#my schedule has been like. work on costume. think about next chapter. write a little bit. enter hell vortex. write a lil more gbsjdhdkfk

[madderruz]

Chapter 10 is up! Here's the design for Logos, the robot who finally appears in this chapter.

Something is very wrong with Lewis Smith's new body.

Cover art for my post-canon/semi-continuation fic With You At the End on AO3

[alyasgf]

Everything Is Gonna Be Okay

mlb fic master list || part 2

Summary- Adrien has known Ladybug’s identity since kwamibuster, but she worked so hard who was he to ruin it?

Or alternatively kwamibuster but Adrien isn’t fooled, realizes who Ladybug is but doesn’t say anything. He helps her by becoming her close friend. He may have also accidentally fallen in love with her. Oops? Ft. Ladynoir, Adrinette, and Marichat (mostly Adrinette )

Notes- Getting to all the prompts I have building up that I haven’t had time for so enjoy! I might come back to this for another chapter with Ladrien and possibly a full reveal we’ll see.

Word Count- 1660

AO3

Begin

Adrien knew it was Marinette. Common sense was that if she had all the miraculous on, she’d probably have the fox. She would’ve gotten away with it, but Chat Noir could clearly the difference. After the Volpina scandal he’d noticed how flat the illusions could look, so when the tiny Multimouse seemed just a bit lackluster, he simply connected the dots.

Still, she’d put so much effort into the whole thing, so who was he to ruin it for her? He’d simply play along.

Ever since he found out Ladybug’s identity, he tried to get closer to Marinette, but she always seemed to be uncomfortable around Adrien. It disappointed him, but he understood. Adrien came with high expectations, while Chat Noir was free of these standards.

He’d visit Marinette as Chat Noir every chance he got. At first, he was worried Ladybug might reprimand him, but Marinette seemed to enjoy the company.

Unlike Ladybug, sometimes Marinette would entertain Chat’s antics (probably because they weren’t in the middle of battling an akuma.)

They’d play video games, watch anime on her terrace, and eat goodies he wasn’t allowed at home. He considered her his best friend, in and out of the suit.

Unfortunately, he let this slip while hanging out with Alya, Nino and Marinette.

“Surely your friend Marinette will help you with the notes you missed.” Alya said, raising her eyebrows and directing a look towards Marinette.

“You mean best friend Marinette.” Adrien replied lightheartedly.

Marinette turned bright red, while Nino gasped in offense.

“Well who am I then? I thought you and I were closer!” Nino pouted.

“I- uh,” Adrien was at a loss, before deciding to play it off. “I can have more than one best friend Nino don’t get too jealous.” He laughed.

Marinette was still red as she handed Adrien her notes to take a picture of. They were all in the park after school, as they did sometimes when Adrien’s schedule would allow it.

Alya whispered something into Marinette’s ear that made her blush harder. Adrien couldn’t help but notice how cute she looked. He couldn’t believe the girl that threw herself at akumas with no fear could hardly look him in the eye without stuttering. He couldn’t help but tease her.

“Everything ok Marinette?” He leaned closer and put his hand on her forehead. She froze and looked up, cross eyed at his hand. “You look like you’re heating up.”

She practically fell backwards trying to scoot away from his hand. “Yeah yeah! You feel great.” She said in a daze. “I mean I feel great!”

Adrien let out a laugh, and everyone joined in. Marinette even seemed to giggle a little. Adrien took that as a win.

————————————

He kept up this rouse for months, visiting her at nights after patrols or whenever he missed her. As he did this, he began to fall in love with her as Marinette. It wasn’t all at once though. At first when he’d discovered her identity he had trouble seeing the two as one person. But as he spent more time with Marinette he could see all of Ladybug’s characteristics in her, and in turn, Marinette characteristics in Ladybug.

Anytime Ladybug would doubt her plans, she’d get the same face Marinette would make when she proposed something to Adrien. The determination Marinette had when it came to her friends was the same attitude Ladybug had toward all Parisians.

And with that Adrien was hopelessly in love with her. Still, there was Luka.

She mentioned there was an other guy as Ladybug, and before he knew who she was he assumed she and Luka already had a thing. Before, he could accept this, but after knowing everything it hurt a little more.

He put this all aside though, because Marinette was his friend and partner first (and romantic interest second.)

But as he got lost in her eyes one night while talking and sharing snacks he had to ask, had to hope maybe he was wrong.

“So I hear a certain boy has caught your heart Marinette, care to share?” He asked casually, looking away after a particularly vulnerable moment.

“Yeah he has.” Marinette said with a sigh as she started off into the distance, lovestruck.

Adrien couldn’t help but feel disappointed. “What’s he like?”

“God Chat, he’s just perfect. He cares so much about everyone, and despite everything the world had thrown at him, he’s still so kind.” Marinette gushed.

Adrien had heard about how Luka’s father had abandoned him and Juleka when they were younger. He knew how it felt to feel like there was a piece of your family missing, but not ever knowing them must be unbearable. He could tell Marinette thought the world of Luka.

“How do you feel about Ladybug?” Marinette ventured.

Adrien laughed, knowing who she was, it was funny when Marinette asked about herself. She did it often, as though she couldn’t believe anyone could think so highly of her.

“Well, what can I say that isn’t already obvious? She’s determined, kind, funny, and a bit of a klutz.”

Marinette pouted. “No one calls Ladybug a klutz.”

“Well no one else spends as much time with her as I do. At least in costume anyway.”

Marinette begrudgingly agreed.

“Although she could entertain my amazing puns.” Chat teased.

Marinette laughed. “In your dreams kitty.”

If Chat hadn’t already known she was Ladybug, the way she delivered that line would’ve gave it away. There was a certain fondness to it that only his partner could use with him.

————————————

At some point after Marinette became the guardian, something changed.

They communicated if he could come over by her leaving out a cup of milk or her sitting outside around 9. Lately that came less and less.

Ladybug started to miss more and more patrols. She said she was busy, and with the way Marinette no longer had time to hang out with her friends he could tell that was true.

He tried to distract himself and change targets, but that blew up in his face. Kagami was starting to believe his excuses less and less. It was no suprise when she broke off whatever they had.

What was surprising however, was when he heard from Nino, who heard from Alya, who heard from Juleka, that Marinette and Luka had broken up.

She was always tired, and this was evident through her red eyes with dark bags beneath them. Adrien felt so helpless. He wasn’t sure how he could help without telling her what he knew.

He started with little things, like giving her notes she missed without her asking, letting her know it was really okay if she had to miss a patrol here and there, and leaving her little treats on her terrace to find whenever she went up.

One night as he passed by her room to leave a gift, he found the trapdoor cracked open and could hear her crying in her bed. He could hear the kwamis trying to comfort her, but it wasn’t working.

He made a show of dropping down so she’d have time to hide the kwamis before he knocked on the edge of the open trapdoor.

“You ok Marinette?”

When she lifted the trapdoor fully open a minute later he could tell she had tried to make herself look better. Her eyes looked freshly wiped and she had a forced smile on her face.

“Hey Chat. I’m fine just a little busy. Sorry we haven’t hung out in a while.”

Chat could still hear the sobs in his head that had been coming from her not even 5 minutes ago.

He threw his arms around her and she pulled herself into the ledge before crumbling into him.

She sobbed so hard, he was worried she’d break.

They stayed like that for at least half an hour. Chat rubbed her back and whispered affirmations into her ear.

“Shhh, it’ll be okay. You’re okay. You’re doing great.”

He didn’t know how she hadn’t been akumatized, but with him there, there was no way he’d let that happen.

When she finally calmed down, she pulled from him to look him in the eyes.

Her eyes were puffy and red from crying, there was a bit of snot coming from her nose. Still, she looked beautiful in the moonlight.

“I’m sorry Chat. Sometimes it’s just too hard to hold it in.” She said with a hiccup.

Chat pulled her back in. “Everyone needs to let it out every once in a while Marinette. There’s nothing to be sorry for, I’m just glad you chose me to be here for you. Do you wanna talk about it?”

Marinette shook her head. Chat sighed. He wouldn’t push her to say anything, no matter how much he wished she’d tell him.

“What can I do?” He asked.

“Stay with me until I fall asleep?” She whispered into his shoulder.

Chat nodded and she got up and climbed into her bed. Chat followed and left the trapdoor open.

There he laid, her head on his chest until her breathing evened out. He really didn’t want to leave. She was so warm and vulnerable. He was so in love with her.

But he knew he couldn’t stay, so ever so reluctantly, he lifted her from him softly and he left.

————————————

The next day when he saw her, he could see for the first time in what felt like forever she looked like she got some rest.

He ran up to her and hugged her tightly. She stiffened before relaxing into his touch.

“Marinette, I know if I ask you’re gonna tell me you’re okay, but I want you to know I can tell you aren’t. I’m here for you. We’re all here for you. Please don’t push us away.” He said into her hair. It smelled like strawberries and sweets, like always. It was comforting.

“O-okay.” She stuttered out. “Thank you Adrien.” She said softly. He felt her hold on a little tighter.

End Notes- Feel free to send in prompts! Also I wanna write more reveals where only one of them knows so look out for that. Reply your favorite part and leave a like and reblog if you liked this it makes my day ;)

[rosesgonerogue]

I Didn’t So Much Fall in Love - It Kicked Me in the Face

Chapter Nine

Masterlist

Tim hadn’t been sure about meeting Marinette so early in the morning - would he be able to wake up in time? But he wouldn’t miss this for the world, so obviously the solution had been simply not to sleep at all. Tragically his body was used to it at this point, but as long as he had caffeine he would be just fine.

He knew he was stupidly early to their date, but Tim wasn’t willing to waste a single moment with Marinette. He also didn’t have anything to do until his scheduled nap between the coffee date and his first meeting of the day. So, he ordered his coffee - he didn’t even have to speak to the barista, he just gave her the money. Every barista in Gotham knew his order by heart at this point.

The wordless interaction was perfect for so early in the day. Tim paid and sat down to wait for an hour. He hadn’t even gotten his coffee before he spotted Marinette and Leo skipping towards the shop, hand-in-hand. The intense flood of emotions just from seeing the two left Tim flustered - part of him wanted to look away, temper those feelings, but the larger part of him couldn’t, especially when she spotted him and waved. Like the fool he was, Tim flapped his arm back wildly and without abandon. 

“Bonjour!” mother and son called in unison the second the shop door opened. 

“Bonjour!” Tim greeted back before informing the barista, “I’ll be paying for them.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to do that,” Marinette exclaimed. “I asked you out, this should be my treat!” 

“I’ll let you pay for the next date,” Tim offered with a smile. He immediately regretted saying it, blushing lightly. Was the sleep deprivation really getting to him that badly already? 

But, to his pleasure, Marinette just smiled from across the room. “Well, I suppose that means I’ll have to make sure that we have a second date. You know, because I need to make sure we keep everything even.” 

Tim honestly couldn’t bring himself to care about the barista staring at them - if anything went public that they didn’t want to, he had lawyers he could call. Dangerously close to making a fool of himself, Tim turned his attention to Leo and asked in French, “What would you like? I can order it for you.” 

Clearly thinking deeply, Leo said in perfect English, “I would like one small hot chocolate, please.”

“Which muffin do you want? You need something other than hot chocolate for breakfast,” Marinette said, also in English.

“Blueberry, please.” 

Marinette placed her order as well, and Tim was attempting to reel in his shock as they moved to the table.

“So you can speak English already, Leo?” Tim asked. 

“A little,” he said, ducking his head. 

“He likes to practice when he’s alone,” Marinette mock-whispered. “The fact that he used English in front of you means that he trusts you a lot.” 

Something almost felt like Tim got stabbed through the heart, but in a pleasant way. For once, Tim could understand Bruce’s compulsions to adopt every spare child. 

The three settled into a comfortable conversation. Leo was largely content to nibble at his muffin while observing the adults with luminous eyes. Tim somehow got on the subject of his brothers, which Marinette was incredibly curious about as an only child. (If the stories ensured that Marinette could never see any of his brothers in a romantic light, so be it.)

“-and so Dick was trying to get Damian off of Jason, but if we just pulled him, Dick would take a good chunk of Jason’s arm with him. Dick tried tickling, poking, bribing, all to no avail. Jason was convinced that he was going to get rabies from Damian, and we just knew that this all needed to get resolved before Bruce and Alfred got home. Literally two seconds later, Alfred walks in-”

The story was interrupted by a loud crash and someone shouting, “This is a holdup! Everyone cooperate and no one gets hurt!” 

It was just Killer Moth - he was such a joke in Gotham that the barista just kind of looked bored. His garishly purple costume was as atrocious as ever, and Tim even heard the sound of sirens coming closer already. He turned to Marinette with a wry smile and a snarky comment about the man’s costume, but looking at Marinette froze him. 

She had crowded Leo up against the window, body positioned like she was shielding him from something. Her eyes were squeezed shut and her chest was heaving with erratic breathing. 

Looking at her, at the lines of panic in her body, a piece of Tim shattered. All the light and joy he’d been feeling with her was gone, confirming the thought he’d been suppressing for a while.

Marinette didn’t belong in Gotham. It was too much violence and darkness for her to withstand, let alone Leo. Tim’s entire world was poison to the girl he was beginning to love. 

*********

Marinette crushed Leo to her chest, all of her worst nightmares flashing before her eyes. She couldn’t let Leo be exposed to Hawkmoth, he wouldn’t know the horrors of-

His small hand touched her cheek, grounding her the slightest bit. “It’s not him, Maman. We’re safe.”

Deeply inhaling, Marinette though fort a few moments - the butterfly miraculous was securely locked away in the Miracle Box, and Gabriel Agreste was similarly locked away in a maximum security prison. When she opened her eyes, the villain in a frankly offensive costume was being hauled away by the police. She moved away from where she was crushing Leo, and slowly, hesitantly she met Tim’s eyes.

What could she say after having a full-blown PTSD episode? How was she supposed to explain her reaction? “I-”

“Are you okay?” he asked, voice lined with concern. Even though it seemed genuine, he was already looking at her differently. His blue eyes were shuttered, and a part of him closed off from her, likely forever. 

Of course he wouldn’t want to deal with that much baggage on top of a child. Tim was a truly good man, but he was also a CEO with a limited amount of time in his day. They finished their breakfasts, but what little conversation they had was stilted. Leo kept glancing between the two of them, obviously upset by the way the adults were acting. 

When it came time for them to leave, Marinette met Tim’s eyes and offered a feeble smile, even though she felt her heart fracturing in her chest. “I insist you go home and take a nap, Monsieur Tim. You’ve certainly earned it at this point.” 

He smiled back, but it wasn’t without pain. “Don’t work yourself too hard. If I don’t see you before then, I look forward to showing your suit off at the gala. I’ll see you there, won’t I?” 

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Marinette said, attempting to renew her pasted-on grin. “Now come, Leo. We need to say goodbye to Monsieur Tim so he can get a nap in before he has important business to tend to.” 

Leo’s face creased as he glanced between the adults. “Why are you both acting weird? What happened?” 

“Nothing happened, it’s just time for us to leave Monsieur Tim alone,” Marinette said, her smile beginning to collapse. 

Glancing frantically between the adults, Leo looked genuinely distressed. “But you’re supposed to love each other.”

Marinette felt like she was going to pass out right there until she realized that Leo had spoken in the language of the Guardian. Tim couldn’t have understood him, but Marinette already felt exhausted. 

In the same language, she said, “Sometimes it isn’t that easy, Leo. We can talk about this later. Say goodbye to Monsieur Tim.”

The goodbyes were brief, and Marinette felt like she was suffocating as she had to drag her obviously upset son away. She didn’t look back to see him, partially occupied with Leo’s uncharacteristic disagreement, but mostly because she didn’t want to see whether Tim’s sad eyes lingered on them or not. 

Taglist: 

@ii-fox-demon @queen-in-a-flower-crown @novaloptr @saphiraazure2708 @iamabrownfox @smolplantmum @redhoodedtoad @loysydark @slytheringinger300 @finallyaniguana @brokenwordsarehard2 @abrx2002 @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @moonlightstar64  @marinettepotterandplagg @black-streak @purplesundaze @maribat-is-lifeblood @the-fusionist @river9noble @chocolatecatstheron @darkthunder1589 @throneoffirebreathingbitchqueen @dast218 @k-poplunardreams @meanids @changelinggarden @ladybug-182 @pawsitivelymiraculous @zotinha456 @tumbling-down-hills-and-stuff @spider-person95 @zestyzealot @toodaloo-kangaroo @kokotaru @kurogaya913 @tis-i-beanbandit  @annapointone @casual-darkness @pheony1882 @tbehartoo @kris-pines04 @thesunanditsangel @constancetruggle @thequeenofpotatoeunicornss @rosalineandrosemary @novicevoice @momothefemur  @theymakeupfairies @casual-darkness @the-one-woman-army

Note: 

Sorry for the long wait on this chapter! Most of my time was spent writing for Jasonette July, and then I had to move back to college and start my new program, so it's been a little hectic. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy! If you want more mominette content, take a look at my submission for Jasonette July, How to be a Dad 101!

[sailtoafarawayland]

The Things We Don’t Say - Ch 2 (modern AU - actors)

Summary:  No one is perfect, and sometimes, two people are just so perfectly flawed that those pieces fit together and make something beautiful. When sparks fly between two leads of a new hit show, is there a happy ending in sight, or will their own mistakes overshadow any chance they had at something worth fighting for.

Rated: Explicit   ��

Warnings:   This is a joyfully Captain Swan story, but there are a few warnings. It does start with Emma/Neal and Killian/Milah. I don't write non-CS, so there won't be any sexual anything happening 'on screen', so to speak, between those couples, but I won't guarantee there may not be a mention. This story contains numerous episodes of cheating. If any of these things make you squick or are not your bag, carry on.

AO3 - FF

- or read below the cut -

As always, let me know if you’d like to be tagged (or removed) for further updates.

Tag list: @xarandomdreamx @jrob64 @wefoundloveunderthelight @teamhook @tiganasummertree @pirateprincessofpizza @lfh1226-linda @kmomof4​ 

Chapter Two

Killian sighed into the hard press of his fingers against his tired eyes, listening to the soft hum of the elevator as it climbed to his floor. He’d look like a drunken raccoon by the time he got into the apartment, but he couldn’t find it in him to care. An early morning shoot that had dragged late into the day left him feeling more dead than alive, and he hadn’t bothered with his normal clean up on set. The time saved getting back to his bed was the bright side—the downside was a few fans had recognized him when he jumped out of his uber, his trademark eyeliner and messily styled hair a giveaway. He’d managed a few weak smiles as they snapped pictures and hurried on his way, taking a few strange turns and slipping a spare beanie he kept in his pocket over his head. That, a popped collar, and hunched shoulders normally did the trick. Being famous certainly had its perks, but crazed fans knowing where he lived certainly wasn’t one of them.

It was usually simpler to drive to set, but lately he’d been to worn out to trust himself behind the wheel. The past two weeks had been a nightmare of last minute reshoots and publicity, and he couldn’t wait for it to all be over.

The elevator doors slid open, Killian staring at them for a moment before he realized her was staring at the familiar artwork that spanned the hall outside his condo. Desperately trying to blink away sleep, he trudged down the hall, leaning his forehead against the cool metal door for a brief second before unlocking it and heading in.  

God, he hoped Milah was content to have a quiet night in.

Everything was blessedly dark and quiet when he stepped into the entryway, shrugging his leather jacket off and hanging it on the waiting hook, his boots next as he eased them off his aching feet and lined them up neatly below the jacket. He rolled his neck and stretched, wrinkling his nose as he realized a fifteen-hour day filming had left him less than fresh.

A hot shower and bed—that was the plan. With any luck, and the darkened apartment seemed to be on his side, Milah would already be stretched beneath the covers and he could slip in behind her and fall asleep pressed to her warmth. It would be the perfect start to a weekend otherwise free of engagements and obligations.

“Milah?” he whispered, not wanting to startle her if she was relaxing in the living area.

There was always the chance she’d gone out with friends earlier and wouldn’t be home until late. It was a Friday, after all.

His back ached as he stretched his shirt over his head, balling it up and launching it toward the hamper as he walked into the bedroom. A glaring light greeted him from around the corner and he realized that Milah was indeed home, but not where he’d hoped. It looked as if a tornado had blown through the walk-in closet—every pair of heels she owned were tossed onto the floor and the chaise was covered with a haphazard pile of glittering dresses. Milah was standing in front of the mirrored wall, a sequined, black strapless number pulled over her body but left unzipped as she adjusted a pair of large earrings, her brow furrowed.

“Oh, thank god your home,” she huffed, flashing an annoyed smile over her shoulder as she slid her second earring in. “This zipper is absolutely impossible.”

He smiled and stepped into the closet, taking care to avoid the dresses that had sloughed onto the carpeting.

“I’m happy to help, darling,” he assured, catching the nearly invisibly zipper and easing it up her back. There were certainly nights he would have coaxed her into agreement that off was the far better option, but tonight he was more than happy to get her dressed and out the door if that was what she so desired. “Headed anywhere special?”

“It’s that opening of the new club—you know, the one with the glass ceiling that everyone has been going on about. I mentioned it the other night—good lord, Killian, you positively reek.”

Killian flashed a tired smile in the mirror, but her frown only deepened.

“Honestly, Killian, you can’t go out like that. You’ll need to have a quick shower.”

Killian’s brows echoed her own displeasure as he realized what she was implying.

“Did you want my company, as well?”

“Do you even listen when I speak? Sometimes I wonder. I told you two nights ago that Lara and William were expecting us. They’ve barely seen you.”

Killian couldn’t remember a Lara, but he seemed to recall a bright, friendly man with reddish-blond hair who may have been a William. No matter who they were, he had no interest in spending the evening with them, and even less in spending the evening on his feet in an obnoxious club.

“It’s been a long day, Milah—every day for the past couple weeks has, and I’m exhausted—”

“You’re absolutely right, Killian, it has been a long day, a long few weeks, and I’m sorry that I thought I might get to spend some time with you at the end of all of it. How foolish of me,” she snapped, and Killian felt the words like a slap to his face.

“No, you’re right. It’s—I’m sorry. I’ll have a quick rinse and get dressed.”

Milah beamed at him, adjusting her hair and checking that everything was just as she wanted it to be in the mirror. Killian pressed a soft kiss to her bare shoulder, the warmth of her smile washing away a bit of his exhaustion.

He wanted her to be happy, and perhaps the past few weeks had been more difficult for her than she let on.

“It will be a lovely night, I promise,” she said, shoving him gently toward the bathroom as she turned to reappraise the pile of heels.

* * * 

Despite Milah’s initial enthusiasm that he’d agreed to join her and two people he most definitely did not remember—apparently William had brown hair and was quite pretentious—it was not a lovely night. The hot shower and the warmth of Milah’s arm in his had been enough to fool him into think it might be the tiniest bit enjoyable—after all, it had been some time since he’d been to a club—but he’d been wrong, very wrong.

Everything from the moving lights to the music to the stench of hot bodies pressed against one another was giving him a pounding headache, and he slid down further into his chair, nursing a rum and casting about for Milah, wherever she’d gone. He’d wanted to give her a nice evening at his side, but he hadn’t been able to find it in him to join her on the dance floor—probably because his feet had blisters from filming in his costume boots all day—and she hadn’t been able to find it in her to forgive him.

He’d been able to keep track of her at first, but soon she was lost in the crush of bodies and he was lost in his rum—at least it helped dull the sounds a bit.

He didn’t know if it was the insane schedule he was booked to finish shooting for his latest movie, or just the lack of free time, but nothing felt quite right lately, and he was worried a change was needed. Milah was clearly unhappy with his schedule, with how much distance it put between them. He found himself wondering if perhaps it wouldn’t be a bad time to step back a bit, to get away and really dedicate some time to the two of them.

It was a question he’d come back to more than once in the past few months, and as much as he wanted to feel that doing so was the right answer, his gut kept telling him it wasn’t.

He loved her, he certainly didn’t want her to be miserable, but the thought of missing out on opportunities at the high point of his career, it did worry him. Liam had worked more than any person should have to help put him through school, and he’d only ever wanted happiness for his little brother. Liam was a big enough man to know that for Killian that meant acting, even if it was a hard path. If Killian were to step back now, would that be doing justice to his brother’s sacrifice. What if he started turning down offers and never bounced back from it?

He searched the dance floor once more, but there was no sign of his Milah. Knowing she was probably hurt enough to ignore him for the rest of the night, he whipped out his phone and started scrolling through emails, most of them simply things his manager had already spoken with him about over the phone. It wasn’t until he scrolled farther back, nearly hypnotized by the small boxes flying along the screen, that a flagged email came to his attention and he stopped. The details were familiar, and he only just remembered the conversation he’d had with Cora.

It had been an offer for the lead role in a new series, but he’d turned it down due to the filming location. He’d been worried about having to uproot Milah, but scanning through everything once more, he found himself second-guessing his first decision. Perhaps it would be the answer they needed, and the more he thought about it, the more it appealed to him personally.

Maine was certainly quiet and would allow for more quality time together—and the pay was bloody obscene, which never hurt. According to Cora, the role had been written specifically for him. He wondered how the showrunners had taken it when he declined.

His finger hovered over reply.

He should probably discuss it will Milah first, but then thoughts of Liam tugged at his tired mind and he reread the arc for the lead role, each sentence making him more inclined to see if taking it on was still a possibility.

He’d earned his name and place in Hollywood by becoming the face of playboys and scoundrels, all of his characters well-known for their rakish appeal, but to be honest, he was starting to become concerned he may not be offered anything more diverse if he didn’t branch out soon. This role—this would be something different, something Liam would be proud of. The series treaded water somewhere between a fantasy show and a piece that examined the very fabric of what is real, the main character a man who suffered great personal tragedy and loss only to have his independence and health rocked.

The more Killian looked at it, the more he knew it was for him, the words swimming with possibility...or rum. He didn't know what about his previous roles had drawn the showrunners to him of all their choices, but for the first time in a while, he really wanted something.

He really wanted this.

A feeling of certainty settled in his gut and he shot off a reply to Cora.

K: I want this, do what you need to do.

The message sent and he almost expected to look up and see Milah hovering over him, a flushed smile on her cheeks from dancing, her hair falling in tendrils around her face, but his table is still empty and the dance floor is still a writhing mass of faceless people.

Raising his glass in a lonely toast, he took another drag of rum and closed his eyes.

He wants to dream that she’ll be as happy as he is, that’s all he wants for her.

[snowdice]

Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 39]

Here is my starting post for today’s study break stories session. See this post for more details and feel free to send me asks to keep me going! It’s been a lot of fun so far! I will reblog this post with the story as I write them today. I’ll be constantly looking for ideas of times and places for Janus to have missions, so feel free to send in any you can think of at any point!

If you are a new follower or just don’t want all of these posts clogging your dash, please feel free to block the tag “study break stories” as all posts and voting about it will go there. You can still see the finished product of the story even if you are blocking that tag as I will not tag the edited chapters with “study break stories” but with the tag “folds in paper.” See edited chapters below. None edited chapters are under the cut.

My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.

Alright. Time to get a bit of studying done.

Arc II What We Do to Each Other

Chapter 16:

As it would turn out, Janus and Virgil did not get in trouble for hooking up the old phone to Virgil’s integrator, mostly because it wasn’t really a mistake on their part. The phone cleared all virus checks that the tech people both from the university and the TPI ran on it. The phone should have been clean and should not have caused an issue.

In fact, they were still trying to pin down the code on the general university server. They could tell that something was mucking about on the system but what or how was a mystery. This also meant that there was no telling what information had been compromised and considering how many things Silver Mountain had its hands in, that was… a bit worrying.

 Another worrying thing was there was suddenly more activity of late at the TPI. There were more time distortions popping up every day. Usually they would be few and far in between. There had been 3 total recorded the year before, but over 12 in the last week. Some of them were fake like the one Janus had investigated, but some of them were real. It painted a distressing picture and also was a drain on their resources. Khalid was actually looking to advertise positions to hire new recruits which was something she rarely did as she liked to keep appointments to the TPI in house.

 They’d even loosed the number of field agents needed for each mission and Janus and Remus had been splitting up just to get everything done. Today, he and Remus had thankfully only two missions scheduled for the day.

“Are we going together or separate today?” Janus asked Remus.

“Think they’ll burn me at the stake for being a witch if I go alone to either of them?” Remus asked.

“I don’t know. Probably. I think we’re getting a bit late into the 1700s for that in Cuba, but I have no idea about Mesopotamia.”

“Let’s just go together. I did not like almost drowning yesterday because I was the only stranger in town when the weather was going wonky.”

“Surely it isn’t because you opened your mouth. Ever.” Janus said dryly.

“How was I supposed to know he was the local clergyman’s son?”

 Janus rolled his eyes. “On second thought,” he said, pushing a button on his desk to choose Cuba as he next mission, and standing up. “I don’t want you coming with me.” Yet, he did not protest when Remus also signed up for the Cuba mission and he waited for him by the office door before going to talk to Rhi.

Rhi was a bit frazzled when which meant quite a bit as she was usually incredibly put together. Remus didn’t even seem inclined to tease her today.

“Okay,” she said once they’d closed the door behind them. She flipped through some documents on her desk. “Picani and Clockson. Camaguey Cuba 1755. Do you know Cuba?”

 “Uh,” Janus said. “Yeah?”

“Like you’re reading the things, right? I don’t have to babysit you, right? You got it? The Seven Year War was happening, but it won’t affect you much as it hasn’t really hit Cuba. It’s the middle of the Camaguey Carnival. Everyone will be everywhere and there will be chaos so as long as you don’t really fuck up you should be fine. Um…apparent races.” She looked up at them and studied them each for a moment as thought looking at them for the first time despite having known them for years. “It’ll work. Go to costuming.”

“Shouldn’t we…” Janus said, “sign things?”

 “…Yep,” she said, fiddling with her desktop and then sending documents over to their side to sign.

Janus and Remus both did before sending them back.

“Great. Good.” She stood and grabbed some things from behind her. “You can go.” She sat back down as they took their things and Janus noticed a message pop up on her desk. She looked up at Remus looking exhausted. “What?” she asked.

“Just open it,” Remus said.

Rhi tapped it and a photo opened.

“I got her a new mouse toy!” Remus said happily as Rhi looked at the picture of Diesel Fuel attacking a cloth mouse.

“That is… appreciated Agent Clockson,” Rhi said. “Now get out.”

 They did, leaving to get their costumes on and checked. Costuming was just as busy and frazzled as Rhi had been and they actually had to wait for decon because there’d been a mix up with the agents leaving before them. They landed in Cuba without issue. Janus could already hear the festival in full swing outside the small building they’d were in. Remy was standing there with a very not time appropriate mug of coffee.

