#mad whale fanfic

[ooojudithooo]

Go watch Star Trek Prodigy, it´s awsome

Here be spoilers, I guess

With everthing going on at the moment I really needed a lot of distraction and binged Star Trek: Prodigy season 2.

And it is awesome. Really good. Story wise the best Star Trek I have seen in years, if not ever. It masks as a childrens show, as many good shows do, and it certainly is fun for (older! Those monsters are scary!) children, they just can´t appreciate the details of it all.

This was made by hardcore fans. They watched every show, read every book, comic, leaflet, fanfic that was ever written, they played the games and assembeled the models. Then they put it all together, wrote an amazing script, hired every Star Trek actor they could find and animated it with an obviously much higher budget than season 1.

There are so many easter eggs, you have to watch it three times to even scratch the surface. I certainly didn´t get half of it (which is mainly because I pretty much stopped watching after voyager and only kind of sampled the new shows). There a obvious things, and there are things like naming the new vulcan character Ma´jel. I only got that after looking for fanfiction (as one does) and saw it written for the first time. Speaking of names, theres a humpback whale on the new Voyager, and their name is Gillian (I got that one)!

There´s Catherine Janeway. I love her. There´s Janeway and Chakotay being lovey-dovey like in the series, before it went all to shit in the last season (I was so mad. They were my OTP before I even knew what that was. Seems I was not the only one).

There´s Wesly Crusher. I had a crush on him when I was 17 and I still have a crush on him now when I´m 47, and it´s "just" Wil Weatons voice and an animated character in a cableknit jumper. With me being aro ace that is really an accomplishment (mind, I have a crush on Wesley, not on Wil). His story arc is great!

The story is really good. It´s so tight-knit, that you kind of jump in at the beginning and come out dazed and delighted at the end. The young protagonists are exactly that - young, enthusiastic, sometimes brilliant and sometimes very dumb, carrying the plot with ease (they are also very much traumatised from their life before, but doing their best in all circumstances).

Of course there are also thing I did not like that much, like the Vau N'Akat, who got a bit too much spotlight (kinda like the Klingons in DS9), or the animations, which were, as said, much better than in season 1, but still weirdly clunky sometimes.

But still, a very good series. It´s the kind of Star Trek I want to watch - lovingly written, well acted, weird and funny and sad. And full of hope. No, not just hope, certainty, that it will get better.

Go watch it, I want season 3.

[verefex]

No worries, gonna answer them all this way so it's in one post. Sithero is one of my newer characters so I don't have him super fleshed out, but I definitely wanted him to come across as patient and gentle.

He is covered in harpoons from violent humans, so that definitely makes him mad (cause they're really hard to remove without a human's help).

Sithero thinks humans are just so fascinating, regardless, and coming across a nice one like Raphael is his favorite thing. He spends most of his time seeking out humans to meet, and it's quite rare to find one that will talk to him.

Otherwise he likes swimming with dolphins and whales, and eating snacks like kelp, giant clams, squid, and even coconuts and mangoes.

I honestly don't think it would sound good if he tried to sing LOL, I'm sure he loves hearing shanties but I don't think he has the vocal capacity to sing. He does know Drunken Sailor, at least we know that!

He's a legendary giant beast, so there aren't other krakens around at all. Maybe on the other end of the world, but I like the idea of him being the only one.

There are other merfolk though, they just aren't nearly as big as he is! And they typically avoid humans.

I love fanart and fanfics of my characters! I've mentioned this a few times before but I am totally fine with fanart :)

[kryzobi-wan]

Live thoughts from Ahsoka episode 6:

Huyang said the thing!! I screamed!! "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away" I don't care if it was cheesy I freakin loved it

Thinking about that joke going around about the galaxy far, far away being just our galaxy and Ezra and Thrawn just waiting around in a Denny's

Oh this is some ancient ancient stuff

This is insanely cool

Their golden ship is really cool looking

Wondering if Ezra is in prison too

Shin Hati's armor is rad

Baylon can talk about himself forever I'll gladly watch

Holy smokes there's the ship

Ahhhh shoot here we go

Old blue man

I love his voice

Wouldn't it be funny if he killed Ezra forever ago (not funny)

There go our Thrawn and Ezra are bffs in exile headcanons 😂

Rat alligator dog horse

I like when Sabine fights like a Mandalorian

I love seeing that galaxy map, after staring at one like it when writing fanfics for so long

I like the humor music with Sabine fighting with the rat dog alligator horse, feels very Star Wars

Another moment to be thankful for Kevin Kiner 🙏

I hope Ezra has a shack like Nick Jonas' character in Jumanji

WOAH rock turtle

It's silly little guy o'clock, time to join the ranks of Jar Jar Binks, Babu Frik, Ewoks, and others

It's so goofy and Star Wars, I approve

Still can't believe I'm hearing Ezra Bridger's name in live action

I wanna know how Baylon survived the Jedi Purge

Aww the baby turtle thing

THERE HE IS

THE BEARD

Is his hair blue at all? Am I misremembering his hair as blueish?

I can't believe I'm seeing Kanan Jarrus' padawan irl it's insane

Can't believe Zeb hasn't been in this season at all

Praying for more Kanan references

WHY are they calling them star whales instead of purrgils??

I already know some people are gonna be mad that this episode of the Ahsoka show barely had Ahsoka in it

[lixenn]

Overview

Since I’ve come out of my introverted gremlin cave and started to actually work regularly on my writing as well as posting my stuff on here, I’ve decided to structure my blog a bit. Mostly to prevent people from getting absolutely lost in this chaotic mess.  

I will try to keep this as updated as possible but there might be a bit of a delay between me posting new content and updating this, so please keep that in mind.

General info

My Ao3 account

Tags

#just rambling Lix' daily life in a nutshell #art nook art tag #science talk science ramblings #ask answered ask tag (<- might change in the future)

Ask box

If you have questions about any of my projects or just want to randomly scream at me about any topic that comes to mind, my inbox is open. Bother me anytime!

Katekyo Hitman Reborn

The KHR discord server is now online! It's a general server for the fandom. If you want to join just drop me a DM and I'll send you the invite link.

KHR writing prompts

Prompts are open, just drop them in my inbox and I'll see what the nonsense generator can fabricate!

Prompt rules/intro

Dan and Celeste

Dan and Vlasta

The Housekeeping AU

#the housekeeping AU #khr daniele costa #khr dave #khr valerie rebner #khr vlasta gast #khr marina costa #khr cilmi #khr yves

This is me playing around in the Varia sandbox, come and join me in my weird delusions!

Witness how the Head of Varia Housekeeping (my OC) is slowly but surely driven insane by crazy Assassin bullshit, meddling assistants (aka Dave), mountains of paperwork and Mafia politics.

(Btw the concept of my Varia Housekeeping was inspired by Umei_no_Mai whose worldbuilding is absolutely Godtier. I kneel before their greatness.)

Character profiles

Chief aka Daniele

Dave

Ottavio under edit

Valerie Rebner

The Varia Housekeeping survival guide (WIP currently updating on Ao3)

When you are the overworked and underappreciated head of Varia Housekeeping who is sick and tired of cleaning up your employees’ corpses and decide to write up an instruction manual for dealing with Varia's insanity.

Detective Dave is on the case (complete on Ao3 but might add something later on)

Dave has never been able to resist a good mystery, so when one of his informants was suddenly murdered under suspicious circumstances, what else is he supposed to do other than immediately stick his nose into other people's business? ("Can you for once in your life not poke the sleeping dragon with a stick?" "But Chief! A murder mystery! Delivered right to my front door!" "..." "Hey, we are you going? Chief? Chief! I still need you to sign these forms! Come back!" )

This is my crossover with Myell's Killer Whale AU, so if you aren't familiar with her 'verse this story might be a bit confusing, I recommend checking her stuff out first a then coming back to this one. (Shamelessly advertising my Buddy's story again hehehehe)

Unnamed Sequel (in planning stage)

Unlike the Varia survival guide, this work will hopefully have plot and a coherent story line. I’m still very much in the idea finding phase, so no clue when this is going to be published.

I now have a rough outline for the story, main plot plus romance side plot (I say side plot when the romance outline is much more detailed... *silently despairs*).

Current edited chapter count: 3/?

I will keep you updated on this project via completely unhinged ramblings, so… look forward to that (and yes, that is a threat!)

Snippets

Dan and Dave's first meeting

Things Chief once said

The Couch™️

Tea time

Fanfic recs

I've decided to indulge myself and finally make a list some of my favourite KHR fanfics, feel free to check it out!

Fic recs

Naruto

How Uzushio was saved by drunken seal shenanigans (WIP kinda on hold)

The story of how Uzumaki Ren – explosion specialist, seal master and everyone’s favourite mad scientist – saves his village from destruction, revolutionizes the medical field, adopts a puppy, and gives his Kage an aneurism. Not necessarily in that order.

Note: I still have stuff for this story prewritten (but nothing post-worthy just yet), but since KHR has overtaken all my brain space, I’ll probably won’t work on this for a while. I’m still super attached to my mad scientist baby Ren, so there will be more content! … Just in the very far future 😅

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

Give My Madness Rein - a Magnus Archives Fanfic

The Archive saw all.

The Archive felt nothing.

Then the river dried up, the knowledge stopped, and the only thing that mattered was him.

“Say I am mad and give my madness rein to wreck itself; the worst that can befall Is but to die an honorable death.” —Sophocles

Spoilers for the whole show. This is post-MAG 200.

Part one of the Magnus Monsterverse AU.

AO3

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

They saw all.

Everything that was.

Everything that had been, stored in memory and revisited.

Nothing that would be, for that was Future, and Uncertain, and It did not like Uncertain things.

It, however, did not care. It couldn’t.

And then, for no reason, They saw nothing, nothing at all.

Something had come between It and It.

As the river that was knowing dried, a hollowness of need and hunger and pain rushed into its place.

It did not know that It was screaming until It had reason to stop.

#

It stopped because It could see the eyes.

Green eyes, flecked with brown, framed with red-gold lashes. Eyes It knew, eyes that felt like—

“It’s really Jon?” said the owner of the eyes.

(Jon, Hebrew, derivative of Jonathan, meaning God has given, first recorded in the Torah. Notable Jons through history include Adkins, baseball player; Anderson, musician; Cuishaw, comedian; Davidson—)

“Yeah,” said someone else, someone familiar who did not matter. “Gotta clean him off—eons of muck all over—but it’s him.”

“But he doesn’t know me,” said the owner of the eyes, voice suddenly hoarse and tight. (Tension dysphonia, evidenced as incoordination of the vocal control system, which can be caused by stress and anxiety—) “He doesn’t know me!”

“Told you he wouldn’t right away.”

All that mattered was the owner of those eyes. It did not care who else was speaking, and that made Them of two minds.

It wanted to look at the other person, too, and see as much as It could.

It did not want to look away from the eyes.

It needed the gap filled, the hollowness no longer emptied, knowledge and dreams and fears in a river.

It chose to continue looking at the eyes and nowhere else. Home safe settled still—

The eyes grew wet. (Lacrimation, an abnormal or excessive secretion of tears due to local or systemic disease or emotional distress—)

And then the eyes turned away.

Screaming took their place.

#

It screamed.

(Lost aching empty)

(Big hungry dark adrift)

No up, no down, no ground. It screamed.

Until the eyes came back, and then It was able to stop.

#

“Really?” said the owner of the eyes. “The whole time?”

“Yep. Whatever was done to his physiognomy, we can’t put him under. It just doesn’t stop—unless you’re here.”

The owner of the eyes said, “I need a minute,” and left. (Slammed the door, which is a common symptom of psychological distress or emotional hijacking, communicating anger or a need to close one off from whatever caused the outburst—)

It had felt nothing for so long that this new emotion was not easy to identify, but It thought this might be “heartbreak.” (Stress cardiomyopathy, also called broken heart syndrome, often brought on by stressful situations and extreme emotions—)

It did not like the ache, but had no recourse. To bring the eyes back was doing. That was planning.

It did not do those things.

But It used to. Did It not?

This was… a memory of Its own, not through the churning mind of another. It used to plan.

The eyes returned, and the question of planning ceased to matter. “Sorry.”

“For crying out loud, did you have to slam the door? You woke up Agnes,” said the one-who-did-not-matter (and It grew vaguely aware of another sound elsewhere, muffled, like crying and crackling fire, but that did not matter either because the eyes were here).

“Sorry,” said the eyes again.

“I swear, you’re either Martin the Invisible or Martin the Big Stomping Elephant.”

“Very funny. And wouldn’t some kind of whale be more appropriate?”

Martin.

“No, because they don’t have gills.”

Martin?

“Point,” said Martin.

(Beeping annoying unimportant background—)

“Wait, what’s happening? What’s going on?”

“Oh, hell. Step back. There’s activity. The monitors—”

Martin!

“Activity? What does that mean?”

“It means he’s getting really upset and accessing his powers, and we can’t do a damn thing to stop him. Step back!”

(Martin Blackwood, no middle name, K does not mean Kartin, poet, marked by the Lonely, marked by the Eye, four inches taller than—)

Than

(Than what?)

Than

They remembered. 

Martin was dead.

Vaguely, It was aware that It screamed, and that Its scream did harm, and the owner of the eyes cried out.

(“Fucking powers!” cried the one-who-did-not-matter.)

Sparking and cracking sounds, bad sounds and shouting. (Beeping, unknown, electronic in origin, possibly an alarm signifying a system of biological or mechanical nature no longer working as intended—)

Martin cried out, and It responded to Martin’s cry, because harming Martin was the worst thing that could ever be.

Stopped. Stopped screaming. Fell silent, gasping, choking it in.

And time slipped, lost.

#

“—understand what just happened!” Martin’s voice. (Martin: Latin, meaning warrior of Mars, dedicated to Mars, given to the god of war—)

“He recognized you. I knew he would, but not this quickly.”

Martin was dead.

“Recognized me? Look, I’ve never met this fucking thing before!”

“Nice. I’m sure that won’t come back to bite you.”

Martin was dead.

“Sash, for fuck’s sake…”

Pain.

(I’ve never met this fucking thing before—)

Rejection?

It knew rejection.

It did not acknowledge rejection.

It knew rejection, and knew it well. It hurt.

“What did you want me to say, then?” said Martin. “After everything we did to get him back—”

“What? You thought he’d just wake up and know you at once? After floating as the Pupil for centuries?” The one-who-did-not-matter sighed. “It takes time. It took you time.”

“I need him so much. I don’t know if I can wait. I… I’ve waited already. I don’t know if I can...”

Gentler. “I know you don’t mean that.”

Martin sighed. “You’re right. I don’t.”

(Choked. Kept it in. Did not scream. Must not hurt him—)

“What if we were too late, huh? What if there’s nothing left?”

“If there wasn’t, he wouldn’t give a damn what your name was.”

Martin.

“I need a minute,” Martin said, and walked away again.

Slammed the door again.

Rejection.

The eyes.

The voice.

Martin.

But Martin was dead.

Its eyes rolled back in Its head (all of them all of the eyes) and everything went dark.

#

“Jon. Please wake up. I’m sorry. Please wake up.”

The eyes.

The voice.

Him.

It wanted to speak. To say Martin’s name. It moved Its tongue to find only eyes.

“He’s responding,” said the one-who-did-not-matter. “Keep it up.”

“Hi, Jon,” said Martin, said the anchor-the-one-who-mattered (but Martin was dead). “I’m here. I’m here.”

It cried because it could not say his name.

It did not understand.

It needed to say his name.

It only needed to know his name.

It needed—

Opened mouth throat thought tongue, past eyes, past shapes, past things that only saw and did not speak.

“Why is he crying?” said Martin.

“I don’t know, but it’s a good sign. A display of human emotion is a hell of a lot more important than why he’s doing it.”

“I don’t like this,” said Martin.

Had to say the name. “Martin.”

“Oh!” said the other person-who-did-not-matter. “Did you hear that? Did I have a stroke? Did he say it?”

