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lesbicosmos · 4 months ago

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day 3 of @painlandweek !!

day 3 prompt: love confession/first kiss

summary:

charles is slowly coming to realise the true nature of his feelings for edwin, but he hasn't told him yet, out of fear edwin has always moved on. luckily, niko is there to reassure him how utterly wrong he is

notes:

title from my love mine all mine my mitski <33

also on ao3!!

nothing in the world belongs to me but my love, mine all mine

The agency barely had a chance to rest after everything went down in Port Townsend before they were straight back to taking on new clients and solving new cases. It would have been nice to have some time to think and reflect on everything they’d been through, but Charles and Edwin were both happier they were back to their usual routine. Visiting America was fun - when they weren’t in peril, at least – but they’d missed London, missed the comfortable homely feeling of returning to their office after every case.

Their new normal was still different from the old normal, of course. Now, it wasn’t just the two of them – they had Crystal and Niko, too. They’d moved to London after Niko had recovered from what happened to her fighting Esther, and they were both now fully fledged members of the agency. Even Jenny had moved across the pond with them; she’d wanted a new start after the whole psycho-date-murder thing and then the crazy-witch-blew-up-the-family-business-and-tried-to-kill-her-tenants thing. Part of the reason she moved was also because she had grown too fond of Crystal and Niko to let them go – not that she’d ever admit to that, of course. Then there was the Night Nurse, who popped in every few days to check they were working. She pretended not to like the job, or the boys, but they could both tell she was becoming attached.

Their latest case was strange – not so much in itself, but for the group. It was the first case they’d done with only three detectives, since Crystal was busy. She was off attempting to fix things with an old friend, who she had discovered through her memory-marbles that she had hurt whilst under David’s control. The others had offered to go with her for support, but she insisted she did it on her own. She’d been doing it a lot; going off alone to try and make amends with her past. She’d only seen her parents once, though, in the two months since moving to London. It hadn’t exactly ended well: she’d let all her anger out at them, screaming at them for never even noticing that their daughter had been missing for weeks. They hadn’t even apologised, so Crystal just left. She wanted to fix things with them, she really did. But she was hoping for them to reach out to her, to apologise, to try. It hadn’t happened yet, so she’d moved on.

Luckily, this specific case didn’t seem to be one that required Crystal’s abilities. Of course, her presence would have been preferable – it felt like a part of them was missing without her now - but they could still get the job done while she was away. The client herself, a woman named Cordelia, wasn’t actually a ghost – she was alive, able to see ghosts after a near death experience as a child. She had fallen from a treehouse in her garden, which left her with such traumatic injuries she had to have an arm amputated (Edwin had spent several minutes enthusiastically learning about her prosthetic, enthralled by the advancements in modern bionic technology).

She had brought them the case of her wife Faye, who had died of a long-term illness a few months prior. Faye hadn’t been ready to move on – they had only been married a year, she thought they would have so much time left – so she ran from Death. Cordelia had joined her, never wanting to leave her side. They’d settled near London after travelling from Scotland, and had found a new life – or, afterlife in Faye’s case – together. They were happy.

At least, they had been until they had crossed paths with a mage who cursed Faye to be stuck in the most basic form a ghost could take – a bright white orb. Usually, a ghost would take that form after immense stress to recover their energy, but could always willingly turn back. Faye, however, didn’t have that freedom. She was truly stuck. She had, however, figured out how to possess their TV screen, and used it to communicate with Cordelia.

If it had been magic that put her in that position, it would require magic to reverse the effects. Edwin knew this, and told Cordelia such. They had arranged to visit their house in two days, after the three of them had done their research and formed a plan. Cordelia had given Niko her phone number in case they needed any more information, and then left the office.

Charles watched as Edwin spent the next 48 hours with his head stuck in books, trying to find one page he knew existed in at least one of the many in their collection. Charles knew this was going to be a case that relied almost entirely upon Edwin’s arcane knowledge, so left him to it. He did, however, keep finding himself zoning out watching the other boy. He had always been somewhat enamoured by the way Edwin got so hyper-focused on his books. Over the years, he’d memorised his mannerisms: the way his index finger would repeatedly tap the book’s cover when he got impatient about finding one particular spell or piece of information; the crease between his eyebrows when he didn’t quite understand what he was reading; the delighted smile of accomplishment that would appear when he found what he was looking for. Charles was someone who got bored very easily, but he found himself thinking he could watch Edwin just doing his thing forever. That feeling had only gotten stronger since he had realised that his feelings for Edwin might be more complex than just ‘best mates’, and that they might have been that way almost the entire time they’d known each other without either of them quite realising it.

“I’ve got it!” Edwin said suddenly, that relieved and proud smile plastered across his face.

“Brills!” Charles replied, re-associating with the real world.

As it turned out, Edwin only needed to make a potion and say an incantation for the curse to be broken. Within twelve hours of figuring it out, Charles, Edwin and Niko were standing in Cordelia and Faye’s living room. Cordelia was sitting out on the bench in the garden as they waited for Edwin to be ready, Faye’s orb form perched on her shoulder.

Niko and Charles stood in the doorway of the living room as Edwin worked. He was wearing those many-lensed goggles that Charles had begun to find oddly endearing, despite having laughed at them for several minutes the first time he used them. He was pouring some strange glowing liquids together, biting his lip slightly in concentration. Charles couldn’t help but stare at him. Edwin’s lips had been on his mind a lot lately, and he still hadn’t grown quite used to the realisation that he might just be in love with his best friend. It was especially unbelievable since he knew Edwin was in love with him too. Or at least, he had been a few months ago. He could have gotten over it now for all Charles knew, could have taken what Charles said on those stairs at face value and simply accepted that his feelings would never be reciprocated. That was the primary reason Charles hadn’t told him yet. He was scared he was too late.

He kept watching Edwin work, watched him recite the Latin incantation over and over under his breath, ensuring he was getting the pronunciation exactly correct. He watched Edwin’s hands as he picked up the tweezers, grabbing a tiny leaf of some kind and dropping it into the vial. Along with everything about the rest of him, his hands were another thing Charles couldn’t stop thinking about lately. He so desperately wanted to hold them, wanted to feel them sliding up his arms, holding his waist, cupping his jaw-

Charles’s thoughts were cut off when his view of Edwin was disturbed by a pink-nailed hand snapping in front of his face.

“Charles! Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Charles shook his head, turning to Niko.

Had she been talking to him the whole time? If she had been, she showed no signs of annoyance; only smiled at him in a sly, almost knowing way.

“I know that look,” she said confidently.

“What?” Charles chuckled nervously.

“Edwin, Charles and I will be right back,” she said, turning to Edwin, and before either ghost could argue, Charles felt a hand grab his elbow and drag him out into the hallway.

“What was that for?” he asked when she let his arm go.

“I think I know what’s going on.”

“What do you mean?”

“You really think you’re subtle with your staring, huh?” she giggled.

Shit. Was he being that obvious? Had Edwin noticed? No, he was too busy working. Wasn’t he? What if he wasn’t?

“You should tell him,” she said.

“I can’t,” Charles stammered.

“Why not? You already know he feels the same.”

“What if he doesn’t anymore, though? What if he’s like...moved on?”

“Charles, if there’s one thing I can tell you about Edwin, it’s that that is literally impossible. I think he’d still be in love with you in a century, even if you didn’t feel the same.”

“Really?”

“Yes. I’m not saying you have to tell him, like, right now, but I think you should soon. If you’re sure about how you feel, that is.”

She gave him a look that said she already knew the answer to that.

“Oh. I definitely am.”

He’d spent the last three months trying to figure out if he was sure. And he was. He still didn’t quite know how to tell the difference between loving someone and being in love with them, but if he wasn’t in love with Edwin, then who else? Who else could there possibly be that he could love as much as he did him? There were other things he knew for sure in his heart:

That Edwin Payne was the best person he knew, and that he loved him more than anyone in the world

That he would do anything to keep him safe and happy,

That he literally could not imagine his afterlife without him

That he really, really wanted to kiss him.

Surely that had to be enough? They could figure the rest out as they went along.

“Yeah, I had kinda figured that by the way you were watching him making that potion like he was the prettiest thing in the world,” Niko smiled.

That’s because I think he might be, Charles thought, but didn’t say that out loud. Maybe he’d tell Edwin himself that part one day.

Charles thought Niko must have some kind of magical powers of her own, because within one short conversation with her, he had gone from convinced Edwin had moved on from him to desperate to confess everything. Maybe it was just Niko in general, or maybe it was because he knew how close she and Edwin had become, how comfortable he had been around her. Charles may have been looking at the situation through tinted glasses, but Niko would know the truth. If she was convinced Edwin still felt the same way for him, then he believed her. He loved her for that. Not only for being someone Edwin could open up to and trust, but for being someone he could, too. She just had something about her that made her amazing, and everyone around her felt it. Charles was so grateful to have met her.

“I’m gonna tell him tonight,” Charles stated.

Niko let out a noise that was quite possibly a squeal, and jumped forward to hug him. He hugged back, laughing.

“Oh my god! I’m so excited!”

“Shhh,” Charles shushed her, still smiling. “Don’t want him to know beforehand do I?”

“Oh, of course,” Niko dropped her voice to a low whisper.

“Are you two finished out there?” Edwin called from the living room. “I think we’re ready.”

Charles and Niko walked back into the room, both trying to hide their smiles. Edwin’s glasses were on his head as he brandished the finished potion – a tiny orange vial.

“We simply pour this over Faye, I’ll recite the incantation, and it should return her to her humanoid form.”

“Aces!"

“I’ll go get them,” Niko said, opening the door to the garden and walking out.

When they returned, Cordelia sat on the sofa with Faye in her hands as Edwin explained what was going to happen.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yep,” Cordelia replied, and Faye seemed to grow brighter for a second in response.

Edwin knelt in front of them, shaking the vial one last time before pulling the cork from it. He slowly poured it over Faye and began reciting the incantation in perfect Latin. Charles and Niko watched on in awe.

After the third recital, something started happening. Faye began to glow brighter and brighter until everyone in the room had to look away. When they looked back, the orb was gone and a woman had taken its place, laying across Cordelia’s lap.

“Oh, you’re back!” Cordelia said, taking Faye’s face in her hands and kissing her soundly.

Charles couldn’t help but turn his eyes back to Edwin, picturing themselves in their position – Charles on Edwin’s lap, Edwin’s hand softly cupping his cheek as they kissed. He forced himself out of the moment.

“I’m okay,” Faye replied, manoeuvring herself until she was sitting beside Cordelia instead of on top of her. “Thank you so much,” she said to all three of them, taking Cordelia’s hand in her own.

“Don’t thank us, this one was all Edwin.”

Edwin looked at them, smiling proudly.

“It was no problem, really. That’s what we’re here for.”

“Really, though, thank you. I don’t know what we’d have done without you.”

“Well, I’m just happy we could help,” said Edwin.

With that, the three of them said goodbye to Faye and Cordelia, and headed back to the office with the satisfaction of a case successfully closed.

When they returned to the office, the boys immediately got comfortable, taking off their jackets and relaxing. Edwin sat on the sofa and took out his notebook to finish the case notes, while Charles perched on the edge of the desk. Niko, however, stayed near the door, her pink coat still on.

“Are you not staying, Niko?” Edwin asked.

“No, sorry. I uh…” she realised she hadn’t thought of an excuse to get out of their way. “Crystal… she told me to meet her in town. I think we’re going to grab food so, I’d better go.”

“Ah, I see. Well, tell Crystal we said hello. Enjoy your evening.”

“You too,” she smirked, giving Charles a wink before turning and leaving the office.

Charles rolled his eyes, exhaling slowly to try and keep the nerves at bay. Evidently, he also exhaled loudly, as Edwin stopped writing and pointed it out.

“Are you alright, Charles? You’ve seemed even more restless than usual since we closed the case.”

“Yeah, I’m fine mate,” Charles replied, unconvincingly.

“Are you sure?”

Charles opened his mouth to lie, but stopped himself. “No, actually.”

Edwin sat up straighter.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong, it’s just… okay, I hadn’t actually figured out how to say this.”

“Well, please tell me once you’ve articulated your thoughts. Whatever it is, you know I am always here to listen.”

Edwin opened the notebook again to continue writing while Charles thought, but it turned out he really didn’t need that long.

“I think I’ve figured out what it means,” he blurted.

Edwin put the notebook fully down beside him, looking up at Charles. That signature confused crease was appearing between his eyebrows again, Charles noted.

“I’m afraid you might have to be more specific than that.”

“My feelings. The rest. I think I’ve figured out what it means.”

Edwin stood up, taking a step towards Charles.

“Charles…” he said quietly.

“Stop. I know what you’re gonna say. I know you’re gonna think I’m just doing this to make you happy because that’s what I always do but I’m not. This is too important to both of us for it to be something I just pretend to go along with. I mean it. I’ve figured it out, I don’t know how it took me so bloody long, but I think I’m sure now.”

“And what exactly is it you’re so sure of?” Edwin’s voice was slightly shaky.

“I do love you. In the same way you love me. Everything I said on those steps is true, and the more I’ve been thinking about it, the more they just point to the obvious. People don’t go to Hell without even making a plan first for someone who’s just a best mate. But I didn’t even think twice before I did it for you.”

“Charles…” Edwin stepped closer.

“I think I just didn’t really think it was an option ‘til you said it and now I’ve been thinking too much about it and how much I always want to be next to you and how much I always want to watch you just doing your nerdy thing and how much I really wanna kiss you and-”

Charles was cut off by Edwin’s lips crashing into his. His hand moved up to cradle Charles’s cheek, and the feeling was even softer than Charles had imagined. Charles leaned into it, pushing his face even closer into Edwin’s and deepening the kiss. They kissed for what felt like hours before Edwin backed away slightly, instead resting their foreheads together.

“It did not take you forever then,” Edwin laughed breathlessly, and Charles could feel it on his face.

“No. Gonna be honest it didn’t even take me three months.”

“No? Then why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“I thought you might have moved on.”

Edwin stepped back at that, his hand having moved from Charles’s cheek down to his neck, his thumb hovering over his collarbone.

“You…what?”

“I thought maybe…since I told you I didn’t feel the same, I thought you might’ve…y’know.”

“Charles,” Edwin said, his face stern. “There are some things that are simply facts. The Earth is round. You and I are dead. Nothing will ever change either of those things. One of those universal truths is the fact that I am in love with you. Yes, if you didn’t feel the same I would have learned to conceal those feelings, but they would never have stopped being there.”