“Sue me,” Remy said when Janus raised an eyebrow at it. “Please just… get in and out without causing trouble. Seriously. I don’t want to have to deal with that on top of everything else.”

 “We’ll do our best,” Janus assured.

Remy pulled his sunglasses down to look at him. He looked exhausted. “God please do more than your best.”

Janus nodded tightly. “We’ll be in and out,” he said, already glancing at his timepiece. It had been disguised as a golden bracelet which made it a bit harder to actually use, but wrist watches wouldn’t be invented for more than a century, so they’d have to make do. “The time distortion, if that’s what it is, should be in the middle of town. Let’s go.”

He and Remus exited the building onto the packed city street.

 Janus was immediately bombarded with all types of sights, sounds, and smells. There were many colorful articles of clothing and costumes as people went every which way along the street talking to other members of their community, playing instruments, and dancing. There was the sound of people speaking Spanish, still mostly almost pure Castilian Spanish with perhaps a bit of influence from Taino as the Haitian revolution had yet to push the Creole language over to Cuba. People must have been hard at work cooking different dishes for the carnival as many different spices wafted through the air. It was sticky hot considering it was the middle of June in the tropics and Janus was immediately sweating despite the temperature appropriate clothing he’d been outfitted with.

 He glanced around their immediate area, just scoping out the crowds. His eyes were immediately drawn to one person near them.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” he said out loud when he saw Pat. Remus looked in the direction Janus was.

Even if Janus didn’t recognize him the moment he laid eyes on him, he probably still would have ended up staring as he was the only person in the area who clearly did not know how to do the dance he was attempting.

Remus snorted and Janus shook his head in secondhand embarrassment. “Well, would you look whose boyfriend’s here,” he said to Janus. Make that firsthand embarrassment. “Has anyone told him the Mambo wasn’t invented until the 1900s and also that’s not how you do it?”

 Chapter 17

Pat stopped dancing the moment he saw Janus approaching him, but he still bobbed cheerfully ( and unrhythmically) to the music. “Hi Janus,” he said pleasantly.

“You just have to rub it in, huh?”

There was a flash of confusion across his face, but then he smiled. “Well, I know where in our relationship you are. How was France?”

“You’re a bastard.”

“You stole the phone,” he laughed.

“You stole the bomb,” Janus countered, “and you wanted me to steal the phone. You booby trapped it.”

“No,” Pat correct, putting a finger up. “We have security on my phone because in high school I once forgot it in the school locker room and long story short, the three of us ended up in a lake. So, then Lo made sure I always had some sort of tracker on it. When I started time traveling, he updated it and when I met you we updated it again in case there was ever an opportunity like that. Lo calls it using our weaknesses to our advantage.”

 “He’s a bastard too,” Janus growled.

Pat just laughed.

“Is someone talking about me?” Remus asked, stepping over to them. Janus rolled his eyes.

“Oh,” Pat said, blinking at Janus’s partner for a moment. “Remus.” He hesitated slightly. “How are you doing?”

“Me?” Remus asked. “Uh, I’m doing good. A little stressed out with work, but fine.”

“Good,” Pat said with just a little too much heartfulness to it.

“What?” Janus asked, eyes narrowed at Pat. “What is that?”

“What is what?” Pat asked. He met Janus’s eyes briefly and it made panic surge up Janus’s spine because the look Pat was sending him wasn’t one that said he was playing dumb. It was a warning.

 Oh, Janus did not like this. That look told Janus Pat had some foreknowledge that he absolutely could not tell Janus about without messing up the timeline spectacularly. This was why this mess the two of them were mixed up in was so bad, but it seemed Janus did not have much of a choice when it came to Pat.

Despite how bad of an idea he knew it was, he still wanted to push, because whatever Pat was hiding could be very, very bad and it had to do with Remus. There were so many reasons Pat could be acting like that around Remus, but the worst ones were definitely the ones on his mind. Death, injury, illness. They were all possible especially in their line of work and especially with how time was being screwed with right now. And Pat knew. He knew exactly what the answer was, and oh did Janus want to push.

Experience knowing what worse things could come out of having foreknowledge made Janus bite his tongue.

 “So, what are you two doing here,” Pat asked, and Janus unhappily let him change the subject.

“Oh, like you don’t know,” Janus replied.

“I don’t know,” Pat said innocently.

“There’s another time distortion,” Janus said, “and while you didn’t know what it was the last time I saw you, I’m pretty sure you do now.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there was a time distortion here. I can help you if you like,” he offered sweetly.

“Oh, yeah, sure. Then why are you here?”

“I wanted to see if I could find the Flying Dutchman,” Pat told him.

“And so you went to Camaguey?”

“Uh huh.”

“One of the farthest places from the ocean in Cuba?”

 “Is it?”

“I don’t trust you.”

Pat just shrugged. “Well, if you don’t want my help finding the time distortion, I’ll just be on my way then.”

“Wait,” he said when Pat went to turn away. Pat paused. Janus turned to Remus. “Remus, do you think he’s bullshitting me so I let him wander off and do whatever the hell he’s doing, or do you think he’s bullshitting me into letting him come with us.”

“Hmm,” Remus said, looking Pat up and down. Janus could immediately tell he wasn’t going to get any helpful answer. “Well, if we’re going with the how much do I get to see his, admittedly very sexy, ass criteria.” Janus pinched the bridge of his nose. “Letting him leave now means instant gratification and a nice full image when he turns away. However, letting him go with us means many more opportunities to get a glimpse, but they’d probably just be glimpses. So, yeah that’s a tough call.”

“You didn’t even bother to give me an actual hidden suggestion with that bullshit,” Janus groaned. He glanced at Pat only to see him hiding his very red face in his hands. Janus blinked. “Oh,” he said. “You got him, Remus.” Janus was surprised. He’d expected a bit more tenacity for someone with Pat’s personality. Of course, Janus was used to Remus, so that perhaps had some effect. Pat made a muffled distressed sound behind his hands and Janus raised an eyebrow. “You really got him.”

Pat flapped one hand around while still using the other to completely hide his face. “It’s just. His face. Saying that. Is weird.”

 Janus could not say that he didn’t feel a slight spark of joy at seeing Pat flustered. After all, Pat’s weapon of choice had often been flirting with Janus in the past. However, he still smacked Remus on the shoulder when it looked like he was about to continue with something likely far more inappropriate. “We are here for a reason,” he reminded. He turned to consider Pat and squinted at him. “You’re coming with us, I’ve decided. I don’t want to let you out of my sights. Don’t,” he said empathically turning to Remus as the man opened his mouth once more.

 Pat had mostly recovered, though his cheeks were just a bit pink still. “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll go with you. Where do we start?”

Janus glanced at his timepiece. “It’s not showing up on our trackers yet.”

“It messed with your tracker last time,” Pat pointed out.

“I know,” Janus said. “Which means it could be another fake one or whatever is causing it hasn’t started yet. If things start going wrong, but it still doesn’t show on our radar, it’s almost certainly a fake one, but some of the fake ones haven’t blocked our technology.”

“Here, I can check,” Pat said.

“Please don’t pull out an iPhone,” Janus begged.

 Pat stuck out his tongue at him, and then smiled. He reached for the bracelet on his wrist and twisted it back and forth a few times before pressing his palms together. He glanced around them quickly to make sure no one around them was watching and then peeled apart his palms like he was miming reading a book.

“What the fuck is that, and how do I get one?” Remus asked immediately. It was innocuous, whatever it was. If someone from this time caught a glimpse of the display, they’d likely assume it was a trick of the light, but staring right at it, Janus could tell it was a map of the surrounding areas with a softly glowing blue light marking their current location. Janus could see no screen or origin of a hologram. It looked like the image was drawn onto the man’s palms, but as he watched, the image shifted to zoom out.

 “There doesn’t seem to be anything major yet,” Pat said wiggling his fingers a bit. The display changed slightly to some sort of colorful overlay Janus did not understand. Pat hummed. “Did you two come from that building recently?” he asked nodding at it.

“Yes,” Janus replied. “How do you know?”

“There’s sometimes a slight temperature change when people time travel,” Pat explained. “I can read it on here.” He tilted his head. “There also seems to be a big enough temperature change in a church a few blocks away that could indicate time travel. Want to check it out?”

“We might as well,” Janus agreed.

“And if it’s nothing, we can get drunk on the communion wine!”

“He’s going to get immediately struck by lightning,” Janus said.

 Chapter 18

“If we see anyone,” Janus said as they entered the church. “You keep your mouth shut. Do you understand me? Remus, do you understand me?”

Remus immediately turned to Pat. “You know, I didn’t grow up Catholic,” he said to Pat who looked at him in confusion. “So the first time I ever entered a Catholic church, you can’t blame me for being a little confused about the whole cabinet thing with a wall between them. After all, everyone was singing about glory to god and what not. So I…”

Janus slapped him. “This is why you were almost burned at the stake yesterday.”

 “Excuse you,” Remus said, putting his hand over his heart. “I was almost drowned.”

“You were almost drowned?” Pat asked, his voice seeming legitimately distressed.

Remus shrugged a smile on his face that caused a Pavlovian migraine to start up behind Janus’s eyes. “It’s one of the hazards of the jobs, and really it would have all been worth it if I’d actually gotten to drown in that man’s…”

“We’re in a church!” Janus cut him off switching from Spanish to Swahili in the hopes that no random passersby would be able to understand him in this time and place. “Don’t talk about lewd sex things. Don’t talk about sex at all. It’s a Catholic church!”

 Remus continued to speak in Spanish with no regard for anything. “But not talking about lewd sex things takes away 3/4ths of my personality,” he pouted.

“More like 9/10th,” Janus grumbled, “and the other 1/10th is just normal stupid.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t be mean,” Pat scolded, in fucking English for some reason, “but Remus, honey, you probably shouldn’t be saying things like that right now.”

“No, no, he has a point,” Remus said switching to English.

“He’s my partner, I have the right to call him stupid,” Janus insisted.

“And I love you too!” Remus said in Greek because he was really, truly, stupid.

 Pat looked between the two, but then seemed to accept it, dropping the concerned expression for a slightly amused one. “If you say so.”

“Can I… help you?” A voice asked. All three of them whipped around to see a young boy looking at them and seeming very confused. Which was fair considering that to his ears, they’d just been speaking nonsense.

“We’re here to pray!” Remus claimed, then he turned to wink at Pat and said under his breath in Swahili, “to that ass.” Pat went immediately bright red again, which was doubtlessly Remus’s aim. Janus subtlety stepped on his foot while smiling at the boy.

 “Oh,” the boy said. “Okay.” Thankfully, he didn’t seem interested in questioning the random strangers in front of him further. “I’m going to go back to the celebration now.”

Janus smiled at him. “Have fun,” he said. He waited for the boy to leave through the front door before slapping Remus on the back of the head.

“Ow!” he whined sounding far too pained for how hard Janus had actually hit him.

Janus rolled his eyes. “Let’s just start investigating,” he said.

“Sure, sure, you never let me have any fun,” Remus said, pulling up his wrist and spinning the golden bracelets on his arm. “Hmm…” he said.

 “What?” asked Pat.

“Either I put on the wrong jewelry this morning… or my timepiece isn’t working.”

“Well, then I’m guessing we’re in the right place,” Janus said. He turned to Pat. “Your stuff still working?”

Pat brought up whatever device was on his hands. “Yeah,” he said, “and it looks like something is just starting.” Just as he said it, there was a violent crash of thunder.

“Well,” Janus said. “We should probably find the source and soon. Which way?”

Pat glanced around himself and then motioned with his wrist. Suddenly there was a 3D display of the church in front of them.

 Janus could see immediately where the problem had to originate. There was a swirling mass of some sort of energy centered at the top of the bell tower of the church. As he watched, he saw the picture of the church glitch out a bit. He had a bad feeling about that.

“Is there something wrong with your display?” he asked, or more hoped.

Pat shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so…” The room seemed to shift suddenly underneath their feet. It felt a bit like time travel, but also wrong. The picture on the display flickered harder, part of the building fracturing and dissolving before appearing back in place. The room settled after a moment, but Janus’s stomach did not.

 “Whatever is going on,” Janus said, “We need to stop it right now.”

Pat nodded. “The quickest way up would be that way,” Pat said pointing. The display closed as he did.

“Then, let’s go,” Janus said.

The world was eerily calm as they all started off in the direction Pat had pointed out. In fact, it was almost too quiet.

“Where’s the nearest window?” Janus asked when they came out on the second floor.

Pat glanced at his hand. “There should be a couple a few feet that way.” Janus nodded and left them standing there. When he glanced out of the first window he came to, it appeared to be night. Yet, when he walked to the next window, he saw daylight.

26606

“Time is fracturing,” Janus informed them. “We need to be careful.” This time distortion was much more intense than any of the other ones the agency had been tracking down over the last few months. It had also come on much faster. Usually there was some time between when the time distortion began and it started having extreme effects on the environment. He was suddenly very glad that he and Remus had not split up today. He was even glad for Pat’s company, no matter how aggravating he may be sometimes. Not to mention, he was glad for the man’s technology that seemed to circumvent whatever was blocking Janus and Remus’s timepieces.

He backed away from the windows and returned to the others.

“Whatever you do,” Janus said. “Don’t let anyone be in a room alone.”

“I know what time fractures are this time,” Pat promised.

“It was as much for the idiot as it was for you,” Janus said.

“You accidently bring a bubonic plague infested rat to 900BC one time and you never live it down.”

“I’d say I should put a leash on you, but you’d twist it into something disgusting.”

“Probably,” Remus agreed.

“Where next?” Janus asked, ignoring him.

“That way,” Pat said.

They walked together to the door he’d indicated. “Please don’t be bullshit,” Janus prayed. He opened the door and immediately got bowled over by a stream of salt water.

 Chapter 19

Janus landed flat on his back, a wave of water splashing over him and then quickly retreating, but still leaving him absolutely drenched. He sighed, looking at the ceiling. “Don’t,” he warned, “say a word.”

Of course, he was with the two most impossible people in all of space and time, so neither of them headed him.

“I thought you said we were far from the ocean, Jan,” Pat said.

“Yeah, Janny,” Remus immediately jumped on board because he was an asshole. “I thought we were far from the ocean!”

“Maybe I’ll achieve my goal of finding the Flying Dutchman after all!”

 “Ooo ghost pirates! I’ve never gotten to fight ghost pirates before. Any good with a sword Patty?”

“My friend has a sword and he let me use it before… but all I did was cut a hole in our couch, and then Lo was mad at us.”

“I mean… just pretend the pirates are a couch and we’ll be good!”

Janus slowly sat up. There was still water on the floor and every so often a wave would crash into the room as though the door frame signaled the edge of a beach. Pat reached down to offer him a hand up and Janus slapped it away.

 “Rude!” Pat claimed, but his eyes were alight with mischief.

Janus shoved himself to his feet on his own power.

“You deserve it,” he hissed. “For all of this!” he waved his arms around.

“Water you talking about. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You are on thin ice.”

He looked down at his feet with a contemplative expression. “Looks like water to me.”

“Arg!” Janus spat, throwing up his arms.

“I don’t sea why you’re screaming, Janus.”

“Yeah,” Remus contributed. “You seem overally emotional to me.”

“Yes, yes,” Pat replied. “Very em-ocean-al.”

“One may even say he’s pretty salty.”

“I know where you live, Remus,” Janus reminded.

 “Alright, alright Remus, reel it in,” Pat said.

Remus opened his mouth to respond, but Janus cut him off. “Why don’t the two of you dedicate all of that brain power to figuring out how to cross the literal ocean in the next room,” Janus suggested hotly.

And it was a literal ocean. If one ignored where they were and the fact that there was a staircase climbing out of said ocean about 80 or so meters away. There was sand being washed up across the door frame and a seagull flying in the distance. At least it looked like a nice day in the room with the way the sun was glinting off the water. At least it wasn’t storming there. Yet.

Janus’s head throbbed with the thought of what had to be happening with the time distortion to plop a piece of the ocean into one single room in a church. Usually they’d be calling the TPI for backup or at least for information, but that was a loss. Even if they tried to get out of range of whatever was disrupting their timepieces, time was so unstable, they’d very possibly get dumped somewhere dangerous. It was better to just get to the time distortion as quickly as possible and stop it.

 “Hmm,” Remus said. “I wonder how deep it is. Do you think there are man eating sharks in the water? Or giant jelly fish? Remember that one time I got stung by a jelly fish and almost died?”

“Yes,” Janus said, lips pursed, “and it was entirely your fault.”

“I just looked so squishy!” he declared, “I didn’t know it was a murder blob.”

“I think I have a boat,” Pat said.

They both turned to him. “What?” Janus asked. He was looking at his hands and just hummed in response to Janus’s question. The next thing he knew, Pat made some motion with his hand and a yellow raft started to autofill from his palm. “...Why?” Janus asked.

“I… recently started carrying a wilderness survival pack in my time device.”

 “I’m not going to question it. It’s better than swimming.” By the time the raft was completely deployed, they’d all been shoved into the walls by it.

“Huh, on second thought. I probably should have put the raft in the room before blowing it up.”

“You think?” asked Janus.

Pat glared at him over it. “I never really thought about how to open it in a narrow second floor corridor.”

“Just try to shove it through the door without popping it.”

“Why are you looking at me?!” asked Remus.

They managed to somehow squeeze the raft through the door into the other room after a few minutes.

 Pat squinted at the tottering raft he was holding to the door frame. “After you,” he offered.

Janus glared at him.

“You’re already soaked!” Pat defended himself.

Janus sighed and very carefully climbed into the raft. It tottered dangerously, but he didn’t immediately fall out, so that was a plus. The other two of them slowly also climbed onto the raft with him. They then sat in it for a few seconds. “Is there an oar?” Janus asked.

“Oh right!” Pat did something else with the device in his hands and an oar slowly unfolded from his hand.

“Seriously, I want one of those,” Remus said.

 “Let’s just get out of here,” Janus said, snatching the oar. The staircase luckily wasn’t too far away. They probably could have swam it if necessary, but the raft gave them some modicum of protection. Everything seemed to be going in their favor, which of course meant everything was about to go incredibly wrong.

They were about halfway across the water when the entire world around them rumbled.

“…I hope that was a giant jellyfish,” Remus said.

It was unfortunately not a jellyfish or any sea creature at all. The world around them fractured, the ocean seeming to split right down the middle so the water right of the staircase was 6 feet higher than on the left. The sky flashed red and yellow before the water split completely like Moses splitting the Red Sea.

 There was a millisecond as the split widened until it was only a few feet from them, to decide whether when they landed they wanted to be on the side with the water or on the side without it. On one hand, going towards the side without water could mean they fell to their deaths or the water crashed back down on top of them when it settled. On the other hand, if the fissure was closing or shifting to a new area, it was very possible that they’d end up trapped in the middle off the ocean with no connection to the church.

 Well, the best chance to actually get to where they were going was probably the side without water. It seemed everyone had the same idea at once because as he grabbed for both of them, they both grabbed for him and they all went tumbling off the raft into what could have very well been a bottomless pit.

Janus learned after a couple of seconds of free fall, that it was definitely not a bottomless pit. He landed hard, flat on his back and saw stars. The next moment something landed on top of him, squeezing all of the air out of his lungs.

 Something else fell half on top of his legs.

“Ow,” Pat said from near his ear.

“Yeah, well you’re the one on the top,” Janus groaned though his teeth.

“Wow, I never took you for a bottom, Janus,” Remus said from near his feet. Janus kicked up his legs into whatever part of him was on top of Janus and he gave an “oof.”

Pat snorted a bit and Janus glared at his… shoulder? He shifted around a bit so he was less thrown across Janus and more just on top of him. Janus blinked. There was a wooden ceiling above them, so that was a good sign, though there was also a giant dark hole of nothingness directly above them which was not as good.

 Janus moved slightly. He could tell he was going to be bruised later, but he didn’t seem seriously injured. “We should,” he started, but was interrupted as the hole above them pulsated and dumped a bunch of sea water.

Pat shrieked as they were all drenched with the chilly water. Luckily, they seemed to be on higher ground because, while water kept pouring out of the hole, it drained away just as quickly instead of drowning them.

Water still hitting his back relentlessly, Pat peeled his head up to look Janus in the eyes. A giggle bubbled out of his mouth.

“It isn’t funny,” Janus informed him. Pat just giggled more, leaning his head against Janus’s chest and cackling.

 Janus just rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, this is an entirely appropriate reaction. Thank you for your contribution to our very important mission.”

Pat seemed incapable of stopping laughing completely, but he did calm himself enough to peel himself off Janus’s chest and lean forward so their noses almost touched. “It’s hilarious and you know it,” he claimed.

“In what way is this ‘hilarious’?”

“In many waves,” was the joy filled answer.

“You’re horrible.”

Pat hummed. He hadn’t moved to get off of him even though they really should be moving in case something worse than water came through the hole in the ceiling. He hadn’t even moved his face away.

“No, no, you two just tell me when you’re done being gay for each other,” Remus interrupted. Janus was surprised to see he’d stood up at some point and was now hovering over them.

 Janus flipped him off even while Pat laughed once again. Pat finally drew away and rolled off of him so Janus could sit up. Pretty much everything hurt when Janus moved, but he was able to stand up, so he was probably fine enough. “So,” he said looking around. “Where are we now?”

 Chapter 20

Janus looked around himself while Pat booted up his map to try to figure out where they were. They were in a small room that may actually be considered a large landing as there were staircases on either side of it. The water that was still coming out of the ceiling was running down the staircase that led down from the room.

 Something was stopping the water, creating a pool on the steps that was already about to overflow into the room. With the speed the water was flowing, they should have enough time before the room completely filled up with water and drowned them.

Janus wondered if they were in the church or not. It was not out of the question and there was church like décor around them, but who knew? He could feel a strange vibration in the ground and the one window in the room shone with green light.

“Hmm,” said Pat. “That looks not good.” He’d projected his map so they could all see everything.

 The map itself was moving. Rooms were phasing in and out of focus and fracturing down the middle. One room was even spinning lazily around in circles. Janus could see the room they were in. It was connected to the bigger blob of rooms, and there was a black line connecting it to another room from the top which was obviously the hole spewing water at them.

“Well, at least the time distortion is still coming from the bell tower,” Remus said. Janus shot him an unamused glance. Said bell tower was currently upside down and shuddering as well as divided from any other room by at least two inches of empty space.

28842

“How are we supposed to get there?” asked Pat.

“We don’t,” Janus said. “It’s literally impossible.”

“There has to be some way,” Pat argued with a frown.

“If we try to use time travel, we’ll definitely get shredded by the warping time and space around it and walking there isn’t an option. There aren’t even any entrances!”

“Well, there were at one point.”

“Yeah, before,” he gestured wildly to the ceiling that was still pouring water into the room.

“So?” Pat asked.

“’So’?! What do you mean ‘so’?!”  

Pat shrugged. “When one door closes, cut another one.”

Janus froze and looked at him for a long moment. “Where the hell did you hear that?”

Patton raised an eyebrow. “You.”

“I don’t think like that anymore.”

“Well then I guess we’ll die,” Pat said lightly. “Of course, that’ll make an even worse time loop considering I’ve met older versions of you.”

“Fuck,” Janus spat. “Fuck. Fine. Give me a minute to think. Not that I even know if we have a minute because,” he gestured once again to the room.

 “Okay,” Janus said. “The room with the source of the time distortion is separated from us by a swirling pool of dark nothingness and there is no way to get to it. But, the only way we’re going to stop the distortion from ripping apart time and killing us as well as probably a bunch of other people is to get to it. That is an impossible situation. There is no solution. That door is closed to us. What other ways are there to look at it?” He looked at the visual representation of the rooms. One of them suddenly went spinning out and his eyes tracked it. We need to be in the same place as the source,” Janus said. “That is fact, but we don’t have to get to it.”

“Um, what do you mean?” Remus asked. Pat shushed him.

 “If you want thing A and thing B to be in the same place, there’s more than one way to do it. If you can’t move thing A to thing B, you might be able to move thing B to thing A. Pat, you have a working time device. We can’t travel with it because that would kill us, but if we can make it do a stutter warp, it could draw the time distortion to it.”

“You…” Remus said. “Want to create another time distortion in hopes that the original time distortion will be pulled into this room?”

“Yes.”

“Well, sounds good to me!” Remus said.

 He maybe had expected Pat to argue, but he didn’t. Instead, he moved his hand to his wrist. There had been nothing there before, but when he touched down on his wrist with two fingers, there was suddenly a metal bound around it that Janus immediately recognized from the times he’d seen Pat’s timepiece before. How was it made invisible? He shook the thought off as Pat offered it up wordlessly. Janus took it and Pat leaned over his shoulder to look.

Despite the fact that the device looked nothing like his own, the interface was surprisingly convenient. “I assume you have safety setting to prevent a stutter warp,” Janus said. “How do I turn those off?”

 Patton pointed at a gear icon on the screen. “You put it under your normal settings?” he asked.

“I have to put in my password or use my fingerprint!” Pat defended.

“It doesn’t matter right now.” He navigated through the settings. He was interested to see that there were many different saved default security settings, but he didn’t get much of a chance to read what all they did. He just turned them all off.” It popped up with a message to put in the password and Pat pressed his fingertip to it. Another message popped up warning them that turning off these settings could cause damage to the machinery, the person using it, and time itself. Janus pushed “okay.” A message popped up that asked “Continue” and Janus pressed “yes.” One last message popped up that said “Security functions disabled.” Janus pressed “okay.”

 “Anything else I’d need to disable?”

“Nope,” Pat confirmed.

He navigated back to the main screen and then bought up the manual travel input screen. Yet another message warning him not to do this flashed and Janus once again ignored it. He copied the space time coordinates that the device said they were currently at and put it in the ‘travel to’ location. “Well,” he said. “Here it goes. Let it be known that if I die, it’s my own fault for allowing Remus into a church.”

“Really?” Remus said. “That’s what you’re choosing to be your last words?”

Janus just raised an eyebrow.

“Love you too Janus.”

Janus nodded and hovered his finger over the travel button. He quickly mashed his finger to the button 22 times.”

 The device warmed in his hand enough that he almost dropped it. Time literally froze for a few breaths as whatever Deity that may or may not exist processed their stupidity.

Janus was not a scientist or technician, but he had a good idea of how badly they were fucking up right now. The timepiece was attempting to travel over and over again to the exact same place and time. This basically punched a small hole through time, that if left unfixed would grow and disrupt space time all around them. As it was, their current position, all gathered around it and staring at it while one of them had it literally in their hand, was perilous.

 There was a rumble under their feet and the world tilted on it’s axis. The all went tumbling down in a pile of limbs to new floor of the room which had once been a wall.

Of course, this change of gravity caused the water that had been building up in the staircase to dump on top of them.

Janus would have cursed, but he was too busy being under the water. He maneuvered himself away from the other two flailing bodies and managed to shove his feet against the wall turned floor. His head popped above the water in time to see the ceiling, or well, it would be the opposite wall, rip in two and the other walls/floor/ceiling start to fold in.

 “Give me a boost!” Pat called over the noise of water rushing and walls crunching.

“Give you a boost where?” Janus asked.

“Up!” Janus wasn’t sure if ‘up’ really existed right now, but he still nodded. The water was a few inches over his head, so he held his breath and interlaced his hands so Pat could put his foot in it. He was shoved down into the water, but it gave Pat enough leverage to shoot up out of the water. When Janus resurfaced, he saw that the man had grabbed ahold of the crumbling wall and was pulling himself up into what for all appearances seemed to be absolutely nothing.

 It took a moment, but then Janus blinked, and he was suddenly in a new room entirely or perhaps it was the same room. He honestly didn’t know at this point. Remus was next to him. He couldn’t recall if he’d been there before the shift or not, but they were both treading water. Pat crashed into the water next to them. Janus’s wrist buzzed as his timepiece came back online. “Got it!” Pat declared when he resurfaced, holding a device up. It looked almost the same as the device they’d found in France, but this one was definitely different if it was able to cause that much chaos that quickly.

 Janus looked around and pointed at what appeared to be a set of stairs. The three of them swam over and pulled themselves out of the water.

“Where are we?” Pat asked.

“Looks like a basement,” Remus replied. “A flooded basement.”

Janus pulled up his timepiece and pushed some buttons to stabilize Pat’s timepiece. It slowly stopped vibrating and cooled. “Here,” he said, handing it over to him. “I suggest you put the safeties back on now.”

Pat nodded and took it.

“We’re still in Cuba,” Remus informed them, looking at his own timepiece. “Same church too, but in the basement and… two and a half centuries later.”

“Remy is going to be pissed,” Janus said.

Remus shrugged. “He’s always pissed… at least at me.”

“Well,” said Pat, slipping his timepiece back onto his wrist. “Thanks for being willing to pool our resources.”

Janus rolled his eyes. “Stop.”

“Ah, mi sirenito-”

“I hate you.”

“-never.” He disappeared with a pop which was when Janus realized, he’d never handed over device that had caused the first time distortion.

“…You bastard!” he yelled at thin air as though the man could hear him.

“Well,” said Remus, “that mission went swimmingly.” Janus reached over and shoved him back into the water.

 Chapter 21

“We should probably get out of here,” Janus said, very much not helping Remus out of the water. Remus pulled himself back up onto the staircase and shook like a dog. Janus crinkled his nose as water droplets hit him. They didn’t smell salty anymore, he noted. In fact, there was a broken pipe spewing out water on the other side of the room.

Janus and Remus cautiously snuck out of the church, not wanting to be seen and blamed for the flooded basement. They came out on a city street that was much different than the one they’d entered from.

 They walked down the street a bit, Janus’s eyes scanning the buildings. His eyes caught on a sign and he tugged Remus towards it.

They entered the small paladare and the person delivering food to one of the tables blinked at them both. Right. They were in clothing from the 1700s and were soaking wet. He met eyes with the woman, challenging her to say something. She did not.

They found a seat at one of the tables.

“Ah…” the worker said, approaching them. “English?”

“Ron,” Janus said, “por favor.”

Remus turned and started ordering the both of them food in Spanish. Janus didn’t pay attention to what he did.

 After his second shot of rum, Janus sighed and brought up his timepiece to ping the TPI. The reaction was almost instantaneous from their perspective. Remy all but kicked down the restaurant’s door and walked over to them. “How the fuck?”

“Ah, Remy,” Janus said calmly. “Have a seat. We’re waiting on our food.”

He did, but probably only because people were looking at them. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s been a long day,” Janus answered, “and I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, it certainly looks like you’re interested in the food,” Remy said, eyeing the empty shot glasses.

“Let’s just say, I’m glad Cuba started letting paladares legally serve liquor a few years ago.”

