#it was one panel away from completion for almost two months oof

[abandonedpie]

A place to relax

[nobleclover]

Finishing Touches

Mugman ran the brush across the wooden panel, gently painting some green along the bottom half. Next, he took out another paintbrush and carefully dabbed splotches of white along the top, followed by a tiny little golden circle in the top right. He smiled, satisfied as he washed the brush in a little mason jar of water.

Just then, he heard a voice call, "Mugsy!", from the little cottage he shared with his wife, Ms. Chalice. It had been passed down to himself and his brother Cuphead after Elder Kettle passed away, and since Cuphead moved out, both he and Ms. Chalice settled in after getting married.

Hurrying inside, he flung the door open and asked, "Yes, yes! Is everything OK? You're alright?"

Chalice stood there a bit stunned, holding a set of cutlery in her hand. Ever since she and Mugman learned that they had a baby on the way, her poor husband has been on high alert, making sure that both herself and their unborn child weren't in harm's way.

"It's OK, we're both fine, I was calling you in because dinner is almost ready," she assured him as she set down the cutlery.

"O-oh, right. OK, just making sure, hehe."

"Well, maybe you could get out the roast for me so I can cut it," she laughed.

Mugman eagerly walked to the oven, responding, "Yep, no problem! Can't have you bending over in your condition."

"No, we can't! I just hope you weren't bending over too much in that shed out there while working on your little project."

"I'm not, sweetie, relax!" he answered, opening the oven door.

Mugman carefully took out the roast and set it on the table, the warm, succulent smell emanating through the room. The aroma grew strong as Ms. Chalice started cutting it.

"So, when can I see this secret project of yours? I'm dying to see it!" she asked excitedly.

"Just needs a few finishing touches, and THEN you can see it," he replied proudly.

"Brilliant! Oof, I think the little one is looking forward to it as well!" she chuckled, pausing to rub her bump.

Mugman tenderly placed his hand on hers, both of them quietly feeling each stubborn little kick from their unborn baby. The two parents held each other close as they marvelled at the fact that they would meet their child in another two months.

That night, Chalice stirred awake as the baby began moving around again. She winced as she felt either a foot or a hand press against her left lung, leaving her out of breath. As she slowly sat up, she laid her hand on the right side of the bed where Mugman slept - except he wasn't there.

Strange, she thought, it's a bit late for a walk.

She got up out of bed and put on her dressing gown as she decided to see where her husband went. Besides, she felt that a little stroll would get the little one to calm down.

Looking around the cottage, he wasn't anywhere to be seen. Not in the bathroom, the kitchen, sitting room, or nursery, which was still far from completion. Both of them decided to use the bedroom that Mugman used to share with Cuphead as kids for their child's nursery since it had lots of room.

Ms. Chalice looked around, puzzled, thinking to herself, "If he's not in the house, then where'd he go?"

Then it hit her - the shed.

After putting on her boots and coat (since it rained earlier), she walked up to the shed, which had the light on. Upon opening the door, she found Mugman sitting at the small workbench, resting his head in his arms. There were wooden flakes scattered over almost the entire floor, with dunes of sawdust nestled under a big object covered by a tarp.

She could just quietly walk over there and take a peek under that tarp, but no, Mugman put a lot of work into it, and it would be rude to spoil the surprise. She gently shook his shoulder, and he woke up, blinking sleepily to find her smiling sweetly at him.

"Working late tonight, are we?" she joked.

"Maybe, just remembered in bed that I needed to add a few finishing touches before I forgot," he mumbled with a goofy smile.

"Hehe, well, maybe just remember to give yourself a break, OK? I know that our baby isn't here yet, but just know that I think you're doing great."

Mugman lifted his drowsy head and replied with a content, dazed expression, "Thanks, darling. So are you."

The two of them kissed before Mugman shut off the lights and locked the shed. He held his loving wife close as they walked back to the cottage.

Two weeks later...

"OK, Chalice, open your eyes!" Mugman exclaimed.

Upon opening her eyes, Ms. Chalice gasped in amazement at her husband's project. It was a crib painted sky blue, with hills and a sunny sky painted on the lower end, as well as a small flock of birds on the top end. She couldn't help but tear up as she looked at it, tracing her hand across the wooden railings as Mugman walked closer to her.

"It's beautiful..." she whispered.

"Glad you love it, sweetheart. I really wanted it to look as lovely as possible for this nursery and --"

Mugman was suddenly cut off by Ms. Chalice suddenly turning around and giving him a big kiss, tears of happiness flowing down her cheeks. Needless to say, he couldn't help but blush.

"I do, I really do! It's just perfect for our baby!" she replied, half laughing and half crying.

Mugman beamed proudly and pulled his wife closer gently for a hug, telling her, "Guess I made an amazing job then."

The End

Hi, lads! Thanks for reading this little fanfic of mine! Also, please remember that this is part of a future AU of mine where the Cup Trio are all grown up, and Mugman and Ms. Chalice are married to each other. Also, this is set before their daughter, my Chalicemug fanchild, Saffron, is born. So, if you're not a fan of this ship, it's fine. Just mute this post. However, if you do like it, like and reblog!

[plainlo-inthemorning]

A Loki TVA/Lokane fic. Rating T.

Previously: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 (of 6)

Shine a Light, part 5

He is aware that the love of his life is digging her fingers into his arm and saying his name.

He is aware of Stark standing to his other side, visor off, speaking to someone on the phone. His voice is hard.

But most of all, Loki is aware that all their lives were just changed by a great big terrifying rip in the seam of reality.

Neither Jane nor the Avenger could possibly be completely sure of what they saw. Loki, as much as he desperately wants to, harbors little doubt.

The man he held in a death-grip only minutes ago and who just now disappeared through a doorway conjured out of thin air was somehow … himself.

Another him. Just as the man had said.

After witnessing from afar the double kiss Jane, Loki, who was coming back from a swim, had been more than ready to skip past introductions and just sever the intruder’s head from his body.

But as soon as he had laid hands on him, a torrent of images had flooded his mind – chaotic, confused images that seemed to span past, present, future and beyond.

The shock had made him lessen his grip and the double had used his (his!) magic to throw him off.

With some distance between them and Stark suddenly there as well, Loki had tried to let his rage quell the dizzying realization. Unsuccessfully.

He is still shaking, clutching a dagger in each hand. He drew them instinctively as the other made for the door.

He should have caught him!

“Loki! What did he say?!”

“What?” His thoughts are racing in too many directions to hear her.

“The … man, what was he saying to you?!”

Jane is looking up at him with those beautiful brown eyes, worry and urgency all over her delicate features. Though not fear, Loki notes. His ever-brave wife. Both her hands are now clamped around his wrist.

That thing kissed her.

The daggers disappear and Loki wraps both arms around the mother of his unborn child, almost crushing her to his chest while still staring at the spot where the double vanished.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, love”, he murmurs. He suspects things are very much not okay.

So does Jane, of course.

“Loki, was it … oof, not so tight … “

She wriggles against him, and he remembers his amor. And her condition. He immediately relaxes his arms a bit while letting the leather and metal melt back into the clothes he wore before: Black jeans and a fitted, dusty green t-shirt (his “rockstar outfit”, Jane had called it, when Loki first started switching up his human wardrobe some years ago now). Drops of saltwater still cling to the ends of his slightly curly raven locks.

“Tony! Jane, Loki! What on Earth was that?”

Pepper jumps out of the car parked in front of the house and runs towards them. She must have seen everything as she drove down the road following her flying husband.

“The verdict’s still out, Peps”. Tony nods at Loki. “You wanna chip in here? I just called the boy-scout at headquarters and told him to be on guard for one of the magician’s interns playing a prank”.

Loki shakes his head slowly.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think Stephen had anything to do with this”.

“You’re right, I didn’t”.

All four of them turn around to see the sorcerer step out of a swirling ring of light, his cape billowing around him. The mahogany floor and paneled walls of his Manhattan mansion are briefly visible behind him before the portal closes with a hiss of little sparks.

Strange is wearing an even sterner expression than usual which only adds to Loki’s growing sense of dread.

Tony, however, groans loudly.

“Dude, really? Couldn’t you at least have let us have dinner before party crashing? Not shaming your bachelor lifestyle or anything, but this was couples’ night!”

“Tony!” Pepper hits her husband on the arm.

Strange ignores him.

“I’m afraid the arrival of your surprise visitor indicates that a set of … unfortunate events have been set in motion”.

As always, his voice is as even as if he was reading the weather forecast, but by now Loki has learned to differentiate the (very) subtle nuances between scorn and sincerity. Strange places his hands behind his back and regards them coolly. “I’ve had Wong reach out to Doctor Banner and director Fury. They should be here shortly. Stark, you may want to-”.

Tony narrows his eyes, lip twitching.

“Hey, Bleeker Street, you know I have low tolerance for you showing up and barking orders without giving two f**** for context. How did you even know that something was going down here? By all means, don’t keep us in suspense until the cavalry gets here”.

Strange doesn’t answer, but the way his eyes dart to Jane sends needles through Loki’s heart.

“Let’s go sit down, shall we?” With one eyebrow raised, Strange puts on a suave smile and gestures towards the house. The effect is a little startling.

Jane ducks out from under Loki’s arms. “Jane, don’t you want to-“. She brushes him off.

“Yes, good idea, Stephen. Let’s go sit down”. She motions for Strange to follow. “Welcome to our home. I was actually making drinks before, but I think I need to add a bit more kick to them…”

Her voice is oddly calm, and Loki fights the urge to grab her and magic them both far, far away, not caring that she would be furious with him for making decisions on her behalf.

He’s brought back to the present by an even odder sound as Strange actually chuckles.

Loki is not sure he’s ever heard it before. Then again, it’s not that he really knows Strange when it comes down to it. Like Tony, Loki finds the wizard exceedingly arrogant.

Pepper is the first to follow Jane and Strange across the lawn while Loki and Tony hang back.

“Real ladies’ man when he wants to. Who would have thought”. The billionaire superhero scoffs. His suit has folded itself off and into a briefcase next to his feet.

“Tony-“

“Uh oh. First name basis. So this really is an emergency”.

Loki faces his friend. Often in the past years, as they’ve grown steadily closer outside of “work”, he has secretly marveled at how long they’ve come since someone threw someone else off a building after being called a diva.

And attacking a city with an alien army.

Jane always insisted the two “hotheads” (her word) had a lot in common when not trying to murder one another (be it with weapons or sarcastic commentary), and Loki has to admit she was right. The metal man is fiercely intelligent, and Loki has been enjoying the quick-witted snark between them infinitely more than he ever valued the company of Thor’s band of gullible warrior groupies on Asgard.

“Well?”. Tony is regarding him with eyebrows raised, expectant. “Give me your take on this cause I’m starting to put together some rather outlandish theories myself here that I’m kinda hoping you’ll thwart ASAP”.

Loki draws in a deep breath.

“That thing with Banner at the tower two years ago-“

“Fuck!” Tony exhales, exasperated. “I knew you were gonna say that”. He squints into the distance towards the ocean, his mouth a tight line. It’s a rare day that Tony Stark is caught under a clear blue sky without sunglasses but for once he doesn’t seem to notice.

Loki takes a step closer to him and lowers his voice so they won’t alert the others just yet.

“I told you then and you didn’t want to listen! Everything about Bruce’s story was off. I know he didn’t remember much after Steve took him down, but you all pretty much accused me of trying to get back at him for, well, you know what, and I kept telling you I thought someone had gotten to him! Now-“

Loki searches for the words. It’s beyond absurd.

“That man was a version of me, Tony. I have no idea how, but I felt it. I saw into his mind. It was filled with images from my past and then … other, recent memories. Dark ones. He came from nowhere. Literally. It didn’t feel like a place. I tried to discard it as a trick, you saw that, but…” Loki runs his hand through his moist hair. “Stephen obviously felt something tear open too. And that is not a good sign”.

He has Tony’s full attention.

“Tear open? Could this other you be associated with your old boss? With Thanos?”

Loki winces.

“No, I don’t think he’s involved”, he says sharply. “But I can’t be sure …”

Tony catches his tone pats his shoulder. “Okay, okay. Shake it off. Didn’t mean to suggest anything. Let’s say he’s not. I’d much prefer that, at least until the wizard presents us with an even uglier imminent threat to the universe. Which, judging by the fact that he’s even here, willingly sipping cocktails in your kitchen as we speak, he probably will”.

Tony throws his hands up with a dramatic air.

“And here I thought the most challenging part of this weekend would be to convince you two to come see Hamilton with us in the city next week!”

“Who’s-“

“Never mind. Did you get a look at that gadget your guy was holding? Boy, he looked like an office slave who’d slept under his desk for a month before getting fired, didn’t he? Were you ever into accounting yourself by any chance?”

Loki shuts his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. Immediately he sees the image of the double kissing Jane, his arms wrapped firmly around her supple body. Rage rushes right back through him and his eyes snap open.

“Stark - I can’t. But yes, I did notice the device. It looked like a phone”.

“Yeah, somehow I don’t think it was the new iPhone”.

Tony shakes his head.

“The two of us and we didn’t take him down. Fury’s gonna have our badges”.

//

The director of SHIELD and Bruce Banner arrive barely 15 minutes later through a portal in the middle of the meadow-like lawn, following Wong and both looking grim and out of place as they weave around patches of wildflowers to reach the porch.

“Gentlemen, I trust you’re well”. Loki greets the trio with an only vaguely sarcastic nod as he holds open the screen doors to them, like a good host. Despite what some may still think, he can behave.

He could have just used magic of course, but he figures Banner is freaked enough as it is just by being here. The scientist hasn’t spoken more than five words to him since 2014 and at least three of them were expletives.

Once inside the small living room, Bruce goes to stand by the window and busies himself polishing his glasses with a little too much vigor than seems warranted.

He avoids Loki’s eyes but looks up and smiles wearily as Jane comes over to say hello.

Fury leans against the doorframe to the hallway and crosses his arms, face a closed book, and, by the sound of it, Tony is going through the cabinets in the kitchen trying to find something to spice up Jane’s pre-dinner cocktails.

Pepper is talking to Strange and Wong on the blue IKEA couch (assembled by magic after the attempt to go at it “as a team” turned into a shouting match), and Loki is about to politely ask Strange to please spit it out right this minute, when Jane is next to him, taking his hand.

“We need to talk. Now”.

