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bluerose5 · 3 years ago

Text

The Ghost of Paradise (Exile AU)

Chapter 2: By the Minute

Rating: M

Word Count: 3,796

Tags: Mass Effect: Andromeda, Scott Ryder, Reyes Vidal, Reyder, Pre-Relationship, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Exile, Flirting, Secrets, Complicated Relationships, Eventual Romance, Rivalry, Engineer/Mechanic Scott Ryder, Jealousy

[Read it here as well on ao3.]

“Our agents say that you were speaking with Reyes Vidal at Kralla’s,” Nola said. She didn’t even give Scott a chance to breathe. The second he was through their gates —which were still a work in progress— Scott was ambushed. “Do I even want to know what you have planned?”

Scott grinned at her.

“Why must I always have something planned?” Scott asked. “Reyes is a good friend. For all you know, we could have been catching up over drinks.”

“‘Could have’ doesn’t mean that you were.”

“Fair enough.”

As she fell into step at his side, Nola led him around while they spoke, appraising their growing community with pride.

“Scott, as governor of Paradise, should I not be made aware of any transactions that might affect us?”

“Well, yes, but—”

“Tell me what I need to know then. Nothing more, nothing less.”

As if he could refuse her insistent prodding. Every time he left, he always forgot how relentless she could be upon his return, but only when it pertained to matters that could have both predictable and unforeseen effects in their future.

In a way, Scott was grateful to have someone with that type of dedication on their side. They’re going to need it.

“I swear, it wasn’t anything particularly groundbreaking,” Scott promised. “I gave him some seeds from our latest project in exchange for a long-ranged scanner modification. That’s it.”

“Hmm… A decent enough trade.”

“Glad to have your approval.”

Of course, it was too much to hope that she would leave it at that.

“What is it for?” Nola asked.

Scott knew from experience not to lie to her face.

He sighed. “I’m going to scout out some of the Remnant ruins nearby. See if I can get a read on their bots, or a turret if I’m lucky.”

She cocked her head to the side and considered that for a moment, lips pursed.

“Promise to be careful then. I know you would gladly give your life to protect any of these people, but we don’t need you to throw it away because of pure recklessness,” she reminded him. “If it comes down to an altercation, we would rather have you here than some lousy turret schematics. Besides—” She shrugged. “You would probably be the only one who could make sense of them anyways. You and that stupidly genius brain of yours.”

Scott scoffed, suddenly uncomfortable as he shifted in place.

“Got it from my parents, or so they say.”

Ellen and Alec Ryder. The woman who literally gave her life to perfect biotic implants and the man who created a whole new type of AI. Quite the legacy to live up to.

Good thing Scott wasn’t living his life based on their achievements. Andromeda was a whole different playing field compared to the Milky Way. The work he was doing with Paradise was incredible in its own right. At least, he liked to think so.

If he could change at least one person’s life for the better in Andromeda, then he considered that a success.

Based on the feedback he was receiving from the residents, he was doing a damn good job, and that was enough for him.

But Nola had a point.

People relied on Scott now. As much as he was willing to dive headfirst into danger, he needed to refrain from doing so.

“I’ll be careful,” he promised her. “If things start to go south, I’ll ping you and Nakamoto.”

“Thank you,” she said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Scott hated to worry her so, but there was that one other matter.

“If it’s any consolation to you,” Scott said, trying for a lighter tone yet failing, “Reyes offered to accompany me on the trip.”

Nola stopped short, and Scott skidded to a halt. She narrowed her eyes at him with a sneer curling at her lip.

“No, that is not of any consolation to me. Scott Ryder, you know how he is.”

“Charming and witty?” Scott tried for his best smile, but Nola wasn’t buying into that bullshit, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Flighty and untrustworthy, especially once his back is against the wall.” Then, she amended her statement, taking on a slightly accusatory tone. “That’s assuming you didn’t pay any of his ridiculous service fees.”

“Puh-lease.” Scott chuckled. “If anyone should be spending their credits, Reyes should be the one paying me for my company. I’m a treasure not many can afford.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Nola snorted, “but at least you know your worth.”

“They say that time is money, after all. I’ll make sure to charge him by the minute while we’re together.”

“Please do, and make sure to get a picture of his face once you show him that bill.”

Scott was only happy to see her smile again.

“Will do,” he said.

“While you’re at it, drop a few hints here and there that Paradise might be looking to contract out some exclusive deals with top-rate smugglers. Leave out the ‘top-rate’ part, of course. Can’t have that going to the poor man's head.”

“His ego is already insufferable enough without the compliments,” Scott agreed, “but isn’t the whole point of secrecy for you and I not to draw attention to our connections here?”

“A woman can dream though, can’t she?” Nola sighed.

“So much for Reyes being ‘untrustworthy.’”

Nola didn’t even hesitate, brushing off his attempt to use her words against her.

“Skill is skill, and we don’t exactly have the people or resources to be picky right now. Everything is a commodity on Kadara, even integrity. If he betrays us, we’ll deal with him, simple as that.”

Right.

Still, it was laughable to think that the Charlatan would take on a contract with some of his direct competitors.

Although, that sounds like exactly the type of stunt that Reyes would pull. More than likely, he’d have an ulterior motive for doing so, but Scott could see it happening.

Did he support the idea, though? Definitely not.

“I don’t know,” Scott muttered. “I couldn’t see Reyes limiting his business to one group, especially if we’re only starting to get our feet wet.”

“You would know how he operates better than I, but I suppose that attitude is understandable. Disappointing, but understandable.” Nola grumbled. “Well, if nothing else, tell him the least he could do is give you a discount.”

“Trust me, I’ve been working that angle for a while. No such luck.”

“Greedy bastard.”

As they finished up their routine patrol, they soon switched direction, heading towards Nakamoto's clinic to conclude their meeting. There, Paradise’s leaders convened. They reviewed the requests that their colonists posted on the message boards around the settlement. Together, they decided on what matters they could approve for certain and which ones would be placed on the docket for a community vote. After that, they moved on to logistics, including topics such as requisitions and inventory.

To draw the meeting to a close, Nola relayed their latest numbers for colonial development. Water production was steady. However, food stores would be struggling soon to keep up with the recent influx of residents, so security personnel and all of those who knew their way around a gun were strongly encouraged to increase hunting and foraging activities while out on patrols or while performing their daily tasks. A roster will be posted on the local message boards to look for volunteers who would like to fill a full-time hunter-gatherer role.

Hopefully, what few angaran scientists they had amongst their people would be able to process their first batch of nutrient paste after their next harvest. It wasn’t exactly the tastiest solution available, but it was a necessary one if they were to survive.

In terms of population, there was a rapid spike in enrollment when word spread that Paradise actually got shit done and held true to their promises, but they expected the effect to eventually plateau once people settled in. Angara enrollment was up at the moment, especially after Scott appointed Nola as governor, and they have even seen a few Initiative members join up, having made the journey all the way from the Nexus to be reunited with friends, family, and loved ones.

Scott asked that they spread word for people to be warm and welcoming. The request probably wasn’t necessary, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Their community would make no friends by tearing people apart, and they prided themselves on being close and tight-knit.

It was important that they not only claimed to be but that they acted like it as well, backing up their words with actions.

Security assignments were then posted. Patrols would have to be upped to make up for an increase that they were seeing with gang-related attacks. Once automated security measures were in place, they would revisit the matter in order to assess which sectors needed heightened security. Emergency drills would be held at the end of the week.

With all of their needs addressed, Nola called the meeting to a close.

Once the meeting was adjourned, Scott approached Nola and their Head of Security, requesting a full census to be done within a day's time. Scott needed names, numbers, faces. Each citizen’s profile needed to be updated within their database.

If Scott was going to make an effective defense matrix for the colony, then he would prefer to program an IFF system that only a select few could remotely activate. For the system to work as intended, all of the colonists' photo IDs and biometric profiles would need to be kept current and constantly updated in real-time.

Nola promised to see to it that Scott got what he needed, shooing him off.

Apparently, he was hovering, but Scott could take a hint. He could tell when he was no longer needed, and he knew that Nola worked best when he wasn’t constantly worrying after her like a mother hen.

Departing from the settlement, Scott cloaked himself the second he went beyond the boundaries of their walls.

He was almost halfway back to Port when he received a message from Reyes. Figuring that he was in the clear, Scott made sure that the coast was clear before deactivating his cloak.

Pulling up his omni-tool’s interface, Scott opened the message. Along with it, there was a set of coordinates, sent from Reyes’s location.

R: Think I’m ready to cash in on those shuttle repairs. Wouldn’t mind the company right about now.

Scott’s fingers hovered above the holographic keys, contemplating his next move before deciding to hell with it.

S: Miss me that much?

R: Am I that obvious?

He didn’t even give Scott a chance to reply before he sent another message.

R: If it’s still in question though, let me put it bluntly.

R: I want to see you.

Scott pursed his lips, cursing his stupid heart for racing in response.

S: Give me a few. I’ll be there.

R: I’ll be looking forward to it.

Before he could embarrass himself, Scott closed out his messages. He quickly made his way to Port, grabbing his bag of tools and gear before venturing back out into the badlands.

From there, Scott followed the coordinates to a cliff, overlooking a nearby valley. The sun was slowly but surely sinking down over the horizon, lightning up the sky in array of pinks and oranges and reds.

Reyes was already waiting for him by the time he arrived, the shuttle powered down for the moment.

However, the second Scott noticed that Reyes was facing away from him, he instantly slowed his walk to a crawl. He bent his knees into a slight crouch and shifted his weight with each step, toe to heel as he snuck his way up behind him.

“You look like you’re waiting for someone.”

Scott delighted in watching him him jump in shock, only to have a blade at his throat in the blink of an eye.

As soon as Reyes realized who it was, all the blood drained from his face.

“S–Scott!”

Hands raised in surrender, Scott raised an eyebrow at him incredulously.

“You know, I was kind of expecting a warmer welcome,” he admitted, careful of the firaan's sharp edge. Keema must have given it to him. “Have to say, though, would it be weird if I was a little turned on right now?”

Reyes scoffed.

Trailing the blade along the outline of his throat, Scott swallowed thickly when he eventually felt its pointed tip press underneath his chin. Reyes tilted it up, and Scott followed, lest he risk being cut.

Their eyes met, and Reyes smirked.

Bastard was toying with him.

Retracting his knife, Reyes sheathed the firaan while Scott tried to catch his breath. The goosebumps left behind in the dagger's wake soon receded, yet a warm heat lingered.

“Tsk.” Reyes huffed at him. “Ryder—”

Uh-oh, back to last name basis. From experience, that meant trouble.

“You know better than to sneak up on me!” Reyes scolded.

“I do,” Scott said, not even afraid to acknowledge it, “but I love getting a rise out of you.”

“What if I would have hurt you?”

“But you didn’t.”

Scowling, Reyes placed his hands on his hips. Shaking his head, he pinched at the bridge of his nose.

“Scott, what the hell am I going to do with you?” he asked, releasing his nose, half-fond and half-frustrated.

“I’m sure we could think of something.”

Reyes hummed in agreement, watching Scott approach the shuttle with his bag tossed over his shoulder. He dropped it to the ground, then immediately got to work.

Watching him closely, Reyes leaned against the side of his shuttle with a thoughtful look.

“Maybe I could take you on a date?”

While Reyes tried to sound confident, his attempt ultimately failed. Instead of forming the words into a bold offer, they fell flat, sounding more like an uncertain question.

Scott stopped what he was doing. He spared Reyes a brief glance, only to return his attention to the task at hand, hiding his flushed face.

“Wouldn’t Zia disapprove?” Scott asked, being rougher than necessary as he practically took apart the control panel.

Envy curled inside him, spreading like an infection through his bloodstream. There was a sharp squeeze around his heart as it was encased in the feeling.

Reyes called him out on it, way too perceptive for his own good.

“Ryder, are you jealous?” Reyes chuckled.

Scott glared, causing him to throw his hands up in surrender.

“Just asking.”

“And if I am?” Scott retorted.

“Then I’d have to put your mind at ease.”

“It’s really none of my busin—”

Reyes closed the distance between them. Reaching out, he cupped Scott’s cheek, brushing his thumb along his bottom lip. Weak as he was, Scott leaned into his touch for a split second. His eyes threatened to flutter closed, but he had to remain firm about this one matter, if nothing else.

As he started to pull away, Reyes said, “There is nothing going on between Zia and I.” Scott froze into place. “We went out for drinks a few times, nothing more.”

“You swear?” Scott asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I swear.” His voice grew heated, impassioned. “I might be a bad man when it comes to many things, but I wouldn’t ever lie about that to you.”

Scott considered that before replying, “Well, like I said—” He cleared his throat, eyes averted. “ It’s not really any of my business, so I don’t know. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have pried.”

He trailed off, uncertain why he was acting that way.

Reyes furrowed his brow.

“No need to be sorry. If you had crossed a line, then I would have said so.”

“Even then, you’re not mine. Your relationships are your own.”

“I could be.”

Scott regarded him skeptically.

“Could be what?”

“Yours,” Reyes answered instantly, staring intently at Scott. “Just say the word.”

If only they weren’t both keeping secrets from each other at the moment, then Scott might take him up on that.

Turns out, being with the Charlatan would be a huge conflict of interests. Who could’ve guessed?

Silence settled between them. It was as if the whole world was awaiting Scott’s answer with bated breath. Time itself seemed to stand still in anticipation.

“I—” He struggled to find the right words. “Give me time.”

That’s all he could ask.

Reyes’s hopeful expression fell, and that alone felt like a stab to the chest. Scott's breathing trembled a little, as if it was becoming difficult to continue drawing in one breath after another.

God, he didn’t want to hurt him, but neither of them could really afford to rush into things half-cocked.

Scott copied his earlier gesture, reaching out to cup Reyes’s cheek. The change was almost instantaneous, how the tension drained away, only for Reyes to melt into Scott’s touch. He leaned into his hand, starved for affection.

Scott swallowed thickly, unable to pull away, let alone take his eyes off of him for even a second.

“All I ask is that you give me time,” Scott repeated. “That’s not a ‘no.’ I just need to think a few things over, iron out a few details.”

Reyes listened, then agreed.

“Alright.” He pulled away with a small, private smile. “As if I could deny anyone such a reasonable request, especially you.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Returning his attention to the shuttle, Scott got back to work. After all, he didn’t want to neglect the poor bird, and it appeared that the shuttle was in desperate need of a little TLC.

His diagnostics only confirmed his suspicions.

When a couple of sparks resulted from his prodding, Scott chastised Reyes for mistreating their baby. Reyes grew defensive, both of them falling back to old habits as they bickered.

This was the type of work that Scott did on the Nexus after he got sidelined and shafted. Systems repairs, shuttle repairs, routine maintenance… That sorta thing.

It was how he met Reyes to begin with. Few pilots had the energy to hang around and talk shop with Scott while he worked, especially since a lot of them had only recently returned from failed colonization efforts. Understandably, most people didn’t want to entertain idle conversation after watching their friends die out in the field.

That was fine by Scott, but Reyes had always gone out of his way —even then— to make sure that Scott had anything and everything that he needed.

They might have taken his shuttle out on a few joyrides together, gotten in trouble for wasting fuel, but Scott wouldn’t trade that time they spent together for anything in the galaxy.

Even now, it felt natural to settle back into their old routine. While Scott worked, Reyes watched, and they talked about anything and everything.

Time passed, and Scott only got deeper into the repairs and modifications. Despite the setting sun, he still broke a sweat, a light sheen glistening upon his skin.

Eventually, he had to take off his shirt, leaving him in a plain tank top that quickly got dirty along with his hands.

Swiping at the perspiration beading at his hairline, Scott grunted as he came to a stopping point for now. He reached for his bag, but what he was seeking wasn’t there.

“Shit.”

Turning towards Reyes, Scott huffed at him.

The bastard wasn’t even trying to hide his staring. Face flushed, he was biting teasingly at his bottom lip, brown eyes dark as he watched Scott through a hooded gaze.

Getting to his feet, Scott crossed his arms over his chest.

“See something you like?”

“Definitely.”

“You’re shameless.” Scott shook his head in disbelief, tsking under his breath. “You’re just as bad as that one time when Gil Brodie asked for a ‘second opinion’ on some fix he made. Turns out, I ended up doing almost all of the work while he sat back and watched.”

“Smart man,” Reyes noted, giving Scott a thorough once-over. “This Gil must have great tastes.”

Scott snorted.

“Flattery will get you nowhere. If you really want to make me happy, then you would grab your water bottle for me.”

“Did you forget yours?” Reyes asked, slightly concerned. After all, being caught out in the badlands without water was just asking for dehydration or heat stroke.

Nevertheless, he got the bottle for him. Scott placed his hands over Reyes’s, shrugging with a flustered blush.

“Yeah,” Scott sighed. “I thought I had packed it! I don’t know where it could’ve wandered off to.”

“Perhaps you were in a bit of a rush to get here,” Reyes said, trailing off suggestively.

Scott figured that he would allow that.

“Perhaps,” he agreed, “but what else do I keep you around for, if not the water? You wouldn’t want the guy repairing your shuttle to get dehydrated, right?” Scott smirked. “I could get delirious, and it would be very unfortunate if I just so happened to forget to install an essential component.”

Reyes gasped dramatically, relinquishing the water to Scott, who was quick to take a swig.

“You always have to watch out for the pretty ones,” Reyes grumbled. “Always causing trouble, keeping secrets…”

There it was again. That sense of knowing , that sense that both of them were holding something back. It was left unsaid. Neither confronted the other about it, but they knew that the secrets were there.

Before the sudden lag in conversation could get too awkward, Scott took another swig of water and asked, “So, you think I’m pretty?”

Reyes chuckled, glad for the change of subject.

“Kian seems to think so,” he muttered. Leave it to him to avoid the question. “He keeps asking when you’re going to start working for him at Tartarus.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“As a dancer?” He had to make sure he was hearing right.

“Yep.”

“Could you imagine?” Scott scoffed. “Me, shaking my ass for money? A tempting offer. It would probably be more profitable than the odd jobs I take on here and there, but I think I’m fine where I’m at.”

“Damn,” Reyes sighed, “what a shame.”

Scott raised an eyebrow in his direction.

“You saying you would have come to watch me?”

“Not only that, but I would have paid to watch you,” Reyes said, “especially if I could have gotten a private show out of it.”

Scott tried to imagine it, grinning in spite of himself.