 It’s clear that Remy wanted to ask them what had happened, but he also was cautious enough not to make a scene here and Janus wasn’t planning on getting up until he’d at least gotten his food. “Why are you soaked, by the way?”

“Turns out the ocean isn’t as far away as we thought,” Janus said.

“Also, a church basement is flooded,” Remus said.

“Fantastic,” Remy replied.

They sat there mostly in tense silence until their food came, and then Remus and Janus ate. Remy slapped down some pesos once they were done and then proceeded to all but physically drag them out of the restaurant.

 They were led to an alley way and then through an old almost hidden door. Remy immediately rounded on them. “What the hell happened?” Remy asked.

“The time distortion caused level 5 time fractures in its vicinity, we almost drowned three times, and the worst person in the universe fucked me over again.”

“To be fair,” Remus said. “He did save our lives before that.”

“I saved our lives first,” Janus said. “I don’t have to be fair.”

“Oh, yeah, Mr. Curl Up In A Ball And Perish. I’m sure we would have been fine without him.”

“Anyway,” Janus said to Remy. “If you want your lump of flesh, I suggest you take it now, because Khalid is going to murder me, and then fire me, and then rehire me so she can put me on desk duty and make me do paperwork until the end of time.”

[darlingsdevil]

Of The Valley (Joel x Reader)

Chapter 9: I Sense There’s Something in The Wind (Part 1)

Summary: Life in Jackson is never easy. Consoling angsty teenagers, wading through the mysterious waters of Joel’s romance language and with a child of your own on the way? Life is about to get a lot harder.

Masterlist

RDR2 Masterlist

Tag list (comment to be added): @sidepuff @joelsheartache @fangirl-inthe-us @scarletpines @mikah-writes @sleepylunarwolf @mr-robot-x @shybookdragon @heughan @writer-jamie @nelliecraine

A/N: *sigh* so much has happened since I last updated. School royally beat me up, I’m constantly tired and have no motivation to write, left a toxic boyfriend! Life has not been kind to me recently but I am trying my best to live it up and learn, but at least I am doing well in school. Sacrifice your sanity to do well in school I guess. I got a guitar too.. okay now I’m just rambling. Updates will be slower as time continues. Constantly fatigued and getting four hours of sleep a night doesn’t work well.

Happy spooky season

This chapter will be in two parts since I couldn’t find the motivation to write the rest of the chapter on Halloween.

•••

Life was quiet until the festival and party, like it had been for months prior. Decorations were put up, apples were picked from the orchards just outside town, costumes were made, pumpkins carved, ghost stories told. The festival was only two days, the first day being the children’s night and day activities, the second being the Halloween party.

Maria gave everyone who’s job wasn’t totally necessary the day off. Which meant the bar closed. You were more than happy to have two days of rest. You purchased two pumpkins this year, carving a ghost into one and a goofy face into another, you were going to light them the night of the party. The first day of the festival — children’s night, where the kids threw a mini parade around town in their costumes and carved pumpkins and got a free bar of candy from the confectionar. They played games, ghost in the graveyard being a popular one when it got dark outside, of course however, Maria limited their playing field. You watched the parade during the day and then you went home. The kids made makeshift noise makers and adults lined the streets as the kids walked by, laughing, smiling, shouting, it was all good fun.

You weren’t sure whether you were going to dress up or not, no ideas came to mind. Last year you went as an angel and a devil with Mark, hence his nickname Devil Boy, his birthday was October 30th, the first day of the celebration.

Today was his birthday. You hadn’t spotted Joel or Ellie at the parade, you briefly said hi to Maria and Tommy, as well as Dina. You were sure Ellie and Cat were dreading cleanup, as well as the other teenagers. You wondered if Ellie and Dina had made up yet, or had her and Cat.

After the parade, there wasn’t much to do. You took down the flowers on your porch, you trimmed the bushes outside, cut the grass, washed the windows, dusted the house, scrubbed the floors. Your house was beginning to feel lively again, like a brand new fresh start. It took a few hours to complete all your tasks, taking short breaks in between. By the time you were finished, night had fallen. You were nervous about tomorrow, were things going to end up like the last night you had spent with Joel? Mark was gone.. you didn’t need to worry about him. Were you ready for that? Sure, you had asked for him to take you.. but were you ready to go that far? There was uneasiness between both of you, feelings wouldn’t change that. You would have to talk, have him listen, pray he would understand. Was now a good time to tell him everything?

You rested your hand over your bump as you sat on the couch, watching an old soap opera you had on DVD. The baby was definitely getting bigger. It was hard to think about it, but a small part of you was excited. There was the thought of names, baby clothes, toys. You wondered if it was a girl or boy. It was strange to think of a baby who looked like Mark.. it would be hard to look at the baby and not see him in his final moments. You already occasionally thought you saw him for a fleeting moment, down the corner of the street, in the crowd of the filled bar, a passerby holding themself the same way he did.

How would you even tell Joel? There was so much you needed to say, there was time, there was just too much that needed to be said. Joel had enough on his plate, maybe you wouldn’t tell him at all and continue on for the rest of your life blissfully ignoring him. That was too cruel though. Your relationship with Joel was.. complicated. You left things off for three months on an unfinished note, at least he was open to going on a date with you.

There were other people to tell too. If you gave birth, people would begin asking around for Mark. The truth would come out eventually. You always knew it would. Perhaps you will have thought of a lie by then. Perhaps he left to join a group of free spirited clicker killing hippies. That seemed like a good enough lie as any.

But for now, you wanted to rest. You wanted to sit back and watch the tide roll in, without a worry in your mind.

•••

“Welcome miss..?” The man began.

“Y/N,” You replied, reaching out your hand to shake his.

“Tommy. Welcome,” He smiled warmly. You had finally found the esteemed settlement after weeks of travel.

“Mark,” Mark said, shaking Tommy’s hand, marveling at the sight of the town. Tommy had stopped you while you checked in and got acquainted with the town, already having a talk with Maria.

“Where you guys coming from? Always good to see some new faces round here.”

“I’m from Denver,” Mark told him.

Tommy’s face paled very slightly, not even you or Mark noticed.

“How are things there? Heard some stuff went down a while back.”

“Not too sure, I left right when things got messy.” He shrugged nonchalantly.

“And you?” Tommy looked towards you, waiting for your response.

“Oh, all over. Living on my own last few years, besides Mark here of course.” You beamed at Mark.

“How did you two meet?” This was starting to sound more like an interrogation, but you pushed it to the side, they were only being cautious. Maria already heard your and Mark’s story, others would want to as well.

“I found her a few months ago, passing through a town when I saw a group get overrun by a horde. I was trying to hide in an apartment building when I fell right into her camp. Almost blew my head off, but hey, gotta stay sharp,” Mark chuckled.

“He told me about a settlement up in Wyoming, I decided it was worth a shot so we ended up here, had nowhere else to go,” You finished.

“Well glad you two made it safe and sound, welcome to Jackson.”

You woke up in a coldsweat, dazed from sleep. Your hand on your bump, you realized, you must have done it in your sleep.

Mark. His baby. You glanced over at your clock. 11:34 PM. Technically still his birthday.

Last year, you managed to find vintage band posters for him for his birthday. You made him cake too, then you snuck out and went to the lake and watched the stars. They looked different than what you remembered, even though you lived under them, there was something serene about being there. Silence, waters reflecting the moonlight, and stars, the only thing you could see for miles. It was peaceful, quiet, yet it was full of life.

And so when you found yourself climbing the steps into his loft, sitting on his dusty bed with his dog tags resting on your neck, the moonlight streaming in from the curtains, just a sliver open, far enough to see a star. Perhaps they looked the same, maybe they were the same. Maybe you were the one who had changed.

“I’m pregnant,” You whispered into the silence.

“I’m pregnant and it’s yours, Mark.”

No echo, no cabinet slamming shut down stairs, no creaking footsteps. Silence.

“Happy birthday,” You said out loud as you closed the door.

•••

The night of the party, you lit your pumpkins when it got dark and headed to Joel’s house. You hadn’t seen much of him since he had been over, you talked to him briefly one morning, but your schedules were always conflicting. You were nervous about seeing him. Being close to him again.

You found an old cat costume from years ago. A cat headband, a clip on tail, all black clothes. It was simple enough. Since you had been wearing Mark’s dogtags so much, you decided to opt with them, not wearing them felt like you were missing some part of yourself. You doubted Joel would dress up, he wouldn’t be out of place if he didn’t, and you wouldn’t be out of place in your costume either. It was 50/50.

You were surprised to see pumpkins out by Ellie’s house as you entered through the gate, your heart strumming loudly. It looked like she had carved some strange face into a pumpkin, you would have to ask her what it was supposed to be later.

You knocked on Joel’s door, starting down at your shoes, the cold air nipping at your skin. He answered almost immediately.

“How do I look?” You said smugly, turning so he could see your tail, doing a little twirl as you did. He wasn’t wearing a costume — like you expected.

“Dashing. You ready to go?” He smiled.

“Of course. Let’s go.”

It was an exceptionally short walk to the church and bonfire. Jackson was a small city, especially considering Joel lived right next to Main Street. They had decorated the streets quite nicely, pumpkins, hay bales, corn stalks, squash, a warm glow seemingly in every window. The leaves twirling around like fire.

The church came into view, the bonfire in the backyard of the church. Groups of people walked in, you could hear the music from here. Joel walked close to you, which you noticed. Close enough, but far enough to not be super suspicious.

He held the door open for you, the music becoming loud as he did. Mark told you once that he loved the rhythms of music, that he could feel the pulse in him, that’s why he liked music so much. Perhaps you could get the person in charge of music to play Bill Withers..

Shit. What if someone asked about Mark? Would they notice? What would you even say? That he was sick? How long until someone would really go looking for him?

Would Joel notice your small bump? You tried to wear baggy clothes. You didn’t have to worry about Maria spilling your secrets — she was trustworthy.

Inside of the church, the party was booming. It smelt of cinnamon and leaves, whiskey and good times. It seemed like all of Jackson was there. People in simple costumes, others dressing normally. You spotted Maria and Tommy, Tommy nodded at you two when you entered.

The song they played was very folksy and upbeat. A crowd had already started dancing, you couldn’t stop the smile from spreading on your face. No sign of Ellie, but you did spot Cat, as well as Jessie and Dina. On opposite sides of the room of course.

“So, what do you want to do? Drinks?” Joel asked as he led you to the side of the room.

“Oh no, I’m good for now, but don’t stop yourself from getting one.” .

“Sure thing,” Joel replied, setting off to the makeshift bar table that was set up.

You watched the people dance, remembering how Mark used to pull you into the circle.

“Come on Y/N! It’ll be fun!” Mark laughed, trying to pull you over to the circle.

“Nope. I’m not doing it.”

“Well you’re going to. I don’t care, you have to.” He yanked you forward, pulling you to the dancefloor.

You stood stiffly as a rock. You felt like every eye in the room was on you, even though you really knew they could care less, caring more about nursing a drink or trying to hear the latest gossip.

The music was upbeat and fast, good dancing music. He slowly began to dance, one eyebrow cocked to invite you to join him. The room was orange and bright, it seemed like it was glowing.

“Come on,” He said with a singsong tone. Grabbing your arm and shaking it to the beat.

His dancing became more loose and free, smiling the entire time, a twinkle in his eye. He took your arm and twirled you and leaned you into his arms.

“It’s pretty easy.”

“Not for me,” You grumbled as the music ended.

A slower song came on and Mark groaned, his devil horns tilted slightly on his head. “Alright, looks like we have to slow dance now.” He grabbed your arms and locked them around his neck, then placed his hands on your waist. His hands were like tiny firecrackers on you, every touch sparking as his fingertips gently rubbed against your hips. He was passion.

“You know it’s easier if you just give in.”

“Never,” You hissed playfully.

“Well then just sway with me. That’s all we gotta do, sway,” He told you softly. You rolled your eyes, but you gave in.

The music channeled through him. You liked watching it overcome him, his eyes becoming distant like the music was speaking to him.

“Do you think everyone is looking at us?” You asked, glancing around the room.

Mark gently returned to the surface, “Why would they be looking? Only you and me and the music right now.”

You fought the urge to kiss him. You didn’t want people looking. You had kissed him so many times before, but there was that nagging feeling in you. Like a shadow that trailed you. A thought pushed to the back of your mind.

As if on cue, Mark’s eyes trailed lower to your lips, he leaned in gently to you, as if he were to break under your touch. His lips met yours and a heavy feeling underneath a spark set in. An undercurrent of rapid waters that threatened to pull you under.

Who was watching you?

Joel came back with his drink, a glass of whiskey.

You glanced over at the drink, humor in your voice, “Heavy hitters so soon?”

Joel chuckled lightly, taking a sip from his drink.

“You sure you don’t want anything?” He asked you. You shook your head.

“Alright well a few more drinks and I’ll be out there on the dancefloor in no time.”

“Didn’t take you as much of a dancer, cowboy.”

“Oh, I’m not. More like a dying chicken with its head cut off,” He laughed, shaking his head. Couples bounced to the music. You couldn’t remember ever having seen Joel dance, then again at parties you were almost always preoccupied.

“Do you want to head outside to the bonfire?” You asked him, seeing the glow through the windows.

“Yeah.”

You led him to the backyard where the more mellow crowd was. It was crisp outside, and awfully cold, you wished you would had brought a better jacket.

The sky was crystal clear and the stars were brilliant. The only truly good thing you could think of that came out of the apocalypse was no more light pollution. The stars were true and had looked that way for years.

The fire was large and powerful, it crackled and hissed but the warmth was inviting. Groups of people chatted around the fire, Joel led you to a fallen log by the fire where you could sit.

The party chatter and the muffled sound of the music could still be heard from outside, the looming walls right next the church wasn’t the best view, but the stars were all you needed.

“Nice night, huh?” Joel asked, looking up to the sky.

“Yeah,” You said, your teeth chattering slightly. You rubbed your hands together and aimed them towards the fire. Joel had brought a jacket at least.

“Do you want my jacket?”

You blinked. “No, no, it’s fine, I’ll just uh..” You trailed off, you wanted his jacket.

Joel chuckled quietly, shaking his head. He shrugged off his leather jacket and placed it around you. You felt your cheeks grow warm, and it wasn’t just because of the fire, you turned your head away and looked down briefly.

You looked back up at the stars, receiving courage from those little stamps of light. You leaned your head against his shoulder. He was warm, he felt safe, like a blanket wrapped around you. It was a natural feeling. You pulled his jacket up so it covered your neck. You wanted to stay like this forever.

God, you wanted to kiss him. You wanted to tilt your head up and place a gentle kiss on his lips. You wanted to kiss him in front of the stars, you wanted to kiss him in front of the fire, you wanted to kiss him on the dancefloor. You wanted to kiss him, you wanted to feel the way he felt against you, you wanted to share that sacred feeling like you’re the only two people in the world again.

But no, you couldn’t. Three months and you ghosted him. He was rightly upset with you. There were things you had to say. But he was here now, going on a date with you, giving you his jacket. The feelings were still there it seemed. A part of you was relieved.

You let yourself fully relax, he placed an arm around your shoulder.

You stayed like that for awhile, simply watching the fire crackle and the stars twinkle. Time was no foe anymore.

In a way it felt like Mark was there too, maybe it was the fact that it was Halloween, maybe it was the strange imbalance of practically everything in your life. It felt like he was there and he was smiling at you.

Joel was smiling too.

•••

[thathopelessromantic]

Reckless Good (6/?)

Fandom: Boku no Hero Academia/My Hero Academia Fic Rating: Explicit Chapter Rating: Teen+ Pairing: Todoroki Shouto/Midoriya Izuku Note: Thanks again for your amazing support so far! I really appreciate all of you and your comments have been making my weeks since posting <3 This fic will be going on a short hiatus...I'm not sure how long it will be but July has been shockingly busy this year and has only continued to get crazier so I need a little more time to write more of this fic 

Todoroki Shouto had accepted his fate as a public figure when he became a pro-hero, but there are some parts of his private life he would like to stay private. When he gets invited to be a speaker in a college lecture series, he goes to the meeting with one goal: to give the coordinator a piece of his mind and finally put an end to people hounding him for information about his family.

The last thing he expects is the curious, and quirkless, hero- and quirk-study professor, Midoriya Izuku, who has no interest in his family’s history, and, somehow, even more ties to the hero industry than Shouto. Intrigued by the professor, Shouto tentatively agrees to the lecture series, unknowingly intertwining their futures.

But the more Todoroki sees of Midoriya, the more questions he has. When a villain attack leaves them living together until the culprits are apprehended, maybe he’ll finally get some answers.

AO3: (x) Beginning/Chapter One: (x) Previous Chapter: (X) TDDKBB2021 Companion Art: (X)

It’s been three days since the debriefing, and Shouto hasn’t been able to think about much else besides the weirdness of everything that happened in the meeting. Even now, standing under the scalding spray of his shower, he’s going through the motions, but his mind is in the hallway outside the conference room with Ingenium.

“I’m sorry about lying to you regarding Architect,” Ingenium had said solemnly. They’ve grown and their costumes had both changed since then, but without his helmet on, head bent to discuss something quietly, Shouto was reminded of the in-class exercises they used to do in high school. Off to the side in a hallway, as if creating a strategy. Somehow adult-Ingenium had gotten even more serious than his high school counterpart. “I know it was wrong to mislead you, but I knew he meant no harm. I knew he could help with Kou.”

“How?” Shouto had asked, but even then he had a feeling he knew the answer.

“…I’ve worked with him before,” Ingenium admitted. “I know the law, but he…he just wants to help people. And he does good hero work.”

Ingenium couldn’t say afterwards if he thought Architect would still somehow help the case. He knew he would want to, but with more people involved, and more people who knew he had been there before, it would be harder. Shouto can’t articulate exactly why, but somehow knowing he might be what brings more scrutiny towards Architect makes him feel…guilty? It’s not his fault that he didn’t know, nor is it his fault Architect is technically doing something illegal, but he feels guilty anyways.

Shouto’s phone chimes just as he steps out of the shower. Even before he checks it, he knows it’s a new text from Midoriya. While Shouto has thought of little else but the weirdness that had transpired at the debriefing for the last three days, Midoriya has acted as if it never happened. He had been quiet the rest of the day afterwards, but the next day Midoriya had picked up their text chat where they had left off as if nothing had happened. The few times Shouto tried to broach the topic of Midoriya’s behavior at the debriefing, his contacts with heroes, the vigilante Architect, anything from the debriefing, all he got was an abrupt subject change or radio silence for a few hours. After a day and a half of the back and forth, Shouto gave up pushing the subject. For now.

Shouto slings a towel around his hips and grabs his phone off the counter. There’s a new picture attached to the message. Midoriya’s scarred hand holds a large navy book out in front of the camera. The sidewalk serving as a background and the blurred edges of the image suggests he was walking somewhere as he took the picture.

I found a copy of the book!! The text underneath reads.

Shouto can’t make out any title in the picture, but he knows what book it is anyways. There was only one they had really discussed in-depth that would warrant such an excited text. It was an early study of dual quirks. Apparently, according to Midoriya, some of the information and conclusions they came to is now outdated but it is still considered one of the best introductory texts for understanding how dual quirks come about with inheritance. He had been suggesting it to Shouto practically since they had started their text conversation.

Another text comes in before Shouto can come up with a reply.

I can keep this copy in my office, if you would like to come by for it sometime.

Shouto wouldn’t mind going by the professor’s office again. It wasn’t that far out of his way, and it would be a good excuse to see him and talk to him some more – either about quirks, or whatever the hell was going on at the debriefing in an environment he can’t escape so easily. But as he mentally goes through his schedule thinking of a time he might be able to get there, it would be at least another week, if not two.

Shouto grimaces, running a hand over his face.

between normal wrk nd this new case itll be a while…

Of course I understand you’re busy! Oh unless you wanted to read it sooner

Shouto glances at the time. He still has almost two and a half hours before his next shift starts. It would be enough time. Probably. Depending on how long it takes to get Midoriya to agree. He has an idea but he knows Midoriya isn’t going to like it.

are u in musutafu now?

Yes. Of course! I could drop it off at your agency!

i was thinking just my apartment

Shouto puts his phone down to find something to wear. He doesn’t usually wear normal clothes under his uniform, but he figures he has a little while before he needs to change into it. He expects to get a flurry of messages protesting his suggestion as he finds and pulls on a pair of sweatpants, but a full three minutes pass before his phone chimes with another message. It just reads: what, lacking even Midoriya’s usual proper grammar and capitalization.

Shouto snorts. He knew he wasn’t going to like it.

im at the hospital on guard today and ill be out of the office the next few days. it would be quicker

That does set off the flurry of texts he expected the first time, Midoriya insisting that wasn’t necessary and he didn’t need to read it that quickly and a few that just said no a few times. The texts are still coming in, the notification that he’s typing still lit up on the screen, when Shouto presses the phone icon next to his name and starts a call.

The phone starts to ring. And then continues to ring for so long, Shouto thinks he’s going to go to voicemail, when Midoriya suddenly answers. There’s a shuffle on the other line for a moment.

“Entro-er, Todoro…hello?” Midoriya says.

“Hello, Midoriya,” Shouto replies.

Shouto’s simple greeting seems to knock Midoriya out of his stupor, because he immediately jumps back into his protests, picking right back up where he left off in his texts. Shouto waits until he has to stop to take a breath.

“I figured you would really frown upon me texting you my address, so I thought I’d call. Do you have something to write with?”

Midoriya sputters for a moment before he sighs. “You…yeah, go ahead.”

Shouto blinks in surprise. He really expected more of a protest than that. Still, he rattles off the address before Midoriya comes to his senses and changes his mind. Midoriya has him repeat it once, just to be sure he copied everything down correctly.

“Okay. I guess I will see you in a few minutes,” Midoriya says, sounding resigned.

Shouto almost laughs at the tone. “You don’t actually have to bring it to me if it’s any trouble. I can get it from the office eventually.”

“No, I don’t mind and it’s not that far out of the way actually,” Midoriya admits. “I’m a little concerned by your complete disregard for privacy or self-preservation but otherwise, it’s no trouble.”

“‘A lack of self-preservation and privacy’ is pretty much in my job description.”

Midoriya sighs. There’s some quiet mumbling Shouto can’t make out through the phone before Midoriya seems to give up on arguing the point for the moment and says his goodbye.

Shouto plugs his phone in by the bed to charge until he has to leave. Monarch and Momo still haven’t let go of the last time his phone died while he was on duty and he’s sure even being away from the agency for the next few days won’t save him from their ire if it happens again.

Shouto is still toweling off his hair when there’s a knock on his door. He glances at the clock on his wall, but even without the visual confirmation, he knows it has only been a few minutes since his call with Midoriya had ended. It was unlikely he found his apartment that quickly. He throws the towel over the bar in the bathroom and grabs a t-shirt on his way out of his room.

He opens the front door, expecting to see one of his neighbors in the hall. Instead, it is Midoriya staring at him from the other side of the door. He looks almost the exact same as the first time they had met with his thin, crooked wire frame glasses and oversized leather satchel hanging at his side. Though he had replaced his ill-fitting cardigan with a Froppy sweatshirt and a jean jacket over a button-up. Midoriya’s eyes scan over him quickly, pausing briefly at his middle before jumping back to his face and then to the space next to his head.

“Hello,” Midoriya manages quietly.

Shouto tugs the bottom of his shirt the rest of the way down.

“Hello. I…wasn’t expecting you to find the place so quickly,” he replies simply.

“Um, yes, it was closer than I realized too,” Midoriya finally looks him in the eye again, only to look away a moment later to bow his head. “I’m sorry, I should have announced myself somehow.”

“It’s fine, Midoriya. I’m glad you didn’t have to go too far out of your way.”

They stand in an awkward silence for a moment before they both seem to remember themselves and try to speak again.

Midoriya fumbles with the leather bag at his side, searching for the book. “Right, I’m sure you need to finish getting ready for work-” he starts to say.

At the same time, Shouto steps back, opening his door further. “Would you like to come in?”

Midoriya stares at him in surprise for a moment before his gaze jumps to something behind Shouto, brow furrowing.

“Todoroki, do you live alone?”

“Um, yes?” Shouto glances over his shoulder but doesn’t see whatever it was that Midoriya must have seen.

He turns back around, but Midoriya is still staring hard at something in the distance.

“Midoriya, what did-"

A loud crash of breaking glass cuts off the rest of Shouto’s question. Midoriya reacts a second before him, grabbing Shouto’s arm and throwing them both down the hall, away from his door as flames erupt in the apartment behind him.

They tumble to the ground. Shouto lands hard on his back as they roll for a moment, the floor below him and Midoriya landing heavily on top of him knocking the air from his lungs. One of Midoriya’s hands cushioned his head in the fall, but he pulls it back quickly as if Shouto burned him.

Midoriya quickly lifts himself up, carefully checking Shouto over. “Are you alright?”

Shouto nods, not yet ready to try speaking again. The sound of a vicious fire cracks behind them and the smell of smoke is already starting to fill the hallway. Whatever was thrown has a fast-moving fire and Shouto can feel the heat even from a few feet away.

“Will your fire alarm alert the authorities?”

Shouto pushes himself to a sitting position . “Don’t have a fire alarm,” he chokes out. They really need to move. “They go off too easily.”

Midoriya stares at him for a moment like he’s lost his mind before realization dawns. “Right your quirk would probably make that a pain. Okay, I’ll call for help. But we need to get as many people out as we can before they get here.”

Shouto climbs to his feet, using the wall to hold himself up for the moment. Everything seems to feel okay, so he doesn’t think he’s injured, just winded. Midoriya looks worried but he still scrambles to his feet a moment later.

“I can get my upstairs neighbors out,” Shouto says.

“I’ll help everyone below evacuate,” Midoriya offers before Shouto has barely finished speaking. He takes off for the stairwell, glancing back at the last second. “Be careful, Todoroki.”

Shouto stares after him for a moment, incredulous. ‘I’m the pro in this situation,’ he wants to remind Midoriya. ‘And probably marginally more fire-resistant than you.’ “You too,” is all he manages instead as the stairwell door swings shut behind Midoriya. Faintly, Shouto remembers another time he watched a civilian run head-long into trouble, but he brushes off the otherwise long-forgotten memory. It was so long ago, he’s not sure what dredged up the old memory, but dwelling on it won’t help anyone right now.

Shouto forces himself away from the door and his desire to go after the apparently reckless, mysterious, crazy-overachieving civilian he just let run into danger and heads for his closest neighbor. There are only three apartments on each floor. The one next to him has been empty for months, and usually both of the Fukudas were at work during this time of day, but he pounds on the door just to be safe, calling for them both. Smoke is finally beginning to fill the hallway and he knows it will only be another minute or two before the fire itself begins to crawl its way out of the apartment too.

Shouto breaks through the door, calling for either of the Fukudas to answer as he darts through the handful of rooms laid out in a mirror of his own familiar apartment. Satisfied that it is empty, he goes back to the hall heading for the stairs. He can feel his right side rapidly growing colder as his quirk tries to regulate his body temperature. The overheated air burns his already sore chest as he runs.

Shouto is already shouting as he reaches the next floor, hoping to alert as many of his neighbors as he can. One door opens as he throws himself down the hall, an older woman looking at him suspiciously through the crack in her door. For once he’s thankful for his unique appearance because he sees recognition dawn on her a moment later, even without his hero suit.

“A fire started on the floor below, I’m trying to evacuate everyone on this floor and the next, if you have anyone home with you, get them!”

The woman nods in understanding, throwing her door open and running back into the apartment calling for someone. Shouto goes to the next closest apartment, banging on the door and calling for anyone who might be inside. The door to the apartment next door opens and a man looks out.

“What is all the racket about? They went to their parents for the week, no one is in there.”

“The apartment is empty right now?”

The man glares at him, but Shouto pushes on before he can start an argument with him. The first woman comes out of her apartment with her grandson and a small dog in tow. “Sir, there is a fire on the floor below. We’re evacuating everyone.”

The man still looks like he wants to argue, but a moment later the sound of sirens grows louder as help arrives on the scene and that seems to be enough to convince him to cooperate. The three tenants follow him up the stairs to the last floor. Two of the three doors are already open, the tenants looking out obviously wondering what all the noise is about. The woman and her grandson greet one of the two women, immediately filling them in on what’s going on. Shouto goes to the last door.

“She’s at work,” one of the women calls to him. “She lives alone. Except for a cat.”

Shouto nods his thanks for the information. “I’ll go in to get the cat. Do either of you have a window that faces the front of the building?”

The other woman raises her hand. “I do!”

“Please take everyone into your apartment, clear a space in front of the window if necessary and I’ll be there in just a moment.” Shouto instructs. He waits just a moment to make sure everyone is complying before he forces the last door open. The cat in question makes itself known immediately, rushing to the door crying for attention before it realizes he is not their owner. The cat turns tail and darts deeper into the apartment.

Cursing, Shouto uses ice to create a small blockade in the hall that leads to the bedroom and bathroom, limiting the cat’s escape routes as he darts after it, sliding across the hardwood floor leading into the hallway. He catches himself on the wall just as the cat skids to a halt before the ice, trying to turn quickly but the floor is more slippery than its accustomed to and Shouto manages to grab it as it struggles to find its footing. He gets a few heavy scratches across his arms for his trouble, and the cat does its best to escape his hold, but he manages to get it out of the apartment. He wishes he had his tool belt on him, where he might have something that could contain the cat better, and make it easier to transport, but even if the fire-resistant fabric had lasted this long, it wasn’t worth it to try and get back into his apartment for it.

He rejoins his neighbors in the other apartment. Along with the three from the first floor, there are the two women from this floor, one of whom clutches a still-sleeping baby to her chest. From the window he can see the ambulance and two fire engines that have already arrived. And based on the sounds in the distance, the police and at least one more ambulance would not be far behind. Someone offers to take the disgruntled cat from him as he throws open the window.

Smoke is billowing from a window on a lower floor, obscuring his line of sight for a moment as the winds shift. Shouto swears under his breath, he can feel his neighbors growing anxious behind him, but he knows he needs a clear shot of the ground for this to work. It takes a few minutes for the view to clear enough for him to see a good landing place. By then a few people from the lower floors have started to evacuate, and he can see the first responders meeting them as they come out. He can’t tell from here if Midoriya is with them yet, though he has a feeling the answer is no.

Pushing his concerns aside for the moment, Shouto takes a deep breath to focus. Even after all these years of playing catch up, he still has a much better control of his right side than his left, but the overheated air is already putting a strain on his right side as it keeps his body cool. He creates an ice ramp, or perhaps more accurately a slide, from the window to the ground besides one of the fire engines. It’s as far as he dares to go to keep the slide from being too steep without also becoming too thin. He reinforces the part connected to the building and as much of the underside as he can from where he is to keep the fire from melting it down.

