#remus on the other hand? i will stuff him in a cave for half a dairy milk

[padfootastic]

gonna start excusing anything bad sirius ever did the way remus people do. his actions can technically be seen as hurtful but u gotta understand my man just needed therapy :( u can't comprehend the pain of azakban and having a dysfunctional childhood :( :( the prank isn't a net negative, it's simply an action derived of Sirius's oh so complicated psychology that we need to understand and sympathize with :( :( :(

anon how dare u imply sirius ever did anything bad in his precious, perfect life 😤

(but also—yes)

[ravenoclock]

@labyrinthhofmymind

A continuation of updates abt presque vu. Spoilers included. Italics are quotes from the fic itself. I apologize for not updating for a few days, I’ve been a bit busy.

CHAPTER NINE

Sirius is such a girlboss I swear. Androgynous royalty. Him being saying how they love confusion sm and making people confused like GET IT, LOVE. Also James being so supportive and being like ‘is it comfortable and how does it feel, etc’ is so cute. Love them.

The emmary :( idk what’s going on there but I feel so bad for them.

Oh, Remus, please like my knickers, please don't turn them into a joke, please like everything about me, even the things you don't understand, even the things you don't know, even the things I don't either. This is what I am. Please take me as I am.

GAHHHHH.

Also Remus being like ‘I’ll like u in whatever u wear’ is so wholesome.

MARLENE AND SIRIUS’ FRIENDSHIP. BONDING. OVER. A. MOTORBIKE. THATS SO THEM.

"Pretty sure she knows I'm fucking Dorcas," Marlene says, gaze fixed on the wrench. "She hates it. Can you believe that? I kill people and she looks the other way, but I love a woman and she hates me."

That’s rly fucked up. I hate that Marls has to go through stuff like that. Side note, I’m imagining Marlene with her hair short asf and I just died. MARLS THE WOMAN YOU ARE.

Also Peter…poor boy. Ik he chose to betray them and all that but Sirius saying how Peter used to be rly lively and shit and now he’s just… nothing.

SIRIUS MAKING REMUS BLUSH. HE BLUSHED. I SCREAMED.

Today, Sirius is as much a man as he is a woman, both simultaneously, with no words to describe why it's that way, or what it feels like.

Is it weird to say I’m proud of him? Like, a few chapters before she didn’t even know what she was feeling and now they’re more comfortable with it and they’re fine with it. Idk. I just love it.

To Sirius, control is secrecy.

…speechless.

"You're a vision," Sirius croaks, struck stupid by it, by him. "Do you have any idea how lovely you are?"

WOLFSTAR WOLFSTAR WOLFSTAR WOLFSTAR WOLFSTAR I LOVE THEM YOUR HONOR. DHAJAJJSJSJSHSNDKELKWKAJ I CANT.

Sirius still thinking Remus deserves better and that he’s not good enough for Remus actually makes me want to die because THEYRE MADE FOR EACH OTHER. MOLDED FROM THE SAME CLAY. CUT FROM THE SAME CLOTH. IDC WHAT CORNY SHIT I HAVE TO SAY TO PROVE THAT THEY ARE MEANT FOR EACH OTHER AND ITS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL THING AND I LOVE IT.

Someday, he will be silent more often than he is not. Someday, he will be unable to recall his mother's voice. Someday, he will only remember her scream.

FUCK OFF. WHYYYY.

It's unfortunate, really, that so few of them live long past the proof.

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

moving on to….CHAPTER TEENNNNN

HARRY MY BABY IS HEREEEEE AND SIRIUS IS LIKE ���hmm I kinda understand why my parents hated me now’ lmao? I guess? Idk if I’m supposed to laugh?

Sirius would scamper out of her bedroom and rub her eyes with her fists and, half-asleep with a tiny yawn, she would reach out for her mother's hand and offer to walk with her. She would ask, on the few and far between nights where her mother actually let her small hand slip into hers, if she could give Regulus a hug, or tell him hello. And, occasionally, with a long suffering sigh like it was the end of the world, Walburga would hold Sirius' hand for a beat, then let go, then let Sirius do it.

OH MY FUCKING GOD. OH MY GOD. OH. MY. GOD.

"Merlin, your tears are contagious," Sirius informs Harry with a croaky whisper, not understanding why her eyes are suddenly streaming, why her chest feels like it's caving in.

;-; now I wanna cry. thx.

Harry, apparently, is chaos incarnate.

They love Harry so much they can't shut up about it.

THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO STAY FAMILY. ALL LF THEM. LIKE THIS. FOREVER. COMPLAINING ABT HARRYS CHAOS AND BEING EXHAUSTED FROM TAKING CARE OF HIM, LATCHING ON TO EVERY LITTLE THING HE DID BECAUSE THEY DESERVED IT. FAMILY. THEY WERE EACH OTHERS FAMILY AND THEN THEY WERENT. WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY.

But that doesn't stop Sirius from wanting to hold Harry all the time. That doesn't stop her from begging Lily and James to let her come over so she can watch Harry breathe, which is a bit odd, but it's an impulse she can't resist. That doesn't stop her from wanting to feed Harry, or coo at him, or change his nappies and rock him to sleep and gasp in awe when he accidentally manages to grasp his own foot in his fist and fling his baby sock halfway across the room.

I CANT ENJOY THIS WHEN IK ITS A CANON COMPLIANT FIC.

All that is to say, Peter's awkward with Harry usually, unsure how to handle him, scared to hurt him. It's sweet and endearing, but his caution must read wrong to Harry, because he genuinely seems to throw a fit every time Peter tries to have anything to do with him. Maybe they need to bond. They haven't seemed to do that yet.

Harry knows…

Oh my god oh my god oh my god. SIRIUS WAKING UP REMUS CUZ EMMELINE IS HOLDING IS ARM IS HILARIOUS. REMUS BEING LIKE OH YEAH I LOVE YOY. SIRIUS BEING LIKE OH SHIT. WOLFSTAR MY LOVES.

Even lullabies can be lies sometimes.

So….whos paying for my therapy?

Oh my god. Lily laughing her ass off thinking Dumbledore’s lost his mind and James and Sirius being like ‘umm so who’s gonna tell her?’ And Remus agreeing with Lily but looking at Sirius and realizing she’s not fucking around. Sirius being like ‘it doesn’t fucking matter if you think the prophecy is bullshit, they won’t. they’ll come after your baby whether or not this prophecy is real.’ And Lily being like ‘oh shit you motherfucker now WHY would you say that?’

"She gets it now," James weeps, "and somehow that's worse."

Of course. There’s a saying I can’t quite remember for this kind of situation.

Zar’s metaphor for time and growing up… that’s my 10th life gone y’all.

Remus takes one look at him, and the fight doesn't even exist. They don't say they're sorry, and they don't talk about it anymore, and they simply let it fizzle into nothingness until all that's left is the way they hold each other.

…something tells me that’s kinda toxic. But wolfstar and communication don’t work rly well together. I wish they would just talk :(

It's the brightest part of Sirius' life, to be loved by that kid.

Christ on a Stick. I can’t do this today.

Later, Sirius will think about that tradition he heard about, the one that's almost a superstition, where you're not supposed to do anything strenuous or upsetting on New Years, or else you'll be stuck doing it all year following. It's meant for chores, usually, not for going without your best friend.

Jaw dropped. Tears cried. Screams scrumpt.

I feel a headache incoming so that’s all I’m reading for today. I finished chapter 10!!! Apparently there’s some time for me to prepare for what happens in 1981 so I’m very thankful for that but I don’t think I’ll ever be fully ready :( anywho sorry that it’s a bit shorter this time but yeah! those r my thoughts for chapters 9 & 10 of presque vu. Have a great day :)

[thecrowslullaby]

for the bingo: love potion? honestly I'd like to see this one with any of the sides (your choice), but if you'd like a specific one, let's go with either Patton or Janus

warnings: jealousy, quareling words: 566 pairings: logince and/or loceit (can be interpreted either way tbh)

The fiery stare Logan cast his way was certainly enough to compete with the dragon witch's breath. He would know, after the close encounter today. At the moment going back to that cave seemed almost preferable.

"It wasn't my fault." Roman finally snapped, as he turned his head to glare back at his friend. His resolve faltered when Logan narrowed his eyes.

"Clearly." Roman didn't know his friend was capable of such venom. 

Roman took a deep breath, trying to calm his breath.

"Look, can we focus on making the potion instead? Please?" He tried to reason. "So we can go back to normal?"

"Oh I'm sure there are plenty of other things you'd rather be doing."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what I mean!"

"Well I clearly don't!" Roman shot back. "So enlighten me please!"

"You're taking advantage of the situation!" Logan gestured to Janus with his arms around Roman's back. Hands barely connecting around his torso. One of Roman' arms hugged him back to keep the smaller man placid.

He tried to take it back but Janus stared at him with such hurt in his eyes Roman was sure the man was going to start crying.

It made him nauseous to see his friend like this, taken down by some half brewed potion, with that lovesick look on his face.

"What exactly about this is an advantage?"

Logan gave him a look as if he stated the earth was actually flat before tightening his jaw further. Roman was seriously starting to get worried for this man's teeth.

"You don't have to be glued to him."

"Oh, tell that to Janus then." Roman challenged. "I'm sure he's going to listen."

"I'm not going anywhere." Janus spat as he tightened his grip on Roman, making the man wince. "I'm staying here with my love."

Roman began to understand what Remus meant when he said all this romance stuff was making him wanna gag. Not that he was ever gonna admit it to his brother.

"Look." Roman tried to soften his voice. "If you let me go for five minutes, we'll be done really soon, ok? And then I can go hug you with both hands for the remainder of the afternoon, ok? How does that sound?"

Janus furrowed his brow, thinking about the offer before shaking his head.

"I'm not leaving you alone with Logan."

The nerd slammed his vial against the table.

"Well I'm not the one who's all over Roman!"

"Yesss!" Janus snarled, finally ripping his eyes off of Roman to glare at their friend. "Becausssse I'm here."

Logan took a step forward, glaring down at Janus who started to dig his nails into Roman's skin.

He really wished the dragon witch had eaten him today.

"Look." Roman started, trying to place himself between Janus and Logan despite every last of his senses screaming at him not to. "How about we take a little break, huh?"

"Fine." Logan sneered. "You two go 'take a little break'. I'm going to be the responsible one and clean up your mess."

There were a few choice words Roman wanted to say back at this point but he settled on a strained 'thank you'. 

Janus for some, seemed delighted at this turn of events. Clearly pleased to have won more of Roman's attention for himself."Let's go make out on the couch."

"Let's not."

[tracingpatternswrites]

For today’s @wolfstarmicrofic and the word melody let’s have some absolute ridiculousness. I’m sorry. Or not. I dunno.

”Stop it, Pads.”

Sirius looks up from where he’s seated on the couch. He’s twisted himself around so he can lean back against the armrest, knees bent and feet firmly planted against the soft seating cushions. He’s got a stack of documents propped up against his thighs, quill in hand that he’s been using to underline important paragraphs. 

”What?”

Remus is scowling from the other side of the sofa as Sirius looks up at him, making a vague but clearly irritated wave in Sirius’ general direction.

”You know,” he says, ”it’s driving me mad.”

”What?” Sirius replies, frustratedly, ”I don’t know what you’re on about.”

”That fucking song,” Remus snarls, ”you’re bloody humming it again.” 

Sirius throws a glance at the soon-to-be-four-year-old who’s playing on the floor at the swear word but Remus doesn’t look like he cares and Harry doesn’t seem to have noticed anything.

”Oh,” Sirius says, sheepishly, giving a sort of half-shrug, ”Sorry, I didn’t know, okay? It just sort of…won’t leave me alone.”

”Yes, thank you, I know,” glowers Remus, ”I’ll have nightmares about that bloody thing for the rest of my life.”

Sirius purses his lips together so not to laugh, doing his best to look sympathetic but by the way Remus is still glaring at him he has a feeling he’s failing. He opens his mouth to apologise again when they’re interrupted, Harry clearly having picked something up from their conversation. It becomes clear as he’s coming over, brandishing the tablet Remus had caved and bought for them.

”The wolf song, Pa’foot,” he says, dumping it in Sirius’ lap. ”I want to hear the wolf song again.”

”I never should’ve bought that thing,” Remus grumbles under his breath, glaring at the tablet that Sirius is now holding. 

”I told you it was a bad idea,” Sirius points out, unable to quite keep the smirk off his face as he helps Harry find the right app.

”I bought it because someone at the library said you could download all sorts of games that are good for kids. Like, they teach you to count and read and stuff,” protests Remus haughtily, ”I didn’t buy it for that.”

”They sing it at the nursery,” Sirius shrugs as Harry climbs into his lap, settling comfortably.

”The wolf song, Pa’foot,” Harry says insistently, pushing at Sirius’ arm. 

”We’ve listened to that song a million times today already, I’m not doing it again,” Remus says firmly as he reaches for the tablet.

”THE WOLF SONG,” Harry wails, face scrunching up. ”I WANT THE WOLF SONG.”

”It’s alright, sprog, we’ll listen to something else,” Sirius tries, smoothing a hand over the boy’s hair but Harry shakes his head violently, face scrunching up.

”I ONLY WANT THE WOLF SONG!”

Remus throws his arms up in a sort of helpless gesture, ”Fine, play the bl– the song then. But I’m not staying to listen to it.”

Sirius does his very best not to laugh at his partner’s exasperated tone, his voice almost drowned out by Harry’s loud cheer as he grabs at the tablet. He finds the play button (Harry having figured out most of how the tablet worked well before both Remus and himself), pressing it excitedly. 

Sirius swallows back a laugh, unable to stop himself as the first few notes start to play and Remus stands up abruptly.

”I dunno, Moony, the melody is really catchy and–”

”Don’t finish that sentence or I will hex you,” Remus growls out a warning, his tone of voice one that’s usually saved for when they’re alone and Sirius’ snaps his mouth shut mostly out of habit.

Sirius makes a gesture as if he’s zipping his mouth shut, but when Harry starts singing he has to duck his head to hide his face in the boy’s mop of hair to stop himself from laughing out loud at Remus’ expression.

”I am a wolf; I am aloof. I GROWL AND BARK AND HOWL!”

The wolf song.

[gothighunicorntolerance]

At last, my Big Bang fic!

When Roman and his friends go hiking, they expect to see some birds, some lizards, maybe a deer if they were lucky- not a hidden cave with a sleeping person inside, unable to be woken up by anyone. His friends decide to let the sleeping person stay put, but there’s some feeling Roman just can’t shake off. Red chapter one below, and the full fic on AO3, accompanied by amazing art by @littlebigmouse

taglist: @theimprobabledreamersworld @edupunkn00b @ts-storytime

AO3 link

art post

The tranquility of the forest was quickly interrupted by the banter of several people standing by a parked car, their faces illuminated by the pink-tinted full moon low on the horizon.

“Come at me, Mothman! I have a very juicy ass you would LOVE!”

“Remus, you IDIOT. Mothman lives in West Virginia!”

“Well what about the skunk ape, Virgil? Don't you want to see the Skunk Ape? SKUNK APE! SKUNK APE!” He chanted, his voice echoing in the parking lot.

“Remus, would you shut up?!” Roman shoved his brother. “We are actually going to try and find wildlife like deer and stuff, and that’s not going to happen if you keep shouting for cryptids to fuck you.”

The rest of the group sighed collectively at the antics of the twins, though Roman didn’t pay much attention to his friends’ groaning.

“Anyways,” Roman said louder than necessary. “Logan, you have the compass, right?”

“Of course. I also brought several yards of paracord, just in case. And also cereal bars, batteries, and water.”

“Thank you for being the responsible one,” Roman laughed. “Virgil, it’s your job to make sure that the entire state of Florida doesn’t find out that my brother is a monster fucker.”

Virgil groaned. “You know that’s going to be impossible.”

“Just punch him when you think he’s about to say something stupid.”

“Oh, like this?” Virgil smacked Remus in the arm.

“Ow!” Remus groaned.

“Well, I thought you were about to say something stupid.”

“Can we please just get on with our hiking-adventure-whatever you’re calling it?” Janus spoke up.

“Please.” Logan agreed.

“O-KAY! Into the woods!” Roman sang.

The five hikers walked down the small dirt path, the mud from last night’s storm splashing their ankles. The colors of the sunset were barely visible through the branches of the trees, which cast long shadows onto the ground and Roman still quietly humming all parts of the song by himself.