“What’s so funny?” Reyes wondered.

“Nothing, nothing,” Scott said, brushing off his concern. “That just made me remember a thought that I had earlier.”

“What about?”

“Oh, you know.” Scott gestured vaguely. “Just that I should start charging you a fee for when we spend time together.”

Reyes winked at him.

“It would be worth every credit.”

#mass effect #mass effect andromeda #scott ryder #reyes vidal #reyder #mreyder #my writing #my fanfic #scott ryder x reyes vidal #exile au #hopefully tumblr doesn't screw with the order of my paragraphs again :/

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sugarandspace · 5 years ago

Text

In sickness and in health

Summary: Alec’s work day gets interrupted by Catarina, who tells him that Magnus has fallen sick.

AO3

“Hey, I thought you were still working?”

Alec hadn’t expected a call from Magnus until much later, but seeing his name light up his phone had been a nice surprise and a much-needed break from all the boring paperwork he had been occupying himself with. He had actually been done with all the urgent things he needed to get done but had decided to stay at the Institute for a moment longer. After all, the reports he had been going through worked as a good distraction while Magnus was working late.

“Alec.”

The voice he hears does not belong to his husband, and it makes dread crawl up Alec’s spine.

“Catarina?” He asks, standing up from his desk. He’s already gathering his things when he asks, “Is everything okay?”

“Everything will be okay,” she says, which does little to calm Alec’s racing heart. Catarina’s voice is calm, but Alec is sure it’s a skill she’s mastered after all the time she’s spent healing people.

“But it’s not right now?” Alec presses even though he knows the answer. It can’t be, if Cat is calling him from Magnus’ phone.

“Magnus is sick,” she tells him. “And he’s been asking for you. I was wondering if you were finished with work?”

“Can you create a portal for me?” Alec asks, answering her question. All the papers on his desk are left where they are when his mind is focused on a more pressing matter. It doesn’t matter if all Magnus has is a mild flu, if he’s asking for Alec, Alec will be there. Although knowing his husband and how bad he is at asking for things, Alec fears the situation that waits for him at home is a lot more serious.

“I’m at my office,” he tells Catarina and a second later a portal appears in front of him. “Thank you.”

Alec ends the call and steps into the portal that takes him home, more specifically to their living room where he’s greeted by a sight of Magnus on the couch with Catarina sitting on the arm of it, wiping sweat from his forehead with a towel.

Magnus looks to be shaking under a blanket, his eyes squeezed tightly shut. He doesn’t even react to the portal appearing a few feet away from him.

“What’s happening?” Alec asks as he kneels next to the couch and looks at Cat, his hands hovering above Magnus, afraid to touch in case he would just cause harm.

“It’s a warlock illness, much like a mundane flu, but it infects our magic and therefore feels a lot stronger. He’s had it before, but this case seems to be particularly bad. He can feel it in his very core and everywhere his magic is,” Cat explained. Then she continued, “You can touch him, it’s not something you can catch.”

“I wasn’t worried about that,” Alec says quietly and brings his hand up to brush through Magnus’ hair. It lays flat against his head and his face is free of makeup, and a look that usually makes Alec’s heart melt is now tainted by the sweat and the agonized look on Magnus' face.

Magnus’ eyes open when he feels the touch. The look in his unglamoured eyes is hazy and it seems like he’s not fully in this world until his eyes eventually focus on Alec.

“Alec,” he says before his eyes fall closed again and he leans into the touch.

“I’m here,” Alec says and kisses Magnus’ forehead, grimacing a little when he feels how hot his skin is under his lips. He looks at Catarina again. “Is there anything we can do?”

“I’m afraid there’s not much,” Catarina says. “It’s an illness that specifically targets warlocks, so it has mutated in a way that it can’t be healed or treated with a magic of any kind. Spells and potions would only make him sicker.”

Alec frowns.

“There must be something.”

“You can try your best to make him feel comfortable, and make sure he eats and drinks,” Catarina says. “And make sure he lets himself fully heal before he attempts to use his magic again. We don’t want a repeat of 1894.”

Alec doesn’t ask what happened in 1894, but the serious expression on Catarina’s face makes him trust that they don’t want it to happen again.

He nods.

“How do I know when he’s fully healed?” Alec asks, wanting to know all he can so he can do what’s best for Magnus.

Catarina gestures to the coffee table, where an array of things used to treat a mundane flu lie. Among them is a thermometer that she picks up and shows him.

“Monitor his temperature. That should be a pretty good indicator of how he’s doing. If it rises above 104, I want you to call me,” Catarina says. “Same if he starts feeling worse, if he starts throwing up, or gets unresponsive.”

Alec nods along to the instructions, memorising them all. “Okay.”

“I’m going to leave,” Catarina says, standing up and straightening her clothes. “I’ll be back tomorrow to check on him. If at any time you feel like he’s getting worse, or feel unsure about something, call me. I’m just a portal away.”

“I will,” Alec promises. “Thank you.”

Catarina brushes her hand through Magnus’ hair one more time.

“Get better soon my friend,” she says, getting barely any response from Magnus. With that she portals away.

Alec takes a few deep breaths as he looks at Magnus. Seeing him so sick scares him, but he knows Catarina wouldn’t have left him alone with Magnus if there was a risk of things going bad quickly. It’s just so rare, to see Magnus like this. Alec knows it doesn’t help that the memories he has of similar situations are back in the forefront of his mind at seeing Magnus like this, so vulnerable.

Alec pushes those thoughts away, and focuses on the moment, and what he can do to make Magnus feel as comfortable as possible.

-.-.-

It takes two days of barely responsive Magnus until the symptoms start to lessen.

They are once again in the living room, where Magnus had wanted to relocate after claiming that as much as he liked to spend time with Alec in bed, he’d started to get bored of the same four walls. It had been nice to see some of that twinkle come back to his eyes because it was one of the signs that Magnus was getting better.

When his temperature had gone down - not yet to its normal levels, but no longer life-threatening either - Alec had drawn him a bath, and now they are on the couch and the old gramophone is playing background music to them as Magnus lays with his head of Alec’s lap while Alec is sitting on the corner of their large couch, resting against the back of it.

While one of Alec’s hands keeps brushing through Magnus’ hair, his other hand moves up and down Magnus’ back, hoping to help warm him up. Even under the thick blanket, Magnus keeps occasionally shivering.

Magnus lets out a soft hum at the movement.

“Does it help you feel warm?” Alec asks quietly.

“No,” Magnus mumbles and opens his eyes to look at Alec.

Alec slumps against the back of the couch, frustrated at how little he can do to make Magnus feel better. He’s not the most patient person, even less so when people he cares about are suffering.

“But keep doing it,” Magnus says and closes his eyes again, sighing as he gets more comfortable against the soft fabric of Alec’s sweatpants. “It feels nice.”

Magnus’ words bring a small smile to Alec’s lips. He might not be able to fix the situation and to make Magnus feel healthy again, but he can be there for him.

And so Alec's hand keeps brushing against Magnus’ back, the other continuing its slow massage against Magnus’ scalp, while Magnus doses off in his lap.

Alec realises that it’s not always about fixing the whole situation, but about doing what he can. All that matters is that Magnus is getting better, even if the progress is slow.

Alec will be there for him every step on the way.

#malec #shadowhunters #alec lightwood #magnus bane #malec fic #my writing #we love a cliche title lmao

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normal-thoughts-official · 5 years ago

Note

That thing about assumptions on whose more openly affectionate of malec being opposite is so true lol! Like you expect Magnus to be the teasing in public/PDA type but Alecs the one who grabs his ass and kisses him on the cheek and wraps an arm around his waist or shoulders, the one who initiates hand holding and kisses in public, the one who whispers dirty things in his ear?? And magnus adores every minute he just doesnt trust himself to initiate in case it's Too Much or hes being "clingy" :'[

ABSOLUTELY and i think it’s mostly because people don’t realize that magnus and alec’s outer appearance, demeanor-wise, is not only fake, but effectively a defense/coping mechanism

i mean i’ve already talked a lot about magnus many times and it’s been basically canonically established that magnus’ devil-may-care, playboy, detached attitude is the result of him trying to close himself off after too many experiences with abuse

and closing yourself off doesn’t just mean not allowing himself to feel, it also means not letting anyone get too close to you. but magnus can’t really do the “completely isolating yourself in a tower” thing, like Raphael does, because he craves contact and touch and attention and being alone with his thoughts is one of the worst things he can do to himself.

also, he’s too much of a softie, he’s still there, trying to represent warlocks politically, taking people under his wing. there’s just too much he needs to do, wants to do, so isolating himself physically won’t work. ergo, he needs a facade. a ruse. something between his feelings and others, something to keep him safely isolated and away from people who will- could hurt him and this way he also helps them too, because who needs to have such a broken, despicable, whiny murderer of a friend who brings nothing but emotional baggage to the table?

so he builds this uncaring, detached, but fun persona; someone whose company you can enjoy a lot, who will take you on adventures, who can do a lot of stuff for you, but who’s not deserving FITTING for a deeper relationship, even if just friendship-wise. he’s shallow, he only cares about the Exorbitant Amounts Of Money™ that he’ll get from his “favors” (which is hysterical because I don’t think I’ve seen him being paid a single fucking time in the entire show, not even when fucking lilith showed up at his house claiming to be some warlock he’s never met and asked for a potion, he literally gave it to her for free because she mentioned ragnor. he’s too kind for his own good, honestly. and god the amount of unpaid work he did for these goddamn shadowhunters. unbelievable. he deserved so much better. but anyway, i digress), he’s impulsive and stubborn and listens to no one, he’s all about partying and fashion and sex. so how could he possibly be like in a relationship, if not the teasing one who’s all over the other, showing them off to people, grabbing their ass, gushing over them or whatever. the most surprising part, honestly, would be to see magnus getting in a relationship at all, considering what an unfixable lothario he is and his general disdain for complicated matters - at least in most people’s eyes

as for Alec, well, for many, he’s probably the picture of the Perfect Shadowhunter. clear mind, cool head, cold heart. a soldier so perfect he’s almost a machine, and has never learnt empathy, much less love

it’s obvious that none of this is true, once you take a look. he’s clearly suffering and in a constant battle with himself, not only who he is and who he’s attracted to, but also what he actually believes in - and look, i’m not saying he’s perfect or some kind of woke white savior or anything, cuz he did and said some shitty stuff both in s1 and after it. but he’s also the one who told magnus “take what you need” when magnus needed his strength, and the one who refused to let magnus use his magic to clean the loft when he could do it himself and allow him to rest. and that says a lot. when everyone else, including clary, who supposedly wasn’t even raised in racist shadowhunter culture, treated magnus like a tool, the means to an end, alec remembered magnus’ humanity

so, upon closer inspection, most people would think that he’s just Repressed™. sure, there’s a lot going on in there, that man is conflicted af, and it’s actually a pity. were he raised in another culture, one that wasn’t so set on stripping you of your humanity, he could’ve been a great man. he could have been happy, too. goes to show you how cruel shadowhunters are, even to their own kind.

so for those people, alec is almost a pity case. he’s stuck in his oppression, helpless, confined. shadowhunter values have been drilled into him so deep that he can’t face his feelings anymore. he lies to himself and smothers any semblance of a “rebellious” thought before it even comes to mind. he’s all but brainwashed, basically

but that’s not exactly true, either

and look, don’t get me wrong, because of course i know that alec struggled like crazy to come to terms with his identity and his attraction. but alec is not brainwashed. if anything, he’s shockingly self-aware

when he’s in shock after he finds out about his parents and the arranged marriage, he says, “i’ve done everything that they’ve asked, i’ve dedicated all of me to the clave”. he knows exactly what he was sacrificing for them, he knows that there’s a line between what he believes in and what he does because it’s what’s he supposed to, and he knows where it is, too. when he goes on his first date with magnus, he says “i always knew i couldn’t get what i wanted, until you came along”. knew, not thought. it’s not that alec never considered it, always thought it was out of his realm of possibility, couldn’t face the idea; it’s that he thought it over, came to the conclusion that it couldn’t happen, and resigned himself to it. in alec’s eyes, he was making a choice

now, don’t misquote me, because obviously it’s not really a choice when you’re between losing everything you’ve ever had, including your family, or being who you are. i’m not saying that alec chose to be in the closet, i’m saying that he saw it that way. that he was perfectly aware of who he was, and what he wanted, and what he thought, but he knew he couldn’t act on it. there’s a fundamental difference between the way alec acts, and lying or hiding from yourself

so alec is not repressed in the freudian sense of the word, where his desires are all subconscious and whatnot, but in the sense that he won’t act on them

i think alec was never quite good at lying to himself (or anyone, really, but specially not himself. he’s painfully logical and introspective, and he over analyzes everything, including himself. i’m also like this and believe me when i say that it’s almost impossible for me to lie to myself, even when i want to. my therapist and psychiatrist both think it’s appalling lol. lying to yourself is a survivorship skill that i think neither alec nor i ever had)

and then we have the third group of people, the people who realize that, who know that alec knows and actively and consciously represses his desires anyway, but who think that alec is too powerless, too weak, to break out of it. basically another pity case, the poor lightwood boy, so hurt and powerless to do anything about it.

all of these people are wrong

alec is not weak, he’s- incredibly strong, really. like the shit he did when he came out, that was incredible. and before that, just heading out of the institute to go to magnus’ and help him heal luke when that went straight against clave’s orders? holy shit. straight up ignoring his mom’s calls? id literally die of anxiety before ever being able to do that. and after s1 too, he continuously chose magnus, continuously faced all sorts of enemies, he threatened maryse, who was always the monster under his bed, without batting an eye

alec’s always been strong, and brave, and self-aware. and that’s why his relationship with magnus was way less about figuring out what he wanted or learning how to express his feelings and desires, and way more about allowing himself to do exactly what he wanted. most people would think that alec would need time to adjust to being in a relationship, to being happy, to not looking over his shoulder after every touch or word. that alec would need help to figure out what he was into, what he liked, how to do things, how to feel and to love. but he didn’t, because alec knows himself way too well. once he decided that he could get what he wanted, he just did it and never looked back

(because he knows how strong he is, too, and there’s an advantage in being trained to be a soldier and diplomat - he’s very aware of his own strengths and how to use them)

so yeah, there is the reason everyone is wrong and shocked: people assumed that magnus knew what he wanted and was comfortable in his own skin, while alec didn’t. but it’s actually the other way around

if you look at their relationship, the “insecure one” (obviously there’s no such thing as “the insecure one”, everyone has their insecurities, but you know what i mean) was magnus. alec was ready for sex before him, and it seemed that it never occured to alec that he could have fears surrounding that. magnus was the one who was always worried that something would be the Last Straw, make alec leave him. magnus was hesitant to make big gestures of love or just be sappy and romantic, and alec was like “we’ve been dating for 3 months, i think it’s appropriate to propose to magnus”. magnus was scared and insecure, and alec gave zero (0) shits

(not with everything, obviously. i’m not trying to say magnus was the helpless uwu one who needed fixing. just that when it comes to their relationship, magnus was more hesitant than alec was)

because magnus was the one who had been repressing what he wanted. he was the one who couldn’t face the idea of falling in love, of allowing himself to be vulnerable, of being with someone else. after camille, after all the hurt and abuse, he wasn’t ready, and he needed time not only to allow himself to feel, but also to figure out how he feels - to get rid of this deep conviction that he’s worthless, that he should accept crumbs and not look back because it’s the best he’ll ever had. i’ve said that before, but that scene in s2 when magnus gets mad at alec for being a rude bitch, that’s so significant. the magnus from a few years before wouldn’t have said anything, would have just let alec treat him and make excuses for him. “oh he’s new to this,” “oh he was stressed,” “well there’s his brother”, “i was being annoying,” “it’s not his fault”. because that’s what you do when you’ve been through abuse. magnus got into their relationship unwilling to accept being only given crumbs, and unwilling to be anyone’s punchbag. not that alec would do him like that, but it’s important that magnus wouldn’t let him. especially because alec is kind of a dumb bitch who believes people when they say “it’s ok” way too often, so he might not have realized he was hurting magnus, had they met when magnus was in a different headspace

anyway, what i was talking about before i went on yet another big tangent about magnus and his abuse recovery? ah yes, repression

basically what i’m trying to say is: while both magnus and alec struggled with coming to terms with who they are, who they love, and loving and respecting themselves, by the time they got together magnus was the one who needed to be eased into things. he needed time and space to relearn how to be in a relationship, and to be happy in it. while alec needed to jump headfirst into what he wanted and not look back

and look, not to be a disgusting malec stan, but that’s one of the many reasons why they are literal soulmates work so well together. because magnus has been needing someone who loves him so deeply and expresses it so fearlessly, because he’s unused to it, because he’s way too insecure and convinced that he won’t get or doesn’t deserve it. and alec also needs to be able to express his love with abandon, he needs to be affectionate, to tell magnus that he’s beautiful and that every day they’re together is a dream and to give him gifts and to take him to the lock thing and make a romantic dinner with ten dozen red roses because for so long he didn’t allow himself. obviously they both love and are loved, and they both love each other equally and fiercely, and magnus also always expresses it, it’s not a one-way thing. but to alec, being able to express his love and affection for magnus is a wonder, it’s something that he’s still in awe of, realizing that he gets to have this, to be in love and let the whole world see. to say exactly what he feels. i think that’s one of the reasons why alec never beats around the bush, just goes straight into “it’s moments like this, when i’m staring into the eyes of the man that i love,” and his constant Wedding Vowing, because he’s basically bursting with everything he feels, and just how much, and he fucking wants to express it god damn. why the fuck would he be chill? HE GETS TO HAVE THIS, after denying himself for so long

and magnus, well. magnus really needs it. really needs to be convinced that he’s lovable, and that he deserves not only to be loved but to be loved in a fulfilling, caring way. to be happy in a relationship, not just part of it. that he doesn’t have to constantly sacrifice himself for others

and that’s just one of the many ways in which they suit each other so perfectly. because what they need to say is what the other needs to hear, and what they have is so strong it can calm the storm that’s been inside of them for so long. they have the kind of love where they’re sad together, happy together, silly together, angry together, where they get to be competitive dorks and say dumb shit, and also to have slow and calm mornings, and also to feel juts as intensely as they desire. they have it all they are soulmates they have a one in a million kind of connection they are so perfect for each other and in this essay i will

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like-rain-or-confetti · 5 years ago

Text

Family (Alec Volturi x Reader x Jane Volturi)

Facing those who would kill you was terrifying. Death was just as frightening, if not more since yours would always be prolonged. If you were lucky, it would never come. Looking back on all of you centuries, you still weren’t ready. However it was fitting. Carlisle Cullen saved your life once. Dying for him seemed to be a good repayment.