He turns back to his gathered neighbors. The adults gathered look unsure at best, if not down right afraid, but the young boy looks excited.

“It’ll be cold going down, but you should be perfectly safe,” Shouto promises. “Who’s first?”

Shouto helps the first woman up to the window. Once she is down safe, the woman with her baby goes, climbing up by herself first before Shouto hands the infant off to her. The young boy volunteers next before his grandmother can stop him, scrambling up to the window and then asking Shouto to hand the dog up to him. The older woman goes next, clutching the terrified cat tightly to her chest as she disappears down the slide.

Shouto waits until the older man safely reaches the bottom after her before he prepares to go down himself. Taking one last look back before he drops, he sees the smoke begin to curl around the edges of the apartment door.

 The fire chief stops Shouto first once he’s down, thanking him for his help evacuating the civilians and asking about the conditions inside. Shouto gives as much information as he can about the fire and where it started. He ignores the concerned expression the chief gives him as he explains how it began. He knows it seems like an attack, and a targeted attack at that, but he doesn’t want to focus on it just yet. Eventually, the chief figures he’s gotten as much as from Shouto as he’s going to for the moment and sends him off towards the paramedics.

Shouto dodges them for the moment, finding the neighbors he helped down first to make sure everyone actually made it down unharmed. Everyone seems okay, the baby somehow still blissfully asleep and the young boy excitedly asks Shouto if he can go down his ice slide again some other time. One of the first responders found a carrying case for the cat until they could get ahold of its actual owner. He recognizes a few of the other neighbors gathered around from the lower floors. A few have shock blankets on and one person is perched in an ambulance with a paramedic attached to an oxygen machine, but there don’t seem to be any major injuries.

Midoriya is arguing with a paramedic, insisting someone else is in more pressing need of care when Shouto finally approaches one of the ambulances.

“What’s that saying about doctors being the worst patients?” Shouto asks.

Midoriya jumps, startled by his arrival, though he quick recovers from his shock to glare at Shouto.

The paramedic throws his hands up. “Entropy, please try and talk some sense into him. This is the fourth time he’s refused care.” The paramedic turns back to Midoriya and waves a warning finger at him. “I’m running out of other patients to look at.” He warns before storming off.

“Are you alright? What happened?” Shouto asks once they’re alone. Midoriya mostly looks okay, his glasses are missing and he’s a little sooty and disheveled, but Shouto figures everyone probably looks about the same in that regard.

“Nothing,” Midoriya starts to say as someone nearby loudly clears their throat over him. Midoriya scowls. “I think I might have landed on my hand funny earlier, but it’s fine, probably just sore.”

Shouto frowns. “You should at least have someone look at it, just in case.”

Midoriya opens his mouth to argue but a ringing phone cuts him off. He fumbles with his phone for a moment, struggling to pull it out of a pocket with his opposite hand. He winces as he finally pulls it out.

“Shit.”

“What?”

“It’s a video call.” Midoriya doesn’t elaborate anymore. He shifts around before he answers, holding the phone up at an angle that keeps his arm and the ambulance mostly out of the camera. He pastes on a bright smile. “Hi, Eri.”

“Oh Izuku, are you okay? I heard you were involved in a fire. Are you injured? What happened?” Dr. Aizawa asks in a rush, her worried face fills the screen. Red eyes move quickly, obviously taking note of Midoriya’s disheveled apperance.

“I’m fine. Everyone’s fine. We’re not sure exactly how it started yet,” he lies. “But no one was hurt.”

“Where are you? I’ll go-”

“No,” Midoriya cuts her off. “I’m fine and I’ll come by the hospital later so you can check me over yourself if you’re really that worried, but I’m fine. And I want to make sure someone is keeping an eye out for Kou.”

“You think this has to do with her?” Dr. Aizawa asks, surprised.

“I’m not sure yet, I would just feel better if I knew there was extra security around her.”

Dr. Aizawa nods. “Okay, Izuku. I’ll make sure someone has an eye on her at all times. I’ll call you later to check up on you.” She says. “And I’ll know if you don’t let the paramedics check on you so don’t even try it this time.” The call ends before Midoriya can refute her last statement.

“I’m supposed to be taking the next shift on the hospital,” Shouto realizes. “I still had another two hours before my shift began when you arrived, but I should let someone know.”

Midoriya offers Shouto his phone. Before Shouto can step away, the paramedic returns with his arms crossed.

“Ready to cooperate?”

Midoriya looks miserably over his shoulder at Shouto but lets the paramedic force him into a seat.

Shouto calls Momo on her private number.

“This is Creati.” Momo answers stiffly after a single ring.

“Momo, it’s Shouto. My phone is…I don’t have my phone right now. There was just a fire-”

“At your apartment building. I know I just got the alert. Are you okay? You were still home, weren’t you?”

“Yes. I’m fine. No one was injured, but they’re still putting out the fire and I’m pretty sure my apartment is gone. It started there.”

Momo takes a long time to reply. “Your quirk?” She finally asks, but she sounds like she already knows the answer.

“No. I think…It seems crazy, but…” Shouto hesitates. He lives on the third floor, but crazier things have probably happened to him. “I think someone threw something through my window to start it.”

Momo curses under her breath. “I was afraid of that. You haven’t heard from anyone else, yet, have you? There was another attack, across town. Not a fire, but a building came down. A few civilians were hurt, and…”

Shouto tries not to lose his patience with Momo as she hesitates.

Finally she sighs. “The latest report from the police just came over the radio. Mr. Smith was one of the only heroes in the area. He was severely injured while helping trapped civilians. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital a few minutes ago. No one’s sure of his status yet.”

“Fuck.�� Midoriya was right. “This is about Kou. The girl from before you have to-”

“I know your schedule, Shouto.” Momo interrupts. “As soon as I got the alert I let them know you might have been targeted. Someone has already been assigned to your guard shift and they’ve added extra security to the hospital.”

Shouto feels himself relax for the first time since the fire began. If there’s one thing he can count on, it’s Momo to be on top of things. “Thank you.”

Momo replies with a quiet hum of acknowledgement. “Is there anything else I can do for you right now? Do you need anyone else at the scene?”

“No, everything seems pretty well in hand for now. But if you could let my mother and sister know, that would help. They’ll see it on the news eventually, but even if my phone survived the fire it will probably be a while before I can get it to contact them myself.”

“Of course, I’ll make sure they know you’re alright. Can I contact you on this number again?”

Shouto glances back at Midoriya. He’s, miraculously, still sitting in the ambulance doors letting the paramedic wrap his hand, but he also managed to call over one of the firefighters to discuss something about the attack. “Yeah, you can use this number again.”

“Let me know when you learn something more.”

“I will.”

“I’m really glad you’re okay, Shouto.” Momo says just before she ends the call.

Me too, Shouto thinks, looking around at all the people gathered in front of the apartment. He and Midoriya had managed to get everyone out, but if Shouto had been alone he might not have been quick enough. Hell, if he hadn’t been answering the door at just the right time, he might not have been able to save anyone at all. He would probably be right beside Mr. Smith in the hospital. I just wish it could be said for everyone.

Shouto returns to the ambulance, passing the cell back to Midoriya. Midoriya takes one look at his face and knows.

“You heard about Mr. Smith too?”

Shouto nods. “Creati already sent word to the hospital for extra security and for someone to cover my shift watching Kou.”

Midoriya cracks a small smile. Other than the one he wore to briefly pacify Dr. Aizawa, it’s the first smile Shouto thinks he’s seen from him all day. And bizarrely, it puts him at ease for a moment, lifting some of the weight of the attack.

“Remind me to send her a huge thank you gift when we finally get out of here,” Midoriya says, and even though Momo is just doing her job in her own efficient, overachiever way, he knows Midoriya is serious.

Midoriya moves over, offering the extra space for Shouto to sit down. Another paramedic almost immediately descends on them, finally checking Shouto over for shock, smoke inhalation, over-extended quirk usage, and other injuries. Other than the handful of cat scratches that they clean and bandage, he comes out with a clean bill of health. Midoriya is comparing their injuries, complaining that his “bruised wrist” didn’t need more bandaging than Shouto’s cuts, but while his tone is light, his eyes keep focusing on something in the distance, his attention obviously not on their conversation. Shouto can practically hear the wheels turning in his head as he thinks.

The fire chief eventually joins them as the fire dies down and more of the firefighters exit the building for the last time. “Thank you again, Entropy, for your help evacuating tenants before we arrived. And…Midoriya, was it?”

“Dr. Midoriya,” Shouto corrects when Midoriya simply nods. Midoriya elbows him in the side, but Shouto ignores the jab.

“Dr. Midoriya, thank you for your help as well. That was very brave of you. A number of the tenants I’ve spoken with were extremely grateful for your assistance.”

Midoriya shrugs a shoulder, as if he had truly done nothing of note. “I’m just glad I was in the right place to help, at the right time.”

“Do we know anything else about the fire yet? Or the building?” Shouto asks.

“The fire is mostly out, we just have a few more people inside checking for any hidden fires or areas that weren’t extinguished completely the first time. As for the building…it will take a little while longer to properly assess all the damage but the third floor where it started, and the second and fourth floors, took the most damage. At the very least it will be a day or two before it’s safe for the tenants to move between the floors to get their things.” The chief explains.

Shouto expected about as much, honestly he was prepared to hear worse, but it doesn’t make it easier. “Thank you for letting us know.”

The chief nods. “Of course.”

Shouto turns back to Midoriya as the chief walks away. “Can I borrow your phone one more time?”

Midoriya politely, but unnecessarily, turns away as Shouto crafts a text to Momo.

the tenants will b displaced for at least a few days. can we do smthing abt accommodations for them?

It only takes Momo a few seconds to reply.

Of course. Send me the number of people and their contact information and I’ll take care of everything.

A second text comes in almost immediately.

Will you need something too? You could always stay with me and Kyouka. Or I’m sure your mother would be happy to have you for a few days.

Shouto stares at the message for a moment. “Shit.” He hadn’t been thinking about himself. Obviously he couldn’t stay in his apartment. But he wouldn’t want to be housed anywhere near his neighbors, in case whoever attacked tried again. But that would put his friends, or family, in the same line of risk.

“What’s wrong?” Midoriya finally turns back, looking over Shouto’s shoulder. “Was there another attack?”

Shouto shakes his head. “No, sorry to worry you. Momo just reminded me I’ll need a place to stay for a while. I don’t want to risk a hotel or some public housing, if they try to attack again…”

Midoriya doesn’t need him to finish his thought before he nods in understanding. “And you don’t want to stay with your friends or family for the same reason. There’s too much of a risk they will try to target you again.”

Shouto groans, running a hand over his face. Maybe Midoriya was onto something with all his concerns about ‘privacy and self-preservation.’

“Stay with me.”

Shouto’s head shoots up. He thinks he had to have misheard, but the serious expression on Midoriya’s face suggests otherwise.

“What?”

“You can stay with me. No, you should stay with me.”

Shouto feels like he was just transported to a parallel universe. He was actually fairly confident his role as the only one to suggest ridiculous things in this newly-started relationship was already established.

“I-No. I couldn’t ask that of you.”

“You’re not asking, I’m insisting.”

Shouto ignores him. “I can stay in the dorms at the agency.”

Midoriya rolls his eyes. “That’s an extremely short term solution, at best. And a huge risk. If these villains have kept close enough tabs on you to find your personal apartment and attack it, it would be child’s play to figure out you were staying in your office, with a publicly available address, and target it too.”

“You would still be at risk,” Shouto says, baffled as to how Midoriya somehow managed to miss that very important fact. “The same way Momo and Kyouka or my family would be, I can’t put you in that position.”

“Todoroki,” Midoriya says, deadly serious. “You are not a very social hero. It is common knowledge who you are close enough with to consider a friend. And your family has been in the spotlight for years. Staying with any of them is an obvious and dangerous choice. I’m a nobody. No one knows me, no one knows you know me. Also my house is…private, secluded. Even if someone does eventually figure out you’re there, it will take much longer than any of the other places. Enough time that we can come up with another plan.”

Midoriya reaches over and takes the cell out of his hands. “Now, unless you have a more convincing argument, I will text…” he looks at the phone for a long moment as he trails off. Shouto has no idea how he can casually insist on Shouto staying with him and in the same breath be visibly uncomfortable texting a different hero. “I will text…Creati and tell her you have a place to stay. You should go collect everyone else’s information for her.”

Shouto stares at Midoriya in disbelief while he pointedly ignores him and struggles to craft a text to Momo. He only finally moves when Midoriya all but shoves him off the ambulance step, claiming to be unable to type while he was being watched.

“I…can’t make sense of you,” Shouto finally admits. Midoriya has baffled him basically since the moment they met and he’s beginning to think he might never fully understand him.

Midoriya looks up from his phone with a curious expression, as if surprised by Shouto’s admission, before it transforms into a smile Shouto has never seen before, but that he wants to pull from him again and again.

“I like to think that’s just a part of my charm.”

[sincerelymarinette]

A Recorded Life (50/50) - Miraculous Ladybug

Words: 1839 Chapter Summary: After defeating Hawkmoth, there are still a few things Team Miraculous has to round up. A month later, everyone is still coping, but there are things to look forward to. Author's Note: oh my gosh...the last chapter of this story! I've been writing this for over a year and I love it so much. Thank you so much for sticking around and reading, I appreciate it more than you know! Make sure to check back in a few weeks for the mini sequel!!

Prev / Mini Sequel part 1 / Masterlist

Epilogue

---

One Month Later

"Don't be bemused, it's just the news," Nadja Chamack's voice rang through the TV, much less energetic than usual.

The five heroes sat on Marinette's couch, dressed in black, and emotionally exhausted. Everyone had tear-stained faces, and no one was saying anything, just sitting and coping.

"Just two hours after Emilie Agreste's proper burial, Gabriel Agreste has been found guilty for multiple counts of public endangerment, and multiple counts of kidnapping. We have reporters on the field seeing him being taken away," She reported, and the video turned to an overhead view of Gabriel Agreste in handcuffs, leaving the courthouse in the back of a police car. Adrien shut his eyes for a few seconds until the screen changed again.

Nadja continued. "His assistant, Nathalie Sancoeur, has also been charged with multiple counts of complicity but could be released early because she claims she was forced to help him. That is currently being investigated. We want to send a heartfelt message to our heroes to say thank you for keeping Paris safe and continuing to do so. The public will always support you, and we hope to see you at the statue ceremony in a few days."

Marinette squeezed Adrien's hand to remind him that she's there for him, and they would get through this together. All five of them were a mess, and just glad it was all over.

"This broadcast is dedicated to Emilie Agreste, may she finally rest in peace," Nadja said, and the TV went to commercial.

Adrien started crying again, not sure how much more he could cry before he ran out of tears. They all looked down, and Marinette shut the TV off, still holding Adrien.

---

Marinette focused her camera on her friends and pressed record, then took her seat. They definitely weren't ready to be on camera all the time, but they knew this video had to be made.

"Hi, I'm Marinette," She began the video, less energetic than her videos were used to. "And I've got my team with me. Today we're doing a final Q&A about being superheroes," Marinette said. "Like before, we will choose the questions to answer, as we still have to protect some things. But most questions will come from Twitter and YouTube," She clarified.

The team was still going through a lot, emotionally and psychically. Initially, they weren't going to make any videos until they were back to normal, or as normal as they could be, but once they all agreed to take a step back, a final Miraculous video needed to be made.

"There are still some sensitive topics," Alya piped up. "So Marinette and I have already chosen the ones we will be answering, and not all of us may answer every question," She explained, hoping it would keep people from commenting anything rude.

"Are we all ready to begin?" Marinette asked the group with a soft smile, and with a round of yes, she asked the first question. "Thank you guys so much. How are you doing? We care about you and value you more than you know," She read. "I'll start. I think it's safe to say we're still kind of a mess, but we're getting better every day. It feels like one weight is off my shoulders, for now, at least," Marinette said.

There were a few nods around her, agreeing. "My head is still a mess from everything. But we've been working through it together," Alya added. "It helps that we're all together, definitely."

Adrien cleared his throat. "Marinette said it straight. I'm a mess, and I can't be any more clear than that. But having a new schedule and helping around The Bakery keeps my mind busy, but there is a new stress of starting school," He said, forcing a chuckle at the end.

"Very true!" Chloé echoed. "At least then we'll all be focusing on something to keep us busy!" She said.

Nino didn't answer as most of the emotions were covered. "Speaking of school," Alya said. "Our next question asks what's next for you guys now that the Akuma threat is gone?" Alya asked.

"I guess this is as good a time as any to announce some updates for all of us!" Marinette said and took a deep breath. I'm sure you've all noticed my lack of uploads, for obvious reasons, and they will not be going back to how they used to be. That's because I will be busy studying at my top school for design!" She said, excitedly. "I do want to get back into uploading more fashion videos, and I hope I'll be able to incorporate stuff from school into them, so keep an eye out," She winked.

Marinette looked to Adrien to let him talk about his plans. "I am going to school to study business, so I can fully take over Agreste Fashion in a few years. Right now, it is being run by the CFO, and I will be working with him and his team to help me prepare for that responsibility. In a few years, the Agreste Fashion, you know now, will be completely different, and I hope the best designer out there will be willing to tag along," Adrien nudged Marinette with a smile.

She brushed it off with an eye roll and looked to Alya next. "The Ladyblog really took off with everything going on, and I have taken a job as a full-time reporter as well as going to school for writing!" Alya said. "It will be a change of pace, but I'm really excited. Chloé?" She directed.

"Plain and simple, I'm going to study politics," She said, not elaborating anymore.

"And possibly our most exciting one...Nino?" Marinette smiled wide and turned to him.

Nino jumped when he heard his name. "Oh yeah!" He said. "I'm going to be taking a year off because I'm going on tour with Jagged Stone!" Nino said and put his fist in the air in excitement.

Jagged Stone made the offer to Nino only a few days before, and everyone was excited for him, though sad he was going to be gone for so long. The questions continued on, asking about favorite things to do as heroes, what changes they would make to their costumes, if they could switch their Miraculous for another which one would it be, and some that weren't related to superheroes at all.

They talked about how their relationships with each other have changed, and also what they wish they could have done in high school.

"Now for what I'm sure you've all been wondering, why is this the last Miraculous superhero-related video?" Marinette said, and everyone's mood changed from having fun to being somber. "We, as a group, have decided to take a step back. At least for a little bit," She said. "Hawkmoth and the Akumas are over, and crime rates are very low. Plus, it gives us a chance to focus on something different," Marinette explained.

"We love being superheroes, but it's time," Adrien added, followed with nods form the team.

Marinette took a deep breath. "But! We do have an exciting announcement. This Saturday, we will be doing a stream with Jagged Stone to finally listen to his album and talk about all the work!" Marinette said, and everyone else murmured things about it. "Check the information below to be sure to listen with us!" She said. "But I think that's it for today. Thank you all so much for watching, and I hope you'll check out our social media," Marinette took a deep breath. "Bug out."

Marinette had the video out as fast as she could, and the comments flew in.

oh man, catch me crying right now i love you guys so much

i know this is an important step for them but im still sad that its the end of an era

BUG OUT BUG OUT BUG OUT

she said BUG OUT this cant be the end of ladybug and chat noir

I hope you guys know how much we love and value you! I hope you guys are feeling better and keep getting better. Excited for everything in the future!!

OMG CONGRATS GUYS on all your achievements! Can't wait to see what you all do! ESPECIALLY YOU mari and i cant wait to see what adrien does with Agreste Fashion!!

ugh i love you guys SO MUCH

i love that mari would choose to be chat like,,, can i see that please?

I'm so buying tickets to Jagged mostly for Nino !!

thank you guys so much <3

To say they were pleasantly surprised with the comments was an understatement.

---

Right after the video was uploaded and the team read through the comments, they sat in Marinette's home, waiting for their visitor. There were mixed feelings, and no one knew what to say. When there was a knock on the door, the air in the room grew thick.

"Hello, Master," Marinette said as she welcomed Master Fu into the home. The Kwamis floated behind their holders, clearly sad to be leaving, and not saying anything.

"Are you all ready?" He asked.

No one spoke, just looked at each other. "Well, that's good, because I would like to say something," Master Fu said. "You five are the best Miraculous holders. I am very proud of all of you for what you've accomplished while also having the stress of life," He said, and grabbed the Miracle Box out of his bag. "Which is why I want to pass this onto you, Marinette."

All five gasped, and Marinette was shocked. "W-what?" She asked, her jaw on the floor.

“My time as guardian of the Miraculous is up. I have been guarding these since I was just a boy, and Marinette and Adrien, you two were easily the best Ladybug and Black Cat there has ever been. You work well together and are true leaders. All five of you have the best teamwork I could have ever imagined, and after all you have been through with Hawkmoth, it is clear that it is time for a change," Master Fu said and handed the Miracle Box to Marinette, which she hesitantly grabbed. "Marinette, you were made to be Ladybug. You were made to be a Guardian."

Her friends began celebrating with wide smiles, clearly excited for Marinette. The Kwamis were exchanging confused looks as to what this meant, and Pollen was the one to speak up.

“Does this mean we can stay with our owners?” Pollen asked.

Marinette turned around, holding onto the Miracle Box tight. She took a deep breath and formed a smile. “You know, it’s probably a better idea to not have them all in one place. Who knows, maybe the world will need us again," She said, and everyone joined in a group hug. After all this stress, emotional and physical pain, it was time for them to live their lives, with their best friends (humans and Kwamis alike) by their side.

THE END

edit: (except now there’s a sequel)

---

@lady-of-the-roses-and-lilies @bookishserendipity03 @avatheexceed @gkz10 @coccinellegirl @kat-thatoneweirdo @strawberryblondish @snow-swordswoman @lilgaga98 @evufries  @toodaloo-kangaroo 

[belacoded]

Fic Masterlist

Here is a masterlist for all of my fics sorted by fandom. This will be updated as my fics are updated. I never abandon anything, so even if it’s been awhile since I’ve updated something, it will be finished eventually. I also take prompts for all of these fandoms and more, and I’ll write for every ship.

Carry On Series - Rainbow Rowell

SnowBaz Library AU: Completed 7/31/2020. 3,331 words. 3 works. Complete.

Alone at the Counter: Posted 7/25/2019. 1,925 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. SnowBaz. Summary: Every day at 2:40pm a man comes into the library that Simon just can’t take his eyes off of.

It’s a Book Club (Maybe Something More): Posted 7/31/2020. 998 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. SnowBaz. Summary: Simon and Baz’s first date doesn’t really go as Simon planned. Baz doesn’t seem to mind, though.

Baz to the Rescue: Posted 7/31/2020. 408 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. SnowBaz. Summary: Simon has been talking to this lady for twenty minutes. He has no idea who she is. Baz saves him.

Hush.: Posted 7/25/2019. 954 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. SnowBaz. Summary: “Shhh.” “I just-” “Hush.” “I worry-” “Don’t.” “But-” “Simon.” “Baz?” “Here.”

We Don’t Need to Wear Costumes: Posted 10/28/2019. 341 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. SnowBaz. Summary: Simon leaves before Penny can hide his wings.

As If Nothing Really Matters: Updated 6/22/2020. 3/? chapters. Warnings not used. SnowBaz, Penny/Micah. Summary: Five years after Simon, Baz, and Penny had saved the magickal world and Simon and Penny moves in together, Penny is moving to America and Simon and Baz are starting a new portion of their lives together. Of course, the world won’t just let them live in peace... [I outlined the plot for this before My Wayward Son came out, so it kind of ignores a lot of canon]

Panic! At The Disco

Panic! At Christmas Time: Posted 7/25/2019. 381 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. No ships. Summary: A really short story about Panic! in the early years during Christmas.

Filthy Pride: Posted 7/25/2019. 2,646 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. Ryden if you squint. Summary: A post-split Panic! thing I wrote based on the song Filthy Pride by Social Repose. It's not really a Ryden thing but I guess you can take it that way if you want.

I Don’t Know How But They Found Me

They Found Me series: Updated 10/27/2019. 7,233 words. 2 works. Incomplete.

They Found Me in 1981: Posted 7/25/2019. 7,017 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. Dallon/ofc, Ryan/ofc. Summary: Dallon Weekes and Ryan Seaman are the two members of the band I Don’t Know. Ryan has finally managed to get them a gig at one of their classmate’s parties, but Dallon’s not entirely up to it.

They Found Me in Costume: Posted 10/27/2019. 216 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. No ships. Summary: Dallon buys the first skeleton mask.

Harry Potter

...And They Were Friends series: Updated 7/10/2020. 102,506 words. 3 works. Incomplete. Description: How different would Harry Potter’s time at Hogwarts be if he had accepted Draco Malfoy’s offer of friendship on the Hogwarts Express at the start of their First Year?

Harry Potter and the Mirror of Erised: Completed 3/29/2020. 63,566 words. 19/19 chapters. No warnings. No ships. Summary: What would Harry’s First Year at Hogwarts have been like if he had accepted Draco’s friendship on the Hogwarts Express? How much would change?

Harry Potter and the Heir of Slytherin: Updated 7/10/2020. 34, 704 words. 12/22 chapters. No warnings. No ships. Summary: Harry has survived his first year at Hogwarts and all of the trials that came with it, but now his second year seems like it might be a little bit worse. Everyone is accusing either him or his best friend, Draco Malfoy, of being the Heir of Slytherin and attempting to purge the school of Muggleborns, but he swears neither of them are behind the petrifications. Book 2 of the “...And They Were Friends” series, in which I write how I think the story would have gone if Harry and Draco became friends instead of enemies in their first year.

Harry Potter and the Bonus Content: Updated 3/29/2020. 4,236 words. 6/? chapters. No warnings. No Ships. Summary: Extra features such as schedules and deleted chapters to go along with my series “...And They Were Friends”

Welcome to Ashland: Updated 5/31/2020. 4,184 words. 2/? chapters. Major Character Death. Drarry. Summary: Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter have known each other since they were eight, and they instantly hated each other. Of course, they met because they had to play best friends on a tv show, and after a while, they managed to become hesitant friends, and then lovers. Now, it’s been ten years since the show has ended and a lot has happened. Draco is doing promo for a new movie that’s coming out, which means talk shows. Talk shows mean reliving his past, especially his past with Harry. This is a story told through memories; some are happy... some are sad... some are funny... some are painful... but Draco is reliving them all.

Supernatural

Season 15 Destiel Codas series: Updated 10/26/2019. 1,149 words. 3 works. Incomplete.

Secrets Get You Nowhere: Posted 10/16/2019. 453 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. Destiel. Summary: Dean finds out about Cass’ deal with the Empty.

Real: Posted 10/23/2019. 255 words. 1/1 chapters. Major Character Death. Destiel. Summary: Some angst in response to 15x02. Dean finally realizes the meaning behind “We are”, but it might be too late.

Fake It ‘Til You Make It: Posted 10/26/2019. 441 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. Destiel. Summary: Fake it ‘til you make it. Those are the words Dean lives by.

Ships Are For Sailing: Updated 6/22/2020. 5,289 words. 3/? chapters. No warnings. Destiel. Summary: Just a Destiel high school AU without any angst whatsoever because I need to write something happy. This probably will remain ongoing and never end for a while. Maybe forever. I’m just gonna keep adding on more fluff.

Renegades - Marissa Meyer

Revolution: Updated 6/22/2020. 3,182 words. 3/? chapters. No warnings. Alec/Hugh/Simon, Hugh/Simon. Summary: Before the Anarchists and the Renegades were the greatest of enemies, they were one group working together to bring peace to the world and save prodigies from discrimination. This is the story of how the Renegades were first formed and then how the Anarchists split away from them.

PJO/HoO/KC/GoA/ToA

Coffee: Posted 6/23/2020. 929 words. 1/1 chapters. No warnings. Valdangelo. Summary: A Valdangelo college au based off that one tumblr post that’s like “my favorite college experience is when i had a 7am class and the kid next to me literally poured a monster energy drink into his coffee said “i’m going to die” and drank the whole thing”

Outer Banks

No One Follows It: Updated 7/21/2020. 2,036 words. 3/3 chapters. No warnings. JJ/John B, JJ/Pope, Pope/John B. Summary: “No Pogue on Pogue mackin’.” “That rule doesn’t make sense and no one follows it.” I saw a post that had this quote and basically used it to imply that since Kiara has already turned down the boys, if no one follows the rule, then the boys are all mackin’ on each other, so I thought I’d write a fic to go along with that.

Crossovers

A Hogwarts Story: Posted 7/21/2020. 173 words. 1/? chapters. No warnings. Harry Potter, The Night Circus, Teen Titans, Supernatural, Renegades, Heartless, PJO+, Lunar Chronicles, Carry On, Outer Banks, Good Omens, Merlin, The Umbrella Academy. All of the ships (all of them). Summary: I throw all of my favorite characters into Hogwarts and see what happens. The ultimate crossover. This is probably going to be a mess. There’s over 100 characters so far. And I plan on making every ship imaginable happen.

[yoonjinkooked]

I Miss You | Jungkook

Pairing: Y/N / Jungkook

Genre: Fluff, a bit of angst (mostly pining) and comedy, oneshot

Warnings: (cursing, brief mentions of anal sex (jokingly), banter, oblivious Jungkook, heavy pining on both sides)

Word Count: 3666

Summary: You are in love with your best friend and he doesn’t know it. When the two of you start breaking a long term tradition of yours, feelings become more obvious on both sides. 

A/N: Jimin’s bday gift for JK fucked me up. ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ is one of my all-time favorites and today it pushed me back into Blink 182 and “I miss you”. So, I wrote this in like two hours completely inspired by the song, even though I had other stuff to write. I will go do that now. I hope you enjoy this, let me know what you think! 

You could laugh at how stupid this whole thing is.

It is so ridiculous and plainly stupid but it still affects you, more than you would like to admit to anyone.

Since you were 18 and a broke college student, you and a fellow broke college student became friends, bonding over your love of music, movies, TV shows and essentially irrelevant pop culture knowledge. It didn’t take long for you and Jeon Jungkook to have weekly movie nights together, whether at his dorm room or your run down rental apartment.

It also didn’t take long for those weekly movie nights to end up being limited on one movie and one movie alone: The Nightmare Before Christmas.

There was something about that masterpiece that drew you both in, time and time again, never becoming boring. Of course, you needed to make sure of that: a few months down the road, movie nights were still a weekly occurrence but ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ nights were monthly.

You obsession went as far as dressing up as Jack and Sally for Halloween – it was a horribly executed costume, tragic even, but the two of you loved it. It was your thing. No one understood it but no one needed to – the two of you have always known.

Adulthood came knocking, graduations came and went, jobs became a daily and not a temporary thing but somehow, you and Jungkook still followed tradition.

