#orion the best roommate who barely even lives there

[my-castles-crumbling]

Merry Christmas! Chapter 12- Clandestine

Merry Christmas, to all those who celebrate! What better on this lovely holiday than lots of toxicity and angst? WARNING: THIS CHAPTER IS PRETTY HEAVY SO PLEASE READ WARNINGS! CW: deadnaming, transphobia, lots of dysphoria, mentions of physical abuse, abuse by parents through magic, just like...really shitty people, a hint of people sexualizing minors (but not in a way that results in anything), use of the imperius curse, but not in a sexual way, just...Walburga and Orion being horrible.

The euphoria of having two supportive roommates was short-lived, as an owl arrived for Regulus as December started that made his skin crawl:

Regina, This serves as a reminder that we expect both you and your brother here and on your best behavior during the holidays. We have many important extended family members coming to our hour for Christmas, and it is important that you are here to represent the Black family. We will pick you up at King��s Cross at eleven. Mother

-

When classes ended for the holidays, Regulus found himself laying in his dorm room, Pandora laying on Barty’s bed while Barty lay with Evan, all of them staring up at the ceiling.

“Is anyone actually excited about going home?” Barty asked vaguely, kicking gently at Evan’s knee.

The room was quiet.

“Don’t suppose Cas can fit all four of us at her house?” Evan joked humorlessly, kicking back at Barty.

“She could barely fit me,” Regulus murmured, stomach turning at the thought of going home.

More silence.

“Well. We could all stay here?” Pandora spoke now.

“My parents would rather birth a dragon before allow me to stay here again,” Regulus snorted, thinking of the letter he’d received last week.

Barty sat up and laughed a bit. “I’d pay money to see that.”

“Same.”

-

Sometimes, Regulus wondered if anyone really enjoyed the holidays. He tried to remember a time when they didn’t mean some sort of discomfort. Some amount of dread.

Even as a child, the holidays weren’t magical, like in the stories. Because it wasn’t magical to be stuffed into horrid outfits and paraded about to others. It wasn’t fun to sit in hard-backed chairs and pressured to behave perfectly so company didn’t ‘judge the entire family.’ It wasn’t joyous. It wasn’t a celebration.

He wondered if some families got together simply to see each other and enjoy being with one another. Because really, days with his extended family weren’t enjoyable. It felt more like a competition- Walburga reminding both him and Sirius to be the most well-behaved. To not embarrass her. The adults bragging about their children to each other while said children were expected to sit and eat what they were given. Like living dolls.

This year was obviously expected to be no different.

-

“You’re getting older, Regina,” his mother said one night at dinner, shortly after they’d arrived back from Hogwarts.

He winced, trying not to stab too violently at his steak. “Regulus,” he murmured.

“That’s exactly it,” his mother continued, looking over her nose at him. “Your father and I have been talking and we’ve given you enough chances. We’ve tried mind healers. We’ve tried giving you time. We’ve tried punishment. You’re far too old for this nonsense, and I’ll be having it no longer. From either of you,” she said pointedly, looking to Sirius.

Sirius just rolled his eyes and ate quietly.

“You’re to drop it. All of it. Or your father and I will have to find a stricter consequence,” Walburga said in a threatening voice.

Regulus’s stomach turned at that, and he felt a bit ill. He grabbed at the rock in his pocket, squeezing it tightly. Stricter than partial starvation, isolation, and pain?

He looked at Sirius, who looked back at him with an equally-nervous expression. “Yes, mother,” he murmured, deciding he could try his best to keep his mouth shut for the next two weeks.

-

“Just leave it, Sirius,” he told his brother late that night, even as his stomach churned at the thought. “Don’t- don’t correct them anymore. Don’t say anything anymore. I don’t want…I don’t want anything bad to happen.”

He reflected on all the things their parents had done to both of them without batting an eye. The bigoted ideals they spewed so blatantly as if they made all the sense in the world. The way they supported hurting and even killing people they disliked, people who were different from them.

It was scary to think about, but Walburga and Orion could be dangerous. And apparently, they didn’t possess a soft bone in their bodies. Even for their kids.

Sirius stared at him for a moment, the moon reflecting in his eyes, making them sparkle like stars. “Reg….someday we’ll find a place where we won’t have to worry about it.”

“We have that place. Hogwarts,” Regulus shrugged. And Hogwarts was that place. Especially now, with Barty and Evan knowing about him and accepting him. He truly felt like himself there. Like he wasn’t fighting against anyone or anything just to exist.

But Sirius looked at him with pain in his eyes. “No, like...a home.”

Regulus thought about that. Had he ever really had a home? “Sounds nice,” he murmured.

Sounds impossible.

-

Keeping his mouth shut worked for a while. He responded to his parents, even when they said “Regina” or “she” or “her,” even though it made his skin crawl. He wore baggy shirts to hide his binder. He and Sirius both stopped correcting their parents.

He tried instead to stay away from everyone. He hid in his room during the day- reading, completing his homework, turning his rock over and over again in his hand and daydreaming about being back at Hogwarts. Being Regulus again.

If he was honest, he hated it, but he knew at this point that fighting against Walburga and Orion was risky. The entire Black family favored more traditional forms of magic, and Regulus wouldn’t put it past them to do something particularly cruel or painful. Or even to keep them both from Hogwarts completely.

So, he sucked it up for a bit, sneaking into Sirius’s room like he used to, sharing his bed with him and whispering to him about the goosebumps he felt on the back of his neck when Mother called him ‘Regina’ and the way he wanted to cry when Father called him his daughter. And together they counted down the days until they would go back to Hogwarts.

“It’s not forever, Reggie,” Sirius whispered to him as they shared a blanket, Sirius’s warmth the only comforting thing Regulus could find.

-

“Absolutely not,” Regulus muttered to himself when he woke up on Christmas Day, the nausea making his knees wobble.

It sat there, innocent and unmoving, shiny and pristine: a dress.

But it wasn’t just a dress. It was the most dressy dress he’d ever seen.

Baby pink with matching satin bows, tulle in layers to make an obnoxious three-tiered skirt, poufy sleeves and a corset-type bodice with a v-neck that would make even his small chest look pronounced.

And a clear message: He was to wear it.

He was not going to. Fuck Walburga’s threats.

As if summoned by his thoughts, his mother walked to his door and murmured dangerously, “I had this custom-made for you, Regina.”

He glared at her feet and didn’t say a word. Absolutely not.

“You’ll wear it. You’ll thank me.”

He still didn’t say a word, still resolutely clamping his mouth shut and looking away.

In the corner of his eye, his mother waved her wand. And then-

His brain cleared. It was the oddest feeling. Suddenly, he didn’t feel. Everything felt empty. It was almost nice, except he didn’t have a choice at all when he felt himself saying, “Thank you, mother.”

And then the feeling was gone. He almost missed it.

Except, of course, now he was furious. And he felt completely violated. Like he needed to scrub his brain out with a wire sponge.

“Good,” his mother said calmly, walking away.

And then he ran to throw up in the bathroom, clutching at his own head.

-

“I have no choice, Sirius,” he muttered to his brother an hour later, as they both stared at the dress.

Neither had said much to each other about the curse his mother had used. It felt like an elephant in the room. Neither wanted to be the one to bring it up; how horrible and terrifying it was. That they could just be controlled like that. What, exactly, had she done? What else could she make them do?

Sirius nodded, looking pale. “Alright. Alright, so you wear it.”

Regulus gagged a bit at the thought, but nodded as well.

“She’s not going to keep doing that. She- we just have to get through the holiday,” Sirius murmured unconvincingly.

“Right. And then the summer?” Regulus asked, eyes twinging only a little.

“We- we cross that bridge when we come to it,” Sirius said firmly.

Regulus nodded again, slowly peeling off his clothing. He didn’t even care that Sirius was there to see. It wasn’t like it mattered much, anyway.

-

After the first ten minutes of dinner, Regulus decided he hated Christmas.

He’d gotten so many reactions on his outfit.

Bella and Narcissa both complemented the pink and bows, giggling and smirking.

Aunt Druella had simply drooled over it, commenting on how Regulus had ‘finally turned into a proper lady!’

Uncle Cygnus had looked at him in a way that made his skin crawl, the old man’s eyes raking over his chest appraisingly.

He’d been to the bathroom twice already, having to take such a long time to calm his sobs, squeezing his rock in his hand and gagging over the toilet, that Kreacher had been sent to check on him the second time and make sure he was quite well.

He was not.

He saw Sirius sneaking worried looks at him, but tried not to react, or even meet his eye.

He felt like a sideshow. An animal on display. And the tortured, furious, worried look in Sirius’s eyes just made it worse.

“Go downstairs, Sirius,” Regulus moaned through shivers as he tried, for the third time, to collect himself in the bathroom.

A friend of his fathers had complimented him on just how “shapely” his body looked in his dress.

“This is ridiculous, Reggie!” Sirius hissed through the door. “I- we have to do something! She’s basically torturing you!”

“I can get through one day!” Regulus spat back, sniffing and avoiding looking down at his body as he wiped his eyes in the mirror.

“I can’t just stand by and let them treat you like this!” Sirius retorted.

Regulus opened the door to look his brother in the eye and tell him that, yes, he absolutely could.

But he was gone.

-

They were called to dinner at that moment and Regulus reluctantly went down the stairs, hoping Sirius would follow suit.

Everyone sat, placing napkins on their laps and folding their hands politely, complimenting Walburga’s ‘spectacular table setting’ or whatever, when someone exclaimed, “Oh! Where has Sirius gone?”

Walburga looked to Sirius’s assigned seat (next to Regulus) and turned a bit pink, clearly horrified that Sirius would dare embarrass her by being absent from dinner and bringing negative attention to her by association.

But then they heard Sirius’s voice down the hall, “No need to worry, dear family! I’m here!”

Regulus turned to see Sirius, and his mouth dropped open.

Because Sirius was dressed in the most obnoxiously frilly dress he’d ever seen.

If he’d been anywhere else, he’d probably have burst out laughing. It was a comedic scene, after all. Sirius’s dress was even worse than Regulus’s. It was pink as well, but mostly a floral pattern, with multiple layers of ruffles and curly pink bows at his waist. Though it was short in the front, the back was long enough to have a train, even though he wore platform bubblegum-pink high heels. Magenta roses lay at each hip and a pink ribbon was tied corset-style up his stomach, and he’d even stuffed apples in the top to give himself a chest. He had another rose tied around his neck and two horrifically giant floral bows tied in his dark hair, which was in pigtails.

The entire table stared, mouths agape.

“I figured, since we’re forcing boys to wear dresses now, I would wear one as well,” Sirius said, and while his eyes held a challenging glint, he spoke so simply it was as if he was stating the evening’s menu.

And Regulus had to snort at that. He was terrified of his parents’ reaction, but he felt the biggest sense of relief wash over him, the sick feeling he’d been fighting against all day suddenly fading away. He was no longer alone, being stared at by his family.

Instead, he and Sirius were together, two boys in ridiculous dresses.

He felt powerful.

Until Orion stood, breaking the silence, his wand in hand.

“Bedrooms. Both of you.”

Regulus looked to Sirius, who looked a bit nervous.

The calm feeling washed over him.

“Now.”

He walked away from the table, quite without his own permission. Sirius followed mutely alongside him.

Bitches be like, "this is my comfort character" and then put said comfort character through all of The Horrors. Sorry, guys. I warned you. But...you should click below to read the full WIP and leave comments and kudos!

[petitmonde]

Back again with a little more Amnesia AU, but this time it's at the hospital before Jasmine is discharged. Bosco, Daya, Willow and Kerri are visiting.

----------

After Jasmine had been wheeled away to another set of scans, the group were alone in her hospital room. The bustle of the rest of the ward could faintly be heard through the not quite closed door. It was Kerri who broke the silence.

"We need to figure out where Jasmine can stay when she gets out. She can't exactly go back alone to her own apartment when it doesn't have an elevator"

No one really knew what to say. Offering to help out was a big ask when you had to factor in a wheelchair. Daya's eyes flicked up and met Kerri's, before darting away. Bosco kept looking down into the ground, an unreadable expression on their face. That left Willow as the only one not boring holes into the ground.

"And I'm guessing your place is out of the question" Willow asked.

Kerri nodded, "as much as I'd love to help, I don't think she'd be a fan of sleeping on cardboard boxes."

There was a murmur of agreement. Kerri's place wouldn't do.

"She could stay with me" Daya said quietly, leaning on the back wall. Suddenly, all eyes were on her. Bosco snorted, finding the suggestion utterly ridiculous.

"Please put up some cameras so that we may witness the moment you tear off her head."

"I don't hate her that much," Daya protested, quite offended at the accusation. She could find Jasmine tolerable, if she really tried. And well, she felt bad about everything that had led to the accident. "We could get along."

"Since when have the two of you ever gotten along?" Kerri asked, equally as sceptical as Bosco. Maybe even more so.

"The two of you don't exactly have the best track record," Willow agreed with the others.

"She doesn't remember that, maybe this is the chance for a new start," Daya tried to reason.

"Underneath the bandages and amnesia, she's still Jasmine Kennedie, loud mouth and all," Kerri said, not buying the biker's repentance. "You've done quite enough by getting her into this situation."

They were at a stalemate. Kerri's place was one big tapestry of cardboard boxes, Bosco's didn't have an elevator and they could hardly ask Willow, who was just visiting from out of state. The atmosphere was strangely tense after Kerri's last statement.

The door to the opened; Jasmine had come back from her scan, nurse in tow.

"Hi everyone, I'm back" Jasmine said, her smile not quite reaching her eyes. The nurse helped her get settled back into her bed. After setting up her fluids back up again, the nurse left.

"What were you guys talking about when I was gone? The mood is so serious" Jasmine enquired.