“He said it,” whispered Martin.

It hurt. This was too much, hurt too much. Like peeling open Itself, reaching in, taking out everything.

The green eyes, there. Just there. Here.

Martin was de-

It knew that was wrong. Martin was alive.

It knew this was not wrong. Martin was dead.

It did not care what It knew, what was wrong, whether this fact mattered or could be recalled. “Martin.”

“Yes, Jon, it’s me.”

The strain—

It could not accept the untruth.

It needed the untruth.

Its eyes rolled back again into the dark.

#

“Easy.”

Martin.

Martin’s voice.

Martin. Hand on his face. (Face? It had a face? It… I… I had a face?)

But Martin was—

“I’m here. It’s okay. Hey… hey, look at me, would you?”

It did, with all of Itself. I did. With… all of… It… I… me.

Martin shuddered, seen, stripped, beheld.

(Martin.)

“Easy,” said Martin, voice shaky, as the beep of monitors dinged confusingly, like multiple hearts.

It could—I could—only see him.

His eyes. Here. Now. His hair, touched with white like frost. His smile, hopeful, trembling. His tears.

Martin.

“But you died,” came from my throat, and I almost went away again.

Wanted to, to disassociate, to… (A disconnection between a person’s thoughts, memories, feelings, actions or sense of who they are—)

“No, Jon,” said Martin, tight. “You did.”

“I did?”

It disagreed. I had not died. He had.

A gasp. The other person who-did-not-matter. “He asked?”

“You’re asking questions.” Martin wiped his eyes. “You’re really in there. You aren’t gone.”

I was shaking. It sh… I shook. “No,” I said. “I remember. You died. We… he went for you. Trevor Herbert. I was wrong. He went for you, and he shot you. You died. And I—”

“It’s okay,” Martin said, but it wasn’t.

“I gave myself to It because I could not—”

“It’s okay!”

Nothing was okay. “I screamed!” I said, unable to look away from him, unwilling to even blink. “I screamed, but it didn’t bring you back. That’s the last thing I recall as… myself. And now, I screamed here, too—the first thing I recall, finding myself. You must have had me, all along.”

I didn’t even know what I was saying.

Martin sniffled. Tears slid down his cheeks (and I remembered those cheeks, remembered them against my lips, remembered his scent, remembered his sweet stubble). “You’re in there. She was right. You’re in there.”

“Told you,” said the one-who-did-not-matter (though I knew her voice, and that was strange).

“You died,” I said, and the words stuck in my throat.

“No. We made it to the Panopticon. And I had to kill you there.”

“What?” I said, because that had not happened. “I ring like a bell,” I said then, because every word I spoke echoed in me.

“Easy,” said the other voice. “Keep breathing.”

Suddenly, I knew her. “Sasha?”

“Hey.” She came into view.

And it was her. It really was her. Just a few years older, a pinch more gray at her temples, but alive. “Hi, Jon,” she said, her crooked smile, her slightly uneven teeth, her eyes big and brown behind her glasses.

“You aren’t not-Sasha,” I told her.

“Right,” she said. “In my timeline, I didn’t go into Artefact Storage. It didn’t get me. It got Tim.”

“Tim?” I said.

“He’s alive here,” said Martin. “In his timeline, he didn’t blow up the museum. Daisy did.”

“Tim is alive?” (tension dysphonia). I was so confused, and there was such a beauty to it; to being confused, to not knowing, a sweet and magnificent ache that I didn’t know I missed until this moment. “How?”

“Oh, we were a nexus, or something,” said Sasha. “Everybody there was basically a chosen one, you know? So we all got our chance.” Her voice dropped, bitter. “And we all blew it. Ended the world. Go, us.”

“What?” I said.

“It’s okay,” said Martin. “You’ve got time. You don’t have to understand it yet.”

Martin was alive, and I laughed.

Sasha looked startled.

Martin smiled. “Something funny?”

“Yes! Yes, I…” I didn’t even remember reaching, grabbing, closing the eyes on my hands and my arms so I could pull him close, and he sat on the bed with me, letting me pull him close. “We’re here, and…we’re alive, and… it’s too ridiculous, and…”

“Jon,” whispered Martin.

“You know what? How about I give you guys a minute?” said Sasha. “If anything on these monitors changes…”

“I’ll get you,” he said, thick, not taking his eyes from me.

I couldn’t see properly. The room was a fuzzy white, too bright, sterile. But I could see Martin. “How is this possible?”

“Leitner,” he said.

“Leitner?” And I kissed Martin, because Leitner could go to hell. I remembered Martin. His lips. His teeth. His chin, the way it bumped against mine. “If I close my eyes, you might go away again,” I said against his perfect mouth.

“I won’t,” he said. “I’ll never. You’re really you,” he said, his hand in my hair, and he sobbed.

My body ached, felt weird; most of my eyes were closed. “How?” I said again, because I had to know.

“Would you believe there’s one universe where Leitner wasn’t an ass?” said Martin, and laughed.

I laughed, too. I remembered how to do it so easily now. “I do not believe that.”

“I mean, he still fucked it up. We all did. All of us here, our universes ended. All of—”

“Then you’re not my Martin?” I said, interrupting him.

He stroked my hair. “I am. I mean. I’m the one you knew. We just… we all branched off. We—our group, in the Archives—we were the breaking point.”

“Breaking point?” I kissed him again. Same taste. Same scent. Same—

He had a tiny scar on his cheek that he didn’t before. A little notch, barely visible.

He let me touch it, and didn’t flinch away. “Got that when the Panopticon fell.”

Was I crying? I was crying. “I made you kill me?” Because of course, it had to be something I did. He wouldn't have just done it.

He swallowed.

“What did I do? You still won’t go away?”

“Never. Where you go, I go.”

“Even though you had to kill me?” I could barely hear my own words.

“I had to,” he whispered. “To stop the Eye. But it ended everything. I was in… I was in some kind of endless sea for… I don’t know how long.”

He still wanted to be near me after that?

I couldn’t comprehend it. Or what I must have done. Or how he could forgive. “But how am I here? I’m not killed,” I said, because I had to know.

Martin’s smile. Patient. Longsuffering. Fond. Knowing me. (I was known.) “Leitner and Manuela, who… isn’t awful? She’s an impossible physicist. Into wormholes. Alternate universes. Anyway, Leitner’s trying to make up for what he did by rescuing remnants. Us. Leftovers from universes that died because of our little group. It’s a mess.”

It had been so long since I felt anything, and now I felt too much. “He is? Why?”

“Guilt. He fucked up, and he felt shitty, and this is how he decided to atone.”

“By kidnapping people?” I blurted, feeling stupid, trying to make it make sense.

Martin laughed. “I missed you so much,” and then he was holding me, and it was so tight, and it was him, and that was his heart, and this was my Martin, and I—

Martin was dead.

So maybe I’d gone crazy.

Maybe the Eye did too much to me, and I was still in the world the Eye made, floating, mind snapped like dry wood, imagining things.

If it was, if I’d really lost it, and this wasn’t happening… I didn’t care.

“I want this,” I told him, clutching, keeping all my extra eyes closed. “I need you.”

“I know.”

“I love you. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry I got you killed.”

He looked so pale. “Jon… it wasn’t your fault. I know that, now,” he said to me, and I knew (knew, which I didn’t want to do anymore, but apparently, that still happened) I was forgiven.

And then I cried, and it was good, and painful, and human, and I let it come and didn’t try to stop it because that was a thing I’d forgotten how to do and finally remembered.

“I’m so sorry,” I whispered again.

And my fingers dug into his back, and he kissed my jaw.

“I’ve got you, Jon,” he said, and I knew he meant it.

(But I’ve never met this fucking—)

Erased. He no longer thought that. And even if he did, I no longer cared.

If this was the lie, I would live it.

It was not happy.

I did not care. “I have too many eyes.”

Martin laughed. “Um. Ask me about gills sometime.”

“What?”

He laughed again, and his cheeks went red, and his eyes were shiny, but not from sorrow.

I pulled him down to the bed, on top of me like a heavy, hot blanket. “I want to know about gills.”

“I promise I’ll tell you all of everything,” Martin said, and settled, his breath against my neck.

I held him.

He held me.

He went to sleep like that, on me, like he hadn’t slept in twenty years, breathing just under my ear.

I still could not sleep, but that didn’t matter. Only one thing did: him.

Sasha came to check, smiled to find him unconscious, and left us alone.

I didn’t understand what happened. Not really. Not yet. Eventually, I would. It didn’t matter.

Martin was d

I could not live with that truth anymore.

Martin was not dead. He was here. And so was I. (And maybe Martin needed that untruth, too, if he’d had to kill me.)

I closed all my eyes, and ignored Its complaints, and held my Martin.

If this was madness, it was also my joy, and I would wrap it around my heart and engrave it on my bones and sear it in the backs of all of my eyes.

If this was madness, it was mine, and I would never let it go.

-----

Notes:

So in case it wasn't clear: There was ONE universe where Leitner was not a complete asshole, but was trying to run around sort of... Gertruding his way through life, being a "good" guy. He blew it, and his universe died. But not before he could connect with Manuela, who, instead of a Dark Sun, was working on wormholes. They got out. He felt bad. He discovered that there were numerous universes like his thanks to group of people going back about forty years, all of whom were somehow connected. They also all managed to end the world like he did - in flame, or darkness, or any number of things. He felt bad. One thing led to another, and... it's puppy-rescue time. What will happen with them all back together in one place? Nobody knows! No one is the same. They've all been changed. Most are monsters. But Martin is alive, and to at least one person, that's the only thing that matters.

[witchofthesouls]

In the Cyber!Earth au, what happened to the kids? idk if this au can overlap with the other-kids to other-sparkling au, but I assume they are currently with their guardians. Will they reunite with their families? What is the difference between a dragon and a Dragon? June is a fae? She gives me Queen Titania vibes, a lot actually, cause her influence seems like a bit too much for a regular fae (or whatever she is). These aus are fire, please keep this series (it needs to be made into fanfic)

(I’m getting fond of this Cyber!Earth AU, so I’m thinking to explore the Darbys being the direct descendants of Megatronus Prime that Fell to younger, hungrier Earth.)

Oh, yes, the Fallen would have been snatched up by Earth. Megatronus Prime, the dark shadow to Prima, the Undefeated, the very Prime closest to Unicron’s own nature by Primus’ own decree. Earth/Gaea would have been very interested in such a being.

Earth was born of Unicron’s own frame. Like calls to Like. So, of course, it catches the Fallen star with its inescapable grip, madness and grief and power echo in that metal frame.

Of course, it will claim because-

Cyclical and cycles. It, them, and everyone. All interconnected; separate and whole. It calls and calls and calls-

In a far younger Earth, Megatronus cleaves his way across the terrain as he’s unable to escape the atmosphere. No; Gaea is Unicron is Primus. It refuses to allow the Prime, its own Primordial, to leave. Gaea will keep this one; this bright soul that burns like itself and its creator/twin/reflection.

The world is a pitiless being. Beyond mortal comprehension and morals. It is curious and acquisitive. It will provide and break its inhabitants.

It sings a lullaby of Chaos and Conflict; breathing life into extreme environments to watch them struggle. Thrive or die. Only those that adapt shall be able to survive and flourish. Crooning over the newest creations that spring forth. Humming at those that triumphed.

Its bounty does not come without costs. Adaptability is its demand. Earth’s immense biodiversity and resources come with the very sediment, oceans, and atmosphere being tempestuous and violent. 

From the results of catastrophic destruction springs forth more nutrients and riches and the possibility of reshaping the environment.

June, like many of the humans that were converted, is “sleeping.” In her dreams, reality and imagination have blended. Her days go on and on and in her dreams and nightmares, she’s hunting under the moonlight and tastes the spicy thrum of prey.

She didn’t grow up with her parents. June can't even remember what they look or sound like. She went under her grandmother’s care…

She hasn’t thought of that home in years. They haven’t been in each other’s presence for a long time... Just calls and thoughtful gifts over the years seem to be the extent of their once close relationship.

June had forgotten many things. She will remember…

Others had stepped forward to claim their lost brethren and kin. Hush, little dreamers, one day you shall awaken < but do you wish to? > 

Many will never wake up. Stepping into a new life easily with the wisps of their old flesh set deep inside. Much like a whale that swims but dreams of walking upon the land.

Some do wake up. In increments. In persistence.  Following the tug of bonds even with suppressed memories. (In the once Pacific ocean, Miko’s parents are hunting for their wayward daughter. Her mother descended from the sea and it called her back. Miko’s father is a tenacious soul; where they go so shall he…)

Some wish they never had, and in the emptiness of their hearts something calls and it breaks them… Justice. Vengeance. It matters not what happens, only that they are able to eradicate the ones that razed their world.

Agent Fowler is one of the very, very few who wakes up immediately. Not only does he needs to come to terms with a place that is not home, but he also needs to figure out his newfound body and how to get into touch with anyone else that has their head on straight.

The kids are sparklings: chirping, wailing forms, and unable to speak in proper words. June is some sort of predator trace; snapping and snarling and howling in the woods.

Chickadee is his damn lifeline because the half-fae with the bone mask and the wide, sharp smile is the only one that actually speaks English and knows how to cook whatever June drags back to the camp.

He’s leery of Chickadee, the always smiling similarly metal man. Not Cybertronian. Something isn’t registering as distinctly Cybertronian. The way he hums in a dual overlay scratches the edges of Fowler’s mind. The way he walks, far too fluid for machinery, the robes seem to glide across the ground. The way he speaks: so lyrical and off-putting at times. Knows far too much of the Darbys to be a mere stranger…

Agent Fowler doesn’t know who though? When the kids became a constant presence, they and their families were vetted. Who is this man? How did they miss him?

Some dragons are born. Long-lived as people of fire and air. Destructive yet wise. The older ones tend to be far more merciful for they had lived to a point to be able to afford it. But others are chosen. Pilar is one such mortal. She was born in the desert. She died in one as well. Elsewhere.

There are reasons why many human cultures have many brutal superstitions about the dead and the condemned. Demons. Witches. Spirits. Undead.

There are reasons why humanity was once loved and feared by Others.

Such Dragons are holy symbols. Something between monster and god-kin. Such chosen individuals had given everything to the pyre and then resurrected by the Sun's flames.

Even the Courts will bow to the might of a Dragon for the Moon is the reflection of the Sun.

Such sublime mortals are fiercely coveted for they are pillars of conviction and faith. To hold a Dragon's Allegiance is beyond anything. The power of the Sun, willingly given and willingly taken, embedded in a mortal soul.

Zealous. Vehement. Relentless. 

They are the greatest defenders of their chosen liege lord, but such sovereigns are held to the high standard of the Aspect they take. 

Dragons demand the same level of dedication and devotion to the Cause.

To break faith with such a fervent being with such a ferocious soul is certain death.

< Sacrifice and salvation. A curse and a blessing rolled together. To take one is to have a volcano at your neck, an inferno dogging your steps, the wrath of the stars judging everything you shall do… >

< They are living acts of theurgy. Embodiments of the mortal and divine. Who are you to deny the work of the gods? Who are you to demand retribution when you destroyed your own and attempted to cleanse ours? >

[mournivaldisco]

why so obsessed with the horus heresy? not very knowledgable abt warhammer i just want to make people infodump

Thanks for the ask! Infodump activated, please stand by

So my previous hyperfixation was the work of John Milton (doesn't sound relevant, but bear with me) and I wrote my undergrad dissertation on 'The Culpability of Milton's Eve' - basically examining to what degree Milton held Eve responsible for the Fall of Man. (My argument was she represents the pursuit of knowledge and freedom and therefore a necessary evil because those are inherently virtuous in Milton's mind - dude was a complex thinker.) The Horus Heresy takes heavy inspiration from Paradise Lost so I was drawn to that aspect. (There are moments in the climactic novel where the author, Dan Abnett, literally quotes PL and I squeed.)

