#my colleagues are all going to bring up the lack of hiring as well

[plangentia]

colleagues saying that i'm underpaid and advocating for me to get more recognition peace and love in the world <333

[bratphilia]

Heyyyy so I was the person that requested more fics like the flip side (it’s 6 am and I can’t remember if that’s what it’s actually called atm) but I was thinking about possibly a situation where reader has a history with William possibly when they worked at Freddy’s before they shut down and were younger (still of age though; I’m thinking probably when they like reopened for a little bit in the early 90s). Now in the I guess present day they aren’t exactly going out with mike but maybe they are a babysitter and mike and reader are pining over each other?? But him working there brings up bad past memories of your time there but you don’t really want to tell mike.

Honestly looking for lots of tension, slow burn, pining, and angst but not too much angst yk and ofc nsfw

Sorry if this is like too specific or whatever but this has been on my mind for sure

note: i did some age calculating to fit with the timeline so reader is 18 in 1993 and 25 (the same age as mike) in 2000. creds to michy for convincing me this was actually post-worthy.

pairing: steve raglan / william afton x reader x mike schmidt

tags: threesome, rough sex, dub/con, age difference

taglist: @dilfity

triangle (w. afton x reader x m. schmidt)

(in november, 1993, you're a fresh hire at freddy's and the youngest adult on the staff at eighteen years old. it's not an ideal workplace by any means, but it's decent compared to other jobs that you most definitely didn't qualify for. and the people at freddy's are nice! maybe a little too nice, but the motto for the employees was "remember to smile, you're the face of the company" after all.

you work mainly as a waitress. you would say you're pretty good at your job. you're nice to the customers and work surprisingly well with the kids. the uniform is admittedly cute, too. red vest and a black pencil skirt. your skirt, for some reason, came in a bit too small prompting a few lingering glances from employees and patrons, but besides that you don't really mind.

it's a cold, rainy day in autumn. you wish you were wearing pants, but for once you're thankful for the lack of air conditioning in the restaurant. it's closing time and you're heading back to the employees room to grab your jacket and umbrella. you sit on the red, metal bench waiting for your sister expectantly. you never bothered to get your own license because she's always been a reliable source for rides everywhere. tonight was not one of those days. it's been at least an hour. your leg bounces up and down.

you hear the doors shut and a jingle of keys, and the distant scent of cigarette smoke lingers. you turn to see your boss, mr. afton, locking up the restaurant. he turns to you too, clearly confused why you're still here. "shouldn't you be home by now?"

you swing your legs and sigh. "my ride never showed."

he clicks his tongue and looks out to the parking lot, then looks back at you. "why don't i take you home?" you realize in this moment you and mr. afton have never quite really spoke. he's one of the thirty-something-year old owners of freddy's. he wears the springbonnie suit sometimes and performs with the co-owner, mr. emily, for the kids on fridays and saturdays. he's very charismatic and sociable, but mainly with the older crowd of the employees at freddy's. you hear some of your colleagues whispering about him, how he's such a kind and handsome man, which, as you're getting a good look at him right now, the latter is definitely true.

"are you sure?" you ask. mr. afton smiles down at you.

"sure thing. follow me." it's a huge upgrade to what you were previously considering before his offer: walking home in the pouring rain and chancing ruining your uniform.

you follow close behind him. so close that your umbrellas slightly bump into each other. a deep purple-paint-detailed mercedes-benz comes into view. judging by mr. afton's clear affinity for the color purple, as he includes it in at least one part of his daily attire, you assume it's his. he opens the car door on the passenger's side for you.

"thanks," you say politely.

in december, 1993, mr afton — who you've come to know as william — has become a frequent presence in your life. it started when he actually asked you if you wanted another ride home. you had phoned your sister, letting her know there was a change of plans. this became an everyday thing until you no longer needed to call home.

you would be lying if you said you hadn't started to develop feelings for him somewhere along the way. how could you not? he was just such a nice man! so charismatic, not just with you, but with the customers. always asking everyone how their day is going and dropping whatever he's doing to help out. there's was something special about your connection with him. he made you feel special.

it was one rainy day, just like the day back in november, when he stopped you and leaned in and kissed you. it was the most unexpected thing that happened to you in awhile. you don't know what possessed him to do it, but you found yourself eagerly kissing him back. so much that he chuckled and commented on it before sending you off. you spent the rest of the night lying awake in bed, touching yourself to every possibility you could think of.

the next day he avoided you, much to your dismay. you couldn't stop thinking about it. it slowed down your performance, making you distracted. the time just dragged on.

it wasn't until he called you in his office after your shift that you felt any kind of relief. he asked you to lock the door behind you, just like how one of those fantasies you daydreamed of started. with a fast-beating heart, you did what he said and turned to face him. and then his mouth was on yours again. it was much more sensual and yet there was an anxious component to it that made your stomach tingle with excitement.

"why don't you sit on my lap?" he suggested once he pulled away from you.

you froze. you've never actually done this sort of thing before. something delicious curls inside of you. gingerly, you sit on the thigh he patted on and he bounces his leg slightly, the fabric of his pants hitting just the right spot. he laughs at the yelp you give.

"just relax, baby. 's just you and me."

in january, 1994, is when kids go missing. everyone is on edge and patrons are frequenting freddy's less and less. on top of that, the animatronics are malfunctioning more and more, so there are even less customers due to the amount of maintenance that needs to be done.

you and william continue your routine: you fuck and he drives you home afterwards. but lately, something's been weird with william. he's been more... erratic? is that the right word? or just elated. he seems so gleeful, but more violent during sex. he's never showed any masochism until now. he even put a knife to your throat as he pounded into you, threatening to "fucking kill you" if you scream. you took it as just one of those things he says during sex, like when he calls you "slut" and "whore" but it's starting to scare you as it becomes a frequent thing.

it gets worse. you're taking the trash out to the alley when you see the security puppet laying limp. you go and investigate only to find charlie emily, the other owner's daughter, dead and badly hurt. like she's been stabbed repeatedly. you scream in shock and run in to find william, but he's long gone. instead you went to your co-worker, who called the police.

you were asked to stay at the restaurant until you after you were questioned and you told them everything you saw. you looked but william was still nowhere in sight. you walked home that night.

catching the killer was never something you were interested in. in fact, you hoped to do the opposite of some of your vigilant co-workers, who openly investigated the restaurant. some of them ended up missing too. the police had been called at freddy's on multiple occasions.

on one particular occasion, the last one before freddy's closed, actually, you went to the backrooms to catch a breather. what you found? william pouring bleach to bloodied clothes, bloody knife laying on a nearby table. you drop your keys in shock, alerting him. Turning on your heel to break for it, he grabbed the knife and your arm.

"tell anyone and i'll fucking gut you right here, right now," he threatened in a low voice.

you jostle your arm, desperate to break free. "please!" you whisper-shout. "i won't tell anyone, please let me go!"

and for some reason, he trusted you.

freddy's closed after that, and you swore to yourself you would take what happened to the grave. maybe you were a coward, but you had no solid evidence it was him behind the murders. it would all just be hearsay. no one would believe you anyways. william had such a high reputation, not just at fredy's, but within the community.)

--

mike hangs up the phone with a sigh. "so...?" you say, leaning towards his direction in anticipation.

"i took the job," he grumbles. his head is in his hands, running through his hair anxiously.

you throw your hands up in the air in excitement. "yay! we get to keep abby!" mike immediately snaps out of his sulking to bust out laughing. as he shakes his hand, he mentally adds your twisted sense of humor to the endless list of things he loves about you. and your distantly maternal role in abby's life. we get to keep abby.

you snap him out of his thoughts with a question. "who's the lucky employer?"

he laughs again in disbelief. "freddy fazbear's pizza. working in security. they need someone to watch the place and make sure no one breaks in and stuff."

you frown and furrow your brow. freddy's. william. "something wrong?" he muses, noticing your change in demeanor. you shake your head.

"no, nothing. i'm happy for you. sounds.. just peachy." mike shoots you a half-smile.

it's nighttime when it's almost time for mike's shift. your head is in your hands as you sit on the couch. it's one of those times when abby's off in her room, scribbling away with a crayon. you feel sick to your stomach. why did it have to be freddy's? who even gave him this job? why is it still there?

you hear a slew of curses coming from mike's room and decide to investigate. he's struggling with the loop of his belt and you can't help but smile. "need some help?"

he looks at you, face turning red. "you don't have to—"

"oh, come on," you sigh, moving to help him. "it's okay to need help sometimes." mike doesn't say anything, but from the way he's looking at you, he wants to.

"what?" you ask, but mike just shakes his head. you wouldn't understand. you decide to just leave it alone — mike's always been a distant guy.

"you need to be careful," you tell him with a much more serious tone than intended.

"why?" he asks, confused.

you try to relax your face and give him a lighthearted smile. "you should always be careful, mike! you never know what kinds of people you can encounter."

he has no idea.

two days go by. mike comes back home, surprisingly well-rested, until before his third shift when he casually mentions to you that he mainly just sleeps on the job. you freeze at that, worry forming inside of you in the pit of your stomach. "wh-what do you mean you just sleep there?! are you fucking crazy?!"

mike looks bewildered at your outburst. "i told you about this. i'm doing that dream stuff still..."

"okay, but do you have to do it on the job? do you have any idea how dangerous that is, when you're supposed to be looking out for any suspicious behavior." you're poking a finger into his chest, scolding him like he's a child.

"jeez, what's the matter with you?" he sighs in frustration. "if it bothers you that much then why don't you come with me and make sure i stay awake? i'm tired all the fucking time, and you know that!"

you know you shouldn't, for your own safety, but you have to think about mike. besides, if there's two people there, one can call the police. you let your paranoia, and your overwhelming care for mike, get the better of you. "fine. i'll come with you. put on your vest, grab abby, and i'll be in the car."

mike looks at you with sad eyes. you really didn't mean to be so harsh but it doesn't matter; he's more important. the drive over is silent, not that mike is really a talker anyways, but there's a thick tension in the air. your jaw and your fists are clenched anxiously, and you try not to look at him. when he parks the car he sighs and says your name.

the three of you set up camp in mike's office. abby sets up her tent and shortly falls asleep. you pace around the room while mike stares at the cameras, head in his hands with his eyes barely open. you walk over and snap your fingers in front of his face with a huff.

then something goes wrong. mike calls you over. "uh, i think i just saw something move? towards the offices." if it's potential danger, you decide it should be you who goes. not in a heroine sort of way, more of a need for closure.

you make your way slowly towards the offices. the dead silent halls make room for the only sound being your quickened breathing. you can practically hear your heartbeat thrumming in your ears. something rustles and, of course, it comes from wiliam's old office. you pray it's a rat.

as you push the door open, you breath a sigh of relief when the room is empty. that is, when someone slaps a hand over your mouth. "how truly lucky i am that you were the one to find me, lovely."

you struggle instantly but he wraps his other arm around your neck and pushes you further into the office. you land on the ground, hitting your head on the chair. looking up at him in horror, you cling onto the chair for dear life and get a good look at him. he admittedly aged well. salt and pepper hair and beard and all, it looks ridiculously good on him. "don't be afraid. i only want to make amends. i saw you were here and—"

"fuck you!" you spit venomously. "i don't want anything to do with you!"

william looks dumbstruck, then he scowls. the look on his face scares you as it contorts horribly. "what is it? is that boy? you realize i'm the one that gave him this job, right?"

"i don't know what the fuck you're talking about, but—"

suddenly, william lunges towards you and grasps you by your cheeks, holding your face tightly. "stop acting like such a fucking brat. remember when you were such an obedient little girl for me? let's go back to that, yeah?"

before you know it, you're being shoved against the desk facing forward. "i'm gonna teach you some fucking manners." you scramble in his grasp but his strength is unmatched. you know what's coming next and it makes you feel something burning in your stomach that you try to convince yourself desperately is sickness.

he pulls down your pants and you begin to sob. "please!"

"look at you, begging for me already," he laughs. he's undoing his belt and you already feel his dick prodding at your entrance. if this was back in the 90s, before all of this bullshit, he would've had the decency to engage in some foreplay, but there's a sense of urgency that makes it all the more—

god, what the hell is wrong with you. you're so fucked.

he undresses your bottom half, leaving you just in your sweatshirt. "gorgeous," he comments. "just as i remember."

you feel his dick prodding at your entrance, and you squeeze your eyes shut as he pushes in. it still feels as good as it did back then. he fucks you nice and slow, emphasizing each thrust with a slap from his hips onto yours. how does he still fuck this well at his age?

instead of picking up his pace gradually, like he used to, he continues to fuck you slowly. you're moaning uncontrollably now, clawing behind you at his chest, hoping he'll get the message and pick up the pace. he doesn't and just laughs darkly. "he doesn't fuck you as good as i do, huh, baby? you needed my dick to satisfy you all those years ago, and still need it now the way you're gushing on my cock."

you want to tell him mike doesn't fuck you at all, and that you're just friends, and that you only belong to him—

someone calls your name from the doorway. you and william both snap your heads towards the direction, only to find a shocked mike with his mouth agape. "mr. raglan? what the fuck is going on?"

"michael schmidt!" william practically exclaims, excited. he stops fucking you, purposefully burying himself to the hilt inside of you so you groan and squirm at the loss of stimulation. "come! come join us! your girl and i were just getting re-acquainted."

"she's not my..." mike trails off, finding himself moving closer without thinking. he takes in your appearance: bottom naked and bent over the desk with a fucked out expression. god, you're so pretty. you're always so pretty, but this is just...

no, this is wrong, he tries to tell himself. it's almost like william reads his mind when he sing-songs, "join us, or i'll kill the both of you."

like there was a devil and angel on mike's shoulder, the devil was winning. he's always wanted to fuck you and he doesn't necessarily have a death wish, either. "what, uh, what do you want me to do?"

your face falls and your mouth goes dry. william speaks with a grin, "why don't we trade places?"

mike scrambles to undo his belt and you practically drool when he pulls his cock out. fuck, you've wanted mike for awhile now. all that pent up tension between you two is finally spilling over the edge. all those lingering glances and long-lasting touches leading up this

especially like this, with your former fling and the guy you babysit for, makes it — and fuck it, you'll say it — all the more hotter. he replaces william's spot behind you and thrusts in quicker than the latter. he's practically humping you, fucking you desperately like he's running after something. his hands grip onto your hips tightly. "yes," william hisses, pumping himself while sitting dowqn in his chair. when you glance at him, he has the audacity to fucking wink at you. "'attaboy, keep goin.'"

that only encourages mike as he moans your name. "fuck, your pussy feels so good — hah!"

"mmm, mike!" you moan back.

"look at you two," william says breathlessly, "what a lovely fuckin' sight." mike begins to plunge in and out, reaching your cervix with each thrust, and you're close already. he senses that, and you can tell he is too by the way his thrusts gradually become more unbalanced. william's grunts are getting louder.

you're the first one to come, then william, and mike is still desperately pushing out of you. for good measure, he lands an uncharacteristic smack on your ass and then buries himself to the hilt becoming coming inside. the feeling of him filling you up is absolutely delicious. when he pulls out he studies the way that his cum drips out of your pussy. he's enamored with you, by the way.

[mewintheflesh-2]

MORE HEADCANNONS FOR NIKEY AND WINONA (AND OTHER RELATED THINGS)

(This posts a little shorter than the last two!)

Nikey has patrols all over the world to make sure nobody is trying to secretly clear up the thick smog in areas he doesn’t have eyes on 24/7

Winona managed to acquire a decent sample of the dark smog for studying, though it was quite the risky heist! (It might as well been a heist at least.)

She, and the scientists she’s hired, are trying to figure out ways to dispel the small sample of the smog in hopes they’ll find a solution capable of doing so. Once they do that, they hope to produce the solution en masse, hopefully it’s not too resource-heavy to create it.

Ex-Team Sky members do not only use flying types anymore. In fact only-flying-type-teams are seen as a symbol of Nightsky and are highly frowned upon by The Sun’s Children.

Winona has an Umbreon and Espeon <3

Pokemon with night vision are highly sought after and owned by The Sun’s Children. It’s a lot of cat-Pokémon, cave dwelling Pokémon, and also Pokémon who don’t have eyes and rely on other senses (I.E. Zubat, deino, zweilous)

Lizard Pokémon and other reptilian Pokémon have difficulty keeping their blood warm due to lack of sun and as a result lack of places to bask in the sunlight. The same can be said for grass type Pokémon, and also fairy type Pokémon aswell.

Ground, rock, poison, ghost, and dark type Pokémon are thriving under the smog, since most of them can live decent lives without sunlight.

Winona has put out orders and parties of people to search for Pokémon in need of help and bring them to one of the places she or her colleagues can help them from.

As you can imagine most ecosystems who don’t rely on sunlight have been mostly uneffected by the smog. Of course like I mentioned in my last headcanon post, the same cannot be said for ecosystems such as forests, rainforests, oceans, deserts, ect.

I can’t help but draw slight parallels between Winona and Nikey, and Toriel and Asgore. It’s only slight! But the parallels are still kind of there.

It would be incorrect of me to say Nikey does not miss Winona, but the difference in how they miss eachother is that, like I said in my last headcanon post, Winona misses how Nikey was before Paldea, Nikey, though, just misses her in general.

I also think Winona also is kind of like Asgore in the sense he just wants to keep the underground hopeful and wants them to have some sort of future to look forward to. Winona holds sort of the same position

A lot of buildings and regions across the world have fallen to ruin due to most people flocking to places that have the limited (but not small) amount of places Winona and her colleagues/supporters can help support and create sustainable life to the best of their abilities.

A lot of people have taken for granted the joys of the world before. Amusement parks, sweets shops, tourist attractions, travelling the world, going on big grand adventures with your Pokémon, and especially being out and connecting with the world/nature.

Winona and her team/supporters have been able to slowly start to bring simpler things that aren’t exactly necessary for survival. Tv stations have finally been able to broadcast more lighthearted and easily consumed content instead of constant news nonstop, restaurants have begun to reopen across the areas Winona has reach in, and there have been parks commissioned all across those areas aswell.

She is absolutely putting effort into keeping children educated and entertained. Most young kids don’t really understand what’s happening, though some children are getting very cynical about these things. She understands where they’re coming from, and it’s difficult to try to atleast keep them a little happy and give them something to look forward to, but by Arceus is she going to try with all her heart and soul.

She is trying her damn hardest to keep people happy, hopeful, and fulfilled in any way she can all while running an entire rebellion. Of course she still has help, a lot of it, and she’s so, so grateful for it. It’s really admirable.

[hologramcowboy]

Gonna add my response under a Keep Reading link since it might offend some J/D fans. Warning: This post includes my view and it might result as super critical of Jensen to AAs and such. It's just my view, please take what resonates and ignore the rest.

For those who want the really short version, here's the final conclusion, which sums everything up: "I am sure he's learned from the podcast experience, he is always quick to adapt but I hope he takes the time to go deeper and learn more about his image and the best practices because I know it will give him the edge he's been lacking."

Hi, Anon!

Just one thing, you say Jensen and Danneel are good at PR. Making bad attempts at it and desperately flinging spaghetti to the wall hoping it would stick is not being good at PR or self-marketing. It's the opposite. Danneel's conceptions of marketing herself is being as scandalous as possible, making scandalous remarks (check her Divas podcast and you will see an excellent example, through the whole live she tries to shock her co-stars and whoever is watching by playing the cougar and even bringing up cheating in a desperate ploy for even more attention and getting talked about), dressing like fashion victim, and generally being as loud, obnoxious and weird as possible. Not to mention attending events she has no business attending in the hopes of fake scoring credits. Each even has its timing, each acting tier its steps and no journey is the same but being professional is key.

Danneel's approach is the kind of approach wannabe groupies take to fame or the infamous trashy British celebrities you see on tabloids, for example.

As for Jensen, I am sure he believes he is in the know but his results say otherwise. If it wasn't for public interest his career would have died down years ago and he's only know picking up a few things from his colleagues. He's lucky he is him, as in no matter what he does, the press covers his a** and his mistakes. Yet he cannot seem to muster gratitude about that and resolve to be more proactive and professional.

They are both using the shock factor but that's to be used only within certain contetxs and with a certain audience and with great preparation behind it to avoid backlash.

You are right in pointing out that everything Danneel does is to score points and get talked about, this includes her complaints about her fans and her haters. It's all geared at getting attention, establishing as relevant with no actual talent, character or value to back it up. This has been going on for years and so far it's been working only because people subjugate to her because she is married to Jensen. In other words, people know she is a faker, they just look the other way because well, Jensen.

So he's got almost the whole of fandom covering him, supporting him, appreciating Danneel even if they dislike her, etc and yet he chooses to be irresponsible, unappreciative and to focus on divorce rumors. This is not counting media platforms, journalists, etc in his corner. He has the whole world at his feet so to speak but acts arrogantly and this is bound to alienate the very people that brought him to this stage of his career. Unlike Jared, he didn't have the powerful relationships to land a lead on something when SPN ended. This is due to his image because he has no lack of opportunities to network. It's just that networking is useless if it is done with a "I am better than everybody" attitude like the one displayed on the podcast for example or the one often exemplified by Danneel.

Jensen can and might want to recommendedly either get some coaching or hire someone to handle his image before he tanks his career.

In the industry, talking about what happened on sets is unprofessional unless you are doing it to praise the cast or within a talk about the project context. So no trash-talking ex colleagues, PAs, directors etc, because it's a fast way to get blacklisted by those very professionals. If you can't promote their work in beautiful ways why would they want to work with you?

Jensen is Jensen so he gets away with a lot because he is super attractive but attractiveness doesn't matter when lack of professionalism starts impacting work and, therefore, the work of all those involved with him.

I am sure he's learned from the podcast experience, he is always quick to adapt but I hope he takes the time to go deeper and learn more about his image and the best practices because I know it will give him the edge he's been lacking.

[fanmoose12]

a little something for @bruciesnat :) i know i've promised it like a lifetime ago, sorry for the delay! oh, and i decided to combine it with a prompt i also received a long while ago <3

Mike doesn't know why he's doing this. Doesn't understand how he agreed to it, can't comprehend why Erwin would make him do it. Mike doesn't know what he had done to deserve this- this punishment.

He's- he's a good man. An honest one. He serves to ensure the future of humanity, he risks his life to give others a better one.

He's good at it too, he's excellent at fighting and slashing and scouting. He was the best one at it, before- before the annoying midget came.

The same annoying midget, who is insanely strong and easily irritated. The same annoying midget, who has a crush on their adorable Hange. Hange, who Mike has to seduce to test Erwin's theory that Levi, insanely strong, easily irritated Levi, truly has a crush on their Hange.

Mike swallows heavily as he sits next to Hange, just a little too close as Erwin instructed. He smells that it won't end well.

He cringes, as he puts his arm around her shoulders.

Mike likes Hange, a lot actually. Sometimes he feels like they're siblings that were torn apart by some bigger entity. So yeah, he likes Hange. But definitely not like that.

But, oh well, anything for the cause, right?

"Hey, Hans," he murmurs, adopting his most seducting tone. He hopes that his smile is charming enough to captivate their dear scientist. "Are you free tonight? I have two tickets to the theater perfomance," he leans in closer, lowering his voice to what could probably (Mike is an eternal optimist!) be called an enticing whisper. "They're showing the creation of the the Walls tonight."

Somewhere on his periphery, Mike can see a swift dark shadow that oozes the smell of detergent. That shadow, it grows closer, its aura becoming more menacing.

Mike can only hope that if Levi attempts to kill him, Erwin would intervene.

Although... knowing Erwin, he'd just write Mike's death off as a necessary sacrifice.

He takes his hand off Hange. The shadow retreats a few steps back.

"Sorry, Mike," Hange shrugs with a small, apologizing smile. "I showed that play to Levi a few weeks ago. I had my fill of religious propaganda for now. But if you're looking for someone to accompany you," she winks and turns around. Mike's heart sinks. "Levi really liked going to the theatre! He'll be happy to tag along, right, Levi?"

