#pretend his ability has a loophole i want to play with the idea

[damagedintellect]

Skk Brainrot for Dazai’s BDay

💌 Babysitting the demon prodigy : Chapter 1  💌  

Summary: When Mori summoned Chuuya under the pretense that this would be Double Black's hardest mission yet this was not what he had in mind by a long shot. Walking into Mori's office to see a kid not more than seven years old sporting some poorly wrapped bandages tangled in an unkempt mop of brunette hair, with very familiar soulless eyes, Chuuya thought it was a joke.

Notes: Happy Birthday Dazai~ I didn’t finish my drawing so another have this wip instead, I thought it would be funny if Dazai's ability had a loophole like if he was on the brink of death his ability deactivates or something like that it's no fun when things can only happen to Chuuya. Curse Dazai and his immunity for crack shit.

💌 Word count: 1,425 💌  You Are Here | Next Chapter =>

When Mori summoned Chuuya under the pretense that this would be Double Black's hardest mission yet this was not what he had in mind by a long shot. Walking into Mori's office to see a kid not more than seven years old sporting some poorly wrapped bandages tangled in an unkempt mop of brunette hair, with very familiar soulless eyes, Chuuya thought it was a joke. 

"There are limits to even Dazai's ability I'm afraid," Mori sighed heavily as the aforementioned child was sitting on his desk swinging his legs in front of him with an amused smirk on his lips. "I've always had my suspicions on the extent of "No longer Human" but it appears Dazai does have to have some level of consciousness for the ability to be active." Mori shuffles through papers casually at his desk as if this situation is not sincerely off putting. Dazai's ability was active 100% of the time but it seems someone has found a way around it. The man Chuuya thought was untouchable has been bested by someone that wasn't Chuuya. It sparks a slight irritation that he was not the one to bring the prodigy down a peg. Heaven knows he wants too.

Chuuya frowns, crossing his arms "So why didn't he change back when he woke up? I refuse to believe this isn't some elaborate prank." Knowing Dazai's knack for always getting what he wants he wouldn't put it past him to get Mori on board. Did they just find some kid who resembled Dazai and think, haha funny joke? Chuuya wasn't buying it.

"Fair enough, I suppose Dazai would try this kind of a ruse.  However my guess is that like most ability users, because his mind and body has reverted back to such a young age, his gift hasn't fully developed yet."

 Dazai can't use his ability?

Chuuya's eyes went wide at the notion. If he couldn't activate his ability then he can't revert back to normal. If corruption were to act up anytime soon he'd be screwed. "Do we know who did it?" Looking over at Dazai, he didn't seem to mind at all. Instead he seemed intrigued by the whole ordeal. Watching Chuuya with a glint in his eyes that the redhead can't say he's ever seen before.

"Not yet, we're working on investigating further but as you could imagine Dazai hasn't exactly been the most cooperative in this state. His memories are so so." Mori finally looks up at Chuuya "I called you in here specifically so you can take care of Dazai until we figure out a way to return him to normal."

"HAAAH?!" 

Chuuya's outburst brings another smirk to Dazai's lips as he jumps down from the desk. It was weird to see their height difference remain the same albeit in the reverse. He was still wearing his signature coat but it was pinned to a new length similar to his shirt that he could tell was slightly oversized underneath a navy blue sweater vest. "Why am I the one who has to babysit the bastard?"

Mori laughed "You're his partner, it's only natural that it should be you. If word got around that Dazai is in this vulnerable state we'd need someone who could protect him in dire straits, you are the best martial artist in the port mafia are you not?" Chuuya growled at the circumstances, it was true. Most of the mafia relied heavily on weapons or abilities. Chuuya was lethal with or without. Plus despite their constant bickering they somehow know each other like the back of their hand. Which isn't saying much in Chuuya's case since he's akin to an open book but not many people can interpret Dazai's personal quirks. 

"As a former member of the sheep you also have the most experience with children. It should only take a few days to locate the user a week at most."

Chuuya grit his teeth as Dazai seemed to be circleling him, almost evaluating him as a suitable caretaker. Mori smirked, adding "I thought you'd be overjoyed at the prospect of bearing witness to Dazai being in such a defenseless position. Had it been you, Dazai would undoubtedly use the opportunity to his advantage."

Chuuya adjusted his hat "Sounds about right but you forget I'm not like that shitty Dazai." He turned towards the door taking one step before glaring at his partner with a defeated huff. 

"You better follow me before I change my mind." 

Dazai perked up, waving Mori off before skipping after the redhead. Mori chuckled to himself, it's times like these where he's glad he let these children join the port mafia. There was something about their youthfulness that was a breath of fresh air.

Chuuya was irritated beyond belief. He could  feel a hole burning through the back of his skull with the way Dazai was staring at him. He growled "Stop that."

"Stop what?" Dazai continued skipping down the hall innocently, knowing exactly what's getting on his nerves. "You little- you're staring, it's fucken creepy."

"Swearing? In front of a child? What kind of a partner are you?" Dazai said curiously in a sing-songy tune.

That's it. Chuuya stopped walking, pinching the bridge of his nose. Mori was right, this was a rare opportunity. He snapped his fingers and listened as Dazai yelped in surprise. He turned around to face Dazai hanging upside-down to meet him eye to eye. 

"Listen here you little shit, I was told to take care of you but that just means don't kill you. So you might want to think twice about your stupid little mind games." He has no idea what to expect from kid Dazai. He knows his Dazai is a prick but he doesn't know when Dazai became a manipulative asshole or if he was born like that. If Chuuya is going to survive the week he needs to lay some ground rules.

Dazai looked back with a bored stare. "You're much different from what's in my notes."

"Notes?"

Dazai softly hits Chuuya’s cheek with an unlabeled black book. Chuuya quirks an eyebrow confused but not surprised that even Dazai would have a contingency for something like this but when he opened the book he frowned.

“I must be obsessed with you or something since there are twenty six more volumes where that came from.”

Upon reading the first page entitled “Reasons Why Chuuya Sucks” he could feel his blood begin to boil but he was curious so he skipped to a random page.

“Chuuya put lemon on the karaage without asking, uuuuugh my life sucks.”

He forcefully closed the book. Figures that’s what Dazai would do but to write 26 volumes? This was at least more tame than his “Weekly Chuuya is A Sore Loser” newsletter but still, why would Dazai even waste his time? Chuuya doesn’t think he will ever understand even if the brunette told him. He sighed and reluctantly let the boy down, only letting him fall two feet to the floor with a soft thud. Dazai pats off the dust and adjusts his hair out of his eye. It was only for a few days he could handle this right?

“How much do you actually remember, truthfully? This will only work if you stop playing your shitty games.”

Dazai hummed thinking it over. He didn't feel like he could trust Mori but Chuuya felt different “Not much, I don't remember my time in the mafia. I woke up in Mori’s care and was taken to my office to try to jog my memory. That’s where I found that book. I thought it was just a journal but then your name was plastered all over it.” He resumed his uninterested posture as they continued to walk out of headquarters. "According to Mori I still remember basic knowledge but people, places, and events don't ring a bell." As they walked out of the building aimlessly Dazai put the book back in his coat pocket. "As far as I'm concerned I've only ever been the age I am right now."

Chuuya thought about what they could do to pass the time and he realized he doesn't actually know what Dazai does in his spare time other than find ways to annoy people and try to commit suicide. He's always reading that one suicide book maybe he should take him to a library or something. Chuuya's been meaning to check out a new poem book. Who knows, maybe this could be a really easy relaxing few days.

[jumpingjaxx13]

📚 📖 📓📕📒📔📘📗📙

Lol

The joke's on you. I have a ton of these and I'm about to make it everyone's problem.

Put "📓" into my inbox and I'll explain the plot of a fanfiction that I haven't written but daydream about.

(I'm gonna cheat a little. The ones with * are ones that I have started writing, but are incomplete/have been WIPs for a long time/nowhere close to being done. I feel like that counts just because of the amount of daydreaming/not writing that goes into them lol)

(Also, if there is any that someone is particularly interested in reading once it's finished, just leave a reply and I'll reach out with a link once it's published!)

This is going to be a long post, so I'll put the answer under a read more!

📚 *

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Ships: ShigaDabi (primary), TodoDeku (background, maybe)

An AU where Tenko Shimura was found by Inko Midoriya instead of AFO and raised as Izuku's brother. He winds up becoming Hawks's secretary, meets All Might and learns about his grandmother, and gets to proudly watch his brother follow his dreams. Things start to change when he meets a strange man outside of a cafe and falls for him. How was he supposed to know that Dabi was a villain!? From there, Tenko has to do a lot of self reflection and decide what he wants to do after learning about his boyfriend's identity, especially when he found out that his boss had known all along. Does he chase after Dabi? Join him? Turn him in? I'm not 100% sure how I want to end this, but I am tempted for it to lead to the "birth" of Tomura. Any suggestions would be welcome!

📖*

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Ships: N/A, maybe background Duo Holders?

Essentially an AFO origin story focusing on his relationship with Yoichi over the course of his descent. I take a few snapshots of the brothers together, starting as teens and going through to his death, and showing how their regard for each other changed. It finally ends with AFO speaking to Yoichi's grave years later. I'm a fan of DFO, so I'm going to be using the name Hisashi for him, but if/when his canon name comes out, I'll be changing it to match!

📓

Fandom: Death Note

Ships: LawLight (primary), MattMello (secondary)

An AU where Roger Ruvie dies early on in the investigation and, with the entire world under suspicion, L can't afford to replace him. Instead, he sends the majority of the kids off to other houses that Watari had built, save for his top three successors. Near, Mello, and Matt all move into the Task Force HQ and, despite L's "best efforts" to prevent it (read: he's totally just pretending to stop them to please the others), they continually find themselves thrown in the middle of the investigation. I'm also not 100% certain how I want this to end, but I do know that it's going to be endgame L/Light and Matt/Mello.

📕*

Fandom: Bungo Stray Dogs

Ships: RanPoe (past), ODazai (past, platonic or romantic), SteinCraft (past, background)

A sequel to Unstoppable Force. I've had a few people express interest in the culprit, so I've decided to write up an optional sequal that explains it. I debated not doing it, but I know that a lot of people enjoy closure, so I thought it would be fun! I invented a new villain and a new ability and I found an excuse to drag some Guild members into it as well. Essentially, Ranpo reopens the case after the funeral and uses the strange behavior of Steinbeck to corner and catch the elusive ability user. I'm personally proud of the ability I created, so I'm going to keep it a secret for now.

📒*

Fandom: Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun

Ships: TeruKane (primary)

This one is actually based on a post that has since been deleted proposing the idea of a soulmate AU where the name of your soulmate is written on the inside of your book in the Four O'clock Library. I shook it up a bit and added the idea that if you read your soulmate's name, people will begin to forget they exist and you have to confess your love to them within a week or they will disappear from existence entirely. Akane didn't think it would be a problem to go and confirm his soulmate-- it's obviously Aoi-- only to discover a very different name written in his book. Knowing his time limit, he struggles to find a loophole in the curse that would help him avoid confessing a love he doesn't feel. In the meantime, people are slowly starting to forget who Teru Minamoto is, with Akane being the only one to remember, forcing them to spend even more time together. This one is going to have a happy ending, but it's going to be a really close call!

📔

Fandom: Robihachi

Ships: Robby/Hatchi (primary)

This is a sequel to Lovely that I've been playing around with. Someone expressed that they wanted to see how Robby's father would react to their situation and that got me thinking about it. In a misguided gesture of good faith, Hatchi's parents invite Robby's family up to the moon to help celebrate either his birthday or their first anniversary. Much to Robby's surprise, they agree to come, leaving him with an awkward mess of judgement to deal with until they leave. I still haven't decided how this will end, but I know it's going to be on either a positive or bittersweet note.

📘

Fandom: My Hero Academia

Ships: EraserMist (primary; may be romantic or platonic), Tomura/Touya (secondary)

Sequel to Purpose. Kurogiri and Tomura move in with that kind hero, Aizawa, after what happened in the alleyway. It takes a lot of getting used to, but it is leagues better than living out of a hotel. Kurogiri juggles working to obtain his hero license with raising Tomura (made easier with the new help) and investigates just why that hero seemed so familiar... Later on, when Tomura enters UA, he juggles making friends for the first time, proving his heroism despite his quirk, and a concerning new crush on the hot upperclassman.