Again on a personal level, my husband had been trying unsuccessfully to get me interested in Warhammer for about ten years before I finally picked up the first book in the series, Horus Rising, and was like '...huh. This is good. Husband, what's a primarch?' At the time I was knee deep in postnatal depression and suddenly wanting to know What Happened Next in the story really helped get me through. That was 2019 and I think the last few books in the series hadn't yet been released, so I set myself the goal of finishing the whole thing before the finale was released.

The Horus Heresy including the Siege of Terra is 64 novels. It's a commitment and I was Ready.

What do I love about it? It's epic mythology and covers so much ground while at the same time following tiny plot threads right to the end. The Legions and primarch details are very satisfying to a neurospicy mind. The books are...variable in quality, but when they're good, they blow your socks off. Know No Fear, for example, is pure cinema. I also find it hilarious that the final book is so long that the publishers physically could not print it as a single volume, so it was split into three. And you can tell Dan Abnett was having a whale of a time. He's the same author who started the series with Horus Rising 18 years earlier. There are a bunch of authors who wrote for the series and that gives it a nice variety in terms of style, favourite characters and so on.

Character-wise, we have my blorbo Garviel Loken, who starts Horus Rising from his perspective. He's the reader's way into the madness of what's going on as he is quite human for a Space Marine. My other favourite is Sanguinius, who is an angel vampire primarch (how can I not love him) with huge wings. His sort-of-dad, the Emperor of Mankind, has a whole thing where he constantly denies that he is a god despite all evidence to the contrary and he also has this son who is casually an angel, so that's fun. Sanguinius is the best boy but doesn't believe it because he also craves blood. He also is besties with Horus but unfortunately is destined to die by his hand. I am obsessed.

I love writing fanfic and there's such potential in the Heresy for missing scenes and exploring the characters' emotions - and shipping 😏

In conclusion it is awesome and I love it thank you for coming to my TED talk 😆

[myfaveisfuckable]

Rants!

Stanchez: What's better than one gross old an of dubious morality? TWO gross old men of dubious morality!

Well, no... actually, to be honest, I've only seen one episode of Rick & Morty and didn't like it, so I don't really care for this ship in general. BUT there's one fanfic that made this ship into the STUPIDEST MOST HILARIOUS LOVE TRIANGLE AND I LOVE IT

The fic series:

Trying to explain the love triangle ("love triangle"): Rick Sanchez and Ford Pines were in college together. And then 10~15 years later Rick reconnects with "Ford Pines" (actually Stan b/c of the whole dimensional portal thing), they have an awkward if passionate affair for a short while before Stan breaks it off, and Rick's just never gotten over it for 30 years.

This is all fine and good until jump to the present (2012), Ford is back, and so are various other characters, including some OCs with ties to Rick Sanchez. And they all have to work together to save the world/beat Bill/etc. read the fic if you want details. But in the middle they also have to deal with fallout of STAN LYING ABOUT HIS IDENTITY FOR 30 YEARS and also RICK SOMEHOW NOT NOTICING THE DIFFERENCE. It's very dramatic and very dumb and only a love triangle in the sense that there are three people who are all very embarrassed and very mad at eachother, but as a reader I am ABSOLUTELY Michael-Jackson-eating-popcorn-meme over this.

(...and later the author retconned the latter part by bringing in the Gravity Falls memory gun, which IMO is waay less fun. But for the first half of the fic where I thought Rick Sanchez was just dating a completely different man and either didn't realize or didn't question it, THAT was hilarious)

(btw the fic in question is mostly very good! the love triangle stuff is a sideplot, it mostly centers around the adventures of Ripley, amnesiac dimension hopper who is space-gladiator married to Ford and beat him back to Gravity Falls to have adventures with the gang there, and Ripley is great.)

Raqio/remnan: mean nb + traumatised dude but i think they should kiss + in the canon ending they start a revolution together + raqio looks like a peacock + remnan has a sibling dynamic with a literal beluga whale TO ME

[idiotlovesongs]

Alr fic title

Dream on, Monster

i reblogged a post that said to send me a fic title and i'll give an idea or summary of said fictional fanfic a few days ago, and i had the idea for this one the day of, but i got lazy.

anyways

this is very clearly a short klance fic post-space whale but before they defeat zarkon. keith and lance have recently gotten together and things are going well. they are so ingrained into each other's lives that it's not a big shift to start dating. the only change made to their routine is a few dates and sharing their beds.

no one has a problem with these changes except for one person, or dog. kosmo is used to sleeping right next to keith in his bed. he's a little disgruntled the day he finds lance in his spot, and he burrows right between them and forces keith's arms around him.

lance says it's fine. there's no reason to get mad at a dog. he's not petty enough for that.

except he absolutely is petty enough to have beef with a dog, especially one as smart as kosmo. it only escalates when kosmo starts crashing their dates. turns out having a teleporting space dog comes with cons. obviously, he's not gonna make keith choose between him and kosmo. that's fucking stupid, and keith will choose kosmo as much as that does pain him.

so this entire fic will be lance beefing with a dog until keith realizes and makes fun of him, showing how fucking ridiculous that is. it resolves with lance and kosmo becoming friends and taking a nap together without keith.

[ladystrallan]

Once Upon a Time season 2 thoughts

I’m rewatching OUAT and I wanted to share some of my opinions on each season!

- “are the nuns still nuns or can they… y’know date? Don’t say it’s me asking” Dr Whale you rascal

- Rumple x smashing glass: the real otp

- Rip Charming’s mom, you kinda remind me of Hercules’ mom

- Ok I kinda like Dr Whale now

- Regina it’s been DECADES you need to move on from Daniel

- I ship Emma and Neal so hard

- Wow the introduction of captainswan AND swanfire in one episode???

- Nooooo Belle crossing the town line :(

- This arc was TRAGIC

- NO NOT THE CHIPPED CUP

- Ugh I hate the Greg and Tamara arc

- Ruby x whale??? Why do I kinda ship it

- “What’s his name?” “Baelfire” “A STRONG NAME” what a delivery

- Robert Carlyle is the best actor in the cast

- Nooooo he just wanted to be a good dad

- Okay I’m really starting to not like Regina

- Idk why she is mad at snow and not cora, THE ACTUAL PERSON WHO KILLED DANIEL

- Snow’s mom: coughs into a handkerchief, me: SATINE

- Drink every time rumple says “bae”

- The casting of young snow was spot on, their mannerisms are so alike

- He called him papa… I’m crying

- NO IT WAS CORA

- Literally why does she hate Eva so much

- Regina you’re on the wrong side, killing daniel was part of her ten step plan to make you queen

- She just threw mrs patmore out of the window

- Not Tamara

- Pettiness runs in the Mills family

- Cora: murdered eva because she tripped her once years before

- Regina: wants to kill snow and everyone close to her because she didn’t keep a secret when she was TEN

- EW cora x rumple

- Their vibes are so gross

- Imagine if they had a kid… I can’t

- Screaming crying throwing up

- Rumple talking to Belle on the phone :(

- That was so sad

- RUMPLE AND NEAL

- THIS IS SO SAD

- Ooh snow tricking Regina

- “Any baby I have… it won’t be yours” yikes

- The amount of mommy issues in this show…

- 2x17 I hate this episode

- “You always pay your debts” is rumple a lannister?

- I hate Greg/Owen so much you have no idea

- Wooden august looks rough

- Like it’s not terrible but it’s not good either

- The dragon: is a magical powerful man, also the dragon: gets killed by a taser

- THE TASER SHOULD NOT HAVE AFFECTED AUGUST BECAUSE HE IS MADE OF WOOD WHICH DOESN’T CONDUCT ELECTRICITY

- Noooo why did blue turn him into a little boy and not a hot guy again

- GREG AND TAMARA LEAVE RIGHT NOW

- I can’t decide which I hate more cora x rumple or greg x tamara

- Both have such gross energy

- REGINA YOU ARE RUINING RUMBELLE

- “I can’t focus on my spinning with all your crying” lol

- Not Lacey

- Rumple about Belle/Lacey: oh no she’s not wholesome anymore

- I actually like the Lacey episode

- I don’t remember having liked it but I do now

- The sound rumple makes when he sees the prisoner is gone lol

- Wingman charming

- “I’m so sorry about your dress…” why don’t you take it off? ;)

- Did they recast Robin Hood? That’s weird

- She’s into him being evil…

- Rumbelle is so cute omg

- “Jail cell? I don’t think so” lol

- “She’s the evil one” GIRL YOU JUST KILLED AN ENTIRE VILLAGE

- I’m sorry I just can’t get behind Regina

- She’s just so manipulative and has zero regret for everything she’s done

- The Regina torture scene was TRAUMATIZING to middle school me

- “Is it magic?” “No… it’s science” THAT’S DR WHALE’S LINE YOU CAN’T STEAL IT GREG

- Bae fanficed himself into Peter Pan

- BAE NO

- Ugh Greg and Tamara are the worst

- NEAL NO

- Yay belle is back

- Memorable lines: “it’s delicious, cheesy and doesn’t lie” “no… it’s science” “love is weakness” “bae”

How I feel about the characters this season

Love: Rumple, August, Belle

Like: Neal, Emma, Charming, Mulan, Ruby, Archie, Dr Whale

Neutral: Hook, Snow, Aurora, everyone else in Storybrooke

Dislike: Regina, Blue

Hate: Greg, Tamara, Cora

Season rating: 5/10

I hate hate hate the whole Greg and Tamara plot, also Cora x Rumple grossed me out, but there was a lot of Rumbelle content (it was really sad though)

[anubislover]

Home is Where the Heart Is

(The fanfic I wrote for the @womenwantedzine way back, now finally exposed to the public, lol)

As she cleaned her tools and listened to the steady hum of the Polar Tang’s engine, Ikkaku decided that there was nothing she didn’t love about being a Heart Pirate.

After all, her crew was simply the best. Her captain was a brilliant doctor and a member of the Worst Generation. The boys were vibrant and fun and capable, and it was a blast coming up with awesome poses together. Plus, they hands-down had the cutest navigator of any crew on the Grand Line, and she didn’t mind the occasional garchu from him, despite how hot and sweaty he could get.

Not that it was always easy, being the only girl on the crew. When she’d first come aboard, she’d had to deal with more than a few awkward situations, like sharing a bathroom, overhearing inappropriate conversations, the occasional unthinking sexist comment, and, of course, the embarrassment that came with medical check-ups and monthly menstrual cycles.

Now, though, the boys fully respected her. Or at least they never acted like heart-eyed idiots around her the way they had with the Kuja. She didn’t have to worry about not having a tampon since they were bought in bulk; after all, they were great for plugging bullet wounds. And while the boiler suit wasn’t what most people would consider high-fashion, it was nice that it was unisex and utilitarian. The thick material protected her skin from hot pipes and sharp metal, and honestly, she pulled it off the best.

After a while, she’d even come to love—well, tolerate—their alliance with the Straw Hats. She may have opposed it at first and seen their help as worthless, but it was hard to stay mad after she found out that Monkey D. Luffy had basically saved Law’s life. And, perhaps, she’d mainly resisted teaming up because she was upset that her captain had sent her and the crew to Zou instead of letting them help.

Most of all, she loved the Polar Tang. The submarine was far more high-tech than any other pirate ship she’d seen, and she knew every nut, bolt, pressure gauge, and pipe. It was unique. It was home.

What other ship could travel underwater without that bubble coating from Sabaody? Could practically disappear beneath the waves when pursued by the Navy, or pop back up for a surprise attack? What other ship was able to observe deep sea life like the Tang?

They did have to deal with the unique hazard of the occasional hungry squid mistaking them for a whale, but hey, she’d take that over most Marines. It was killer on the paint job, though. A steady supply of yellow paint was a necessity for dealing with those sucker marks.

And of course, no other ship had someone like her on board. Every member of the crew had some knowledge of the Tang’s workings, but Ikkaku prided herself on her expertise. Why, just from the feel of her feet on the steel walkways and the angle of the water in a glass, she could tell whether or not the trim tanks needed balancing or if they needed to redistribute the weight of fuel and supplies.

The Polar Tang was her home, and Ikkaku was determined to take good care of it. After all, it took care of the Hearts. She was familiar with the legends of the Klabauterman, and with the way she loved and looked after the ship, she was certain one existed on board. And if it didn’t, well, she was the next best thing.

The clunk of boots echoing through the hallway broke her out of her thoughts, and checking the clock, she realized it was time for dinner. If she didn’t get moving, she’d likely find herself Shambled into the galley.

Giving the engine one last affectionate pat, she ran off to join her nakama.

[eienias20]

Remember Xenoblade Chronicles Mira?

Published December 7th, 2019 with the last uploaded chapter being 40 on December 21st, 2020. it's been over two years since I update it and yeah i'm super mad at myself for that

Recently i've read a really long and really good fanfic. add my feelings on XC3 to the mix and i've finally pushed myself to try and write more for my Xenoblade Chronicles X AU

to answer why the long hiatus for those who want to know. i do this a lot when i write a long story. i get really into it, i write like 75% of the story, update regularly. then it slows down and stops.

at first it was just a break, then it kept going and i couldn't find the drive. i did try in 2022 to write chapter 41 and it was awful. i tried to reread the last few chapters but i couldn't get back into the mindset

so i'm trying something new. i'm rewriting the entire fic. how? well i have the story open in one window and a blank doc on another. i transcribe the old version, changing some sentence structures, actions and whatnot. scenes are reworked and even new scenes are added. its a big ol update to the whole fic.

currently i have rewritten 7 of 40 chapters and i say its going pretty well. once i've rewritten and edited them i post them on my discord. anyone want to join the discord and get a sneak peek, i'll get a link to you.

the goal right now is to rewrite part 1 (21 chapters that cover 4 years on Earth and 2 aboard the White Whale) then once that's done, i will update the fic on archiveofourown with the new chapters, then the same with part 2, then what i wrote of part 3 and the hope is that this will spur me beyond 40 and push me to the conclusion cause i really do wanna finish this fic.

AO3 link to the current version of Xenoblade Chronicles Mira

All this is just to say for anyone who still remembers or is still curious after 2 years. i'm working on it for real and i really do want to complete it.

For those who don't know, XCM is my own version of Xenoblade Chronicles X most of the main cast is in it, i've got quite a lot of OCs. The two main protags are Elma of course and my girl, Jaynix.

The fic is divided into 3 parts.

Part 1 covers two timelines, 2050 - 2054 (ends when humanity leaves Earth, the Exodus) and 2054 - 2056 (ends when the white whale crashes on Mira)

Part 2 covers two timelines 2056 (the first two months before the game would begin, ending with Elma in Starfall Basin) and a certain set of events in 2060 (3 and a half years after the end of XCX itself)

Part 3 has one single timeline continuing right after part 2 and is the final part

[free-for-all-fics]

Obscure Characters List - Male Edition (N-Z)

Obscure Characters I love for some reason (N-Z). (By obscure I mean characters that have little to no fanfic written about them. Not necessarily characters nobody’s ever heard of.) Don’t ask me to explain why. UPDATED: Tumblr is being a butt about post length or something so I’m splitting up the lists.

N

Nigel Billingsley (Jumanji 2 and 3)

Night’s Cavalry (Elden Ring)

Nothing (The Night House)

P

Pazuzu (The Exorcist)

Pierre Despereaux (Psych)

Prince Anton Voytek (Vampire 1974)

Prince Escalus (Romeo and Juliet, no particular adaptation)

Prince Quartus (Stardust)

Prince Septimus (Stardust)

Professor Petrie/Phantom of the Opera (Phantom of the Opera 1962)

Peter Quint (Turn of the Screw, the book and maybe some other adaptations. Not the Bly Manor Flanagan show.)