Her voice is low and steady but her eyes insisting. She squeezes his fingers.

He squeezes back. “Come”.

Loki looks to Fury but he’s focused on Strange who’s listening very closely to something Wong’s saying.

Not letting go of Jane’s hand, he turns towards the kitchen. In the doorway they pass Tony who’s now holding what appears to be a glass of scotch. He must have given up on the gin and tonics.

“Hey, where are you two going? Forget about playing hosts okay, let’s just get started with part two of the evening’s entertainment”.

“In a minute”.

Jane pushes past him, ignoring Tony’s look and dragging Loki with her.

She closes the door behind them.

“Okay, so…” Jane looks around nervously in the small kitchen with the rustic white fronts and old brass handles. She loves that kitchen. They haven’t changed a thing since moving in. Loki reaches for her, but she takes a step back. “Jane, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should have gotten there faster. Did he …“

“I need you tell me exactly what he said to you”.

She is absentmindedly opening and closing her fists in the way she does when that brilliant astrophysicist mind of hers is working out an intricate problem in the lab.

Or, Loki knows, when she’s about to deliver him bad news.

He clears his throat. “He said he was me. And that something big was happening”. There. “And then he said he was sorry”.

Jane studies his face.

“That he was sorry? For what?”

“He didn’t say. He stepped through the door”.

Jane is quiet and now it’s Loki’s turn to try and read her expression.

“What did he say to you? I assume he pretended to be me …?”

Jane holds up a hand and bites her lip. Loki swallows.

“Loki, when we were staying at the flat in London, after we defeated Malekith…”

“What?” Loki furrows his brow in confusion. “Why are we-“

“The poison from the monster’s blade, it had you slipping in and out of consciousness for days. You were so feverish…”

“Yes, I know. I was there”. Loki’s blood is slowly turning very cold, but he musters a smile. “And you were amazing, love. Although some might say you took adv-“

Jane interrupts him in the middle of his blossoming smirk. A slight blush appears on her own cheeks.

“Yes, um, it’s not about that day”. She gives him a stern look. “The other day, later, when Thor left after you two went and had your, um, talk … there’s something I need to tell you …”

The door to the living room opens behind them.

“Actually, if you don’t mind, Doctor Foster, I would very much like to hear this too”.

Stephen Strange steps into the kitchen. The door closes behind him.

Part 6

[nitewrighter]

Some OW Fankids domestic fic? Just the gang hanging around and stuff at the watchpoint? Like the halloween fic with the fankids you did before!! :DDD

I never did any fics surrounding Jaime joining the watchpoint. I should fix that.

Oof this one ended up long. 

In Loco Parentis

------

The mid-morning sunlight streamed through the slats of the watchpoint boardroom.

“We’re not a homeless shelter,” Jack’s arms were folded, “Or an orphanage.”

“You know the situation is more complicated than that,” said McCree, “If he’s fleeing Vishkar---”

“There are thousands of people displaced by Talon, Null Sector, and the Siberian Omnium,” said Jack, “We barely have the resources to sustain ourselves. If we start taking on civilians...”

“Even at the peak of Overwatch’s power, there wasn’t a whole lot they could do about 30 million crisis orphans,” said Sombra.

“But with Marti--” McCree looked over at Sombra, who had several screens open around her head.

“I’m Marti’s legal guardian,” said Sombra, scrolling through one of her screens with a flick of her wrist, “It’s different.”

“So what, we just throw him out?” said McCree.

“Not ‘throw him out,’” said Winston. He cleared his throat and set several pamphlets on the table in front of McCree, “His associating with us also potentially makes him even more of a target for Talon. While I do believe Overwatch is meant to help everyone, we have to be able to delegate what that help looks like.”

McCree picked up one of the pamphlets and his mouth thinned. There was a picture of a handful of kids of varying backgrounds in front of an idyllic suburban house. “...Foster care,” said McCree, “You’re talking about foster care.”

“I can cover his tracks,” said Sombra, “Keep Vishkar from scooping him back up.”

McCree opened up the pamphlet and his eyes glazed over it. Clean. Homey. Normal. He deserved normal. All kids deserved normal.

He’ll be clawing at that pretty flowery wallpaper within two weeks, run off again within a month, thought McCree, He’s too angry. Too scared. Too hungry. He’s seen too much to think he can--No. Shut up. Shut up. You’re projecting. You’re projecting. You’re projecting.

“It’s best if you talk to him,” said Winston, “From his perspective, you’re the closest thing he has to ‘In Loco Parentis.’”

“In local what now?”

“It’s a legal term meaning--” Winston caught himself, “Er--”

“‘In place of a parent,’” said Sombra, she gave McCree a slightly pitying look, “McCree, we all know your story. We know what you’re thinking.”

“What? What am I thinking? That it’s wrong to give him back into a system that just tossed him into Vishkar’s jaws before?” McCree folded his arms. “I’m just saying, even if we put him in completely anonymously, you know Talon and Vishkar comb through the poorest and most desperate for...their ranks.”

“We have to demonstrate some cooperation with the proper channels,” said Winston.

“Look, we get your concerns but try to see it from our perspective. He’s only a few years younger than you were when Reyes picked you up,” said Sombra, folding her arms, “This is personal for you, we get it---”

“You think I’m emotionally compromised,” said McCree with a scoff.

“Yes,” said Sombra, flatly, “But, it’s because of that compromise that we also trust you to do what’s best for him.” Sombra insistently tapped a finger on the end of the pamphlet McCree was holding for emphasis as she said ‘do what’s best.’

McCree looked down at the pamphlet.

“He’s at a stage you were at once, and I get wanting to help him through that,” Sombra went on, “But we’re fighting against a global corporate-backed terrorist collective and a robot invasion. The best thing we can do for him is get him as far away from it as we can.”

McCree looked at a photo of several children around a table with plates of pancakes as a human and omnic pair of foster parents proudly beamed at the camera. Normal. He deserved normal.

“I’ll... I’ll talk to the kid,” said McCree, itching at the brim of his hat, “I guess... all that matters is getting a roof over his head, right?”

He looked at Jack and found no sympathy in that visor. All that matters is stopping Talon, he could almost hear Jack’s voice.

“Of course,” said Winston, “We have complete faith in you.”

“I mean, unless he’s already stolen everything he could and dipped already,” said Sombra with a slight chuckle.

McCree shot her a dirty look.

“Crisis Orphan mentality,” said Sombra with a shrug, “It’s what I would have done in his place.”

“We ain’t treatin’ him like a criminal!” said McCree.

“He’s literally here because he stole Rei’s backpack,” said Jack, flatly.

“Hanzo’s been keeping an eye on him,” said McCree, “Last I checked he was still asleep. It’ll be fine.”

----

“You lost him!?” McCree was pacing back and forth in front of Hanzo as they stood in an empty watchpoint dormitory, “How do you lose a whole-ass 14-year-old?!”

“I wasn’t going to have him wake up with me staring at him, I thought it prudent to fix something for him to eat for a late breakfast!” said Hanzo. He was holding a now-cold plate of a neatly folded omelette flecked with chives.

“...of all the times for you to switch gears from ninja to Uncle Hanzo...” McCree huffed but Hanzo just furrowed his brows at him. “Sorry--” McCree caught himself, “Sorry. We gotta go find him. Athena?” McCree called and looked around the dorm room. There was no response.

“Did he disable Athena in here?” said Hanzo, shocked.

“If he could run away from a Vishkar orphanage...” McCree pulled out his comm, “Athena, you there? I need Watchpoint surveillance feeds on my comm.”

“If we don’t want him to feel like a criminal, perhaps activating all Watchpoint security isn’t the best way to go about this,” said Hanzo, “We’ll look around for him first. Give him time to come back.”

“In that time he could hop another freighter or--or get hurt! He’s cleared with Satya’s turrets, right?” said McCree.

“Of course he’s cleared with Satya’s turrets, we aren’t savages!” Hanzo retorted, “Every moment we spend arguing is a moment we should be spending making sure he’s all right. Come,” said Hanzo, already briskly walking out

“You gotta be kidding me,” muttered McCree, following behind him.

----

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Jaime was hunched over a pried-open panel to see nothing but empty black space. The scent of his own new clothes threw him off, distracted him. The fact that he couldn’t really smell himself anymore was definitely an improvement, but he was wondering how much the stress of getting out of here would undo that. He rooted around in the space, trying to feel for wires, but then huffed.

“The whole watchpoint’s been cannibalized several times over. Any copper or palladium in the walls here has probably been stripped for Mei’s or Athena’s servers,” a voice that seemed to be trying to jam too many syllables in at once while hitting its consonants a little too hard spoke up from behind Jaime, and Jaime glanced over his shoulder to see a familiar girl with thick eyebrows and wild dark hair tied half-back in a yellow ribbon. “There’s no way you can try to get them without getting caught, though,” she added.

“...Psycho,” said Jaime.

“Thief,” said Rei.

“I already said sorry about your stupid backpack,” said Jaime, pushing himself up from his knees and dusting himself off, already walking away.

“And you’re already trying to steal again!” said Rei, huffily pacing after him.

“You know most people don’t steal because they have anything against whoever they’re stealing from, right?” said Jaime, “It’s not about you, or your watch...thing.”

“Watchpoint,” said Rei.

“It’s about survival,” said Jaime.

“So ask!” said Rei, “They’re Overwatch! You think we don’t care about people’s survival?!”

“I really don’t care about your weird army cult thing,” said Jaime, continuing to walk.

“Cult?!” Rei blustered.

“Yeah. Big compound, lots of guns...weird kids who were born here and don’t question the giant weird compound or the guns---”

“Overwatch is trying to save the world from Talon and Null Sector! Trying to save the world isn’t a cult!” said Rei.

Jaime just gave her a semi-pitying look that made her blood boil.

“Well fine! If you want to go back to being a scuzzy little thief, be my guest!” she said, throwing her hands up.

“That’s the plan,” said Jaime, continuing to walk away, “Not like I’m dumb enough to wait for them to hand me off to the police or another orphanage.”

“Fine!” Rei said again, folding her arms, before suddenly catching herself, “Wait---”

Jaime stopped and looked over his shoulder at her.

“If you need things before you go, we can give them to you. No stealing,” said Rei, “I mean, obviously you can’t strip Athena or any of the tech, but... clothes and soap and food...” she trailed off.

Jaime’s stomach audibly growled at the word ‘food.’

“...Have you eaten yet today?” said Rei, suddenly alarmed.

“What are you, my mom?” said Jaime with a scoff before his stomach growled again.

“Come with me,” said Rei, briskly stepping up alongside him. She looked to his wrist, fully healed from the sprain thanks to biotics, and took his elbow, “Come on.”

“Is this the cult love-bombing?” said Jaime, being half-dragged behind her, “I’m not going if it’s the cult love-bombing.”

“Oh my god, it’s not love-bombing, I’m just taking you to the garden so you can grab some fruit,” said Rei continuing to drag him along, “It’s closer than the mess hall. You’re less likely to run into the adults there.”

“You have guns, a compound, and a little mini-farm, and you want me to believe you’re not a cult,” said Jaime, flatly. They rounded a corner and walked a narrow path between the hangar and the seaside cliffs.

“I don’t have guns. And Bastion actually does most of the gardening,” said Rei, as they walked.

“Who?” said Jaime, but he blinked several times as the ground opened up  to a wide grassy area bordered by Gibraltar’s rocks and the hangar. There was a line of orange trees up against the hangar, and a significant section of the grass had been carved out to form a small victory garden growing tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, carrots, and corn. Opposite the orange trees were several thrumming beehive boxes, and at the far end of the garden was an apparently well-loved old greenhouse that had gone through several patch-ups over the years, and a knobby little olive tree twisting up next to it, canvas laid out at its roots.

“Thwuh-wheet?” an inquisitive beep came from behind them and both Rei and Jaime quickly turned on their heels to see Bastion looming over them, . Jaime’s breath caught in his throat and he stumbled back. Bastion tilted its boxy head at him.

“...that’s a Bastion unit,” said Jaime, his voice tense in his throat as he took several steps back.

“Bastion doesn’t like to fight,” said Rei, as several birds fluttered around Bastion’s head. Bastion gestured at Jaime with its hand.

“Oh um--he’s.... from school!” said Rei, “He’s just visiting.”

“Right,” Jaime repeated hesitantly, “From... the school.” But then Jaime jumped about a foot in the air as a bright blue teleporter opened at the end of the line of orange trees. Rei stepped in front of Jaime, half-expecting an adult to step out of it, but instead it was only Samir, looking more rumpled than usual in a baggy tank top, basketball shorts, and sandals. The only thing that kept Jaime from breaking out into a dead sprint out of that garden at the slightest sight of hard-light was both Rei and Bastion’s complete non-reaction to the appearance of a teleporter. Samir didn’t seem really aware of them as he materialized a large basket and a hard-light telescoping fruit picker.

“I thought you said Overwatch was against Vishkar!” Jaime hissed from behind Rei as Samir hummed and picked oranges.

“We are,” said Rei, “Samir’s mom--I mean, one of Samir’s moms---well, long story short, you’re not the first person to leave Vishkar.”

Jaime blinked several times, “I’m... I’m not?”

“Rei?” Samir’s head turned toward her as an orange thudded to the ground at his feet, “Who are you talking to?”

Jaime leaned out slightly from behind Bastion and Samir squinted a little.

“Uh...Hi. Jaime. I’m Jaime, from... from school. The school. That I go to. With her,” said Jaime.

“Rei,” Rei said quietly under her breath.

“The school with Rei,” said Jaime, nodding.

Samir gave them both a skeptical look before resuming picking oranges, “You’re hiding,” he said matter-of-factly.

“What? No!” Rei and Jaime’s voices were overlapping each other as they stumbled over several half-thought out excuses.

Samir gave them an impatient ‘Don’t assume I’m dumb’ look and Rei’s shoulders slumped. “Look, it’s complicated,” said Rei, “Okay?”

“Is he a secret boyfriend? You aren’t cheating on Jaz, are you?” said Samir, squinting at her.

“Oh gross! Barf! Like I would cheat on Jaz with Backpack Thief McPubertystache over here!” Rei blurted out, but then she caught herself and looked at Jaime, “I mean.... uh... no.”

“...real flattering,” said Jaime.

“Wait--You stole Rei’s backpack?!” Samir’s face lit up.

“Uh...” Jaime itched at the back of his neck.