📗

Fandom: Sk8 the Infinity

Ships: MatchaBlossom (primary), Renga (secondary), ShadOka (maybe)

This one is going to go through a week of after-hours visits at Sia la Luce. Each day, someone drops in while Joe is closing up, needing one thing or another. From relationship advice to a pleasant escape to pleas for forgiveness, Joe finds himself to be the center of all of their attention. It's just a collection of seven mini-stories that are all collected throughout the span of one week in-universe. Everyone is going to give Joe a visit for different reasons and I'm excited to see how it turns out!

📙*

Fandom: Bungo Stray Dogs

Ships: Shin Soukoku (primary), Soukoku (secondary), more potentially TBA

A fantasy AU in which Fukuzawa and Mori are the kings of two rival kingdoms, Ada and the Port Kingdom (I'll probably change the names lol). Fukuzawa has no genetic heirs, but he had taken in a number of wards, one of which will be chosen to succeed him. Mori has two children, and the prince was born with a terrible curse that leaves his reputation soaked in blood. Atsushi, one of Fukuzawa's wards, is also cursed and feels that Prince Ryuunosuke is just like him; that he can be saved with some kindness and compassion. Despite being warned not to, he sneaks out and attends a ball intended to find the prince a suitor. While there, he unknowingly defends the prince from a number of attackers, which, while unnecessary, piques Ryuunosuke's interest. The two run away together, but wind up being sidetracked by an advancing enemy and wind up lost. Chuuya, a knight from the PK, is sent by Mori to go and find his son. Dazai, Atsushi's mentor and ward of Fukuzawa, is sent to go and locate the weretiger after he does not come to breakfast in the morning. Chuuya and Dazai run into each other while searching for their respective people, which leads to them teaming up to find them while Atsushi and Ryuunosuke are trying their hardest not to be found.

[richiefuckfacetozier]

Chapter 2: Funny Feeling

Story: Why Can’t This Be Love

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Art of Eddie and Richie by @whatidoisxsecret

Located on Archive of Our Own

___

Eddie’s leg was bouncing up and down quickly as he sat in the semi-empty Thai food restaurant. Mike and him always had lunch at on Wednesday. It started after Mike’s dad died for a source of comfort. Not that Eddie felt qualified in any way to comfort someone after the death of a parent when he could barely remember his own father, but Mike meant a lot to him. He needed someone who would listen. Who would not change the subject because they were uncomfortable like Bill, or make an inappropriate joke like Richie, or avoid the topic of fathers altogether like Beverly had every right to do. Ben used to come before his big promotion, it had him traveling too much now. That left, Eddie, who would listen, nod, give some thoughts, but mostly just be there for Mike.

They kept up their lunch dates long after Will Hanlon’s death because it was special to them. If there were a couple of dishes they both wanted, they would get them and share. Mike always got a dessert that Eddie would mooch from. Spending one on one time with Mike was easy, never worrisome.

For once, Eddie was especially nervous today because he had to lie to Mike. Lying to his friends was not his forte. He knew how to lie or fudge the truth, it was an important ability he developed living under his mother’s strict roof. The question wasn’t whether he could do it or not but the guilt might eat at him.

This was all Richie’s FAULT. Last night when he suggested they be each other’s dates to Ben and Beverly’s wedding, Eddie was so caught off guard that he found himself agreeing. Well, not exactly saying yes, but he certainly didn’t say no. He told Richie he would think about it. The idea was actually brilliant, the only problem would be convincing their friends they were dating and not just using a loophole in the ‘Eddie and Richie must have wedding dates’ rule.

He wasn’t even necessarily nervous to pretend to be Richie’s date. In fact, he found himself a little exhilarated at the prospect. Their conversation about how to handle this didn’t get very far, but Richie said they would have to start dropping hints to the losers club immediately. It wouldn’t be enough to be each other’s date, they must convince everyone they liked each other as more than best friends. It was this part that sent him into a bit of a spiral.

“Sorry, I’m late!” Mike came flying into him for a quick hug, almost tipping him out of the chair, then sat across picking up his menu. Eddie looked at the tired, yet caffeine-fueled human in front of him fondly. Mike was a handsome and extremely good-hearted man. It always surprised him that Mike was single, but Eddie had a feeling he was looking for the kind of true love his parents’ possessed. Which wouldn’t be easy to replicate as the Hanlons were a beautiful couple.

“You’re fine.” Eddie waved him off. “I’ve just been suffering from the boredom of waiting for you.”

Mike rolled his eyes, “So much suffering. I bet you were texting Richie the whole time.”

“No, I wasn’t!” his eyes flashed in irritation. He hadn’t been, nevermind that normally he would be texting Richie. Right now he felt a little nauseous thinking about it. “My life doesn’t revolve around him.”

Mike laughed, “No need to bite my head off.” Eddie rolled his eyes but begrudgingly smiled.

“So why were you late?” Eddie asked.

“Boss needed me to show a new employee around the library.” Mike picked up the menu. “She seems nice.”

“Nice?” Eddie raised an eyebrow in surprise. His friend tended to be very private about people he might find attractive. It was vital he stayed cautious, if not also a bit nosy, when trying to ask questions. He hesitated then, “Are you interested in her?” Then immediately regretted it as that was probably too much too fast. So much for cautious.

Mike glanced over the top of his menu clearly debating how much to reveal. His dark eyes were steady with internal conflict. “Maybe? She’s a knockout that’s for sure. So how was dinner last night? Any new news?”

He nodded still wanting to push the subject further but he had the job of leaving hints about his own fake dating life. He considered how to do this then a crazy idea came to him.

Without meeting Mike’s eyes, Eddie started by saying, “Mike...I think I am gay.” He couldn’t believe he just said those words aloud.

A gasp and smile came from Mike’s lips, “Oh wow! I…” He was completely thrown for what to say. “Thank you for sharing that. How do you feel?”

“A little sick to be honest.” Eddie groaned. He should not have done that. It was a mistake. Suddenly, his breathing picked up in a telltale sign of a panic attack emerging.

“Hey, hey…that’s ok.” Mike reassured him gently, he reached forward to pat Eddie’s hand comfortingly.

“I told Richie too.” Eddie gasped out, breathing evening back out with his friend’s kindness. Silence ensued as Mike clearly tried to control his facial expressions. This was Eddie’s chance, he gulped heavily. “I’m happy Richie knows.”

Mike hesitated then said, “Oh yeah?”

Eddie nodded, “Ya know, because he’s...he’s Richie.” He’s my person. But Eddie didn’t want to say that out loud and offend Mike, someone just as important. “I don’t know how I am going to tell Ben and Bev when they JUST told Richie and me about this ‘Have to take a date to their wedding’ deal.” Eddie bit the bottom of his lip. “Thanks for not warning me by the way.” He said sarcastically, removing his hand from underneath Mike’s.

Mike opened his mouth to defend himself but the waitress swooped in to grab their food and drink orders. She gave Eddie a wink when he asked for his meal, which reddened his cheeks a bit in embarrassment. People flirting with him always made him uncomfortable. Except with Richie, he was the only person Eddie could laugh off the flirting easily. Most likely from years of dealing with it.

After she walked away, Mike turned to Eddie with a determined expression, “You had to know they would ask something like this of you. Stanley’s wedding was bad enough then Bill’s, you both need someone to rein you in.”

A spark of rage ignited within Eddie, he was always easily angered when pushed. “Those were rough fucking times for me! And last year was hard as fuck on Richie with the death of his dad. You should understand of all people.”

Mike’s lips pursed and he spoke very slowly, “I do understand, Eddie. But this day is about Beverly and Ben. They get to ask whatever the fuck they want from any of us.”

“It’s embarrassing, Mike.” Eddie’s voice was rising in pitch and volume as a familiar panic started to set in. “Forcing me to get a date and, in turn, now I have to come out to them to explain why the person I am bringing will be a guy. It wasn’t fair of them to put me and Richie on the spot like that! You knew! You should have said something.” As all of this rolled out of Eddie’s mouth, a crazy dawning hit him. He might actually...be...no...he can’t be. Can he?

Mike listened carefully before sighing loudly. He looked away from Eddie then back at him. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Eddie nodded. “That’s all I wanted to hear.”

They got interrupted by the waitress coming with their food and drinks. The meals smelled incredible but neither of them touched their food. Mike clearly wanted to say more from the tense way his jaw twitched.

“I really didn’t think about it, Eddie. I’m sorry you were put in that position.” Mike gave the saddest expression that made his tired face look even more burdened.

Eddie was never able to stay mad at his friends for long. “You apologized. Good enough for me.” And almost as a sign of peace, Eddie reached over and took a spoonful of Mike’s Pad Thai. “So tell me about the library girl.”

Mike beamed at him. “Her name is Carole Danners…”

Eddie marched forward like a soldier ready for war. He got to the door of Richie’s apartment and knocked. There was a thump and yell from inside. Richie must have been napping then fell off the couch. Which made sense since he worked the night shift at the Radio station and did standup many nights.

Eddie was losing his resolve with every passing second. It was taking far too long for Richie to answer. His feet started carrying him away from the stoop then the door flung open.

Richie’s hair was messy, sticking out everywhere. Eddie was annoyed at how his cheeks warmed seeing Richie shirtless and wearing only boxers.

Now, he isn’t blind or an idiot, Eddie knows Richie is really good looking. He’s known the guy through braces, the growth spurt, his skin clearing and the mercy of puberty turning him into a beautiful man. Richie works out to keep fit for industry standards, he has a soft stomach from still eating junk and too much beer, his eyes are ocean blue behind stylish glasses, jaw defined, and overall unfair attractiveness.

Richie leaned on the doorframe with a smirk. “You going to stand there and drool over my sexiness or come inside?”

Eddie frowned, shoved past him and into the apartment. “I wasn’t drooling you turd. And you aren’t sexy, you’re a nerd.”

“So what do I owe the pleasure of your company, besides the obvious of enjoying your company always.” Richie plopped down on his couch and patted the seat next to him. Except Eddie didn’t feel like sitting yet. He went over to the record that was playing a Queen song. Richie always had music playing, he could barely go 30 minutes without some kind of sound surrounding him. It was particularly bad in school when he would finish tests quickly then bring out his headphones to try listening to something. Teachers hated it.

“I want to go as each others’ dates for the wedding.” He heard Richie get up from the couch, then a hand came on his shoulder to turn him around. Those blue eyes searched his own greyish-brown ones for a minute. The scrutiny made Eddie feel exposed, so he shrugged him off changing the record to a song by Aretha Franklin. “I’m serious. Whatever it takes for us to go together, I will do it.”

This seemed enough for Richie. “Fuck yes! This will be so fun.”

“It won’t be fun to lie.” Eddie groaned.

Richie ignored this as he said, “We need to plan. It has to be convincing. Some of our friends may not believe us.”

“I told Mike I am gay.” Eddie blurted out. Richie’s eyes widened in shock, which looked huge behind his thick glasses. His big mouth opened in a dumb gaped way, “And he fucking believed me which I feel says something about me that I am not sure I want to tackle at the moment.”

“Oh shit,” Richie laughed and gave an air of completely impressed. “No, you fucking didn’t!”

“Yeah, I fucking DID. He sat there and was proud of me.” Eddie paused. “Richie, do I give off gay vibes?”

“Er…” Richie shifted from one foot to the other, while rubbing the back of his neck. “How should I know?”

“Bowers used to call us faggots all the time…”

“Eds, that was just one of the few words in Bowers’ vocabulary. You can’t possibly take it seriously.”

Eddie studied Richie for a second longer. “You're probably right. I’m overthinking this.”

“Definitely. No more thinking.”

“You do enough lack of thinking for both of us," Eddie stated, to which Richie barked out a laugh. "Ok. What do we do?”

Richie frowned in confusion, “What do we do what?”

“About pretending to date!” Eddie felt small and vulnerable. This situation was not ideal for him, either of them. He couldn’t put his finger on exactly why so many hang-ups were emerging, him and Richie messed with their friends all the time. This felt different, more dangerous, disrespectful maybe or...too real perhaps.  

Richie must’ve sensed Eddie was in his head as he slung a long arm around his shoulders leading them to the couch.

“So, first we have to pretend to date,” Richie informed him. This reminder made Eddie grimace. Going as wedding dates was one thing but actively dating would be a challenge. “It’s the only way to convince them it’s genuine and not a trick.”

“Dating to go to one wedding together is risky, Rich. What if you find someone you are actually interested in?”

“Eds, you know my track record is all over the place. I’ve never held a girlfriend for more than a couple of months.”

“You dated Sandy for 3 years and lived with her for 2 and a half.” Eddie stated bitterly.