“Edwin…”

Charles didn’t know what to say. Hearing it from Niko was fine – it stunned him a little, but he could handle it. But hearing it from Edwin himself…god, it was overwhelming. He couldn’t string any words together, so he simply pulled him in for another kiss.

“I love you so much,” he murmured into Edwin’s mouth, and Edwin just kissed him harder.

Charles made a mental note to thank Niko in the morning, before all coherent thought was wiped from his mind by Edwin’s lips.

#this was a sweet one to write <3 #dead boy detectives #painlandweek #painland week #payneland #edwin payne #charles rowland #my fics #my dbda posts

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blazerwyvernmaster · 9 months ago

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So uhh

I like In Stars and Time. You should play it if you haven't already. It's extremely good. And I will be subtly spoiling a lot of it during this analysis.

Recently I have thought of thr trend if assigning tarot cards to characters in media, or my on characters. So I thought...what if I did that to ISAT?

...so yeah. I'll be doing that. Please tell me if I mess it up, or give me your opinions.

Again, spoilers under the cut.

Siffrin(Fool of Hanged Man)

Fool: The Fool is generally seen as the start of a journey. Even though he is at the end, the time loops and the fact that they have a lot of things to worry about/trauma means that they have a long journey ahead of them.

Hanged Man: A reversed Hanged Man, to be precise. Siffrin is INTENSLY afraid of change. To be more specific, he's stuck in this time lopp because he doesn't want to forget or leave his friends behind. His family behind, his country, his memory. The hanged man is about sacrifice and moving forward, and they do NOT want to do either. But they must.

I would also like to add that they may also be linked to The Devil card. Mostly because it's about desire and stuff and Siffrin desires amny things and can do a lot of selfish and cruel things to his family members.

Mirabelle:Lovers or Chariot.

Lovers:Mirabelle is aroace and perfectly fine with that. It’s a shame that she lives in a society where being perfectly fine with staying stagnant forever is discouraged.

Mirabelle is very religious. She believes strongly in the word of Change. So strongly that she is willing to ignore her feelings of being happy with who she is. She loves expressing platonic and familial love, but...romance and sex ain't it.

I chose the Lovers because it is about choice. Crossroads in one's life, that decide your fate. She was about to make the wrong one, the one that would make her miserable. Luckily, she didn't.

Chariot: Mirabelle may not be the Fool, but the thing that helps the fool move forward is a trusty chariot. From the beginning she's been trying to move forward and save Vaugarde from the King, and especially in the clocktower and higher levels of the house, she is determined to bring her home to its regular state.

If she doesn't, she will let everyone she cares about down. Also, again, she loves in a society where she feels she has to change, even if it means being in a romantic/sexual relationship and hating it. It's all for change, it's all for moving forward.

Isabeau: Strength.

Before the story, Isabeau may have been a reversed strength Arcana. Or at least that's how would see it. He was weak, and had low self-esteem and self-worth. And he hated it. He hated it so much that he became...well,*he*.

While he doesn't necessarily appreciate being treated as an idiot now, he seems happy to be a stronger, more confident, and upright version of himself, both inside and our. Though...judging by the fact that Siffrin's comments got to him during their uhh..darker moments, there may still be some doubts left in him.

(Sidenote I think Isabeau may be my favorite character besides Sif and Loop)

Boniface: Sun and Magician

Sun: Bonnie is a ray of positive energy wrapped in a small little crab with a potty mouth and I love them for it. And so does the rest of the party. They support the others with their cooking and miniscule damage. And it's good.

The rest of the saviors would do anything to keep that ray of positivity alive. Even if it meant they would die in the process.

Its no wonder that when they die to the king in the end of Act 3...Siffrin considers that the end.

Magician:This is mostly coming from their hangout quest. Bonnie can heal and cook, but they can also fight...barely. The fact that they are technically the only other party member who can use rock attacks at base(without using a spell like Odile or Sif) shows that they have some potential. And they want to use and grow that potential to go on kore adventures and help their friends.

Odile: Hermit

Odile, while serving as the party's mature voice of reason, and probably fitting for roles like The Empress or Hierophant, I personally see her as a Hermit because of how isolated her story is.

The only one who ever knows what she's doing with her research is Siffrin, and only if/when you do her quest. Every other time, she seems to be isolated and actively hiding it. Its not that she doesn't rely on her friends,but...she's simply doing this alone.

It's a very personal journey for her about being more connected to your heritage and reflecting on yourself.

To be honest, Hermit works REALLY well for Siffrin, too.

#in stars and time #isat #isat siffrin #isat mirabelle #isat bonnie #isat boniface #isat odile #isat isabeau #isat spoilers

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cheesybadgers · 11 months ago

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Narcos Fic: Old Habits Die Hard (Chap. 21)

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16, Chapter 17, Chapter 18, Chapter 19, Chapter 20, Chapter 22, Chapter 23, Chapter 24

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Masterlist

Pairing: Javier Peña x Horacio Carrillo

Words: 7,356

Summary: After arriving in Manizales, Horacio introduces Javier to his family, leading to a long overdue heart-to-heart and a drinking game with a twist.

Warnings: 18+ ONLY. Discussions of coming out, grief, parental loss, canon-typical violence, allusions to period-typical prejudices, drinking game, smoking, swearing.

Notes: Firstly, I will soften the blow of leaving it so long since my last update with the news that chapter 22 will be posted within the next week or so! I decided to split it in half to give more space to the conversations between the characters. So, hopefully that will make up for my elongated silence lol.

Secondly, I finished drafting the rest of the fic at the end of last year 👀 So, I just need to complete editing on chapter 23 and the epilogue. Then, and I can't believe I'm actually saying this, it will be time to leave these two messy idiots to it.

I think it will take me some time to get my head around it coming to an end, not least of all because it's been almost 3 years since I started working on this behemoth. And I can't believe how much has happened/changed since then, yet my love for this ship and this story has stayed strong and close to my heart. So, a bit of a premature thank you to anyone who has supported it at any point since March 2021, it's been quite the emotional rollercoaster ❤️ As always, I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to drop me a comment/message!

I’ve also added to my OHDH trivia post to cover this chapter if anyone is interested.

Chapter 21: For Old Times' Sake

A haze of mist hung low on the horizon, clinging to the rolling waves of verdant peaks that bled seamlessly together with worn asphalt until it was impossible to tell where the sky began and the earth ended.

Luckily, the tyres of the hire car were built for rougher terrain, and it wasn’t the first time Horacio had driven this route. Admittedly, it would have been easier to fly. But this had the added benefit of giving Javier a taste of undiscovered territory.

If truth be told, it gifted them more time to mentally prepare for what was getting closer with every hour that passed, each stop off to admire the view and refresh a stubborn way to prolong the status quo.

Progress had been slow for the last hour as the congested traffic crawled along the sharp angles of the road with its treacherous drops only a few inches away. They had come to a standstill behind a bus that allowed passengers off to take photos, and with little room to manoeuvre around the vehicle, a trail of cars had no choice but to wait.

Javier lounged back in the passenger seat, one foot resting on the opposite knee, his elbow leaning on the door, and the window half open.

He watched Horacio’s hands on the steering wheel alternate between clenching and tapping, a particular kind of rigidity returning to his jaw for the first time in months – if not years.

Javier made an executive decision by reaching into the glove box. He pulled out an emergency pack of cigarettes and a lighter they had stashed away before setting off from Medellín.

He lifted one out of the pack and sparked up. “So, did you say it’s a farm we’re heading to?” There was no point asking the obvious, so distraction it was.

“A coffee farm on the outskirts of the city, yeah. It belongs to Fabián’s family. He and his brother, Santiago, do the bulk of the work now their father’s winding down.”

“Sounds nice. And kinda familiar.”

Horacio’s eyes finally left the windshield and met Javier’s with a shadow of a smile. “Yeah, it does. A lot hillier than Texas, though.”

“Well, that wouldn’t be hard.” Javier held out his smoke across the car, their first one that wasn’t post-coital in a long time. But needs must.

Horacio apparently agreed as he accepted it with a huff of resignation. “Fine, one for the road.”

“I think it’s allowed on roads like this one.”

“I did warn you.”

“Hey, no, I like it. Keeps you on your toes.”

“It reminds me of when Papá drove us to visit Tia Salomé and Tio Jairo in Bogotá. He and Mamá let us have sweets for the long journey but warned us the Mareco would take them away if we didn’t behave.”

“The Mareco?”

“La Leyenda del Mareco. It was a story we were told as kids. The Mareco’s a red devil that looks like a lizard on two legs. He steals children’s candy and conjures up a whirlwind to blow them away if they don’t obey their parents.”

Javier nodded in recognition as Horacio passed their cigarette back. “La Llorona was the story used to scare me and my cousins.”

“Oh yeah, we got that one as well.”

“I gotta say, the Mareco explains a lot.”

“About what?”

“About how you developed a problem with authority.”

“What’s your excuse then?”

“What can I say? I was led astray.”

It was a blatant lie, but Javier didn’t care when it caused laughter lines to materialise in the corner of Horacio’s eyes.

“We both know you were drawn to it as much as you resented it.”

“Only where you were concerned. Anyway, you were just as bad even though you'd never admit it.”

“Maybe you were my exception too.”

A moment of silence fell as memory after memory collided, snapshots of how the push and pull between them had evolved with their relationship.

"Listen, I was thinking,” Javier started before taking a drag, “would it make things easier if you wore this? Just while we’re here, I mean.”

Horacio’s gaze drifted to Javier’s exposed skin, the taillights of the car in front catching on the crucifix at his chest. “No,” he said matter-of-factly. “It’s yours now.”

By the time their cigarette was finished, the traffic edged forward, and the road ahead and Javier’s hand on Horacio’s leg soon replaced conversation.

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

Two and a half hours and several bursts of heavy rain later, the muddied hire car pulled up by a complex of buildings nestled amongst a sea of lush green and vibrant flowers. The buildings sat atop steep slopes of vegetation that led to the coffee plantations below, the foggy skyline above etched with rugged ridges and the ominous outline of Nevado del Ruiz in the distance.

Any sounds from life on a working coffee farm were drowned out by birdsong and their feet crunching beneath them as Horacio and Javier walked up the gravel path towards the main finca. It was typical in its style with a rustic tiled roof, whitewashed bricks and wooden pillars around its perimeter painted in the same shade of terracotta red as the doors and window frames. At the back of the property was a large garden with a patio area, pool and a spectacular view for miles on a clear day.

As they lugged their suitcases onto the porch, Alejandra waited to greet them at the front door. Her dark hair was styled in a bob with waves bordering on curls, the kind Javier imagined Horacio could grow if he wasn’t so insistent on keeping his hair short. At least since leaving the CNP, he had been less strict about cutting it.

The family resemblance between the two siblings was evident in their facial features, particularly in the shape of their noses, charcoal eyes and Cupid’s bows. But Alejandra was a few inches shorter, and her frame was slimmer on account of not carrying the same muscle as Horacio.

“The wanderer finally returns,” Alejandra announced as she pulled Horacio in for a long hug, neither of them keen to be the first to let go. “At least you remembered how to use the phone before turning up on my doorstep.”

“Of course. It's good to see you. But I am sorry I left it so long. There’s, erm…a lot to catch up on.”

“I’ll say.” She peered curiously behind Horacio. “But first, let me say hello to this handsome new face.”

She all but pushed Horacio to one side, forgoing any formal introductions he might have had planned. All Horacio could do was stand and watch two parts of his life converge that, for a long time, he believed would never – and could never – meet.

Javier had hung back by several feet, his hands self-consciously stuffed into the pockets of his jeans as he kept his eyes on the ground until he was spoken to.

“Hi there, I’m Alejandra. You must be Javier?”

“Oh, er, yeah, hi.” For reasons unbeknownst to Javier, he raised his hand in a stiff wave rather than the relaxed handshake he had planned and felt the heat instantly rise in his cheeks. “Pleasure to finally meet you. Beautiful place you’ve got up here.”

“Likewise. And thanks.” Much to Javier's relief, she took the lead and held out a hand for him to shake with a reassuring smile. “Although you’ve got Fabián to thank for that. He’s down there giving a tour to one of our new buyers.” Alejandra turned back to face Horacio. “Mamá’s shopping for school supplies and tonight’s dessert with Juan José, Sofía and Mateo. Ana María’s out with friends. But they should all be back in the next few hours.”

Horacio nodded but remained taciturn, keeping to himself his strong suspicions that Alejandra had made sure she was the only one to greet them upon arrival.

“Come on, you can show Javier around whilst I make us something to eat and drink.”

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

It had been a long time since Horacio’s last visit, but he could just about remember the layout of the place. He took Javier through the downstairs rooms, moving from the hall to the living areas and then the kitchen, which appeared tidier now than in his dreams.

The décor was all tiled or wooden floors and earthy tones, contrasting against large airy windows that made the landscape outside seem like a part of the finca. Evidence of three generations and two cats was scattered everywhere in the form of toys, games, videos, tapes, books, various coffee products and photographs from over the years. In one corner stood a home altar containing a large crucifix, prayer cards, rosary beads, candles, and a statue of Virgen de Chiquinquirá. In the opposite corner was a shelf full of old vinyl with Lucho Bermúdez taking pride of place, naturally.

Upstairs housed six bedrooms and three bathrooms, on account of the brood of four children, three adults and a spare room. The spare room was their last stop, where they dumped their luggage, sharing an amused glance at the double bed with a smaller fold-out one laid out in the corner with a pile of fresh sheets.

“As your guest, I take it I get the bigger one?” Javier asked with a spark of mischief in his eye.

“Well, technically, I’m also a guest here. And I did do all the driving.”

“Maybe I’ll, er, flip you for it later.”

Horacio merely raised a brow at the suggestion in Javier’s tone before they headed back downstairs.

They sat under cover of the terrace in the wildly growing garden, just in case the rain returned, which was always a distinct possibility in Manizales. An impressive platter of fruits was laid out on the table alongside freshly made coffee.

“So, how was the wedding?” Alejandra asked as she poured from a pot into three cups, the dark, rich aroma diffusing into the same crisp air the beans were grown and harvested.

Horacio accepted a cup with a thanks and passed the other to Javier. “It was nice. Good to see everyone again.”

“How’s Trujillo doing? It’s been strange seeing his face all over the news.”