Mike meets Levi's eyes, and sees nothing but desire for murder inside.

Mike quickly scrambles to his feet. "You know, I'll just ask Gelgar to go with me. I'm sure he doesn't have anything better to do."

And they can get wasted afterwards. Mike really needs that after this conversation.

Just as he retreats, Levi takes his place, sitting down next to Hange, also just a little too close.

The mission had failed spectacularly, but, Mike consoles himself, at least he learned that Hange and Levi went to theatre together. And sometimes intel is more important than the victory, right?

Ah, if only Erwin would share his opinion on that.

***

Erwin's second attempt is even worse than the first one, but, at least, this time it doesn't directly involve Mike. Still, he's an unwilling spectator to it, and, just as the last time, he doesn't like where all of this is going.

He already feels bad for the poor guy Erwin hired to hit on Hange during the annual military ball. Where did Erwin get the money - did he take them from the Corps' funds or his own allowance, Mike doesn't know, and, frankly, he isn't sure which option is more disturbing.

At least, the actor is handsome, Mike doesn't know if Hange would like him, he doesn't know if she has a type, and if she does, he hopes it's not annoying midgets, but the guy is handsome, there is no denying that.

Hange has cleaned up fairly well too, the white suit looks excellent on her, bringing out all of her best assets, demonstrating her wide hips and lean, long legs. The hair, gathered in a neat bun, shows her long, gorgeous neck, and the light make-up make her even more gorgeous than usual.

When she and Erwin walked through the front door - him in his blue suit and Hange in her white, symbolising their Wings of Freedom, everyone had their breath taken away.

Even Mike was a little shocked to see Hange dressed up like this, and Levi, who stood right next to him, was completely blown away, staring at Hange with wide-eyed, lovestruck look.

Thanks to Levi's ridiculous expression, Mike now understands why Erwin goes to such length to bring their resident weirdos together. It is delightful to watch Levi behave like that, and Mike longs to see more of this side of him.

Soon after Hange and Erwin make their grand entrance, their guy makes the first move.

He approaches Hange, his eyes bright and smile so charming it makes Mike envious that Hange is at the receiving end of it. He kisses her hand, whispers something in her ear.

"He praises her recent experiment. I thought it was a good place to start," Erwin explains quietly to him.

"Ah," Mike nods. So Erwin thought every detail through? Not surprising at all. "Think this would have an effect on Levi?"

"It already does," Erwin says, pointing to a furious cloud of black hair and suit that is approaching them at a rapid speed.

"Has four-eyes lost all shame?" Levi practically growls, his eyes throwing flames. "Is she seriously flirting with a fucker from the MP?"

"He's not a soldier," Mike answers, reciting a legend Erwin created. "He's actually a wealthy merchant from the South. Heard he sells apples to the King himself."

"And since when Hange is interested in someone like him," Levi crosses hands on his chest, his glare turning even darker, as Erwin's actor takes Hange by the hand and leads her to the dance floor.

"You know, you can ask Hange to a dance," Erwin advices with a pleased smile. "Then she won't be able to flirt with others."

Levi scoffs. "I would rather fight a horde of titans than dance with stinky four-eyes."

Maria, Rose and Sina, Mike thinks. They're worse than children.

"Hange has taken a bath before coming here," he tells Levi.

Levi rolls his eyes. "And now she looks even more awful than usual."

Mike shares a look with Erwin. Does Levi prefer usual Hange, when she doesn't bath for days and her eyes water from the lack of sleep? It almost sounds cute.

"This is the last time I'm attending this shitty ball," Levi swears to Erwin. "Even wine here is shitty."

He marches away immediately after that, heading to the table with wine. Mike can barely stop his laughter, as he watches Levi take a glass of wine, drink a few large gulps of it, and then wince, his mouth moving as he probably murmurs violent curses. He doesn't take his eyes off Hange and her dance partner, and relaxes only when the song ends.

Both Mike and Erwin watch intently as the actor kisses Hange's hand once again. Hange blushes, and Mike almost coos. Levi grabs another glass of wine.

When the actor starts leading Hange away, in the direction of the balcony, Levi starts moving too. He intercepts them just at the edge of the ballroom.

Mike knows he should have expected something like that, knows that Levi doesn't exactly possess the best of manners, but pouring wine over someone? Over his own colleague and friend? Mike certainly didn't expect that.

He's delighted to see what happens next, though.

What happens is that Hange's gorgeous white suit is ruined and Levi wraps his hand around her wrist and drags her to the bathroom. He sports a unusually pleased expression and Hange is laughing herself silly.

Not a bad ending to this endeavor, Mike thinks.

"Another disaster," Erwin sighs.

***

Third time is a charm, or so Mike hopes.

This time Erwin decides to take matter in his hands, and that another sign that this plan will succeed.

The plan is simple, yet, hopefully, effective. Erwin is to whisk Hange away to some remote location, create a scene that would look like a moment between lovers, and Mike is to call Levi there and make sure he witnesses it all.

Erwin is a brave man, Mike thinks, as his Commander explains the plan to him. He would never dare to do something like that to humanity's strongest. To awaken his jealous streak... Mike is glad he's not in Erwin's place.

One sunny afternoon, the plan is set in motion. Erwin takes Hange, and Mike goes to find Levi.

He finds him fairly quickly, in the middle of cleaning Hange's room. Man, he could at least try to make his crush be less discreet. But that's beside the point now, because Levi is cleaning Hange's room and not watching Erwin and Hange. Mike confidently strides up to him.

"Levi! I've just been looking for you."

"What do you need?" he asks boringly. "And have you seen four-eyes? I can't find her all day."

Erwin prepared some legend, a reason why Mike needs Levi, but in the heat of the moment, Mike can't remember a single word. So he just yells "Come with me!" and hope that Levi follows.

Thankfully, he does.

Mike leads him to the stables, where Erwin is already at it. His palm is on the wall, next to Hange's head, and from Mike's point of view, it certainly looks like they're in the middle of... something naughty.

Next to him, Levi tenses, and Mike can practically hear his teeth grinding.

Mike prepares for something very ugly, but then...

"I- I didn't know that Erwin and four-eyes-" oh, fuck, it sounds like Levi is genuinely sad, like he's heartbroken or something. Mike feels a strange desire to hug the little guy and pat his head. But then he remembers that he and Erwin are the reason for Levi's distress right now, and... remorse starts kicking in.

"Levi, listen, it's not-"

"Levi!"

As always, Hange is the one to save the day.

She breaks free from Erwin and sprints to Levi, a wide smile on her face. "You won't believe what Erwin had just told me! He gave me permission to go in the town's library and bring back all the books I want! I'm in dire need of your muscles, humanity's strongest, you'll go with me, right?"

Levi still seems grouchy, but under Hange's sunny grin, his angry facade crumbles. "I don't know if Commander will allow it..."

He doesn't even try to hide his bitterness and irration. Mike disguises his chuckle as a coughing fit.

"Erwin!" Hange turns to him, eyes pleading. "Can Levi go with me?"

"Sure," Erwin nods. "Take all the time you need."

Hange yells in triumph, loud enough to make Mike wince. She grabs Levi by the hand and drags him away. Erwin watches them with a wistful smile.

"I don't think we should get involved in their relationships," Mike says, as he approaches Erwin. He stands close to his Commander, their shoulders pressing against each other. "We should let them figure it out themselves."

"Agreed," Erwin says. "I'm sure they'll manage well enough even without us."

Mike watches Hange wrap her arm around Levi, and is inclined to agree. They will certainly manage without them both.

Or, at least, Hange is able to manage.

And that should be enough.

[hotchley]

balls fair in love and war

So... this is the fic inspired by the AU in this post. Umm... it's a shambles, I low-key hate parts of it, the ending is rushed, but we're going with it before my laptop dies </3

Ignore any and all medical inaccuracies. I did a bit of research, but a lot of it confused me, so... this is not an accurate representation of a concussion. Like seriously. Also ignore any ethical issues, they're just... it's fine. As usual no proofreading. Umm.... don't ask where Rossi is. I don't know.

Taglist (I guess? I don't actually have one, it's just for this lol): @eldrai @willlemonheadsupremacy @shmaptainhotchnersmain @sarcvstiel @unionjackpillow @katytheinspiredworkaholic (you said you would read it so... is that okay?)

A very big and grateful thank you to @aaron-hotchner187 for giving me a title!! And to everyone else that gave suggestions, you are also much loved <3

Also, the way Hotch acts as a teacher is inspired by the way I think @ellyhotchner will be when they become a teacher <3 and everyone go and tell @whump-town thank you because she: told me about penlights, gave me the easy tiger line and is just overall a good person.

Trigger Warnings: concussions, fear of brain hemorrhages, hospitals, self-blame

read on ao3!

Like most things that went wrong in Aaron Hotchner’s life, his current predicament could be blamed on Emily Prentiss. He would not hear otherwise. And he didn’t think he should be forced to hear otherwise, given he was the one sitting on a hospital bed in a thin gown that did nothing to keep him warm, whilst she got to sit outside with a cup of coffee.

She had, admittedly, looked absolutely horrified when the accident occured, and had spent the whole journey to the hospital apologising again and again. He’s pretty sure she offered up her first-born child to him at some point as a form of penance. As well as her apartment. And he definitely remembers hearing something about grading his papers for him.

So whilst he may not want to be anywhere near her offspring- especially if they’re like her- and whilst he may definitely not want her apartment- he doesn’t care what she says, it is haunted- he will be taking her up on that last offer. Did he feel suitably appeased by her squirming the whole time, and by the fact that she was the one that had to explain to the principal why there were two classes screaming, crying and a teacher on the floor?

Yes, but there was no harm in milking it.

If he’s being completely honest, he felt like he was taking advantage of a hospital bed. He was sure he was fine. Yes, it hurts to move his head and he feels dizzy, and he probably has all the symptoms of a minor concussion, but he just really doesn’t want to be in the hospital.

Besides, he needs to make sure the kids aren't traumatised. It can’t have been easy for them, watching him just fall to the ground and hit his head hard enough for there to be blood. Emily could be traumatised, he didn’t care. But their students? Absolutely not.

He sighs. He wants to hand in his resignation now. Going back is going to be so embarrassing.

“I don’t think you understand. He is my best friend, and if he doesn’t get this blanket, he will- Spencer, what will he do if he doesn’t get this blanket?” A voice says from outside.

Aaron closes his eyes. He wants the ground to swallow him up. Forget returning to school, the next few minutes of his life are going to be even more embarrassing than the time Emily tricked him into being part of the Christmas pantomime. Haley hadn’t been offended, thank goodness, but still. It took him three months to be able to meet her eyes.

“He’ll- he’ll- I can’t even say it, it’s just so upsetting,” Spencer lies.

“Ma’am, sir, if you would let me speak for two seconds. Miss Prentiss said that some of her colleagues would be coming with Mr Hotchner’s things. All I am asking for is proof of identity,” the floor receptionist says.

The apologies immediately start to pour from the mouth of Penelope Garcia, whilst Spencer Reid just takes out both their driver's licences. The receptionist clearly approves, because before Aaron knows what’s happening, he’s being embraced by someone who smells like roses, and his favourite blanket is being draped over him.

“Oh my goodness, you don’t know how grateful I am that you’re alive,” Penelope says.

Aaron gives her a slight smile. Penelope is one of his favourite people, despite all their differences. And he likes to think he’s one of her favourites. He wouldn’t be thinking wrong.

“Penelope, I’m fine. Seriously. This is just a precaution. I promise it isn’t that bad,” he says, even though the light is starting to hurt his eyes.

“Isn’t that bad? I saw you and Emily taking your classes outside, which was weird to begin with because you both have classes that don’t require being outside, what were you doing? And then, I’m watching because the class can be trusted to sketch without my guidance and I’m curious. But then I turn my back for three seconds to help someone, and everyone is screaming, and you’re on the floor, and there’s blood everywhere and- it was scary!” she says.

“I’m so sorry,” Aaron says, for lack of anything else to say.

“I don’t want you to be sorry! I want you to stop getting hurt!” Penelope exclaims, whacking him in the shoulder.

“I don’t want you to be sorry either. It was hilarious to watch, my students were in hysterics,” Spencer adds. Penelope glares.

Aaron isn’t surprised. Him and Spencer get on- they even have shared interests- but they also have some of the same classes. And as a result of the different subjects and ways they teach, it seems to them that it is impossible for their students to like them both.

“So, not that I don’t appreciate it, but why are you here?” He asks.

Spencer and Penelope glance at each other, and Hotch feels like he’s dealing with two students that have tried to set up two of his friends.

“Garcia. Reid,” he says. In the same tone he uses when dealing with two students that have tried to set up two of his friends.

“We thought that if we came, JJ wouldn’t, but uhh-” Spencer starts.

JJ bursts into the room before he can finish. “”Hotch! What happened? I mean, I’ve heard what happened because Strauss came and told me the basics, but still. Why were the two of you in the playground? Are you okay? Let me see that bump on your head. I also brought your lunch in case you were peckish.”

“Well basically-”

“Why does Emily look like she’s about to start crying?” Haley asks, entering.

Everyone but JJ turns and stares at her with a slight look of horror. Aaron slides down the bed slightly, hoping the blanket can cover the furious blush that he just knows stains his cheeks. Him and Haley went on a date once, after he asked her in a moment of impulsivity. It was the worst thing he’d ever done, for both of them.

“Oh come on guys, we’re professionals. JJ asked me to come because apparently, Aaron listens to me? I said he’s just too afraid of me to disobey. Which, I meant as a joke, but you do know that I don’t hate you right? Sure, the date was a disaster, but you do know we can still be friends?”

“I thought you didn’t want anything to do with me,” he confesses.

“That’s why I brought her with me. To prove you wrong,” JJ says. “But yes, why is Emily so upset?”

“Because I almost killed my best friend and traumatised our students and I’ve ruined his life and our careers and he can get me fired and press charges, but all I wanted to do was make him laugh, and this is the first place where I’ve felt appreciated, and I’m going to lose it all,” Emily sobs from outside.

“Can you bring her in?” He asks Penelope.

She obliges, and Hotch pats the area next to him. Emily sits beside him, wiping her eyes on the corner of the extra blanket they brought.

“You didn’t almost kill me, it’s a mild concussion at most. Our students have seen worse, and they will be fine. My life is not ruined because you will be doing my grading. I’m not going to get you fired or press charges, and you’re not about to lose any of this. Okay?”

“You always know what to say,” she says.

He ruffles her hair.

“Love you. Platonically,” he tells her.

She gives him a bright smile, and he can feel himself smiling back, less embarrassed about everything.

And then she starts laughing hysterically, and deliberately shoves him, causing him to almost fall out of the bed, only stopped by Haley and Dave each grabbing one of his arms and pushing him back up. Of course, Emily just looks at him like she hasn’t done anything wrong.

“I cannot believe you fell for that. As if I would ever be that upset. Honestly. Haley, maybe I should replace you as drama teacher!”

Haley raises an eyebrow. “Ah yes, because the last time you got others involved in theatre, it ended so well.”

Emily has nothing to say.

Aaron does. He turns and swears in French.

“Naughty boy. Don’t let anyone else hear you. Especially not my class, I told them what that meant after you said it when I stole your stapler and then told you I’d given it to Miss Brooks.”

He pales.

“Speaking of your classes, how did this happen?” Haley asks, clearly sensing the need for a change in topic.

Emily looks at Aaron.

“It was your fault!” he says.

“Well it was your idea!” she counters.

He sighs. “So what happened was…”

Hotch and Emily’s classrooms are next to each other. To Hotch, this is both a blessing and a curse. It means he could keep an eye on her. It also means he had to keep an eye on her. See, Emily isn't irresponsible, and she would never actually endanger her students, but sometimes, she leans towards danger.

How, when she teaches modern languages, is beyond Hotch, but regardless. Strauss had actually hired Emily, not just for her abilities, but because she believed someone needed to keep an eye on Hotch. How the times have changed.

Hotch is on break duty, and he can't see anyone from his class. Which is weird. He tries to keep their lives as stress-free as possible, and he was always willing to help anyone that needs it, but certain assessments could not be avoided. But still, he expects to see at least one of them outside, if only to get a few minutes of fresh air.

Emily smiles at him sympathetically before she walks into her classroom. It is like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over him. Sympathy from Emily isn't comforting. Not when it was aimed at him. If anything, it just makes him more scared. The last time she had looked at him like that, he had explained how his date with Haley had gone from one disaster to another.

And then she laughed.

So he pushes the door open, stepping back in case something fell on him. It wouldn't have been the first time. But nothing does. So he steps into his classroom, expecting to see his eleventh grade literature class doing something suspicious.

They aren't, and suddenly he understands exactly why Emily had looked at him like that.

Because his class has never looked so upset or defeated. And his heart breaks for all of them. It has been a while since he was fifteen, but he wouldn't ever forget the feeling of helplessness that seemed to define his existence. Nor would he forget how everything felt like too much and not enough.

"What happened?" He asks them gently.

Violet, a quiet girl that always tells him what Miss Prentiss had said about him, burst into tears. One of her friends patted her back, but it's clear they didn't quite know what they were doing. Neither does Hotch, but goddammit, these are his kids. Nobody is going to hurt them.

"Hey, it's okay. Do you want to go somewhere else?" He asks her.

She shakes her head. "I just- I want all of this to be over, but then I don't because it means going to college and leaving here and having to grow up, but I just- I have no fucking idea what I'm doing and it's all too much."

He winces at the use of swear words, because he is still a teacher, but that also means he feels a sense of pride that she's able to voice what it is. Because now, he may not be able to fix the situation, but he can help.

"I know. That's okay. That's normal. And you'll work it out. You know, I almost became a lawyer."

She looks up, her eyes red, but starting to sparkle again. "A lawyer."

"Yep, I almost also applied to the FBI Academy. It was actually Miss Prentiss that talked me out of that one. Well, it wasn't really talking but the true story is a little too… inappropriate for school."

"I can't imagine you doing either of those. You'd get bored as a lawyer, and you would never smile as an FBI agent," Clarissa says.

Hotch blinks.

She shrugs like it's the most obvious thing in the world. And then she offers him a piece of candyfloss, which he rejects.

He checks his lesson plan. And then his planner. And then the calendar he keeps on his table. Emily always makes fun of him for being so organised, but Spencer admires it, and that makes him feel cool, so he focuses on that instead.

"I have a compromise. We don't need to do a lesson today, we have more than enough time to cover everything because we're already ahead. I let you do whatever you want for the remainder of the lesson- whether that's colouring or crying or dancing. But you have to do it outside. I didn't see any of you at break."

"Really?" Violet asks.

He nods. "Of course."

Everyone cheers, and grabs their bags, clearly ready to not use their brains for a bit. Aaron gives them the most warm smile he can manage, but he can't help the small surge of guilt that accompanies his lack of realisation.

As his class exits, happily chattering away to each other, Emily pokes her head out the door.

"Mr Hotch, what are you doing, and can I join?"

Immediately, all eyes are on him.

"Please?" Violet asks.

Clarissa pulls out the puppy eyes.

Thomas falls to his knees.

"Oh my god, yes fine, okay, just- everyone be quiet before Strauss finds out and shouts at me," he says.

Emily runs back inside, and soon, they're all just milling about and having fun on the playground. It's nice, both for the students, and the teachers, to have a bit of a break from the world, and to spend a few moments away from it all. Some of them are running around, playing a game of tag, some of them are simply sitting around, and a few are colouring.

"Do you still like playing catch?" Emily asks him.

"What?"

"Catch. Remember, you used to play it with Sean all the time when we were in college."

"I mean yeah, I would probably get involved, but I'm not quite sure-"

"Think fast!" She shouts, and she lobs a netball at him.

The last thing he thinks, moments before his head meets the ground with a large amount of force- enough for there to be a small amount of blood- is: how is it always her? Every single time he gets into a situation, it's her that causes it. That has to be statistically impossible. Maybe he should ask Spencer…

"So yeah! And now I'm here!" He shoves Emily, who has the audacity to look offended.

Penelope kisses his forehead. Haley laughs a little, but Reid just blinks like he can't quite believe how stupid his co-workers are.

"Well. From what I've heard, it was a pretty good shot," JJ comments.

Haley turns to her. "From everything we've just been told, that's what you choose to pick out?"

"I'm a gym teacher, can you really blame me?"

Emily mutters something.

"You were what?" Garcia asks.

"I was aiming for his leg," she repeats.

"Emily. I know you teach languages, not biology, but look at me. Head," Hotch says, pointing at the bump he's not going to cover up, "Leg." He points at his ankle.

"It's always lovely when people know their anatomy. Saves me a lot of time," a new voice says.

Hotch turns in the direction of it, ready to make a snarky comment, but whatever words he had thought of die on his lips as he suddenly feels like he's been transported into a medical drama full of unrealistically attractive protagonists.

Because the doctor who has just walked in is the most handsome man he has ever seen. His smile is easy and genuine, and his eyes seem to twinkle with mischief. And his arms, oh god his arms seem like the safest place to exist. Aaron can't help but wonder what it would be like to have those arms wrapped around him-

His cheeks warm. No.

"Hi, I'm Dr Morgan. But you can all call me Derek. I'm here for Aaron Hotchner. Who I am going to assume, is you," he says, looking straight at Hotch.

"I- yes. How did you know?"

Dr Morgan- Derek- somehow smiles even more. "Well, even though there are far too many people in here- did all of you somehow miss the two people at one time sign- you are the only one in a hospital bed wearing a hospital gown, so. I'm no profiler, but it was pretty easy."

If it's even possible, his cheeks flush more. But one word sticks out to him. "Wait, profiler?"

"You got me. Crime procedurals are my guilty pleasure. I always said that if I joined the FBI, I would become a profiler. Obviously, I went down a very different route."

"Obviously. Wait, too many people? Oh god, I'm so, so sorry, if you need them to leave, they can. In fact, I also feel a lot better, so if you would like me to also go, I really, it's no trouble."

Because he is an idiot- there really is no other justification for this- he tries to stand up. And he does. He also gets a few steps in before the world starts spinning and he almost loses his balance. Derek somehow moves fast enough to guide him back to the bed. Aaron tries and fails to ignore how warm he is.

"Thanks," he whispers, slightly breathless. And not just from almost hurting himself again.

"It's not a problem Aaron. Both things. Your friends can stay, we're just doing some simple checks," Derek says.

"Oh everyone calls him Hotch," Penelope says.

"Aaron is fine. Really." Because he likes Derek calling him Aaron. He wants Derek to call him Aaron.

And then he meets Emily's eyes and he realises his mistake. There's a common denominator that exists with everyone that he tells to call him Aaron, and he knows that she knows what it is. He's fucked.

"Okay then. Well, can you explain to me what happened?"

Aaron is mesmerised by Derek's eyes. So mesmerised that he forgets to answer. "Sorry, what?"

There's a flash of concern, replaced by a smile. "Can you tell me how you ended up here?"

"Oh yes. So, I'm a teacher- so is everyone here. And I- I was outside, with my- my students when Emily- that one there- she, look, it's a really mild concussion, can I just be discharged? I'm sure my students are very, uhh, very scared," he stutters. Why can he never function when he likes someone? It's mortifying.

"I'm sure it is, but you can't blame me for doing my job. I'm going to take your heart rate now, okay? The stethoscope will be cold, but it'll warm up eventually," Derek says.

Aaron nods, and barely flinches when it touches him. If anything, he's more concerned by how close Derek seems to be. Not in a malicious way, but he's always had this deeply irrational fear that if someone got too close to him, they'd be able to read his thoughts. Which would mean Derek can hear both the fact that he has a crush and that he has this fear.

Derek pulls away, and Aaron exhales.