As Roman’s song ended, trailing off into the instrumental bits, Remus had finally shut up about various cryptids, and the only sounds were the squelching of mud sticking to their shoes and the occasional snap of a stick or crunch of a fallen leaf underfoot.

The May nights were cool and humid, so most days like this, Roman wore cheaper jeans and a hoodie that he was willing to throw away if it got too dirty or torn.

About half an hour into their adventure-hike, Logan silently passed around flashlights to everyone, which Roman gladly accepted. It had gotten dark quickly, to the point where Roman had been barely able to see his feet.

Suddenly, Virgil, who was in front, stopped.

“Deer,” he whispered, aiming his flashlight into the trees.

Roman followed the flashlight beam onto a huge buck, its pelt speckled with mud and antlers extending far beyond its ears.

“The inside spread is over twelve inches,” Logan whispered.

“That’s big, right?” Janus asked.

“Yes, it is. The largest recorded spread in the state of Florida was nineteen and a half inches.”

Roman knew that Remus was about to open his mouth and say something stupid, and apparently, so did Virgil, because Remus groaned again after he was hit in the shoulder, the rest of the group snickering.

The deer eventually ran away, and the group continued on until the dirt path ended.

“Hey, look at this!” Virgil waved the group over to where he was standing, shining his flashlight into a large opening in the side of a rockface.

Roman jogged over and looked into the cave- as far as the flashlight illuminated, he could see moss and other plants clinging to wet stone.

“I haven’t seen this before- I think I’d remember,” Janus commented.

“It must have been uncovered by erosion from the storm last night,” Logan added in.

“Let’s go in!” Roman and Remus said at the same time, grinning at each other. They might not agree on much, but when it came to deciding whether or not to explore a creepy-looking cave, the answer was always going to be yes.

“Don’t you think we should- never mind,” Virgil sighed as the twins started swinging their flashlights across the wet ground of the cave.

“Look at this!” Remus whisper-shouted to Roman, pointing out some kind of slime growing on a rock.

“That is disgusting, put it down or I’m not letting you in the car,” Roman said as Remus began to poke the slime.

Remus stuck his tongue out at his brother but reluctantly stopped poking the unfamiliar growth. Roman turned around to see that the rest of the group had followed them in.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Virgil asked worriedly. “I mean, this cave wasn’t here before, and we might be the first living things to step in here in maybe hundreds of years.”

“And this is how people find monster boyf- OW!” Virgil once again took it upon himself to hit Remus in the arm to stop him from talking about various cryptids in a non-child-friendly manner.

“Caves such as this one are particularly interesting because you never know what you might find- oh, look!” Logan pointed to another small opening at the back of the cave.

“I’m going to crawl through!” Roman declared after the group had spent a minute or so deciding what to do.

Roman got on his hands and knees and started to wedge himself through the opening, quite aware that he would likely have to put his clothes through more than one wash cycle to get the stains out. He bit down on the flashlight, illuminating what was in front of him, but only barely.

When there was finally room for Roman to stand, he turned and called through the opening, “I’m fine! You can come through, it’s safe!”

The second part of the cave was much wider than the first part, and Roman was able to stand without hunching over.

Swinging his flashlight across the ground, Roman suddenly gasped.

There was a man laying on the ground, hands folded across his chest, dressed in- were those robes?

“Guys…? You might want to see this…” Roman called out again, his voice shaking.

“Ro? Are you okay- HOLY SHIT!” Janus crawled through, his eyes wide with disbelief and perhaps a little fear.

Remus and Virgil came through next, Remus uncharacteristically silent, his mouth open in an ‘o.’

Logan was the last to crawl through, and he, like everyone else, stood silent, looking at the figure laying in the center of the cave, arms crossed over their chest and wings spread out- Roman rubbed his eyes. This couldn’t be real- he couldn’t have found some guy in a cave that hadn’t been touched in years!

Maybe they had gotten drunk or something and put on a very realistic-looking cosplay and then ran through the woods? Remus had done odder things, so it couldn’t be completely ruled out.

Janus slowly walked up to the figure, stepping over the silken blue robes and putting his hand on their neck, careful not to knock off the wire framed glasses.

“There’s a pulse, but it’s really faint.” Janus announced to the group. “They’re definitely not dead.” The hikers stepped closer to the sleeping person, forming a circle around them but careful to not touch the giant gray bird wings sprouting from their back. Roman noticed a strand of curly brown hair had fallen into their eyes, and resisted the urge to reach out and tuck the strand of hair behind their ear.

After a moment of silence, Roman spoke up. “Should we… try to wake them up? I mean, what else should we do?”

Roman was careful not to touch the sleeping person. Roman wouldn’t admit it, but he was afraid there would be some kind of horror movie scene- where as soon as he got close enough, they would sit up and try to murder him. Or something like that.

Logan crouched and tapped his phone, and the default alarm sound echoed through the cave. The person didn’t stir.

Virgil stepped up next, unscrewing the cap of his water bottle and pouring the contents onto their face. “Seriously? Nothing?” Virgil muttered.

“Let me try,” Janus said, grabbing the person’s shoulder and shaking them.

“Alright,” Remus said, stepping forward and rolling up his sleeve. He looked up at Roman, grinning, before bringing his arm down to the person’s face and slapping them on the cheek. Roman cringed at the echo it created, but there was still no reaction from them.

“How the fuck did that not work?” Remus stared at the still-sleeping person.

“Heavy sleeper?” Roman suggested.

“Coma?”

“Dead?”

“Are we about to be on Buzzfeed Unsolved?”

“Underlying medical condition?”

“Alright, it’s your turn, Prince Charming. Go do a true love’s kiss on the guy. You never know,” Remus laughed.

“No way! I’m not touching that guy with my finger, let alone my mouth!” Roman protested as Remus tried to drag him over.

Another beat of silence passed before Virgil spoke up. “I think we should leave. This dude’s probably not okay, and I don’t want to have to call the police or paramedics. I don’t want to get involved in anything, whether this guy is just stoned or in a coma or whatever.”

“Yeah.” Roman said after a minute of consideration. “You’re right. I don’t want to get involved. We should just- I dunno, leave the guy here? Maybe check later to see if they’re okay? I mean, they’re not dead.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, and soon crawled back out the way they came. Roman exited last, and couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder at the sleeping figure. A small part of him wanted to stay behind, try and wake them up.

But Roman ignored that feeling and left the cave with the rest of his group.

Once the group srood back on the path, all a little shaken or confused from what they had just seen, Roman said, “let’s all just go back home. If we want to, we’ll come back next week or whenever to make sure the guy’s either okay or gone, but for now just leave it alone.”

Roman said the last part for himself, trying to ignore the nagging feeling that he was missing something. He shook his head and followed Logan and Janus, who had already started walking back to the parking lot through the wet grass and still-sticky mud. Even in the dim light, Roman could tell the two of them were holding hands. Roman opened his mouth to tease the two of them but thought better of it. They had all just seen something pretty weird in that cave (Roman was still trying to decide what he really saw), and Logan and Janus hadn’t announced that they were together, probably for the exact reason that Roman would tease them.

Oh well, there would be plenty of moments for teasing later. For now, Roman just focused on dragging his feet along the muddy path back to the car, though he kept glancing over his shoulder. He told himself that it was to keep an eye on Remus and Virgil and make sure they were still behind him, but the nagging feeling that he had forgotten something still lingered.

[ourloveisforthelovely]

Kiss Her (one shot)

Harry Potter Marauders Post-Hogwarts 

Request:  Can we get a regulus simping for the reader but she can’t read signs so he just kisses them to make it extra clear what he wants? Love your page 💓💓

Pairings: Regulus Black x Reader 

Rating: T

_______

“Regulus? Reg? Reggie? Brother of mine! Regulus Arcturus Black….why are you ignoring me?”

It wasn’t until Sirius kicked Regulus under the table did the younger Black brother look up from his plate. He scowled at his brother as Sirius burst into a fit of giggles at the dinner table.

“What do you want?”

Regulus snapped as Sirius sheepishly said hi. Rolling his eyes, Regulus muttered about how big of a pain in the ass his older brother was as he went back to watching you. You, however, seemed oblivious to the young man’s gaze.

Sighing, Regulus looked down at his food knowing that he needed to eat but he didn’t want to. What he wanted was for you to see him. He didn’t mean just looking at him but actually seeing him for the man that he was.

Y/n will not want a former death eater for a lover.

Regulus thought miserably as you laughed over something that your brother, Remus Lupin, said. Your eyes finally looked up and met Regulus’ before giving him a small smile then turning back to Remus.

It didn’t matter that Regulus had deflected and came to the order for help. You probably saw him as some lunatic turned to the good side. That was the only thing that could explain how you seemed oblivious to almost all of Regulus’ advances. No matter how many times he told you that you were beautiful or how many bouquets of flowers that he hid in your room you weren’t putting 2 and 2 together and it was making Regulus nutty. He had never had this bad for a woman and he was beginning to question his own sanity.

“I’m telling you to just go kiss her.”

Sirius’ voice once again pulled Regulus from his thoughts. He turned to face his older brother with a frown.

“What are you talking about?”

Regulus questioned as Sirius smiled. He had put things together over his younger brother’s “crush” weeks ago. Sirius had never seen Regulus look at a woman this way and it was freaking adorable.

“Y/n, go grab her and kiss her.”

Regulus rolled his eyes before taking a sip of the fire whiskey in front of him.

“That’s how I will get punched.”

Sirius shook his head.

“Nah, Y/n won’t punch you. Remus might but not Y/n. If you want a word of advice. The Lupins aren’t the most relationship smart of people. I had to just kiss Remus for him to figure out that I liked him. I don’t see Y/n being too much different.”

Regulus shook his head. That sounded like a horrible idea.

“Why don’t I just hit her over the head and drag her back to my cave? Sirius, do you realize how horribly unromantic just kissing someone who doesn’t expect it sounds?”

Sirius looked up.

“Hey, you’re the one talking about hitting her over the head. I think my kissing sounds a lot more romantic than a concussion.”

Regulus rolled his eyes, for the hundredth time.

“We should stop this conversation.”

Regulus’ situation only went from bad to worse when a new guy was inducted into the order. Not only was Brain super good looking but he seemed to be as interested in you as Regulus was. The only good thing about the situation was the fact that you didn’t seem to be the least bit interested in Brain at all. Anytime he tried to say something flirty to you, you politely exited the room or went off in search of someone to occupy your time.

Regulus never dealt well with jealousy and the urge to murder Brian was growing strong with each passing day. The only thing from stopping Regulus from making Brian “disappear” or poisoning the git with a magic cupcake was the fact that you would probably be angry with him. He didn’t see you being too thrilled with,

Sorry, love. I was jealous and I liked you first.

“Regulus?”

He looked up the moment that you said his name. You had come running into the living room looking almost desperate.

“Yes?”

Regulus softly questioned. You looked over your shoulder before facing the younger of the Black brothers. God, why did he have to be so handsome...so perfect…

“I need you to help me! Brian won’t leave me alone. If he asks me for a date one more time…”

Regulus’ eyes seemed to darken.

“Come here.”

You rushed over as he pulled you onto his lap.

“Put your arms around my shoulders.”

You did as you were told as Brian came into the room. His mouth dropped seeing you snuggled on Regulus’ lap.

“Oh...was I interrupting something?”

He managed to mumble. Regulus nodded.

“Clearly. Now leave.”

The other man didn’t have to be told twice before he scurried out of the room without another word. Regulus waited for a moment before turning to look at you. To his shock, you hadn’t gotten off of his lap. Instead, your pretty eyes were focused on his lips.

Sirius’ words of advice came right back to Regulus’ mind.

“I’m telling you...just kiss her.”

If Regulus didn’t have alcohol in him, he probably wouldn’t have been brave enough. He waited for a second longer before placing his hand on the back of your head to pull you in for a kiss. The kiss started slow and timid before growing too rough and desperate.

The moment all of the lights went out in the room you threw your arms back around Regulus’ neck. Hovering your lips over his, you were thankful that the room was dark so Regulus wouldn’t see you blushing.

“Damn, you can kiss.”

You commented as Regulus leaned back in.

“Do you want to stop? I have been trying to get you to realize that I want you for so long but you keep ignoring me.”

You frantically shook your head and locked one hand in his black dress shirt.

“I’m sorry. I’m kind of oblivious to love stuff.”

“I would say.”

Regulus commented before easing you down on the sofa.

“Let’s not waste this silence.”

20 minutes later…

Sirius and Remus stood outside of the front door of 12 Grimmauld Place eagerly talking about a new restaurant to try in town. It was mostly Sirius whining about how Remus never took him anywhere and Remus listening with an annoyed expression on his face.

“You never take me anywhere!”

Sirius whined as they stepped into the foyer. Remus sighed.

“We went out last week. Why are the lights out?”

Sirius shrugged as Remus reached out to flip the switch. Both men immediately wished that they hadn’t you lay on the couch with Regulus on top of you kissing you like the world was about to end.

“Whoa!”

Sirius squealed as Regulus jumped up. It took all Sirius had not to laugh as all of the lipstick marks on Regulus’ cheeks, chin, and neck while you sat holding your shirt closed (like it hadn’t been on your back all night).

Remus stood not blinking as he started putting everything together. You blushed.

“Hi, guys.”

Before Remus could utter a word, Regulus reached down and apparated the two of you from the room without.

“I guess ole Brian isn’t getting any.”

Sirius replied with a smirk before going to make Remus a drink. It looked like it was going to be a long night and he had yet to hear half of anything.

“I think that my brother is about to get his pillows fluffed.” 

Sirius smirked at the grossed out expression on Remus’ face. 

“Come on, Moony. I’ll fix you a nice strong drink. If we start hearing things, we will need it.” 

_____

@amelie-black @truly-insatiable @fandomsxxregulus @realgaytrash @lucasfilms77 @spiderxalmighty @acciosiriusblack @exhsle @hazncalsgal @whymyparentscheckmyphone @jessyballet @knreidy1 @bennyberry @quuenofblacks @criminalyetminimal @brokencasbutt67-writer @authoressskr @fandom-trash-worth-it @summer-novak @emiwrites3reads @shaylybaby2032 @li0nh34rt @tas898 @marichromatic @maggioli-m @stuckinsaudi1 @shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @knight-of-gleefulness @untoldshortsofthefandoms @sprnaturallover @deanwherescas @wontlookaway @shitfaceddaniel @mycuddlycorner @rubyroscoe1

[pregnant-piggy]

Dare

Sirius Black x reader

words: 2.5k

warnings: alcohol and making out

A/N: written for @omgrachwrites 500 followers writing challenge I wanted to write something light and easy and then this was created. This reminded me a bit of when I first started writing fanfiction and I only wrote short Sirius fics. I hope you like it!!

prompt: you’re so cute

-------

The Gryffindor common room was crowded. There were first-years at the fire, trying not to fall asleep at this late at night. Second- and third-years at the windows, doing some last-minute homework. Fourth-years watching fifth-years longingly, whether because they wanted to be with them or be them, no one knew. Sixth-years in a circle in the middle of the space, their drinks hidden from anyone who might enter the common room. The seventh-year girls sat in the corner of the room, contemplating what do to this weekend.

The only ones who were missing were the seventh-year Gryffindor boys. They were nowhere to be seen and usually that meant no good.

‘Where are the boys?’ Lily asked you. From the four girls around you she was the only one else, beside you, who had noticed the absence of your friends.

‘I haven’t seen them since dinner, ‘ you mumbled, stretching your neck to find them.

‘I don’t like this,’ Lily said. ‘James promised me he would spend the night with me. Do you think he forgot?’

‘No, I think maybe something else might have come up,’ you said, smiling at the insecurity of your friend’s new relationship. ‘It’s not like their lives are without struggles.’

‘Wouldn’t you know…’ the red-head mumbled, nudging your shoulder. ‘What happened with Sirius this afternoon?’

You blushed and shook your head. This afternoon, Sirius had pulled you with him to an empty classroom. He had shown you a letter his cousin had sent him, concerning a pureblood ball his parents were giving soon. His parents had not informed Sirius about it, but he feared he had to come. It wouldn’t be the first time that his parents would take him from school for something useless like a ball. He had just wanted to tell someone about it and you were the person he opened up to about his family the most.

‘It was nothing. He had gotten a letter from his cousin. It was nothing big, but he just needed a friend to tell it to.’