The Volturi dispersed, spreading into a long line, making all of their assets known. You felt the slight breeze through your hair, eyeing every last one of them. Two of them, the witch twins- they seemed shocked, eyes wide and stiff...eyes on you. The two took a few steps forward, breaking the formation. Aro, Caius and eventually Marcus turning to look at the two of them. “Jane? Alec?” “It can’t be.” Jane said under her breath, the only way she can muster out words. Alec swallowed. You shifted slightly, looking to Carlisle for a moment, uncertain of what to do. ‘What are they thinking?’ You thought to yourself. You exchanged a look with Edward and the other covens around you before back at the twins. ‘What are they thinking?’ “(Y/N)?” Jane finally called out. You were surprised she knew your name. “Yes?” “(Y/N), did you have any family?” Edward asked quickly. “I don’t remember.” You shook your head. “I don’t remember anything about my human life.” The twins looked at one another. "What?" You asked yet we're scared to know the answer. "They forgot us." Jane turned to her twin who's jaw was stiff. "What do you mean?" You looked around questioningly. "(Y/N)...they're your blood relatives. Your brother and sister." Edward said carefully, as though it would cushion the blow. "Come." Jane demanded. "No!" You said just as quickly. Jane repeated her request stepping forward and you stepped back, no amount of distance being enough. "(Y/N), i ask that you do not stand against the Volturi. Trust me when I say we don't want to fight you." Alec said suddenly much closer, taking a huge risk by being out of Volturi bounds. "How could I ever trust you?" You asked shakily, aware of every move Alec made and for that matter the lack of movement that screamed inhuman. "Because i’m your brother." He stared into your eyes as he said so. "(Y/N), leave." Carlisle said quietly. You turned to him in protest which he spoke over immediately, not caring to hear it. "Go. Trust me." You hated the prospect of leaving but you did as Carlisle asked, heading back to the Cullen house and waited for something to happen.

You waited for what felt like an eternity before you were relieved to see the Cullen's and the covens return. No amount of mental preparation could help you with this. The two most deadliest vampires in existence claimed to be your blood relatives. Them remembering you, even Edward confirming it but you not remembering a thing. "Carlisle, what do I do?" You said immediately. "Nothing for now. Not until you're ready."

A few days passed and the Cullen's went hunting after their friends left. Benjamin was the one to take your hand and give you words of reassurance before bidding his fair well. It made you wish he'd come back. You however, weren't hungry and so you stayed behind. You didn't stay inside though, you went out into the trees outside the house, needing the fresh air. That was when a scent hit you, an unfamiliar one. You opened your eyes and nearly gasped. Jane stood alone, hands by her sides with a stoic look, eyes boring into you. "Jane..." "Hello, (Y/N)." "I thought you left." She shook her head. "Not until we speak with you." "About what?" You felt fear, relentless waves of fear though not wanting to show it. Jane, however, seemed to notice. "You're afraid of us." She said simply. "As I should be." You responded. "No. You shouldn't be." "You've given me no reason not to." "Nor have i given you a reason to fear me. I haven't hurt you." She had you there but you couldn't pretend you'd be an exception. That's like putting your leg in a bear trap whilst hoping it wouldn't bite down. “Is this some sort of trick?” You suddenly asked. “Are you really related to me?” “Of course, it’s not. My brother and I remember you very well. It’s sad that you cannot say the same.” “Tell me, tell me everything.” “Let’s talk inside.” Jane suggested. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know there.”

You sat at opposite sides of the table. You waited for Jane to talk. She stared back at you for a moment before speaking. She looked slightly uncomfortable, clearly she didn’t talk about this. “You were younger than us by a few years. None of the children back then even laid a finger on you. My brother and I made sure of that. We kept our distance publicly, trying to save you from some of the trouble but we always made sure to make it up to you at home.” Jane could remember one particular memory well.

The same group of children who tormented the twins, were now bothering you for being related to them. You were much smaller, too young to understand fully just why these children were being so cruel. Before they could rough you around, a stone collided with one of the children’s heads, the ring leader of the group. He yelped, rubbing the side of his head and looking to see where it came from. Alec stood on the hill, armed with another stone, ready to throw it. “Leave them alone!” Jane stormed up to the group, leaving her brothers side. The group took off running, leaving you in a heap on the forest floor. Jane took both of your hands, pulling you up and dusting you off. “Are you okay?” “mmhmm.” You nodded, holding back tears. Jane looked you over before looking up at Alec in the distance and you followed suit.

Alec was clearly bothered by the scene. He was your older brother after all, he had to protect you more than anyone else did. He felt like he had failed you in that moment.

She even remembered how you’d walk in between them, each of your smaller hands in theirs. Seeing you had grown since the last time she’s seen you. You weren’t the younger sibling she remembered but that was better than losing you all together as she thought she had before. “You never let what the village said about us sway your judgement of us. It really was unconditional love at its finest. Losing that after our change...that was difficult.” You had never seen Jane so emotional. “I don’t know where you were that night..the night of the...” Jane trailed off. She must have meant the stake. “We thought you were dead.” Jane’s expression suddenly hardened. “Though when we saw you, Aro had no other choice than to tell the truth.” “The truth?” You repeated. “You survived, that night. Our father came for you, mother died and he believed we did so too. That was it for a year or two, but Aro returned for you.” “For me? Why?” Jane continued. “He wanted to know if you’d have a gift like we did. So he changed you when our father left. He came home to find his remaining child gone. You didn’t so he left you behind.” You looked horrified. “And you’re okay with that?” Jane thought for a moment. “I know Aro and he isn’t known for his generosity. I feel no need to challenge him for it. You ended up fine in the end.” You were about to snap at her when you suddenly remembered Chelsea. She had the ability to manipulate relationships, she clearly had her hooks on the twins just as much as everybody else. “So what made you come here then? If it really doesn’t change much of your stance, why bother coming to speak to me?” “Because my brother and I dont want you to be afraid of us, anyone but you.” She paused, almost hesitant to finish. “Also because I missed you.” You looked up at her sharply. “My brother and I, we missed you.” You couldn’t respond, and you couldn’t help but believe her.

You were both torn out of the moment to hear footsteps approaching. Surely they hadn’t come back so early?Then it hit you. Edward. Sure enough, Edwards scent hit. You looked to Jane alarmed before gesturing for her to follow you. Edward was going to go through the front, Jane would be going out the back. Seeing this Jane looked at you in surprise. “If you’re really my sister then why would i let you be caught?” You caught the glimmer in her eyes. An honest glimmer of hope.

Once she had gone, you returned into the room just as Edward entered. Jane’s scent hit his nostrils and he growled. “Who was here?” “No one.” “Dont lie! You’re actively not thinking about it so that I don’t find out. Who was here!?” “No one, Edward.” You said through a stiff jaw. “drop it.” “I can’t. I have a family now-” “enough!” You interrupted loudly. “If you insist, take it up with Carlisle.” You walked away not thinking about what transpired until Edward was well and truly gone and back at his cottage. You and Edward never really saw eye to eye. Whilst you both liked one another, you had different opinions on a lot of things. Ever since Bella had come into the picture and more recently, Renesmee, you barely seemed to agree on anything anymore. You didn’t want to talk to him about this. He’d have nothing really of value to say. Of course Edward did exactly that. Not only did he take it up with Carlisle, he let him not he was not happy. You leaned against the door frame to Carlisle’s office with the whole right side of your body, including your head. “You know what im about to talk to you about don’t you?” You slowly nodded. “Was Jane here?” “Yup.” You nodded. Edward wasn’t here so he didn’t hear it. You’d never admit it to him. “Why wouldn’t you tell Edward?” “Because he doesn’t get to know.” You said flatly. “Its none of his business. It’s yours.” “He’s family.” Carlisle said with ease. “You’re the leader of the coven. It’s your house. He knew the situation wasn’t about him. He was just whining for the sake of whining.” “He’s family.” Carlisle repeated. “Not mine.” You shot back. “Yes, you both like to play that card but he’s my son, just as much as you’re my family. Whether you’re in my coven or not.”

You couldn’t help but smile. You had a lot of respect for Carlisle and for him to consider you family was uplifting. “She doesn’t want me to be afraid of her.” You said finally after a moment of silence. “Jane?” Carlisle asked and you nodded. “And Alec. She came to tell me that they don’t want me to fear them. She told me bits and pieces of my childhood.” “That’s good. It’s nice to hear they remember some of their human life.” “Haven’t they always?” Carlisle leaned back in his chair. “Yes, but they were very private. Aro told me most of their memories were foggy or just non-existent. Though there were ones they could focus enough on and remember like they had just happened. It takes them some time but some of their human life stays with them.” “Aro changed his mind about me. He saw that I didn’t have a gift like them and left me behind.” You mumbled. “It could be possible Eleazar was around at that time? I can’t say for sure I’m afraid. Though I wouldn’t let it upset you too much.” “It’s not that.” You shook your head. “Its that my own brother and sister, if that’s what they are, are still loyal to him knowing that I might have been alive. Even after all this time. They never even seemed to check if I survived the change.” “They can’t change that and neither can you. Now it’s all about what you want to do.” You shrunk into yourself slightly at the question. “I…I don’t know what I should do.” Carlisle tilted his head slightly. “That’s a very particular sentence.” “Well, what I want to do may be very different as to what I should do. The only problem is I don’t know what I should do.” “But you know what you want to do.” Carlisle nodded to you. You leaned off the frame to sit on the opposite seat from his desk. “This time last week, I was the only one in my biological family. Now I have a brother and a sister who want to know me but are the deadliest beings to ever walk the earth. "Would you like to see them again? I can contact the Volturi for you (Y/N). You can meet them.” “You… you’d do that?” “Of course. I’m sure we can all put our issues aside.” They did. It took a while but they gave you a date and time.

It was month later and now that the time had come, you felt nerves bubble inside you. What were you going to say? Only the orange-pink haze in the distance was left of the sunset. The meeting place was an old campsite area that was used back in the fifties. You’d have to pass it to get to the cliff at La Push, though that was wolf territory and you all stayed well clear of that. Somehow it didn’t seem real until you saw the twins with their backs turned to you, listening to Aro. Aro looked over them and nodded at you.

The twins turned and shock hit you again. This was really happening. Jane was the first to step forward, seeming surprised to see you too. “You wanted to see us?” Alec asked lightly. You had never heard Alec be so kind in his tone. Though he wasn’t speaking to anyone. He was speaking to his younger sibling. The one he thought he had lost. You remembered Jane’s story, which had seemingly been one of many. You acted before you thought. You walked up to Alec and immediately pulled him into a hug. He seemed surprised by the action. Both twins did. You didn’t know what to say to them. Instead you only held him tighter.

You barely felt it first but you grew to notice Alec’s hand press against your back, moving slightly to return your hug. All of the memories gone, more years than you could count had passed. You wanted to make up for it. Even if it took eternity. You reached out in Jane’s direction. “Jane, I swear if you don’t get into this hug-” Jane smirked slightly as you grabbed her, wrapping your arms around both Alec and Jane as much as you could. “This feels terrible.” You mumbled. “You’re fault. You dragged me into this side.” Jane forced you to break her hold on you to walk over to your back and hug you from behind. “Don’t tell anyone we ever gave you a hug, or we’ll kill you.” Jane mumbled into your back, squeezing you slightly. “Don’t get used to it either.” Alec added. “Yeah, yeah, you’re still scary.” You rolled your eyes.

#oneshot #one shot #twilight #volturi #the volturi #reader #alec volturi #jane volturi #jane and alec volturi

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cami-chats · 5 years ago

Text

Out Tonight

Fandom: Shadowhunters

Pairings: Clary Fray/Isabelle Lightwood (mentioned Raphael/Simon and Jace/Magnus)

Warnings: None (some drinking but like, they’re at a club)

Clary knew that it wasn't actually the end of her incredibly short-lived relationship with Jace that led to Izzy insisting they got out dancing that night. It was Izzy after all, and this was little more than an excuse to dress up for her. And to strong arm Clary into dressing up too, since Isabelle claimed she was hiding an absolutely gorgeous body under her 'hipster layers'.

She didn't argue too much-- about going out, not her clothes because her clothes were fine-- because clubbing meant dancing with Izzy, and drinking with Izzy, and at the end of the night, making out with Izzy. To be honest, she was more excited about kissing Izzy tonight than she'd ever been for a previous relationship, and maybe that should have clued her in that she was lesbian years ago, instead of realizing it yesterday when she broke things off with Jace. Especially considering that she and Isabelle had been getting drunk and making out on and off for two years now. But whatever, it was better late than never (according to Raphael, Simon’s new boyfriend).

Clary showed up at Isabelle's knowing that the only thing she'd be allowed to retain would be her boots. Sure enough, Isabelle opened the door, looked her up and down, then dragged her inside. "It's a good thing you came early."

"I don't look that bad," she muttered.

"You always look good Clary, but you could look great if you stopped sabotaging yourself."

"Excuse me?" Clary asked, a little offended.

Izzy huffed. "You're trying to attract women, and yet you're wearing a man's shirt?"

"Uh." Clary look down at her shirt, double checking that it was the one she'd picked out earlier. Sure enough, she was still wearing the bright blue v-neck that clung to her. "It isn't?"

"It's a man catching shirt, Clary. Some women like boobs, but it shouldn't be the focus on this outfit." Isabelle started rummaging through her closet, and she pulled something out with a triumphant shout. "Here, wear this," she said, tossing it at Clary.

"This is a shirt."

"On me it's a shirt. On you, it'll be a short dress."

"I'm not that much shorter than you."

Isabelle was too classy to snort, but her expression said it all.

"Oh shut up," Clary said, shaking out the shirt/dress to its full length. "And turn around."

Izzy rolled her eyes but turned. "Normally I'm willing to deal with you and your baggy sweaters with paint and charcoal stains, but we're going to Pandemonium specifically to get you laid, so you have to show some skin."

"We're trying to get me laid? I thought we were going out dancing. Wait- did you say Pandemonium?"

"I did."

"Izzy, what the hell? We'll never be able to get in there, I don't think it matters how much cleavage you show the bouncer."

"Relax, would you? It's all taken care of." There was a note to her tone that Clary didn't trust. If she didn't know better, she would swear that Isabelle was mixed up in something illegal with the number of places she could get into.

"Isabelle..."

"That's not relaxing. I will pull up that Zoolander song if I have to, don't think I won't."

"When did you watch Zoolander?"

"Simon showed me, back when he was still in love with you but thought he liked me." God, that had been an interesting time. Clary was very happy with her birth father in jail for trying to kidnap them, but the journey to get here had been so damn stressful. She never would've met Isabelle, Jace, or Alec without it, but that was a weird way of looking at the situation.

Clary huffed, muttering something about friends conspiring against her under her breath. "Fine, I'm dressed. I hope you're planning on looking like a fucking sex goddess so that we don't look completely ridiculous trying to get in there."

"That isn't relaxing either. I told you to relax." She looked Clary up and down, a pleased smile on her face. "See? You look totally fuckable. Give me a minute to get changed and then we can go."

Clary didn't feel too bad about watching her change because Izzy didn't give a shit about how much skin she showed. The guilt mostly came from the fact that Isabelle thought they were friends and didn't know that Clary was harboring feelings for her.

Izzy didn't look much different from how she normally dressed, in Clary's opinion. The difference between her street outfits and her club outfits was all in her makeup and the way she moved-- according to Isabelle, at least. Clary thought she looked totally gorgeous either way.

Instead of getting in line, Izzy strode right up to the bouncer and smiled. "Lightwood, party of two." She had one of her hands in Clary's mostly so Clary couldn't run away-- which she'd tried so many times before that Isabelle didn't give her the opportunity to even think about it anymore-- and when the bouncer lifted the rope for them, she dragged Clary right through.

"How did you get your name on the VIP list?"

"I know someone," she said, smile widening.

"But-"

"Don't worry about it!" Izzy said, having to raise her voice as they got closer to the music. "C'mon, I'll buy you a drink. What're you feeling?"

"Something fruity!"

Izzy nodded, clearly having expected that. Clary didn't know why she even bothered to ask when every single time, the answer was the same. Clary liked the drinks that came out with fruit, a straw, and a violently pink color. Izzy, for some reason, liked vodka mixed with a soda and she never cared which soda it was, as far as Clary could tell.

She dragged Clary over to the bar and placed their order. Someone gave Clary a lingering look, and Isabelle raised an eyebrow pointedly, as if to say 'see? fuckable'. It was hard to be too excited about it though, when all she wanted was to get to the part of the night where Izzy's tongue was in her mouth.

The drinks were placed in front of Izzy, and she picked them both up, handing Clary's to her and staring until Clary rolled her eyes and took a sip. "Happy?"

Izzy put a finger on the bottom of the glass and tipped it up, meaning that she wanted to Clary to keep drinking. "You need to have fun!"

Clary glared at her and started gulping it down, stopping when the glass was half empty.

"Good start! Now drink the rest and let's dance!" Izzy had already finished hers and was now staring at Clary in anticipation.

Clary sagged a bit, but this was how their nights out usually went. Izzy gave Clary however many drinks she thought she needed to loosen up, they danced, sometimes Clary would dance with other people while Isabelle had another drink, sometimes they'd get another drink together, it just depended on the night. Clary finished her drink, and Izzy pulled her out to the dance floor, where they stayed for a few songs.

This time, Clary was the one to drag her off with a quickly shouted explanation of, "I'm tired!"

Izzy was smiling at her, arm around her shoulder. "Okay!"

They were off to the side-- or as much to the side that you could get in a club-- and Clary was wondering if she could get away with asking Isabelle to leave. She'd phrase it like a girl's night out instead of wanting to get away from the loud music, and Izzy would probably say yes. She opened her mouth to say it, then paused. She still didn't know how Izzy had gotten in here, and if she'd spent a lot of money to get them on the list, then it would be a waste to leave so soon.

Izzy's grin widened as she spotted someone over on the couches, and she said, "Come on," as she started walking over to them. When they got close, she raised a hand in greeting. "Magnus!"