"Your heart rate is unusually fast. Normally that wouldn't be too concerning, because we expect that when patients seem anxious, but you've seemed pretty calm, up till this moment," Derek says, noting how Aaron tenses.

"Is he going to be okay?" Penelope asks.

Derek turns to her. "Of course he is. He's in good hands."

Aaron needs to get his mind out the gutter before his cheeks explode. Or before Emily opens her mouth.

"Aaron, I know you think the concussion is mild, but this is still a requirement. I'm going to turn on this penlight, and I'm going to ask you to follow it with your eyes okay? Follow the light," Derek explains.

He nods, and Derek turns the penlight on. Aaron flinches at the brightness of it, then tenses in slight fear that his lovely doctor is going to be annoyed at him or call him difficult, or sigh and say he needs to stop acting like a child. It wouldn't be the first time,

But Derek doesn't do any of those things. He does something very different.

He places his hand on Aaron's thigh. "Easy tiger. I won't hurt you," he says.

Aaron melts. His eyes drop down to where Derek's hand is warming his skin. He thinks Derek says his name, but he's too busy having a crush to hear him. And then suddenly, his thigh is cold, but Derek is touching his shoulder and he should be shying away from the light being shone in his eyes. But he isn't because he's too busy looking at Derek and his beautiful eyes to even pay attention.

Rather late, he remembers that there is a reason for Derek to be looking at him the way he is, and he tries to follow the light. But the headache he's had since he came around is only getting worse, and the light isn't helping.

Derek isn't smiling anymore.

"Aaron. Be very honest with me. You've displayed difficulty with coordination, memory and speech. If I asked you whether or not you felt sick or nauseous, what would your answer be?"

Normally, he would just under exaggerate, but Derek seems to genuinely care. So he chooses to be honest.

"Yes?"

Derek's eyes widen. "Aaron, I don't want to alarm you, but I like to keep my patients informed. You're going to have a CT scan done immediately, and there's a chance you may be rushed into emergency surgery."

Everyone, including Emily, starts to panic, but Derek leaves the room to grab a nurse to help, and to tell someone else to make sure there's a clear room. Aaron isn't completely sure what's happening, but his head is killing him, so he lays down again. It only helps a small amount.

For Aaron, the CT scan isn't too bad. If he knew the reason it was being done, and that it wasn't a routine procedure, he would probably have spent the whole time panicking. But he doesn't, and so he sits there- well lies there- with a slight smile on his face. The migraine he's had has been getting worse, so keeping his eyes closed for such an extended period of time is actually quite enjoyable.

It is far less enjoyable for everyone that is upstairs, waiting to find out whether or not their friend has a brain hemorrhage. That's what Derek told them after Aaron was carted away, still seeming very out of it. They needed to test him for a brain bleed. And if he had one, then it would just be a case of waiting to see whether they could treat him. And even if they could treat him, it wasn't guaranteed that he would get back to normal.

Emily, in spite of all of her teasing comments, isn't coping. Because it's still early, the floor is relatively quiet, and Derek is technically on his lunch break, so he's sitting with them in an attempt to provide them with some sort of comfort. He's not sure where this emotional attachment to these random people has come from, but it's formed itself and now he's determined to provide some comfort.

"I really was aiming for his leg," Emily whispers.

"Hmm?" Derek asks, not quite following.

"When I threw the ball, I really was aiming for his leg. He had lost consciousness by this point, but I started crying when he hit the ground. He forgave me. He told me he loved me, platonically that is, and I laughed at him. He's going to die, and he isn't going to know how much he meant to me."

"He's not going to die. He may not even have a brain bleed. But if he does, we're going to save him, and you're going to be able to spend the rest of your life telling him how much he means to you. I promise," Derek says.

Even though there are tears in her eyes, Emily turns to him and smiles. "You're a good man, Dr Morgan."

"That's all I've ever wanted, Miss Prentiss. So thank you. It means a lot to me." And it does. He replays the moment as he goes over to Spencer and Penelope, who he feels a strange sense of protection over. Like he needs to protect them from everything, which is weird, because once Aaron is discharged, he'll probably never see them again.

That shouldn't make him sad, but it does.

"Mr Hotchner's CT scan came back normal. There's no sign of a brain bleed," the nurse tells them, what feels like a lifetime later.

There's a collective sigh of relief, and when he's wheeled back in, looking tired but alive, Emily throws her arms around her best friend, who lets out a soft sound of surprise. Like he's not quite used to the fact that people love him. Derek smiles. His patient will be in good hands when he gets discharged.

"Wait, so what caused all of those problems?" Spencer asks.

The nurse shrugs. "It's probably as simple as: his concussion was more severe than we initially thought, but not as bad as we feared."

"Oh."

"And on that note, Aaron, we're keeping you overnight for observation. It's just to be safe. We can't be too careful. You gave everyone a very big scare when you got sent out," Derek says.

Aaron cannot, and will not, confess. Does he feel guilty? Yes. But he can live with the guilt. He cannot live with the all-encompassing shame that will come with explaining that actually, the reason he was stuttering and failing the penlight test was because of a silly little crush.

"Okay," he says, determined to be as compliant as possible.

"One- and only one- of you is welcome to stay with him, if you'd like," Derek adds.

Haley's eyes light up. "I'll do it! Jessica can bring me my things, and maybe you'll be able to look at me after we've spent another night together. Only this time, nobody's getting pneumonia. I hope so, at least. You're not cold are you?"

Aaron shakes his head. "But you really don't need to stay. I'll be fine on my own. Seriously."

"I know, but I want to. Believe it or not, I do actually enjoy your company."

He smiles.

"We should all be getting a move on. Jason and Erin will want updates, and I have lots of marking," JJ says. She kisses Hotch on the forehead before walking to the door, smiling at Derek for looking after her friend so well.

Spencer waves from where he's standing and Penelope showers him with affection. Emily is the only one that seems hesitant to leave.

"Can I stay till visiting hours end?" She asks.

"Do you feel like you can keep up with these two lovely ladies Aaron?" Derek asks.

Aaron has never enjoyed the sound of his name as much as he does when it comes from the doctor. "I- sure," he stutters, and he just knows his cheeks are a stupid colour. Emily frowns, as though she finds something suspicious.

Derek smiles. "Good man. I'll be back in a few hours to run the same tests as before. For now, take it easy."

Derek doesn't come back a few hours later, because he has other patients. It's a different doctor, and Aaron is both relieved and disappointed. Because on the one hand, he's not going to create another medical crisis, on the other, he wants to see Derek again.

Maybe he can get Emily to knock him out again…

"Your heart rate seems completely normal. And you followed the penlight exceptionally well, so I believe we have nothing to fear. Of course, you'll stay overnight, and we'll run these tests once more before you're discharged tomorrow, but I think we're out of the woods now," they say.

Emily gasps, and Aaron knows he's screwed. Luckily, both the doctor and Haley seem to not have heard, and she leaves with the doctor, so Aaron doesn't have to know right at that moment whether his suspicions are correct.

"Night Hotchner," Haley says a few minutes later.

Hotch is already asleep.

The entire team comes and collects him from the hospital.

Aaron is just grateful they're sending him home with a pack of all the things he now needs to do, because he spent the whole lecture admiring how handsome Derek looks with sun shining down on him that he didn't take any of it in. It's also Derek's signature on the discharge papers. He's reminded of high school, when he and his friends would make fake marriage certificates. Not that he's going to do that.

"Bye Aaron. I don't want to see you here any time soon, okay?" Derek teases.

"I won't make any promises," he replies, just relieved he does it without stuttering or blushing.

Derek smiles, and the twinkle in his eyes seems even more mischievous. "Miss Prentiss," he says, spotting Emily.

"Dr Morgan," she responds. She's smirking.

When Aaron asks her what was going on, she doesn't answer. Haley says it's probably linked to the emotions of the previous day, and she's usually good at reading these situations, so he doesn't push any further. Besides, he's too busy catching up with the meetings he missed, and the antics of his students, because a lot happened in the three days he was off, to give it much thought.

Two weeks pass, and the incident is almost completely forgotten.

But then he walks back into his classroom, having just finished a meeting, and he finds flowers on his desk. Tulips. His favourite. He immediately pulls the note out, and when he opens it, he almost wonders if he's concussed it.

Because he knows that signature. He's been staring at it for fourteen days. It's Derek's.

"Surprise. Aaron," a voice says for the doorway.

"How- what- I- what?"

Derek Morgan, still in scrubs and a white coat, smiles at him. "Want to pick a question I can actually answer?"

"How did you- what are you doing here? And why?"

"Well, you should thank Emily. After the other doctor took your heart rate, she came and told me her suspicion. Apparently, you always say you're Hotch. Even the students call you Mr Hotch. Which is strange, because I call you Aaron. And, you shouldn't have done the penlight flawlessly if you had a more severe concussion. So she thinks you have a crush. I didn't want to be unethical, so those flowers can simply mean: I hope you're coping. If you don't have a crush that is."

"What if I do?" Aaron asks, surprised at his own boldness.

"Then I would ask if I could kiss you before I take you out to dinner," Derek says, not missing a beat.

"And if I said yes?"

Derek takes three long strides, and he kisses Aaron like it's something he was made to do. Aaron melts against him, trying to memorise him as quickly as he can, before he realises he has all the time in the world to do that. Because Derek is going to take him out to dinner. Derek, who brought him flowers.

"That was- wow. Wait. You have a crush on me too!" Aaron exclaims with a grin.

"Of course I do," Derek says.

That stuns Aaron back into silence. "Wow," he whispers to himself.

Derek hugs him, and being in his arms is everything- no more- than Aaron imagined it to be. "I'm glad you're okay," he says.

"I'm glad you don't hate me," Aaron says, because he really doesn't know what else to say.

Derek laughs, and Aaron can't wait to find all the ways he can make that happen.

"We should say thank you to Emily at some point. If she didn't know you as well as she does, she wouldn't have realised you had a crush. And if she wasn't so terrifying when she wants something good for her friends, I wouldn't have sent the flowers."

"Can we say thank you later? I want to stay like this for a few moments," Aaron whispers, snuggling closer to his new boyfriend.

"Of course we can," Derek says, kissing his forehead.

When they eventually make it to Derek's car- Aaron can come back tomorrow and get his, it'll be fine, Aaron realises he has one more thing to say.

"Derek?"

"Yes, sweetness?"

Well. That makes him feel things he won't confess too, because he needs something to make him seem the slightest bit cool.

"I'm really sorry I made you think I had a brain hemorrhage."

Derek's laughter is so real that Aaron can't help but join in, and they end up not starting the car for five minutes because it would be irresponsible to drive in that state. And it's only when they're pulling out that they both realise something: Derek gets to see Aaron's family again, and Emily didn't need to hit him in the head again for him to get to see Derek again.

[mcheang]

Lila's mother decides to speak out against the incompetence of Paris's so-called "Superheroes" after Lila goes on another lament-fest. The focus isn't on her personally though, the focus is on the public backlash as the media goes nuts over an Italian diplomat insulting Paris's beloved heroes, and the Italian government frantically trying to do damage control. Then Lila being Gabriel's "muse" is discovered, and now Gabriel has to do damage control over his... lack of support for the heroes.

Ignorance is not bliss, it’s dangerous

Hmm...I believe I wrote something similar in Blind And Foolish. Here’s the link: https://mcheang.tumblr.com/post/189582138105/blind-and-foolish

This happens after Lila claims to have to missed school again because of akuma attacks. Actually she just has another model shoot with Adrien and is allowed to be excused for class because of work. But Mrs Rossi doesn’t know that because then she would want to meet Lila’s boyfriend even more.

The daily news was thriving over a recent scandal. Apparently the Italian diplomat, Mrs Donna Rossi, had decided to generously propose to her Parisian colleagues that Italy could send in military aid to help take care of the akumas and bring down Hawkmoth. After all, they clearly need help if their police force had decided to let two incompetent heroes playing dress up fight their battles.

As you can imagine, this was a grave insult. The Paris police force was perfectly competent, thank you very much. It wasn’t their fault their enemy had superpowers. And only Ladybug could purify the akumas and fix the magical damage. Of course the teens would be given the lead since this was their speciality. And how dare Rossi say their heroes were incompetent. Ladybug and Chat Noir solve their akuma problems in less than 6 hours a day, usually less than 2 hours if the reports were anything to go by.

Mrs Rossi was astonished by the backlash she received. She reminded the Parisians that swarms of akumas have been plaguing the city for months, to the point that schools have shut down.

Response: what swarms?! Scarlet Moth was only for one day! And since when have schools been closed? They have only ended early and nothing more! Classes resume the next day!

Mrs Rossi faltered, but continued on. “Except my daughter has been confined to our house because her school was closed. Her principal was akumatized for months, too!”

When they learn Lila’s school is Dupont, there were snorts all around. Everyone knew Dupont was infamous for akumas, and they knew it was never shut down because they have walked past it daily and seem students going about their business. And everyone knew Darkowl had debuted at night...after school hours. And he was defeated before dawn. His akumatization never even affected school attendance...

The meeting was dismissed shortly and Mrs Rossi was humiliated as the Parisians angrily stormed out. Honestly, was this who they wanted to work with? An ignoramus who dares to insult their security?

News managed to leak out. The class was horrified by what Lila’s mother had said. Lila was trying to do damage control when her mother confronted her, having checked with the principal. They had both agreed that Lila would be expelled for her actions. Well...at least Lila doesn’t have to placate her class anymore...and at least she’s still got her modelling career.

Except while the Italian ambassador is pleading and apologising, promising that Donna and her daughter would be sent back at once, it came out that Donna had said such things because her daughter was a compulsive liar, a fact she had recently just found out.

As such, people are angry at Lila for insulting their heroes!

Doing research on Lila, people recognize her as Volpina and Gabriel’s latest muse. As the public currently hate Lila, they also dislike anything associated with her. Didn’t Gabriel once say in Heroes Day that Lila wasn’t a real hero? Why was he hiring this hateful hero hater then? Gabriel was responsible for Bubbler and Simon Says... is he trying to sabotage the heroes? Only putting on a public front all the while?

Gabriel quickly fired Lila and did his own damage control. He claimed after the events of Bubbler, he had decided to be more open towards Adrien’s friends. He met Lila Rossi and she seemed like a nice girl. He gave her the opportunity to model as a chance for Adrien to have more friends while working. And as for Simon Says, who wants to be hypnotized on TV? It’s a basic invitation to make a fool of yourself in public.

Donna Rossi was fired and was ordered to return to Italy with her daughter immediately before they do anymore damage.

Lila was enraged her reputation and modelling gig were ruined, but at least she could start over in Italy anyway. There were no more opportunities for her in Paris anymore. Her one regret was that she never defeated Ladybug.

Lila was wrong about starting over. While Donna was scolded and fined for causing an international dispute for her careless and negligent handling of the situation, she did decide to deal with her daughter’s compulsive lying by sending her to a correction school. Down there, the Teachers made sure everyone knew what the students were infamous for. Once everyone knew Lila was a liar and that she was supposedly responsible for some huge scandal, they decided to check it out. After that, Lila was mocked by her classmates for not hanging out with her celebrity friends and immediately volunteering her for grunt work since she loves to help out.

Lila was furious, but this time, there was no akuma to help her vent.

As for the Italian government, they tried to make amends by donating large sums of money to the Parisian police force. (I’m not sure if this is correct procedure, but hey, this is fanfic!)

[scapegrace74-blog]

Ginger Snap

A/N  I was driving down the highway today and saw the license plate “I PieGuy”.  By the time I got home, this story was half-born in my head.  I have no idea where it might go, but it’s taking up valuable shelf space in there, so I’m birthing it onto paper.  Modern AU.  Silly fluff.  Claire POV.  First person, which I never write, so watch out for stray pronouns.

The shriek of the fire alarm was the final straw.  I’d just stepped out of the kitchen for a minute, but that was all it took for calamity to strike.  Opening the oven door in a panic, billows of smoke engulfed me before I slammed it shut again.

“Shit.  Shitshitshit.  Shit!”

Waving a damp dish towel back and forth like a flag of surrender above my head caused the head-splitting siren to finally desist.  I blew a rogue curl off my sweaty brow and gave myself a pep talk.

“Time to woman up,” I sighed before donning the oven gloves and cautiously cracking the door once again.  More smoke escaped, smelling of burnt pastry and ruined hopes.  Once it cleared I could see the charred carcasses of what were supposed to be vol au vent shells.  I carefully extracted them from the oven and dropped the cooking sheet with a clatter onto the quartz countertop.

“Dinner is D.O.A, Doctor Beauchamp.  Now what the fuck am I going to do?”

***

Thirty minutes were spent cleaning the evidence of yet another cooking fiasco and ventilating our flat by opening every available window to let in the moist Edinburgh breeze.  I now had less than four hours before Frank and three other members of the university faculty would be descending, expecting a home-cooked meal and polite chitchat.  I was in no position to offer either.

In a last-ditch effort to salvage the evening, I typed “sophisticated home catering in Edinburgh” and started dialing.  The first four numbers yielded either an answering machine or the news (unsurprising) that at least two days’ advanced notice were required to book their services.  Nearly resigned to ordering in Italian and facing Frank’s wrath, a woman’s voice with a thick Scottish brogue picked up at the fifth business I called.

“Ye’ve reached Ginger Snap, this is Jenny speaking.  How may I help ye t’day?”

I poured out my tale of culinary woe, laying it on a bit thick, but I was truly desperate by this point.

“Aye, we’ve a chef available this afternoon.  What sort of menu were ye planning?” she asked.

“Really?  Oh my god, you’re a lifesaver!”

I gave Jenny the number of guests and a broad idea of what I’d hoped to serve, although I was in no position to be choosy.

“Never ye fear, Ms. Beauchamp.  We’ll pick up the necessary items and our chef will be at yer flat by four.  Tha’ should leave jus’ enough time tae have everything ready fer six.”

Thanking her profusely and not even inquiring about the charge, I stood triumphant in the middle of my immaculate yet useless kitchen.  Why hadn’t I thought of this sooner?

***

The buzzer rang as I was re-arranging the decorative objects atop our sideboard.  I was aiming for the artless sophistication featured in Frank’s favourite design magazines, but instead I lined up each item in order of descending size, or grouped them by historical era.  A second buzz had me trotting to the intercom where a male voice crackled.

“This is James Fraser o’ Ginger Snap Catering.  Can ye let me in?”

I stuck my head into the hallway to find four organic cotton tote bags bursting with produce at my doorstep.  Footsteps pounded down the stairs, where I assumed the chef had retreated to collect more supplies.  I brought the first load into the kitchen where I began to unpack foodstuffs the likes of which I’d never seen.  Not knowing what else to do to be helpful, I began sorting them; green leafy things here, round crispy things there.

“Hallo?” the same voice called from where I’d left the door ajar.  Wiping my hands nervously against my slacks, I went to greet him.

Standing in the doorframe, almost filling it with his immense size, was a young man who seemed more suited to a stag hunt or a rugby pitch than haute cuisine.  He had loose tawny curls, two days’ worth of stubble and wore a faded grey henley, dark wash jeans that clung to his muscular legs and utilitarian workman’s boots.

“Claire Beauchamp?” he interrupted my visual inventory.

“Hmm? Oh, yes.  Sorry.  Pleased to meet you.”

Something funny happened when our hands met in a firm shake.  A tachycardic blip, my internal medicine professor would have called it.  There was no time to analyze this response, however, as he was already on the move.

“James Fraser, at yer service.  I’d normally spend more time getting to know ye and yer style of entertaining, but we’re short on time, so let’s get straight to it, aye?”

I gave the chef a hasty tour of our kitchen, stumbling over the names of various implements and opening the wrong cupboard when looking for my saucepans.  I blushed as he raised an expressive eyebrow, but shook it off.  I was paying for his cooking proficiency, not his opinion on my lack of domestic competence.

“I ken ye spoke tae Jenny about yer menu, but I took a few liberties at the market, based on what looked freshest.  I recommend starting with a simple salad o’ nettle and radish, garnished with a wee round of goat cheese and rye crumbs.  Loin o’ lamb with new potatoes and pancetta fer yer main.  An’ a simple rhubarb custard fer dessert.  There’s none with food allergies, aye?”

“Aye,” I replied, then corrected “umm, no, rather,” at his concerned look.  “Are you sure you can manage all that in only,” I glanced at my wristwatch “ninety minutes?   It seems like an awful lot of work.”

“Och, tis no’ much.  Lamb cooks swiftly, ye ken.  Tis why I choose it over pork or poultry.”

My saviour rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, preparing to wash his hands and get down to work.  There was probably something else I should be doing elsewhere in the flat to prepare, but I didn’t want to appear completely useless to this unflappable man.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

He looked dubious and seemed prepared to politely decline, but then his expression shifted.

“Aye.  Ye can wash the tatties an’ chop the rhubarb while I dress the lamb, if ye dinna mind,” he suggested.

“Scrubbing in and wielding a knife happen to be two of the only transferrable job skills I bring to cooking,” I joked, taking my turn in front of the massive Belfast sink.

He emitted a low Scottish grunt of amusement before we each settled into companionable silence, focusing on our respective duties.  I glanced over at him surreptitiously, envying the ease with which he moved from task to task, lean and nimble hands working alchemy where I only succeeded in producing dross.

“Ye’re a doctor, then?” he asked after my chopped rhubarb had been set on the stovetop to stew and the lamb was marinating in a bath of lemon and fresh herbs.

“Umm, well, I was.  My partner and I moved here from Boston, where I trained as a surgeon.  I haven’t yet obtained my license to practice here in the UK, so I’m afraid I’m just a culinary liability for the moment.”

It was a current source of strife in my relationship with Frank.  He liked the idea of me keeping house, entertaining and eventually settling down to raise a family.  I chaffed at this unfamiliar routine.  But until I passed my licensing exams, it was rather a moot point.

“I’m sure ye’re far more than that,” he replied solemnly, before breaking into a sneaky grin.  “I’ve ne’er seen stalks of rhubarb cut quite sae... uniform.  Ye’d have a fine career in quality control, if ye wished.”

I faked throwing a dish towel at him while we both laughed.

“What about you, Mr. Fraser?  How did you get into the catering business?”  It wasn’t polite conversation.  I was really quite curious to know more about him.

“I’ll tell ye, but only if ye call me Jamie.”  At my nod, he continued, “twas my Mam.  She was always a great cook, but then my Da passed suddenly and she with three bairns under the age of ten tae raise. She needed tae work.  We moved tae Edinburgh an’ she laboured day and night tae save enough tae start her own catering business.  Since I was a lad, when I wasna in school I was in her kitchen, watching and learning all the while.”

His striking face took on a faraway expression, and I knew he was remembering those days with a mixture of wistfulness and love.  I recognized the look from my own reflection, when I thought about my dead parents.  Without realizing it, I lay my palm over his forearm where it had stilled above my butcher’s block.  His eyes were the same hue as midsummer blueberries, and they regarded me with silent inquiry.

A timer made us both jump, my hand falling to my side.  What was I thinking, touching this stranger who I was paying to cook dinner for my boyfriend’s guests?  I really needed to find a hobby, so my mind didn’t latch onto any feeble excuse for stimulation.

Brushing my hands against my thighs, I quickly excused myself and left to get properly dressed for dinner.  Only thirty minutes remained before Frank and his colleagues were due to arrive.  

I spent more time than was strictly necessary away from the kitchen, afraid I’d made things awkward with Jamie.  By the time I finally returned, he was plating the lamb and putting the custard in the refrigerator to set.  I tried to think of something to say that would re-establish the fluent rapport from earlier on.

“I’ve opened the wine tae let it breathe,” Jamie said without looking at me.  I wished there was a similar process for blundering Englishwomen.

“Jamie, I really don’t know how to...”

The sound of the front door opening interrupted me and Frank’s nasal voice rang out from the entryway.

“Claire, we’re here!”

