#my brain won’t let me sleep AUGH

[galaxirin]

“I should take a Power Nap I’ve been up since 5”

Brain: hey you should do a new holyvicar au of demigod!Ludwig and omen lord of blood!Laurence

[xxiamtiebrousxx]

Chapter 5 "The Gentle Yet Brutal (The Gentleman and the Assassin | CBS x Reader x Gentle Spy)

I groaned. Gentle continued to carry me as the heavy rain poured. The car faded from view and it got darker. As we walked deeper into the woods, the temperature dropped, but hey, at least the rain wasn’t as bad underneath the trees’ canopy. I shivered. The cold ran down my spine and I couldn’t stop shivering and shaking. Gentle struggled to carry me.

“I’m s-sorry,” I said with chattering teeth. “C-can’t k-keep  s-still.” Gentle just hoisted me back on his shoulder, adjusting me right. I don’t know if it was to prevent me from falling or to keep me from freezing to death. 

“Here, this’ll keep you warm.” A heavy piece of clothing weighed me down and was wrapped around my body. I recognized it as a vest since the collar stuck out like Christian’s. 

“Um, thanks,” I softly muttered. Christian walked closer and gave me a small nudge on the elbow. I thought I saw him smile before he sneered at me.

“Speak of this, and you’ll lose your tongue, Roo,” he replied. I sighed.

Bad boy mood was back on. For once, I thought he’d be nice. Just for a little bit. 

We continued to walk. Christian’s vest began to warm me up. I yawned. Back home, wrapping me in a blanket or placing one on my feet would cause me to fall asleep instantly.

“Are we there yet?” I asked. “I’m getting drowsy.”

“We’re almost there, cherie,” Gentle responded. “‘Ou can close your eyes.” My eyes felt heavy as soon as he said that. I couldn’t take it, I was getting tired. So I closed my eyes.

“G’night roo,” Christian gently whispered.

It was silent for a while. I was at peace and was relaxed. But the rain pattering on my head prevented it from calming down. I opened my eyes, groaning. So did Christian. “Sleep Roo, Oi don’t wanna deal with your annoying voice.” Yeesh, moody

“Christian, be nice,” Gentle said. “Don’t want to have to carry cherie, now do we?”

“I have a name you know,” I said, resting my chin on my hand. “It’s Y/n.”

“Don’t care,” Christian replied. He flicked my cold nose. I groaned, rubbing it as the assassin chuckled. 

“Jerk,” I muttered, flipping his hat off.

“Hey!” he growled, picking it up. “Hands off.” I smirked. I flicked his hat off again. He picked it up and growled at me. He flicked my nose, I flicked his hat. Gentle sighed. He picked up the pace, leaving a gap between Christian and I.

“Can’t keep me away from the Roo!” he called out. I blushed. Roo, it fits me. I just didn’t realize until now.

“I can go ahead and try,” Gentle replied. Eventually, the spy carried us so far from Christian that he was out of sight. “Alright, let’s take a break, cherie.” Gentle set me down on the ground, feet first. I rested against a tree.

“I’m drained,” I said. “How about you?”

“I can carry on for a while,” Gentle replied. He pulled out a cigarette and lighter. He lit the rolled tobacco and took a smoke. “On the other hand, ‘ou need more sleep than I.” I yawned in response.

“With Christian constantly acting as a child,” I said, “I won’t be able to sleep tonight.” Gentle softly smiled.

“Rest, ‘ou can trust me,” he replied. “No harm will come to ‘ou tonight.” I slid down the tree, resting against the raised roots.

“You promise?” I asked.

“I promise.” 

I closed my eyes, falling asleep instantly.

“There you are!”

“Sh! Christian, cherie’s asleep.”

“Oi don’t care. At least Roo’s not awake. Her voice irritates me.”

“Let’s just get moving.” Something picked me up, I could feel it. I was hoisted onto someone’s back. I subconsciously grabbed on, not wanting to fall.

“Augh, Gentle! Why are you making me carry her???”

“It’s for your own good.”

“Oi don’t see what this has to do with my own good.”

“Punishment for being rude.”

“Tsk.”

There was silence. No one talked. I had completely fallen asleep. My brain shut out all noise.

All but her voice.

“Y/n, wake up,” Olivia said.

I woke up, panting.

Where was I? Was I home? What happened? I looked around. I was in an unfamiliar location.

Olivia wasn’t there. Was she just in my mind? 

I got out of bed. I was without shoes, so whatever grimy thing was on the ground was now on my feet. The room was dark, but I could tell it wasn’t mine.

“Olivia?” I softly called out. Again, she didn’t answer. She really wasn’t here. The tears welled up in my eyes. CBS and Gentlespy were real. It wasn’t a nightmare.

My friends, they really died.

I walked to the door, nearly tripping over my own feet just trying to get to the other side. Christian’s vest was still on me. I blushed. He didn’t take it back or anything, he let me sleep with it. After our tiny flicking feud, I thought he would’ve taken it back. I found the door and opened it. Gentle was asleep, leaning against the wall across from my room. I gasped and shut the door. 

I shook my head and leaned against the door. “He’s not there, he’s not there, he’s not there,” I said. I opened the door just a little. Staring right at me was Gentle. He was smiling while I was wetting my pants.

Yes, even though I’m a kid in college, I can still wet my pants. Figuratively speaking.

“Good morning cherie,” he said. He tried to open the door but I used my body to keep it closed. I squatted down against the door.

“Haven't you heard of knocking?!?” I asked. “What if I wasn’t decent?” Gentle opened the door, moving me gently away from the door. He knocked on the doorframe.

“Are ‘ou decent?” he asked, poking his head in. I groaned, standing up.

“Yeah, I’m decent,” I answered. “Good morning.” I dusted myself off. 

“Ready to get started?”

“Not really.”

[they-might-be-ultramen]

Augh my stupid shit brain won’t let me sleep again

[writingfairycat]

Help My Mind Shut Up

Help My Mind Shut Up - Carlos x Reader (Read here on ao3.)

1,445 words

Summary: You can’t sleep, so you call your boyfriend Carlos for comfort and help.

Additional Tags: gender-ambiguous reader, school stress, phone call, grounding methods, anxiety

As you lay in bed, yawning, you stared at the ceiling of your dorm room. It wasn’t smooth in texture; it had small bumps and ridges like a landscape. Your eyes strained in the darkness to trace the lines. Some of them were neat waves. Sine and cosine waves. The sine of theta over cosine of theta equals tangent theta—

You had been falling asleep for a minute there, but now you were wide awake again. You rolled over and looked at the time on your phone. You squinted at the bright screen and read 2:15 A.M. How was that possible?

Across the room, your roommate slept soundly. You pouted. It wasn’t fair. You wanted to sleep but your mind wouldn’t shut up. You would gladly let Queen Rapunzel hit you in the head with her frying pan if it knocked you out. Maybe she could also sit down with you and review the reasons for Corona’s alliance with Arendelle—augh! Shut up!

It wasn’t time to think about that. It was time to sleep, and it had been for a while. But you couldn’t.

You squinted at your phone again. You didn’t want to disturb your roommate’s slumber, but maybe you could talk to someone else. Yawning, you opened your contacts and tapped to call your boyfriend.

The phone rang thrice before you heard Carlos de Vil’s groggy, perplexed voice say your name on the other end.

“Hey.” You spoke softly so you wouldn’t wake your roommate.

“Hey.” Carlos’s voice was equally soft, probably so he wouldn’t wake up Jay. “Why are you calling so late? Is something wrong?”

The worry in your boyfriend’s voice brought tears to your eyes. Well, it was a combination of his worry and your stress. Ugh, the stress was enough that pretty much anything could’ve made you cry right then.

“I can’t get to sleep,” you said.

Carlos let that sit for a beat before replying. “Something’s upsetting you. Do you—yawn—want to talk about it?”

“Um. I guess I could?” You stayed on the call but returned your eyes to the ceiling. “I can’t stop thinking about schoolwork.”

“Mm,” Carlos hummed. “Any class in particular?”

“Mostly precalculus and history.”

“History of Auradon?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you still have homework to do?”

“No, I . . . I mean, I attempted all of it, but I’m pretty sure I got at least half my precalc homework wrong.”

“I can help you find a tutor in the morning.”

“Do you know someone who could tutor me?” you asked.

“I’ll be able to find someone,” Carlos said with a yawn. “Remember, I’m friends with the king of Auradon, and he knows a lot of people. I’ll find someone to help you.”

“Thanks, hon. That’s so sweet of you.”

“And you said HIstory of Auradon was bugging you, too?”

You sighed. “Yeah. There’s a unit test at the end of the week and I’m so not ready.”

“There are definitely people who can help you with that,” Carlos said. How he managed to sound so confident while also sounding sleepy, you couldn’t figure out.

“Thank you,” you said.

“Are you still feeling bad?” Carlos asked.

The lines on the ceiling turned into royal family trees. You squeezed your eyes shut to block them out. “Gah! Yes!”

“What can I do to help?”

“I don’t know,” you grumbled. “My mind won’t shut up.”

“Hmm.” Your boyfriend was silent on the other end, but you could hear the gears turning in his head. “We need to find something for you to focus on so your brain won’t be able to think of schoolwork.”

“What do I focus on, though?”

“Um . . . have you tried counting sheep?”

You laughed. “Oh, I tried. I can’t count normally anymore. I try to count, but my mind goes to pi over six, pi over three, pi over two, two pi over three—”

“Okay, okay,” Carlos said. “Let’s stay away from numbers. And lines. And curves. And . . . what is the test on Friday about?”

“Royal alliances,” you said with a groan.

“Then let’s stay away from royalty, too.”

“Hard to get away from around here,” you said.

Carlos laughed. “You’re right about that. On my first day in Auradon, every other person I met was royalty.”

You laughed. “I’d love to go far away, maybe second to the right and straight on till morning, if it meant I never had to look at royal lineages ever again.”

“Oh!” Carlos almost interrupted. “I have an idea! Tell me five things you can see right now.”

“Uh . . . it’s dark.”

“Oh, well, um.” You could picture the adorable sheepish look on his face. “Well, it’s not completely dark, is it? You can still see a few things? Maybe five things?”

You looked around the room. Your roommate’s bed appeared colorless in the dark, but you could see its outline. “Bed.”

Between the two beds, the moon shone through the window. “Window. Moon. Curtains. Five things?”

“Five things.” You could hear the smile in his voice.

“Um . . .” You looked at your desk. “Desk.”

“Good,” said Carlos. “Now what are four things you can touch right now?”

“Uh . . . phone. Bedspread. Pajamas. Um . . .” You switched your phone to your other hand so you could reach out to touch something, anything. The wire of the phone charger brushed against your fingers. “Phone charger.”

“That’s good.” He yawned. “Can you tell me three things you can hear?”

“Your voice,” you said, smiling. Carlos chuckled on the other end of the line. “Your laugh. And . . . um . . . oh! My voice.”

“Good job. What are two things you can smell?”

“Hmm.” You thought about it. You were so used to how your room smelled now, in contrast to the beginning of the school year, that you couldn’t smell it anymore. “Does my room count if I can’t actually smell it?”

“I don’t think so,” Carlos said gently. “Is there anything in the room that smells different?”

You inhaled deeply, trying to focus on your surroundings. You smelled . . . pencils? “Pencils,” you whispered. “I sharpened my pencils not too long before I went to bed.”

“All right. Anything else?”

You sniffed the room again. “There’s a faint smell of laundry detergent on my blanket,” you said.

“That’s your two things,” said Carlos. “One more: what’s one thing you can taste?”

“One thing I can taste,” you echoed. You opened your mouth to taste the air. Nothing. Wait. No. There was—

“There’s still a bit of garlic taste in the back of my mouth,” you said, trying not to giggle. “From dinner. I guess I didn’t get it all when I brushed my teeth.”

Carlos laughed. “Don’t you brush your tongue?” he teased.

“Shut up,” you said between laughs.

“Sounds like I’ve woken you up more,” Carlos said. “Sorry.”

“Maybe, but it’s okay.” You yawned. “Or maybe I’m not more awake?”

Your boyfriend let out a soft, warm chuckle. “Is your mind quieter now?”

“Yeah, but . . . I’m worried it’ll become noisy again. And what if I run out of things I see and hear and touch?”

“I’ve found it helpful to list other things,” Carlos said. “I would list, just to myself, all the dog breeds I can name.”

“I could probably only name five,” you admitted.

“It doesn’t have to be dog breeds,” he said. “It could be anything you know well that gets your mind focused on one thing. Cat breeds, moons of other planets, celebrities with blond hair, InstaRoyal models.”

You laughed and yawned again. “I might try cat breeds, at least at first.”

“That’s good. I hope you get to sleep soon, babe,” Carlos said in his gentle voice.

“Thank you, hon.”

“Good night. I love you.”

“Love you too.”

Your phone beeped, signaling the end of the call. You placed your phone back on your nightstand and returned your unfocused gaze to the ceiling.

Cat breeds, Carlos’s voice echoed in your memory. You imagined cuddling with him on Evie’s couch, his arms encircling you as you listed off cat breeds.

Siamese. Persian. Burmese. Tonkinese. Oriental Shorthair. Oriental Longhair. Himalayan. Him a sittin’. Him a standin’. Oh, he a-comin’. Heheh. Focus. Cat breeds, cat breeds. Uh, Ragdoll? The rexes, the rexes. Cornish Rex. Devon Rex. British Shorthair. Russian Blue. The blue one from France, what was its name? Bordeaux? Or was that a type of candy? Maybe you would have candy tomorrow.

What were you thinking about?

Right. Cat breeds.

The swimming one, the swimming one—the Turkish Van. Persian. You already said that. Abyss . . . Abyssinian? Yeah. Sphinx. Wirehair. The ears, the ears ones. Scottish Fold. American Curl. Amer . . . American Shorthair. Norwegian Forest Cat. Maine C . . .

You had fallen asleep.

[gumnut-logic]

“On the surface, Gordon Tracy is a simple man. A sunny smile, always likes a joke, give him a body of water and you can lose him in it.

“Any body of water.

“I once lost him in the bath.

“Though, you could probably relate that back to point number two and the liking a joke thing.

“Yes, Gordon is a simple man.

“On the surface.

“But only on the surface, because really, he is anything but.

“Meeting that smile under those laughing brown eyes and strawberry blond hair, you could be forgiven for thinking he is a joker out to make fun. You could miss the assessing eyes, the grace with which he walks, the hidden tells of experience and trial. You can’t see the scars; you can’t see the knowledge or the training.

“You could shake his hand and share that laugh and not know how many times that hand has reached out to grab another, to offer another chance, to save a life. You’ve never watched it dance across a control panel leagues under the ocean surface in the dark. You’ve never seen it push down on a ribcage to keep a heart beating.

“You’ve never seen it gently cup a handful of seawater to save a tiny fish caught in a drying rock pool.

“If you shared that joke, you would not know its history and how such jokes kept him from the edge during some of his darkest days.

“You could know of his brothers and the billions, of International Rescue, the Olympic Gold Medal, the party scene he played for all of six months in his teens. You may even know of his military career with WASP.

“But you won’t know Gordon.

“Because the laughter and the jokes? They are only his facade, a method to cope, a philosophy to guide his life. They are a reason to laugh rather than cry.

“Underneath there is a man of great feeling, a young mind full of wonder that has been slapped back so many times that now getting back up is the default.

“You could look at him and think ‘a billionaire, what does he have to worry about?’ But really, it only takes one life changing disaster to crush a man. Gordon has faced so many more.

“He has four brothers, a sister and a grandmother all of which it is obvious he cherishes deeply. He has friends and heroes and a growing love that needs nurturing like a flickering flame. But he is ever aware that these things are temporary, that they can be taken away suddenly and irrevocably. He has seen the glassiness of death and faced down the reaper himself.

“So.

“The laughter.

“The dye in the shampoo.

“The pillow in the pool.

“The itching powder on the bath towel.

“The hell let loose on April Fool’s Day every damn year.

“They are but a symptom of the man you are facing, and yet so why you are going to regret what you are doing.”

Virgil blinked and as if on cue, his brother stepped out of the shadows behind Virgil’s tormentor and, with a move Kayo would have applauded, wrenched his arm behind his back, took his knees out from under him and pinned him to the floor. Another blink and the man was restrained and gagged.

A pair of russet brown eyes swam into his vision, dark in the sharp shadows of the harsh lamp light. “Hey, Virg, that was some speech. Who knew you could be so eloquent under pressure.”

“He’s strong. He’s going to kick your ass.”

“Hey, hey, Virgil. I’m Gordon, remember? The joker guy you said was going to save your ass.” There were fingers fiddling with his restraints. “C’mon, we gotta get you out of here. Won’t be long before they discover I escaped.”

“Don’t underestimate my brother. He’s funny, but he’s so much more.”

“In any other circumstances, I’d be lapping this up, but Virgil, we need to get you onto your feet. I’m strong, but not strong enough for your heavy lifting. C’mon, up you get.” He was being pulled up. His body creaked.

“Gordon is going to come. You’re going to regret it.”

“Yes, yes, help me here, Virgil. I did come. I’m here. It is time to go.”

“You’re going to regret it.”

“Okay, arm over my shoulder, we gotta move!” A grunt. “What the hell did they give you?! Some kind of truth serum?”

“You want to know the truth?” Oooh, the world was wobbling. “Gordon can be scary. You’re going to regret it so much.”

“Ah, yeah, you’ve mentioned that, Virgil. Um, you’re going to have to be quiet for a bit. We have to sneak past some bad guys.”

“Bad guys want to hurt Gordon. Can’t let them hurt Gordon. Tried to kick their asses, but I’m not like Gordon or Scott, couldn’t do it. Too many. Now they want to hurt Gordon. Can’t let them hurt him. No, no, can’t...”

“Shit. Virgil, shhh! Just be quiet for a minute, please.”

Quiet. He blinked. Augh, the world was even wobblier. Gordon was coming. Gordon was coming. “Can’t let them hurt Gordon-“ There was suddenly a hand over his mouth. He panicked and struggled. A muffled yell and he found himself falling, the world spinning until his head hit something hard and he saw stars.

The world became only sound from then on. Voices, more yelling, the thud of flesh hitting flesh, a gunshot. Virgil jumped at its sharp crack. Someone swore. A snap that could only be bone. A thud and then silence.

The world began to drift away.

“Virgil?! You with me? C’mon, bro, please.”

A slow blink. Blurry images. “Gordon?”

“Yes. You with me?”

“Knew you would come. Kick their ass.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that.” A sigh. “Can you stand?”

Another slow blink. “Don’t mess with my brother, he’ll kick your ass.”

“I’ll take that as a maybe.” Gordon was tugging on his arm, so Virgil tried to stand. Woah. The whole world tipped on its edge and swung him around. “Shit!”

“Sorry, bro, but we gotta move now. You can throw up on my shoes later.” And then he was in motion.

The blurs burred together. He squeezed his face shut and clung to the man holding him, desperate for it all to stop.

Make it stop.

“Not much longer, Virgil, I promise.” It was little more than a whisper.

Another stomach churning drag across a blurry room and suddenly everything went green.

Oh.

Oh.

He knew that green. That smell. Oh, his beautiful ‘bird.

“Sit here.” He was being lowered onto a hard surface. “I’ll be back in a moment.” And Gordon was gone.

Gone.

“Gordon?”

A yell, followed by a scream and a thud. A litany of curses he didn’t know his brother even knew.

“Gordon?”

“It’s okay. I’m here.” Hands on his. “We’re okay, but we need to be fast.” He was pulled up again, his arm wrapped around shoulders and they were moving.

He lost a moment only to find himself sitting in a chair. A familiar chair with a familiar roar building in his bones. “Two.”

“Yeah, Virg, we’re on your ‘bird. Hang tight, because I’m afraid I might have to scratch her paintwork.”

“You wouldn’t do that. We only joke about it.”

“Well, I’m not in a joking mood right now.” The sound that followed that statement cut through the roar.

Her laser. He was using her laser.

He forced his eyes open and yes, he could see the red glow through the blur. “What are you doing?”

“Cutting our way out of here.”

“Where?”

“They stole your ‘bird, Virg. Remember?”

Voices on the edge of his hearing. Yelling. Another gunshot. Men.

It had been a trap and they had been caught and Virgil had been separated from his brother. His little brother. Please don’t hurt his brother. Please!

“It’s okay, we’re escaping. Another five seconds. Hang in there, Virgil.”

But Gordon was strong. He would kick their asses.

Oh god, please don’t hurt him. Please don’t. I tried. I really tried. Not enough. Not enough. Please don’t hurt him.

A loud crash and his body was shoved back into the seat. His head spun again.

His Thunderbird roared. Her rear thrusters kicked in and sung in his bones. His body lifted from the Earth and tore into the sky.

He let out a gasp, the sudden familiarity heart-stopping.

“Thunderbird Five, you there?”

“Gordon! Thank, God. What happened?”

“Brief you shortly. I need to get Virgil to a hospital, but first I want to put some distance between us and the bastards who hurt him. Please advise Wellington that we will be...”

His brother’s voice faded out, taken by the blur and the hissing of blood in his ears.

-o-o-o-

“C’mon, Virgil, I know you’re in there. Time to wake up.”

What?

“Viiiiirgiiiiil.” Gordon. It was Gordon and he was singing his name.

Ugh.

He shoved his eyes open and glared at his brother. “What?!”

“Ooh, welcome back to the land of the living. Nice entrance.”

“Gordon, what the hell? Let me sleep.”

“Nope.” His lips popped on the ‘p’.

Virgil’s eyes closed a moment and it took him a second to realise they had. He shoved them open again.

Ceiling tiles.

He was in hospital.

“Why am I in hospital?” He searched his slowly booting brain, but found no recollection of injury other than...

He sat up in bed. “It was a trap! They stole my-“ And the world caught up with him and whacked him around the head.

Two sets of hands caught him as he fell back towards the pillow. “Shit.”

“Take it easy, Virgil, you’ve been through quite a bit.”

His body sunk into the bed. Scott. Thank god. So happy to hear his brother’s voice.

He frowned. “What happened?”

“What do you remember?”

“Callout. Central Texas. Gas explosion. No fly zone. It was a trap. Nabbed me. Nabbed Gordon. Wanted Two...” He frowned. “Gets fuzzy. A fight. I lost?”

“We think so. You have quite a lot of bruising, a couple of cracked ribs and two head injuries.”

“Two?”

“Yeah, and you also had a bloodstream full of some nasty chemicals. They drugged you pretty bad. Took the doctors some time to identify with exactly what. You’ve been mostly out of it for a couple of days.”