“Right, blocked Sandy out,” said Richie, obviously lying. He rarely ever brought her up and never talked about why they broke up. Eddie always figured she thought Richie wasn’t mature enough. Whenever the subject of marriage came up, he used to make a joke about them being too young or that she wouldn’t want to marry him. Until one day she stopped him in front of everyone and said she did want to get married so what did he have to say about that. They broke up the next day. Eddie never told Richie he was happy about that break up because he knew it wouldn’t go over well, but Sandy always tried to change Richie. To do that to the most immovable force in Eddie’s life was unforgivable in his book. “Anyway, don’t worry about me. But if you want to date someone within the next year, speak now or forever hold your peace.”

Eddie shook his head aggressively, “Definitely not up to actually dating someone.”

Richie placed his hand over his heart. “Hurtful.”

“Asshole.” Eddie grumbled and poked Richie’s forehead hard.

He rubbed the spot but smiled fondly. “I’ll be your practice subject for your future soulmate.” The sentiment didn’t reach Richie’s eyes. Probably because Richie doesn’t believe in soulmates or something.

“Alright,” Eddie took a deep breath, “Should we make rules?”

Richie ran a hand through his hair making it stick up more. “Like what?”

He fidgeted uncomfortably on the couch, he toed off his shoes, then leaned back bringing his feet up. “Like ‘If we start developing feelings, we end it.’.”

He couldn’t be sure but he swore Richie looked at his lips before saying, “What makes you think we will develop feelings for each other?”

Eddie stared at the small burn in Richie’s couch instead of his eyes. To this day, Beverly has never admitted that the burn is from her leaving a lit cigarette down for too long. Everyone convinced Richie he burned his own couch when drunk and trying to light up a cig. The lie has been going on since college, far too long, so none of the losers can ever tell him. It’s one of the only secrets Eddie keeps from Richie.

He decided to ignore Richie's question saying, "You make up a rule now."

"Er..." Richie thought for a little bit then, "‘Kissing in public to prove it is fine, but not in private’?"

"AND NO TONGUE!" Eddie insisted. "I used to hate when Myra wanted to french kiss. She of all people should know how many germs are in a mouth. More than a toilet!"

"Ya really had a rockin' affair there with Myra the hydra. Didn't ya, Eds." Richie was smirking.

“Also, ‘We cannot tell anyone or any of the losers no matter what’.” said Eddie with a bit of warning tone thrown into his voice.

“I’d be more worried about YOU not being able to tell anyone.” Richie lightly hit Eddie’s leg. “You’re the one who can’t keep a secret for shit.”

“I haven’t told a soul that you were my first kiss at 11!” Eddie argued.

“Yeah, cause it’s embarrassing as fuck. Actually, we can have that be an anecdote now!” Richie said excitedly. “Thank god, that secret was fucking eating me alive.”

Eddie laughed a belly-busting laugh. Richie had this way about him, he could diffuse the most awkward situations. Deciding to do this was about as awkward as it could get with them. When Eddie’s laughter subsided, he asked, “So how did we start dating? This is also weird because it’s going from secret dating to dating. We will need solid stories.”

Richie leaned back on the couch and thought about it for a bit. “Ok. I got it. We can literally blame it on Beverly and Ben. They forced us to bring dates, you come out of the closet to everyone which in turn gets me thinking differently about you. So I make a move and…”

“Why do you get to make the first move? And why do I have to come out of the closet to everyone?!”

“I’m more ambitious than you and you keep fewer secrets, so you have to come out first. Also, you already fake came out to Mike, so the rest should be easy.”

“But I’m bolder in my actions!” Eddie surprised himself with that one. But he was getting to know himself better lately, and one of the things he prided in was taking action when necessary. “Case in point, coming out to people, so I could’ve made the first move!”

“Fine. How about, we both drank too much one night and started making out but have no idea who kissed who first because we both just went at it. Sound good?”

“Yes,” Eddie nodded. “And...um...we didn’t want to tell anyone because we had no idea if it was a one-time thing or like something real.”

Richie bounced a little in his seat enjoying the storytelling. “AND! We didn’t want to ruin the friend dynamic without being sure it worked.”

Eddie’s stomach felt queasy talking about this. He wanted to be excited like Richie, usually, when they schemed he was all in, but this time he wanted to vomit. The stakes were so high. “Perfect. Alright, let's decide who finds out first.”

“Bill should catch us,” Richie suggested. “Everyone will believe him. Also, the look on his dumb face will be beyond fucking worth it.”

“Don’t call Bill dumb, Richie.” Eddie chastised. Richie rolled his eyes, which he let slide. “I agree about him catching us though. He’s most likely to confront the situation too. Ben, Mike, and even Beverly might keep it to themselves.”

“In general, we should drop hints like ‘I think I like someone but I don’t want to say who’ or ‘I’m hooking up with this cutie who has an ass you can slap day and ni…’”

Eddie smacked the side of Richie’s face with his foot, knocking off his glasses, “No jokes about my ass!” Richie hit him in the chest because he couldn’t see Eddie properly. Eddie launched himself toward Richie sitting on his stomach, knocking the air out of him. Eddie grabbed a couch pillow shoving it harshly in Richie’s face. He tried to fling Eddie off but couldn’t get a proper grip on him. He stopped struggling and tapped Eddie’s leg asking to be free.

Eddie paused realizing one flaw in the plan. He removed the pillow, hyper-aware of Richie’s hand still on his thigh but he should probably get used to the touching. “There is only one person I’m super worried about believing us.”

Their eyes met ominously as they said at the same time, “Stanley.”

___________

Notes:

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[bigskydreaming]

kai06leaf replied to your post:

Ended up all night, with sleep derailed by a RUDE...

Um I had asked for a link for your batman related works?:)

Oh score, this is actually weirdly timely then! FlashinthePan is my Batfam pseudonym (https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlashInThePan/works), its just it hasn’t been useful for much other than to use my bookmarks page there as a fics rec list. Since the only other things still up on it are the YJ WIP I haven’t updated in a couple years and an elephant’s graveyard collection for the random ficlets I often write on here while forgetting they’re usually long enough to be actual one-shots...and that I then forget to actually add to that one, that I created for the specific purpose of putting all those in one place. My mind. Its just....*staggers at the Legend of it all*

I’ve been on a pretty committed “No more posting unfinished WIPs kick” for the past couple years but am finally at a point where I have stuff to post without cheating, so that streak officially ends today, when I finish my read-through of the first fic* in question and hit publish. “The Requiem Rites of Robins,” the ten chapter first story in an AU Battle For the Cowl fix-it series, “A Legacy of Robins,” with TRRoR being roughly 40K, focuses on Dick and Jason and their issues with each other and Bruce’s believed death, picking up and going AU at an indeterminate time not long after the end of BFTC. 

Specific goals of focus with this particular fic were addressing Bruce’s bullshit last will and testament to Jason (ugh), the eternally unremarked upon moment that was Dick watching his brother refuse to take his hand and instead fall to what at the time must have seemed very likely to be Jason’s second death, in a pretty fucked up parallel to his parents’ death (ugh), various other unaddressed issues between the brothers that kept them making like they were Cain and Abel instead of two people who loved each other and very much could use each other while grieving for their father or even just pretending they weren’t....and also steadfastly jumping their combined train of events well off the tracks before Morrison’s whole...”Jason” thing ever happened at all (ugh).

Just a headsup for readers for whom certain characterizations of Bruce are a dealbreaker - full disclosure, this fic and its sequels do consider various less pleasant moments between Bruce and his two eldest to be in character and canon, with NTT #55 and the ending to UTRH the most touched upon and relevant. For what its worth, my intention there (and hopefully my execution of things) was not to vilify or bash Bruce, or to make it at all a question of whether or not both really loved Bruce and he them. 

To be clear...I do categorize Bruce’s actions towards Dick and Jason at those times/specific others as abusive, but a huge part of my reason for even writing this particular fic was to explore and examine the reality of loving a parent even despite a history of actually abusive behavior on their parts. Of how to mourn for someone you loved at some times and hated at others, who was both the person who made you feel whole again and the one who made you at other times feel the most broken. 

Especially when you’re two people who pride themselves on being heroes, who are ‘supposed to know’ that there’s no defense, no excuse for some of the things their father did, but that doesn’t always change or erase how much they want to. And who are both looking for an answer in the other, as to how they’re supposed to live with the fact that deep down, there’s a part of them that will always still be those ten and twelve year old orphan boys who came to believe their father was a man who could literally do the impossible...even mend what was broken, make things right with them and the world as they knew it just like he’d managed once before, when he’d first come into their lives and they’d been just as certain then that there were no more happy moments in their futures at all. 

And with the both of them still, even after everything, having held onto that secret hope that someday he was going to find the secret loophole, the magic words that let them forgive him, that let them let the past all just be in the past and the future all that really mattered, that their best days as a family weren’t all behind them yet and there was still time for things to be different, for him to be different....because their dad wasn’t like other ordinary dads, their dad was the Batman, he was a superhero.....

....who was also still just a man, and sometimes men die with their most important deeds still left incomplete.

This first story is centered firmly on just Dick and Jason, because I have a tendency to let things get too widespread and expansive plot-wise the more characters I focus on, and because this first story, about mourning Bruce and finding a way to move on, needed to be just Dick and Jason, although Cass and Tim and Damian, as well as Steph and Babs and Alfred all have things in the wake of his believed death that IMO they needed explored, and that were never explored in canon. But Dick and Jason had to be the first two and a solo act except for each other, especially as this series is still geared towards Bruce’s eventual return, and just to a much different status quo....because the thing about Dick and Jason at this specific point in time, is that they were quite possibly the only two people in the world who would ever have the relationship with Bruce that they did, to see him the way they both at times did, and nobody else ever fully grasped. 

They knew him at his highest and his lowest points, the best parts of him and the worst, the center of their whole universes and the destroyer of them....and for them, at this place and time, its about being forced to realize that for as much as come between them over the years, they each are the only ones who will ever fully be able to speak to the entirety of their father as not just Bruce Wayne, the Batman, the myth and the legend, but Bruce the man, the flawed father who was supposed to be better than his worst mistakes with them, because he was supposed to be a hero. 

Even as close as others were to Bruce, there were specific slants to the light they saw him in....for Alfred, even when making his worst mistakes, he was still his son, for Cass he was still the father who fought her personal demon not because of what he wanted her to be but so that she could be who she wanted to be, for Tim, he was imperfect but still larger than life, the hero he’d still first only come to know through the lens of a camera from a great distance, a perspective he’d yet to entirely shake, and for Damian he was still largely a figure of make believe, a bed time story he’d been told all his life. 

There’s an inherent goodness, a nobleness around the idea of Bruce for most others in his life, that defies coming face to face with the realities his failings could be.....which only Dick and Jason could ultimately attest to, as losing the ability to keep sight of that innate shine was why they’d found themselves so disillusioned by their father at the lowest points between them. And so in a lot of ways, the ultimate goal of writing this fic was trying to get Dick and Jason to a point where they could share their full, messy, complicated as hell feelings about their father with each other, but simultaneously feel a need to preserve the way each of their siblings still saw him, because the truth is that if there’d been someone who could have preserved that shine for their own eyes, to keep their memories of him clear and unobstructed by complication....they would have been glad to have been left just missing Bruce their father, and not the mess of feelings forever tied up in a Gordian knot upon by his death.

So yeah. LOL. That’s the link to my Batfam works, though there hasn’t been much on their for ages, but stay tuned for Chapter One of The Requiem Rites of Robins, later today.

“In the wild, a group of robins is called a round. But Gotham’s birds have always been of a different sort, something entirely unique. And the only proper plural for them, I’ve found, is a legacy.”

An investigation leads the newly minted Batman to London, alone and without Robin’s back-up for the trip. In the past couple months, Dick Grayson has barely found time to breathe, let alone to grieve for his father and come to terms with his new role as the Dark Knight’s successor. But his distracted state leaves him vulnerable, and when a new villain’s one-man war threatens to make a casualty of him too, he’s left with no alternative but to work side by side with his rescuer - at other times better known as his brother, his successor, and a couple times his would-be killer.

(Their family always has been one of over-achievers. And if you’re going to pick a pair of brothers to play compare and contrast against with that in mind, its hard to go wrong with something biblical.)

But Dick seeming no more happy about it than he is, doesn’t do much to pick up Jason’s mood. He’s come to London for his own reasons, and no, he’s still not inclined to share. Curiosity killed the cat, but he’s sure Selina wouldn’t mind if innate nosiness knocked off a few birds here and there as well. Well-earned paranoia aside, however, secrets and cynicism can only carry them so far when the two are forced to rely on each other to fight their way free of a city turned death-trap. Both are keenly aware that the last time they’d fought side by side like this, they’d been all the way back on the other side of Jason’s first untimely death. And as far as potential omens go, that one’s about as shitty as they come.