“Fuck!” I exclaimed.  Jamie tipped his head sideways in question.  “I never had time to explain to my partner that I hired your services.  That’s the dean of his faculty out there, and...”  I broke off, looking frantically around the room as though a trap door would suddenly materialize.  Quick on his feet, Jamie understood the situation immediately.   The kitchen windows were still open after my earlier catastrophe.  With surprising grace for one so large, he slid through the opening and onto the fire escape.  

“Bon appetit, Claire Beauchamp,” the ginger chef wished from outside, a mischievous smirk lighting his whole countenance.

I stood, mouth open in shock, as he gave an abbreviated bow before scampering down the metal ladder just as Frank entered the kitchen behind me.

“This smells delicious, darling.  We really are going to make a chef out of you yet.”

[crankynewt]

Chapter Two - Letting You Go

Another Love Series Masterlist

Pairing: Regulus Black x Fem!Reader, Remus Lupin x Fem!Reader

Song: Think of You - Christina Grimmie

Warnings: Fluff, angst, (past) major character death, a very altered timeline, and Snape being Snape (frightens all ;))!

Word Count:  t o o  l o n g

Masterlist

Author’s Note: Y’all asked so I delivered (instead of doing my uni classes lol)! This ones a lot longer than the first chapter cause I got a little too carried away writing it, so grab a snack and enjoy! Parts of this chapter were inspired by Think of You by Christina Grimmie, who was tragically killed about five years ago, but I highly recommend listening to her music as she truly had a voice like no other.

Had you told yourself fifteen years ago at your graduation that you would eventually return to Hogwarts as a professor, you would have laughed in your face. Don’t get me wrong, you adored your time at the school, but you could never see yourself leaving Regulus and the family you’d hoped to start one day for nine months at a time. You thought you had your life figured out on the train ride home following your seventh year, but that all fell apart within twelve months. And then it did again a year later.

Now you were gazing upon the Great Hall once more, this time alongside your former professors as not teachers but colleagues. The towering stone walls of the castle brought back more memories than you would like to admit, especially not to Remus. This is not the result of any lack of love towards your husband, but you don’t think he would necessarily approve of what you and your late then-boyfriend got up to. Holding Regulus as sobs wracked through his body in the early hours of the morning after he returned from doing unspeakable things with his fellow Death Eaters had become your typical Friday night routine. But now that burden no longer sat upon your shoulders, and hopefully the commencing year wouldn’t be quite so stressful. Grading and rowdy students you could handle; another war, not so much. 

Sitting with Remus on your left and Professor McGon- Minerva, on your right, the beginning of the feast was nothing short of delightful.

“That one’s got to be a Gryffindor, he looks overly sure of himself!” You whispered to you husband, sure to keep your voice down so your colleagues could not hear your guesses as to where each of the first years would be sorted.

“What- no, Gryffindors are brave, not cocky! And besides, he’s clearly a Slytherin, they’re the overly-confident ones.” He replied, defensive of his own house. And, unfortunately for you, he was right, shooting you a smug smirk when the sorting hat roared Slytherin across the hall.

“See, cocky!” You pointed at him before taking a sip of the amber liquid in your goblet and focusing your attention towards your plate. What you didn’t see was the look of utter adoration that he focused on you, as if he was still in awe that you were by his side let alone married to him.

McGonagall couldn’t help but smile at both the childish-antics of the two newest professors but also the connection the two of you clearly shared. She remembered worrying about the both of you following the news of the youngest Black brother’s demise and downfall of the Marauders, however, she found her concerns eased seeing the solace the two of you found in each other.

“It’s Teddy’s turn!” He nudged your side, bringing you attention back to your youngest son who timidly made his way up the stone steps onto the stage at the front of the hall. He looked to Remus and yourself for reassurance, finding comfort in the slight nod his father gave to him and the look of pride in both sets of eyes. Rather than guessing his placement, the two of you sat in silent anticipation as you strained to hear what the hat was saying.

“Ah, a Lupin! I haven’t seen one of you since your father was here.” The enchanted garment began. “You certainly hold his courage and intelligence, yet I see a hint of something else in there - it must be your mother! I remember sorting her as well, she could have gone into any of the houses, and I think I sense her determination and kindness in you. Are you going to follow in your father’s footsteps and be daring in Gryffindor? Or will you take after your siblings and find greatness in Slytherin? Or, yes, that’s it. You belong in… Hufflepuff!”

Remus and yourself felt pride rise in you as you clapped harder than ever before. In the audience, you saw Archie and Cassie rise from their seats as they applauded as well, proud that their little brother had finally made it to Hogwarts regardless of what house he was in. 

The rest of the ceremony went by in a blur, Dumbledore introducing Remus and yourself to the school as professors Lupin and Y/L/N. Not only did you and your husband intend to keep your marriage a secret to the students, but you agreed with the headmaster that hiring a Black to the staff would not sit well with parents following Sirius’ recent escape from Azkaban. Students would eventually realize that Remus and Teddy were related, but Archie and Cassie were a little reluctant to reveal that their parents would be teachers in fear of the inevitable teasing from their peers. But for now, you would all keep this secret close to your chest.

Keeping an eye on your children throughout the rest of the feast, you were pleased to see both Teddy and Cassie cheerily conversing with a number of their peers whilst they ate. What was startling, however, was how you never saw Archie speak to anyone other than the occasional comment in his twin’s ear. His face held Regulus’ signature look of bore with a hint of irritation, a far cry from the boy that you typically saw at home. You’d had to do a double take, not seeing your son but a vision of Regulus from years ago. 

On the other side of the great hall you saw another child who looked the spitting image of their parents - Harry Potter. The boy was conversing with a ginger boy, probably a Weasley, and a girl you didn’t recognize. Everything down to his demeanour screamed ‘I’m James Potter’s son’ with the exception of his eyes - those were all Lily. 

Tears formed in the corner of your own eyes as you thought about your lost love and friends, for it was almost as if many of you had been reunited in the Great Hall once more. Placing a hand upon your forehead to shield your eyes from wandering glances and placing your weight upon your elbow, you leaned on the table as if you were only extremely focused on your meal. Noticing this, Remus wished he could take you into his arms as he was feeling a similar gloom, but the hundreds of people around him prevented the man from holding you close. For now, a comforting hand on your knee underneath the table would have to suffice. 

The rest of the evening was uneventful, and by the next morning you in such a rush to get to your first class that you were too distracted to think of anything else. Glancing down at your attendance sheet, your first class of the day was third-year Gryffindors and Slytherins just before lunch, and you searched for familiar names on the list. Both Archie and Cassie’s names were at the top of the sheet, and you were thankful that you would be starting each day with two-thirds of your children. Malfoy was not too far below it, and a physical groan left your lips. Of course Lucius’ son would be in your class, he’s probably just as delightful as his father. Even further down was Potter, and you quietly began to devise a plan that could hopefully resolve at least one of your problems. 

Meanwhile, three Gryffindors made their way down the halls of the school towards their third class of the day. They were still in awe of Professor Lupin’s second period Defence Against the Dark Arts class as it seemed they would finally have a decent teacher in the subject.

“Do you know anything about the new astrology professor, Hermione?” Ron asked, clearly concerned about the coming period. Saying that this subject wasn’t the youngest Weasley boy’s strong suit was an understatement.

“Professor Y/L/N? I don’t know, but it sure looked like Professor Lupin liked her last night.” The girl began, the stack of books in her arms so tall that she could barely see where she was going over it. “I’m just excited to finally have another female professor!”

“Yeah, and she seemed pretty young, so let’s hope that means she’s more fun!” Harry said. “If Lupin’s friends with her, how bad can she be?”

“Yeah, do you think they’re, you know…” Ron said, trailing off unable to finish his sentence as he made an odd movement with his hands.

“What, if they’re together?!” Hermione exclaimed. “Seriously Ronald! Men and women can be friends with each other and not be in love! And besides, Lupin has a son in first year who would have probably mentioned if his mother was teaching here as well.”

The boys agreed with their friend as they approached the classroom, Harry stopping in his tracks as he noticed the eldest of the Black children leaning against the wall beside the door a couple feet away from other third-years waiting for class to begin. Noticing Harry’s hesitation, Ron and Hermione turned back to look at where their friend had stopped. Motioning for them to come back, he eventually dragged them to the wall before whispering.

“Do either of you know how Arcturus is related to Sirius… They’re both Blacks.” Harry began, warily glancing towards the boy who was too absorbed into his book to notice them staring at him. 

“No… But Harry, you don’t honestly believe that Arcturus would help him get into the school, do you?” Hermione asked incredulously. As much as she didn’t want to believe that one of her classmates was plotting to help a madman set on killing one of her best friends, stranger things had happened.

“I mean, who knows?! Have you ever seen either of the Black twins with their father? That could be Sirius, for all we know!” Ron exclaimed. This time when the three students glanced towards the boy, he met their eyes with his own cold, green orbs.

Before anyone could react, their attention switched to the opening door where their newest professor stood with bright eyes and a warm smile.

“Well c’mon in, guys!” You beckoned as the children began filing into the classroom, both Archie and Cassie giving you small smiles as they made their way in. Before long, all your students had settled into their seats and your lesson could finally begin.

“I should probably start by introducing myself as I am a new face to most of you, my name is Professor Y/L/N and I am the new astrology professor here at Hogwarts.” You began, scanning the many small faces staring at you. “I was a student here not too long ago myself, so not only am I very excited to be back but I also know exactly how you guys are feeling. I’ll try to keep that in mind in my lessons so that we can all have a fun semester, yeah? If you guys have any questions real quick before we start, feel free to ask!” 

A few hands shot up within the crowd and you picked one, a timid looking Gryffindor in the very front row.

“Yes, Mr…?” You began, trailing off unsure as to the boy’s name.

“Longbottom, ma’am. Neville Longbottom.” He shakily replied, and you suddenly saw traces of Frank and Alice in him. The thought saddened you, remembering the disgust that filled you when Regulus explained what your  estranged cousin-in-law had done to the poor couple.

“Ah, yes! What is it, Mr.Longbottom?” You questioned, a smile working its way onto your lips as you encouraged the boy, hoping to give him a tad more confidence.

“I was just curious, cause you said you were a student here and I saw you two talking yesterday, how do you know Professor Lupin?” Neville said shakily. 

“Uhm, I had meant questions about the course rather than about me…” You trailed off, hoping that the anxiousness filling you at your secret getting out would not show. You could see Archie and Cassie stifling their own giggles at the question, finding the speculation of your relationship with their adoptive father very amusing.

“It’s just cause some of the students have bets goin’ as to whether or not you guys are together. Like, in love, together.” Neville tried to explain, earning himself sharp glances and scoffs from the rest of the class.

“Professor Lupin and I were friends when we were both students here, that’s all. Strictly platonic friends.” You explained, feeling your face slightly flushing in embarrassment at the inquiry. “Now then, let’s begin!”

The rest of the class went by smoothly, no more incidents of any of your secrets being exposed as you went through your introduction lesson. As you concluded your lecture, you decided it was time to introduce the major project for the course.

“Now, I will be introducing your major project for the year and be giving you your partners.” You explained, grabbing the list of pairs you had created from your desk. “I’ve assigned both you and another student a constellation that the two of you will be compiling research on in order to ‘teach’ it to the class at the end of the year. You guys all good so far?”

“Uhm, Professor?” A hand raised accompanied by a voice in the back of the classroom.

“Yes, Mr. Weasley?’ You replied, the red hair being a dead giveaway as to the boy’s identity.

“How come we don’t get to choose our own partners?” The ginger-haired boy questioned, glancing towards the curly-haired girl beside him who was shooting him a warning glance.

“Good question! I have decided that you will be paired with one of your peers from the other house.” You said matter-of-factly, as if your words hadn’t just scandalized your students. A collection of gasps and protests arose, even from your own children, Cassie’s jaw dropping as Archie hid his head in his arms and laid upon the desk in exasperation.

One sharp clap from you was enough to regain their attention, the rowdier members of the group sunk into their seats in fear of the possible removal of house points before the first half of their day was even over.

“Now I know this is upsetting to many of you, especially considering your two houses’ complicated past, but your cooperation with each other will be a part of your grade in the assignment. Sometimes opposites are the best pairings.” You said. “Now, would you like to hear who you’ll be working with?”

A collection of nods was all it took before you began listing the combinations. 

“Seamus Finnegan and Pansy Parkinson for Gemini, Neville Longbottom and Blaise Zabini for Taurus…” You began, listing off the partnerships before you reached your final three. “Ronald Weasley and Cassiopeia Black for Canis Major, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy for Orion, and lastly, Harry Potter and Arcturus Black for Leo.”

The clock began ringing, signalling the end of class and beginning of the lunch period.

“There’s no homework for today, so enjoy it while you can and have a nice lunch everyone!” You dismissed your students, not giving them a second glance before you made your way through the door of your office at the back of the room and began going through a stack of papers. You hadn’t noticed the boy who had remained in your class, shyly following you to the back before hesitantly knocking on the already open door.

“Mr. Potter! Please, sit!” You said when you saw the source of the faint noise, beckoning him towards one of the chairs in front of your desk. “What can I do for you?”

The boy hesitated for a moment as he took in your office, the sandy-coloured stone walls having been decorated in a style that seemed to perfectly fit the personality you’d projected to his classmates the past hour.

“I was just wondering if it would be possible to switch partners for the assignment…” He trailed off, unsure of how to continue. His words were a shock to you, and as a mother, you worked hard to fight the defensive instincts threatening to consume you.

“What’s wrong with Mr.Black?” You question in as calm a tone you could muster, however, you were sure Harry had picked up on the unsteadiness of your voice. The boy’s mouth opened and closed, seemingly searching for the right words to say, when his anxiety made you realize that this was not really about Archie at all.

“Is this about Sirius Black?” You said, your voice much softer this time. Your suspicions were concerned when Harry began furiously nodding, clearly distressed at the mere mention of the man.

“Ah...” You replied, unsure of what exactly to do about the boy’s anxiety, when you realized that the truth may be the best solution. You stood and turned to one of the tables behind you and began searching through one of the drawers.“Harry… What do you know about the House of Black?”

“Uhm, not much?” Harry answered, clearly confused as to your response.

You eventually turned to face him again, this time with a box in hand. Although smaller in size, the black box was ornamentally covered in green and gold details. You sat back down across from the boy, placing the box in front of you and ignoring it for the time being. 

“The Noble House of Black was a part of the Sacred 28 wizarding families and were a long line of Slytherin blood-purists. Orion Black was the patriarch of the house and, along with his wife Walburga, had two sons - Sirius and Regulus. Regulus is Arcturus and Cassiopeia’s father - have you heard of that name before?” Harry shook his head no, and that was all you needed to continue. “Regulus was two years younger than Sirius, and the pair were very close throughout childhood. However, when Sirius attended Hogwarts and was sorted into Gryffindor rather than Slytherin, he soon began rebelling against his parents and their values. He criticized their purist prejudices and wanted nothing to do with his little brother when he was sorted into Slytherin. This hurt Regulus deeply and he began to resent his brother and, although he slowly started to agree with the criticisms Sirius had gotten disowned over, he felt as if he couldn’t betray his family. So as Sirius grew closer to your father, Reg-”

“Wait, how did he know my father?!” Harry questioned, desperate to understand how his parents fit into all of this.

“They were best friends, you didn’t know?” You replied as horror began washing over the boy’s face. “Harry, Sirius is your godfather. I know it’s probably shocking and scary now, but if you keep listening, I think everything will make a lot more sense and you’ll feel better.” The boy nodded as tears welled in the corners of his eyes.

“So, while Sirius and Regulus drifted apart, the younger brother was forced by his parents to join He Must Who Not Be Named as a death eater when he was only sixteen. Regulus quickly became his right-hand man, but something didn’t sit right with him. It was only after he fell in love that he began to realize that this was not the path he wanted in life. So while Regulus continued to attend Death Eater-meetings, he fed information to the girl who he would eventually marry who then relayed the intelligence to a group called the Order of the Phoenix. This included your parents, Sirius, Professor Lupin, the Weasleys, Dumbledore, me - people who were dedicated to stopping him.”

“So you knew him… Sirius Black?” Harry questioned, eyes still glassy as some tears had stained his cheeks. 

“Yes, Harry, I did…” You trailed off. “And if it’s any comfort, I don’t think he did it. The Sirius I knew wasn’t a madman, and although your other teachers would probably disagree with me, I really don’t think he’s out to get you.”

“What do you mean? Everybody keeps saying he’s looking for me!” Harry exclaimed, disbelieving the words leaving your mouth. “Even if he was innocent, doesn’t he blame my family for getting him locked up?”

“He is very likely looking for you, but not because he’s mad at you. Like I said, he was your godfather, and your father was like a brother to him. If anything, he’s looking for you because he believes you are each other’s only family left.”

“Why wouldn’t he go to his brother?” Harry inquired, slowly becoming curious about his relationship with Regulus.

“Because he figured out a way to stop Voldemort. Regulus discovered he’d made something called a horcrux, and that by destroying it, he could be killed.” You began, emotion beginning to build up in your throat, not having talked about losing your husband in quite some time. “Regulus found out where it was and set out to destroy it, but he died in the process. He left behind a wife who was pregnant with children he would never know he had: Arcturus and Cassiopeia. Regulus Black was a good man, Harry, a great one. The twins lost their father to the same man who killed yours, and I think you’re a lot more alike than you know.”

You finally opened the box in front of you and Harry watched you reach for a pile of pictures and began searching through them, finally finding the one you were looking for about six pictures in. You placed the extra pictures on your desk and handed one to Harry, and the contents of it made his eyes widen. 

The image was of two men and three toddlers, the caption reading ‘Uncle Padfoot and Uncle Moony with Harry, Archie, and Cassie - September 1981.’ The children were very happily playing, and Harry recognized one of the men as being Professor Lupin while the other was the face who he’d seen in every newspaper the past week - Sirius Black.

“We were… Friends?” Harry questioned, shocked at the revelation that the Slytherin boy had been his first friend during his infancy. You simply smiled and nodded, Harry eventually tore his gaze away from the card in his hands moving to one upon your desk. “Is that… Regulus Black?” 

Your eyes flickered to the picture he was talking about, only to meet one of Regulus from about six months before he died.

“Yeah, that’s him.” You said as a sad smile graced your lips. “Anyways, I’ve wasted enough of your lunch hour Harry, you should find your friends and eat something. You need to get some sugar into your stomach, so go grab some chocolate.”

The young boy stood and you began to walk him out of your classroom but just as he opened the door, he paused and turned around to face you.

“Professor, how did you know Regulus?” He said, yet something in his tone told you that he already knew.

“What do you mean, Harry? I told you, I worked for the Order.” You replied, even though you knew that showing him the pictures was a dead giveaway. But it was well worth it.

“You were married, weren’t you? You’re Arcturus and Cassiopeia’s mum?”

“Just don’t go telling the whole school,” you began. “I don’t think very many parents would approve of a Black teaching their children. It’ll be our little secret.” 

Harry nodded before running off to join his friends, and you left the classroom not long after. Walking through the halls, memories came back in flashes as the tears became harder and harder to fight. You thankfully held your composure until you arrived at the office door, tears beginning to fall as you began frantically knocking upon the rough wooden surface. 

When it eventually flung open to reveal your husband, his face immediately softened at your state as you rushed into his office room, Remus closing the door behind you. He opened his arms that you quickly flung yourself into, sobs wracking your body as he held you close. Remus didn’t ask what was wrong, he didn’t have to. He knew you hadn’t been back to the school since losing Regulus and, although he didn’t doubt your love for him, knew that there was the possibility of past emotions resurfacing and overwhelming you. He knew you too well.

As you calmed down in his arms, you couldn’t help but feel guilty for crying over your past love. Shouldn’t you have moved on? You had this wonderful man and a beautiful family now, that should be enough for you. But Hogwarts was where your love story with Regulus began, you wished on these stars, they were yours, and the halls would always bring back memories of him. You might have let him go, but at least for the next little while, he would consume your thoughts at the school.

The next few months progressed with little incident, and it became increasingly easier to control the strong emotions that had overtook you your first day. You watched Harry and Arcturus slowly become friends, and you watched as your son became the happy boy Remus and yourself had raised. While the uneventful year was a welcome tranquility, that peace came to an end when your husband came bursting into your quarters one evening.

“Honey, what’re you doing? Isn’t it-”

“Peter is alive! We have to go now!” He exclaimed, grabbing your wrist and dragging you through the dark halls of the castle and towards the shrieking shack.

While you were running, Harry, Hermione, and Archie approached a trembling Ron in the rotting house. 

“Harry! It’s a trap! He’s the dog, he’s an animagus!” Ron exclaimed, pointing behind the trio. Turning around, they watched what was left of the door creak open to reveal the fugitive the entire wizarding world was searching for. Although Harry remembered your words, he couldn’t help but feel afraid as a pair of rabid eyes stared back at him.

“If you’re going to kill Harry, you’re going to have to kill us too!” Hermione shouted, jumping in front of Harry as Arcturus followed suit, pointing his wand at his estranged uncle.

“Only one will die tonight!” Sirius remarked, slowly walking towards the children. He hadn’t paid much attention to the boy standing in front of Harry but as he approached, he was shocked to see his dead brother protecting his godson. He didn’t have time to think, though, as Harry quickly shouted something he only heard the end of before wrestling him to the ground. Raising his wand, Sirius let out a sickening laugh.

“Are you going to kill me Harry?”

Nobody had time to respond as the doors burst open, Remus shouting expelliarmus as Harry’s wand went flying across the room. You followed closely behind him, yet stood in the doorway just out of your brother in-law’s sight. Harry stared at Lupin and you, his breathing heavy as your husband tilted his head quickly, and that was all the boy needed to run back towards his friends. You raised your wand as well, approaching your husband’s side as you stood slightly behind him.

“Well, well, Sirius, looking rather ragged, aren’t we?” Your husband began, continuing to approach his former friend. “Finally the flesh reflects the madness within.”

“Well you’d know all about the madness within, wouldn’t you Remus?” Sirius retorted, looking between you and your husband as he took in just how much the two of you have changed.

The comment brought a small smile to your face, one that eventually grew bigger as you dropped your arm to your side, Remus following suit. You both reached out your hands and helped Sirius to his feet, him taking you into a bone-crushing hug.

“I missed you, sister.” He breathed into your hair, you mumbling how you missed him as well only loud enough for the two men to hear.

“Mum, what’re you doing?!” Archie exclaimed from the other side of the room, clearly taken aback by you embracing the man who’d just threatened to kill them. All three of you look over to a bewildered Archie, you dropping one of your arms from Sirius while the other stayed around his middle.

“Is that Archie?” He asked, glancing between Remus and yourself, the pair of you nodding. Sirius took in the sight of his nephew, who he earlier had believed to be his reanimated brother, before turning his attention back to his dearest friend who embraced him.

“I found him,” Sirius gasped between laughs.

“I know,” Remus soothed.

“It’s him!”

“I understand.”

“Let’s kill him!”

“No!” Hermione interrupted, shouting at the group of adults. “I trusted you! And all this time… You’ve been his friends!”

She paused to catch her breath and regain her composure before continuing her rant.

“He’s a werewolf! That’s why he’s been missing classes.” Your body stiffened as your husbands secret was exposed to Harry and Ron, and you saw Archie suffer from the same reaction. Of course he knew of what happened to his father every full moon, however he also knew the discrimination that accompanies it. Remus’ eyes darkened as he began to approach the girl.

“How long have you known?” He spoke with a demeanor that was so unlike the kind and gentle man you had fallen in love with, sending chills down your spine.

“Since Professor Snape set the essay.”

“Well well well, Hermione, you really are the brightest witch of your age I’ve ever met.” Remus said as Sirius grew impatient.

“Enough talk, Remus! Come on, let’s kill him!” Sirius shouted as he began pacing.

“Wait!” You warned, but that only angered him.