‘Right, a friend…’                                                                                  

‘Lily, stop that! Do you want to search for James?’

Together with Lily you made your apologies to the other girls and left he busy common room. The silence of the dark corridor was as a warm escape from the busyness. It wasn’t after curfew yet, but it would be soon. There were very few students out at this time. You came across a Ravenclaw prefect, Mrs. Norris and Nearly Headless Nick, who greeted you happily. When you asked if he might have seen the boys, he chuckled and told you and Lily that he had heard some noises from the old History of Magic classroom, that was out of use these days.

‘Thank you, Nicholas,’ you said and quickened your pace as you walked with your friend to the second floor.

The hallway of the classroom was colder and darker than the others. The classroom hadn’t been used for years and the only other door in the corridor was to a broom closet. There were no lights but one on the ceiling. It gave a creepy feeling, but luckily there was a small stroke of light coming from under the door of the classroom.

You approached the door and cleared your throat. With a sharp voice, that was close to McGonagall’s, you said: ‘Is anyone there? I’ll be damned if it are those annoying Gryffindors…’

Lily had to hold onto the wall to not fall from laughing as there were shuffles in the classroom and the light went out quickly. The footsteps sounded for a second and then there was silence. You chuckled and pushed the door open.

‘Accio James’ glasses,’ you whispered and from the corner of the room a pair of glasses came flying to your hand.

‘Hey!’ James protested and he appeared from nothing.

‘You really thought that that would keep you safe from McGonagall? After she had seen the light?’ you asked and threw James’ glasses back at him.

He caught them skilfully and shrugged. ‘At least she wouldn’t know who it was.’

Lily stood behind you in the doorway. She was watching James and though the smile you had brought her was still on her face, you could see she was a bit nervous. James, however, was too busy with his glasses to notice his girlfriend.

‘James, I thought you’d spend the night with Lily?’ you mumbled, piercing your eyes on him. He looked up to you and then his eyes widened, before he turned to Lily.

‘I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you meant the whole night! If I had known…’

You looked around the room as James kept making apologies to Lily, who you knew had already forgiven him at his first word. You knew the other three boys were there too, you just had to find out where. James was under the cloak, but he was holding that in his hand now, so there was no on under that anymore. A sound in the corner of the room made you turn your head.

‘Really? In the closet?’ you laughed. The door opened softly and Remus and Peter stepped out, both with slight embarrassment on their faces.

The only one left was Sirius, but before you could even turn your head to look for him, two arms were wrapped around you from behind and you were pulled into someone’s chest. The smell of cigarettes, peppermint and alcohol reached your nose and the rings on the fingers told you who it was.

‘Drinking without me?’ you asked, pretending to be hurt.

Sirius let go of you, but his arm stayed around your shoulder as he took his place next to you. Even from across the room you could sense the look Lily was giving you. You shrugged Sirius’ arm of your shoulder and lit up the room with your wand again.

‘There’s some left, if you want,’ Peter said and he pulled a bottle from behind.

‘Yes, please,’ you pleaded as you sat down in the middle of the room and Sirius sat down next to you, his knee bumping against yours. You cursed yourself for the warm feeling that spread through your body at the touch.

You wanted to bring the bottle to your lips, but you were stopped by Sirius, who took the bottle from you and smirked. ‘Can’t drink without a game, darling,’ he grinned and you groaned.

The most tense game of truth and dare you had ever played begun. The glint in Lily’s eyes and the smirk that James gave you, told you that your options were either spilling all your secrets or getting piss drunk. And you wanted neither of those.

You had a while before it was your turn. Peter did a spot-on imitation of Slughorn, James and Lily switched bottoms and Remus drank after he was asked who his favourite friend was.

Then it was Sirius’ turn.

‘Truth.’

‘Truth?’ you repeated surprised.

‘I’m not far drunk enough for a dare, sweetheart,’ Sirius said and you shivered lightly as he brought his body closer to talk to you.

‘Alright, Pads,’ James said, handing Sirius the bottle that had been full at the start but was now already half empty. He looked at his girlfriend and his eyes slid over your face before he settled on Sirius. ‘Have you ever felt more than just pure sexual attraction for someone? Do you now?’

You scoffed at the question, but managed to hide it in a cough. You watched Sirius as his eyes went from the bottle in his hands to James’ face. His eyebrows furrowed as James smiled at him. A sigh escaped his mouth before he answered.

‘I do.’

James and Lily looked at each other and now Remus joined them too. The three of them shared the same stupid smirk on their faces and even Peter gave you a peculiar look as you turned to him.

Your inside burned with curiosity. You really wanted to know who Sirius felt that for, but you also feared the answer. It could never be you and that hurt. You wanted your friend to be happy, of course, but the thought of sharing him with someone else made you want throw with stuff.

‘Okay, y/n. It’s your turn,’ James said and Sirius gave you the bottle.

‘Dare,’ you said, not wanting Lily to ask you questions that already implied too much.

‘I dare you to kiss Sirius,’ Lily said.

Your hand tightened around the bottle. This was a tricky game. If you said no, you might cause suspicion. If you said yes, you would be kissing the boy you had a crush on who was in love with someone else. What if you kissed him and he would realise how bad you wanted it? But you also didn’t want to cave for a simple dare. You knew you would never hear the end of that.

The sound the bottle made as you placed it on the floor in front of you sounded loud and clear through the classroom. It was the last sound you heard clear in your mind before it was taken over with a low buzz.

‘Fine.’

The words barely came out of your mouth and you only knew you said it because you felt them cross your lips; you didn’t hear them. Sirius turned his head surprised to you and you saw a glimmer in them. However, you didn’t stand still at it. You just wanted this to be over.

A lazy smirk played in Sirius’ lips as you leaned in to him and his hands rested on your hips. His lips were softer than you had imagined, his hair in your hands smoother and his scent less penetrant. His mouth tasted like alcohol and his skin felt soft against yours. His fingers dug into your skin as he pulled you closer to him. You tugged his hair lightly and he opened his mouth as a reflex. His tongue ticked against your still closed lips once, as if to ask for permission, and before you had realised it you had parted your lips.

You melted into the kiss. You forgot about the people around you, you forgot about the dare, about the room. You forgot what had happened just minutes earlier and you forgot your feelings. All you could focus on where the lips on yours and your breath that was getting shorter and shorter.

But as quick as you forgot about everything, so fast and hard it came back. It was as if you crashed into a wall. You pulled back without any warning and let go of Sirius’ hair. His hands were still on your hips, pulling you close while you tried to shift back. His eyes showed an expression that you had never seen before and you weren’t sure if you wanted to ever see it again; it caused your inside to heat and your stomach cramped together at the small smile that played on Sirius’ wet lips.

From the corner of your eyes you saw Lily had her hands over her mouth, James was looking at the spot where just seconds ago your and Sirius’ heads had been, Remus was grinning like a madman and Peter had his hands in front of his eyes, peaking through the space between his fingers.

Shaking your head, you pulled away from Sirius’ hands and scrabbled up. Sirius cocked an eyebrow up at your standing figure and you averted your eyes from his face.

‘Sorry,’ you whispered and left the classroom.

Your head was screaming as you walked through the empty corridors. It was late and the few people you had seen on your way earlier this night, were now all gone. You doubted even the teachers were still up.

All you heard in your mind was cursing and crying. You wanted to scream, to yell, to shout. All that left were sobs. Silent sobs that made your body shock as you dropped down on the floor next to a window. You hid your face in your knees that you pulled close to your chest.

Silence and darkness was all that filled the space around you. After a minute you felt the presence of someone close to you. Their breathing sounded softly through the air as they sat down in front of you. But you kept your eyes shut and your face hidden. You had a thought of who it was and when they talked after a few minutes, your thoughts were confirmed.

‘Why did you run away?’ Sirius asked. ‘Am I that bad a kisser?’

A watery chuckle escaped your mouth and you looked up. Sirius was looking at you in all earnest. His eyes stood sad and he was playing with the ring on his ring finger while he stared at you.

‘No, you’re not bad. Not bad at all,’ you mumbled with a smile. ‘It’s just that…’ You didn’t want to tell, you didn’t want him to cast you aside, you didn’t want to lose him. But you just couldn’t stop yourself. ‘I like you, Sirius. And you like someone else. I never should have kissed you. I’m sorry…’

It was silent for a while and then Sirius took your hand. He shifted to his knees and leaned forward, resting his forearms on your knees. You looked up to him and shuddered at the close proximity. Sirius was so close that you felt his breath on your skin and you could see his eyelashes even in the dark.

‘I don’t like someone else,’ he breathed. ‘I like you. A lot.’

For the second time that night, his lips were on yours. But this time was different. This time you didn’t forget everything, this time you sensed everything around you. You noticed the darkness around you, your heard Sirius’ breath and a bird outside, you smelled peppermint and shampoo, you tasted the faint taste of alcohol. But most importantly, you felt Sirius. You felt his lips, his tongue, his hands, his nose, his skin, his teeth. You felt every part of Sirius and you realised that you might for a long time.

You moved your knees to the side so Sirius could come closer. He placed his hands on the ground next to your bum, his thumbs touching it lightly. After he broke the kiss he stayed close, so close that his lips touched yours every time he spoke.

‘I’m sorry for not telling you,’ Sirius whispered. ‘I was scared. I have never felt like this before and I was afraid you would turn me down.’

‘What changed your mind then?’

‘That kiss. I have never kissed someone with such passion. You, my love, made me feel things I didn’t know existed.’

‘I kiss everyone like that, don’t feel too special,’ you smiled and winked before you pressed your lips against Sirius’ again. He blew a raspberry against your lips and you giggled.

‘You’re so cute,’ Sirius breathed. ‘I want you all to myself.’

‘I’m all yours.’

-----

taglist:

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MASTERLIST

[fakeloveaskblog]

Yay lasertag!!! Janus you should totally go visit Remus on the weekend and hang out! Also, maybe invite Remy too, if they wanna come. Then (specially if they don't show) you can plan with them both to maybe go on another hangout with Remus but to somewhere you like and let Remy tag along for the ride if they wanna while u're at it.

(Words: 3153 words)

Janus: "Ah yes! I will let you know that after hanging out with Remus I managed to use my incredible totally very good texting skills to ask the Rems if they wanted to go to an art museum and they both for some reaosn, maybe they are being blackmailed, said yes! I hope it will go g-"

He cut himself off as he saw the two Rems come towards him. He had been waiting outside the museum. (Honestly half the reason he had choosen it was because he knew Remus liked art)

Remus waved at him while grinning. He had on sweatpants, a way too large t-shirt and a necklace made out of animal bones. Remy had their arm swung around him. Even though they had sunglasses on their eyebags were still visible.

“Aight gamers! Are we ready to do an epic art heist!! I got my sunglasses ready!” Remus exclaimed. He didn’t, he was planning on stealing Remy’s sunglasses.

“Partner you’re forgetting that we must first observe the security measures of the museum before we can even start to plan the heist” Janus replied.

“Oh!!! That’s what we’re doing today isn’t it??”

“Correct partner!”

“Babes I dunno why you gotta steal art when I’m standing right here” Remy added while posing.

“Good point. Good point” 

Janus had on a yellow bowtie he’d gotten from Logan, a loose purple shirt and black dress pants. People had to look fancy when they went to museums right? Remy had a skirt short enough to fool god and their boyfriend’s hoodie on (it looked oversized on them but with how skinny they were Everything looked oversized on them).

As soon as they got in Remus started to bounce up and down as he looked at the posters showing all the different exhibitions. There was a modern art one, classical and one smaller exhibition for specifically mosaic works.

“So whatcha you wanna look at Snakey?” Remus asked.

Janus was caught of guard “Why are you asking me?”

“Well you chose how we would hang out. C’mon you deserve to choose this too”

He looked over to Remy who shrugged “Uhm okay. Well. The classical paintings would proably give us the most money on the black market so lets look at those”

“Yay!” 

Remus quickly took on his noise canceling headphones and a chew necklace before doing thumbs up. He firmly took Janus’ hand in his. He sent him a soft smile which made Jan’s heart spin before dashing of with him into the exhibition.

A few big paintings from the renaissance hung on the wall. Remy came a little later since with the cane they walked pretty slow. Remus eyed the paintings from a distance before squinting at them up close. He flapped the hand he was hoding Janus with around.

"Oh!!! This is so cool!!!! This is from the renaissance but it's not using the chiaro oscuro technique like everyone did 'cause Da Vinci would eat their newborn if they didnt!”

"Is that why it's looking flatter than me?" Remy asked.

“YEah!! Augh I love the renaissance!!! Mostly because they were dissecting bodies so much!! sometimes for the sole purpose of drawing anatomy better!! I wanna do that! Or watch someone do that! Getting to see one of those old classrooms where they dissected corpses would be so awesome!”

“Huh good way to get rid of bodies. Great time for serial killers” Janus commented.

He let out a dreamy sigh “It truly was. They’re doing serial killers dirty nowadays”

They went through some more rooms of renaissance paintings. Janus made sure to hold Remus back a bit so Remy could keep up with them. The duke kept rambling about different shading techniques.

They stepped into another room and the style changed. Remus continued to flap his hand nonetheless. Janus was definitely going to have pain in his wrist tomorrow. It was worth it if he could hold his hand though.

Remy leaned their elbow on top of Janus’ head “This is like the baroque time right?”

“YEah!” Remus’ eyes went huge “Bean you didn’t tell me you were into art history??! Do you know about Ruben too?? I like how he paints butts!”

“What? Nah. I just- I can like see it on the clothes in the paintings. Can’t you?”

“Do I look like a time traveling fashiong guru” Janus replied sarcastically “That is honestly impressive”

Remy sunk in on themself and a hint of red appeared on their cheeks “No. Nah. I’m like a total airhead! Completel idiot! hehe I’m like tots sure everyone knows this stuff. Y’all are just bad at fashion. I uh anyway Rem you were gonna rant?”

“I was?”

“Yeah!”

“Oh....Okay!!” He looked around the room before getting caught on a small painting in the corner. He dashed over to it “HANds!”

The painting depicted 2 bloody hands over a table. They were holding onto each other. the red stuck out against the dark background. It was hard to see if they were supposed to belong to two people who were fighting or in love.

Remus looked down at Janus’ hand while playing with his fingers “I think my favorite body part are hands” He mumbled “I mean they’re horseshit to draw but they can do so much”

Janus looked away from the painting as well. He let his crush do whatever he wanted with his hand as long as he kept holding it. the way he held him so lightly but kept rubbing his thumb up and down his skin made him melt.

“Yeah they can do a lot of fucked up shit” Remy butted in. Jan nearly jumped. He’d completely lost himself in adoring his crush.

“Well hands can also be used to give snakes small berries! And to make coffee!”

“Girl I wasn’t starting an argument. But you sure did won it!”

Remus was staring down into the floor as he said “When I become a cannibal I would wanna try eating human fingers first. I’m sure they would be tasty”

“Why was there a when in there?” Jan asked in a small amount of terror.

“Oh yeah babe totally. I will like actually eat a dick” Remy agreed.

“Why is there a will in there? What kind of time tenses are you people on?? Does english grammar mean nothing to you heathens!?”

Remy got a smug look on their face. They poked their finger right into Janus’ chest “C’mon say what you will eat when you become a cannibal”

“Yeah Snakey” Remus squished his cheeks “Say it! Say it! Say it!”

The two of them kept going on while Janus looked like a sour lemon until he finally caved in.

“Fine. I would either eat the stomach or....the buttocks since they would have the most fat and sustain me the longest”

The Rems looked at each other before bursting out into laughter. “He said butT!” Remus cackled out. The other Rem nodded along and pretended to wipe away a tear from laughter.

“Aight babe let’s put the guy out of his misery” 

They motioned for Remus to go ahead. He happily skipped into the next room and grabbed Jan’s hand to take him with him. The snake couldn’t help but notice how Remy stayed behind for a monent.

“Oh cool!! We’re onto impressionism! The first real art style!” He sighed “From impressionism to cartoon furries. How magical the journey of art is” 

(Jan who had a scaley phase in high school chose to not reply)

“I love the music as well. Crazy lads. My favorite lad?” Remus snickered “De bussy!!”

“That’s my porn name” Remy instantly replied, coming up behind them. “Hey that paint lady kinda like looks like Terra” They pointed at a painting.

“....Hey YEaH! I guess my art is timeless!”

Janus looked between them “who’s Terra?”