Even three months ago, when Jungkook packed up and moved half the world away. Even with seven hours between the two of you, you still spared one day a month for your tradition.

Granted, you barely even watched the movie anymore – you would be too interested in catching up with one another, Skype was a bitch and constantly lagging and the first 15 minutes would always be spent in trying to play the movie at the same time. After yelling at each other and blaming the other one, and of course Skype, you would both just play the movie at your own terms, barely paying attention to it because you could finally look at each other again, even over a computer screen.

You were supposed to be having your movie day/night now. And for the first time in 6 whole years, Jungkook stood you up.

Twice before, movie night was cancelled. Once by you, once by him, very much in advance. And even then, it would simply end up being re-scheduled. Nothing stopped your movie nights, not illnesses, not real-life drama, not a whole ocean between the two of you.

Which is why it is actually painful now, when he did not show up.

He is online – you can see the little green light shining on his Skype name. It’s not yet late night in his time zone – he should be here. Or at the very least, texting you and asking for a last minute re-schedule.

And yet he isn’t. It’s stupid and it’s trivial and who the hell would be hurt with this but it also makes perfect sense because this? This feels like an ended chapter. No, a whole closed book.

Over the years, you and Jungkook always hovered between being the best of friends and maybe, just maybe, something a little bit more.

Frankly speaking, you had a stupid crush on him for several years and never did anything about it, perfectly aware that said crush had ruined every single attempt at a relationship you have ever had. You tried to leave it behind, knowing you would never be able to put your feelings into words, much less actions. You knew your longing for Jungkook would always remain unsaid and you tried to move on. There were men, one night stands, serious relationships, all of it – and none of it worked.

Him moving miles away didn’t have the desired effect either. It was still there, in your heart, annoying you and making it painfully obvious just how strong the stupid crush is.

But this? This situation from today? It finally did what nothing else could do.

It showed you that you and Jungkook will never be.

Seemingly meaningless to someone else, a punch in the gut for you.

  JK: Y/N? You there? [4:24 AM]

JK: Y/N!!!!!!! Come on! I know you’re up! [4:36 AM]

JK: btch, I know you’re up and watching Walking Dead or something [4:39 AM]

JK: Ugh, fine, whatever [4:51 AM]

Y/N: I was sleeping, dumbass [9:08 AM]

Y/N: What do you want [9:08 AM]

JK: Finally! I wanna reschedule our movie night – I couldn’t make it last night, sorry. You wanna do it tonight? [9:14 AM]

Y/N: Can’t do it tonight – have work to do. [9:14 AM]

JK: Tomorrow night? [9:16 AM]

Y/N: Soz, work. [9:16 AM]

JK: Any night in the next two weeks? [9:17 AM]

Y/N: Ask me in a few days, I will know more. [9:22 AM]

  “Thank you so much for taking me out tonight,” you smile at your date, trying to make the awkward first-date goodbye a little less awkward. Hoseok is a kind, charming guy – on paper, he is exactly what you need, what you had hoped to find. Stable in all the right ways and not textbook proper. If you were to let your imagination run wild, Hoseok would be a perfect long term companion – yes, one date was more than enough for you to realize that.

“It was my pleasure,” he smiles brightly at you, a smile that should make your stomach somersault. It doesn’t. As much as you want it to, it doesn’t. “I would very much like to do this again. Are you free on Monday, for example?” he suggests.

“I’ll have to check my schedule,” you avoid giving him a direct answer, despite knowing you have absolutely no plans for Monday night. You don’t want to lead him on but you are not brave enough to say it to his face. “I’ll message you once I know. Thank you so much and have a good sleep,” you tell him, hand already on the car door – you didn’t want to give him a chance to do something more.

“Bye Y/N,” he smiles at you as you close the door, the sound of it making you flinch.

He is perfect but he is not him.

He is not your stupid best friend, the one who eats too much ramen and misses scheduled movie nights and snorts when he laughs and cries during cheesy romcoms and makes you laugh like no one ever has.

He is not the guy you are insanely comfortable with, the guy who had made you shed every single mask you have ever worn and show yourself to him for who you really are. He is not the guy you want, he is not the guy you need.

But unlike Jungkook, he is here.

You cannot string Hoseok along and you cannot let your feelings for Jungkook take over you – it’s over and you know it. You just need to learn how to live with it.

  You are so sure that you’re dreaming, you don’t even bother lifting your head, much less answering your phone when you hear it ringing. Soon enough, it stops and you almost fall right back into your dream before it rings again – and this time too, you don’t even bother because it’s obviously a dream.

The third time it had started to ring, you know you’re not dreaming.

You also know that it’s fucking late and as ‘How I Met Your Mother’ had taught you, nothing good happens after 2AM.

With a sense of dread, you do reach for your phone, not bothering to open your eyes as you try to slide your finger on the right area.

“What?”

“Hey… it’s me,” you recognize his voice instantly.

“Jungkook what the fuck do you want?” you sigh. “It’s almost,” you pause to look at your phone’s clock, nearly blinding yourself in the process, forcing your eyes shut as soon as you saw the exact time. “It’s past 4AM. What the fuck?”

“I’m sorry, I know it’s late,” he apologizes instantly. “But I just wanted to see what you were up to.”

“What I-,” sometimes, like right now, you cannot believe the stupidity Jeon Jungkook can utter. For a genuinely bright and knowledgeable person, there are times when he truly is the biggest dumbass you have encountered in your whole life. “I’m sleeping – what the fuck did you think I’d be doing?”

“Sorry for waking you up,” he mumbles. He doesn’t even have to be in front of you for you to know that he is pouting – right about now, he is looking like a kicked puppy, making you want to hug him and punch him at the same time, because even with an entire ocean between the two of you, he is using his charms in his favor – he knows how fucking whipped you are for his pout, even if you can’t see it.

“Did something happen?” you ask, finally realizing that he must have some reason to call you at this hour.

“Why weren’t you here today for our movie night?” he blurts out.

“Huh? Jungkook, we didn’t plan a movie night today.”

“No, we didn’t but we always have it on a Saturday,” he tells you. “I just assumed after weeks of not having one, we will have one this Saturday.”

“I never confirmed that,” you mumble, suddenly not as sleepy as you were seconds ago.

“I watched it alone,” he admits, his voice sounding oddly sentimental. However, you are still sleepy and could very well be imagining the whole thing. “It felt so weird, to watch it without you. It felt wrong.”

“I watched it alone the last time we had our movie night,” you remind him, hoping that you don’t sound too sour. You are not angry – you’re really not. Yes, you are still a little bit hurt, but not by his actions. You are hurt because those actions made you realize the truth you have been avoiding for years now. “It felt wrong then too. But life goes on.”

“What do you mean life goes on?” he asks.

“Life goes on,” you repeat. “We live in different places now. We have our own obligations. I had a date tonight – last time, you had… whatever it is that you had. We are not those stupid students anymore, Jungkook. Traditions are cool but real life gets in the way.”

“I don’t want life to go on without our tradition,” he uses his kicked puppy voice again.

“Me neither but tough luck.”

“Was the date good?”

“It was,” you answer honestly. You could never lie to Jungkook – not in person, not over text, not over the phone. Keeping things to yourself was a more common practice than you’d like to admit but never have you lied to him. “It was good but there won’t be a second one.”

“That’s very contradictory,” he points out.

“I know,” you sigh. “I guess I just had to admit to myself that he wasn’t what I am looking for.”

“Y/N, do you even know what you are looking for?” he chuckles.

Better than you might think. “I know exactly what I am looking for. Sleep. Goodbye Jungkook.”

“Y/N, wait-“ he tries to stop you.

“We will talk in a few hours. Goodbye!”

You had to end the call before you ended up saying things you will likely end up regretting. They were there, on the tip of your tongue. It would have been so easy to say them, to finally not carry that burden with you. It would have been easy, therapeutic even. But the aftermath? The aftermath would have destroyed you and you knew it.

  You curse when the ringing drags you away from your dream – it was a good dream too. You were eating chicken wings and someone, you can already imagine who, decided to pull you away from it.

Jungkook and you had a timetable of times when it is socially acceptable to call the other one – different time zones made you do it. For four months, both of you were perfectly capable of sticking to it. Except, over the course of last week, Jungkook had decided to blatantly ignore it, several times.

“Jungkook, this is the third time this week you wake me up at the dead of night,” you answer the phone angrily, not even checking the caller ID because you know it’s him. “What do you want?”

“I miss you.”

“You truly could have waited a few more hours to tell me that.”

“Actually, I couldn’t,” he tells you, to which you just roll your eyes. “Y/N, I’m going to need you to not interrupt me now – I have something to say. Are you awake enough to listen?” he checks.

“I am,” you mumble. Yeah, now you are, when the dumbass woke you up.

“I miss you,” he tells you the same thing again, the words not having much of an effect on you because you know he is not missing you in the way you want him to. “It pisses me off that we don’t have our movie nights anymore. It is just so wrong to watch ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ without you and it pisses me off that it’s like that – it’s just a stupid movie. I should be able to watch it without thinking about you every damn second.”

You want to reply to that, of course you do, but his earlier request and frankly, your surprise, leave you speechless. You do however sit up, knowing that even if you ended the call this second, you wouldn’t be able to fall asleep for the remainder of the night.

“I know that this is not something I should be doing right now,” he continues. “It’s wrong and if I am going to say it, I should at least say it to your face and not over the phone, at the dead of night. But I just… I can’t keep it in anymore, you know? I miss you. I miss you so fucking much Y/N.”

You want to ask him why, you want to brush it off. After years of keeping your hopes down, you don’t want one misunderstanding to get them up. You know, you just know, he doesn’t miss you like that.

“Ever since I got here, I have kept living with this horrible feeling,” Jungkook admits, swallowing lumps as he speaks. “I know I have made a mistake. I knew it even before I left. I thought it would clear my head, lessen your influence or whatever… and it just didn’t. I am still feeling the same way about you as I did before and now I can’t even see you. I sabotaged myself.”

He is talking about his feelings for you, he said it in those very words and still, you don’t want to believe what you’re hearing, knowing that if you believe it, the eventual truth will leave you broken. Your heart however gives you away – it starts beating faster, excited at what this could mean.

“I miss you, Y/N. And I don’t just miss you as a friend. That’s a given, that will always be true, even if you don’t ever want to see my face after tonight. But I just needed to put it out there before I… exploded. I miss you. I want to be right there, right next to you. Kissing you, holding your hand… doing all sorts of things to you, things that would make you blush and kick me in the shin if I were to voice them. I don’t want to scare and chase you away, I don’t want to lose you as a friend, that’s exactly why I haven’t said this for so long but I just can’t keep it in. Not when you are ditching movie nights and going on dates and living your best life while I am… pining after you. And I don’t blame you – you didn’t know, I made sure of that. But now you do. And whatever your response is, just know that I will always consider you my best friend, whether you let me fuck you into oblivion and hold your hand 24/7 or if you never want to see my sorry ass ever again.”

For the first time in a very long time, your heart and mind are on the same page. One is not trying to hold to hold the other one back or to push it into something that makes no sense. No, your heart and mind are not working together, both perfectly aware and very accepting of that fact that for you, it was always going to be Jungkook.

Whether your feelings are returned or not, whether it never happens or lasts a lifetime, it was always going to be him.

And now, when your mind is finally accepting, and aware of Jungkook’s feelings, you can finally embrace the feeling you have spent years, fucking years, trying to escape.

He likes you. Hell, if he’s anything like you, he is in love with you. ‘Like’ is too weak. You like someone you barely know. When you know the person you like, when you actually know them, the way you and Jungkook know each other, it’s more than just ‘like’.

“Can I talk now?” you ask.

“I kind of want to say no,” Jungkook sheepishly admits. “But I know you have to. So go on, Y/N. Go on and break my heart. For all I know, that may be the exact thing I need.”

“Okay, now I’m going to ask you to shut the fuck up,” you deadpan, not surprised when you hear silence on the other side – Jungkook was never a push around but the truth of the matter is, he knows how scary you can get when you are angry. He doesn’t want to make you angry, not right now. “Seeing as you moved your ass to a different continent and couldn’t wait till the morning to call me, you are obviously blind and completely unaware of the massive crush I’ve had on you for years.”

It’s his turn to be stunned to silence.

Or maybe he’s quiet because you asked him to. Shit.

“I’m done,” you tell him. “Your turn.”

“That’s all you’re gonna say?”

“Are you seriously complaining right now?” you ask in disbelief. “What more do you need? I like you, you dumbass. I have liked you for years! I want you here, next to me, holding my hand and all that shit. And all the things you say you want to do to me, if I were you, I would compile a list of them before coming back home because I’d let you do them all.”

“Y/N, are you-“

“Well, maybe not all. I’m still iffy about the butt stuff.”

“Are you seriously talking about anal while confessing your feelings for me?!”

“I just didn’t want you to get your hopes up for nothing, that’s all,” you admit in a low voice. You know you’re going to end up regretting saying this. Jungkook has a horrible, yet endearing habit of reminding you of all the embarrassing things you have ever said in his presence and mentioning anal sex in the middle of such a heartfelt conversation will definitely make the cut.

“I miss you even more now,” he admits, sighing into the phone. “Do you seriously like me?”

“Yes,” you reassure him. “It’s weird, I know.”

“Hey!”

“It is!” you argue. “You are my best friend. It wasn’t supposed to happen that way.”

“Or maybe it was absolutely supposed to happen that way,” he counters. “Is there a better feeling than falling for your best friend?”

“Hell yeah, it’s a horrible feeling,” you laugh. “It only feels good when you know it’s not one-sided.”

“Okay, you do have a point there,” he chuckles. You find yourself feeling all giddy on the inside, biting your lip and fighting the urge to yell out of pure happiness. It’s actually happening. After years of not being able to keep him out of your heart, you finally don’t have to. Sure, the whole conversation is weird as fuck but it’s also very Jungkook. Very you and Jungkook. If it had happened in any other way, it would not be so characteristically you. “So… now what?”

“You’re the one who moved away – you need to answer that one.”

“Temporarily,” he sighs. “I tell you this every time Y/N, it’s temporary-“

“Yeah, yeah.”

“-because I literally can’t stand being away from you,” he ends with a sigh, making your heart flutter all over again. “I’ll still be here for two months. I’d say… maybe you should go to your living room and play our movie. And we can watch it once a week, sticking to our tradition. And then, when I come back home, I will kiss you silly and make both of us regret being silent for as long as we were.”

“You gonna date me?” you giggle as you get up and head straight for your living room.

“I’m gonna date the shit out of you,” he announces.

“Are you gonna meet my parents?”

“I already know your parents, Y/N,” he laughs and you chuckle too, as you turn on your TV. “But I’ll gladly meet them all over again. We need to discuss how much you’ll be bringing into our marriage, after all.”

“Oh, fuck you!” you laugh.

“Give it two months babe and you will do just that.”

“You are insufferable.”

“And you love it.”

Watching ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ was always a special tradition for the two of you, but never more special than now, with him half the world away and on the phone with you, while you banter and ignore the growing feeling in your chest, acting as if this is a completely normal thing to do on a Wednesday at 3AM. Because for the two of you, it kind of is.

[mirazeth]

Rock Solid Support

Chapter 1

A BNHA Fanfic

OC×Kirishima

Summary: Mineta's fraternal twin sister transfers into UA's Support Course!

Thanks to @myherowritings for their lovely content that got me inspired to write this!

The transfer exam hadn't been as hard as people had made it out to be. Masami had passed with relative ease. Though in fairness most people talked about the Hero Course transfer exam. Masami had no plans on being a hero, and rather took the UA Support Course transfer exam. She beamed with pride at her mother as she moved into the dorms with the help of her mom, and fellow support student Mei Hatsume. 

She had met Mei while on her way to the testing room when the pink haired girl had come practically barreling down the hallway directly into her. While the run in had been a little painful Mei helped her find the testing room before running off to test her inventions. Masami would never admit it to anyone, nut she had been a little lost, and Mei had quite honestly saved her.

Transfering to UA half way through her first year of high school hadn't been an easy choice. Her family, aka her parents, had told her to think it over very carefully. Her twin brother had had no input, and she hadn't planned on telling him. He already attended UA, and she thought it would be fun to surprise him.

When lunch rolled around on her first official day as a student she was practically elated to see her brother's face. Walking into the lunch room with Mei, who had been kind enough to point out the different Class 1-A students, and then let her grab her lunch. She carefully watched the table where most of her brother's class was seated.

Skipping over to the table after retrieving her food Masami was beaming as she sat down directly next to the most infamous UA first year Minoru Mineta who looked like he was about to lose his mind. "Hello Minoru it's been a while hasn't it?" She practically sang at the boy's slack jawed expression.

"Mineta dude who's the girl?" A blonde boy asked. Masami recognized him from the sports festival. His name was Denki Kaminari. Minoru had mentioned him a few times, and she knew that they were friends. His reaction though suggested that he had never heard of her before, and she was determined to milk the opportunity as best she could to mess with the purple haired boy.

"Minoru…" She tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, cast her eyes downward to the table, and let the sadness creep into her voice the best she could without laughing. "Did… did you not tell your friends about me?" She sighed loudly, and tightened her grip on her tray harshly keeping her eyes down. "I thought I was important to you Min-Min." 

Mineta looked furious, and Masami swore she could see the blood vessels on his head. "Masami you're gonna give them the wrong idea…" Her only response, to the shock of everyone else who had just seen a very upset girl two seconds ago, was to look at him positively grinning from ear to ear. "Guys this is my sister Masami. Why the hell are you here wearing the school uniform? You don't go here."

The others at the table watched stunned at the exchange. "I didn't go here," She corrected, "but I took the Support Course mid year transfer exam. Now I do go here." She stated it so matter of factly the others at the table could feel Mineta bristle. "After I saw the travesty that is your current hero suit, how could I not?! It's a crime against fashion!"

Mineta rolled his eyes used to his sister's rather dramatic reactions. "Just don't embarrass me in front of the ladies, and we won't have a problem." He muttered.

"I won't! I just stopped by to say hi so I'm gonna go sit with my friends! Enjoy your lunch Min-Min!" Masami mused before picking up her tray, and skipping off to the table to find Mei along with her other friends.

Kaminari watched in awe as the lilac haired girl bounced away. "Dude your sister is hot!" The hand that struck the back of his head wasn't the usual one from Jirou, but was Mineta himself. "What? I'm just being honest."

"Look dude you're my friend, and my wing man but if you…" Mineta paused for a minute then gestured to all of the boys in 1-A. "Any of you, hit on my sister I will personally make your lives a living hell. I know I'm kinda a pest, but Masami is the best thing in my life."

Uraraka smiled, and clasped her hands in front of her. "Aw Mineta that's really sweet." Which led instantly to the others having to keep said boy away from her. Masami laughed from her table a distance away before going back to her lunch, and chatting with her friends.

As her first day at UA came to a close Masami found herself swamped with not only home work, but also redesign work on her brother's costume. He had told her it was supposed to be a bowl of grapes, but to be perfectly honest she only saw a small yellow man in a diaper. With a sigh she quickly got to work.

The knock on her dorm room's door pulled her from her thoughts. A quick stretch as she stood Masami walked to the door, and opened it. Standing there was a boy from her brother's class. She took a moment to think back to the sports festival. "Kirishima? Right? That's your name?" She asked. There was only one other person it could be, but she was pretty sure TetsuTetsu wasn't the red one.

The boy grinned, and she was startled by his teeth for a moment. They reminded her of a shark. "Yep that's me! Since you came in the middle of the year and all I wanted to know if you wanted to join our study group to help you get caught up?" He rubbed the back of his neck. Kirishima had asked Mineta and Yaoyorozu if he could invite her to the study group to help her adjust to UA, but he was still worried she'd take it as an insult or something.

He was pleasantly surprised as a small smile crept onto her face. "That would actually be awesome. There's a lot of extra work I have to do to catch up, and having an extra hand would be wonderful. Thanks!" She quickly used her pencil and a spare notebook to write down her number. "Here! If your group already has a group chat add me if not we can make one to work between the different course schedules." Kirishima smiled and took the piece of paper before wishing her a good night, and heading to his own dorm.

[wolfpawn]

I Hate You, I Love You, Chapter 111

Chapter Summary - As Tom readies for Hamlet, he makes plans with Danielle for after it, the only issue is, his idea meets a minor roadblock when Danielle reminds him he did similar, just a year ago, with someone else.

Previous Chapter

Rating - Mature (some chapters contain smut)

Triggers - references to Tom Hiddleston’s work with the #MeToo Movement. That chapter will be tagged accordingly.

authors Note - I have been working on this for the last 3 years, it is currently 180+ chapters long.  This will be updated daily, so long as I can get time to do so, obviously.

All image rights belong to their owners

tags: @sweetkingdomstarlight-blog @jessibelle-nerdy-mum @nonsensicalobsessions @damalseer @hiddlesbitch1 @winterisakiller @fairlightswiftly @salempoe @wolfsmom1

If you wish to be tagged, please let me know.

Danielle hummed to herself as she pulled the clothes from the washing machine. Tom was in the kitchen doing the dishes and between them, they had pretty much everything in the house done by the afternoon. Their busy schedules had meant that both of them had been slacking on the house chores, with all their spare time being set aside for looking after Mac when neither of them were working, the had become somewhat behind on them. As they worked, Mac went between the pair, as though he was supervising them.

‘ Elle?’ Tom walked into the kitchen. ‘I need to talk to you about the tickets.’

‘What ones?’

‘Hamlet.’

‘You mean how they're going by raffle?’

‘Yeah, how did you know about that?’

‘Because I have my phone set to alert me of anything to do with it? But also because, as I said, Amelia is a big fan of yours and she made mention that she is put herself into the raffle.’

‘I should have thought of that actually,’ Tom stated. ‘It means that I can't get you a ticket.’

‘I know, I put myself into the raffle, I might be lucky. Considering how everything is going for me recently I'm probably going to get about forty tickets.’ she laughed.

Tom found himself chuckling as well, ‘You very well could. Speaking of your good fortune, didn't you mention you were changing car?’

‘Yeah, I was going to go at the weekend and take a look at a few, why?’

‘Just asking, to be honest, I was hoping I could come along.’

‘Aren’t you busy though, with the play and everything?’

‘I have to learn my lines, but there's no costume for this one, so no fittings, just learning. Then next week, we’re starting to work in bringing it all together.’

‘Are you excited?’

‘I am actually, it's sort of seen as a rite of passage, doing Hamlet.’

‘If you put half the effort into that as you did into Coriolanus, it will be incredible.’ She smiled encouragingly. ‘I don't know how you do it.’

‘What, learn the lines?’

‘Well that too, but the confidence, the way you carry yourself on stage, you don't need me to tell you, and I know I'm not exactly the most qualified person to say, but I think it's absolutely amazing how you do it.’

Tom gave her an almost confused look, ‘What do you mean you're not exactly the most qualified person, no one is the most qualified person, a person with a degree, a masters, and a PhD in Shakespearean literature may understand the work more than most, but it does not make them more qualified than any other person as to what an individual likes and dislikes. And if I'm perfectly honest, your opinion matters a lot more to me than most every critic that will write up about this. You and my family mean the most to me ergo your opinions mean the most to me. One thing about you, mum, Emma and Sarah that on occasion has driven me insane but also I adore more than anything else is your brutal honesty. I am my greatest critic, you guys genuinely give me your opinions because you know I want the truth and because you want to see me get better at my job.’

‘Now I'm worried, I feel like I need to criticise you.’ Danielle joked sticking her tongue out between her teeth. ‘Or does that throw me into the cliche of the nagging partner?’

‘I don't think you to be nagging.’

‘So what is my worst issue, or should I ask?’

‘Duvet stealing, I have never suffered a case of duvet sausage rolling quite like you before, please note I went to a boarding school.’

‘I will not apologise for enjoying comfort in bed.’ Danielle’s eyes shifted side to side as she responded.

Tom chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her, ‘I wouldn't expect you to.’ He kissed her for a moment before he pulled back his eyes bright with an idea. ‘What would you say, when after the Hamlet run is done and before the Early Man and Ragnarok promotions start, you and I go away for a few days?’

‘ Where are you thinking, Suffolk, your dad's, Ireland?’

‘ No, I think we deserve a little further afield this time.’

‘How far are we speaking?’

Tom paused for a moment to think about it, ‘Somewhere in Europe maybe, is there any way you actually want to go?’

‘Well, the usual places, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona...Could you imagine people's faces of the two of us turned up in Rome? How many comparisons do you think would be made?’ She found herself giggling at the thought. Tom, on the other hand, looked somewhat bemused. ‘What, it's true, they would.’

‘The only reason we went there was because she was having business discussions regarding releases of albums and dates of which they were being released with a few friends of hers including Ed Sheeran, that's how I heard his music that time before it came out.’

‘Tom, how many times do I have to tell you I don't want to know. You don't have to explain it to me, I honestly don't want to know.’

‘You're upset by this?’ Tom realised, noting the change of her tone and her manner as she walked away from him. He followed immediately after her. ‘Elle?’

‘Well, you hardly expect me to be thrilled that one of the places I've always wanted to see as soon as I go there, if I were to go there with you, people would immediately reference the whole situation with her and like every other person I don't want to be laughed at, Tom. There is no one I would rather see Rome with but to me, it’s lost a bit of its appeal now.’ She shrugged and gave him an apologetic face before she left the room.

Tom paused and thought about what she said, it was true, if they did go to Rome, people would immediately correlate it with his time there with Taylor. How in the world was Danielle supposed to enjoy the trip if all the people would be speaking about would be the like this of it to the time he went there before. Sighing to himself and putting his hands behind his head, he thought about it for a moment more before following Danielle back into the main part of the house and looking for her. Hearing the sound of her moving about upstairs he quickly made his way up taking the stairs two steps at a time. When he arrived up, he made his way to their bedroom and stood in the doorway watching Danielle folding different laundry and placing it on the bed to be organised in the correct part of the room. ‘I'm sorry, I have taken that from us haven't I?’

‘There wasn't an “us” then to take it from though, was there? You didn't cheat on me by bringing her there or her bringing you there, whatever way it was, so there's no need to apologise.’

‘But it hurts?’

‘Yes, as childish as it seems, in some ways, it does hurt.’

‘Then, for that, I apologize, because as it stands, that hurts you and that is a result of my actions.’

‘We could spend today arguing about this but I don't want to. if you feel an unrelenting need to apologise then fine but I think it's a waste of time, I don't think you have something to apologize for.’ she stated as she put his dark blue v neck jumper down on the bed folded. ‘I do think it would be lovely for us to go away.’

‘But Rome is out?’

‘For now I think it's best, I am going to get there and I do think it will be with you, but I don't think I could handle the comments that would arise as a result right now, how I am gullible to let you bring me there and how you're a slimy bastard for bringing two girls there, a year apart. Is there anywhere you would want to go?’

‘I will bring you to Rome,’ Tom promised. ‘When the time is right, I am taking you there. But for now, perhaps Paris would be nice. What can they say about that?’

Danielle laughed, ‘I don't think you are setting them much of a challenge for that one, I think we could actually start a pool before we even go with our friends. I would bet that the highest likely to occur comments will be; didn't you admit to bringing a girlfriend there before or was that you surprised her there before when you were younger, and the other like you want, would more than likely include you brought me there to ask me to marry you, in which case, we will probably be on “bump watch”.’

‘I know I'm going to regret this but what the hell is “bump watch”?’

‘Well considering the amount of time we are together, and the fact that you and Ben are somewhat similar, and how he would never be seen to have had Kit outside of marriage with Sophie, people are going to assume that you brought me there to propose to me and the reason for which is more than likely because I would be pregnant.’

‘Are you sure you're not reading too much into this?’

‘Tom I don't know if Luke is telling you this, but every other day people are trying to figure out whether or not I am pregnant there is a Tumblr page and all to this. Because for some reason, the fact that I do not wear tight-fitting clothing, and the fact that I am not a stick figure, people are assuming that I am pregnant.’

‘Wait, what, since when?’

‘Since it came out that we’re together, honestly Tom, I know you don't pay attention to these things, but at one stage, there were some out there, including trash papers, accusing you of having both myself and Swift pregnant. To some people, you're just a baby making machine,’ Danielle laughed, enjoying the perturbed look on Tom’s face search comments. ‘But enough silliness, Paris sounds like an incredible idea, when are we going?’

Shaking his head slightly to cease focusing on the preposterous, Tom gave her a wolfish grin. ‘You sorted Ireland, I'm sorting this.’

‘I'm not going to lie, that statement worries me.’

‘Are you saying you don't trust me?’

‘I'm saying I don't trust you to stay within a reasonable budget.’

‘Holidays shouldn't have budgets, not for too hard-working individuals like ourselves who deserve it.’

‘And that has left me even more scared.’ Danielle shuddered to think what it was that Tom was planning.

Tom's grin grew even more, ‘Really?’ He skulked forward towards her.

‘Tom no, I have literally just folded...Tom!’ Playfully, Tom tackled her onto the bed and in turn, onto the fresh washing. ‘The laundry.’

‘That can be refolded,’ Tom dismissed, using his strong arms to cage around her, he leant down and kiss her for a moment, ‘Actually, I think you may need to fold more than just the clothes when I'm finished with you.’ He grinned as he kissed her again, this time one of his hands making the way up the hem of her shirt, hers going through his hair.

[vgckwb]

ML: Isolation Chapter 8: Deals

Arien walked into class the next day to see a crowd had gathered around Ivan. He decided to follow suit. The reason why became apparent, as Ivan had some scars on his face. “Ivan, what happened?”

Ivan smiled and said “Buster did it.”

Adrien was confused. “Allow me to explain,” Mylene said. “See, Ivan asked to help volunteer with me yesterday. I was going to the animal shelter, and I thought I had a good idea. See, some of the bigger dogs get a little too energetic, so I thought Ivan could play with them for a bit to help calm them down. And he was doing a great job, but Buster, one of the biggest ones, got too into it and scratched him.”

“I see,” Adrien said.

“It was a complete accident, and Buster even felt sorry about the whole thing,” Ivan said.

“Yeah, Ivan’s been really forgiving about this whole thing” Mylene said.

“Why don’t you show them the pictures?” Ivan asked.

“Pictures?” Alix asked.

Ivan nodded. He looked at Mylene. “Oh, alright,” Mylene said. “I was worried because they were all from before the scar, but since you say it’s OK…” she took out her phone and everyone gathered around her. Mylene showed off a series of photos of Ivan playing with dogs. It was completely adorable.

“I gotta say, I didn’t think you had it in you,” Alix said.

Ivan blushed. “I wasn’t sure I had it in me either. But honestly, it was a lot of fun.”