“So you outran a ninja and Marti?” said Samir.

“He didn’t outrun me!” said Rei, indignantly.

“I out parkour’d her,” said Jaime, folding his arms smugly.

“Did not! You caught me on an off-day!” said Rei.

“I out parkour’d her,” Jaime whisper-spoke to Samir and Samir snorted slightly.

“So... you’re still here?” said Samir tilting his head, “I thought Overwatch would have just sent you to your parents or....”

Jaime glanced off and his lips thinned.

“...Oh,” said Samir and he looked to Rei, “Did they say what they were going to do with him or...?”

“I can take care of myself,” said Jaime, firmly, “Rei’s just helping me grab some stuff before I go.”

“...oh,” said Samir, his shoulders slumping slightly, “So you’re going.”

“I’m a wanderer,” said Jaime, putting his hands on his hips, “Erromes.”

“Erro...what?” Samir started.

“A pilgrim,” said Jaime.

“...you’re fourteen,” said Rei, flatly.

“Better than being in a cult,” said Jaime with a shrug.

“We’re not in a---!” Rei huffed before looking at Samir, “We’re just grabbing some food, that’s it.”

Samir shrugged, “Fine by me,” he pulled an orange from his basket and materialized a hard light knife, cutting the orange into neat sections. He held the cut orange out to Jaime. Jaime gave a wary glance to Rei before stepping over to Samir and taking the cut orange.

“Rei said you escaped Vishkar?” said Samir.

“...yeah,” said Jaime, trying to eat the orange slices as casually as possible despite how hungry he was.

“What was it like?” said Samir.

Jaime just paled slightly and Samir caught himself, “Sorry just... Mom hates them too, but she’s never talks about it, you know?”

“They always try and leave us out of that kind of stuff,” muttered Rei, interlacing her fingers behind her head.

“What’s the cowboy’s deal?” said Jaime, in-between bites of orange.

“Uncle Jesse?” said Rei,

“Like... why is he a cowboy?” said Jaime.

“Why are you a pilgrim if you keep freaking out and calling us a cult?” said Rei, arching an eyebrow.

“Pilgrims understand there are no easy answers,” said Jaime, airily.

“The way we live isn’t an easy answer,” said Rei with a scoff, “I’m scared of my parents dying, or my uncles dying, or anyone else on this Watchpoint dying. Like, all the time. And I’m scared of losing my home. All the time.”

“...oh,” said Jaime.

“You thought this was easy?” said Rei.

“...you go to school, and you have lunches and...” Jaime trailed off. Rei was glancing off, too.

An awkward pause passed between the three of them. Bastion at this point seemed to occupy itself with weeding the garden.

“No one knows why McCree’s a cowboy,” said Samir, at last, “That’s just how he is.” Another long pause passed and Samir cleared his throat. “You know, you’re probably going to want food with a longer shelf-life so..”

“Mess hall!” Rei blurted out.

“Right,” said Samir, spinning another teleporter into existence.

Jaime visibly tensed at the sight of another teleporter and Samir quickly waved it off into sparkling oblivion with a flick of his wrist. “Or we could walk! Walking is good!”

“‘We?’” said Rei.

“Well it’s not like we get a lot of visitors,” said Samir, hefting up his basket of oranges and stepping up next to them. Samir and Rei gave a wave to Bastion, who only briefly glanced up from a butterfly resting on a tomato flower to wave back at them as they left the garden.

“...so you live on the Watchpoint too?” said Jaime, walking with Rei and Samir. The three of them walked another cliffside path to a road that needed some re-paving ribboning through the watchpoint. Jaime was periodically grabbing oranges out of Samir’s basket, peeling and eating them as they walked.

“There’s just four of us,” said Samir, “There’s Rei, Marti, me, and my brother, Rajeev. We actually all go to the same school, but Rajeev and I are in lower grades.”

“Ah...” said Jaime, now feeling a little foolish for trying to keep up the ‘I’m Rei’s classmate’ lie, “...and your parents just... teach you being about being a ninja or using hard-light?”

“It took forever to convince Dad and Uncle to let me start training,” said Rei with a huff,  “Dad was okay with me learning Kendo, but he and Mom were so weird about me learning any actual ninja stuff. But I was climbing everything on the Watchpoint anyway so Uncle started teaching me stuff ‘so I wouldn’t hurt myself.’”

“For me, my Mom just uses hard-light for everything,” said Samir with a shrug, “It’s just kind of how we do everything. Cooking, cleaning, exercise---”

“Basketball,” said Rei as the road opened up to the watchpoint tarmac.

“That falls under exer--oh,” Samir was cut off by the pang pang pang of a basketball on blacktop glanced up to see a large hard-light basketball hoop set up in front of the watchpoint mess hall. Marti was guarding the hoop, in a tense cat-like position while Rajeev was furiously dribbling the ball in front of her, trying to get past her. Marti glanced over her shoulder at them.

“Rei?” Marti blinked a few times and looked at Jaime, “Isn’t that the--”

 She was cut off as Rajeev dipped to the side of her and jumped up to make a slam-dunk, only to have the entire basketball hoop dematerialize with the impact of his weight. He stumbled to the ground and the basketball smacked against the pavement and went flying. Jaime caught it out of the air.

“Boom!” Rajeev threw his arms up into the air, “Dunked it too hard! Too powerful!”

“I’m pretty sure the basket only dissolved because you need to dial up the shock absorption,” said Samir, with a huff.

“Details,” said Rajeev with a hand wave.

“What’s going on?” said Marti, looking between Rei and Jaime, “What’s he doing here?”

“I’m just helping him grab some stuff before he takes off,” said Rei with a shrug.

“...he’s taking off?” said Marti, “What did McCree say?”

“Well...” Rei trailed off.

“Rei,” Marti folded her arms.

“I mean he’s going to run off anyway!” said Rei.

“It’s true,” said Jaime with a shrug, still holding the basketball.

“And go back to stealing and dumpster-diving?” said Marti.

“What do you care?” said Jaime.

“You’re just a kid,” said Marti.

“So?” said Jaime a bit more stiffly.

“And you ran away from Vishkar,” Samir piped up.

“You ran away from Vishkar!?” Rajeev’s face lit up.

“And he outran Rei and Marti for like, 3 hours,” said Samir.

“He didn’t outrun me, he cheated,” said Rei.

“He outran us,” Marti confirmed. 

“Woah...” Rajeev looked back at Jaime. He pointed at the basketball still in Jaime’s hand, “Wanna play a round?”

“What, just like that?” said Jaime.

Rajeev shrugged. “It’s just basketball. We don’t get a lot of visitors to the Watchpoint.” 

“...I don’t know if that’s a good idea...” Jaime said quietly, bounce-passing the ball to Marti.

“It’s a good idea,” said Marti, bounce-passing the ball back to him.

Jaime looked at her.

“I get what it feels like to not feel safe anywhere,” said Marti, “But...this place...”

“This place is about as safe from Vishkar as you can get,” said Samir, finishing her thought.

Jaime looked down at the ball and then his eyes flicked to Rei. “You don’t actually want to play with me,” he said, bouncing the ball to her.

“I don’t know about ‘play,’” said Rei, dribbling the ball thoughtfully, “But I gotta show the twins that you outrunning me was just a fluke somehow.” She chest-passed it so hard to him he rocked back on his heels.

“Oh it’s like that?” said Jaime, passing the ball back to her.

“It’s like that,” said Rei, bouncing the ball back.

“We can play guys vs. girls!” said Rajeev.

“That’s three on two,” said Samir.

“Two on two, each team gets a twin,” said Marti, “Rei and Rajeev vs Jaime and Samir. Sound fair?”

“What about you?” said Rei.

“I’ll be sneaking stuff out of the mess hall,” said Marti with a slight smile at Jaime, “Just for good faith.”

“How is it good faith if we’re still stea--” Rajeev started but Samir elbowed him.

“I shouldn’t stay that long,” Jaime said, 

“First to five?” said Samir, as he and Rajeev materialized a new hard-light hoop.

“...I’ve got time for first to five,” said Jaime.

----

“I meant to ask,” said Hanzo as the two of them briskly walked out of the hangar, “Did you and  the others come to a consensus about what should be done?” McCree fished the foster home pamphlet out of his back pocket and held it out to Hanzo. “...Ah,” said Hanzo.

“I mean, it’s obvious, ain’t it?” said McCree glancing off, “It’s not like he actually wants to be here...”

Hanzo studied McCree’s profile for a few seconds. “You’re not okay with this,” Hanzo said quietly.

“What?” said McCree, “I mean, I’ll be okay about it. I just gotta...” he trailed off, “Y’know.”

“He’s a lot like you,” said Hanzo, as they walked through one of the watchpoint’s cannibalized server rooms.

“You know, this would be easier if people stopped sayin’ that,” said McCree, pausing to examine a panel which had been removed from the wall.

Hanzo glanced off, “Do you remember when we would look after Rei when Genji and Angela were busy?”

“Oh don’t start---” McCree pressed the brim of his hat down.

“You loved it. You loved her. You listened to her babbling like it was the most important and interesting thing in the world.”

“That’s---”

“You even volunteered us for helping out with the twins when they were born.  And when Marti came to the Watchpoint you were constantly checking in to make sure she was settling in all right.”

“That’s babysitting! That’s kids you can walk away from!” said McCree, as they both walked out of the server room.

“But none of the children on this Watchpoint forgot that. They go to you when they feel like they can’t talk to their parents about something, you haven’t noticed that?”

“Well, maybe that’s because they don’t see me as an authority figure like everyone else--not a good ‘In local parentals’ factor,” said McCree.

“In loco parentis,” said Hanzo.

“See? I don’t know shit!”

“It’s not a matter of them not respecting you, it’s a matter of them seeing you as someone who respects them,” said Hanzo, “You’re coming from a childhood where you were largely relying on yourself... the adult figure you are to these children is the one you wish you had in your life. And it’s why Jaime was able to trust you enough to get his wrist looked at rather than just run off.”

“Hanzo, what are you gettin’ at, here?”

“You want to be a father--You’ve probably wanted to be a father ever since Rei was born. Possibly even earlier.”

“Well yeah, but there’s wanting something, and then knowing you’ll be shit at it,” said McCree, “I’m not like you, all... together.”

“You think I would be a good father?” a laugh rippled Hanzo’s voice and he noted the apparent hurt in McCree’s expression, “Oh... you actually...”

“You were a got-dang wizard with Rei! She still idolizes you! You’re always... prepared!” McCree furrowed his brow and thought for a second, “Did you ever want kids?”

“...In a sense, but...” Hanzo glanced down, “I didn’t think it would be fair to them. My father spent my childhood molding me into another, well, him. And as Genji can probably tell you, he wasn’t a good person. I don’t... I don’t want to inflict that on a child.”

“You would never,” said McCree on reflex, “Me on the other hand...” he shuddered, “If I became another kid’s Reyes...” he trailed off, “...we never really talked about this, did we?” he said at last.

“Well, given the fact that Overwatch is throwing us into near-constant danger and we never had to worry about pregnancy...” Hanzo trailed off, “Let’s just focus on finding him.”

“I hear that,” said McCree, “It ain’t about us. It’s about him.” McCree’s boot hit an odd texture and he glanced down.

“Orange peel,” said Hanzo, plucking up a bit of the waxy rind from the blacktop. They looked at the small trail of bits of orange peel like breadcrumbs through the watchpoint.

“Could be another macaque,” said McCree.

“Too clean,” said Hanzo.

“Welp, it’s a lead,” said McCree, following the trail. It lead them on a meandering path through the watchpoint, a fairly straight line towards the mess hall.

The trail of orange peel tapered off to nothingness and McCree frowned, but then his head jerked up at the sound of Rei shouting. He gave a glance back to Hanzo and both of them picked up their pace, rounding the corner to see Jaime, Rei, and the twins all involved in an intense game of basketball around one hard-light hoop. Rei was passing to Rajeev, getting intercepted by Jaime who would shoot for the basket, only to be intercepted by Rajeev. They didn’t even notice McCree and Hanzo coming out from behind a building’s corner, but McCree hung back. He fished the foster home brochure out of the back of his pocket, he glanced down at the photo of the smiling family at the table laden with pancakes, then glanced back up at the four kids laughing and shouting at each other as they scrambled around the basketball hoop. 

The sensible voice in his head spoke up, saying, Do what’s best for him. He deserves normal, but then an angrier voice spoke, What the hell is normal anyway? There hasn’t been a normal ever since the goddamn Omnic Crisis. It’s not about ‘normal’ it’s about ‘home.’ And when the hell has ‘home’ ever been normal for anyone?

“Jesse?” Hanzo’s voice cut through McCree’s train of thought and McCree glanced over at him, “Do you think we should...?” He looked back at Jaime intercepting a shot from Rei and then laughing about it.

“...I mean, he doesn’t have to go right away, does he?” said McCree, watching as Jaime managed to snatch the ball back from Rajeev and get an assist from Samir.

“Not... right away,” said Hanzo.

I never did any fics surrounding Jaime joining the watchpoint. I should fix that.

Oof this one ended up long. 

In Loco Parentis

------

The mid-morning sunlight streamed through the slats of the watchpoint boardroom.

“We’re not a homeless shelter,” Jack’s arms were folded, “Or an orphanage.”

“You know the situation is more complicated than that,” said McCree, “If he’s fleeing Vishkar---”

“There are thousands of people displaced by Talon, Null Sector, and the Siberian Omnium,” said Jack, “We barely have the resources to sustain ourselves. If we start taking on civilians...”

“Even at the peak of Overwatch’s power, there wasn’t a whole lot they could do about 30 million crisis orphans,” said Sombra.

“But with Marti--” McCree looked over at Sombra, who had several screens open around her head.

“I’m Marti’s legal guardian,” said Sombra, scrolling through one of her screens with a flick of her wrist, “It’s different.”

“So what, we just throw him out?” said McCree.

“Not ‘throw him out,’” said Winston. He cleared his throat and set several pamphlets on the table in front of McCree, “His associating with us also potentially makes him even more of a target for Talon. While I do believe Overwatch is meant to help everyone, we have to be able to delegate what that help looks like.”

McCree picked up one of the pamphlets and his mouth thinned. There was a picture of a handful of kids of varying backgrounds in front of an idyllic suburban house. “...Foster care,” said McCree, “You’re talking about foster care.”