“Well girl” Remy playfully ruffled Remus’ hair “She’s just Rem’s tots cool like cartoon character. She’s like all over his sketchbook. Makes it look kinda straight if you ask me but she does have like a very cool design so I get it!”

“Oh......Yes...Sounds very....cool”

The group kept going around looking at art. While it felt like lead was filling Janus’ chest. He’d never heard about Terra. He’d never seen his sketchbook. Meaning they had spent time with each other without him.

He pierced his nails into his palms to stop the thoughts. He refused to be some jealous person who didn’t allow his friends to hang out without him.....Still he wish he could have seen the drawings as well....seen them smile together...heard their shared laughter....

Oh. Oh what if they thought he was annoying. What if they preferred being without him. What if he’d forced them to come here today. What if-

“Hey snakey wanna look at the modern art as well?” Remus interrupted.

“What?” 

Without realizing they’d gone through all of the classic art. Now they were in the last room with not much more than a giant painting the size of one of the walls and a bench.

“That sounds horrid!”

“Yay!”

Remus quickly continued of into the next exhibition. Janus still had the taste of lead filling his throat as he went to follow. Until he realized Remy wasn’t there. He turned around and saw them sitting on the bench in front of the painting. They were leaning their arms on their cane.

“It would probably give us a lot on the black market” Jan said while sitting down beside them.

“Mhm. It’s pretty. I just like wanted to look at it some more” They lied.

“Understandable” 

The painting was pretty much a big flower field with a summer sky shining down on it. Janus noticed how Remy forced deep breathes through their gritted teeth. Their brows were furrowed and their hands kept shaking.

“Are you alright?”

“Of course!” 

“I have some painkillers with me. Would that help agains the pain you’re totally not in?”

They glanced over to him “Girl what you doing walking around with painkillers?”

He looked at them with the most deadpan expression “Remy I’m overweight. You can not phantom how often I get knee pain" He took out a pill and held it out to them "Here"

"There's really like no need! I can like handle it"

Even more deadpan "You shouldn’t have to ‘handle it’. It's 1 painkiller dear. I'm not exactly becoming a saint because of this"

They hesitantly took it "Thanks"

He did fingerguns "No problemo"

They stayed sitting for a bit so the pill could kick in. Jan shuly glanced over to admire them every now and then. Remy kept looking down into the floor while picking at their skin.

“I’m sorry” They said it in a much quieter voice than their usual high pitched one “I tried to do everything right so I wouldn’t ruin everything. I even went to bed early so I wouldn’t get tired....I...I really looked forward to getting to be with you two”

Janus heart beat faster. He pulled himself together to comfort them “You haven’t ruined a thing”

They hid their face in their hands “I’ve been tired and out of it all day. I keep like slowing you down. Don’t think I haven’t like noticed how much you have to hold Rem back from going faster! I’ve just been making this all much worse than it should have been”

“Well you’re here aren’t you? I for one appreciate you simply being here. You don’t have to do anything to make me appreciate you, don’t even have to talk. I hope you know that”

“....really?”

“Oh no darling I totally expect you to win the nobel prize while in a kind of pain I can’t even imagine being in on a daily basis”

Remy chuckled “Thanks”

“There’s really no need for that. I am at any and all times doing the absolute minimum to be counted as a decent human being”

“Sure snakey-babey” They had a soft smile on their face.

They moved to hug him. Their arms wrapped around his back and they muffled their head right between his man titties. Janus sat still for a few seconds, too flustered to think before moving his arms around them as well. A hand on the back of their head, another on their lower back. Their skin felt so cold against his.

Remy closed their eyes and let themself calm down. They could feel Janus’ breathing against their hair.

“I think my fav like human part is the chest” They mumbled out “‘Cause I can hear the heart beat. It reminds me I’m- we’re still like alive”

“Like a bloody biological seashell”

“Exactly” They pressed themself closer. “I like being with you” It was nothing more than a whisper, like it was a secret “When you’re here I feel a bit less like a rotting corpse”

Janus held onto them harder “Well I-I try my best”

“I know babe”

His heart was beating out of his chest. The people around them must think they were a couple. He closed his eyes and focused on Remy’s touch, on Picani’s words from their last session. He managed to push enough of the shame away and focus on the happy butterflies in his stomach instead.

Remy moved away. The moment broke.

“We should probs go find Rem before he starts like eating the art”

“haha yeah” Janus did thumbs up but kept sitting. He’d gone full idiot.

It wasn’t until he saw Remy straining to stand up even with the cane his brain kicked back in.

“Is there some way I could help?”

They didn’t answer. But they did lean their arm around his shoulder to let him carry some of their weight. They slowly but surely made their way to the modern art exhibition.

Remus was sitting crosslegged in front of a weird statue, he was doodling in his sketchbook but shone up into a smile when he saw them.

“There you are! I was starting to think that either the zombie apocalypse had started or you were making out somehwere”

“Oh yeah babe. Full tounge” Remy joked back. Jan let out an inhumane noise.

He closed his sketchbook “I think we’re done here. You’re looking tired beanie. We can come back some other day”

Remy held back the urge to lie that they were fine. Instead they weakly nodded.

The gang left the museum. Right beside it was an ice cream shop. Remus got 3 scoops of a worryingly weird mix of flavors. Janus got 1 scoop of lemon. Remy didn’t feel like eating.

They sat down on a couple of benches right outside. Remy laid down with their head leaned onto Remus’ thigh. He chewed his ice cream while calmly moving his hand up and down their back.

Soon enough they were deep asleep. Janus quickly laid his jacket over their legs. He didn’t want to accidentally see anything under their skirt without their consent.

Remus stared at him like a blood sucking eagle while smiling “Soooo now when beanie is in dream land.......Do” He stopped to giggle “Janny. Janny. Do. Do you like someooooonnneee??”

Janus just blinked at him for half a minute. This was too much. This whole day was too much. He was a wreck. His crush was asking him THis?! While his other crush was laying in his crush’s lap?!?

“Why- Why- What- Who are you working for?! The fucking FBI??? Are they after me?” He desperately tried to joke it away.

“No. No. But seriously JanJan!” He wiggled his shoulders around in a stimmy way “Do you happen to like anyone with a name that starts on R????”

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Janus kept glancing between his two crushes while his blushing could be seen out into space. He wanted to lie but his mouth wouldn’t move.

Remus leaned closer and whispered “You’re into Remy right?”

He nodded. A breathe of relief went through him. At least Remus didn’t know he liked him.

“OH I KNEW IT!” Remus yelled out in excitement while flapping his hands.

“Shh! Shh!” Janus scrambled to cover his mouth as Remy stirred for a moment. “Shhhh!” They cuddled closer to their friend and fell back asleep.

“I knew it!” He giggled “Or I mean Remy knew. They told me they thought you were into them”

“WHAT?!” 

Now it was Remus that covered his mouth. He was full on cackling “Yeah! They said it was really obvious! But good for you snakey! I’m sure if you murder their boyfriend you can get them in no time! Or you can become a fab homewrecker!! I can help you buy a nice sexy dress and all!!”

Janus paled in terror “How- In- What- In what way did they say it was obvious?”

“Oh y’know-”

The notif on his phone went off. He checked and his eyes went wide. He carefully moved Remy’s head onto the bench before standing up.

“Sorry snakey! Ro needs super duper emergency help! Gotta go!! See you later! Don’t die!”

Remus left him just like that.  Right after dropping THAT bomb on him. Janus sat unmoving. His mouth was slightly agape in shock. His thoughts were runnig around screaming nonstop.

He sat like that for over 20 minutes until Remy let out a yawn and slowly woke up. They took off their sunglasses to rub their eyes. Just seeing their vibrantly green eyes made Janus panic even more.

“Did Rem disintegrate?” Their voice was hoarse from sleepyness. Janus pinched himself to hold back the uhm feelings.

“He- he uh he went he went he sure did went yeah”

“....Cool!”

They stretched their joints, they all cracked. They looked to Janus and moved closer. He couldn’t breathe. They knew. They knew. They knew.

“Girl are you feeling okay?” They pressed their palm to his forehead “You’re like super hot. In both ways! Maybe you should like go home and rest. I gotta get home before my boyf gets home anyway”

“Y-yeah” Was all Janus could get out.

“Cool. OH! By the way! Girl!!! We haven’t like hung out just the two of us right?? We should tots do that! Just like tell me whatever you wanna do and we can do it!”

“Yeah”

“Awesome! Well I’ll see you on that hang out then”

They hugged him for just a few seconds but for those seconds Janus felt like he was in heaven.

They got up and left. Janus slumped over on the bench. His heart was going crazy. They knew. They knew and now they wanted to hang out alone with him. He turned to you. His eyes were wide and panicked.

Janus: “W-what am I supposed to do? I don’t know any good hang out plans! Do you know any??? I’m- this is all- how did they even know I like them! Oh I’m sounding like an overdramatic 13 year old.....This totally isn’t really overwhelming. I would hate getting Logan cuddles right now!”

[teacupfulofstarshine]

in little ways

summary: "a single act of love makes the soul return to life." - saint maximillian kolbe (OR: soft moments in the relationship of patton, remus, and virgil, as a birthday gift for the lovely @bumblebeekitten​)

a/n: HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEE!!! i give you intrumoxiety being soft little shits 

CW: shedding of skin (akin to a snake), nightmare mention, bones, one (1) innuendo, nonsexual nudity

wordcount: 2.7k

ao3 link

“Babe? What - are you doing?” 

Virgil, who is busy trying to plan out the best way to strategically approach a nest of wild sirens in the middle of molt to gather their discarded feathers, opens their mouth to reply, and then the low rumbling baritone of their newest lover hits their ears. 

“I . . . you’ll laugh at me if I tell you.” 

Virgil’s one-of-my-loves-is-on-some-self-deprecating-bullshit-and-requires-reassurance, which they take pride in having almost as fine-tuned as Patton’s, begins klaxon-blaring in their mind. They mark their page and carefully untangle themselves from the web of work they’ve been doing and head into the other room. 

Patton is sitting on the kitchen table, swinging (Virgil narrows his eyes at the colored orb charm hanging around Patton’s neck) her legs back and forth, and Remus is standing in front of her, blushing. She has a small wreath of white things in her hair - are those bones? - with a bright jewel studded over her forehead. Remus is holding more small white things in his hands, claw-tipped fingers curled so delicately to avoid shattering them. 

“You - I just -”

“Honey, I promise I’m not gonna laugh at you, no matter what,” Patton says. She reaches forward, assortment of rings glinting and clinking as she touches Remus’s face. He lets out a soft rumbly noise and turns his cheek to press into the touch more, gently rubbing his nose against her palm. “We all do stuff that other people think is weird. You don’t have to worry about it.” 

Remus flicks his eyes up to look at Virgil, who slow-blinks at him in the clearest nonverbal communication of I love you, you massive idiot they can give. “I . . . uh . . . it’s a weird dragon thing.” 

“Re, we’re not gonna be species-ist towards you, that would be super mean and also stupid, considering that no one in this house is human or cisgender,” Virgil says. Remus smiles, hesitant, and then exhales out a puff of gray-black smoke. 

“It’s . . . a claiming thing. When dragons get serious about courtships, they . . . combine hoards a little? They’ll pick out choice pieces from their hoards and exchange them. So, by me putting pieces of my bone hoard on you, it’s like . . . me saying that I’m serious about this, and I want it to last.” Virgil reaches out and takes Remus’s hand, not reacting at all when their skin hisses and steams against his. The benefits of having a partner who’s half ice nymph and half selkie, they suppose. 

“Don’t I get any bones?” they tease. Remus waggles his eyebrows at them; they promptly drop his hand and smack his shoulder. “Not like that, dirty dragon.” 

“Yeah, it’s not fair for only one of us to get fancy bones!” Patton says. “Although I certainly do appreciate this . . . tiara? I’m gonna go ahead and say it’s a tiara.” 

“It was supposed to be,” Remus says, kicking the floor. “I got Ro to help me with pickin’ out the gems and stuff. That’s part of what he hoards, so we went and looked for them together. He told me that one’s a moonstone, and I thought, y’know, werewolf, perfect, right? And - and I’m working on something for you, Virge, I just didn’t wanna find anything that screamed VEE to me on that trip, y’know?” 

“Well, I absolutely love it,” Patton coos, leaning forward to kiss Remus. “Thank you for the tiara, sweetie!” She pauses. “You cleaned these, right?” 

Remus laughs, deep and echoing, and something inside of Virgil uncoils. 

*~*~*~*~*

Their skin itches and burns, and someone in front of them is setting their sealskin on fire, and they can hear Patton screaming high and frantic and Remus roaring deep and feral but they can’t move, they’re screaming, convulsing as they burn up with their sealskin and then then then then then -

“Virgil!” 

They sit upright, ice flooding around them, and a dark shape looms in the distance and they fling their hand out to cast a massive shard of ice through the heart of their night terror, but the night terror opens its mouth and green fire rolls out like a current, licking along the ice and dissolving it into water without burning anything else. “Virgil,” the night terrors says, and why does Virgil know that voice? 

“Virgil,” the voice repeats, lower, and then again, and every time it repeats their name it drops lower and lower until they aren’t so much hearing their name as they are feeling it reverberate in their heaving chest. 

The night terror tips its head back and exhales a jet of flames towards the ceiling. It catches on a saucer of oil, spreading down troughs to ignite other saucers spread around the ceiling, and the night terror looks down with fire licking around its teeth and oh, that’s not a night terror at all, it’s Remus. His leathery wings are awkwardly stuck together behind him like he’d just woken up, his hands are up like he’s warding off an attack. 

“R - Rem?” 

BELOVED, he rumbles, mouth barely moving. Virgil sways a little under the force, blinking as Remus thumps at his chest a little with one hand. ARE YOU WELL?  

“I . . . nightmare,” they manage. “Hunters. Hurt you, hurt Patty, stole my skin . . .”

Remus takes a step forward, then another. MAY I APPROACH? Virgil is pretty sure he’s actually speaking Dracon, which would explain the oddly formal address and grammar. They nod, too out of it to speak more, and Remus carefully climbs onto the ice-covered bed. He opens his arms, and they collapse into his chest, shaking. 

“Patty?” 

ON A NIGHT HUNT WITH HIS PACK, BELOVED. HE WILL RETURN ON THE MORN.  

“Oh . . . did I hurt you?”

NO, BELOVED. HOW ELSE MAY I COMFORT YOU?

“My . . . my skin?” 

Remus scoops them up into his arms, easily navigating the iced-over bedroom floor and taking them down into the basement. He exhales a plume of blue-green fire into the magical lock, and Virgil leans forward as the door spins and swirls open. The hoard room is full of perfectly-articulated skeletons, bones in cleaning vats, and the other treasures that Remus collects. He navigates through the piles skillfully until he reaches a dark wooden chest with an intricate sapphire-and-golden inlay on the top. 

YOUR KEY, BELOVED?  

Virgil traces a sigil across the chest, and it glows under their touch. The array lights up with a brilliant violet aura, and the chest pops open. They reach into the chest hurriedly, panic when they don’t feel fur, and then slide their fingers across to the latch that opens the false bottom. They flip open the false bottom and pull out their sealskin, pressing their face into the softness. 

Their sealskin is beautiful. It’s black as pitch, studded with flecks of silver and white. Remus hugs them against his chest as they rub their cheek against the fur and inhale the scent of the sea. Remus rumbles underneath them, gently rubbing his face along their hair and neck to gently scent him. 

“Thanks,” Virgil says, nearly twenty minutes later, sealskin draped around them like a blanket. “I . . . sorry I woke you.” 

“It’s alright,” Remus says, voice hoarse and growly. “I don’t mind. It’s kinda hot when you go batshit, even though I wish you hadn’t had a nightmare.” Virgil snorts, shoving at his chest. 

“I can’t believe you slipped into Dracon.” Remus ducks his head in embarrassment. 

“Yeah . . . it . . . lots of dragon moms do it to try and soothe rowdy hatchlings back to sleep. I didn’t realize I was doing it until my larynx dropped, and once it goes that far down it takes a while to relax my muscles enough to release it back to normal.” 

“I like it,” Virgil murmurs, leaning up to kiss him. “It’s . . . nice.” 

Remus rumbles with pleasure and kisses them back.

*~*~*~*~*

“Patton, what are you doing?” 

Patton is staring out the window, eyes narrowed, mouth set in a thin line of displeasure. Virgil pauses, arms full of books and random spell components. “I don’t trust that woman.” 