“Days?!”

“You were unconscious for most of it.”

A frown. “Most of it?” He didn’t remember any of it.

“Yeah.”

He eyed his eldest brother and was somewhat unnerved by the fact he wasn’t keeping eye contact. “What did I do?”

“Nothing of importance.”

“Like what?”

“There was some delirium. Look, Virg, you were ill. Don’t worry about it.”

He stared at his brother a moment longer. Perhaps not knowing was a good thing, but then...perhaps he could third degree his brother later when he had more stamina.

“How did we get out?”

Scott nodded in Gordon’s direction. “Gordon got you out. Five couldn’t find you. They had tech enough to baffle our sensors.” And it was obvious that Scott hated that with a passion.

Virgil turned to his younger brother. “You got us out? How?”

“Oh, with my wily skillz and sense of humour.” Gordon grinned at him.

Virgil’s lips thinned. “Does that mean you’re not going to tell me, or that I should nag you until you do?”

“Have at it, big bro, and we’ll see how it slides.”

Augh. He so did not have the energy for this. “Gordon!”

“Yessssh, Massster?”

He closed his eyes and grit his teeth. “Fine. We will discuss it later.”

“Cool. I’ll bring snacks.”

A sigh and he opened his eyes to assess his little brother. “You okay?”

“Yep, just fine and dandy. You’re the one sporting all the bruises this time, bro. You’re the one who will have to be nagged to rest regularly, eat regularly and get tortured by Grandma’s home cooking.”

Virgil stared at him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yepper doodles.”

“What?!”

“Virg, don’t you worry your little head about it. Just rest and take it easy.” A hand landed on his arm and squeezed gently.

He was still staring. “Scott, did he get checked over?”

“He’s fine, Virgil. Stop worrying.” A sigh. “He’s just being Gordon...and if he doesn’t stop, I’m going to kick his ass.”

Kick his ass.

Virgil blinked. “You got us out of there.”

“That I did.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, bro.” A grin split his little brother’s face, but something flickered in the depths of his eyes for just a second. Virgil frowned, but it was gone too quickly. Gordon’s grin took over everything.

“Anytime.”

-o-o-o-

This is The Joker. Here is the WIP sequel - The Hero. Sooo much WASP!Gordon.

[wanderingchocolateeclair]

Edgejeanist fluff, with their daughter, just having a lovely adorable time!

Gonna tag @ohpleaseiwillendyou @theshisthings @kiriderp and @kure-san because idk, I wanna give you some fluff and thought you guys might wanna see this? ❤️

No warnings! It’s fluff for once, but it’s actually pretty long so ->

I haven’t written fluff for a while (since my edgeshot birthday ramble, I think) and I think that you guys deserve some. Also, it’s based off of the introduction to my angst I was writing, and I just felt that I’d give you an alternate plot and ending than the one in that 👀

——————————————————

Shinya blinked at the light that his phone was emitting as he checked the time.

6:59am- no, 7:00am. He let out a small sigh and turned over to face the sleeping figure beside him. Tsunagu’s face looked so calm and still, and Shinya couldn’t help but smile at how peaceful he seemed in that moment. His husband was always so tense and stressed out from work, but in these rare moments, it made him oh so happy to see him finally relax.

Watching as his partner’s chest moved up and down slowly, he sighed and leaned forward to place a very gentle kiss on his forehead, sweeping the other’s blond hair out of his face slightly as he did so.

Tsunagu instinctively went to hug this source of heat closer to his body and Shinya ended up having to try (but fail) to awkwardly pry himself out of his grasp, their cheeks smushed together as the lanky blond hugged him tighter. His breath brushed across Shinya’s ear, causing him to chuckle slightly. No matter how long they could’ve been together, Shinya still found himself blush a bit at the sight of his adorable lanky husband, who was now pouting due to the lack of things to cuddle...maybe he was just having a cuddly dream...

Shinya slid carefully out of the warmth of the duvets and Tsunagu’s comforting embrace and stood up, shivering as the cold morning air hit his skin. Wow it was chilly, and he noticed the other man curl up at the lack of warmth and huff in a sleepy dismay.

“Why do I have to go to work today?” Shinya grumbled to himself as he stumbled silently into the bathroom and closed the door behind him. “Surely, it didn’t have to be today....of all days? There’s no emergency calls so far, no urgent upcoming missions, Shinji and Yuu are both working today anyway.......and the only thing I’d be doing is patrol.....”

He trailed off, thinking as much as his fatigued brain would let him as he slipped out of his clothes and into the shower. ‘Maybe if I....’

———————————

Tsunagu woke up to the soft sound of his husband’s humming, masked ever so slightly by the sound of the running water of the shower. He blinked slowly as he tried to get his eyes to open, wincing at the sudden brightness of the room and pulling the bedsheets over his shoulders to warm himself up.

He glanced over at Shinya’s phone and watched as it buzzed across the table, showing the time and a couple of new unread messages.

‘7:30. Hm. It’s early.’ He thought as he reached out to move Shinya’s phone to the middle of the bedside table, to stop it from falling off from the constant stream of notifications. He turned back around to face the bathroom door and yawned loudly, listening out for the sudden silence and little taps of Shinya’s feet as he stops the shower and dries himself off.

The bathroom door opened with a little click and the silver haired man emerged from the now rather steamy room, wrapped in a long fluffy jumper and shorts. Toothbrush in hand, he ruffled his long wet hair with a small towel and turned to face the lanky figure that was now sitting up on the bed, smiling tiredly.

“Good morning!” Tsunagu called out brightly, well, as brightly as one could at 7:36 in the morning.

“Ah!” Shinya fumbled around for the toothbrush that slipped out of his hand in shock, startled by the blond man that was laughing at him from across the room. “You’re awake! Already? It’s so early, you didn’t need to be up! It’s....it’s, um, the time....”

“7:37am, dear.” Tsunagu interrupted informatively.

Shinya blinked, taking a second before he actually registered what the other had said, before trying to remember the point he was trying to make. “Yes! 7:37! Exactly. Early. Uh-huh, yes.”

Tsunagu chuckled and shook his head as he listened to his small husband try and rant about him waking up ‘too early’.

“Oi, don’ ‘augh ah ee!” (‘Oi, don’t laugh at me!’)Shinya huffed as he stood there brushing his teeth, putting off the fact that he needed to also get changed before work.

“Hm? I’m sorry, I didn’t get that. You might want to repeat that~” Tsunagu teased, his smile shifting into his usual characteristic smirk as he watched his partner glare at him with revenge in his eyes.

Shinya finished brushing his teeth and stood silently next to the older man, looming ominously as he decided his fate. Tsunagu realised his mistake and quickly regretted it when he noticed Shinya’s hands move very slowly out of his pockets.

Shinya gently but quickly jabbed the taller mans sides and smiled evilly at the harmless panic that he’d caused. He watched as his husband wriggled around,bursting out laughing at the sudden tickle attack.

“I said, don’t laugh at me. Or else you’ll pay the consequences.” He said in a mockingly formal manner.

“Okay- ahahokay, oka- okay! I get, ahaha, I get it! Please, stop- ahaha I’m sorry!!” Tsunagu barely managed to stutter out between laughs.

After surrendering to the tiny ninja, Tsunagu sighed and sat back up, shaking his head to move his hair out of his eyes. “Anyway, you got some messages. They might be important.”

“Oh, really? Who by?” Shinya moved to go and check his phone.

“I think you overestimate my eyesight and attention to detail at this time of day.”

“Oh come on, you could’ve at least read the name of- oh it’s Shinji.”

“Mhm. Anything important, or just a normal text before work?” Tsunagu inquired, pouting slightly at the idea of Shinya having to go to work today. Why couldn’t he just have the day off?

“Hm. Yeah.” Shinya briefly replied, taking in the message with a smile and feeling his shoulders relax a little bit more at the words that he’d just read. Well that was good, amazing even. What a brilliant idea!

Tsunagu looked at his husband blankly before giving a sarcastic reply. “Wow. Well that was informative....”

Shinya blinked at his phone before putting it down and changing into some clean clothes.

Tsunagu looked down at his phone as a slight hope for some explanation or context to what Shinya was so happy about, but shook his head as he yawned again. “Well, have you checked on Izumi? Is she awake yet?”

“Ah, no I haven’t. She is probably awake by now though.” Shinya replied, pulling a blue t-shirt over his head and giving his head a slight shake to get his hair out of it.

Tsunagu hummed in agreement and stretched his arms out, looking towards the open bedroom door in anticipation, and soon enough he heard exactly what he was waiting for.

Tiny but rapid footsteps could be heard thumping lightly against the carpet as they grew nearer to where the two tired pro heroes were, making them share a soft smile as they both turn towards the sound.

“Good morning, Papa!!!” The small bundle of energy yelled as she came bursting into the room and flew straight into Shinya’s open arms.

“Woah!! You’re up early today, petal! I thought you said you were gonna have a ‘nice sleepy morning’!” Shinya laughed as he spun Izumi around, making her giggle in excitement.

Izumi smiled innocently and leaned backwards in her father’s arms, her relatively short hair (that was a lighter shade of grey than Shinya’s) all ruffled and tangled.

“Well,” she pouted slightly, “I woke up and- and I was sleepy, and then I felt fidgety so...so I sat there for a little bit, because, cos I didn’t wanna wake you! But then I heard you and dad talking...and so, so you are awake!! So I wanted to see you before you go to work!!”

“Oh, oh I see! Well I guess we’re all awake now!” Shinya reacted in an over exaggerated manner, ruffling Izumi’s hair even more and placing her on the edge of the bed earning a few more giggles from the happy child.

Izumi looked down at her hands and thought for a moment.

“Papa?”

“Hm? What is it, petal?”

“Do...do you have to go to work today?”

Shinya looked up at Izumi and saw big teal eyes staring back at him. Ouch. He peeked over their daughter’s shoulder to share an awkward hesitant silence with his husband, who was still bundled up in half of the duvet cover, before taking Izumi’s hands in his own.

“Oh ‘zumi........I’m afraid so, petal, but I tell you what,” Shinya motioned for her to get closer and whispered a short message in her ear, causing her face to light up again and making her look excited.

“And,” he made the last part a little louder so that Tsunagu could hear him, “go tackle Dad for me, will ya? He won’t know what hit him!”

Tsunagu smiled in amusement and started to act dramatically in front of his daughter.

“Oh! How tragic! Not even a single ‘good morning’ for me, what sadness is this!” The dramatic blond paused momentarily to peek at his daughters reaction, watching as she snuck closer with a mischievous look on her face. “Have I become invisible?! My own daughter not even giving me a single cuddle- oh nO! I must have been forgotten! Oh poor old me, poor poor little me-”

The lanky noodle’s theatrical performance was interrupted by a enthusiastic hug and a rather loud “Good morning, dad!!!!” and a lot of laughter.

“Augh! Good morning, sunshine!! What a surprise!! You’ve caught me, oh nooooo...” Tsunagu rolled off the edge of the bed in defeat before pulling Izumi into a big hug.

“Ahaha yay!! I got you, I got you!!” The light haired girl exclaimed excitedly.

Tsunagu fixed his hair slightly with a small chuckle. “Yes you did!!! Good job, ‘zumi, how did you sleep?”

“Hm. Good! I had a funny dream, can I tell you?!”

“Of course, sunshine, but maybe after we’ve all woken up first!”

“Okay!”

They all headed downstairs, Tsunagu and Izumi both wrapped in matching fluffy pyjamas as they sat around the living room chatting and giggling. They just wanted to spend as much time as they could together. That’s all. They were just as happy as they could be, talking and playing around as they waited for it to be the time where Shinya had to go to work.

—————————

Their playful mood was cut short by the sound of Shinya’s phone beeping, signalling the time.

“Ah.”

Shinya looked down at the time. 8:00am. Time for work.

Sighing, he looked over to see his husband and daughter pouting with almost identical faces, looking sad and down. ‘And people wonder if they look alike, huh? No no...she is definitely his daughter! Just look at that face!’ He thought to himself, never getting over how much Izumi looked like them both, especially Tsunagu (in his eyes, that is)....and how adorable they both were.

“Well, I guess I better head off then...” Shinya said, trying his best not to dishearten the other two, who were staring up at him with big, round puppy eyes. “Don’t get into too much trouble!”

“Which one of us?” Tsunagu inquired curiously.

“You of course! You know our little petal is always innocent!” He poked his tongue out at his lanky husband and gave his daughter a small wink.

“Haha yeah, okay.”

“It’s true, isn’t it?” Shinya asked the small child that was now approaching him for a cuddle before he walked out the door. “I’m putting you in charge for today!”

He gently flicked her nose, making her giggle in surprise, before burying her head deeper into the softness of his mother’s - her grandmother’s - scarf.

Tsunagu walked over quietly, noticing a suspicious glint in his husbands eyes. Hm. That’s never a good sign, especially with Shinya’s pranking antics. He seemed way too happy to be ‘going to work’, not to mention the texts this morning and the fact that he wasn’t leaving in his uniform like usual....it wasn’t anything bad! His instincts reassured him for that part, but still, it was a hint at some mischief and he was unsure as to whether he’d like it.

But he dismissed these curiosities and went to embrace his tiny husband, who still had an excitable child wrapped around his neck.

“Have a good day....stay safe...” Tsunagu mumbled quietly to the other, planting a small kiss on his cheek and touching their foreheads together in a gentle, familiar manner.

“Of course.” Shinya replied distantly, thinking about what he had planned for the day. “See you in a bit!”

“Bye Papa!!” Izumi waved, holding onto Tsunagu’s leg as she swayed back and forth.

“See you later!” Tsunagu called out, placing his hand on his daughters head as they watched the ninja turn the comer and glide away.

After a short silence, Tsunagu decided that he should start their fun day off and entertain his tiny daughter to the best of his ability, without Shinya there to ruin his plans with his pranks.

“Hey, sunshine...” he slyly poked the top of his daughter’s head.

“Yes, Dad?” Izumi looked up curiously.

“....you wanna make some pancakes?”

Izumi’s face lit up and she expressed her joy through a vigorous little dance.

“PANCAKES!!!”

——————————

After about an hour of very messy pancake making, they finally managed to make a batch that didn’t taste like burnt oranges, or have the texture of an over cooked rubber duck. (He can cook, but it’s a bit difficult when you’re trying to cook with the daughter of a particular prankster of a ninja....)

Rubbing the back of his head, Tsunagu looked back at his daughter with a smile, watching as she swung her legs back and forwards in delight as she munched on her breakfast. Her hair was now bunched into two cute little pigtails (you don’t think, of all people, Best Jeanist would let his daughter have messy hair all day? Haha no way.) and she looked up at her dad briefly, making a silly face in return.

Tsunagu let out a small laugh. “You little ball of sunshine, you! Are they nice? Did your good ol’ dad do a good job this time? I sure hope they don’t still taste like smelly socks!” He joked around, poking his daughters cheek softly.

“Mhm! Of course they’re good!” Izumi replied, her mouth still very full with pancake and her eyes sparkling happily.

“Oh good, I’m glad!” Tsunagu ruffled her hair in response and headed to the kitchen to clean up everything. “Right...what a mess...”

Using his quirk to pull all of the clean mugs and utensils around using the threads that he wove around each of them, he swiftly began to tidy up - his mind drifting slightly, wondering about what his husband could be up to at the moment.

Meanwhile, Izumi had been a little distracted by a ‘mysterious shiny string’...leading her to wander around to find something....

——————————————

After dealing with the mess that was cluttering the kitchen, Tsunagu walked back into the living room to find that Izumi wasn’t sitting there.

“Sunshine?” He called out a couple of times, peeking round some of the doors to try and find his tiny daughter. “Sunshine, where’d you go?”

‘Maybe she’s outside?’ He reassured himself. He’d always been the more paranoid person, and becoming a parent of a child with not only a very very tricky quirk, but also the daughter (and ‘apprentice’) of a very mischievous ninja, did not help at all.

As he went to check, he noticed a small piece of string poking out from the door and hesitantly picked it up, only to notice that it was attached to a small note...which was attached to a much longer piece of string...leading outside.

He read the note and wondered slightly at the familiarity of the handwriting, before following the string to wherever it led.

‘I know you are probably wondering where Izumi is. Don’t worry too much, just follow the string, I’m sure your hunch will tell you all you need to know.

P.s. she is very happy and excited, hurry up you lanky bean.’

Before long, the lanky french fry had reached a small field with a couple of trees dotted around the edges. ‘Oh, I know where this is! Shinya and I used to have little picnic dates here, how cute.’ Tsunagu reminisced happily, still worried as to where his daughter was.

“‘zumi? Izumi?? Hello~ Izumi Kamihara? Sunshine, where are you??” He called out, trying to mask his concern.

“Dad!” A small voice called out from behind a tree and was followed by a series of giggles as the small girl poked her head out to face her worried parent.

“Oh! There you are! I was worried!!” Tsunagu rushed over and scooped his daughter up into his own embrace, spinning her around slightly as he did so.

A light tap was felt on his shoulder and he turned his head rapidly to try and find out what it was, only to be very pleasantly surprised by the face that was hovering in front of his.

“Hello, love!” A certain silver-haired man greeted the confused noodle with his familiar smile. “Sorry for the little surprise!”

“Ah, wha...” Tsunagu started to question.

Shinya laughed, leaning in to peck Tsunagu’s nose, before cupping the puzzled man’s face and kissing him - still laughing at the other’s stumped expression.

“Haha! Oh that’s priceless, you should’ve seen your face! Did ya get that, petal? Wasn’t that funny?” Shinya turned towards Izumi, who had somehow gotten hold of multiple phones and had taken several pictures of her dad’s baffled face. Ah. Blackmail.

“Hahaha!! Papa was right, dad, your face is so funny ahaha!!” The lighter haired child snickered at Tsunagu’s dismay.

“Wh- what is going on? I’m so confused...” Tsunagu questioned as Shinya took his hand in his own and led him to a quiet spot by the river, swinging Izumi with his other arm.

“Well, Shinji messaged this morning, yes? And he said that, since we’ve got no urgent missions today, both him and Yuu decided to do patrol and take care of things by themselves.” Shinya explained, motioning for the other to watch his head on an overhanging branch. “And well....since both of you are off today....and we never get to spend time as a whole family...they just thought that it would be nice to, you know, take a day off.”

Tsunagu sighed as he watched his husband smile gently. He’d always been such a workaholic and never really liked to take days off, though it’s always been obvious when he needed one, and deep down wished for more time with his family.

It’s pretty self-explanatory, but Shinya always, always wanted as much time as he could get to spend with his loved ones, and having a family that was finally with him, and was always there for him to come home to....it was like a dream to him....a dream that he never ever wanted to wake from.

“I see. Well, how nice of them!”

Shinya hummed in agreement. “Yeah....how nice....I’m so glad, I get time to spend with you both.”

Izumi looked up and saw her parents smiling softly at each others words and smiled happily to herself. ‘So exciting!! Time with papa and dad!! We can all be happy and eat food and relax!’

As they reached their destination, Tsunagu gasped at what he saw. There was a small blanket spread across the leaves, sitting next to a stream. On top of the blanket, was multiple snacks and drinks and some little trinkets and items for Izumi to play with.

Izumi squealed happily and immediately ran over to sit on the blanket, picking up one of the small puzzle boxes and giving it a gentle shake. Shinya smiled at her excitement and turned around to face his husband, who looked just as relaxed as he was, for once.

“D’ya like it?”

Tsunagu looked to be deep in thought for a moment before rushing forward and sweeping Shinya off of his feet and taking him into his arms, spinning his tiny husband around and pressing their foreheads together as they both laughed.

“Oh I love it, darling! You a never fail to surprise me, even after all these years!” Tsunagu exclaimed, kissing the other blissfully before setting him back down. “Shinya Kamihara, the man who never fails to make his family happy and proud!”

Shinya blushed at the lanky blond’s flattering words and reached down to ruffle Izumi’s hair. “I-I just thought it would be a nice little surprise, y’know, that it would make you and Izumi happy.”

“Well that it definitely did!” Tsunagu chuckled and embraced the younger man yet again. “Although...I’m still a bit confused as to why you still left the house this morning?”

Shinya let out a small sigh and reached down to pick up a couple of bags that were resting on the picnic blanket. “I decided to get lunch! I knew that I didn’t have to go to work, so instead I went out and bought a few things.”

The taller man hummed inquisitively. “What did you get?”

“Well first I got some meat buns, because we haven’t had any for a while. I also got donuts for our little petal,” the ninja paused, looking down at their daughter’s even more cheerful face looking back up at them, before continuing, “I got noodles for me and some sushi from that shop around the corner that we like because you said the other day that you wanted sushi!”

Tsunagu looked ecstatic as he sat down next to his daughter and pulled his husband down with him into a massive hug. “Oh Shinya, love, you really are the best!”

“Yeah papa’s the best! Papa’s amazing!” Izumi chirped cheerfully.

“You are very right with that, sunshine” Tsunagu laughed.

“Oh you two....” Shinya bashfully looked down before giving them both a loving little shake. “Thank you, petal, you little sweetheart. And you, love, stop being so sappy - it’s almost as bad as your puns.”

“Hey! They’re not that bad!”

“Uh-huh, sure, keep telling yourself that.”

“....you’re lucky I love you...”

Shinya snorted and picked up a couple of meat buns, shoving one into Tsunagu’s face to stop him from talking and nibbling on the other himself. The tall blond pouted at this gesture but sighed as he saw how amused their tiny daughter was.

Looking at them both, he smiled and nuzzled his face into the tops of their heads lovingly. They were all so happy, and thats exactly how it should be.

“What a lovely day!”

[rcris123]

Isaac was up before any of them. And maybe to his own surprise Arthur slept throughout the night with Sebastian’s hand into his own. More or less at least. The medallion was on the ground. A light squeeze of the palm he’s holding. Eyes dart up – Sebastian’s still asleep, leaned against the foot of his table. Poor bastard; came all this way and for so little as himself...

Thoughts were all over; his forehead burned up like a furnace – but he knew that. Everything else, one big goddamn mess in his head.

Colm wanted to sell ‘em to the Pinkertons, using him as bait. It’s the one thing he told Dutch when he came back...

And Isaac. All that time he couldn’t forgive himself for leaving Isaac alone like he did. And the boy clearly ran off to Sebastian wondering where the hell his Pa’s gone. And nothing tore his chest apart more than knowin’ they barely survived another one of these...

This one was worse... He hoped, prayed the shoulder ain’t gonna come down with gangrene, ‘cause at this point it’s already feelin’ numb, itching up and down like an ant’s nest. He still felt Sebastian’s hand in his own.