“I did my waiting!” He shouted. “Twelve years of it! In Azkaban!”

Remus you glanced at each other before looking towards a petrified Harry, clearly weighing your options as your husband began fiddling with the strange wand in his hands. Looking towards the floor, Remus hesitated before handing Sirius’ wand back to him.

“Very well…”

“Dad! How could you?!” Archie yelled from across the room, too upset with his parents’ actions to care about keeping their secret any longer. This came as a shock to both Sirius and the other children, their heads snapping towards your son as he raised his wand towards the man he’d considered to be his father. 

“Dad?!” Harry and Sirius exclaimed, almost comically in sync, as you put yourself between you son and your husband. You slowly grabbed the end of Archie’s wand and took it from his trembling hand, quickly wrapping your arms around the boy as you turned to face three shocked faces.

“We’re married, Sirius.” You explained, and Remus raised his left hand to show his friend the ring adorning his finger. Harry, Ron, and Hermione’s eyes flicked between you, your son, your husband, and your brother-in-law, at last putting your connection together as your betrayal stung them even deeper. Sirius’ face softened at the revelation, but Remus quickly picked up where they left off. 

“Kill him,” he began, “but wait one more minute. Harry has the right to know why.”

“I know why!” Harry shouted. “You betrayed my parents! You’re the reason they’re dead!”

“No, Harry, it wasn’t him. Somebody did betray your parents but it was somebody who, until quite recently, I believed to be dead!” Remus exclaimed, and you finally felt Archie begin to relax enough that you could let go of your hold on him. 

“Who was it then?!” Harry argued.

“Peter Pettigrew!” Sirius yelled matter-of-factly. “And he’s in this room! Right now! Come on, come on, Peter! Come out, come out and play!”

“Expelliarmus!” A new voice called, Snape having snuck up on the group and quickly disarmed Sirius as many horrified faces turned to look at him. You tightened your grip on your wand as you moved to stand in front of Archie protectively. “Ah… Vengeance is sweet. How I’d hoped I’d be the one to catch you.”

“Severus,” Remus moved towards his colleague before quickly flinching away as Snape moved his wand towards him.

“I told Dumbledore you were helping and old friend into the castle and now - here’s the proof!”

“Brilliant, Snape. Once again you’ve put your keen and penetrating mind to the task and as usual come to the wrong conclusion!” Sirius mocked. “Now if you’ll excuse us, Remus, (Y/N), and I have some unfinished business to attend to.”

Snape, having previously lowered his wand, quickly raised it again, this time right against Sirius’ neck. 

“Give me a reason. I beg you.”

“Severus, don’t be a fool.” You said, attempting to diffuse the situation.

“He can’t help it, it’s happened by now!” 

“Sirius be quiet!” Remus added.

“Go quiet yourself, Remus!” Your husband turned away and approached you, visibly annoyed at his friend’s sour attitude.

You stopped listening to their quarrel as you saw Harry reaching into Hermione’s pocket in the corner of your eye. Shifting your attention over to the teens, you saw him slowly pulling out her wand before you turned to Remus, who hadn’t noticed this subtle movement. Before long, Snape was knocked unconscious into the bed. 

In the following minutes, the truth about Peter Pettigrew was revealed as you led the quivering traitor alongside your family and students through the tunnel. 

“I must say,” Sirius began, glancing between you and Remus as he helped Harry carry an injured Ron. “I never expected the two of you winding up together. How long?”

“We’ve been married for ten years.” Remus replied with a shy smile, hoping his friend would approve of the match given that you are still Sirius’ brother’s widow. 

“You still have to see Cassie, and you can meet Teddy! He’s our youngest, this was his first year here and he was sorted into Hufflepuff!” You explained, excitement lacing every word as you held your husband’s hand. To your students, this talk of a long-term relationship and PDA was a shock, as they were unaware of just how close the two of you really were. Sure, they’d had suspicions, but your talk with Harry led them to believe that you were still grieving Regulus.

Upon exiting the willow, Sirius finally had the opportunity to pull Archie aside for a moment, just a few feet away from the others.

“You look just like him, you know…” He began, not knowing exactly what to say to his nephew. 

“I know.” Archie nodded, a sad smile forming as he looked towards his uncle.

“Y’know, I’d hated your father for years when your mother showed up at my door. I didn’t know just what he’d done until after he died, when she showed up at my door telling me what a hero he was.” Sirius recounted. “I felt awful, like he’d still be here if I’d just given him the chance. But then, y’know what she told me?” Archie shook his head. “She told me she was pregnant with you, well, you and your sister but we didn’t know that at the time, and that was when I knew. I promised myself that I would be there for you, that I would fill his shoes and protect you. And I did for a year, up until I was arrested, but you guys and Harry were all I thought about in that cell as I rotted. I’m sorry that I’ve failed you the past twelve years and although I’m so glad that Remus has become a father to you, I still want to be there for you. I want to be a part of your lives, whether it be every day or whenever you can spare a visit.”

“I’d like that too.” Archie simply stated, embracing his uncle as Harry began approaching them. He left the two of them to talk before gazing into the night sky. Admiring the moon as it began to move from behind the mountain, it took him a minute to fully register exactly what night it was. 

“Dad?!” Archie exclaimed, bringing all of your attention to the full moon in the sky as the inevitable began. 

Chaos ensued, a horror film of a night that you never want to experience again.

The following week, it was no surprise to Dumbledore when you and your husband resigned. Snivellus had let slip the truth about the two of you, him being a dangerous werewolf while yourself having aided the “madman” that was your brother-in-law, two things that don’t typically sit well with parents.

Packing up your office, Hermione made her way in, ginger cat in her arms as she watched you pile your belongings into boxes.

“Professor, what’re you doing?” She questioned, shocked to see you packing up your office. “Did Dumbledore fire you? He must know that-”

“No, no! Dumbledore has been nothing but supportive, but... He stuck his neck out hiring Remus and I, knowing who we are, and now that Snape has revealed the truth about us, it’ll be best for everyone if it looks like he let us go.” You explained, pausing your ministrations as you looked around at the now empty shelves.

“I’m sorry…” She began, unsure of what else there was to say. “I’m sorry for everything that happened that night, I feel as though we just made a mess of everything. Pettigrew escaped and now you and Professor Lupin are leaving…”

“Hermione, now you listen to me.” You sat her down in a chair and crouched before her. “Two innocent lives were saved because of you and Harry. Now that is something amazing, and something I would be willing to lose my job for all over again.” You gave her a smile, one that quickly became a tight-lipped wince as the cat on her lap began licking your face. 

“Crookshanks!” She exclaimed while pulling the feline away from you, horrified at his actions.

“It’s fine, Hermione. He’s quite a cute cat.” You gave her a wide smile as you took Crookshanks from her arms and held him close to your chest. He gazed at you with an almost human-like intelligence upon his face, before shutting his eyes as he purred at your touch. “Is he part kneazle?”

“Yes, actually.” She began. “The man at the Menagerie said it was why he’d been there for so long. The kneazle part made him look a little odd, but I think it’s what makes him handsome.” 

You handed the feline back to her, glancing at the clock upon the wall and realizing that you’d agreed to meet Remus at the entrance in five minutes. 

“Can you please do me one last favour, Hermione?” You asked, heading towards the only item left on your desk, a small black box. Opening it, you pulled the top picture out and extended your arm to hand the girl the image. “Could you please give this to Harry next time you see him? Remind him that his family will only ever be a letter away.”

She nodded as her eyes scanned the paper before her, seeing that it was a picture of a younger Remus and Sirius playing with Harry, Archie, and Cassie while they were all still babies. She smiled, finding solace the fact that Harry’s family life will be getting better than how the Dursley’s have treated him the past twelve years. An orange paw upon the paper tore her attention away from the image, Crookshanks looking to be the center of attention once again.

“Well then,” you gathered all your possessions into one trunk with a final flick of your wand. “I must be off, but I’m sure I’ll be seeing you again very soon.” You turned to walk away, leaving your classroom far behind you as you eventually met up with your husband at the front of the school.

“Have you called the meeting yet?” You questioned, quiet enough so only Remus could hear.

“Yes, my dear. They should all be waiting at home when we get back to London.” He replied.

“Excellent.” You commented as you walked hand-in-hand away from the castle as you made your way back to 12 Grimmauld Place, the Black family slowly beginning to resurface in the both of your lives once more.

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[scripttorture]

Can a parent who is a torturer teach his child to become a torturer since childhood, but not teaching it as torture, but the techniques involved, and well, violence and abuse. Is it normal that the child is not being abused himself?? Or would such a parent torture their child if they wanted the child to grow up to become a torturer and take their place one day.

Torturers ‘teach’ on the job. I’m not sure if it would be possible for them to teach these techniques without exposing someone to violence.

 And even if it was that isn’t what they do.

 They bring the people they want to ‘teach’ into the cells with them. They have potential-torturers witnessing torture (and encourage them to participate) from the first day.

 And here’s the thing: this makes sense. It makes sense because torture is functionally simple and because it applies social pressure to the potential-torturer. It makes it harder for them to refuse to torture and implies that they will be at risk of violence if they do.

 The scenario you’re suggesting fundamentally misunderstands torture and torturers. You’re assuming that this stuff is more complex then it is and that torturers are more patient, thoughtful and restrained then they are.

 All of those are common misconceptions that feed into torture apologia.

 It’s OK to be wrong. The important thing now is the next decision you make; where you go from here.

 Child torturers are rare. And while I have heard of cases where children were abusers or torturers I’ve never heard of a case where a parent tried to encourage their biological child to become a torturer.

 There’s quite a lot to unpack and explain there so bear with me while I break this down.

 Child torturers are rare because generally children are not put in positions of authority, and the torturer being in a position of authority is an essential part of the legal definition of torture. Children are not (usually) allowed to become police officers, soldiers, doctors, civil servants, teachers or any of the other professions torturers are drawn from.

 There are ethical reasons for that but there are also practical reasons for it. Children do not make good soldiers. They are typically weaker then adults, have more complex nutritional needs, have shorter attention spans, cope less well with sleep deprivation and are not as good at performing repetitive tasks without fault.

 They are harder to train as soldiers, less physically able to act as soldiers and harder to keep at a base standard of health in a warzone.

 I am not saying children are incapable of torture: I am saying that they are not given the opportunity.

 The cases that I’m aware of involving child torturers are uniformly child soldiers. Usually those children are kidnapped and enslaved. They are not the biological (or adopted) children of the other torturers.

 Sometimes these children are deliberately drawn from despised minority groups. For instance the Daesh use of kidnapped Yezidi boys on suicide missions was part of a wider campaign of genocide.

 Sometimes these children are encouraged to take part in torture as part of strategy to make these children feel like they can’t return home. They’re made to participate in violent criminal acts then told that they will never be forgiven by their society. This is part of how these groups coerce cooperation from their victims.

 So child torturers are rare and the children who are usually in a position where they could be classed as torturers are generally not valued by the groups using them.

 This makes me think that a valued, blood-related child would be less likely to be used as a torturer.

 There’s also the question of why a torturer would want their child to follow in their footsteps.

 Because torturers generally do not enjoy what they do. They report finding the experience distressing and exhausting.

 Some of them frame it as ‘necessary’ and genuinely seem to believe they were doing something helpful. (This is not true, torture does not work). Some of them frame it as a punishment their victims ‘deserved’. Some of them don’t really seem to have much justification at all, everyone else was doing it so they did too.

 But as a general rule torturers don’t report having a positive view of their own job. The typical relationship is more complex.

 They have an inflated sense of their own importance and the importance of their job. They often depict themselves as the ‘only ones doing the real work’ and talk/act as though they’re the most important part of the organisation they’re in.

 But they also report feeling consistently under-valued and overlooked by their organisations. They consistently describe a hugely stressful, pressurised working environment and an atmosphere of continued, unhealthy competition with everyone else.

 Torturers do not take enjoyment in their work. They report finding it physically exhausting, extremely stressful and the development of mental health problems associated with torture.

 They often feel as though they’re at risk of violence from their colleagues and superiors. And they’re not wrong. Looking over modern historical records of regimes like Soviet Russia show that torturers were regularly purged by the state. And the fracturing effect they have on organisations is sometimes enough for them to be attacked by other members of their organisation.

 When this doesn’t happen they burn out. They reach a point where their mental and physical health problems become so severe they can’t even pretend to do the job they were hired for. And then they’re dropped, or ‘encouraged’ to quit.

 They struggle to find any employment. Because by that point they typically have really severe mental illnesses and no useful skills. Plus the general aura of asshole that comes with an inflated sense of self importance and a tendency to lash out at anyone who doesn’t feed that ego. A lot of them end up dependant on other people.

 Basically- I don’t think any torturer would want someone they value to become a torturer.

 Even when torturers see their ‘work’ as essential they don’t see it as a good job. They’re acutely aware of the dangers and the toll it takes on them.

 If this character actually cares for their child at all they’d probably discourage them from being a torturer.

 I think that leaves two broad questions: ‘Do torturers abuse their families?’ and ‘Are torturers typically torture survivors themselves?’

 And neither of those questions have clear answers because of the lack of research on torturers.

 There are reports of torturers who abused their families. But there are so few reports by mental health professionals on torturers that it really is impossible to say if this is a trend. And there are also reports of torturers who never abused their families. Familial abuse by torturers could be in line with familial abuse in the general population.

 There is no evidence to suggest torturers are any more or less likely to abuse their families then anyone else.

 The second question is more complicated because of the assumptions underlying it: people who ask this generally seem to assume that someone who is tortured goes on to become a torturer and…. That isn’t exactly what we see these people reporting.

 Yes some torturers are also torture survivors. Because a lot of them are soldiers and sometimes captured soldiers are tortured.

The pattern I tend to see reported (this is anecdotal because of the lack of research on torturers-) is torturers getting captured after they’ve been torturers for a while. Either by their own side or an opposing side in the context of a conflict. Then they’re tortured.

 Or their area is invaded by an opposing side, they flee the conflict and get targeted with… exactly the same stuff everyone else fleeing the same situation is targeted with.

 The child soldiers I described earlier in the ask seem to be particularly vulnerable to torture and other ill treatment.

 We don’t have a way to measure how many torturers have also been tortured. By which I mean, no one has really done enough research to answer that question.

 The vast majority of torture survivors will never go on to become torturers, because they won’t be put in a position of authority. Mentally ill people are systematically barred from positions of authority in most places. And torture survivors seem to be particularly vulnerable to unemployment.

 So I think torture survivors are unlikely to be put in a position where they could become torturers.

 But, yes torturers are sometimes put in a position where they might become torture victims. We don’t know how often this happens. My impression is that it’s no where near the majority, may be not even a particularly significant minority (though it seems to be more common in some specific areas/circumstances then others).

 Wrapping up: I don’t think it’s a good idea to have a torturer also be a torture survivor in this sort of narrative. I think that’s an incredibly complicated thing to try and handle and I don’t think you’ve got the knowledge base to do it justice yet. I also don’t think it adds anything to the characters as you’ve described them.

 There is no ‘safe’ way to expose someone to torture. Torturers do not try to protect the people they ‘train’, they throw them in at the deep end and encourage them to participate almost straight away.

 But torturers also don’t necessarily see their jobs as ‘good jobs’. They don’t describe it as a legacy they want to pass on.

 Why is it important that this child is actively taught? Could they be exposed to or witness torture in another context? Is it even important that the torturer is their parent? Using another influential adult character would allow the child to keep a more-or-less positive relationship with their parent. And it could make the conflict between child and parent about ‘You allowed this torturer access to me and they showed me awful, traumatising things’ rather then ‘You exposed me to traumatising things and you hurt me’.

 Does familial abuse add to this narrative? Because I’d argue that exposing a child to torture is abusive and it creates another layer of complexity. On top of torture, and the peculiar mindset of torturers, and the mental health problems torture causes in survivors, torturers and witnesses.

 Think about those questions. Go back to the sources page. Read O’Mara’s Why Torture Doesn’t Work and the appendices to Fanon’s The Wretched of the Earth. Read Alleg’s The Question.

 And consider whether these elements actually help you to tell the story.

Available on Wordpress.

Disclaimer

[xmxisxforxmaybe]

Elliot, Just a Tech

Summary: Plagued by not having Admin rights on your work computer, you contact the IT department expecting to talk to your usual guy. However, you are greeted by someone new.

A/N: Consider this post-show

WC: 2596

Warnings: None

You looked over the icons on your desktop for the eleventh time, dragging the old version of Adobe into the trash for the tenth time, and growling with frustration as the error message appeared for what felt like the hundredth time.

Please enter an Administrator’s Username and Password.

After the great email phishing scam the month prior, the IT department had been directed to revoke all employee’s Admin rights to their computers. It wasn’t your fault your colleagues were too dumb to realize that you should not click on email that has been flagged as spam, even if it is a version of your boss’s name: Mattthew Whitman has scheduled a meeting with you at 9 pm!

As if Matthew spelled with three ts wasn’t enough to deter someone, scheduling a meeting at 9 at night should have been, not to mention the exclamation point to top it all off—no one ever enthusiastically scheduled a meeting. Ever.

Alas, no less than 13 people had opened the email, severely compromising the integrity of the network.

You needed to get rid of the old version of Adobe in order for your network’s cloud to allow the download of the updated version, so you were left with no choice but to submit a ticket to the IT department.

You and Matt, no relation to Mattthew your boss, had had several Zoom sessions since the start of the quarantine, mostly thanks to your need to actually get some work done. With so many more people on your network, the IT department was doing the best it could to make sure everyone was achieving basic functionality.

Opening a new work order, you quickly filled in your information and snapped a screen shot of the error message. In less than a minute, you had an email inviting you to a Zoom session.

“Matt’s really on it today,” you said while opening the link and waiting for him to start the session.

You had just glanced away to check your To-Do list when someone opened the Zoom session and you paused, staring at the downturned face of someone who was definitely not Matt.

“Hi,” you greeted awkwardly.

“Hi,” he answered, still not looking into the camera.

“Where’s Matt?”

The stranger looked into the camera, clearly caught off-guard.

“Uh, he’s off today.”

“So they finally unchained him from his desk—good for him!”

The stranger’s eyes widened a little in amusement, but he didn’t smile which caused your grin to quickly fade.

“Are you . . .” the stranger trailed off as he glanced at his other desktop monitor. “Y/N?”

“I am. And you are?”

“Elliot.”

“Are you the new Supervisor they were hiring for last week?”

“Nope. Just a Tech.”

“All right. Well, hi, Elliot, just a Tech. I’m in dire need of installing an update, which I cannot do because my colleagues are dumbasses.”

This time Elliot did smile, and you found yourself reaching up to fix the wild bun on the top of your head, wishing you had actually taken some time out not to look like a troll who had crawled out from under its bridge.

“I see that you can’t install Adobe’s update without administrative permission.”

“Yup. That’s my issue, I think.”

“I want to try something first,” Elliot said, concentrating on the task at hand as he looked away from the camera and to his other monitor.

“Can you locate your system preferences? You can find it by clicking on the appl-“

“Done. What do you want me to go into?”

Elliot looked back into the camera, then gave you a series of steps which you quickly followed.

“I am only semi-illiterate when it comes to technology,” you said, trying again to get him to smile and this time it worked.

Elliot adjusted his headset and lowered his eyes as he grinned. “You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve had to explain over the past few days.”

“Oh, I would absolutely believe them. I’ve talked three people in my department off a ledge just by explaining the magical powers of “Command + Z.”

Elliot chuckled, and the sound of his laughter filtering through the mic on his headset made you want to stay on the call as long as you could stretch it out.

“It looks like the program is not responding. I’ll need to take remote control of your desktop.”

“Have at it.”

You watched as Elliot worked, waiting for your mouse to start moving across the screen, but nothing happened.

“Uh, do you have any error messages on your end?”

“Nope.”

“Let me try one more thing,” Elliot mumbled, his eyes narrowed in concentration.

You sat quietly, letting him work, which gave you an excuse to just look at him and the more you looked at him, the more attractive you realized he was.

Elliot had a stylish haircut, although it looked like his fade had grown in quite a bit thanks to the lockdown. Tufts of straight black hair stood up on either side of his headset and you wondered if they’d be stiff or soft to the touch. His eyes were large, clearly the most enticing of the features of his face, except for his angular jaw that made you softly smile in appreciation of its masculinity. Elliot may consider himself “just a Tech,” but he was a damn good looking one.

“Do you have a girlfriend?” you blurted out, forgetting all of your manners thanks to the lack of social interaction.

Elliot fumbled as he was typing and looked into the camera, his lips parted.

“Oh, lord. That came out . . . blunt. I asked because Matt’s been loving working from home. His wife just had a baby and even though he’s chained up in his home office at all hours of the day he still gets to spend time with the people he cares about. Which is what I was trying to ask you—if you were enjoying working from home.” You finished with an awkward laugh, and a barrage of mental curses to yourself.

Elliot’s lip turned up with a quirk. “My sister stops by to bring supplies, but I live alone.”

“Oh—well, that’s nice you have someone to interact with. I still see my sister, too.”

“I like this. Not having to interact with people.”

“The only downside is the verbal vomit you spew when talking to someone new because you no longer understand social protocol.”

Elliot laughed again, that same breathy little chuckle that upgraded from drawing your attention to making you shift in your chair.

“I’ve never been particularly adept at social protocol. Hence . . . just a Tech.”

You laughed and Elliot must have liked the sound because he stopped to watch you, his eyes flicking over your face through the camera.

“You need to update the Zoom app for me to take over your desktop. I don’t know why yours seems to have this glitch, but are you ready for the steps?”

You grabbed your pen and a fresh post-it. “Lay it on me, Tech.”

Elliot smirked, then listed the steps. “I’m going to close the call, but as soon as you’ve completed the steps, click on our Zoom link again.”

“Got it!”

Your eyes connected and lingered for just a moment before Elliot closed out the call.

You missed him immediately.

“Oh, Matt. If I had known Zoom calls could be like this, I’d have dumped you long ago.”

You shook your head to clear it and began to go through the steps Elliot had listed for you. You wanted to get this right to prove to him that you weren’t incompetent.

Having successfully, and quickly, completed all of the steps on your Post-it, you reinitiated the Zoom meeting.

“You’re quick.”

“I’m sure you’re much, much faster,” you said.

“I can only go as fast as the web connection, unfortunately,” Elliot replied, staring into his other monitor again.

“Let’s try this again—remember the steps to give me remote access?”

“I think so . . .” you said, trailing off as you began to click.

You paused, then your mouse began to move without you.

“Excellent job,” Elliot praised and you knew you wanted him to praise you again . . . preferably away from a computer, maybe in a bedroom—

“All right. So I need to delete, reinstall, and wait for an error message that’s been popping up making this a little harder for people to do themselves.”

You watched Elliot control your computer, and once he got to a point where the app was updating, he paused and turned back to the camera.

“About that girlfriend thing you asked me earlier. Are you seeing . . . anyone?”

“I was . . . about six months ago. By the time I was ready to get back on the horse, the plague struck.”

Elliot chuckled. “Not exactly the best time to start dating.”

“No,” you said softly laughing, too. “I agree with you, about the whole nice not seeing people thing, though. For me, it’s more about setting my own schedule. I get so much more done without constant interruptions just to chat.”

“Kinda like we are now?”

“Hey! We are waiting on a signal to go to space and come back. It’s only polite to give it some time so it doesn’t feel like it’s being watched—like a watched pot never boils kinda thing.”

Elliot smiled, his eyes meeting yours and lingering as you smiled back.

A new box popped up breaking your eye contact and Elliot went back to work.

“Fixed. You shouldn’t have to worry about the next update. We’ve been reporting this glitch regularly so the developers should have it fixed by then.”

“Thanks, Elliot. I really appreciate it.”

“It’s my job,” he said with a slight shrug.

“Well, enjoy the rest of your afternoon,” you said, wishing you had a reason to stay connected.