“What? What woman?” 

Virgil follows their gaze down to the end of the walkway leading up to their cottage, all the way to the woman at their mailbox. “Patton, what -”

“I don’t trust her,” they mutter, ears pinning back in their fluffy hair. 

“Patton, she’s the mailwoman. Debra’s been coming here every day for the past seven years.”

“Suspicious.” 

“It is literally the opposite of suspicious, you ridiculous werewolf.” 

*~*~*~*~*

“Poor baby,” Patton croons, pulling on thick rubber gloves and tying her hair up out of the way. Remus whines, rolling around the kitchen buck-naked. His body is almost completely covered in thick, glistening scales, with few patches of human skin peeking through.

“Why are you naked?” Virgil asks. 

“Shedding season,” Remus moans, swiping irritably at his torso. A thick sheet of scales flakes to the ground, and Virgil picks it up. “You can have whatever scales come off if you help me, it itches so baaaaaad!” 

Virgil looks at Patton, who’s carrying a bucket of magic salts and a scrub brush towards the bathroom. “You got a spare brush and gloves, Patty?” 

“Under the sink!” Virgil is quick to grab the supplies. When they return, Remus is still rolling around the kitchen floor, and Patton is prodding him with her foot. 

“Babe, if you don’t get into the tub, I can’t help you feel better. Your dad sent the special salts that your family uses during sheds from the sea caves near your family home.”

“Papa sent them?” Remus’s eyes are wide and liquid, and he almost looks like a hatchling. Virgil bends down and brushes his sweaty hair off his forehead. 

“Yeah, Reem. We asked him for the salts and the lotion so that you’d be more comfortable the next time you shed your scales. We know how much you hate the feeling, and we want you to be comfor - mmph!” 

Remus grabs the front of their shirt and drags them down into a kiss, brief and passionate. Virgil leans back, mussed and flustered, and Patton leans down and drops a kiss into their hair. “Let’s get you into the bath, mister.” 

They finally manage to get Remus into the hot bath, and the moan he lets out when Patton tips the salt into the water is positively lewd. Virgil tugs on the thick gloves and picks up their scrub brush. “I’ll take the left, you take the right?” Patton nods, picking up her rough sponge, and they get to work. 

Virgil puts their back into the scrubbing, careful around Remus’s newly healed top surgery scars. They create a transport sigil next to them and pass any large sheets of scales that flake off of Remus through it, sending them to their work desk. Remus wriggles around in the hot water, making it difficult to scrub, but finally his skin is clear and red-pink from scrubbing and the heat. 

Remus flops gracefully onto the bed, sighing in relief as he rolls around the soft comforter. Patton pulls off her gloves and picks up a tub of thick, pink goop. “Alright, buddy, it’s time for the lotion.” 

“You guys don’t have to do all this,” Remus mumbles, sleepy from his bath. “I know it’s kinda gross.” 

“We love you, Remus. It’s no trouble,” Patton says, gently stroking his hair. 

“Of course it’s not,” Virgil adds. Remus lets out a low, pleased rumble, and Virgil kisses Patton softly.

*~*~*~*~*

“VIRGIL! Virgil, Virgil, Virgil Virgil VirgilVirgil VirgilVirgil VIRGIL!!!!!” 

Virgil, whose name is sounding more and more like gibberish, even to their own ears, looks up from the sigil they’re constructing to see Remus bouncing eagerly in front of them. “Learn something new?” 

“Yeah! Patton’s at the grocery store, can I infodump to you?” 

Virgil looks down at the array they’re working on. “Give me two minutes to make sure this sigil won’t explode if I leave it alone, okay? Then you can talk all you want.” Remus nods, sitting down next to them. He’s practically vibrating with happy energy - flapping his hand, tapping his feet, snapping his fingers, rocking and humming. Virgil quickly changes a few of the components of their array, pulls their power out of it, and writes down where they were so they can pick their work up later. “Okay, Remus. Go ahead.” 

Remus jumps to his feet and begins pacing around the living room, telling Virgil all about the new deadly creature he’s discovered, and Virgil watches him fondly, smiling. 

*~*~*~*~*

“You know how Pat has his bone tiara?” 

“Yeah?” 

Remus reaches into the pouch at his waist and offers something to Virgil. “For you!” Virgil takes the token from his hands, gasping when it comes into view. It’s a necklace with a braided leather cord and a dangling pendant. The pendant is painstakingly constructed of dozens of tiny bones, all arranged and articulated to form an ornate snowflake. In the very center is a gleaming piece of icy pale blue-green topaz, carved into a hexagonal facet. 

“You . . . you made this?” 

“Yep! I - do you not like it?” 

Virgil stares at the necklace, running their fingers over the edges of the snowflake and the ice-cold smoothness of the gem. They slip the pendant over their head with trembling fingers before dragging Remus into a kiss. “Bedroom, now.” 

“As you wish,” Remus purrs, scooping them into his arms. 

*~*~*~*~*

Virgil tightens their grip on the strap of their messenger bag as the gates swing open, revealing a tall, imposing figure. Half of his face is covered in glittering golden-green scales, and one eye is a golden brown with a slitted pupil; the other is dark brown, almost black. He wears a long-sleeved golden dress that falls to the floor, intricately embroidered with dragons and flames along the hem, and his wings are fanned loosely around him. 

“Papa!” Remus crows, sprinting up and leaping towards the figure. He catches him, managing to make it look elegant as he hugs Remus close and rubs his back with a small smile. Remus and his father press their foreheads together, rumbling softly, before Remus hops down. “Virgey, Patton, this is my papa! Papa, these are my loves!” 

Virgil flushes, seeing Patton go pale pink beside them, as Remus’s father comes forward and extends a hand. “You may call me Janus. It is a pleasure to formally meet you. My son speaks quite highly of you.” 

Virgil shakes his hand. “The pleasure is all ours, sir. Thank you for letting us use the private beach on your estate.” Janus smiles as he shakes Patton’s hand. 

“Anyone so highly beloved of my son is always welcome on our family’s ancestral home.” His eyes linger on the bone tiara and pendant before turning to Remus and asking him a low, rapidfire question in a tongue Virgil doesn’t speak. Remus turns redder than Virgil’s ever seen him and spits back a swift response, and Janus laughs. 

“The path to the beach is that way. When you are done, I will have a meal prepared in the house. Take your time. The weather will be favorable today.” 

Remus grabs their hands and drags them down towards the sea. “What did your dad say to you?” 

“He’s just being embarrassing,” Remus mutters. 

“Must have been serious if it embarrassed you,” Patton teases. 

“Shut up!” 

They crest the cliff and spot the sea, and all of Virgil’s teasing leaves them in one breath. It’s beautiful, and the longer they stare at it and smell the salt water, the stronger the call of the ocean in their bones. 

Remus goes flying down the stairs, dropping his bag in the sand and shedding all of his clothes to reveal a lime green speedo. Patton takes a little more care, spreading out the towels and setting up the umbrella, before carefully taking off their tiara and clothes and transforming into a wolf with a fluid, rippling motion. They leap into the water as Virgil descends to the beach. They set down their bag, strip down, and carefully tuck their pendant in a pocket of their bag before reaching in and pulling out their sealskin. They take a moment to watch the way the sun glitters on the ocean’s surface, listening to the crash of the waves and the call of the gulls and the shrieking laughter of Remus and Patton’s joyful barks. 

Then, they wrap their sealskin around their shoulders and join their loves in the sea. 

[sanders-sides-fic]

There is no nice deathworlders! (Right?) [Chapter 7]

AU-masterpost: here

Virgil wasn’t sure why, but Remus would wake up every night after that. Every time Roman slept, Remus would come out and talk away the night with… or, rather to Virgil. And it was calming, really. Having someone treat you like a person after all this time again. Just talking about random stuff, as gruesome and disturbing as some of it may be, and having a conversation. 

Patton didn’t leave. Much to Roman’s dismay the sylemn didn’t want to leave his friends. Though Virgil did assume that they had noticed him reacting to them talking some time or another, as they had begun to talk a lot more quietly. But Roman still insisted on Virgil not being able to understand common, which was kind of confusing. About as confusing as Roman slowly becoming less and less aggressive towards Virgil in behavior, yet showing no signs of warming up to the human in the way he talked.

The storm didn’t stop, but it got better. Before you could barely see a foot through the pouring rain and the wind was cold and biting even inside the cover of the cave. Now you could at least see far enough not to be concerned about falling down a cliff you didn’t see. Of cause everything would still be slippery, but if you stepped outside, you didn’t need to worry about being flooded away. 

So Virgil started to leave again. He didn’t search for Janus, of cause. No, that would have been suicidal in that weather. But he went outside to go and find some food. He was really worried about both Roman and Patton, and he himself started to have trouble standing up fast. Even now he was out of breath way too fast and saw black spots dancing around in his vision.

And Virgil also visited his ship. He didn’t want to do so before because whenever he went inside the ship even though he didn’t want to leave yet he… remembered things. Now was hard, too. But he didn’t have much of a choice, Roman, Remus and Patton would die of hypothermia at this rate and he needed a few other supplies and tools because of the weather right now. Fire wasn’t really a possibility with the soaking wood around here, and he refused to die of an allergic reaction to some weird berry or fruit or something. No, he’d rather use up the supplies on the ship for now and worry about reloading later. Still, he would have to skimp out on meals if he didn’t want to starve on the his way to the next market.

Where would that be? HJ-9? Or maybe better YK-21? No, there was a lot of security there. He’d had a few run-ins with them when he and Janus were together and they’d barely made it out of there in one peace working as a team. Though there was a lot of stuff he had yet to find anywhere else, he guessed he shouldn’t risk it.

With a sigh, Virgil left the shiny, black, bubble-shaped space ship again and went back into the rain. On the way back he found a few more of those blackish berries Roman seemed to like, or like enough to eat them at least. Finding the right cave was a lot harder than without the rain, though. He had to try five before he finally found the one the two aliens were whispering in.

“-feel him again, you said! I mean, that’s something, right?”, Patton asked when he entered. He stood there, dripping onto the floor, for a few moments as he watched Roman’s scales flutter softly. “Yes. But I can’t reach him. I’m just worried. What if it stays like that? What if I never get to talk to Remus ever again? I just… I miss him, you know?”, he whispered, just loud enough for the echo of the cave to carry it to Virgil’s ears over the raining noise behind him. Patton, in answer, let out a soft, sad chirp and rubbed against his friend. Roman cuddled him back, his tale wrapping around the smaller alien protectively.

He wondered if Remus would hug him back if he were to try?

What was he thinking?! Remus may be nice to him, but the creath wasn’t his friend. His other half made that more than clear enough for both of them. No, Remus was intrigued by him, maybe they were on neutral terms, but there was no way any alien would ever want to be friends with him, a human, a deathworlder.

With a sour taste in his mouth, Virgil walked over to his side of the cave and let the supplies drop. He could hear the other two stiffen when he did, but ignored the sharp pain in his chest. Virgil made a point of it to set out the things he’d brought back from the ship as carefully as possible, simply because that meant it would take more time. He both wanted to give the two friends a little time to collect themselves and wanted to stall for time before he had to face what he inevitably knew: That they still hated and feared him and always would, because he had no means to communicate his good intentions to them.

When he couldn’t put it off any longer, Virgil took a deep breath and clutched the fabric of the blankets in his hands. It wasn’t like fabric at home. Weirdly thin and sleek almost like liquid, but still as warm as a duvet. The color was weird, too. Something in between maroon and black, but shining in every color of the rainbow when the sun hit the right way. A little bit like oil. Virgil wasn’t too sure what it was made off, only that he didn’t want his thoughts to wander in that direction. But they worked, and they were cheap, so Janus and he had bought a few with the stolen money.

“It’s not really stolen, you know? Think of it more as a… compensation. For the things they did. Besides, they don’t need it anymore. At least we still have a use for this.” Janus’ words echoed inside Virgil’s mind, making him smile fondly. They’d snitched the money and their first disguises from the ship they’d been held on and bought the ship outside with it, together with more elaborate disguises, a few supplies and necessities. They’d used it all up quite fast and since it was kind of hard to get a job without risking to be found out, Janus had quickly become quite the skilled pick-pocket. Sometimes they would just go on missions with little to no risk of being seen. There were only few of those, but somehow Janus and Virgil had been able to make due.

Until he’d lost Janus.

If he was being honest, Virgil had given up on finding him here. Or at all, really. Space was just too big and planets were too big and Virgil was too small. And with storms like these here? Even Janus wouldn’t have been able to survive this for all too long. He would have kicked the bucket by now if this had been where he’d decided to go into hiding after they’d got seperated. And even if he was still out there, if he hadn’t died or been captured by now… There was no way Virgil would find him anymore.

And he really only wanted to go home right now. Go back to the house with too large windows and too clean floors and uncomfortably quiet dinners and suffocatingly tense air. Back to the yelling and fighting with his father and the frustration and the useless therapies and the scandals in the news. He wanted to go back to being the problem child, wanted to go back to earth where he knew what he was supposed to do and what he couldn’t do and where he was just an outsider, not a monster.

Shaking his head to disperse the thoughts and biting his lip to push back the tears, Virgil’s hands clutched the blankets even tighter. Not right now. He’d wait out the storm, find those aliens’ missing crew mate, figure out a way to talk to them, bring them to safety and then he could go back to drowning in self pity until the oxygen in the ship would be used up and he’d suffocate. And now? Right now he had to make sure the two aliens in this cave with him didn’t die of the cold they’d been shivering in for the last few days.

So he took another deep breath, this one shivering more than the last one, went over to where the two watched him, one with caution and one with horror barely concealed by a mask of anger, and threw the blankets at them. Patton caught one in his hands, while the other got stuck on Roman’s horns. Patton, of cause, carefully took the second blanket as well, as Roman was still tied up and couldn’t reach for it himself. Both of them looked at Virgil silently and Virgil only looked at them.

“There you go”, he couldn’t say, “If you need something else tell me. I want you to stay healthy.”

So instead he turned around, ignoring the way one of them breathed a sigh of relief, and put the berries as well as one of those weird fruits that reminded him of a pineapple in taste and a persimmon in texture on what had essentially become Roman’s plate. He walked back over to them and put it down on the floor, a little away from them so that they wouldn’t tense up as much. He knew Patton would reach it once he was gone, even though Roman couldn’t.

“I hope you like it. I know it’s not much, but we’ll have to make due.”, was stuck in his throat underneath glued lips and a limp tongue. But maybe his eyes conveyed the message just a little bit. At least Patton looked into his eyes, looked back down at the food and hummed happily: “Thank you!”

Virgil blushed, hoping that they wouldn’t see it in the dark. He quickly retreated into his corner of the cave and curled up in his own blanket. He chewed on a piece of alien bread, ignoring the sour taste, and watched as Patton put one blanket around Roman and curled up in his own, sharing the fruit and the berries with his friend.

The delighted chirp Patton let out when he ate the fruit, now, that Virgil did not ignore for once. At least he’d done something right, he thought, pulling the blanket tighter around himself. At least something at all…

___

Logan looked outside suspiciously. Could he get outside now? It was still pouring rain outside, but at least it had let up a little bit. Just a little bit, though. But was it safe? And did it really matter whether it was safe or not? After all, Roman and Remus or Patton could still be out there in that rain. If so, he knew that he had to find them quickly. Patton may be immune to lightning as sylemn didn’t conduct electricity, but Roman and Remus were surely endangered by the lightning he’d seen before. And even if electricity couldn’t harm Patton, a sylemn was very much flammable.

It was day still, but with the clouds and the rain the sun was a lot less bright, which very much worked in Logan’s favor. The rays of sunshine were barely more potent than on his home planet, and due to his cross-species breading it would not harm him as much as it would other photynêsc.

Just as he was about to go out, he saw the deathworlder return to the cave on the opposite side, his arms full of supplies. And he hesitated when he entered the cave, his eyes obviously focused on something inside. Or was it someone?

Logan’s heart sunk further when he realized that his fear from back then might very well be true. It was possible that he had found one of Logan’s friends and taken them prisoner. Probably Patton, because neither Roman nor Remus would have gone down without a huge fight. No matter who had been in charge, that deathworlder may have won but wouldn’t have gotten away as unharmed as he appeared.

Logan closed his eyes to recollect himself. It was alright. If his assumptions were correct, that would mean that the deathworlder had let Patton live. For now. So that meant that Logan still had a chance to help him. Get in while the deathworlder was away or asleep and get him out of there.