But a mixed curse and blessing are nothing new for them, and so that’s not just a painful reminder, but also proof that things were different once. That the brothers they’ve become were not always the brothers they were supposed to be. It was time and pain and bloody loss that weighed them both down so much further than the altitudes that came most naturally....not fate, or destiny, or even them. And as their new enemy forces them deeper and deeper below ground, it becomes all the more clear there’s only one skill in either of the brothers’ arsenals that will see them through to the other side of all this: 

And only if they can not just remember, but rediscover, how to shed all of that and finally fly free again.

[hollenka99]

Peer Pressure

Summary: Jack had pushed and pushed. He'd chipped at Sean's mind until he cracked.

Warnings: Like with The Friend, there’s a whole bunch of unhealthy/toxic friendship and resentment. Plus Chase’s suicide is referenced.

Sean's problems begin when Angus gets worse. Jack's always had a big mouth. He tends to speak before he truly thinks things through. Sean's technically to blame for that. However, it hasn't been much of an issue until now. The first time Jack brings it up, he hates to reject him. The painfully dejected look in his best friend's eyes breaks his heart. He wants to help, he really does. He just can't. Not long after, he spends an hour or two looking for a game with an open world. Perhaps he could put on an Australian accent for the anniversary of the character's first appearance. Nothing comes up. Life gets in the way. Sean forgets about the search for a while. Jack never allows him to forget for too long. What starts as "I'm worried about Angus" soon morphs into "Angus only called me Jake once today". The longer it goes on, the more desperate Jack gets. And angrier. Sean has never seen such frustrated fury in his friend. He wishes he never had to. He's not sure when exactly their friendship takes a turn for the worst. It happens after he dyes his hair green, that's all he knows. Sean is excited to dress up as a superhero and Jack is just as pleased to make a new friend. Jackie as a character is expected. His age though? Not so much. Sean never intended for him to be sixteen years old. It causes conversations about school and whether the boy would need an education in the first place. Sean doesn't necessarily see the point. Jackie was currently the only minor in their world. Even if he created a character with children at a later date, the kids would probably be the wrong age group to attend school with Jackie. If it was that important to Jack to see the young superhero have an education, he would have to do it himself. Being home-schooled would also allow Jackie to do his job. 'His name is Marvin.' Jack says a couple days after the magic set video. Sean can't say he was expecting this. Although, he probably should have. It had just been a dumb video. The mask was cheap, something to use once and forget about until you throw it away in a big spring clean. The magic set was the same, only with extra smaller parts. Nothing was meant to come from it. He hadn't even given himself a name. It was just 'Jack the Magnificent'. Where the hell did 'Marvin' come from? "This better not happen again." Jack demands. "I don't want another Angus. God knows you're not going to help." Oh please, would he shut up about Angus already. How many times did he have to tell Jack it wasn't possible before that information got through his thick skull? He's tried. Slightly out of spite, Sean prints out all records he's kept of his research efforts and hand delivers them to the egos' home. Whoop-de-do, it triggers another argument. The Skype call to Signe is long. He thinks he can move on. Oops, haha, I didn't mean to create you but I still want to be on good terms with you. No, of course he can't get on with his life. Jackie has to get himself gravely injured. The demands come from two this time. For once, he's happy to co-operate. The doctor character is fun to play. Screw Jack with his questions about the accent and backstory. It's his channel anyway. If he wants to play a character a certain way, he will do just that. In the case of Dr Schneeplestein, he is an eccentric doctor who probably should have his license checked on and a father whose children were the reward in marital blackmail. The best part is that there are a surplus of games revolving around hospital procedures. See, he could think things through. So there. Not fully satisfied, Jack begins to bargain for a tweaked home life on Schneeplestein's behalf. The doctor suddenly has trust issues regarding his wife instead of her being a cheating, manipulative woman. In the compromise, Sean is also made to increase Schneeplestein's medical competence. When Sean points out the whole joke was that the doctor has dubious qualifications, Jack reminds him he isn't the doctor they'd requested. He guesses that's true. He doesn't want all this to become truly canon yet. That's why he is pleasantly surprised to find videos that are uploaded privately still work to develop an ego. Perfect. Until it isn't. Jack comes complaining about the confliction in 'Henrik' caused by the subscribers still believing the old characterisation. He asks if the egos were a joke to Sean. If anything is a joke, it's their relationship half the time. There are times where he can't think straight thanks to the stress Jack dumps on him. He wishes the guy would shut up for once. Yet, somehow, Sean can't bring himself to change his character. He could, theoretically it would be so easy, but he can't. For the hell of it, he throws in a little extra. They can't die. Or, to be more specific, they can't die for long. Jackie gets stabbed and bleeds out? Easy, just deal with the wound and he should wake up after a while. What this means for Peter, who knows? Sean is thankful when the accountant isn't granted life. That's one less person to keep happy. Like seemingly everything ego-related he does, it backfires. Within a year, this fail safe will have caused more suffering than hope. Sean isn't to know. However, he convinces himself he's done the right thing for once. He sure as hell knows how much trouble it's going to cause him if they don't believe that too. He makes an irreversible mistake in the October of 2016. He gets so caught up in the teasing and build up that he doesn't contemplate how this will affect everyone. Sure, to him it's a bit of red paint. But to Jack? He doesn't want to imagine the scene Jackie discovers. God, he can't believe he's been so thoughtless. Resurrecting the dead is exhausting, he finds. He postpones visiting Jack for a day before realising his avoidance is likely making matters worse. The dread cumulates to the point he swears he will be sick if he doesn't actively focus on his breathing. The loophole he made in September might have ensured nobody died permanently but it never mentioned scars. It's not visible behind the bandages but he knows it's there. Jack is pissed off. Rightfully so. Matters worsen even more after Jackie vanishes while attempting to get away from their fighting. It's just another thing that's ruined the egos' perception of him. If he thought the hill Jack was ready to die on was Angus, he's got another thing coming. There's only so much he can take before he has to force apathy for the sake of his sanity. He understands he can't control Antisepticeye. Once this situation is dealt with, he vows, the demon will never be used on his channel again. The subscribers' love for the character will have to ignored. It's too risky to play Anti again. He puts the red suit on again. In the short video, only a minute or so in length, Jackie sprints through poorly lit corridors to the exit. Sean acts scared and looks behind him frequently as he runs. It is uploaded privately. His community didn't need to know anything about this. He hopes with everything he's got that it works. Nothing. For days, for weeks, for months. Sean doesn't bother letting the egos know what he'd tried to do. It's guaranteed Jack and Marvin would tell him to try harder. He has no idea what that means in this context. Their lack of respect causes him to give up all efforts to have a good relationship with them. Jack still comes over every now and again. Their birthday goes far better than he'd hoped. Plus, Marvin appears to be coming into his own magic-wise. Sean doesn't like what Jack is implying when he mentions he's stopped learning German. At least he appreciates the video he made before Christmas with Henrik.   In an emotional slump, he buys a bunch of Lyons boxes and mini chocolate eggs. It's just a parody of Dude Perfect from someone with zero accuracy. Then he does the stupid thing and creates life again. Fuck it, his wife hates him and he may never see his kids again. Chase Brody's depression causes him to pretend to shoot himself before the end card plays. When Jack calls him and demands to know what the hell he was thinking, Sean has no answer. Afterwards, the ego doesn't provide his creator with any updates. Insisting he has the right to talk to Chase only makes him more hated. Despite having never met before, Chase already resents him. The next time an ego is intentionally created, Sean's going to be there to intercept them. They're not going to enter that home and have their opinion of him influenced by people who wished he wasn't in their lives. The next new guy would be given a fair chance to see Sean for what he was. A massive screw up when it came to the ability he's unsure how to master. In no way is he some villain. August is around the corner when Jack asks to visit. The two of them seem to be on the same page that day. Sean is more than happy to hang out and cheer him up. Believing Jack would be empathetic, he begins a conversation about how the YouTube algorithm was bothering him. Over three years of working as a duo on the Jacksepticeye channel meant Jack should understand where he was coming from. But, of course, his friend makes it all about himself and his own problems. Why wouldn't he? It's what he usually does. They argue because apparently that's the only way they communicate with each other nowadays. Jack sure knows how to pack a punch. Being friends with him shouldn't be such a struggle. Sean snaps. The emotional fatigue of trying to keep up with the algorithm and all this fighting causes him to make one of the worst decisions he'd ever go through with. If Jack wants him to be the bad guy, fine. Sean would be the bad guy. Just this once, he'd actually be the asshole. "You want to sleep, I'll let you sleep." He threatens when Jack begins walking off mid-argument. "Bring back Jackie. He's been missing for months. Do something!" Jack flings viciously back seconds before he marches out the door. He can tell Signe regrets asking him how the gaming session went. He dresses as Schneeplestein as soon as he finalises his plan, pretending he aims to save a version of himself in Bio Inc Redemption. He loses. Oops. He acts as he feels the real Schneeplestein would, desperate not to watch another patient die. He sends the video to Robin for editing. The final uploaded product is nowhere near what he'd recorded. His audience are all talking about Anti. They were praising him for his acting and Robin for his editing. But... he never included Anti. Any recollection of filming the final scene was non-existent. And the parts with Henrik getting possessed weren't him either. The more he thinks about it, the further the terror sets in. Jack had pushed and pushed. He'd chipped at Sean's mind until he cracked. It had only meant to end with Jack slipping into a coma. Just a chance for Sean to focus on his own problems for once. He would have gotten Henrik to wake his patient up when Sean was ready. God, he just wanted peace for a change. It was never meant to happen like this. Marvin is deaf in his rage. Chase is equally distraught. They forbid Sean from entering their home. Henrik is missing and Jack is unresponsive. What had he done?

[jflashandclash]

Traitors of Olympus IV: Fall of the Sun

Eighteen: Thalia

Love Bites (But Not Literally!)

             Saying Thalia’s insides felt jumbled would be like saying you might want to wear sunglasses if you’re going to look directly at Apollo’s chariot during his peek time.

           They finished up their separate forts. Axel had removed their door barrier and tried the door a few times to see how thoroughly the Lemnians had barred it. Considering they heard something being bolted into the door, she imagined facing these creeps was becoming more and more of a heroic task set out for two other heroes, maybe child of Hephaestus or Athena. She wished Annabeth were here. She could think of the tragedy the children of Dionysus would write about them now, titled: Lieutenants of Artemis and Kronos, Murdered by a fandom.

           They discussed pretending to have fallen in love with Phil and Hypsi. Thalia even tried, excited by the prospect of wringing the guys’ neck. Apparently, such inspiration made her flirtation come across as disingenuous and “homicidal” to Hypsi and Phraxa. Pft. They’d never flirted at a concert before.[1]

           So, Axel and Thalia sat on either side of half-a-massage table (that had been split in half for makeshift shields) with a sheet from the cabinet pinned to the ceiling as high as Axel—with his six foot Oh-My-Gods inches—could reach.

           Not that Thalia found his height attractive, but being around preteen girls didn’t lead to the most vertically advantaged tent making.

           Earlier, Thalia had been pondering out how to tell Euna that Artemis said girl-to-girl relationships were still a no-go, something that both made Thalia happy—since girl-to-girl romances should still be considered romances and taken seriously—but also disappointed, since Thalia was interested in Euna and wasn’t sure how she felt about potential loopholes. That already left the Lieutenant of Artemis questioning her feelings on being a huntress.

           Of course, she was terrified for Euna. Euna had seemed… broken when they spoke at Camp Half-Blood, and—despite Axel’s assurance that time moved differently here—time could also be moving differently on whatever path that psychotic talking head was taking Euna.

           “Time,” Thalia demanded.

           There was a small tear in the sheet where the ends met the top of their table divider, making a tiny hole in their oh-so-impenetrable wall. Axel hesitated, then slipped his hand through, so his wrist was visible.[2]

           Like last time, she kept telling herself it was to check to see how far away Euna could have gotten. It was, she growled angrily, eyes flicking to that stupid half-empty glass of pink liquid before looking back to their divider.

           This was not to look at his hand or touch it.

           His index and middle finger were missing most of his nail. Although the healing springs must have cleaned up the blood and wound, it was weird to see a fingertip with scarred skin instead of a nail, especially with how long, sharp, and feline his other nails were. (When checking the time previously, she’d made him lower the Mist on his fingers, since she accidentally cut herself on one.)  

           That must have hurt way more than he feigned.