"Just where you would stay after you get discharged, so that you aren't alone," Kerri said, lightly squeezing Jasmine's arm.

"What do you mean alone? I have Orion back at our apartment," the ginger asked confused.

"She's been MIA for the past few weeks, I tried calling her when we got the news," Bosco explained. "You've lived with her for a while, you know how she is."

"That sounds like Orion alright," Jasmine mused, "so did you guys come up with something?"

"Well I suggested you could stay with me but-" before Daya could finish her sentence, Jasmine interrupted her.

"Well that sounds like you figured everything out then" Jasmine sounded pleased.

"I don't think that's a good idea" "maybe we should talk more about this" "this will be interesting" the three of them commented in an indistinguishable mumble. Jasmine heard none of it. Even though she didn't remember this Daya person, the girl seemed nice enough to be around.

"I'm really looking forward to living with you, Daya" and with that, the decision had been made.

[evanescentform]

Closure | Orion & Shiloh

Location: Skylar and Orion’s place on Jan. 19, 2021 With: @3starsquinn and Shiloh Description: Shiloh goes to Skylar’s place looking for her but finds Orion instead.

It was the lack of sleep. It was clearly the lack of sleep. But Shiloh had to see Skylar. She had to see if she was okay. If she hated her. Figure out what the hell was going on. They were friends first, right? Now Shiloh felt so completely alone. She didn’t bother texting Skylar - she didn’t want to give her a chance to come up with an excuse and that in and of itself wasn’t a nice thing to do but Shiloh wasn’t thinking about what was nice, she was thinking about what she needed and she needed to see Skylar in hopes she could comfort her like she once had. So, she drove to her place. Walked up to the door. And knocked. And knocked again. Perhaps a bit more urgently than before but definitely not banging on the door. However, she soon heard movement and straightened up, hoping she looked okay. Definitely not like she wasn’t sleeping right? Right. “Skye -” she started when the door opened. But then, that wasn’t Skylar. “Uh. Is Skylar home?”

A faint knocking sound just barely managed to grab Orion’s attention through the music his headphones were emitting. He was lying by the pool, headphones on and staring up at the ceiling. He wasn’t a huge fan of swimming. Too much skin exposure. But the apprehension had extended even when Rio was by himself in the home that he now found himself living in. But he enjoyed the sounds from the room enriching the music as he tapped against the book resting on his chest. He pushed up on his elbows, unsure that he had actually heard anything until the knocking came again, faster this time. He jumped up from his spot on the ground, grabbing his hoodie and pulling it over his head before making his way to the front door and opening it to see an unfamiliar face. “Uh hey. Sorry, not Skylar. Rio” Rio pulled the headphones out of his ears and left the cords dangling as he tried to decipher the woman’s tone and body language. She seemed worried. About Skylar? Or for some other reason? “She’s not here right now. I uh- actually don’t know where she is at the moment. Do you want to come in?”

Shiloh’s brows came together as he told her she wasn’t home. Where would she be? Work? What day was it? “Oh. Uh. Okay.” Shiloh accepted the offer to come inside, although not really sure what she would do while inside. As she stepped in, she glanced around as if she would find Skylar just standing there. But, there was nothing. “Do you know when she’s coming back?” Shiloh asked turning around to look at him. She stared at him for a bit before realizing she hadn't introduced herself. “Oh, sorry, I’m Shiloh. Uh.” Well, they weren’t together anymore were they? Plus she’d sound really weird if she labeled herself as an ex. He might think she was being a creep. Which she wasn’t, right? “Just Shiloh.” She reaffirmed, not sure if Skylar had even mentioned her to this guy. Wasn’t she living with someone named Nic? Shiloh was a little confused as she tried to remember what was told to her months ago on a brain that had inconsistent sleep.

Orion stepped aside to let Shiloh slip in and closed the door behind her. He hadn’t seen her since he had moved in with Skye. But that hadn’t been living here that long and admittedly, he hadn’t seen a ton of Skye either. “Well it’s nice to meet you, Just Shiloh.” He smiled, offering a hand out to her. “I’m actually not really sure when she will be back. I’m not even sure where she is at.” Since the two had become friends, they had their ups and downs, but he had moved in with her on a high note of their friendship. But despite that, he couldn’t say he wasn’t worried about her recently. Something had seemed off, something that Rio wasn’t sure was any of his business. “I just moved in a month or two ago, so I’m still kind of getting used to her schedule, y’know? But you’re welcome to hang out until she’s back if you want.” Rio shrugged as an offer. “Um how do you know her?”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Rio.” Shiloh said with a small smile. She wasn’t sure what she was doing here without Skylar being around. She wished she was here. She needed someone. It was selfish to ask for Skylar only when she needed someone, especially after she had left her. “Do you know what happened to her old roommate?” She asked, hoping he hadn’t died since she’d been gone. They still hadn’t gone over what they went through the past months or so. She scratched at her head as she thought over what to do. “Is it a weekday? I might be a little too early before she comes home from work.” Shiloh said, giving a gentle laugh at her own mistake, hoping Rio didn’t find her weird. “Oh, we, uh, we used to date.” Shiloh winced slightly at that, wondering if she had come off as a weird ex. Had Skylar told him about her? “I just haven’t heard from her in a while and I wanted to see what she was up to. I-I I missed her.”

“You mean Nic?” Orion questioned, hopping onto the countertop and reaching for a container of cookies to snack on. He was pretty sure she also had a roommate in her old place prior to moving in with Nic, but he didn’t know anything about them. After taking a few cookies from the sleeve, he offered the box to Shiloh in case she wanted any. “He had to leave town I guess. I don’t know much about the specifics. But he’s okay.” At least Rio hoped he was. There was a tiny bit of guilt that always bit at Rio. A voice that constantly told him that Nic had left because of what Rio had dragged him into the night Rio and Athena had stopped their parents once and for all. Even though he knew that wasn’t actually the reason. “It is a workday. So that could be it? Sorry, I guess I’m not much help.” Rio had been spending so much time at the Scribrary that the two had mostly missed each other around the house anyways. “Used to date?” Rio asked innocently, quietly connecting the dots in his head until he excitedly realized that this could be the girl that Skye had told him about. “Oh! I think she told me about you! I thought you left town too?”

Shiloh nodded as he mentioned Nic but frowned at him leaving town. She never really got to know him too well but he couldn’t be that bad if Skylar agreed to move in with him. She was a good judge of character, Shiloh was sure of that. She smiled in fondness. However it quickly faded as Rio knew who Shiloh was and it probably wasn’t good. “I did have to leave town for family matters a few months ago. I didn’t think it would have been fair to her if we remained together when I didn’t know when I would be back, so -” Shiloh realized she may have been talking a bit too much about it with a stranger. However, she didn’t know how much Skylar had told him. Shiloh sighed, leaning back against the wall. She was being defensive because she felt terrible about it all. Not only did she just leave so suddenly but she returned and before she even told her she arrived, they bumped into one another. It was an awful thing to do. “She hates me, doesn’t she? I know she does.” Why else would she not be speaking with her especially now that she knew Shiloh was in town. Shiloh wasn’t expecting them to get back together but… they were friends, weren’t they? Couldn’t they have continued to be friends? Then again, how was she going to tell her friend she was a filthy hunter?

Clearly, things were a bit complicated between Skye and Shiloh. Orion wasn’t a master of reading people, but even he could tell that. The situation was oddly similar to his own. Skye and himself had been the ones left in town while Shiloh and Winston both had to leave. A family matter seemed pretty important, and Rio wanted to understand Shiloh’s reasoning for leaving just like he did for Winston. “I totally get that. Ironically, I actually moved in with Skye for a pretty similar reason.” Rio interjected nervously. He didn’t want to hijack her story, but could tell that she felt bad about the whole scenario. “I was dating someone and they had to leave town too. I get it. And there were no hard feelings between us.” Skye and Rio had talked about the breakups. Neither had been especially happy about it, but Rio couldn’t say that Skye hated her for it. “I don’t think she hates you. It’s uh-” Hard to explain? Everything about Skye had been different for a while now. Rio just wasn’t sure what was going on, and didn’t want to ask too many questions. “I don’t think it’s you. I think there’s something else that’s bothering her. I just don’t know what.”

Shiloh let her insecurities take a backseat as she listened to Rio, finding out that he really had gone through something similar as Skylar had and probably had a better insight to her emotional state than Shiloh did. She sighed, allowing herself to believe that. “Sorry, for what it’s worth I’m sure your person is sorry too.” It wasn’t planned and she really didn’t want to have Skylar hanging onto a relationship for nothing… She tried not to go back to her same thought patterns. “What do you mean something’s bothering her? When did it start?” Maybe it was incredibly narcissistic for Shiloh to think that her absence was Skylar's biggest problem. From what she remembered she was really struggling with the whole seal thing. Did her new roommate know that? She watched him carefully. “She had trouble being… different. And I don’t mean being hard of hearing.” Shiloh started seeing if he understood what she was saying. After all, she wasn’t going to out Skylar to what might be a complete stranger. That would definitely upset Skye and she didn’t want to do that.

“Thanks. And yeah, don’t worry. My ex and I ended things on good terms. We both knew it was best.” Maybe that was exactly what Shiloh needed to hear. If she had any reservations about her own place in Skylar’s life, maybe it would be comforting to know that Orion held no ill will towards Winston when they shared a similar situation. Unsurprisingly, Shiloh seems more interested in Rio’s concerns about Skylar. He wished that he had something more to go on, or an actual lead to give the woman who clearly still cared a great deal about Skylar. But instead, Rio was left with a nervous ‘um’ as he tried to think of something to say. “I guess I don’t really know for sure? I don’t know what it’s like to live with her, but she just seems distant. Like she’s always got her mind in a million other places.” Shiloh’s emphasis on the word different peaked Rio’s curiosity. If she dated her, it wasn’t hard to imagine that Shiloh might know about Skylar being a selkie. Though it wasn’t something that he should mention just in case they were talking about two entirely separate things. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I had hoped things were getting better there. But now I’m not sure.”

Shiloh listened to Rio, only able to hope Skylar felt the same but unless she said that herself, it was hard to completely believe that. She appreciated the way he tried to comfort her, even though he really didn’t know anything about her. He was a good guy. Her concern turned to Skylar though, thinking about what she must be going through. All of Shiloh’s friends felt so distant from her since she came back. It was probably for a good reason. She sighed, closing her eyes. “If only she was here so she could tell us what was going on - I don’t even know who her friends are so it’s not like I can reach out to them for help!” Shiloh let out a derisive laugh. “I was a terrible girlfriend.” And now an even worse friend. “I think I should just go and hope she’ll reach out to me soon.” She couldn’t even look Rio in the face, afraid he might see the tears beginning to form in her eyes and the last thing she was going to do was cry in front of a stranger - that would be so embarrassing… “You’ll tell her I’ll stop by, yeah?” She only tried to glance at him briefly, as she took a step. She didn’t know where she’d go - she didn’t want to go home where she would just be alone but being in the presence of her parents or people who knew her well seemed… unideal as well.

Orion wished he could be more helpful. He didn’t know Shiloh while the two were dating, and he barely knew her now. The two had met fifteen minutes ago, he could hardly consider the two of them close friends. But he couldn’t just let her blame herself for what was going on. It wasn’t fair for her to have to carry that weight. “You weren’t.” Rio stated, “I mean, I guess I don’t technically know if you were a terrible girlfriend. But I know that when Skylar and I talked about it, she never mentioned a single bad thing about you. Just that she missed you. That sounds pretty good to me.” It wasn’t exactly a glowing defense, but it was the best that Rio had right now. Both of them were preoccupied with Skylar’s wellbeing. Rio knew that the core of Shiloh’s distress was making sure that Skye was okay. But letting her leave while so upset seemed pretty irresponsible. “Or instead of you leaving… uh… what if we went and got something to eat? Or junk food. There’s this great bakery run by this super cool guy. He’s amazing.” Rio tried to ask the question upbeat, breaking the sullen mood and tilting his lips upward to feign a smile. “Honestly, I’ve been super lazy all day and needed to grab something to eat. I just haven’t motivated myself to leave yet.” It was better than nothing. “Plus, afterwards we can come back here and see if Skylar’s back.”

Shiloh appreciated his kind words and she only wished the two of them could have met in better circumstances and not when she was a simple remark away from a breakdown. If only she could have gotten this whole nightmare thing in check. Whatever. It was her life now and she was going to deal with it just like she dealt with all this supernatural crap… squared it away to be dealt with at a future time. “Thanks,” she simply said before glancing over at him, stopping in her tracks as she was surprised by the invitation. “Oh - yeah! Okay! That sounds great.” Even if Shiloh was struggling with things, she would be thankful for the chance to go out and not worry about someone worrying about her own well-being because it’s not like Rio knew her before she became all this. He only knew her as the sad weird girl who came into his place looking for her ex-girlfriend and you know what? Shiloh was pretty sure she could work up from that rather than worry about keeping up an appearance. She smiled genuinely at him. “I can drive.” She offered, feeling better by offering him the chance to come along for a ride than having him do the driving.

[theskyeandsea]

Do You Wanna Be My Roommate? || Rio & Skye

Timing: December 10th

Location: Nic & Skylar’s Home

Tagging: @3starsquinn & @theskyeandsea

Description: In the wake of Winson’s departure from town, Skylar and Rio reclaim weeb night!

Warnings: Drug use mentions, chronic illness symptoms mentions, addiction 

Tugging at the sleeves of her shirt, Skylar looked around the house-- it looked normal, right? The last time someone had been here, she’d been caught off guard and hadn’t had time to try and make the place look presentable. But, she had invited Rio here, wanted to be here to support him. Because that was what a good friend did, and they, they were still friends. She wanted to be there for him because break ups were hard. She might not know much about them, but she remembered how much it had hurt when Shiloh had left town, in much the same way to Winston. Just a quick word and then Skylar was left with the other woman’s absence.