“I can cover his tracks,” said Sombra, “Keep Vishkar from scooping him back up.”

McCree opened up the pamphlet and his eyes glazed over it. Clean. Homey. Normal. He deserved normal. All kids deserved normal.

He’ll be clawing at that pretty flowery wallpaper within two weeks, run off again within a month, thought McCree, He’s too angry. Too scared. Too hungry. He’s seen too much to think he can--No. Shut up. Shut up. You’re projecting. You’re projecting. You’re projecting.

“It’s best if you talk to him,” said Winston, “From his perspective, you’re the closest thing he has to ‘In Loco Parentis.’”

“In local what now?”

“It’s a legal term meaning--” Winston caught himself, “Er--”

“‘In place of a parent,’” said Sombra, she gave McCree a slightly pitying look, “McCree, we all know your story. We know what you’re thinking.”

“What? What am I thinking? That it’s wrong to shove him back into a system that just tossed him into Vishkar’s jaws before?” McCree folded his arms. “I’m just saying, even if we put him in completely anonymously, you know Talon and Vishkar comb through the poorest and most desperate for...their ranks.”

“We have to demonstrate some cooperation with the proper channels,” said Winston.

“Look, we get your concerns but try to see it from our perspective. He’s only a few years younger than you were when Reyes picked you up,” said Sombra, folding her arms, “This is personal for you, we get it---”

“You think I’m emotionally compromised,” said McCree with a scoff.

“Yes,” said Sombra, flatly, “But, it’s because of that compromise that we also trust you to do what’s best for him.” Sombra insistently tapped a finger on the end of the pamphlet McCree was holding for emphasis as she said ‘do what’s best.’

McCree looked down at the pamphlet.

“He’s at a stage you were at once, and I get wanting to help him through that,” Sombra went on, “But we’re fighting against a global corporate-backed terrorist collective and a robot invasion. The best thing we can do for him is get him as far away from it as we can.”

McCree looked at a photo of several children around a table with plates of pancakes as a human and omnic pair of foster parents proudly beamed at the camera. Normal. He deserved normal.

“I’ll... I’ll talk to the kid,” said McCree, itching at the brim of his hat, “I guess... all that matters is getting a roof over his head, right?”

He looked at Jack and found no sympathy in that visor. All that matters is stopping Talon, he could almost hear Jack’s voice.

“Of course,” said Winston, “We have complete faith in you.”

“I mean, unless he’s already stolen everything he could and dipped already,” said Sombra with a slight chuckle.

McCree shot her a dirty look.

“Crisis Orphan mentality,” said Sombra with a shrug, “It’s what I would have done in his place.”

“We ain’t treatin’ him like a criminal!” said McCree.

“He’s literally here because he stole Rei’s backpack,” said Jack, flatly.

“Hanzo’s been keeping an eye on him,” said McCree, “Last I checked he was still asleep. It’ll be fine.”

----

“You lost him!?” McCree was pacing back and forth in front of Hanzo as they stood in an empty watchpoint dormitory, “How do you lose a whole-ass 14-year-old?!”

“I wasn’t going to have him wake up with me staring at him, I thought it prudent to fix something for him to eat for a late breakfast!” said Hanzo. He was holding a now-cold plate of a neatly folded omelette flecked with chives.

“...of all the times for you to switch gears from ninja to Uncle Hanzo...” McCree huffed but Hanzo just furrowed his brows at him. “Sorry--” McCree caught himself, “Sorry. We gotta go find him. Athena?” McCree called and looked around the dorm room. There was no response.

“Did he disable Athena in here?” said Hanzo, shocked.

“If he could run away from a Vishkar orphanage...” McCree pulled out his comm, “Athena, you there? I need Watchpoint surveillance feeds on my comm.”

“If we don’t want him to feel like a criminal, perhaps activating all Watchpoint security isn’t the best way to go about this,” said Hanzo, “We’ll look around for him first. Give him time to come back.”

“In that time he could hop another freighter or--or get hurt! He’s cleared with Satya’s turrets, right?” said McCree.

“Of course he’s cleared with Satya’s turrets, we aren’t savages!” Hanzo retorted, “Every moment we spend arguing is a moment we should be spending making sure he’s all right. Come,” said Hanzo, already briskly walking out

“You gotta be kidding me,” muttered McCree, following behind him.

----

“You’ve gotta be kidding me,” Jaime was hunched over a pried-open panel to see nothing but empty black space. The scent of his own new clothes threw him off, distracted him. The fact that he couldn’t really smell himself anymore was definitely an improvement, but he was wondering how much the stress of getting out of here would undo that. He rooted around in the space, trying to feel for wires, but then huffed.

“The whole watchpoint’s been cannibalized several times over. Any copper or palladium in the walls here has probably been stripped for Mei’s or Athena’s servers,” a voice that seemed to be trying to jam too many syllables in at once while hitting its consonants a little too hard spoke up from behind Jaime, and Jaime glanced over his shoulder to see a familiar girl with thick eyebrows and wild dark hair tied half-back in a yellow ribbon. “There’s no way you can try to get them without getting caught, though,” she added.

“...Psycho,” said Jaime.

“Thief,” said Rei.

“I already said sorry about your stupid backpack,” said Jaime, pushing himself up from his knees and dusting himself off, already walking away.

“And you’re already trying to steal again!” said Rei, huffily pacing after him.

“You know most people don’t steal because they have anything against whoever they’re stealing from, right?” said Jaime, “It’s not about you, or your watch...thing.”

“Watchpoint,” said Rei.

“It’s about survival,” said Jaime.

“So ask!” said Rei, “They’re Overwatch! You think we don’t care about people’s survival?!”

“I really don’t care about your weird army cult thing,” said Jaime, continuing to walk.

“Cult?!” Rei blustered.

“Yeah. Big compound, lots of guns...weird kids who were born here and don’t question the giant weird compound or the guns---”

“Overwatch is trying to save the world from Talon and Null Sector! Trying to save the world isn’t a cult!” said Rei.

Jaime just gave her a semi-pitying look that made her blood boil.

“Well fine! If you want to go back to being a scuzzy little thief, be my guest!” she said, throwing her hands up.

“That’s the plan,” said Jaime, continuing to walk away, “Not like I’m dumb enough to wait for them to hand me off to the police or another orphanage.”

“Fine!” Rei said again, folding her arms, before suddenly catching herself, “Wait---”

Jaime stopped and looked over his shoulder at her.

“If you need things before you go, we can give them to you. No stealing,” said Rei, “I mean, obviously you can’t strip Athena or any of the tech, but... clothes and soap and food...” she trailed off.

Jaime’s stomach audibly growled at the word ‘food.’

“...Have you eaten yet today?” said Rei, suddenly alarmed.

“What are you, my mom?” said Jaime with a scoff before his stomach growled again.

“Come with me,” said Rei, briskly stepping up alongside him. She looked to his wrist, fully healed from the sprain thanks to biotics, and took his elbow, “Come on.”

“Is this the cult love-bombing?” said Jaime, being half-dragged behind her, “I’m not going if it’s the cult love-bombing.”

“Oh my god, it’s not love-bombing, I’m just taking you to the garden so you can grab some fruit,” said Rei continuing to drag him along, “It’s closer than the mess hall. You’re less likely to run into the adults there.”

“You have guns, a compound, and a little mini-farm, and you want me to believe you’re not a cult,” said Jaime, flatly. They rounded a corner and walked a narrow path between the hangar and the seaside cliffs.

“I don’t have guns. And Bastion actually does most of the gardening,” said Rei, as they walked.

“Who?” said Jaime, but he blinked several times as the ground opened up  to a wide grassy area bordered by Gibraltar’s rocks and the hangar. There was a line of orange trees up against the hangar, and a significant section of the grass had been carved out to form a small victory garden growing tomatoes, strawberries, lettuce, carrots, and corn. Opposite the orange trees were several thrumming beehive boxes, and at the far end of the garden was an apparently well-loved old greenhouse that had gone through several patch-ups over the years, and a knobby little olive tree twisting up next to it, canvas laid out at its roots.

“Thwuh-wheet?” an inquisitive beep came from behind them and both Rei and Jaime quickly turned on their heels to see Bastion looming over them, . Jaime’s breath caught in his throat and he stumbled back. Bastion tilted its boxy head at him.

“...that’s a Bastion unit,” said Jaime, his voice tense in his throat as he took several steps back.

“Bastion doesn’t like to fight,” said Rei, as several birds fluttered around Bastion’s head. Bastion gestured at Jaime with its hand.

“Oh um--he’s.... from school!” said Rei, “He’s just visiting.”

“Right,” Jaime repeated hesitantly, “From... the school.” But then Jaime jumped about a foot in the air as a bright blue teleporter opened at the end of the line of orange trees. Rei stepped in front of Jaime, half-expecting an adult to step out of it, but instead it was only Samir, looking more rumpled than usual in a baggy tank top, basketball shorts, and sandals. The only thing that kept Jaime from breaking out into a dead sprint out of that garden at the slightest sight of hard-light was both Rei and Bastion’s complete non-reaction to the appearance of a teleporter. Samir didn’t seem really aware of them as he materialized a large basket and a hard-light telescoping fruit picker.

“I thought you said Overwatch was against Vishkar!” Jaime hissed from behind Rei as Samir hummed and picked oranges.

“We are,” said Rei, “Samir’s mom--I mean, one of Samir’s moms---well, long story short, you’re not the first person to leave Vishkar.”

Jaime blinked several times, “I’m... I’m not?”

“Rei?” Samir’s head turned toward her as an orange thudded to the ground at his feet, “Who are you talking to?”

Jaime leaned out slightly from behind Bastion and Samir squinted a little.

“Uh...Hi. Jaime. I’m Jaime, from... from school. The school. That I go to. With her,” said Jaime.

“Rei,” Rei said quietly under her breath.

“The school with Rei,” said Jaime, nodding.

Samir gave them both a skeptical look before resuming picking oranges, “You’re hiding,” he said matter-of-factly.

“What? No!” Rei and Jaime’s voices were overlapping each other as they stumbled over several half-thought out excuses.

Samir gave them an impatient ‘Don’t assume I’m dumb’ look and Rei’s shoulders slumped. “Look, it’s complicated,” said Rei, “Okay?”

“Is he a secret boyfriend? You aren’t cheating on Jaz, are you?” said Samir, squinting at her.

“Oh gross! Barf! Like I would cheat on Jaz with Backpack Thief McPubertystache over here!” Rei blurted out, but then she caught herself and looked at Jaime, “I mean.... uh... no.”

“...real flattering,” said Jaime.

“Wait--You stole Rei’s backpack?!” Samir’s face lit up.

“Uh...” Jaime itched at the back of his neck.

“So you outran a ninja and Marti?” said Samir.

“He didn’t outrun me!” said Rei, indignantly.

“I out parkour’d her,” said Jaime, folding his arms smugly.

“Did not! You caught me on an off-day!” said Rei.

“I out parkour’d her,” Jaime whisper-spoke to Samir and Samir snorted slightly.

“So... you’re still here?” said Samir tilting his head, “I thought Overwatch would have just sent you to your parents or....”

Jaime glanced off and his lips thinned.

“...Oh,” said Samir and he looked to Rei, “Did they say what they were going to do with him or...?”

“I can take care of myself,” said Jaime, firmly, “Rei’s just helping me grab some stuff before I go.”

“...oh,” said Samir, his shoulders slumping slightly, “So you’re going.”

“I’m a wanderer,” said Jaime, putting his hands on his hips, “Erromes.”

“Erro...what?” Samir started.

“A pilgrim,” said Jaime.

“...you’re fourteen,” said Rei, flatly.

“Better than being in a cult,” said Jaime with a shrug.

“We’re not in a---!” Rei huffed before looking at Samir, “We’re just grabbing some food, that’s it.”

Samir shrugged, “Fine by me,” he pulled an orange from his basket and materialized a hard light knife, cutting the orange into neat sections. He held the cut orange out to Jaime. Jaime gave a wary glance to Rei before stepping over to Samir and taking the cut orange.

“Rei said you escaped Vishkar?” said Samir.

“...yeah,” said Jaime, trying to eat the orange slices as casually as possible despite how hungry he was.

“What was it like?” said Samir.

Jaime just paled slightly and Samir caught himself, “Sorry just... Mom hates them too, but she’s never talks about it, you know?”

“They always try and leave us out of that kind of stuff,” muttered Rei, interlacing her fingers behind her head.

“What’s the cowboy’s deal?” said Jaime, in-between bites of orange.

“Uncle Jesse?” said Rei,

“Like... why is he a cowboy?” said Jaime.

“Why are you a pilgrim if you keep freaking out and calling us a cult?” said Rei, arching an eyebrow.

“Pilgrims understand there are no easy answers,” said Jaime, airily.

“The way we live isn’t an easy answer,” said Rei with a scoff, “I’m scared of my parents dying, or my uncles dying, or anyone else on this Watchpoint dying. Like, all the time. And I’m scared of losing my home. All the time.”

“...oh,” said Jaime.

“You thought this was easy?” said Rei.

“...you go to school, and you have lunches and...” Jaime trailed off. Rei was glancing off, too.

An awkward pause passed between the three of them. Bastion at this point seemed to occupy itself with weeding the garden.

“No one knows why McCree’s a cowboy,” said Samir, at last, “That’s just how he is.” Another long pause passed and Samir cleared his throat. “You know, you’re probably going to want food with a longer shelf-life so..”

“Mess hall!” Rei blurted out.

“Right,” said Samir, spinning another teleporter into existence.

Jaime visibly tensed at the sight of another teleporter and Samir quickly waved it off into sparkling oblivion with a flick of his wrist. “Or we could walk! Walking is good!”

“‘We?’” said Rei.

“Well it’s not like we get a lot of visitors,” said Samir, hefting up his basket of oranges and stepping up next to them. Samir and Rei gave a wave to Bastion, who only briefly glanced up from a butterfly resting on a tomato flower to wave back at them as they left the garden.

“...so you live on the Watchpoint too?” said Jaime, walking with Rei and Samir. The three of them walked another cliffside path to a road that needed some re-paving ribboning through the watchpoint. Jaime was periodically grabbing oranges out of Samir’s basket, peeling and eating them as they walked.

“There’s just four of us,” said Samir, “There’s Rei, Marti, me, and my brother, Rajeev. We actually all go to the same school, but Rajeev and I are in lower grades.”