Rather than his, Horacio thought with a strange lurch to the gut he wasn’t expecting. “He’s doing well; he’s a Major now. He deserves some happiness after everything.”

“He’s not the only one.”

Alejandra gave Horacio a pointed look, one he wasn’t ready to entirely meet, so he reached for a slice of guayaba instead.

“And Javier...I take it this is your first visit to Manizales?” she continued, offering him the fruit tray.

“Thanks. And yeah, it is. Never got the time to explore much beyond Bogotá and Medellín.” That wasn't exactly true, but Javier didn’t think talk of Cartagena or Tolú would be welcome right now.

“Well, I hope it won’t be your last.”

Horacio could feel another look directed his way but pretended not to notice it and sipped on his coffee.

Once they had eaten their weight in fruit, Alejandra had some business calls to make, leaving Javier and Horacio to unpack and freshen up before reconvening to make a start on dinner.

Of course, it had to be sudado de pollo. Horacio and Alejandra worked as a team, issuing sporadic instructions to Javier when necessary. But he was happy listening to them catch up and reminisce.

“That smells amazing already,” Javier said as he finely chopped onions across a wooden board, gesturing to the dishful of chicken thighs that Alejandra had just finished marinating.

“Mamá’s secret blend,” she replied as she set the dish aside to move on to dicing several tomatoes.

“Oh yeah? What would I have to do to get the recipe for that?” Javier reflexively caught Horacio’s eye across the kitchen.

“If we told you, we’d have to kill you.” Horacio shot Javier a warning look that indicated he was only half joking before focusing intently on cutting up a large batch of yuca and potatoes.

“Yeah, not even Fabián knows.”

“Papá never knew either. But he was happy for us or Mamá to make it for him.”

“My Mamá was the same with her Abuela’s morisqueta. Although, not long before she passed, she left me and my Pops the recipe.”

Alejandra paused her knife to look up at Javier, the surprise on her face soon transforming into recognition and sympathy. “I bet it’s delicious. You should make it for us some time.”

Now it was Horacio’s turn to stop, his eyes travelling from Alejandra to Javier and back again as the implication of his sister’s words hung as heavy in the kitchen as the aromatic spices of her marinade.

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

Once the chicken and vegetables were all prepped and placed in a pot on the stove, the front door opened and closed, a loud chatter of voices soon filling the hallway.

Before Javier knew what was happening, he was being introduced to the children, shaking hands with Fabián, then kissing Elena’s cheek.

“Welcome, Javier. It’s good to put a face to a name at last,” Elena said, thoroughly taking in his appearance, apparently satisfied with what she saw.

At last. Javier wasn’t sure whether those words put him at ease or made him more nervous, but he managed to push such thoughts behind a smile. “Nice to meet you, and likewise.”

Javier had briefly seen pictures of Horacio’s family in the past. But he, too, spent time studying Elena now that he was close enough to smell the floral notes of her perfume. Neat oval glasses and a mix of dark and light grey hair cut short and choppy framed her sharp features, the shape of her nose and Cupid’s Bow matching those of her children.

“No thanks to this one here, mind you.” Despite her chastisement, Elena embraced her son tightly, reluctant to let go. “I think he’s been hiding from us.”

“You know it wasn’t like that, Mamá.” Although, over his Mamá’s head, Horacio gave Javier a sheepish look that said otherwise. “It is good to see you. And I’m sorry I left it so long.”

Upon greeting his nieces and nephews, Horacio was struck by how much they had all grown up since his last visit. Ana María was the spitting image of her mother. Juan José was several inches taller than Horacio and resembled his father more than ever. And Mateo and Sofía had presumably become resentful of all the matching outfits in their younger years of being twins, going out of their way to dress as differently from each other as possible. Once they had said their obligatory hellos, they scattered around the house and no doubt wouldn’t re-appear until dinner was ready.

Right on cue, when Alejandra brought out steaming and brimming plates full of sudado de pollo, everyone rapidly took their places around the table.

Silence fell as they tucked in, the warmth and comfort of childhood cocooning Horacio from what he knew was inevitable. A welcomed interruption from his thoughts came with a soft brush against his leg, his instincts telling him it was one of the cats issuing their own greeting. But he should have known better.

As they ate and endured the usual family small talk, Javier's foot became Horacio's anchor, subtle and soothing rubs against his ankle unseen under the table. Steady, grounding, home.

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

Horacio carried the last few empty plates to the kitchen, where piles of dishes were already stacked high. He had left Javier with Juan José and Mateo, who were showing off the latest video games they had got for Christmas – and were comfortably beating Javier at them, too.

“I’ll wash; you dry. For old times’ sake,” Alejandra said without looking up from the sink where she was filling the basin with water and suds.

“Okay. On the condition we both tidy everything away afterwards.”

“Deal. You’ll just put it in the wrong place unsupervised anyway.”

Horacio swatted the tea towel he’d picked up in her direction, only for her to retaliate by flicking bubbles in his hair.

“We did okay with dinner, didn’t we? I haven’t made that in a long time,” Horacio said.

“You had a good teacher.”

“So did you.”

“Oh, I know. I think that’s why Papá always loved it. We were all in there somewhere.”

“Like our Christmas tamales.”

“Oh, yeah, he couldn’t get enough of those. Remember we always had to make an extra batch for him to take to work?”

“He said they were to share with his unit, but I’m not sure many made it that far.”

Now they were laughing as they worked in tandem, Alejandra changing the water as Horacio cleared the draining board, ready for the next load.

“Did you ever feel like you let him down?” Horacio asked after a long silence, both siblings seemingly waiting for the other to fill it.

“Of course. You know Papá didn’t approve of Fabián at first, right?”

“What?”

“You must’ve heard the arguments?”

“To be fair, there were plenty of arguments between you and Papá.”

“Yeah, and they were mostly about me daring to marry someone other than a cop.”

“That’s what it was about?”

“Mostly. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Fabián; I just think he had suitors picked out for me. People he knew he could trust.”

“But they got along in the end, didn’t they?”

“Once Papá had got over himself, yeah.” Alejandra let out a nostalgic laugh, which Horacio quickly joined in with. “He could be tough when he wanted to be, but…he meant well,” she settled on. “Once he saw how happy I was and how Fabián had taken after his father with the farm, he came around. It was never personal with Papá. It’s just the way he was.”

“So, you don’t think he’d be disappointed in me…” Horacio paused to swallow, his throat drier than a Texan summer. “For quitting?” he got out eventually.

Alejandra gave Horacio a look he’d seen countless times over the years. One only a big sister could give her little brother when she had to feign ignorance of something she had already discovered for herself. The perks of being the eldest.

“How did you know?”

“Horacio, are you really asking that of someone who has been surrounded by cops all her life?”

Horacio rolled his eyes but let Alejandra have that one unchallenged.

“I thought you might have been discharged on medical grounds, to be honest. I hoped you’d seen sense. Or maybe met someone.”

“I wasn’t discharged, but I negotiated a payout after my injury.”

Alejandra released a self-satisfied hum, a whisp of a smile threatening to break free from the corners of her mouth. “Two out of three’s not bad, I suppose.”

Horacio gulped hard enough for Alejandra to hear; he had no doubt about that. But no words followed, not even when he caught her eye.

“You love him, don’t you?” It wasn’t an accusation or an interrogation. In fact, it was barely even a question.

“Yes.” It caught Horacio off guard how fast he answered. How direct and concise he’d been.

“And he loves you.” There was no pretence of a question mark now, but rather a clarification of a well-established fact. A rite of passage both parties needed to hear.

“He does.”

“Enough to walk away from it all, too.”

Horacio nodded, scared the lump in his throat would give way to something else as his glassy gaze met Alejandra’s.

“His father – Chucho – owns a ranch in Laredo, Texas. That’s where I went after…” he trailed off, not wishing to dwell on the finer details of the ambush. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. I hated lying after everything we’ve been through. But I figured the less you and Mamá knew, the safer it was.”

“I had a feeling you’d left Colombia. But Texas?” Alejandra blew out a low whistle. “That’s the part we’ll need to prepare Mamá for.”

“They’re Mexican-American. And the ranch is right on the border by the river.”

“I’d lead with that part if I were you. Not sure you can avoid a lecture about fraternising with Spanish colonisers, though. Twice.”

“I got that the first time I moved over there. But she went quiet when I reminded her Madrid was good enough for Simón Bolívar.”

Alejandra’s shoulders shook in unison with Horacio’s until a comfortable silence fell between them.

“So, you were there a whole year?”

“Just over. I couldn’t do much to help for the first few months – whilst this healed.” Horacio flexed his right arm to prove to Alejandra that everything was back in working order. “But it was good to have a routine eventually.”

“Wait a minute…you worked on the ranch?”

“No need to sound so surprised when you live here. I was actually pretty good at it. And I liked it.” Although Horacio understood and returned his sister’s bemusement because even he had shocked himself.

“No, I’m not. It’s just…oh, Horacio...” Alejandra broke off to bring her hand to his cheek, her brow creased, but her eyes caught between being on the brink of a smile and tears. “Look at you.”

Horacio made a show of wiping away the suds from his cheekbone, hoping he wouldn’t still have an audience afterwards. But no such luck. “It’s not what I expected to happen – any of it. But it just....felt right. I know that probably doesn’t make sense.”

“Actually, it makes perfect sense.”

“Does it?”

“Well, for starters, I can see the appeal. Obviously. Can’t blame you for going for a younger man, either. And taller.”

Horacio rolled his eyes and hoped his face didn’t look as hot as it felt. “Not by that much. On either count.”

“Hey, no judgment from me. But seriously, of course, it makes sense. I know we all used to joke about you being married to your job, but…after Juliana, I did wonder if there was more to it than that.”

“I think burying myself in work killed two birds with one stone.”

“It was killing you.”

“I know.”

“And Papá would have told you the same.”

A hollow laugh escaped Horacio’s throat, Martínez’s words from the wedding still ringing intrusively in his ears. “I’d have been kicked out of the force. He’d have made sure of that. And I wouldn’t have blamed him.”

“Right, because you were the first officer on Colombian soil to commit violence or be used as a political weapon.”

“He was against it, Alejandra. La Violencia was enough for anyone to see in a lifetime.”

But that was just another in a long line of civil wars. Even if his father's life hadn’t been cut short, he would have seen yet another bloody outbreak in which the state did more to perpetuate the death toll than bring peace to the country. And Horacio had plenty of blood on his hands. At least his Papá was spared witnessing that.

“And you don’t think he was ever put in a compromising position back then? You don’t think La Violencia was why he didn’t want the same for you? You won’t remember much, and Mamá and Papá never spoke about it around us, but I got pretty good at listening through doors.”

“He never did talk about it. Even when I was older.”

Not that he really needed to, Horacio conceded. Even though they were kept relatively safe and away from the violence in Medellín compared to other regions of Antioquia – particularly the rural parts – he had heard enough over the years to fill in the blanks.

He remembered his Mamá’s stories of helping the displaced, those who sought refuge in the city. Thousands who had been forced to flee the violence and start over again, often in makeshift housing on the outskirts, the irony never lost on Horacio that one of those neighbourhoods became Comuna 13. But for all his Mamá’s tales and the work she continued to do until she left for Manizales, his Papá never spoke about those years.

“He was protecting you. Like Mamá was with us after he died. Sometimes silence is easier.”

“I know. I get it. Before he died, the cocaine trade hadn’t got going in Colombia yet. It was mostly marijuana. But with FARC around and the gringos spreading their anti-communist propaganda, he knew it was a question of when, not if, another war was coming. I think he hoped things would be different this time.”

“You did what you had to do, Horacio. Just like he did. Just like every generation of our family did to survive. What’s done is done.”

“I’m not sure you’d say that if you knew everything.”

“You think I never heard any of the rumours out here? Or picked up a newspaper once in a while?”

“You never said anything.”

Alejandra shot Horacio a cutting glare, the kind he was an expert at delivering, but only a select few could get away with throwing back at him. “I knew you wouldn’t talk about it even if I asked.”

Horacio scoffed. Touché. “Not all of it was true.”

It was Alejandra’s turn to laugh. “Well, I kinda figured you weren’t dead after you called.”

“I don’t just mean the ambush.”

“I know,” she said briskly.

But Horacio couldn’t ignore the relief in her body language. Even though he understood it, a wave of shame hit him for even planting a seed of doubt in her – his older sister, the mother of his nieces and nephews – mind in the first place.

“But that’s all in the past now,” he concluded, shutting down his own train of destructive thought. “And you’re right; Papá’s not here. But Javier is.”

“So your future’s in Laredo, then.”

“Are you mad?”

“Am I mad that my little brother is finally getting his shit together and is head over heels in love? Oh, yeah, I’m livid.”

An inferno had spread across Horacio’s cheeks, and he struggled to think of a response. But luckily for him, Alejandra wasn’t done yet.

“It’s…safe, though, right? For you both to live together?”

“As safe as anywhere else. Every country has its problems. I’m sure there’ll always be people with something to say. But we’ve been careful.”

“Just promise me you’ll keep being careful.”

“We will, I promise.”

“I can’t guarantee I’ll convince Mamá to visit in the summer, though.”

“That’s fair. But you do think she’ll want to visit?”

“She might be strong, but we know what she lost – what we all lost. So, if there’s a chance for you to share your life with someone as she did with Papá, to be safe – to be happy after everything – yeah, I think she'll want to visit.”

“Do you think Papá would if he could?” Horacio knew it was a loaded grenade of a question and unfair to ask. But he couldn’t help himself.

Alejandra hesitated, seemingly aware she was between a rock and a hard place. “Maybe in his old age. Or if he knew Javier saved your life.”

“How did –?”

She expelled a comedically dramatic sigh. “Keep up, manito. When you called, you told me the DEA came after you that night. I don’t need to hold a badge to guess who that was.”

Horacio was banged to rights once more as he tried to recall the exact information he had relayed to Alejandra in the hours after the ambush; evidently, it was more than he thought.

“He – and his partner, Steve – went against orders and got suspended for helping me and my men.”

“So, they took a leaf out of your book then?”

“Something like that.”

Before Horacio could overthink it, he took a deep breath and told Alejandra everything. From the blackmail to his and Javier’s resignations to their year in Madrid, it all came tumbling out whilst she kept washing and he kept drying. Just like old times. Just like their Papá was in the next room along with their Mamá. And in so many ways, he always would be, not as a ghost of their past, but forever a part of their present and future.