He should try getting-

“Augh- Shit!” Well that woke him up. “I’m sorry...”

He can’t move. Just getting his head off the pillow made it feel like it was made of lead and like the brains fell out of the back of his skull. A light tug of the arm from Sebastian; teeth grit, air’s sucked in with a wheeze.

“Shouldn’t of done that-” Sebastian’s voice is thickened by sleep.

“Ah, you couldn’t of known.” And he still hasn’t let go. A pang inside his guts. The gang met him, that much was obvious, he wondered what Isaac told them about him. But words don’t come help him.

“How are you feeling?”

“About as well as I look, I guess...” Arthur sighed. “What ‘bout you?”

“I ain’t feelin’ half my body.” Sebastian cracked a laugh, and he tried one for himself, but the groan bubbled inside his chest regardless.

A short silence, allowing the pain to settle: “So... They let you stay?”

“Don’t know.”

“What did Isaac say-”

“I escorted him back to camp the day he couldn’t find you. John and the Irishman brought me in thinking I’ve done something to the kid.” A deep breath in from Sebastian, as if drawing courage: “He said we was lovers. So they won’t shoot me then and there I guess.”

Lips purse, another pang inside his guts and a shiver flowing up: “Guess that’s that then...”

But they ain’t lovers. Far from it. They-... What the hell was they that they ended up like this.

Do he have to play enamored now? He ain’t no actor and he rather despised pretending.

“You don’t have to-”

“I ain’t intending to.” Arthur had to be blunt, and it might of come off as rude, but he just ain’t knowin’ what he’s feelin’. It ain’t uncomfortable, just rather odd, ‘cause he still held onto the man’s hand like his life somehow depended on it. Heart picked at a gallop; he just had to say this: “Well, to be perfectly honest with you, I can’t make heads or tails of it all.”

“I ain’t much smarter on the subject, Arthur...”

“Guess we gotta figure something out-”

“We?”

He ain’t noticed how he used them words until it came outta his mouth.

“Guess there’s a we now... At least if you intend on stayin’.” Do you?

“Ain’t decided yet...”

Somehow the decision seemed to of been made the moment they put their hands together the night before ‘cause they ain’t let go yet.

Miss Grimshaw checked up on Arthur not much later, and by extension that meant Sebastian too – who got a scolding only Susan could pull off. She would of kicked him onto his feet. That’s when she notices, both of them did: Sebastian screamed in pain, trying to get up, grabbed his shoulder. Miss Grimshaw seized him and yanked the shirt off. Bandages, a fresh wound.

“Where’d you get this Mister-”

“Castellanos...”

“We gotta find you a bed. Quick. Arthur how’d you let him sleep like that-”

Arthur didn’t know, just looked on with concern as he was dragged off; and Sebastian looked back at him. Isaac just returned then from where-ever he’d been gone before.

“Pa?...”

“Someone’s hurt him...” Again.

 They found him a spot somewhere by Kieran, not too far off his tent. That kid’s been nothing but kind, to them all and Sebastian too; both outsiders. It’s been fun for a while, makin’ fun of the ‘O’Driscoll’ but that clearly ain’t the case no more. Boy’s been delegated to goddamn nursemaid. Arthur insisted on apologizing. Then Sean came and chewed Sebastian’s entire ear off. Sat on a chair, accused him first, then started talking of his Da and other things of his homeland. Bedridden both o’em they got no place else where to be, so it was Irish history hours for the both of ‘em. Ain’t been so bad after a while: slept like a baby to that, or maybe it was just the fever that made him so goddamn drained. One thing’s for certain he’ll be hearing Irish slang in his dreams from now on.

All week Ms. Grimshaw and Mr. Pearson swung by often; both trying their best to keep Sebastian down. He knew the feelin’ all too well. But they got fed well, bandages cleaned.

Still Arthur’s fever ain’t subsided well. Bouts of sudden dizziness and heat. No matter how much he tried to get back to functioning like a human it ain’t seem to be possible.

It took two more days until he could sit up for more than half an hour.

At least Sebastian’s doin’ better than him. Dutch got rather sick o’ him one time thou, squawked about a wounded dog in his camp; so Kieran took him fishing for most that day. Pearson was ecstatic to have so much fish. He made a fish broth, and it’s been something he ain’t known he needed or longed for.

Both Isaac and Sebastian stood on his bed, slurping hot soup like they ain’t ever had it before. And that somehow stuck with him. He pushed himself to draw that, even if it wasn’t one of his brightest ideas, a monster of’a headache split his head by the end. He ain’t known what to write beneath it thou. Not yet.

Days pass still and the camp’s getting all the friendlier to Sebastian, what Isaac said about them felt almost like a memory and the man like he’s always been there. He was a father. He could tell, by the way he’s taken to the youngest in the camp, and especially the girls; he snuck in to help Tilly and Marry-Beth with the chores Grimshaw gave ‘em. Arthur was sure they ain’t ever got cleaner clothes. Sebastian even taught Isaac how to properly scrub a shirt.

He got pangs inside his stomach whenever he thought about that. About, well, Sebastian, and what a whole ‘nother breed of man he was. How’d they even end up in the same place. How’d Sebastian end up in a whore house! That man laying down for others... And he ain’t sure how all that’d be working; lay on one’s back, spread his legs and hang his mouth open. Did his cock get hard-

Jesus.

It ain’t like that...

 No. There ain’t no denying it.

One day, Sebastian came to him. His shoulder was doing only better; at last he could move it with at least somewhat more accuracy. He was thinking of going hunting again, but Sebastian came to him.

“I saw you writing a lot.” He did. Kept him busy all these long dreary days where he was in-between ill and well. “I thought you’d have more use for this than I do.” Sebastian hands Arthur a pen.

A real fancy one: polished copper, and it ain’t no fountain pen, it had all the ink inside, and on the side two arrows. Jaw clenches. It was the first time since they held hands all those weeks ago that Arthur got that physical or affectionate: he pulled Sebastian into a hug. Man huffed against him.

How thy hell was he supposed to thank for that. He ain’t got no words. Nothing, nothing at all than a heart that drummed. He ain’t deserved any of the kindnesses Sebastian did to him.

Arthur ain’t deserving nothing...

“Thank you.” It was low, a rumble, spoken right next to the man’s ear. “Thank you.”

 That day, Arthur tied that medallion ‘round his neck, the Saint Sebastian one. It had to be a lucky talisman. And he finally knew what to write in his journal next to that drawing of him and Isaac eating fish broth; with the new pen to boot. That day he went up to Dutch:

“How are you feeling?” man asked, smoking his afternoon cigarette like it was a ritual; the gramophone blaring its high pitched song.

“Much better.” Arthur replied; inhaled to gather courage:  "Guess I need some days away after beein' cooped up in 'ere for weeks. Just me and the kid."

Dutch looked at him before puffing out the smoke, voice was inquiring: "And Sebastian?"

"And Sebastian."

Dutch threw the cigarette away, stomped the butt with his heel and moved closer to him:

"You know it smells of rotten business to me"

"Dutch!” Arthur got insulted plenty times but being called a fool for trusting a man he knew he could trust really offended him. Arthur can fend for himself and Sebastian ain’t no danger to the camp, just like goddamn Kieran. But that ain’t what Dutch meant. Lips purse, Arthur draws away; the remark is cold: “You know that all that matters to me is loyalty. ..And Isaac. Isaac's been all uppity these past few weeks. He needs some time with his Pa."

“Ye’r coddling him Arthur.”

“That ain’t ye’r call to make.” Don’t talk to him about parenting, Dutch. They were both outlaws and that ain’t a gentle life and not one fit for a kid that ain’t asked for none of this, least of all his Momma getting murdered like she did. “The kid ain’t an outlaw and I ain’t makin’ one o’ him. I want him to have better than I had. We all do.”

Dutch fell silent for a moment, then next he spoke his accusatory tone was gone:

“I hope you know you’re like a son to me, Arthur.”

“I know...”

 They still left that day.

“Where we headed, Pa?” They barely left camp, but the boy was smart enough not be heard.

“Sebastian?” Arthur ain’t really got much ahead of him, while he reckoned the man had something to return to.

And in all these weeks he still ain’t learned what exactly happened that Sebastian got his shoulder stabbed; he only said the obvious: someone was displeased and took corrective action. Arthur could only wonder if he was from the Molly-house, or maybe a client, to say it delicately.

“Well... I should be heading back to Saint Denis.”

“Then we’re comin’ with you.”

“No-” A purse of lips, a deep inhale. “No matter what I say you’ll still come with me, won’t you?”

“Guess that much is obvious. Lead the way, pardner!”

“How the hell did I get stuck with you?”

“We have a bad habit of getting nosey.” Isaac said in Arthur’s stead. This kid...

“You’re a menace and a half, boy. Hope you’re well aware of that.” Arthur intervened; yeah there was still a smile on his lips.

“Yes, sir.”

Laughter from all three of them.

“You raised quite the son there, Arthur.” Sebastian spoke. “Knows how to talk back, but for Christ’s sake can’t wash a shirt.”

“It ain’t like that!” Arthur chucked and the offense in Isaac’s tone could be felt, not just heard. “Pa!”

“Settle down, Isaac. He means you no harm.” Father talked to son; Isaac scowled but the road went on regardless.

It took a while before more serious topics arose:

“Where are you intending to stay? In Saint Denis I mean.” Sebastian asked.

“Can’t we stay with you?” Isaac replied with another question.

“Don’t think it’s a great idea to be staying in a Molly-house of all places.” Arthur tried, but he knew where that sentiment came from. Kid got used to Sebastian.

“It’d be for the best...” Obviously Sebastian ain’t enthusiastic either. “But there’s plenty hotels around the city. The Grand Hotel has plenty rooms, you should check there.”

“And now that leads to the question of money. We ain’t the richest people...”

“One dollar per night.”

Shouldn’t be too bad, but-

“How long are we gonna stay?” Isaac took the thoughts from his head.

“Dunno. I...” He looked at the boy. “I gotta think of some things over.”

More exactly: how to honor Isaac’s wishes without leaving any of the gang behind. John’s got a family of his own, wife and child. The girls, they can’t keep living like this. There’s a few men he reckons would fit better someplace else; the young ones: Sean, Lenny, Charles, even that Kieran kid, get the boy to work at a stable or something. But it ain’t easy talking to stubborn idealistic men: Sean might sooner die than give up robbing rich folk. Well he ain’t wrong, but their goal’s always been getting the money then getting out.

Seems there ain’t enough money in the world for people like them. They almost had all they needed in Blackwater, but that’s done and over-

Or was it. They ain’t knowin’ Sebastian, if only he and maybe that Kieran kid went back to collect, they might just get their hands on those money. It could give Sebastian a life. Whatever he got hurt over ain’t worth it and he reckons the man should pack his things and go.

But he can’t without the money, and Arthur ain’t sure he wanna pop that question to him.

A sigh.

“Everything a’right?” Sebastian sounded caring, and truth be told Arthur’s been silent for a while now.

“Nothing worth ruining a good mood over.”

“We in a good mood?” Sebastian cracks a laugh.

“Would you wanna be?”

“If I wouldn’t know you any better, I’d be sayin’ you’re flirting with me, Arthur.” Was that a dare, Sebastian...

But the kid had to speak up: “Everyone in camp think that anyway...”

“In no small part thanks to you.” Sebastian says.

“My own son snitching on me...”

“But the two of you are getting along.” Isaac continued with his statement. “You held hands- ”

“Isaac... It ain’t like that-”

“I just wanna know, Pa.” Isaac bowed his head then picked it up again: “You ain’t got sweet on anyone since I can remember. And it ain’t like you gotta be Dutch, bringin’ in girls once every few years, but... Well, Sean and Lenny all got sweet on the girls in camp, and it made ‘em happy! Thought someone might make you happy too, ‘cause Momma’s-”

“Isaac... You sweet kid. I’m well enough happy just to’ave got you.” He’d smooch the boy’s forehead if he wouldn’t be galloping.

He saw that, Sebastian, he saw that smile. And he ain’t quite sure what to make of this feeling; the heart’s heavy thinking that somehow he led the kid to think that it’s his job or someone else’s to keep this poor fool happy, at the same time’s filled with warmth ‘cause Isaac was, despite Arthur’s worst, shaping up to be a real good man. The boy has a chance at a real family, if only Arthur could gift him the freedom of a steady life.

There ain’t nothing easy...

Silence falls again and Saint Denis opens at their feet. They left Sebastian at his place, while they went on towards the Grand Hotel. They lodged in.

He was thinking of ways to earnestly earn money and maybe get Isaac involved as well to try and give him the chance of a honest livin-

“Mary?...” His mouth hangs open and he holds Isaac back, pressing the boy against his body.

“Arthur...” She was just as surprised to see him as he was to see her. “I... I would have wrote you a letter...” She looks down at Isaac, whose head whipped back looking for an explanation from his father. “That’s your son.”

“Isaac. Yes. He was real young when we- uhm...” The explanation was for the boy.

“How old is he?”

“17 this upcoming October...”

“I didn’t know- I. Arthur, I didn’t think you- You raised the boy an outlaw too.”

“No!” Don’t go accusing him, Mary... “He ain’t ever robbed someone- He’s always helped people, Mary. He’s most considerate.”

“Oh, Arthur, but if you couldn’t get out of your ways how’d you ever expect him to do so? You’re so tied up in your, your ideology-”

Isaac snapped: “We will get out.” Arthur kept him down. “We just gotta take care of a few people.” His son’s sounding more and more adult by the moment.

Mary looked at Isaac most shocked, a hint offended, then back at Arthur: “I’m sorry, Arthur... I see it now, no matter how much I still think of you, it would never have worked between us.” Arthur pins Isaac down when the boy tried to speak up again, shooting a glance back at his father with irritation. “You’ve been lying to yourself and your brought up your son to think the same! You think this ends somewhere? If it does, then change something, Arthur-”

“Don’t you speak to my Pa’ like that.” Isaac growled.

“Isaac.”

“I’m sorry, Arthur... I... I have to go now.”

Mary passes by them and trots downstairs. Arthur inhales deeply.

“C’mon. To our room.” A gentle nudge, and of course the boy picks up on the shift in his voice, the way the tone lowered and got drained of it’s usual sarcasm.

“Pa’, you can’t let people, that know nothing of us, speak to you like she did. It’s unfair.”

“People ain’t always fair, Isaac.”

“But you cared for her. She should have been.”

“Ain’t you getting your lil’ head wrapped up in some drama it ain’t supposed to be in?”

“You loved her, Pa, didn’t you...”

“Long time ago. Yes. You were real young.” Arthur sighs, opens the door to their room and steps inside after Isaac. “She couldn’t compromise and I couldn’t neither; ‘cause I was an outlaw.”

“But you tried.” Isaac sat on the edge of the bed. “I know you did.”

Arthur sits beside him: “That ain’t meaning I did my best...”

“I ain’t no outlaw.”

Arthur drags the boy onto his lap and presses a kiss on his back: “No, you ain’t.” A hand goes to comb that always messy hair of his: “You got gentleman material about you. You’ll be a great man, a great husband. Don’t let me stop you.”

Isaac shifts in his father’s embrace to wrap his arms around him.

“We gonna get out. And it ain’t only gonna be me.”

That’s a big dream, son...

 Night fell. He couldn’t sleep, but Isaac found it soon enough, sprawled on the expensive bed. Instead Arthur found himself on the narrow balcony smoking a cigar; cause just a lil’ bit of tobacco won’t do right now.

Mary just had to come in and make it all the more complicated – well, more like heartbreaking. At one point he dreamed, he really dreamed that he could be a husband to her, and her a mother to his son. But there was no way that was ever goin’ to happen, just ‘cause he is who he is. And how can he blame her and say he ain’t at fault that he’s an outlaw that can’t leave the life.

He should of left now, with Isaac for his sake. And he really wanted to. But it ain’t that easy. Arthur ain’t alone out there; John, Abigail, Jack, they’re going through the same struggles as him. They need a way out too. And if Arthur just left the guilt’ll follow him to his grave. Him and John grew up almost like brothers, annoying and dumb as he was Arthur cared ‘bout him, but mostly about his family, ‘cause the moron became a father almost entirely by accident.

And it wasn’t like Arthur became a father by design.

He can barely remember Eliza’s face. He saw her few times...

The cigar was reaching its end...

He left the balcony after the butt was thrown away. A hand goes in the satchel to grab a bottle of whatever liquor he had in there. And it all went down his throat in one go. Then Arthur went out the door, downstairs and out into the street.

He thought back to Sebastian-

He found a few more bottles of alcohol on himself. He stumbled half drunk into the brothel:

“Hi there mister-” language is slurred. “Hav’you seen Sebas-”

“Arthur?” he climbed downstairs, barely in a shirt and suspenders.

“Sebastian!” a big smile, a stumbled forward.

They more or less landed in each other’s arms. The lil’ saloon was quite busy tonight-

“You drunk, friend?”

“Just a lil’ tipsy.” And kind of missing a friend, hey- did Sebastian just call him friend...

“How’s Isaac?”

“Asleep- Can I talk to you ‘bout something-”

“Anytime.”

A hand lands heavy on Sebastian’s chest and stays there, fingers finding their way underneath the suspenders; head bows:

“I met Mary today.” He doesn’t know who Mary is, Arthur. “Mary’s- You see, I loved her a long time ago. I missed her so long.” Sebastian’s body stiffens. “I met Mary today an’ I made a fool o’myself... Said I wouldn’t- couldn’t change. And Isaac’s... Isaac’s told her off-”

“Sebastian, take him upstairs!” the bartender shouted.

“It ain’t like that!” Arthur shouts back at the man, returns his head to Sebastian soon after- “I ain’t wanting sex-”

He guesses he just wants a companion.

“Come outside with me.” Sebastian drags him outside, more or less pulling him on the hand; Arthur follows.

“Sebastian- I ain’t got ‘nough words to, just, thank you- Oh, I’m afraid you caught a fool...”

“At least you ain’t a moron.”

Arthur laughs: “Guess I got that...”

“I was thinking you got more than that...”

He’s not sure what he was alluding to: “You?”

“What?”

Voice gets low and raspy: “Do I got you?...”

It ain’t that cold out, but there’s goosebumps raised on Sebastian’s arms. The man looks down; a pause:

“You’re wearing it-”

“You saved me countless times, I-”

“I didn’t bring you back when Isaac needed it.”

“But that ain’t the point! You saved me.”

“You have any idea what place you pulled me from.” Sebastian grabs the collar of his shirt and brings him closer. “Those three weeks in the camp were the most pleasant since-”

“Don’t think ‘bout that-”

Sebastian’s head drops again, fists pull Arthur closer and he just leans in. “I ain’t no Saint.”

“Like that’s what we’re meant bein’. I’m an outlaw for Chrissakes...”

A bitter laugh bubbles out of Sebastian: “Maybe I should be one...”

“And I who though we were tryinna become more upstanding citizens.”

“We... We.” His fists clench in Arthur’s shirt. “You still ain’t told me what you’re wanting to talk about.”

“Do I gotta ask again, goddamnit-” He’s feeling light on his feet. “What’s it with you? Do I. Got you.” He leans into Sebastian.

Silence. Bent over each other on the side of the road, Sebastian’s fists into his shirt, Arthur’s arms at ease beside his body, breath stinking of all sorts of cheap alcohol they just sit like that, like some broken down statue that you can’t tell what’s was ever meant to represent.

It’s a strange feeling bubbling in his gut, sweet and sour, tastes and burns like bourbon on his tongue; the more he sits like this the warmer his insides become, his palm, his temples, and heart starts beating like a drum, heavy. He remembers Mary for some reason... An electric shiver runs through his body, from the chest down, into his guts.

Arms lift at last, place themselves on Sebastian’s waist. Head dips up and closer in. He only catches the sound of a breath cut short when his lips press onto the other’s neck, just above the collarbone.

Retreat came quick.

Sebastian tilts his head away from where Arthur kissed, as if ashamed, as if allowing him for more.

Silence once again until Arthur couldn’t handle him looking at him like that, hair swept to the side of his face, eyes half lidded and expecting.

“That’s what I am to you?” Arthur speaks up at last.

“If you want that...” Sebastian’s lips tremble.

“Dunno what I want.”

“You seemed pretty convincing to me-”

The second one is ravenous, mouth presses wide and wet onto Sebastian’s neck, lips draw skin beneath them, then teeth. He moaned.

Arthur pulls away, startled, until bodies are no longer together. Breath is quick and shallow. He looks away. So does Sebastian, but his gaze quickly returns:

“Anything you want to take upstairs?”

The word that bubbles in his mouth is different that what his mind’s thinking, but lips purse and he’s got the notion that he has to weigh the heaviest feeling: that part of him wants this. Sebastian cares...

His name dangles from his neck, and his pen in his pocket.

“Yes.”

[bamon4bamily]

TVD 9x01 (part 3) Enjoy! =)

Cut to – early next morning at the Salvatore mansion. Caroline comes into Bonnie’s room with a breakfast tray.

 CAROLINE: Rise and shine sleepy head!

BONNIE: Care…wow, this is so nice! You didn’t have to…

CAROLINE: Of course I did!

BONNIE: What time is it?

CAROLINE: 8:06…

BONNIE: I thought you were going to sleep in?

CAROLINE: Ah, how I’d love for those golden days to be back! Maybe someday… for now, it’s pretty much impossible not to wake up before 6. Listen, we need some you and me time, so breakfast in bed it is!

BONNIE: Thank you! Looks yummy!

CAROLINE: (Lays next to her, hugs her) You have no idea how happy I am you are here!

BONNIE: Me too, Care, I needed this.

CAROLINE: So, we didn’t really get a chance to talk last night and I need to know, Bon, are you really O.K? With the whole psychic thing? I know it hasn’t been easy…

BONNIE: It hasn’t but it’s better now. Before I used to hear people’s thoughts all the time, nearly drove me mad. But Darius taught me how to control it, and I’m so thankful for it, felt like I was invading people’s privacy, you know?

CAROLINE: I can relate in a way... it can be very freak, and disturbing in some cases, to get into people’s minds. Can’t imagine if that were a million times stronger…

BONNIE: Like I told Damon, I just take it one day at a time.

CAROLINE: You know I’m here for you, for whatever you need Bon.

BONNIE: I know Care, I’ll be fine. Plus, I’ve learned some pretty cool tricks too, check this out (uses her telekinetic powers to pour syrup on the pancakes)

CAROLINE: (In total wonder) Bonnie! Wow, that’s… amazing!!

Damon nocks then walks in holding a plate of his famous pancakes.