One of the men lounging on the couches straightened and smiled brightly at her. He had far more style than Clary could ever have, and even though she didn't like men, she knew he was absolutely gorgeous. The way he was looking at Isabelle was only happy, nothing ulterior, but that didn't mean anything.

Clary's heart sunk as she realized he must be the reason they'd gotten in. Izzy had friends everywhere, but if they were looking at each other like this, it probably went beyond friendship. She tried to keep her disappointment from showing on her face, but she'd never been the best actress.

He got to his feet in one smooth motion. "Isabelle, darling," he said, walking over and kissing the air over her cheek. Somehow, when he did it, Clary didn't feel the need to roll her eyes; it felt-- dare she think it-- genuine instead of a pretentious, dickwad move. God it was no wonder Clary couldn't catch Izzy's interest for more than a single night if this was the sort of person she was competing against. It just fucking figured that Izzy's type in more permanent partners was glamorous-- what Izzy was and Clary definitely was not. She couldn't even irrationally hate Magnus because then he turned to Clary and said, "You must be the friend Isabelle always talks about. Clary?" If he'd said it like he wasn't happy to meet her, this would be so much easier.

She nodded numbly, and he stuck out his hand.

"Magnus. I've heard quite a few good thing about you."

"Can't say the same," she said, more than a little out of it as she shook his hand. A second later, she realized how rude that sounded and blushed bright red as she took her hand back. "I- I mean-"

Magnus laughed, waving her stuttered attempts at an apology off. "It's fine. If she told you anything good, it would be a lie." He winked at Izzy, and Clary blushed harder, which she hadn't thought was possible. She was pretty sure she hadn't turned this red since that time she'd come home to find Izzy riding someone on the living room floor. She really really hoped she wouldn't have to see her and Magnus do anything like that, because just thinking about it was enough of a kick in the nads.

"Thanks for letting us in, Magnus. Clary and Jace broke up yesterday, so she needed a good night out."

"Happy I could help. Speaking of that little golden boy..."

Izzy laughed. "Yes, he's single now. You already have his number, you know."

"Hardly the point when he thinks I am uninterested."

"Not my fault he doesn't notice you flirting."

Clary frowned. "Are you two not together?"

They both shook their heads.

"Oh."

"Aww Clary, you thought I fucked my way to the top. I'm flattered that you think so highly of my abilities, but no, this time we are solely friends." She turned back to Magnus. "How about coffee tomorrow? We can make it a double date. Sort of."

"Nothing before eleven, and I'll be there."

Isabelle nodded and gave him another hug. "I'll text you. See you tomorrow!"

"Nice to meet you!" Clary said, and they walked away. Once they were far enough away, Clary asked, "Double date?"

"You and me and Magnus and Jace, too if I can convince him to come."

"So, you and me would be there as a date?"

Izzy paused. "It doesn't have to be like that, that's why I said it's sort of a double date."

"What if we uh, made it a double date? Like, officially instead of 'sort of'."

"What?" Izzy asked, but it was a I-didn't-hear-you what, not a I-can't-believe-you-suggested-that what.

Clary got up on her tiptoes and Izzy bent down a little so Clary could talk directly in her ear. "We should date! You and me, for real."

Izzy didn't move for several long, heart wrenching seconds. "You sure that's what you want?"

"Absolutely!"

When Izzy pulled back, she had a breathless grin on her face. "Awesome!"

"Great!" Clary said, knowing that she didn't need to, but too happy to stop herself.

#shadowhunters #clizzy #clary fray #isabelle lightwood #fanfic #my writing

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featherquillpen · 6 years ago

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I miss you in Leverage fandom, so I’d love a scene from that mortal!Eliot with fae!Parker and fae!Hardison story you mentioned once. (Bonus points for incorporating the folklore about mortals being bound to Faerie by its food, since food is Eliot’s love language.)

Changelings

One of the best ways to con people is by telling the truth.

Parker and Hardison will never be the grifters Sophie wants them to be. But they do their best, given their limitations.

Like when Hardison told Nate, “I bounced through five sets of foster parents until I ended up with Nana.”

Like how Parker doesn’t talk about her childhood at all.

I. Hardison

“I hate humans,” Parker said to Hardison when they got back from the orphanage job. “I should have brought those kids through a ring to the Other Side.”

It’s the first time Parker has acknowledged what they are out loud. They’d both known, of course, seen the signs: careful lies of omission, a wariness of iron. Hardison had tried to bring it up, sharing a hazy memory of the daughter of an orisha and a faerie queen, born when the stories of European invaders did battle with the stories of West Africa hundreds of years ago – he thinks she might have been his mother, but she’d traded him away for a human child anyway.

(“I don’t talk about that stuff,” Parker had said, with an air of finality.)

“They’d have to send over just as many faerie kids to keep the Balance,” Hardison said. “And you know that ain’t fair. Besides, you don’t hate humans.”

“Yes I do,” Parker said. “I blew up my foster parents.”

(Hardison has met other changelings. They call the humans who raised them their parents. Hardison and Parker say “foster parents,” except when they talk about Nana. Sometimes the human children get the better end of the bargain.)

The door opened. Eliot said, “Parker. I need backup at the casino.”

Parker nodded and leapt out of her office chair. Hardison grinned at her. She flicked her ponytail at him as she turned and left.

II. Parker

“We have to tell him,” Parker said while Eliot was in the kitchen plating the first course. She could smell something rich and savory, like warm dark oil.

“We don’t have to tell him anything he won’t even believe,” Hardison said. “None of my siblings at Nana’s house ever believed it, and I did all kinds of weird-ass – ”

“Sophie believes it,” Parker said.

“She what?”

“I didn’t mean to tell her but she got all Sophie at me! First she gave me grifting lessons and she tried to make me lie and realized I couldn’t,” Parker said in a rush. “Then she realized you can’t either. That’s why she always introduces us with our fake names, so we don’t have to say them. She didn’t know why at first but she kept guessing and finally she said we’re fae. I told her it sounded silly but she said ‘tell me I’m wrong’ and I couldn’t. But she hasn’t snuck me iron or made me tell the truth about things I don’t want to. So Eliot wouldn’t. He wouldn’t.”

Hardison said softly, “I never thought he would. That ain’t our man.”

Eliot came in with bowls of steaming consommé garnished with parsley. The look on his face, you’d have thought he knew he was serving a lost faerie prince and a daughter of the Unseelie. Hardison said, “That smells so good, you have no idea. I must have made some kind of good choices in my life to deserve this.”

“You wouldn’t know a good choice if it smacked you upside the head,” Eliot said. “Which is what I’m gonna do if you let this soup go cold.”

When their bowls were empty, his hospitality accepted, Parker said, “Eliot, you know we never lie to you, right?”

“Technically we don’t lie to anyone,” Hardison said. “I don’t know if you, uh, noticed – ” At Eliot’s raised eyebrows, Hardison seemed to remember that he was talking to one of the most observant men in the mortal realms. “Right. Yeah.”

“Technically we don’t lie to anyone, but we really actually don’t lie to you,” Parker said.

Eliot’s mouth went soft in that way that wasn’t a smile, a face Parker always knew she could trust when everything else seemed confusing and fake. “I know.”

“So we’re going to tell you something weird but you have to believe us,” Parker said. “Because we earned it.”

“A hundred times over,” Eliot affirmed.

Hardison and Parker exchanged a look. Hardison nodded. “Okay, so it’s like this. It’s true we’re both kids who got kicked around the foster care system. It’s just that we didn’t get given up by who you might think…”

III. Eliot

They thundered through the faerie ring in their fine raiment, riding impossible steeds.

The faerie queen rode a camel patterned black and white like a magpie, her head wrapped in indigo cloth and starlight. The Unseelie raven girl wore a trail of clouds and feathers, and her horse’s breath steamed white even on a summer day in Portland. Eliot wouldn’t have known who they were if not for the children clinging to their waists, who would have been perfect miniatures of Parker and Hardison if it hadn’t been for their eyes, flat without that dancing light he’d come to understand was from another world.

Hardison jumped up from the picnic blanket. “Oh God oh God oh God. I knew the whole fresh air thing was a bad idea. Fresh air means woods, and woods means faerie rings, and faerie rings mean twelve kinds of trouble. Where is the damn car?”

Eliot reached up and clamped a hand on Hardison’s hip. “Don’t show fear.”

Parker was in a crouch, watching the faeries ride out from the treeline. Hardison said, “How do you know how to act around a faerie queen?” But he didn’t flee.

“I know rulers. Warlords.” Eliot looked up at him. “I knew Damien Moreau. He stole children too.”

The faeries stopped before the picnic blanket. The grass around them frosted over, and the light fell on them silvery like moonlight instead of golden summer sun. “We’ve come to claim our children,” the queen said.

“What do you want us for?” Parker spat, still in her predator’s crouch. “You didn’t want us. You traded us away.”

“Legends of you have reached even the faerie realms, daughter,” the raven girl said, the words misting in front of her mouth. “It seems we made a bad trade. Fortunately, we can trade to get you back.” She hoisted the stolen human child in her arms. The child stared, flat-eyed, as if she hadn’t understood.

“No way am I going back there,” Hardison said, looking nervously at the swirling blackness rising up from the faerie ring. “I don’t remember it all that well, it was a long time ago, but I am totally sure y’all don’t have Netflix, and that is just not acceptable.”

Eliot reached for Parker’s hand, staring certainty into her fae-lit eyes. She took it. They stood, proud and defiant. “You have no claim on them,” Eliot said. “I do.”

The queen thundered, “They are our blood, born in our realm! What claim could you possibly have?”

“I welcomed them to my table, and they ate my food from the mortal realm,” Eliot said. “I claim Parker and Alec Hardison.”

The Unseelie fae tasted the air with her tongue, like a snake. “You are no being of power. You are only a mortal man. I can taste death on you. Changeling children all eat food made by mortals, and they are not bound to this realm.”

Fear clutched cold at Eliot’s heart, though he refused to show it. Parker and Hardison told him about faerie law, and he knew his claim abided by it. But he couldn’t quite believe the faeries would follow the law instead of declaring themselves above it, as every other warlord Eliot had known would do. He kissed Parker on the mouth, tasting chocolate, a final goodbye if her mother stole her away.

“The way I understand it, if a human goes to the Other Side and accepts the hospitality of the fae by eating their food, they’re bound there forever. Changeling children aren’t bound to this realm by our food because if we welcome them as the humans they were traded for, we don’t know who they really are, so it’s no true hospitality. I gave them my hospitality knowing full well who they were, and they accepted it. I claim Parker and Alec Hardison.”

“You can only claim our children by their true names,” the faerie queen said. “Your claim by their false human names has no power.”

Fear dried Eliot’s mouth and rooted him to the spot, but still he refused to show it. The children the faeries had stolen in trade for Parker and Hardison were changed from their time on the Other Side, and if the faeries traded them back, they might not survive here. Eliot kissed Hardison on the mouth, tasting candied fruit, a farewell for him if the queen his mother stole him away.

“Hardison,” Eliot said, still looking him in the eye. “Tell the lady you’re Miles Morales.”

“You know I wish I could,” Hardison said. “I cosplayed as him at ComicCon – ”

“ – I know, your costume crap was all over the place – ”

“ – but I can’t, because I ain’t him, and that’d be a lie.”

Eliot placed a hand to the back of his neck, drawing him down. “Tell her you’re Alec Hardison.”

Hardison – Alec – swallowed hard. He turned slowly from Eliot’s eyes to the queen’s fathomless ones. “My true name is Alec Hardison.”

The queen hissed.

From the raven girl’s arms, the girl exchanged for Parker spoke, her voice high and piping but precise. “If you claim them a third time, they will be bound forever to the mortal realm, and they will die as mortals.”

Eliot’s throat closed up. He’d promised he’d protect Parker and Alec until his dying day, but he couldn’t ask them to die for him.

Alec took Eliot’s hand and kissed him on the cheek. “I’d rather die with Eliot than live forever in Crazy No Internet Child Stealing Land,” Alec said. “Y’all want us back because we’re legends. Eliot just wants someone to cook dinner for when he comes home.” His kiss glowed warm on Eliot’s cheek like a beam of sunlight.

Parker took Eliot’s hand and kissed him on the forehead. “I always knew I’d die here. That’s what makes it so important to do the right thing.” Her kiss felt as heavy on his forehead as the impact of hitting the ground from a height.

“I claim Parker and Alec Hardison as my own.” Eliot glared at the faeries. “Now get the hell out of our city.”

#leverage #leverage ot3 #my fic #litluminary

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rebellect-writes · 5 years ago

Text

[SIZE=1][b]Name:[/b] Jess. [b]Age:[/b] 21. [b]How did you find us?:[/b] I blame you!

[b]Name:[/b] Alec Orion Campbell. [b]Nicknames & Aliases:[/b][LIST]Alias: Aleck O’Rourke. Alias: Noah Campbell. Nickname: Smart Alec. [/LIST] [b]Age:[/b] 32. [b]Date of Birth:[/b] March 1st 1979. [b]Gender:[/b] Male. [b]Sexual Orientation:[/b] Equal opportunity! (Bi, leans towards guys lately.) [b]Occupation:[/b] Supernatural bounty hunter. [b]Powers:[/b] Not a lick of power in his body.

[b]Face Claim:[/b] Jensen Ackles [b]Description:[/b] [IMG]http://i672.photobucket.com/albums/vv90/bloodwillout/app%20pics/936full-jensen-ackles.png[/IMG] [i]Height:[/i] 6’1 [i]Weight:[/i] 171lbs. [i]Eyes:[/i] Hazel. [i]Hair:[/i] Brown/blonde. [i]Build:[/i] Average, athletic. [i]Visible marks:[/i] His most notable mark is a nasty set of claw marks on his right shoulder from a werejaguar in New Mexico, other than that it’s small nicks and scrapes here and there that don’t even register to him. [i]Style:[/i] Instead of caring what new fashions are in and all that nonsense, Alec likes the comfortable and more practical stuff. Jeans, t-shirts, jacket and a nice pair of boots are things he favours. That doesn’t mean he won’t dress up every now and again if he has to make an impression. He does wear his wedding ring on a chain around his neck too. [i]Choice Weapon:[/i] His duel Colt 1911’s with silver plated bullets.

[b]Special Skills:[/b] [LIST] [*] He can speak Portuguese, Spanish, Russian and French. [*] Knows the ins and the outs of the police system. [*] Good enough under the hood of a car to get it to work for him. [*] Fairly proficient in the following areas involving firearms, knives, hand to hand combat. [*] Decent tracker if he does say so himself. [/LIST][b]Personality:[/b]

Alec is a natural smart arse; he uses the witty comments and remarks to cover a smart calculating mind. The laid back and easy persona is what everyone else see’s, when really, he’s watching for people to make mistakes that he can use to his advantage. He rarely does use what he see’s and learns to his advantage though, unless he’s on a job in which case, may the best man or monster win. He is fairly open minded with most things and will try anything at least once in his life. One thing that he can’t quite grasp is the whole religion thing. He doesn’t believe in God, but he believes there is something after death, he just doesn’t know what it is, so when it comes to using items of faith, they’re very faulty at best. He’s quirky, smiley, doesn’t go out of his way to start trouble but he will finish it if it happens.

Confident on the surface, Alec’s been known to stare down any lycanthropes and just smirk as he’s read them their rights or recounted their adventures. Some might even call him cocky in this world, he’s only human after all and who in their right mind would fear a human! It’s that aspect which he uses against people; he’ll gladly shoot something in the face and crack silly jokes as things bleed. It’s the underneath that’s scary, he’s cold and won’t hesitate if it means people will live, and one more bad guy is put down out of the worlds collective misery. Trust is something that’s earned, while he may appear to go along with others ideas and follow peoples lead, you have to earn your stripes in his eyes because he can’t carry dead weight half the time. Once you’ve won his trust though, Alec is a little more open about things and he’s also hellish loyal in return.

Alec doesn’t like to be dragged into things that aren’t any of his business, which is pretty contradictory given his profession. When he’s hunting, he likes to get to know his prey as best as he can but if he can’t get a plan of action, he’ll wing it. His view on the supernatural world at large is pretty simple. There are monsters in the human community so why should he care about fangs and claws or magic? At the end of the day, it’s people’s choices that make them a monster to others, not infections or transitions. Hell! A good few of his friends are supernatural by nature and he’d trust them at his back on their bad days rather than an unarmed human that he doesn’t know.

One thing that will knock him every which way but the right way is bringing up his family, more to the point his baby girl. It’s probably the only thing that can really get through to him. Threaten her and he will rain unholy hell on anything and everything but it’s also his undoing. Caitlyn is the last piece of light in his soul and it would destroy him if anything happened to her. He’d do anything; even kill another human being, if it made sure she was safe. This is probably the reason that only the people closest to him know about her existence, to avoid such scenarios happening. He thought he was in love once with his wife, Chloe, but her betrayal locked down that part of his soul. Why should he allow himself to love if he’s going to get hurt? Commitment is something that he’s working on. Just give him a little time, ok?

[b]Likes:[/b] [LIST] [*] Blackberries. [*] Bacon burgers. [*] The Jerry Springer Show. [*] Keeping his weapons in good shape. [*] Keeping fit and active. Getting fat is not on his list of things to do. [*] The thrill he gets from hunting. [/LIST] [b]Dislikes:[/b] [LIST] [*] People that lie to his face. [*] Techno music. What the hell is that noise? [*] When people think that being human instantly means weakness. [*] Getting dragged into the centre of a confrontation that he didn’t start. [*] The Church of Eternal Life...Followed by most vampires in general. [*] Being laid up in Hospital or at home. [/LIST][b]Strengths:[/b] [LIST] [*] Knowing his baby girl is safe with his uncle. [*] That whole lack of trust thing saved him from getting a knife in the back. [*] He can – surprisingly – follow orders. [*] Good at blending in. [/LIST] [b]Weaknesses:[/b] [LIST] [*] His daughter, Caitlynn. [*] Insomnia dulls his reflexes and sometimes he has to take medication to sleep. [*] His big mouth doesn’t know when to shut up sometimes. [*] The fact he doesn’t trust so easily anymore. [/LIST][b]Fears:[/b][LIST] [*] Caitlynn getting hurt because of him. [*] Clowns freak him out to no end. [*] Claustrophobia. [/LIST][b]History:[/b]

Back in early spring of ’79 at a hospital in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, Lillian Campbell gave birth to a screaming healthy baby boy, much to her and her husband Anthony’s surprise. They’d been told that they were going to get a girl by the doctors that they’d seen so Alec was a big surprise however it didn’t stop them from loving the babe though; it just meant that they’d have to repaint the nursery and get a new wardrobe better suited to boys than girls and until they did that. Baby Alec had to put up with what was there for the first few weeks of his life when the family swarmed and coddled the new arrival. It was great! Wonderful even! Shame he doesn’t remember those days and only knows about them from what he’s been told from relatives.