R

Reese Kelly (Scarlet Hollow)

Rene Belloq (Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark)

Roland Voight (Hellraiser 2022)

Ronin (Star Trek)

Rorschach (Watchmen)

Rupert Giles (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Rusty Nail (Joyride trilogy)

S

Salem Saberhagen (Sabrina the Teenage Witch)

Sam Wayne (Scarlet Hollow)

Silver Surfer/Norrin Radd (Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer)

Simon Jarrett (SOMA)

Sir Lancelot (Night at the Museum 3)

Sportacus (LazyTown)

Starscourge Radahn (Elden Ring)

STEM (Upgrade)

Sutter Cane (In the Mouth of Madness)

T

Thantos DuBaer (Twitches 1 and 2)

The Auditor (Hellraiser: Judgment)

The Babadook (The Babadook)

The Black Knight Ghost (Scooby Doo 2 Monsters Unleashed)

The Curator (Dark Pictures Anthology)

The Designer (Devil’s Carnival 2)

The Djinn/Nathaniel Demerest/Professor Joel Barash/Steven Verdel (Wishmaster series)

The Faun (Pan’s Labyrinth)

The Fox (The Little Prince 1974)

The Jester (The Jester, A Short Horror Film series)

The Kinderfänger (Crypt TV)

The Knight/Tarhos Kovács (Dead by Daylight)

The Look-See (Crypt TV)

The Man (Carnival of Souls)

The Merman (Cabin In The Woods)

The Metal Killer (Stage Fright 2014)

The Mirror (Oculus)

The Narrator (Stanley Parable)

The Other (Hellfest)

The Phantom (Phantom Manor)

The Projectionist (Pearl)

The T-1000/Cop (Terminator 2, Terminator Genisys)

The Tall Man/The Entity (It Follows)

The Thing (The Thing 1982)

The Torn Prince/Royce Clayton (Thirteen Ghosts remake)

The Torso/James “Jimmy” Gambino (Thirteen Ghosts remake)

Thomas Alexander “Alex” Upton (TAU)

Tiger Mask/Dave (You’re Next)

Tommy Ross (Carrie, 1976)

V

Valak (The Conjuring)

Valdack and his real world counterpart (Black Mirror)

Van Pelt (Jumanji 2)

Venable (Wrong Turn 2021)

Viktor (Underworld series)

Viktor Frankenstein/Dr. Whale (Once Upon a Time)

Vladislaus Dracula (Van Helsing 2004)

W

Wade Thornton (Nancy Drew, Ghost of Thornton Hall)

Wesley Wyndam-Pryce (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts (The Princess Bride)

Wildwind/Dark Skull, Stormy Weathers, and Lightning Strikes (Scooby Doo and the Legend of the Vampire)

“William”/The Headless Figure (Crypt TV)

William “Billy” Butcherson (Hocus Pocus 1 and 2)

X

Xenan the Centaur (Xena Warrior Princess)

[jeffersonbarnes]

"A creature that feeds of others and bursts into flames when in contact with sunlight? Fairy tales, made to keep children of the streets at night."

Jefferson wants to prove that there are no such things as vampires. The answer he finds isn't the asnwer he expected to find...

I wanted to finish this for Halloween...didn’t really manage to do that.

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23484760/chapters/56308813

Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/643859761-fangs-madwhale-meeting-shadows

FF.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13542411/1/Fangs

[spinner-of-yarns]

Who you gonna call?

Victor joins Ruby's team of paranormal investigators for a tv show. There he meets Jefferson, the most annoying being on the planet. Mad Whale, Red Kansas

Word count: 14k

Finally, it's finished. Please enjoy whatever this is. I'm going to sleep. AO3

Victor stepped into the studio drowning in regret. Staring in a paranormal investigation show no longer seemed like such a good idea, but it was too late to back down now. How in the world did he agree to this? He should’ve found a better way to earn money for his research. Like selling his liver for an example.

Ruby lured him in with promises of him being able to work in his field and scientifically proving that magic doesn’t exist. It all sounded too great to be true, until he realized he will have to be in front of a camera.

And he still decided to go through with it. Never let it be said that Victor Whale makes good life choices.

Whatever dignity he had left, he was going to lose it in the foreseeable future.

"Victor!" Ruby waved at him. She was standing in the hall next to two women. He recognized one of them as Mulan Fa, the director.

"Hi, Ruby." Why did he ever think it was a good idea to be friends with her? She always had the worst ideas.

"Victor, this is Dorothy Gale and Mulan Fa. Dorothy, Mulan, this is Dr. Victor Whale."

“Hello,” Mulan said and shook hands with him.

"Uh, hi," he smiled awkwardly.

"Don’t mind Victor,” Ruby grinned. “He’s a bit nervous."

He glared at her. She’s going to regret this.

"Sure," Dorothy shrugged. "Nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

“Come on,” Ruby grabbed his elbow, saving him from further embarrassment. “I’ll show you to the lab.”

Ah, the magic words. The laboratory and research facility were the only things he was looking forward to. Other than spending time with his best friend, of course. He followed Ruby through the bland corridors.

“How were you doing lately?” she asked. “I know it’s been hard-“

“I’m fine,” he interrupted her. The last thing he needed was to talk about that. "How’s Granny?"

Ruby looked away.

"Oh. You’re still not talking to her. Aren’t you a little old for teenage rebellion?"

"It’s not teenage rebellion!” she protested. “We just don’t agree on many things. Including what I should be doing with my life. And besides, it’s not like you have any right to judge, considering your relationship with your father."

He paused and turned to look at her. „That’s a really low blow, Ruby.“

She sighed. „I’m sorry. Let’s not talk about any of that.“

“I agree. What about the crew? Do you think we’ll get along?”

“Yeah, if you’ll talk to them instead of hiding in the lab,” she nudged him with her elbow. Victor rolled his eyes. “But yeah. I haven’t met everyone, but those I have are all really nice. I think this job is going to be really good for us.”

“If you think so.”

They spoke about everything and nothing for the rest of the way to the laboratory. They had a lot to talk about; they haven’t seen each other in person in months.

“Here we are.”

Victor smiled widely. The lab was more than he could have hoped for. It put the little study he had in his apartment to shame. He missed the laboratory he had at his disposal when he worked at the university, but this was amazing.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“Hello!”

Victor turned around. A man was jogging towards them. A very attractive man. Oh, boy.

"Sorry I’m late, the traffic’s horrible," he smiled. And what a smile it was. "I’m Jefferson Hatter, one of the hosts.”

He extended his hand to Ruby, who took it. Then he turned to Victor and froze for a moment. They stared into each other’s eyes and Victor could feel the temperature rising. "Wow. I finally met an angel."

Never mind. This guy was an idiot. He rolled his eyes out of sheer habit he quickly formed after Ruby befriended him when they were children.

“I’m Victor Whale. This is Ruby Lucas. Angels aren’t real.”

“Really?” Jefferson raised his eyebrow. “How can you be so sure, Mr. Whale?”

“There is no evidence that would support their existence. And it’s Dr. Whale, actually.” He normally didn’t care about his title. Ruby was the one who kept calling him doctor left and right with pride he couldn’t quite find in himself.

But this guy was pissing him of.

„Alright, Doc. We don’t have proof they exist, but we also don’t have proof they don’t.“

"It’s highly unlikely that they do," Victor said. Jefferson narrowed his eyes and grinned playfully at him.

“But highly unlikely isn’t impossible.”

“You can’t just believe everything that isn’t refuted.”

“And you can’t just dismiss every unlikely possibility.”

Ruby sighed deeply and walked out of the lab. She knew Victor and how stubborn he could be. Jefferson was exactly the kind of person that would get on his nerves. As far as she could tell they were already too absorbed in their argument to even notice she left.

This was not going to end well.

*

Victor was sitting on the front seat of a minivan. He was in charge of navigating while Dorothy drove them to their first case. Ruby and Jefferson were in the back. Jefferson unfortunately sat right behind Victor and kept leaning forward and whispering in his ear. They got off on the wrong foot so Victor wasn’t all that surprised that Jefferson decided to spend the majority of the ride making fun of him.

"Could you lend me the map?” He was so close that Victor could feel his breath on the back of his neck. He suppressed a shiver. “I keep getting lost in your eyes."

"Get lost somewhere else," he whispered back to him and then said to Dorothy, "Turn right at the crossroad."

He decided ignoring Jefferson would probably be the best idea but just couldn’t help making another comment. “Besides, you can’t get lost in my eyes; we’re not even looking at each other.”

Jefferson laughed quietly. “You’ve got a point.”

“Of course I do.”

Somehow, they managed the rest of the ride without too much trouble. Victor didn’t pay much attention when they got there – he wasn’t there to talk to the callers, thank god. That was Ruby’s and Jefferson’s job.  As far as he could tell, the family thought their house was haunted. He resisted the urge to look straight into the camera and prepared the equipment.

He wasn’t entire sure why he was needed in the field. He had a doctorate; an idiot could set up a heat sensitive camera and an EMF detector.

“Do you need any help?”

Victor looked up. Of-fucking-course.

“No, I’m fine,” he replied, resolutely not looking at Jefferson. “It’s not quantum physics.”

“From what I’m told I doubt quantum physics would be that much of a problem to you.”

Victor shrugged.

“Right. I’m…gonna go see if Ruby needs help with something,” Jefferson said and left. Victor sighed and kept on working.

*

Just like Victor thought they found no evidence of ghost or poltergeists or anything out of the ordinary, really. He still had some things to look at in the lab when they got back, but he didn’t really think there will be anything interesting.

He was glad that Ruby called shotgun for the ride back. Of course, that meant Jefferson was now next to him, which probably would’ve been worse had Jefferson not fallen asleep pretty quickly.

And Victor, who usually found himself unable to fall asleep, soon joined him.

“And the boys are out,” Ruby informed Dorothy with a grin.

“Good. At least we don’t have to listen to…whatever that was supposed to be.”

“Take the next exit. I think they were flirting? Kinda? Victor’s horribly awkward with guys he finds hot, so there’s that. Well, he’s awkward with everyone, but that’s another story.”

Dorothy chuckled. “That would explain it. Anyway, how have you been? We haven’t really gotten a chance to talk yet. It’s…been a while.”

“Yeah,” Ruby sighed. “I’ve been alright I guess.”

The awkward tension didn’t follow just Victor for once it seemed. Ruby and Dorothy…had history would be one way of putting it. They knew each other back in college and were quite good friends until Dorothy went back home to Kansas.

And no matter how much Ruby tried to keep in touch, after a while Dorothy just stopped writing back.

To say she was surprised to see her at her new workplace would be an underestimatement.

“How about you?”

“Can’t complain,” Dorothy shrugged. “How’s Granny?”

“We’re not talking to each other at the moment. How’s aunt Em?”

“She died.”

“Oh. I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright.”

It apparently wasn’t, because the awkward silence stretched on.

“I tried contacting you, you know,” Dorothy said after a while. “But I wasn’t very successful.”

“Contacting me? Why would you do that after ignoring my messages?”

“I didn’t ignore you,” she protested. “Why would- oh, god, that’s what you thought? I didn’t realize how it would look.”

“Oh, really? You didn’t realize-“

“No, Ruby, I lost my phone! Embarrassing as it is. And I didn’t remember your number.”

“You have my address!”

“I had it in my phone,” she shrugged, her cheeks tinted red. “My memory isn’t very good it seems.”

“I wrote you a letter!”

“Uh, did you? I never got any.”

Ruby laughed hysterically and rested her head on the dash. “I can’t believe it. All this time. I thought you gave up on me.”

“Never,” she promised fervently.

“Well,” she smiled. “It’s a good thing we found each other again, Kansas.”

*

To the surprise of no one, there was no sign of paranormal activity, even when Victor checked everything in the lab. This part of the job he could tell he was going to enjoy. He got to explain how everything worked, to show how it’s done. There was even going to be a short segment each episode where they look at a faked ghost sighting and he recreates it to explain how they’ve done it.

It was perfect and it definitely made the horrible field work worth it. He even found that he didn’t mind the camera so much, especially since Dorothy, who was the main camerawoman, was so nice.

Besides, Ruby loved it here. She smiled at the camera like it was natural for her. And if he didn’t know her so well, he probably would’ve thought so. But he remembered her first attempt at acting for that Granny’s commercial. He still asked her if she has avocadoes when he wanted to tease her, but he was proud of how far she has come.

But not even that could make him watch the show.

The part of the job that he definitely didn’t enjoy was Jefferson. It was like he liked being annoying. The fact that Victor was the only one who felt that way was even worse. Everyone found him charming, if a little eccentric.

So of course he vented to Ruby as soon as he had the change.

“I hate him,” Victor complained.

“Who?” Ruby asked, even though she had a pretty good idea on who he meant.

“Jefferson. He’s just so annoying.”

“Are you sure you don’t just have a crush?” she smirked.

“What?! No, of course not! I mean, he’s attractive, don’t get me wrong, but as soon as he opens his mouth it all goes away.”

“Sure, buddy.”

He frowned. Well, two can play at this game.

“And speaking of colleagues and crushes, how’s Dorothy?”

“What?!” Ruby shrieked. Actually honest-to-god shrieked. Victor wasn’t sure if he ever heard her hit such a high note.“I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“Sure, buddy,” he smirked and then added, just to be an asshole: “And what is it with you and girls named Dorothy anyway? Do you crush on every Dorothy you meet?”

“Uh, well,” she shrugged nervously. “I only know one.”

“Wait – that’s your Dorothy?” he said, incredulous. “The one who left and then ignored you? I’m gonna-“

“No, Vic, no.” She put her hands on his chest to stop him from going and doing something stupid.“Turns out it’s all a misunderstanding. We just lost contact. That happens.”

“Sure. Why am I only hearing about it now?”

“Because I knew you’d overreact. And you have enough going on; you don’t need to worry about me as well.”

“I don’t need to – Ruby. Yeah, I’m not going to pretend that I’m okay, but you’re my best friend. I love you. You can tell me anything. Please don’t hold stuff in for my sake.”

Ruby stood still for a moment and then she grabbed his shoulder and drew him into a hug.

“You’re not the only one who’s allowed bottle up things,” she mumbled into his neck. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

“I know you did. I’m just not ready to talk about it.”

“I know. But if you ever do-“

“You’re here. I know.”

*

After that horrible cry fest they decided to go to the cafeteria to hang out with other crewmembers. Victor was mostly silent as Ruby chatted with Mulan, Jefferson and Merida, the publicist, but he got up when Dorothy came in.

“You! I don’t care if it was on purpose, if you ever do anything like that to Ruby again I will-“

“Victor Francis Whale!” Ruby barked. “You promised me you won’t overreact.”

“I promised no such thing.”

Ruby ignored him. “I can take care of myself, thank you very much; you don’t have to yell at her!”

“And you don’t have to yell at me.”

“Sorry to interrupt whatever it is that you three are fighting about,” Jefferson said. “But your middle name is Francis?”

Victor buried his head in his hands. “Great.”

“Don’t you tease him about it!”

“Oh, you can defend me, but I can’t defend you?” Victor raised an eyebrow.

“I can’t believe your middle name is Francis.”

“I don’t know what’s so weird about that.”

Jefferson shrugged. “Just didn’t think you’d have a name like that.”

“Well, my father must have hated me even then.”

“Victor…” Ruby said.

“What? It’s true.”

“I’m not even going to pretend I know what this was all about, but I’d prefer if you’d all stay alive, so try not to kill each other,” and with that Mulan got up and left with Merida.

Victor sighed. “Sorry I was mean, Dorothy. I just don’t want Ruby to get hurt.”

“It’s okay. I don’t want her to get hurt either.”

“I can still take care of myself, you know,” Ruby mumbled.

“And you,” he pointed at Jefferson. “Don’t call me Francis. It’s enough that I let you call me by my first name.”

“Sure,” he smiled. “Wait, I can call you by your first name?”

“Oh, god,” Victor sighed as he turned around and walked away. “Why did I say anything?”

“See you later, Victor!” Jefferson called, probably grinning like an idiot again.