But it was likely a trap. There was a high chance that the deathworlder had figured Patton wasn’t the only one stranded here and that others would come looking for him. Deathworlders were smart, after all, cunning and dangerously skilled in drawing conclusions. That was one of the few things known after Virgil Feline and Janus Serpent had escaped back then.

Logan involuntarily shuddered at the thought of those two. He could only hope that this deathworlder would be at least a little less volatile and/or violent.

Careful not to let himself be spotted, Logan left the cave. He shuddered again at the cold water raining down on him. He wasn’t necessarily against being wet. Back home everything was covered by a thick layer of fog at all times, after all. But this cold water, heavy and raining down in almost painful drops, was something he hated about the planets far from his own. Not that he would ever say that out loud. If asked he would only say that it was uncomfortable to him.

Soon he saw the warmth emitting from the cave. The entire cave appeared to be slightly warmer than the outside, but he could see the deathworlder on the right side to the cave even warmer, though a lot less warm than he himself, Patton or Roman and Remus should be. Was that normal for a deathworlder? That cool body temperature? Logan wasn’t sure.

Taking another breath, Logan hid behind a tree. He hoped that that was enough to hide the soft glow of his skin. He couldn’t be sure about the sensitivity of the deathworlder’s eyes, though, so he wasn’t entirely sure. And it wasn’t exactly an ideal position either. He couldn’t see much colors in the darker cave, only temperatures. At least from this far away. And the temperatures were hard to pick up on at this distance as well.

But he did see something, and what he saw made breathing harder than it should be. Not only Patton, but Roman as well were huddled up together opposite from the deathworlder.

So did that…

Was that…

That meant…

If this really was a trap, Logan concluded with bile raising up his throat, it could only be for him. And if he didn’t fall for it, he didn’t want to imagine what would happen to his friends, his family.

This truly was a disaster.

Taglist 🖤

@the-ultimate-a @bunny222 @elvis-has-been-dug @what-is-love-babey-dont-hurt-me @gattonero17 @selenechris

[infinitesimalyerkesdodsons]

Me: okay im feeling kinda good about the el noli au time to work on i--

Motivation: JANUS SILANG AU CONCEPT

Some messy bullet point explanations for the characters under the cut (since they contain spoilers and might get too long to read and scroll past lmao)

Warnings: death mention, cannibalism, gorey descriptions, betrayal

Thank you for considering reading this explanation lmao 🍪 have a cookie!!!

- so what i wanna say here is that the janus silang stuff has themes that revolve around twins and duality

- I'll also refer to janus sanders as deceit here so as not to cause confusion with his namesake

- there are three sets of people that have something to do with twins: miro and mira, the tiyanak and tala, and probably Janus himself, given his name and some stuff about his character that gives him this sort of dual nature thing

- i was actually tied between whether I make thomas or janus as Janus Silang in this, because thomas' red shirt with the star on it looks similar to the one Janus usually wears, but Deceit and Janus are essentially namesakes

- i decided to go with both of them because of how i saw Janus as a character. His duality in my opinion is brought by the fact that he used to know and be super close the main baddie of this story, the tiyanak, and was used by the tiyanak to gain important information (sorry remus!!!) and yet he's also the only one that has the power to help the counterpart of the tiyanak, tala (roman)

- it's also interesting to note that I also think that Janus' duality will fully come out in the fifth and final book in the series

- during the fourth book he was fated to die in order to set the world right, however this death wasn't just physical death, but an existential death in which his sacrifice reset the whole timeline and created a world wherein he never existed in the first place.

- only one person, who used to be a diwata, now human, remembered him. I hope that Janus returns in the fifth book and things are set back into place.

- anyway, the fact that this happened shows a big duality; his past existence saved the world and his nonexistence created an alternate world in the future that didn't need saving at all

- the timeline where Janus existed (2015 when things went down), I assume is simply an alternate universe where magic exists and is based on Philippine Myth and belief. The nonexistent Janus timeline (which is 2018), I assume, is this world we live in right now, a more realistic version of the original timeline.

- i want to think that janus, tala, and the tiyanak disappeared permanently from existence in order to set the world right

- it was said that only tala and the tiyanak can match each other in power, but in order for one to die the other must die as well.

- meaning that whatever happens, both tala and the tiyanak will disappear to save the world, but janus still has to die permanently in order to make tala's existence possible.

- which brings us to the other twins, tala and the tiyanak

- some important stuff in this is that the tiyanak and tala were twins born from a curse from humans in the Tabon cave.

- the tiyanak was cursed as a baby to be a man eating baby who eats the innards of people who neglect their family (or so i remember???)

- their very existence as cursed magical twins was a mistake, so bringing back to the saving the world part, in order to set the world right they both have to yeet out of existence

- as for their duality

- the tiyanak as i said earlier is a cannibal, and can create creatures to do his bidding. These creatures are from Philippine Mythology and each have their own abilities. He emerged from his mother's womb fully able to walk and talk, and can shapeshift into a child. (He cannot shapeshift into an adult though, so his underling creatures, the do-ol, do it for him)

- the tiyanak during the first book, disguised as Janus' brother in order to gain information about his twin, since Janus was supposedly the only one that can help Tala reach maturity to counter her twin.

- tala on the other hand was born without enough physical maturity, and is said to age by one year every 1000 years. When the events of the story play out tala is nearing her true maturity and only needs janus to do so.

- interestingly, before she appeared as her true form, before Janus' whole dying from existence thing, she looked like the tiyanak.

- anyway this is an abrupt end to this part of the explanation but let's get to the third set of twins

- miro and mira

- the thing with miro and mira is that they're not polar opposites unlike tala and the tiyanak. they have the same ability of switching and seeing between a purely magical world and the lesser magical earth.

- i chose logan and patton based on their personalities and the dynamic of the duo

- miro is more extroverted of the two, which seems like a good fit for patton

- mira is more reserved and quiet, and less open with talking about her ability. She preferred to figure things out on her own, retreating into the pure magic world in order to experiment with her ability.

- they die tho, miro by literally getting vertically cut into half in the middle of teleporting to the pure magical world, and mira by the hands of a mambabarang in the fourth book.

- the thing about these twins is that they don't necessarily completely oppose each other, and only their personalities seem to be different.

- i can see a similar thing happening with logan and patton, how they're not moral opposites but differ with how they work.

- next up is mica and renzo

- they're not twins but their characters are really important to the story

- mica is janus' crush, who gave him a usb necklace in the shape of a star (at the same time, star can be translated to "tala" in Tagalog, and the usb necklace played an important part throughout the series as well.

- she also played an important part in the third and fourth book, being a regular human without any power gave her advantage to magic (and lack thereof) related problems.

- And finally renzo

- did i mention that janus was orphaned? Well he was and another important character took him in. Renzo was also an orphan and he and janus had a brotherly relationship.

- that is, until janus got stuck in a dilemma where he could only save either Mira or Renzo from falling off a literal cliff, at the very end of the third book. Janus saved mira and renzo was left hanging and eventually fell (Well that was a cliffhanger amirite heheehe)

- one bit of lore about renzo is that he was a creation of the tiyanak as well. The tiyanak saved renzo from his doom and revealed this and I dont exactly remember why but it definitely had something to do with Janus as well.

So uh that's it i think hsjdjs this is kinda messy but yea if you made it here 🍪 have a second cookie!!!

[esperinkdraws]

stuffs: death and dying and drowning. kind of description of drowning. all the known sides are in this story too.

-

Roman invited the rest of the Sides to his part of the Imagination. He had decided that if Thomas was working too hard, everyone was, and that meant everyone needed a break. Even though Logan and Janus insisted they didn’t.

They’d chosen a nice spot not too far off from a lake that led to a river.

Logan had brought a book, of course, but no one bothered him as he read while lounging in the field. Janus and Patton sat nearby, chatting about something or other. The twins were chasing after each other, mostly Remus trying to scare Roman with something he’d created himself.

Virgil glanced around before deciding to go take a look at the lake and the river it led to.He kicked the water a bit, wading in. He could swim, he reminded himself. He could swim, so it wasn’t like he was going to drown or anything.

With this reassurance in mind, he started to swim. He thought he’d seen this cave earlier and wanted to get to it, to explore it. 

He relaxed there. It was nice and dark, and quiet, without any of the other Sides to bother or startle him. It was good.

Until he heard the rumbling. At first, he wasn’t sure where it was coming from. But then he heard the rocks tumbling from behind him. He turned around just in time for one of the large rocks to hit him on the head.

When he came to, he realized he was underwater. He couldn’t breathe. He was suffocating and he couldn’t do anything about it. It was like the Imagination was against him; not only was a boulder pinning him down, but a plant had wrapped around his ankle. He experimentally pulled at it and it wasn’t letting him go.

He started to panic. He was going to be stuck here, and he was going to die, and since he had wandered so far off from the others nobody was going to find him.

He tried to hold his breath, but there wasn’t much to hold. He tried to fight, to kick and flail and hopefully dislodge the boulder that pinned him down, but he could barely move. He felt sluggish. He was too desperate for a breath of air that he couldn’t stop himself from trying to breathe.

Water filled Virgil’s lungs and he blacked out.

Depending on how a Side dies, it doesn’t generally take very long for them to live again. As long as the Side was in one piece, it takes a little as an hour or two for a Side to come back.

So Virgil didn’t get much relief from drowning.

He scrabbled at the boulder, at the ground, at the plant that had wrapped itself even tighter around his ankle in his struggle. Everything hurt. His lungs burned from lack of air. He clawed at his throat. He couldn’t even scream.

He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t think. All he could do was panic. All he could do was watch as his vision blurred and darkened.

By the third time, he was already begging whatever god there was to let him stay dead.

Remus was holding something out, chasing after Roman with it, when he suddenly stilled. He cocked his head, like he was listening for something. 

“Remus?” Roman asked.

Remus opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but then he darted away. Roman stared after him, confused and speechless. Janus excused himself from his conversation with Patton and went after Remus. Roman followed, and then Patton, and then, Logan, noticing everyone following, did as well.

“What’s going on?” Janus asked Remus.

“Virgil,” is all Remus said, as he darted towards the lake. He peered into it. He cocked his head again, turning and glancing around.

“Virgil?” Janus asked, now sounding concerned.

“He’s in trouble!” Remus ran off, into the lake. The others followed him. They started looking for Virgil. They didn’t want to think of what him being in trouble might mean, but they all had an idea.

They spent two hours looking for the anxious Side, but they couldn’t find him in the lake or the river. It wasn’t until they found a cave that Remus and Janus had hope that they’d find him. 

“In here,” Janus called, noting the rocks and boulders near the water. It looked like they had fallen. He removed his cloak and hat, but Remus had already dived in, not bothering with his clothing.

“He’s here!” Remus said when he resurfaced. He went back under.

When Virgil came to this time, he could see Remus through his fluctuating vision. Remus was trying to remove the boulder. He shoved at it, pushed, kicked it, but it wouldn’t budge. Any hope that Virgil had faded with his vision.

Remus went back up to the surface. “He’s stuck under a boulder. I can’t do this alone.” He’d usually hate to admit that, but with Virgil in danger he didn’t care. 

With Roman’s and Janus’ help, he went back under and removed the boulder. He started to bring Virgil back up, but the plant was still wrapped around Virgil’s ankle. Remus bit at the vine, tearing it so that he could bring Virgil to the surface.

Virgil wasn’t moving when Remus placed him on the dry ground. He wasn’t breathing. Logan checked his pulse.

“Is… is he..,” Patton said, voice catching.

Logan nodded wordlessly.

“He comes back,” Remus said, more to himself.

“What?” Roman asked.

“We don’t die permanently, not unless we wish to,” Janus explained. 

“And- and how do you two know this?” Roman demanded. He didn’t get an answer.

It only took an hour and a half for Virgil to start coughing up water. Everyone jumped up, starting to gather around him but refraining when Remus and Janus frowned at them.

Virgil gagged and spit up water, so much water. He laid back down, gasping but still breathing.

“Hey VeeVee,” Remus said, patting Virgil’s cheeks to keep him awake. “How many?”

Virgil held up a hand; five. Then he answered verbally, voice hoarse: “Or six, if you count when you came to get me.”

The Light Sides blanched, even Logan.

“That’s a new record!” Remus said brightly.

The chipperness of the other Side’s voice startled a laugh out of Virgil. “I guess so,” he replied. He held a hand out and Remus helped him up. “Thanks for coming to get me.”

The other Sides were apologizing for not realizing he was in trouble sooner, but he waved the apologies away.

“Just get me out of here,” Virgil said.

[really-sleep-deprived-nerd]

The Gay Prince Dream (Roceit AU)

Okay so, this was based on a Dream I had.

TLDR: Roman is the prince sent to kill the shady wizard (Deceit) and they fall in love.

There was once a kingdom that was known for being a nice place full of kind and peaceful people. 

Roman is the Prince, while Virgil and Patton are the royal advisors. 

(Not relevant but Remus Annoyed The Wrong Witch and got cursed, so he is off in another kingdom looking for help to undo the curse. On his journey he somehow befriended Logan and now they travel together.)

Not too many months ago, a wizard made his house in one of the caves in the mountains behind the forest.

 He was pretty close to the kingdom and, understanbly, people lost their goddamn minds because of this.

Rumors about him spread like wildfire

Some people said that he had sold his soul to the devil so he could become more powerful, some people said that the gods grew jealous of his power/beauty/some shit and cursed him to slowly become a hideous monster, some people said that he was dangerous and evil, that he had killed and tortured innocent people for fun. 

Rumors said that only those that were truly desperate went seeking for his help, since they knew that it was probably a suicide anyways. 

Those who went to see him never came back.

Most people were scared to even say his name, so they referred to him as The Snake.

The king, understandably, started to fear for the safety of his kingdom if this wizard one day decided to attack. 

He decided to send his most trustworthy knight in a long term undercover mission to eliminate this possible threat. 

The knight was supposed to try and “befriend” this vile creature and, once he learned about his weaknesses, he was supposed to kill him the moment he had a chance.

The king gladly ignored Virgil´s argument about how it maybe wasn't the best of ideas to send his most trustworthy knight on a dangerous solo mission when said knight was also the only heir to the throne and sent Roman on his merry way.

Roman, surprising everyone (Including himself), took the smart route and, before going blindly into a deathly quest, decided to research and study what they actually knew about this wizard.

Turns out? They didn't knew a whole lot . 

There were only rumors or old stories that no one could prove. 

Well, excepting one thing: The people.

You see, people had actually went to see him and disappeared, but they were, according to their families, just “whiny and mildly upset about some nonsense” and that they “would have surely gotten over it if they hadn't been so god damn stupid to go and see The Snake”. 

And that catched Roman´s attention, because that “nonsense” their families were irritated about wasn't actually meaningless stuff. The complete opposite actually. 

Maria, the young daughter of a poor family had gone missing after she refused to marry the old and crusty noble man that had asked for her hand in marriage.  

Logan, the oldest son of a noble family had gone missing after stating that “Lady Delia is a beautiful and charming woman but that doesn't change the fact that I do not wish to engage in a romantic and or sexual relationship with her. Or with any woman, for that matter.” 

And the list just went on and on and on!

Roman was confused. 

And very much pissed at some of the people of his kingdom, but that's besides the point.

Still mainly confused, how come that no one knew exactly what this wizard was capable of doing? how come that people ran away to him and didn't come back? Like, sure, they had more than enough reasons to don't want to come back, but it's not like they packed their things before going to see The Snake, so what in the name of everything that is holy did the wizard do with them? Did he kill them? if so, why? people didn't kill people for no reason! 

“It's what evil monsters do, Roman, monsters have no reason to kill humans, they just do” had argued Virgil, but that's just plain bullshit, even monsters have a reason, even if it's just hunger.

So finally, after all that research that left him wondering if there was even a wizard to begin with, Roman packed his things and went to the wizard´s hideout.

Now, when he was told that the wizard “Lived in a cave” he was expecting, like, you know, a small and cozy cave with the bare essentials and a poorly made door or something like that.

But what he found couldn't be more different

For starters, the cave was big. We are talking shit-I-can't-even-see-the-ceiling levels of big. And it had a nice carved path on the stone floor that went from the entrance towards a nice and cozy looking cottage.