 DAMON: Bon-Bon, I brought you… (sees Bonnie and Care having breakfast in bed) What is this? And why wasn’t I invited?

CAROLINE: Girls only Damon! So, shu, go!

DAMON: (Puts his pancake plate aside and takes a bite of Bonnie’s pancake) Augh! These are horrible Blondie! Am I right Bon?

CAROLINE: No they're not! Right? (looks at Bonnie).

BONNIE: (Trying to be nice, since they are quite horrible) No, Care, they are… yum…yummy, yum …yum…

CAROLINE: (Smirks at Damon) See?

DAMON: She’s just lying to be nice; Bon-Bon knows nothing tops my pancakes!

BONNIE: (Picking on him) Nahhh, they are pretty awful too...

CAROLINE: (To Damon) Ha! See??!! Hey, wait! (To Bonnie) what do you mean too? (Gets a text, reads it).

CAROLINE: Oh, you have got to be kidding me!

BONNIE: What’s going on?

CAROLINE: Apparently, some student’s skipped school. Arr, teenagers!

BONNIE: Listen, Care, why don’t we get ready and go check it out.

CAROLINE: O.k, we’ll meet in half an hour at Alaric’s office?

BONNIE: Sure.

CAROLINE: (Looks at Bonnie’s almost untouched pancakes) Aren’t you going to finish your pancakes?

BONNIE: Yes, yes, of course… (takes another forceful bite).

CAROLINE: O.k, see you in a bit (kisses her on the cheek, and leaves).

DAMON: (Throws Caroline’s pancakes in the garbage, gives Bonnie the pancakes he made for her) Here Bon-Bon, just how you like them (gives her a smirk).

Cut to - Matt at the Mayor’s office.

 EDWARD POWELL: Sheriff, any leads?

MATT: Not yet Sir, we are working as fast as we can. We have no hard evidence these incidents are related but I think it’s safe to say that something supernatural is involved. All we know for a fact is that the first group of victims had the same diagnoses, brain aneurysms. They also dropped and woke-up at the same time. The second group of victims is being treated and evaluated at Mystic General and Whitmore Medical.

EDWARD POWELL: Listen, Sheriff, I really need for you and your team to get to the bottom of this ASAP. We cannot allow for another “incident” to happen. I took this position under the promise of making Mystic Falls the safest place to live in, and I intend to keep that promise. And, please, call me Edward, Sir. sounds quite odd, we are practically the same age.

MATT: (Soft laugh) I guess that’s true. Trust me, we are doing the best that we can. I’ve also recruited some friends that can help in the “supernatural” department.

EDWARD POWELL: Sheriff, I trust you know what is best, that is the reason I requested your return. You have my full support, and I will provide you with all the necessary resources, just, please move as fast as you can.

MATT: I will. Thank you, I appreciate the vote of trust. I will not fail.

EDWARD POWELL: I know you won’t, nor will I. We owe it to this town to bring them peace, and we will succeed.

MATT: We will. I need to head out now, I have to do some interrogations at the Hospital, then I’m headed to a meeting at the Salvatore school.

EDWARD POWELL: Keep me informed Sheriff, and remember, anything you need, at any time, just let me know.

MATT: I will, thank you, S… Edward. Have a nice day.

Cut to Alaric’s Office. Alaric, Caroline, Sergei, Radka, Damon, Bonnie, and Darius are talking about the students that didn’t arrive to class.

 CAROLINE: So, they didn’t show up for class, again? It hasn’t even been two days! Those little… (Radka interrupts)

RADKA: I don’t think they skipped this time. I know they have done it before, but I have a bad feeling about this one. They were genuinely excited to present their project.

ALARIC: When was the last time anyone saw them?

SERGEI: Yesterday, after the last period.

ALARIC: Have you called their cells?

RADKA: Yes, no answer. We’ve looked everywhere, Ric.

ALARIC: Matt is on his way, so let’s just wait till he gets here.

DARIUS: We can do a locator spell, find them faster. Take it you know the drill?

CAROLINE: I’m on personal belongings.

SERGEI: I will get the candles, I have plenty.

ALARIC: I’ll have a map, somewhere around here (looks around, finds one in a drawer).

DAMON: (With serious signs of a hangover) Ah, my head is about to explode! Another human side effect I totally despise…

DARIUS: You know, the best remedy for hang-over is to keep drinking…

BONNIE: It’s not even noon, Darius, are you kidding me?

DAMON: Well, Bon, it’s past noon somewhere in the world, Waldo has a point.

ALARIC: Sorry Bonnie, but I sort of agree with these guys…

BONNIE: We need everyone on game here. So, just take an aspirin and drink some water.

DAMON: Fine Bon-Bon, but once the clock hits the right digits, we’re going old school on this.

CAROLINE: (Comes back from gathering the things) Here, their textbooks, these will do, right?

DARIUS: Yes, those will be fine.

 Sergei comes back with the candles. Darius and Bonnie set everything up for the spell, the others gather around. They start the spell, then suddenly they start to bleed from the nose.

DAMON: What’s happening? This makes no sense, this is a simple spell, she has done it a million times before, shouldn’t be taking so much power… Bonnie? Bon, stop! (To the others) We need to stop her now, something is wrong!

ALARIC: Bonnie… stop!

CAROLINE: Bonnie!?

 Both Darius and Bonnie drop unconscious.

 CAROLINE: Oh my god, Bonnie! (rushes to help them)

DAMON: Bon! Bon-Bon! Wake up! (Darius wakes up, Bonnie is still out) (To Darius) What the hell is going on!!??

DARIUS: I, I don’t know…

DAMON: Care! Don’t just stand there, give her your blood! (Caroline gives her blood, Bonnie wakes up)

DAMON: Bon? You O.k?

BONNIE: I’m fine… what happened?

CAROLINE: You were in the middle of your spell, blood started coming out your nose, then you both just collapsed…

BONNIE: I don’t understand... Darius?

DARIUS: I have no idea, Bonnie.

SERGEI: Forgive my intrusion, but if I may say, while you were doing your sorcery, I could have sworn I heard the twins chanting. Perhaps that had something to do with this unfortunate event?

ALARIC: Wait, what?

CAROLINE: I can’t believe this! (She leaves the room).

DARIUS: Bonnie, I’m so sorry, I honestly have no idea what just happened.

BONNIE: I know, you and me both…

RADKA: (To Alaric) This has to be linked with the incidents, right?

ALARIC: Not really sure, but it’s a hell of a coincidence if it’s not…

RADKA: I’m worried, Ric. I think this is way out of our league…

ALARIC: (Kisses her on the cheek to comfort her) We’ll figure this out, I swear.

 Caroline comes back with Liz and Josie.

 CAROLINE: O.K girls, things just got real serious. Tell us, right now, what did you do?!

JOSIE: Aunt Bonnie? Why would you tell us to do that? (Bonnie looks very confused).

ALARIC: Stop with this, we’ve had enough! You either tell us what is going on or there will be consequences.

LIZ: Are you threatening us, daddy? (Radka falls to the ground, she is being powered drained).

CAROLINE: Girls stop it! (They increase their attack) I said stop, right now, or I swear!! (They keep increasing their attack) Bonnie, please help…

BONNIE: Care, I can’t… they’re your kids…

ALARIC: Please, Bon, whatever it takes. There is no other way…

JOSIE: (With a smirk) You think aunt Bonnie can stop us? We can take away her magic too…

LIZ: … just like that (Bonnie weakens a bit).

DAMON: Munchkins, stop!

BONNIE: (To Damon) Don’t worry, I got this. (To the twins) Girls, you know I love you, and I’m so sorry for what I’m about to do, this is not the reunion I wanted us to have. Now, I think you are forgetting just one little detail, auntie Bonnie is also psychic, I can get into your heads and pretty much make you do whatever I want, it is something I really don’t like to do but (uses her psychic powers) when mom and dad tell you to stop, you need to stop.

 The twins stop and calmly sit down, in a sort of trance state.

 BONNIE: Now, tell me, girls, what is really going on?

CAROLINE: Girls? Aunt Bonnie asked you a question.

LIZ: We really didn’t mean to…

JOSIE: I swear mom, she (looking at Bonnie) makes us do this!

BONNIE: Girls, why are you saying this?

LIZ: Because you tell us to!

ALARIC: Bonnie?

BONNIE: Ric, honestly, I have no idea…

LIZ: You do! You told us we are the key, that you need us to focus so we can open that portal… and that if we don’t, you will kill them (looking at Alaric and Caroline).

BONNIE: Girls, listen to me. I would never hurt them, or you, you know that, right? Now, just relax (looks at Care and Alaric to let them know she is going to access the girl's mind, they nod), let me try something. (She uses her powers again to see if she can find something). (To Caroline and Alaric) I have no idea why they are saying this… strange thing is, they are telling the truth… but there is something off, I just can’t grasp what it is.

CAROLINE: Girls, please go to your room, we will talk about this later. (As the girls are leaving). Oh, and in case it wasn’t obvious enough, you are so grounded!

DARIUS: Bon, maybe you should tell them…

BONNIE: Tell them what?

DARIUS: You might not remember, you black out when it happens, but you’ve been having episodes again.  

BONNIE: What? No…

CAROLINE: Bonnie, what is he talking about, are you O.k?  

BONNIE: I’m fine. I mean, I did have some episodes a while back, but I fixed that, they stopped.

ALARIC: Are you sure, Bonnie?

DAMON: It can’t be that, I know about “the episodes”, this is something different. Listen, Bon, I think somebody is trying to mess with you, we just need to figure out who… and I think Dr. Strange here (referring to Darius) should be on top of our list (Darius rolls his eyes).

DARIUS: Trust me, Damon, I am not involved, but, unlike you, I can actually help her.

DAMON: (Sarcastic laugh) In case you haven’t noticed, she doesn’t need your help; she can handle herself perfectly well on her own.

ALARIC: O.k, let’s stop with this, and focus. I’m sure it is not a coincidence that people are dropping unconscious, students are missing, and someone is playing mind games with Bonnie and the girls.

 Matt walks in.

 ALARIC: Good, you are here.

MATT: What’s going on?

RADKA: Some students are missing, we think it might have something to do with what’s been happening.

MATT: Let’s not jump to any conclusions. How long have they been missing?

SERGEI: No one has seen them since yesterday, after the last period.

MATT: Is it normal for them to disappear once in a while, cut class? I mean, they are teenagers.

CAROLINE: They have Matt, but not this time, something is wrong.

DAMON: Also, some freaky Friday thing is going on with Bon and the girls.

BONNIE: (Soft laugh) Literally, the most far away reference, Damon. (Damon gives her a smirk). We think these things are linked; the incidents, the students, the girls, me… and from the type of incidents, there most definitely is a psychic involved.

MATT: I think so too. I just came from interviewing some patients that woke from their coma and their stories are very similar. All they seem to remember is hearing a woman’s voice just before they collapsed.  

BONNIE: (Worried) I’ll bet that if they hear my voice, they will recognize it…

MATT: What are you talking about, Bon?

CAROLINE: Just before you got here, Bonnie and Darius were doing a locator spell to find the students, we think the girls siphoned their powers... then Bonnie and Darius dropped unconscious. The girls say they hear a voice that sounds like Bonnie, that makes them do things… that they are some sort of key to a portal, or something.  

SERGEI: This is all very uncanny.

DAMON: Yes, it makes no sense; what do people dropping unconscious, missing students, Bon-Bon, the girls, and Waldo here, have in common?

MATT: Let’s recap, there has to be a reason all of this is connected. The first incident happened 2 days ago, victims were not connected in any way, totally random, 25 reported victims.

ALARIC: That was the same day we had the incident with the girls, they drained everyone in their classroom, including Radka. Bon, Darius, where were you 2 days ago?

BONNIE: In Dublin, waiting to catch our flight.

MATT: Then yesterday, incident number 2, except now the count went up to 50, and again, no relation amongst the victims but same diagnosis, brain aneurysm.

CAROLINE: Well, yesterday we all met at the Grill, and it was the last time the students were seen. And today, well this…

DAMON: (Sarcastically) So, Sheriff Donovan, what’s the master plan?

MATT: For now, we need to keep things quiet, go about your day as if nothing is wrong. I will look for the students, what are their names?

RADKA: Its Veda, Auden, Tabitha, and Nikolai, you know them, Matt.

MATT: Well, now I’m sure that this is not a coincidence.

DAMON: Really? Just now? (Mocking him).

MATT: Listen, nothing can seem out of place or give anyone the idea that we are working together on this. I know we are being monitored, not sure by whom. So, we need to keep a low profile; I’ll do what I am supposed to do, you do the same.

DAMON: That’s your master plan Donovan?

ALARIC: Actually Damon, I think it’s a good plan. We can’t draw any attention. Bonnie, Darius, Radka and I can work on research, get as much intel on incidents involving psychic attacks.

DAMON: Wait? What about me?

ALARIC: You have classes to teach, pal, so I suggest you get to them.

DAMON: Oh, come on! You’re benching me? If anyone should be benched, its Loki here (referring to Darius)! I’m sure his witchy-psychic voodoo is involved in some way.

ALARIC: Sorry buddy, you need to take one for the team.

DAMON: (Annoyed) Fine! (Starts walking out mumbling) What sort of discrimination is this? I’m a human now, so all of a sudden, I’m useless…

ALARIC: Matt and I are also human Damon, it’s not about that.

DAMON: Whatever Professor Xavier! (Keeps walking out).

SERGEI: (To Damon, as they head out of the room) If it is any consolation, I am one of the oldest vampires in the world, and it seems I have also been “benched”.  

DAMON: Guess it’s an “occult studies” members only type of thing, so that leaves us out, Count Dracula… (they leave).

ALARIC: O.k, so we (referring to Radka, Bonnie, and Darius) will be in the study. Care, you keep an eye on the girls and run things as usual.

MATT: Sounds like a plan. I’ll keep you informed if I find anything on the student’s whereabouts. Let me know if you find anything from your side (leaves).

Cut to – an underground cave where the missing students are being held captive.

 VEDA (Inside Tabitha’s mind): Tab, can you hear me?

TABITHA: I can V, where are you?

VEDA: I don’t know, I’ve been out of it for who knows how long… all I know is that it’s dark, humid, cold... Oh yeah, and I’m a cell!

TABITHA: I think we are in the same place V.

VEDA: The only thing I remember was hearing a woman’s voice, then I blacked out and woke up here.

TABITHA: Me too… Can you reach Nik and Aud?

VEDA: No Tab, I can’t … we need to find each other and get the hell out of here fast!

Some voice, in both their heads.

VOICE: You won’t get out, but you will find each other when the time comes, and you serve your purpose. But for now, nighty night (they both drop unconscious).

TO BE CONTINUED... 9x02 (part 1) coming soon! =)

[optimistic-smiler]

( about to head into work. I'll leave this here for ya'll. If you want to ask questions. Please do! I'll answer them when I can :3 )

Jonathan’s eyes widened as he stared at the man in front of him. He looked oddly familiar from his red jacket to his owl head, “ V-Vanoss?” He stuttered only for his once small doll to look back at him and nod.

The man growled as he rose to his feet still clutching his severed arm, “ Pest.” He spat lunging at him. Vanoss quickly side stepped and kicked the man away sending him crashing into the wall. He wasted no time charging again grabbing him and smashing him against the wall. The Terminator look alike grabbed Vanoss by arms and twirled them around smashing the owl into the ground. He grabbed his legs spinning and smashing the smaller robot into the side of a dumpster. Vanoss fell to the ground unmoving. He walked over to the fallen robot and knelt down, “ Had enough?” He chuckled. Vanoss growled and swiped at him with metal claws slashing his face. A piece of his face was torn off revealing wires underneath., “ You piece of junk you think you can take me on?” He growled. He grabbed a hold of Vanoss’s bad arm and began pulling, “ I’ll rip you apart…”

Jonathan could only watch in horror while Vanoss screamed in pain as he arm was being torn off. He had to do something. Jon looked around frantically for some kind of weapon his eyes landing on an abandoned half empty water bottle. Robots hated water right? He quickly grabbed it and ran towards them, “ Let Him Go!!” He screamed getting the other robot’s attention before he splashed water into his open wires. The man let Vanoss go wiping away the water.

“ Disgusting! Augh!!” He yelled before stomping towards Jon, “ You think that will stop me? They told me to bring you back alive but they never said I couldn’t break a few bones.” A sick grin appeared on his face as he backed the frightened teen into a corner, “ Now hold still and--” He screamed as electricity surrounded him. The robot crumbled down to the floor twitching. Jon looked up to see Vanoss's retracting his arm before stumbling over to Jon.

“ Are you alright Jonathan?” He asked his voice a bit staticy. Jonathan could only nod as he stared at Vanoss, “ Good...we have-we have to go. I’m afraid that shock wo-won’t keep him down and I am in need of repairs.” He stretched out his large metal wings and gently grabbed Jonathan around the waist, “ please hold on.”

“ W-Wait what?!” he yelped as they flew up high into the air. He scrambled and latched onto Vanoss for dear life. He looked down at the city in awe, “ Holy shit dude we’re flying!” He laughed.

“ Actually I am flying you are just holding on to me for the ride.” Vanoss chuckled. He landed behind Jonathan’s house carefully placing Jonathan on the ground,” Quickly let’s go inside.” He managed a to take a few steps before collapsing onto the ground.

“ Shit!” Jon knelt down and put Vanoss arm over his shoulder. He held him up, “ Lean on me okay?” He said as he walked them both inside,” Luke!” He called his voice echoing through the house, “ Luke Are You Home!! I kinda need you right now!!” He gently placed Vanoss on the couch before he heard footsteps running down the stairs.

“ Jon? You’re supposed to be at school” His brother froze at the bottom of the stairs and stared at the two,” Oh shit Jon what happened?!” He rushed towards his brother and inspected his injuries,” They came for you at school?! They shouldn’t know where your school is why didn’t the teachers call me?!” He looked up at Jon who quickly looked away,”..Jonathan you were at school...right?” His eyes narrowed.

“ Uh well we were at school but uh...you see Squirrel and Craig.” Jonathan’s eyes widened,” Squirrel and Craig! They were with me trying to protect me! I left them all alone with that..that thing!” He began to panic,” They could be hurt or or worse! Luke we have to go find them!” He pleaded.

“Alright but we are going to talk when we get back home! Where were you three?” He asked.

“ We were headed to Squirrels dad’s shop to fix Vanoss when that guy hit us! They might still be there.”

“ I’m sorry but your stupid friends won’t be there.” All three froze as the voice echoed through their home. Vanoss forced himself up in a fighting stance as the front door burst open. The robot from before stepped into their home dragging his unconscious friends with him. He dropped them carelessly on the floor,”What a lovely house...can’t wait to destroy it.” He clenched his newly rebuilt arm

“ How-How did you find us?” Jon stuttered as he slowly backed away. The man chuckled darkly as he stepped forward.

“ Easy. I placed a tracker on you the first time I grabbed you just incase you got away.” He looked between Luke and Jonathan his grin slowly spreading,” Looks like it’s a two for one. Let’s go.” He growled .

“ Vanoss damage report.” Luke said as he put Jonathan behind him. Vanoss stepped forwards between them and the other robot.

“ Damage 75% left arm dysfunctional, right wing dysfunctional...Vision 50% unable...unable to perform self maintenance.” His voice sounded staticy. Luke cursed under his breath.

“ Awwh does the poor little scrap heap have an owie?” the other robot chuckled,” How about I put it out of its misery.” He grinned as he lunged at Vanoss. He grabbed the other by his wings and threw him into the staircase. He stomped over to him as the small robot struggled to get up. He raised his foot and slammed into against his chest,” Stay Down!” He growled.

“ Vanoss!” Jonathan cried as he tried to rush towards him. Luke quickly grabbed him,” Let go Luke! We have to help him!” He yelled looked back as Vanoss was lifted into the air and brought down onto the other robot’s knee. He heard a sickening crack as his back connected to his knee,” He’s going to kill him! Luke please!” He cried watching in horror as the robot lifted his foot again.

“ Damnit...Stay here!” Luke ordered as he rushed towards the two,” Vanoss Sleep Mode!” Vanoss looked up with a flash of light blinded the larger robot, Luke using it as an advantage and knocking into him sending him tumbling. He picked up the now doll version of Vanoss and rushed out of the way,” Jon catch!” He tossed Vanoss over to his younger brother who caught the broken doll and held it close,” Alright Brian you want to play unfair...I’ll show you unfair.” He grumbled pulling someone out of his jacket pocket.

“ Oh Luke you naive human…” Brain growled as he stood up,” Show me what you have in store for me. I’ll love to tear it apart.”

“ I’m sure you will.” Luke grinned before throwing another small doll into the air,” Ohm Fight Mode!” He yelled before a bright light burst through the room. Jonathan’s eyes widened as another robot gracefully landed on the floor. He wore a grey bandana around his eyes with the ohm symbol on it, bunny ears protruding from his head. He wore a tight fitting white tank top with equally tight black shorts that when down to his knees. He had a playful smirk on his face as he faced Brian,” Alright Ohm get this asshole out of my house!” Luke commanded.

“ Sure thing.” Ohm chuckled raising his arms into the air transforming them into two large blades. He rushed towards his enemy with impossible speed. He seemed to vanish and reappear behind him using his blades to slash the other back making him cry out in pain. Brian turned throwing a punch only to hit air. Ohm giggled as he practically danced around the other slashing him with his blades. Brain began to grow frustrated at every hit he reached out and grabbed one of Ohm’s ears.

“ Enough you stupid rabbit!” He screamed before throw him across the room. Ohm landed on his feet on the dining table unable to recover before Brain punched him hard in the face sending him through the wall of the house into the bedroom. Brain roared as he jumped in after him. Luke took this opportunity to run over to Jon’s friends who were slowly regaining consciousness.

“ Come on guys get up we have to get out of here right now. Before the whole house falls on top of us…” He said as he heard a loud crash come from the other room. He helped the two to their feet and pushed them towards Jonathan.

“ Ow my head…” Squirrel whined as he stumbled to his friend,” What’s going on Jon?” He asked.

“ Did that guy come back?” Mini asked looking around the house.

“ Yes but I’ll explain later..well Luke will, but right now let’s get out of here!” The four ran outside the nearly destroyed house and towards Luke’s car. Luke made sure they got in first before looking back towards the house just in time to see Ohm get thrown through the roof Brian not to far behind him. His robot landed harshly on the ground while Brian landed on top of him. He raised a ffist and brought it down Ohm blocking the impact with his blades.

“ Alright Ohm enough fooling around!” Luke called to him grabbing his robot’s attention,” Go for the legs and let’s get out of here there’s kids in the car.”