           Thalia took his hand to twist his wrist into better view. She wanted to annoy him, to make him complain that she was being childish or bratty, to get into an argument and agree how much they disliked each other.

           He was in mid-comment, “—ventilation shafts are way too small to squeeze through.” He did little more than grunt when she bent his arm further. “No secret passages found on your side?”

           Stupid Axel with all of his stupid plans and ability to stay focused.

           “Nope, fresh out of secret passages. Any other brilliant ideas?” she snapped, hoping it sounded mean instead of desperate.

           Eleven minutes had passed. Thalia’s head felt like it was swimming. This feeling could get worse? Hypsi said this would become unbearable in fifteen minutes!

           His laugh sounded pained. “Thalia—”

           “Lieutenant,” she tried to distance their names, but felt like her comment had come out weaker than she wanted.

           “Maybe it’s because Luke told me how you used to flirt with him, but you’re really bad at pretending to hate me.”

           Thalia growled in anger, “I told you that I didn’t drink that stupid potion—“

           Axel squeezed her hand. Her heartbeat skipped to see that they’d enlaced their fingers, without her even realizing they were moving. His calluses were rough, like hers and the gentle pinch of his remaining claws was comforting, reminding her of the cute paws on Artemis’ silver wolf pack.

           The wolf pack.

           The Hunt.

           A dulled sense of panic made her tremble.

           “Thalia,” Axel said gently, “Even without… current circumstances—” She could hear him squirm on his side of the table. “—we’re still friends. You pretending to hate me or be mad at me isn’t going to help. Though… you might undo the healing spring’s work if you keep bending my wrist like that.”

           He tapped his two fingers without nails against the top of her hand.

           “I don’t have to pretend to be mad at you,” she whispered, glaring at his hand. She tried not to think about how he was seated on the other side. They’d agreed to stay on opposite sides of the rooms. That worked when they were searching around for other potential exits. Also without intending to, they both sat as close as possible once they were done searching.

           Thalia clenched the grip on her bow with her other hand. Axel had instructed her to shoot him with a knock-out arrow if he tried to come to her side of the room, with the warning that he’d had much more of the potion than she had. But, what if she came to his side of the room? Would he be able to fend her off when he’d run away from Hypsi like a little kid?

           Not that she would admit to drinking any of the potion. Or having any problems. She just wanted to go over there and sock him in his dumb, ruggedly handsome face for almost dying by the hands of a hidden monster and almost drowning and getting them into this mess.

           “Axel,” she said.

           “Leonis Caput,” he offered.

           After hearing his chuckle, she realized he was teasing her for the “Lieutenant” thing. “Shut up,” she said.

           “Yes, Lieutenant.”

           “I’ll break your wrist.”

           “I’m sure you will.”

           She rolled her eyes. “You asked about why I didn’t side with you guys, uh, during the Titan War.”

           “Yes…” his voice was soft again.

           Thalia frowned. She wished she could play with her choker, but knew she should keep her hand on her bow.

           “When I woke up from being a tree, Percy was the first person I saw. He brought me back. He and Annabeth updated me on the years I’d missed and taught me how to be a person again. They told me about how Luke had sold his soul to evil or whatever. Camp Half-Blood was the first safe place, outside—outside of being with Luke and Annabeth… that I could call home. It was safe. Before that, I was always running and hiding, either from my mom or other monsters…”

           She took in a shaky breath. “Even if I wanted to fight against my dad, or how the gods treated their children, Luke’s path wasn’t the way to do it, and I couldn’t turn my back on my new family. How would you feel if Pax joined Camp Half-Blood?”

           “I’ve been trying to convince him to for months now,” Axel said, sounding defeated. “As he’ll tell you, he’s like a parasite that’s impossible to get rid of. And he knows I’ll never join Camp Half-Blood.”

           “You guys are so weird,” she said and sighed. “You won’t join Camp Half-Blood, but you’d become a hunter or join the legion?”

           “The legion was different…”

           Thalia felt a spike of resentment tighten her chest. She knew for whom Axel wouldn’t mind compromising his beliefs. Normally it made her happy to think of Reyna finding a guy who properly cared about her…

           “And I still think being a hunter would be incredible,” he said.

           She snorted. “How long before you fell in love with Lady Artemis?”

           “With you around?” he teased. She could see the sheet tremble as the shadow of his other hand traced the cloth. Then he flinched and withdrew his hand. “Sorry. This is…” He cleared his throat. “Difficult.”

           Thalia felt her cheeks get red. “At least our wall has a hole in it.”

           “Yes, so we can plan our escape,” he said with that same hint of amusement from earlier.

           “Our super successful escape that doesn’t result in us being captured by non-combat creeps,” she grumbled. “Augh, this is just embarrassing.” Thalia checked the time again, groaned, and pressed her face against their enlaced hands.

           Axel let out a soft noise. “Thalia, don’t…”

           “Hey.”

           “Mm?”

           “It’s been thirteen minutes,” she said. While she knew time was moving faster in their section of Tartarus—or the Labyrinth?—than outside, it felt like Kronos was making each second take forever as one last middle finger to Thalia—or at least a slow moving “second” finger.

           Axel swore under his breath. She could hear him pop his cheeks, a cute, self-conscious noise. His nails dug into her hand for a tense moment, piercing her skin, before he released her and stood up. His silhouette loomed behind the sheet, the shadow of his ears perked and alert.

           “Axel?” she asked uncertainly, lifting her bow.

           “I’m going to try to get them to open that door,” he said, lowering his voice. He picked up the second half of the table—propped alongside the one they’d been leaning against—and lifted it up as a shield. Thalia flinched as a piece of their boundary line disappeared. “This is around the time they thought we’d break, and, even if they don’t believe you with Phil, Hypsi seems to think I looked at her.”

           Axel took a step forward. With the second half of the table gone and the sheet too short to touch the floor, his feet and the animalistic arches of his calves came into view. Thalia could feel her heartbeat pounding in her head. She thought about the humanoid monsters she and the other girls tracked down.

           Before she could stop herself, she asked, “Axel, do you think you could survive if a huntress hunted you as prey?”

           He stepped to the edge of the sheet and half-peered around with a devilish smile. “After we get out of here, you’ll have to find out, huntress, won’t you?” His golden eyes glistened. “I should warn though, it’s hard to force a predator to stay prey.”

           Axel began to push the sheet back and froze. One of his towels was coiled around his shoulders, the other wrapped around his waist. Now that she was looking at it, the spa garb and table-shield made him seem weirdly domesticated, like Disney decided he looked too militaristic with his lion pelt and leather skirting and replaced them with some last minute, bad CGI cover-ups. She found herself staring—as she’d struggled not to before—at the horrific scarring along his hip and that annoying V indent of muscle along his abdomen.

           Stuff Thalia might have typically observed with the same interest as a math review book, at least as a huntress. That’s what she kept reminding herself, though his presence made it difficult not to think about how attractive she’d found Luke or Apollo before she joined the Hunt.

           Axel cleared his throat, puffed up his cheeks, popped them, and looked away. The hand he had on the sheet trembled. “Tha—Lieutenant. I need your help making this sound convincing.” His voice was low as he took a difficult step away from her, towards the door.

           Thalia reflexively leaned forward. She was terrified to realize that she’d let go of her bow upon seeing him. She scooped it back up, slung her quiver over her shoulder, adjusted the towel she’d wrapped around her chest for extra coverage, and approached him as casually as possible.

           Each step felt like it came with little Huntress of Artemis chastity road signs of Danger this way! and Hot Man Ahead! Proceed with Caution and maybe speed readers that just said SLOW DOWN in place of a mph.

           Was he having as many problems as she was? He looked so calm.[3]

           Keeping her bow between the two of them made Thalia shake with effort. This whole thing was so stupid!

           “How can I help?” she choked out.

           Axel was trying to keep his eyes on the door. His shoulder and back muscles quivered as much as his hands. He walked up to the entrance. “Assuming they open the door, we need to strike fast—”

           “Yea, I know the combat plan, Cat Breath. How can I help with Hypsi?” she hissed.

           “Stand here.” He vaguely gestured to the wall beside the door. A good tactical spot for sniping anyway.

           Thalia complied, trying her hardest not to touch him as she got into position.

           He chuckled painfully. “Normally, I don’t let emotionally compromised people go into battle.”

           She rolled her eyes. “Are you serious right now?”

           Again, Thalia told herself to wait on pummeling Axel until after the potion wore off. She had so much excess, pent-up energy, she was in perfect condition to wreck Phil and the Lemnians. Smashing people’s faces in was the perfect distraction from… this. Something to use as a strength and not to mark her as “comprised.”

           “You’re not the one I’m worried about bursting into Mayan love poetry,” Axel said.

           Thalia choked on a laugh. “You have Mayan love poetry memorized? Who are you? Apollo? Is there even that much of that?”

           Thalia pictured Axel reciting a romantic haiku and giggled.

           Axel mumble something in Mayan before saying, “Shut up.” His cheeks were bright red as he glared at the door. “Hypsi!” he called, much louder.

           “Axel!” Thalia hissed wearily. He never said what else she could do to help.

           Axel balled his fist, pressed it firmly against the doorframe closest to her, and leaned down until his head was about six inches from the door. With how he’d leaned down, if he turned to her, their faces would be at the same height. If he took one sidestep to the right, or if she ducked under his arm to tiptoe left, Axel’s arm would be positioned perfectly at the crook of her neck, and his face…    

           Thalia went silent. If her cheeks could get hotter, she was pretty sure they could melt the door down.

           While they still weren’t touching, this was the closest they had stood since taking the potion. They’d agreed to keep more distance…

           Thalia was annoyed to catch his cinnamon-chocolate scent.

           “Don’t hit me until this is all over with,” he whispered, “Me crying out in pain or being interrupted might shatter the illusion.”

           Shuffling sounded outside the door. There was some whispering. Thalia wondered what the Lemnians had been doing this whole time, though couldn’t focus on it while staring at how Axel had braced his arm.

           “What?”

           Hypsi’s voice was shaky, like she’d still been crying. If Thalia could have broken her eyes away from Axel, she’d have rolled them at the Lemnian’s tears. Sure, get really upset that a guy you tried to force to love you didn’t really love you. (Shocker.)[4]

           Axel took a deep breath. “I know… we haven’t known each other well for very long,” he said, loud enough to project through the door, but quiet enough not to blow out Thalia’s ear drums. “And I know these emotions are sudden, and that… that I shouldn’t want you, that I shouldn’t feel this way… and that they’re coming from… from magic…”

           Thalia wanted to flick Axel’s nose. Maybe she’d been out of the romantic business for a long time, but this didn’t sound the best way to woo a girl. When they got back to camp, she’d have to tell Piper and Calex to give him pointers, else he was doomed.

           Then she noticed how his eyes kept trailing to her.

           He wasn’t talking to Hypsi. Thalia swallowed. His arm was straining against the wall to keep from touching her, just like he was struggling not to keep eye contact.

           “You were right. This… is unbearable. I’m slipping. I just want to touch you, to give you the hugs you never got when you were feeling insecure or vulnerable. To remind you of how amazing you are for handling all the incredible things that you brushed off as being part of your family, or being who you are. I know you don’t need me, and you already know you’re strong, but I…”

           Axel’s voice broke.

           Thalia’s stomach felt like it decided to dive into a trampoline park without her permission.

           “Sorry,” Axel whispered to Thalia. His jaw clenched. While keeping his fist firmly against the door—as another barrier, Thalia realized—Axel leaned his head to the side, pressing his forehead to her shoulder.

           Her breath caught. Thoughts clogged to a halt. She tried to think about Artemis, about her huntresses, the wolves, the camping, the wild, Luke—she tried to think about how much it hurt to have someone she loved so much betray her and become a monster—

           She tried to remember this was one of her friends, someone Reyna had a thing for, someone she didn’t want the troops of Artemis to hunt down in vengeance and that didn’t need her death (by the hands of a vengeful goddess) on his conscience. What would she do if this were happening to a friend? Maybe one of her sister-huntresses reaching out for emotional support to get through some horrific trickery?

           Thalia awkwardly patted Axel’s shoulder, in the best, most platonic there, there motion she could muster. And to not curl against him and ask for that hug, since she definitely didn’t want or need that.

           And he’d been talking to Hypsi to get out of here. Not her.

           Thalia glanced at his wrist. They were at the fifteen minute marker. For a startled moment, she realized her eyes felt warm and wet.

           “Yes?” Hypsi said softly on the other side of the door.

           “I need out of this room right now,” Axel’s voice was still soft, but it was enlaced with an inner, threatening growl.