“Ah...” said Jaime, now feeling a little foolish for trying to keep up the ‘I’m Rei’s classmate’ lie, “...and your parents just... teach you being about being a ninja or using hard-light?”

“It took forever to convince Dad and Uncle to let me start training,” said Rei with a huff,  “Dad was okay with me learning Kendo, but he and Mom were so weird about me learning any actual ninja stuff. But I was climbing everything on the Watchpoint anyway so Uncle started teaching me stuff ‘so I wouldn’t hurt myself.’”

“For me, my Mom just uses hard-light for everything,” said Samir with a shrug, “It’s just kind of how we do everything. Cooking, cleaning, exercise---”

“Basketball,” said Rei as the road opened up to the watchpoint tarmac.

“That falls under exer--oh,” Samir was cut off by the pang pang pang of a basketball on blacktop glanced up to see a large hard-light basketball hoop set up in front of the watchpoint mess hall. Marti was guarding the hoop, in a tense cat-like position while Rajeev was furiously dribbling the ball in front of her, trying to get past her. Marti glanced over her shoulder at them.

“Rei?” Marti blinked a few times and looked at Jaime, “Isn’t that the--”

 She was cut off as Rajeev dipped to the side of her and jumped up to make a slam-dunk, only to have the entire basketball hoop dematerialize with the impact of his weight. He stumbled to the ground and the basketball smacked against the pavement and went flying. Jaime caught it out of the air.

“Boom!” Rajeev threw his arms up into the air, “Dunked it too hard! Too powerful!”

“I’m pretty sure the basket only dissolved because you need to dial up the shock absorption,” said Samir, with a huff.

“Details,” said Rajeev with a hand wave.

“What’s going on?” said Marti, looking between Rei and Jaime, “What’s he doing here?”

“I’m just helping him grab some stuff before he takes off,” said Rei with a shrug.

“...he’s taking off?” said Marti, “What did McCree say?”

“Well...” Rei trailed off.

“Rei,” Marti folded her arms.

“I mean he’s going to run off anyway!” said Rei.

“It’s true,” said Jaime with a shrug, still holding the basketball.

“And go back to stealing and dumpster-diving?” said Marti.

“What do you care?” said Jaime.

“You’re just a kid,” said Marti.

“So?” said Jaime a bit more stiffly.

“And you ran away from Vishkar,” Samir piped up.

“You ran away from Vishkar!?” Rajeev’s face lit up.

“And he outran Rei and Marti for like, 3 hours,” said Samir.

“He didn’t outrun me, he cheated,” said Rei.

“He outran us,” Marti confirmed. 

“Woah...” Rajeev looked back at Jaime. He pointed at the basketball still in Jaime’s hand, “Wanna play a round?”

“What, just like that?” said Jaime.

Rajeev shrugged. “It’s just basketball. We don’t get a lot of visitors to the Watchpoint.” 

“...I don’t know if that’s a good idea...” Jaime said quietly, bounce-passing the ball to Marti.

“It’s a good idea,” said Marti, bounce-passing the ball back to him.

Jaime looked at her.

“I get what it feels like to not feel safe anywhere,” said Marti, “But...this place...”

“This place is about as safe from Vishkar as you can get,” said Samir, finishing her thought.

Jaime looked down at the ball and then his eyes flicked to Rei. “You don’t actually want to play with me,” he said, bouncing the ball to her.

“I don’t know about ‘play,’” said Rei, dribbling the ball thoughtfully, “But I gotta show the twins that you outrunning me was just a fluke somehow.” She chest-passed it so hard to him he rocked back on his heels.

“Oh it’s like that?” said Jaime, passing the ball back to her.

“It’s like that,” said Rei, bouncing the ball back.

“We can play guys vs. girls!” said Rajeev.

“That’s three on two,” said Samir.

“Two on two, each team gets a twin,” said Marti, “Rei and Rajeev vs Jaime and Samir. Sound fair?”

“What about you?” said Rei.

“I’ll be sneaking stuff out of the mess hall,” said Marti with a slight smile at Jaime, “Just for good faith.”

“How is it good faith if we’re still stea--” Rajeev started but Samir elbowed him.

“I shouldn’t stay that long,” Jaime said, 

“First to five?” said Samir, as he and Rajeev materialized a new hard-light hoop.

“...I’ve got time for first to five,” said Jaime.

----

“I meant to ask,” said Hanzo as the two of them briskly walked out of the hangar, “Did you and  the others come to a consensus about what should be done?” McCree fished the foster home pamphlet out of his back pocket and held it out to Hanzo. “...Ah,” said Hanzo.

“I mean, it’s obvious, ain’t it?” said McCree glancing off, “It’s not like he actually wants to be here...”

Hanzo studied McCree’s profile for a few seconds. “You’re not okay with this,” Hanzo said quietly.

“What?” said McCree, “I mean, I’ll be okay about it. I just gotta...” he trailed off, “Y’know.”

“He’s a lot like you,” said Hanzo, as they walked through one of the watchpoint’s cannibalized server rooms.

“You know, this would be easier if people stopped sayin’ that,” said McCree, pausing to examine a panel which had been removed from the wall.

Hanzo glanced off, “Do you remember when we would look after Rei when Genji and Angela were busy?”

“Oh don’t start---” McCree pressed the brim of his hat down.

“You loved it. You loved her. You listened to her babbling like it was the most important and interesting thing in the world.”

“That’s---”

“You even volunteered us for helping out with the twins when they were born.  And when Marti came to the Watchpoint you were constantly checking in to make sure she was settling in all right.”

“That’s babysitting! That’s kids you can walk away from!” said McCree, as they both walked out of the server room.

“But none of the children on this Watchpoint forgot that. They go to you when they feel like they can’t talk to their parents about something, you haven’t noticed that?”

“Well, maybe that’s because they don’t see me as an authority figure like everyone else--not a good ‘In local parentals’ factor,” said McCree.

“In loco parentis,” said Hanzo.

“See? I don’t know shit!”

“It’s not a matter of them not respecting you, it’s a matter of them seeing you as someone who respects them,” said Hanzo, “You’re coming from a childhood where you were largely relying on yourself... the adult figure you are to these children is the one you wish you had in your life. And it’s why Jaime was able to trust you enough to get his wrist looked at rather than just run off.”

“Hanzo, what are you gettin’ at, here?”

“You want to be a father--You’ve probably wanted to be a father ever since Rei was born. Possibly even earlier.”

“Well yeah, but there’s wanting something, and then knowing you’ll be shit at it,” said McCree, “I’m not like you, all... together.”

“You think I would be a good father?” a laugh rippled Hanzo’s voice and he noted the apparent hurt in McCree’s expression, “Oh... you actually...”

“You were a got-dang wizard with Rei! She still idolizes you! You’re always... prepared!” McCree furrowed his brow and thought for a second, “Did you ever want kids?”

“...In a sense, but...” Hanzo glanced down, “I didn’t think it would be fair to them. My father spent my childhood molding me into another, well, him. And as Genji can probably tell you, he wasn’t a good person. I don’t... I don’t want to inflict that on a child.”

“You would never,” said McCree on reflex, “Me on the other hand...” he shuddered, “If I became another kid’s Reyes...” he trailed off, “...we never really talked about this, did we?” he said at last.

“Well, given the fact that Overwatch is throwing us into near-constant danger and we never had to worry about pregnancy...” Hanzo trailed off, “Let’s just focus on finding him.”

“I hear that,” said McCree, “It ain’t about us. It’s about him.” McCree’s boot hit an odd texture and he glanced down.

“Orange peel,” said Hanzo, plucking up a bit of the waxy rind from the blacktop. They looked at the small trail of bits of orange peel like breadcrumbs through the watchpoint.

“Could be another macaque,” said McCree.

“Too clean,” said Hanzo.

“Welp, it’s a lead,” said McCree, following the trail. It lead them on a meandering path through the watchpoint, a fairly straight line towards the mess hall.

The trail of orange peel tapered off to nothingness and McCree frowned, but then his head jerked up at the sound of Rei shouting. He gave a glance back to Hanzo and both of them picked up their pace, rounding the corner to see Jaime, Rei, and the twins all involved in an intense game of basketball around one hard-light hoop. Rei was passing to Rajeev, getting intercepted by Jaime who would shoot for the basket, only to be intercepted by Rajeev. They didn’t even notice McCree and Hanzo coming out from behind a building’s corner, but McCree hung back. He fished the foster home brochure out of the back of his pocket, he glanced down at the photo of the smiling family at the table laden with pancakes, then glanced back up at the four kids laughing and shouting at each other as they scrambled around the basketball hoop. 

The sensible voice in his head spoke up, saying, Do what’s best for him. He deserves normal, but then an angrier voice spoke, What the hell is normal anyway? There hasn’t been a normal ever since the goddamn Omnic Crisis. It’s not about ‘normal’ it’s about ‘home.’ And when the hell has ‘home’ ever been normal for anyone?

“Jesse?” Hanzo’s voice cut through McCree’s train of thought and McCree glanced over at him, “Do you think we should...?” He looked back at Jaime intercepting a shot from Rei and then laughing about it.

“...I mean, he doesn’t have to go right away, does he?” said McCree, watching as Jaime managed to snatch the ball back from Rajeev and get an assist from Samir.

“Not... right away,” said Hanzo.

[ziotsu]

time to write out literally all my thoughts as someone who can’t read Japanese!

I actually saw the first few pages when people were posting them because apparently the first half of the chapter comes out the second week? I didn’t post my thoughts cause I wanted to do them all at the same time

Page 1! Well this is fun, I absolutely love the expressions in this manga (I feel like me going on about the art in this manga is going to be a theme lol). But the subtle differences between how Ashiya looks and how he looks when Sakae is controlling him are amazing. And it isn’t just the eye color, but just everything with how Sakae acts and carries himself (face included) really is awesome. And it doesn’t feel like just slapping a new face on Ashiya’s body, I genuinely can see Ashiya making this expression when Sakae isn’t possessing him (if he wasn’t such a cinnamon roll). Also the shock on Abeno’s face is not something we see too often. He has his normal shocked face but this feels more raw than in the past? Like his eyes seem wider and the way his hair is makes it seem like he basically just did a double take. MMMMMMMMMM this is good shit. But story wise, I assume this page is just restating the fact that you really don’t wanna use influence on a parasitic shrub possessed demon.

Page 2 and 3! Abeno know’s what’s up, or at least it seems so. It would be more surprising if he didn’t tbh. Also I wonder if Sakae kind of knew this was going to happen? Considering he was trying to keep them away, I assume he did. At the very least he does not seem shocked at all to see Aoi like that at all. Speaking of Aoi, they are def trapped where they are at. That whole is well large enough for them to get through and attack them again, but they are still on the ground it seems. I am guessing it has to do with the tree we saw coming from their tail last chapter. They are still 110% mad though.

3-4! It looks like it isn’t just the trees that are keeping Aoi down, I thought the roots attaching the main body to the ground had been ripped up but it looks like there are some remaining. Sakae is as gentle as ever, yes just toss away his injured arm, great idea. Now Abeno is in even more pain. The wound though is really deep, looks like two large gashes, which Sakae actually starts to dress (rest in peace, kimono sleeve) (also while abeno is trying to get his arm out of the inner kimono (idk what is is called), we can see the medicine Abeno always carries around! I love the attention to detail in this manga)

5-6! Yup, page 5 doesn't do it justice, but page six really shows the extent of the damage one of the gashes did. Super nasty scar going to go there. We see some more of Aoi though, and do they chirp? Like what cats do? Cause murder cat looks super cute on page 5 and I don’t know how to feel about this.

They look like baby here and I want to protect them. Abeno seems to be bringing up the medicine, though I really don’t know what this would do to Aoi other than basically kill them. Which honestly, may be for the best? I know it’s a bit messed up, but it has been stated before that they are obviously past the point of getting them help, and leaving them there would be super dangerous.

7-8! I am making another assumption that Sakae doesn’t know what the medicine does. Which I have a current theory that the medicine is a new development for the underworld. (if such a medicine existed before Aoi left, why wouldn’t they use it on them?) Which would also mean that Sakae wouldn’t know about it either. My guess from the last pages seem to be correct as there is a panel showing Aoi burning, which seems pretty deathy to me. I honestly don’t know what they are going to do, though I think for now, they should be getting back, reporting the situation and getting help for themselves. Aoi seems really stuck here so I don’t think they are a direct threat to the underworld immediately. (Unless Aoi manages to escape the island and oh boy that would not be good) Abeno seems pretty determined, though, so regardless Aoi is most likely going to meet their actual end.

9-10! Aoi is starting to go to sleep here, Sakae seems really good at first aid (wonder where/why he learned that ;) Maybe a certain lady who often gets sick?) Not a whole lot happens, I think these are mostly showing the passage of time, and it seems Abeno is putting away the medicine for now. Which good move, my boy. Come back to take care of murder cat later. Also I wonder if all those trees are from Aoi’s parasitic shrub. That would be terrifying if that is the case. It could really show how long they have been there, trapped and going mad because of the shrub.

11-12! Good lord all of them are looking super cute this chapter. Sakae you can’t do this to me, just all your movements and facial expressions are justlasdkhjg;lakshjdg. Ashiya is cute in his own right, but this is a different type of cute. Why are all these characters like this and please don’t stop making all these characters like this. We get a good look at Aoi’s spine and it makes me sad (though also could give more insight to how the shrub basically takes over? Using the spinal cord to get to the brain seems like a good path to take if the shrub’s goal is to spread like any other parasite (which also makes sense with the going mad thing, kind of like rabies almost) I am glad Abeno’s arm is being supported and held still with what they had on hand. Still looks super painful though.

13-14! And they are out! At least out of the pit where they can really easily run if they need to. Sakae is starting to get tired, so I wonder how much longer he can go on? I hope he can stay awake long enough to get back to the mononokean because I highly doubt Abeno can carry an unconscious Ashiya back. He would most likely have to wait for Ashiya to wake back up before moving on and who knows how long that will take. Part of page 13 made me go back to see the last few pages, but it looks like Aoi’s front right paw is stuck in the ground :( good cause they are most likely really stuck there and probably wont be able to escape easy but it makes me sad to see the previous master of the mononokean in such a state.