“ Oh you’re no fun.” Ohm pouted slightly but obeyed swifting kicking Brain off of him. Ohm jumped to his feet and walking over to the downed robot,” It was fun but goodbye now.” He rose his blades bringing them down towards him. Brian’s eyes widened as he reached up and grabbed the blade part of it slicing into his hand. He growled and sent an electric current through the blade and to Ohm who screamed in pain. He tossed the other robot aside and stood ready to end this.

Brian stop… A gentle voice rang through his head stopping him in his tracks, This has gone long enough. Come home so I can fix you

“ But--”

Please Brian? All you're doing is getting yourself hurt…. The robot sighed in agitation.

“ This isn’t over…” He growled sending out a bright light to blind them before vanishing.

Luke ran over to Ohm and helped him up,” You did great out there. Are you hurt?” He asked.

“ No, I’m alright just a little tired.” Ohm smiled,” Is everyone else okay?” Luke looked back at the car to see all three boys staring at him with wide terrified eyes.

“ I think we have a lot of explaining to do…” He sighed.

[noonmutter]

I Want a New Duck

( Immediately following the events laid out here ... )

Inventory day was not Rhodryn’s favorite day, but neither was it her least favorite. Customers could be vile creatures in need of a few days with no tongue, but they could also be bundles of sweetness as capable of brightening one's day as any pastry in the shop, if you let them. But inventory day was quiet, and rewarding, and now that the shop's owner had returned, it was guaranteed to be an easy day in pleasant company, doing little more than looking for places missed in the regular cleanup.

Or it usually was. Today might not be so pleasant, to judge by the rambling voice of her employer drifting back from the storeroom.

"...still too bloody riled. I din't--Darlain said if, if I was fixatin'--this's def'nitely fixatin'--if I was fixatin' an' I'd already run outta mad an' there was nobody around an'--this's def'nitely fixatin'. So I'm fixatin'. That's wrong. Somethin's wrong. Cuz I got played? ... no. Not now, tha's not it. Why th'fuck're you still mad day after, bruv..?"

So the ren’dorei put on her gear with the ingrained stealth of decades of servitude, and listened. She was not particularly intent on spying, but what was there to drown him out in the empty shop when she was scrubbing the floor?

At least he wasn't just babbling in there, to judge by the sound of boxes and bags shuffling back and forth and his boots clicking across the floor. "...so she'n'er guy invite you up, an' that's fine, we're fine, s'great, an' then there's idle dumb chatter an' that's fine too, tell 'em th' dumb stories, good laughs, all's great...when’d we start talkin' about my arse? ...well they liked my arse anyway..."

Everyone likes your arse, idiot; it's a good arse. She worked intently at a particularly stubborn stain in a floorboard under the edge of a cabinet, though she was becoming suspicious that it was not chocolate, as she had always assumed, but something more like blood. What had been going on in this shop lately?

It could very well have been blood! ...up till it finally worked loose enough to peel back, and reveal itself as some form of fossilized berry sauce. At least, it had probably been berries... it was sauce, anyway. Blood didn't... stretch... like that.

"...good a time as any t'mention th' missuses, right, nat'ral part o' th'talkin', chattin' about ev'rythin'...she's gotta rule 'bout married men, fine, 'ear tha' plenty, so nah, ours is open, they like 'earin' stories later anyway, but she's got 'er rule so fine, Iggy's still comin' at me...least I think 'e is, gods only know now--no, no, that's uncharitable..."

Could be meatjuice, that could get a bit stretchy. Should be able to smell - Light's sake, did I really just sniff ancient--

”--still comin’ at me--” Her ears perked up in surprise, and then back down low as she scowled hard. Someone had threatened her boss? And just like that, he had her full attention, halfway through peeling mystery gunk off the floor.

"--'ave t'call it a hamhock? yeah 'e was tryin't'be flat'rin' but hamhock? ... gettin' off-track. 'E 'as a lovely 'amhock of 'is own anyway, tha' wasn't a problem, stop that... wierd word choices are not th' issue, Leon, stop. Stop."

For a little bit, he was quiet, apparently forcing himself to actually take a break from his odd little conversation and do work a bit more efficiently.  The mystery gunk briefly gave off a faint stench of scotch gone horribly awry, but that might've been her mind playing tricks.

Leon was messing with his adding machine by the time he started talking again, so he'd clearly made something resembling progress.

"She's still comin' at me right along with 'im, but she's got rules about married men... din't stop 'er any, did it? But I come at 'er back, I'll be th' prick, won't I... an' dammit Iggy's all about it, too... damn fine kisser fer a clown, tha' man..."

Oh. Not threats. How this man loved to abuse his language's idioms... She relaxed and resumed peeling. It couldn't be scotch, scotch wouldn't peel like this. Unless he'd made a sauce of it...

All this grumbling and anger over flirting? That can't truly be the whole of it…

"...got rules about married men, don't y', but yer fine teasin'em after th' fact...cruel thin', y'were speakin' plain an' I were speakin' plain an' then y'still go go go..."

She sighed silently and rubbed at her forehead with the back of her hand.

You're better than this, Mister Ambroce. Please be better than this.

A brief pause, and then a soft thump, most likely his fist on his desk. "All that an' Iggy too! Again th' guy's a wash! Augh!"

The void elf rose to her feet, took a deep breath, and said, "You are an idiot."

"F--!" There was an awfully loud bang and ruckus in that storeroom. A few seconds later, Leon's head peeked around the doorframe at floor level. Spooked horses looked less rattled than he did in that moment. "...Rhodryn?"

The effect of arching a single brow was magnified when that brow was about three times as long as a human’s and trailed shadows from the tip as it moved. She turned away from him, going to wash her hands. "That sounded painful. Do you need healing?"

"No...no." There was a resigned sigh in his voice. He had very quickly learned not to expect any sort of sympathy from her, not that he'd hoped for it anyway. "Mostly th' chair scuffed up th' wall."

No sympathy, but she did offer a hand up once her hands were no longer sticky. "Good. Did that knock some sense into you, or am I going to have to do it?"

Blinking owlishly up at her, he reached up to take the hand almost on autopilot. "What?... why're you even here?"

"It is inventory day, is it not?"

"I..." Grimacing, Leon got to his feet, and brushed off several large dust bunnies from his shirt. "...Sorry. I thought it was earlier." Because it was either that, or admit he'd forgotten he had a manager again. His memory had been unreliable ever since his brain took a vacation in Kul Tiras.

"I always come in early." She patted his shoulder and went to retrieve her cleaning rag. "However, it sounded like you had distracted yourself, so I will forgive you the oversight."

Around people, she nearly always had a pleasant little smile on an otherwise inexpressive face, which made her difficult to read. Now, though, he heard the grin in her voice as she teased him. Though he'd heard her no-customers-all-day voice before, it was rare. He was even less familiar with her being openly amused at him. A bit of a mental rewind as he rubbed the shoulder that'd been briefly pinned between his chair and the wall reminded him of what had started it. "...an' 'o's an idiot, exactly?"

"You and I are the only two people here, and I was not ranting to a sack of flour about flirting that didn't go my way."

So rare to get Leon to the point of fish-mouthing, and yet look at him go, jaw dropping and closing again with an audible clack. After his skin had already taken on a couple extra shades of red, he looked away and grumbled, "Wasn't rantin'. It's a de-escalation exercise. ...S'posed t'ave a duck."

"You do not have a duck. You have an elf, capable of asking questions, such as, 'What is so wrong with aimless flirting that you are so angry at these people?'"

He almost groaned, but stopped himself at the last moment. As a side note, expressions normally accompanied by the groan of someone who sincerely wished they could disappear through a floor that are not accompanied by a groan are very silly-looking. "Y'were list'nin'."

"It was difficult to not."

Desperate for something to do with his hands and, coincidentally, also wanting to hide his still-flaming face, Leon turned and headed for the pastry cases and the cabinets underneath them, pulling his notepad out of his back pocket. "Aimless flirtin's not a problem."

With a sigh, she returns to her hunt for dirt. "What made you think it was not aimless?"

He knelt in front of the cabinet just as she asked that, and there was a clunk as he accidentally cracked his knuckle on the edge of the door. Really? This was what she wanted to express interest in? "...some people think it's fun t'flirt with a guy t'make 'im look stupid."

"Some people just like to flirt."

"An' that's fine! Flirtin's fun if ev'rybody's clear onnit! But not after y'say it's not gonna 'appen!"

Rho stopped hunting under the tables and stood so she could look at him, head cocked to one side. "That is what I don't understand. She said it was not going to happen - that is what 'rules about married men' means, yes? Would that not make it aimless flirting, with a stated lack of intent to follow through?"

The cabinet door thunked shut. "I put it plain I woulda liked t'roll with 'er, she put it plain she wouldn't be rollin' with me. Keeps right on goin' after me an' not just with words, so does 'er buddy. Y'think that's okay?"

She stared, and then blinked slowly. "I do not flirt, and this conversation makes me more grateful for that choice by the second. Let me make certain I understand. You told her, plainly, that you would like to sleep with her, she told you plainly she would not sleep with you because you are married, yet she and her friend continued to flirt and... prevented you from leaving?"

"What?" Finally, he looked up at her. "No, o' course not."

Rho crossed her arms and drummed her fingers against her cheek, then held out her hand in a ‘stop’ gesture. "Wait. What rules?"

"Wha' d'you mean?"

"Her rules about married men. What are they? I assumed she meant 'no married men,' because that is my rule about married men."

He started to answer, but his face fell just slightly as the words "That's what I figured, yeah" came out of his mouth. Finally, the gears appeared to be turning. "She din't want wives comin' after 'er, she said."

"That is my reasoning, as well. That is not a problem in your situation. Your situation that you are very happy to talk about at length. As such, you would be an exception to that rule."

"Yeah, an' I said tha', an'--" He paused, and slowly looked up at the ceiling. The gears reached full speed, and ground through a particularly stubborn chunk of rust that dislodged with such force that he sighed. He’d gone and made assumptions and hadn’t caught himself and it’d bitten him and he’d totally failed to notice until it was too late. "...first of all, Rhodryn, yer now my duckie. Second of all, please slap me upside th'ead."

Rho blinked again, then crossed the room and slapped him upside the head. "Never call me your duckie again."

He asked her to do it, so while surprised that she did do it, he made no attempt to stop her, only rubbing gently at the spot once she'd done it. "Yes'm."

"Now. How will you set this right?"

"I'm...fuck." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Fuck I'm so bloody stupid... Mngh. Apologize, obviously, but'm not sure 'ow."

"What apology would you have accepted if they had been wrong?"

"That's--well, yeah, that's a trick too, but tha's not what I meant, actually." Walking back into the storeroom for a moment, he brought her a flyer from the Ironforge Craft Fest, where he'd circled 'Sarah Hadley' on the list of entertainers. "Aside from askin' 'er sister, which is grossly inappropriate I'm sure I don't need t'tell you, I'm not sure 'ow t'get in touch."

She took the flyer and stared at the name for a moment, again drumming her fingers on her cheek. "Why is it grossly inappropriate to ask where you should deliver an apology?"

"It's-- Iunno, is it a social etiquette thin' fer elves at all, not goin' through a middleman fer pers'nal matters?"

She peered at him. "Are you speaking of having the sister deliver the apology, while I am speaking of asking the sister for... 'Sarah's' location?"

"No. Just th' latter." For all that Leon was a worldly man, he was frequently painfully Gilnean. Even Vember would’ve been hard-pressed not to laugh at him.

"I see no reason it should be inappropriate, as long as you only tell the sister that you need to deliver an apology, not what it is for." Rho handed the flyer back. "If speaking to her bothers you overmuch, what options do you see other than asking the sister for Sarah's contact information?"

Leaning against the counter, he stared at the flyer and bit his lip.  "...mmf. I spose there's tha'."

"You could wait and hope you see her again. I do not think you would like to let this gnaw at you for that long, though. You could hire someone to find her, but you would have to phrase your explanation very carefully if that is discovered. Or, you could ask the sister, perhaps provide her a token of appreciation for her help, and get this behind you."

"She's gonna punch me." Wry laugh. "Prolly deserve a couple more o' those."

"If you reacted harshly in public, yes, you do deserve a few punches."

"...less 'arshly an' more... um... well, I kin think o' plenty of other less charitable words than tha'.” Childishly, foolishly... was bitchily a word? Bitchily seemed like a good word. “But yeah." Brain finally settled into something resembling a course of action, Leon sighed. “Thank you.”

"Of course." Rhodryn bowed her head slightly, and went back to cleaning, taking the thank-you as a dismissal.

Hours later, as they checked each others’ final counts for accuracy, Leon burst out laughing when he got to the end of her overstock list. ‘One (1) too many romantic fools who have apologies to make.’

( @dwyndel @darbiebot @tirasiansails @tirasiantrouper )

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Klavier releases a new single and part of it features Taka's screeches as part of the song, Apollo thinks it's weird but it's hailed as artistic and avant garde.

Hey did you remember this ask from a month ago because I did and here’s the payoff.

“No.”

“It would be hilarious.”

“No.”

“You let Fräulein Cykes talk you into making him an Instagram.”

“That is different.”

“And a Twitter.”

“That is also–”

“Just say that you like her more than me, ja? I won’t be offended.”

“You should already know that I like her more than I like you.”

“I should have expected that.”

“Do you not have work to be doing, Gavin-dono?”

“I do not. I have nothing better to do than bother you. I imagine the Fräulein would quite enjoy some photos of our dear Herr Birdie in a recording studio for his insta, ja?”

“You are not going to ask her–”

“It is far too late; I texted her ten minutes ago.”

“You are an absurdity of the likes of which I have only ever seen on a witness stand or the defense’s bench. What compels you to be as you are?”

“In general, or specifically why I want my next single to feature Herr Taka?”

“Yes.”

“There are too many music critics with heads so far up their own asses that they can taste the prohibitively expensive wine which they drank with lunch, whose superiority complexes have bid them to dismiss every song I have ever written simply because teenage girls like me, and I want them to be crushed under the weight of their own pretentiousness as their alleged artistic sensibilities struggle to reconcile the avant-garde aspect of featuring a bird of prey on a track with the fact that I was once the lead singer for a boyband.”

Klavier waits, his elbows propped up on Simon’s desk, grinning at him, waiting for any sort of reaction. The seconds tick by as Simon, staring past Klavier, slowly blinks once and refocuses his eyes on him. He blinks again. Klavier is still grinning.

“You are not… actually going to bring him into a recording studio, are you?”

“Of course I am. I am an artiste.”

“You are a witless lunatic.”

*

Apollo has not had time to close the door of the office behind him before Trucy, bouncing, has appeared in front of him with a grin on her face to inform him, “Prosecutor Gavin put out a new single!”

“Uh-huh,” Apollo says, trying to feign disinterest, which is difficult given the special powers of every single other person who inhabits the office. Athena has appeared in the doorway, grinning at him. She doesn’t stop grinning, either, and her expression doesn’t waver in the slightest, like some static image at home on the poster for a horror movie. “Athena, why are you grinning like that?”

“No reason,” she says, and her smile reappears larger than ever.

“Uh-huh,” he says. He decides to ignore her. “Have you listened to it yet, Trucy?”

“No, I was waiting for you, since it just came out this morning!”

“Don’t these things usually happen at midnight?” Apollo asks before he realizes that knowing this fact probably does not help his intended image of appearing disinterested in the music industry and Prosecutor Gavin’s career.

Trucy shrugs. Athena has not stopped grinning. “Stop making that face,” Apollo says.

“No,” Athena says, through her teeth, her smile still plastered across her face.

“You look like Professor Means.”

“Augh!” That did it. Her face twists like she is trying to get peanut butter out of her mouth, massaging the remains of the smile out. “That’s mean, Apollo, that’s really mean.”

“It’s Means, I think you mean,” Trucy says, expertly dodging the smack that Athena aims for her arm. “Have you heard it yet, Athena?”

“No,” she says, now looking like she is trying to stifle the smile that is again spreading across her face.

“You’re lying,” Apollo and Trucy say in unison.

“Ooh, Athena, do you know something about this?” Trucy asks, bouncing again as she makes her way over to her laptop.

“No.”

“I don’t even need my bracelet to tell that you’re lying now,” Apollo says.

“Is this finally the love confession for Apollo that all his music from the past year has been building up to?” Trucy asks.

“The what,” Apollo says.

Trucy waves a dismissive hand at him. “I’ll explain later; I have charts to back me up.”

“You have what,” Apollo says.

“If it is that,” Athena says, “then he didn’t tell me.”

“What did he tell you?” Trucy asks.

“Just play the stupid song,” Apollo says.

“Finally!” Widget crows and Athena slaps her hand over her necklace.

If Apollo were to admit it, which he won’t, most of Prosecutor Gavin’s music isn’t bad. Some of it isn’t to Apollo’s tastes, especially not at the cacophony of a live concert, but all of the Gavinners albums are at least okay in places, and the solo stuff is better. And it’s probably good for his sanity that he thinks so, because every time a new single drops, Trucy plays it on loop for at least a week and never ever uses headphones.

He sort of hopes she won’t do that with this one though, because it’s just… weird. Not Klavier’s usual style, inasmuch as there has been a coherent thread between his solo releases, and not to Apollo’s liking. Trucy is bobbing her head though, tapping the desk as they huddle around the laptop, and Athena is the one bouncing on her heels now. “What’s that sound that keeps coming up?” Apollo asks when he’s turned it over in his brain enough to decide that whatever the hell is going on in the background mixing is neither an instrument that he knows nor a normal human sound.

“Shh!” Trucy hisses, and her frown means that he’s earned himself a second loop of the song for talking through part of it.

About twenty seconds later, he asks, “Is that some sort of bird?”

“Looklook look!” Athena has an arm around his neck in a second, pulling Trucy close with the other, and she shoves her phone under their noses. “Look!”

“That’s a bird in front of a microphone,” Trucy says, a little confused and probably more disgruntled that Athena is now talking over the music too.

“That’s… that’s not Taka, is it?” Apollo asks. His head is starting to hurt.

“It’s Taka!” Athena drops her phone on the laptop keyboard and does a hopping dance around the desk. “Taka’s a singer now! Look!” She wedges herself in between them again to swipe through more pictures on her phone, the first eight of which are the first picture from slightly different angles, with Taka barely having moved. There’s one that is obviously a candid with Klavier talking to someone off-camera to the left, his guitar in hands, Taka on his shoulder; another with Klavier doubled over laughing at something, Taka halfway out of the frame, Simon standing off to the left staring straight at the camera with the barest hint of a smirk on his face; Klavier sitting on an amp, Taka perched on the head of the guitar. A selfie of Athena making a peace sign in front of a shelf of shiny awards; a wobbly picture obviously not taken by Athena because the subject is her grinning and poking one of the trophies. A video looking to be taken accidentally, unfocused angled at the ground as Klavier’s voice comes from somewhere: “–murdered with that as the weapon they will find your fingerprints and arrest you for it.”

“Then we spent like twenty minutes talking about what the best murder weapon in the room would be,” Athena adds.

“It looks like you had fun,” Trucy says. Apollo can hear the jealousy seeping into her voice and Athena’s head jerks up in alarm.

“I was only there because Prosecutor Gavin told me about the idea of having Taka on the track, so that I could help convince Simon, but then it turned out that Simon agreed because - something about spite, I don’t know what they were saying - and then I blackmailed him into letting me come to the recording session too because otherwise I could tell the world about his upcoming single. I’m sure if you wanted to see the place you could ask him! I’ve wanted to tell you guys about this for like a month!”

Apollo has a sinking feeling that Trucy won’t be the one overplaying the song, but rather Athena instead will. This suspicion only intensifies when she retrieves her phone to show them the last of the pictures, which includes a selfie of the four of them, Taka perched on Athena’s head, and at least two dozen more of Taka from various angles, in front of a microphone, on the amp, on the guitar, doing absolutely nothing, scratching his head, sleeping. “I was going to delete some of these,” Athena says, “the ones that are basically the same as others, but then Simon asked me to send all of them to him and I didn’t get around to it.”

“I can’t believe Prosecutor Blackquill’s pet bird is now a rock star,” Apollo mutters. “I can’t believe Gavin featured a bird on one of his songs.”

“Believe it!” Trucy says. “And since you talked through it, we will be listening again. Hey! Don’t walk away! Polly! Get back here!”

Apollo sighs.

*

“What are these papers?” Simon slowly lifts the offending stack from his desk, gingerly rifling through as though he expects a threat to spring from the pages.

“Reviews,” Klavier says, “of my new hit single. These are all the ones that said artistic or avant-garde. I highlighted every instance for you.”

Simon sets the papers back down and slowly shakes his head. “A question for you now,” Klavier says. “Is it you or Fräulein Cykes who runs Herr Taka’s insta?”

“She does.”

“I will have to apologize for her for being inundated with follower notifications.”

“What do you mean?”

“I tagged the account in my latest post.” Klavier holds his phone up to Simon, showing a picture of him with his guitar and Taka sitting on it, a microphone positioned in front of him. It was purely a photo-op that Athena wanted; I’m not going to accomplish anything with a bird on my guitar, ja? “So I imagine that several thousand of my followers, at least, have gone to follow Herr Taka.”

“Is he famous now?” Simon asks.

“Perhaps - if not yet, then soon.” Klavier glances at Taka asleep on his perch. “He is handling his rise to stardom very well, but he does have the best manager.”

“Would that be you?” Simon’s lips twitch in a smirk. “The most humble as well, I suppose.”

“Oh yes. I am very humble. You put enough dents in my ego on a daily basis for me not to be.” Klavier stops in the doorway and grins. “Enough that what Fräulein Cykes told me about your ringtone won’t go to my head.”

“She said what to you?”

“Ach, brushes with stardom make informants of the closest friends. It is nothing unusual for the celebrity world, that she sold you out.”

“She said what?” Simon repeats.

His phone rings, loudly, and he cannot lunge to silence it quickly enough. Klavier’s grin, impossibly, grows wider. He raises his phone in his hand, the screen showing that whoever he called has just hung up on him, and waves it. “It won’t go to my head,” he repeats. “It was not me, but the featured artist with me, ja?”

“Do you not have work to be doing, Gavin-dono?”

[legendofzeldaalinktothepast]

Opalescent Tides - Chapter 5

Previous Chapter // Next Chapter 

Waves crashed against the shore, and rain pattered against the ground, forming little brown puddles in the crevices of the sandy beach. Amidst the rainstorm, a large, muscular mermaid heaved herself up onto a plateau of rocks. Jasper coughed as she adjusted to the atmosphere, and then lifted her head upright, sea water dripping from her mass of thick, platinum blonde hair. 