“It’s all thanks to Adrien here,” Kim said.

Adrien blushed. “Who me? I didn’t do anything.”

“That’s not true,” Ivan said. “Your talk inspired me to help, and I want to thank you for it.”

“Oh, well, thanks,” Adrien said.

“You’re a natural,” Kim said.

“Yeah” said Alix. “I mean, Lila’s been great and all, but I’ve never seen a result this dramatic this fast. Maybe she could learn a thing or two from you.”

Lila was surprised. She blushed, rubbed the back of her head, and said “Maybe.”

“We’ll see,” Adrien said. “I mean, I imagine we’re both pretty busy. From what I’ve heard, after school, your life is an adventure!”

“I’m sure we can make the time,” Lila said. “I mean, you’ve gotten to know the class, and you’ve only been here for a week or so.”

“That’s true. A lot has happened” Adrien said. What would happen if Lila and I were alone? She can’t know I’m on to her, can she? If she doesn’t know, I don’t think she would cue me in on her goal just yet. It’s still too early. Still, I should be on guard for that meeting. “Well, if our schedules allow for some one on one time, I guess we could talk.”

Lila blushed. “I’d like that.” Shortly after class began for the day.

During break, Ivan met up with Adrien alone. “Hey, thanks again man” he said.

“No problem” Adrien replied.

“I mean it” Ivan said. “I know I only asked to try and get closer to Mylene, but the whole experience was rewarding.”

“I’m glad you liked it,” Adrien said. Ivan then grew concerned. “What’s up?”

“Well… If I tell you something, can you promise not to tell anyone else?” Ivan asked.

Adrien smiled. “Of course.”

Ivan smiled back. “Thanks. ...It’s just, you kind of remind me of Marinette. You know, before she...well…”

Adrien was surprised. “Huh.”

“It’s just, she used to be so helpful,” Ivan said. “I guess she was, even when she was jealous of Lila. Don’t get me wrong, she shouldn’t have bullied Lila, or stolen from her, but if you were to talk to her outside of Lila, it was like talking to you right now.”

“I see…” Adrien said, pondering this.

“I mean, Lila’s been helpful,” Ivan said, “it’s just...uh...how do I say this? She is a nice person, but she’s not as good at it?”

Adrien smiled. “It’s OK. Remember, this is staying between the two of us.”

Ivan smiled. “Thanks. Well, we should get going.”

“Alright,” Adrien said. Ivan left. Adrien looked around and saw Lila standing by herself. He decided to walk over and say “Hello.” Lila looked at him curiously. “Looks like we’ll get that chance to talk sooner than we thought.”

“I guess” Lila smiled. She looked sad. “So, how do you do it?”

“Do what?” Adrien asked.

“Well, you heard the class today,” Lila said. “How do you help people so well?”

Adrien had to tread lightly. I don’t want her to undermine me on any future attempts to deconstruct her web. I still don’t even know how big it is yet. It would be foolish to make it bigger before my eyes. I just have to give a vague answer. “Well, I just listen and give positive reinforcement,” he said.

“I try to do that too,” Lila said. “But you’ve helped Ivan in a way I couldn’t. Why is that?”

She’s trying to get a more specific answer. Just keep it vague, and we should be fine for now. “Well, I guess that’s just because we’re different people,” he said. “We have different experiences, and as such, we would have different ways of helping people.”

“Huh” said Lila. “That wasn’t what I was expecting, but I guess that makes sense.”

Adrien smiled. “Tell you what. If you’re helping someone out, why don’t you text me or something? That way, we can work together! You showing off your strengths, and I showing off mine. I mean, two heads are better than one after all.”

Lilai was taken aback. She blushed and said “I’d like that.”

“I’d like that too,” Adrien said.

“Well, we should get back to class,” Lila said.

“OK” Adrien said. He started walking when he noticed Lila grabbing his arm. “Um, Lila?”

“Huh? Oh” Lila said. She let go. “Sorry. I just get nervous easily. You know, ever since the incident. And you just seem so brave. So, I just kind of…”

Adrien smiled. “I understand. Just make sure to ask. I’m not great with people touching me unexpectedly. Between my fans and Chloe, it started feeling uncomfortable.”

“Oh no,” Lila said. “Don’t worry. I’ll have a nice chat with Chloe about this.”

“You don’t have to,” Adrien said. Lila was surprised. “What I mean is, I’ve already talked to her about it, and she’s gotten better about it.” Lila smiled and nodded and the two walked off.

OK, I don’t think she’s on to me, and I’ve laid a trap. Sure, it’s double edged, and whether or not she’ll spring it is up in the air, but it’s still worth trying. Still, she knows one of my weaknesses now. It’s not a weakness she can use well, but I should be careful regardless.

After school that day, he hung out with Nino at the dance club. They taught each other more about the dancing styles they knew, and had another good time all around. However, when it came time for Adrien to leave, Nino rushed him out again. Once could be coincidence, but twice now? Something’s up. I just need to find a good time to ask about it.

He then got out his phone. He was going to message his bodyguard but decided to do a quick check of Noir Notes to see if there was anything new. He had now got in the habit of bringing his costume along, so if there was something he could do, he could do it.

Nothing around him looked like he was needed, and anything new on the site was more speculation, which was wildly varying, and more requests. Again, most of these requests were trivial in nature. But there was a new one that caught his eye due to how odd it was.

“Hello? Cat Noir? Um, I have a note I want to deliver to someone, but I don’t know how. Could you possibly do it for me? I’ll be in the TV station lobby tonight until 6:30. Thank you.”

Adrien was puzzled. He checked the time stamp. Today. And it’s about 5:45 now… He realized the Kids+ TV studio wasn’t too far from here. Well, let’s just hope this is the right one… He messaged his bodyguard saying to pick him up there at about 6:25, and went on his way.

Once he got there, he hid on the side of the building and dressed up, leaving his bag behind. As Cat Noir, he walked into the building. He approached the receptionist and rang the bell. The receptionist looked up confused and surprised.

“Pssst! Over here” said a voice. He looked over to see a young girl waving at him. Adrien was now the one who was confused and surprised. He walked over. He saw she had a lot of paper and some crayons for drawing. “I knew you’d make it!”

Adrien smiled. I love her optimism Although, she is a child, so she probably doesn’t know it was dumb luck that brought me here. I won’t tell her though. He grabbed some of the paper and a black crayon and decided to write his statements, stylizing them like a child. “How did you get onto Noir Notes?”

“Um, I saw mommy doing some research on there. She’s a news reporter! She gave me this” she said, holding up a tablet, “to watch some videos on, but I really needed to get this note out” she now held up her note. “So, I logged on and tried my best.”

Adrien smiled for her. “You did good kid. What’s your name?”

“Manon” she said. “Anyway, can you deliver this?” She held up the letter.

“Who’s it for?”

Manon looked sad. “It’s for my old babysitter,” she said. “I don’t know if you know her, but her parents run the bakery you went to.” Adrien was surprised. “Mommy said she did something bad, and that she’s not allowed to babysit me anymore. I know she didn’t do it though! She’s so nice! I wanted to deliver it to her, but I don’t know how to get there without getting a ride, and mommy won’t help me mail it. So, please?” She held out the note again, this time with her baby-doll eyes.

How could I say no to that face? He wrote “Do you need to get it to her ASAP?”

“A...SAP?”

Adrien silently chuckled. “As Soon As Possible. It means does she need it right away?”

“Oh. Well, I would like for her to get it right away, but as long as she gets it, I’ll be alright.”

“OK. Thank you. I will pass it along to her.”

Manon’s face lit up. She was so giddy she was just about to charge in for a hug. She then stopped herself and asked “Um, can I give you a hug?” Adrien nodded. Manon rushed in and hugged with vigor. Adrien hugged back.

Adrien hadn’t even considered something like this. I promise you, the two of you will be reunited. It may take some time, but I will do it. He let go and took the note. He did a two finger salute to say his goodbye and left.

He went to the side of the building to grab his bag. However, he bumped into someone. He looked up to see that it was his bodyguard, holding his bag. The two looked at each other for a little bit. Adrien surmised that he came by and saw the bag on the ground and went to investigate. Despite his appearances, Adrien knew his bodyguard wasn’t stupid. There wasn’t really a lot he could do in this situation. He sighed. “Can you at least not tell my parents and only talk to Nathalie about this?” The bodyguard was confused, but nodded. Adrien changed out of his disguise, and put it back in the bag. The two went to the car and headed home.

On his way back, Adrien messaged Marinette. “Hey, we have a bit of a situation. I got caught as Cat Noir by my bodyguard. I managed to convince him to only tell my family’s assistant, but I can’t lie to them. Could I just tell them about you? If that’s alright? Please get back to me ASAP.”

Later, Adrien was meeting with Nathalie. Adrien’s costume was on the table, along with his phone. Nathalie was rubbing her eyes. “Adrien. Please tell me you have an explanation for all of this.”

“I do,” Adrien said.

Nathalie put her glasses on and glared at him. “And?”

“Oh. Oh you want me to TELL YOU my explanation” he said. “Well...um, this is gonna be difficult.” Marinette hasn’t gotten back to me yet. I don’t know if I can keep this up.

“I can’t in good conscience hide this from your parents,” Nathalie said. “Please explain to me what possessed you to do any of this.”

“Ummmmmmmm...”

Suddenly the phone rang. Adrien reached for it, but Nathalie grabbed it first, as if her hand was as fast as hurricane winds. She noticed it wasn’t a registered number. She answered “How did you get this number?”

“Um, Adrien gave it to me” Marinette said timidly from the other line. “You’re the secretary right?” Nathalie was alarmed. “You’re talking about him being Cat Noir… Well, that’s kind of my fault.”

Adrien was worried about what was happening on the other end. He tried reaching for the phone, but Nathalie blocked him. She continued to listen to Marinette. “I see...Thank you. Have a good day.” She hung up. She sighed. “Adrien. I know you can be a bit of a problem child.” Adrien remembered several times in which he attempted to sneak out or run away just to be on his own for a little bit, causing his parents, his bodyguard, and Nathalie to worry. “But THIS just takes the cake.” Adrien looked worried. “I’ve heard what your friend Marinette had to say. Now let’s hear you explain it.”

Adrien was puzzled. “Well, so, you know how Ladybug is my favorite designer for father’s company?” Nathalie nodded. “Well, I’ve been wanting to meet with her for a while now. I figured out her name, but not much else. Then, when I went to school, I caught her catching a glimpse of me. I learned that Marinette was considered a bully, and then later, I was told by father that Ladybug had new designs for me. I knew then they were the same person.”

Adrien explained the rest of the story. How he couldn’t be seen going to the bakery, and how he felt so desperate to meet with her. The origin of the disguise. The whole Lila thing. He hoped that it got through to her.

Once he was finished, Nathalie composed herself. “Well, at least the two of you are good at corroborating, if nothing else.”

“But it’s the truth!” Adrien said.

Nathalie smiled. “I know. I can tell when you’re lying.” She sighed. “Alright, I won’t tell your parents about all of this, at least for now. But I want you to promise me something.”

Adrien was confused. “What?”

“I want you to talk to your parents more about what’s going on,” she said. “You don’t have to explain everything, at least not yet. Don’t get me wrong, I want you to, but I understand why you won’t for now.”

Adrien looked sad. “Adrien,” she said. He looked up. “They’re your parents. They care about you. They want to hear about how you’re doing. Perhaps they can even help you. Of course, I’ll be willing to help you too.” Adrien looked excited. “If what you said about this Lila person is true, then I wish to help you. I know a thing or two about behind the scenes work. Your bodyguard will also be able to help. Isn’t that right?” She looked at the bodyguard, and he nodded. “Just be sure you’re keeping up with school, and all of your other stuff.” Adrien nodded. “You’re going to be really busy. Are you sure you can handle it?”

Adrien grinned. “When you’ve had nothing to do for most of your life, there’s a lot of pent up energy to do all of this.”

Nathalie smiled a silly grin. Adrien was perplexed, because that smile was rare. “You know, I sat in on some of the meetings where your parents were discussing you going to school. Your father was worried about all sorts of things. I thought he had run through every possible scenario. I guess I was wrong.”

Adrien smiled. “Oh yeah” he said. He took Manon’s note out of his pocket. “Um, I’m supposed to deliver this to Marinette. Is that alright?”

Nathale smiled. “Don't worry Adrien, I’ll take care of this. Your father wanted me to investigate the bakery anyway. You know, after your little stunt.” Adrien blushed. Nathalie grabbed the note. “Alright. Just do whatever you were going to do when you got back before all of this. And remember what I said.”

Adrien nodded. “Thank you,” he said.

Nathalie smiled. “Let’s go!” she told the bodyguard. The two of them headed out.

Nathalie and the bodyguard had managed to get to the bakery before it closed. Nathalie walked in alone. Sabine and Tom turned to her. “Um, hello. How can we help you?”

“I know this is a bit sudden,” Nathlie said, “but I work with Gabriel Agreste. Because of the recent attention brought upon you, he wants to know about his place. I know that you’re closing now, but is there a good time to set up a meeting?”

Tom and Sabine were shocked. “Um, what would this meeting be about?” Tom stammered out.

“Mr. Agreste likes to consider a lot of possibilities” Nathalie said. “He was wondering about using your bakery as a set. Or barring that, using some of your goods for a baking motif.” Tom and Sabine looked at each other, not sure about what to do. “I will tell you, a lot of this goes nowhere. But, if you’re interested in the possibility, here’s my card,” she said, handing it to them. “Also, I found this outside your door. It’s addressed to a Marinette.”

“That’s our daughter,” Sabine said. “I’ll make sure it gets to her.”

Nathalie smiled. “Thank you. Also, if it wouldn’t be any trouble, could I get a box of cookies.”

“Oh, it’ll be no trouble at all,” Tom said. He left to get them.

“You know, Mr. Agreste’s son came in and he also got cookies,” Sabine said.

“So I’ve heard,” Nathalie said. “He told me they were delicious. I’m curious.”

“Here you go,” Tom said.

Nathalie paid for them. “Thank you.” She left the store and got in the car. They pulled off. Nathalie started eating the cookies. “Want one?” she said, offering one to the bodyguard. He rejected. She continued eating them.

The bodyguard then gave her a stern look. “Don’t look at me like that,” she said. “Look, I know it’s crazy, but I really want to help Adrien here. Was he foolish? Of course. But being young is all about making mistakes. I’m just here to make sure he’s making the right ones.” She smiled. “Besides, can’t you tell?” The bodyguard raised his eyebrow. “Our little Adrien’s in love.” The bodyguard thought about it, and then nodded. “I’m just not sure he knows it yet.”

Adrien went back to his room as soon as the meeting was over. He headed to the computer and saw Marinette messaged him. “Adrien! Are you alright? What happened?”

“I’m still trying to process that myself,” he replied. “But basically, not only has Nathalie agreed to not tell my parents, she’s willing to help me.”

“...? Why?”

“I’m not sure. But I’m glad she is.”

“Well, I’m glad things worked out for you.”

“Sorry about dragging more people into this…”

“It’s OK. This was sudden. I get it.”

“By the way, the mission I was on as Cat Noir involved you.”

“Me?”

“Yup. I was to deliver a note to you. But Nathalie’s taking it to your place.She said she needed to scout it anyway. You should be getting it soon.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Good night.”

“Good night Adrien” she typed. She saw Adrien log off. She then spoke to herself. “What could that be?”

“Marinette!” her mom called. “There’s a letter for you! I’ll just slip it through the door as usual.” Marinette rushed over and opened the hatch door. Sabine was surprised to see her. “Marinette?”

“Uh, yeah. I just wanted to get this from you.” She took the note. “Thank you, mama!” She kissed her mom on the head, and closed the door.

Sabine was surprised. “Well, it’s good to see she's getting better.”

Marinette went up to her bed and looked at the note. “Manon?” she said, recognizing the handwriting. She opened it up.

“Marinette, Mommy says you did something bad, and you can’t be my babysitter anymore. I don’t think that’s true though. You’re so nice and kind. I can’t believe that you would do something so mean.

Mommy says you haven’t left your house much since got kicked out of school. You taught me that sometimes people just need to be alone sometimes. But I do want to see you again. I want to show you how much I’ve grown since the last time I’ve seen you. Please come out soon. Once they realize you didn’t do it, I’m sure they’ll forgive you. -Manon”

Underneath was a drawing of the two of them. Marinette was impressed, and at the same time heartbroken. Manon still believed in her. She couldn’t believe it herself. Manon looked up to her so much, and wanted her to leave. Meanwhile, here she was wallowing in self-pity. Marinette began crying. “I’m sorry Manon.”

[snowdice]

Finding the Time to Study Fic 2 [Day 42]

Here is my starting post for today’s study break stories session. See this post for more details and feel free to send me asks to keep me going! It’s been a lot of fun so far! I will reblog this post with the story as I write them today. I’ll be constantly looking for ideas of times and places for Janus to have missions, so feel free to send in any you can think of at any point!

If you are a new follower or just don’t want all of these posts clogging your dash, please feel free to block the tag “study break stories” as all posts and voting about it will go there. You can still see the finished product of the story even if you are blocking that tag as I will not tag the edited chapters with “study break stories” but with the tag “folds in paper.” See edited chapters below. None edited chapters are under the cut.

My Masterpost Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted). It’s short, and not really for serious listening, but I had fun with it.

Gotta finish my first draft of my research paper today, so let’s go!

Arc II What We Do to Each Other

Chapter 16:

As it would turn out, Janus and Virgil did not get in trouble for hooking up the old phone to Virgil’s integrator, mostly because it wasn’t really a mistake on their part. The phone cleared all virus checks that the tech people both from the university and the TPI ran on it. The phone should have been clean and should not have caused an issue.

In fact, they were still trying to pin down the code on the general university server. They could tell that something was mucking about on the system but what or how was a mystery. This also meant that there was no telling what information had been compromised and considering how many things Silver Mountain had its hands in, that was… a bit worrying.

 Another worrying thing was there was suddenly more activity of late at the TPI. There were more time distortions popping up every day. Usually they would be few and far in between. There had been 3 total recorded the year before, but over 12 in the last week. Some of them were fake like the one Janus had investigated, but some of them were real. It painted a distressing picture and also was a drain on their resources. Khalid was actually looking to advertise positions to hire new recruits which was something she rarely did as she liked to keep appointments to the TPI in house.

 They’d even loosed the number of field agents needed for each mission and Janus and Remus had been splitting up just to get everything done. Today, he and Remus had thankfully only two missions scheduled for the day.

“Are we going together or separate today?” Janus asked Remus.

“Think they’ll burn me at the stake for being a witch if I go alone to either of them?” Remus asked.

“I don’t know. Probably. I think we’re getting a bit late into the 1700s for that in Cuba, but I have no idea about Mesopotamia.”

“Let’s just go together. I did not like almost drowning yesterday because I was the only stranger in town when the weather was going wonky.”

“Surely it isn’t because you opened your mouth. Ever.” Janus said dryly.

“How was I supposed to know he was the local clergyman’s son?”

 Janus rolled his eyes. “On second thought,” he said, pushing a button on his desk to choose Cuba as he next mission, and standing up. “I don’t want you coming with me.” Yet, he did not protest when Remus also signed up for the Cuba mission and he waited for him by the office door before going to talk to Rhi.

Rhi was a bit frazzled when which meant quite a bit as she was usually incredibly put together. Remus didn’t even seem inclined to tease her today.

“Okay,” she said once they’d closed the door behind them. She flipped through some documents on her desk. “Picani and Clockson. Camaguey Cuba 1755. Do you know Cuba?”

 “Uh,” Janus said. “Yeah?”

“Like you’re reading the things, right? I don’t have to babysit you, right? You got it? The Seven Year War was happening, but it won’t affect you much as it hasn’t really hit Cuba. It’s the middle of the Camaguey Carnival. Everyone will be everywhere and there will be chaos so as long as you don’t really fuck up you should be fine. Um…apparent races.” She looked up at them and studied them each for a moment as thought looking at them for the first time despite having known them for years. “It’ll work. Go to costuming.”

“Shouldn’t we…” Janus said, “sign things?”

 “…Yep,” she said, fiddling with her desktop and then sending documents over to their side to sign.

Janus and Remus both did before sending them back.

“Great. Good.” She stood and grabbed some things from behind her. “You can go.” She sat back down as they took their things and Janus noticed a message pop up on her desk. She looked up at Remus looking exhausted. “What?” she asked.

“Just open it,” Remus said.

Rhi tapped it and a photo opened.

“I got her a new mouse toy!” Remus said happily as Rhi looked at the picture of Diesel Fuel attacking a cloth mouse.

“That is… appreciated Agent Clockson,” Rhi said. “Now get out.”

 They did, leaving to get their costumes on and checked. Costuming was just as busy and frazzled as Rhi had been and they actually had to wait for decon because there’d been a mix up with the agents leaving before them. They landed in Cuba without issue. Janus could already hear the festival in full swing outside the small building they’d were in. Remy was standing there with a very not time appropriate mug of coffee.

“Sue me,” Remy said when Janus raised an eyebrow at it. “Please just… get in and out without causing trouble. Seriously. I don’t want to have to deal with that on top of everything else.”

 “We’ll do our best,” Janus assured.

Remy pulled his sunglasses down to look at him. He looked exhausted. “God please do more than your best.”

Janus nodded tightly. “We’ll be in and out,” he said, already glancing at his timepiece. It had been disguised as a golden bracelet which made it a bit harder to actually use, but wrist watches wouldn’t be invented for more than a century, so they’d have to make do. “The time distortion, if that’s what it is, should be in the middle of town. Let’s go.”

He and Remus exited the building onto the packed city street.

 Janus was immediately bombarded with all types of sights, sounds, and smells. There were many colorful articles of clothing and costumes as people went every which way along the street talking to other members of their community, playing instruments, and dancing. There was the sound of people speaking Spanish, still mostly almost pure Castilian Spanish with perhaps a bit of influence from Taino as the Haitian revolution had yet to push the Creole language over to Cuba. People must have been hard at work cooking different dishes for the carnival as many different spices wafted through the air. It was sticky hot considering it was the middle of June in the tropics and Janus was immediately sweating despite the temperature appropriate clothing he’d been outfitted with.

 He glanced around their immediate area, just scoping out the crowds. His eyes were immediately drawn to one person near them.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” he said out loud when he saw Pat. Remus looked in the direction Janus was.

Even if Janus didn’t recognize him the moment he laid eyes on him, he probably still would have ended up staring as he was the only person in the area who clearly did not know how to do the dance he was attempting.

Remus snorted and Janus shook his head in secondhand embarrassment. “Well, would you look whose boyfriend’s here,” he said to Janus. Make that firsthand embarrassment. “Has anyone told him the Mambo wasn’t invented until the 1900s and also that’s not how you do it?”

 Chapter 17

Pat stopped dancing the moment he saw Janus approaching him, but he still bobbed cheerfully ( and unrhythmically) to the music. “Hi Janus,” he said pleasantly.

“You just have to rub it in, huh?”

There was a flash of confusion across his face, but then he smiled. “Well, I know where in our relationship you are. How was France?”

“You’re a bastard.”

“You stole the phone,” he laughed.

“You stole the bomb,” Janus countered, “and you wanted me to steal the phone. You booby trapped it.”

“No,” Pat correct, putting a finger up. “We have security on my phone because in high school I once forgot it in the school locker room and long story short, the three of us ended up in a lake. So, then Lo made sure I always had some sort of tracker on it. When I started time traveling, he updated it and when I met you we updated it again in case there was ever an opportunity like that. Lo calls it using our weaknesses to our advantage.”

 “He’s a bastard too,” Janus growled.

Pat just laughed.

“Is someone talking about me?” Remus asked, stepping over to them. Janus rolled his eyes.

“Oh,” Pat said, blinking at Janus’s partner for a moment. “Remus.” He hesitated slightly. “How are you doing?”

“Me?” Remus asked. “Uh, I’m doing good. A little stressed out with work, but fine.”

“Good,” Pat said with just a little too much heartfulness to it.

“What?” Janus asked, eyes narrowed at Pat. “What is that?”

“What is what?” Pat asked. He met Janus’s eyes briefly and it made panic surge up Janus’s spine because the look Pat was sending him wasn’t one that said he was playing dumb. It was a warning.

 Oh, Janus did not like this. That look told Janus Pat had some foreknowledge that he absolutely could not tell Janus about without messing up the timeline spectacularly. This was why this mess the two of them were mixed up in was so bad, but it seemed Janus did not have much of a choice when it came to Pat.

Despite how bad of an idea he knew it was, he still wanted to push, because whatever Pat was hiding could be very, very bad and it had to do with Remus. There were so many reasons Pat could be acting like that around Remus, but the worst ones were definitely the ones on his mind. Death, injury, illness. They were all possible especially in their line of work and especially with how time was being screwed with right now. And Pat knew. He knew exactly what the answer was, and oh did Janus want to push.

Experience knowing what worse things could come out of having foreknowledge made Janus bite his tongue.

 “So, what are you two doing here,” Pat asked, and Janus unhappily let him change the subject.

“Oh, like you don’t know,” Janus replied.

“I don’t know,” Pat said innocently.

“There’s another time distortion,” Janus said, “and while you didn’t know what it was the last time I saw you, I’m pretty sure you do now.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there was a time distortion here. I can help you if you like,” he offered sweetly.

“Oh, yeah, sure. Then why are you here?”

“I wanted to see if I could find the Flying Dutchman,” Pat told him.

“And so you went to Camaguey?”

“Uh huh.”

“One of the farthest places from the ocean in Cuba?”

 “Is it?”

“I don’t trust you.”

Pat just shrugged. “Well, if you don’t want my help finding the time distortion, I’ll just be on my way then.”

“Wait,” he said when Pat went to turn away. Pat paused. Janus turned to Remus. “Remus, do you think he’s bullshitting me so I let him wander off and do whatever the hell he’s doing, or do you think he’s bullshitting me into letting him come with us.”

“Hmm,” Remus said, looking Pat up and down. Janus could immediately tell he wasn’t going to get any helpful answer. “Well, if we’re going with the how much do I get to see his, admittedly very sexy, ass criteria.” Janus pinched the bridge of his nose. “Letting him leave now means instant gratification and a nice full image when he turns away. However, letting him go with us means many more opportunities to get a glimpse, but they’d probably just be glimpses. So, yeah that’s a tough call.”

“You didn’t even bother to give me an actual hidden suggestion with that bullshit,” Janus groaned. He glanced at Pat only to see him hiding his very red face in his hands. Janus blinked. “Oh,” he said. “You got him, Remus.” Janus was surprised. He’d expected a bit more tenacity for someone with Pat’s personality. Of course, Janus was used to Remus, so that perhaps had some effect. Pat made a muffled distressed sound behind his hands and Janus raised an eyebrow. “You really got him.”

Pat flapped one hand around while still using the other to completely hide his face. “It’s just. His face. Saying that. Is weird.”

 Janus could not say that he didn’t feel a slight spark of joy at seeing Pat flustered. After all, Pat’s weapon of choice had often been flirting with Janus in the past. However, he still smacked Remus on the shoulder when it looked like he was about to continue with something likely far more inappropriate. “We are here for a reason,” he reminded. He turned to consider Pat and squinted at him. “You’re coming with us, I’ve decided. I don’t want to let you out of my sights. Don’t,” he said empathically turning to Remus as the man opened his mouth once more.

 Pat had mostly recovered, though his cheeks were just a bit pink still. “Yeah,” he said. “I’ll go with you. Where do we start?”

Janus glanced at his timepiece. “It’s not showing up on our trackers yet.”

“It messed with your tracker last time,” Pat pointed out.

“I know,” Janus said. “Which means it could be another fake one or whatever is causing it hasn’t started yet. If things start going wrong, but it still doesn’t show on our radar, it’s almost certainly a fake one, but some of the fake ones haven’t blocked our technology.”

“Here, I can check,” Pat said.

“Please don’t pull out an iPhone,” Janus begged.

 Pat stuck out his tongue at him, and then smiled. He reached for the bracelet on his wrist and twisted it back and forth a few times before pressing his palms together. He glanced around them quickly to make sure no one around them was watching and then peeled apart his palms like he was miming reading a book.

“What the fuck is that, and how do I get one?” Remus asked immediately. It was innocuous, whatever it was. If someone from this time caught a glimpse of the display, they’d likely assume it was a trick of the light, but staring right at it, Janus could tell it was a map of the surrounding areas with a softly glowing blue light marking their current location. Janus could see no screen or origin of a hologram. It looked like the image was drawn onto the man’s palms, but as he watched, the image shifted to zoom out.

 “There doesn’t seem to be anything major yet,” Pat said wiggling his fingers a bit. The display changed slightly to some sort of colorful overlay Janus did not understand. Pat hummed. “Did you two come from that building recently?” he asked nodding at it.

“Yes,” Janus replied. “How do you know?”

“There’s sometimes a slight temperature change when people time travel,” Pat explained. “I can read it on here.” He tilted his head. “There also seems to be a big enough temperature change in a church a few blocks away that could indicate time travel. Want to check it out?”

“We might as well,” Janus agreed.

“And if it’s nothing, we can get drunk on the communion wine!”

“He’s going to get immediately struck by lightning,” Janus said.

 Chapter 18

“If we see anyone,” Janus said as they entered the church. “You keep your mouth shut. Do you understand me? Remus, do you understand me?”

Remus immediately turned to Pat. “You know, I didn’t grow up Catholic,” he said to Pat who looked at him in confusion. “So the first time I ever entered a Catholic church, you can’t blame me for being a little confused about the whole cabinet thing with a wall between them. After all, everyone was singing about glory to god and what not. So I…”

Janus slapped him. “This is why you were almost burned at the stake yesterday.”

 “Excuse you,” Remus said, putting his hand over his heart. “I was almost drowned.”

“You were almost drowned?” Pat asked, his voice seeming legitimately distressed.

Remus shrugged a smile on his face that caused a Pavlovian migraine to start up behind Janus’s eyes. “It’s one of the hazards of the jobs, and really it would have all been worth it if I’d actually gotten to drown in that man’s…”

“We’re in a church!” Janus cut him off switching from Spanish to Swahili in the hopes that no random passersby would be able to understand him in this time and place. “Don’t talk about lewd sex things. Don’t talk about sex at all. It’s a Catholic church!”

 Remus continued to speak in Spanish with no regard for anything. “But not talking about lewd sex things takes away 3/4ths of my personality,” he pouted.

“More like 9/10th,” Janus grumbled, “and the other 1/10th is just normal stupid.”

“Hey, you shouldn’t be mean,” Pat scolded, in fucking English for some reason, “but Remus, honey, you probably shouldn’t be saying things like that right now.”

“No, no, he has a point,” Remus said switching to English.