15-16! Oof the tiredness is really showing in the first panel. Get out of there quick so you both can rest! I am guessing Abeno is asking about why Sakae said those things in the flower field.Like how Aoi is dead and such, and honestly did Sakae lie? Aoi, as they were in the past, is dead. They are completely over taken and do not recognize even the child they basically raised.

17-18! Oh boy Sakae is getting more and more tired, Abeno is asking about the golden butterfly and can you two just get going? Ya’ll have limited time here!!!!! Though I wonder if Sakae used his influence on one of the butterflies to communicate to Ashiya? it seems very similar? Or a butterfly made from pure influence? Which would explain how it disappeared when Ashiya grabbed it?

I am going to stop the page format because uh.... WHAT. First off Abeno was def asking about the influence/parasitic shrub thing that Sakae brought up. And WE ACTUALLY LEARN ABOUT IT NEXT CHAPTER. This is huge cause oml this feels like a rare moment. Normally mysteries like this linger for a few chapters, simmer and make us suffer. BUT WE GOT A NEW BRAND OF SUFFERING TODAY FOLKS! Like I theorized it a bit on why I didn’t think Aoi was the one Sakae used his influence on, due to thinking that Aoi being infected years before picking up Abeno seemed super dangerous and didn’t feel like something they would do. I DIDN’T KNOW YOU CAN USE INFLUENCE TO CURE THE PARASITIC SHRUB THOUGH! PAGE 22 IS SUFFERING! PAGE 22 HAS ALL THE ANSWERS! Like we now know what happened, or at least have enough facts to be able to piece it together! Aoi and Sakae went out for a job, either they find out that the demon is infected or know and are going to try to help them out. Aoi somehow gets infected by this demon and Sakae uses his influence to get rid of the growing infection only to die himself as the parasitic shrub is not meant to live in the human body. This explains why Aoi was so beat up over his death, because IT WAS THEIR FAULT. It explains why Sakae would use his influence on a demon that is infected, because it is Aoi, their employer and friend. He probably wasn’t meaning to die at all, just thinking that ‘hey let’s just get rid of this shrub from Aoi so they don’t die because they are an important part of the Underworld (though AU where Sakae can’t do this and has to become the next master of the mononokean ;) )

We also see the aftermath, it is almost like he becomes some form of demon himself, and actually looks infected with the shrub. I doubt it is the same sort of situation because he doesn’t become a tree? I am honestly unsure on how this affected him. He does go and meet his son a few months later, (wait or was that Aoi because between the two pages we see a sort of continuation with the hand on the left (aoi’s hand) but we also see the ‘veins’ of the shrub which hints towards Sakae? I like to think that Sakae visited baby Ashiya, so I am going to go with the assumption it is Sakae visiting till I am proven otherwise) and smol Ashiya is always cute. Ashiya does seem to ‘notice’ something? or he is just a baby and babies cry A LOT. We see Sakae ‘infect’ the butterfly he uses to communicate with Ashiya in the flower field. Wonder if he tried doing the same in the past with Abeno, only Abeno cannot hear his words.

ALSO GUYS I TOLD YOU TO GET OUT OF THERE NOW WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? Ashiya is now completely passed out, Abeno cannot carry him back and now they gotta just chill there till Ashiya wakes back up. I know it is awesome to have questions answered, but please. 

Though I guess somehow they managed cause Ashiya wakes up in what I can only assume is the Legeslator’s place? It is def not the mononokean (too large and im sure we would be hearing a bell the moment Ashiya woke up) but it could be Korou’s place. Not sure how Abeno managed, but he probably found a way to get them out of there. Rip golden eyes, though :( Guess they were just either the side effect to using that much influence or a hint that Sakae was just kind of hanging around in case shit hits the fan. 

There is incense burning, making a guess this is either a preventative measure against the shrub or something to help wake Ashiya up faster. Ashiya is alone and it seems he is shaken because of what Sakae explained (I am guessing it was similar to his dreams when he subconsciously used his influence and he was dreaming about Sakae’s past)

This chapter was amazing, answered so many things and saw enough cute to really counter balance the ‘what the actual fuck’ this chapter brought along with it.

[caffeinatedtimdrake]

40, 17, and 53 with Jason Todd. Love you!!! You deserve way more than 200 followers.

love YOU!!! sorry this is so late! 1.6k words of Jason x reader fluff in which you’re stuck in an elevator. 

17.“Did you just… agree with me?” “Oh, I wish I could take-““Nope! You said it! No take-backs!”

40.“You’re a psychopath.” “I prefer creative.”

53.“I hate you.” “Why? I’m lovely.”

In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t such a wise idea to take the elevator during a raging storm, but you could only be so functional after a three-hour British literature final exam. 

Massaging the palm of your hand and gnawing anxiously on your bottom lip, agonizing over your concluding paragraph, you hit the down button with your elbow and had barely half a mind to acknowledge the torrential downpour outside the walls of Gotham Academy. 

The elevator dinged dismally and you trudged inside. 

Wordsworth said to fill your paper with the breathings of your heart but you couldn’t stop worrying that you dumped the jumbled thoughts of your mind onto the lined pages. You were fretting so intensely that you barely heard the pleas to keep the elevator door open. 

“Wait! I need to catch the elevator! Pretty please!” 

You startled and moved to press the open button, but a body barreled in through the doors and hit the wall with a slightly concerning bang before you could do so. 

The figure was broad and sinewy from behind, a backpack hanging off toned shoulders and veiny arms showcased thanks to a snug black t-shirt. Something about that admittedly nice butt was awfully familiar, and then the human canon turned around. 

“Oh. Hey, Y/N.” 

You stiffened and braced yourself, though you were unsure what you were bracing yourself for. “Hi, Jason.” 

He cracked a smile, slow and warm, and your heart skipped several beats before settling into a panicky rhythm. 

Oh. That was why you braced yourself. 

He quirked an eyebrow and nodded to your hands. The fingers of your left dug into the palm of your right so hard, your knuckles turned white. “Still recovering?” 

You dropped your hands. “In more ways than one.” 

Something about Jason always had you on edge. You two were notorious for getting into heated debates regarding humanist theory and the best Romantic era poets, and you’d nearly lost your mind when you worked together because the professor assigned partners for a literature analysis presentation – he pushed your buttons excessively. 

Maybe it was because he was so hard to read, but he was able to read you with startling clarity. You didn’t know much about him, only that he was a few years older, enjoyed blasting Bobby Brown, had strong opinions on bread, and knew Keats better than his own name. You had known him for four months, but he already knew that you despised untied shoelaces, snapped a rubber band against your wrist when you were nervous, and owned two cats. Your guard was highly fortified because people who’d known you for years barely knew one of those tidbits; who did Jason think he was, waltzing into your life and making you self-conscious every time you exhibited a nervous tick?

Your unease around Jason Todd might also have to do with the fact that he was so beautiful, he left you flustered and babbling angrily much more often than you’d like. 

“How’d you feel about it?” 

“About…what?” 

Jason laughed and you blinked in surprise at the sound of sunshine on this rainy day. “About the exam, Y/N.”

“Oh. Uh. I wish I felt better about it. You?” 

His shoulders lifted in a dismissive shrug. “I’ve been through worse.” 

“Who’d you focus on for the last question?” You asked as the doors glided shut with a groan. 

He snorted. “Coleridge, of course. Who else?”

You frowned. “Barrett Browning.” 

He shot you a dubious look. “Is it because of Sonnet Forty-Three?” 

Flummoxed, your frown deepened. “No…” 

“Mmhhmmm,” He nodded, mouth sliding up into a playful smile. 

“Well. Maybe a little.” 

“Quite the hopeless romantic, aren’t we?”

You opened your mouth to retort defensively but betrayed yourself; you locked eyes with him and suddenly found yourself lost in a sapphire ocean. “Yeah,” You sighed in resignation. 

His eyes widened, eyebrows raised in bewilderment. “Did you just…agree with me?” 

You blushed deeper. “Oh, I wish I could take –”

Jason waggled a finger accusatorially. “Nope! You said it! No take-backs!” 

You jutted your chin out and crossed your arms over your chest. Maybe you should have been concerned when the elevator groaned a little in dissent, but you couldn’t hear much above the little voice at the back of your head scolding you for not being more vigilant around him. 

“Fine.” 

His smile softened, gentle like the Caribbean, and much to your dismay, so did you. “It’s not a bad thing.” 

“I-I guess. I don’t know.” 

You did know when the lights flickered and died with a buzz and a few concerning sparks. 

You also knew when the elevator jolted and dropped a few feet, bouncing unevenly because it pulled a shriek from your throat, and you flung yourself at Jason Todd. 

He stumbled back a little with an “oof” but didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around you. 

He smelled of jasmine and old books and some kind of spice. You were in the middle of a third deep inhale, safe in his arms, when the elevator groaned again, reminding you where you were. You wrenched yourself out of his embrace and slammed against the wall opposite of him with a jolt, pressing the help button frantically – but to no avail, it looked like the whole array was shot.

The elevator made another agonized noise and panic seized your lungs. 

“Well. I think the elevator’s stuck.” 

“It still m-moves. What if – what if it falls all the way d-down? We’re gonna – oh, fuck, we’re gonna die in here, aren’t we?” You warbled, slowly sliding to the ground. 

Jason’s brow furrowed, shadows dancing against his skin beneath the dim emergency light. “We’re not going to die in here, Y/N.” 

You squeezed your eyes shut when thunder rumbled irately, practically shaking the walls. “You can’t guarantee that.” 

“We’re probably not going to die in here.” He simpered, taking steady strides over to you and the buttons. 

You had to choke back whimper when the elevator tilted slightly. 

You heard him shifting slightly, setting his backpack on the ground and kneeling next to it. 

His knee bumped your knee and your eyes snapped open, but he continued shuffling around in his bag, unbothered by the physical contact. 

You didn’t want to die before you could find out who scored higher on that exam, but you refrained from voicing this aloud. For the moment. 

“So, you’re scared of centipedes and dying in an elevator. What else?” He asked in a low voice. 

In spite of the slightly dire situation, you flushed, reminded of the unfortunate insect incident in the library a few weeks ago. 

The answer left your mouth before you could swallow it. “You.” 

You were unsure of how serious that response was and maybe he was too, because the corner of his mouth quirked up into a smirk. “Me? I’m harmless.”

As these words left his mouth, he unearthed a daunting piece of technical equipment from his backpack. 

You wanted to tell him that he was actually quite harmful to your emotional stability, but instead you asked, “What the hell is that?” 

His smirk grew into something even more dangerous, setting your heartbeat awry again. “Our way out.” He pressed a button and what might be a laser flashed and buzzed menacingly. 

“You’re a psychopath.” 

“I prefer creative.” Jason told you cheerily, turning away from you to wiggle the suspicious tool beneath a panel near the bottom row of buttons. 

There were some more unsettling buzzing noises, but he must have known what he was doing because several moments later, all of the lights blink on. 

He pressed the help button with his knuckle, and it rang shrilly in acknowledgement. 

“Now, we wait.” He scooted back a little so he could sit in front of you, cross-legged and almost boyish in the way he looked at you expectantly, more like a patient puppy than a muscly twenty-something with threatening equipment and novels in his backpack. 

You felt your face heat up again. “Oh. Great.” 

He leaned forward a little, one dark brown arched in inquisition. “Are you really scared of me?” 

Your stomach flipped a little because he was striking up close, pink mouth and strong nose framed by handsome angles, earthy olive skin littered with storybook scars, and eyes that whispered the most tragic of poems in a language you couldn’t quite understand. 

“I’m trying to figure it out.” 

“You must not be completely petrified because you seem quite calm, considering we’re in a confined space together. Also, you threw yourself at me.” 

You gaped at him indignantly. “I hate you.” 

“Why? I’m lovely. At least three different people tell me on a daily basis.” 

It was your turn to arch an eyebrow. “By people do you mean drooling college girls?” 

That smirk returned. “Old ladies crossing the street and soccer moms occasionally, too.” 

You crinkled your nose in distaste. “Bleh.” 

“Beauty is meant to be appreciated.” Jason stated, fixing you with a look of saccharine reverence that made you think, perhaps, he wasn’t referring to himself through the eyes of appreciative grown women. 

Bashful, you broke away from his gaze, finding sudden interest in your sweaty hands and playing with your fingers. 

“That’s why poets exist.” You muttered. 

“Shakespeare, sonnet eighteen.” 

You narrowed your eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

Now, his smile was all sunflowers and chirping birds on a summer morning. “It means you’re beautiful and I want to compare you to a summer’s day. And take you on a date when we get out of this elevator. If you’ll let me.” 

It took a few moments to shake you out of your daze. “If we can get out of this elevator and avoid a Shakespearean tragedy, sure.”

[icharchivist]

Managed to get Chap 9 of FPvM, the chapter released last month and ma n

-Seeing Hifumi break down and cling to Doppo when the girls arrive is so goddamn heartbreaking. Seeing both Doppo and Jakurai trying to hold him to calm him down is giving me so much emotions, Hifumi is stealing the chapter for me.

-Ichijiku is a snacc

-The effect around the Mic concealers are so cool wtf??

-The whole scene with Juto coming to talk to Doppo has an amazing sense to it with Hifumi being clingy toward Doppo i’m living

-We also get the TDD reunion ofc and all that comes with it (i feel the manga added a Riou’s reaction to seeing the TDD though? I didnt remember him react but i should reread/relisten the drama track)

-Ramuda hug attacking every single of the TDD members but doing it in such an intimate YET threatening way toward Jakurai..... oof. But his hug is so tender toward Ichiro and Samatoki and i’m crying again.

-Jakurai and Ramuda’s fight is heartbreaking??? But i love how it differenciate their fighting style. 

-Ramuda’s is raw, violent and uncontrolled. You can feel the fury of the way he attacks, and when Jakurai fights back Ramuda loses all sort of control. The raw fact Ramuda is like that around Jakurai is painful. When he attacks again after Jakurai’s attack, he seems so raw and desperate and angry. This is the most disturbing Ramuda has ever looked so far.

-Meanwhile Jakurai fighting style is much more concealed, calm, almost gentle despite the rudest of his words. At least in appearance he doesnt give the feeling of wanting to hurt his adversary as much as Ramuda does. Or, well, he does, it is in a very cold and calculated way, not going for a messy attack like Ramuda does but by going straight to the throat. He doesn’t give the impression he wants to hurt but he still is determined to do so. 