He approached it and knocked at the door. He shuffled awkwardly for a few seconds before the door opened to reveal a man that made Roman have A Gay Panic™

The guy was attractive. Like, otherworldly ethereal being levels of attractive. His factions were sharp and his eyes were hypnotic, one being a warm brown and the other being a bright almost yellow-y green. Half of his face was dusted with shimmering scales of that same color. His hair was slightly ruffled and was wearing a grey and yellow shirt with black pants.

When he saw Roman, his expression became an amused one.

“Oh, and what do we have here? A noble has come to dear old me for help? My, my, what an honor.” He practically purred “How could I possibly be of assistance, sir?” 

Roman surprisingly didn't melt and smiled.

“Ah, such is that I did not come to see you looking for help, it was out of mere curiosity” Roman lied. “I am right in assuming that you are the one they call “The Snake”?”

“Oh, is that what they call me now? What a lovely and not at all ominous alias they gave me!” He said with a roll of his eyes and a grin. “Why, yes, it is probably me, but I much prefer Dee if you don't mind”

Roman snorted and nodded “Duly noted, so, I have some questions that-”

“You want me to answer, excellent, since I'm sure this will be a long and not at all boring chat, would you perhaps like to come inside?” Dee offered and Ro accepted.

Both of them entered the cottage and Dee closed the door behind his guest to later guide him towards a living room of sorts. It had a couple of comfortable-looking chairs that were covered by soft and fluffy looking wool blankets.

“Please make yourself comfortable, sir” Dee instructed as he sat in one of the chairs, the “sir” was said in almost a mocking manner 

And they started talking. 

“What are you doing here?”

“Me? Oh well, this kingdom is just so lovely! Why wouldn't I want to come and visit?” He said with a roll of his eyes

“If you wanted to come and see the kingdom, why didn't you go to the town instead of staying here in the middle of a cave away from everyone like a gosh darn goblin?”

“My, why didn't I think of that! Staying in town with people that surely wouldn't ever dream of trying to throw rocks at me the moment they saw my face! I would have surely found someone to rent me a place, it's not like there is a stigma that us magic users are evil and should not be trusted! How could I-”

“Yeah I get it. Stupid question, no need for the overuse of sarcasm” Roman snorted.

And talked.

And the day became night and they still were talking.

And Roman discovered a number of things about Dee:

1) He wasn't actually “making people disappear”.To those that just badly wanted to run away he gave an always-full skin of water and an infinite loaf of bread and sent them on the direction to one of the neighbouring kingdoms.

2) He was charming and sweet and kind.

3) He actually got the scales after a witch cursed him to become a basilisk  because she mistook him for the guy that killed her husband. Upon realizing her mistake the witch tried to undo the curse but the scales wouldn’t go away. He thinks they add a little Something to his Aesthetic and the witch still feels terrible about it to this day.

And so, Roman decided to keep visiting Dee.

Fast forward a couple of months and Ro has got himself a new boyfriend that Virgil would very much like to burn at the stake and Dee has got himself a new boyfriend that drags him off in Reckless and Moronic adventures and that might just be the only human on this god forsaken planet to out-gay and out-drama him.

They love each other very much.

[ashes-and-ashes]

Kev @confunded-gryffindor

(Hopefully it’s still your birthday and I haven’t fucked it up somehow? I hate time zones. They suck.)

Kev, you’re one of my closest friends on here. I remember the day you and I first chatted - we talked for a good hour or so, about asshole adults at summer camps and our shared love for Wolfstar and angst. Later on our conversations evolved into throat lozenges, our shared horror over the unfortunate and terrifying Snape x Sirius x Remus x shy!Reader ask and long talks about Voldemort in Drag. You’ve been here for me through so many firsts and I am so proud to be able to call you a friend. ❤️❤️

Happy Birthday you amazing human! Here’s to another year of you breaking our hearts with your devastating angst.

~

“Okay, okay,” Sirius says, lying on his stomach, arms splayed out beside him. He’s hogging the blanket as always, the pillows shoved underneath his chest. “Okay. That’s it. I have the best one. Ever.”

Remus rolls his eyes, glancing at the clock. It’s almost midnight, only a couple more minutes until Sirius turned 16.

Normally Remus would have been fast asleep by now but Sirius had begged him to stay awake. “James and Peter will prank me!” he whined and Remus caves.

He’s regretting it now. Hours upon hours of ‘Would You Rathers’ and ‘Truth or Dare’ and he was about to smash his head through the wall.

“Fine,” he hisses. “Only because your birthday is tomorrow.”

Sirius beams at him. “Okay. Would you rather; have Snape suck on your toes? Or see you-know-who in drag?”

“Oh fuck,” Remus winces. “You’re disgusting.”

Sirius wriggles his eyebrows. “Think about it! All night, lying in bed, the wet, juicy slide of Snape’s mouth around your big toe, the flick of his tongue against your nail - “

“Shut up!” Remus throws a pillow at Sirius - it hits him hard in the face. “The fact that you can even describe Snape sucking your toe means you’ve put in too much effort for this!”

Sirius rolls over on his back, his feet propped up against the wall. “Or you-know-who. In drag. All fishnet stockings and a sheer black body suit and maybe even a leather belt. And a wig. Something that goes right down to his ass.”

“You are revolting,” Remus seethes. He kicks half-heartedly at Sirius, making him yelp. “Who comes up with this stuff? Snaps sucking toes and Voldy in drag? What next? Dumbledore in Lingerie?”

“Actually - “

“No. I don’t want to hear it.”

“I could wax poetry on the beauty of Dumbles for hours.”

Remus shakes his head. He absently pulls at Sirius’ hair, wrapping the strands around his fingers. Sirius lets out a long sigh at the touch, curling up so his head rested in Remus’ laugh.

“It’s amazing,” he says softly. “That I’ve...I’ve found someone like you.”

Remus stares down at him. “What do you mean?”

“You know. Someone hilarious. Someone who’s willing to put up with all my crap. Someone I know I can always talk to, even when things are tough.”

Remus smiles. “Really?”

“Yeah. It’s...” Sirius laughs. “I just can’t imagine life without you. You’re incredible - you’re one of the bravest people I know. I’m just...I’m just so lucky that I know someone like you. You inspire me to be a better person.”

“I love you,” Remus says softly. The clock ticks slowly behind them, Sirius’ eyes so bright even in the darkness of the bedroom. “You know that, right?”

Sirius just smirks, pushing himself up into a sitting position. He gestures vaguely at the clock, mouth curled into a grin. “So, are we going to do a New Years-ish kiss or - “

Remus rolls his eyes and kisses him.

He doesn’t think it ever gets old, kissing Sirius. It’s like they were made for each other, bodies molding into one, the press of Sirius’ jaw under Remus’ hand as he pulled him towards himself. He supposed this is what happened so long ago - stars and galaxies colliding, pulled together by the force of their gravity, a whirling cloud of glitter light until it became something even more beautiful the before.

“Happy Birthday,” Remus murmurs. Behind them, the clock strikes twelve.

[deadanddeactivated]

Other Friends

Fandom: Sanders Sides, Gem AU Pairing:   Analogical Characters: Virgil, Patton Notes: Day 5 of the fluffuary event being hosted by @tsshipmonth2020​​ - Analogical.   Summary:  Here they are in the future and things are bright. Even if they aren't perfect. And then things aren't bright.

Prologue Comic AO3

--

One moment Logan is laying on the hill behind their house, staring up at the sky and thinking about how far they’ve come.  He’s lost quite a lot, and gained quite a lot, and a thousand things have happened in between.  

But Logan thinks that, perhaps, it’s finally over.  They are all together, with no one hunting them down.  There will always be a hole in his heart, but Logan thinks he can be content with that.  He can live on.

The next moment they’re flung back as something slams into the earth.  

“Boys, are you alright?”  Patton asks, the human scrambling to his feet and to his sons.  Certain they’ll be fine, Logan turns to the thing that made the carter.  

In the dust cloud, he can just make out a humanoid figure.  A gem?  

“What is that?”  He hears Remus asks from behind.  Logan and Dante meet eyes, both equally confused.  What gem would arrive in such a way?  The dust starts to clear and Logan can only stare.  He’s never seen this form before but the Lapis Lazuli is… almost familiar.  

No, Logan admits to himself as storms gather above, the Lapis Lazuli is familiar.  Only last Logan saw him the calf-length robe was not so old looking, not so patched.  He’s never seen the clothes beneath the coat, turn up to reveal the gem on his chest.  There were no dark shadows under his eyes, and his hair was not so dark.

But how can this be?  The gem before his was shattered long ago.  

Wasn’t he?   

“Well, would you look a that.”  The Lapis mocks, glaring at them.  “The misfits themselves.  Romulus’ brats, defective Logan, and Red Diamond's Pearl.  Oh wait, it’s Dante now isn’t it?  Finally go your very own made up name, isn’t that nice?

“That’s not possible.”  Logan is thinking it but Dante says it, both still frozen to the spot as the purple Lapis Lazuli scowls at them.

“Oh but it is, no thanks to you.”  He spits.  “Like the new style?  Though it was time for a change.  Got a new toy too.”  With a familiar purple light, an unfamiliar weapon appears in the gems hand.  A double ended spear, cracked along the wood and tied with ribbon.

“Woo, wait up!”  Roman calls, rushing in front of them despite the arms that reached to stop him.  “I don’t know if you heard but I’ve established peace throughout the universe!”  

“Uh, we established peace!”  Remus adds, although Patton has to tight a grip on him for the boy to run up.

“Oh I’ve heard.”  The Lapis huffs.  “I’ve had you’re little message to the universe on loop.”  Lightning flashes in the grey clouds above them.  Logan and Dante share another look.  The pearl summons his segmented whip but Logan can’t bring himself to follow suit.   He doesn’t want to believe the Lapis is here for a fight.

The sky flashes again and rain begins to pour.

“I just love that part where Red Diamond spends the rest of his days on this nowhere planet.  With his little groupies and stupid humans.  It really sounds like a blast.  Too bad I never got an invitation to the ball.”   This time the lightning strikes the ground, just to the left of Patton and Remus.  Patton shields his son from the dirt it sends flying but Remus is unbothered, cheering at the display of super-charged electricity.  

Roman takes a step forward and Logan sees the Lapis brace himself.  The dumortierite is barely in time, tackling Roman to the ground and out of the way.  

A one half of the spear has already sliced through the place Roman was.  

“What the hell are you doing?!”  Dante demands.

“Being the bad guy.”  The Lapis spits.  His spear raises, catching Dante’s whip and pulling the pearl forward.  

“You and Remus need to get out of here.”  Logan orders Roman, scrambling to get them both up and towards Patton.  

“What?  No!  I can help!”  Roman argues, trying to free his wrist from Logan’s arm as he pulls his sword from his gem.  

“This gem is far beyond your abilities.”  Logan says, shaking his head.  “He was made to keep up with your father.”

“He knew Dad?”  Remus asks, frowning.  “Lo, who is he?”  Before Logan can answer, can try to explain, there's a rough noise from the battle behind them.  

“What?”  The Lapis mutters, a yellow Pearl resting in the grass beneath him.

“De.” Roman tries once more to pull out of Logan’s hand and run to the poofed gem but Logan doesn’t let him.  

“Heh, they don’t even know who I am?”  Lapis asks.  There’s venom in his eyes, so much that Logan gulps.  How is he meant to explain this?

“We thought you were gone.”  Logan tries, even though he knows that’s not good enough.  “Bubbled or shattered by the Diamonds.”

“Why?”  Lapis snarls.  “Because Red told you so?”  He scoffs, kicking Dante’s pearl out of his way as he stalks forward.  “Not much of a rebel are you?”

“Virgil, please, just stop for a moment.”  Logan says, practically begs.  

“Don’t call me that!”  Lapis shouts.  “Get out of my way or I’ll shatter you.”  The gem threatens, weapon raised.  Logan has no chance against him, he knows.  Even if he did call his bow, Lapis is too fast and too strong.  

“You don’t have to be the bad guy.”  Logan says, tone and feet firm.  “Whatever happened, we can talk about it.  Just please, wait.”

“I am done taking orders.”  The gem claims.  “And I am done waiting.”

“Then at least listen to reason!”  Logan tries as Lapis gets closer and closer.  “They aren’t Red!”

The spear slicks through him like butter, Logan utterly unprepared to block the hit.

--

In a puff of dark blue, the gem is gone.  No one stands between Lapis and what remains of Romulus.  Of Red.

Except, apparently, the older human.  He steps up, a gem weapon in his hand.  

“Stand back!”  He orders, voice shaking.  Lapis scoffs.  Pathetic, this guy is there last line of defence?  He raises his spear but something stops him.

Humans aren’t like gems, he knows that.  Something about this swing feels like it’ll be more permanent. 

And for what?

They aren’t Red.   

In the moment, the name of that monster had made Lapis see rage and rage alone.  Now he saw the boys, standing behind their father, and…

And they weren’t Red.  

Anger spiked through Lapis and the storm got denser, rain falling so heavy he could barely see.  He’d come here for his revenge and now he couldn’t even take it.  Stupid Logan.  Even after so many years, the blue quartz still knows exactly how to get into his head.

He leaves the gems on the ground and the boys unharmed, disappearing with his storm.

--

“Great going Lapis.”  The gem huffs to himself, curled up in what he thinks is a cave.  “You can’t even be the bad guy right.  No wonder he didn’t want you around.”

Despite the self-deprecation, Lapis can’t find it in himself to regret not hurting the boys.  It just didn’t seem fair after what Logan said.  They aren’t Red.

Logan.

Lapis sighs.  That’s a whole other can of worms the gem isn’t sure he wants to unpack.  Had Logan really not known he was alive?  The gem had never been one for lying but, well, it has been 6000 years.  Maybe that has changed.

What will he do when he reforms?  Has he already reformed?  It has been a few earth days.

A knock at the cave entrance startled Lapis out of his thinking.  He jumped up, spear appearing in moments.

The smiling face of the human child meets him, the boy as unbothered by Lapis and his spear as he’d been with the lightning.

“Hi!  I’m Remus!”  He greets.

“How did you find me?!”  Lapis demands.  The boy seems just as unbothered by his tone and glare, shrugging and making himself right at home in the cave.

“I don’t know.”  The boy says.  “I just looked.  Pa didn’t want me to, ‘cause he thinks you’re dangerous.”

“I am dangerous.”  Lapis argues.

“Nah.”  Remus brushes him off.  “You didn’t hurt me last time.”

“I could hurt you now.”  Lapis claims.

“Okay.”  Remus said, finally looking at the spear Lapis had used to poof his friends.  There’s still no fear in his eyes.  “Your spear is really cool.”  He says instead.  “I’ve never seen a gem weapon like that before, it looks like it was broken.”

“It was.”  Lapis huffs.  He isn’t sure how, but he spends the next Earth-hour talking to the human child, answering silly little questions and listening to siller little stories.

“You know,” Remus starts and Lapis fully expects another silly story, “I didn’t meet Logan until I was five.” 

“What do I care about that?”  Lapis mutters, whole form tensing.  

“Pa kept his gem on the bench, in this little blanket.  And sometimes he’d put books or candles there, ‘cause he said Logan liked that stuff.  He used to tell me that Logan got hurt and that he just hadn’t gotten better yet.  I thought that meant he was dead.”  Remus just goes on as if Lapis hadn’t said anything.

“Gems only die when we’re shattered.”  Lapis scoffs.

“I didn’t know that then!  I hadn’t met any gems, except Ro but that was just in dreams.”  Remus argues.  “But I found that aren’t, ‘cause one day we were having breakfast and the gem just started to glow, and then it was a man!  It was so cool.”  Remus grins.

“What is the point of telling me this?”  Lapis huffs.

“Lo got poofed later too, after Roman and I ran away to Earth and the Diamonds sent gems after us.  I was so scared he was going to take five years to come back.  He didn’t, it only took a couple of days, and I was so glad, but I thought it was kind of weird so asked.  Pa says I’m curious like that.  And that I talk a lot.”

“I’ve noticed.”  Lapis mumbles, rolling his eyes and trying not to think too much about what Remus is actually saying.

“Lo doesn’t mind.  He likes answering questions.”  Remus claims.  “And he told me that when he got poofed when I was a baby, he didn’t think he was coming back to anything.  ‘Cause the diamonds were there and dad was already gone.  But when he got poofed the second time, he knew he was coming back to me so he wanted to come back.”

“I don’t get what you’re trying to tell me human.”  Lapis finally snaps.  “Why do I care if Logan got poofed?  I don’t.”

“I think if Logan knew you were out there he’d have come back quicker.”  Remus says.  