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

Arriving during the week had its advantages, as it wasn’t necessary for Horacio to make excuses to get an early night. Work and school beckoned in the morning for most of the household, so the evening had ended in a low-key fashion.

That was more than fine by Horacio after a long drive and an overdue heart-to-heart. He lay on his side, his back nestled into Javier’s chest in the centre of the spare room’s double bed. They made up the fold-out bed for pretences, but it was purely extra space to store their luggage.

A bedside lamp and hints of moonlight peaking around the edges of the curtains cast the room in soft shadows, the low murmur of a telenovela in one of the nearby bedrooms the only sound to be heard at this hour.

“How old were you there?” Javier asked, his voice muffled against Horacio’s shoulder where he’d temporarily paused his trail of kisses after picking out one of several framed photos on the wall.

“The one from Alejandra’s wedding? I’d have been 24.”

“Cute curls.” Javier’s nose nuzzled against the back of Horacio’s head, which was sadly lacking the same unruliness as in the photo.

“Fuck you.”

Javier sniggered. “Hey, I was being serious! They suit you. Plus…more to grab hold of.” He slid a hand into Horacio’s hair as his mouth resumed its work along bare skin.

Horacio’s back arched with a sigh as he leaned into Javier’s touch. “You know we can’t get carried away. Not here.”

“I know.” Of course, Javier understood. It was one thing for him to have sneaked in and out of the guesthouse back in Laredo; it was quite another to be under the same roof as Horacio’s whole family. But that didn’t stop the almost petulant tone in Javier’s voice. He was still human, after all.

“I promise we’ll make up for it once we leave.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

Despite their flirtation, exhaustion was thick in their throats and pressed heavily on their limbs, pushing them closer towards sleep as the butterflies in their stomachs finally settled.

“The wedding wasn’t that long after Papá died. Alejandra asked me to give her away instead. At first, I didn’t think I deserved to take Papá’s place. But I think she needed me there with her, so, I said yes.”

“Of course you did, and I bet she never forgot that.”

“No, and I’ll never forget tonight."

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

It was still dark in the spare room when Javier stirred and untangled himself from Horacio as slowly as possible. He had woken up thirsty and threw on a precautionary pair of jeans before tiptoeing down the wooden staircase towards the kitchen.

The clock on the oven read 01:30am, so he wasn't expecting to find the spotlights above it switched on. He searched through the cupboards until he found a tumbler and filled it with water from the tap, taking large gulps until the glass was drained.

“So, you’re a night owl too, then?”

“Shit!” Javier hissed, spinning around with a sharp intake of breath, almost dropping the glass on the tiled floor.

“Sorry,” Alejandra whispered. “I was just reading before heading off to bed.”

“Oh, no, it’s fine. I just needed some water. Didn’t think anyone else would be up.” Javier was suddenly very aware of the fact he was standing half naked in the middle of the kitchen, Horacio’s necklace like a flashing beacon at his chest. “Obviously,” he added with an awkward huff, looking down at his state of semi-undress.

“Right,” Alejandra replied with a stifled laugh. “How about you avoid catching a chill whilst I find something a bit more…authentic than tap water?”

Once Javier came back downstairs with his chest now covered, Alejandra was sat at the kitchen table with two shot glasses and a bottle of aguardiente.

“Not sure my stomach can handle any more of that after the wedding.”

“Lightweight. And just think of it as an initiation.”

Javier sighed in defeat, accepting the challenge as he took a seat opposite Alejandra.

She unscrewed the bottle and tipped measures into each glass. “Wanna make this more interesting?”

“What do you have in mind?”

“Three shots, three questions each. But you can only ask a question after you’ve emptied your glass.”

Javier laughed for a second, unsure what he imagined Alejandra to be like, yet somehow, she surprised him anyway. “Okay. Already sounds better than every other icebreaker inflicted on me. Who goes first?”

“Guest’s choice.”

He stared down at his glass as though it was the barrel of a gun, remembering why he had eventually insisted whiskey was his and Horacio’s go-to drink. When he first arrived in Colombia, Horacio would offer him a shot, pouring liberally from the stash of aguardiente in his office drawer, and Javier accepted on multiple occasions. But it was over and done with like a spoonful of caustic medicine. At least whiskey could be drunk slower and delayed saying goodnight.

That wasn't the order of things now, though. So, Javier grabbed the bull by the horns and threw back his glass, wincing at the aniseed burn as it slid down his throat.

“New rule: you’ve got 30 seconds to come up with a question. Otherwise, you take another shot.”

“Alright, alright, I’m thinking.”

Alejandra’s gaze fell on the oven clock, ramping up the pressure. “10 seconds left…”

“Okay. I’ve got one. What was it like growing up with a younger brother?”

“Annoying, obviously. Especially after he got the highest grade in his English class. I don’t know where he picked them up, but he knew all the swear words. Of course. He drove me crazy testing them out.”

“He did that to my old partner, Steve – his Spanish isn’t great, and Horacio sure liked to remind him whenever he got the chance.”

“Sounds about right. No wonder he liked you – best of both worlds.”

“Maybe.” Javier knew what Alejandra meant, but it didn’t stop heat from spreading through his cheeks regardless.

“He was generally pretty quiet at school,” Alejandra continued, "but not afraid to take the lead…or break a few rules.”

“Again, I’m not surprised.”

“Nope.” They both laughed at that. “He always liked to be moving, though. Doing something with his hands. Or playing sports – he was a good runner. We used to race each other around Jardín Botánico, and he would always beat me. I think he already knew he was in training for the Academy. So, obviously, he was accepted. No doubt some thought he got a free pass, but he was determined to prove himself. Then he had to grow up.”

The joviality faded abruptly from Alejandra’s face, transforming into a wistful smile.

“We both did. But at least I’d had more time with Papá. Good job I did have those few years to myself ‘cos Horacio followed him around like a shadow. Until he couldn’t. Then he thought he had to be the man of the house. Even when there were two much more qualified women for the job.”

“He thought it was his duty."

“Yeah. He did.” There was something akin to awe in how Alejandra looked at Javier, as though she was simultaneously taken aback and impressed that someone summed up and understood her brother so accurately and succinctly.

“Isn’t it your turn, now?” Javier asked after a moment of silence.

Without further hesitation, Alejandra downed her shot. “Why Colombia?”

“Why not Colombia?” He tried a feeble laugh but knew that wouldn't cut it. “I studied Gabriel García Márquez in high school. Although, can’t say I really got him at the time. Took me another try when I was older.”

Now he thought about it, Javier wasn’t convinced he exactly got him the second time around either, considering García Márquez’s views on extradition aligned fiercely with Horacio’s. But that was the luxury of hindsight.

“By then, my Mamá had long since passed, my fiancée had just become my ex, and I had no fucking clue what I was doing with my life. Guess I needed to get lost in someone else’s problems for a while.”

“Tell me about it.” Alejandra held a book up in the air that had been abandoned on the table since Javier joined her.

“Smart move. My teacher loved telling us how García Márquez moved to Mexico and wrote One Hundred Years of Solitude over there. And with how things went down in Laredo, I could see the appeal of starting over in another country. Mexico was…too close to home. The drug war was getting out of hand. More and more agents were being transferred. And what’s the line?” Javier broke off, eyes cast towards the ceiling as he licked his lips in concentration. “‘We came’, they said, ‘because everyone is coming’.”

Alejandra let a pause of bewilderment pass between them as she studied Javier with intrigue. “You’re not at all like the other gringos he’s worked with in the past.”

“Did he bring any of them home to his family?”

“No. You’re the first. As I’m sure you're aware.”

“Maybe.”

“Drink up.”

Javier did as he was told, repressing a cough as the potent liquid worked its magic. “Why did you choose farm life over being a cop?”

Alejandra laughed a little too loudly, considering the time. “There are other career choices, you know.”

Javier gasped. “There are?”

“Hard to believe, isn’t it? But that’s not quite how it went for me. The farm came with Fabián. They’re sort of a package deal. I’m sure you can understand that.” She threw Javier a knowing smile. “But I ruled out being a cop years before I moved here or met Fabián. I knew from Papá that women in the force were few and far between back then. They’re still pretty scarce now. I wasn’t up for putting myself in the firing line being a General’s daughter. They never would have respected me or believed I got there on my own merit. I didn’t want to spend my life trying to gain anyone's approval.”

“Makes sense. It’s not easy in the force if you’re…different from the rest."

“Exactly. I’m not sure it’s what Papá even wanted for me anyway. Because he knew what it’d be like. Then there was Mamá with her social work. She was in her element. Always fighting someone’s corner, especially during the suffrage movement. I think I was the odd one out in the family, ‘cos everyone else seemed to have…a calling except for me. So, I studied, got a business degree, became a buyer for various companies and ended up in the coffee industry. And the rest is history.”

“Good for you. And I guess that explains Horacio’s, er, distaste for a badly made cup of coffee.”

“Yep. He’s got no excuse. And neither do you anymore.”

“I’ll bear that in mind. Your turn.” Javier took the bottle this time and filled Alejandra’s glass.

She downed it in one go. “¿Por qué no un llanero ahora que has descartado ser policía?” (Why not a llanero now you’ve ruled out being a police officer?)

“¿Por qué no un vaquero?” (Why not a vaquero?) Javier corrected with a glint in his eye that Alejandra returned with an eye roll. “Like you said…there are other jobs. That one was just never for me. I need more variety day-to-day. Like I’m making a bigger difference somehow. But preferably without the pretty fucking significant risk of death or blackmail.”

“A fair demand.”

“Right? It’s not like I’m asking for a raise.”

“When I moved here, I didn’t know where life was taking me, especially when the kids came along. I couldn’t keep my old job because of all the travelling…and being a mother was the priority until they started school. It took me a while to find my place on the buying and selling side of the business. So, all I’m saying is, things might get clearer once you’re settled back in Laredo.”

“I’ll drink to that.” Javier raised his glass and nodded his thanks to Alejandra, touched by her unprompted advice.

His third and final question had arrived, and the pressure to make it a good one pressed uncomfortably on his increasingly fuzzy head. “If your father was here now, what would you say to him?”

For a brief second, Javier feared he had overstepped some forbidden and invisible line and been overfamiliar with someone he only really knew by proxy at this stage.

But whilst Alejandra’s smile was permanently stained with traces of grief, warmth flickered then grew in her charcoal eyes. “I’d tell him we’re fine. That we miss him and wish he’d come back for good but that he needn’t worry. Because even though Mamá didn’t always get things right, she steered us through it as best she could. And we didn’t turn our backs on the world. That we found love in the dark.”

Alejandra sniffed and wiped the back of her hand across her nose. “Sorry. I think it’s the alcohol.”

“No, don’t be sorry.” Javier paused to clear his throat, blinking his vision back into focus. “It was beautifully said.” His hand reached for hers across the table, hoping again that he hadn’t gone too far.

But she let his hand rest there until she shook her head like a wet dog and poured her final shot. “Same question to you about your mother, obviously,” she said before downing the aguardiente in one.

Javier scoffed. “Well, I guess I deserved that.” He took his time, collecting his thoughts as though he was preparing an important speech. As though he’d been trying to find the right words for most of his life – and how rarely he’d succeeded.

“I’d tell her I miss her morisqueta. I’d tell her Pops visits her every week. But then I think she already knows that. Same way I think she made sure he never re-married.”

Javier couldn’t help but laugh, seeing with perfect clarity where his own loyal streak came from when his Pops was still as devoted to Mariana as the day they married. Siempre tuyo was no exaggeration.

“I’d make sure she knew he wasn’t alone, though. That he was known as Don Chucho to most in Laredo. That she’d be proud of him for growing the community she helped start. I’d brag about all the tamales we’ve made and quote her favourite poems. I’d introduce her to Horacio.”

He envisaged showing her Horacio’s poetry book, knowing that all it would take was for her to read Javier’s message in the opening pages to understand everything about who they were to each other. He’d even dreamed of it, waking with a ridiculous hope that she had somehow intercepted it.

“She sounds as incredible as your father. I hope one day I can thank him for taking my little brother under his wing when he needed it the most.”

“I’m sure that could be arranged.”

“I can’t – and don’t want to – imagine where he would have ended up without either of you, to be honest. He told me about the ambush…and everything else. And even though it doesn’t feel nearly enough, I just want to say...thank you.”

At first, Javier could only nod and swallow the lump bobbing at the base of his throat. “He did the same for me. It wasn’t easy walking away from my job, don’t get me wrong, but it was different for him. He felt like he’d betrayed Colombia and his Papá. Yet he did it anyway.”

“When it’s the right person, the sacrifices are worth it. And I can’t think of anyone more worthy of wearing that.” Alejandra’s sightline had fallen to Javier’s neck. His chest may have now been covered, but the silver chain still poked out from beneath the seam of his shirt.

She poured them a bonus shot each and raised her glass. “Welcome to the family.”

#Narcos fic #Narcos #Javier Peña #Horacio Carrillo #Carrillo #Javier Peña x Horacio Carrillo #Pedro Pascal #Maurice Compte #Narcos fanfic #Narcos fanfiction #Narcos fan fic #My Fan Fic #My Narcos Fic

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fluffystevefest · 5 months ago

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Fluffy Steve Fest really flew by! Thank you so much to everyone who shared their creations or showed their love and support - the round-up of daily masterlists (with a side of fun statistics) is coming on July 10. In the meantime, be generous with your likes, kudos, reblogs, shares, and comments! 💙

THEME ★ STEVE'S...

Fluffy Steve Fest Day 7 - Steve's...less common friendships by @bulkyphrase ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Multi ★ It's the final day of @fluffystevefest! Sunday's theme is "Steve's..." and I've decided to focus on Steve's rarer friendships. So please enjoy this list of lighthearted stories featuring some lovely platonic Steve rarepairs.

Fluffy Steve Fest Rec List: July 7: Steve's... by @ephemeralbutterfly ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Multi ★ Hello everyone! I am doing daily themed rec lists for @fluffystevefest. The fics are related (some more loosely than others) to the daily prompts. The number of fics for any given day and prompt varies, but I have at least one fic for each day. There's also a wide variety of fic types and ratings, so I hope there will be something for everyone. The lists are vertically long, so I've put them behind a cut. The longest list for the last day. Once again a grab bag.

Coming Around Again by @polizwrites ★ Fic: 572, G ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky ★ When Bucky calls Steve out on an old habit, he remembers the first time they shared an apartment.