-TBh that gives a good contrast with their backstories: Jakurai use a calm, cold, calculated and concealed way to hurt a bit like his assassin day would require, while Ramuda is all messy, violent, uncontroled which so far fits with how we’ve seen him fight (esp when he kills/tortures people in the TDD manga) - so i would argue it is like, things he picked up being the gov’s dog.

-Also you feel the history behind it man. I cant help but think about their TDD fight we see in the begining of the FPvM manga, bc there it was Jakurai doing the most damages and being the most violent/virulent. To see the shift around almost makes Jakurai seem more careful. Also his reactions to Ramuda’s attacks and the way he completely collaps... oof

-That too, the fact Jakurai COLLAPSE on hearing Ramuda’s attacks while Ramuda just goes completely unhingedly feral on Jakurai when Jakurai attacks again. As a way to react to the attack i find it very perticular? Jakurai reacts by vulnerability, Ramuda by losing himself. There could be a l o t to get away from it but i can’t lie i do like how it feeds my HCs there.

-Also boy seeing Hifumi and Doppo being completely horrified to see Jakurai collapse while Gentaro and Dice are staring in complete disbelief at their leader is freaking amazing. Like they established how terrifying Ramuda could be so well that the rookies who are not used to fight specifically and are curious (ish since Dice isn’t) about their relationship were all horrified. 

-idk why i find it odd but when the mic concealers arrive, the focus is on Ramuda and Jakurai realizing their speakers are disappearing (normal) ... and Doppo and Dice?? Like there are two panels for each of them to react, and Hifumi and Gentaro are nowhere to be seen in them. It’s such an odd thing to me, why focus on them? At best Doppo is the one who ends up arguing in Jakurai’s defense afterward so i can see why, and not showing Hifumi makes sense since he reacts directly when the girls arrive in total different manner, but Dice??? the one who had no interest in the fight or its reasons, and who doesn’t bring it up afterward? Why did you focus on my boy??? I MEAN ME TOO I WANT TO ALWAYS FOCUS ON DICE BUt WHY. Meanwhile Gentaro gets no focus until he collectly talk about how the girls are coming in. Not really surprising per se and that keeps him detached/focusing on the gov incidentally, but i can’t understand the focus on Dice.

-Admire Him.

-They changed the setting for the FP conversation in the end and i looooove it but i also love how they put small details here and there like how Gentaro specifically shows still that he doesn’t trust Ramuda when Ramuda leaves to take the phonecall

-RAMUDA’S PHONECASE IS ADORABLE I WANT THE SAME

-The way they framed his conversation with Ichijiku in the end OOF. This is so ominous and it captures the feel of the drama track so well. But to see Ramuda’s face change this hardly in between each of what Ichijiku tells him is frightening. Like... it really feels like Ichijiku is probably saying very upsetting things one after the other to make his mask fall like that, esp since he catch it back last minute.  And the reveal woaaahh. I’m kinda surprised about it in a way bc in the manga they revealed Ramuda connection with Ichijiku well in the first TDD chap yeah but also like, minimum 2 chapters ago in term of FPvM? Like there was a new, not-drama track adapted scene of Ramuda talking to Ichijiku about how it was “okay if FP lost the tournament as long as they went up to the semi finales” (which they did), so like by that point while in the tracks we didn’t know their connections, in the manga we definitly know. I love that they kept the gravity of the reveal from the drama track and it still works with how bad of an impact Ichijiku has on Ramuda for him to shift completely at every single of her sentences, and i guess it still works bc it tells you that in her intervention she was still keeping a hold on Ramuda somehow. It is just.. an interesting way it drifted from the original material.

-As usual the art from this chapter was absolutly outstanding. Maaaan for a chapter that just adapts Know Your Enemy FPvM i didn’t think it’d have much to discuss about, even the translating team just went “we can’t go in depth it’s just the drama track” but i find that the work in the details of the artworks to make the drama track come to life is absolutly fantastic.

Next chapter is out in 2 days and should adapt just a friend...... ✌ now THAT will be fun.

I hope i’ll manage to get my hand on the chapter quick though, i got chap 9 after a month so......... weep..... please gimme protective Dice early....

[katsen13]

The Girl and the Hawk

*Please do not post to other sites without permission.* If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message.

I couldn’t tell how old she was when she first came in. She was a little thing, sitting in one of those contraptions humans put their chicks in when they're too small to walk. They came in the raptor barn and she looked around from her seat. Feeling drawn in, I peered down at the wiggly chick. She was looking around from her seat, unaware of my gaze. Even in the dark of the barn I could see her shockingly light hair, flying everywhere. She turned her head and looked up at me. Her eyes widened as she giggled, pointing at me. “Birdie!”

Her flock smiled. Another female chick in her flock that appeared a bit older laughed. The only male flock member nodded with a smile and said “yep, big birdie. Hawk.”

Walking closer to me, the last female flock member squinted at the wall next to me and said “a Red-Tailed Hawk.” The wiggly chick didn’t seem to hear them. She had already lost interest and was playing with her flabby, pink claws. She may not know it yet, but she will when she gets older. She has the gift.

I saw the chick and her flock again several times before she was out of her seat. Two years had passed before she left it. Standing now she could barely poke her beak over the wood panel keeping the humans from getting too close to our homes, made of wood and wire themselves.

“I can’t see!” She called in frustration. I preened my feathers, pretending not to watch her. Humans come and go; it’s the nature of my home and of life itself. It’s best not to get attached. I couldn’t help but glance at the chick though, her hair wilder than ever.

The oldest female member in her flock came up and chided her. “Well, what do you say?”

She looked up at her with wide, innocent, pleading eyes and asked “please pick me up mommy?” Her mother hunched down and put gently gripped the chick in her claws.

“Ready? One, two, three!” With a bit of effort, the mother carefully lifted her chick up to see.

“Oof!” She exclaimed. “You’re getting big!” She certainly had. The little chick was indeed not a hatchling. I’m not the best at judging human growth but even I could see the difference.

The chick giggled, squirming. “I’m not big mommy, I’m four!”

The other chick laughed. “Yeah, she’s not big! She’s still my little sister!”

“Ok, down you go!” Her mother grunted, lowering her to the floor.

“I wanna see, I wanna see!” She cried. Her mother turned to the only male in the flock. “Honey? Could you pick her up?”

“I guess”, he sighed with mock reluctance. “But only for a kiss.” The chick giggled again. He bent over and she gave him a little peck on the cheek.

“Pleeeease daddy?” She begged.

“Ok!” He replied with a grin. He picked her up with ease.

“Woah!” She squealed as they stood up. She waved her arms up and down. “Look at me, I’m flying!”

“Careful!” Warned her sister, as her arms swung close to her face. “You almost hit my glasses!”

Her mother looked down at a round object attached to her wrist. It almost looked like the thing I had on my own leg when I was younger. “We better get going if we’re going to make it home in time to meet grandma.”

“Aww! Ok.” The chick frowned, dejected. Her father slid her back down to the floor before they walked out the door claw in claw.

The little chick came in again, but this time with a different flock. A much bigger one. She barely noticed me as she walked by with a whole bunch of chicks. There was an older female at the front, leading the group. They looked a lot less like humans and a lot more like ducks.

“Ok class, find your buddies!” The leader called. There was a scramble as the flock turned into an excited, buzzing swarm. In spite of all the little chicks I could easily find my little chick, a bright, almost white flash of hair in the sun running along the far edge of her group. She ran up to another female chick and stopped. “Hey Jenny!” She called. “Wanna be my buddy?” The other girl with long brown hair nodded. “My mom can be our chaperone!”

“And so can my dad!” My little chick chirped. She walked over to her dad and grabbed his hand. “C’mere daddy, c’mere c’mere c’mere!”

“Honey, hold on!" He admonished, a little exasperated. “I need to get my chaperone badge and I don’t think you're supposed to be coming over to me yet.”

“I found my buddy! I want you to meet my friend, Jenny!” I watched as my little chick pulled her father over to her friend. Her friend’s jaw dropped and she looked up at my little chick’s father.

“That’s your dad?!” The other chick’s mother laughed as well as my little chick’s father.

My little chick beamed, happy as a cricket. “Yep! He works at the prison!” She pointed at an intricate spot on her father’s shirt. Her father introduced himself to the other chick’s mother.

After introductions and chatting a bit, they turned to the chicks and the other chick’s mother asked “Ok girls, where do you want to go first?”

“Let’s go see the penguins!” The chicks squealed.

“I know the way!” My little chick boasted, proud as a peacock. “I’ve been coming here since I was a baby!”

“Well, not quite a baby, but pretty close.” Her father laughed.

“Well what are we waiting for?!” the other chick questioned. The chicks giggled as they ran off.

“Excuse me!” Called my chick’s father. She stopped and turned around, trudging back slowly. “Don’t run off like that! You know better. I know you’re excited but you need to stay with us, ok? Now, if you run off again, you’ll have to hold my hand. Understand?”

She sighed, embarrassed unshed tears glinting along her eyes. “Yes daddy.”

My little chick came in again several times after that, each time her normal, usual chirpy self, until one particular visit. She walked in slowly and came up to my home. He mother walked around, pointing out the different birds and reading about them out loud. I moved to the end of my perch closest to where the humans stand. She looked up at me, eyes wet with unshed tears. I ruffled my feathers. I did not like seeing my chick sad and I didn’t like how it made me feel. My chick? I thought. What is wrong with me?! She’s not even a bird! My feelings did not make any sense.

A soft breeze blew through the barn. Her wispy, light blonde hair gently rose with it, some of it sticking to her face where it was damp. She quietly sniffed and wiped away the tears that had silently slid down her cheeks. Her mother asked her something and she just nodded in reply, keeping her back to her. My self-frustration faltered for a moment, as I realized what she was doing. She didn’t want her parents to see she was upset. Unfortunately for the chick she wasn’t that good at hiding it yet.

Her mother sighed, a hint of exasperation in her tone. “Honey, what’s wrong?” The chick just shook her head quietly. Her mother sighed and turned to her husband. “Honey, would you talk to her?”

He nodded and walked up to her. "What’s wrong?” He asked, looking down at his little chick. His little chick. I thought. Not mine.

She slowly looked up at him with big, watery eyes. “I miss her.”

He wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face in his stomach. “I know. I miss her too.”

They stood like that for a moment before turning to walk out, hand in hand. As they left I noticed their flock was short one member.

The next time the chick came in she was in a much better, happier mood. She walked in and went straight up to my neighbor. She stood there smiling in quiet awe.

“Look dad!” She whispered as she pointed to a corner of the neighboring enclosure. “That’s a barn owl, just like Soren!” I hopped to the end of my perch farthest from where the humans stand, a little indignant.

Not her too! I thought. A lot of the chicks who had been coming in lately, even the ones from far away, have been mentioning this Soren bird. One particular chick showed his parents a picture of the bird in a book he brought with him. I caught a glimpse of it as he happily walked by on his way out of the barn. I didn’t see the resemblance myself, but no one knows how humans see things. My neighbor didn’t seem to mind though. He was usually asleep when the humans came by anyway.

The chick stood there in quiet amazement with a big smile. Her bright, hazel eyes shone and her face lit up, with wonder of the world. In spite of myself I felt pleased. Her awe and wonder were good signs. Some humans who have the gift aren’t even aware of it, others are aware of it but either don’t know or don’t care to use it. Then there are those who have it and don’t even see it as a gift, but as a burden. Those people I rarely see because they tend to avoid animals if they can help it. I remembered the last unaware gift holder to come through. He walked through the barn, with no idea that all the birds had come to the edge of their perches closest to the walkway. They seemed to follow him around the barn, as best as they could. He was completely oblivious with his back to them, talking into a strange device that he had held up to his face. He didn’t even notice when the other humans began chuckling as they realized that we seemed to be drawn to him like a magnet. I had no doubt though that this girl would be receptive to the gift. After all, she is my-

No! I quickly hopped back toward the far edge of my perch, ridiculing myself as I turned my back to her. I hadn’t even realized I had moved forward. I know there’s no point in fighting the draw of the gift, but this was beyond that. I vowed then that I would never show interest in the girl again.

It was easier to keep my vow the next time the girl came. A few months passed and I heard her usual, cheery voice, just slightly muffled. It was colder out this time and much darker. Usually the humans have left before the sun goes down, even the ones who are here every day. All of us had been moved to completely indoor homes, each of us with a window to look out if we wanted to. I preferred to stay under my lamp, nestled in my blankets to keep warm. I could still see a faint, multicolored glow through the window though and occasionally I could hear music. As the girl’s voice grew louder I could hear her singing a song accompanied by a faint jingling sound. She stopped singing and I heard her make a comment to her parents.

“I wonder where they keep all the birds during the winter. I hope they’re nice and warm where ever they are.”

“Oh, I’m sure they are.” Her father replied, reassuring her.

We are. I thought as I settled in for the night under my lamp, the snow crunching outside as they walked away.

The girl came in again a few months later. The sun was shining so bright it lit up even the darkest corner of the barn. The humans had decided to keep my neighbor in an enclosure outdoors, one in the shade so he would be able to sleep easier. The girl walked right up to the area where my neighbor had been.

“Aww.” She sighed in dismay, he shoulders drooping.

Her mother walked up behind her casually. “What’s wrong?” She inquired, more curious than concerned.

“It says they moved the owl to another spot.” She answered, disappointed.

“Oh, that’s ok.” Her mother replied. “Maybe he’ll be out next time.” She ran her fingers through her daughter’s long, tangled hair. Her eyes glinted mischievously as a smile spread over her face. “You’ve got red in your hair.” I struggled as every feather on my body urged me to turn and look. I would not give in.

“No I don’t!” The girl objected. She crossed her arms and stomped her foot in great annoyance, rather than in anger like I had seen other chicks.

“Sure you do. Just ask your dad. See honey?” Her mother turned to the girl’s father.

He walked up and looked carefully at his daughter’s hair. “Yep.” He confirmed, tracing one finger along parts of her hair. “Here... and here... some here...”

The girl stomped her feet in frustration and covered her ears. “La la la la! I can’t hear you!” She sang in a silly tune. I softly squawked. She was not a songbird, that’s for sure. Her parents laughed. She lowered her hands as she laughed too.

“I do not have red hair.” She insisted, stubbornly.

“If you say so.” Her father chuckled, bemused. They all walked out together, his arm wrapped around his daughter’s shoulders.