The one thing that’s blistered into his memories is the heat however, and growing up in Maryville wasn’t so bad. There wasn’t any drama there despite the fact that some of the kids in the neighbourhood were rougher but that wasn’t any reason for Alec to cower behind his mom’s skirt. In fact, it was the rougher kids that he fell in with when he was growing up, his father didn’t approve and he made it clear as he told Alec stories from his work despite Lillian’s attempts to stop him. Being an officer in the PGU (Phoenix Gang Unit), Anthony saw all kinds of things that had him awake at night, and it was his hope to shock Alec into staying away from certain types. It sort of worked, and it sort of didn’t at the same time. Alec didn’t want to give up his friends, so he stayed away from them when his parents were around to avoid the choice.

It didn’t work out as well as Alec planned, at the age of fifteen he was given a shock that changed his life forever. Anthony had been killed while investigating a prior drug related crime, it shattered Lillian and Alec was left to pick up the pieces. He cut himself off from the guys in the neighbourhood, buckled down at school and things started to look up; he even tried to find himself a job. However when he found out from his uncle that his dad had been killed by the same gang that he’d been running around with, Alec was filled with a rage so fierce that he couldn’t not go and confront someone. Alejandro Hernandez was his unlucky victim, Alec didn’t care how high the guy ranked, didn’t want to know or care, he just wanted the name of the idiot stupid enough to pull the trigger. Alejandro wasn’t put off by the ‘white boy’, but after Alec snapped his wrist and broke his knee, the slightly older boy gave over the name Jose Ramirez.

The problem with this newest revelation was that Ramirez wasn’t an unknown person in Alec’s life. The guy only lived a block away and his mum was friends with Alec’s. Unsure of anything at the time, he backed off for a fortnight to plan what he was going to do. He didn’t get to think for long because Jose came to him with the few of the ‘old gang’, demanding to know why he’d beat Ale. Despite the fact that they where only a couple of years older, Alec didn’t let that stop him from beating seven shades of hell out of him. It was Ramie’s mom that found them and screamed blue murder. The next few days went by in a rush and as a result of what had happened between him and his former friend, Alec found himself in a Juvenile detention centre for the next year for causing bodily harm to another minor. When he got out, he found that the Ramirez family had moved and hadn’t left a forwarding address. In fact, they'd left in a hurry and hadn't even packed their house up. Damn. The black mark on his record was recinded as other charges where brought to light against the Ramirez family several months later.

Since he couldn’t get back at the guy that killed his father, Alec sat back and thought about things. He was eighteen and he could do anything despite the stint in Juvi-Hall, at least that was what he kept telling himself. Instead of swearing vengeance, he decided to do the old man proud and started looking into how to be an officer of the law, just like Anthony had been and most of the men in the family before his father. So he went back to school and got his diploma, made things right with his mom and found a part time job at a body shop where he learnt everything he knew about a car. Since he had to be twenty one to even be considered, Alec made everything right that he could. He didn’t do drugs; he stayed away from fights and even found as many character references as he thought that he would need. What he didn’t do though, was stay away from the alcohol. He could handle his liquor no problem, but the slightly drunk one night stand with a closet bite junkie would come back and bite him in the arse.

His twenty first rolled around pretty quick and he applied to the criminal investigation unit for Arizona and went through all of the following tests and training that was needed. At the first meeting, things had looked bad because of his black mark, but he’d proven himself even to the people that hadn’t wanted to accept him. Twenty three, with a promising career before him, Alec was left gobsmacked when Chloe, the partier-cum-bite junkie that he’d slept with four years previous tracked him down with a squirming four year old baby girl she claimed was his. If Alec was shocked, his momma was even more shocked by the fact she was a grandmother. At first Alec didn’t buy it, didn’t want to believe that he’d missed out on four years of fatherhood so he demanded a paternity test before they moved forward. Six weeks later and a lot of making up and getting to know you moments, one piece of paper was all it took to make things seem real again and the old school charm of his had him blurting out those four magical words that any woman wants to hear, “Will you marry me?” And Chloe said yes.

Over the next five years, things were pretty normal or at least he thought that they were normal. Chloe had fallen off the wagon so to speak, and when she claimed that she was working late, she was really getting bitten by a vampire. Unbeknown to Alec, his wife had been marked as a vampire servant by a Master vampire that hailed from Reno who wanted to take over the Kiss in Phoenix. Of course, things started to get strained over the next few months and one day, Alec mouthed off to the wrong officer and got shunted into this small time squad called RPIT that was in charge of dealing with ghosts and ghoulies and when Chloe found out, she freaked! Started calling him a no good bum and how things were going to change or she’d leave. The argument they had ended as Chloe stormed off in a huff, out of the door and his life with his daughter and into the back of a limbo. The flashy exit did not stop Alec from taking the plate numbers.

Four months later he tracked the company down to Reno, not letting it go, he’d quit his job and annoyed his mom to the point that they no longer talked. After kicking up enough fuss in Reno, Chloe finally found him and so did her Master and lover, Ashe. They made no attempt to hide their relationship and infuriated Alec. He just wanted Cait! What he got was a nasty clip to the back of his head after Ashe fed from him, stuffed in a coffin and buried to be forgotten in the Mojave Desert. Chloe obviously hadn’t learnt a thing from Alec in the five years she’d known him, because when he came around, Alec found himself scared beyond reason and that only fuelled the need to get up and moving even though he had no idea how long he’d been there. Even though he was only human, he clawed his way through five feet of earth and finally found fresh air.

With no idea how long he walked for, or what really happened, it seemed like days. The heat having played tricks with his mind, at the hospital he’d been carted to by some tourist family that found him beside a stretch of road. Something had snapped in him, he called in a lot of favours to see if Ashe was still in Reno but he wasn’t. It was like they’d vanished without a trace and it broke something in him. He hadn’t been able to save Cait, his mind kept going over what his daughter must have been going through, stuck with a murdering scummy vampire. It was an odd change of mind that led him to hunting down the monsters that bumped back in the night. He knew enough about them from his time on RPIT, had more contacts and resources he could draw on prior to joining RPIT as well. That didn’t mean things weren’t bumpy, in fact bumpy would have been putting it lightly. Alec got his arse kicked countless times and risked being infected by lycanthropy or vampirism, maybe he wanted to kill himself, he certainly didn’t know at the time, but he brought down his fair share of things and he liked it.

Two years later, he’s bumped his kill count into double digits, he’s not so much a known name in the hunter circuits though, and he likes it that way. Then in December of 2009, he got a call from his uncle that said his 10 year old daughter had been dumped on his doorstep during the night with a letter from Chloe saying she was sorry. Instead of going home and being the father figure in her life, Alec arranged for his uncle to become a legal guardian for Caitlynn. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to be her pops; it was because he couldn’t be it. He loved the thrill of the hunt too much to put her at possible risk. He still gets letters occasionally from Uncle Robert about her and things that he was missing out on and that’s enough for him and he’s seen her from a distance, twice over the last two years and laboured under the illusion that she would be safe from the monsters if she stayed away from him, the biggest one in her life. So he’s in Jackford, on the other side of the world from his baby girl. He hopes that it’s enough, but deep down, he’s not so sure of anything anymore.[/SIZE]

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qpraphael · 6 years ago

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malec headcanon fic

how did this get so long

still introspection

(being in another angsty only-fic-no-canon fandom gave me thoughts)

Alec starts to note when Magnus crumbles. After that one time letting Magnus get away with spiralling he won't let that happen again. Though, he has also leanred that he can't push Magnus to talk because that'll push him away. And that is the last thing he wants.

Instead he'll ask for "help" for himself. Poor Alec had a hard day at work and would love nothing more than to cuddle with his husband. (If said husband can conjure blankets from the bedroom and make tea with an elegant flick of his wrist, it's a bonus...)

On days like these they will simply lay on the sofa and watch calm documentaries or just listen to slow music. Anything that won't distract Magnus from the waves of affection Alec sends. Be it soft strokes through his hair or love declarations of random thoughts Alec had throughout the day.

On very bad days a desperate Alec will give Magnus angelic strength, having once mentioned that it just flows around, when man Alexander is tired but shadowhunter Alec isn't. It's not a lie but also doesn't happen as often as he claims it does.

Magnus notices. Not immediately because they swore to tell each other the truth. He wanted to trust his husband. Didn't want to believe that his love lied to him for some effects and pets.

He had waited centuries for someone willing to marry him. Only to be lied at so quickly. They'd had a rough start and a lot of ups and downs and break ups before they allowed themselves to settle.

But one day a beaming Alexander enters their home only to look so sad as soon as he sees Magnus. He asks for another round of a quiet evening. Not that Magnus is opposed to that. It's a rough week and he is, in fact, happy that today is not another search for a new restaurant.

If only Alexander were honest. Why does he act so sad? Why can't he admit he just likes to cuddle? it's nothing bad! Magnus keeps watching his spouse.

It does not work. Some days a happy Alexander enters and happy Alexander stays. Some days an exhausted Alexander enters and he stays exhausted. Sometimes he takes one look at Magnus and his mood and energy shift 180 degrees.

It takes months before Magnus approaches him about it. It's another sudden-sad day. And for once Magnus is too exhausted to make tea. Alexander can make his own fucking tea. He jumped up the stairs so he has enough reserves to stand in the kitchen for five minutes.

He has the nerve to look busted but makes to the kitchen to prepare tea and sandwiches for the both of them. Magnus just glares at him when he comes over and pulls away when he leans over for a kiss.

He confronts Alec. He just has to. His only answer is a whispered fuck. Yes, same. He really did fuck up.

Alec admits. Sometimes, Magnus looks way too awake for him and he quickly activates stamina runes, so that they can use the nice day. Other times, like today, Magnus looks depressed and ready to hide in a heap of blankets.

That's not true. High Warlock Magnus Lightwood-Bane does not need days under blankets.

Yes, he very much does, just like Alec himself. He understands. They're both half human who have very human brains. And these very human brains just sometimes forget how to be happy. So if Magnus didn't want to be comforted by his husband, Alec had to find a different way.

Magnus has been played. By himself! He really cared for himself all these times thinking Alec was in need. He has to admit that it did work but he'll never express that.

Alec still grins at him with a winning smile that Magnus really wants to punch off of that face. Fist or mouth, he is not sure.

From that day they talk more. And on slow days for one of them they'll ask up friends to hang out first before they retreat to the couch. Because sometimes self-care is a quiet evening and sometimes it's recharging with your closest ones.

#malec #alec lightwood #magnus bane #mental health #depression #my fic #you can reblog this lol #like you wont but you could #for example as a malec main blog this would make total sense to reblog

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thebrochtuarachs · 7 years ago

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A Right To Claim

A little expansion of Claire and Laoghaire's confrontation (1x10) plus a little imagined post-scene fic if Jamie has seen the entire thing.

A/N: Gosh, I love this scene so much. In this time in the books and series, Claire was still on the fence between her old and new life but it's in major moments like these where she's clearly falling (or fallen) in love with Jamie that I love most.

This post scene has been in my prompt for a while and after rewatching the episodes, I found the inspiration to write it. This prompt has probably been written before but I hope you like and enjoy!

Claire’s walk to the kitchen went surprisingly quick, her feet dragging her faster than she intended. It was nearly lunchtime and the kitchen will soon be bustling with hurry to feed the clansmen at Leoch.

She and Jamie rose a little late in the day. He left their bed first to help Alec in the stables while first on her agenda is a little chat with a certain blonde who left a little something underneath her bed last night.

Early in the morning, Jamie warned her against what she wanted to do, even going so far as trying to make her forget by giving her a full English breakfast to boot (nice try, Jamie!) but she couldn’t get over the idea of Laoghaire going to their private bedroom unannounced and unwelcome. At first, she understood the lassie’s frustration of “losing” (ugh!) Jamie but the ill-wish under her and Jamie’s bed was unsettling and she had to do something before it escalated even further.

Her mind was calm at first but with each step closer to Laoghaire, holding the damned item in her hand, she was surprised to find an anger – was it anger? - bubble inside her that threatened to come out.

She spotted Mrs. Fitz and Laoghaire, immediately asking for a private conversation with her granddaughter, which she obliged. Now, alone, Laoghaire broke the ice.

“If ye have something to say, say it. I have chores to tend to” Claire didn’t like her tone. She really didn’t and it was pushing her buttons. Claire might’ve – just might’ve - underestimated her a bit.

“Look familiar?” Claire raised the offending stick in front of her.

“Why should it?” Laoghaire innocently said back.

“Because you placed it under my bed” Claire accused.

“What cause would I have to do such a thing?” Laoghaire really wanted to play the dumb card and Claire had to restrain herself from completely lashing out. She took a deep breath and decided to try to talk to her rationally, hoping this path would work.

“Look, I know you have deep feelings for Jamie and that when tender regard is denied, it can be very hurtful, especially in one so young as yourself. I even understand why your jealousy would be directed at me, even though I never conspired to take Jamie away from you.” Claire even surprised herself at the lecture she was suddenly giving. Questions raced in her mind to her sudden claim of Jamie. They were married after all, that’s a big reason, she tried to justify to herself but deep in her gut, Claire knew it wasn’t just that.

It clicked then – it wasn’t just anger for Laoghaire that she felt but a possession of Jamie and all that he was that proceeded from their coupling last night. It was an unexpected realization that she, maybe, wasn’t ready to fully acknowledge just yet but here it was, in display and in full force. “The truth is, he was never yours to begin with.” The words were out of Claire’s mouth even before she comprehended what she just said.

“That’s a lie! Jamie Fraser was – and is – mine!” Laoghaire bit back at Claire, no longer hiding in shadows of her innocence. “And you did us both a wrong past bearing when you stole him away!”

“You’re mistaken, child!” Claire said through gritted teeth. She emphasized on using the word “child” hoping it would put Laoghaire back to her place. The girl knew nothing of what happened in the last 4 weeks of her marriage – how it came to be and how it has grown beyond what any of them could imagine.

“My poor Jamie, trapped in a loveless marriage, forced to share his bed with a cold English bitch” the girl held no bars but Claire thought of last night and could laugh at how inaccurate she was. Trapped, no. Loveless, definitely not. Forced, negative. “He must have to get himself swine drunk every night before he can stand to plow your field.”

Next thing Claire knew was her hand swung and made contact with Laoghaire’s cheek. It was slightly involuntary but she did not feel any regret whatsoever. “I shouldn’t have done that. Sorry” Claire said with as much sincerity as she could but she Laoghaire knew which buttons to press and should’ve, at least, seen that coming.

She didn’t intent to get violent but something about Laoghaire just made her blood boil. Claire knew of Laoghaire’s affections for Jamie, heck, in the few days they’ve been back at Castle Leoch and the story of their marriage broke through the highlands, she heard more and more stories from different girls and women, who, apparently, have lusted over Jamie for years. They spoke gaelic when talking about such matters and sure, she didn’t understand it all but she understood enough. Claire felt a little jealousy but more so pride because at the end of the day, she knew which bed Jamie laid his head on.

Laoghaire held her reddening cheek and Claire saw a shift in her demeanor that told her that it was on. “Aye, I did put that ill-wish ‘neath yer bed in the hope that it would make Jamie hate ye as much as I do.” she confessed. “He belongs with me, and one day, it will be so.” She declared.

“Well, I hope the price you paid wasn’t too dear because that will never happen” Claire said confidently, stepping closer to Laoghaire, using her tall frame to her advantage, but her opponent was going to fight her cause.

“Yer wrong about Jamie just as ye’re wrong about yer friend, Geillis. It was she who sold me the ill wish” Claire’s glass face betrayed her and Laoghaire immediately saw through it. “It surprises ye, doesn’t it? Good.”

She could not believe her friend will do that. Surely, she had no idea what the Laoghaire was to make use of it. But Geillis was there when Jamie took Laoghaire’s beating, been here long enough to learn of the castle’s gossip – that’s not important, she’ll deal with that later.

“Just stay away from me AND my husband.” Claire said in finality, making sure to emphasize who Jamie belonged to then walked away.

Her cheeks were slightly warm from the silly fight with Laoghaire. Damn her and damn Jamie for choosing this woman to have a “swiving” with. She decided to walk back to her surgery hoping to get distance from Laoghaire and the sure gossip she’ll spread around about how Claire mistreated her or something else she’ll make up. More gossip around is sure coming her way.

She opened the door to her surgery to find Jamie sitting on one of tables.

“Jamie! What are you doing here? Are you hurt?” In two strides, she was in front of him, the healer in her in full active mode, rummaging through each part of his body, looking for something wrong.

“Aye, I think there’s a splinter in my hand” Jamie help out in hand and she took it, bringing it close to her face, examining closely how he could’ve managed such a thing in his hand’s calloused state. Just as she was to protest that she can’t see anything, in one swift motion, Jamie grabbed her face and pulled to his lips for a hasty kiss.

Claire went weak to the knees but thankfully, was able to grab at the back of Jamie’s neck for support. The kiss went on and on as if air weren’t an issue, their hands eventually taking stock from Jamie’s curls to Claire’s waist, their heated moment ending with ragged breathes, foreheads close together, Claire perfectly settled between Jamie’s legs with a smile blooming from their lips.

Mine and no one else’s, she professed in her mind.

“Bloody Scot” she joked, tugging him close. This, she thought. This is what it is all about. Just them, in peace, in privacy, in passion, holding each other, whispering sweet nothings to another, trusting, touching, kissing and so much more that they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) define.

“Your bloody scot” Jamie teased back and it hit Claire. She tried to pull away but Jamie chased her with another kiss to her lips and she settled back.

“How much did you hear?” Claire asked, curious. She nor Laoghaire heard anybody enter.

“All of it.” Jamie replied. He was about to grab some bannocks from the kitchen, hoping to find Claire afterwards for some afternoon delight but stopped when he heard her voice echo through the hallways, became surprised when he heard her talking to Laoghaire. He didn’t want Claire to talk to the lass but of course, she didn’t listen to him. Despite that, Jamie was curious and hung back to watch the discussion happen. He had to fight the urge to cut at Laoghaire but his heart swelled each time Claire defended their marriage – he did not need to interfere after all.