“He’s my partner, I have the right to call him stupid,” Janus insisted.

“And I love you too!” Remus said in Greek because he was really, truly, stupid.

 Pat looked between the two, but then seemed to accept it, dropping the concerned expression for a slightly amused one. “If you say so.”

“Can I… help you?” A voice asked. All three of them whipped around to see a young boy looking at them and seeming very confused. Which was fair considering that to his ears, they’d just been speaking nonsense.

“We’re here to pray!” Remus claimed, then he turned to wink at Pat and said under his breath in Swahili, “to that ass.” Pat went immediately bright red again, which was doubtlessly Remus’s aim. Janus subtlety stepped on his foot while smiling at the boy.

 “Oh,” the boy said. “Okay.” Thankfully, he didn’t seem interested in questioning the random strangers in front of him further. “I’m going to go back to the celebration now.”

Janus smiled at him. “Have fun,” he said. He waited for the boy to leave through the front door before slapping Remus on the back of the head.

“Ow!” he whined sounding far too pained for how hard Janus had actually hit him.

Janus rolled his eyes. “Let’s just start investigating,” he said.

“Sure, sure, you never let me have any fun,” Remus said, pulling up his wrist and spinning the golden bracelets on his arm. “Hmm…” he said.

 “What?” asked Pat.

“Either I put on the wrong jewelry this morning… or my timepiece isn’t working.”

“Well, then I’m guessing we’re in the right place,” Janus said. He turned to Pat. “Your stuff still working?”

Pat brought up whatever device was on his hands. “Yeah,” he said, “and it looks like something is just starting.” Just as he said it, there was a violent crash of thunder.

“Well,” Janus said. “We should probably find the source and soon. Which way?”

Pat glanced around himself and then motioned with his wrist. Suddenly there was a 3D display of the church in front of them.

 Janus could see immediately where the problem had to originate. There was a swirling mass of some sort of energy centered at the top of the bell tower of the church. As he watched, he saw the picture of the church glitch out a bit. He had a bad feeling about that.

“Is there something wrong with your display?” he asked, or more hoped.

Pat shook his head slowly. “I don’t think so…” The room seemed to shift suddenly underneath their feet. It felt a bit like time travel, but also wrong. The picture on the display flickered harder, part of the building fracturing and dissolving before appearing back in place. The room settled after a moment, but Janus’s stomach did not.

 “Whatever is going on,” Janus said, “We need to stop it right now.”

Pat nodded. “The quickest way up would be that way,” Pat said pointing. The display closed as he did.

“Then, let’s go,” Janus said.

The world was eerily calm as they all started off in the direction Pat had pointed out. In fact, it was almost too quiet.

“Where’s the nearest window?” Janus asked when they came out on the second floor.

Pat glanced at his hand. “There should be a couple a few feet that way.” Janus nodded and left them standing there. When he glanced out of the first window he came to, it appeared to be night. Yet, when he walked to the next window, he saw daylight.

26606

“Time is fracturing,” Janus informed them. “We need to be careful.” This time distortion was much more intense than any of the other ones the agency had been tracking down over the last few months. It had also come on much faster. Usually there was some time between when the time distortion began and it started having extreme effects on the environment. He was suddenly very glad that he and Remus had not split up today. He was even glad for Pat’s company, no matter how aggravating he may be sometimes. Not to mention, he was glad for the man’s technology that seemed to circumvent whatever was blocking Janus and Remus’s timepieces.

He backed away from the windows and returned to the others.

“Whatever you do,” Janus said. “Don’t let anyone be in a room alone.”

“I know what time fractures are this time,” Pat promised.

“It was as much for the idiot as it was for you,” Janus said.

“You accidently bring a bubonic plague infested rat to 900BC one time and you never live it down.”

“I’d say I should put a leash on you, but you’d twist it into something disgusting.”

“Probably,” Remus agreed.

“Where next?” Janus asked, ignoring him.

“That way,” Pat said.

They walked together to the door he’d indicated. “Please don’t be bullshit,” Janus prayed. He opened the door and immediately got bowled over by a stream of salt water.

 Chapter 19

Janus landed flat on his back, a wave of water splashing over him and then quickly retreating, but still leaving him absolutely drenched. He sighed, looking at the ceiling. “Don’t,” he warned, “say a word.”

Of course, he was with the two most impossible people in all of space and time, so neither of them headed him.

“I thought you said we were far from the ocean, Jan,” Pat said.

“Yeah, Janny,” Remus immediately jumped on board because he was an asshole. “I thought we were far from the ocean!”

“Maybe I’ll achieve my goal of finding the Flying Dutchman after all!”

 “Ooo ghost pirates! I’ve never gotten to fight ghost pirates before. Any good with a sword Patty?”

“My friend has a sword and he let me use it before… but all I did was cut a hole in our couch, and then Lo was mad at us.”

“I mean… just pretend the pirates are a couch and we’ll be good!”

Janus slowly sat up. There was still water on the floor and every so often a wave would crash into the room as though the door frame signaled the edge of a beach. Pat reached down to offer him a hand up and Janus slapped it away.

 “Rude!” Pat claimed, but his eyes were alight with mischief.

Janus shoved himself to his feet on his own power.

“You deserve it,” he hissed. “For all of this!” he waved his arms around.

“Water you talking about. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“You are on thin ice.”

He looked down at his feet with a contemplative expression. “Looks like water to me.”

“Arg!” Janus spat, throwing up his arms.

“I don’t sea why you’re screaming, Janus.”

“Yeah,” Remus contributed. “You seem overally emotional to me.”

“Yes, yes,” Pat replied. “Very em-ocean-al.”

“One may even say he’s pretty salty.”

“I know where you live, Remus,” Janus reminded.

 “Alright, alright Remus, reel it in,” Pat said.

Remus opened his mouth to respond, but Janus cut him off. “Why don’t the two of you dedicate all of that brain power to figuring out how to cross the literal ocean in the next room,” Janus suggested hotly.

And it was a literal ocean. If one ignored where they were and the fact that there was a staircase climbing out of said ocean about 80 or so meters away. There was sand being washed up across the door frame and a seagull flying in the distance. At least it looked like a nice day in the room with the way the sun was glinting off the water. At least it wasn’t storming there. Yet.

Janus’s head throbbed with the thought of what had to be happening with the time distortion to plop a piece of the ocean into one single room in a church. Usually they’d be calling the TPI for backup or at least for information, but that was a loss. Even if they tried to get out of range of whatever was disrupting their timepieces, time was so unstable, they’d very possibly get dumped somewhere dangerous. It was better to just get to the time distortion as quickly as possible and stop it.

 “Hmm,” Remus said. “I wonder how deep it is. Do you think there are man eating sharks in the water? Or giant jelly fish? Remember that one time I got stung by a jelly fish and almost died?”

“Yes,” Janus said, lips pursed, “and it was entirely your fault.”

“I just looked so squishy!” he declared, “I didn’t know it was a murder blob.”

“I think I have a boat,” Pat said.

They both turned to him. “What?” Janus asked. He was looking at his hands and just hummed in response to Janus’s question. The next thing he knew, Pat made some motion with his hand and a yellow raft started to autofill from his palm. “...Why?” Janus asked.

“I… recently started carrying a wilderness survival pack in my time device.”

 “I’m not going to question it. It’s better than swimming.” By the time the raft was completely deployed, they’d all been shoved into the walls by it.

“Huh, on second thought. I probably should have put the raft in the room before blowing it up.”

“You think?” asked Janus.

Pat glared at him over it. “I never really thought about how to open it in a narrow second floor corridor.”

“Just try to shove it through the door without popping it.”

“Why are you looking at me?!” asked Remus.

They managed to somehow squeeze the raft through the door into the other room after a few minutes.

 Pat squinted at the tottering raft he was holding to the door frame. “After you,” he offered.

Janus glared at him.

“You’re already soaked!” Pat defended himself.

Janus sighed and very carefully climbed into the raft. It tottered dangerously, but he didn’t immediately fall out, so that was a plus. The other two of them slowly also climbed onto the raft with him. They then sat in it for a few seconds. “Is there an oar?” Janus asked.

“Oh right!” Pat did something else with the device in his hands and an oar slowly unfolded from his hand.

“Seriously, I want one of those,” Remus said.

 “Let’s just get out of here,” Janus said, snatching the oar. The staircase luckily wasn’t too far away. They probably could have swam it if necessary, but the raft gave them some modicum of protection. Everything seemed to be going in their favor, which of course meant everything was about to go incredibly wrong.

They were about halfway across the water when the entire world around them rumbled.

“…I hope that was a giant jellyfish,” Remus said.

It was unfortunately not a jellyfish or any sea creature at all. The world around them fractured, the ocean seeming to split right down the middle so the water right of the staircase was 6 feet higher than on the left. The sky flashed red and yellow before the water split completely like Moses splitting the Red Sea.

 There was a millisecond as the split widened until it was only a few feet from them, to decide whether when they landed they wanted to be on the side with the water or on the side without it. On one hand, going towards the side without water could mean they fell to their deaths or the water crashed back down on top of them when it settled. On the other hand, if the fissure was closing or shifting to a new area, it was very possible that they’d end up trapped in the middle off the ocean with no connection to the church.

 Well, the best chance to actually get to where they were going was probably the side without water. It seemed everyone had the same idea at once because as he grabbed for both of them, they both grabbed for him and they all went tumbling off the raft into what could have very well been a bottomless pit.

Janus learned after a couple of seconds of free fall, that it was definitely not a bottomless pit. He landed hard, flat on his back and saw stars. The next moment something landed on top of him, squeezing all of the air out of his lungs.

 Something else fell half on top of his legs.

“Ow,” Pat said from near his ear.

“Yeah, well you’re the one on the top,” Janus groaned though his teeth.

“Wow, I never took you for a bottom, Janus,” Remus said from near his feet. Janus kicked up his legs into whatever part of him was on top of Janus and he gave an “oof.”

Pat snorted a bit and Janus glared at his… shoulder? He shifted around a bit so he was less thrown across Janus and more just on top of him. Janus blinked. There was a wooden ceiling above them, so that was a good sign, though there was also a giant dark hole of nothingness directly above them which was not as good.

 Janus moved slightly. He could tell he was going to be bruised later, but he didn’t seem seriously injured. “We should,” he started, but was interrupted as the hole above them pulsated and dumped a bunch of sea water.

Pat shrieked as they were all drenched with the chilly water. Luckily, they seemed to be on higher ground because, while water kept pouring out of the hole, it drained away just as quickly instead of drowning them.

Water still hitting his back relentlessly, Pat peeled his head up to look Janus in the eyes. A giggle bubbled out of his mouth.

“It isn’t funny,” Janus informed him. Pat just giggled more, leaning his head against Janus’s chest and cackling.

 Janus just rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes, this is an entirely appropriate reaction. Thank you for your contribution to our very important mission.”

Pat seemed incapable of stopping laughing completely, but he did calm himself enough to peel himself off Janus’s chest and lean forward so their noses almost touched. “It’s hilarious and you know it,” he claimed.

“In what way is this ‘hilarious’?”

“In many waves,” was the joy filled answer.

“You’re horrible.”

Pat hummed. He hadn’t moved to get off of him even though they really should be moving in case something worse than water came through the hole in the ceiling. He hadn’t even moved his face away.

“No, no, you two just tell me when you’re done being gay for each other,” Remus interrupted. Janus was surprised to see he’d stood up at some point and was now hovering over them.

 Janus flipped him off even while Pat laughed once again. Pat finally drew away and rolled off of him so Janus could sit up. Pretty much everything hurt when Janus moved, but he was able to stand up, so he was probably fine enough. “So,” he said looking around. “Where are we now?”

 Chapter 20

Janus looked around himself while Pat booted up his map to try to figure out where they were. They were in a small room that may actually be considered a large landing as there were staircases on either side of it. The water that was still coming out of the ceiling was running down the staircase that led down from the room.

 Something was stopping the water, creating a pool on the steps that was already about to overflow into the room. With the speed the water was flowing, they should have enough time before the room completely filled up with water and drowned them.

Janus wondered if they were in the church or not. It was not out of the question and there was church like décor around them, but who knew? He could feel a strange vibration in the ground and the one window in the room shone with green light.

“Hmm,” said Pat. “That looks not good.” He’d projected his map so they could all see everything.

 The map itself was moving. Rooms were phasing in and out of focus and fracturing down the middle. One room was even spinning lazily around in circles. Janus could see the room they were in. It was connected to the bigger blob of rooms, and there was a black line connecting it to another room from the top which was obviously the hole spewing water at them.

“Well, at least the time distortion is still coming from the bell tower,” Remus said. Janus shot him an unamused glance. Said bell tower was currently upside down and shuddering as well as divided from any other room by at least two inches of empty space.

28842

“How are we supposed to get there?” asked Pat.

“We don’t,” Janus said. “It’s literally impossible.”

“There has to be some way,” Pat argued with a frown.

“If we try to use time travel, we’ll definitely get shredded by the warping time and space around it and walking there isn’t an option. There aren’t even any entrances!”

“Well, there were at one point.”

“Yeah, before,” he gestured wildly to the ceiling that was still pouring water into the room.

“So?” Pat asked.

“’So’?! What do you mean ‘so’?!”  

Pat shrugged. “When one door closes, cut another one.”

Janus froze and looked at him for a long moment. “Where the hell did you hear that?”

Patton raised an eyebrow. “You.”

“I don’t think like that anymore.”

“Well then I guess we’ll die,” Pat said lightly. “Of course, that’ll make an even worse time loop considering I’ve met older versions of you.”

“Fuck,” Janus spat. “Fuck. Fine. Give me a minute to think. Not that I even know if we have a minute because,” he gestured once again to the room.

 “Okay,” Janus said. “The room with the source of the time distortion is separated from us by a swirling pool of dark nothingness and there is no way to get to it. But, the only way we’re going to stop the distortion from ripping apart time and killing us as well as probably a bunch of other people is to get to it. That is an impossible situation. There is no solution. That door is closed to us. What other ways are there to look at it?” He looked at the visual representation of the rooms. One of them suddenly went spinning out and his eyes tracked it. We need to be in the same place as the source,” Janus said. “That is fact, but we don’t have to get to it.”

“Um, what do you mean?” Remus asked. Pat shushed him.

 “If you want thing A and thing B to be in the same place, there’s more than one way to do it. If you can’t move thing A to thing B, you might be able to move thing B to thing A. Pat, you have a working time device. We can’t travel with it because that would kill us, but if we can make it do a stutter warp, it could draw the time distortion to it.”

“You…” Remus said. “Want to create another time distortion in hopes that the original time distortion will be pulled into this room?”

“Yes.”

“Well, sounds good to me!” Remus said.

 He maybe had expected Pat to argue, but he didn’t. Instead, he moved his hand to his wrist. There had been nothing there before, but when he touched down on his wrist with two fingers, there was suddenly a metal bound around it that Janus immediately recognized from the times he’d seen Pat’s timepiece before. How was it made invisible? He shook the thought off as Pat offered it up wordlessly. Janus took it and Pat leaned over his shoulder to look.

Despite the fact that the device looked nothing like his own, the interface was surprisingly convenient. “I assume you have safety setting to prevent a stutter warp,” Janus said. “How do I turn those off?”

 Patton pointed at a gear icon on the screen. “You put it under your normal settings?” he asked.

“I have to put in my password or use my fingerprint!” Pat defended.

“It doesn’t matter right now.” He navigated through the settings. He was interested to see that there were many different saved default security settings, but he didn’t get much of a chance to read what all they did. He just turned them all off.” It popped up with a message to put in the password and Pat pressed his fingertip to it. Another message popped up warning them that turning off these settings could cause damage to the machinery, the person using it, and time itself. Janus pushed “okay.” A message popped up that asked “Continue” and Janus pressed “yes.” One last message popped up that said “Security functions disabled.” Janus pressed “okay.”

 “Anything else I’d need to disable?”

“Nope,” Pat confirmed.

He navigated back to the main screen and then bought up the manual travel input screen. Yet another message warning him not to do this flashed and Janus once again ignored it. He copied the space time coordinates that the device said they were currently at and put it in the ‘travel to’ location. “Well,” he said. “Here it goes. Let it be known that if I die, it’s my own fault for allowing Remus into a church.”

“Really?” Remus said. “That’s what you’re choosing to be your last words?”

Janus just raised an eyebrow.

“Love you too Janus.”

Janus nodded and hovered his finger over the travel button. He quickly mashed his finger to the button 22 times.”

 The device warmed in his hand enough that he almost dropped it. Time literally froze for a few breaths as whatever Deity that may or may not exist processed their stupidity.

Janus was not a scientist or technician, but he had a good idea of how badly they were fucking up right now. The timepiece was attempting to travel over and over again to the exact same place and time. This basically punched a small hole through time, that if left unfixed would grow and disrupt space time all around them. As it was, their current position, all gathered around it and staring at it while one of them had it literally in their hand, was perilous.

 There was a rumble under their feet and the world tilted on it’s axis. The all went tumbling down in a pile of limbs to new floor of the room which had once been a wall.

Of course, this change of gravity caused the water that had been building up in the staircase to dump on top of them.

Janus would have cursed, but he was too busy being under the water. He maneuvered himself away from the other two flailing bodies and managed to shove his feet against the wall turned floor. His head popped above the water in time to see the ceiling, or well, it would be the opposite wall, rip in two and the other walls/floor/ceiling start to fold in.

 “Give me a boost!” Pat called over the noise of water rushing and walls crunching.

“Give you a boost where?” Janus asked.

“Up!” Janus wasn’t sure if ‘up’ really existed right now, but he still nodded. The water was a few inches over his head, so he held his breath and interlaced his hands so Pat could put his foot in it. He was shoved down into the water, but it gave Pat enough leverage to shoot up out of the water. When Janus resurfaced, he saw that the man had grabbed ahold of the crumbling wall and was pulling himself up into what for all appearances seemed to be absolutely nothing.

 It took a moment, but then Janus blinked, and he was suddenly in a new room entirely or perhaps it was the same room. He honestly didn’t know at this point. Remus was next to him. He couldn’t recall if he’d been there before the shift or not, but they were both treading water. Pat crashed into the water next to them. Janus’s wrist buzzed as his timepiece came back online. “Got it!” Pat declared when he resurfaced, holding a device up. It looked almost the same as the device they’d found in France, but this one was definitely different if it was able to cause that much chaos that quickly.

 Janus looked around and pointed at what appeared to be a set of stairs. The three of them swam over and pulled themselves out of the water.

“Where are we?” Pat asked.

“Looks like a basement,” Remus replied. “A flooded basement.”

Janus pulled up his timepiece and pushed some buttons to stabilize Pat’s timepiece. It slowly stopped vibrating and cooled. “Here,” he said, handing it over to him. “I suggest you put the safeties back on now.”

Pat nodded and took it.

“We’re still in Cuba,” Remus informed them, looking at his own timepiece. “Same church too, but in the basement and… two and a half centuries later.”

“Remy is going to be pissed,” Janus said.

Remus shrugged. “He’s always pissed… at least at me.”

“Well,” said Pat, slipping his timepiece back onto his wrist. “Thanks for being willing to pool our resources.”

Janus rolled his eyes. “Stop.”

“Ah, mi sirenito-”

“I hate you.”

“-never.” He disappeared with a pop which was when Janus realized, he’d never handed over device that had caused the first time distortion.

“…You bastard!” he yelled at thin air as though the man could hear him.

“Well,” said Remus, “that mission went swimmingly.” Janus reached over and shoved him back into the water.

 Chapter 21

“We should probably get out of here,” Janus said, very much not helping Remus out of the water. Remus pulled himself back up onto the staircase and shook like a dog. Janus crinkled his nose as water droplets hit him. They didn’t smell salty anymore, he noted. In fact, there was a broken pipe spewing out water on the other side of the room.

Janus and Remus cautiously snuck out of the church, not wanting to be seen and blamed for the flooded basement. They came out on a city street that was much different than the one they’d entered from.

 They walked down the street a bit, Janus’s eyes scanning the buildings. His eyes caught on a sign and he tugged Remus towards it.

They entered the small paladare and the person delivering food to one of the tables blinked at them both. Right. They were in clothing from the 1700s and were soaking wet. He met eyes with the woman, challenging her to say something. She did not.

They found a seat at one of the tables.

“Ah…” the worker said, approaching them. “English?”

“Ron,” Janus said, “por favor.”

Remus turned and started ordering the both of them food in Spanish. Janus didn’t pay attention to what he did.

 After his second shot of rum, Janus sighed and brought up his timepiece to ping the TPI. The reaction was almost instantaneous from their perspective. Remy all but kicked down the restaurant’s door and walked over to them. “How the fuck?”

“Ah, Remy,” Janus said calmly. “Have a seat. We’re waiting on our food.”

He did, but probably only because people were looking at them. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s been a long day,” Janus answered, “and I’m hungry.”

“Yeah, it certainly looks like you’re interested in the food,” Remy said, eyeing the empty shot glasses.

“Let’s just say, I’m glad Cuba started letting paladares legally serve liquor a few years ago.”

 It’s clear that Remy wanted to ask them what had happened, but he also was cautious enough not to make a scene here and Janus wasn’t planning on getting up until he’d at least gotten his food. “Why are you soaked, by the way?”

“Turns out the ocean isn’t as far away as we thought,” Janus said.

“Also, a church basement is flooded,” Remus said.

“Fantastic,” Remy replied.

They sat there mostly in tense silence until their food came, and then Remus and Janus ate. Remy slapped down some pesos once they were done and then proceeded to all but physically drag them out of the restaurant.

 They were led to an alley way and then through an old almost hidden door. Remy immediately rounded on them. “What the hell happened?” Remy asked.

“The time distortion caused level 5 time fractures in its vicinity, we almost drowned three times, and the worst person in the universe fucked me over again.”

“To be fair,” Remus said. “He did save our lives before that.”

“I saved our lives first,” Janus said. “I don’t have to be fair.”

“Oh, yeah, Mr. Curl Up In A Ball And Perish. I’m sure we would have been fine without him.”

“Anyway,” Janus said to Remy. “If you want your lump of flesh, I suggest you take it now, because Khalid is going to murder me, and then fire me, and then rehire me so she can put me on desk duty and make me do paperwork until the end of time.”

 “What did you do?” Remy asked.

Janus grimaced. “Made a time distortion.”

“You were the one who made the time distortion?” Remy asked.

“Not exactly,” Janus answered.

“He made the second time distortion,” Remus said. “It was actually pretty cool.”

“It was not cool,” Janus snapped. “It was irresponsible and dangerous. I shouldn’t have done it.”

“We would have died,” Remus said.

“And we could have done worse than dying if it had gone poorly,” Janus argued. “I just…” he tugged on his hair a bit, and Remus gave him an alarmed look. “I’m going to go talk to Khalid,” he said. He didn’t give Remus any time to speak, but just waved his hand to travel back to the TPI.

 Remus followed him instantly, of course, but Janus proceeded to ignore him until they were out of decontamination. Janus walked himself straight to Khalid’s office.

He knocked on her door and she called for him to come in. He did and sat heavily in the chair in front of her. She frowned at him. “You really should go to Cultural Outreach first.”

“Just fire me,” he said.

“What?” she asked.

“I just shouldn’t work here anymore,” he said. “At least not as a field agent. Really any type of agent.”

She paused and reached to her desk to pull up some file on the screen there. “I’ll fill out the incident report myself instead of Dr. Eran then,” she said. “Tell me exactly what happened.”

 Janus explained everything that happened, and Khalid diligently wrote it down. It was far outside her job description, but she didn’t explain or really react to anything he said more than nodding to say she’d gotten it recorded.

When he was finished, she saved the file and leaned back.

“Well,” Khalid said, folding her hands in front of her and scrutinizing him. “Honestly, this isn’t anywhere near a fireable offence.”

“But I…”

“You went against policy certainly, but policy sometimes has to be broken in disaster scenarios. You know that.”

“It was stupid,” he bit out, feeling sick to his stomach.

“Is it if it worked?” she asked.

Janus didn’t answer.

 “The major reason I originally assigned you to be a field agent is because you’ve always been good at thinking your way out of difficult situations even when they go against the rules we set. You have good instincts that I trust, but you haven’t seemed to trust them lately,” she said.

“You shouldn’t trust them,” Janus said darkly.

Janus felt his throat tighten as she considered him for a long moment. “This isn’t the first time you’ve asked me to fire you,” she said. “You wouldn’t tell me why then, and I respected it at the time, but…” she paused. “You’ve changed, Janus.”

 “Well then I’m not any good to you.”

“I’d beg to differ,” she replied, “but fine.”

Janus was actually surprised by that. He looked up at her. He somehow thought he’d feel better when this happened, but he didn’t in that moment. He just felt ill.

“I’m not firing you,” she continued, meeting his eyes, “but if you don’t want to be a regular field agent, fine. I have a particular mission in mind for you.”

“What?” he asked.

“This ‘Pat’ thing is getting ridiculous,” she said. “I don’t have enough resources to focus on it right now considering how much is going on, however, but I trust you and you’re already involved. So, I’m going to reassign you. No more missions. No more dealing with in department duties. You find him and his source of time travel. That’s your job. Whatever you think you need to do that job is fine. Request whatever trips or resources you need. Bring on Remus when you need or even Fred and Lena.”

“You’re…” he said. “Giving me more freedom and resources?”

“Like I said, Janus. I trust you. The one time I didn’t, after all, Pat ran off with a timebomb, so I learned my lesson.” She smiled briefly and stuck out her hand. “Deal?”

Janus sighed and once again resigned himself to staying at the TPI. “Fine,” he said. “Deal.”

 Chapter 22

Janus sighed. This was stupid. What was he even doing? He glared at the large hologram that took up a good portion of his office now. During the day, he usually shrunk it so he could only see part of the diagram he had up, but right now the office was abandoned other than him, so it took up and entire two walls. He rubbed his forehead. Why had 2pm Janus thought putting a bunch of words on this hologram was a good idea? Even the pictures were starting to look like they were vibrating. He drew a red line between “Nick Jonas” and “iPhone,” and he honestly wasn’t even sure why at this point.

His board didn’t even make sense. Why did he think this would be a help? He swiped a picture of the first device he’d found that had made the time distortions off to the side with his own (bad) artistic rendition of the one Pat had stolen. There wasn’t a pattern with Pat’s behavior that he could see other than, perhaps, a liking for early 21st century pop culture.

Frustrated, he turned away from the board. He needed a walk, he decided. He stepped out of his office into the TPI hallway and chose a direction at random. There were still some people in the building as even this late at night, someone had to be on call, but for the most part, the building was abandoned.

 He wasn’t paying attention to where he was going, and even if he had been, he likely wouldn’t have realized where he was because he’d never been to the AMO offices since he’d gotten his house, and they’d moved since then.

He paused in front of it the doors, eyes touching on the lit-up names on the door’s screen. He focused on his own last name until it stopped looking like letters at all.

“Did you need something?” a familiar voice asked.

Janus jumped and whipped around. “You… it’s late, what are you doing here?” he asked Emile.

“There are at least two AMO workers at the office at all times. Today is my night,” he explained.

 “I… see.”

Emile tilted his head. “Did you need anything?”

“No,” Janus said, perhaps a bit too fast. He bit his lip. “I was just going for a walk. I didn’t mean to come here.”

Emile folded his hands in front of him and rocked onto his heels. “I heard that you almost died,” he said.

“Yeah,” Janus said. “I fucked up.”

Emile arched an eyebrow. “And is that why you got a promotion?” he asked in that mild tone of his that informed Janus that his brother was wholly convince he was an idiot. Janus looked away and Emile sighed.

 “Well then,” Emile said, walking past him to the door. Despite himself and the fact that it was his fault, Janus felt hurt at how short Emile was letting the conversation be. Then he felt disgusted with himself that he even dared to feel that way.

Yet, Emile paused at the door. “If you ever decide you want that help, I offered, you know where my office is now.”

He wouldn’t, Janus thought, but he didn’t say anything. He just let Emile push open the door to the AMO and disappear inside.

Why was he even here right now? Janus wondered to himself. It was the middle of the night and he didn’t remember the last time he’d slept. He didn’t remember the last time he’d been home.

 Yet the house by the lake wasn’t home, was it? Going there to the nothing that pervaded the place made his throat tighten. He’d had different homes in his life. The small childhood home, the claustrophobic apartment he’d had in his college days, the first home the AMO had assigned him which he’d shared with his brother, but none of these were available to him anymore. He brought up his timepiece. There were only three pre-programed space-time coordinates in his device. The first would only take him back to his office with the frustrating board that wasn’t giving him any answers and the third took him to the lake house he couldn’t bear to see empty right now.

 That left him with only one option. He selected the second saved coordinates and stepped forward into Remus’s house. He landed in total darkness, which was expected considering it was around 3 in the morning and Remus lived about 3 decades before electricity was invented. Janus stumbled forward in the dark, his eyes very much not adjusted, until his shins hit the couch. He carefully turned and sat before blowing out a breath.

“Mew?” came from the corner, and Janus titled his head to see eyes shining in the dark.

“Hello,” Janus said. “Sorry to wake you.”

Diesel Fuel make a little burrhr sound and padded over to him.

[gabriel-agreste-has-no-rights]

Rating: T

Chapter Summary:   Luka and XY have a double date with Marinette and Adrien.

Word Count: 1627 | 5/5

Notes:  It’s the epilogue!  Takes place a while later, at least a few months.  @luxyweek thank you so much for this event!!

XXX

“Hey!  Over here!”  XY waved like he was trying to flag down an airplane.  

“I’m pretty sure they’ve already seen you,” Luka deadpanned, but he couldn’t suppress a smile.  As if anyone could’ve missed XY’s tall quiff, though Luka admitted he stood out more in XY’s purple jacket.

It was worth it, to see the grin it put on his boyfriend’s face.  And it almost no longer smelled like Doritos.

“Sorry we’re late!”  Marinette sounded out of breath as she plopped down at the edge of the Seine.  Her ice cream almost fumbled from her hands, but Adrien caught it with a smile and sat beside her.

“It’s no problem.  We know you’ve got busy schedules,” Luka said. 

He and XY had doubled with Alya and Nino twelve times in the last few months, but Marinette and Adrien were somehow more elusive.   Akuma attacks and other last-minute cancellations kept pushing their plans back.  He guessed that was to be expected when two out of the four of them were famous and the other two were getting there.

He was getting there, thanks to partnering with XY on his newest album.  It was a weird thought.  He still played with Kitty Section too, of course, but the collaboration had brought enough attention to the tiny band to get them into a minor record deal.  Nothing as fancy as what XY used to have with Bob Roth, but it had far fewer strings attached.

“So do you, now.”  Adrien punched his shoulder.  “You two are still going to California next week, right?”