I was dozing on my perch when a soft shuffling sound woke me up. I opened my eyes to find the girl standing right in front of me. I hopped back on my perch, slightly surprised. It had been awhile since she last came for a visit.

How could she... I blinked and tilted my head, my eyes focusing. Her parents were right. Her light blonde hair was now a darker blonde, with very noticeable streaks of red. She gave me a small smile, her eyes gently sparkling. Once again, I felt pulled in.

No. I thought, as I hopped farther away. I will not do this. I will not ca-

“Hi Tobias.” She whispered softly.

I froze on my perch. Slowly, I turned my head and looked at her sideways. Tobias? Who’s Tobias? I inched forward toward the end of my perch closest to her, our eyes locked. Her smile widened as I got closer.

Oh, you precious chick. I gazed at her, entranced, the fondness I had fought so long against creeping in slowly. Then I noticed she was alone, her flock nowhere in sight. I looked at her and blinked. She was completely unaware that her flock had left. Snapping out of my reverie I quickly moved back to the other end of my perch. I turned from the back to look at her, expecting sadness. Instead her eyes softened and her smile relaxed a bit, though her happiness did not fade. She moved to the next window to look at my new neighbors, a pair of kookaburras. I kept a close eye on her as she walked around until her flock came and found her. I knew if there was danger I wouldn’t be able to do much, but nothing bad was going to happen to her on my watch. She’s not my chick. I kept reminding myself, as I kept a careful look out, ruffling my feathers if I felt someone got too close. Not my chick.

The next few times the girl came by, she would come right up to me. For a little while she continued to call me Tobias, but never loud enough for anyone else to hear. I never found out who Tobias was but she seemed to like him. Eventually, that name too passed, much like Soren for my neighbor. After that she just called me her buddy. Each time she came in she would softly talk to me, saying things like I’m such a good bird and I’m a handsome bird. It was a bit silly and repetitive but I didn’t mind. Humans don’t typically talk to animals and when they do it’s usually one sided.

One day the girl came in and I was sleeping on the far end of my perch, my beak tucked into one of my wings. I opened my eyes a fraction when I heard someone come to stand in front of me. I saw her standing there, her eyebrows somehow arched and furrowed at the same time. Her eyes were shining softly in the fading, colorful light, but a different kind of shine. Even through my half-open eyes I could see the concern on her face.

“Oh.” Her eyebrows furrowed. “Sorry buddy. I didn’t mean to wake you up.” She whispered. “You get some rest, ok? Such a good bird.” I felt a soft warmth as I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

Some time passed before I saw her again. I could hear her coming before she entered the barn. Something seemed different, but I couldn’t quite place it. I waited patiently for her to come in, quite disinterested of course. When her flock walked in, I heard a faint squeaking, almost rodent-like. My natural instincts kicked in, making me turn and look for some small, furry prey, in spite of myself. I knew there wasn’t one, and even if there was, I don’t think it would have crawled into my enclosure. What I saw before me was quite unexpected.

Before me stood the girl and her flock, with another one of those things that humans put their little ones in. Sitting inside it was a little boy chick. He was looking around, with big, brown eyes. The girl’s father bent over to let the little chick out.

“Honey, don’t.” His wife objected, pulling the chick’s seat back. “He’ll walk off.”

“No he won’t.” He assured her. “I’m just going to pick him up so he can see, then I’ll put him back in.” I heard some soft clicks before he picked the little boy chick up.

The girl’s mother just sighed, shaking her head. “Look.” She pointed to my neighbors. “Birdies.”

Just then one of the kookaburras opened his beak and let out a loud, chuckling caw. The little chick quickly covered his ears, scrunching his face. His flock chuckled at his reaction. Once the kookaburra quieted down, the little boy chick looked around. He saw his flock laughing and joined in.

“Wafum!” He giggled, reaching his arms out toward the girl.

“See!” She laughed harder, turning to her parents. “I told you!”

Her mother chuckled a little. “It does sound a little like bathroom.”

The little chick kept reaching out for the girl, opening and closing his tiny brown claws. “Wafum!” He spoke again, looking at her expectantly.

The girl smiled and held out her hands to take the little chick from her father. “How about auntie instead?”

“Unie?” The boy’s eyes widened innocently, a questioning tone in his babble. “Unie? Unite?” The girl ran her fingers through his little, dark brown curls as she lowered him back down to his seat.

“Close enough.” She smiled.

Pretty soon the little boy chick left his seat with wheels. He walked in one day, holding his auntie’s hand. He was pulling and trying to let go, but she kept a steady grip on his hand.

“You need to hold my hand, kiddo.” She chided sternly. “It’s either my hand or papa’s.”

As the rest of their flock walked in, the little chick slipped from his auntie’s grasp. “Papa’s!” He huffed, frowning as he ran quickly over to his papa.

“Ok,” his papa took his little hand. “But you need to walk. I’m not going to carry you.” The girl and her mother looked at each other, amused, doubtful smiles on their faces.

“I saw that!” Her father shot them an accusing glance. Looking down at the little boy he wagged a finger at him with a mock serious tone. “I mean it this time.” The girl and her mother laughed as they walked out.

The girl and her flock continued to visit. Some visits they stayed in the barn longer than others and some the girl would come in on her own. During one visit the girl came in with the boy. I was sitting in the middle of my perch when they stopped in of one of the barn entry ways.

“You need to be really quiet in here, ok?” The girl turned to the boy. “The birds in here have really sensitive ears. If you’re too loud you can hurt them.” The boy nodded solemnly.

The girl walked right up to my home with the little boy in tow. He had grown now and was just tall enough to peek over the wood panels.

“See kiddo?” She whispered. “That’s a Red-Tailed Hawk.”

“Ohh.” The boy’s eyes widened, his voice soft. His aunt looked down at him with a little smirk.

“Want a boost?” She raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“Yeah.” He reached up to her.

“What do you say?” She prompted, gently crossing her arms.

“Please.” The boy sighed, shifting impatiently.

“And?” His aunt pressed, both eyebrows arching.

“Thank you.” He sighed again, grudgingly.

“And?” His aunt grinned as she bent down so she was eye level with the boy.

The boy grumbled and rolled his eyes as he leaned forward and gave his aunt a little peck on the tip of her nose.

“Ok.” She chuckled as she picked the boy up.

“Wow!” He gasped as he rose up level with my perch.

His aunt looked at him with a smile, her eyes sparkling. “You like him? He’s my buddy.”

“Your buddy?” The boy turned to her.

“Mm hmm.” She smiled as she carefully sat him back down.

“Come on.” She took his hand, softly tugging toward the door. “We need to go catch up with grandma and grandpa now.”

The flock’s visits continued for the next several years. Occasionally they would have an additional member. Whenever this happened, the girl would be sure to bring the guest in to see me. I got to see her aunt, her grandma and her best friend. During one visit the girl came into the barn alone.

“Hey buddy!” She smiled. It faded slowly as she looked me over, her brow creasing a little in concern. “What’s wrong?” I shuffled on my perch.

I knew she would find out eventually. I walked forward a bit on my perch and she gasped.

“Oh! My poor buddy!” Tears started to fill her eyes, as she brought a hand to her mouth.

Just then her father walked in then. “Come on, hon. It’s time to go.” Seeing her upset, he stopped. “What’s wrong?” He asked with a sigh.

“Look!” She walked over to her father and grabbed his hand, pulling him back over to me. “He’s hurt!”

I moved forward on my perch right in front of them. My right wing hung down, sticking out awkwardly.

“I’m sure he’s fine.” Her father reassured her. I hopped from my perch to the one right across from it and back.

“See?” Her father motioned. “He’s fine.”

The girl folded her arms, upset. “He’d better be. I’m going to be so mad if they let my buddy get hurt!”

“He’s fine!” Her father repeated, exasperated. He tried to hide a slightly amused glint in his eye. “Now let’s go. Your mother and nephew are waiting.”

The next several times the girl came for a visit she would come right to me, still concerned. She insisted to her parents that I wasn’t feeling good, that I was skinny. They dismissed it, waving her concern away. I can’t say I blame them. I didn’t want to believe it myself then either.

One day she came in. Ignoring the other birds, she came right to me, her flock lingering in the doorway. They had learned not to let her come in the barn alone, otherwise they would never leave.

“Hey buddy.” She whispered sadly. “I just wanted to see you one more time before I go.”

Go? I wondered. She sniffed, her eyes glistening.

“I’m going away for a while, but I’ll be back.” She tried to smile, but her eyes just couldn't. “You just rest and get better, ok?” Her voice cracked and she sniffed again. “Ok buddy?” We stood there in silence, the only sound that could be heard was the faint chattering of animals in the distance.

After a moment or so, the boy walked up to her. The tops of his curls were almost level with her shoulders now. He reached out his hand and tapped her arm.

“Grandma and grandpa said its time to go.” He told his aunt. Brushing away her tears, she nodded, giving me one last look as she followed him out.

A few years passed without any visit from the girl. Her flock would come by often enough, though not as often it seemed. They may have been visiting like they usually did and I just didn’t notice. It was then that I began sleeping more than normal, though I was still in denial. On one visit I do remember, the boy walked up to me.

“My aunt says hi!” He smiled. I blinked as he skipped away happily.

Silly chick. I thought to myself as I huddled down for a nap.

Summer came and went and the number of visits decreased, not just from the girl’s flock, but in general. The autumn breeze that swept through the barn chilled me to the bone. Shivering, I hopped down to the ground underneath my perches. It offered some shelter from the frigid wind. One of the humans that came by every day noticed me sitting down there one evening.

“Hm.” She frowned. Without a word, she left. A few moments later she came up on the other side of my enclosure with a huge brown thing covering her hand and arm. She opened it and reached in slowly. She placed her hand down next to me and I slowly walked onto it.

“It’s ok. There you go.” She gently soothed. She raised her arm up and looked at me. “We’re going to make you all better.” She closed my home behind me and took me to one of the indoor enclosures. She opened the door and laid her hand down on the floor of my new home. When I walked off it she turned on the lamp.

“There you go buddy.” She smiled. I tilted my head at the woman. I noticed a familiar shine in her eyes that reminded me of the girl. “You’ll be back with your friends before you know it.”

Season after season went by, year after year. I was still staying in the indoor enclosure. The humans kept coming to check on me. Each time they came I hoped to be taken back to my old home. I longed for my perches with the sun shining in, the soft hay under my claws, and the occasional little wild bird fluttering in. I also longed to see her again. Surely she had come back by now, from where ever she had gone. She probably missed me.

Several humans came to look at me, each one doing the same as the last. A few gave me some strange looking food, others put stuff in my water. The woman who brought me to this enclosure always accompanied them. She assured me they were just trying to help me get better. In spite of all their best efforts, I didn’t seem to be. In fact, I only grew weaker and weaker.

One day a pair of humans came with clipboards. They took me out of my home and took pictures of me. They carefully stretched out my wings one at a time and wrote some things down on a paper. All the while they were telling me I was doing very good and that it was almost done. When they put me back in my home the turned to each other and said ‘tomorrow’. I nestled into my blankets under the lamp, uncertain of what tomorrow brought.

The next morning, I awoke to the sound of the enclosure door. I opened my eyes and saw the woman sitting down a bowl with some water in it.

She looked up at me and smiled. “Today’s the big day buddy.” She closed the door behind her. I shuffled up to the bowl and looked at my reflection. I took a drink of water, thinking about what she had said. Today’s the big day. Yesterday the two humans had said something about ‘tomorrow’.

What is it about this day? I wondered. I sat down, feeling very tired. I tucked my beak under a wing and settled down into my blankets before falling asleep.

When I woke up I was in a strange, cold room, with a bright light shining in my face. I tried to move but I couldn’t. I looked around and saw a few humans gathered around and a lot of shiny things. One of the humans reached up and shined the light away from me.

“That’s all we can do.” He spoke. “We’ll just have to wait and see.” The humans continued talking to each other as they put things away. Then the woman walked in, her hands covered with a thin, green material. She thanked the other humans before carefully picking me up. As she turned, one of the other humans opened a door for her. She nodded at them and walked out. She walked past what I knew was the entrance for the indoor enclosures. I watched quietly as we passed them.

“You’re not going back in there buddy.” She replied softly, a firm look in her eyes. “Not if I can help it.”

I was confused but I was too tired and weak to do anything. I blinked as we neared the barn I had called home for so long. I turned and looked at the woman. With a soft determination she opened my home and gently sat me down in the hay.

“I know you’ll be happier here.” She whispered softly, closing the door behind me. I sat there and looked at the door for a while, unable to move. I slowly turned my head and looked around. The barn was far quieter than I remembered. A gentle cool breeze blew in through the barn entrance, going to each corner before vanishing out the other door. I felt a little shiver as the breeze ruffled my feathers. Somehow it felt comforting rather than chilling.

I heard the faintest rustle behind me and I turned to look. My eyes widened and I slowly sat up. There before me, barely recognizable, was the girl. I struggled as I moved closer to her, unsure of my eyes. Her eyes shone in the fading sunlight, a hesitant smile on her face.

“Hey buddy” she whispered. “It’s me. I told you I would be back.” I blinked in disbelief. Her hair was short now, only down to her shoulders, a full blondish red. Her eyes though, were the same beautiful shade.

“It’s been so long.” She spoke softly to me. “I’ve been so busy since school. I got a job on the coast in a zoo. It’s not as nice as this one, but its big! You would love the raptor room there. They have a gorgeous Red-Tailed Hawk too. Not as nice as you though.” She added with a small chuckle.

Her laughter faded into a sad smile, her eyebrows coming together in sorrow. “I just wanted to see you one more time. I-”

A sudden a movement caught my eye. The woman looked down, her smile growing. A bundle in her arms had started wiggling. I tilted my head and watched as she pulled on a fuzzy piece of fabric, revealing a little head. I watched in astonishment as a little chick turned to look at me with wide, innocent eyes.

“See baby?” The woman whispered to her. “Birdie.”

The little chick reached out a hand toward me, eyes shining like her mother’s. “Buddy.”

“That’s right,” her mother smiled, tears in her eyes. “Buddy.” The golden rays of the setting sun lit up the little chick’s shockingly light hair. She yawned and leaned against her mother.

Her little chick took after her in more ways than one. There was no doubt in my mind that she had the gift too, just like her mother. I looked up at the woman the girl had become, beaming with pride. She’s all grown up now, I thought as I closed my eyes peacefully. My little chick.