“Yeah.” Elliot replied, looking at you again with those hypnotic, grey-blue eyes. If they could impress you through a screen, imagine what they looked like in person. “You too.”

You smiled at each other and when neither of you closed the call, you both laughed, Elliot looking a little shy and you looking a little embarrassed.

“I’ll close it. Don’t forget to fill in your survey so big brother knows I did my job.”

“Five-star service, all the way!”

Elliot chuckled again, and you shivered this time, the sound of his voice working its way through your entire body, filling you with a pleasant warmth.

“Bye,” he said, tucking his bottom lip between his teeth as he ended the meeting.

When the session closed out, you began to think of ways to break your computer so you needed to talk to him again, but before you could pull a purposefully dumbass move like downloading a virus, a sticky note popped up on your desktop.

212 555 0179

Probably breaking work protocol, but text me sometime if you want.

~Elliot, just a Tech

“Oh my god!” you gasped, glancing up at your camera to make sure you really were disconnected, unable to shake that feeling like someone was watching you. You reached for your packet of stickers and placed a fresh one over the camera of your computer—better paranoid than sorry!

“Should I text him now? Is that desperate? Or is it mean to make him wait? Fuck, fuck, fuck,” you said, pacing around your small office space.

“Just a simple hello,” you decided. “First, gotta find my phone.”

After walking through your apartment, you found your phone in the kitchen, unsurprisingly because snacking had become your favorite hobby since the lockdown began. It was a blessing and curse to be able to eat whenever you wanted.

You took your cell back to your computer and smiled again at Elliot’s virtual Post-it note and typed in his number and contact information.

Hi, Elliot ☺️

Hi, Y/N. I hope your emoji means I didn’t creep you out

That’s what this one 😱 is for

Lol. Got it. I don’t really do the emoji thing. They kinda confuse me

Well then! Maybe that’s why we met? You know all the real techy stuff, and I know all the silly techy stuff. I can teach you to emoji like a boss 😎

Sunglasses = boss? Shades? Because bosses are shady?

🤣more like the shades mean you’re just too cool to care. Like a boss attitude. But actually 🤔that’s a really great analysis!

See? Confusing 👽

Confusing as in no one knows what’s really “out there” huh? Wow. I like your way of emojiying (new word, just go with it)

Lol really?

I do!

Can I ask you something?

Sure

Which emoji makes you think of me?

👀🦋💬🧸🧨 😰📱😃  

You stared at Elliot’s text, a goofy grin on your face as you tried to puzzle out his emoji story. The eyes, okay, but the rest was sort of a mystery.

Lol! I need to do this in pieces so you can tell me if I’m right or wrong

Ok

So, you saw me and thought I was nice? Pretty? Delicate?

Lol pretty

Ok. Thanks, btw. We talked and then, oh boy, this is tough. An exploding bear? Talking to me made you feel like you were going to die? This is not good.

🤣 Poor choice of the firecracker, clearly, but take them as two separate things. What do you associate with a teddy bear?

Um, childhood . . . safety? Protection?

Close! Warm, safe. You seem like a warm, safe person to talk to.

I am grinning like an idiot right now. You are so sweet. But on to the firecracker? Wait! Like sassy? Like I have a firecracker personality?

Yes! You’re funny in a forward, witty way. I guess the “She’s a real firecracker” thing might be a bit outdated.

I LOVE IT. I gotta keep going now. This part is easy, I think. Sooo even though you felt nervous, you took a chance and left me your cell, and now you know it was a good choice because you made me happy.

Almost—when you texted, it made ME happy. Hence 😃 and I have big eyes so I used the big eye happy face.

I.am.dying. That’s the cutest thing anyone has ever done over a text in the history of the world!

Lol. Is there a dramatic emoji because I don’t think anything I’ve ever done is that great.

This WAS great. I’m serious

Do you wanna maybe have dinner over Zoom? God how lame is that?

You respect the quarantine—not lame at all. I’d love to!

They let me unchain myself around 6. I’ll send you a link at 7?

Perfect! But what are we going to order? Shouldn’t we order from the same place to make it more authentic?

Do you like Chinese?

Who doesn’t?

You looked at the location Elliot sent and laughed with the irony that it was your favorite take-out spot.

How did you know that was my favorite take-out spot?

Lucky guess 🤷🏽‍♂️

Well, lucky Elliot who is just a Tech. I’ll “see” you at 7. If we order the same dinner, I’ll consider it a sign that we are meant to take over the world together by eliminating one dumbass’s access to a computer at a time 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️

Lol except that would leave me out of a job

We will find you something more meaningful, I promise

Make me a list 😃

You got it! Can’t wait for 7 ☺️

Me either

* * * * *

Tags: @ramimedley @clumsybookworm18 @r-ahh-mi @aboutthatmelancholystorm​ @alottanothing​ @sherlollydramoine​ @txmel​ @diasimar​ @hah0106​ @flipper-kisses​ @rami-malek-trash​ @ramisgirl512​ @dancing-disco-deacy​ @just-a-queen-bee​ @eightiesriot​

Maybe a Part II? 

[kewltie]

grumpy vet!katsuki is annoyed at animal lover!izuku who keeps bringing strays into his clinic because this isn't a fucking rescue but he never stop helping izuku care and find a home for every one of them. worst yet is that he can hear the voice of animals and they're like,,, pls mate with the cute human.

katsuki doesn't remember when it first started for him, but he'd always heard them. the animals are noisy bunch of fuckers with A WHOLE LOT OF OPINIONS and katsuki wouldn't say he love them but hearing their voice, knowing their pain and joy, he understands them better than he get humans. there isn't any pretense with the animals. they are what they are and they love, hate, and cry just as fiercely as any humans even though katsuki thinks they're simple creatures. he always been closer to the animals than other humans because they stay true to him. so yea he doesn't love animals but he finds himself relating to them more than his own species. it's not surprise that he became a vet because he get to work closely with the animals that kinda fuck up his life since he cant have any normalcy anymore so they're stuck with each other lol

izuku have always been fond of animals and they have always been super fond of him back. it's mutual love all around even though izuku def can't hear their voices but growing up izuku was heavily bullied and harassed and his only friends were stray dogs he met whenever he walk to/from school.  his bullies called him in mocking tone 'snow white' because the fact that izuku always attracting animals around him and whenever he go anywhere birds fly circle above him and animals have a habit of finding him. it's freaky. IZUKU WAS WEIRD so he finds comfort in animals rather than human because they don’t care or judge him. Animals can be simple like that.

while katsuki takes his strangeness and ability and turns it into a flourishing business because he's not going to let anything fuck him over; katsuki owns his power and isn't ashamed of it one bit. he just wish the animals talk less because they think they know BEST even more than him lol.  take for example his lack of love life because he's sooo busy at his private clinic and doesn't have time for others. as soon as he had graduated vet school, he poured his money and opened his own clinic because katsuki was never going to be alright working under someone and he want to do things his way.  now that his business is stable and he got several other vets (his friends from vet school) working with him, he has more free time but still finds himself working at the clinic on his day off because he's uh a bit of a workaholic?? also because he thinks human relationship is a complicated, annoying, and just UGH/o\.

his animals that AREN'T HIS PETS exactly but stay year round at the clinic because they're deemed unadoptable for normal shelters because of their special needs (i.e. blind, deaf, etc) so they constantly harassed him to find a 'proper mate' and produce 'offspring' already because he's wasting good sperm… lol  they legitly dont understand how a virile male like katsuki haven't found a good mate yet and katsuki REALLY REALLY would like them to stfu up with the nagging because he already got it from his friends and HIS PARENTS and now he's getting harassed at work by his own fucking animals.

his animals are actually a bird with one wing, a three legged dog, two cats (one blind and the other deaf). no matter what katsuki say, THEY'RE HIS PACK and they absolutely loves him. Some were surrendered by their owner because it was too much work taking care of a special need animal while his pack like the dog actually came from a fighting ring and got his leg broken by another. the two cats were from abusive households, and the bird was abandoned by her owner when she lost one of her wings. they're mix matched bunch of mistfists with nowhere else to go but katsuki took them in anyway. he said it's only UNTIL HE FIND THEM A NEW HOME, but they never leave him sobs. THEY LOVE THIS GRUMPY ASSHOLE. katsuki understands them and doesn't care if they're lil broken and damage and he's so, so good to them even though he's so MEAN ABOUT IT LOL.

so yea, they want more than anything for katsuki to be happy!!!!! for them that's mean finding a good mate and having babies because that is guaranteeing his future, but few humans can put up with their beloved katsuki,,, until izuku comes rolling into the clinic with a dog hit by a car of course.

izuku has no pet insurance and he doesn't even have any money to pay the pet fees because he's actually unemployed right now. he went through various jobs of all kind but because of his 'unique deposition' animals constantly flocked to him and made it chaotic when he's on the job. he was eventually was fire/asked to leave because it was inconvenience to them and though izuku finds it extremely hard to only last a month or two at his new work everytime, he never blame the animals for being the source of the problem because they ARE HIS HAPPINESS, HIS ENDLESS JOY.

it also made it harder izuku to have a 'normal' life when izuku would often drop everything to help any kind of animal in need. a lost pet, an injured bunny, an abused dog, etc and he would go to great lengths to ensure they're love and care for because they are the world to him. so when he saw a dog injured on the roadside, he stopped immediately and found the nearest vet clinic to bring her in even though HE'S OUT OF A JOB and is poor in cash but rich in heart :P.

at first katsuki put up a fight like he's not going to help unless izuku paid up because he's kind of dick lol. tbh he was just putting on a show because he can't have ppl thinking HE'S FUCKING WEAK to every desperate ppl coming in even tho his price is the cheapest in the area and he takes IN EVERY PET NO MATTER HOW DIRE but then izuku get teary eyes and promise katsuki his spleen if he would help. that is when he knew izuku is going to FUCKING RUIN HIM because then all the animals in the waiting room is giving him a stink eye and are like, "HELP THE POOR HUMAN YOU DUMB DOC". he just want to growl at them to stfu but the dog starts howling and everyone is making noises and he sighs.

he wasn't even going to kick izuku and the injured dog out anyway so he grits his teeth and let himself be bullied in taking in his new patient and a v v v concern izuku. he insistently hovers close by as katsuki perform the surgery on the dog's broken leg. katsuki knows the drill because worry pet parent is part of the job. "she will be fine," he tells izuku.

eyes wide with hope. "really?" he asks, looking all earnest.

"yea, i wouldn't bullshit unless i fucking know for sure," katsuki answers with a snort because he doesnt make empty promises. also because he's fucking good at his job. he takes in every case seriously and pour his blood, sweat, and tears into all their animals that come into his clinic until they're well again. katsuki doesn't love animals,,, he's FUCKING LOVES THEM in his own ornery ways ofc lol.

 esp the pets and animals that come through his clinic, they all have unique personality and stories to tell. they're not humans but to katsuki they might as well be because their life is as precious as any other human being and he wants to make sure none of them die on his table.

"okay, she's cleared from the surgery," katsuki says, informing an anxious looking izuku. "you can take her home in three days." he pauses for a moment with a frown. "consider the wee waived as my good deed of the year. just dont let your pet run off in the street next time."

izuku blinks. "she's not my dog. I just found her."

katsuki stares at him. "you were going to offer your spleen for a dog that isn't EVEN YOURS?!"

izuku nods eagerly. "i just couldnt leave her alone when she's hurt like that. thank you so much, bakugou-san! you're her hero!"

it's then that his life go from somewhat mundane (as much as a vet who can talk to animals can be) to become even more eccentric because of izuku. he somehow acquired another DOG into his pack bc no matter how desperately izuku tried to find her owner he couldn't. she also need a lot of dedicated hands on care but with no prior owner appearing, katsuki begrudgingly takes her on until she finds a new home. even worst, izuku makes it a habit to visit his clinic daily to check up on her and all the animals there perk excitedly at his appearance.

he easily makes friend w/ all the animals, esp the ones recovering from surgery/illness, taking special care of them while katsuki's pack is super curious w/ izuku and  keep hounding katsuki to pay attention to the cute human!! LOOK A VIABLE MATE as katsuki continues to ignore them

katsuki like to thinks he's a hardass but ever since that day izuku keeps bringing in his strays for katsuki to help and katsuki grumble his way through it but never turn izuku away bc as soon as izuku turn his fucking huge green eyes at him,,,, he'd fucking whipped that's what. and izuku has no money and no job, he started stay longer and help out at the clinic as a return for katsuki’s helping out the animals he keeps bringing in. so he just come to clinic pretty much everyday from morning and wouldn't leave till they close it.

his presence there calm the animals and they always look forward to seeing him everyday. even katsuki's regular clients are like, "oh did you hired a new assistant at the clinic? he's such a sweet and helpful boy."

katsuki, eyes twitching, grits out a, "no."

but at this point katsuki pretty much accepted izuku is attached to the clinic now because unlike all the strays izuku brought in with all of them eventually finding a new home later, KATSUKI IS STUCK WITH IZUKU even though this izuku had FOUND HIM FIRST and not the other way around. katsuki is good with animals because they dont take his bullshit and though he has his colleagues who he work with but they knew him long enough to deal with his prickliness longterm but izuku who he only known for a month or 2, sticks close to him and just smile through him being his asshole self. maybe it's because izuku is some kind of animals magnet disney princess bullshit because ofc katsuki would only attract the kind of person that is maybe part animals or some shit because JUST HIS LUCK that he takes in a human stray in the end and can't get rid of izuku even if he wanted to.

there was no point in fighting it now, izuku is here to stay even if he has a habit of attracting all kind of animals and ridiculous to katsuki's peaceful clinic. he ends up hiring izuku to work at the clinic even though izuku been working there for months already lol. izuku who always have a hard time having any permanency in his life because of his animals magnet deposition and maintaining any human relationship because they dont get his obsession with animals, immediately lights up at the news that he's here to stay WITH ALL THE ANIMALS AND KATSUKI.

katsuki who is mean, rough, and yells at him when he messed up but carefully teaches him how to fill out the health form correctly and lets him play with all the animals at the clinic. doesn't even blink when izuku smuggled in an injured bird and put UP WITH IZUKU'S RIDICULOUSNESS!! izuku is half way in love already because katsuki is a good man with the biggest heart around even if he deny it. he can tell by how much his pack loves katsuki, how they are happy and healthy they look and how they were deemed too broken for society but with katsuki they found a perfect home.

izuku doesn't understand the animals but you don't need a common language to see the way katsuki’s dog curl up in his lap when he's working in the office even though that dog is definitely way too big for it, or how his bird hop on his shoulder as he works. it's there in their body language and the way they want to be close to him. animals are honest, they express everything they feel with their entire body so katsuki can huffs and puffs about how he's not a good person but izuku knows. why else would katsuki not charged izuku for all the animals he bring in or get so brutally upset when he couldn't save one of their life.

izuku doesn't push for more because he's happy just having a room in katsuki's life with all these animals around them. while katsuki is SUFFERING because all his animals are yelling at him daily to: "FUCK MATE CUTE HUMAN BOY YOU USELESS TURD."

the fact that they're all invested in katsuki's love life is hilarious because they think he's completely useless at getting a mate and really want him to get it on with IZUKU ALREADY BECAUSE HE'S GETTING INTO HIS PRIME AND HE NEED TO PRODUCE BEFORE HE DIE TO CONTINUE HIS SPECIES!!!

katsuki has to keep telling them that IS NOT HOW HUMANS WORK but his animals keep offering advice like, "offer the head of your beloved's worst enemy as a courting gift", "leave a dead mouse at his house", "build him a beautiful nest" etc. it's great IF IZUKU WASNT A HUMAN. they critique katsuki's "courting skill" relentlessly because izuku is sweet, kind, love animals, and is perfect so like,,, can he hurry and snatch the cute human up already before some other bastard does???? because mating is a battlefield!!! you got to fight for your right to have him!!

at this point, with the constant nagging and all the animals being 'helpful', katsuki kinda just want lean over and tell izuku, "so do you just wanna fuck and start a family with me?" so his animals can stfu and also he'd might have lost his mind a lil there lol

[serenasoutherlyns]

Winding Me Up Ch. 2 - Crying

A/N: thank you all so much for the likes and follows! I hope I don't disappoint you all <3. Here's chapter 2 of this story. I initially did not intend for it to be so like, emotional of a series, but I can't help myself. I'm better at updating on ao3, but things will always make their way over here! I have this series fully outlined so it shouldn't take all too long to write. I happily take requests for most SVU ships (esp wlw)!

Casey is absolutely livid.

Thank fuck it’s Friday, because at least the week is over. Not that she has much to look forward to on the weekend. Paperwork, prep, the same set of tasks repeating in a way that feels completely endless, fruitless, especially after this week. She can handle losing normal cases, those where the defendant is really just the best suspect that they have but nobody can be certain. She can handle the more depressing wins, where the defendant has their reasons, like a father killing his daughter’s rapist. But the cases that hurt the most are the ones that feel like they could’ve been prevented. If only this one man had help, maybe he wouldn’t have done what he did; if only the little girl hadn’t been so trusting.

And her un-recovered reputation still proceeds her. It feels like around every corner is someone questioning her capabilities, despite the fact that she’s been hired back, despite the fact that her win percentage is still the highest in the department by far. She’s pretty sure Jack McCoy has secretly banned her from trying cases against Sophie Devere, thinking Casey has a weak spot for the attorney. He isn’t wrong, but the lack of trust still stings. Casey just doesn’t have many more tries left in the courtroom, she can’t pull her own tactics to throw cases and get a mistrial anymore without some serious disdain from her colleagues.

Yeah, that’s the other thing. Office gossip was going to kill her one of these days. Everyone seemed to think something about her. Casey lost her nerve, Casey’s out of steam, she must’ve slept with someone to get her job back, all she does now is make deals. Casey’s a damn good prosecutor, and she knows it, but sometimes, sometimes the doubt just sinks into her like vinegar, burning her throat.

So when her last jury of the day comes back not guilty on a case she really should’ve won, she shakes as she leaves the courtroom. When she overhears the defense attorney gossiping to one of her colleagues (her colleague for fuck’s sake) about how she’s “not the same as she used to be” on the walk back to her office, by the time she gets to her desk it’s like her body is choosing between hot tears and tearing the place apart. The first option wins out. She grabs her clean gym shirt and puts it against her eyes and nose, but she cries quietly. It’s childish, ridiculous, unprofessional, completely inappropriate, but she can’t stop herself from the breakdown. She’s an emotional person, but she usually keeps the weeping out of the office. Casey is usually able to brush off the comments, able to come up with a witty comeback even, but for some reason, this is the last straw. It’s like she’s finally broken the years old bottle of pain and rage, and everything that’s inside is spilling out onto the floor, a veritable self-pity fest.

When she hears a knock at her door, she’s of half a mind not to answer it, pretend that she has done the unthinkable and actually gone home after her last verdict. She leaves it for a second, but another knock comes, and a voice.

“Casey, it’s Alex. I know you didn’t go home.” Casey’s attention picks up at her friend’s voice. Friend, yeah, that’s probably the best word for their relationship. But she can’t get herself to stop crying.

“You know me too well, Alex,” Casey replies, her voice weak and slurred because her face is swollen. Hearing her own voice makes her start to cry again at how horrible she must sound, louder when she realizes that Alex could hear her cry.

“Is everything ok?” Alex asks, her tone alarmed. She’s never seen Casey get much more than glassy eyed, except when she’s working on a particularly hard case; and then the tears usually come slowly, not the way this sounds, strangled. Casey shows no sign of stopping nor getting up to let her in, so Alex asks again “Are you hurt, did something happen?”

“No, it’s, it’s nothing, look, I’m fine, don’t worry, just,” a particularly large hiccup breaks her sentence, “just a rough day, I’ll be fine.” She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself and not having much success.

“Uh-uh, no, you do not sound fine,” Alex says, her protective nature kicking in, “I’m coming in,” she says, but Casey replies with an emphatic “No! Don’t!” before Alex can even get her hand on the doorknob. Alex respects her friend’s boundaries, but she can’t let her just sit and cry by herself. “If you don’t let me in, I’m going to stand outside this door until you come out,” she settles on as a compromise.

“Alex, I told you I’m,” another sob, “fine.”

She feels bad about it, but Alex breaks into giggles of disbelief when she hears that. Alex Cabot doesn’t normally giggle, but Casey brings out this side of her every time they talk. Casey hears Alex laughing, and thinking it’s at her expense, responds, “don’t laugh at me, Cabot!”

Alex, still laughing says, “I’m not laughing at you.” She pauses. “Ok, I’m laughing at you. But only because you’re being really funny. Just, let me in Casey,” and as a last resort, she pulls out her subtle flirty voice, the one Casey hears about one morning a week now, and purrs, “Please?”

Casey can never resist it when Alex pulls the pleading growl on her, and begrudgingly opens the door, allowing Alex inside. “You’re incredible, you know that?” She says, tears still streaming down her face, as she picks up a tissue and blows her nose. “God, I must look terrible.”

“You sure do,” Alex says before she thinks about whether that’s what the redhead wants to hear, “What the hell happened?”

In lieu of replying, Casey pulls Alex into a crushingly tight hug, knocking her wind out. Their bodies fit together perfectly, and Casey rests her head on Alex’s shoulder, unable to make words happen.

—

She eventually calms down.

Alex holds her tightly, rubbing circles into her back. They end up on Casey’s couch, she’s not sure how, but by the time she stops crying, she’s all but koalaed in Alex’s lap, exhausted. The sun has gone down.

“Please tell me you locked the door,” Casey whispers, tensing, knowing how this would look if anybody walked in.

“Yeah, I did, darling. We’re ok.” Alex says quietly, still in soothing mode. Casey relaxes again in her arms, and Alex feels her stomach flutter. Not the time, Cabot, she thinks, because Casey has been pretty clear about wanting their relationship to stay platonic aside from the whole sex thing, she couldn’t allow herself to have feelings for her. “Do you,” she ventures, unsure of whether she’ll just upset her more, “wanna talk about what happened?”

Casey scoffs, says, still quiet, “not really, it’s stupid, I should be used to it by now.”

This confuses Alex. Casey’s tough, and Alex knows that, so anything that could rattle her like that couldn’t just be something to get used to. “Used to what?” She asks, genuinely.

“Just, the office chatter, stupid comments,” Casey replies, beginning to lose her composure again out of embarrassment, but too tired to escape Alex’s firm embrace, “I overheard Calloway talking to the defense attorney when I left court today, saying something about me,” she breathes deeply, “not being what I used to be.”

Alex pulls away from the hug a few inches to look at Casey’s face. Her shoulder is wet with her tears, but she doesn’t care. “Are you fucking kidding me? I’ll kick him.” Alex Cabot threatening violence never fails to get a smile out of Casey, who is drying her face off with the gym shirt again. “Calloway is a raging asshole. I will kick him for you if you want.” Her emphatic tone is cheering Casey up. Alex finds Casey’s vulnerable smiles to be completely disarming, but keeps going because she wants more. “In fact, I’ll tell him how much of an asshole he is, then I’ll kick him, then I’ll report him to McCoy for being unprofessional and gossiping, then I’ll kick him again for good measure.” Casey swats her arm and looks away to hide the heat rising in her cheeks.

“I’m serious. I. Will. Kick. John Calloway for you.” Alex’s tone shifts from angry to playful as she finishes her sentence, gratified by Casey’s weak chuckles. “Plus, he’s wrong, completely wrong. You’re fucking incredible at your job, Casey, even if you’re more cautious than you used to be. And that’s just, practicality, I mean, seriously, who does Calloway even think he is—“

Casey cuts her off with a kiss on her cheek. “Sorry, I know I’m kind of gross,” Casey says, and Alex begins to protest, “But you’re just so cute when you’re mad. Especially when you’re not mad at me.” Alex takes her hands and plays with them, suddenly aware that Casey is pretty much straddling her, on her knees, in her office. She blushes at the thought.