Day 7: His Wickedly Wild Menace by @mercurial-chuckles ★ Fic ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ As a Systems Engineer, you were working on a machine in the gym. To your great dislike, a rookie bullies your trainee, and you can't help but show the rookie his place. Unbeknownst to you, the Avengers were vetting out the recruits before physical strength tests, and they see the whole thing. You capture Steve's interest.

yours, steve rogers by @meidui ★ Fic: 1k, G ★ Pairing: Steve & Avengers ★ Life seems to slow down, gentle and forgiving in a way it has never been before, and Steve gets into writing letters.

PROMPT ★ CHILDHOOD

For the First Time by @thebrooklynnway ★ Fic: 3.2k, M ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony ★ Steve is six years old when he meets Tony. He kisses Steve on the cheek, declares that they are best friends for life, then makes his way down the ladder of the treehouse. Steve watches with a blush on his freckled cheeks, a mixture of happiness and something he doesn’t really understand swirling in his heart.

I Drew it for You by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 100, G ★ Pairing: Steve & Sarah ★ Steve draws something for his mother.

de-aged steve fic recs <3 by @meidui ★ Rec list ★ Pairing: Steve/Tony ★

PROMPT ★ HABITS

Expensive Habit by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 100, G ★ Pairing: Steve & Tony, Steve & Avengers ★ It sort of just happens...

PROMPT ★ FIRST TIMES

Name Change by @ijustreallylikecaptainamericaok ★ Fic: 396, T ★ Pairing: Steve/Scott, Steve & Cassie ★ Scott had seen a similarly shocked pause before, back when Paxton went from Jim to Papa.

Thawed Interest by @darthbloodorange ★ Fic: 300, T ★ Pairing: Steve/Bucky, Steve & Avengers ★ Steve experiences his first crush since coming out of the ice. The Avengers have thoughts...

PROMPT ★ HAPPY ENDING

World's Best Dad-Venger by @darthbloodorange ★ Art ★ Pairing: Steve & Avengers ★ Summery: A retired Steve wakes in the morning to find a gift left by the young heroes he helps train.

Happy Ending by @americas-ass-writing ★ Fic: 1.3k ★ Pairing: Steve/Reader ★ Happy endings were something from fairytales. The real life didn't offer this. Steve would know. Every single piece of happiness was taken from him after way too short. His dad, his mom soon after, Bucky (who luckily returned to him), his own life. After trying to reclaim what he could of his life things looked better. He had friends, a found family, a sense of purpose... only for it to be taken far too soon. After the fight with Thanos everyone went their separate ways. Tony quit to be with his family, Natasha went on a lengthy solo mission. Sam and Bucky went on their own adventures after Steve gave the shield to Sam, too tired to continue being cap. Being someone he just isn't anymore. Thor went back to new Asgard. Bruce went to California. Which leaves Steve alone in New York. Alone to pick up the shambles of his and everyone else's life. Alone.

#steve rogers #steverogersevents #fluffystevefest #trackmarvel #marvel-events-central #mod post #day 7 #daily masterlist

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ace-of-garlic-breads · 2 months ago

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Ok I've had this thought in my brain since I yk DESIGNED him. But here's some quick TMNT (Ace's version) Casey Jones lore :3

So like I mentioned I've been thinking abt this since like August when I created TMNT (Ace's Version) but now I have a more concrete awnser (at least for myself lol)

Casey is Wasian (mixed White & Asian)

Casey's Dad is Canadian (White)

And his Mom is Filipino,

The family lived in Canada until Casey's Mom got a better job opportunity in New York so they moved from Toronto (Casey was abt 5th grade)

(Also YES I know that Toronto is like, one of the ONLY Canadian cities non Canadian people KNOW, but I feel like it fits here OK?!)

Since his Dad is Canadian Casey has been in Hockey since he could WALK (luckily he LOVES it)

When Ella (Casey's sister) was born and got a little older her Dad and brother TRIED to get her into Hockey but it never really worked.

Casey's Dad is a HUGE Leafs fan. When Casey was like, 13 he had a more rebellious phase, so for a short while Casey "rooted" for the Montréal Canadians (I have no idea anything to do with Hockey lol. I know like, 4 Canadian teams (Leafs, Canadians, Oilers and Beasts) but he's a Leafs guy at heart

Some lore abt him coming out:

When Casey came out as Trans to his parents his dad was SUPER supportive, like he probably owns like 4 "I ❤️ my trans son" T-shirts, he gives Casey old Hand-me-downs (like His Jacket) and Casey has a REALLY good relationship with his Dad

His Mom was not AS supportive as her Husband, she still absolutely loves her son and calls him by his preffered name and pronouns (despite messing up every once and a while, but BOTH his parents mess up), she'll still use more feminine language around extended Familt, and they are a little less close than Casey is with his dad.

(Warning for very brief and non specific mentions of Transphobia!)

Both sets of Grandparents don't like that Casey is Trans. So much so that whenever they Visit Casey is almost never home and is Quieter than usual, he was taught as a child to be respectful to family, especially his grandparents. So rather than getting into arguments about his appearance/presentation/identity, he just isn't really there, in the past he'd just go to April's for as long as he could and now in the present he goes to the Turtles' lair and will usually be in Donnie's lab, because it's the Quietest place, it's do regular that Donnie basically made a small corner for Casey to just kinda, have, (small signs of affection pre-them becoming a thing :3)

WOW that ended a little dark I think XD

Here. Have a goofy looking Casey sketch from one of the WIP pages (HOPEFULLY out in early November!)

#teenage mutant ninja turtles #tmnt #Tmnt (Ace's version)#TMNT (Ace's Version)#tmnt iteration #tmnt casey jones

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humanitys-strongest-bamf · 1 year ago

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"get me a damned matcha" | Chapter 2: July I

{{ Chapter 1: June I | Chapter 3: August I }} Chapter Directory

yes even modern au levi has a sad backstory, no i regret nothing

if you're interested in getting tagged for updates, fill out this form here!

✧ pairing ➼ levi ackermann x fem!reader, college x coffee shop x roommates!au ✧ summary ➼ After you find yourself plagued with misfortune due to struggles in your personal and family life, you find yourself needing to move last minute. As a junior in undergrad with little money and little social support, you considered yourself lucky when you found a sublease that was close to campus and was relatively cheap. Unfortunately, it seemed that your roommate did not seem to be so excited regarding your presence. ✧ content/warnings ➼ slowburn, enemies to lovers (sorta), strangers to lovers, mentions of family deaths, mentions of an emotionally abusive parent figure, gn!hange (they/them), mentions of kenny being an abusive father figure, levi being mean ✧ word count ➼ ~3.6k

Although you weren't too surprised at your ex-boyfriend's lack of timeliness in terms of dropping off your belongings, you still cursed at yourself for being naive. You remembered waiting a week before shooting Zack a text message with a drop-off point to meet up for your belongings, in which he only responded with "I'll get to it when I get to it". You knew that this roughly translated into the fact that he would be taking his sweet time getting you your stuff, if he would even bring it to you at all.

You didn't have a car and you certainly didn't want to ask Levi to borrow his with how adamant he was on ignoring your existence. Luckily, one of your "close" friends was also in town due to a summer on-campus job, so you were able to go shopping for living supplies with her.

You and Petra had been friends since high school and you appreciated her existence, but you couldn't help but feel like she was only tolerating you instead of actually being your friend. It was always you reaching out and any attempts at bonding were half-assed at best. Still, she was the only reliable person in town at the moment—and you at least got to vent about Levi to her.

You had lived with your ex-boyfriend for around three years before breaking up and getting kicked out of his apartment. This was actually your first time navigating this type of situation on your own, but you were determined to make it work, no matter how much of a dick Levi was intent on being.

"He's just been kind of ignoring me," you muttered as you sat in the passenger's seat of Petra's car. The two of you were headed towards Chosahei Cafe. You had been spending your free time there the past couple of days and you enjoyed the atmosphere there, minus Levi.

"He barely responds to text messages and barely even acknowledges me at home. Trying to initiate conversation with him is like pulling teeth," you continued.

"Maybe he's shy?" Petra suggested innocently.

You looked at her with an "are you kidding me?" expression. You were never sure if Petra was blindly positive or simply naïve, both were irritating to deal with.

"Well, you'll be able to see him for yourself if he's working his shift today," you mumbled as you saw the café come into sight as Petra pulled into the parking lot.

"You still come into this café despite the fact that he works here?"

"Well, I figured if he's going to be a dick and continue ignoring me, then I'll be as much of a pain in the ass to him as I can be."

"You're petty."

You scoffed at Petra's comment without responding as you got out of the car, swinging your backpack that was no longer overpacked over your shoulder.

As you glanced at the entrance to the café, part of you wondered if Levi was working there at the moment. It would determine how enjoyable and productive your time at the café would actually be.

You found yourself sighing in relief when he wasn't.

"No Levi today?" you asked as you waved and smiled at Onyakopon.

"Thank goodness," you muttered, which earned a chuckle out of the barista.

Instead of taking your regular seat at the coffee bar near the tea station, you elected to sit with Petra at a small two-seat table in the corner of the café so that the two of you could chat regarding your plans for the upcoming school year.

You proposed the idea of a honors society social club towards the end of last year before shit hit the fan with your ex-boyfriend. The two other officers of the club were still off-campus for a few more weeks, so you couldn't do any serious planning ahead of time. On top of the club, you also had to think about your capstone project for graduation. Although you were primarily an English major on the creative writing track, your curriculum was a bit more individualized. As a result, your capstone project to graduate was to write and publish a light novel.

You had gladly accepted the additional requirements for your major last year before things fell to shit. You had everything planned out, such as how much you should write each month or how much time you'd dedicate to outlining versus actually writing. However, the whole situation with your ex-boyfriend threw everything out of proportion. Your grades in the spring semester plummeted—you even had to take an incomplete for a few classes—and you missed out on four months of writing, which left you horrifically behind. Luckily, it wasn't enough to throw your graduation into jeopardy, but it meant that these next two years would require you to work your ass off.

On top of that, you had to make sure your baseline grades were satisfactory enough to keep your helicopter parent-style aunt off your ass. Ever since your parents passed, your aunt had picked you up, including offering you food, shelter, and financial assistance at the expense of subjecting you to her somewhat emotionally abusive behavior.

"You sure you're able to do all that?" Petra asked. It wasn't that she doubted your abilities. She had seen how much of a mess you were the previous year and knew that keeping all of this up would be difficult, even without the emotional strain of everything in your personal life.

You stayed silent for a while.

"I have to try," you whispered.

You knew that it was going to be exceptionally difficult to even stay afloat if you don't get your shit together. You told yourself that this year would be different—you'd be more independent and focus on school and school alone. You wouldn't bother yourself with relationships or be too preoccupied with superficial friendships.

You had to—your schooling, career prospects, and even relationship with your last living family member depended on it.

~~~~~

In addition to all of the things you had to accomplish with school, you also had to do with your less than pleasant roommate every single day.

Levi Ackermann was an absolutely terrible roommate. You could not think of anyone worse. Even your ex-boyfriend, had he not been your ex, would might have been a more pleasant person to be around.

Levi was a clean freak. Although you weren't a particularly messy person, it apparently still wasn't enough for his standards. You remember you left a mug and plate overnight in the sink once and Levi spent the next 24 hours grumbling about being stuck with a "filthy" roommate and how you were going to be a magnet for pathogens. You vaguely knew that he was doing research in something related to immunology, but this behavior was too extreme even for that. Even if you did agree with him regarding the dishes, grumbling passive aggressive comments underneath your breath the entire day was certainly not an effective method of communication.

You were both light sleepers. However, this was primarily only an issue for you. Levi apparently rarely slept. You would notice him wandering around the apartment throughout the night or even pacing in his room. While he wasn't noisy by any means, you also being a light sleeper meant that you were always acutely aware of his movements throughout the night. His inability to sleep was also beginning to affect yours. You had made sure that you made a mental note to buy earplugs the next time you went shopping with Petra, although you doubt that would have helped much.

One day, you found yourself scrambling around in your room, digging through your backpack and wallet. You facepalmed as you realized that you forgot to pick up your laundry card from your landlord and she was out of town for the next two weeks.

You awkwardly knocked on Levi's door. You were out of clean laundry. You hated being forced to interact with him, much less ask him for help, but you had little choice.

Your grumpy roommate slightly cracked his door open and peeked at you through it with an annoyed expression.

"What do you want?" he asked in an unnecessarily annoyed tone. "I'm busy."

"Doing what?" you asked, matching his frown. "Staring at your laptop screen all day again?"

You didn't actually care about whatever it was that he was doing. As long as he didn't bother you, you couldn't care less about his day-to-day activities.

He didn't answer.

"Whatever," you said, trying to contain your irritation. "I forgot to pick up my laundry card from the landlord. Can I borrow yours? I'll Venmo you."

Levi remained silent and continued to frown at you. A suffocating feeling arose within him. You had only been living with him for a little under two weeks, but he could already tell that you were going to be an absolute pain in his ass throughout the next couple of months.

He walked away.

You were bewildered with his behavior and apathy towards you.

"Are you serious-"

However, before you could finish scolding him regarding how petty he was being, he reappeared and held his laundry card in between his index and middle finger, holding it in your direction.

He paused before completely handing it to you.

"Don't make this a habit," he said curtly, immediately shutting his door after you took his card.

You were grateful that he lent you his card, but you still had to take more than a few deep breaths to contain your frustration. You were already wanting to rip his stupid, obnoxious head off.

Why did I have to be stuck with the worst roommate imaginable?

There was no way that you could even fathom being stuck living with Levi for the next year.

The one positive in the sea of negatives was that you had rent and utilities figured out in terms of splitting the bill. That's what ultimately mattered, so that's what you tried to focus on, although ignoring everything else wasn't exactly easy. Even setting up payments was a pain in the ass.

He was fine with handwriting an old-fashioned check and mailing it out. You were not. You didn't understand why you'd leave so much up to chance in terms of trusting that he'd get the check written in time and that the postal service would get it to your landlord on time.

You opted to set up an automatic payment system through your leasing company's website. The fact that it existed and Levi never utilized it was astonishing. You set up automatic payments as well as spreading out bill due dates throughout the month so neither of you would have to worry about having to be overwhelmed with one gigantic bill at the end of the month. You really thought he'd be grateful that you were taking the time and energy to set all this up to make both your lives easier. He wasn't.

"Anything else you have a problem with, Matcha Girl?" he grumbled as he typed into his phone.

"Matcha Girl?!" you exclaimed, surprised at his unnecessary nickname for you.

You glanced over at his phone and saw that he was typing your nickname that you never consented to into your contact information, replacing your name with it. You scoffed at him in disbelief.

He looked up at you with a neutral expression.

"What? Are you not obsessed with your Matcha's? It's all you ever fucking order."

You clenched your jaw, finding yourself frustrated for the umpteenth time at him.

"You're a dick."

"You're a pain in the ass," he responded immediately, barely letting you finish your sentence.

Surviving this next year was really going to be impossible.