*

"Victor?" Jefferson grinned when they were on set together once. He called him Victor all the time now. That was tolerable, unlike the one time he tried calling him Vic.

"Yes?" he said, preparing for the worst.

"If you were words on a page, you’d be fine print."

Victor sighed. This happened constantly, not that it helped him understand why he did it. He obviously wasn’t really flirting with him; why would he? He probably just found it funny.

He rarely did it while on camera, though. It was probably going to get cut, but he was glad he prepared a nice counter line anyway.

"Are you the terms and conditions? Because I don’t care what you have to say."

Ruby yelled something in the background. Jefferson’s grin got even bigger. Victor just spun on his heel and walked out.

It was a blessing or maybe a curse that Victor didn’t watch the show. Because if he did he would see Jefferson watching him leave with a lovestruck expression.

*

Ruby cringed as she read the responses. The show had nice reviews so far, but some of the fans, well, they were convinced Victor and Jefferson would make an amazing couple. Especially after the last episode.

Not that she didn’t agree with them. It was just that neither of them would react well if they found out.

“What exactly am I looking at?” Mulan asked after a moment of silence.

Merida raised her eyebrow. “What do you think?”

“I think people are noisy. I also think Victor won’t be happy.”

“That’s putting it mildly,” Ruby muttered.

“It’s not like they’re wrong,” Dorothy shrugged. “They flirt constantly; it’s giving me a headache.”

“We could do something about it,” Merida suggested.

“No one is meddling with anyone’s love lives on my show,” Mulan said. “There’s no way to stop the fandom from saying what they want to say; let’s just hope the guys don’t find it.”

*

Apparently, the show was a success. Victor was surprised by the number of people willing to spend their time watching them run around trying to find ghosts. They had a solid fan base and following on social media. He got himself a twitter account and regretted it almost instantly.

The fans continued watching them despite the fact that they didn’t encounter anything interesting yet. The only even remotely entertaining episode would probably the Halloween special, which was pretty much just them pulling pranks each other.

All the pranks were harmless, of course, but entertaining.

One of Jefferson’s pranks was arranging the dummies Victor had for experiments to spell out Francis, all Deadpool style. Victor was enough of a geek to watch Marvel, even if he preferred space to superheroes, but Jefferson was only a fan because his daughter loved the movies. Grace was twelve, so Victor doubted she saw Deadpool, which meant neither did Jefferson. He suspected it was Ruby’s idea, but had no evidence other than this.

As revenge, Victor created werewolf-like footprints in the mud in the forest near the studio. Ruby liked to run there and he knew with her love of wolves, she’ll flip out. That Jefferson liked to go for walks there, well, that was just a bonus.

The looks on their faces were priceless.

*

Since no one trusted Jefferson’s navigating skill and after he almost drove them into a ditch, no one trusted him to drive either, he always had time to spare on the road. Which he usually used to tease Victor.

„On a scale of one to ten you’re a nine and I’m the one you need.“

Victor turned and raised his eyebrow. „Excuse me? I’m a ten.“

Ruby snickered. The traitor.

“Are you laughing at me, Red?”

“No!” she said, trying to hold in the giggles. “Wouldn’t dream of it.”

Victor rolled his eyes.

*

This case took place in a small town with horrible weather. Not only was the caller, Mr. Chambers, convinced that there was a ghost in his house, ha was also convinced that it was the ghost of his mother who died a few years ago.

His daughter Anne, on the other hand, was sure all the noises and disruptions were thanks to their cat. Victor liked that theory. He also liked the cat, Mr. Whiskers, who was very cuddly. Victor even forgave him for sitting on his things.

Most of the noises were coming from the cellar, so that’s where he set up his equipment. Mr. Whiskers curled up next to his notebook, purring contentedly as Victor idly petted him.

The light from the small window was not quite enough anymore as the sun slowly set, but he was too lazy to get up and turn on the light. He was not leaving this spot until someone made him. He scribbled down a couple notes –the most diabolical sounds he could hear came from the boiler and went back to the book he was reading to pass the time.

Before he even noticed it was dark out. Victor may have not believed in ghosts, but that didn’t change the fact that he was a little scared as he checked the equipment for any changes.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he yelped and jumped up a little when he felt something touch his arm. He turned around, scared shitless, and, well.

Jefferson sneaking up on him shouldn’t come as a surprise either. He was wearing his signature obnoxious grin that was as annoying as it was attractive.

“Seriously, Hatter?” he said, frowning at the man in question.“Are you twelve?“

„On a scale of one to ten? Yes.“

Victor rolled his eyes. „And you called me a nine,” he muttered.

Jefferson must have heard him though, because he chuckled. Or he just chuckled for no reason. Seriously, Victor wouldn’t be surprised with this guy.

“Turn the light on, will you? I can’t see a thing.”

“Sure thing, Doc.”

He did as Victor asked and then, for some reason, didn’t leave. He just stood there while Victor worked, babbling on about something. The readings all seemed normal, other than some slight fluctuations that probably didn’t mean anything.

He happily ignored Jefferson until he grabbed him by the shoulders.

“What-“

“The light just flickered,” Jefferson pointed at the lamp, fascinated.

“Hatter,” he said, rolling his eyes. “The lights flicker all the time.”

“In houses with reported ghost activity?”

“In all houses,” Victor replied. It was still not enough for Jefferson.

“What if it’s a sign?”

“It’s not a sign. All the readings are completely normal.”

Jefferson sighed in disappointment. Victor sensed the perfect opportunity to tease him back.

“What, did you get scared by a flickering light?” he raised an eyebrow.“You’re a paranormal investigator. What are you going to do when the demons show up?”

Jefferson glared at him. “Use you as a human shield, probably. You’d protest, but you don’t believe it’s really demons, so you walk right into a trap.”

Victor frowned. “Well, right now I’m going to walk out of here and away from this conversation.”He grabbed the knob to leave, but the door didn’t open. He tried again but still, nothing happened.

He turned back to Jefferson, now really angry. “Did you seriously lock us in here?”

“What do you mean lock us in? We’re locked in?”

Victor took a deep breath. Great. They were trapped. Apparently. And Jefferson didn’t do it, which meant he didn’t have the key.

“Oh, boy,” he whispered. Mr. Whiskers head butted his leg, but Victor ignored him.

“Are you okay?” Jefferson asked. He seemed uncharacteristically worried.

“I’m a little claustrophobic,” Victor admitted.

“Oh. Is it very bad?”

“Not yet, but I don’t intend to stick around and wait for it to get worse.” Victor banged on the door. “Ruby! Open the damn door, this isn’t funny! You know I’m claustrophobic, come on!”

His breath shortened. His chest hurt. His hands were shaking as he banged on the door again.

“Open up!”

“I’m going to try to call them,” Jefferson said and took out his phone. But before he could dial either of their coworkers, they heard footsteps.

“Victor?” Ruby called.“What’s happened, where are you?”

“Locked in the cellar with Hatter like an idiot!” he yelled. “Could you walnuts unlock the door?!”

He heard her again, this time from a smaller distance. “Why are you locked in?”

“I don’t know! We didn’t do it.”

“I don’t see a key anywhere. I’ll go for Mr. Chambers.”

“Don’t leave,” he whispered. Ruby’s presence was a little calming, even if she couldn’t help.

“Wait,” Jefferson said.“Would you happen to have a bobby pin with you?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Slide it under the door.”

She did. Jefferson picked it up and kneeled in front of the door. Victor focused on calming his breathing.

After a short moment, the door clicked open.

Ruby ran inside, drawing him into a hug. “Are you alright?”

“It’s better now. Thanks, Red.”

“Don’t thank me, I didn’t do anything.”

“Right. Thank you, Jefferson,” he smiled.

“No problem,” Jefferson replied and smiled back at him.

*

They all agreed that the door probably just got stuck; it wasn’t used that often. Even Jefferson didn’t try to push his paranormal theories this time. Maybe he sensed Victor’s discomfort. Or maybe he just wasn’t in a mood to argue.

Victor might have been too fast to put him in the arch-nemesis box. He wasn’t that bad. He was just annoying and got on Victor’s nerves. But he was a good person under all of that, and Victor should not be a total douche to him.

He knocked on the door, which was ajar. Jefferson was sitting cross legged on the bed and holding a tablet in his hand. He looked up when he heard the knock.

“Just a moment,” he said.

Victor waited while he finished his video call.

"But I get scared at night, papa," Grace said. "I get scared when you’re not there and I’m alone."

"There’s nothing wrong with being scared, Grace. But you’re not alone; you’re with Aunt Alice. You can go to her if you need anyone, okay? And you have your rabbit with you. He’ll protect you."

Well, that was bullshit if Victor’s ever heard it. What good could a plushie do against any danger? But he saw the girl’s face, the peace such a simple lie brought her and decided to let this one slide. Just this once.

“Okay, papa. Good night.”

“Good night, sweetheart.” He set the tablet aside and turned to Victor. “What do you need?”

“You said you wanted to look at the irregularities?”

“Right, right, come in.”

He did and handed Jefferson his notes, along with a printed graph.

“As you can see, the fluctuations are slightly above the norm. But there’s not enough to consider it evidence. It’s too random and small for us to be able to tell if it’s anything.”

Jefferson nodded, studying the graph carefully. “Can you keep me updated? It’s not much, but more than any of our previous cases.”

“Yeah, of course. I wouldn’t build my hopes up, though. It’s probably nothing.”

Jefferson smirked. “One of us has to believe.”

*

Victor was a little reluctant to come back to the Chambers’ house after the incident. But he would rather face his fears than the teasing that would surely ensue if he chickened out.

So he came back, left the door to the cellar opened just in case and did his job. He wasn’t alone today. He couldn’t decide if it was good or not.

He did his best to ignore the camera as Dorothy tried to get some nice shots. Ruby and Jefferson spoke of theories on what could be happening, if anything was happening.

It wasn’t, Victor would say, his equipment just wasn’t precise enough. He had to admit, however, that they were extremely unlucky on this case. Not that Jefferson didn’t have enough bad luck on his own already. He wasn’t clumsy, not exactly; there was a strange elegance in his movements even. But if there was something that could go wrong, it would find him.

This time, it took a form of Jefferson tripping over thin air and falling right into a mirror.

“Shit, that hurts,” Jefferson swore, clutching his arm to his chest. Then he winced and looked to the camera. “Sorry, kids. It’s not as bad as it looks, Gracie. But Dorothy should probably leave anyway.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I can handle it,” Victor said. He took the medical kit he always carried to cases just to be sure. “Take a seat, Jefferson.”

“Shouldn’t he go to the hospital?” Ruby asked. “Not that I don’t trust you, but you can’t treat everything.”

“No, it’s fine. But it’s just a bit of glass,” he shrugged as he examined his arm. “Can you go find some more bandages, Ruby? I’m not sure I have enough.”

She did as he asked. Victor fished a flask out of his pocket and dabbed a cotton ball in it.

“Stupid shattering mirrors,” Jefferson muttered and then added nervously. “Wait. What are you doing?”

“We’re out of antiseptic. Alcohol’s the next best thing.”

“And why do you have alcohol on you?”

“Communicating with you is nearly impossible sober,” he joked.

“Victor.”

He ignored the disapproving tone and started prying the glass out of Jefferson’s hand and forearm. The glass shattered in quite conveniently sized pieces, so there was no need for stitching.

“Ow!”

"Sorry.” In his experience, which wasn’t all that much, it was best to distract people from the pain. “Aren’t you used to it, though? There’s no way you made it this far in life without getting stabbed."

“Oh, I’ve been stabbed, actually.”

Victor’s jaw may have dropped. He was just joking. Someone actually stabbed him?

“Lightly. A long time ago. I kinda passed out, so I don’t remember much,” he shrugged, as if it was of no consequence. “Anyway, it pays to have a medic on the team."

"I don’t think I would make a very good doctor."

"Other than your poor bedside manner, I’m not complaining. Your...other attributes more than make up for that." His gaze traveled across Victor’s face and lingered on his lips. But Victor was too focused on his work to notice Jefferson’s attention.

"You know I could just let you bleed out, right?"

"You wouldn’t," Jefferson smiled. And he was right. No matter how annoyed he was, he would never do something like that. Not to anyone and especially to someone he knew and...tolerated. More or less.

“I found some more bandages!” Ruby called as she walked back into the room.

“Thank you, Ruby. I’m almost done.”He dabbed the wound with the alcohol-soaked cotton balls, quickly hiding the flask from her. Jefferson noticed, though, following his hand with a pointed look. Victor was sure he would hear about it later.

He bandaged his hand, which got the worst of it – of course he had enough bandages, Jefferson’s eyes narrowed almost comically – and smiled. “There you go. It should be alright now. Besides, aren’t broken mirrors supposed to be good luck?”

Jefferson chuckled. “They are. Not sure it applies when you fall on it and shatter it in the process.”

“Next time, try getting to Narnia instead of Wonderland.”

“I’m not sure I would enjoy being stuck in a closet.”

Victor chuckled. “Yeah, point taken.”

*

Mr. Chambers wasn’t angry at all. The mirror was antique and no one used it anymore. It belonged to his mother, which was one of the reasons he thought she was trying to contact them.

But try as they might, they didn’t find any evidence. And nothing strange happened after the mirror. Just some odd noises that Victor figured are coming from the pipes and a couple of odd readings on his devices. So they left, once again, with nothing to report.

Victor was anxiously awaiting intervention, either coming in the form of a conversation with Jefferson, or a stern talking to by Ruby, because it was quite likely that Jefferson told her. Oh, she’d probably be disappointed in him and he wasn’t sure he could take that.

But after a while he realized it wasn’t coming. Ruby was none-the-wiser and Jefferson didn’t say anything about it to him. He probably figured it wasn’t his place. Or, more likely, he didn’t care that much.

*

„If you were a fruit, you’d be a fineapple,“ Jefferson grinned at Victor one morning.

“Why would the apple – oh, pineapple.” Victor groaned. „Okay, you’ve hit a new low. That’s a horrible pun.”

“No, I think it’s good.”

“I pity your daughter. The quality of dad jokes in your household must be staggering.”

Jefferson just chuckled. It seemed that they were back to the bad pick up lines. One of these would be quite enough for one day, but apparently Jefferson was feeling chatty today. He approached him again after lunch.

„If you were a vegetable, you’d be a cutecumber.“

Victor winced. This man had horrible taste of humor. „Okay, I take back everything I’ve said. Fineapple’s definitely better. Seriously, where do you find this stuff?“

„The internet is quite handy for these things.“

“I’m very disappointed in humanity right now.”

Even after Victor’s harsh judgment regarding puns, Jefferson was still not finished. Third time’s the charm, right? Right.

„If you were a flower, you’d be a damndelion.“

„You know dandelion is a weed, right?“

“Um. Okay. In that case: Are you weed, because you are smoking hot?”

“Not that kind of weed, Hatter.”

After that day, Jefferson kind of avoided Victor. He would never admit it, but missed Jefferson and his stupid pick up lines. He had to remind himself that he wasn’t really flirting with him; he just thought he was funny.

Either way, he was relieved when Jefferson approached him two weeks later.

„Are you made of copper and tellurium? Because you‘re CuTe.“

Victor threw his head back and laughed. He was always so serious and grumpy, Jefferson had never seen him laugh like that.

„Are you nitrogen oxide? Because NO. But I’ll give you points for effort.“

“I made you laugh. I count that as a success.”

Victor looked away, blushing a little.

“And you gotta admit, we just had pretty good chemistry.”

Victor giggled. He quickly put his hand in front of his mouth, trying to stifle it.

“Did-did you just-“

“Nope!” he turned on his heel and headed out. “You heard nothing. Goodbye, Hatter.”

“You’re adorable!” Jefferson called after him.

*

“Ruby?” Dorothy asked. “Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

Her crush on Dorothy was coming back in full force now that they spend time together again. It was getting a little embarrassing, but at least she could admit it to herself. Unlike some people.

