"It's time to get up. I'll hit the shower and then make breakfast." She said, but didn't turn around to face him. "We should try to talk to the neighbours today. See if we can get a feel for them."

"Sounds like a good idea." Roy said, and then he sounded concerned; "Everything okay?"

She glanced over her shoulder, "Yeah. I just didn't sleep well. You hog the covers."

"I do not!" He sounded indignant and so put out, that she had to laugh. A short laugh, more of an exhale than anything else, but it did the job and he stopped looking so concerned. "Did I?"

Riza just smirked in response before she headed to the bathroom.

A lot of undercover work is waiting, watching, and a heavy dose of luck, and Roy had managed to stumble onto the latter. He'd charmed the neighbour; her name was June, into inviting them to her dinner party that evening. According to him, she'd been delighted to invite the new neighbours. Riza was just glad that they were getting somewhere.

She'd worn a dark red, sleeveless, high backed dress, that came down to just above her knees. The skirt was flared enough so that she could move quickly if she needed to, and it covered her back, which were her only practical concerns about the outfit.

"Oh wow." Roy breathed.

Riza spun around; she'd been getting ready in the bedroom, while he changed in the bathroom, and she hadn't heard him come in.

"Sorry, you just look so beautiful." He said. "It took my breath away."

She could feel her cheeks burning, but rolled her eyes regardless. "Oh god, are you going to be like this all night?" She asked, exasperated.

She crossed the small distance between them and helped him with his tie, as he smirked at her. "Would you prefer I act more like Hughes and just go on about how wonderful my darling wife is?" He teased.

Her hands tightened around the tie, and her deft and practised hands became a lot less gentle. "Well, darling, we are married, and isn't that how married people act?" She asked. "You can sing my virtues, and I'll roll my eyes and claim you've had too much wine."

"Honestly? Hughes and Gracia are the only happily married couple that I know," Roy admitted. "Maybe we should act a little like them."

"We're supposed to be getting information out of these people, not giving them an emotional case of diabetes." Riza pointed out. She'd finished his tie, and brushed nonexistent lint from his shoulders. He always did dress up very well, she had to admit.

"The Hughes route a bit too much?" His hands slipped to her waist, and she looked up at him with a warning in her eyes.

"A bit." She agreed. "How about we just be ourselves, or a close enough copy. Just act as if you would if we were married."

It was probably the wrong thing to say. She'd been trying to keep the walls up between them, not bring them crashing down. If they were married, she'd be kissing him right now, and he looked like he wanted nothing more than to do exactly that.

"Riza…" His voice was quiet, and it sent shivers up her spine.

"Yes?" She could close her eyes now, lean a little bit towards him, her hands were still on his shoulders, and his were at her waist and all it would take is those two things and she'd have what she wanted.

But it would ruin everything.

She looked down, and took a step backwards. It broke the spell, and his hands dropped from her waist, although the ghost of his touch remained.

"We should go." She said, and when she looked at him, she locked her emotions away and hope he couldn't read her like he normally could, that she'd hidden the want, the desire, and the hurt away.

"Um. Yes. We should."

Riza had never been to a dinner party. The closest she'd ever come was the occasional Saturday night at Rebecca's, where they ate Xingese food and complained about work, and men. Well. Mostly Rebecca complained, and Riza listened. This was not like that at all.

It didn't take long to realise that she had very little in common with the women, who lost interest once they realised she wasn't willing to be baited by their catty comments. She glanced at Roy, and caught his eye briefly as he chatted about who only knows what with one of the husbands.

Riza walked through the rooms of the house, looking at the photographs on the wall. An old farmhouse, children in school uniforms that were too big for them, birthdays and other celebrations. They all looked like they were taken in a different house, smaller rooms maybe? And certainly different decor, it was old fashioned and reminded her of her father's house, where they could never afford to redecorate so everything looked dated.

"Theresa, is everything okay?" June asked. She was a pleasant woman, a little older than herself and eager to please everyone. She didn't strike Riza as smart, but as just… nice. If that could be used to describe a person.

"Oh yes, sorry, I just needed…"

"To get away from them? I understand." June smiled. "They can be awful, but William likes their husbands so I feel obligated. You know how it is with husbands friends."

Riza thought of Hughes and Gracia, who weren't trouble to be around at all. "It can be difficult." She lied smoothly. "You have a lovely home, June." She changed the subject seamlessly.

"Oh, thank you. We only moved here a month ago, before that we lived out in the country in my parents old home. We never had much money, you see, but when William got a promotion at work, we were able to move. The kids miss their old home, but the schools here are better." June explained, she was proud of her husband's achievements, but Riza's alarm bells were ringing. It was likely it was nothing, a false start in their investigation, but it was a lead.