~~~~~

Levi found himself unable to concentrate. It was entirely your fault. He was sure of it.

Outside of reading at home and working at the café, Levi found himself being forced to labor away his time in lab. He was one year into his immunology PhD program and performed research regarding pathogens and the various effects of the different types on the human body. It wasn't the only reason, but it largely contributed to his status as a "clean freak".

He sighed to himself as he continued neatly writing in his notebook. He had just finished analyzing his slides and needed to jot the preliminary data before moving on to code it into the department computer. He wasn't particularly tech savvy, which contributed to how tilted he found himself at your insistence on using your leasing company's website to handle everything. Of course, you didn't need to know that. The less he had to interact with you, the better.

Levi groaned out loud as he heard the door noisily open as someone barged in, carrying too much in their arms than they could handle.

"If you fall and injure yourself, it's entirely your fault, four-eyes," he grumbled.

This so-called "four-eyes" stumbled into the room before noisily setting a myriad of lab equipment onto the table—mostly pipettes and beakers, but they had also finagled a microscope into their grasp.

Levi shot them an unamused look.

Erwin's lab primarily consisted of himself, Levi, and Hange, with Levi as the PhD student he was mentoring, and Hange as the lab tech that kept the lab running. There was the occasional undergraduate student, but this was rare.

"Oh c'mon, it can't possibly be that bad!" Hange exclaimed after listening to Levi vent about his new roommate situation for a few minutes. "_____ seems sweet."

Levi scoffed at their last comment.

"Yeah, when you're not living with her. I'm going to strangle Miche when he visits in October."

"For what? Getting a job?"

Levi remained silent at Hange's comment. He knew he had no valid reason to be mad at Miche for moving, he just hated the fact that he had to deal with you as a roommate.

"You're mad because she's an undergrad, aren't you?" Hange asked quietly.

Levi grunted and continued jotting down his notes, clearly no longer interested in continuing the conversation.

"Don't you remember your undergrad days?" Hange prompted.

"What's worth remembering?" he grumbled.

Levi always found himself incredibly irritated around undergraduate students. They were constantly running around, buying their cheaply made lattes, partying on the weekends, and generally being able to breeze through college through their parents' funding—all things he was never even given the chance to enjoy or explore.

Levi's mother had passed when he was a child. As a result, he was raised by his uncle, who couldn't be bothered to give a shit about schooling. Levi's financial aid got fucked up due to his uncle's lackluster performance in being a parent helping their kid get into and through college—which resulted in Levi having to work overtime through undergrad and pulling some strings with the academic advising office so that he could still get his degree despite having his family situation as an additional source of stress. He never got the traditional college experience, so he found himself irrationally pissed off at the more typical undergrads that didn't seem to give a single fuck about everything happening in the background that allowed them to have their "fun college experience".

"Oh y'know," Hange muttered in response to his rhetorical question. "Like figuring out how to navigate the world for the first time on your own."

They looked up and saw Levi glaring at them as if he was trying to murder them with just his gaze alone.

Levi always had to figure it out "on his own". Even around his uncle, he basically had to raise himself. He doubted that there was a single thing that Hange—or anyone—could say that would decrease his ire.

"Levi," a voice said.

Levi internally sighed as he turned to face his PI.

"Let's chat," Erwin said, gesturing to his office. "I want to discuss your project."

Since Levi was already irritable at baseline, he felt himself rapidly exiting his window of tolerance when Erwin began chatting about how he had been falling behind on research updates or literature reviews. What Erwin didn't know was that Levi was forced to work more for the past few weeks due to his moving situation, although it was unlikely that he would've done much to accommodate.

He still had three years before he needed to finish his PhD, and he could technically be granted extra semesters to finish his study, but being able to graduate in the standard four years seemed like the path of least resistance. Every other option required extra steps that gave Levi more than just a headache.

Levi decided to head home after the irritating back-to-back conversations he had been forced to endure over the course of the day. The only thing he wanted to do was go home, take a shower, and forget everything regarding real life, including labwork and the café. More than anything, he wanted to avoid thinking about his housing situation, but he knew that would be next to impossible. That further irritated him.

He groaned silently to himself as soon as he walked in the door and saw you on your laptop on the couch. You had your hair up in a messy ponytail and had already settled in for the night, wearing sweatpants and a loose t-shirt.

His following groan became audible as he noticed you approaching him.

"Hey," you said quietly, "I think we got off to a bad start."

You paused for a while to give Levi a chance to respond. He remained silent.

"But I wanted to let you know that I appreciate you letting me move in and working with me to get everything figured-"

"Just don't drag your undergrad shit home and we'll call it a day," Levi muttered as he cut you off, not interested in having a real conversation regarding the topic. He's had one too many irritating conversations in the day and he couldn't imagine talking with you as anything other than irritating.

"'Undergrad shit'?" you asked in disbelief as if you didn't hear him properly.

"Yep," he said curtly before walking past you.

You felt your frustration rising and forced yourself to take a few quiet deep breaths. You were trying to be nice and level out any tension that had resulted from bad first impressions or incompatible living styles, but none of that was being reciprocated.

Being around Levi truly was strange for you. You hated to admit it, but you knew you had a pattern of prioritizing other people's happiness over your own, even to the point of silencing your own voice and autonomy.

However, Levi effortlessly pissed you off every single time you interacted with him. Even if you wanted to prioritize his needs over yours, you couldn't. The last thing you wanted to do was give him the satisfaction.

"You really want to make living together this difficult?" you asked, trying your best to contain your anger.

Levi was immediately able to tell how pissed off you were getting, but that didn't give him any remorse. He shot you an expression that matched your mood: angry and hostile.

"Looks to me like you're the one making it difficult."

"What?!" you exclaimed, a bit louder than intended.

"Were you not the one that came up to me with this shit?" he asked calmly.

It pissed you off how seemingly calm he seemed while you were unraveling in rage.

"I walked in the door for less than 30 seconds before you brought shit up."

You clenched your fists and spoke through clenched teeth.

"Well, I'm trying to come up with a compromise!" you argued. "So we can at least get along while being forced to live together!"

Levi scoffed before rolling his eyes and walking towards his room, cutting the conversation off.

You couldn't understand why he was being this hostile to you. Sure, you had called him a dick at your first meeting, but in your defense, he was giving you a hard time at the café and your fuse was already short because you couldn't get keys to the apartment—which was also caused by him. If anything, you should be the hostile one.

You weren't sure if you did something wrong. Your previous roommate of three years, your ex-boyfriend, always said that you were a terrible person to live with, so you began to really suspect if it was something about you that made you difficult to live with, despite you putting in active effort to accommodate or be considerate of their living styles.

As you began to consider all the reasons as to why you might have had a fundamental flaw that made co-living unrealistic, you suddenly stopped your train of thought and clenched your fists—enough was enough.

Even if it was you, even if it was some terrible oversight you've had in which you were already ruining your relationship with your new roommate, you told yourself that you had enough of pleasing people like Levi—people who trampled upon your efforts to cooperate and threw them out the window. If he was going to be this difficult, you were going to be difficult back. Social reciprocity—or in this case, the lack thereof—was a thing.

You groaned to yourself as you sat back down on the couch, holding your head in your hands out of frustration.

How the fuck am I going to get through this year if I have to come home to this every day?

#: @levisbrat25 @gothgril69 @sckerman @berrijam @notgoodforlife @meowjaa @averysmolbear @roseofdarknessblog @bejewelledd @hhighkey @ayame236 @sad-darksoul @velouria17 @kamyru @l1zk4

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couchtaro · 2 years ago

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from the OC introduction ask! (Sorry followers this is long but its worth it i prommy there are even pictures)

This is my little dötter Basil, a D&D PC of mine! She only saw 3 sessions of play 3 years ago but she is getting a second chance at life because @eaudecrow picked her up from the shelter and gave her a lovely yard to run around in.

Basil is a little tiefling girl whose large family runs an apothecary and surgery in a tiny little backwater town called Tarnygee. Basil’s brilliant mother developed a strain of magical herb that when processed can cast (without spell slots or prior magical ability) Lesser Restoration, thereby curing any disease instantly.

While traveling to heal a local noble, Basil’s mother disappeared and a bigshot inventor came forward claiming her panacea as his own. When Basil’s oldest brother tried to confront him and wound up dead, it became clear there was nothing they could do to get justice on their own. So, fueled by grief and rage, Basil took a job as a part-time warlock at Seelie Corp., a fey megacorporation with mysterious motives. In return for her working as their errand girl, Basil gets to be distinctly less killable and more tricky as she tries to find the inventor and extort him for the good of her destitute family.

Things aren’t working as well as she would like though: due to being basically a middle schooler, she’s got to keep her work under 40 hours a week and gets limited pact benefits. Her supervisor (a weasely pseudodragon named Keith) is dismissive and unhelpful, and her small town upbringing has kept her deeply unprepared for taking on the wild world of men and magic on her own.

Luckily, she’s found some unexpected help! While submitting her weekly report through the postal system of Fey portals, Basil’s paperwork went awry and found its way to another world: specifically a bunker in a war torn parallel version of the material plane. This bunker is the home and prison of Crow’s Aaren D’Cannith.

As a youth, Aaren invented a mechanical race called warforged, but seeing their potential for war and servitude, his family seized his blueprints (AND HIS ROBOT DAUGHTER) and disowned him as soon as he came of age. Aaren spent a few years as a vigilante trying to free his creations, but was trapped in his secret library when a magical-chemical fallout steeped his homeland in a volatile and toxic arcane gas. There he stayed, trapped and utterly alone, for three years.

Until Basil.

The two are corresponding via letters that we actually write each other, and it’s SUCH a fun and interesting method of storytelling to me aah. Despite being little more than strangers separated by a barely permeable divide, and despite Aaren struggling to believe Basil was even real at first, the two have formed a very sweet bond that makes me so unwell, you would not believe.

Both are grieved by how much of their own misfortune they see in the other. Through Basil’s letters, Aaren can tell that she is young, inexperienced, lacking support, and actively in danger as she allows herself to be used in exchange for power. He sees her situation with the eyes of someone who has been there and thus liberally (almost desperately) shares what little he can: his own arcane study materials, what he’s learned about survival and avoiding arrest, and, not the least, assurance that despite her perceptions, Basil is clever and kind and she matters.

Basil in turn is Aaren’s one connection to other people, and to a world that, while imperfect, is not ravaged and desolate like his own. After years of incarceration and tedium, he now has the exhilarating privilege of small talk and an audience for the terrible, terrible jokes he’s cooked up in isolation. He has a way to not only talk to someone outside of himself, but to help. He has something productive to do, and a reason to do it, not to mention the interesting puzzles of how their letters are finding each other and what else might be going on with Basil’s work. Basil is truly grateful to him, and returns his kindness in what little ways she can—most recently by interdimensionally mailing him his first real food in years.

Currently, Aaren and Basil are working to craft a pair of sending stones for daily artificer/botany jokes and (real reason) so that Basil can have some sort of emergency contact if she needs urgent advice. 25 words once per day is frightfully little if she ever runs into real trouble, and the limitations of their contact are never more haunting than when one considers how little Aaren could truly do in an emergency. I’m sure this frustration is only worsened by the unfortunate atrophy of his knowledge and skill caused by fog exposure. But he’s a clever man, and Crow had some ideas that seized my brain for weeks. Goodness.

Anyway in conclusion

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

#my OC #blorbos in law #Basil D’Pothecary #Aaren D’Cannith #Basil #answered asks #art: Basil #my art #TENDERNESS MAKES ME BONKERS AND THERE IS SO MUCH TO HE HAD WITH THESE TWO #thanks crow…. 😭💐🥺

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starcaverns · 2 months ago

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Aurelia Fujioka

Her clothes left to right are her Naranja uniform, casual, casual with her jacket, and Team Star clothes.

A 16 year old teenager, she is currently going through the trauma ringer. She is my Pokemon Scarlet MC. She is half Hisuian (Japanese)/Paldean (Spanish). My headcannon is that Hisuian in a ethnic minority in Sinnoh.

For the past 4 years everyone she has loved has either died or left.

A 12 her Dad died, but she acknowledges that she could have done nothing about it.

But at 13 when her sister died? She was in the room, if she had been a little faster Tsukiko would still be alive.

Life started off good, raised in Celestic town (Where most Hisuian people now live) in Sinnoh ever since her parents divorced at 3. But the town was coming apart. Fights for proper funding were constant with the government, and it was hard to get a decent job due to how most people saw Hisuians beliefs as weird.

But her Dad, Mitsue, seemed to be the hope of the town. A good steel type pokemon trainer, and able to easily get a job as a gym leader. The kicker: It was the Kanto league. But a well paying job was a well paying job. Moving to Kanto with his 4 year old daughter Tsukiko "Kiko" from his first marriage.

This only lasted for two years until he gotten a better position as the steel type elite 4 in Paldea. And immediately moved. There he fell in love and gotten married again. And had Aurelia "Aurie".

But due to fights over his past Mitsue was desperate to cover up it led to his second divorce, at that point he moved back to Celestica and gave up on love.

Money was hard, and he was desperate to keep his family and Celestica alive. But the new champion, Cynthia, offered him a job as the steel type gym leader. Luckily Canalave was close enough to not justify a move, and just had to spend most of his time away from his family...

But they needed the money, because Tsukiko choice to become a professor, and their schooling was expensive.

At least Aurelia didnt have to spend all the time in Celestic, and spend the summers in Paldea with her parent there.

All was peaceful, until Aurie was 8. She was looking forward to going to Paldea for the summer, her parent there had recently started fostering a 10 year old boy and she wanted someone her age and not her 15 year old sister. But then she got sick, so sick everyone thought she going to die. This kept her in bed for the next two years.

By 10 she she was so fed up that she just walked out of Celestic. Even though she only had her Gible with her. She was planning on coming back, but met Ash and his friends, and they immediately connected.

Instead of staying in Celestic she went straight to her Dad with Ash, Dawn, and Brock. She wanted to travel.