Swallowing, Skylar hooked her hearing aids in and turned them on. Dundee was sitting on the edge of the couch, watching her from his nest of blankets. He used to like spending time in her room, but lately he spent most of his time out in the living room. Maybe he was waiting for Nic to come home? Before she could fall too far down that rabbit hole, the doorbell rang and she hurried to the door. “Rio! Hey--” Her eyes flicked over his appearance and she blinked. “Are… What happened to you?”

Orion and Skylar had made plans, he didn’t want to cancel those just because he had almost been murdered and spent a few days in the hospital. He hadn’t seen her in awhile, his own life being too caught up in the trauma and the drama. As if the Lydia situation hadn’t been horrifying enough, Winston’s departure and the werewolf attack had to add a little extra disaster to Rio’s life. Just in time for the holidays. But despite the solemn mood Rio had been stuck in, he had no plans in continuing that tonight. He was hoping to enjoy his time with Skylar tonight, where the both of them could take their minds off of everything keeping them down.

When Skylar answered the door he could see that she had her hearing aids in, but he signed anyways as he greeted her. It was mostly out of habit, but he enjoyed the practice regardless. “Oh. These” Rio grinned nervously, he supposed he couldn’t ignore the fact that it happened, no matter how much he wished he could pretend he had never seen any of those dead bodies. Or heard their screams. “There was an… incident a few nights ago. A werewolf attacked a cafe that I was at.” Though his hoodie and jeans worked to block the main injuries that he had suffered, bruises and cuts all over his face and hands were still far too visible. Realizing that he was a hunter who just told Skylar about a werewolf attack, Rio thought that he should specify, “I didn’t kill it. Just uh- so we’re clear. I just tried to stop it from hurting others.” He did stab it. But he remembered how scared Skylar had been about hunters. He didn’t want to freak her out, “It’s alive. And hopefully back to human and not hurting anyone.”

Stepping out of the way to let him in, Skylar did her best not to stare at the cuts as he explained. An attack? A werewolf? What had happened to them? Not that Skylar knew many werewolves-- just Ulfric, the man from the coffee shop with all the tattoos, and Ariana, who she’d only known as a student until recently-- but they’d both seemed… in control. The thoughts slid through her mind like water, though, slipping from her mind as she led the way to the living room. Dundee was still curled up in the pile of blankets, little tail wagging as he caught sight of Rio and stared at the young man with his beedy, unblinking eyes. “It? You mean… them, right?” Skylar said, the words coming out before she could stop herself. But, werewolves, they were people. Maybe not human people, just like she wasn’t human people. But they were people, right? “I-- sorry though. That something like that happened to you. I’m glad you didn’t need to hurt anyone badly, though.” She nodded. 

Sliding through the front door, Orion was surprised by how long ago it seemed that he had last been here to hang out with Skylar. Despite that, it came with a surprising familiarity to follow her down the hall and into the living room. As per usual, Dundee stared at Rio as if staring directly into his soul. The dog was cute and incredibly uncomforting at the same time. “Hey buddy!” Rio went over to the pet little guy regardless. At Skylar’s words, Rio froze. His hand hovered to his bottom lip, barely pressing against it almost in shock of what had just come out of his mouth. “I-uh” It. When had Rio ever talked like that? He had spent his entire life trying and failing to convince his family that there was humanity to supernatural creatures. Especially werewolves, who weren’t destined to be murderous monsters their entire lives. How had that same person become the one that casually referred to a living person as it? “Sorry. Yeah. Them.” He pulled his hand away, shoving both of them into his pockets and refusing to make eye contact with Skylar for a moment. The word kept repeating itself in his head over and over again. “It’s okay. The werewolf, I don’t know who they were. But they didn’t have control. I don’t know if they woke up remembering everything or completely ignorant. That’s scary stuff.” A chill shot down Rio’s spine and he readjusted his stance a bit too quickly, catching his breath at the sudden pains. He slowly stretched out before forcing a smile back onto his face. “Sorry, I want this to be a fun night. All this’ll be gone in a few days anyways. Let’s just try to have fun.”

Skylar barely noticed the way that Rio went stock still-- it was the way his hand moved that caught her attention. He hadn’t even realized he’d said it, had he? Tilting her head slightly, she did her best to peer at him. But, the trace amounts of Bliss kept her floating, just floating on by, and it was always a little hard to grab the finer details. But, she could tell that he was upset. And she didn’t want him to be upset, she really didn’t. Rio was a good guy, a good person. “I hope they’re okay. And the other people who were hurt too-- and you too! Obviously. But. I hope they’re okay.” She said, knowing all too well how much it hurt to have gaps in your memory, to have entire parts of yourself locked away. Noticing the way his chest caught, Skylar blinked. “You’re not still hurt are you? You didn’t need to-- we could have cancelled if you’re still hurt. Sit down, sit down.” She said, urging him to take a seat. She could still take care of people, she could still do this. She could be the Skylar everyone wanted her to be. 

Orion nodded his head, maybe a bit too enthusiastically. He didn’t need Skylar too worried about his wounds. She had already helped him before when that evil watermelon thing had bitten him. Just like that time, these would heal. “I’m okay. I’m still sore, but it’s not too bad. I’ll heal quickly anyways.” He still hated his hunter abilities. Not because they weren’t useful, he had been attacked way too many times for him to try to claim that. It just didn’t seem fair that he got this advantage while others around him were put at risk. “Seriously, I wanted to come over here. I’m happy to be here, sore or not.” Rio grinned, slowly easing himself back and onto the couch. “If I had cancelled I would have just ended up lying in my bed at the house all night anyways. I definitely didn’t want to do that. So you’re doing me a favor.”

“If you say so.” Skylar said as Rio took a seat on the couch. Walking to the fridge, she pulled out a bottle of water and a can of Mountain Dew. She’d remembered that he liked them when she had been wandering down the aisles at the store, running her fingers against the shelves. “Want a drink? There might be some beer left over from when Nic was here, if you’d like. I don’t really keep beer here.” She said as she scanned the shelves. “I’ve never really been able to do the whole… post-break up ice cream and cookie dough thing that you see in movies, but I have both if you’d like.” She offered. “But, ah-- sorry. That might be too soon to say.” At Rio’s words, Skylar nodded, a smile spreading on her face. She was helping him. “Of course. I’m glad I can do something to make you feel better. And hey, Yuri on Ice is a great show, it always cheers me up.”

Skylar disappeared in the kitchen for a moment and came back with a mountain dew. Orion sat forward enthusiastically to reach for it, trying to be careful not to stretch too many injured muscles. It was only partially effective. “Oh you’re the best thank you so much.” He had been so tired recently, he needed some caffeine. The mention of Nic was a sudden reminder that he had been her only roommate. He knew about him no longer being in town but he hadn’t exactly connected the dots. “Oh right. You don’t have any other roommates do you? You have this whole place to yourself?” It was a big house, something that could either be a lot of fun or really lonely depending on the person. “It’s been weird at my house too. Ricky’s always so busy at the workshop that it was usually just Winston and I. Now that he’s not there it’s just a whole house to myself with all the things Winston and I used to do.” Rio shrugged. Admittedly, it had bothered him how much time he spent noticing small things that Winston left behind. But there wasn’t much he could do about it for now. “I have no experience with post break up junk food, but am assuming that it tastes similar to regular junk ice cream and cookie dough. Both of which I’m a huge fan of.” But more than sugary distractions, Rio was mostly excited for another reboot of their anime night. Hopefully this time it would be without the snooping or weird tension that was present the previous times. “I cannot wait, I am so pumped for this it’s been on my list forever.”

“Of course.” Skylar beamed as she handed him the soda before settling down on the couch with some space between them. Dundee glanced over at her, as though waiting for her to do something, but when she flipped on the tv, he plopped his head back down on the nest of blankets. “Nope, it’s just me.” This place had been Erin’s home for a bit too, but the memory of their last encounter came back to her mind-- No. Smiling wider, she pushed the thought away. Now wasn’t the time to think about that. Erin wasn’t coming back here. “Mhm, that’s… That sounds hard.” Skylar had never lived with Shiloh, hadn’t even really reached the stage where she spent much time at the other woman’s home. But, she felt for Rio. Being in a place where there was just the constant presence of someone who he’d cared about, who was so very much not here? She dealt with that some since Nic had left, the little knick knacks and knives tucked around the house hammering home the fact that he was gone. “Sounds good. Let me just get Netflix up.” She said, scrolling through the lists with a slightly clumsy hand. She skipped around until the familiar ice-skating anime popped up. “I’m so excited for you to watch this, I think you’ll really enjoy it.”

Orion stretched across the couch as much as he could to scratch on Dundee’s head before returning to his original position. Skylar was navigating the tv to find the show and Rio studied her as she did so. Outwardly, she seemed fine with living alone. Nothing in her initial statement indicated that she hated the idea of living alone. The place did seem pretty sweet, especially considering it had the pool for private sessions when she needed to change. On paper, he probably seemed perfect. But speaking from his own experiences, Rio knew that a place like this would be incredibly lonely. He wondered what Skylar thought of it. Right now, he wasn’t sure if it would be rude to ask. “I’m so excited” Rio clapped his hands together and leaned back on the couch to settle in when Skylar pressed play.

The rest of the night passed without anything weird or out of the ordinary happening-- a rarity that Skylar honestly hadn’t expected. It was nice, to watch anime and pretend like there was nothing wrong. They could pretend like this town wasn’t awful, like this place wasn’t terrible. As Yuri took a victory lap around the ice rink, Skylar let out a sigh, stretching. The motion sent a slight twinge of pain down her back, but she ignored it. She could handle a little pain, just for now. She had wanted to be present for this, to spend time with Rio. And, once he was gone, she would be able to slip back down into the haze of Bliss. “Such a good show. Did you like it?” She asked as Dundee padded across the couch and leaned against her, his head resting against her leg. “I’m glad you were able to come over for this, I missed having anime nights.” Skylar said, a little surprised that it was true. 

They had truly binged out with this one. In what was probably their first fully successful attempt at an anime night the two both watched the show in relative quiet. Every now and again one would speak up or they would both laugh at something. But other than that, the two had seemed perfectly content with simply being in each other’s company. The show was exactly the sort of feel good emotion that Orion so desperately needed. Watching their relationship slowly grow into what it became by the end of the show was enough to bring a tear to Rio’s eyes. By the time the last episode finished, there was a stream of tears running down his face. “No. It was awful.” Rio lied, a single laugh bursting through his tears. Even then, Rio crossed his arms and grumbled grumpily, “The show had no right ending like that. I hated it.” A small smile split across his face though, and he eventually conceded, “Nah. I’m kidding. That was amazing and I’m so glad we started it back up. I miss them too.” Even for the drama they had once been. “We should definitely get back into the habit of doing them.”

Looking over at Rio, Skylar blinked in surprise-- she hadn’t realized he’d cried. She must have missed that, must… not have noticed. She swallowed, pushing the thought side and smiled back at him. “Good! I’m glad that you did, it’s such a great show. The characters are all so good and you really kinda root for all of them by the end of it.” She said with a nod. Running a hand through her choppy hair, Skylar looked over at the television, the screen darkened. She could see the two of them reflected, sitting back on the couch. Two lonely people, just a little less alone for the time being. Biting the inside of her cheek, Skylar thought to the spare key that was tucked away in her room. She trusted Rio. It had taken time, but she knew that he was sorry for what he’d done, he’d promised to never pry into her things after their disastrous first anime night. And… it was lonely. “Hey, Rio.” She said tentatively, not really sure how to broach the subject, “I know that things at… Ricky’s must be weird. Things here are weird too, with all of Nic’s stuff being here, but him being gone. And, like I said, I can’t really imagine what it’s like to have to deal with, everything else on top of it.” She said, skirting around the words “break up” as best as she could manage. “But, if you wanted, you could stay here?” Skylar asked, looking hopefully over at him. Maybe having someone around would help. Someone who understood, at least a little, what it was like to not fit into the role that the world wanted her to be.

The question had taken Orion by surprise. He paused for a long moment as he tried to understand exactly what Skylar had meant by ‘stay here’. At first he had just meant for the night, which Rio was ready to thank her for the offer but also assure that he didn’t live too far away. It wasn’t like he had been drinking or anything. But she had mentioned Nic’s things, just as Rio had talked about Winston’s items that were left behind. But he had never said any of those things in an attempt to guilt Skylar into asking him to move in. Even with the awkwardness, Rio hadn’t considered moving out of the house. “Are you… serious?” Rio finally asked, his voice soft and curious. “I don’t want to like… put you in a weird place. Where you feel like you have to offer.”

Was she serious? Skylar wasn’t entirely sure, but, the idea of not being totally alone, of having someone around-- at least part of the day-- was tempting. And she liked Rio. She trusted Rio. He was good and he knew about that side of her, which meant she wouldn’t need to hide it from him. Not that she’d ever needed to with Nic, but, having one less secret from her roommate would be nice. And just, having a roommate, maybe that would make things better. Maybe it would lessen the ache inside her. Nodding, Skylar gestured to the space around them. “I know I don’t need to offer. But, I never really wanted to live on my own. And, I trust you.” She said with a small smile. “In a town like this, that’s… hard to find. You don’t need to say yes, and you can definitely think about it. But, the offer’s here.” 