           Whispers erupted on the other side of the door. With how close she and Axel were, and how excited the Lemnians were talking, she could make out what they were saying.

           “Phil! Phil! It worked!”

           “I don’t know, Hypsi. What if he’s faking it like the girl?”

           “No—that’s almost verbatim how Medea’s How To pamphlet said he’d feel. I mean—yea, he knows he drank the potion, and it came with the warning of amorous side effects may vary—“

           “I don’t know…”

           “You’re just sad the girl’s potion ended up being a dud.” That was Phraxa.

           “Either that, or she just realized you’re too gross to like even with a love potion,” Hypsi’s voice was lighter, the tears were gone. She sounded hopeful.

           Maybe this would work.

           “Come on,” Phraxa continued. “The lightning rods are installed in the hallway, so the girl can’t hurt us. If he’s a Mayan sorcerer, he can’t perform magic without any fire. We’ve got the nets all set up. If they end up still rejecting us, we’ll just hack them into pieces and toss them into the river—”

           Axel punched the door, making a thud loud enough to make Thalia jump.

           “Hypsi, let me out. I can’t handle being in here any longer,” he said. The undertone of his voice took on that gravely quality.

           Hypsi giggled. “Oh! He sounds impatient!”

           “I’ll get the drill,” Phraxa said.

           Thalia guessed the noncommittal grunt came from Phil. “Okay, fine. Everyone else, stand by to decapitate a hero if they come out fighting.”

           There came a cheer from at least five or six other voices.

           The door shuddered with the sound of some power tools.

           Axel and Thalia released sighs of relief.

           He turned his head to look up at her. They should have been getting ready to rush the Lemnians. They may have been outnumbered, but both Thalia and Axel agreed these weren’t exactly primed warriors. Even if they were, they’d rather go out fighting than be captured (again).

           Ready to be decapitated? Axel mouthed, nuzzling against her shoulder. The hairs of his goatee tickled her skin, making her heart leap.

           She wanted to tease Rather that than hear your Mayan poetry, but she couldn’t bring herself to tease him. Maybe to knock his lights out for all those… nice and horrifically inappropriate things he had said (though, only to trick Hypsi, right?) but she couldn’t do that yet since she needed him conscious for this fight.

           The door gave a loud thump as it came loose from some exterior barrier. The knob jiggled.[5]

           “Oh, jaguar warrior, you locked the door,” Hypsi sang.

           Axel stood up straight, his eyes glistening with excitement. He squeezed Thalia’s shoulder and picked up his table-shield and makeshift table-leg-club.

           Thalia felt like a normal girl would be offended by how easily he’d withdrawn from her shoulder, since the love potion must have taken full effect. However, Thalia could sense the same thing he could while she prepped her bow with an arrow: beating the snot out of these jerks would be the most romantic outing either of them could possibly go on at that moment.

           Axel carefully unlocked the door. “Ready for me to take you, Hypsi?” he asked.

           Thalia could see him choke back a laugh. She did the same at the double entendre.

           What they saw when they opened the door was not what they were expecting.

           One moment, they could see Hypsi standing there—looking relatively normal in her chiton, though she was now armed with two daggers—with two people in imposing mechasuits behind her. One held a crossbow trained on the door, the other held a net gun. Phil grumpily leaned against the wall, almost out of sight, gripping a sword.

           Looking at the suits, their table-shields felt a little unprepared.

           Before the door was open enough for Axel to lunge forward, someone down the hallway screamed in alarm.

           A familiar voice let lose a crazed, boisterous laugh. “Trying to use love spells on me?”

           The person in the mechasuit with the net gun repositioned to whatever bigger threat was down the hall.

           Axel didn’t have a chance to take advantage of the distraction. A silver greyhound with ruby eyes slammed into the mechasuit, knocking Ms. Net Gun to the floor.

           Before the person with a crossbow could fire at Argentum, Thalia shot a knockout arrow at the second mechasuit. While it didn’t damage the armor, it did ruin their aim, their cross-bolt harmlessly slamming into the wall.

           The second mecha suit didn’t have a chance to reload as a golden greyhound knocked them to the floor.  

           At the same time as this onslaught, a golden bolt struck Hypsi’s shoulder from down the hall. She went rigid, noticed something, and sprinted out of sight, all while shouting, “Wait—fly! Your wings are so beautiful! Nothing could compare! My love for you, I must declare!”

           Thalia was ecstatic that Axel hadn’t burst out like that.

           Phil was half-way through drawing his sword when a tall boy with a black scarf and a red-and-black beanie nailed him over the head with one of the pink punch pitchers. The glass shattered, spilling the love potion all over Phil’s head. Before waiting to see if that was enough to take out the creepy Lemnian, Calex followed through with a solid punch to the side of Phil’s head.

           Phil crumbled onto the floor.

           Calex dusted off his hands on his Camp Half-Blood sweater and unslung his golden bow from his back. He beamed at Axel and Thalia. “Hallo! Lovely day to be seeing you in an inter-dimensional plane.”

           He poked his head back into the hall to shout, “I win! You’ve gotta get rid of this rubbish.”

           Clatters and panicked shouts came from the location.

           Reyna just sounded annoyed when she spoke back. “There’s a lot of it,” she sighed, then, louder, “Aurum, to me! Argentum, stand guard!”

           The golden greyhound took off down the hallway while the grey one stood by the door like one of the Lemnian sculpture sentinels. From the looks of it, one mechasuit wearer was unconscious and the other had crawled away.

           Calex returned his grin to them. “We had a running bet on who would find you first and who would need to find your gear. The first bloke we threatened at the front said they were in two different places.”

           Axel clapped Calex’s shoulder, beaming with—Thalia blinked—pride? Thalia suddenly felt like she was intruding on a moment where a commanding officer distinguishes a soldier for his bravery, or, really, a moment of bromance.

           “Thanks, Calex. And you used to be worried that you wouldn’t be a commendable hero.”

           Calex glanced away in pleased embarrassment, noticing Thalia. His eyes widened, and he glanced from Thalia to Axel. He took a step back, pointing between the two of them in confusion.

           Thalia felt her chest constrict again. Yea, it was taking every fiber of her being not to walk up and bump her shoulder against Axel, but it shouldn’t have been that obvious. There was no way Calex could tell—

           They were both mostly naked.

           Thalia felt her cheeks go bright red again. Another boy on the Eye Gouging to-do list.

           An understanding hit Calex, making him snap his fingers. “Ah, right. Love potion. But, how did you two—and why—?”

           The smile fell off Axel’s face. “Fix us,” he hissed with more desperation than she’d ever heard from him.

           Thalia felt dumb for forgetting who Calex’s father was.

           Calex put a hand to his beanie, examining them. “Um, I’ve never… taken away someone’s—”  

           “Do it,” Thalia snarled, taking a threatening step towards Calex. The motion brushed her shoulder against Axel’s, sending a tingling sensation down her spine. Axel went rigid.

           “Can’t you two…” Calex shrugged. “Wait it out?”

           “No!” they both said at once. If they tried that, Axel would be spouting out Mesoamerican sonnets and she’d end up killing him, since there was only so much punching he could handle once she resorted to that to avoid hugging him. And to save his self-respect, since no one should know love poetry.[6]

           Calex tentatively touched his bowstring, giving Axel a critical stare. “Aphrodite tried to seduce you, mate,” he said skeptically, “and you can’t handle a love potion?”

           Thalia was about to yell at Calex to hurry up, but paused.  “Is that why she cursed you?”

           Axel frowned. “Better story to tell when we’re not under the influence.”

           He turned back to Calex. “I hated Aphrodite, and she wasn’t a brave, beautiful punk warrior that I’d been told amazing stories about since I was fourteen,” Axel hissed. “And the Leonis Caput wanted to murder Aphrodite, not go on some weird date-hunt thing because he knows she’d be into it.”

           Thalia’s head spun, trying to gauge how old Axel was and exactly how often he had conversations with a murderous cat-creature in his head. Good reason to join the huntresses of Artemis—when all the guys you like end up being partially possessed. “Luke had been telling you stories about me since you were fourteen?” she asked.

           Axel puffed up his cheeks and popped them. When the jaguar warrior blushed, Calex looked like he couldn’t decide if this was hilarious or disturbing. “Right,” Calex said, pulling back his bowstring. “Let’s shoot you two.”

           A burst of grey energy exploded to life on his bow. The volatile vortex tightened and solidified into a scarily thin, black metal arrow.

           Calex paled. Sweat broke out on his brow as he struggled to pull the bowstring to full draw. He took aim, point blank, at Axel’s heart and paused.

           Axel didn’t flinch. He kept his eyes locked on Calex’s. One of his hands slipped down to link a pinkie with Thalia’s.

           This felt wrong. Thalia suddenly wondered if they should be reversing the potions effects or if the potion just wanted her to think—

           “This is a bad idea,” Calex said, his arm shaking. “A leaden arrow might… might make you incapable of being friends. And…”

           Calex dipped his point to the floor. Slowly, he relaxed his arm. The black arrow dissipated into smoke.

           Argentum growled.

           “Calex,” Axel said in a tone similar to the greyhound.

           Thalia felt the same, wanting this over with. Not that it should matter, but the crashing down the hall had stopped.

           Calex shook his head. “We can’t have you two hating each other on this trip. Let me try something else. I think I can… hyper accelerate the effects? It might make you feel like rubbish for a bit.”

           Axel nodded. “Just… please don’t not shoot me this time.”

           This time, when Calex drew his bow, the bolt was fiery white and gold, sparking madly. There was no hesitation or struggle in Calex’s stance. This seemed natural for him. He drew his bow and immediately fired.

           Axel may have mentally prepared himself to be shot.

           Thalia hadn’t.

           The arrow split. The second half arched and struck Thalia in the chest.

           For a moment, she thought Calex’s arrow would be fatal. Because the arrow had glistened like a mirage of light, she thought it wouldn’t hurt.

           The force of the impact made Thalia stumble back. Her chest felt like someone had jammed a knife into the impact spot and twisted it to crack open her ribcage. Instead of going through her or vanishing like she thought the arrow would do, the arch of light liquefied and burrowed into the wound, like a flaming snake that wanted to fill her insides until they splintered.

           Everything shook. Thalia felt like she’d been hit with a falling anvil. Emotions stuck on fast-forward: the months of seeming isolation with the huntresses, the guilt and shame of wanting to betray Lady Artemis and abandon the way she honored Zoe, her once-tranquil solitude turning into a maelstrom of loneliness and ache, finally reaching the catharsis of getting over Luke’s treachery while crumbling under the distance between she and Axel and the fact that they could never be together and the pain of knowing he only wanted her because of some stupid love potion and what could have happened if she’d joined Luke’s side of the war and the confusion and—

           Thalia could hear Axel collaps to his knees.

           She crumbled soon after.

           Tears streamed down her cheeks. Thalia clutched at her chest, wishing she could tear the liquefied arrow out.

           “Holy Maiden Artemis,” she gasped, “Love bites.”

           From the brief glimpse she got of Calex, he had slung his bow over one shoulder, leaned against a wall, and folded his arms. “You two still want to thank me?” he asked, watching them—with some concern—withering in anguish.

           Axel had curled into a ball, but managed to withdraw one hand for a thumps up. “Thank you,” he choked out.

           Thalia nodded in begrudging agreement. She couldn’t imagine living all of that in real time.

           The pain eased. Her breathing returned to normal as did her heartbeat. When she glanced over at Axel, she no longer had that annoying butterfly feeling or empty wanting. Instead, she saw an embarrassed friend straightening out of a crouched position with as much dignity as he could muster.

           And fumbling to grab his towel when it slipped to the floor.

           Thalia was relieved that her genuine reaction was, “Axel! Gross!”

           Axel gave her a relaxed smile once he was covered. “Sorry to offend your eyes, huntress.” He stood fully and offered her a hand. “Things don’t need to be weird between us, right?”

           Thalia snorted. She glanced at Calex, who had respectfully become engrossed looking down the hallway. She took Axel’s hand—glad again that it felt no different from taking that of a huntress—and said, “Just don’t tell anyone I gave you CPR, and we’re good.”

           Axel blinked as he helped her to her feet. “You gave me CPR?”

           Thalia scowled, feeling her cheeks redden form embarrassment that had nothing to do with the potion. He was joking, right? “You didn’t know!? Between the drowning and the electric shock—why do you think I’ve been calling you Cat Breath all day!”

           After Hypsi and the others completely disarmed them, Thalia hadn’t trusted Hypsi or the others to touch Axel and her electrical surge was what made him need CPR. But—she thought he’d politely pretended not to remember.