“Hmm,” Alex hums thoughtfully, “Well don’t get too used to it. I’m sure you’ll find some way to get under my skin soon.” She pats Casey’s thigh, signaling that she needs to get up. “Come on, let’s get out of here and get something to drink. I’m sure those files can wait til Monday,” she says, pointing at the short pile of papers on Casey’s desk. They actually really shouldn’t, but Casey wasn’t in a state to argue.

“You’re inviting me out, Cabot, after I ugly cried in your lap for ten minutes? You really are an angel,” Casey says, her quick snarky self returning.

“You’re assuming I don’t have any ulterior motives, Novak.” Alex pauses, considers herself for a moment, “Not that I’m being nice to you because I want to have sex, I mean, I do, but that’s not why,” she rambles.

Casey cuts her off with a chaste kiss. “I think I like your motives,” she says, “But I’m starving, so we’re getting dinner first.”

Alex begins to get her things together, but Casey pulls her back into a hug by the wrists, saying quietly, "Alex, thank you."

"Of course."

[heyitsaloy]

ooo for the oc asks, for both kerre and graoth:

☀️ 🍼 👀

♥ @reachfolk

This is going to be fun! It honestly, made me think a bit more about their relationship.  Kerre ☀️ - Truth be told, Kerre is genuinely happy with a gift that Gratoth made her. Gratoth crafted twin orichalcum swords in a traditional Redguard style with the help of an old Redguard master blacksmith who lived in Orsinium at the time they moved to Wrothgar to open the orphanage. It made Kerre cry when she received them, as it reminded her so much of her home in the Alik’r Desert, in a small village called Balaara. Before meeting Gratoth, Kerre was the happiest travelling the world on the open seas on a boat called Sahan’s Regret, where she stayed for free in exchange for her talents as a sword-singer. She become known as The Ghost.  However, after meeting and falling for Gratoth, her home is where ever Gratoth is.  🍼 - Oh boy. Kerre is a bundle of nerves when it comes to children. She has no idea how to treat them, last time she was told to watch kids she gave a Khajiiti child a dagger, it was dull, to defend themselves from bullies. After that situation, which occurred when she was eleven, Kerre was never trusted with children again. So when Gratoth suggest opening an orphanage in Orsinium, Kerre was essentially terrified. What if the kids got a hold of one of her weapons? Or what if a child were to get kidnapped by bandits? What if one of the kids got sick? A lot of what if scenarios ran through Kerre’s head before, she decided fuck it, and dived in to help children. After the orphanage was open for five years, Kerre decided to adopt an Argonian child by the name of Usheen with Gratoth, after the father asked them to take care of his son and handed them an idol of Sithis. Which makes Kerre wonder if the father was a Shadowscale, however after he left, she could not find him at all in the following days. 👀 - *through the eyes of Delphine*  I cannot believe this individual is the Dragonborn. T’uzen is a literal disaster waiting to happen, considering her lineage. One of her ancestors was the Hero of Kvatch who went missing, another became a vampire, and the others? They were various nameless individuals who always seem to be at a center of a catastrophe. Perhaps the T’uzen line is cursed, although many seem to say blessed. My own research suggests that the Dragonborn grew up in Balaara, a remote village in the middle of the Alik’r Desert. Her parents are relatively unremarkable, the father was a mercenary with ties to the Dark Brotherhood chapter in Hammerfell, while the mother was a talented sword master, and alchemist who had resorted to carrying out contracts for nobles who paid for her particular talents. That is beside the point, the Dragonborn, Kerre shown skills in swordsmanship and mental abilities at an early age and was sent to the Abbey of the Blades to train. It was there that the Dragonborn learned the Way of the Sword at the age of eleven. About six years later, the Dragonborn was said to have mastered this style, but eventually grew bored by her surroundings. It’s around this time that it is difficult to track the Dragonborn’s steps. Some rumors say she went on a pilgrimage, while others say she became the pirate known as The Ghost. The true story is that she became a pirate, and raided Nordic ships. It should be noted that the Dragonborn used her skills as a sword-singer to incapicate her enemies, as it is noted by witnesses that she has never killed anyone unless it was in self-defense She was arrested on the Sea of Ghosts, and sent to Helgen to go to trial. It was obvious from the events that happened there and at Whiterun, that I needed to get to her first before the Greybeards did. I did manage to intercept the Dragonborn, who seemed to be disorganized and lacked some much-needed sleep. Talking with her for a while makes me believe that even though she seemed well, she was falling apart. I didn’t introduce myself as a member of the Blades, however, as it seemed like she would not be able to handle that.  Kerre is about 27 when the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim starts.  Sorry that was super long! I really got into it. Below the cut is Gratoth’s answers.

   Gratoth

☀️ - Gratoth is typically happy whenever music is involved, just not a frog-caller, a horn that utilizes frogs, which can be found typically in Blackmarsh. While growing up in Wrothgar, she was by her father, who adapted a bardic lifestyle. The two of them often travelled around Tamriel, which exposed Gratoth to all forms of music. She found herself falling in love with the bardic lifestyle, and at the age of sixteen applied to the Bards College, and was denied. This did not stop Gratoth, however, she travelled to Cyrodiil and paid for private lessons from bards. Eventually, Gratoth gained the attention of nobility everywhere, thanks to her singing and instrumental capabilities. After about ten years (I personally see Gratoth as 32 when the events of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim starts), she is hired by Elenwen to perform at the Thalmor Embassy for a reception event. Gratoth graciously accepts, seeing this to be a highlight of her career. It was here, that Gratoth met Kerre, and literally felt like the world had stopped, and no one was there except for Kerre and herself. This makes Gratoth recall her father’s stories about how he met her mother, saying that it felt like the entire world stops, showing him the most important person in his life, aside from Gratoth.  (Imma stop here cause this is where the HC’s come in) 🍼 - Gratoth has strong maternal instincts. Children are amazing to her, and need to be treated with the same amount of respect as an adult. After two years, the dragon crisis and the vampire crisis had been solved. It was during this that Gratoth tried to bring up the concept of adopting children with Kerre, but Kerre had shown some hesitation, which Gratoth understood given the entire situation with Daviya and Kirati, she understood. Kerre had explained her hesitation to Gratoth as, she felt like something terribly was about to happen. About six months after this conversation, during Frostfall, the cultists of Miraak showed up. Gratoth promised to wait for Kerre, and that she would be ready for the day that she returned. It took a year and a half for Kerre to return to Skyrim, but at this time she was ready to look at the idea of adoption. So, Gratoth suggested an alternative, that they move to Orsinium and open up an orphanage, which they named Flockhawk Orphanage Sanctum. Five years later, they adopt an Argonian child, Usheen, who they were personally asked to raise by his father. Any search for Usheen’s father resulted in dead ends. Despite this, she was overjoyed for the opportunity to raise the young Argonian as their own. 👀 - *a senior member of the Bard’s College* This Gratoth person seems to be a promising singer with an eye for instruments. It was rather unfortunate that we could not accept her here. So, I sent word to my colleagues in Cyrodill to keep an eye out for a brown haired orc with a gold raven pin in her hair. I really do wish her the best, even if we could not help her here. Gratoth is rather talented, and will most likely be going to high places in her future. Although, I wonder how an Orc, like her, became a singer. When asked, Gratoth did not seem so keen on sharing. Perhaps it was seeing other bardic troupes perform, or talking to bards in the local taverns. Whatever the case may be, I pray for her future success.  Here is the finished product! I hope you all enjoy it. :) 

[x0401x]

Have you watched Tsurune, by an chance? If yes, what do you think about it?

Finally managed to write down a reply for this! (Told y’all I was gonna do it and I did not give up, lmao.)

So this ask caught me off-guard for two reasons: one is that I never see it coming when people send me Tsurune asks now that the anime is long over and the fandom is inactive, and the other is that nobody has ever asked me this question so straightforwardly. Whenever I got asks about Tsurune, people would question me about the differences between anime and novel, the anime versions versus the canon versions of the characters, fanservice and ship tease, alterations in character relationships and my opinions on specific episodes, chapters or scenes. As far as I remember, no one has ever asked me what I think of the anime (or the novel) in general.

I won’t go into the novel since this ask is just about the anime (I can do that in another one if you like), but I’ll end up mentioning it every now and then because it’s pretty impossible to discuss about an adaptation without talking about its source material. Still, I promise this review won’t be centered on that.

This is actually a very condensed version of my thoughts, because the real thing would be a bible. It’s still a lot, though. Here comes a long-ass ride.

I guess I should start by making clear that I usually follow the history of KyoAni’s productions very closely as I’m a big fan of the studio. This includes reading the novels and mangas they adapt into anime as well. I had read volume 1 by the time the Tsurune anime came out, so I already knew what the canon was like. I must add that I was also familiar with Japanese archery to some degree and I was reading Zen in the Art of Archery when the anime was airing (it’s referenced early in the novel, so I decided to give it a try).

With all of this being said, when it was announced that Tsurune would get an anime, my first reaction was to worry. This surprised even me, because I usually have high hopes for any KyoAni adaptation, even the ones I end up not liking. I mean, it’s a studio filled with brilliant stars and holds the golden standards of the whole industry, so even when the content isn’t good, the quality of the animation itself is enough to make their shows worth anyone’s time. But the choice of director had me very concerned.

Now, this is Kyoto Animation that we’re talking about. In no moment did I fear for the animation’s quality. Most of Tsurune’s staff members, if not all, already had previous experience working on Violet Evergarden. And we all know that even newcomers freshly graduated from KyoAni’s preparatory school can make a stunning visual masterpiece. Yes, I am talking about Kyoukai no Kanata. And yes, I said visual masterpiece, because we also know that what these productions normally lack is the most essential part: the content.

In those cases, the one who actually makes a difference is the director. I’m a firm believer that the more inexperienced the staff is, the more competent a director they should be placed under. If not a senior animator, at least let it be a rising talent with the best prospects possible. But the schedules usually don’t help with that, so these hatchlings ended up under Yamamura Takuya’s wings.

To elaborate a bit further on why I think brighter animators should be the ones leading new packs (no, it’s not discrimination against the less accomplished, because you gotta start from somewhere), it’s because they usually have this knack for bringing the most out of the stories they’re working on. When the story is great by itself, that’s a different thing, but when it doesn’t quite reach its full potential with just the text, then the one to give it life has to be a person with more vision.

Am I saying that Tsurune is one of those stories? Absolutely. Tsurune is about archery, which is an art that is best appreciated when observed. You can’t get everything out of it just with words, and there are many things in it that people who don’t know much or know nothing about Japanese archery wouldn’t understand without actually seeing them, so the series obviously needed an anime in order to reach its full potential. But other than that, I’ll be honest: I love the Tsurune novel for its cultural baggage, the handling of its characters and its fairly innovative views in the repetitive and boring scene that sports animanga are nowadays, but I don’t consider it a well-written novel. Because it isn’t.

This might seem controvesial coming from someone who defends the canon with claws and teeth, but I’m aware of its flaws. I think Ayano Kotoko has a lot of room for improvement, and she’s evolved remarkably from volume 1 to volume 2. But volume 1 is what the anime was based off, so there was a deep need for a clinical eye in that production. One that could measure the original work’s strengths and weaknesses and balance them out by powering one up and overcoming the other. And also a certain level of knowledge about Japanese archery. Sadly, Yamamura Takuya didn’t have any of it.

As much as I admire Yamamura as a key animator and in-betweener, I believe he has a long way to go before he can be considered a good director, and I certainly don’t think he was ready for his debut when he was put in charge of Tsurune. I would rather, and I mean this in a good way, have seen him work as anything else for the rest of his career. Being a series director was too much for him. I say this taking into consideration not only the fiasco that the Tsurune anime was in sales but also Yamamura’s history in the studio before becoming a director.

This might sound funny, but Yamamura had no idea how big Animation Do and KyoAni were before he decided to join. He also was never very skilled. His in-betweening was actually not approved at first when he was trying to enter the company. He even once admitted that his knowledge of animation was extremely limited at the time, and what a time that was, because the studio was busy up to the neck with the making of Lucky Star back then. He didn’t know left and right, basically, and he recalled in an interview from last year that he is still surprised the studio actually hired him.

Despite all of this, Yamamura joined the company with the intention of becoming a director. While he did manage the feat in the end, it took him +10 years and a few frustrated attempts. Animators usually start out at in-betweening and earn other positions through passing exams. Yamamura failed his first exam to be key animator, only managing to pass half a year later. He also failed his first exam to become a director. At his second attempt, one of their colleagues even suggested that maybe he should stay a bit longer as a key animator, and I couldn’t agree more. While he did pass the test, I can only bring myself to think that he did so with an average score.

Now, I did say that this info came from a 2019 interview, when the Tsurune anime was already over. But they weren’t really what shaped my opinion on Yamamura regarding his direction. It was the anime itself. But this interview served to confirm something I had already noticed from his tragectory to series direction: with him being in the studio for so long and having worked on so many titles, it was weird to me that he was rarely an episode director in comparison to key animation and in-betweening. Episode direction is a step that I consider crucial for one to become either series director, animation supervisor or series composer. I do know that quite a few directors take just as long as he did or even longer to debut and actually do thrive in the end, but observing Yamamura’s work always gave me the impression that he was better off following decisions made by someone else rather than making his own.

Yamamura also loses points with me in that he’s backed up within the company by Kawanami Eisaku, another director who doesn’t get rave reviews on his works. He’s the one who replaced Utsumi Hiroko after she migrated to Mappa, and ever since he took over the Free! franchise, its sales decreased to less than 1/3 of each of the first two seasons separately. I personally don’t like that he seems to look down on Utsumi despite his lack of success in inheriting her legacy, but leaving this aside and focusing only on his skills, I’m not fond of directors who opt for simplistic approaches in general. I think animation is a medium that should be used to amplify the appeal of the source material, not water it down. It also feels like these kinds of directors are always trying to play safe, which (they don’t seem to realize) goes against the audience’s expectations and kills the hype. It strikes me as cowardly, to be frank. I also don’t like when they ignore what the characters had been building up and simply retool them to their own tastes. I was praying that Yamamura would be different from this bad example, but turns out he was actually worse.

I got a really bad feeling when the anime PVs of Tsurune were released. My very first impression was that Yamamura was still too much of a beginner and he wouldn’t be able to make Tsurune into a successful anime. I know this might seem like an exaggeration, but here’s the thing: ever since KyoAni started making its own titles, I’d never seen lack of hype for their upcoming works. Ever.

Until Tsurune.

Every time a PV of a KyoAni show comes out, people go crazy. It’s not always a frenzy like it was with Free! in its heyday or Violet Evergarden when the novel commercials were the only pieces of animation we had of it, but there’s usually lots of debate and speculations going on. With Tsurune, almost no one cared. You’d see next to nobody talking about it save from a few people on Reddit. And honestly, why should they bother? It didn’t seem promising at all. Didn’t show much of the characters or the story’s premise, didn’t highlight any particularly interest aspect of the plot and didn’t leave any impression animation-wise. It was very bland, to say the least. Unfortunately, so was the anime series.

It might be blunt of me, but my overall evaluation of Tsurune is that it was a really boring show. Nearly all elements that made the story and characters interesting were either taken out or squeezed into a cookie cutter mold, cliche version of what they looked like they were going to be at first but turned out not to be in the novel. And I say this because one of the things that make Tsurune a good novel is how it turns stereotypes upside-down. It introduces the readers into what seems like is going to be a typical sports shounen and starts out describing the character archetypes in the most common ways possible and puts them in the most common situations possible, then it reverses them all. That’s what’s most charismatic about the books. It’s what incites actual character development and gives us different sides of each relationship, yet the anime makes no use of it.

The anime also hardly makes any use of all the mystic, Zen and lowkey folklore-ish veils of the novel, which are supposed to add up to the archery elements. The Zen part is actually essential since Japanese archery is fundamentally a Zen form of art. Yes, art. Japanese archery is, in fact, not a sport. This is one of the aspects that elevate Tsurune above other works of the sports genre: it’s only categorized as such because it can’t fit anywhere else, but it’s not really a sports novel. That could have elevated the anime to the same status too, if only the studio hadn’t treated it like a sports one. But they made that mistake.

Still, I think the biggest sin in this adaptation was to try to cling to tropes that are considered successful and ignoring the characters’ personalities, which didn’t match these tropes at all, resulting in both characters and bonds being utterly destroyed and the flow of the story slowing down to a slug pace. By the second half of the anime, literally either nothing interesting happens or the things that were supposed to be interesting don’t hold the audience’s attention enough, which the animators attempt to cover up with queerbait. Everything is so tediously predictable that I’ve seen countless comments from the Japanese side of the fandom about how similar the Tsurune anime was to Free! and how “KyoAni only ever makes male characters like that, don’t they”. They were referring to Seiya and his weird jealousy, by the way. Even first-timers could tell that the characterization was a disaster.

The sad thing is, they were right. The Tsurune anime really did feel highkey like a Free! copycat in the characterization department. The main character is always getting swung about by everyone around him. The best friend is very clearly co-dependent. The deuteragonist is revealed to be bitter because of a deceased relative and is an asshole to the rest of the main cast for a good portion of the series. The rival from the other school is rude as hell for no reason and he’s got annoying groupies on his team who don’t exist outside of idolizing him. There are only four female characters and they have almost no screen time. And the list goes on.

As for the animation itself, I would like to say that it was perfect, but what really rang the alarm in my head was the many beginner mistakes so evident here and there, such as missing frames, the opening theme starting out of nowhere, the colors of the background often being too bland, lack of movement or scenes where the characters are too static, etc. I shit you not that when I saw the title splashing onto the screen all of a sudden in the initial ten seconds of episode one, the first thing I thought was, “This won’t sell well”. Sure enough, it didn’t.

So there you have it. I didn’t like the show. The only things I enjoyed were the archery scenes and the soundtrack. The rest simply didn’t do justice to the original work. I hope this summary has explained why, but if you want more info on it, maybe visit my Tsurune tag. You’ll find me elaborating more on particular topics in response to similar asks. Or you can send me other questions if you feel like.

That’s it!

[lilacmoon83]

Finding You Always

Also on Fanfiction.net and A03

Chapter 231: Wicked Game, Pt 1

Fandral and Zorro arrived at the apartment that belonged to Hiram Flaversham and his daughter Olivia. And what they found definitely suggested foul play.

"What a mess," Zorro mentioned, as the place was in complete shambles.

"Hyde was right...it seems they have been abducted by someone," Fandral said, as he knelt down and noticed the peculiar spots of mud scattered haphazardly around the place.

"This certainly doesn't look like someone's shoes though. So who or what tracked this mud in?" Zorro wondered and a thought struck Fandral.

"Someone missing a leg…" he said.

"What? You think you know who did this?" Zorro asked.

"I think I may know who was hired to do this. He's a foul, stupid, degenerate, but he is also an efficient hand for hire," Fandral replied, as he made a call.

"Emma...it's Fandral. I believe we have a crime scene. Can you send Bashful with a forensics team to 1897 Baker Street. It's the Basil Estates apartment building, apartment 2F," Fandral said.

"Sure...I'll send him right away. Homicide?" she asked.

"Fortunately, no. It looks like an abduction. Hyde came to Rose and I and asked me to investigate the disappearance of one of his colleagues. An engineer by the name of Hiram Flaversham and his daughter Olivia. They're missing and their apartment shows definite signs of a struggle," Fandral reported.

"I'll let Bashful know and send him right away. I'll pull profiles on our victims too," she said.

"There is one other thing...a hunch, but there is a lot of mud that has been tracked in and it doesn't look like someone that has two legs, but rather one that's missing one. Maybe someone that even has a peg leg," Fandral said.

"I think I know exactly who you mean. I'll pull his file too and issue a BOLO," Emma replied.

"Thanks Emma...I'll see you soon," Fandral said, as hung up.

"So...who is this peg legged fiend?" Zorro asked, as Fandral's phone chimed and he showed him a photo of a greasy, shady looking character.

"Lester Batting...but better known as Fidget," Fandral replied.

"Cute nickname," Zorro joked.

"He earned it well during the Final Battle with the Black Fairy. He tangled with Snow and she fought him off with a dagger to his femoral artery. Since Whale, Paul, and Eva were with us, their side lacked proper medical training and his leg was amputated," Fandral said.

"Sounds like he deserved it," Zorro said.

"He did and served twenty years in prison for his seditious behavior. He was released just before Seth's curse and joined all his scummy friends on Pleasure Island," Fandral replied.

"You think that's where he took Mr. Flaversham and his daughter?" Zorro asked.

"Most likely, but we still don't know why or who hired him. Fidget is an efficient hired hand, like I said to Emma, but he's never the brains of anything," Fandral replied.

"So someone hired him to abduct an engineer and his daughter," Zorro deduced.

"Hyde said that Hiram is a very gifted engineer and there is only one man I can think of that would have use for his skills," Fandral said.

"Jekyll," they said together.

"And his little girl is insurance to make sure he does whatever Jekyll wants him to," Zorro realized.

"Exactly," Fandral said.

"Are you really thinking about going to Pleasure Island?" Zorro asked.

"Yes...but I assure you I am the perfect option to take this one on. It may be resistant to magic, but my Asgardian strength does not rely on magic," Fandral replied.

"That still doesn't mean that Jekyll won't have some monstrous way to subvert you," Zorro warned.

"I know...but if this man and his young one are in danger, then I must try to save them," he replied.

"Be that as it may, you need some backup," Zorro said.

"I cannot ask you to take such a risk," Fandral replied.

"You're not...I'm offering," Zorro said.

"And so am I…" Hyde added from the doorway.

"Well, I won't say no to the help of my right hand or someone that knows Jekyll as well as you, not to mention has strength that rivals my own," Fandral conceded.

"Then let's see if we can charter a ride on the Jolly Roger from our good Captain," Zorro said, as they headed out to the station.

~*~

The swirling portal opened and they stepped through. They weren't far from the National Mall, but had found a fairly secluded place to arrive. They arrived at the Smithsonian Museum and observed the grand event, complete with dozens of exhibits. Unfortunately, most, including the press recognized all of them and the camera flashes were already blinding them. Thankfully though, it seemed they were leery of their known power, so they kept their distance.

"I am never going to get used to that," Snow murmured to him.

"Me either...I'll be happy when all this is over and we don't have to leave home," David agreed.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the Smithsonian and tonight's exciting and exhilarating exhibition!" a man announced.

"I am Bruce Carlson, your host for the evening and one of the curators of this amazing collection!" he said, as he motioned to the exhibits.

"Okay...what the hell is this? This stuff is fake," David said.

"Yeah...we know that Mjolnir from our realm is in the Underworld and the one from Fandral's realm was destroyed," James replied.

"And we know that's not the real Holy Grail or Excalibur, because they are actually the same thing and in Storybrooke," Snow agreed.

"Aphrodite's Magic Girdle?" James asked curiously.

"Do I even want to know what a girdle is?" Bobby asked his nana.

"An unfortunate and uncomfortable thing women used to have to wear in the past that has thankfully long become obsolete," Regina answered.

"Very true and I can assure you that I've never owned a magic girdle," Aphrodite replied.

"Okay...so if most of this stuff is crap, then why the fuss?" David asked.

"Unless we're the real exhibit," Rumple surmised.

"And there may also be a jewel among the junk," Regina suggested.

"That could be...and that item would now be magically activated in the presence of the Chalice," Aphrodite agreed.

"Then let's find the real item and keep it out of the wrong hands," David said, as they made their way into the exhibition.

~*~

Summer stood next to JJ at the burial site. It had been a small, intimate service, as JJ was her only family. But Summer was by his side the whole time, despite her dislike for Nora. Despite that, she would have never wished this on her .

"I'm so sorry again," she offered.

"Thanks," he replied, as he tossed the flowers on her grave.

"Do you think Goldie will ever pay for what she did?" he asked.