The offer was tempting. The more Orion thought about it, the more he realized how lonely his house felt now. With Ricky constantly working and Winston gone it felt like he lived in an abandoned home. Too big for him. He missed Winston, but he had no chance of taking his mind off of them when he walked past their bedroom door every day and was constantly reminded of all the memories they had there. But Rio wasn’t truly convinced until Skylar told him that she trusted him. It had been a rocky road up to this point. Rio had lied and invaded her privacy. He hadn’t deserved her friendship at all, let alone her trust. But somehow, here they were. “Yes.” Rio nodded quickly. “I mean, I don’t need to think about it. If you’re one hundred percent sure then the answer is yes” Rio laughed in relief, a pressure that had been in his chest all week finally beginning to lift. He hadn’t even realized that it had been there in the first place. “I- Thank you so much. I seriously can’t describe what that means to me.”

The way that Rio laughed, the genuine sound of relief-- before tonight, when was the last time Skylar had heard that sound? Since before Nic had left? The memory came back to her, fuzzy around the edges in the way that most of her memories were now. It was one of the nights when they’d both shared a meal, idly talking about their day and then, out of nowhere, Dundee had hopped up onto the table and stolen a steak right off her plate. The two had sat in startled silence for a minute as the little dog scarfed down the piece of meat, T-bone and all, before bursting into laughter. And tonight, she and Rio had been able to laugh and talk and make this house feel a little less lonesome. It felt a little more like the home that she had hoped for. But, Skylar shifted on the couch, the sharp rush of pain pushing just a little bit harder. “One ground rule, though?” She said, a small smile on her face as she stuck out her hand, “No more poking around in my room.” 

[danetobelieve]

Standing Vigil || Ricky, Rio and Winston

Location: the beach beneath the cliff’s which the Roommate Squad lives on. 

Timing: the morning of the 18th of June

Tagging: @3starsquinn, @ricky-corderbro & @danetobelieve

Description: Nell and Luce liberated some selkie skins which they gave to Kaden who in turn gave to Ricky. The boys (and Winston) give their fallen friends a proper farewell.

Warnings: no official warnings; this is as close to a funeral as we’ll probably write though so bear that in mind. 

Everything about this was wrong, and that ate at a small sheltered core of Ricky’s heart that sounded and smelled like the waves off Rinn Mhaoile. It should have been elders. It should have been all selkies. There should have been names, clan members standing in the shallows to recount stories, give benedictions, request boons from the waves for safe passage. But instead it was a single selkie, a magician, and a repentant hunter, and Ricky only hoped it would be enough to grant the souls passage to the Deep Tides. He’d woken up early enough to give himself some time to get read; traditionally burials happened at sunrise as the tide ebbed back into the ocean deep, and he’d given himself time to shower and have a cup of coffee and take some time to think. He tied his hair back with a ribbon that his mom had used, slid the silver ring on his finger that bore her mark, and gathered up the skins from where they had been sitting on a chair in his bedroom, making his way downstairs clad only in a swimsuit to start to head towards the beach, his own skin draped over his shoulders. Even though they were both human, or at least more human than he was, Ricky deeply and fervently appreciated that both Winston and Rio had agreed to help with the burial, “It’s uh…. It really means a lot to me that you guys agreed to do this.” He managed to keep his voice from sounding too choked as he hugged the skins close, “Tide should start going out soon so we should uh head down to the beach.”

Winston hadn’t slept. They knew that they were going to have to be up early and they’d tried to get an early night’s sleep but they were still trying to work out if and how they would be able to get rid of the eye in their hand, their research had dragged on into the night and before they knew it the alarm they’d set to wake them up had been blaring and they decided that it was time to get ready. They could sleep later, it wasn’t like they had work for a while. Heading down and outside of the house with their friends, Winston shivered in the cold morning air. But they were dressed equally appropriately, though they wore a hoodie to keep them warm and still felt the early morning chill in the air. “Of course Ricky,” Winston replied, looking up at Rio. He looked- Winston forced themselves to look away, this wasn’t the time to be obsessing over Rio. They had work to do. “We’re always going to be here to do these things, especially after what we have learned about this … person,” Winston could hardly comprehend a being so evil that it would do this, “they deserve to be given a proper funeral.” Winston set off, their sandals crunching through the gravel and loose sand as they wound their way down the cliff path to the beach. 

Orion was out of place. He didn’t deserve to be here. It was because of people exactly like Rio that Ricky has to do this funeral in the first place. Rio didn’t know the whole situation. Hunters had to be involved with this, right? Weren’t they always? And Rio was just like them. But as sure as Rio was that they didn’t deserve to take part in such a bittersweet ceremony, how could he say no? This wasn’t about what Rio thought he should or shouldn’t be a part of. Ricky wanted him there. So Rio needed to be there. Even if he didn’t deserve to be. And even if Winston was there, the sombering mood of the morning making it even more obvious that the two had too much going on between them. But Rio was dedicated to not making this awkward. Even if he was about to be knee deep in water wearing a long sleeve shirt and track pants. He figured he could at least roll the track pants up a bit to avoid getting too soaked. “Just let us know what you need from us.” Rio agreed with Winston, offering whatever they could to help Ricky out.

Ricky made most of the trek down to the darkened beach in silence, fingers carding over the smooth skins he held in his hands. As he crunched down the path he struggled internally with his own worthiness to complete this ritual. He was thousands of miles from his clan, he was too young, he just wasn’t the selkie his mother had been. How could he send these poor men and women off to the deep when he hadn’t even been able to do that to his own mother. “Not much.” He muttered quietly as the path gave way to the silent beach, the crash of the ebbing tide the only sound, “I can say everything that needs to be said. There just needs to be three people. To stand for them in death, and to watch over their ashes as they join the sea.” He hadn’t bothered with shoes as he’d left the house, so the transition from beach to wave he could make without stalling. Barely feeling the frigid cold of the waves he strode out until he was almost waist deep in the water, turning back to his friends “You guys don’t have to come out this far. Knee deep is fine. Just within earshot and spell-shot. We uh…. We can start whenever.” 

Winston had been feeling slightly better about everything with Rio after the night they’d spent with Skylar watching Cell’s at Work. It had been a good way to diffuse the tension, though it remained ever present. “We can of course do that, it’s an honour even if we’re not the ideal candidates,” Winston couldn’t help but feel out of place. But the fact that Ricky trusted them to do this meant more then anything else right now. Slipping out of their sandals and tossing their hoodie and t-shirt down with it, they left them in the sand and made their way forwards. The waves foamed up against their toes, greeting them and guiding them towards the sea. Wading in so they were only a few feet away from Ricky. Shivering slightly in the early morning air, Winston kept as silent as they could. “Just give me one second, I want to do this properly.” Winston took a moment to center themself, taking a long breath and exhaling before repeating the motion once more and exhaling a thin tendril of fire that they caught between the index finger and thumb of both hands, holding it there as a tight ball, Winston looked at Ricky, “tell me when you’re ready and I’ll light them.” 

Orion was more of a placeholder than anything else. Unlike Winston, Rio had no real purpose to be here. It was better that way. Too much involvement wouldn’t feel right considering the situation. His eyes were glazed over and he felt empty inside. If Rio felt this away about the senseless death of these people, people he didn’t know and had no kind of connection to, he could only imagine how awful Ricky must feel right now. He watched Ricky curiously, trying to decipher what was going on in his head right now. He was so ridiculously strong. He never let fear or sadness show up on his face. Because he always thought he needed to be strong for everybody else. It was noble, but stupid. Rio wished that Ricky would break down with him once in a while. It might help Ricky process whatever he was going through. Rio shot a glance over towards Winston, carefully studying their face as the fire they was holding illuminated it. Rio didn’t need the light to see them, his hunter sight took care of that. But he did like the way their face looked through the ambience. Though the weather didn’t bother Rio much considering his attire, the water was freezing cold against his feet. The cold continued as Rio followed in deeper, nipping at his ankles and following up to his shin, where the prickling sensation finally ceased when the water found his track pants and favored that over his knees. Here they were. At this point, Rio didn’t have much to offer to the group aside from his support. He smiled at Winston, nodding in acknowledgement of the moment before turning his focus back on Ricky. Time to get started, it seemed.

Nodding as Winston conjured an impressive ball of fire in his hands, Ricky turned his gaze back out to see, towards the pale peach fingers of a rising dawn, holding the skins out towards the sun as it peaked over the horizon, their cool weight draped over his arms. “You deserved better than this.” His voice cracked sharply and he took a brief moment to collect himself as he felt a few tears roll down his cheek, “You died far from clan and shore, from those who knew and loved you, and were deprived your chance at rest. We stand your vigil now to try to fix that.” He cast his gaze over his shoulder to look at Rio, standing cold in the water behind him, “Behind me Orion Quinn stands vigil for your past. As the light from his namesake is already long-past history by the time it reaches us, he stands in the ebbing tide to honor the life you lived.” He gave a weak smile and turned back to face the sun. “I am Ricardo Cordero, son of Clan Muirgen, and I stand vigil for your present. For the span of life you were supposed to live and was robbed from you. For the light you were meant to bring into the world, and the strength we were robbed of by your absence.” Turning to look at his best friend he wiped tears from his face with his shoulder, “And Winston Dane stands vigil for your future. The cleansing fire, not born of earth or sky, that will return you to the Deep Tides and the clans that swim in the calm and dark. We do not know your names, and cannot tell your clans that you have been rescued from bondage. But a recollection of you will be carved in the Tidestone of Clan Muirgen. Six unknown souls laid to rest. May the Deep Tides call you home, may your ancestors welcome you into those hidden shoals, and may you rest in peace knowing your vigil has been kept.” He barely managed to make it to the end of the sentence before his voice broke entirely, and he held the skins out in front of him, gripping the tops as he nodded mutely to Winston.

 It was a sobering moment. Winston was so new to all of this. The idea of all of this, of everything that was going on, it was hideous. Winston hated it. The apparently hidden and silent war that raged beneath the surface of the supernatural world. Hunters butchering werewolves, vampires killing slayers, wardens hunting fae, it was all so violent and Winston hated the amount of it that they had already seen. Standing vigil now was a bittersweet privilege. They were lucky that they were never really involved unless they stepped up. A cold bead of sweat trickled down their back as the waves of the ocean lapped against their body. Taking a deep breath, Winston slowly willed thin ribbons of fire to expand off of the surface of the ball, they hovered for a moment before weaving together and darting forward. The tendrils of flame colliding with the skin. For a moment they blazed across the surface before slowly, yet surely the skins took the flame and began to pass it along their surface. It devoured them with such veracity and hunger that Winston let the magic go and slumped in the water for a moment. The cold quickly brought them back to awareness and they watched as the skins truly caught alight. The fire growing now, greedily swallowing the pelts up. 

Orion wasn’t sure when he started crying. It had been teetering there for a while. He was familiar with the sensation, the heavy feeling weighing down his eyes as they decided whether or not the tears would fall. At some point, they had given up the fight. Probably when Ricky’s voice broke, which may have been the most heartbreaking thing he had ever heard. Rio forced his palm over his mouth, afraid that the sniffling would interrupt Ricky’s flow or ruin the ceremony. Tears rushed down his cheeks now and he was full on blubbering, the sounds of his gasping breath mumbled slightly by the hand he held tightly against his face. When Ricky spoke his name as part of the ceremony, Rio used his free hand to give a slight wave out into the ocean. Did Selkie’s believe in spirits? If they were real, were they watching over the three of them now? Once it was done, Winston set the pelts on fire. The sight was beautiful, but sad all at once. But Rio understood why they did it. What a way to go out.

The sound of the crackling flame at once stood in opposition to and in harmony with the waves crashing around his waist, and Ricky held onto the pelts until the very last possible moment, until the flames had started to lick blisters and angry red wounds onto his hands. As he released them to the dawn sky, the flames were so voracious that not a single hair fell to the waves before it was ash and he heaved a deep and rumbling sigh as he watched the twisting motes of black make their way out to sea. Turning his back onto the sunrise he trudged his way slowly through the waves back to where his two friends had been standing in more shallow water, pulling them both into a tight hug. “Thanks.” He managed to get out as he squeezed them both, “I couldn’t have made it through that without you two.” Wiping at the tears drying on his cheeks with the back of his hands he released them both and steadied himself, trying to put the face of jovial control he usually wore. “Come on. We’ll dry off and I’ll buy you both breakfast. Raise a mug of coffee in a toast. We’ve done all we can for them now.” 

[letsbenditlikebennett]

When Wolves Knock || Ariana & Orion

TIMING: Before Winn ran off.  PARTIES: @3starsquinn​ & @letsbenditlikebennett​ SUMMARY: Ariana goes by Ricky and Winston’s to surprise them with venison stew. They’re not home, but Ariana and Rio end up hanging out. 

With how much kindness Ricky and Winston had shown her, Ariana had wanted to drop by with a nice surprise for them. This batch of venison stew had come out wonderfully and she knew Ricky especially would appreciate it. There was nothing quite as tasty as fresh venison and she liked being able to share with the people she loved most. As she knocked on the door, she hoped one of them was home. She could easily leave the cold bag on the porch, but being able to hang out and chat for a bit would be nice. When the door opened, she was surprised to see a new face. That’s right, Winston had mentioned they had a new roommate. She shifted the bag on her arm and greeted, “Hey, you must be the new roommate. I think we spoke online before. I’m Ariana. I’m friends with Winston and Ricky. I brought some venison stew by.... Figured it’d be a nice surprise. Are either of them home?”