After lots of fighting he finally relented, she had been getting better recently, but with some conditions. She would call every night and morning, she had to bring Gible, and she had to stop if she even felt mediocrely bad. For good measure she was getting a support pokemon, and Audino. Audino wasnt exactly a fighter, but Aurie was perfectly fine with that.

She traveled with Ash through Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos. After the Kalos incident, where her Dad died and she was half blinded, she moved in with her sister in Alola. But during the whole Ultra Wormhole mess Lusamine kidnapped Tsukiko due to her weird connection to Cosmog.

Everyone in Celestic town was empathetic of Aurelia, almost to much. So when she got the chance to be an exchange student at Naranja Academy in Paldea, she took it.

Her first year sucked, the other students where bullies, and the faculty didn't care. But the one group who did care was Team Star, a friend group of 6 people. She quickly got along, while she wasn't one of the leaders, she was second in command of Ruchbah squad.

When the scandal erupted all faculty were fired in favor of new ones, and all exchange students were sent home, including Aurelia.

Now back in Paldea where she is a official student (Born in Paldea and has Paldean parents), she is at the reformed Naranja, ready to find her old friends, and maybe knock some sense into them.

The masterpost for this AU

#art #digital art #original art #original character #pokemon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon scarvi #team star pokemon #team star #ash ketchum #pokemon oc #Lesbian #Not that she knows

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mute-call · 10 months ago

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ok as per usual im gonna dump all my ideas here & figure them out later <3

v; your bell telephone factory : dsaf-fluid factory phone au.

things i Want / need to keep in mind bc i want to use them / also make this unique from his other verses:

he's not the only pg!! i'll go refresh myself on the generations but i think i want him uhhhh peter-esque.......? bro idk i need my dsaf friends to remind me of stuff. basically i want him to have access to his pre-phone memories but not Immediate Complete access

im sorry i refuse to name any pg of mine scott cawthon all my besties hate scott cawthon <3 . but the pg name can be scott gyver in honor of one of my fave canon phone guy designs

blue head. i cant wait to confuse people by using my animatronic icons for non-animatronic verse >:)c

steven should have worked with other pgs in the past when he was human. i think he would have been lowkey scared of them but also never really got in trouble w them. uneasy alliance /lh. steven voice hey my life might suck but at least i dont have a phone for a head! haha. ha. ha

alright down to the details!

i’m thinking he discovers one of the kids’ bodies in the suits if I want to differentiate, or i can steal from dsaf & let him catch William (Henry?) in the act. I think either would work well for him tbh.

additional / alternate idea.... he gets caught during fnaf 2 shit. not a manager at that point (some other pg is). catches william using the suit & gets Done For. previous pg gets scrapped after all that shit goes down & steve comes to look over fnaf 1. it like. goes ok for a while & then the location goes into decline but doesnt technically close so he is just Standing There. <3 . he takes over night shift bc he just fucken lives there basically. has some line about how he's less likely to get his head bit in now that it's plastic so this is the best option for everyone.

im so indecisive about how & when he should die pre-phone. idk man idk. i think this is one of those things i need to develop better in threads / might be flexible & set at diff points thread to thread

pre-phone steve....

drawing from my hcs about him when he was younger, i think pre-phone phoney was SO bright & cheerful & nicies...

really good with the kids. excited about his first real job to support his family. not yet beaten down by fnaf-slash-dsaf shenanigans

i guess he'd die younger than 30 in this unless he gets phone-ified after his canon death point but that doesnt make much sense. so. itty bitty phone. youngun.

post-phone scott....

i am SO into the idea that he's never fired anyone. pushover of a phone!!!

he & peter can share their fake little photo of a completely different phone guy w a completely different family /lh. pg's so excited to have kids :) . he talks about them all the time! please stop telling him they dont exist!!!

partially to differentiate from animatronic verses & partially to bring in his fnaf 1 characterization i think he's pretty chill as far as pgs go. like he'll ask you to stop screwing stuff up but he'll also just shrug and leave if you tell him to shut up about it T_T . very difficult to rile up.

i think one benefit of phoneification for him was removing his guilt about jeremy where applicable. i think i am leaning more towards steve being human for that game, and the bite of '87 stuff being a real turning point for him in terms of . everything. (but blue, wouldnt it make more sense for him to die BEFORE the bite? yes. <3 and yet /lh).

i think he & jeremy would have been closer if he hadn't been manager + everything that happened there fucked him up severely. luckily, as a phone, he doesnt feel much about it at all!

is there anything im missing..... idk more to come. etc.

#D.SAF MUTUALS PLS FEEL FREE TO ADD YOUR TWO CENTS #v; your bell telephone factory

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townsenddecades · 2 months ago

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1321 – Day 3

The third quarter of 1321 is a busy one for the Townsends.

There is the field to take care of, of course – and the Townsends are glad to see that now that summer has come, neither rain nor cold is damaging their plants – as well as Frank and Adeline, who are getting more curious by the day. Their parents spend a lot of time with them, but sometimes, they keep their grandfather company in his workshop, too.

But the children and the plants growing aren’t the only fortunate development. One evening, Gregory receives a message from his sister in Praaven that excites him: she has indeed found a painter that would be willing to take him on as an apprentice, provided his family has the simoleons to pay for the apprenticeship. He begs his father and brother to provide him the funds, and they assent, in hopes that it will give him new opportunities in life.

His apprenticeship will take him away from his home into Praaven, where he’ll at least be able to see Anna regularly. But there is one thing he has to do first. Before he leaves, he makes the trip to the abbey to tell Agnes of his joyous tidings.

She is full of happiness for him.

“Oh Gregory, that’s wonderful! I always knew you’d find someone that would take you on.”

“I’m a little anxious that I’ll be a disappointment after Anna has done so much for me”, he admits. He had put on a confident face with his family and brother, but somehow, it is easier to admit his fears to her. Agnes merely smiles.

“You won’t be. I’m sure of it.”

“Thank you. Your confidence in me means a lot.”

They are quiet for a moment, until she clears her throat. “I assume you won’t have as much time to come visit once you’re busy being a painter’s apprentice?”

“Oh, I…I hadn’t really thought about it.” Somehow, to his mind, it had been obvious that he’d still visit her. He can’t really imagine not seeing her for months on end. “I’m not sure. I don’t know what my master will ask of me. But I promise that if I have any time at all, I’ll come by.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” She hesitates a little, then takes his hands in hers. “I really like you, Gregory, and I’d miss you greatly if that were the last we see of each other.”

“It won’t be”, he promises, with emphasis. “Even if we won’t see each other for a few months, I’ll find some way to contact you. You can read and write, can’t you?”

“A little”, she says, face already brightening. “Then I’ll only have to hope that you won’t forget about me once you’re a famous artisan in Praaven.”

He can’t help but laugh at that. “No chance of that. Because I’ll come back for you once I’m independent. If you’ll have me.”

She stills had that, her beautiful golden-brown eyes widening. “What are you saying?”

“That I like you too, Agnes, and that, should you feel the same, I’d like to have a life with you someday.” His heart is hammering in his chest as he admits too it. But he knows it’s true. Even when he hasn’t needed to, he has made the trip to the abbey to see her, because he enjoys her company. And she is a hard worker, kind, and has always supported him.

He knows they could have a good life together, if he manages to become independent. If she is willing to wait for that.

Her eyes are shining with tears, and she nods vigorously. “Of course, I feel the same, you fool”, she says.

He kisses her then, and luckily, this time there are no disapproving older sisters around to berate her.

He returns home with a light step that evening but does not tell his family about his understanding with Agnes, yet – they have agreed that he will broach the subject once he can be sure that he will be able to support a family.

The rest of the Townsends are a little melancholic at the prospect of his leaving, but they know it is an opportunity for him, and Benjamin, his father and the older twins are enough working hands to make sure the fields are tended to.

Nevertheless, they try to enjoy their final weeks together as much as they can.

Prev: 1321, Day 2, Part 2/2 <--> Next: 1321, Day 4, Part 1/3

#ultimate decades challenge #the ultimate decades challenge #townsend legacy #the sims 3 #ts3 #udc: townsend family #udc: gen 1 #1320s

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koolkat9 · 2 years ago

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@bluudpop you have inspired me to expand on the human au with these tags though I diverge from them quite a bit...

GILBERT AND LUDWIG

Okay! Starting with Gil. Actually I don't think he's divorced or was ever married. He had Ludwig young like 16/17 either because he was pressured into sex by his girlfriend or because he was having a religious crisis and he had sex as a way to try to break free from the church.

Anyway, the girl ends up pregnant and her parents are not happy. Gil's dad (Germania) is also not happy, but he at least realizes that there is no changing this so he makes sure his son is involved through the pregnancy. The girl's parents are hard on her and as much as Gil tries to make his house a safe space for her, as soon as the baby is born, she dumps the baby on Gilbert and makes a run for it.

Luckily Gilbert has the support of his dad through it all. Until his dad suddenly passes away when Gilbert is 20 and little Ludwig is only 3/4. Gil no longer has that safety net. It's just him and Ludwig and now he's completely responsible for Ludwig's well being. Not to mention he's mourning his father who was that figure always there for him (Gil's mom died before he was 3).

Very lost and with a pile of money from his dad, he moves to a small town, opens up a mechanic shop. He finds out there is a parent support group at the recreation center and decides to go. It also has a daycare type thing while the parents talk so it would be good to get Ludwig socializing since that has been a struggle.

ARTHUR, ALFRED AND MATTHEW (AND FRANCIS)

I've been actually wait for an au where Fr//Uk divorces and Arthur is put the position of being the primary caregiver. Anyway, Arthur actually was married, but he's currently getting divorced from Francis. They had adopted the twins together, but it just added strain on their already strained relationship and they both knew that it was in the best interest of the kids that they separate. But it's hard on Arthur because he really loved Francis, they were together since highschool, spend college together. Now he's alone and he starts being the primary caregiver to the twins as Francis becomes more and more distant. Francis sees the kids yes, but they become more like an uncle/aunt.

One five year old child is a handful and two feels impossible. He's at least lucky Matthew is a well behaved child. Quiet, keeps to himself, has some issues with some of his clothing (sensitive to texture) and socially he seems to struggle, but otherwise never causes any fuss. Al on the other hand his bouncing off the walls, with a nose for trouble, consuming all of Arthur's time. Arthur is missing how Matthew is struggling and Matt feels kind of cast off to the side.

And Arthur is not doing mentally well. His mental health has rarely ever been good, but the divorce and parental stress has sent him spiraling. Oh. I just had a bad but juicy idea. Arthur having an issue with alcohol and gets blackout drunk with the twins around. Alastair catches wind of it and is absolutely pissed. But Dylan steps in, gives Arthur the ultimatum of getting help for his alcoholism or they'll take the kids. Of course Arthur chooses to get help (reluctantly, but still, those kids mean the world to him). Alastair doesn't trust him and basically moves in and helps him with the boys.

Dylan finds the parent support group and encourages Arthur to go. Arthur doesn't want to, but Dylan convinces him some way. And that's how Arthur ends up at the support group with Gil.

I want to add more parents but I don't know who...Feel free to suggest more parents because these are like the only two family units I have a lot of thoughts about.

I'll talk more about the kids in another post

#hetalia #hws #parent support group au #hws england #hws prussia #hws germany #hws france #hws scotland #hws canada #hws america #fruk break up #unrequited fruk

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steveharrington · 2 years ago

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with the full knowledge that they probably won’t get the best endings bc the duffers don’t know what to do with their own characters, what would your ideal endings be for the st main characters? or like at least the ones you care about? like in an ideal world

this is so fun i’m gonna do as many as i can think of <3 i don’t think the duffers are gonna do a Huge time jump at the end of the series (i could b wrong) so i’m just gonna base these on like roughly anytime in the next year after s4

steve: ideally steve would not be in a romantic relationship and completely satisfied with this outcome. i’m not saying he should like Never get his little domestic dream but i think he needs some time to focus on himself instead of constantly weighing his self worth based on whether or not he’s romantically valued. i also think it would be nice if he found something that gave him fulfillment whether it be a specific job or hobby or even just like continuing to be best friends forever with robin <3

robin: i wouldn’t mind if she ended up with vickie because i genuinely like the way their relationship has been set up, but if she was single by the end too i’d be okay with that. mostly i want robin to get out of hawkins and meet other gay people and find a community where she doesn’t feel like an outsider. maybe make some weird art. and to continue being best friends forever with steve <3

nancy: i’m begging on my hands and knees for nancy to end the show single. i think she gravitates towards relationships because they feel safe to her, but she’s ultimately unsatisfied because she has goals and aspirations that don’t necessarily fit with steve/jonathan and i think she needs to just focus on herself without having to factor someone else into the equation. i think she should go to school for journalism, maybe start some kinda nonprofit, and help barb’s parents get their house back after murray SCAMMED their asses

jonathan: honestly i just want jonathan to have like….someone who acts as a consistent emotional support. doesn’t matter who it can be argyle it can be nancy in a platonic sense i just want him to be given the space to express his feelings without them always taking a backseat to someone else. i think a fun career for him would be music journalism

argyle: we don’t know shit about his personal life or his background but i just want him to be able to return to his life pre-vecna without too much trauma <3 like obv i want that for everyone but argyle especially is so happy go lucky and it would be so sad if he lost his vibes

max: god please i just want her to be happy and have peace. i want her to stay with lucas, romantically or platonically idrc i just want them to be Together in some sense and i want her to feel safe and happy that’s all i ask

lucas: same as above AND i want lucas to get to fully explore his identity with actual genuine support from his friends. i can see him going through high school trying a little bit of every club and hobby and group and i want him to just like grow into himself and have the freedom to do that <3

dustin: again happiness and safety PLEASE also idk how to explain this but i want dustin to like…lower his guard. i feel like in s1 & 2 he was much more trusting and had more faith in people vs s3 & 4 where he’s just constantly assuming that his friends are like incapable of doing anything? i know it’s just bad writing for bad jokes but i’m choosing to believe it’s his defense mechanism and his way of dealing with trauma by being like “well luckily i’m a genius and i’ll fix everything >:)” and i want him to like let go of that and be more carefree again

el: again this applies to all of them but for el especially i want her to have stability and to feel safe. i want her to get the family and home she craves so badly with joyce and hopper and jonathan and will, and i want her to get to try things out and shape an identity kinda like lucas. i want her to have a little bedroom where she can try out new hobbies and not have to worry about packing up because someone died again

mike: honestly this is the toughest for me to envision and i don’t really know why? like obv i want him to be happy feel safe etc but i can’t think of anything like Concrete for mike’s ending that i absolutely want to see. maybe just permanently reunited with his friends idk

will: i want willy b to feel comfortable and find joy in being gay and also come out to joyce <3 and maybe hopper <3 idk i want will’s story to go back to his family, the way it started, and for him to realize that he’s still very young and mike’s feelings don’t have to determine his personal happiness and i feel like the best way for him to reach this conclusion is just by knowing that his mom and brother will always have his back

erica: ugh god i want her to like finish middle school unscathed 😭 the writers ignore her feelings so much so it would be nice if for Once they let her acknowledge what she’s been through maybe via a conversation with lucas. idk why but out of all the characters i can really See erica getting therapy skdndnc like i think she’d enjoy it <3

joyce: lord idk i want joyce to somehow know with certainty that everything is Over and that she doesn’t have to be on alert anymore. that’s probably not plausible given the nature of the story and the fact that she’s naturally always going to look over her shoulder BUT i would be ecstatic if the ending somehow gave her this 100% surety that it was officially over

hopper: i just fucking want him to be el’s dad man <3 i want him to take her fishing and get her a pet cat and help her with homework at the table and do a bad job wrapping presents on her birthday like i just want him to live out the rest of his life with his #1 priority always being el <3

murray: in jail for scamming the hollands out of their house

#this is longggg sorry i have a lot of thoughts #i don’t Think i forgot anyone but it’s late and i kept getting distracted while writing this so i may have #answered #anon #long post

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fazscare87 · 4 months ago

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TFP OC- Autumn Hope Reyes

Autumn Hope Reyes, mother of Hunter Reyes.