"I know she will. My dad and my sister will bring her to justice," Summer promised.

"My parents may not be able to stop all the bad stuff, but they do stop a lot of it and right a lot of wrongs. They won't let such an injustice go unpunished, nor will they allow someone as unhinged as Goldie go free," she added. He smiled and leaned down to kiss her cheek.

"Thank you," he said, as she blushed a bit.

"Do you have to get home soon?" he asked.

"No…I was actually thinking about going to the reserve to ride Sparkle. You up for it?" she asked. He smiled.

"I'd really like that," he agreed, as he gently took her hand. She smiled and felt warm all over, as she looked up at him and they ventured back to his car.

~*~

Fandral and Zorro arrived at the station and Rose ran to them. He had called her and told her what he planned, so he shouldn't have been surprised to see her there waiting for him. She ran to him and he caught her in his arms, as he pulled her flush against him and their lips met in a passionate kiss.

"I do not like this...it's so dangerous. That monster would love to take you from me…" Rose fretted.

"I know, my angel...but with the welfare of this man and his innocent child hanging in the balance, I cannot refuse the call to help," Fandral said. She nodded and knew she could not ask him to either.

"But Hyde...he is going with you for backup?" she asked. He nodded.

"Yes...he is meeting us here. He said he had to retrieve something from his lab," he replied, as Emma approached.

"I still think I should be going with you," Emma said.

"No...your parents would have a collective aneurysm and magic cannot be relied on there. My skills as a warrior and superior strength can though. Trust me, I've been to worse places than Pleasure Island," Fandral replied. She sighed.

"Okay...still hate the idea, but since two innocent lives hang in the balance, I'm not going to stop you," Emma said, as her phone chimed and she read the message.

"You were right...Bashful just ran the prints they found at the Flaversham apartment and they matched the ones we have in the system for Lester Batting, also known as Fidget," Emma replied.

"If we can grab the greasy little character while we're there, we will," Zorro assured her.

"Just be careful. We know what Jekyll can do, but more importantly, Rodmilla has magic now that isn't impeded there and then there is Runeard as well," Emma replied. They nodded, as Hyde came into the station, carrying a long case.

"What is this?" Fandral asked, as the other man set it on the desk and opened it, revealing a brilliant looking sword.

"Something I have been working on for a while," Hyde said.

"For me?" Fandral asked in surprise.

"You are the master swordsman and this is no ordinary sword. I was inspired by your story of the crafting of weapons from the stories you told on Nidavellir and the strong metal that was found on the other earth," Hyde said.

"Hiram and I have been developing what we believe is a metal that is just as strong as that metal. I was also inspired by the story of a weapon that can return to the wielder with a thought or feeling. Much like your friend Thor or even David's chalice sword," he continued, as Fandral picked up the magnificent weapon.

"Thank you…" Rose said.

"Yours and the children's safety is still of the utmost importance to me and with this weapon, you'll have even more of an edge against Jekyll. Like the Chalice sword, only you, Rose, or someone of your bloodline can wield it and it will recall to your hand at will," Hyde said.

"I have dubbed it Storm Surge," he added.

"Thank you...truly," Fandral said, as he exchanged his current sword and replaced it in his sheath with the new one. Rose turned to him and hugged him tightly.

"Please be careful," she implored.

"I will, my angel...and I will return to you soon," he promised, as they shared another passion filled kiss. Killian was waiting in the doorway. He would be taking the three of them to Pleasure Island aboard the Jolly Roger and waiting at the Harbor to make a quick getaway once they had retrieved the abductees.

~*~

"And now that we have had a word from our sponsors, we can begin tonight's video broadcast here on the Golden Pulse with more video evidence that there is a very real and present danger posed to the world by yet another mysterious villain," Goldie revealed, as she looked to Grimm in the background. He gave her a thumbs up, ensuring that he was broadcasting on all platforms, including their accounts on the muggle versions of social media.

"A new villain, calling himself Void, can now control the weather here in the United Realms. And the only one that can seemingly stop this menace is a fourteen-year-old boy," Goldie said, as Grimm cut to the video footage of the snowstorm in Arendelle and the thunderstorm in Misthaven.

"Now these storms are not natural. This new villain has caused the elements to go haywire and once again, the Charmings are at the center of it. They have been tasked to stop this horror, but not before it buried one Kingdom in snow and flooded another," she added.

"And the fact that our fate may yet again rest upon a boy who's still navigating puberty is not lost on any of us. What are the Charmings doing about this menace, you may be asking?" she questioned, as the video cut to an image of Snow and David in Washington DC.

"That's right, Snow White and her Prince Charming are attending yet another fancy party in Washington DC. Catastrophe follows these two wherever they go so I hope you have insurance, Washington," Goldie said, as the video cut to another sponsor ad.

"Well?" Goldie asked, as she looked at him. He smirked.

"Over three thousand views already and climbing. This thing is going to go viral if we play that footage of them fixing the problem," he said.

"Do it," she said, as he streamed the video as it came back from the ad spot.

~*~

"I think...everyone needs to channel their elements into me and then I can stop this. Then we'll have to clean it all up," Bobby said.

"You're the boss in this one," Eva replied, as she put her hand on his shoulder and his eyes glowed pink.

"I just hope I don't shock us both to the moon," Leo joked, as he put his hand on his brother's back. Bobby's eyes glowed cobalt and the electricity swirling around Leo ceased. Summer was next and her little brother's eyes glowed lavender and finally Emma put her hand on his back, making his eyes glow white.

"Now Mom and Dad...your element is love and kind of the reason we can do any of this," Bobby said. Snow and David smiled at them and each other, before placing their hands on Bobby's shoulders. His eyes glowed rainbow at that point and a large pulse of pure power exited and there was a rumble beneath them, as the power traveled beneath the ground. They all watched in awe, as the power lit up the ground in a display of multi-colored light, before steam began to rise from the ground and when the billowy steam finally cleared, all the snow was melted. Elsa looked at her hands in awe, realizing that her powers were under control again too.

"One more pulse should do it on that cloud, kid," Emma said. He nodded and they produced another pulse of rainbow colored magic, this time hitting the dark, ominous cloud over Arendelle that was dispelling the cloud that was showering the Kingdom with snow.

~*~

"Yes...that was the footage of a boy and his family fixing a snowstorm. Unfortunately, when you're dealing with a villain that can not only cause storms, but suck the life out of people...that's when things get serious," Goldie said, as they cut to the footage of the two guards that Void had killed.

"I apologize for the gruesomeness of those images, but people need to know what is happening. People need to be prepared, lest they become collateral damage in this war the Charmings seem to both be fighting...and waging," she claimed, as they cut to more footage of Snow and David in Washington.

"Especially when Mommy and Daddy are away and attract as much mayhem as these two. Buckle up, Land Without Magic...because I assure that this pair is going to bring you more than just stories of true love. The insanity that surrounds them will come to you too," Goldie said, as she continued to report on the events, while the Internet went crazy with this new information.

"This video is going to go viral for sure," Grimm said.

"But that's not enough. It's time to make my debut in the Land Without Magic," she replied.

"What exactly do you have in mind?" he asked, as she produced something from her desk drawer and handed one to him.

"Press passes...I like it," he replied.

"Time for me to get an up close and personal exclusive with Snow White and her prince," she said, as she held up a bean and they prepared to take their own trip.

~*~

Snow, David, and the others endured the tour, as the curator rambled on about his fake exhibits and fake artifacts. None of it made any sense, so they were all on guard, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"You know...the regular Smithsonian exhibits would be far more interesting than this fake stuff. Our Atlantis museum back home blows all this away," Snow mentioned to him quietly, as they were pretending to listen to Mr. Carlson tell a fake story about the Holy Grail and how it was found.

"I know what you mean," he agreed, as he stood beside her with his arm wrapped firmly around her waist.

"At least there is one treasure in this room though and she happens to be in my arms," he said, as he looked at her and kissed her cheek.

"Charming...you are too good to be true, my love," she gushed, as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

"If I am...it's because of you, my darling," he whispered to her, as they shared a passionate kiss. They were both unaware of the eyes on them from the shadows.

~*~

"It's happening...at last," the man of Asian descent said, as an object began to glow in the dark.

"Has that ever happened?" Mr. Ozman asked.

"Not in my lifetime," the man replied.

"Do you even know what's inside of this peculiar jar, Mr. Li? Not even your ancestor could open it. In fact, he was a traitor," Ms. Reeves said.

"Indeed he was. Tao Xang Li sided with the children of the sun and gave the prized power source of the Mu people over to them. And they never opened it. No one really knows what is does or what's inside," Mr. Li said.

"But that is about to change," Li assured them, as he emerged from the shadows and set his sights on the pair. The new children of the sun...or truest loves, as they preferred. He didn't care what they were called; he was just intent on using them to get what he wanted and rectify his ancestor's failure to fortify the Li legacy.

It was true...he was the descendant of the Dragon's King's trusted advisor, Tao Xang Li, the only full blooded of the Mu people to ever leave their island. But his descendant, Ichiro Suun Li, had been haunted by the prospect of possible unlimited power within his grasp, but yet no way of harnessing it. His family had become corrupted a few generations ago when the promise of such power was continually denied to them and promised to those with no blood attachment to his lineage.

Is the distraction ready?" Li asked.

"Yes…" Mr. Ozman replied.

"Excellent...it's time to proceed," he said.

~*~

"And here we come to the enchanting necklace of Harmonia," the curator said, as a bejeweled necklace sat on display behind glass.

"Fake?" James asked.

"So fake...I bet the jewels aren't even real. It's tacky costume jewelry at best," Aphrodite replied.

"Do you know where the real one is?" Snow asked.

"In my shop...it's quite a story, but that's for another time," Gold replied, as they snickered.

"I'm sorry...but my entire presentation has been met with your snickering and whispering. Do you have an issue with my magnificent collection?" Mr. Carlson questioned.

"Well, since you mentioned it, yes...yes we do," Aphrodite replied, as all eyes were suddenly on them.

"So much for keeping a low profile," David joked.

"That's not our style anyway," Snow said.

"Almost everything in this exhibit is fake," Aphrodite replied.

"And she would know, since most of it is her heritage," James added.

"There is no way the Smithsonian would ever endorse such a fraud, which means this whole thing can't be about this exhibit," David said.

"Well…I suppose you would know all about being a fraud, wouldn't you, Prince Charming?" Goldie asked, as she made her presence known, with Grimm trailing behind her.

"How the hell did you two get in here?" Regina asked, as they held up the press passes around their necks.

"We're the press and this is a public event," Goldie said.

"Did you just call my husband a fraud?" Snow asked dangerously, as she got in Goldie's face. The blonde smirked.

"Well...he is the one that posed as his brother and fooled an entire Kingdom," she replied.

"My husband proved he's a true leader and became the people's prince," Snow argued.

"True...and left his own twin brother to live in the shadow of the legendary Prince Charming," Goldie goaded.

"If you're trying to get us to turn against each other, David and I are long past any animosity," James countered.

"He's right...and I may have had humble beginnings. Probably a lot like you, but at least I decided to use my life to do good things. You're just a bitter, jealous, washed up reporter," David said. She smirked, as she stepped closer to him.

"I bet you're a real tiger in the sack, chisel chin," she leered.

"You'll never know," Snow commented.

"What I wouldn't give to wrap my hands around that pretty little neck," Goldie retorted.

"I'd love to see that fight," Grimm commented.

"No you wouldn't. My Mom would decimate her," Bobby quipped.

"Look, I'm tired of this little vendetta you have against my wife. She's not responsible for your terrible life!" David exclaimed, as the spectators were much more interested in the spectacle playing out before them then they were the exhibits.

"Enough!" a voice said, as they turned to find a man of Asian descent before them.

"Who the hell are you?" David asked.

"My name is Ichiro Suun Li and since all the artifacts before you are not to your liking, I believe I have one that will be," he replied.

"Li?" Aphrodite asked curiously.

"Yes Goddess...I am of that Li bloodline and I present to you the sacred jar of my people. The Mu…" he said, as the spectators marveled at the glowing jar.

"Don't let him fool you...he's not the good man his ancestor may have been," Patricia warned.

"I am simply a man that wants the secrets to his heritage unlocked and I believe it is within this jar. Now...the children of the sun will open it for me," he said.

"Truest loves," Snow corrected.

"And what if we don't?" David asked. He smirked.

"Then the blood of every person in this room will be on your hands…" he threatened...

~*~

The Jolly Roger docked at Pleasure Island and Killian deployed the gangplank.

"I'm sure I don't have to tell you...but be on your guard, mates. This place was rough back in the day and that was before it housed a myriad of super villains," Killian mentioned.

"Thank you, Captain. Hopefully, we'll return shortly with our abductees," Fandral said, as the warrior was flanked by his companions for this mission.

"Well...that is definitely a new attraction since we were here last," Fandral said, as they observed the extravagant castle in the distance.

"Rodmilla Tremaine is definitely at home in this place," Zorro agreed, as they approached the infamous watering hole that they knew was run by Grimm. Going in there would alert the entire island to their presence, so they quickly concealed themselves in the alleyway behind the bar.

"What if our gimpy friend decides not to frequent the bar tonight?" Zorro asked.

"Then we tear this island apart until we find them. But I don't think we're going to need to," Hyde said, as he pointed ahead of them and they noticed Fidget limping toward another man at one of the nearby kiosks.

"Poppy dust...with an injury like his, we should have guessed he was an addict," Fandral said, as they moved on once he pocketed the bag of narcotics and the greasy character nearly leapt out of his skin at the sight of Fandral.

"Scream and I crush your larynx," Hyde threatened, as he put his hand around the shifty man's throat. Zorro fished out the bag of drugs and confiscated them.

"I need those…" he pleaded.

"Yes…I imagine that your permanent injury is painful at times, but narcotics are never the solution," Fandral replied.

"Easy for you to say and what's the difference? The version prescribed in your fancy hospital are just as addictive as poppy dust," he seethed.

"Perhaps that's true…" Fandral relented.

"Or maybe you're just a scumbag," Zorro added bluntly.

"That is likely also true," Fandral agreed.

"Hey…I don't see the two of you walking around with a bum leg!" Fidget hissed.

"Yes...well, maybe you shouldn't have tried to assault Snow White and you might not be in this position," Fandral said.

"That little wench...she caused this!" he said.

"No...shoddy medical practices caused this. The Black Fairy or Yzma could have repaired your leg easily with magic, but they did not care. You were just a minion...a foot soldier. This is how they treat their help," Fandral corrected, as he produced a pair of cuffs and put them on the greasy man.

"Now...you're going back to prison, but the amount of time you do in the abduction of Hiram Flaversham and his daughter will all depend upon you telling us where Jekyll is. We know he has them," Fandral said.

"If I tell you...I'm dead meat," Fidget said.

"You're dead if you don't. Tell us and you'll have a fighting chance in prison," Hyde threatened, as he put his hand around the man's neck again.

"Okay...it's that warehouse there," he said, pointing to the large building at the end of the block.

"Walk…" Fandral urged, as they followed him and arrived at the warehouse and they rushed in when they heard screaming…

~*~

Hiram Flaversham had worked diligently through the night and the day for his impatient captor. So when Jekyll finished his daily watching of Snow White via in his intrusive spying devices, he turned his attention to Hiram.

"I do hope you have been successful. With Snow and Charming away, this would be the perfect opportunity to sneak up on young Summer and obtain her star gem...and perhaps even Eva's," he said.

"Emma and Leo would be more challenging, but with their parents and Nana gone...the youngest girl would be prime for the picking, so that glove had better work," he added, as the device was unveiled.

"Your craftsmanship is exquisite…" he complimented, as he observed a golden pair of gloves, similar to the magic wielding ones he had created for Rodmilla, though hers were black.

"They will allow you to rip hearts and seamlessly extract star gems from the hearts without damaging them," Hiram said. The look in Jekyll's eyes was one of pure derangement, as he moved to the other side of his lab and revealed another device. It looked like a staff of some sort.

"I've done what you have asked...now please release me and my daughter," Hiram requested.

"Oh, but don't you want to know what you have helped facilitate?" Jekyll asked, as he picked up the golden staff.

"Seven slots...seven star gems and control of everything will be mine," he revealed, as a cold chill went down Hiram's spine. Jekyll smirked.

"That's right...seven Charmings and all their power will be harnessed by me. Charming will be under my control and lead his children in complete destruction of subjugation of the world for me, while the lovely Snow will be by my side as my Queen," he added.

"Then you have what you want...now please let us go," Hiram pleaded.

"Oh, but we have not tested your device yet," Jekyll said, as young Olivia was led into the room by one of the guards.

"Goldilocks was very disappointed in her skills as an assistant, so she returned her, hoping that I may have better use of her," Jekyll said, with a smirk that made Hiram want to vomit.

"And I do," he said, as he raised his hand and prepared to rip the heart from the young girl.

"No...please! Test it on me!" Hiram offered.

"A nice offer...but she will be our guinea pig," Jekyll said, as his hand thrust forward and the girl winced, waiting for the pain to come. But an arm caught his before it could go through her chest and she looked up to find Hyde in between the two of them.

"Not today, doctor…" he hissed, as he shoved him away and then picked Olivia up to carry her to Hiram.

"Hyde...get them back to the Jolly Roger. We'll be right behind you," Fandral said, as he circled the doctor.

"Don't count on it, Asgardian. With these gloves...I can rip even your heart out and once I do...I will go to Rose Red and make her watch me crush it to dust!" Jekyll growled.

"Spoken like a true psychopath…" Fandral countered, as he drew his new weapon.

"A shiny new sword won't even help you against me," the doctor warned, as he slashed at him with his fire whips. Zorro and Fandral dodged the flaming extensions of his arms and he aspirated and reappeared directly in front of Zorro.

"I will have a test subject," he growled, as he prepared to take Zorro's heart. Thinking quickly, Fandral picked Fidget up by the shirt and tossed the now screaming minion in between the path of Jekyll's glove and Zorro. Fidget was speared by Jekyll's hand and the mad scientist extracted his heart, which barely glowed at all, considering it was heavily blackened, thanks to all the evil deeds he had done in his life. Jekyll growled maniacally and the heart in his hand exploded to dust in his fury, killing the crippled henchman.

"I may hate Charming the most...but you are very high on my list, Asgardian," Jekyll said.

"Sounds like something to take pride in," Fandral quipped, as the madman unleashed a fire blast in his rage, causing a chain reaction of small explosions all over the warehouse, due to all the chemicals he had around.

"This whole place is going to go up...he's insane," Zorro warned.

"Yes he is…" Fandral agreed and then cried out, as one of Jekyll's fiery whips wrapped around him.

"Time to burn…" he threatened, but the seasoned warrior maneuvered his sword and shocked the doctor, as it passed through his forearms, cutting his hands off. He cried out in raged agony, as Fandral was freed from his grip.

"You think you've won!? I am made of demon fire now! I will regrow my limbs with ease, just like last time!" he claimed, as he willed his power to the surface, but frowned when nothing happened.

"I don't think it will be so easy this time, demon. This is no ordinary blade anymore. It seems Hyde has taken a page from your book and developed a metal that can defeat you with science," Fandral boasted.

"And when he merges his technology with the magic of Snow and David's chalice into their weapons...you will not stand a ghost of chance," the warrior added, as he and Zorro slipped out of the warehouse, just as Jekyll screamed in maniacal rage and the entire building exploded. He was still alive, of course, but he had been dealt a serious defeat.

~*~

Killian saw the explosion and was about to venture to find them when he saw Hyde running toward the Harbor with a girl and the man he assumed was her father, Mr. Flaversham.

"Bloody hell...are Fandral and Zorro okay?" he asked, as he helped their rescued people aboard.

"Yes...they should be right behind us," Hyde said, as they saw the two warriors running toward them as fast as they could.

"Did you kill the bastard?" Killian asked, as they hopped on board.

"We wish...but we at least dealt him a serious defeat," Zorro replied.

"Yes...he has destroyed his own lab in his anger," Fandral said.

"At least we managed to destroy that contraption that Mr. Flaversham created," Zorro said, regarding the inventor.

"What contraption?" Killian asked.

"Gloves that will give Jekyll the ability to rip hearts and extract star gems from them," Fandral replied.

"Emma and her siblings...he's going after them," he realized.

"Yes...but thankfully those gloves and the staff he built to harness the power of them have gone up in smoke," Zorro said, as Killian set sail for the mainland.

"Unfortunately, that may not be the end of it," Hiram offered.

"What do you mean?" Fandral asked.

"I'm afraid my designs were stored in his database. He'll be able to recall the blueprints and rebuild them...without my assistance," Hiram replied.

"Then we must warn Snow and David the moment they return," Zorro said.

"We will tell Emma once we dock. If he got his hands on even one star gem, he could use them to destroy everything. All he would need to bring us all down would be if he got his hands on Emma's or Bobby's. Their magic is by far the strongest," Killian feared.

"He wants Snow and David's too. If he got his hands on the power of the chalice through Snow and David...not to mention Bobby, then the entire United Realms and beyond would be doomed," Fandral realized, giving them all a sense of pure dread.

"Do you think we can stop him, uncle?" Olivia asked, as she looked up at Hyde. He hugged her gently.

"Yes...we will stop him, young one. We must," he said, as he shared a wary look with the others.

~*~

Once the flames were put out, Jekyll emerged from the building, his body covered almost entirely in burns. Thanks to his demon powers, he would heal from those quickly, but the damage had been done to his hands. He could not regrow them and when Rodmilla arrived, even his gruesome appearance shocked her. Following closely behind were her lead guard, Rivers and her jester, Lucifer.

"Rebuild my lab…" he growled, as she watched the sickening process of him shedding the burned skin and emerging anew.

"I gave you those powers...and you will now use them to assist me. If you do not...I will roast you the same way I roasted this entire building!" he shouted, as his eyes bled with fire.

"No need for threats, Doctor…" she said, as she got a healthy dose of practice with her magical gloves and remade his lab. She noticed burnt mass on the floor though and her nose wrinkled at the absolute foul smell.

"What is that?" she asked.

"That...was Fidget. Get rid of it," he growled, as she waved her hand and disappeared the gruesome mass of ash and burnt flesh.

"What happened here?" Runeard asked.

"Fandral the Dashing happened and I fully intend to make sure he pays for everything he just did," Jekyll said.

"What is wrong with your hands?" Rodmilla asked.

"I underestimated Hyde's ingenuity, but that won't happen again," he said, as he pressed a button on his console with his elbow and a panel on the floor opened up. A box emerged from the floor and he kicked it over to Runeard.

"Open it…" he ordered.

"I am a King...I do not take orders, especially from an unhinged doctor, who is obviously an amateur," Runeard said derisively.

"You had better watch your tongue, Void...for if you think your little trick is a match for me...you'd be sadly mistaken," Jekyll said, as he grabbed the man's wrist and Runeard was shocked to see that his touch had no effect on the doctor.

"I am still a demon and there is no life to drain from me," he said, as the King hissed in pain and pulled his wrist away, finding a burn mark there.

"But I can burn you to ash. However, I find your ability intriguing and would prefer it to work for me. Make no mistake though, if you inhibit my path to the lovely Snow White, I will reduce you to smoldering embers," Jekyll warned.

Runeard reluctantly did so and took out a metal case. He placed it on the console and opened it, revealing a second pair of gloves, much like Rodmilla's.

"These will suffice until we can obtain Snow and Charming's mixed blood. With it, Grimm can give me my flesh hands back. For now, these will work and help channel my power," Jekyll said, as he was fitted with the gloves. The Doctor flexed his artificial hands.

"Now get out...I have much work to do and a revenge to craft," he hissed, as they left the psychotic doctor to do his work.

"I'd hate to be the Dashings or the Charmings when he gets done with them. I hope he lets me watch the carnage," Lucifer mentioned. Rivers smirked.

"Me too...it will be entertaining for sure," he agreed.