Orion still didn’t really know what to do in the house by himself. Maybe he wasn’t 100% comfortable inside of a house that he didn’t really consider his, despite Ricky and Winston’s countless attempts to make him feel as at home and welcome as possible. It wasn’t that they hadn’t done a great job or anything, Rio just thought that they vastly underestimated how awkward Rio was as a person. For example, Rio was in the kitchen, finding snack food when he heard someone approaching the front door. For a moment Rio completely froze, unsure what to do without Ricky or Winston there to answer the door for them. Eventually, Rio realized that he was apparently in charge of that for the moment. But that didn’t stop him from sulking towards the door slowly and deliberately. He didn’t look ready for visitors, with an oversized hoodie, sweatpants and a baseball cat smashing his pink hair down. But oh well. Beef jerky stick in one hand, he used his free one to open the front door. He was immediately hit by that way too familiar sensation. Werewolf. Since only one person stood around him, it wasn’t very hard to deduce who it was. A girl, younger than him and carrying some kind of food with her. “Hey there…” Rio started, more confused and apprehensive than anything else before realizing that it probably sounded pretty rude. “Sorry. Hey!” he snapped from his funk and took a bite from the jerky stick. “We did! Nice to meet you in person. I’m Rio. That was nice of you! Uh sorry neither of them are here right now…” He shrugged, wondering exactly what he should do in this situation. Anybody could stroll up claiming to know them right? But the girl didn’t seem malicious or anything. “Do you want to come in? We can put the stew in the kitchen. If you want you can hang out until one of them gets back.”

There was no time like the present to make friends with their new roommate, though he did seem just a little bit awkward. That didn’t really bother Ariana though. By nature, she was a social creature and she could make this work. Ricky had an open invite for the couch so it was only right to befriend the third roommate. She knew he had solid taste in Oreos which is a strong starting point. She offered a wide smile and nodded, “You’re all good. That’d be great though. I can go ahead and put it on the stove. It can literally sit there on low heat for like… ever. I know my last venison dish was a huge hit with Ricky and they’ve both been super great to me, so kind of thought it’d be nice to keep the love going, you know?” She realized she was rambling a little excitedly, but she followed him in toward the kitchen. From the last time she cooked with Winston, she remembered where the pots and pans were. She reached for a big pot to dump the stew in and left it on the stove. The sweet smell of venison, stock, and onions was already permeating the air. Ulf’s trailer still smelled damn good because of it. Ariana turned back to Rio and said, “I hope I wasn’t interrupting or anything, but hanging out would be kind of nice. How long have you known Ricky and Winston?”

Ariana seemed more comfortable with the place than Orion did. “Yeah. They’re both super great right?” He chuckled, seeing her work her magic in the kitchen, pulling out pots and pans that he didn’t even know the location of. It wasn’t shocking or anything, Rio hadn’t been here that long. Plus he wasn’t exactly an expert cook or anything. Most of his meals were Little Debbie's. “Make yourself at home!” Before it was even cooking, the stew smelled good. He could only imagine how good it must taste. “Not at all, I don’t really have a life.” Rio shrugged. He had meant it as a joke, though it may have come off as more pathetic sounding than that. “Uh a couple months. Not that long actually. Just a few months, really. We became fast friends. How about you?”

“Oh, yeah, love them both to death,” Ariana answered as she gave the stew a quick stir before leaving it to simmer for a while. She had no doubt it’d be a welcoming smell when Winston and Ricky got home. For now, she’d make it a point of making friends with their third roommate. He seemed nice albeit a little shy. “Thanks,” she said, taking the invite to pour herself a glass of water and pop down on the couch. “Aw, I’m sure you do. Having a life doesn’t have to be, like, exciting. Sometimes it’s just totally boring things that you enjoy.” It was funny, they’d known Winston and Ricky about the same amount of time. They really were just a friendly, kind-hearted bunch and she loved them for that. “I met Winston first a couple of months back. They offered help with my math class, but I’d already found a tutor. So we went to that farmer’s market.... Pro tip, don’t fucking buy the watermelons, they bite, but they brought Winston and I together… and Ricky by proxy. Who’s also great, he totally hyped me up to ask this girl on my soccer team to prom, so you know, totally stan a hype man.” She took a sip of her water before setting it down on the coffee table. “So outside of having stellar taste in Oreos and snack foods, what do you like to do for fun?”

At least Ariana had good taste. It made sense that she would love Winston and Ricky, they were both awesome. “Oh yeah. If you count reading as having a life then totally. I have a lot of lives then.” Orion shrugged and grinned shyly. “But Winston and Ricky keep me company at least so it’s not all bad.” Rio had heard about Winston’s time with the vampire watermelons, but hadn’t known that Ariana had been the one with him. “Oh! I know those things! A friend of mine and I also got attacked by them. It bit my arm!” Rio would have shown off the scar, if it didn’t blend in with the others. “Yep that totally sounds like Ricky.” While Ariana got comfy, Rio found himself curling up in a chair across from her. “I like gaming, reading, uh and definitely some other things too. Like eating.” Okay, he could definitely use some more work when it came to social skills. “What about you? How do you spend your free time?”

While reading wasn’t necessarily her thing, Ariana thought it was a cool enough hobby. She liked stories. Dyslexia just made reading a bitch. “It totally counts,” she answered with a small smile, “Not my thing, on account of I suck at sitting still and I’m dyslexic, but you know different strokes or whatever.” It was seeming like more and more people were having bad luck with the watermelon vampires. “Damn, yeah, that had to hurt. Thankfully, my combat boots were the only victims in our case. Sorry you got bit, those shits have sharp teeth.” She leaned against the arm of the couch and nodded along as Rio spoke. “Reading and gaming, nice. I do love eating, too. Also, pretty good at the cooking thing… which I guess you’ll see later. There’s totally enough stew for everyone.” Rio seemed a bit more on the shy side, but she could appreciate that. Sometimes she was entirely too… not shy. It was a good balance or something. “I like pretty much anything that involves moving. I run a lot, I like cooking, building things is always fun and will be my profession soon, and I love soccer. I’m actually coaching a camp this summer with my friend Athena. If my boss approves it, I’ll also being doing some work study with Ricky to get some more insight on wood-working. So yeah, basically the opposite. I can’t sit still for long periods of time. I’m like energizer wo- bunny. Bunny.”

Orion patted at his arm through the sleeve, almost like some kind of badge of honor. Those that survived the attack from the vampire watermelon things. “Luckily it wasn’t that bad of a bite,” That wasn’t exactly the truth, but the hunter healing may have helped, “It’s all healed up now. Can’t even tell that it was there in the first place.” That may not have been the entire truth either. It had definitely left a faint scar. But compared to all the others, this barely scratched the surface. Definitely didn’t make a distinctive first impression. “That’s great! I’m really excited to try the stew. It smells amazing.” Rio pointed back towards the kitchen. He could smell it from his seat, appreciating the layer of scents. “Sports and stuff are super fun, I’ve heard. It was never really my thing, but my sister loves them.” And speaking of his sister… Ariana…. Knew her? Oh no. Oh god. Oh no. Ariana was a werewolf. Rio was pretty sure of that. But Athena couldn’t know that, right? At least… no, she couldn’t or else Athena would have taken matters into her own hands. What the heck could Rio do about that? She couldn’t tell Ariana about Athena. Should Rio just not say anything at all? Just ignore it and move on? That was the best choice, Rio was sure. “Athena?” Rio heard himself asking before he could shut himself up. God, no. “Uh- wow small world. That’s my sister.” Rio found himself nervously giggling, using it as a guise to distract from the fake that he had started shaking. “She is very athletic. So uh- cool thing with the coaching camp. I’m sure you’ll both rock it.”

It dawned on Ariana that they could both believe in vampire watermelons and she could just leave it alone, but that really wasn’t her style. Maybe one day it’d bite her in the ass, but it hadn’t yet so she’d take her chances. She leaned back into the couch and kept her eyes on Rio. “So, you seem pretty chill about the whole there being vampire watermelons thing. I’m guessing the crazier parts of White Crest aren’t exactly news to you?” One of her brows arched at him hoping to get a truthful answer. Ricky was a selkie and Winston could do magic, it wouldn’t be totally off base for them to have another supernatural roommate. There was a shrug as he mentioned not liking sports. “They’re definitely not for everyone. I just happen to have a shit ton of extra energy by default. Gotta get some of it out for the sake of not being a crazy person.” When Rio mentioned that Athena was his sister, she had to quickly swallow the water she was drinking causing her to let out a small cough. If Winston had been seeing their new roommate’s sister and Rio’s sister was Athena, that meant Winston had been seeing Athena. Ariana’s mind was effectively blown. Her lips formed a small “o” and her eyes were wide before she caught herself. “Dude, that’s cool. She mentioned having a twin brother, but clearly didn’t connect the dots until just now.” The topic seemed a little uncomfortable for him, so she shifted in her seat and added, “But yeah, soccer camp will be pretty cool. I like kids and soccer. You got any plans for the summer or anything?”

Considering Orion was talking to a werewolf at the moment, it definitely went without saying that he was familiar with the supernatural. Of course, there was no way for Ariana to know that Rio knew. It muddied the water and always made things more difficult. It felt like some power move, an upper hand that Rio didn’t deserve. But he supposed that was the whole point, for hunters to get the upper hand. That tingling sensation had been sort of bittersweet to him. On one hand, he loved learning about the supernatural, and meeting people other than regular humans. On the other hand, it made him feel downright creepy. “Oh yeah, uh. I mean I know some. Enough. That it exists.” He constantly battled between how he could tell the truth while also… not telling the whole truth. Luckily, Ariana didn’t seem to have too many questions about his sister, thank god. “Summer plans? Well… not much aside from hanging out with them too. I just sorta tag along with Winston and Ricky wherever they go, honestly.” That, and spend a bunch of time in the Scribe building. “How long is the soccer camp? All summer long? Do you actually like… stay at the camp or is it like a ‘go home at the end of the day and come back the next morning’ kinda camp?” Rio had no idea how camps worked.

The explanation Rio had provided was really more of a nonanswer. Sure, he knew about the supernatural, but how? Ariana tried to get a lock on his scent, but she didn’t notice anything off about it so he wasn’t like Ricky or some other sort of shifter. Maybe he just grew up here and wasn’t totally blind to everything that happened around him. She hoped her attempt at being subtle had worked, but she was about to be truthful anyway. An arm absentmindedly wrapped itself around a couch cushion as she explained, “I guess it’s hard to avoid any of it living here. I mean, I knew about it before moving here, but full disclosure-- I’m a werewolf. Which Ricky and Winston both know so it’s not like a huge secret or anything. Maybe just don’t mention it to anyone outside of here.” Seeing as she had an open invitation to sleep on the couch in the midst of her current hunter drama, she figured being truthful with Rio was the right thing to do and she trusted Ricky or Winston hadn’t mentioned anything about it previously. She nodded along with his summer plans, which seemed to be a little lax, which was nice. Sometimes relaxation was needed, not that she was very good at it, but still. “Sounds pretty chill. I hope you enjoy it. Everyone needs a good reset every once and awhile.” A brow raised as Rio asked more questions about the camp, she thought he’d know because Athena but she did remember Winston mentioned things were complicated there so she answered, “Nope, not a sleepaway thing, it’s here in town. We watch them for the day and do soccer stuff while their parents are working or doing whatever it is they do while their kids are at camp.”

Orion had to physically stop himself from leaping off of the chair in excitement as Ariana disclosed her secret about being a werewolf to him. In a lot of ways, he felt so honored and happy to have the knowledge entrusted to him as well. Though even with that, there was a sort of sinking feeling in his stomach. If Rio had been any other hunter, what would they have done with this knowledge? Sure, Rio had already known because of his ability. But if Athena knew about it, if Ariana told Athena about it… Oh god. That wouldn’t be good. For anybody. Luckily, the excitement at this exact moment outweighed the fear. So it was pretty easy to pretend to be shocked at the news, despite the constant tingling feeling raising the hairs on his skin and reminding him of her species. “Holy woah…” Rio began, finally rising from the chair and sitting at the edge of it, giving Ariana his full attention. “That’s so freaking cool holy crap. I don’t really know that many other werewolves. I mean I know like two.” Or three, really. But the fact that Rio knew wasn’t exactly a topic of discussion. Not yet at least. “But of course. I promise your secret is safe with me.” He wanted to support her, even if he couldn’t be completely honest with her himself. It just complicated things. There was no easy way to tell a werewolf that he was a beast hunter. Not without that look of fear and hatred in their eyes. Rio was familiar enough with that look from himself. But that brought things to a whole other topic. Ariana and soccer camp. And Athena. “That’s really cool. I’m sure it’ll be a lot of fun.” He began, smiling and trying to determine how to phrase his next sentences. “So uh- weird request. Is there any chance that you could… not mention anything to my sister about knowing where I live? It’s like… a whole thing. I’m kind of in a fight with our parent’s right now and don’t want them to know where I’m at.”

Living with Winston and Ricky, Ariana had much doubt that Rio would take the whole werewolf thing well. She did have a standing invite for the couch so she figured honesty was probably a good call. The story of her current not so ideal situation could be told if she ever did have to take Ricky up on that offer. It was cool that he seemed pretty excited about it though. She smiled and responded, “Thanks, I like to think so. Definitely comes in handy with some of the crazier things going on in White Crest.” Came with the disadvantage of being hunted, but she’d still never change who or what she was. “I appreciate as much,” she answered, “Winston and Ricky know, but I haven’t said anything to your sister. Kind of figured you should know since Ricky’s pretty much offered the couch to me for whenever I need it.” Her face shifted to concerned when he asked her to not let Athena know he was living here. She kind of figured as much what Winston had vaguely mentioned before, but opted to nod along instead with her brow furrowed. Family could be tough. Not that she had her own blood family left, but Celeste’s parents had shown her well enough that families could be complicated. “You got it,” she promised, “I won’t tell Athena or anyone else you live here. I’m sorry about your parents though. That has to be tough.”