“Um, I thought, since neither of us is on good terms with our family members it might be nice to spend Christmas together?” She finished the sentence quickly.

“That’s a great idea! I’d love to spend the holidays with you. I’m going to be with Victor, though, so if you don’t mind joining us, we’d love to have you.”

“That’d be nice, but are you sure Victor won’t mind? He doesn’t like me very much.”

“I’m pretty sure he won’t, but you can ask him if it’ll ease your conscience.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

*

Victor knocked on the door. They were celebrating Christmas at Ruby’s since Dorothy had a roommate and his apartment looked more like a work place than a home, and a messy work place at that. Ruby’s words.

Ruby let him in, warning him to steer clear of kitchen, because he might be good at many things, but cooking was not one of them. Dorothy was already there, helping Ruby prepare dinner.

He wasn’t exactly thrilled that she was here. They weren’t close and he was often uncomfortable with people he only knew for a short time. But it made Ruby happy and there weren’t many things he wouldn’t do for her happiness.

At least it was only Dorothy. He probably wouldn’t survive more people. But luckily Mulan and Merida were in Scotland with Merida’s family, and Jefferson was spending the holidays with his daughter Grace at his sister’s house. So it was just them.

And even if he was Ruby’s bestest friend he was beginning to feel like a third wheel. But there was a big plus to all of this: Dorothy brought her dog. So he was never quite alone.

*

The dinner was quite pleasant. Victor managed small talk with Dorothy and mostly stuck to her dog, but he didn’t look too unsettled. Ruby was worried how he’ll take celebrating the holidays without his family, just like she was last year, but so far he looked fine.

She didn’t let that fool her and did her best to make him feel included, even if she did spend a lot of time talking to Dorothy. But it seemed that Victor was actually enjoying himself. Or he got better at lying. She never could tell with him.

*

“Are you feeling alright?”

Dorothy looked up. Ruby was standing next to her, a worried little frown on her face.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just miss Em,” she shrugged. “But it’s nice not to be alone.”

Toto barked.

“Yes, I know. I have you. I meant other people, you jealous dummy.”

Ruby laughed.

“Not to interrupt the moment,” Victor said from where he was sitting on the couch with Toto. “But you might want to look above your heads.”

They did and froze for a moment. They were standing right under mistletoe.

“Huh,” Ruby replied eloquently. They were no longer looking up; they were looking at each other. Their eyes kept falling to the other’s lips.

“Should we...?” Dorothy asked nervously. Ruby looked just as spooked, but she nodded. They moved closer at a snail’s pace until their lips met.

Victor patted Toto. “Come on, boy. Let’s give them some privacy,” he whispered and went to the guest room. They didn’t even notice.

*

In the interest of being polite and preventing people from calling him, Victor send everyone a text message to wish them happy holidays. He also texted Granny to let her know that Ruby was okay. He stubbornly ignored the contact labeled ‘Dad’ and checked his twitter.

There wasn’t much interesting going on, other than holiday wishes, but Jefferson posted a selfie. He was there with his daughter and a bunch of other people Victor didn’t recognize. Most of them were wearing ugly Christmas sweaters. Jefferson was wearing a t-shirt that said ‘I want to believe’ that apparently his sister got him as a present.

Victor found himself smiling at his phone like an idiot.

*

“So,” Ruby said conversionaly over breakfast on Christmas morning. “I don’t remember hanging mistletoe.”

Victor shrugged. Ruby was holding Dorothy’s hand under the table, so he felt exactly zero remorse for interfering. “Are you complaining?”

Ruby chuckled. “No. I just didn’t think you would approve of us, much less help make it happen.”

“I want you to be happy,” he said simply.

She smiled. “Well, I want you to be happy too. Have you done anything about your little crush?”

And the nice moment was over. “I don’t have a crush!”

Dorothy looked up from her plate. “Yeah, right. You just happen to accidentally stare at Jefferson’s ass, like, all the time.”

“How would you know we’re talking about him? We’re not talking about him! I hate Jefferson.” Well, that was a lie. He wasn’t sure what his feelings concerning Jefferson were, but he definitely didn’t hate him. Anymore.

Dorothy rolled her eyes. “Okay, so you want to have hate sex with him. Whatever.”

“Ruby, tell your girlfriend to stop,” he whined.

“Go on, Kansas. He needs to hear it from someone other than me.”

“Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal,” he muttered. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I don’t hate him as much now as I did in the beginning. I suppose I tolerate him as a colleague. End of the story. Now why don’t we go back to talking about you two? That’s way more interesting.”

The women smiled at each other sappily. “Not that much to talk about. You know I liked Dorothy for a long time. Apparently she likes me back.”

They were so sweet together.

The rest of the morning went smoothly. They exchanged gifts, drank non-alcoholic eggnog, took photos for social media (at Ruby’s insistence), and watched sappy movies. Victor left after lunch; as much as he enjoyed this he needed to get away from people.

He hid in his apartment and worked on his projects until New Year’s Eve when Ruby dragged him to a party. Most of their coworkers were there. Victor stuck to Ruby for some time, but unlike him, she actually wanted to talk to everyone. Eventually he deserted her and hid in a dark corner. He sat there at a table, nursing his drink, pondering how much longer till it’s socially acceptable for him to leave.

“Hey, Victor.”

Victor looked up, sighing internally. He knew Jefferson was there, but he hoped he won’t have to see him. Since he decided not to antagonize him feelings of other kind were staring to rear their ugly heads. He was beginning to worry that maybe Ruby wasn’t that far off with her crush theory. Maybe.

“Hi, Jefferson,” he smiled politely. “How are you?”

“I’m great, I just,” he sighed and looked over his shoulder. “Could I hide here with you? There was a handsy drunk at the bar and I said someone was waiting on me to get away, but I couldn’t find anyone I know till I saw you.”

So much for being alone. But it wasn’t like he could say no. “Yeah, of course, sit down.”

Jefferson did. He looked quite relieved. “Thanks. I’ll get out of your hair as soon as I find Dorothy or someone.”

“Good luck with that. I’ll bet you ten bucks she’s making out with Ruby somewhere.”

Jefferson raised his eyebrow. “Oh? Did they get together? It was about damn time.”

“Yeah,” Victor nodded. “I may have put mistletoe in Ruby’s apartment.”

“Good thinking,” Jefferson laughed and then he tensed. “Shit.”

“What is it?”

“Ah, just, you know, that guy from the bar is heading for our table.”

Suddenly, Victor was hit by a stroke of genius. He moved his chair closer to Jefferson and put his arm around his waist.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what are you doing?”

“Just trust me, okay?”

“I do trust you.”

Victor decided not to think on how that made him feel. “Alright. Um, lean closer to me and just… pretend we’re talking.”

Jefferson rested his head on Victor’s shoulder and Victor’s heartbeat totally didn’t quicken. “We are talking.”

“You know what I mean,” Victor raked his free hand through his hair in frustration.

“Sure, I do, sugar.” He leaned in even closer so he was basically murmuring in Victor’s ear. “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”

“Um,  wha-“

“Because I’m still a little sore from the impact.”

Victor laughed. “Seriously, Jeff? That’s the best you can do?”

“Are you implying you can do better?”

“Is that a challenge?”

He turned his head to look at Jefferson, which proved to be a huge mistake. Their faces were only inches apart. Victor was starting to have trouble breathing.

“Yeah, go on. Impress me.”

He looked away and thought about it. “Well, if Internet Explorer is brave enough to ask you to be your default browser, I’m brave enough to ask you out!”

“God, you’re bad,” Jefferson laughed.

“I made you laugh. That counts as a success, right?”

Jefferson’s laugh died away into a soft smile. “Yeah.”

“Your turn.”

“Uh, knock, knock.”

“A knock knock joke, really? Ugh, who’s there?”

“Not that drunk guy, because your plan apparently worked.”

Victor looked around and really, the guy was nowhere to be seen.

“You sound surprised.”

Jefferson shrugged. “Not really. Anyway, it’s your turn now.”

“I have something in mind, but it’s even worse.”

“Come on, let me hear it. How bad can it be?”

He sighed. “There are eight planets in the solar system, but there will be only seven after I destroy Uranus.”

Jefferson put his head in his hands, snickering. “Oh god, I regret everything. You’re even worse than me. And to prove it even further I have one final bad pick up line of the evening. Can I borrow a kiss? I promise I’ll give it back."

"I doubt that," Victor scoffed.

"Ah, so you’re saying you’d like me to kiss you back," he smirked

"What? That’s not what I-You can’t kiss me back if I don’t kiss you first,” Victor stuttered out and then quickly added. “Which I won’t."

He realized that he still had his arm around Jefferson, but since Jefferson didn’t protest or even comment on it he made no move to remove it. So they stayed like that, curled up together. Victor figured he could use some platonic cuddling. Or whatever the hell this was. He wasn’t in a mood to try and figure it out.

They talked and time passed. Jefferson was actually quite nice to talk to and less exhausting to be around than most people. Even with that, Victor was surprised when he checked the time and found it was almost midnight already. He didn’t plan to stay so long, but he was actually having fun. Weird.

*

“Just a minute till midnight!”

“Great,” Victor frowned. “We’re about to be surrounded by people who are either yelling or kissing.”

“We could join them.”

“Yeah, I’m not drunk enough to just start screaming.”

Jefferson shot him a look that Victor couldn’t decipher. “You’re an idiot.”

“I’m sure you’re right, but why?”

Jefferson just shook his head and then his hand was at Victor’s neck and his face was close and then suddenly they were kissing. Cheers surrounded them as the countdown came to zero, but Victor paid them no mind and tangled his hand in Jefferson’s hair.

They drew back for breath eventually.

“Happy New Year,” Jefferson smiled.

“Happy New Year,” Victor replied, dazed.

“I, uh, I’m gonna go get myself a drink, do you want something?”

“No, I’m good.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.”

Victor sat there, staring at nothing in particular. What the fuck just happened? Did Jefferson kiss him? More importantly, did he really kiss him back?

He’d blame it on the alcohol, but he barely drank. He was just a little tipsy.

This was too much. The thought of Jefferson coming back and wanting to talk was horrifying. He’ll tell him how it didn’t mean anything, that it was just a kiss.

And damnit, Victor was supposed to agree with that. He disliked Jefferson. He hated him. So why did he all of a sudden want to kiss him and never stop?

He couldn’t deal with all this right now. So he did what any reasonable adult would; he ran.

*

Ruby smiled and sipped her drink.

“Ruby!” Jefferson called.

“Hey, Jefferson. Happy New Year!” she went and hugged him.

“Happy New Year. Um, have you seen Victor? I, uh, wanted to ask him something.”

“Sorry, I haven’t seen him in hours. I think he left way before midnight. He doesn’t like parties or big gatherings of people. He gets tired of human contact easily. Was it anything important?”

“Uh…no,” he lied. “I guess I’ll give him space and talk to him when we get back to work.”

*

Victor waited for Jefferson to call him. He was preparing to hear how it was just a mistake they should forget about all the while wishing to hear something entirely different.

But the call never came. Guess he wasn’t even worth a call. Jefferson probably already forgot all about it. Victor didn’t think that they could ever be together, but he thought that they were maybe becoming friends.

Guess not.

Everything was back to normal. They were civil, but didn’t talk to each other more than it was necessary. Which was absolutely fine with Victor. He hated Jefferson, after all.

He didn’t miss the flirting Jefferson never really meant anyway, or the talking and laughter. And he definitely didn’t miss Jeff’s lips on his. Nope.

*

It was almost the end of January and they still haven’t talked about it.

Victor was at peace with never talking about it at this point. At least he and Jefferson stopped avoiding each other and even talked to one another sometimes.

It took a little longer for the pickup lines to come back.

„You dropped something!“ Jefferson called after Victor. He turned around.„My jaw,“ Jefferson smiled. The smile was much more honest and timid than usual, but that still didn’t convince Victor. Not after everything.

„You dropped something,“ He pointed to the ground. „Your standards.“

„I’ll have you know I never had any to begin with,“ Jefferson started softly. „But you’re definitely not standard dropping. Not for me and not for anyone. You’re an amazing guy. You’re smart, caring, handsome and okay, it’s a shame that you don’t believe in the paranormal, but other than that…“

Victor laughed before he could stop himself. Jefferson thought he was handsome? Victor knew, of course, that he was objectively attractive, but that was different from finding someone he liked thought so.

„Ah, see, you even laugh prettily. Don’t put yourself down.”

He didn’t know what to say to that. For some reason he couldn’t look away from Jefferson’s face. Or his lips, specifically.

„Victor!” Ruby called. “Can I speak with you for a moment?“

Victor jumped away from Jefferson.

„Yes, of course.“

He had no reason to feel bad. It’s not like Ruby interrupted them from anything. But still. He turned around before he could lose his nerve.

“Jefferson? Thank you.”

“My pleasure.”

Victor couldn’t stop smiling as he walked after Ruby.

*

Ruby led him to a room and closed the door. She turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

“What was going on when I came in?”

“Nothing!” he said quickly. Too quickly, probably. “We were just talking.”

“Really? I thought you hated him.”

“I do.”

“Do you normally stand so close to people you hate?”

“We weren’t standing that close, he was just trying to make me uncomfortable, like always.”

“Which you thanked him for.” Ruby sighed. “He’s not trying to make you uncomfortable, Victor.”

He scoffed. “And what else would he be doing?”

“Vic, he’s been flirting with you from the moment you met.”

“Yeah, but it’s not like he means any of it.”

“Do you wish he would?” she intrigued softly, cocking her head to the side curiously.

“What? No! Don’t be absurd. I hate him.”

His feelings were so far from hate it wasn’t even funny, but Ruby didn’t need to know that.

*

The Swan case should be nice. Emma Swan was very down to earth. She only called them at the insistence of her son Henry, who claimed he saw weird things. Victor liked her attitude.

What Victor didn’t like was how he felt when he watched her and Jeff interact.

He wasn’t jealous. He was just…looking out for Emma. He didn’t want Jefferson to bother her too much. He could be quite annoying.

Seriously, Victor didn’t understand what was the point Ruby was making. Or at least her eyebrows and pointed look. He wasn’t jealous.

Except he totally was.

*

Victor woke up after a full night’s sleep, which was a rare occasion. He lied in the bed for a moment, simply contemplating that in silence.

And then he noticed the date.

It was like a blow to the chest – he was sure his heart stopped beating for a second. His lungs refused to take the air they should. He felt so heavy – like any progress he’s made was all gone.

Just like Gerhardt.

He turned off his phone, in case of the odd possibility that his father would decide to call him, or the very real possibility that Ruby would want to talk.

He didn’t bother getting out of bed.

*

Victor was sitting on the bed in a robe, drinking vodka straight from a bottle. His eyes were red and puffy. He was the actual embodiment of a ‘before’ picture.

Someone knocked on the door. „Victor, do you have a moment?” Jefferson asked. “There’s something weird going on.“

Victor sighed, put the bottle down and opened the door. When Jefferson saw the state he was in his eyes widened.

“Victor, are you okay?”

“Just tired,” he shrugged. “What did you need?”

“It’s about the Swan case.”

“Ugh, give it a rest. We’re never gonna find anything.”

“No, there were irregularities again! I compared them to the Chambers case and-“

“There’s no such thing as magic or ghosts. Just stories people fool themselves with so their life would feel less shitty.”

Jefferson paused and then spoke in a lower voice. „Have you been drinking?“

„That’s none of your business.“

„Vic, what happened? Are you sure you’re okay?“

„Could you stop pretending to give a shit about me?!”

“What-“

“Leave me alone!” he shut the door in Jefferson’s face. Then he collapsed on the ground and started sobbing quietly.

*

“Ruby?”Ruby looked up to see Jefferson fidgeting with his fingers, wearing a concerned expression. “Have you seen Victor today? I just spoke to him and he seemed really upset. I tried to ask but he threw me out.”

That sounded very unlike him. He so rarely showed his emotion. But then she realized what could be on his mind, horrible enough that he couldn’t hide it.

