#these look fine on my monitor but awful on mobile

[f3lldrag0n]

ancient language font by Darkspawn980

[genshingorlsrevengeance]

Suletta and your pick of T-Dolls with a mechanic S/O who uses “percussive maintenance” to great effect.

Just….

BONK

and the machine is working fine.

(They also have a favorite wrench to perform this maintenance with)

(MSG: The Witch from Mercury/GFL) Suletta, Angelia, G36, and RPK-16's Mechanic S/O hitting things with a wrench to 'fix it'

(For Suletta, it'll just be platonic to feel more authentic to the show!)

Suletta watched (Y/N) repair Chuchu's Demi-Trainer without too much effort, simply calibrating it so that it would respond better.

(Chuchu) "Oi, Suletta, (Y/N)! How's the legs?"

(Suletta) "A-Ah, still working on the wiring, it'll be ready to move in a second!"

Suletta stared at the wiring and furrowed her brows, trying to find what exactly was causing the issue.

She had some knowledge on how Mobile Suits were repaired, but nothing to this extent. At least, anything that wasn't Aerial.

Aerial was at least helping with the repairs too a good chunk of the time.

(Y/N) scratched their chin as their finger tapped against the wrench, slowly lowering the lift back onto the hangar floors.

(Suletta) "You weren't able to find anything either? It should be working fine, but I haven't noticed anything."

(Y/N) "Nothing I could see with my eyes. But don't worry, Suletta, I know the perfect trick!"

(Chuchu) "Hey! If you put a dent onto my trainer, I'll be denting your skull!"

(Y/N) "Oh come on, you know it always works!"

(Suletta) "U-Um, what is she talking about?"

(Y/N) "Behold, my family technique, Suletta!"

Suletta opened her mouth in slight awe, ready to see what (Y/N) had up their sleeve.

Only for them to violently smack the foot of the Demi-Trainer, a loud clang echoing throughout all of Earth House.

Suletta leapt back in terror, stammering as she shook (Y/N).

(Suletta) "Y-Y-YOU JUST HIT HER MOBILE SUIT! WHY?!"

(Y/N) raised a finger and looked back at the cockpit.

(Y/N) "Chuchu?"

The leg of the Demi-Trainer moved without any issue.

(Chuchu) "...I resent that stupid trick works."

(Y/N) "Ah, but it still works, doesn't it?"

(Suletta) "...B-But how?"

(Angelia) "Console still not working?"

(Commander) "Yeah, won't turn on no matter what I tried. Plugging it back in and out, that sorta thing."

(Angelia) "Hm. Some budget they gave us. Well don't worry, I can call S/O."

(Commander) "Huh. I figured you'd call one of the T-Dolls for that."

(Angelia) "Nah, S/O's got this. Trust me."

S/O came into the briefing room with a single wrench, saluting both Angelia and the Commander.

(Angelia) "Computer's not turning on, mind fixing it for us?"

(S/O) "Got it, Ange."

S/O walked over to the computer's power, slowly raised their wrench before violently slamming the head onto the top of it.

The Commander flinched, but Angelia stood there, perfectly stonefaced.

And right on cue, the monitor turned back on.

(Angelia) "Thanks."

(S/O) "Anytime!"

S/O moved to give her a peck on the cheek before her own robotic hand hit their head, though the impact was not as violent.

(Angelia) "Not during work."

The Commander simply stood there, flabbergasted that damaging his system made it work.

(Commander) "...Whatever, as long as that doesn't break the damn thing and have Helian yell at me for it."

G36 scowl seems to not move as she stares at the coffee machine.

(Springfield) "Oh, right! I forgot to tell you, G36. The machine is broken right now, I had called for someone to come fix it. They should be arriving-"

(S/O) "Apologies for the delay, I was caught up in another repair...Oh, G36!"

G36 smiled at the sound of S/O's voice, stepping aside to make room.

(G36) "Ah, I think this is the first time we're both in the same area while we're on the clock."

(Springfield) "S/O, our coffee machine has decided to stop working since last night. Mind helping us?"

(S/O) "Sure thing, step back, love."

G36 nodded and made no acknowledgement of S/O's pet name since it was just her and Springfield in the room.

And S/O reached into the bag, pulled out a wrench and-

THUD!

S/O had smacked the side of it, which both T-Dolls heard a beep of acknowledgement, the machine ready to produce coffee once more.

(G36) "...S/O, that does not seem like it is an efficient way to repair things."

(S/O) "It works though, you should try it out too!"

(G36) "S/O, we would break the machine we are attempting to fix if I were to employ your methods."

16 had not called S/O to fix anything, instead she happened to come across them as she was strolling back to her dorm.

It was in the middle of the base hallways, finding S/O repairing a vending machine.

(RPK-16) Huh. When were these here, and why are there even vending machines to begin with? This is a military base, not a mall...-

She thought to herself.

But instead of saying anything to S/O, she decided to observe.

S/O was pressing a myriad of buttons to no avail, their frustration growing as they let out an exhale through their nose.

It amused 16 to watch S/O go about their business. So this is what they were like when she wasn't present.

She then watched them reach into a bag and smack a wrench straight into the middle of the vending machine.

And finally, it relinquished a singular can of soda that rolled out to the bottom.