Ricky’s place seemed to be some orphanage for the wayward and supernatural. At least, it had been for Orion. He didn’t know much about Ariana’s past, but if she was offered a place to stay he could only assume that she may have a reason to need to escape at some point. Which was totally something Rio could relate too. He wished he knew them beforehand, so he didn’t spend so much time sleeping on a dusty bed in an abandoned building. “That’s great! Well just so you know, I am totally cool with that. Not that like… it would matter per say if I wasn’t. Because this isn’t my house. But that doesn’t matter. Because you are. Welcome here, I mean.” He really had a way with words, didn’t he? “Anyways, ignore me. You uh- You’re like… safe here in town right? No crazy people trying to hurt you because of the werewolf thing?” Jesus, what kind of question was that? He was such a disaster. “My family’s complicated but uh- you know things are okay now. At least, now that I’m far away from my family things are great. I’m way happier than I have been in a long time.”

There was something so wholesome about Orion. While Ariana could tell he tripped over his words a little, she found it to be kind of endearing. She supposed as much made sense since his hobbies seemed to be stuff you do alone. “Thanks,” she stated calmly, “I appreciate as much. Even if it is technically Ricky’s house, I wouldn’t want to make anyone living here uncomfortable. That’s not cool.” The frown that followed the question of her being safe was unavoidable, especially knowing now that her bounty had been picked up. She wasn’t entirely safe and it sucked to admit. She supposed the sooner Celeste’s parents arrived the sooner this could all be over, but it still left knots in her stomach. She fidgeted nervously with her hands before opting to just hug one of the couch cushions. “Not exactly,” she mumbled before speaking up, “It’s kind of a crazy story, but here goes. My sister/guardian isn’t biologically my sister. She’s actually a hunter that saved me instead of killing me when I was like three and her parents killed my parents. Her parents apparently have a bounty on both of us which has been picked up… so that’s been a fun time. Hence the whole Ricky offering up the couch if I needed a place to lay low. You know how he is. Dude has a heart of fucking gold… or really whatever is like more valuable than gold.” Her fingers played with the fringe of the cushion and added, “Sorry if that was like, a lot. If I do end up crashing here, figured it’s only fair you know.” She listened carefully to his own family troubles, glad he had somewhere accepting to stay. “Well, whatever is going on, I’m happy you have Winston and Ricky. And that you’re happy. That’s the most important thing.”

Orion sat silently, completely speechless as Ariana recounted her tale to him. “Holy crap.” Was all Rio could say for a long while. His brain was still processing the news. And there was a lot to unpack. Ariana’s parents were murdered by hunters. An obvious reason for Ariana to despise hunters. But… she was saved and taken in by a hunter? That was insane. Sometimes Rio truly thought he was the only one that had wanted a different fate for supernatural creatures. Not just a hunter tired of killing or exhausted with the lifestyle, but someone that truly wanted to save the supernatural from other hunters. And to defy her own parent’s? “Your guardian… she sounds pretty incredible.” Rio whistled. He could only wish that he had the strength to do what she had done. Instead, the image of his former teacher, lifeless on their guest house floor kept flashing through his mind. Something he wished he could unsee, or even better, he wished he could have stopped. “I- uh. Jesus. I’m so sorry. That’s terrifying.” Did either of them know about Silver Bullet? What if the bounty had reached the hunter bar? Anybody around town could spot Ariana. Rio hadn’t gone since the fall out with his family, but maybe he could sneak by when he knew his parents wouldn’t be there? Check the board and tear anything down that shouldn’t be visible. “Platinum has always been considered to be one of the most valuable metals. For almost all of history, it has been more expensive than gold, but not always. Mostly because Platinum is a lot rarer than gold.” Rio rattled nonchalantly, barely realizing that he had just spouted off the random and unnecessary information. Despite this story, Ariana seemed as casual and cheerful as ever. Rio definitely liked her. “You don’t owe me an apology. And you definitely don’t owe me an explanation. I appreciate it, but you don’t have to ever feel obligated to tell me anything. Secret’s are sacred and all that… But uh- I hope everything is okay now. In town.” Rio found himself falling back into the chair and becoming a bit more relaxed now. Having this stuff laid out on the table for both to see was a bit therapeutic. “Thanks. It’s definitely been a healthier environment. They accept me for who I am and all that sappy stuff.”

Ariana knew she had dumped a lot on him, but if she ever did take Ricky and Winston up on their offer for a place to crash at and lay low, it was only fair Rio knew the full story. Plus, anyone that was a friend to both Ricky and Winston was a friend to her. All things considered, Rio had taken it all pretty well. He seemed like a kind and understanding person that she would now consider a friend. “Oh yeah, Celeste is amazing. Total nerd, but amazing nonetheless,” she agreed. It seemed wrong to compliment her sister without throwing at least one little jab in there. Teasing her was always fun. Maybe she had become so desensitized to how bad her current situation sounded, but she kind of shrugged it off. It was bad. She knew it was bad and the threat of danger was always there, lurking and waiting, but didn’t want him to worry. “It’s okay, really. Well, you know, as okay as it can be. We have some protections set up and friends who are helping us.” There was no need to throw in that the bounty was already picked up and worry him more. Everyone had so much else going on, they didn’t need to worry about her, too. When she told Celeste she wanted to stay here no matter what, she knew this day would eventually come. It had to. If they ever wanted to build roots anywhere, there was no avoiding it. Though now he was saying something about platinum and he brows knitted together in confusion. Yep, it was official. She broke Rio. That was way too much. “Good to know,” she assured him, easily, “And sorry for dumping all that on you. Hopefully crashing on the couch won’t be necessary though.” She gave him a comforting smile hoping it helped. Her smile only grew wider at his mention of this was a much healthier environment and how accepting Ricky and Winston were. “Good, you deserve all that sappy stuff. And Oreos, you deserve Oreos.” The last part may have been her own sweet tooth kicking in, but she returned to the kitchen to get them both snacks to enjoy while they hung out.

[larryfanfiction]

New Year’s Eve AU

🎆 One Minute to Midnight by QuickedWeen (29k)

Louis Tomlinson is at the height of his game in Boston’s financial scene. He’s got the instinct, and he’s got the guts to take calculated risks that make everyone around him a lot of money. Everything is going well until the day after he gets promoted when he wakes up forty years older than his actual age.

Two years later he’s adapted to his new life as a retiree, but he’s lonely and desperate for company closer to his real age during the rigorous holiday party season. He gets some questionable advice from Niall and turns to the Seeking Arrangement app where he finds Harry Styles, a local actor he’s been a fan of since they had an undergraduate class together. But what happens when a few dates here and there isn’t enough?

🎆 And Touch Me Like You Never by runaway_train (35k)

“Lets move back a bit yeah?” Harry clutches at his waist with a free hand and tugs him to move through the crowd until they are almost at the back of the group and settles them both beside the far wall. “There. That better?”

Louis looks up at him, as if he’s a tad dazed. “Uh, yeah, thanks. Can’t really see much from back here either though.”

Harry lifts a shoulder and grins at him, placing a hand on the wall behind Louis to pen him in. “We’ll just have to create our own fireworks then, won’t we?” He says it jokingly with a wink, and Louis laughs but he seems nervous. He must know that Harry is harmlessly flirting. Harry flirts with everyone after all, including Louis.

“Do you think this is a good idea Haz?” Louis asks quietly, almost too quietly in the clamour of the room, his head bowed as he scuffs his shoe on the carpet.

“Stop over thinking it Lou, it’s one kiss. What’s the worst that could happen?”

Or

The one where Harry and Louis agree to be each other’s New Year’s kiss and it ends up being a lot more than they bargained for.

🎆 The Stories That I Can’t Explain by kikikryslee (6k)

“Are you closing?” the woman asked, rushing into Louis’ store. “I just have to pick something up!” “I’m really sorry, but if you come back on Tuesday, we’ll be opening again at normal time,” Louis told her, trying to get her out of the shop. “No, please! I-” The woman dropped her head, and Louis watched in horror as she started crying. He didn’t do well with tears. “Please, I just have to pick up a ring, it’s- It’s for my brother, and he’s well… He’s dying. And it’s really important that I get it.” Louis could feel his mouth drop open even farther than it already had been. “Um…” Just then, a man walked into the store. He took one look at the woman and rolled his eyes. “Gemma, you haven’t told another stranger that I’m dying, have you?” he asked. The woman, Gemma apparently, turned to face him. “Of course I didn’t, Harry,” she said. — Or, the one where no one is actually dying, but Gemma likes to lie about Harry’s livelihood to get what she wants. Harry isn’t amused. Louis kind of is, though.

🎆 A Dream is a Soft Place to Land by lululawrence (4k)

“It’ll be like a perpetual sleepover, Lou,” Harry had said. “It’ll be great.”

And it was…except it also meant that Louis’ long time, barely there crush on Harry had only grown into a full fledged, real life version of playing house where Louis all too often found himself pretending he and Harry really were together when they definitely were not.

Or the one where Harry might have told his friends that he was dating someone and has to show proof for their party on New Year’s Eve. His best friend and roommate Louis is the obvious choice…but things don’t exactly go as planned.

🎆 2018 and The Rest of Forever by StayTillTheAM (4k)

Tick.

Tock.

Tick.

Tock.

One of these days Louis will take Liam’s annoying analog clock from the wall and smash it to the ground. He might even make it his new year’s resolution.

Louis’ been sat on the couch for the past hour, trying to focus on the cooking show playing but instead he got distracted by the damn ticking object on the wall in front of him. It just hangs there, mocking Louis and seemingly ticking as loudly as possible just to remind Louis that she and Time are in control. To remind him that they won’t wait for him. To remind him that the closer they get to midnight, the closer Louis gets to having another year wasted.

Because 2017 is almost over and Louis still hasn’t found his soulmate.

- - - - - - - -

Or the New Year’s Eve fic where 2017 refused to give Louis his soulmate, and 2018 might change that for him.

🎆 LoveJoy by Snowy38 (13k)

“Dance-mat!” Liam voted.

“Guitar hero,” Zayn chirped up.

“What about a game of Trivial Pursuit?”

The voice was deeply serious and even Louis grinned as Harry leaned forward in his seat.

Three faces scoffed.

“Jesus, Hazza, live a little,” Niall teased.

“Is that what a wild night is like for geeks?” Zayn wondered.

“No, that would be more along the lines of driving out to the middle of nowhere and camping in a field to study the interstellar medium of the Orion Nebula,” Harry quipped with a little, happy smile.

🎆 Never Walk Away (A Man Can Be Kind) by LiveLaughLoveLarry (8k)

Louis and Harry have recently ended their three year relationship. But maybe a little holiday magic can bring them back together.

~*~*~

“I don’t know why you’re so nice to that louse,” Oli says as the taxi pulls away from the curb.

Louis glances back through the window. Harry is still standing on the sidewalk, hands in his pockets, watching them go. “He’s not a louse,” he says absently.

“He hurt you.”

“I hurt him,” Louis replies. “And he didn’t mean to. It was inevitable. It’s not his fault. It is what it is.”

Oli is silent for a long moment. At last, he sighs. “Someday you’re going to have to stop being afraid.”

🎆 haven’t you heard by allwaswell16 (8k)

Harry Styles has been in love with Louis Tomlinson since they were eighteen. After six years together, Harry is ready to propose to the love of his life. The holidays strike him as the perfect time for a romantic proposal, but his well-meaning friends and family (including his self-appointed best friend, Niall) seem to thwart him at every turn.

Or the four times Harry tries to propose, and the one time he gets it right.

🎆 Yours In Fractions by FullOnLarrie (23k)

Louis and Harry are strangers who, because of a mix up, share their mutual friend’s apartment and bed over the holidays.

🎆 till our wide eyes burn blind by wonderously (7k)

au. harry and louis get snowed in together on new year’s eve.

🎆 I Think I’m Addicted to Your Light by supernope (9k)

Louis is just zipping back up when the door swings open with a swell of noise and someone shuffles up next to him, shoes tapping loudly against the tile floor. Louis turns to see who’s walked in and just violated the code of the men’s toilet by taking the urinal next to him and is met with wide, green eyes and red lips stretched into a brilliant smile.

“Happy new year,” the guy grins, shaking long, curly hair away from his face. “You look sharp. Sorry, do you mind holding this for a minute? I don’t really have any place to keep it and it’s kind of a hassle, getting out of these things. Don’t want it to fall in.”

He indicates his legs with the hand clutching a pale pink phone, and Louis’ gaze drops. Speechless, Louis takes the phone, eyes locked on the guy’s legs. His gorgeous legs, clad only in a pair of black thigh-highs held up by a silky black garter belt.

🎆 Running Down To The Riptide by sweaterpawstyles (4k)

“I can’t give you your present yet, Lou.”

Louis furrowed his brows. “And why is that, my love?”

Harry smiled at his lap. “Because your present is under my sweater,” he pulled his free hand that wasn’t laced with Louis’ and gently laid it on his stomach. “I’m pregnant.”

Or

It’s New Year’s Eve and Harry has a surprise under his sweater

🎆 So Baby Tonight Just Be the Death of Me by crimsontheory (12k)

He hasn’t had much to drink, just enough to make everything feel warm and soft, kind of like the boy currently pressed up against his side.

Louis glances around the room and thinks that even though there is a couple leaning against the wall, a little too close to him, very heatedly making out, and he can hear the faint sounds of someone throwing up in the kitchen sink, and that the whole house smells of sweat and stale alcohol, there is no other place he’d rather be than on this couch with Harry curled into his side.

An AU where Louis is new in town and Harry invites him to a New Year’s party.

🎆 the clock is ticking, ticking by smokinglarry (2k)

Louis’ timer is about to hit zero in a few seconds and he’s stood at Westminster Bridge because it’s New Year’s Eve and here are so many people, how is Louis supposed to find his soulmate ? He’s lost.