"You're very lucky," Riza smiled as she spoke. "I'm sorry, I'm keeping you from your guests, and I must make sure Roy isn't boring everyone with his stories."

"So you think it's William?" Roy asked.

Riza had explained what June had told her once they were back at their temporary home. They were sitting in the bedroom, Roy on the bed, and Riza sat at the dressing table and brushed her hair, watching him in the mirror.

"I think it's possible. Or at least worth investigating, I can call it in and ask Breda to check his employment records." She watched Roy nod, and flop down onto the bed, and she had to hide a smile. "If you're tired, you should get ready for bed."

"I'm fine." He waved her concern away.

"Oh yes, of course." She continued to watch him in the mirror, and let him lie there until she'd brushed out her hair. "Well, regardless, I'm going to get ready for bed."

Riza walked past him on the way out of the room, but he reached out and grabbed her wrist. "What-"

"I kept thinking, earlier, about what you said."

"Which part?" She kept her voice calm, even though his fingers wrapped around her wrist felt like fire against her skin. They rarely touched, nothing more than a hand on the shoulder, nothing that would seem unprofessional.

"The part about how we should act as if we were married." He stared up at the ceiling. He didn't want to see her reaction, and Riza bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from sighing. Oh Roy, ever the romantic. "And I kept thinking about what that would be like. Not this sham, but if it was real. If you were what I could come home to every night, and wake up with in the morning, if it was you -"

"That's enough, Colonel." Riza said, gently. Her entire body ached with sadness, and unfulfilled desires. Not just for him, but for a future they'd never have. "You know we can't. You know why we can't."

He let go of her wrist and nodded, "I just sometimes wish…"

"I know, sir, I do."

What Riza wanted to do was hold him, and kiss him, and promise him that one day they could have everything they wanted, but instead she left the room and locked herself in the bathroom. Her eyes stung with tears, and she showered under scorching hot water until she couldn't feel them, or the touch of his hand on her wrist.

By the time she went back to the bedroom, the lights were off and he had faced away from her, and was pretending to be asleep. She changed in the darkness, her back to him, and then slid into bed beside him.

Riza didn't sleep much that night, and she suspected that he didn't either.

The unmistakable scent of baking, tinged with lemon and sugar, had filled the house.

Roy had done his best to avoid her all morning, something that Riza had initially been thankful for - the guilt, embarrassment and mixed emotions that caused him to withdraw were not, after all, one sided. Now, however, it was early afternoon and she was fed up of it.

Honestly, it wasn't just Roy avoiding her that she was fed up. She was fed up this mission, fed up of the fake marriage that reminded her of everything she couldn't have, fed up of the sickly sweet cookie cutter neighbourhood, and she just wanted to finish the job, fill in the paperwork and go home.

Riza boiled the kettle before adding the finishing touches to the lemon drizzle cakes. She set a cup of coffee on the kitchen table, and a generous slice of cake on a plate next to it. It was a peace offering, of sorts, a way to try to soothe his bruised ego and tell him that she wasn't angry or upset with him.

The other cake got boxed up.

There was a note by the coffee cup, telling him where she'd be, but she didn't anticipate any trouble. William - their suspect - wasn't home, and Riza couldn't sit around in the house any longer. Not to mention, it was polite to thank someone for having them over.

That was why she was next door, eating lemon drizzle cake and drinking tea, when everything came to an anticlimactic end.

They'd been half way through their second cup of tea, June had been telling her all about William's job at the weapons manufacture in the nearest city, when the doorbell rung. Riza was surprised - obviously so - when Havoc and Breda were shown through to the living room.

William had been caught in the middle of a smuggling bust.

All their planning, all of their heartache, and it all just seemed so unnecessary.

Once they were in the car, on their way back to East City, their way back to normalcy - whatever that actually meant for them - and far away from the few days in suburbia they'd just endured, Riza finally felt like she could relax.

"Sir, don't take this the wrong way, but next time you have to be married to someone, can it be Havoc?"

"You didn't enjoy our time together, Lieutenant?"

"I think I would've prefered watching you two play house more." She answered, deftly avoiding the question.

The Colonel let the silence hang in the air for a while, an easier silence than they'd had recently.

"It wasn't our finest moment, was it?" He asked.

"No, I think we have too much going on for that to have been easy." Riza admitted. "But we got the results we needed."

"Did we?"

"With the case, sir, yes." Riza said. "As for everything else. We'll revisit it once you reach your goal. We can't do it before then, we don't want to jeopardize everything we're both fighting for, do we?"

He was silent, and Riza gripped the steering wheel tightly until he spoke; "No, I suppose not. Thank you for keeping me in line, Lieutenant."

Her hands relaxed.

#fullmetal alchemist #Royai #fake marrieds #ust #angst #I'm still not sure about this fic #I like it #But it's not what I set out to write at the time #IDK #Katy writes fic

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