“Yeah!  Kitty Section world tour, babey!”  XY grinned and flashed the new hand sign he’d come up with for the band.  It looked something like a shadow puppet cat, if it was missing a leg and been run over by a truck.

Adrien and Marinette blinked in surprise, and Luka hastily corrected, “It’s not a world tour.  We’re just going to open for a few concerts, see if the two of us can expand our name.  Jules and the others are too young to be traveling all over the world.”

“Pshaw, I’ve been trippin’ since I was, like, ten.  They’d be fine.”

Luka was pretty sure “trippin” didn’t mean what XY thought it meant.  Either way, Juleka might be fine with traveling to the states—Mom didn’t really care what they got up to—but Rose and Ivan’s parents would probably take issue.  

“Maybe I didn’t want to bring all of them along.  Did you think about that?”  His heartsong beat with anticipation for the trip.  Just him, his boyfriend, probably a lot of mac ’n’ cheese, a new city… there’d be so much musical inspiration, too.

XY’s mouth made a tiny o before he grinned.  “Aww, Lu, you didn’t tell me this was our honeymoon!”

Marinette just about choked on her blackberry-and-peppermint ice cream.

“You’re engaged?”  Adrien asked, eyes wide.

“No, NO.  Babe, you’ve got to stop that.”  Luka smacked XY’s chest, making him spill a glob of blueberry-cheesecake ice cream on Luka’s hand.  Luka rolled his eyes and licked it off.

“But their faces!”  XY cackled, but eventually relented.  “Naw, we’re still takin’ it slow.  It’s nice to just enjoy dating without my dad breathing down my neck.”

Getting XY to move away from his dad (and stay in Paris) was one of the best things that had ever happened to them.  Luka was lucky his boyfriend was a pop star who could afford the high city rent.

“I’m really happy for you.”  Marinette said once she recovered.  Her smile was directed at Luka and XY equally—of course, XY had told Luka about the advice she’d given him.

“Back atcha,” XY replied, holding his fist out for a bump, which she returned with a giggle.  “Looks like you finally talked to your dude too, huh.  Did you play him a sick tune?  Sew him a fancy little jacket?”

Adrien smirked at the blush on his girlfriend’s face.  “Well, she did make us matching—”

“Shut up.”

“...matching Ladybug and Chat Noir pajamas,” he whispered behind his hand. 

XY cracked up, laughing so hard he snorted.  That laugh never failed to make Luka smile, though Juleka thought he was crazy for it.

“See, Lu, they’re furries!  Why can’t we get matching Viperion and, I don’t know… maybe just matching Viperion hoodies?  I don’t think he has a partner.”  XY frowned, tapping his lip, which was stained with a smudge of blueberry ice cream.

“You know, I think he might.”  Marinette said with a wink at Luka.  Wait—did she know?  How did she know?  At least she was trustworthy; she wouldn’t give away his secret.  And it wasn’t like he was taking Sass to California, anyway.  “If you can convince Luka, I’ll make you some matching Viperion gear.”

Luka’s face warmed at the thought of his boyfriend in his alter ego’s merch.  He wasn’t a frequent enough Miraculous holder for anyone to sell anything official-looking, but that hadn’t stopped XY from latching onto him.  In XY’s words, “his abs are almost sexy enough to make me leave you, Lu.”  That had been a bit of a confidence-booster.

“If you’re not too busy.  And I’ll pay twice your usual commission fee,” Luka said.  He had plenty of money now, and he wanted to make up for all the times Marinette had designed Kitty Section’s costumes for free.  “No hoodies, though.  I can’t replace this one.  Maybe a t-shirt, if that’s okay?”

“Of course!  And thanks, Luka.”

“Awww, my jacket grew on you,” XY said, pecking him on the cheek.  Some of the ice cream stickiness was left behind, but Luka didn’t wipe it off.

“Just like someone else I know.”  He bumped his shoulder before stealing a bite of ice cream himself.

“You know, I’ve never asked.  How did you two end up dating?”  Adrien asked.  “I’ve heard parts of the story, but never straight from you guys.”

“That’s because we’re not straight,” XY said like Adrien was stupid.

Luka suppressed a snort.  “I wish I could tell you.  Like I said, this idiot just kind of grew on me.  Like a song that’s not your favorite at first, but the more you listen to it, the more it means to you.”

“Pshaw, I’ve been in love with Lu from the first time he cradled my face and literally took my breath away.  It doesn’t get gayer than that.”  XY took a giant bite of the cheesecake ice cream.  “An’ the way he stoo’ up to Da’?” He swallowed.  “Very sexy.” 

Luka would have to down the entire cup of ice cream to fight off the flush that was forming on his face.  He loved how honest his boyfriend could be; it was like he had no filter when it came to saying anything, positive or negative.  But man, did it make him want to kiss him indecently in public.

“You mean when he was Silencer?”  Marinette blinked.

“Uh-huh.  Now that was a sick costume.  You think we could wear something like that for our next concert?”

“Um, XY, it’s kind of rude to bring up people’s akumatizations…” Adrien began, but Luka just smiled.  

“Sure, babe.  I bet they’d dig that in the States.”  It wasn’t like he remembered his time as Silencer, and all things considered, Luka didn’t regret the experience.  If he hadn’t been akumatized, he wouldn’t have made such an impact on XY.  If anything, he just wished he could remember the face caress XY mentioned.  Surely he hadn’t been attracted to XY even then?

“Well, uh… neat, then.” Marinette smiled awkwardly.  She and Adrien had never been akumatized before; maybe they thought the experience was worse than it was.

“It’s great that you guys can be so open with each other.”  Adrien relaxed, smiling at her.

“Yeah… it’s really nice,” she replied with a grin only slightly less dopey than XY’s.  She’d finally gotten to harmonize with Adrien.  She deserved every bit of lovestruck happiness she could get.

“I’ll drink to that, bro.”  XY gulped down the melted ice cream in the bottom of their cup.  Then he tossed the cup over his shoulder, leaving his hand free to hold Luka’s.

“Dude, you can’t throw trash around.  It’s littering.”

“Huh?  Don’t pigeons eat trash?”

Luka rolled his eyes as Marinette and Adrien laughed.  “Come on.”  He tugged his boyfriend to his feet.  Their hands remained linked as XY picked up the paper cup and tossed it in the nearby garbage can.

“It’s like they’re made for each other,” he heard Marinette say as they sat back down.  “Yin and Yang.  Pop and rock, or something like that.”

“Ooooh, Pop Rocks!  That’s another thing we can get in the States!  You’ve gotta try ’em, Lu—it’s candy that explodes in your mouth like BANG!”  He threw his arms wide, almost smacking Luka in the face.  “Ooh, I bet we could make a song about them!  Do you wanna write the lyrics or can I?  I guess you’ll have to taste them first.  And we could put some sick drums in it and…”

Luka smiled, leaning against his boyfriend’s shoulder and closing his eyes as he talked.  He was so cute when he was invested in something, even if it was a silly American candy.  Luka could feel his heart picking up tempo, the way that always made him want to get out his guitar and compose.  

But there would be plenty of time for them to make music.  For now, he left the instrument on his back, content to just hold his boyfriend’s hand.

[josephmozzerellaswife-blog]

Expecting the Unexpected Part 3

Sorry this chapter took so long, it is way longer than the others and I have been super busy so I could only write for a few hours a night.

Warnings: angst, tons of fluff, JOKES FINALLY, childhood illness/ treatment, vomit

Word Count: 5.2K

Summary: When Joe gets back from his recent business trip he notices something is up with your new little one. Can an urgent ER trip can change your lives for good?

*3 weeks later*

The sound of your pounding alarm could be heard all throughout the apartment. Your phone lit up and read 5:30 AM Treatment Day. It took you and Joe almost no thought that treatment was Scarlet’s best option and his mom helped you both decide the best course of treatment to take. The price didn’t matter to either of you one bit, nothing was worth more than your precious little girl, who by the way, was still sound asleep down the hall. Her first treatment was scheduled to be in Los Angeles because of the Oscars and Joe didn’t want to miss her first appointment. Joe reached over your exhausted body, tapping the snooze button on your screen.

“Five more minutes pleeeease.” he muffled, head face down into his pillow.

Mornings like these were some of your favorite, most intimate times with Joe. You sat up from the cozy spot you once laid, eyes stuck on Joe’s body. You were wearing one of his Yellowstone t-shirt’s that you had stolen from the laundry almost every week, it might as well be your shirt by now because he has like five. You couldn’t help but roll on top of him like a sack of potatoes, attempting to wake him up and make him laugh all in one.

“What on earth are you doing?” he giggled, trying to hold it in but couldn’t resist.

“Well what do you think i’m doing?”

“Mhhh... turning me on?”

You couldn’t help but laugh. Over the past 7 years of your relationship and 5 years of marriage he still managed to give you butterflies. He rolled you over to his side, keeping ahold of your waist in his hands.

“Maybe.” you teased, his smile only growing larger by the minute.

He grazed your thigh as he pulled his hand up to your lower back, the other hand upon your cheek.

“Well why don’t you just kiss me already.”

You both fell into the most passionate kiss. One after another, melting into his touch, your lips never parting from his.

“You know I don’t HAVE to go to the Oscars tonight..” he said.

“Joe, you and I both know that isn’t true.”

“Well I can make it true, tell the boys that something came up.”

“You still haven’t told them have you. It’s been 3 weeks Joe.”

“I know love but I just don’t know how to tell them, it’s hard.”

You totally understood how he felt. It took you almost a week before you could tell your parents, afraid they would think you were a failed parent, letting this happen to your child. But in fact, it was the complete opposite. They were nothing but supportive, even offered to help cover the expenses although they knew it wasn’t necessary.

“Joe you’re going. This isn’t a discussion. It’s Scarlet’s first time watching the Oscars, don’t you think her daddy should be the one she is looking at on the big screen.” You tried to persuade him back into his original plan.

It wouldn’t be the first time she got to see her daddy on the big screen, well she probably won’t remember it but you went into labor the night before Bohemian Rhapsody’s big premiere at Wembley. As much as Joe didn’t want to leave your side, it was in his contract that he attend the premiere. So even though Scarlet hadn’t even been a day old yet, Joe wanted to make sure you got to see your husband on the big screen of a stadium, so he facetimed you, through the WHOLE movie, commentating with his own silly jokes when Ben or Gwil would appear on your screen.

Just before your lips part, you could hear Scarlet from the monitor resting on your side table.

“I’ll get her. After all I won’t be around much today now. I have to get ready before noon so I won’t get to stay for her whole appointment.” he pleaded with a saddened look on his delicate face, brows furrowed.

“Babe it’s ok, I will still be there and you will be there all but an hour. You don’t need to worry.”

“I know but darling it’s her first treatment and I don’t want her to think I don’t love her.”

“Joe are you serious right now? First of all she’s only 4 months old, secondly there is no way on earth she would ever think you didn’t love her. You give her and I the world Joey.” you comforted him, his doubts only crushed your heart. Why would he ever think these things?

You could hear the rustling from down the hall. Joe probably decided to just get her ready seeing as you both snoozed the alarm for almost 20 minutes. When he came back Scarlet was in the cutest outfit EVER. He had dressed her in one of her pale pink onesies with the most adorable lacy details on the back and a small pink hair bow to top it all off. He had brushed her beautiful auburn hair, just like his, to create the cutest curls off to the sides. Sometimes you felt like Joe had better taste in baby fashion than you, well beside the dinosaur costume he bought her for halloween later this year.

“Hi sweetie, daddy did a good job dressing you today didn’t he?” you smiled.

“Just today?” he giggled.

“Really Joey?”

“Hey i’m just saying.”

At that point you couldn’t help but laugh. Anything to lighten the mood was helpful in taking your mind off of the hours to come. While Joe took care of the rest of the baby stuff, you quickly threw on a floral cream cami dress and ran downstairs to get breakfast started. The stove top read 6:30 and only caused you to rush even more. Eggs were your last minute decision because you needed to leave the house by 6:50 to make it to the treatment center on time. As you poured in the raw egg whites into the scolding hot pan, you felt the familiar hands of your husband slowly grasp your waist, spinning you into his arms.

“You look absolutely stunning my love.”

“Joey I do not-“

Before you could even finish your sentence, his lips were pressing onto yours once again, the passion still thriving between you. It was almost as Scarlet’s diagnosis made you both realize how much the little things meant, although your love for Joe grew more and more everyday, giving you a new reason to fall madly in love with him all over again. A burning scent spread through the air, you turned only to see that the eggs you were so frantically cooking were now burnt.

“Crap I totally forgot that they were still on the stove.” you whined.

Joe quickly pulled you close to him again.

“It’s ok love don’t stress, we can just get something later.”

“I’m sorry Joe.”

“Babe it’s just eggs, i’m not mad.” he pleaded. He hated seeing you sad like this. He couldn’t tell if it was from the stress about Scarlet’s first treatment or just your anxiety taking control again.

“We should get going love, it’s already 6:55.”

By the time you gathered all the things you needed and Joe got Scarlet all buckled into her car seat, it’s was already 7:05. You hated being late, especially for something like this. What if just these few minutes affected the way the treatment worked for Scarlet? All this time was more precious than ever.

Joe could see the worry in your eyes as he pulled out of the driveway and past the front entry. Before he pulled onto the highway, he swiftly pulled out his phone and put on the playlist he made for you when he knew you were feeling anxious. The first song to play was something that would definitely lift your spirts and you both could rock out to for the whole six minutes, Bohemian Rhapsody. Fitting, seeing as the very replica of John Deacon was sitting just to your left. All doubts and worries quickly fled from your mind as you turned to look at Joe.

“You know exactly what I need just when I need it don’t you Mazzello?”

“That’s my job isn’t it?” he joked, causing you both to let out the loudest of laughs.

The famous Brian May’s Red Special rift flooded throughout your car and not long after were each of the Scaramouch, Galileos and Bismillahs. Just after that is when you looked to you husband only to see him head banging like no other with the biggest smile on his face.

Nothing really matters to me.

Any way the wind blows.

“Man, Roger can really hit that gong can’t he?” Joe laughed.

“Sure can Mr. Deacon, bass wasn’t too bad either.”

He gazed at you with his loving eyes, absorbing everything about you.

“If you say so Mrs. Mazzello.” he said, grinning from ear to ear.

The rest of the drive consisted of all yours and Joe’s favorite music and some of Scarlet’s too, after all she did have a great taste in music for a four month old.

Joe signed in for you while you ran to the restroom with Scarlet to quickly change her.

“You are gonna do so good today sweetie. You are such a brave little girl.” you expressed, your eyes never parting from your little girl’s.

You knew today was going to be hard for all of you, especially with Joe having to leave a little early but his mom offered to come and wait with you while he was gone. When you walked back into the waiting room Joe could tell that you were back into that anxious state again, but he could blame you. He was just as scared as you were.

“She’s gonna do great love don’t worry. She’s a Mazzello and Mazzello’s are tough.” he tried to reassure you.

You glanced at him, your eyes becoming glassy.

“I’m just so scared. I know that she is getting the best treatments possible but I feel so helpless not being able to help her.” you sobbed, tears now slowly running down your cheeks.

“We are gonna get through this love. All of us.” His words always comforted you, like a warm blanket of reassurance.

When the nurse finally called your names, the walk down the hall seemed forever, passing by each new chart or poster. She guided you all into a private treatment room where you would be spending the next few hours. It was painted in many fluorescent colors with butterflies and flowers running across the borders. She quickly asked Joe if he would sit on the bed with her while she got started. Scarlet never seemed scared, she always enjoyed being around people and loved the attention, but once the nurse cleaned her a with the cold rubbing alcohol, it was over. Scarlet just looked up into her daddy’s eyes with the saddest of looks on her face, tears quickly forming. Joe tried to keep her distracted while holding her arm straight for the nurse to place the needle carefully and quickly so your little one wouldn’t move. The needle didn’t seem to bother her much surprisingly, but it was soon after when the nurse started administering the treatment that made her cry, tears swiftly streaming down her face. It killed you and Joe, every inch of your hearts aching at the sight of your sad little girl, her pain clearly painted across her face. It took everything in you not to get upset but Joe had already started silently crying, no emotion from his face but tears falling from his cheeks. He held her so close to him, hoping her pain would soon suffice as she adapted to it. Joe gazed at you with sorrow in his eyes. You sat down next to him, gripping his hand as your placed your other against Scarlet’s little cheek, lightly kissing her forehead. She gave a small smile, knowing that you both loved her so much.

About two hours into her treatment, Joe was contacted by his stylist that he would need to come in. He hesitantly passed your now sleeping daughter off to you, hating that he had to leave you both. His mother had just walked in the door as Joe was gather his things.

“Hi mom, I was just about to leave.” he said with a sad frown across his face.

“Oh don’t worry dear, I’ll be here to keep them company. They will be fine.” she reassured him.

“I know, I just hate leaving them. They are my whole world you know.”

“I do Joey, that’s exactly how your father and I were. That’s how you know you both can last forever.”

His frown soon turned to a smile at his mother’s comforting words.

“Well I better get going, can’t be late for a fitting like this. Can you believe it, i’m actually going to the Oscars.”

You gazed at him with such a passion. Not only were you proud of your husband, but you knew so many other people were too. His family. His friends. His fans. He was finally getting what he deserved after all these years of hard work.

He walked over to you and placed a kiss upon your baby’s head, rubbing her back as he did. Then looked to you and you could feel yourself melting into his touch, a kiss filled with so much love, and then another. Just as he was about to walk out the door he turned around and whispered,

“How did I get so lucky to have such strong women in my life?”.

The rest of Scarlet’s treatment wasn’t as bad, she slept for most of it which worried you, always watching the steady rise and fall of her chest to assure she was breathing. Joe’s mom could see the paranoia right through you.

“Sweetie you do know that you’re allowed to rest too right? You’ve been watching her like a hawk for almost three hours.”

“I just hate seeing her like this. I hate not being able to help her. She looks so lifeless.”

“She just fine dear, the medication is supposed to make her tired. That means it’s working in her system.”

Her words of comfort only helped so much but your motherly instinct still couldn’t pull you from your state. You could feel your phone start to vibrate in your back pocket which gave you an instant feeling of comfort.

Hi sweet, I’m on my way back to the hospital, i’ll be there in 10. Love you.

No matter what was going on he always managed to put a smile on your face.

As you cuddled up to your little one, still sound asleep, you hear a faint knock at the door. In comes your husband, all dressed in his Oscar outfit, the sparkle from his suit matching perfectly with his eyes. Your gaze never left his sexy body as he shuffled closer to you.

“Hi love, how’s she doing.”

“She holding in there, mostly sleeping the whole time. Also how can you just casually walk in here without warning me that my hot ass husband was already Oscar ready.” you both giggled.

“I wanted to surprise you. Seems like I did my job well.”

“Indeed you did Mr. Mazzello.”

“Anything for you Mrs. Mazzello.”

You could hear Joe’s mother laughing from the corner of the room. Soon everyone was laughing, but still trying to be quiet from waking the baby. You slowly passed Scarlet off to Joe so he could spend time with her before he dropped us off at the house after her treatment. You loved the way he would look at her, he looked at you the same way. His passionate eyes following your ever move as if it was his last time he would ever see you again.

When the nurse came in to remove the IV, Scarlet had been asleep for almost the full 4 hours, which caused you to worry.

“If you don’t mind me asking, is it normal for her to have been sleeping this much?” you worried.

“Yes, it’s completely normal. The medication is different for everyone but can cause drowsiness from the fighting of toxins.”

Her words eased your anxiety. As long as everything was normal, you could worry a little bit less.

The nurse quickly removed the needle and took a quick exam before we were free to leave. She said that Scarlet would probably sleep for a little while after and some side effects might kick in within the next 5-6 hours. Joe found comfort when he was with you, your perfect little mix of the both of you resting in his arms. He was quick to wrap his arm around your waist, your hand soon to cover his while leaning against him.

The drive to the aparment was quiet. Joe glanced over to find you sound asleep, your head resting against the window. His mother told him how you never left Scarlet’s side which made him worry for you. He didn’t need you getting sick from trying to help your daughter, but he knew you couldn’t help it. Mother’s instinct.

Just as he pulled into the driveway, a familiar buzz went off in the cup holder. It was Ben letting Joe know that they would be there to pick him up in an hour. He gently rubbed your thigh, trying his best to wake you. Your eyes felt heavy as you glanced at your adorably hot husband, his suit still shimmering from the sunlight.

“We’re home love.” he spoke softly.

He helped you out of your side and ran around the car to unbuckle Scarlet from her car seat. Your legs had been wobbly from how tired you still were and Joe was quick to hold your arm as he helped you both inside.

He refused to let you help him as he got everything ready for Scarlet that she might need for the rest of the day, bottles, medication, blankets, he even threw in a load of laundry. He always made sure that you both were taken care of before he left, even if it was just for the rest of the night.

As you lied on the couch, Scarlet sleeping peacefully in one arm and you lying back to be wrapped in Joe’s, you almost felt like you would fall asleep again. His warm body always felt like home, like a safe place where everything was ok. It was only until his phone buzzed that you knew this warm, fuzzy feeling would end.

“The guys are here love.” he said, gently kissing the top of your head as he rubs your arms. You didn’t want this moment to end, you didn’t want him to go again.

“I wish you could stay but I know you are gonna kill it out there babe. Go show those actors that sparkle.” you spoke passionately about him, like you always do. A smile quickly formed on his face just before he placed a tender kiss to your lips, a feeling that you never wanted to part.

You walked out with him to the car, Scarlet lying snug in your arms while Joe had one arm around your waist, gently rubbing your side.

“No Oscars for you two tonight?” Gwil said with a puzzled look to his face.

“Nope not tonight, this little one has been a bit uh- tired lately.” you hesitated, remembering that Joe had yet to tell them.

“It’s a shame really. I’m sure you would have looked incredible.” Ben quickly flirted.

“Are you hitting on my wife again Hardy? Don’t make me go get Cardy B because he can be my plus 1.” Joe was fast to snap back, laughter soon filling the air.

“What can I say. You did good Joe.”

“I know. How did I ever get so lucky?”

He cupped your cheek as he placed another kiss between the two of you, and another soon after causing you both to fall deeper into each other.

“Uhh don’t mean to interrupt but we do have an award show to attend.” Ben blurted.

“Oh shut up you weasel. Let them have their moment.” Gwil shoved Ben from the front seat.

Joe placed a quick kiss against Scarlet’s head, and your lips once more before jumping into the backseat.

“I love you Y/N.”

“We love you to Joey. We’ll be watching all night.”

You watched them drive off until their car soon became just a small speck before walking back inside. Joe had set up a travel crib in the living room for you to be able to see Scarlet while watching the Oscars. He knew you would worry about her so he ensured that she would be close to you all night.

Just before the red carpet was about to start Scarlet had finally woke up from her nap and you both began to watch all the amazing outfits of the night. Scarlet didn’t quite understand but you kept your eyes peeled for that sparkling husband of yours. You did however spot Lucy and Rami walking the carpet and noticed something so touching to your heart. They were both sporting tiny gold ribbons pinned to the designer outfits in support of childhood cancer. It didn’t take long for the tears to fall from your cheeks. Looking down at your child, she was absolutely adorable as usual, so in love with all the colors on the television, and decided to take a quick snap for instagram considering you and Joe have been so private lately.

You soon spotted Joe with all his cast mates as they strolled up to the next interviewer.

“So Joe are you the spokesman of the group?”

“Umm no I think we’re all pretty good at this.” he giggled in reply.

He seemed back to his normal self once he hit the carpet and that made you feel so much better. You both had been having a really rough time with all of this.

“So Joe any news we should know about? The hospital photos for example?”

You could see the hesitation in his eyes. You didn’t want the whole world to know, especially before the boys.

“That was just a normal check up. Scarlet’s pediatrician is based out of that children’s hospital.”

The boys looked a little confused noticing the hesitation from Joe. It was quite unusual for him especially during events like this because he was a natural during interviews. They knew something was up. That was the last you saw of them.

“Joe what was that back there?” Gwil asked.

“I can’t talk about this here.”

“Talk about what Joe?” Ben chimes in.

Joe felt the vibration of his phone in pocket. It was a text from you.

Joe it’s the baby. She won’t stop throwing up and I don’t know what to do. I didn’t want to bother you with this but I can’t get ahold of anyone. I can’t get her to stop what should I do!!

A rush of panic flooded his body. He quickly grabbed both the boys arms and dragged them into an empty room in the building.

“Listen, Scarlet she- she has cancer. That’s why we went to the hospital. That’s why she has been so tired. That’s why Y/N couldn’t come with me tonight. It’s why i’ve been so distant and I’m sorry for that. I just didn’t know how to tell you guys and-” he was quickly cut off by Ben.

“Joe i’m so sorry mate. Is there anything we can do.”

“Yeah Joe you guys don’t have to go through this alone.” Gwil continued.

You could tell the news was heartbreaking for Ben and Gwil. They both loved every bit of your little one.

“It’s been really rough guys. Today was her first treatment and I couldn’t even be there the whole time to support my girls because of all this Oscar prep and now Y/N just texted me telling me that Scarlet can’t stop throwing up and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know how to help them.” Joe was sobbing at this point. His heart breaking into a million pieces as he finished his last sentence.

“Joe you should go be with them. This isn’t as important as them even if it’s the Oscars. I know being here is killing you, we could tell all night.” Gwil convinced Joe.

“Yeah Joe, we hate to see you go but family is more important and we understand. Bri and Rog would understand. We are all here for you buddy.” Ben pleaded.

Joe didn’t think twice before wrapping them both in a tight, well-needed hug and running of to catch a car back to your apartment.

“Good luck guys! Don’t party to hard without me ok? We’ve got this!”

“Love you Joe. Kisses to the baby and Y/N for us!” Gwil yelled.

Paparazzi must have caught you running off the property in a hurry because it didn’t take long for a story to come out.

“Joe Mazzello seen running out of the Oscars in a panic. Another hospital visit ahead?”

You got the notification as soon as it hit the press. Thousands of messages poured into your dms all worried about you and Scarlet. You had finally gotten Scarlet to stop vomiting and gave her a quick bath to help sooth her discomfort. Her poor eyes still red and puffy from all the previous events. You didn’t even bother cleaning yourself up, all you cared about was Scarlet and making sure she was ok. You could hear the Oscars playing in the background, hoping Joe was still there enjoying all the winners. You soon collapsed into the couch before feeding Scarlet a bottle so she would fall asleep easier. After she finished and had dozed off, you felt yourself soon follow.

Joe frantically opened the door to find his two girls sleeping sound on the couch. He smiled in relief as he shuffled over to scoop Scarlet from your arms, careful not to wake you. Just before he went to put Scarlet down in her crib, he draped your body with your favorite blanket and placed a light kiss on your forehead, slightly waking you from your sleep. When he came back, he found you lying on the couch covered in baby vomit and clearly exhausted.

“Hi love, I came back as soon as I could.” he whispered.

“Joey you didn’t need too. I just didn’t know what else to do, I’m so sorry.” you wept groggily in his arms, tears sinking into his suit.

“Love it’s ok. You both are so much more important to me than some silly award show.” he tried to reassure you.

“Come on lets go jump in the shower and get you cleaned up.” he quickly guided you down the hall and helped you undress as you held his body close.

“Join me? I need the company.”

“How could I refuse?”

You both climbed into the shower, the warm water quickly running down your back. Joe insisted he help you wash your hair, his gentle touch massaging your scalp with both the shampoo and then conditioner. Your kisses consistent with every move. The passion you two shared never failed to shine. Your love growing stronger with each and every moment you spend together. The warm water pulling you both closer, almost inseparable.

He grabbed you a towel and wrapped it around your body, kissing your shoulders then up your neck to your lips as you guided his hands to yours. It didn’t take long for you to throw on one of his old hoodies, which he didn’t mind. He loved seeing you in his clothes, seeing the comfort they brought you, making you feel closer to him. When you ended up in the living room again, the Oscars were still playing and you decided to finish watching them with Joe. Your back leaning into his arms with your knees tucked close to your chest. His hand sliding up and down your arm while the other remain across your waist. The final award of the night was up, best actor.

“He’s gonna win I know it.” you said to Joe, he just smiled at you, amazed at your every move.

“And the Oscar for Best Male Actor in a Drama film goes to... Rami Malek in Bohemian Rhapsody.”

Brian’s guitar solo surrounded the entire room as Joe looked to you.

“He did it. I always knew he would do it.”

You loved the friendship they shared. The support they both gave one another.

Joe held you tight as he kissed your lips. The both of you having your own little celebration of kisses. He quickly ran to put We Are the Champions on the record player and lifted you off your feet. His hands wrapped around your waist as he guided you into a slow dance, your head swift to lie on his shoulder. A sudden familiar buzz hit the side table once more. It was Brian.

“Dearest Joe and Y/N, Rog and I have just heard the news. We can’t image the pain you both must be going through during this time. If you need anything don’t be afraid to give us a quick phone. I believe that your little one will beat this bully of a disease. She is a strong one after all, she gets it from her mommy. Lots of love to you all. XX -Bri.”

Joe read the message aloud to you. You both fell into a moment of sadness again. Tears not yet showing from your faces. Brian’s words were comforting to the both of you though. His soul almost connecting with yours. Maybe that was his intention, after all he was the legendary Dr. Brian May. He could do just about anything.

Joe could feel you begin to fall asleep in his arms. His eyes locked onto you. He delicately picked you up bridal style and guided you into the bedroom. He slowly placed you under the covers and set a quick kiss on your forehead before he went to brush his teeth. When he came back you were all snuggled into the comforter before he soon came to cuddle with you. His arm became encased around yours, his lips placing light kisses across your shoulders.

“I love you Y/N. I love you with everything in me.” he whispered, not knowing you were still slightly awake.

“I love you too Joe. More than you could ever know.” you whispered back.

For a day filled with many emotions, this was the moment you had been waiting for all day. To be loved by your husband, your child sleeping soundly down the hall, and all you could ever want lying right there next to you, holding you close and never letting go.

Taglist:

@onehystericalqueeen @queens-n-roses @soberandfurious @sevenseasofky @toger-raylor @sincereleygmg @mrsmazzello @myfreakydeaky @readdyyfreddie @mr-stank-i-dont-feel-so-dank @misterbrianmay @heartsarecompatible @ixchel-9275 @benmeadowstaylor @slutfordeacy-mazello @winnielinleigh @everybodyplaythegame @radioxtaylor @deakyspuff @okiegirl24 @imagines-xxx @classypaintercolorcowboy @super-heros-are-my-life

I hope you all enjoyed Part 3! I put so much into this chapter.

Also it might be a week or so before the next chapter because I am very busy right now!!

Send in Request for more stories!!!