“I heard ye demand answers but Laoghaire was acting too innocent. Then ye tried to reason with her but she got triggered and started laying claim on me and insulting our bed. Then my second favorite part, Sassenach, was when yer hand came flying to her cheek. I had to keep myself from cheering ye on.” Jamie kissed her cheek softly sensing her growing embarrassment.

“You don’t mind that I did? Everybody in the castle probably knows about it by now. Do you know the rumors being spread around me?” Claire said, suddenly feeling insecure and vulnerable of Jamie’s coming honest answer.

“No. I knew before I marrit ye that you’d not be the meek and obedient type, Sassenach…that ye’re one fierce lassie who’d always speak her mind, stand up to others especially those in the wrong. No, Claire, I dinna mind. And those rumors around, I kent they aren’t true.” Jamie knew her, the kind of woman she was, the kind not of this century and he didn’t mind at all and if Claire was reading him right, he looked a little proud even.

“What else did you hear?” Claire asked, willing to hear more.

“Then she confessed to putting the ill-wish between us then said something about Geillis, then my favorite thing – when you told her to stay away from me and you” he kissed her on her other cheek. “I ken how it feels when I lay claim to ye but it feels so much better hearing ye say it to other people” Jamie turned to explore her neck and she could feel his smile as he peppered her with soft kisses along the path.

“Jamie?” she called out, her voice a different tone that had him stop his ministrations and look directly in her amber eyes.

“You are mine?” Claire softly but bluntly asked. In the heat of passion, Jamie laid claim on her and now she’s laying and declaring one on him. She needed to know and hear directly from him that there is no one else as long as they were together.

Jamie couldn’t believe the slight hesitation in her tone. Hadn’t she known that she’s owned him since the first time I saw her? That he panicked when she said that she can’t marry him? That every part of his life is now better because of her? She probably didn’t know yet – and now is not the time but he can offer her something else for the meantime.

“Always, mo nighean donn. Always.” He replied and he saw her entire face light up in approval. She brought their lips together again and what started as tenderness, slowly built up to a growing need that led them to finally christen the surgery with their love.

They had their first major fight as a couple and overcame it. Now, everything was set right with them again but the future loomed still unsure. But it didn’t matter because what was important was they wanted each other, they said as much last night in darkness of the evening and proved it again in the morning and it was enough.

They couldn’t say those words yet but now, they had a deeper understanding of their relationship and the feelings within them. There was something more between them and it was a powerful thing that neither of them could stop or deny. What else to do than surrender to it and let it run its course to wherever it takes them.

Unspoken but not for long.

I love you.

I love you, too.

#Outlander #Outlander Fanfic #Outlander Fanfiction #Fanfic #Fanfiction #1x10 #jamie fraser #claire fraser #jamie x claire #laoghaire mackenzie #glenna fitzgibbons #personal

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babylon-bitch · 8 years ago

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Just Friends ~Why Aren't I Happy? (Part 23)

(The first 8 or 9 chapters are complete shit but after that it gets better, trust me)

Harper White is best friends with Luke Hemmings, they always have been. Not only is she friends with the rockstar, but with the rest of 5 Seconds Of Summer, as well as a really nice girl named Erika.

Harper has a few secrets, she can play all the instruments the boys play and many more. It’s a talent she has kept hidden, only very few people know.

What will happen to the six teens, wondering around the world together?

Warnings: Swearing and mentions of depression

***

We're back at school, well Erika and I are, Luke and Calum haven't been. They've had meetings and promo stuff. They leave in two days, it's my birthday tomorrow, I turn 18, which honestly I'm excited to be able to drink legally, but also scared because I turn into an adult. And it will be weird to say I'm dating a 17 year old.

Luke and I have officially made up, we had had make up sex, and shit it was good.

I'm currently getting ready for school. Putting on some ripped, blue, jean shorts and a grey vest crop top, putting on some white converse to finish off.

I do minimal makeup and jog downstairs. "Morning, honey." My mum chirps.

"Hey." I smile.

"I'm going away on a business trip in a couple of days, I'll be gone for a week." She informs me.

"Um, okay." I say.

It was bound to happen sooner or later, mum going away all the time again. At least I'll still have a parent this time.

Luke and I haven't told our parents yet, it's not because we don't want to, it's just we literally can't be bothered. Plus, it doesn't affect them, so it doesn't matter either way, even if they have been shipping us since we were born.

My phone goes off and I find a text from Luke.

L: Morning xx

Me: Hey, what are you doing today? Xx

L: Nothing I don't think. We are having like a mini break, before we set off, you?

Me: School, that is literally it. Mum is going off on another business trip in a couple of days, she'll be gone for a week.

L: Are you okay about it?

Me: It was going to happen any second now. At least I'll have someone at home with me this time :)

L: Good <3

Me: Well I should get going, I'll talk to you later. I'm going to miss you not being at school.

L: I'm going to miss not seeing you all day. I love you 💕

Me: bye, see you after school babe, love you too 💕 x

I smile to myself and place my bowl into the sink. Since the boys don't go to school anymore, Erika decided to drive us to school.

So I stand outside as I wait for her.

5 minutes later, I see her silver car pull up. "Hey." She smiles.

I walk to the passenger side and open the door. "Hi." I greet and skip this shitty song she is listening too.

"Hey! I was listening to that!" She claims.

"It was shit." I say and put some Paramore on.

"Alright emo." She mutters.

"Shut up, this is not emo." I tell her.

"Whatever. We've got a bit spare, do you want to get a drink on the way?" She suggests.

"Sure." I shrug.

"So, how are you and Luke?" Erika asks, with a weird undertone to it.

"Good, how about you and Ashton." I smirk.

"Bitch shut up! We aren't anything, we never will be, I don't like him that way." She tensly exclaims.

"That seems like the thing Luke and I used to say." I smirk and wink at her.

"Ugh!" She groans and repeatedly hits her head on the steering wheel whilst we wait at a red light.

"Starbucks or juice?" I question.

"I want Starbucks." She claims.

"Well I want juice, so you go be a white girl, and I'll pretend that I'm healthy." I say.

Erika parks her car, and we step out. "I'll see you in a bit." I tell her and walk up the road.

"Harper! Can I have a picture?" Someone asks.

"Sure." I smile and take the photo.

"You and Erika are such an inspiration to me." She claims.

"Aww, you're going to make me cry! Thank you, Erika should be in Starbucks over there if you want to meet her." I inform her.

"Thank you." She smiles and walks off down the road.

I chuckle and carry on walking.

Walking through the door I spot some familiar heads of hair. Michael turns around and I put my finger to my lips. He nods and continues to talk to Calum.

I walk up behind Luke and wrap my arms his waist. He tenses up and I giggle, he relaxes when he hears me.

"What are you doing here?" Luke chuckles.

He turns around and presses his lips to mine. "We had some time to spare and Erika went to Starbucks so I decided to come here." I explain.

"Hey, could I have a picture?" A girl asks the boys.

I take this time to order myself a drink. A couple of minutes later I get my drink and I take a sip through the straw.

"I gotta go, I'll see you guys later." I say as I walk up to the guys, who just finished talking to the girls that came up to them.

"Bye." Ashton smiles.

"Goodbye idiot." Michael chuckles.

"Goodbye." Calum says in a British accent.

"Keep practicing." I laugh and go to Luke.

"Bye baby." Luke pouts.

"See you later." I say and give Luke a kiss.

"Have fun!" He calls as I walk off.

I flip him off and walk back to the car. "Yo Miley what's good?" Erika says as I walk up to her.

"I walked into the boys up there." I tell her.

"Really? Did you send a girl to me?" She asks.

"Yeah." I chuckle.

"She was so sweet."

***

It's the end of school, and I'm making my way to my locker. As I'm walking I see Alec and the school's slut. We lock eyes and he smirks as we do, I roll my eyes. "Dick." I say but disguise it as a cough.

"What did you say?" He accuses

Am I really doing this? I sigh and turn around. "I called you a dick." I blatently say.

His whole 'gang' turns around and faces me. "Excuse me? Is someone jealous?" He chuckles

"No." I laugh. "What no one knows, is that I broke up with you." I smirk. By now the whole hallway is silent.

"No you didn't." He tries to cover up.

"If I remember, you called me up took all your anger out on me, then a week or so later you called me up and thought we could get back together." I laugh. "I mean, how stupid are you? I don't need you in my life, you're a low life, that cheats and wastes his life away by getting drunk and getting high. You have this 'bad boy act', but when someone actually comes up to you, you get so scared, and expect your friends to deal with it." I tell him. "You aren't going anywhere in life, you can barely pass any classes. Your parents must be so disappointed in you. You don't deserve me, and I'm grossed out by the fact that I thought you did. I pity your next girl, although it seems like you all ready found a new one." I say. "Clitoris - Google it" I smirk and turn back around and walk out the school.

The sex was really bad in that relationship, yeah I had orgasms, but I had to fake it a couple of times. Or that's how sex is and Luke is like a sex God.

I walk up to Erika who was leaning against her car. "Hey, what took you so long?" She asks.

"Oh, um I ran into Alec." I answer.

"Harper, that seems very suspicious, did you like cheat on Luke with him?" She questions.

"Erika what the fuck!" I chuckle.

"Then what did you do?"

"I kind of argued with him, but I did most of it, while he stood there wide eyed. I basically outed him, everyone thought that he broke up with me, when I was the one who called it off." I admit.

"Oh, so did you like 'win'?"

"I guess you could say that." I shrug.

"Well let's go." She says and we get into her car.

"Do you wanna go get something to eat?" I question.

"Yeah, I'm in the mood for an ice cream."

"Well ice cream it is."

We drive to an ice cream parlour by the beach, and we've ordered, now we're sitting on the beach. "If you could play another instrument, what would it be?" I ask Erika.

"Guitar, I guess. Mainly because you can play it pretty much anytime you want, where as with the drums, you can't really play it anytime you want." She explains. "You?"

"Umm, I don't know, the triangle seems cool." I say.

"Yeah, if you play the triangle, you are like 10 times hotter." Erika agrees.

"Totally."

"Well I mean you're hot anyway." She laughs.

***

I say goodbye to Erika and walk into my house. "Hello?" I call.

No one calls back so I take it no one is home. Walking up the stairs and into my room. "Holy shit guys, what are you doing here?" I ask.

The guys are in my room playing with stuff and laying on the floor. "Hello." Calum smiles.

"How was school?" Luke asks.

"Not Hogwarts." I huff and throw may bag onto my bed.

"Shame." Michael smugly says.

"What happened?" Ashton question.

"Nothing it was just boring." I lie.

Luke comes up to me and wraps his arms around me. "Hi." He smiles down at me.

"Hey." I smile up at him.

He presses his lips to mine and I move my lips against his in sync. It gets more heated very quickly. "Woah, guys. Calm down. You can't just fuck with people in here." Calum says and pulls us apart.

"Dude, I was about to get some." I tell him.

They all laugh and I roll my eyes.

I walk up to my wall covered with posters, and notice that one of them has come loose at the bottom. I lift the whole poster up and find a hole and a load of dents.

"Fucking hell Harper, what happened?" Ashton asks as he notices the wall.

"Umm, when I went down a dark path, I used to get angry and punch walls, throw things at it, so I put a load of posters to cover it all up. You can see the blood from my knuckles." I explain and trace my fingers over a dent.

"Oh." Ashton nods, looking as if he regrets asking.

I flop onto my bed face down and sigh. Luke lays down next to me and runs his hand down my back, resting it on the small of my back. "Alec is dick." I blurt out.

"What?" Michael questions.

"Him and all his friends, they're dicks." I repeat.

"Is there anything to this or are you just pointing out the obvious?" Calum questions.

"I ran into him earlier and he's playing another chick, I may or may not of argued with him, but don't worry I totally won. He said that he broke up with me, when I actually broke up with him. All he used to do is get high an drunk, I don't get what I saw in him." I explain whilst looking up at the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" Luke asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just this was all sprung upon me today."

"Okay." He nods and continues to trace patterns on my waist.

It's a while later and its just me and Luke now. "Why don't I feel happy?" I blurt out.

"Huh?"

"I've got everything. I've got a great boyfriend, I've got a good family life, got the best of friends, school is going well, everything is great, perfect even. This is the kind of thing I would wish for when I was 16, yet I'm still not happy." I say.

"How long have you been feeling this way?"

"Well ever since this afternoon. This morning I was happy, and I know it's not just something to do with Alec. I'm not sure if I'm just having one of those days, or weeks, but when you've gone through depression, you don't know if you're sinking back into it or just having one of those moments." I tell him.

"Hopefully it's just one of those weeks." He reassures.

"I should be happy because I'm turning 18 tomorrow, I should be so excited, but here I am feeling so blue. I don't feel sad, I just feel empty." I say.

"You'll be alright, I won't let you sink back down to that dark place. It was hell seeing you so down all the time, I don't want to do that again." He replies.

"Maybe it's because you're leaving me for a whole month."

"I'm not leaving you, I'm saying goodbye for now."

"Its the same thing."

"No, leaving you would mean I won't ever see you again, and I'm not going to do that. Saying goodbye for now means I'm coming back."

"Whatever." I sigh and nuzzle myself into his side and he kisses my head.

LUKE'S P.O.V.

"Harper?" I question seeing if she is awake or not.

No answer, must be asleep.

I feel really bad for leaving her when she is in this state of mind. She doesn't really tell anyone about these kind of feelings besides me, and I think it's good to let it all out instead of bottling it up.

I pull out my phone and go on Twitter. Taking Harper's phone and taking a load of pictures of me, so she can remember what I look like. Especially with a double chin.

My phone notifies me that I have a message from Michael.

M: Where are you?

Me: Harp's, why?

A couple of minutes later they all walk in. "Shhh, she's sleeping." I tell them.

"Aww isn't that cute." Erika says.

I carry on scrolling through Twitter, whilst the others quietly talk amongst themselves.

Mindlessly scrolling, until I see a video of Harper and I. Watching it, it's a video of us kissing this morning, those fans that came up to us must of filmed it. It does look cute though, I have to admit. It is a bit out of focused, so it is quite hard to tell who it is.

"Luke?" Calum calls me.

"Yeah, I've seen it." I tell him.

"You okay with it?" Erika asks.

"There's nothing I can do about it." I shrug.

She nods and goes back to talk in to Michael.

I put my phone down and kiss Harper's temple, deciding to escape reality as well, I join Harper and take a nap.

ERIKA'S P.O.V.

I look to my left and see Luke and Harper sleeping. I smile and take a picture. "Look at them, they are so cute together." Calum says.

"We were so wrong. We highly doubted that they would be dating." Michael chuckles.

"We still don't know what they were arguing about." I realise.

"It was probably nothing, just them being drama queens." Calum claims.

"The shade." Ashton laughs.

"Do you guys wanna leave?" Michael asks.

"Yeah." We all say.

Standing up we go down the stairs and out the front door. We usually come through the back door when no one asks us to come over.

"So where are we going to go?" Calum asks.

"Um, we could go for a drive." Ashton suggests.

"Sure." I shrug.

We all pile into Ashton's car and play some loud music. "I'm gonna miss you guys." I tell them.

"Aww, I'm going to miss you too." Michael says and hugs me.

"Like I've spent the last 2 or 3 years with you every day, then suddenly you guys disappear." I carry on.

"Imagine how Luke will cope." Ashton claims.

"Its going to be hard on both of them, Luke could hardly keep it together when Harper was in England." Calum chimes in.

"Its hard on Harper too because they kind of rely of each other." I add.

"Hopefully they will get through it, I will be devastated if they break up." Michael tells us.

Yeah...

***

HARPER'S P.O.V.

I rub my eyes and stretch, looking to my left I see a cute little Lucas Hemmings sleeping next to me. I chuckle and kiss cheek. He stirs around and tightens his arms around me. "Lukey." I giggle.

He groans in response.

"C'mon." I chuckle.

"5 more minutes."

"Fine, but no longer." I give in.

He hums in response.

15 minutes later we get up. "About bloody time." I say.

"I love you, you know."

"And I love you too." I smile.

"Good, because we would have a problem if you didn't." He claims.

"Oh my god, I'm turning 18 tomorrow." I suddenly realise.

"I'll be dating someone who's 18." Luke adds.

"I've never been in a relationship where I'm older than my partner." I respond.

"Same for me, but the other way round."

"Well there's a first for everything I guess." I say and stand up.

I grab my phone and check my notifications. I've got a text from Evie but before I can reply, Luke throws me over his shoulder, and runs out of my room then down the stairs. "Luke." I giggle.

"Harper." He imitates.

He places me down onto the sofa and climbs on top of me. "What was that for?" I laugh.

"Just jazzing up your life." He simply replies.

"Thanks."

I places my hand on the back of Luke's neck and kiss him. I pull back and smile up at him. "Just jazzing up your life." I repeat him.

He pouts and crawls off me.

Standing up I walk into the kitchen and grab a couple of grapes. Throwing one up in the air and catching it in my mouth. "That was smooth as fuck." Luke laughs.

I wink and put another one in my mouth, but not throwing it. Walking back into the lounge, and sitting next to Luke. "Have you seen the video?" Luke questions.

"No?" I drag out.

Luke shows me the video, it's a video of us kissing. You can't really Photoshop a video. It is out of focus, so it is a little hard to see. We look cute though.

"There's nothing we can do about it I guess." I shrug.

"I just wish we don't have to hide everything." Luke sighs.

"I know, but that's the risk you take when being in the public eye."

"I guess, but we do look pretty cute though." He smirks.

"Yeah." I laugh.

I lay on top of Luke and his hands go to my hips. "You look pretty." He smiles.

"You don't look to bad yourself." I kiss his chin.

"Thanks." He says and pecks my lips.

I connect our lips again and our lips move in sync. Luke licks my bottom lip and I let him in. His hands trail down my body and rest on my ass. I nibble on his lip ring, earning a quiet groan.

He kisses down my neck and I tilt my head to the side to give him more access to my neck. I grind my hips against his and he lets out a low groan. Luke's hand starts massaging my boob, he trails kisses down my neck and then down my chest.

I connect our lips again, and Lukes hand trail back down to my ass. "My innocent eyes!" A girly voice cries out.

Luke gives my ass a little squeeze before holding my waist. I look behind me a and see the guys and Erika. Of course, this is going to happen all the time. I must learn to lock the back door. "Oh shut up Erika, it's not like you haven't had sex before." I claim.