           “Is… my breath that bad?” Axel asked, cupping a hand over his mouth to check. He frowned self-consciously.

           Thalia remembered his soft scent of spices and chocolate, but she wasn’t about to admit to that, especially after the day’s events. “Yes,” she said firmly.

           “Leonis Caput, you need a tracking device on your clothing,” someone said from the doorway.

           Thalia jumped when Reyna jammed Axel’s clothing, lion pelt, and weapons into his arms. He startled.

           Reyna turned to Thalia. “Huntress,” she greeted, offering Thalia her clothing and weapons in a much gentler fashion. Aurum trotted up, proudly shouldering their supplies packs.

           There was no anger in Reyna’s voice, but, from the scarily controlled tone and hardened expression, Thalia suspected Reyna knew everything that happened, or Reyna thought she did.

           Thalia took a deep breath. Reyna wasn’t an idiot. If Thalia judged her humor correctly…

           “I had to give Axel CPR because he got his ass kicked by a slime pup. Would you say Cat Breath is an appropriate nickname for him?”

           A terrified moment of silence passed, but Thalia knew Reyna was awesome. There was no way—

           Reyna’ face cracked into an appreciative smile. She looked relieved.

           Axel looked mortified, clutching his towel to himself as Calex choked back a laugh. “I—um—”

           “Get dressed, Cat Breath,” Reyna commanded. “We need to make up time in our hunt for Euna.”

           “I—” Axel started.

           Calex patted the stunned boy’s arm, then dragged him out the hallway to find a different changing room. “Looks like you’ve got a new name for the rest of the trip. Let’s see if it catches on the surface world.”           

               The moral of this story is, don’t consume food or drink from strangers in their creepy Grecian bathhouses. Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

So Many Footnotes:

[1] Jack disclaimer: Depends on your concert. Metal heads? Utter gentlemen and gentleladies that know how to have a good brawl. Punk concerts? Prepare to be punched in the dick.

[2] Mel immediately called out what play-within-a-play this is referencing. Our conversation, “A lion keeping them apart.” “Despite wanting to be ly-ng on each other!” Pax *cry laughing* Jack *applauds Mel’s pun*

[3] MelBetaComment: “Just don’t look too far down.”

Jack: *ehem* “I can neither confirm or deny Mel’s assumption until I’m several oceans away from a certain Mayan warrior.”

[4] I’d like to think, “Shocker” is one of Thalia’s favorite expressions.

[5] Definitely wrote “the door knob giggled” in my original draft. Mel took it literally and was quite confused.

[6] False. Jack should know love poetry *wink*

[calucadu]

It all started with a prank - Chapter 1

It all started with a prank, a Shingeki no Kyojin/Attack on Titan Fanfic. Chapter 1

Summary: It all started with a prank.

Pairing: Sasha Blouse/Connie Springer

Characters: Sasha Blouse, Connie Springer, Eren Jeager, Armin Arlert, Mikasa Ackerman, Reiner Braun, Bertolt Hoover, Jean Kirstein

Rating: Mature

Read on AO3

Read on Fanfiction.net

Or read below the cut

“There is no way they like each other.” Eren scoffed, rolling his eyes.

“They are in love.” Armin sighed, letting his friend’s arm go as he pulled back, exasperated. “You’re just too oblivious to notice it.”

“Not true. I notice everything!”

“Like Mikasa’s crush?” The blond raised his eyebrows, a little smirk playing on his features.

“Mikasa’s got a crush!? Eren’s brow furrowed as he wrinkled his nose.

‘On you.’ Armin thought as he sighed again, throwing his head back. “Never mind that! Sasha and Connie love each other and they don’t even realise it!”

“They’re just friends. Look, I’ll prove it to you! Bert, Reiner! Come!”

The boys he’d called over appeared in front of them, an eyebrow raised in Braun’s case.

“Tell Armin that Sasha and Connie do not like each other!” Eren demanded, crossing his arms over his chest, expecting the other boys to agree with him and show Armin that he was right.

“Oh, no, those two definitely have the hots for one another.” Reiner smirked. He leaned in and lowered his voice. “I have this theory that they’re secretly dating and doing pervy stuff!”

“Reiner!” Bertolt hissed, nudging his friend’s arm gently as he looked away embarrassed.

“Oh, c’mon, you’d do it too given the chance with A-Ah!” Bert conveniently elbowed him in the ribs and the bigger blond boy remembered to keep his mouth shut.

“I cannot believe you guys!” Eren snapped. “How can you be so blind?”

“We’re the blind ones!?” Reiner smirked, trying his hardest to stop himself from erupting into a laughing fit. His gaze quickly fell to Armin, who was urging him frantically to stop the conversation.

“Honestly I think it’s one-sided.” Bert spoke gently, scratching the back of his head. “Like Sasha is Connie’s life but all she can see is her plate of food.”

“That’s reasonable.” Reiner nodded, mulling it over in his head.

“So, I was thinking” Armin breathed in, nervous. He closed his eyes momentarily to calm himself down before continuing with his plan. “We should shove them in the right direction.”

“What do you have planned?” Reiner grinned, leaning in, clearly interested. Bert seemed mostly taken aback and Eren scoffed his disagreement.

“I don’t know… Pushing them towards admitting their feelings for each other.”

“How would we do that?”

“Looking them in the supply cabinet and hoping they come to terms with how they feel for one another?” Armin frowned, unsure.

“I’ll go tell Sasha that Connie wants to meet her there to share some food he stole!” Reiner shouted, grabbing Bert’s arm and running off with them. “You figure something out for Connie!”

“Alright.” Armin breathed in, a happy smile spreading on his face. “You coming, Eren?”

“No. I’ll just wait here to gloat when you discover that they are just friends.”

The blond boy rolled his eyes again as he took off to search for Connie. He found him on the training ground, monkeying around with Marco.

“Hey, Connie!” Armin smiled, trying to hide the fact that he was nervous. He wasn’t sure he could pull off lying to a friend. Even if it was for that friend’s own good.

“‘Sup, Armin?” The crew cut boy grinned at him as the other waved him to where he was.

“Sasha says she has a prank she wants to discuss with you.” Arlert whispered when they were alone, avoiding Connie’s gaze. “Head to the supply cabinet and act natural.”

“Huh? Why’d she send you?” The other asked, frowning. Something smelt fishy but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“Sasha’s actually thought something through for once.” Armin said smoothly, surprising himself with his new found ability to lie. “Well, following my advice. I did tell her that if they saw you two together before you pulled a prank that it would be way more suspicious than it normally is.”

“Clever.” Connie nodded. “So, when’re we supposed to meet?”

“She didn’t specify.” Armin frowned, finding a loophole in their otherwise perfect plan. “You should just head over now.”

“Cool!” Springer grinned, turning around and running off, eager to hear her plan.

Too eager, Armin noted, sighing again.

‘He likes her too much.’ He groaned, walking back to where he’d left Eren and they decided to head over to the supply cabinet and wait.

Connie didn’t hear the door locking as Sasha entered. He’d been waiting for her for less than five minutes, feeling giddy when she entered and placed her hands on his arms. In the badly lit cabinet he could see her eager face and an expression he’d come to associate with her being hungry. Something got stuck in his throat as he smelt her, enjoying her natural odour that whiffed by when she walked in.

“So, about that prank.”

“Where’s my food?”

They had both spoken at the same time but he shut up as soon as he realised they weren’t on the same wavelength. He frowned as her face twisted into an angry scowl.

“What the Hell, Connie? I’m starving here!” She groaned, throwing her head back in annoyance. “Reiner told me you’d snuck a whole loaf of bread!”

“And Armin told me that you had planned a prank!” Connie snarled, mostly angry at himself for believing such an obvious lie. Of course if Sasha had a good idea for a prank, she’d directly tell him and not get others involved.

“But I didn’t plan anything.” She waved off dismissively.

“Sasha.” Connie lifted his head slightly to look into her wide, miffed eyes. “You do realise what this means, right?”

“That you don’t have my bread.”

“Forget that! They tricked us.”

“Yeah, I can see that.”

“They think we like each other!” It finally dawned on Connie and he snapped his fingers quickly. “That’s why they’ve forced us into this awkward situation!”

“Who do they think they are – pretending they know us and our feelings?” Sasha scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest and tapping her foot.

“They tricked us so now it’s time to give them a taste of their own medicine.” Connie’s face brightened as an idea struck his mind.

“They’ve been awfully quiet for a long time.” Armin whispered as he took his turn to look at the cabinet’s still closed door.

“Bet they’re smooching in there!” Reiner grinned. “Or she could be sucking him off, who knows!”

“Ew.” Eren frowned, turning away, slightly disgusted.

“I knew doing this was what’s best for them!” Armin smiled radiantly.

Bert was about to express his own feelings of happiness towards the new couple when he was interrupted by screaming.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON’T HAVE MY FOOD?” Sasha’s voice came from inside the cabinet.

“I NEVER SAID I HAD FOOD, SASHA!” Connie seemed like he’d half given up on reasoning with his friend.

“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU! I BET YOU ATE IT ALL!” A loud bang was heard after and they all decided to stop hiding and look at the supply cabinet in shock. “WHY DIDN’T YOU SHARE WITH ME? YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT FOOD!”

Silence.

“OH, SO YOU THOUGHT YOU DIDN’T HAVE TO SHARE WITH ME BECAUSE ALL I DO IS EAT?” She yelled.

“YOU’D NEVER SHARE WITH ME!”

“SO NOW I’M A PIG?”

“I DIDN’T SAY THAT! BUT FINE, YEAH, YOU’RE A PIG.”

“HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A PIG? WELL… YOU’RE STUPID.”

Silence followed by another bang. Eren watched as the colour drained from Armin’s face.

“I’ve heard that from a variety of people but I’d never expect to hear it FROM YOU.” Connie sounded hurt.

“Well there you have it! You’re stupid and a liar! And I never want to see you again!” Sasha ended her sentence by a frustrated scream. Someone tried to open the door but of course it wouldn’t budge. They’d locked it to give them some privacy.

“What the-!? It’s locked!” She screamed, trying to open it again.

“How useless are you?” Connie pushed her away and tried to open it himself. When it wouldn’t budge he kicked it repeatedly. “LOOK WHAT YOU DID! YOU LOCKED US IN!”

“I did not!” She yelled.

“You were the last to enter!”

“Oh my God, I’m going to die of starvation and the last thing I’m going to hear is your whining!”

“So now I whine?”

“I can’t deal with you right now!” She hissed. “Shut up!”

“You can’t deal with me?” He scoffed in disbelief. “Try putting up with your incessant complaints about how FUCKING HUNGRY YOU ALWAYS ARE.”

“I’m always hungry, do you have a problem with that?”

“That you won’t shut up about it?”

“Should we do something?” Armin whispered, biting his nails anxiously, but Eren shushed him, amused.

“It’s just getting to the good part!” He smirked, gloating internally.

“I’m discovering some very awful things about you.” Sasha sneered. “I don’t think I want to be your friend anymore.”

“Well don’t be! I’ve had enough of you!”

“And I’ve had enough of you!”

Some more fumbling and pounding on the door before they heard their combined frustrated screaming.

“Hey, Jean!” Reiner called the other over in a hushed voice. Kirstein looked confused as he stared at the situation and listened in on the angry banging and yelling coming from the cabinet. “Pretend we weren’t here and let them out!”

“What’s going on?” The other asked looking lost.

“Just do what I say and I’ll tell you later!” Braun led Bert away and signalled Armin and Eren to do the same. The blond boy lingered, waiting to see what would happen when Sasha and Connie were released.

Jean approached the door and unlocked it, opening it up questioningly.

“Oh, look, finally!” Springer pushed the girl away as he got out, turning the light off behind him.

“Hey, you shoved me!” She screamed, getting out and pushing him back.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to but your fat arse was in the way.” Connie commented, dryly.

“Er… are you okay?” Jean asked as he was ignored by the bickering couple.

“Yeah, we’re peachy.” Sasha snarled, her eyes glaring at the boy with the crew cut. “I hope you die, Connie.”

“I hope so too, so I don’t have to see your ugly face anymore.”

“Call me ugly or fat one more time and I might just murder you!” She got so angry she punched his shoulder.

“Well, get away from me so I don’t have to look at you!”

“Fuck you!” She screamed.

“Fuck you!” He retorted in the same angry voice as hers. Quickly, he turned around and started walking away.

“Yeah, run off like the little coward you are! You turd!”

“Not a coward!” He screamed as he hurried away. “I hate you so much I’m going to the toilet to be violently sick.”