She took in the scent of her surroundings. Humans had walked across this beach very recently. Amber eyes gazed past the trees and spotted smoke rising in the distance.

Before Jasper could observe any longer, she heard the rustling of trees. She didn't want to linger around to find out if it was a human or some other land creature, so she turned and leapt back into the water with a splash.

'I'll come earlier tomorrow.' she thought to herself, clutching a glass vial in her left hand. 'Better to wait another day than get caught...'

* 

The weekend had finally come; as Rose and Greg set out coolers and filled them with juice boxes and ice pops, Steven covered himself head-to-toe with sunscreen. "Amethyst!" he called towards the house, grabbing his frog-shaped pool floaty and slipping it around his torso. "You wanna come put on some sunscreen?"

Amethyst slid the glass door open and stepped out onto the patio, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. "What now?"

"Whoa, you look so pretty!" Steven gasped and cupped his cheeks, admiring the beautiful grey and white polka dot dress she was wearing. "Oh, and it's just sunscreen. It'll keep your skin from getting sunburned." Steven said. "Here, lemme spray you!"

"Oh, totally!" she said. Just remembering the horrible sunburns she'd gotten when she'd woken up on the beach made her shudder... "And thanks, kiddo. I mean, it's your mom's dress, not mine, but still.”

"Yeah, and she looks pretty when she wears it too!" Steven sprayed the strong, yet pleasant smelling sunscreen on Amethyst's arms and neck. "There we go!"

They heard the sound of a car door, and Steven's eyes lit right up. "Someone's here! Oooh, I wonder who -- " He peered into the driveway, then immediately bolted over to the car. "Connie!!"

"Hi, Steven!" Connie responded, hugging Steven once they met. She was a couple inches shorter than him, and her dark hair was pulled back into a neat french braid; she wore a pink and white striped tank top, a pair of black shorts, and some brown sandals.

As Steven chatted with his newest guest, Amethyst made her way back into the yard, approaching Rose and Greg. "Uh, you guys need any help? I just woke up, so sorry for not asking sooner..."

"Don't worry about it. It took me a long time to adjust to the human circadian rhythm." Rose said with a wink. "But if you don't mind, could you get us some more ice from the kitchen? It should be at the very front of the freezer."

"No problem." Amethyst gave her a thumbs up, turning and heading back towards the house.

As she pulled the bag of ice from the freezer, she spotted Lion sitting by his water bowl, purring loudly. "Aw, you want some?" Amethyst plucked a few ice cubes out of the bag and plopped them into his water bowl. "There ya go." she cooed, scritching his ears before heading back out.

As Amethyst stepped back outside, she saw that Steven, Connie, and a newer guest -- was Peedee his name? -- had already begun swimming in the pool, while Doug and Priyanka chatted with Rose and Greg on the patio. Amethyst opened the cooler and emptied the bag of ice, and from the corner of her eye, she saw Garnet and Pearl coming in through the gate.

"Hey!" Rose called, waving a hand at them,

"Hey there." Garnet greeted softly, adjusting her heart-shaped sunglasses. Pearl smiled as she greeted Rose, but her expression fell ever so slightly the moment she laid eyes on Amethyst. The latter burned with a mixture of shame and irritation -- Pearl really knew how to hold a grudge. She shyly acknowledged Garnet with a wave before ducking her head and heading towards the pool. She'd rather bathe in that chemical-filled water than deal with Pearl staring at her all night.

"Hey, kiddos." she said, slipping out of her dress and smoothing out the black two-piece swimsuit underneath.

"Hey, Amethyst!" Steven grinned. "Did you wanna play volleyball with us?"

"You bet I do!" Amethyst said, sitting down on the edge of the pool and sliding into the water with a splash. She shuddered at how cold it was, and silently asked herself why regular salt water wasn't good enough for humans, but managed to adjust to the temperature and chemical smell after a few moments.

"You wanna be on Connie's team?" Steven asked. "I'm with Peedee."

"Sounds good." Amethyst said, swimming over to Connie's side of the pool. Then, she leaned into her ear and whispered, "How do you play? I'm out of the loop."

"Oh, it's pretty simple! You just bump the ball back and forth. Like this!" Connie popped the ball up into the air with the palm of her hand. Peedee dove for it and knocked it back in their direction. Amethyst, still processing Connie's demonstration, flinched as the ball bounced back off of her head.

Steven burst into laughter. "It was your turn to hit it, silly!"

"Hey, cut me some slack, I'm new to this." she snickered, grabbing the volleyball and whacking it with full force -- straight into Steven's face.

She cupped her hands over her mouth. "Oh shit! I'm so sorry, I -- "

But before she could apologize any further, Steven had burst into a fit of laughter. "It's volleyball, not dodgeball, silly!"

Amethyst let out a sigh of relief. "Geez, I really thought I hurt you. Now I don't feel so bad."

"Pfft, I'm made of steel. This little volleyball won't even phase me!" Steven whacked the ball back in Amethyst's direction, but she narrowly dodged it. She grabbed the ball from the surface of the water and knocked it in Steven's direction again, hitting him in the face yet again and cackling.

As the two of them went back and forth, whacking each other with the volleyball and laughing themselves to tears, Connie and Peedee exchanged confused glances.

"Try not to knock each other’s brains out, you two!" Rose called from the picnic table, giggling.

"Pfft, like that could happen!" Steven giggled, tossing the ball at the side of Amethyst's head.

"Augh!!" she exclaimed, dramatically clasping a hand over her ear. "My brain is falling out! Nooo!" She fell over into the water, causing Steven to only laugh even harder.

Once Steven and Amethyst had finally settled down, the four of them prepared, once again, for a real volleyball match. Pearl watched from her seat at the table, fidgeting with her juice stained popsicle stick and tearing it to shreds. Garnet rose to her feet and glanced in Pearl's direction. "I think I'm going to join them. Maybe I'll be able to keep it peaceful this time." she said with a chuckle. "Do you want to come along, Pearl?"

"Perhaps a bit later. Still feeling... You know." she said.

"I understand." Garnet smiled, patting her on the shoulder before heading over to the pool.

With Garnet gone, Pearl was feeling even more anxious. Everyone else at the table was chatting and laughing together, but Pearl struggled to chime in, so she simply zoned out, watching the volleyball game in the pool. Her gaze fell on Amethyst more often than she’d like to admit… But when Amethyst caught her glancing in her direction, she immediately averted her gaze... Guilt and anger tangled in her chest. 'Heaven's sake... What is wrong with me today?' she thought with a sigh, taking a sip from her bottle of water.

* 

Later on, a couple more teenagers had shown up -- some of Steven's friends, Pearl presumed, though they looked a fair bit older than him -- and Greg had started setting up the bonfire. For most of the night, Pearl had attempted to enjoy herself; she'd even taken a quick dip in the pool, but ended up getting somewhat overwhelmed by how noisy the kids (and... Amethyst) were being. But when she re-joined the adults chatting on the patio, she felt just as uncomfortable. It seemed no matter where she put herself, she found herself feeling isolated and overwhelmed.

"Excuse me for a moment." Pearl said, half expecting nobody to even notice -- but Rose gave her an understanding smile, which made Pearl's heart pound even faster than it already was, and she hurried into the house before it could burst out of her ribcage.

As soon as she shut the glass door, instant relief washed over her. It wasn't quite as cool as she'd hoped -- with everyone outside, the air conditioning and fans had been turned off -- but it was quiet, and she was alone, and that was all she needed.

With a heavy sigh, she leaned against the wall in the hallway and slid down to the floor. Silence. Then, the soft pitter-pattering of paws on the carpet; Pearl glanced up and smiled at the approaching cat -- Lion, was that his name? -- and stroked his back. "Hey there, little kitty..." she whispered, allowing him to crawl onto her lap. The soft feeling of his fur on her fingertips soothed her, bringing her anxiety and sensory overload closer and closer to an acceptable level...

Then, she heard the glass door slide open. She tensed as Lion leapt from her lap, clearly wanting to greet whoever had just come in the house. She heard two familiar voices in the kitchen; one was Steven, and the other Amethyst.

"I'll get the stuff for s'mores! Do you wanna get the mosquito repellent?"

"Yep! It's in the bathroom, right?"

As Pearl heard footsteps approaching, she immediately rose back to her feet, banging her head against a picture frame she'd completely forgotten was there.

"Shit -- " she hissed as she rubbed the bump on her scalp. When she opened her eyes, she was staring straight at Amethyst.

"Hey, uh, you okay?" Amethyst asked. "Didn't mean to startle ya, heh."

"Yes. I'll be fine." she responded through gritted teeth. As she pulled her hand away from her head, she noticed a faint patch of blood on the pads of her fingers. "Goodness..."

"Man, your timing couldn't be worse. We used up all the ice in the cooler." Amethyst said, continuing into the bathroom. "Want me to get you a cold washcloth?" she added.

She truly didn't, and in all honesty, she just wanted Amethyst to get what she needed and leave, but... She also didn't want to be rude, and if they had no ice, there wasn't really any other option... "Ah, that might help. Thank you." she said, following Amethyst into the bathroom.

Amethyst grabbed a washcloth from the cabinet and drenched it in cold water, handing it over to Pearl after wringing it out. "Here ya go!"

"Thank you." Pearl smiled softly, pressing the cool cloth against the sore spot on her head.

"No problemo." Amethyst said. "Now, for that mosquito stuff... Ah, shit. I shoulda asked Steven what it looked like. Do you know mosquito re... repel... The stuff that keeps mosquitos off, you know what I'm talking about? What's that look like?" Amethyst asked, rummaging through the cabinet.

Pearl crouched down beside Amethyst, still holding the cloth up to her head with one hand, and reached for the mosquito spray in the very front.

"Oh, thanks!" Amethyst smiled sheepishly, a bit embarrassed that she hadn't noticed it right under her nose. "Welp, I'm heading back out. You gonna be okay?"

"I've banged my head before. I think I'll survive." she said, rolling her eyes.

Amethyst rolled her eyes in return. 'That's what I get for being nice, I guess.' "Alright. Later." And with that, she began to make her way out the door, but Pearl lifted her head up and called out, "Wait!"

Amethyst glanced back. "...What?"

"I... Forgive me for being rude, I'm just -- I'm not having a very good night. Or week." Pearl sighed.

"I can tell." Amethyst said. "I probably haven't helped, with breaking shit in your store and calling you a horse and all that." Amethyst shrugged. "I really am sorry about that, by the way. I was kind of a dick."

"Oh, it's not even that... But I appreciate the apology." Pearl began, taking the cloth from the back of her head and setting it down on the sink. "There's... I just feel like something isn't right." she continued, her eyes still not meeting Amethyst's. "Either with my head, or... With you. Because ever since you showed up..." She bit her lip. "Never mind. I need to keep some thoughts to myself. I'll come and join you guys by the bonfire in a few minutes."

Amethyst opened her mouth to respond, but heard Steven call from down the hallway. "Amethyst, did you find that mosquito stuff?"

"Yeah, just a sec!" Amethyst called back. She turned back towards Pearl, but she'd already turned her gaze towards the window, making it clear she didn't want to continue the conversation any longer.

"Alrighty..." Amethyst said. "See ya outside, then." She turned and made her way out, hesitating for a moment in case Pearl responded (she didn't) and then continued on her way down the hallway.

* 

For the rest of the night, Amethyst tried to enjoy herself. Some of her irritation towards Pearl, admittedly, hung around -- yet at the same time, she felt a hint of pity towards her. If she had been in her situation, she'd probably be irritable, too. ’I should cut her some slack…’

"Hey, uh, Amethyst?" Steven tapped Amethyst on the shoulder, snapping her back to reality. "I know they're best when they're crispy, but your marshmallow is gonna be a lump of coal if you don't take it out soon."

"Oh, right." Amethyst pulled her stick out from the fire and blew the flames out from her marshmallow. She smeared it across a graham cracker and placed some chocolate on top, smushing it all together with a second graham cracker.

As the night went on, some of the guests began to file out; Connie, Priyanka, and Doug were the first to leave, insisting that Connie needed to be in bed by ten. Peedee went home shortly after -- his curfew was the same as Connie’s. Now, it was just the Universe family, Pearl, Garnet, Lars, Sadie, and Amethyst.

"Can we tell some scary ghost stories?" Steven suggested.

"If we do that, you'll be up all night." Rose chuckled. "And wipe your face, you have marshmallow all over."

"Aww, I promise I won't..." Steven whined, wiping his face with his arm.

"Sorry, kiddo." Greg ruffled Steven's hair. "Last time you got really scared, and we don’t want that. But I know another way we can have fun! What if we do campfire songs instead?" Greg suggested. "I can bring out my guitar!"

"Laaame." Lars mumbled through a mouthful of s'mores, and Sadie elbowed him in the ribs.

"Ooh, that'd be just as fun! Maybe even funner!" Steven perked right up. "I know someone who's a good singer." He grinned at Sadie.

"Hm? Oh, I don't know about that..." she blushed, nibbling on a plain graham cracker. “M-maybe another time.”

After Greg went inside to retrieve his guitar, Amethyst spotted a cluster of familiar glowing bugs off in the distance. "Whoa..." her eyes widened. "Hey, Rose." she began, glancing towards the woman in the lawn chair beside her. "What are those glowy things called?"

"Hm?" she glanced over in the direction Amethyst was staring. "Oh, those are called fireflies! Or lightning bugs, depending on where you come from."

"They're so cool… I saw them the other night and thought I was dreaming, heh." she remarked. She spotted a fleck of green light just above her head, eagerly reaching out and cupping it in her hands. "Gotcha!"

"Ooh, lemme see!" Steven leaned against Amethyst's shoulder. When she opened her hands, the bug immediately fluttered out, its body glowing bright green. It flew all the way to the other side of the bonfire and landed on Pearl's shoulder, causing her to flinch in surprise.

"Oh, hello there!" she giggled, relaxing once she realized it wasn't a mosquito. She allowed the bug to crawl onto her finger, watching as it glowed and lit up her fingernail. She turned her gaze up towards Amethyst, and for the first time since they’d met, gave her a genuine little smile. But it only lasted a mere second before the firefly took off into the night, and Pearl watched it go.

"Alright, got my guitar!" Greg said, strumming it once he sat back down in his seat. "Anyone got any song requests?"

Silence. Then, Steven decided to speak up. "Oh, I know! You should sing that one song that goes like, um..." Steven tapped his head as he tried to remember it. "The one goes like, 'what are you doing here', you know?"

"I'm still working on that one, though..." Greg scratched the back of his head. "Besides, I'm sure everyone else probably wants to hear a song they already know..."

"Aww, but it's so good! Pretty please?" Steven begged, giving Greg the biggest puppy eyes he could manage -- and with his cat-like pupils, he had an advantage.

"I'd like to hear it, Mr. Universe!" Sadie said.

"Me too." Garnet chimed in.

"Aww... Alright. Guess I can't say no, now." Greg chuckled. He cleared up his throat and strummed his guitar, adjusting the knobs on the side to make sure it was perfectly tuned before he began.

"Do you believe in destiny? Close your eyes and leave the rest to me..."

As she listened to the song, Amethyst reached for the bag of marshmallows and pierced one with her stick. She held it out to the crackling fire, and caught a quick glimpse of Pearl from the other side, who was preparing herself another marshmallow as well. They made a quick moment of eye contact before Pearl quickly glanced away.

"...Do you believe in fantasy? I have to when it's right in front of me, oh...'"

The light from the fire illuminated every little detail of Pearl’s face; if she was aware of it, Amethyst had a feeling she'd probably be self-conscious. Human women were like that... Compared to Rose, she barely wore any makeup, and had some sleep-deprived bags beneath her eyes... Yet it was almost charming. 'Oh, get a grip.' she thought, shaking her head. 'Don't go drooling over her now. She already thinks you’re a freak...'

"What are you doing here, in the real world? What are you doing here, so close I could touch you?'"

As Pearl pulled her marshmallow out from the fire, and smushed it between a few squares of chocolate and two graham crackers, she rest her arm on top of Garnet's -- she'd mostly calmed down from her fit of anxiety earlier, but still clung to Garnet as a way of making sure she stayed that way. Social gatherings, no matter how calm, always had the potential to overstimulate, and physical affection (when Pearl herself initiated it) was one thing that always kept her grounded.

She glanced across the bonfire at Amethyst once more, allowing another soft smile to spread across her face. But she couldn’t help noticing… something about Amethyst's eyes looked so unnatural. The pupils were narrow slits… They almost reminded her of a cat’s. ’What if…’ Her body tensed up once again and she gripped Garnet's arm, her warm smile fading.

Amethyst's heart sank.

"What are you doing here, and what are you doing to me?"

[paperhattt]

Can you do a headcannon of the daily struggles BH would have if he were suddenly turned human?

So this accidentally turned into a somewhat fic. I don’t know what to call this haha. Some pieces of dialogue came to me so I wrote them. I hope that’s okay!  I’m so sorry if you’re on the app this is going to be a long scroll.

1. Blinking

(in mid-speech, yelling at Flug for accidentally turning him human) “And! And… AND Why is this sudden darkness continuously flittering across my vision?!”  

“It’s called blinking sir…”

“What? (slight pause) Augh there it goes again!”

“Blinking happens about every four seconds sir. It’s necessary for-”

“What?! You have to deal with this all the time? How?!” 



“Well when you don’t think about it, you don’t really comprehend that it’s happening. Blinking has to happen, doing so lubricates the eyes-“  

Demencia who was in the background watching this all unfold, butts in, “HA! LUBRICATION!” 

(Flug rolls his eyes, speaking over Dementia’s cackling)

“It has to happen to clean out human’s eyes, the lashes-“

“Stop it! You’re blabbering is almost as bad as this, this, eternal darkness!”

(Flug feels Black Hat is being over-dramatic, but then again what else is new.)

2. Breathing

“And.. and..” Black Hat starts gasping in mid-sentence.

“Sir?”

Black Hat caves over himself, trembling. 


Flug realizes what’s happening, luckily. “Sir you have to breathe!”

Flug tells him to close his eyes and relax, and his body will naturally know what to do.

Black Hat finally inhales, and is in pain because the air is freezing and burning, and he feels so exhausted. He feels so weak.

3. Heart Rate

Something is ramming against his chest. Something he is sure is going to escape him. It’s one singular thing, pounding and ramming, vibrating, yet the rest of his body is following the organ’s actions.

He believes it’s called a heart.

Ugh, disgusting.

His body won’t stop. He’s telling himself, his mind screaming at him, to just control himself. But his limbs won’t stop trembling.

Flug’s telling him to just keep breathing. In and out.

But it’s so much harder than he at first believed it to be.

4. Emotions

Why is everything so complicated as a human being?

He slams his fists out on the table in front of him. Just to look like his usual angry self. 

But satan that hurt!!

He yelps; yelps! 

His hands shoot back, cradling themselves into his chest.

It’s enough to calm his heart a bit.

But now his hands are burning.

And the tip of his nose and back of his eyes are too. How does this make any sense, he hit his fists! Humans make no sense!

Now his vision is messed up.

No, no it’s getting cloudy. Is he going blind now?? Was he not blinking enough?

Black Hat rapidly blinks, and now a boiling liquid is leaking down his face.

He broke his eye!

“S-Sir?!”

His lower lip is shaking now, bumping into his upper lip. Without thinking about the motion, his lips are pressing against each other to try and stop the trembling. And of course that doesn’t help!

The water slips between the slim crack in his lips, and it’s so salty.

He blinks again, this time on purpose. His vision clearing slightly along with his thoughts. His thoughts that have been racing across his brain. Everything is so much slower in his mind! He can only catch stray vowels of his thoughts, instead of complete sentences.

Is there an ocean behind his eyes? His mind certainly feels like it’s drowned, and his head is throbbing; like his temples are being rocked back and forth in a wave.

Out of his nose, too, is something starting to tread out.

What is happening to him?

He’s seen this happen to Flug. And Demencia; and 5.0.5 all the time.

He’s… he’s crying!

But why? His fists aren’t in that much pain, are they?

Flug rests a hand on his shoulder. Black Hat, any other day, would’ve smacked him for daring to make such a bold move.

“Here sir.” Flug hands him a tissue.

Black Hat squints at the thin white paper. No it isn’t paper, some sort of cheap cloth. 
“What am I supposed to do with this?!” His voice is strained a bit, some of his consonants cracking.

He’s never felt so weak in his entire life.

“Blow on it.” Flug squeezes his shoulder, arm slightly shaking, as he lets go.

Black Hat narrows his eyes at it. Well, Flug hasn’t been wrong yet… he opens his mouth, starting to blow on the tissue.

Flug smacks himself with his hand, rubbing it down his paper bag.

Flug teaches him how to blow his nose properly. It’s disgusting.

5. Temperatures

He’s shocked by the draft in the air coming from the lab. It’s making the hairs on his arms and back of his neck stiffen and rise. And little bumps rise and pop up his arms.

But outside is worse. The sun is a horrible thing, suddenly.

More wetness is leaking out of him. How do humans have so much moisture inside them?

Flug gives him thick blankets when he’s inside, and Demencia attempted to force one of her “tank-tops” on him when he went outside.

6. Sleep

He really tries not to sleep.

He only lasts twenty hours. After that, his lids are refusing to open, and when they do, they only reach halfway up his eye.

His bones are so much heavier, somehow. And his mind impossibly slower. The little words he manages to speak are slurred to the point where even he has a hard time distinguishing just what he’s trying to say.

Flug leads him to his bed.

He wouldn’t admit this aloud, but he was afraid to sleep. Wondering if it was possible to stay asleep for days, or just to never wake up.

All he admitted aloud was how much of a waste of time sleeping is. Flug tried to explain that sleep, of course, is necessary and without it blah blah blah Black Hat zoned him out.

7. Hunger

His stomach is caving in on himself, he’s convinced. It’s yowling at him, furious, but he doesn’t know what he’s doing wrong. Everything in him is breaking.

He ran to Flug, chest bended over himself in agony.

Demencia had the audacity to laugh at him, no surprise there. Flug smiled, biting his lip; but regardless, explained that on top of everything else humans have to eat.

When he first tried eating, he choked.

Flug then had to cut up the apple in little bite-sized pieces. As if Black Hat were a fetus. It was humiliating, just like ever other experience of being human has been for Black Hat so far.

The next item Flug fed him was a lot more appetizing, pizza.

But then apparently, he was still eating wrong!

He was holding it backwards, cheese opposite of him, and also eating the pizza crust first.

Flug looked absolutely disgusted at him.