(people have timers engraved into their skin that show them when they’re going to meet their soulmate.)

🎆 six feet beneath the moon by starseas (25k)

AU. takes place over one night. harry and louis meet at a going away party.

🎆 How Would You Feel (If I Told You I Loved You) by Only_angel_28 (81k)

An AU inspired by the music video for Ed Sheeran’s song Perfect featuring two idiots who are too thick to see that their friendship is anything but platonic, lots of pining, too many terms of endearment to count, a wedding, slow dancing, a couple of steamy hot tub moments, karaoke, snow, a healthy dose of cuddling, love confessions, and Harry and Louis being quite generous to each other.

*Or the one where Harry has been in love with his best friend for four years, and New Year’s Eve at his family’s holiday home in Switzerland is perfect for finally telling Louis how he feels.

More Masterposts

[thewolfisawake]

Name one of your favorite tropes. How has your muse changed since you’ve first started to write them? (for Kesil)

Name one of your favorite tropes

One of my favorite tropes? I actually really like childhood friends that become lovers. I hear so much crap about it, I don’t mention it anymore. I don’t care how statistically unlikely it is. I’m not an idiot but it’s like, they say to marry your best friend. Well, this is like a lifetime of friendship and it’s cute.

How has your muse changed since you’ve started to write them?

HAHAHAHAHA, I could have gone with this cop out of just starting this blog. But since it’s you asking, I’ll say the whole thing. I’m so sorry but you asked. 

The very, very basics of Kesil…wasn’t mine. Like when I was writing fanfiction, I had a series that was involving a whole school. I didn’t want to nor did I think I COULD populate the entire cast myself. So what did I do? I asked for help from my readers. They gave me characters and they were regulars on the series. I did ask if I could do some things for their characters for the sake of story. Y’know me, like traumatize them and put them through hell…things I do when when I inevitably get attached. I was given a go ahead but I never got around to doing or even showing my plans for these guys. I went to college and my motivation for writing and living just went to hell.

One of these guys was Kesil or rather Orion. I was given him and Artemis and god they are nothing like then. Kesil was Artemis’ twin and they were assassins. They held the typical sibling dynamic of one being more shy and awkward with a much louder sibling. Kesil was the latter. I think of that personality of much more brash, corny, and the ‘best guy friend’ traits. You know what I mean. That’s all I had. Everything else was up to me.

Because I had so many bare bones characters, I had to spend a lot of time on each of them. And Kesil quickly became one of my favorites. In the story, he could banter easily with the protags, served as a parallel to them (as the protags were twins too), and was the best tension breaker. Because of that, naturally, I put him in more. And I had been plotting an arc dedicated to each of these characters my readers gave to me as a thanks and labor of love as to how much I appreciate their support. And because of this plus Kesil’s infuriating way of worming into your heart, I wanted his to be a good arc.

I ended up with two arcs. One he wasn’t the focus so much as a catalyst for events that went on. But. This was the first of my ideas and my vision of who Kesil was. It established that Kesil cared for Artemis more than anyone else, his strange calm and the attitudes of him when he is on a job, and that despite being an ass, he has a quiet loyalty but betray him, your ass is grass.

Second arc was the biggest developments. So like. This was like…supernatural high school. Or at least everyone in the regulars were. Everyone had ties to the fucking supernatural in some way shape or form. I couldn’t decide what to do with Kesil at first. I thought of it being his surname at the time, Undine, but that…would have been a little too on the nose for me. So I was like, “what’s a creature that has enough info I can actually find for him?” And…eventually it was vampire. Although to be fair, when I was writing, this was like the peak of me reading vampire related stuff. So this was coming.

And I thought…a vampire assassin sounds odd. It sounds crazy. Like why would you have both? So I sat down and thought…why. What I came up with was what you’d all know now as Kesil being trained because others are out for his blood. Only difference is that Kesil thought it was his family they were after, Artemis and his then sorta girlfriend, Jazzlyn, were the only ones to know that no, they were after just Kesil because he was born with an unique ability that any vampire would kill to possess.

And to add to the miscellaneous just so you can laugh and know how much I’ve messed this boy up: Artemis DID die and it was Kesil’s fault so he gave half of his power to Artemis to bring him back from the dead. Kesil’s dad gave his life to protect his boys and Kesil has an earnest respect to him and would want to honor his memory. He was captured when he was younger but his dad came to rescue him.

I technically had him on another platform but not much changed on there. Which brings me to when he came to this hell site. And of all things, Kesil chilled the fuck out. He was so hot-tempered when he played against his roommates so I guess not having them, he didn’t have that same fire. And for some reason, he had a lot more strained relations with his parents. That may also be because he’s also older than when I first started with him. 

And, of course, the change over to Kesil. Like everything about him changed from this concept. He doesn’t even look the same. He had long hair and very...scraggy-ish? And just a complete overhaul with his personality...Kesil was different guy. BUT. But, I did want to honor where he had come from. Which is why, from a writer’s perspective, Kesil is named what he is. And speaking of names, this is where I changed to Mechnikov and later gave him two surnames because if I have to suffer that, he can too.

[ponyregrets]

ngl i was hoping you'd reblog the reunion prompts list, “you’re famous and just got asked if you were ever in love this should be good– WAIT WHAT” au seemed super bellarke and also super your thing, slight preference for famous clarke but either way is great

under 2k it’s still good it’s still good

Bellamy would like to say he doesn’t care that his ex-girlfriend is famous. It’s not really a big deal, after all. Her fame came long after they’d stopped dating, high-school sweethearts who broke up in the natural way when they went off to different colleges. They kept in touch for a few years, saw each other on breaks and over summer vacations, but then his mother died and his sister went to live with his grandmother, and he started going home to a new state for breaks, and two years after that, Octavia told him Clarke was a singer.

So now he knows that his ex-girlfriend is still beautiful, still bright and just a little too serious and not great at being a celebrity, and if he still knew her for any reason except that she was famous, he’d probably call her up.

But it’s the fame thing, so instead he just keeps track of her as best he can without feeling like a creep. He buys her album, which is amazing, doesn’t actually follow any of her social media, but instead checks her official Twitter, which she absolutely does not run, and keeps track of all her singles and public appearances. Which is, he has on good authority, hilarious, because he’s generally the least musically aware person on the planet, and now he is an expert on exactly one pop-culture figure.

“You should absolutely call her,” his sister tells him. “Like, come on. It’s not like you’re some random creepy fan.”

“Yeah, I’m a specific creepy fan. That makes it so much better.”

“You guys dated,” she points out, not unreasonably. “Not that I want to think about this, but I assume you’ve seen her naked.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen you naked is a great way to start a conversation with a celebrity, O. It just makes them think you’re threatening to release a sex tape. Which I don’t have,” he adds, quickly. “Don’t worry. Just–seriously, it would be weird. I probably don’t even have her number any more.”

“I’m just saying, actually talking to her would probably be less creepy than what you’re doing now.”

“Thanks. That makes me feel so much better.”

Then again, given he’s spending his Sunday afternoon waiting for a stream of Clarke answering questions at some music festival in New York State, she might have a point. He’s already pretty creepy. Just talking to her would probably be an improvement.

Actual interviews with Clarke are pretty rare, but she’s got a couple Q&As set up while she’s at the festival, and he’s looking forward to just–seeing her talk. Finding out if the first girl he ever loved is still in there. And, okay, maybe if she is, he’ll call her up.

Like basically every livestream he’s ever watched, it starts off with technical difficulties, so by the time it’s working, the session has already started. Clarke is sitting on stage with a moderator, looking a little uncomfortable, but not in a way anyone other than him would notice, he doesn’t think. She’s always dealt with stress with a confident front, which is probably a good trait for a celebrity.

“I just started singing in college,” she says. “Which is pretty late, but I never felt like I had time before that. I tried out for an a capella group with my roommate, they said I was good, and it went from there.” She smiles. “Which I know sounds terrible. Easiest rise to fame ever! There was a lot of hard work and luck in there, but–that’s how I found out it was an option, and that I wanted it. Just random chance.”

“Next question,” says the moderator.

“Yeah, Dan, I’m from Massachusetts.”

“Cool, me too,” says Clarke.

“Yeah, I wanted to ask about that. Do you ever come home?”

“Sometimes. Most of my friends moved away, and so did my parents, so I don’t usually go to my home town, but I always love getting a chance to see Boston.”

“What’s the most stereotypical Masshole thing about you?”

She grins. “Dunkin Donuts addiction, definitely. My manager always wants to get good coffee and I’m sitting there with my extra-large iced Dunkies. It makes her want to cry. Thanks for the question. Next?”

“Hi, I’m Ally!” says a girl. She looks maybe twelve, at the oldest. “My friend says you don’t have a boyfriend or a girlfriend right now, but–have you ever been in love? Because you write the best love songs.”

Clarke is smiling, fond, and Bellamy can’t help a smile of his own. The kid is cute, and so hopeful.

“Yeah, I’ve been in love,” Clarke says. “I’m not saying you have to be in love to write a good love song, but–not to be a total cliche, there was this guy in high school. My first boyfriend.”

Suddenly, it’s not funny. Or, not ha ha funny. More the girl I never totally got over is going to discuss our relationship in front of a bunch of her fans funny. An entirely uncharted kind of funny.

“What was he like?”

“He was awesome. My best friend. I always wanted to try to make it work with him again, but–we fell out of touch. It sucks, but it happens. And I’m glad we had the time together that we did.” She wets her lips, looks down on her smile. “Anyway, yeah. Next question?”

Bellamy only half-hears the rest, his brain working overtime, unable to stop knowing that Clarke is talking about him. Writing songs about him, even.

“Are your love songs still about him?” a girl asks, right toward the end. “The guy from high school.”

“A lot of them aren’t about anyone,” she says. “Just the idea of love.” She bites her lip. “But yeah. Some of them are about him.”

He doesn’t really think about it, doesn’t weigh the pros and the cons. He just thinks–Clarke is still into him. Clarke hasn’t gotten over him. And if he’s not over her either, it just feels stupid, to not at least mention it.

And, really. New York isn’t that far away.

*

Her set the next day is great, even if he’s so far back he can barely see her. And she has another Q&A right after, so he leaves early to get a good place in line, feeling only a little anxious. He could just try to call, but, well. He’d honestly like to see her face when she sees him.

Besides, he doesn’t really want to wait.

Clarke comes out to applause, and she smiles, a little tired around the eyes, and waves. He looks away when she looks over the crowd, hiding under the brim of his hat, and when she says, “Hey, thanks so much for coming, guys! I hope you enjoyed the show!” he sees no indication she knows he’s here.

The crowd cheers, and she smiles again.

“Okay,” says the moderator. “Please keep questions short and appropriate, guys.”

The people in front of him ask a few standard questions, songwriting process, when her next album is coming, favorite artists, and he gets more and more nervous the closer he gets to the front of the line. She still doesn’t seem to have seen him, and he could just bail. Pretend he was never here and talk to her later. He could probably get to her. There isn’t a ton of security.

But then he’s at the mic, and she’s taking a drink of water, and he just leans in and says, “Hi, uh, I’m Bellamy, I’m from Northampton,” and she chokes. “Big fan,” he adds, when she meets his eye.

Her voice is a little weak, but she’s smiling. “Hi, Bellamy.” And then, when he fails to say anything either, she grins. “Did you have a question?”

He clears his throat. “Yeah, uh–my favorite song of yours is "Orion’s Belt.” I was wondering if you could tell me about the inspiration.“

"That’s really your favorite?” she asks, sounding a little offended, and he laughs.

“Sorry, am I supposed to have a different favorite? They’re all good. It’s not a competition.”

“Thanks, that means a lot.” She seems to remember they’re in front of a crowd. “Um, yeah. Of course that can be your favorite. It’s about my first date with my high school boyfriend. He took me out to teach me the constellations. He was kind of a giant dork, but–it’s one of my favorite memories.”

“Sounds like a nice night,” he says. “Thanks.”

“Thanks for coming, Bellamy,” she says, and he catches her looking at him through the rest of the Q&A, quick glances to where he’s sitting. When she’s done, he goes up to the stage with a bunch of other fans, waits as they get autographs and selfies.

When she’s done, she jumps down off the stage and hugs him, warm and close.

“Seriously, is that actually your favorite song, or did you just want me to have to admit it was about you?”

“It can’t be both?” He buries his face in her hair, breathing her in, and she holds on just as tight. “Hi, Clarke.”

“Hi, Bellamy. Good to see you.”

“Yeah,” he says. “You too.”

[pendragonfics]

Of the Expanse of Outer Space

Paring: Jim Kirk/Reader

Tags: female reader, cadets, Cadet Kirk, Starfleet Academy, fluff, slice of life, post Star Trek (2009), but set before Star Trek: Into Darkness. 

Summary: Laying in bed, Reader thinks over the times she has spent with Jim in Starfleet.

Requested by: nonny ♥️

Word Count: 1,989

Posting Date:  2017-06-15

Current Date: 2017-06-16

On the weekends where there is no schoolwork to be done and all the exams are completed and you are left lying in the bed with your eyes fluttering open, heart beating softly, a sense of satisfaction flowing throughout, it is good. Feels even better when the space beside you in the bed is warm, and the body there belongs to the guy who you can’t believe fell in love with you. It’s not that you can’t believe he fell in love with you. More like that he’s with you, and has been for the last six months. Not that you’re not any good. It’s that he’s sort of nomadic, love-wise. But not lately. Turning in the sheets, you face the blond man, seeing how the sunlight falls onto his face through the curtains upon his face.

---

When you had first met, it had been a sunny, sunny day, and just your luck the air filters in the classrooms had broken down in the fan units, leaving the air conditioning rendered useless. It was just your luck, and sweating like some kind of barnyard animal and toting piles of files for your xenoanthropology classes, you didn’t really have the right mindset to be looking where you were going.