“Oh god. I totally forgot that today-I’m such a horrible friend. I need to go.” She ran off and left a confused and worried Jefferson behind her.

*

There were sharp knocks on the door that made his head ache and that he instinctively recognized as Ruby’s. He wanted to hide, but it was futile. He unlocked the door, deciding to try and play it off.

“Victor? Are you okay?”

“Red! My lovely amazing friend!” Victor grinned at her but his eyes were broken and there were fresh tear tracks on his cheeks, plain as the day.

“Are you okay?” Ruby repeated.

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Vic, how much did you drink?”

His smiled dropped. There was no point in trying to fool her. He just pointed to the almost empty bottle.

“Oh, sweetheart, what were you thinking?” Her voice was soft and considerate. She should be angry at him. He deserved it.

“I was thinking my brother’s dead and that everything hurts!”

“Victor...”

His lip wobbled and she drew him into an embrace. He started sobbing in a way she hasn’t seen him since they were children, not even after Gerhardt died. He always kept his feelings in. He had to let them out eventually.

“Shh, sweetie, it’s alright. I’m here. I’m always here for you, you big dummy. You don’t have to do this. You can just talk to me.”

“It should’ve been me,” he said, because it was the truth he was afraid to say all this time.

“Don’t say that. You know Gerhardt wouldn’t want you to think that.”

“He’s not here. It’s my fault. I should be dead, not him.”

“It’s not your fault, Victor. Gerhardt wouldn’t have blamed you and you know it.”

She was right. Gerhardt was the kindest person Victor ever met. Of course he wouldn’t blame him, even though it was his fault.

“I just miss him so much.”

“I know, Vic, I know. I miss him too.”

He cried and cried until his eyes were dry and he was completely exhausted. “Does your arm hurt?” Ruby asked.

“Not more than any other day,” he sighed. “I’m tired.”

“You should probably go sleep. I’ll leave some water and an aspirin on your bedside table, alright?”

He nodded and crawled under the covers. He wanted to go to sleep, but he still had too much on his mind. “I yelled at Jefferson,“ he whispered.

“Did he deserve it?”

“No, no, he just wanted my help with something. And he was…I think he was worried about me,” he paused. “Ruby?”

“Yeah?”

“Jeff…he…we kissed. But he hasn’t called me.”

“Maybe he deserved to get yelled at.”

Victor shook his head. “No. I haven’t called him either. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to think about it.”

“It’s okay. We’re going to have a talk about honesty but that can wait till you’re all sober.”

“Can you stay? Just until I fall asleep. I don’t want to be alone.” He was always so alone.

“Of course, sweetheart. Whatever you need.”

*

The headache he woke up to was not as bad as it could’ve been and at least he slept through the night. Victor reminded himself that for the hundred time that morning, but it didn’t make him feel any less shitty.

He managed to leave the room and the warm blanket, which he should probably thank Ruby for, in search for coffee. The kitchen was empty except for Jefferson who was sipping his tea.

“Morning,” Jefferson said, but Victor ignored him. He vaguely remembered a fight and that was definitely not something he had the energy to deal with now.

Fortunately for him, Jefferson’s phone rang.

“Hello? Emma? Slow down, what’s going on?” His voice was urgent and panicked and Victor took a big gulp of his coffee. It would be real nice if the aspirin kicked in.

“Are you sure? Okay, okay. We’ll be right there,” he ended the call and then downed his tea. “We’re leaving in ten. Emma’s son is missing.”

Well, shit. Victor poured the rest of his coffee into a to go cup. This was going to be a long day.

*

The ride to Emma’s house was short and tense. Victor was pretty sure Ruby was going way over the speed limit, but he made no comment. They had a good reason.

Emma was visibly shaken, but she was focused on what was important. She was already putting together the evidence and theories with the help of Sheriff Graham.

She divided them into groups to make the search quicker. He was paired with Dorothy to look over the cameras and other equipment he put around the house.

They went over the footage on the camera that was put in the hallway, but there was nothing. Dorothy said they should look at the heat camera, so they did. It seemed like a waste of time until there was a flash of cold around 3 am.

“There!” Dorothy pointed. “What was that?”

“I’m not sure,” Victor admitted. He froze the frame. It wasn’t human, but what else would it be? The shape was more or less that of a person, but no one would survive a body temperature that low, much less move that fast. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

The rest of the footage was crap. Nothing else showed up, but the figure was enough. It would seem they were dealing with something paranormal. Or seemingly paranormal.

Well, he’ll be damned. Jefferson was right.

Now only if they could figure out what happened to Henry.

*

Other than the cold flash they found virtually no evidence. Everything was at the same place and there were unfortunately no cameras in Henry’s room. There was not much to be done. They knew he didn’t run away, nor was he kidnapped – not by a person, at least.

Graham and Emma did everything protocols suggested, but it got them nowhere. So Emma reluctantly admitted that there might be something going on and gave them space to try and figure out that something.

But they weren’t that much of experts. They bought a couple more heat sensitive cameras and put them around the house. There was an EMP in every room and Victor was monitoring it all. He wrote down every little fluctuation.

There was no sign of an answer.

*

Victor was finishing his fourth coffee that day when a porcelain figurine fell off the shelf and shattered on the floor. The light flickered. There were no flashes on the heat camera, but the temperature was a degree colder.

Something was here.

“Guys?” he yelled. “You should get here.”

Soon everyone was there. “The thing that fell. Was it significant?” he asked Emma, trying to get some information, because it seemed that he won’t get any from the machinery.

“Yeah. Neal…Henry’s father gave it to him.”

Right. Henry’s dead father. Well, at least they knew who they were dealing with.

“Emma, could you try talking to Neal?” Jefferson suggested. It was obvious that Emma didn’t think that would help but she was desperate enough to try anything. So she spoke and the lights flickered a couple more times, randomly and seemingly without any pattern and that was all.

*

The sun went down, Victor consumed two more coffees and they were still getting nowhere. He was currently trying to find a pattern in the irregularities on the EMP, but he found nothing. He just got out his notes on their older cases for comparison when the tablet he borrowed from Jefferson when he was assembling his monitoring station made a sound and startled him.

“Jefferson!” he called. “Grace’s calling!”

Jefferson came in and took the tablet. Victor tried his best to tune out the conversation and focus on his work. The readings from the Chambers case looked a bit similar to the new ones.

"Grace, are you okay?" Jefferson’s panicked voice broke through Victor’s concentration and he got up to see what was going on. He looked over Jefferson’s shoulder to see Grace’s room shaking slightly.

"Yes, of co-ah!" Grace shrieked as something pulled her away from the screen.

"Grace!" Jefferson called. The room suddenly had a faint purple tint. "Grace!"

"Papa!" Grace screamed and then she was gone.

"Grace!" Jefferson sobbed and would’ve fell if Victor didn’t catch him and hold him to his chest.

Dorothy and Graham ran into the room. “What happened?” he asked. Jefferson didn’t appear to notice them; he just kept whispering his daughter’s name over and over again.

“Grace disappeared,” Victor said.

*

If he had to watch the video one more time he was going to punch someone. It didn’t help them at all; it was just traumatizing for everyone. At least Jefferson didn’t have to watch it. He was in another room on the phone with his sister.

It went without a question that what happened to Grace was what happened to Henry. Sadly, that knowledge wasn’t helpful. They still didn’t know where they were.

Victor’s phone rang just in time for him to get out of watching it yet again. He didn’t recognize the number, but at that moment he would’ve done anything just so he wouldn’t have to listen to the screams.

“Hello?” he said, walking to the corridor. “Anne? What happened?”

*

It was two am and Victor stopped counting coffees.

But he finally found something.

He walked into Emma’s room, not bothering to knock because he knew no one was asleep. Emma and Jefferson both had the same blank expression on their face.

“I have a theory.”

And just with that the spark was back in their eyes.

“It’s not much. But I talked to Anne Chambers. Mr. Whiskers disappeared right in front of her eyes. She said it he was sitting right next to the mirror you broke. They didn’t get rid of it because it was antique and her grandmother loved it. The figurine Neal gave Henry was antique too, wasn’t it?”

“Yes,” Emma answered. “But what does that have to do with anything?”

“I noticed, when we were watching that horrible recording, that Grace had a pocket watch on her table. Antique, right?”

“Yeah. It was her mother’s. Grace said it stopped working a couple of days ago.”

Perfect. It all fit together.

“I called Mulan. She told me that there was a promising caller that she had to turn down because she couldn’t find the owner of the building in question. They wanted us to check out an abandoned antiques shop they believed is haunted. It’s a four hours drive away from here.”

“You think that’s where they are?”

“I think that’s where we could find what the hell is going on.”

*

Jefferson cornered Victor before they left. Victor wasn’t sure what to do so he just stood there and waited for Jefferson’s move. Which was to hug him. He clumsily hugged him back, after a moment of hesitation.

“Thank you. I just- thank you.”

“It’s alright. It’s the least I can do. I should’ve listened to you when you noticed something. I’m sorry.”

“You were distressed,” he hesitated. “Are you alright now?”

“Not really. But I think I will be one day. Are you alright?”

“I will be when I find my daughter.”

*

The four of them, since Dorothy and Graham stayed behind just in case, arrived at the crack of dawn. Victor slept the entire way, his head on Jefferson’s shoulder. Normally, he’d be embarrassed, but he was too tired to care.

The pawnshop was in a small town in Maine, not unlike the town Victor and Ruby grew up in. It somehow stayed abandoned despite being on the main street.

Jefferson picked the back door lock, so they would not attract any unwanted attraction. If things went south, Emma had her badge with her, so hopefully everything will be fine. The town looked a little deserted, though, so Victor wasn’t worried.

The only word that came to mind in regard of the inside of the shop was creepy. Thick layer of dust lied on cluttered objects, the blinds only let a sliver of light in. Victor felt like he stepped inside a horror movie.

“Okay, not weird at all,” Ruby said nervously, staring at a pair of puppets. Case in point.

“So what exactly are we looking for?” Jefferson asked.

“Anything out of the ordinary,” Emma answered.

“Everything’s out of the ordinary here,” Victor muttered. The EMP wasn’t showing anything. “Ruby, look for accounting books. Emma, there is a camera system. It’s outdated, but try to figure out if it’s still functioning. Jefferson, you are wonderful at noticing paranormal activity; do whatever the hell you do. I’ll set up the machinery.”

Surprisingly, everyone did as he asked.

*

“I found the books!” Ruby said. “It won’t be hard to find it, the shop didn’t sell much. They only sold a compass in their last year.”

There was a rustling of pages and then Ruby’s triumphant cry could be heard.“I found the watch! Sold to Priscilla March on November 10th2002.”

“That’s her,” Jefferson said. “Wait. This thing doesn’t have much dust on it.”

“Good,” Victor sighed. “At least something doesn’t.”

“No, it means someone touched it recently.” He came into the back room with an odd box. “This shop’s been abandoned for over a decade. Someone must’ve been here since then.”

“We mind have a chance to find out who,” Emma said. She was holding a bunch of VHS tapes in her hands. “It looks like the security system still works.”

She put the tape into a VHS player in the corner of the room. The screen showed the front room and nothing in it moved.

“This might take a while.”

*

The EMP showed irregularities which were bigger than usual, but still of the same nature as the previous ones. Ruby found all three items in the accounting books and Jefferson found another dustless object. This one was a dagger as if they weren’t all creeped out enough.

“Finally!” Emma cried. “Guys, I’ve got something. This is two months ago.”

They all stopped what they were doing and went to watch. There was a tall blond woman entering the shop cautiously.

She looked around for a while and then she took the box and the dagger and placed them on the counter, along with a piece of parchment she took out of her pocket. She opened the box, put the parchment in and waved the dagger over it a couple of times.

Then she put the objects back and waited. Suddenly the screen glowed purple and then the woman was gone.

*

They made the only possible decision and started to recreate what the woman done before them. They had no clue if it’ll work or where it will take them if it does.

But what other choice did they have?

Emma did the honors. Ruby was holding the tablet they were using for a video chat with Dorothy and Graham, so someone would know what happened if things turned out bad. Jefferson and Victor just stood there, clinging to one another.

Emma put the items back and they waited, holding their breath in anticipation. For a moment nothing happened and then the room glowed purple and a group of people appeared. It looked like most of them were children. Jesus.

In the front there were, oh, thank god, Henry and Grace, who was cradling Mr. Whiskers and seemed pretty calm about the whole situation.

“Henry!” Emma called and sprinted towards her son.

“Grace!” Jefferson dropped Victor’s arm and hurried to embrace his daughter. „Gracie.”

“I was right, Mum!” Henry boasted. “I was right.”

“Yeah, kid. You were.”

“Papa!” Grace giggled. “You’re squishing Mr. Whiskers!”

He let her go, but left his hands on her shoulders. “God, Grace, I was so worried.“

„Why?“ she asked, like she couldn’t think of a reason why he should be. Jefferson stared at her unbelievingly for a moment before speaking.

“Because you disappeared! I had no idea what happened to you!”

“Well,” she jutted her jaw out defiantly. “I was fine. I was with mama.” That didn’t seem to placate Jefferson. If anything, it made it worse, but Grace kept on talking. “She couldn’t come with me. But she sent someone who can help us.”

That’s when the figure that was standing in the back until then went to them.

Victor stepped back like he was burned. „Gerhardt?“

„Victor,“ his brother smiled.

At that point, it was all simply too much for him to take. Nope, Victor thought right before he fainted.

*

Gerhardt tried to catch Victor when he fell, but Victor went straight through him. Luckily, Jefferson was standing close enough and had the instinct to catch him before he hit the ground.

“Victor?” Jefferson asked, shaking him slightly. Ruby put the tablet on the counter and ran to her friend’s side. She helped Jefferson put Victor down on the ground while Gerhardt hovered over them nervously.

“How have you been, Ruby?” he asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Not bad,” she shrugged. “It’s nice to see you, I guess. I’m still kind of in shock.”

He laughed humorlessly. “I understand. How,” he hesitated. “How long has it been since I…died?”

“Two years.”

He nodded, taking it in. “And Victor? How did he take it?”

“I’m not gonna lie. He’s not okay. But he’s getting better, I think.”

“Was he hurt at all? In the accident?”

“Yeah. His arm was caught in the wreckage. They thought he might lose it for a while,” she closed her eyes for a moment. “But it’s okay now. It just hurts him sometimes.”

Gerhardt nodded, visibly uneasy. “But other than that he’s...he’s happy, right?”

Ruby was silent for a long time. “I don’t know,” she admitted eventually.

*

Victor woke up with his head in Jefferson’s lap, which all things considered wasn’t such a bad way to wake up. He didn’t even have a chance to appreciate it, all his focus going to the ghost of his brother, floating next to him.

“Gerhardt,” he whispered.

“Vicky,” he kneeled down. “Are you okay?”

Jefferson snickered in his ear. “Your brother calls you Vicky,” he said, absolutely delighted. Victor ignored him.

“How…but…you’re,” he stammered. “I thought ghosts weren’t real.”

“Well,” Gerhardt grinned. “Then you were mythtaken.”

“Um,” Victor started, but then decided not to say anything.

“Is he always so bad at jokes?” Jefferson asked in a voice that was probably meant to be quiet but that everyone in the room could hear.

“Hey!” Victor got back to himself as his protective instincts kicked in. “That’s my brother you’re talking about.”

“We wouldn’t want to speak ill of the dead,” he muttered. Victor elbowed him and got up.

“Uh, so, what brings you here, brother?”

“He’s here to help us,” Grace answered for him.

“Help us with what?” Jefferson asked, narrowing his eyes. That was the second time Grace mentioned something like that and he must’ve been getting suspicious, Victor though. Not that he would be the only one.

The other adult that arrived with the children spoke up then and Victor was pretty sure that she was the person on the tape. “You should probably sit down.”