But nothing topped his face when, later, Black Hat bit straight out of a banana. Stem and all.

8. Bellyaches

Nothing compared to the pain of hunger, then the pain of eating too much. Apparently humans had to eat, but couldn’t exceed past a certain amount.

9. Human parts

Black Hat also missed his teeth, tongue, and drool.

His teeth are so flat, and weak! His tongue couldn’t creep out of his mouth the same way it used to, and his hissing sounded different. His tongue is fatter now, and heavier.

And his saliva… it’s so less evil.

It didn’t burn anything when he spit, and drooling didn’t have the same sensation of that nice slight burn on his skin. It’s just cold and wet now.

And his nose! 

Not only could he see it if he went cross eyed, but his sense of smell is also considerably weaker. Just like everything else! Humans are so weak.

10. Hygiene

Even more regulations and daily requirements of humans!

Showing at least once every two days! And getting the temperature just right for the water takes forever.

Flug even tried to get him to take off his hat!

Flug strongly exhaled. He’s been getting sassier lately, and Black Hat knows this is because of his recent… downgrade.

“Sir,” He’s using the tone he uses when he talks to the lizard girl now! “you’re going to have to wash your clothes eventually.” 

Black Hat blinks at him.

Flug groans. He groans! Then he thrusts a shower cap into Black Hat’s hands.

A tiny brush is handed to him later.

“I don’t have hair, doctor.”

Black Hat tries to pass it back to him, but Flug’s not taking it.

“No sir, it’s for your teeth.” 



Black Hat just blinks.

“You have to brush your teeth or else they’ll all fall out.” Flug sighs.

“What? That’s… positively devious.” He smirks. “You should invent something that destroys all toothbrushes.”

Yeah… his ideas have been lacking lately. He blames it on the fatigue. He’s constantly tired.

—————

“White blocks for under my pits, why?”

“Deodorant.” Flug corrects. “For stopping sweat, more of the wetness that leaks out of humans, boss.” He’s accommodated to Black Hat’s lingo, and it’s clear that Flug too is tired now.

—————

When he hands him cologne later, Black Hat knows what it is. He uses it all the time.

Flug opens his mouth, “This-“  

“I know what cologne is Flug,” he snatches it from his doctor’s hands, “I’m not an idiot.”

11. Blood

On top of all the water in humans is their copper tasting blood. This, Back Hat has tons of experience with.

It still shocked him a bit when he saw it coming out of his own skin, however. 

And it made him cry.

5.0.5 tried to bandage him up, but Black Hat didn’t let him anywhere near him.

Demencia tried next, and Black Hat tries at all costs to not let anywhere near him period.

So, that just left Flug to take care of him, as usual.

12. Lack of powers

“What do you mean I have to walk to my office from here?” He’s standing in the lab.

“Sir, humans don’t have any powers. We can’t shape-shift shadows.”

Black Hat groans. “Carry me.”



“I can’t. I’m not strong enough.” Flug doesn’t even look at him, eyes trained on a beaker in front of him. 

“I’m strong enough!” It’s bellowed from the air vents, Demencia soaring out of one of them. She’s about to land on top of Black Hat, but he takes a step to the right at the last moment, leaving the girl to slam onto the floor.

“I’d rather walk.”

It’s so much effort, too much effort! Everything is so much more work. He can’t carry what he used to be able to. What was once light as paper, a box full of files, for instance, is now a struggle that leaves his arms throbbing.

And walking is the worst. It leaves the heels of his feet aching, his veins thickening and banging against his feet. He definitely misses his powers most of all.

[egoiistas]

at the center of the world (4)

tag || ffn || ao3

Amestris becomes a harrowingly silent place on the afternoon of the Promised Day and only the survivors at the center are left to tread over it. Within a few hours, they won’t be the only ones wandering. The sacrifices are rising and leaving Central is more dangerous than the looming threat of invading armies.

Rated: M. it’s a horror/zombie au fic. - or it tries to be Warnings: General Horror themes , graphic descriptions of violence(kinda), Death, Zambeez

Chapter 4/11

Edward

“It didn’t work.”

Edward listened as the older man spoke with a grim timbre. It was low, and Ed was surprised he could even make out the words. The sun beginning to seep into the dark chamber with the end of the eclipse distracted him further.   A clunk of metal armor colliding with the concrete ground sounded behind him. He felt the world spin as the fight between Greedling and Pride intensified in the background. That Father asshole watched from on high, like a sick kid who watches ants squirm under a magnifying glass on a sunny day.

“What didn’t work?” He asked desperately as he ran to Alphonse, May came out of nowhere next to him. “Al?”  

“Alphonse!” May squeaked.   “The counter to his transmutation circle. I calculated it for so long and it didn’t work...” There was a pause and the tension could be felt in Ed’s chest.     “But I can use alchemy; they fixed it!”   “No, not that one.” He dropped on his knees next to the suit of armor. “The one for everyone’s soul, the reason I left you and Alphonse and Trisha... If I had known, I would have never stepped outside of Resembool.”

The din of battle grew between Father leaving through the hole, Greedling shouting and chasing after him, and the thunderous beat within his own chest. He watched Pride’s vessel disintegrate into dust.   “You’re-you’re joking, right? How is … everyone gone? Why isn’t Alphonse waking up?”   “What’s going on?” Ed heard the blind Colonel speak finally. He glanced over and Teacher’s clutch over his arm tightened without a word.

His head snapped back to Hohenheim when his father’s hand firmly gripped his shoulder.   “Edward, listen to me carefully -- if only this one time. You will need to take him to a hospital, closest one you can find. IV bags are important. Don’t transport him unless necessary. He won’t be able to eat for a while. He will need a lot of rest. Please leave the country as soon as he is able.”   “What are you going to do?” He panicked.

Hohenheim opened Al’s front armor plate and a powerful gust flung it across the room. It came from Greedling… Ling crashing into a corner of the chamber. Charred and not regenerating.

Hohenheim wasn’t bothered to look.

“We said we’d never use- Don’t toss me your notes, pops! Hey! If we can defeat the homunculus, we can get them back!”   “It’s too late.” He looked up to the light trickling in with tired eyes.”I won’t live through this again.”   Ed heard the crackling from the transmutation, and saw the red electricity flash before him. He yelled after him, “Don’t abandon us again, you lousy father!”

Edward cursed Hohenheim. Cursed alchemy. Cursed it all. His shit luck. The figurative shit hand he had been dealt.

He had brief moments where it felt like a dream; a haze that clouded his mind. He hadn’t slept all day, not that he was complaining. His bones were beginning to ache. He didn’t have to look in a mirror to see the bags under his eyes. He sat upright to settle restless legs.

If there was any silver lining to this -- and Ed tried so hard to hold on to it -- it was that they had regained his body back. But it caused inner conflict. In the few hours since, he made an effort to always be by Al, because left alone his mind would wander in the worst ways, and the thoughts that gathered would make his stumps ache. He had felt the cost was too high. He rationally knew it was Hohenheim who paid the toll, yet Ed felt that the gain of his younger brother’s body was not worth the price of losing all the people of Amestris. A swirl of self-loathing would always brew uncomfortably whenever he dwelled on this. Ungrateful, undeserving, even arrogant. The fact that his brain sputtered out of ideas only sunk his heart further and left a putrid taste in his mouth.

Fortunately, all dark clouds would dissipate upon seeing Alphonse. Even amongst the death and desolation, Ed had smiled when he saw the flesh body of his younger brother, and he felt the warmth as Alphonse murmured Brother without a metallic sound to his voice.

Alphonse slept and Ed watched. His cheeks sunken in, brittle hair cut short, and bony throughout.  Al had a severe look on his face as he slept; maybe it was just the hollows of his face creating the expression. He was so small. The outline under the blanket silhouetted a human with straight  lines and hard edges -- lacking curves of healthy muscle. He was here and resting.   May slumbered next to the hospital bed in a wide, cushioned chair; resting her head on its arms. As much as she annoyed him, May pulled through for him where Hohenheim's instructions fell short. He had her to thank for the healthy flush on Al’s bony cheeks.   The first few hours were rough. His body didn’t react well to anything, and Ed’s inexperience had shown through. Al had asked for water and like the idiot that he was, Ed had given it to him. He regurgitated it violently and the sight made Ed feel like he was going to break in half from heaving.   May had scolded him when she reentered the room and instructed him to clean up the sick as she brought in the IV stand and the bags full of saline. He watched as she took better care of his brother than he could.   Ed stood and looked out the window. The eerie presence of bodies was less on this avenue of Central. He immediately turned away, opening and closing the palm of his automail right hand. He supposed it wouldn’t be a bad thing to keep his automail if it meant Alphonse walked around. He sighed, tracing his fingers along the edges and frame of his automail. 

Winry. 

In every likely scenario, she was mostly likely swallowed in the nationwide transmutation circle. He knew it. It was logical. But every other part that didn’t adhere to logic wished, hoped, and in a desperate corner of his grieving mind, he nearly prayed for her safety, that maybe she did leave Amestris on his advice, but he wouldn’t know unless they went to Resembool. Given Al’s current condition, he couldn’t anticipate when that would be possible.   “How is he?”   Ed turned in response to the low voice. “Fine,” he whispered. “Just sleeping.”

Teacher leaned on the doorway; a small smile on her lips and arms wrapped around herself. He gestured for her to follow him outside the room. Ed could tell there was a change in her eyes. Somehow, she lost the trademark ferocity that burned behind them.   “Perhaps you should too, it’s been a long day.”   “Maybe when everyone else gets back.” He rolled shoulder. “Did the chimeras help you find Mr. Sig?”   “We did. He was at the bottom of the staircase before they pulled me in, next to the General Armstrong and her brother. We gave them a burial too.”

He could almost hear her heart breaking. He bit his cheek, looked down at his feet and told her sheepishly, “I’m sorry we failed him, Teacher.”   “Ed...” She pulled him into a hug before he could protest. He soon realized the hug was for her and not particularly for him. “We’ve all lost someone today.”   He stepped away. “That doesn’t make my sympathy any less meaningful.”   “Thank you, Ed.” He felt her hand shift towards her face, suppressing a sniffle before she let him go. “Any word from the others?”   From where he stood, the sky lit up in a spectacle of smoke and explosion. The flames had blended in so well with the sky that he almost missed it. His eyes widened and his feet took him to the nearest window. “That’s the Colonel’s alchemy.”   He felt her pace up beside him. “Are you certain?”   “Positive.” He stared as the smoke dispersed into the atmosphere. “I’ll go and check it out.” He slowly shut Alphonse’s door and began to sprint towards the double doors as they swung in front him, inches away of wiping his face clean. The door were forced open by Jerso writhing against something. “Get them- off me please- Zampano-! Augh! they got my ear!”   Ed, naturally confused, saw the other bodies come into view. Moving bodies in scrubs and lab coats. But their movements were off, feral and jerking; yet their limbs hung as if their hands were too heavy to lift. And the one on Jerso. A child. Clinging to his face, scratching and biting at his face   “Edward!”   Teacher’s voice brought him back and he bolted to help the chimera get the body off him. He saw Izumi run towards another body making its way towards Alphonse’s room and flung it towards the crowd of moving bodies in the other wing.   He reached for the child ripping the skin on Jerso’s face and before Ed could touch it, the child’s head turned and hissed at him, vaulting from the chimera’s face toward the ceiling.It clung to the surface and crawled like an insect with rapid movement back into the crowd in the other room. The horror of the sight briefly paralyzed him.  

Gorius clutches his shaking friend, “Jerso! Where’s Zampano?”

The chimera held his face in agony, blood quickly showing between his fingers. “Z-Zampano, he was overwhelmed.”  He heard Izumi hastily shut the door double doors and sealed them after a clap of her hands.   “Overwhelmed by what?”   “The-the-the corpses. They were lying down one minute and the next they were on top of us.”     Ed shook his head. It didn’t make any sense. “How is that possible?” It isn’t possible. There has to be some kind of explanation.   “We were near the lobby trying to clear the hallways, like you said, when one of the stirred. It happened in the opposite wing of where we are now, near the children’s treatment wing when one of them stood up. We thought that it was just a fluke, that maybe not everyone was dead. Then more and more started rising.” He saw Teacher bring a first aid kit and begin to dab cotton on his scratched face. “Before we knew it half the room was already on him. Ripping apart his insides, intestines and such on the floor beside him…” He tried to look down as Teacher instructed him to keep eyes forward to better treat him. “For him to survive the freaky circle and the god guy only to fall prey to his… “ He shook his head, palms rubbing his reddening eyes. “What kind of cruel joke is this to a man who lost his family already.”   Ed felt his fingers tremble. Swallowing hard, he wondered what that meant for the Colonel and the two that accompanied him. “The others are still out there in this.”   “Ed, you can’t go out in this alone.”   “We can’t just leave them there!” He shouted, realizing this was the first time he’s raised his voice at his teacher. In turn, she had been uncharacteristically quiet since the incident.   Another blast of fire. But it was closer this time. Ed darted to the window and he saw the trio taking down the undead citizens of the Amestris. He clapped his hands together, quickly creating a stairwell and impromptu doorway for them from the second floor, using the concrete and the other materials from the edifice of the building.   Scar and the Lieutenant adeptly changed their direction, pushing through toward the newly created steps.  Ed ran down with Izumi calling after him. It was reckless but if it ensured their safety, he’d risk it. He pushed the bodies aside with walls he created from the ground and yelled at them to get a move on.   Scar protected the rear as the Colonel and Lieutenant moved up to the second floor to safety . From a distance, another crowd moved towards him. “Scar, we have to go!”   Distracted by Ed’s shout, Scar was unable to avoid an impossibly bloated body slamming into him.  It exploded on impact, releasing a cloud of putrid green gas. The Ishavalan began to choke as additional bodies swarmed in .The smell, Ed noticed, attracted them.   Ed ran forward and grabbed Scar, attempting to drag him away from danger, a feat of strength beyond that of a 16 year old boy. As the horde closed in on them, Izumi landed at Scar’s side. A tattooed arm around each of them, they carried him up the stairs.   When they were all safely through the doorway, Edward clapped his hands, disintegrating  the stairs and sealing off the opening.  Bodies fell from the ascent and lay twitching on the ground as the rest of the mob began to rush the lower floor of the hospital.   “Seal the windows! And exits!” Edward exclaimed. Feeling the spin of the world stopping, he ran to Alphonse’s room, fear clawing a hole in his gut.   Bursting through the door he was met with May raggedly breathing and Alphonse clapping his hands, using alchemy to slam a cylinder of concrete into a body flinging it out of the window.   “What is going on, Brother?” Alphonse asked wearily. Al’s knees buckled and his eyes fluttered,  passing out before Ed had a chance to answer.

Ed darted forward before he hit the ground. “I don’t know Al, but I’m going to get us out of here”

[gumnut-logic]

The Joker

Title: The Joker

Author: Gumnut

8 - 9 Sep 2019

Fandom: Thunderbirds Are Go 2015/ Thunderbirds TOS

Rating: Teen

Summary: On the surface, Gordon Tracy is a simple man. A sunny smile, always likes a joke, give him a body of water and you can lose him in it.

Word count: 2116

Spoilers & warnings: None, other than I have no idea how this happened.

Timeline: Standalone

Author’s note: This happened. I hope you enjoy it. :D

Disclaimer: Mine? You’ve got to be kidding. Money? Don’t have any, don’t bother.

-o-o-o-

 “On the surface, Gordon Tracy is a simple man. A sunny smile, always likes a joke, give him a body of water and you can lose him in it.

“Any body of water.

“I once lost him in the bath.

“Though, you could probably relate that back to point number two and the liking a joke thing.

“Yes, Gordon is a simple man.

“On the surface.

“But only on the surface, because really, he is anything but.

“Meeting that smile under those laughing brown eyes and strawberry blond hair, you could be forgiven for thinking he is a joker out to make fun. You could miss the assessing eyes, the grace with which he walks, the hidden tells of experience and trial. You can’t see the scars; you can’t see the knowledge or the training.

“You could shake his hand and share that laugh and not know how many times that hand has reached out to grab another, to offer another chance, to save a life. You’ve never watched it dance across a control panel leagues under the ocean surface in the dark. You’ve never seen it push down on a ribcage to keep a heart beating.

“You’ve never seen it gently cup a handful of seawater to save a tiny fish caught in a drying rock pool.

“If you shared that joke, you would not know its history and how such jokes kept him from the edge during some of his darkest days.

“You could know of his brothers and the billions, of International Rescue, the Olympic Gold Medal, the party scene he played for all of six months in his teens. You may even know of his military career with WASP.

“But you won’t know Gordon.

“Because the laughter and the jokes? They are only his facade, a method to cope, a philosophy to guide his life. They are a reason to laugh rather than cry.

“Underneath there is a man of great feeling, a young mind full of wonder that has been slapped back so many times that now getting back up is the default.

“You could look at him and think ‘a billionaire, what does he have to worry about?’ But really, it only takes one life changing disaster to crush a man. Gordon has faced so many more.

“He has four brothers, a sister and a grandmother all of which it is obvious he cherishes deeply. He has friends and heroes and a growing love that needs nurturing like a flickering flame. But he is ever aware that these things are temporary, that they can be taken away suddenly and irrevocably. He has seen the glassiness of death and faced down the reaper himself.

“So.

“The laughter.

“The dye in the shampoo.

“The pillow in the pool.

“The itching powder on the bath towel.

“The hell let loose on April Fool’s Day every damn year.

“They are but a symptom of the man you are facing, and yet so why you are going to regret what you are doing.”

Virgil blinked and as if on cue, his brother stepped out of the shadows behind Virgil’s tormentor and, with a move Kayo would have applauded, wrenched his arm behind his back, took his knees out from under him and pinned him to the floor. Another blink and the man was restrained and gagged.

A pair of russet brown eyes swam into his vision, dark in the sharp shadows of the harsh lamp light. “Hey, Virg, that was some speech. Who knew you could be so eloquent under pressure.”

“He’s strong. He’s going to kick your ass.”

“Hey, hey, Virgil. I’m Gordon, remember? The joker guy you said was going to save your ass.” There were fingers fiddling with his restraints. “C’mon, we gotta get you out of here. Won’t be long before they discover I escaped.”

“Don’t underestimate my brother. He’s funny, but he’s so much more.”

“In any other circumstances, I’d be lapping this up, but Virgil, we need to get you onto your feet. I’m strong, but not strong enough for your heavy lifting. C’mon, up you get.” He was being pulled up. His body creaked.

“Gordon is going to come. You’re going to regret it.”

“Yes, yes, help me here, Virgil. I did come. I’m here. It is time to go.”

“You’re going to regret it.”

“Okay, arm over my shoulder, we gotta move!” A grunt. “What the hell did they give you?! Some kind of truth serum?”

“You want to know the truth?” Oooh, the world was wobbling. “Gordon can be scary. You’re going to regret it so much.”

“Ah, yeah, you’ve mentioned that, Virgil. Um, you’re going to have to be quiet for a bit. We have to sneak past some bad guys.”

“Bad guys want to hurt Gordon. Can’t let them hurt Gordon. Tried to kick their asses, but I’m not like Gordon or Scott, couldn’t do it. Too many. Now they want to hurt Gordon. Can’t let them hurt him. No, no, can’t...”

“Shit. Virgil, shhh! Just be quiet for a minute, please.”

Quiet. He blinked. Augh, the world was even wobblier. Gordon was coming. Gordon was coming. “Can’t let them hurt Gordon-“ There was suddenly a hand over his mouth. He panicked and struggled. A muffled yell and he found himself falling, the world spinning until his head hit something hard and he saw stars.

The world became only sound from then on. Voices, more yelling, the thud of flesh hitting flesh, a gunshot. Virgil jumped at its sharp crack. Someone swore. A snap that could only be bone. A thud and then silence.

The world began to drift away.

“Virgil?! You with me? C’mon, bro, please.”

A slow blink. Blurry images. “Gordon?”

“Yes. You with me?”

“Knew you would come. Kick their ass.”

“Yeah, you mentioned that.” A sigh. “Can you stand?”

Another slow blink. “Don’t mess with my brother, he’ll kick your ass.”

“I’ll take that as a maybe.” Gordon was tugging on his arm, so Virgil tried to stand. Woah. The whole world tipped on its edge and swung him around. “Shit!”

“Sorry, bro, but we gotta move now. You can throw up on my shoes later.” And then he was in motion.

The blurs burred together. He squeezed his face shut and clung to the man holding him, desperate for it all to stop.

Make it stop.

“Not much longer, Virgil, I promise.” It was little more than a whisper.

Another stomach churning drag across a blurry room and suddenly everything went green.

Oh.

Oh.

He knew that green. That smell. Oh, his beautiful ‘bird.

“Sit here.” He was being lowered onto a hard surface. “I’ll be back in a moment.” And Gordon was gone.

Gone.

“Gordon?”

A yell, followed by a scream and a thud. A litany of curses he didn’t know his brother even knew.

“Gordon?”

“It’s okay. I’m here.” Hands on his. “We’re okay, but we need to be fast.” He was pulled up again, his arm wrapped around shoulders and they were moving.

He lost a moment only to find himself sitting in a chair. A familiar chair with a familiar roar building in his bones. “Two.”

“Yeah, Virg, we’re on your ‘bird. Hang tight, because I’m afraid I might have to scratch her paintwork.”

“You wouldn’t do that. We only joke about it.”

“Well, I’m not in a joking mood right now.” The sound that followed that statement cut through the roar.

Her laser. He was using her laser.

He forced his eyes open and yes, he could see the red glow through the blur. “What are you doing?”

“Cutting our way out of here.”

“Where?”

“They stole your ‘bird, Virg. Remember?”

Voices on the edge of his hearing. Yelling. Another gunshot. Men.

It had been a trap and they had been caught and Virgil had been separated from his brother. His little brother. Please don’t hurt his brother. Please!

“It’s okay, we’re escaping. Another five seconds. Hang in there, Virgil.”

But Gordon was strong. He would kick their asses.

Oh god, please don’t hurt him. Please don’t. I tried. I really tried. Not enough. Not enough. Please don’t hurt him.

A loud crash and his body was shoved back into the seat. His head spun again.

His Thunderbird roared. Her rear thrusters kicked in and sung in his bones. His body lifted from the Earth and tore into the sky.

He let out a gasp, the sudden familiarity heart-stopping.

“Thunderbird Five, you there?”

“Gordon! Thank, God. What happened?”

“Brief you shortly. I need to get Virgil to a hospital, but first I want to put some distance between us and the bastards who hurt him. Please advise Wellington that we will be...”

His brother’s voice faded out, taken by the blur and the hissing of blood in his ears.