I get up and go into the kitchen and retrieve my phone, with Erika following.

LUKE'S P.O.V.

I have an erection, shit.

I cross my legs to try and cover it up.

"Nice!" Michael complements and highfives me as he walks past me.

"What?" I question.

"The butt grab." Calum says.

"Oh, she has a great ass." I smirk and look at her bent over the counter top, the stuff she can do with her body.

"Stop eye fucking her." Ashton laughs.

All those thoughts go to my dick.

Harper walks back in with Erika, I pull her onto my lap to hide it. "We have a problem." I whisper in her ear.

"What is it." She asks.

"I have an erection." I confess.

She chuckles and smirks. "Let me just get my phone." She says and moves her hips around. My grip on her waist tightens and I place my head on her back.

"Harper." I whine/warn.

"No nothing, I should put this back." She sweetly responds with.

She puts it back on the table her ass grinding against me. Why does she have to be such a tease?

"Luke what's your favourite feature about Harper." Erika asks.

I smirk and cup Harper's boobs from behind and she laughs. "Good answer." Michael laughs.

Am I going to release myself or is Harper?

"Harper what your favourite feature about Luke?" Ashton asks.

"Well I'm kind of sitting on it. Joking! Well... it is partly true, I don't know. I like all of him."

She leans back onto me and I wrap my arms around her waist.

***

HARPER'S P.O.V.

Luke has gone home to sort himself out. I decided to be a tease and not do anything to him, I mean there is people over I can't just go to Luke's house and fuck him, or give him a blow job whilst they stay here.

It's fun seeing him suffer.

"When was the last time you shagged someone Calum?" I question.

"What does shagged mean?" Ashton laughs.

"Fucked."

"Ohhh, um like last night." Calum laughs.

"Its funny how your fans think you're these little innocent teenage boys, when really you're just being teenage boys." I say.

"Yeah, if only they knew how much we sleep around." Michael chuckles.

"I'm back!" Luke calls and makes his way over.

"You better of washed your hands." I joke.

To them they think it's a joke, but Luke did actually do it. Unless he slept with someone else.

"Kiss?" Luke asks in a baby voice.

"Puke."

He pouts and I kiss his pout, and his pout turns into a smile.

"Remeber a couple of weeks ago we all got smashed and the next morning I got a snapchat from Luke, with Harper sobbing on the ground because she dropped her taco, and Michael was trying not to laugh so hard." Erika laughs.

"That same night I found you in a bush eating pizza." I claim.

"I was so drunk I ordered 6 pizzas and sent myself dick pics." Calum tells us.

"I walked into this room at the party, and someone yelled dibs." Erika says.

"Sex on the roof was cool, but the superhero argument was the best part hands down." Michael chuckles.

"Apparently I took a selfie with some fried chicken at like 3AM but I thought I was making mac and cheese. " Luke chimes in.

"So Harper, what do you want for your birthday?" Ashton questions.

"Umm, an orgasm and some food would be great." I shrug.

"I can do both of those!" Calum smirks

"Uh, no. That's my job." Luke laughs.

14 notes · View notes

angelavengedinspo-blog · 6 years ago

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“And you’re totally sure it was Jace?” Isabelle asked, for what seemed to Clary like the forty-seventh time. Clary bit down on her already sore lip and counted to ten. “It’s me, Isabelle,” she said. “You honestly think I wouldn’t recognize Jace?” She looked up at Alec standing over them, his blue scarf fluttering like a pennant in the wind. “Could you mistake someone else for Magnus?” “No. Not ever,” he said without missing a beat. His blue eyes were troubled, dark with worry. “I just—I mean, of course we’re asking. It doesn’t make any sense.” “He could be a hostage,” said Simon, leaning back against a boulder. The autumn sunlight turned his eyes the color of coffee grounds. “Like, Sebastian is threatening him that if Jace doesn’t go along with his plans, Sebastian will hurt someone he cares about.” All eyes went to Clary, but she shook her head in frustration. “You didn’t see them together. Nobody acts like that when they’re a hostage. He seemed totally happy to be there.” “Then he’s possessed,” Alec said. “Like he was by Lilith.” “That was what I thought at first. But when he was possessed by Lilith, he was like a robot. He just kept saying the same things over and over. But this was Jace. He was making jokes like Jace does. Smiling like him.” “Maybe he has Stockholm syndrome,” Simon suggested. “You know, when you get brainwashed and start sympathizing with your captor.” “It takes months to develop Stockholm syndrome,” Alec objected. “How did he look? Hurt, or sick in any way? Can you describe them both?” It wasn’t the first time he’d asked. The wind blew dry leaves around their feet as Clary told them again how Jace had looked—vibrant and healthy. Sebastian, too. They had seemed completely calm. Jace’s clothes had been clean, stylish, ordinary. Sebastian had been wearing a long black wool trench coat that had looked expensive. “Like an evil Burberry ad,” Simon said when she was done. Isabelle shot him a look. “Maybe Jace has a plan,” she said. “Maybe he’s tricking Sebastian. Trying to get into his good graces, figure out what his plans are.” “You’d think that if he were doing that, he’d have figured out a way to tell us about it,” Alec said. “Not to leave us panicking. That’s too cruel.” “Unless he couldn’t risk sending a message. He’d believe we would trust him. We do trust him.” Isabelle’s voice rose, and she shivered, wrapping her arms around herself. The trees lining the gravel path they stood on rattled their bare branches. “Maybe we should tell the Clave,” Clary said, hearing her own voice as if from a distance. “This is—I don’t see how we can handle this on our own.” “We can’t tell the Clave.” Isabelle’s voice was hard. “Why not?” “If they think he’s cooperating with Sebastian, the mandate will be to kill him on sight,” Alec said. “That’s the Law.” “Even if Isabelle’s right? Even if he’s just playing along with Sebastian?” Simon said, a note of doubt in his voice. “Trying to get on his side to get information?” “There’s no way to prove it. And if we claimed it was what he’s doing, and that got back to Sebastian, he’d probably kill Jace,” said Alec. “If Jace is possessed, the Clave will kill him themselves. We can’t tell them anything.” His voice was hard. Clary looked at him in surprise; Alec was normally the most rule-abiding of them all. “This is Sebastian we’re talking about,” said Izzy. “There’s no one the Clave hates more, except Valentine, and he’s dead. But practically everyone knows someone who died in the Mortal War, and Sebastian’s the one who took the wards down.” Clary scuffed at the gravel underfoot with her sneaker. The whole situation seemed like a dream, like she might wake up at any moment. “Then, what next?” “We talk to Magnus. See if he has any insight.” Alec tugged on the corner of his scarf. “He won’t go to the Council. Not if I ask him not to.” “He’d better not,” said Isabelle indignantly. “Otherwise, worst boyfriend ever.” “I said he wouldn’t—” “Is there any point now?” Simon said. “In seeing the Seelie Queen? Now that we know Jace is possessed, or maybe hiding out on purpose—” “You don’t miss an appointment with the Seelie Queen,” Isabelle said firmly. “Not if you value your skin the way it is.” “But she’ll just take away the rings from Clary and we won’t learn anything,” Simon argued. “We know more now. We have different questions for her now. She won’t answer them, though. She’ll just answer the old ones. That’s how faeries work. They don’t do favors. It’s not like she’s going to let us go talk to Magnus and then come back.” “It doesn’t matter.” Clary rubbed her hands across her face. They came away dry. At some point her tears had stopped coming, thank God. She hadn’t wanted to face the Queen looking like she’d just been bawling her eyes out. “I never got the rings.” Isabelle blinked. “What?” “After I saw Jace and Sebastian, I was too shaken to get them. I just raced out of the Institute and Portaled here.” “Well, we can’t see the Queen, then,” said Alec. “If you didn’t do what she asked you to, she’ll be furious.” “She’ll be more than furious,” said Isabelle. “You saw what she did to Alec last time we went to the Court. And that was just a glamour. She’ll probably turn Clary into a lobster or something.” “She knew,” Clary said. “She said, ‘When you find him again, he may well not be quite as you left him.’” The Seelie Queen’s voice drifted through Clary’s head. She shivered. She could understand why Simon hated faeries so much. They always knew exactly the right words that would lodge like a splinter in your brain, painful and impossible to ignore or remove. “She’s just playing around with us. She wants those rings, but I don’t think there’s any chance she’ll really help us.” “Okay,” Isabelle said doubtfully. “But if she knew that much, she might know more. And who else is going to be able to help us, since we can’t go to the Clave?” “Magnus,” Clary said. “He’s been trying to decode Lilith’s spell all this time. Maybe if I tell him what I saw, it’ll help.” Simon rolled his eyes. “It’s a good thing we know the person who’s dating Magnus,” he said. “Otherwise, I get the feeling we’d all just lie around all the time wondering what the hell to do next. Or try to raise the money to hire Magnus by selling lemonade.” Alec looked merely irritated by this comment. “The only way you could raise enough money to hire Magnus by selling lemonade is if you put meth in it.” “It’s an expression. We are all aware that your boyfriend is expensive. I just wish we didn’t have to go running to him with every problem.” “So does he,” said Alec. “Magnus has another job today, but I’ll talk to him tonight and we can all meet at his loft tomorrow morning.” ...

Isabelle had moved closer to Simon. “I guess that leaves us the rest of the afternoon,” she said. “Should we go to Taki’s? They’ll serve you blood.” Simon glanced over at Clary, clearly worried. “Do you want to come?” “No, it’s okay. I’ll grab a cab back to Williamsburg. I should spend some time with my mom. All of this stuff with Sebastian has her falling apart already, and now . . .” Isabelle’s black hair flew in the wind as she whipped her head back and forth. “You can’t tell her what you saw. Luke’s on the Council. He can’t keep it from them, and you can’t ask her to keep it from him.”

-------------

“I can’t go,” said Magnus. “Only female Shadowhunters can enter the Adamant Citadel.” “And you’re not going,” Jocelyn said to Clary in her sternest No-you-are-not-going-out-clubbing-with-Simon-after-midnight voice. “You’re safer here, where you’re warded.” “Isabelle,” said Alec. “Isabelle can go.” “Do you have any idea where she is?” Clary said. “Home, I’d imagine,” said Alec, one shoulder lifting in a shrug. “I can call her—” “I’ll take care of it,” Magnus said, smoothly removing his cell phone from his pocket and punching in a text with the skill of the long-practiced. “It’s late, and we don’t need to wake her up. Everyone needs rest. If I’m to send any of you through to the Iron Sisters, it will be tomorrow.” “I’ll go with Isabelle,” Jocelyn said. “No one’s looking for me specifically, and it’s better that she not go alone. Even if I’m not technically a Shadowhunter, I was once. It’s only required that one of us be in good standing.” “This isn’t fair,” Clary said.

#re: jace.#re: clary.#re: simon.#re: alec.#re: seelie court.#book five.#quotes by isabelle.#quotes about isabelle.

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swipestream · 7 years ago

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New Release Roundup, 24 Feb 2018: Fantasy and Adventure

This week’s roundup of the newest releases in fantasy and adventure features a pair of online litRPGs, a renegade angel trying to redeem himself, a magical academy torn apart by magical war, and the return of America’s foremost pulp spy, Secret Agent “X”.

Adventure Rising (Jack Dashing #2) – Jon Mollison

In just a few short weeks, the Planetary Romantic travels to a world not entirely unlike our own. A curious twist of fate strands him in a nightmarish version of New York City…or perhaps that should be a more nightmarish version of New York City. Pursued by wild beasts and sinister agents, Jack once again finds himself in a race to find the one man that can send him to his own version of home. But once Jack finds him, the brilliant Dr. Abduraxus reveals that the multi-verse doesn’t work quite the way anyone thought. And can this Jack even recognize his one true love, let alone win her heart? Find out in Adventure Rising.

“This book is outstanding, unbelievable fun, and feels like an older book, but one that is a slight bit self aware.” –The Injustice Gamer

* * * * *

Bushido Online: Friends and Foes (Bushido Online #2) – Nikita Thorn

Now a Level 10 ronin, Seiki is slowly coming to terms with the death of Master Tsujihara and his new life in Shinshioka.

Spending his days in the Wilderness, he’s venting his remaining frustration while staying away from the city drama and those griefers, like the Rogami Clan, who had made his in-game experience so challenging thus far. He has even taken up a trade skill.

But when he’s presented with an offer he can’t refuse and accepts a simple mission to deliver a message to Kano Castle, he will quickly find his troubles are only just beginning. Caught in an imbroglio that will only get worse the more he tries to do well, Seiki will set off a series of events that will lead to chaos, death, and the eventual destruction of an entire territory.

Surrounded by betrayal, hidden agendas and people looking to take advantage of him, who can Seiki really trust?

When everything is not what it seems, it can be impossible to differentiate between friends and foes.

* * * * *

Clockwork Planet #3 – Yuu Kamiya and Tsubaki Himana, illustrated by Sino

–I know this is sudden, but the world had already collapsed long ago. Earth had died, but the entire planet was reconstructed and reproduced using clockwork – “The Clockwork Planet.”

In the wake of rescuing the mind-controlled AnchoR, moments later, Naoto and Marie come to a rude awakening over a crucial element of the behemoth’s design: its natural ability to disrupt clockwork technology! Caught between a desperate Tokyo Military and a doomsday weapon stronger than even they anticipated, the two geniuses are facing their greatest crisis yet! The third volume of the gear fantasy by Yuu Kamiya x Tsubaki Himana x Sino!!

* * * * *

Fire Storm (Zulu Virus Chronicles #3) – Steven Konkoly

Having narrowly survived the KILL BOX, HOT ZONE’s hardened survivors and their KILL BOX allies separate to pursue different objectives–outside of the Indianapolis quarantine zone.

For David Olson, that means bringing his son south, to the safe haven of his parents’ home–far away from the infected cities. Eric Larsen takes him up on the offer to rest and heal at the house, before departing on the long journey to find his family in Colorado.

For Rich and his secretive black ops team, that means transporting Dr. Chang and Dr. Hale to a secure facility out east, where they will join the nation’s few surviving bioweapons researchers–with the hopes of pinpointing the source of the virus and possibly developing a vaccine.

Neither group will get very far, before the true face of the evil controlling the Zulu Virus arrives–tempting them with irresistible opportunities.

* * * * *

GOD HATES ME: The Diary of an Ex-Angel – Richard Cain

Demon is such an ugly word.

Malach prefers “angelically-challenged”. After all, it’s not his fault that he was kicked out of Heaven.

And if you’ll just listen, he can explain everything.

GOD HATES ME: The Diary of an Ex-Angel is a smart, funny, and surprisingly moving tale of a demon who means well and would really like to figure out how to get back to Heaven one day. But how do you make a case for yourself when no one seems to care enough to listen?

Despite what the cover looks like, this isn’t a supernatural romance novel. No, it’s something much better. This is a story of a fallen angel seeking redemption. Unfortunately for him, every good deed he tries to accomplish ends up going awry.–Amazon Reader Review

* * * * *

Haven of Shadows (The Broken Crown #1) – Ken Lozito

The Free Nations of Safanar have spread throughout the lands bringing peace and prosperity to all who join them, but deep in the southern kingdoms, an old enemy gathers strength.

Two royal brothers find themselves in the midst of an ancient struggle. One brother is on the hunt of a dreaded order of assassins deep in the barbarian kingdoms of old. The other refuses to be a pawn and seeks to walk his own path. Both are the instruments of destiny.

An enemy that lurks in the shadows will strike out at the Free Nations threatening the very foundation holding them together and bringing them to the brink of war.

* * * * *

Level Up – Craig Anderson

Virtual is Reality.

What would the world be like if video game rules suddenly applied?

Marcus is about to find out. After a freak accident he finds himself stuck between a game and the real world. He’ll need to fight his way through football hooligans, carnies and the dreaded RNG to get to the final boss and save the world. Anything less means it’s game over for good.

Along the way he’ll learn new skills, chase epic loot and most importantly of all, Level Up!

A parody novel that crosses Office Space with the Gamer. – The LitRPG Podcast

* * * * *

Poisoned (The Book of Maladies #3) – D. K. Holmberg

No longer alone, Sam and Alec struggle to find time to continue their studies together. Sam knows that she is more than the lowborn she’d long believed, now living and training in the palace, but still doesn’t feel as if she quite fits in. Worse, it seems as if Alec has moved on without her, preferring his new life in the university.

Alec has quickly risen in rank, but that only draws attention to him. Learning from master physickers has its benefits, but there are dangers and he’s not certain whether he can trust the new friends he’s made. Evidence continues to mount of a conspiracy within the university, and it’s one he’ll need Sam’s help in understanding.

While Alec tries to reach out to Sam, she searches for Marin and answers that might unlock her full potential. What she finds instead is a threat to the safety in the city, protections that have long prevented the Thelns from reaching Verdholm, if they haven’t already breached them.

Together, they are the key to stopping Marin, but can they master their new places in the city in time?

* * * * *

The Promised Lie (The Unwritten Words #1) – Christopher Nuttall

In The Unwritten Words, Christopher Nuttall’s story-telling mastery weaves a new epic which follows on from his bestselling Bookworm series and is set in that same world. In The Promised Lie, the first book of the new series, five years have passed since the earth-shattering events of Bookworm IV.

The Golden City has fallen. The Grand Sorcerer and Court Wizards are dead.

The Empire they ruled is nothing more than a memory, a golden age lost in the civil wars as kings and princes battle for supremacy. And only a handful of trained magicians remain alive.

Isabella Majuro, Lady Sorceress, is little more than a mercenary, fighting for money in a desperate bid to escape her past. But when Prince Reginald of Andalusia plots the invasion of the Summer Isle, Isabella finds herself dragged into a war against strange magics from before recorded history …

… And an ancient mystery that may spell the end of the human race.

* * * * *

Secret Agent X #6 – Fred Adams Jr., Kaushik Karforma and Frank Schildiner

Pulpdom’s premier spy returns in three new pulse-pounding adventures.

The Man of a Thousand Faces is confronted with the most threatening challenges to America imaginable and only his incredible talents as a super spy can overcome each. From destroying a spreading world plague launched from a giant airship to stymieing Nazi subterfuge at a mountain enclave and then having to fight dead men under spell of an evil mystic. All in a days work for the Agent X.