Autumn Reyes is just your average businesswoman and single mother/widow living in the Town of Jasper, Nevada, with her teenage son, Hunter. Autumn is a strong, independent, and hardworking woman, doing whatever she can to support her son, and as a mom, she’s just as strong as and hardworking, though she’s a bit serious, firm, down to earth, and protective, (though Hunter thinks she can sometimes be somewhat overprotective), and on the other hand? Autumn is caring and very loving to her son, only wanting the best for him, and will do anything to keep him safe, just like any loving parent would for their child.

A few years before Hunter was born, Autumn had moved into Jasper, it was of course kinda new to her at the time, not to mention she was pretty far from her hometown as well, though she had no plans on ever moving back. She was a bit quiet and reserved, at least at first. When asked what made her choose to move to Town, she kept it brief and just said she wanted to settle in a new environment to try to get away from it all and kind of start anew, and Jasper seemed like a nice place to live. When she settled in, people were nice to her, she managed to find a job that suited her, she even made new friends, and things worked out fine. It took time to get used to things of course, but that can be expected when moving to a new place, though Autumn seemed to take a liking to Jasper. After a while, she met someone, they met each other while she was just out on a drive, and just on the side of the road she saw this guy who was having trouble with his car, so she pulled over to see if she could help him, she knows a thing or a two about auto-mechanic, something she had learned from her old profession. He said yes, so, he and her looked under the hood a bit, everything seemed fine, it was just a bit of battery trouble, luckily, Autumn had some jumper cables with her, and she was able to jump off the guy’s car, he thanked her for her help, she was glad to help, she introduced herself to him, and the guy told her his name was Hugo, Archer Hugo Reyes, he was a local resident in Town, and after that, they’d go on their ways. However, they’d start to see each other around Town a bit more often, which they had seen each other before meeting, they just hadn’t really interacted or anything up until that point, and after seeing each other now after meeting, they’d sort of talk, slowly get to know each other, and hang out time to time, then that would turn into dating, and then, after almost a year or two, marriage. Safe to say it made Autumn a bit less quiet, and after some time together, they decided, why not have a kid, after all, both of them had kind of always wanted a family, boy? girl? They didn’t care, so, around early 1992, in February, they had a child, a boy, and that boy was Hunter, Andries Hunter Reyes. Together, they’d both raise and care for him. As a family, well, they were a pretty happy one. They’d often bond together and have lots of family memories, they had quite a lot of them, and Autumn has the tapes and photos to prove that- Be it from teaching Hunter to ride a bike, to Hunter’s birthdays, family vacations, holidays, or almost anything where the family was together or something like that, it made for family memories. The 3 of them were quite close too, and it was the happiest Autumn had been in years, right next to marrying Hugo

Sadly, years later in 2004, despite being perfectly healthy, Hugo caught a disease, it was something that mimicked a cold at first, but it turned out it wasn’t, within a few days, it was so severe that he had to be taken to a Hospital, Autumn and Hunter would very frequently visit him in the Hospital whenever they could, at first the doctors thought that Hugo would probably be alright with the right treatments and medications, though it’d be a long road to recovery, though after a few weeks, unfortunately, that wouldn’t be the case, Hugo’s disease had only gotten more severe. So, on one of Hugo’s final days, Autumn and Hunter would stay with him, Hugo left his wife and son some comforting final words, before he succumbed to his disease not too long after. Hugo’s passing would leave both Autumn and Hunter devastated, but it’d hit Hunter the most, Autumn would watch as her son went from bright, highly energetic, and excitable, to a more, quiet, sullen, and cold, he just emotionally shut down for a while, Autumn would comfort and console her son to the best of her ability, even if she was still grieving herself, she just couldn’t bare seeing him like that, and while Hunter was still glum, she was relieved that he didn’t seem to spiral into full-blown depression.

After losing her husband, Autumn adapted to being a single mother, managing to pull herself together, she worked hard to support herself and her son, it was hard at first but she managed, slowly getting better with time, not perfect, but still. She also became more protective of Hunter, even if her husband died of a disease, she didn’t want to lose him either. Autumn would watch as Hunter slowly came to terms, mostly at least. To Autumn, it seemed that while Hunter moved on, he hadn’t fully healed, he wasn’t really the same as he was when he was younger, and he’d start having this, “bad-boy” persona as he grew up, but at the same time, he’d still be a good kid, never acting out to the point of being too rebellious, disrespectful and never got into trouble- well, serious trouble at least, she also appreciated he never really gave her a hard time as a single mother, albeit he could be a bit stubborn and such, but hey, part of that comes from her, but, they’d still be close to each other as mother and son, and they still are. However, at the same time, Autumn could see through Hunter, believing that he was doing this to essentially mask his feelings, in a way, and to her, he’d act stoic and guarded, to the point of bottling up his emotions from people, even her. Though Autumn just wishes that her son would open up to her, she didn’t wanna force him to, she’d just, wait for him to open up to her on his own terms, however long that takes… Though, at least everything seemed to be going well, at least.

In early 2008, Hunter’s 16th birthday was coming up, and Autumn knew exactly what to get him, it’d be the perfect gift for him too, since along with his persona, he had an interest that seemed to grow with him, and that was a Motorcycle! Autumn knew her son had always wanted one, though she always left it at “Maybe when you’re older.” or “I’ll think about it.”, since Autumn thought motorcycles could be dangerous, however, he was responsible enough, he was old enough to drive, he swore he’d wear his helmet, safety gear and follow all traffic laws, but after some thinking, Autumn decided that it would be the perfect gift for him. The look on her son’s face was all worth it to Autumn, just to see her son so happy that day, possibly the most genuinely happiest smile she saw from him in a while. She remembered the first time he revved it up and took it out for a spin, she also remembered the first time he took her out for a ride, it was a bit scary, for her at least, since she’d never been on a motorcycle before, and he thought he was going too fast, he didn’t though, though she got used to it to the point where she’d ask him to drive her to work sometimes, or just to take her places, she even brought herself a helmet and everything. Hunter was more than happy when he got that motorcycle, It's safe to say Autumn made a wise decision in her son’s birthday gift.

Two years later, in the current year, 2010. A few months earlier, Autumn was at work, having gotten off the phone with Hunter, who had just left his job, he told her he’d ride out a bit before heading home, and would try to be home before it got too dark, she allowed it, even if she preferred that he went straight home, she didn’t see the harm in letting him ride out, after all, she’d be working late that night, and she trusted him on his own. Around 15 minutes later, her phone went off in her pocket, she stepped to the side, seeing it was from a friend of hers, at first, Autumn didn’t think anything of it at first, it wasn’t until she answered, and her friend said, “Autumn, I need you to meet me at the Hospital.” her heart immediately sank, even before her friend finished saying “It’s Hunter”. Autumn had no idea what had happened, but hearing this, she immediately left work, speeding to the Hospital as fast as she could, she actually managed to beat the ambulance to the Hospital by a few minutes, she was anxious when the front desk told her the ambulance hadn’t arrived yet, but a few minutes later, the ambulance had arrived with Hunter, and when she saw him on the gurney, she was… hysterical, Hunter, wasn’t moving, he had some blood on him, he was hurt, all she could do was shout his name in pure distress. When Autumn asked what had happened, her friend (who happens to be a nurse at the same Hospital) told her that Hunter had been in a hit and run, though her friend, who happened to be a nurse at the hospital, and doctors would assure her that Hunter would be ok, and they’d do everything they could, she was given Hunter’s bandana, something he practically wore everywhere, Autumn kept it close to her. After a few hours in the ER/(trauma center), Hunter was put in a Hospital room, he was conscious but still unresponsive. Autumn wouldn’t leave her son’s side, she didn’t sleep for the whole night, barely even ate, she was praying and hoping that he’d wake up, not wanting to lose him, but around 12 hours later, Hunter woke up, you can only imagine how relieved she was to see that her son was awake, she wanted to hug Hunter as tight as she could, though her friend had to stop her, as he hadn’t fully recovered yet (though as a mother herself, if it was her son in Hunter’s place, she’d probably do the same thing), so, she just settled on gently holding his hand, she was just relieved that her son was ok.

The next day, after getting some rest, the doctors said Hunter was lucky to be alive, it was a miracle he got away with nothing serious, and he’d possibly be back home in a few weeks or so, Autumn was thankful and relieved, when asked what happened last night, Hunter would explain that he had been run off the road by these 2 purple cars, who attacked and chased him down for seemingly no reason while he was on his way home yesterday, telling them at first they kinda followed him, then they became violent without warning, one car ran him off his bike, and the other ran over his bike but they left him be, after hearing this, Autumn had no idea how to take all this in, she just knew she’d have to think of a new way to keep her son safe, but for now, she’d stay with him as long as she could, along with Hunter’s other friends coming to visit him, though she would come visit him the most, obviously, and a few weeks later, Hunter was out of the Hospital. Autumn was more than happy that her son could be back home, she did feel a bit lonely at home without him, but now he was back home safe and sound, and she planned to keep him safe, after what had happened, the authorities not having found the 2 cars Hunter described, she didn’t wanna risk something like that ever happening to him again, not when he could have died. The next day, she and Hunter would sit down and have a talk, he asked how willing should she be to get another motorcycle, Autumn would say “no”, she’d forbid him from ever riding on a motorcycle again, and she was final on that, she knew the answer would upset him she felt a little bad about it, but she didn’t wanna go through something like that again, nor lose her son… There'd be a brief argument between the two, but, Hunter would ultimately agree to never ride a motorcycle again.

A few months had passed by, and things had gone back to the way they were, well, mostly at least, Hunter was back at work, having gotten a driver’s permit (for a car), Autumn was off work that day, so she was just at the house tidying things up around the house, mainly Hunter’s, as she was cleaning up his room, she went into his closet, and then, she saw his biker gear, like his helmet, jacket, gloves, etc, even her helmet, all kept in a cardboard box, seeing it all, it reminded her of the accident, but at the same time, she started to remember, fond nostalgic memories, mainly of Hunter, particularly when he was little, whether it was her way of coping, or they just popped into her mind at that moment. This would prompt her to get a box of her own, full of scrapbooks and family videos, it had been a while since she had gone through them, but, she just wanted to just, remember it all again. And, though Hugo was in half a majority of them, she wouldn’t let that stop her. Autumn persisted, and after flipping through scrapbook after scrapbook, and watching many family videos, she would have bittersweet nostalgic tears, though they were mostly sweet. Though, seeing those photos, especially the ones where Hunter got his motorcycle, as well as having seen his gear boxed up, Autumn couldn’t help but feel a bit conflicted, which she thought she never would, especially on something that would keep Hunter safe, after all, what she said was a one and done deal, her word was final, no more riding motorcycles, and yet, there she was thinking about it, on the one hand, she had made that decision to protect him, she was doing what she thought was best, but at the same time, she couldn’t help but feel that, maybe the decision was, a little harsh, just to keep him from doing what he loved, keep him from something that, makes him happy. The next day, while calling to check in on Hunter from work, she’d tell him that she had a bit of news. However, she kept that news to herself til the next day, and even then, she still kept it a surprise. Still, after a bit of errand-running, she’d take him down by the same place she had gotten his Motorcycle, it was a tough decision on Autumn’s part, but seeing Hunter’s overjoyed reaction, it made it worth it for her, they’d both walk through the lot, she decided she’d let Hunter pick out whatever motorcycle he wanted. However, after Hunter had made his choice, there’d be a slight catch, he’d have to pay for it since he’s old enough, he was the one who wanted it, he has a job, and she felt like it was something he had to earn himself, or, he could wait another year until his next birthday for her to get a new one for him, the choice was his.

So, over the Summer, while Hunter would work his way up towards a new motorcycle, and Autumn would work and support her son at the same time, as she's been doing, even if she didn’t give him money towards buying the motorcycle, she’d just support him as he worked. And hey, at least he’s safe and staying out of trouble, what could happen?

(Fun facts

-Voice: Liza Koshy

-Her necklace is based around an energon crystal (shard)

-Originally, I had named her “Summer” or “May” since she’s based around June and the same goes for Hunter with Jack, though my friend ultimately helped me decide on the name, Autumn Hope Reyes.

-She’s skilled in physical combat and taught Hunter how to fight as well (though that might not fare against Decepticons- Unless she or him got apex armor lol-)

-She also has a good understanding of Morse code

- For self-defense, she owns an aluminum bat

(I would've gone through the WHOLE story since there is more, but this is already long enough plus, I might save that for another writing for TFP-~ Still gotta do Hunter too lol-

Hope you guys like it and have a Faztastic Day ^^

#fazscare87 #transformers art #transformers aligned #transformers fan continuity #transformers prime #tfp human oc #tfp #transformers #tfp oc #transformers prime fanart #transformers prime oc

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