-o-o-o-

“C’mon, Virgil, I know you’re in there. Time to wake up.”

What?

“Viiiiirgiiiiil.” Gordon. It was Gordon and he was singing his name.

Ugh.

He shoved his eyes open and glared at his brother. “What?!”

“Ooh, welcome back to the land of the living. Nice entrance.”

“Gordon, what the hell? Let me sleep.”

“Nope.” His lips popped on the ‘p’.

Virgil’s eyes closed a moment and it took him a second to realise they had. He shoved them open again.

Ceiling tiles.

He was in hospital.

“Why am I in hospital?” He searched his slowly booting brain, but found no recollection of injury other than...

He sat up in bed. “It was a trap! They stole my-“ And the world caught up with him and whacked him around the head.

Two sets of hands caught him as he fell back towards the pillow. “Shit.”

“Take it easy, Virgil, you’ve been through quite a bit.”

His body sunk into the bed. Scott. Thank god. So happy to hear his brother’s voice.

He frowned. “What happened?”

“What do you remember?”

“Callout. Central Texas. Gas explosion. No fly zone. It was a trap. Nabbed me. Nabbed Gordon. Wanted Two...” He frowned. “Gets fuzzy. A fight. I lost?”

“We think so. You have quite a lot of bruising, a couple of cracked ribs and two head injuries.”

“Two?”

“Yeah, and you also had a bloodstream full of some nasty chemicals. They drugged you pretty bad. Took the doctors some time to identify with exactly what. You’ve been mostly out of it for a couple of days.”

“Days?!”

“You were unconscious for most of it.”

A frown. “Most of it?” He didn’t remember any of it.

“Yeah.”

He eyed his eldest brother and was somewhat unnerved by the fact he wasn’t keeping eye contact. “What did I do?”

“Nothing of importance.”

“Like what?”

“There was some delirium. Look, Virg, you were ill. Don’t worry about it.”

He stared at his brother a moment longer. Perhaps not knowing was a good thing, but then...perhaps he could third degree his brother later when he had more stamina.

“How did we get out?”

Scott nodded in Gordon’s direction. “Gordon got you out. Five couldn’t find you. They had tech enough to baffle our sensors.” And it was obvious that Scott hated that with a passion.

Virgil turned to his younger brother. “You got us out? How?”

“Oh, with my wily skillz and sense of humour.” Gordon grinned at him.

Virgil’s lips thinned. “Does that mean you’re not going to tell me, or that I should nag you until you do?”

“Have at it, big bro, and we’ll see how it slides.”

Augh. He so did not have the energy for this. “Gordon!”

“Yessssh, Massster?”

He closed his eyes and grit his teeth. “Fine. We will discuss it later.”

“Cool. I’ll bring snacks.”

A sigh and he opened his eyes to assess his little brother. “You okay?”

“Yep, just fine and dandy. You’re the one sporting all the bruises this time, bro. You’re the one who will have to be nagged to rest regularly, eat regularly and get tortured by Grandma’s home cooking.”

Virgil stared at him. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yepper doodles.”

“What?!”

“Virg, don’t you worry your little head about it. Just rest and take it easy.” A hand landed on his arm and squeezed gently.

He was still staring. “Scott, did he get checked over?”

“He’s fine, Virgil. Stop worrying.” A sigh. “He’s just being Gordon...and if he doesn’t stop, I’m going to kick his ass.”

Kick his ass.

Virgil blinked. “You got us out of there.”

“That I did.”

“Thank you.”

“Anytime, bro.” A grin split his little brother’s face, but something flickered in the depths of his eyes for just a second. Virgil frowned, but it was gone too quickly. Gordon’s grin took over everything.

“Anytime.”

-o-o-o-

[lavendertwilight89]

All I Wanted

Shout out to @hnnwnchstr and @sapphirestarxx for looking this through. This was a VERY unplanned piece but @neutronstarchild is going through a rough time and I know what would have made me smile when I was there (technically I’m still there but it isn’t as fresh)

Here it is on AO3

Just fluffy goodness my friends--who doesn’t need a cute fluff here and there?

@dangerouspompadour @lemonlushff @willowandfog @cstormsinukagblog @littlestuffstohide @clearwillow @ruddcatha @hnnwnchstr @smmahamazing @wolverine1092 @inuyashaloverforever @xfangheartx @umacaking @bluejay785  @murdergiraffe @superpixie42 @shnuggletea @sistasecbhere @nopenname22 @mcornilliac @sapphirestarxx @fawn-eyed-girl @liz8080 @shinidamachu @keichanz @neutronstarchild @

“I fucking hate being human,” Inuyasha grumbled disparagingly.

“Why? What’s so wrong about being one of us for a night??” Kagome questioned.

He stared at her. Unmoving. Not questioning. Not commenting. He had a thousand and one reasons why.

He couldn’t fucking scent her. Yea, he could get up close and personal but then his little secret about being in fucking love with her would be blown.

He couldn’t see the natural beauty that she was. Of course, the firelight brought out the hidden flames within her eyes but he couldn’t see as well in the dark. The details of her irises, the hidden blemishes of her skin, the different figments of her hair...

He had fucking overwhelming emotions flooding him. It was likely he would say something that he shouldn’t. Such as “I love you, please don’t ever fucking leave me.”

He couldn’t hear how magical her voice actually was. That sweet song that sang to his inhuman ears, the soft sighs no one else caught, the rhythmic breathing of her rest, the quiet moans during the night that sometimes expelled in her sleep only he had been able to witness and fantasize about. 

There were so many fucking more. But the prime reason for tonight: they were staying in a village. With other humans. He couldn’t sense them, hear them, smell them, and what was fucking worse was they HAD to be there.

Miroku had gotten fucking hurt on a job they were doing there and couldn’t be moved. The headman had ordered them to stay. Inuyasha made it a point to get in their room and not move. Sango and Kagome requested no one enter the room after sundown until sunrise as he needed privacy. Sango ended up with Shippo watching over the injured monk in another room where a healer and the headman were present.

To be fair it wasn’t Miroku’s fault he had gotten injured, the blame fell on Inuyasha. Well, according to Kagome, it wasn’t anyone’s fault. Accidents happen. While he had been distracted saving the headman’s daughter from one of the demons who claimed her as his new prize, Kagome was almost struck down by the boar demon who had swung his jyaki infused club at her. Inuyasha dropped the girl off at her father’s feet before he leapt in the way and took the hit as he bounded away with her. But in doing so, he had left Miroku wide open to attack from the other demon who was stomping over to reclaim the woman he had just saved.

Sango luckily was by his side in a heartbeat and slayed the demon without hesitation while Inuyasha attacked the other once Kagome was out of harm’s way. He blamed himself. But no one else seemed to. He just wasn’t thinking when he had grabbed the girl out of the boar's arms and then he heard the other one laughing about how good Kagome would look underneath him as his own possession…

It was like his brain shut down. He had literally basically chucked the other girl at the headsman's feet before he grabbed Kagome. No one would see her beneath them. She was too pure and beautiful to be taken like that. To be taken by a demon at all. 

His human night only intensified the guilt. Sango and Kagome both had expressed that Miroku held no qualms nor was he upset with Inuyasha. 

“Miroku is going to be alright, Inuyasha. He doesn’t blame you if that’s what you’re upset about.”

“Whatever,” he muttered.

“Inuyasha--he said he would have done the same thing for Sango! You have no reason to feel guilty!”

“Look--will you just fuck off already? I’m not in the mood.”

“Augh! You are impossible, you know that?!” Kagome stood, undeniably angry and upset at his stubbornness. At least he hadn’t let on to the fact he was so hopelessly obsessed with her and feared one day she would leave him. Just like everyone else he ever loved.

She exited the room with a slam of the door and he laid down on the floor with a grunt.

He was such an asshole. It was no wonder she fucking hated him. Couldn’t stand to stick around him. It was better that way; whenever this whole journey was over and she left him, he would never have to wonder what if. He would be able to just… wait. Maybe. Who knows, maybe he’d live five-hundred years to see her again and realize what a huge mistake he was making now…

But he didn’t have to think about that yet. She was there. With him. For now.

Honestly he knew the woman was in love with him. He was just a coward. Too scared to let her love him. So, he just pushed her away. Hurt her time and time again. All it did was make him hate himself further. She didn’t deserve to be treated like that. But, in the end he had convinced himself that it would be for her own good. She shouldn’t be a half-breed mongrel like him. And when the shards were collected, if she chose to go home, he wouldn’t stop her.

IF and only IF she decided to stay... well it wasn’t going to happen so why should he have bothered to think about it.

When the door reopened, he rolled his eyes, “Keh, didn’t take you long to get over your bullshit this time.”

“Oh my…”

Inuyasha sat up realizing this was not the woman he thought it was. Or the other female he traveled with it.

“Who--” He looked at her and realized it was the headman’s daughter; she was the one who the boar demons had originally been after.

“I--I know you were asked to not be distubred but I saw your friend leave in a huff and wanted to see if you desired company,” the girl offered. While he currently did not have his demonic senses, he didn’t need it to be able to catch what her meaning was.

And that freaked him the fuck out. He made to stand when the girl rushed forward and grabbed his kimono to try and calm him.

“What--”

“Shhhh, my lord. Please. I do not wish to marry my betrothed. I will not tell your secret that you are an ordinary man tonight if you lay with me. He won’t take a sullied woman. I was willing to lie originally and just stay here with you and your friend--"

"Now wait a--"

"But you're such a handsome man. Would you consider remaining here? My father wouldn't mind probably--"

"Would you just--"

"I had thought you were a decent looking man as a half-demon but this is so much better-- do you change nightly?" 

"Will you get off--" he was cut off by her pressing her body to his. He made some weird sound as he fell back trying not to let her rub up on him. Stupid fucking weak mortal body!! 

"I'm sorry my lord! Am I going too fast?" This bitch was parting his kimono!! 

"For fuck’s sake would you just--" He grabbed her hands trying to still her.

The door opening cut him off that time and he was met by a gaping blushing stuttering Kagome. Damnit all to hell.

"I-I-I--I'm--"

"Interrupting?" The headman’s daughter supplied.

"What?! No--wait--" He pushed the girl off him as he adjusted his kimono she had begun to part.

“Lord Inuyasha! Don’t go!”

“Get the fuck off me!! Kagome don’t--” He tripped over the woman who grabbed his legs in haste to keep him from running away as Kagome shot down the hall without closing the door behind her.

“Damnit! Get off!!!” He shouted in annoyance that was slowly rising to fury. 

“My lord why--”

“Because I fucking love her!! Now get the fuck off me!” The woman looked stunned as she released him. He didn’t have time to second guess or question anything that just happened. He had to get to Kagome before she took off for the well or something. She was so accident prone she would probably stumble upon another demon who wanted to take her as his bride. Or trip. Or… something. Either way he needed to get to her.

This was just another reason to hate his fucking human nights. Women were fucking crazy; not that he didn’t already know that. No. He did. He traveled with two of them after all. What hadn’t realized before tonight was how--intrusive they could be.

He hadn’t expected a woman to--propose something like that. What the fuck! It was weird. Yea, he had said something about Miroku in regards to turning down a woman but--he had never had to use it before. “Only a fool refuses a woman who offers herself.” He’d never been on the end of that deal. He never stuck around long enough to either receive such an offer or he was scared off.

Even if he had received such a thing, he would never have taken it. Not with Kagome there. He’d prefer to watch her sleep rather than lie with a faceless woman.

Fuck--where in the hell did she even run off to?? Without his hearing and nose, he was basically blind. She had taken off faster than he had ever seen her run before. He made it to the courtyard and there was no fucking sight of her. If she took off for the forest--he’d never find her.

“Fuck--Kirara!!!” He yelled turning back to the room he knew the monk was residing in. Out came the little feline ready to attack whatever was making Inuyasha panic.

Yea--he was fucking panicking. Being human, his anxieties and insecurities had increased tenfold. Kagome was on the run--possibly in danger or about to be.

“Take me to Kagome!” He ordered without explanation. Kirara clearly didn’t care to question as she transformed and silently urged Inuyasha to climb aboard. She took off towards the woods and just as quickly as they took off, they came across her. He sighed in relief. She was okay. 

“Are there demons around, Kirara?” The cat responded with a growl he could only assume that meant no. He requested her to land behind the trees to cover them from sight and then asked her to stay alert while he talked to Kagome.

He stepped out of the forest line and laid eyes on the young woman who had stolen his heart; she was staring up at the stars, sitting with her knees pressed to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. It looked like she was protecting herself from anyone or anything who dared to get near her in her fragile state.

What upset him was the fact he knew she was crying. He didn’t need his demonic senses to see or hear that. 

“Kagome…” he said breathily. She gasped and turned to see him. He couldn’t see her as well as he would have liked but the stars were bright enough to illuminate her figure and features. Her eyes were wide and low and behold, glistening tears ran down her flushed cheeks. He still couldn’t believe even looking like this she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

“Wh-what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be with your mistress?!” she shouted, clearly still upset by the miscommunication. Misinterpretation? Whatever this was.

“Kagome I don't even know that girl--”

“You were the one that once told me that ‘only a fool would refuse a--’”

“Shut up! We both know I’m a fucking idiot so you don’t need to rub it in!”

“Inuyasha--”

“No, you shut up and fucking listen to me Kagome--that girl meant nothing. She startled me and I originally thought she was you and before I even knew what was happening she was on me.”

“You don’t owe me any explanations, Inuyasha. If anything you’d owe Kikyo some. But I won’t say anything.”

“What do you mean I’d owe Kikyo an explanation?? Nothing fucking happened!! And Kikyo is just--I don’t owe anything except vengeance!”

“Alright. Let’s just go back,” she said quietly, standing up and brushing off her navy skirt.

“Not until you’re done being mad.”

“I’m not mad,” she said evenly.

“Fine. Sad then.”

“I’m not sad either,” she replied.

“Kagome just fucking stop--”

“No Inuyasha! I didn’t make you talk so you don’t get to make me, either! This is a two way street!”

“Will you just shut up and listen to me?!”

“No! I just want to go back and go to sleep! I have a test in a couple days anyway--” He cut her off by standing before her and was growling. It wasn’t his usual instinctual snarl it was a more human groan. Damn. He. Hated. Being. Human.

“No. You are not fucking leaving me here alone Kagome.”

“I didn’t mean that you stay here--we can go back to the village then to the well tomorrow--”

“No Kagome! Listen to me! You aren’t fucking going home to pout this time!”

“You are not the boss of me, Inuyasha!!”

“No, you’re right! I’m not! But we are friends and you need to just fucking listen!!”

“Listen to you ordering me around??! What is your problem tonight?!”

“I’m human!”

“As you are every month!! What is so different about tonight!? Why are you acting like this?!?”

“Because I can’t fucking lose you!!!!” She stared at him in shock. She was silent as she let his words fall over her.

“You’re… not going to lose me. I just need some time,” she finally spoke. 

“No.”

“Excuse me??” Her eyes challenged.

“I said no.”

“Ugh! What is your freaking deal!?”

“Do you ever wonder what it’s like to be so consumed with emotions for one night a month?! How to even process them without being able to rationally realize half of them are from stupidity?! Cut me some fucking slack, Kagome! We both know that I have never once enjoyed being human. We always played it low key and didn’t look for trouble on these nights and if we got caught up in something, I either ended up almost dying protecting your ass or someone else’s. 

“You always say it’s ok to be honest well here I am!! Being fucking honest!! You want me to express my fear?! My woes!!? Well here!! Here they fucking are playing out before my very shitty eyes!! You misunderstand something so much that you want to fucking leave!! Yea, you’re saying you’re gonna come back but let’s save the horse shit for the barn--you want to leave to put distance between us! I’m not gonna let that happen!”

“You don’t need to yell at me! I understand you feel guilty but there’s nothing to feel guilty about!”

He hadn’t realized he was in her very personal space until he had grabbed her shoulders and felt the soft texture of her school uniform jacket. He honestly missed her old uniform. Not that this wasn’t just as beautiful on her, but he just associated green as her color. It was the color of life, happiness… everything that Kagome stood for. Blue was a maturity. It just made him see the sadness and longing in the young woman’s eyes he pretended to not notice. Since he was a jackass, he figured he’d play the part of the fool. He’d ignore the fact he saw her demeanor towards him change.

But not anymore. Not after tonight. He could curse the fact his thoughts and emotions were at an all time high, he could blame the fact another girl tried to seduce him with Kagome just feet away, but honestly it was his fault.

For being a stubborn selfish bastard. For trying to push away the most amazing woman who had ever entered his life. For denying himself even a shot at happiness…

Slamming her lips into his was something he did out of sheer impulse. The look of hurt and distress was too much to fucking bear. He had to wipe it off her face the only way he knew how--well that was a lie. Standing there with their bodies pressed together, it dawned on him he was still an asshat. He just forced himself on her like some kind of animal. Yea, she may have loved him but she likely probably didn’t want to be kissed.

He pulled away slightly panicking because fuck he just screwed up everything, yet again, because he was a fucking disater--

“What--Inu--”

“Shit, I’m sorry,” he apologized.

“A-Ah…” 

“Dummy--damnit--you’d think this would be easier when I word-vomit everything and act impulsive.”

“Inuyasha--”

“I know I’m a jackass. I know I have nothing to offer you outside the robe of the fire rat and the Tessaiga on my hip. I know all I do is consistently hurt you and for whatever fucked reason you love me anyway.”

Her face flushed--likely as bright as his kimono-- and she tried to look anywhere but his face.

“Inuyasha, it’s alright you don’t return my feelings. You--you didn’t owe me anything because I saw you with a woman--”

“Shut. Up. Don’t talk about shit you don’t know anything about. She came in right after you left, going on about how she doesn’t wanna marry the prick from the next village over and because I’m human tonight thought she’d be able to sweet talk her way into my pants. And no, I wasn’t going to just fucking let her. Yea, I’ve said that dirty saying before--but that doesn’t mean I’ve actually done that kind of thing. I ain’t the monk.”

“O-Oh. Inuyasha I’m sorry. I just--I let my feelings get in the way.”

“Damn right you did!! The only woman I’d ever want on me like that is you!!” And there went the word vomit. 

“I’m sorry--what… Uhm, no what did you--I--”

“Fuck that came out wrong--I mean that I--”

“Shhh. Just--wait a second,” she exhaled. He still had a tight grip on her arms. Did she notice? Did she want him to let go? Oh fuck, that was not how he wanted to tell her he wanted to be with her. It sounded a thousand times worse. Shit. 

“No--I don’t want you to think I’m like that pervert--that’s not what I meant--I meant that--wait-- fuck--that’s not what I meant either. Shit, I do find you attractive. But that’s not what I want from you. Damnit, I mean, eventually yes, but for now we can take things slow. Fuck, wait, that’s not--”

He was cut off by the soft press of her lips against his own. Was it possible to physically melt without fire? Because he did--or at least he thought he had. Gods, her lips were so perfect against his own. He had the pleasure of feeling them briefly in Kaguya’s mirror as he had come back to himself but then she pulled away so quickly to check on him. The only good thing that came out of it aside from the sweet brush of her lips was the embrace he got to hold her in. He poured all his love and care into holding her close like that; that she would so freely kiss him. That she would dirty herself for a hanyou.

“Slow down. It’s okay--I--I think I know what you’re trying to say but just for my own clarification so that I don’t jump to conclusions--do you like me?”

“Of course I fucking like you, what kind of asinine question is that?!”

“Ugh! I meant like like--uhhhh--” She started to blush and get frazzled. Rolling his eyes he kissed her forehead and her sputtering stopped.

“If you’re asking if I love you, then you really are stupid.” She glared at him even harder than before when she was actually mad at him for yelling at her but he couldn’t help but laugh. He was actually laughing. In reality it had been so long since he had done so. So freely even. But that was Kagome’s effect on everyone; she was a woman who could break the chains on anyone or anything. She brought the sunlight to those who were stuck in endless darkness. The ocean in the desert. 

“Inuyasha--” she warned.

“Yes; I love you. There? Happy?” He was actually scared of her sometimes because her temper rivaled his own. Needing this to go well, he gave in and ceased his teasing.

“But what about… What about you and Kikyo?”

“Kagome there is no ‘Kikyo and I’--there hasn’t been in a long time. When she was resurrected, there was, well there still is just a lot of guilt. Everytime I see her, all I can think is that it was my fault for not trusting her…”

“But she didn’t trust you either, Inuyasha. It shouldn’t be you who carries all the blame.”

“I know that, Kagome. That’s not what was stopping me from… well, telling you about how I felt.”

“What was then??”

“The fact I literally have nothing, Kagome. No home. No name. Nothing. What kind of life can I give you?”

“Everything. All I want is you,” she replied so easily, with zero hesitation. Gods, she was amazing. 

“Kagome--”

“Inuyasha, I grew up in an era so different from here. I’m willing to give it all up to be with you. I don’t need anything but you by my side. I love just traveling here with you. We could live in the forest, a cave, I don’t care; as long as we are together. But I know the village would accept us.”

“Until Miroku and Sango die.”

“Inuyasha!!”

“Just saying you’re putting a lot of faith in a village who associated my name with terror until three years ago when we started our little travels.”

“Inuyasha, you have to learn to trust people!”

“That’s what I got you for. But then you have me to balance ya out.”

“Ugh! You are so frustrating!!”

“Whatever, you love me.”

“Yes… I do,” she smirked as she kissed him again. His hands somehow found their way to the small of her back and his tongue brushed against her soft ample lips. She easily opened and allowed him in. He couldn’t wait to have his demonic senses back to see how she really tasted. In more ways than one. 

When she drew back quickly he almost fell over from shock. What had made her draw back? Had he done something wrong??

“N-not tonight,” she said breathily, her eyes still glazed over in desire and want.

“What?” 

“I--I always wanted our first time to be--well anytime when you’re not human.”

“What???”

“I want to be able to look into your golden eyes and touch your ears and--” she bit her lip in embarrassment and her cheeks were flushed. If he could smell her he’d bet all the money in the monk’s robes she was reeking of arousal. 

“We don’t have to take this fast, Kagome. We can go as slow as you want--I’m not a pup. I don’t mind courtin’ you and proving to you I can be a good mate to you.”

“Oh Gods, Inuyasha! I have been waiting for this moment for three years and I’m already dying that tonight is the new moon!”

He chuckled at her impatience and kissed the crown of her head. “This is new. Just think about it.”

After she huffed her displeasure, she pulled his face down by his forelocks and kissed him again. He was fairly positive he had all he ever wanted. Thank Gods he was the fool who refused the offer of a woman.