“You didn’t even know who I was.”  Lapis points out, sounding a lot more bitter than he meant too.  He didn’t care, he shouldn’t have expected any different.  It didn’t hurt.

“I just didn’t know what you looked like.”  Remus explains.  “But Logan’s talked about you sometimes.  He got this far away look and a sad smile.  Like when Pa talks about dad.”

“Yeah right.”  Lapis rolls his eyes.  He doesn't believe Remus.  He doesn’t.  How could Logan not have known?  He didn’t even come to check!

But then, Lapis stood alone in a garden for thousands of years.  All because he believed what Red said.

“Come back and see.”  Remus says, standing up.  “I bet Logan will reform quicker if you’re there.”

“I literally just attacked you all.”  Lapis mutters.  

“Eh, Uncle De did worse.”  Remus shrugs.  He offers his hand, this small, tiny creature.  How is he meant to help Lapis do anything?

Lapis takes it.

--

Stepping into the house is awkward.  Remus pulls him ahead, practically skipping.  The older human is doing… something Lapis doesn’t recognize in a room with half walls while… while Red’s other child paces. 

They both look as Remus and Lapis step in.

“I found him!”  Remus calls, grinning wide like it’s a good thing.  Lapis can only stand there, looking anywhere else as the human and diamond approach.  Finally, when the older human clears his throat, Lapis forces himself to look over.

“You’re not going to hurt my boys?”  The older human demands, eyes narrowed.

“Uh, no.”  Lapis says, then sighs.  He looks from Remus to… Roman.  “I know they aren’t Red.  They didn’t do anything wrong.”  

“Okay good.”  The older human says, nodding to himself and walking away.

“That’s it?”  Lapis asks, shocked.

“I’m really more of a cooker, not a fighter.”  The human claims, moving back to the room with the half-walls.  

”Pa you’re terrible at cooking!”  Remus teases, laughing.

“Okay, I’m more of a lover than a cooker.”  The human corrects.  As the father and son teased each other, the red gem stepped over to Lapis.  Bracing for the worst, Lapis isn’t prepared for what he gets instead.

“What did Dad do to you?”  He asks.  

“He… left me alone for a really long time.  And I guess he told Logan I was shattered.”  Lapis answers.

“Why?”  An ‘I don't know’ is right on the tip of Lapis’ lips but… but that wouldn’t be honest, would it?  Lapis sighs.

“I don’t think he trusted me.  He probably thought I’d run to the Diamonds that second he started doing something dangerous.”  He answers.  

“Would you?”  The gem asks.

“No.  Obviously not.”  Lapis says quickly.  Sure, he was meant to be the realism to Red’s fantasies but Red wasn’t as childish as the other Diamond’s thought.  And Lapis had wanted him to be happy.

Apparently Red never knew that.

Or maybe he was just crueler than Lapis had ever noticed.  He’s not sure which thought hurts more, but neither is feeling him with much rage anymore.  Just an endless ache.

“Do you hate me because of what he did?”  Roman continues the questions and Lapis sighs again.  He wants to, he really, really wants to but…

“No.”  He admits.  “You didn’t leave me there.  Apparently you didn’t even know about me.”  

“Uncle De wasn’t allowed to tell me things.”  Roman says.  “The others wouldn’t let him.  So you shouldn’t hate him either.”

“You know, you’re a lot like your brother.”  Lapis says, noting the endless questions and quick defence.

“Good.”  Roman grins.  Then, after what seems to be a moment of hesitation, he wraps his arms around Lapis’ middle.  “I’m sorry Dad did that to you.”  He mumbles against Lapis’ chest.  For a moment Lapis is too shocked to react.  Then, carefully, he rests his arms around the diamond.

“It’s okay.”  He says softly.  “It wasn’t your fault.”

“It’s not okay.”  Roman argues.  Lapis is shocked to find some of the ache easing.  Just, just a little.  He hugs the boy a little tighter.

“Thanks.”  He whispers.

--

Logan doesn’t magically reform on Lapis’ arrival.  He and Pea- Dante are still in their gems, resting on blankets with opposite colours.  Apparently Remus finds that amusing.  Lapis tries not to focus on them, tries not to worry about what's going to happen when they reform. 

The older human, Patton, helps.  He pulls Lapis into ‘cooking’ and treats him like an old friend, not like someone that almost killed him a couple of days ago.  It’s certainly odd although Lapis has to admit it’s… nice.  

They’re sitting on the couch playing something called ‘head names’ that night when a blue light finally fills the room.  

“Lo’s back!”  Remus cheers, game instantly forgotten.  Lapis can only gulp, watching the blue light go through several forms before settling on his latest one.  His back is turned to them and he raises his hands, possibly fixing up the knot at his throat.  

“Well… I see we are back in the house.  What happened after I-” He cuts off as he turns to see them all.  “Ah, well that was a quick turn about even for Remus and Roman.”  He says.

“Huh?”  Lapis frowns.  

“We’ll give you two some space.”  Patton says, leading his sons towards the front door.

“But paaaaa.”  Both boys complain but Patton is having none of it, saying they’re going to go to Thomas’ new theatre.

“Um…”  Lapis isn’t sure what to say once they’re alone.  A problem Logan seems to share for only a few moments before the blue garnet clears his throat.

“I’m sorry.”  He says.

“You’re sorry?”  Lapis repeats, frowning.  “I just puffed you.”

“Yes, well…”  Logan trails off for a moment.  “Romulus told me you were gone.  That the other diamonds took you away when he was given the colony, because he needed to act like a real diamond.”  He explains.  “I am assuming that’s not what happened.”

“No.”  Lapis mutters, the bitterness coming back.  “He told me to wait in the garden until he came back.  But he didn’t.  I didn’t even… I didn’t even know he was gone until Roman sent out that universal message.  I thought you’d forgotten about me.”  He mumbles.

“No.”  Logan says firmly, taking a step closer.  “Never.  I thought of you every day.  I was thinking about you right before you arrived, in fact.”

“You were?”  Lapis asks, tilting his head a little.  Logan is standing right before him now, staring at him with determination.

“Yes.”  Logan nods.  “I was thinking how content I was with everything, but how there would always be a hole in my heart without you.”  Lapis can’t help but smile a little at the words, a soft blush rising on his cheeks.

“That’s sappy Logan.”  Lapis says, smiling.

“Yes well, I suppose the humans have rubbed off on me somewhat Vir- Lapis.”  He says, quickly correcting himself.

“I think… I think Virgil’s alright.”  The lapis decides.  He leans in closer, pressing his forehand against Logan’s.

“Virgil.”  Logan breathes, like a weights being lifted off his shoulders.  Like a lovers come back to life.

“I missed you too Logan.”  Virgil says.  “So much.”  Leaning into each other, they’re oblivious to the world around them.  They don’t even notice the yellow glow until Dante speaks up.

“Geez, that was a quick turn around.  Even for you lot.”

[ginger-bread-official]

It Falls to Us

____

AU Oneshot. Padfoot was tried and found innocent and now has custody of Harry Potter. Moony struggles to forgive Sirius for thinking he would be the spy.

It had only been two weeks. Two weeks since the war ended. Two weeks since Wormtail had betrayed the Order. Two weeks since James and Lily Potter made their stand against Voldemort leaving their son an orphan. They had since been buried and laid to rest in Godrics Hollow in a private ceremony only open to those who knew them. Remus had watched his best friends be lowered into the ground feeling more hollow than ever before. Everyone who had accepted him was gone. James and Lily dead, Peter on the run for his treachery, Harry living with Sirius. And Sirius…well there’s only so much one man can forgive. He of course understood on a logical level why Sirius believed him to be a spy. He was a dark creature and had every reason to turn double agent for Voldemort. He had been shunned all of his life and could easily become bitter. It made sense. But how could he ever believe it? How could he think that Remus would turn on those he thought as family, on those who accepted him, loved him. Remus stood next to Sirius at the funeral only exchanging information about visits with Harry. Neither could bridge the gap between them that the war had left. He doubted that they ever would. But he forgot one thing...

“Remus!” Sirius’ voice rang through the cottage, shocking the depressing silence that had settled around Moony in the wake of all he had lost.

“Sirius.” Moony yelped in surprise seeing his school mate’s head in the floo.

“Remus please I need help!” he said earnestly, “I can’t get him to stop crying. I don’t know what’s wrong.” Lupin stood from the dining table.

“Harry?” he asked simply looking for more context.

“Yes bloody Harry. Please Moony I don’t know what to do.” Sirius pleaded with the werewolf

“I’ll be right there.” Remus stood and ran to his room for his wand and some potion ingredients. He hurried through the floo to Sirius’ flat and found him standing there holding a wailing Harry.

“He won’t stop crying.” He repeated handing the infant over to the werewolf, “I’ve tried changing him, feeding him, burping him. I don’t know what’s wrong.” Remus took the boy in his arms and tried to soothe him by gently rocking him back and forth. His screams persisted. Lupin then brought his hand to the child’s forehead.

“He has a fever.” Sirius paled at Lupin’s words. “Where’s Lily’s stuff?” he asked pushing through the pain at the mention of his dead friend.

“It’s all in the spare bedroom.” He responded taking Harry back when Remus indicated he should do so.

“Wet a cloth with lukewarm water and dab Harry with it. I’ll find her recipes for tonics.” Sirius hurried off to do as he was instructed while Lupin made his way to the spare bedroom with equal haste. He hesitated only for a moment when he reached the door; not knowing if he was ready to be confronted with the Potters possessions. However, the wails of their child pushed him forward. He sifted through boxes of pictures, clothes, and countless memories. His heart felt like it was going to cave in on itself. He fought through the tears now freely streaming down his face looking for the baby book he knew Lily kept. He finally found the small red notebook under one of James’ old quidditch jerseys. The one he wore under his wedding tux for good luck. He went to the kitchen where Sirius was bathing a still crying Harry.

“I’ve got Lily’s book, where’s your potions set?”

“Under the counter.” He replied over his shoulder, his voice still panicked. Lupin set to work, mixing a mild potion for Harry’s fever. He flipped through the notebook, passed excerpts on Harry’s diet, his nutrient potions, balms for his baths. Some were in Lily’s elegant cursive, and some in James’ messy scrawl. He found the anti-inflammatory potion and brewed it as quickly as he could. Harry was no longer screaming, but still whined in discomfort. Luckily the potion wasn’t too difficult and was ready in minutes.

“Here,” he handed Sirius a dish of the silvery paste while he held his own, “we need to rub this on him and it’ll bring down the fever.”

“Are you sure Moony?” he asked

“I’m not,” he looked down worriedly at the balm, “but this is Lily’s recipe, and she’s the expert.” He dipped his fingers into the paste and began rubbing it on Harry’s round belly. The cool substance seemed to calm him bit by bit, until he was practically cooing at the two men above him. Remus felt a smile stretch across his face as he watched his friend’s son clap with excitement. They gave him a proper bath, charming bubbles to dance around him, and the rubber ducks to quack at him. Lupin felt happiness fill in the hollow of his chest for the first time since the funeral. Harry was going to be ok.

He washed the boy’s thick black hair, lightly brushing his thumb over the lightning bolt cut on his forehead. He had survived a killing curse from the most powerful dark wizard of all time, and yet a fever still brought fear into the men’s hearts.

“We should put him down for a nap.” Lupin broke from his musings about the vulnerable child they had in front of them.

“He better be tired from all the wailing he did.” Sirius jested, picking up the boy in a towel. “You’ve got your mothers lungs kid. Merlin she could yell.” He carried the baby off to his crib leaving Lupin to clean up the kitchen. He let the cold flow of depression sweep through his veins again as he thought of going home to his grief. Although it had been frightening, he was distracted from his depression and even felt happy at one point. Harry was the only good thing left in his life, and seeing him smile despite his parent’s death brought some reminisce of peace to Lupin.

“Thanks for your help Moony.” Sirius’ voice jolted Remus from his stupor. “I really don’t know how I would have dealt without you.” Lupin noticed for the first time how tired Sirius looked. His skin was pale and his eyes red rimmed.

“Anything for Harry.” Lupin responded, receiving a nod from Sirius. He allowed a moment of silence to pass between them before asking, “Why did you call me?”

“I told you, I didn’t know what to do.” He moved to the living room and sat on the couch with an exasperated huff.

“Yes,” he followed him, “But why me? Why not Poppy, or McGonagall, or your cousin Andromeda?” Sirius looked confused with the question.

“You were just the first person who came to mind.” Silence fell again between them. Lupin watched as Sirius lost focus and stared off, deep in thought. They sat there for probably a half an hour letting the situation sink in. Upstairs sleeping peacefully was Harry Potter, the Boy who lived, James and Lily’s son and now, their responsibility. Sirius let out a long breath to break the silence.

“How the hell am I going to do this Moons?”

“With help.”  He responded into the stillness of the air around them. “Poppy can help with all the—”

“I can’t go to Pomfrey.” Sirius interrupted

“Why not?” Lupin asked after a moment.

“Because I fought tooth and nail with Dumbledore so he would agree to let me take Harry.” He leant forward with his arms resting on his knees and his gaze down cast. “If she tells him about me needing help he’ll think I can’t handle it and take him away.”

“Then how about your cousin.” Lupin offered remembering the woman who ran off with a muggleborn. “She has a daughter, right? I’m sure she can help.” Sirius sighed

“She’s not ready to come out of hiding. Ever since Bellatrix tried to kidnap Nymphadora she’s been paranoid about coming back out into public.”

“Well I’m sure she’ll—”

“No Moony. I have to do this by myself.” He interrupted again, his tone now stern.

“Why?” Lupin asked annoyed at his stubbornness.

“Because it’s my fault that’s why?!” Sirius raised his voice in frustration. Lupin felt a sudden wave of pity for the man staring back at him through watery eyes. “Because I’m the reason they’re dead, because my stupidity cost James and Lily their lives.” Lupin reached for Sirius’ shoulder.

“Sirius” but he stood abruptly and paced away from Remus.

“Don’t you see?! I have to do this. He’s my fucking godson, the purpose of me is to take care of him now that they’re gone! I have to raise that little boy as if he were my own, love him and protect him, and then one day tell him I’m the reason he doesn’t have parents.” Tears were freely streaming down his face, all semblance of control lost. He took a vase from the mantle and threw it against the opposing wall. The sound of the shatter woke Harry from his slumber and set him into a new fit of wails from the other room.

“Shit!” Sirius rushed off to his room and returned with Harry in his arms no longer crying, but still shaken and fussy. Sirius focused on soothing the baby while Remus stood and walked over to the pair. He brushed back some of Harry’s thick black hair, revealing the wound from his confrontation with the Dark Lord.

“It’s not your fault Padfoot.” Remus spoke softly while Sirius’ gaze was fixed on the small child in his arms. “I trusted and loved Peter just as much. It isn’t our fault that we trusted our brother.”

“He’s no brother of mine.” Sirius said darkly.

“Not anymore, but he was, we all were.” Sirius finally looked up at Remus “It’s no one’s fault but his. He’s the one who chose cowardice. All we did was trust him.” Harry, now calmed, began to snuggle into Sirius and fall asleep again.

“I’m sorry I suspected you Moons.” Sirius said at a whisper.

“It’s understandable.” Lupin conceded.

“No it’s despicable is what it is. I let prejudice cloud my judgement.” He shifted so Harry was in one arm and put his hand on Lupin’s shoulder. “You’re more man than anyone I know.” This morning he was positive that he was going to hate Sirius Black for the rest of his life. But standing there both having lost so much, he found that he couldn’t help but forgive him.

“I’ll stay a few days to help with Harry.” Lupin saw Sirius smile for the first time since Halloween.

A few days turned into a few weeks which in turn became years. They helped each other grieve and accept what had happened. Although Sirius still felt guilty, he decided being a good guardian for Harry was more important than self-pity. He managed to convince Remus to co-parent with him, Lupin’s biggest reservation being, of course his lycanthropy. Sirius, having inherited a large fortune, bought a house in Godrics Hollow. Where they could raise Harry and bring him to visit his parents as much as he wanted. Their house had air tight security since death eaters were still out for the boy who lived, but they tried not to shelter him too much, knowing James and Lily wouldn’t want their son to be raised that way. It was a different situation and not always the easiest, but it worked for them. Some days were harder than others, like the day Harry asked where his mom was, or the time he called Sirius ‘dad’, but they made the best of it. Their family was smaller than it once was, but no less a family.