Also, just your luck, to not see over your files, and be knocked into by a guy who’d also not been looking where he was going. While your hair was stuck to your head and sweat compiling upon your lip, Jim Kirk looked like a sun god in the heat, his hair a halo of gold, smile apologetic yet handsome altogether. Everyone knew Kirk. Well, all the ladies, anyways; last semester, your roommate’s best friend had a fling, and wouldn’t shut up about the guy afterwards.

“I didn’t see you there, Miss –,” He frowned, almost realising then he didn’t know your name.

You shake your head, “It’s okay, Cadet Kirk. I didn’t either.”

---

Sometimes, Jim Kirk looked like an angel. You say sometimes, because you’re sure he’s got the devil in him; how else does he get into so much trouble, and look good doing it? Luck? Genetics? Your bloodline showed you descended from scientists who took their work too seriously, what did that make you then, a stuck-up knowledge-seeker who’d file for divorce and share the news on their child’s birthday? (True story. It’s not a thing child-you took lightly). Kirk was the son of the one and only George Kirk, captain of the USS Kelvin. You’d say Jim had a right to be nomadic.

He never really spoke of his family, and that was okay. You didn’t either, and it just left you both living in the present. Going out for drinks every so often with McCoy, having study sessions with Uhura, finding him asleep on the couch with reruns of Doctor Who still playing while he napped. You’d down the alcohol, and memorise the materials to study, and when Jim lost his place in the episodes of the ancient show, you’d rewind it for him on the holovid.

---

After helping pick up your files, he’d apologised, and gone off back to his running games with his pals. But after it, you couldn’t help but see him places, like it was Where’s Wally but with Captain Pike’s protégé recruit everywhere. The bars. The library. Your dorm-room block. Your roommate Tonita thought he was some kind of stalker. You shook your head, and said it was a coincidence. Starfleet Academy, however prestigious, was still large to its own limits. It wasn’t that you didn’t like running into him. He looked like there was something more to him than the famed womaniser who dreamed of captaining a starship.

But it’s three weeks later and he’s not on your mind when you look up halfway through your shift. Working at the medical clinic with McCoy is just to earn money, and keep up your accreditation of medical practice (who didn’t like a nurse-slash-studier of alien cultures?). But looking up, you see him. Jim is standing in the entrance, his hand wrapped up in a dish cloth. You also notice that his nose is coloured-in with bruising pigment, eyes watery. There’s a small cut under his eye, too.

If you were attending to a patient, you wouldn’t drop everything and walk over to see the guy, what, you barely knew him. But you’re sorting out bandages for Leonard, who’s too lazy to sort them out himself, and gesture for Jim to sit in the triage seat.

“Looks like a barfight, Cadet Kirk.” You raise an eyebrow, taking the dishtowel hand in yours, inspecting it. “Doesn’t look as bad as it could be.”

He snorted, and then winced. “You should see the other guy.”

You shook your head. “No thank you. Not a fan of conflict.” You sigh, and motion to the empty Medbay beds, “You’ve got glass in your hands. I can take it out, or I can have the doctor look at it.”

“I do not want the doctor.” Jim shakes his head. “Bones’ll only laugh at me.”

---

In his sleep, he mutters something, that sounds like punch it! or something. The pair of you were yet to go to space, but you knew inside you that he’d make a great part of a team when on board a space ship. And not just because of his genetics. At this, Jim turns, his head turning toward you, burying his fair face and hair into the space between shoulder and neck. He smells faintly of peppermint and motor oil, and your shampoo he borrows when staying in your dorm room.

It’s been ages since he’s been in his room, for a proper sleep. Always your bed, always your space. You wondered if he had a thing for not wanting to be alone. You didn’t mind. The evidence was nuzzling you, coming up through the layers of sleep. You wondered if his dreams were of the expanse of outer space, or perhaps of his own memories. People say that sometimes your dreams are from your past, but it wasn’t true for you. Your dreams were a vivid kaleidoscope of warmth, a jumble of faces you’d never seen before, events never to occur.

“________,” Jim breathes, his lips warm upon your skin.

---

It’s raining when he finds you. It has been eight months after you patched him up, and with only a year to go until graduation, you are sitting on a pile of good marks and barely any sleep. You heard a day too late that he had run away into outer space. In fact, all but your roommate’s best friend had been taken away to space to fight against the rouge Romulan Nero, leaving you planet-bound and mopey.

Perhaps it was because nobody had selected you for a ship. Perhaps it was because last you heard of Jim, he’d bedded the Orion cadet Gaila before running off into the stars to save the day (illegally, after cheating on the test). Perhaps you weren’t as detached as you’d tried to be from the guy, and the reason your heart felt like it did was because you felt…more for him. Damn it, you loved him, and stupid you hadn’t told him soon enough.

But it’s raining when he finds you. You’re sitting on the terrible carpet in front of your dorm room, locked out after losing your keys somewhere through the day. As the news came that the peace between the Romulans had been kept, and Nero defeated, your friends returning, you felt overjoyed. You could all graduate in one years’ time, and all could go back to normal. But hearing that James T. Kirk, a lowly undergrad upon entering The Enterprise had been promoted three tiers during the events, your heart sank. No way in the heavens would he, a captain, like you back when there were other fantastic people out there in Starfleet with more prestigious positions.

“Mind if I join?”

You look up, and see him there. He’s wearing the yellow shirt, too, and it makes him look like a million dollars. Damn him and his silly ways of winning over the council. Winning a war. You don’t respond. Jim sits, anyway.

“You didn’t get called in for the distress call on Vulcan?” He asks you. “I thought every cadet did.”

You shrug. “I was off-base. You’d just cheated on the test, and I was flown to D.C. for a research assignment. Or don’t you remember? Gaila sends her regards.” He sat there, silent, still. “Imagine being stuck on Earth when there was an important space battle going on. Sucked ass, Kirk.”

He frowned. “Why don’t you ever say my name? I mean, my first name?”

Your heart stutters at his voice. Damn him. Damn you. Why can’t you just be angry at him in peace? “I don’t?” you ask. You know the answer. You never call him Jim. Not to his face, anyways. In your family, a bloodline of scientists who took their work too seriously, first names were special. Not to be thrown around flippantly, kept in the heart of those who they loved. “Sorry, I guess.”

He shakes his head. “No, don’t be sorry, I was just wondering…are you mad at me? Uhura made it seem you were mad at me, but I don’t know why.”

You don’t know why either.

“I’ll call you Captain Kirk instead,” you joke. But thinking about it, everyone probably calls him that now, since that’s what he is. “If you like.”

He’s silent.

“I don’t know if you’re here because you’re saying goodbye,” you mutter, your voice above a sort of whisper. “Before you go off and make a life out in the stars.”

Jim shakes his head. “I wasn’t – goodbye?” You go to elaborate, but he’s too quick, “I was coming with a job offer. You’re highly recommended by Commander Spock, and Helmsman Sulu. ________, I…I missed you.” His eyes are so, so blue, and they’re looking through your soul. “Don’t tell me it’s just me.”

“It’s not just you,” you blurt out. “I –,”

---

“Stop playing possum, possum,” you tease him, moving yourself to your side of the bed. It might be a double mattress because Starfleet Academy are stingy on anything that isn’t in space, but it didn’t mean there weren’t sides to the bed. A smile graces his lips as those eyes flutter open, lips part, the breath returns to his lungs to resume wakefulness. “Good morning, Jim.”

He rubs his nose, scrunching his face, yawning. “How’d you know I was awake?”

You grin. “Magic.”

“Y’know, I didn’t want to disturb your thoughts. You look pretty today,” He moves his arms, one behind his neck, the other moving under the sheets to cradle you closer to his torso. “Were you thinking about your graduation today?” His lips connect with yours, halting you from answering his queries, and adds, “Or about today’s launch of the USS Enterprise?”

“To be honest, Jim…” you blink, “I completely forgot.”

He laughs, nuzzling into your side again. “It’ll be just you, me, the vast expanse of space…and eight hundred crew.”

“You sure know how to talk a girl up,” you chuckle, moving your arm so to hold your hand with his. “I was actually thinking of us. When we met. You know, stuff.”

“Not thinking of breaking up on me, doll?” Jim looks at you with an eye that reminds you of old earth tales of pirates, you’re not sure why. But, like always, he makes the quirk look good – almost insanely good on him.

You shake your head. “Not on the eve of her departure, captain.”

Jim bites his lip. “Did I ever tell you how you make my rank sexy, Lieutenant ________?”

“You did last night, I remember correctly,” you wink, stretching your limbs under the bedsheets. “Come on. Let’s boldly go where no one has gone before.”

[kashmiresims]

Tranquilicis

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Orion Loche had been awake for nearly 24 hours. His midterm started in 5. His roommate and best friend, Cypress Wellington had started to get worried-- every so often knocking on Orion’s bedroom door and offering to bring food. All Orion requested was silence so that he could continue to study in peace.

He’d already poured over all the books and notes to his course and highlighted all relevant paragraphs, but then to his horror when he took a pause to review, his entire book was highlighted in yellow. He brought his knees up and opened a spiral notebook to transfer only the super important relevant information that would be on his midterm to differentiate it from the blocks of highlighted text in his books. It didn’t help that the midterm test fanned the flames of his anxiety to a near crippling level. He knew if he slept now that he wouldn’t have the will to wake up and then probably sleep through the test!

Cypress was reading quietly in the living room when he heard a loud bang on the front door. He jumped up to tell whoever had caused it to bugger off. He hated all the random campus rabble that came and went at all hours--mascots, rival mascots, cheerleaders, the SSU gym coaches--they were entirely grating and unwanted.

But he found something worse was on his doorstep.

He couldn’t exactly put his finger on why Cain Nova was the literal worst, there were too many reasons. At the moment, he could think of a few; Cain had a serpentine smile, and an ego to rival Nicholas Hart. Though, while Nick’s confidence was somewhat endearing, Cain and no substance or filter whatsoever. There he stood with his hands on his waist, grinning all self-assured and assuming Cypress would welcome him in like they were old friends.

“Is Orion around?” Cain asked when Cypress reluctantly pulled the front door open.

“He’s studying and doesn’t want to be disturbed,” Cypress frowned and said in a tone that clearly told Cain he was not wanted there. He hadn’t seen Cain for weeks and hoped the guy had gone for good.

“I gotta present for him, trust me he’ll love it,” Cain smiled and didn’t pay mind to how Cypress nearly blocked the entryway, and quickly elbowed through, slightly shoving him back to make room to squeeze by.

Cypress had about as much trust in Cain as he would have trust in a snake not to bite him. 

It was obvious that Orion carried an...intense liking...toward Cain. They had met in class at Sim State University their sophomore year and found a common interest in music. Music was Orion’s weakness. He was usually quite reserved around people but music made him open up and talk to anyone who would listen. Cypress only barely put up with Cain because on most days, he made Orion happy.

He watched Cain climb the stairs to the second story where their rooms were, still wearing a suspicious frown.

Orion took a moment to yawn. When he looked at his notes, they blurred together slightly. He had been studying for hours but still felt like he was going to fail. 

Suddenly the door to his room swung open and Cain Nova walked in with a smile that couldn’t even calm Orion’s nerves in this state. When Cain realized his usual charms were having no effect he sidled up against the back of Orion’s chair and leaned over his shoulder, “Studying hard I heard.”

Orion set his notebook down and uncurled his legs, grimacing at how one had fallen asleep because he was sitting on it so long. He slumped over with his head in his hand to rub his eye, “I haven’t slept in twenty-four hours, and I can’t stop thinking about all the ways I could still fail this test.”

Cain gave him a sympathetic pat on the back, “I know you get this way around big tests so I brought you something.”

Orion lifted his head and gave Cain a small smile, “You’re too kind. What is it?”

“First get up and stretch your legs, you deserve that much,” Cain indicated and backed away allowing Orion room to move. Orion stood and pulled his arm over his chest while simultaneously lifting himself on his tip-toes to stretch his calves though one still had the distinctive tingle of having fallen asleep.

Cain procured a small orange bottle out of his pocket and held it out. Orion took a look at it and his eyes became wide, “What’s that?”

“Tranquilicis,” Cain smiled and shook the bottle so they could hear the rattle of pills inside, “It’s the best drug on the market to treat anxiety.”

“Don’t you need a prescription to get that?”

Cain shrugged, “Yeah but that’s so addicts don’t get a hold of them. They are fine if taken in moderation. Here,” he grabbed Orion’s hand, popped open the lid and jounced two pills out of it and into his palm.

Orion looked at them with hesitation. He’d never taken any kind of medication for his anxiety before. It didn’t get this extreme but on rare occasions.

“Do you trust me?” Cain asked, stepping closer and taking Orion’s other hand in his.

Unlike his best friend, Orion did trust Cain.

He tossed the pills into his mouth and threw his head back to swallow them dry. Hopefully, they would work. Cain pulled Orion closer and kissed him and even though Orion knew he still had to study he was grateful for the distraction. He had missed Cain more than he would admit.

Cain maneuvered them toward the bed and pushed Orion on his back before sitting on the edge, leaning over and continuing where he left off. Orion reached out and set the bottle of pills on his nightstand, feeling his nerves start to unwind into a very delightful and peaceful calm. 

Then they heard loud clatter and crashes from below.

Cypress had been as quiet as a mouse for Orion the past 24 hours. He didn’t even microwave a flipping bowl of ramen on the account of the noise it could have made and distracted his studying. Well, he figured that if Orion was going to start entertaining Cain now, then the time for peace and quiet was at and end. So he started up his own racket by beating the floor tom of his trap set and kept smashing the cymbals over and over.