“Aim for the toilet and try not to miss, I know it’s hard for you.” He stopped at her words and turned around to glare at her.

“Hilarious. You sit down and still fail to hit the toilet.”

“That makes no sense!” She shouted.

“You make no sense!”

“Never speak to me again!” She yelled, turning around and walking away. He grumbled before doing the same.

Armin watched from a corner, his heart beating fast in his chest. He’d fucked up. Eren was waiting behind him, a smug smirk on his features.

“Told you. Just friends.” He said, trying to play it cool. “Well, not anymore, thanks to you.”

“Shut up!” Armin covered his ears childishly. “I feel awful about it!”

“Just give it a day so they cool off and then apologize to them. Tell them what happened.”

“What if they’re never friends again?”

“Relax, that won’t happen.”

“What is it, Armin?” Connie entered the classroom, only to stare in disgust at the girl waiting for him. “Ugh, not you.”

He was about to leave when the other boy quickly grabbed his shirt and pulled him back.

“Please wait! I want to talk to you!”

“I don’t want to be in the same room as her!” Connie snarled, sticking his tongue out as Sasha.

“Neither do I!” She growled, turning her head away from him.

“Please! Listen to what I have to say!” Armin panted, awfully distressed. Connie slowly turned his head in his direction, willing to listen to his friend. Sasha also unfolded her arms from her chest and waited patiently for the blond to talk.

“It was all just a… I didn’t want it to be like this” Arlert sighed, dragging a hand over his face as he dropped his body heavily on one of the tables behind him. “I thought you liked each other so we tried to push you to confess. I never wanted you to fight. So, I’m very sorry, please don’t fight anymore. I can’t live with the fact that I’ve ruined your friendship.”

Connie and Sasha looked at each other and both burst into a fit of laughter.

“Wh-what!?” Armin’s eyes flew wide open as he stared at the two of them nearly in tears.

“Can’t believe they fell for it!” Sasha wheezed, brazing herself as she tried hard to breathe.

Connie was on the floor, wiping the tears from his face. “Armin, you’re hilarious.”

“What is going on?” The blond boy whispered, his heartbeat having calmed down a lot.

“We realised your plan and decided to play a prank of our own!” Sasha giggled. “I still can’t believe it worked so well!”

Springer managed to get up and stop laughing. “Can’t believe you thought we like each other!” He then turned to her, puckering his lips “Hey Sasha” he tried saying, but his words came out mushed from the ridiculous face he was pulling. “I wooove you.”

She stared laughing and imitated him.

“I wove you twu!” She made kissy sounds and they both erupted into another laughing fit.

“So… you don’t hate each other?” Armin asked, confused and intrigued.

“Pfft! As if!” Connie said, bursting into another laughing fit.

“I’m so relieved.” Arlert sighed, clutching his chest.

“Wah, it was sooo hard to pretend to fight with you for so long!” Sasha giggled patting Connie’s shoulder a bit too enthusiastically.

“I know, right? I was trying not to laugh constantly!” He answered.

“You said some pretty horrid things to me!”

“Well so did you!”

“I’ll apologize only if you say sorry first!” She grinned.

“Why should I be the first one to apologize? You do it!” He retorted, a playful smirk on his face.

“Hmmm, I will if you give me your dessert at lunch.”

“You know what? I can live without your apology.”

“Hey, no! Apologize!” She groaned, throwing her head back in annoyance.

“Well, I’m glad to see you back to your normal selves.” Armin smiled, desperate to get out of there.

“And I hope you’ve learned a lesson!” Sasha sneaked her arm around the blond boy’s shoulders and leaned in.

“It’s a bit ironic that you two are doing the teaching.” He muttered before letting out a tired sigh. “But yeah, I won’t ever do that again.” He managed to get rid of her and quickly excused himself.

“So, Sash, about that apology?” was the last thing Armin heard Connie say as he left.

[imagine-loki]

If I could Turn Back Time, I’d Still Choose This

TITLE:  If I could Turn Back Time, I’d Still Choose This

CHAPTER NO./ONE SHOT: Chapter 30

AUTHOR: wolfpawn

ORIGINAL IMAGINE: Imagine that when Odin found Loki on Jotunheim, he did not take him to raise as his son, as Frigga was pregnant at the time, instead he was given to a normal Aesir family. Years later, Loki meets Odin’s daughter Sigyn, and trouble ensues.

Fandral sat looking at Anastasia, scared at what the woman would say.

‘So, what is the story here?’ She demanded. Sigyn merely sighed and pursed her lips with a raised brow. ‘I see.’

Fandral stared between them, not understanding the silent conversation being had.

‘I see he collared you, like a dog.’ Sigyn raised her head slightly to show her aunt the contraption on it.

‘I didn’t…’ Fandral began, staring at her in terror.

‘Not you, her father.’ Anastasia dismissed. ‘What does that do, Duckie?’

‘Controls my seidr, alerts my father to conversations I should not have and most fun of all, prevents me saying anything to alert people of certain aspects of my situation.’

‘So you cannot tell this boy anything?’ Anastasia pointed to Fandral, causing Sigyn to shake her head.

‘Wait, you cannot tell me, not will not.’ Fandral realised the reason for how Sigyn acted when he asked particular questions.

‘I cannot, I would have been honest with you if I could, he has done the same with Thor too.’ She admitted.

‘What can you tell me?’

‘She can tell you nothing, I cannot tell you much either, for my nephew has particular restrictions on my words also.’ Fandral’s eyes widened. ‘I don’t think you realise just how deep this situation is boy, but it can go no further with you so in the dark. I have recruited someone to help us, someone not as restricted.’

‘Yet still somewhat so?’ Fandral noted.

‘Yes. He cannot say all either. My nephew cannot stand the idea of this getting out, so he silenced all those who know. The only grace we have is he is not as young as he was, back when he was of the opinion that the best way to silence people was to do away with them. There is a loophole to all of this though, if you figure it out, it can be spoken of in your presence.’

‘Who?’ Sigyn asked curiously

‘You have had someone looking out for you here Duckie, you knew it, but not as much as you thought.’ Anastasia smiled before turning slightly. ‘Thor?’ Her great-nephew walked into the room grinning.

‘You…’ Sigyn looked between them.

‘When you said Aunt Ana knew everything, she was the only one I could think to talk to about this, to try and fix this.’ Thor explained.

Sigyn bit her lips together and rose from her seat to rush to her brother, embracing him tightly. ‘Thank you.’

‘I have your back Sig, I promise.’ He hugged her back. When she finally let go enough, he turned her to the table. ‘Have you this room locked down?’ Thor asked.

‘I do. Mother will think she is hearing you blabber on about your time in Vanaheim, and that I am bored senseless as Fandral adds to your story. Same with the staff.’

‘Staff are safe though, right?’ Fandral asked.

‘My very own handmaid was the one that revealed everything.’ Sigyn stated coldly.

‘What happened her?’

Sigyn sneered. ‘Four months as a snake for a snake, it took six healers, Mother and Gungnir to reverse it.’

‘You always had a mean streak.’ Thor commented.

‘Thor, tell this boy what you can.’ Anastasia ordered. ‘He has been in the dark too long.’

‘So, if I guess something right, you can confirm it.’ Fandral checked.

‘Yes.’ Sigyn confirmed.

Fandral looked to Thor, who seemed uncertain. ‘I will follow you, no matter what, Thor, you know that.’

‘Sigyn was being sent off realm for her actions for the past year or so, Father was going to forbid her return, he thought her a danger to the house.’

Fandral looked at Thor, appalled. ‘Sigyn?’ He pointed to her. ‘Sigyn the Loyal, betray the House of Odin, how? Run to Laufey?’ There was a silence before Fandral looked at her in shock. ‘Did you?’

‘Not exactly.’ Sigyn explained. ‘I was forced into a situation where conversing with him was the only option. For the record, surprisingly calm and not bloodthirsty.’

‘We will have to take your word for it?’ Fandral did not know what else to say.

‘I was thrown there, I did not seek him, but he found me, as I tried to find a way off.’

‘Why were you thrown there?’

‘I was fleeing here. I was going elsewhere, but the Bifrost was diverted en route.’

‘What?’ Sigyn’s face made him realise. ‘The Allfather sent you to….’ She nodded. ‘Why?’

‘I messed up, more than usual.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Sigyn met someone….unsuitable in our parents' eyes, and….’ Thor tested as much as he could, but could feel something akin to a tightening in his throat in his mind. ‘Things happened and our parents did not take it well.’

Fandral looked at Thor, then back to Sigyn, who looked deeply hurt by the mention of it alone. ‘Oh. Is he…?’

‘Cast off Asgard, with his parents, they are never allowed return, never permitted to speak with Sigyn or about her again.’ Thor looked at Sigyn, who clearly was heartbroken at the thought of it. ‘I wish I could say more, but I cannot.’

‘There is more? How can there possibly be more?’ Fandral looked amongst them. He came to a conclusion but felt strange saying it in front of Anastasia. ‘Was there….did you…?’

‘Yes.’ Sigyn rolled her eyes at his lack of ability to say the words. ‘You know, for one known to partake in that, a lot in court and who brags about it, you’d think you’d be able to say the words.’

‘Well…’ Fandral eyed Anastasia.

‘Boy, with all that has occurred, and with as long as I am around, I am damn well versed in the actions youths partake in. Do you think I sat around waiting to bestowed with how to enjoy my husband and him me?’ Fandral and Thor looked at her shocked while Sigyn smirked, trying not to laugh. ‘Men, do they think we know nothing?’ She asked Sigyn.

‘I find it funny that they partake in such activities, with women I might add, then are surprised women know about these things.’ Sigyn laughed.

Anastasia chuckled. ‘Indeed.’

‘So, the Allfather found out?’ Fandral asked.

‘Per se.’ Anastasia answered.

Fandral could not comprehend what they were saying exactly with that answer but understood enough to know that Sigyn’s actions had angered her father. ‘And this man...you loved him?’ He ventured. One look at Sigyn’s face told him everything. ‘You still do.’

‘Yes.’

‘So casting you to Midgard was to prevent you seeing him again? Or was that because of the idea he had you would exact revenge for the Allfather’s actions?’

‘Both, but mostly the latter.’ She explained. ‘I am sorry to drag you into this.’

Fandral sighed and rubbed his hands over his face before looking at her, and then at Thor. ‘I accepted this before hearing any of it because Thor asked me to assist. It is far more complex than I ever could have imagined, but I do not regret my choice to assist.’ Sigyn and Thor both gave him identical grateful looks. ‘What happens if this farce is revealed?’

‘I will not allow any ill fall towards you, my friend.’ Thor swore.

Fandral nodded his head as he looked at his friend, before he frowned and looked at the hand on his arm, he followed it, as though half expecting it not to be Sigyn's, but to his surprise, she was indeed attached to it and the look in her eyes one he had never seen from her with genuine meaning before bar when she swore they would not be wed. ‘Fandral, I need you to swear something, please.’ He nodded. ‘I know we have asked too much of you as it is, but if my parents find out, I need you to feign ignorance.’ He frowned. ‘I will take all the blame for this, I will say I played you and your true affections, but you have to swear you will act as though you were truly invested in this, please.’

‘But you….’

‘You do not understand everything fully, if this is found out, I am banished anyway, it will make no difference to my punishment. I will take full blame for this.’

Fandral shook his head slightly. ‘I cannot possibly…’

‘You have to, you do not understand Fandral, I cannot live with getting you in trouble for this, you do not deserve it, after all you have done for me.’ Sigyn beseeched.

‘I cannot allow you take full blame, I have merely a slight bit of this clearly complex story, but all I can see is that you are being persecuted for a matter of love. You clearly still love him for Norn's sake. I…’

‘I am sorry. I never wanted you to question all of this. My father has wronged me, I will never pretend otherwise, but he is a good king, and he does still remain king. I am not doing this to revolt against the king, merely because I cannot pretend what happened never did.’

‘You are stronger than I am.’

‘Please,’ She dismissed, ‘I knew that since I was seven hundred.’ She joked with a wink.

Fandral and Thor chuckled as Fandral took her hand in his. ‘I will not pretend that I know the full extent of your suffering, Sigyn. I cannot even pretend to, but I cannot deny the sheer strength you possess to continue as you do.’

‘If only you knew, my friend.’ Thor shook his head as he spoke.

‘Now with that much cleared up, tell me about Vanaheim, Thor.’ Anastasia smiled as she began to eat.

Fandral leant towards Sigyn slightly. ‘She is mental.’

‘I know, why do you think I adore her so much.’ She smiled in return.