*

There was a clear divide between the children’s calm and the sheer panic that united the adults. Victor had Mr. Whiskers on his lap and was cuddling with him like his life depended on it.

“I didn’t mean to cause trouble,” Ingrid, the woman who started this all, said. “I just wanted to see my sisters. But when I opened the portal I unintentionally left it opened for others to come through. The dead need an object to hold on to, so only those who had a connection to something from this shop could go. Some of them tried to contact those they loved the most. But not all of the ghosts have good intentions. We need to send them back.”

“So how do we do it?” Emma asked. “How do we send these ghosts back?”

“We need to find the thing their tied to and broke it. Some left voluntarily and so the object got broken somehow, to ensure that they won’t be able to come back. We need to do the same.”

“But I broke the mirror months before the cat disappeared.”

“The ghosts don’t feel time like we do. Mrs. Chambers decided to leave and so the mirror broke.”

“So we what? Trash this place and hope that settles it?”

“Hopefully. We don’t even have to destroy everything; I know which are the right objects. But like I said, the ghosts don’t feel time like we do. They won’t leave immediately and might put up a fight.”

Victor sighed, scratching behind Mr. Whiskers’ ears. Great. He just wanted a job. Now he had to deal with disappearing children, a crush, vengeful ghosts and his dead brother. He didn’t ask for any of this.

But there was no time for bitching now. He’ll complain later.

*

Emma dealt with the children. There were four of them, other than Henry and Grace. She called their parents, who were going to collect them at the local police station. She took Henry along with her, but Grace stubbornly stayed.

“It’s dangerous, Grace,” Jefferson gritted through his teeth.

“I’m staying with you. That’s why mama sent Gerhardt. To protect us. It’s not like he can get hurt.”

Jefferson threw his hands up. “Great. So our lives rest in the hands of a guy I can see through. Marvelous.”

Gerhardt frowned. “I don’t see what does being transparent have to do with it.”

Victor pinched the bridge of his nose. “I need coffee.”

“Quiet, everyone,” Ruby said. She and Ingrid put several objects on the counter. “This is everything. Time is of the essence so can you start smashing?”

Grace ran over there. “Hulk smash!” she giggled and threw a glass figurine on the ground.

“At least someone’s having fun,” Jefferson muttered. Between the lot of them they managed to break everything. Even Mr. Whiskers helped by clawing at the little rug.

Now all that was left was waiting it out.

Gerhardt approached Victor hesitantly. In that moment Victor was painfully reminded of the contrast between this and their closeness before. Not that things weren’t slightly awkward before Gerhardt’s death; with Victor spending all his time studying and Gerhardt joining the army, they grew apart.

They were supposed to reconnect when Gerhardt finished his tours, but... They never quite got their chance to do that.

“Vicky?” Gerhardt said, his voice small and Victor was once again hit by a wave of protectiveness. That was his little brother. He was supposed to take care of him.

“What is it, brother?” he asked gently.

Gerhardt shook his head. “I shouldn’t ask this of you.”

“Gerhardt. You can ask for anything,” then, to try and lighten the mood a little he added. “It can be your last request.”

Gerhardt let out a surprised laugh. “Yeah, that’s true. Um, I…I know I can’t talk to him, but I just…I wish I could hear papa’s voice.”

Oh. That was…Victor wouldn’t deny Gerhardt anything, not before and certainly not now, when all jokes aside this might actually be the last thing he’ll do for him. But he didn’t like it one bit.

“You don’t have to, of course,” he continued before Victor had the chance to say anything. “I know your relationship isn’t the best. Unless that changed?”

“No, it hasn’t,” Victor laughed bitterly, remembering his father’s words when he visited him in the hospital after the accident. “But that doesn’t matter. I care about you more than that.” He took the phone out of his pocket and dialed a number he so rarely used.

He put the phone on speaker. It rang loudly several times. For a moment Victor even thought he won’t pick it up, but then there was a sharp voice. “Hello?!”

“Father,” Victor said. He hasn’t really thought out what to say. He couldn’t say that Gerhardt was here; Alphonse won’t believe he and it would just be too cruel. Their conversations were always stiff, only about Gerhardt and what a disappointment Victor was. They haven’t spoken at all since the funeral.

“What is the meaning of this, Victor?” he bellowed. “How dare you call me? Especially right after the anniversary of my son’s death?”

Victor stood there, rigid as a stone.

“Did you think you’ll just call your old man, no harm?” he continued.

Gerhardt reached out to the phone, his fingers fumbling with it. “You’re not my son. And I-“ his voice stopped suddenly.

Victor looked up. “That was more than enough,” Gerhardt said. “I didn’t…I’m sorry.”

“What are you sorry for?” Victor asked, uncomprehending. “You died. How would that be your fault?”

“It’s not yours either, though. And I shouldn’t have made you talk to him.”

“I was the driver. Who else would be at fault?”

“A tree fell on the road. Exactly how would you have prevented that?” Ruby sighed.

“I shouldn’t have driven in such weather. I should’ve been more careful.”

“You can’t change that now,” Gerhardt said. “Even if it was your fault, there is nothing you can do now. And I don’t want you to blame yourself.”

Victor looked away. Ruby mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like ‘I told you so’. It was hard to argue with that logic, but it didn’t stop him from feeling guilt.

Suddenly, Mr. Whiskers bristled and hissed.

“Uh, what’s the cat doing?” Victor asked, eager to change the subject.

“It can feel a ghost,” Grace said and petted him. “Cats do that.”

“That explains a lot,” Victor muttered. He was trying to ignore the fact that there was a ghost present – other than Gerhardt, that is.

Which worked for about three seconds, because then an entire cabinet fell over.

Someone screamed. It was probably him.

“We should get out of here,” Ingrid said and so Jefferson grabbed Grace, Victor grabbed the cat and they ran. Emma took the car, so they had no choice but to go on foot. Mr. Whiskers meowed in distress, but made stayed still.

“You can put me down, papa. I’m fine,” Grace protested.

“Like hell I will,” was Jefferson’s response.

They ran to the forest, which probably wasn’t the brightest decision. The roots of the trees moved on their own, making the run quite difficult. Ingrid tripped over one of them and splayed over the ground. Ruby helped her up and they kept on running.

The branches were growing longer and longer, obscuring their path. They kept them in the face. He wasn’t sure why did the tree grow thorns suddenly, but it did. He had cuts up and down his arms. A howl could be heard from distance.

They were still running and the forest was still getting thicker.

“Maybe we should split up!” Jefferson suggested.

“No!” Victor yelled, slightly out of breath. “That’s how you die in a horror movie!”

“Vic’s got a point,” Ruby agreed. “No splitting.”

Ingrid just grunted.

Gerhardt, who had the advantage of not having a physical body, that bastard, tried his best to keep the way clear, but he was clearly outnumbered.

They ran for what felt like forever – at least to Victor – until they came to a clearing. It seemed to be a slightly safer spot and so they stopped for a moment.

Victor’s legs gave out from under him and he fell on his ass. Mr. Whiskers was still securely in his arms, but it was obvious that he didn’t like the situation they were in very much.

“Hey, Vic,” Jefferson called. His smile was carefree, but his eyes betrayed his fear. “Are your legs tired? Cause you’ve been running through my mind all day.“

Victor sighed. “Maybe we should split up.”

“Aww, you say the nicest things.”

Gerhardt looked between the two of them. “Are you two dating?”

“No!” Victor rushed to deny. This was the last thing he wanted to talk about. “No, no, we’re not.”

“You know I don’t care that you’re gay, right?”

Victor buried his red face in his hands. So much for not talking about it. “That’s not the problem, Gerhardt. The problem is he’s an asshole and we hate each other.”

Gerhardt frowned. “And that’s why you bicker like an old married couple?”

“Ha!” Ruby called, pointing to Gerhardt and nodding enthusiastically. “I told you so!”

“We do not!” He denied again. Why did they have to talk about this now? In front of his brother and Jefferson’s daughter and while they were basically running from murder ghosts.

Jefferson looked at him sadly. “You realize I’m in love with you, right?”

Victor froze. “What?”

He…what? Did he mean that? That’s…bullshit, Victor thought. No way in hell Jefferson loved him.

“Guys!” Ingrid called out suddenly, pointing at the trees that were…walking towards them? What the hell was happening today? Victor got up quickly, holding the cat tight. “Run!”

And so they started running again and there was no time to think about it.

*

Victor was exhausted. So was everyone else, probably. They ran and ran until Mr. Whiskers jumped out of Victor’s arms and started head butting them. Gerhardt confirmed their suspicion and told them that all the ghosts were gone now.

Victor collapsed under a tree, trying to catch his breath. He could see Ingrid doing the same, while Jefferson was attempting to mother hen his daughter.

“Grace, honey, are you sure you’re feeling alright?” Jefferson inquired.

“Of course I am, papa, stop asking silly questions.”

“How’s that silly?”

Ruby walked over to Victor. “I’m gonna go call Dorothy,” she said. After a small pause she added. “And Granny.”

Victor smiled at her. “Give them my love.”

Gerhardt floated over to Victor. “Brother.”

He looked up. “Yes, brother?”

“I…I should get going.”

Victor got up and grabbed Gerhardt’s arms. Or tried to, at least. His hands went through him.

"Gerhardt. You…please."

This…why was this happening? He can’t lose him again.

"I’m not really leaving. I’ll always be with you," he whispered and tapped his chest. "In here. I love you."

“I love you too, Gerhardt.”

Gerhardt smiled at him. “Can you promise me something, Vicky?”

“Anything.” He tried to smile back, but he couldn’t.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Victor nodded, even though he knew that would be difficult. But he’ll try.

Gerhard took the pocket watch Victor always had with him out of his coat pocket and put it his hands. It wasn’t ticking anymore.

“Goodbye, Victor.”

“Goodbye,” he echoed.

And then Gerhardt was gone.

Victor fell on his knees. Tears spilled out of his eyes and he cradled the broken watch in his hands.

He knew, rationally, that this was good. This was what so many people wished for – closure. He got to see Gerhardt one last time and to say goodbye. But at that moment none of that mattered. All he felt was pain, pain of losing his little brother again.

He didn’t notice when she got to him, but Ruby was suddenly pulling him into a hug. He clung to her with all his remaining strength and wept.

He calmed down, eventually. His head was resting on Ruby’s shoulder and he was staring at the pocket watch.

Grace hopped over to them. “I like your watch,” she said, with all the grace of an eleven year old. Pun not intended. “It’s kinda like mine.”

“It was our mother’s,” he explained. His mother was dead, his brother was dead and his father hated him.

“I know a very good clockmaker. We could take our watches to him.”

“That won’t fix this.”

“No,” she agreed. “But it might help.”

*

They found their way back to the town eventually. Ingrid left on her own and they drove back with Emma. All the children were home, safe.

They made a small stop in New Holland. There was a girl who was very happy to have her cat back.

They finished shooting Emma’s episode, but they collectively decided not to mention the actual ghost sighting. They didn’t have enough proof and it was too personal.

A few days later Victor found himself at the address Grace gave him. He wasn’t sure what possessed him to leave Ruby’s couch, but here he was. He expected to see a shop or a workshop, but it was a house. He knocked anyway, hoping the clockmaker was home.

The door opened and there stood Jefferson. “Victor? What are you doing here?”

“You’re the clockmaker?”

“Ah,” Jefferson nodded. “Yeah, it’s a hobby of mine. I can look at your watch if you want to. Come on in.” He made a sweeping gesture and Victor followed him inside.

“How’s Grace?”

“She’s great. I guess children look at these things differently.”

“Probably,” Victor nodded. Not that he knew anything about children. They continued with the small talk. Victor felt tense and awkward, and he could sense Jeff felt that too, but he was nothing if not kind. Victor didn’t understand why Jefferson was so nice to him, after what he said.

He took him to a workroom. It was messy, but somewhat organized. There was a sewing machine, all sorts of tools for tinkering and a beautiful telescope.

“Grace wants to be an astronaut when she grows up,” he explained. “This room has the best view.”

Jefferson put the pocket watch on his worktable and started to fiddle with it. “Do you really hate me?” he blurted out suddenly.

“No,” Victor replied quickly. “Are you really in love with me?”

Jefferson chuckled humorlessly. “What do you think?”

“I don’t think you do. You shouldn’t. I’m really not worth your trouble.”

“You’re not-are you kidding?” he stepped closer and framed Victor’s face with his hands. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah,” Victor nodded and leaned closer. They kissed softly, tenderly.

“Does this answer your question?” Jefferson murmured.

“Uh, not really?”

Jefferson chuckled and kissed him again. And again. And again.

“I love you, Victor.”

Victor froze upon hearing the words. Why? He wanted to ask, but his mouth didn’t appear to be working. Instead he just opened and closed it a few times like a moron.

“You don’t have to say anything.”

“B-but you didn’t call me. You didn’t talk to me at all after we…”

“I wanted to but…I got scared. I figured that since you just left me there you probably didn’t like me like that.”

“That’s not true,” he said quickly and then hesitated. “Can I kiss you again?”

“Yeah, babe,” Jefferson smiled, his eyes soft. “Anytime.”

*

They ended up together; something Victor still had hard time believing. Life was pretty good, even if he missed Gerhardt. But he had Ruby and his friends and his boyfriend and his daughter. They all made sure he knew he was loved. Jefferson kept telling he even when he couldn’t say it back. He found his courage eventually.

“I love you,” Victor mumbled into Jefferson’s chest as they lied in bed together one lazy morning, when they still had time before they have to get up. He wasn’t even sure if Jefferson was awake.

“I know,” came the sleepy reply. Victor smiled and was slowly drifting back to sleep when he realized something.

“Was that a Star Wars quote?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Nerd.”

“Scruffy looking nerf herder.”

“Darling.” He could practically feel Jefferson melting under him. He called him darling once before; the word was clumsy on his tongue, but the way Jefferson’s face lit up upon hearing it made it all worth it. “We should get up. We’ve got a case.”

Jefferson chuckled. “Can’t wait to find a ghost. How about you?”

“I think this one’s a false alarm.”

“Seriously, Vic?” Jefferson shook his head. “You saw the possibilities of this world. How can you still not believe?”

“I believe in the existence of ghosts, I just don’t think they’re everywhere we go.”

“But they could be. We can’t know for su-“ he suddenly stopped talking as Victor silenced him with a kiss.

They ended up being late to work.

[notebooks-and-laptops]

My non-fandom friend (yes the one who thinks Stede is Catholic Coded) has informed me that if tumblr found their Catholic idea funny I must tell y'all about their Izzy Hands Is a Disney Princess concept so to directly quote her:

different fanfic idea. anmals like izzy, izzye does not like animals (due to puppy drowning trauma). unfortunately he is verymuch a cinderalla/snow white catnip for animals. the reason he believes in doggie heaven is bc hes certain theres a general animal pit of hell for te many many evil animals who decide that he is their best friend. i its ok when random parrots land on his shoukdler bc all self respecting pirates minus blackbeard have parrots. just usually its only 1 of them. he can also cope with dogs bringing him their puppies even if he shoos them away bc dogs liking him is weird but not thattt weird. and he just tries to ignore the dolphins off the prow of the ship doing pretty flips in the water to impress him. like he will just stare off and pretend they do not exist (this causes the dolphins to ahave weird daddy issues). but when the mice start trying to repair his clothes, he cant go on land without being swarmed by butterflies, and the lobsters start literally signing his praises, izzie starts getting very very annoyed. lucius documents this

its possible alternatively that izzie was born this way and hates it. hence why he iss so soobsessed with masculinity bc the animal thig kinda undermined it as a child. in fact his dad hated him for it. lucius charts his descent into madness. izzie eventually and dramatically drowns himself to stop the hell that is an existence where all the animals adore you. and yet the deep sea whales carry him back tot eh surface. "why wont you let me die?" izzie begs. "we love you too much to let you go" the animals chorus. izzie sobs bitterly as he bats yet another parrot off his shoulder.