Writers Fred Adams Jr., Kaushik Karforma and Frank Schildiner deliver three top-notch pulp thrillers that will have fans turning pages at break-neck speed. Learn why Nick Carter to James Bond and Matt Helm, and all the great heroes of espionage fiction owe their very existence to the character that created the mold, Secret Agent X.

* * * * *

A Sellsword’s Compassion (The Seven Virtues #1) – Jacob Peppers

War sweeps the land as the sons and daughters of the late King Marcus battle over who will claim their father’s throne and able-bodied men and women flock to one cause or the other in the hopes of a better tomorrow. At least, most of them. If life has taught the jaded sellsword, Aaron Envelar, anything, it’s that hope is for fools and causes are a sure remedy for breathing. But when his latest job leads him to the corpse of a prince and a conspiracy that threatens to destroy the entire realm, Aaron is forced to choose sides in a war he doesn’t want, between forces he doesn’t understand.

Thrust into a world of mythical assassins, a madman with a superhuman strength, and a nagging ball of light with a superiority complex who claims to be the embodiment of compassion, Aaron takes on his hardest job yet—staying alive.

* * * * *

The Zero Equation (The Zero Enigma #3) – Christopher Nuttall

Caitlyn Aguirre is no magician …

… But she’s still at the centre of the storm.

Caitlyn and her friends have returned to Jude’s Sorcerous Academy, but all is not well in the school. The Great Houses of Shallot are on the verge of going to war and the conflict is spilling into the school, while – in the background – powerful and secretive forces prepare to finally reveal their plans to reshape the world. Caught in the middle, torn between her family and her friends – and burdened with a secret she dares not share – Cat must unlock the secret of the Zero Equation …

… Or watch helplessly as her family, friends and school are destroyed by war.

New Release Roundup, 24 Feb 2018: Fantasy and Adventure published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames

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sordidpassionsandlockedemotions · 8 years ago

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(CW:mental illness,’self harm’,emotional numbness *unsure how to word it but here’s your warning/will have most under the cut*)

One... Tick

Two... Tock

Three.. Tick

Four... Tock

Five... The sound of an seraph blade whistling through the air,glowing as it smashed through glass.

Shallow breathing,and then-tock followed by tick it was insufferable arms unwrapping from the bent legs at his torso. Untucking slowly then he slid out of the bed heading towards the broken glass,the clock he had mostly killed. Flipping the switch to turn on the overhead looked at the mess,by the angel could hope it wasn’t expensive.

Alec sighed carefully picking up the still glowing seraph blade watching it fade holding it as if an flame that would burn. Then put it on the nearest solid surface grabbing some empty bin that was to be found.

Kneeling down picking up the shards of glass,tossing it away in the trash after clawing at it ripping out the batteries. All it went into the same broken,more than had been broken before Alec got near it. Nicks on his hands,nails beat up,bleeding underneath looking at his hands as if somebody else owned them.

Still numb there was no feelings except maybe guilt for breaking Magnus’ clock could replace it though. But even then an ill smile actually formed on his face ‘is he going to be pissed I murdered an clock’ was what caused it not his general worry to be had. Overthinking that would be much different than this nasty,uncaring attitude boiling inside him.

He wanted to run along the ledges of the roofs nowhere to go,track down some demon to duel,pick an fight,he wanted-to feel something. Just sat there for what felt forever knees tucked up to his chest that much he could control. Then slowly it started to wear off hitting harder than anything else.

Like he couldn’t breathe,what had he done it wasn’t like he had any real reason except some nightmare he could no longer remember. Looking at his hands and for somebody used to it,the grosser things in life gagged as it sunk in. Magnus was...no he could not tell Magnus or anybody could he... Took 10 minutes after that to even stand.

Guilt,terror,and self fear boiled inside him like some potion that made you sick enough to cry from pain. Weakly leaning against the sink using his wrist to turn on the sink watching the water wash the drying blood away. Only then registering the tears,hitching breaths,and looking in the mirror almost was like looking at an long forgotten stranger.

Swallowing his Adam’s Apple was bobbing with every breath or just lingering in one place. Turning the sink off with his left foot quickly trying to recall where his stele was eventually digging it out of his jacket. His hands stung-oh it stung way more trying to use his healing rune. Trembling too honestly he really had taken an dive hadn’t he.

It started working and he just sat there the next hour watching,time just seemed to blur. Then there was an distant loud noise-tiredly he realized it was his phone. Of course it was Magnus checking in probably saying would be back later in the day. Call-could he trust himself with an call?

Answering after biting his lip of course Magnus started speaking immediatly maybe Alec was too quiet,too absentee because then came the question ‘hey are you okay,I woke you didn’t I’ worry immediately afterwards. “No I uh not you,was already up.” And I murdered your clock hope it wasn’t expensive have no lie I can think of right now or anything to cover for it’s demise.

Could hear the unspoken questions,”Hey-look I know promised to talk with you before I was stupid or in general-.”

Audible panic and the words,”What happened?”

Running an hand through his hair he didn’t know what to say,”Think I kind of lost my mind,it’s all like an old film coming to mind though still in the motions somewhat,but I’m fine not like-.”

“Look don’t cut what you’re doing short,just figured should tell you because I broke the clock in your room.” Adding the y to what he felt like saying but too guilty to claim as such. “Can pay for it-.”

“Alexander don’t worry about the clock,I’ll be home soon can you get some rest or do you want to go back to the Institute till I’m back?”

An small ability to choose it was overwhelming but also knew he wouldn’t have dealt well with anything else. “I-I’ll be here when you get back,try to get some sleep.” Staring at his hand not holding the phone it hurt hearing how worried Magnus was,and the hurt of everything in general. “Can tell you everything when you get back here to Brooklyn.”

“Alright but text me if you need anything,or even if can’t sleep that well.”

“Okay.”

“I love you Alexander.”

“Love you too Magnus.”

After ending the call he wasn’t having much luck so eventually passed out to some loud film on the couch. Sun streaming into the loft from the balcony doors that had the curtains pulled away onto the solidly unconscious shadowhunter. Who was curled up into an ball under some blanket that had been on the couch. Was still dead asleep when Magnus came back and by afternoon was curled up against his boyfriend in bed.

They’d argued some,talked an rather lot,and most of all Alec was being allowed to piece himself back together. Even cracking an brief smile when Magnus mentioned the clock only looked expensive,hardly being an loss or at least claimed that either way. It had taken an while for him to let the other close,and now was silence but it wasn’t driving him mad.

Even Chairman who Alec had never actually met came into the room and gently curled up next to the side of Alec which was empty. Which was nice in an way except he mostly rested his head on Magnus listening to the other’s heartbeat while an hand gently ran through his hair.

#shadowhunters fic #shadowhunter fanfic #shadowhunters fanfic #shadowhunter fic #my fanfics

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like-rain-or-confetti · 7 years ago

Text

Sleepless (Demetri Volturi x Reader)

Trigger Warning: Insomnia (?), medication, nightmares, night terrors, can’t sleep

Demetri wished you'd be returning to him in a better state. You were sent to America, specifically to Carlisle Cullen to help you sleep. However, after a few weeks, Carlisle contacted the Volturi sending you home by your request. Carlisle claimed you had gotten some sleep every few nights but would wake up from nightmares and the occasional night terror. This morning the Volturi received a call from Carlisle, you were landing soon but be prepared. You hadn't slept for four days and had been refusing sleep for twenty fours hours now. You would definitely be in a bad mood. You weren’t grumpy when you were tired, you were fragile and Demetri was emotionally exhausted.The same exhaustion that had eventually lifted after you left. Somehow within seconds it was all rushing back to him.

You cracked open the entrance door at first being welcomed by the familiar dimmed lighting of the entrance with its high ceilings and metal torches. Bianca smiled at you but you could see the glimpse of questioning in her eyes but you knew she wouldn't ask. She learned, like the others, not to ask questions. She raised her index finger at you gesturing for you to wait whilst she dialed a number and held the phone to her ear. She spoke in Italian but also in a hushed voice. She spoke softly to the Volturi since they had super-hearing. She then hung up the phone, lowering her finger and twisting to the computer and typing away once more. You simply stood and watched her awaiting some sort of indication from Bianca but she gave none.

"(Y/N)." A male voice said. Alec and Jane were a few feet away from you. "Welcome home." Jane said with an unreadable expression. Atleast the sentiment was there even if the sincerity wasn't. "Hello Jane, Alec." You offered a nervous smile. "It's good to be back. It wasn't the same without you." That wasn't a lie. It really wasn't the same without the Volturi. It was a whole new experience. When you were forced to sleep, it was nightmares of the Volturi who you knew. In America, it was nightmares of the Volturi and the Cullen's who you barely knew, in a place you barely knew. "We'll admit it was strange not having a human prodding around the halls." Jane retorted. They were trying to be nice and you knew but they weren't willing to make much of an effort. They never were. "Come with us. Aro will want to see you." Alec spoke up as the twins held hands, interlocking fingers. "Demetri is in the throne room with him. He is on duty at this moment."

Alec's cold hand lightly pushed you into the elevator infront of the twins who got in last and stood in front of you. "Did you get any rest on the plane?" Jane asked lightly, her voice held innocence but you knew her facial expression have the tone a hint of sinister. A shudder ran through you as Alec looked over his shoulder, twisting his torso slightly to look at you awaiting your answer. "No..." You said quietly. You were expecting a lecture, some kind of comment but they said nothing and Alec turned back around before continuing the conversation. "Did you sleep prior to the trip?" "No." "Demetri will be disappointed that you have not slept, (Y/N)." Jane said. "When was the last time you slept?" In all honesty, you didn't know. The days melded into one after a few of them. "A few days." Jane and Alec systematically turned to look at one another for a moment. The Volturi knew that line well. It is what you'd say when you didn't really know how long it had been and wanted to downplay the situation. You cracked under the silence you received in response. "I tried. I think it's been four days." You said weakly. "Calm yourself." Alec said. "You do not need to get into such a state." "I'm sorry." You rubbed your eyes. "Don't do that." Jane said. "Your eyes are red enough." "My eyes are red?" You frowned as the three of you exited the elevator and headed down the the corridor to the throne room. "Yes." Alec nodded. "You have red circles around your eyes. I assume you are not under any pain? Your eyes look very irritated." "I wouldn't say painful. They're itchy as well as having some aches. I'm used to it now though." The twins said nothing in response as you ended up a few feet from the double doors to the throne room.

Jane opened the doors as Alec once again pushed you inside gently. Demetri was stood at his regular post, arm tucked behind his back in his usual manner. He watched you enter. He didn't offer any kind of welcome or even a smile but you were used to this as he was more of a private person. "Ahhh! Young (Y/N) has returned!" Aro said in his usual cheerful manner as he rose from his throne. "You look terrible." Caius glowered at you and Aro was quick to jump to your defence. "Now, now, brother- manners. You know better, (Y/N) has been ill and has undergone quite a challenging time." You looked at Aro in sudden alarm. "Carlisle has been keeping us updated, rather explicitly." Aro stated in response to your alarm. "We will speak about that in more private settings at a later time but for now..." Aro held out his hand in waiting. "I'd like to see your progress my dear." "I wouldn't call it progress." You mumbled, holding back tears. Caius was about to snap at you for talking back but Aro caught him with a look. He had been through this with Caius before. You were likely delirious at this point, now was not the time to be lecturing about mannerisms. Aro carefully took your hand and held it securely within his own.

"I want to go home!" You sobbed. "Please let me go home!" "I understand this is bizarre for you..." Carlisle said soothingly. "but you do not need to worry. I'm here to help you." "I don't need help." You cried. "You and I both know that you know that isn't true. No one wants you suffering and you are, you are suffering. I only ask for a little trust." "You need to tell me, do you reject sleep or can you not sleep?" "I can't sleep!" You said exasperated, your eyes watering with tears. "My mind won't shut off." You rocked slightly on your chair, your knees pulled into your chest. "You do that a lot." Carlisle said, his gaze flickering to your rocking. "As well as excessive scratching and rubbing at your eyes, did you do this before coming here?" You shook your head slightly. "I didn't do the rocking or the scratching. I've always rubbed my eyes though. Demetri didn't like it." "I don't imagine he did, your eyes look very sensitive, they're starting to go a little red." You chewed your lip. "Have you ever spoke with him about your fear of vampires?" "Who told you that? I've never said I was afraid of vampires." "It's not an irrational fear, in fact it's rather clear and obvious but what isn't clear is why. You never showed disturbance to vampires. Infact, I was told you settled better than the average human. There was a little unease but you adapted well. That changed suddenly and I need to know why. Are you willing to tell me why?"

You were fast asleep, buried in the duvet, the moonlight illuminating the dark room. You shifted as a short gust of cold air hit your face. You shifted again when you felt it again. The third time woke you up. You stretched slightly before running your eyes with a little whine. You went to stretch before immediately halting. Inches from your face was a man you didn't know, his red eyes glistening. You knew immediately that he wasn't a part of the Volturi as his dated red and cream clothes were ripped in various areas. His teeth looked sharp and were barred at you. He was breathing through his mouth which was what had disturbed you from your sleep. You had seen his stance before, he was ready to lunge. You slowly sat up, shaking violently as your eyes were trained on the man. His gaze followed you. It was silent for a moment and panic was building up fast. Why hadn't anyone realised he was in here? Where was everyone? "W-why are you h-here?" You immediately screamed when the man lunged grabbing your face with his large hands, his nails digging into your neck and cheeks. You screamed and screamed even after a force you didn't see, hauled the man off of you. You rushed to the corner of the room covering your face, there were five stinging sensations on your face and neck. A streak of blonde hair could be identified as a fight ensued and Jane and Alec burst into the open door. Jane looked at the intruder who suddenly screamed in agony. You pressed yourself into the wall as you continued to scream in terror hearing the man's torture.

Someone called your name and you looked up sharply. You wished you didn't. There were more guards in your room and you had just looked up just in time to watch as the man's head and arms were ripped off. Felix cursed in Italian as he turned to see what had caught your attention. Demetri was immediately by your side hauling you off the wall and pressing you into his chest. Sobs racked your body as you continued to scream the commotion yet to die down. A couple of the guards were demanding to know how the man had got into the castle and how he had gotten to you without suspicion. "I'm here. I'm here." Demetri mumbled into the top of your head despite how likely it was you didn't hear him. You gradually went quiet but didn't respond to anyone. Demetri continued to hold you as Jane left the room. Santiago and Afton were disposing of the body piece by piece as Demetri made sure you didn't see it. He continued to stroke your hair, talking to you every now and then but would receive nothing in return. You looked like you were in a trance. "It's shock." Alec said as he sat on the floor beside you, crossing his legs. Felix passed Alec a blanket and Alec manoeuvred the blanket around you. Demetri shifted back a bit so Alec could wrap it around you. "They won't get cold now." Felix nodded kneeling down to your level a few feet away trying to catch your gaze but with failure. "It's been too long." Demetri said to the two guards as he rocked you slightly in attempt to pull you out of the daze. "I'm getting worried." "We can't do anything for them Demetri. Don't worry, they'll come out of it soon enough and we'll be here." Jane returned with a glass of water and the guard tried to coax you into taking a sip of it but to no avail. Demetri and Felix were surprised at the attentiveness if the twins as Jane stroked your hand lightly and Alec patted your back, both in the attempt to stir you. Kindness seemed to come much more fluently when you weren't aware of it. "Should I request Aro? Perhaps he'll know what to do with his gift."

You peeled yourself from Demetri's hold, rising to a stand and walking to the bathroom. Alec was the only one to follow you, looming in the bathroom doorway. You looked at yourself in the mirror. There were five half moon dents in your face from the man's nails that were bright red and dangerously close to breaking skin and spilling blood. You turned on the cold water in the sink running your hand under the falling water before pressing lightly on one of the dents and repeated this pattern a few times. The more you did, the more your face twisted to fight more tears. "You can cry." Alec said but you didn't respond, you just continued to dab at your wounds as you fought back tears.

You didn't sleep that night, or the night after that. By the third night you fell asleep, Demetri laying next to you and you awoke two hours later from a nightmare. Soon enough the nightmares were so bad that you refused to sleep which began a vicious cycle.

Aro's eyes flickered to you as a few more images passed through his head. "I understand that Carlisle has provided some medication..." You nodded. "A pill to help me sleep. He said that as soon as I get a regular sleep pattern, things will begin to clear up." Aro nodded. "Our dear friend was very pleased with your cooperation. We understood it's difficult. However, it saddens me greatly that you abrupted stopped your treatment with the demand to come back. Are you certain that is the best decision?" Your eyes watered again, dangerously close to tears escaping and Aro caught eyes with Demetri from behind you. There was a slight whooshing sound as Demetri was immediately beside you, his gaze on you. Demetri closed the door to his room after tugging you inside and sitting on a large lounge chair. You stood fidgeting for a moment. "Are you angry at me? Are you angry that I came back?" "A little, but I understand the decision. I hope you realize that this cannot continue, you need to sleep." You nodded fighting back tears again. "I want to sleep." Demetri's eyed bored into you for a moment. "Come here." You complied and when you were at as reach Demetri reached out and pulled you into his lap. "I don't care what it takes, we're going to get through this together." You nodded in response. "Now, I'm aware that you have medicine to take..." You nodded reluctantly before rolling off of him to dig through your bag pulling out a box as well as a bottle of water from your flight. You headed back to him looking at the box as he once again reached out and pulled you into his lap. Reluctance really began to set in. You weren't ready for the nightmares. You weren't ready for the battle of falling asleep. Demetri saw this and pulled you closer to him. "I'll be right here, cara mia. Just think of how much better you'll feel after some rest." "I see him when I close my eyes." You whispered. "He can't hurt you. You're here in my arms. No one can get you from here."

A quiet sob escaped you when you quickly popped the pill into your mouth and swallowed it with a chug of water. "That's it. There you go. Everything will be okay now. Do you think you need anything?" Usually it's be a pillow to act as a barrier between you and Demetri's cold body but his jacket as well as the fire place were doing the job instead. So you simply got a blanket and settled into Demetri's lap. Demetri tucked you in as tears fell from your closed eyes. He held you securely in his arms as you two remained in silence. You felt Demetri softly trace the bone structure of your face. After twenty minutes, you were completely limp and asleep. Demetri slowly lifted your legs over the arm of the chair as well putting the blanket over them. He smiled down at you and soaked in the moment. This was the first step for you.

#twilight #reader #volturi #one shot #demetri volturi #trigger warning

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