S/O made a small fist bump, obviously proud of their accomplishment. They twirled their wrench onto their belt and walked off.

16 raised an eyebrow and pressed a button after they left, watching as the machine produced a drink without fail.

(RPK-16) "...So, humans resort to violence when something does not go their way? I suppose that's on track from the data I've gathered so far."

She let out a small giggle, thinking of how S/O looked during the process. This was quite interesting.

Doubly so since S/O was a mechanic and they knew that's not how you'd repair things normally.

(RPK-16) "Note to self, do not ask S/O to do repairs on me."

[the-firebird69]

Clearly there's a lot of dumb people around here in this entire realm it's awful so we're going to use it they all want to die and it's going to be easier than we thought for instance yesterday we said we continue to abandon your post will take over the territory and we are with permission from the empire. So very large area and yes it was BJA kidnapping Ken. And he was stopped by Michael too and he's on the war path and he got his ass kicked all night and he got straightened out and he wants to straighten him back out and stuff like that cuz he's an animal and he is getting small so are the trumps and soon we'll have our revenge on this group of s***

-we did take over a large amount of area in the southern hemisphere Eastern and Western hemisphere of the southern hemisphere it is pretty good stock about four Spains plus four portugals. And we put bases in other people don't believe it and because one mega base has about twice as many bases as the northeast of Russia had but the max bases is a pretty big.

-and we built some mega bases and Trump is being irritating because he thinks he rode pja onto Michael too when they're going out there and breaking their bunkers and they're getting killed here for just talking about it at all I mean this guy's an idiot and he needs to leave fine day for every Union of bja and Trump and that's who it is. Hey screws around with bja pretty soon and he gets hit bad

-2 MB in each continent Southern continent and those are huge has about a thousand miles up and we didn't put one there yet no we have several to the South and these are the more Northern megabases

-we put in 50,000 small bases throughout the entire continent of each Southern continent and that's new

-we put in five a very large bases in each continent and mostly 2,000 miles and then South and with each of those comes a full complement below and above

-we installed 200 large bases 100 in each continent and all over I was sick of you when your lawless crap there's going to be law and order or you'll die

-there's so many tiny bases it's not worth mentioning that they're in the millions in each continent

-we also installed obelisk and those are massive lasers and the beam is huge and they're like comparable to some of Max powerful lasers and they'll burn a hole in any of your ships including the stone chips and you don't seem to care we put it in about 50, 25 in each. And we are installing monitoring systems in Florida and more and soon we will have control over the entire Southern continent and yeah you'll have areas but they won't last for long and it won't stand in the foreigners are thanking you they're horrified they're getting taken over.

My son mentions that vital and got his wife and goo and oh yeah have been here a lot and Uriel and got his wife are taking notice and it's going to be harder for them and they're not smiling about it so they're going to start working here a few other things going on we are installing all of the cone shaped areas in the cities that we're in with those structures and we are now moving and mobilizing to do the final 1000 cities that's a huge project massive numbers now massive massive numbers and we are entering another phase of our project now we are in phase 5 and it's going very well and I almost have mine complete and it's true and zigzag will be a day or two behind me then that's it

Thor Freya

Olympus

Zues Hera umax plan to put them in prison anyways so we're going to make sure he doesn't by having power and you were not really saying the right thing for years and years and we can't take it for a couple minutes

We are going to take over a lot of the area in the northern continents shortly we're tired of people driving all over the place and you having big hardware you don't need it. You don't need spaceships either and that's going to change shortly and we're going to stop this horseshit with Tommy f and if you look at it on the map it just looks like what Mac was doing actually the max and the pseudo empire with their basis and that's what it looks like it's a lot of people that we're much more aggressive but you don't know it at all in foreigners do not compare to us no. We're also sick of you people here have you heard it and you're dying rapidly your numbers are diminishing and quite rapidly and right now the northeast of Russia is embroiled and you jackasses are attacking your own people still wonderful news idiots and you are rooting their day ruining their day and all of the bunkers have reached and the bugs are heading there and you and the pseudo empire will be wiped out in that area and the bunkers we will tear apart and rebuild and you will rue the day. In the northwest of Russia they are falling most of the bunkers are breached the bugs are heading there now from Nova Scotia to British Columbia and parts of Alaska the bunkers are breached in half of them mostly on the East Coast believe it or not and the bugs will be there shortly and the buns are going to be at the line the whole line in about an hour so we're going to publish

Thor Freya

Olympus

I suppose these people are idiots and we underestimated how stupid they are and how hard it is to sit here with these morons it's very true they're bothering him no matter where he goes or what he does puts his head down and he's singing a tune it sounds like I'm going to f*** you up no matter what you do and we're seeing you too about you idiots here

Michael too he says he doesn't feel like saying the above it's not hard to resist it's just that he's forced to put it there and we're noting that too they know how long it is and they can see the bugs moving

[januaryisnotanartist]

KanSang Week Day 04 Matching Heartbeats

Pairing: Kan Jian/ Liu Sang (established)

Genre: adventure?, hurt/comfort? Tropes: Tombs have traps, Near Death Experiences, everyone lives Character Special Mentions: Laomao (Liu Sang’s teacher, who in this universe is someone whom Xiazi knows, and is older than. ) Word Count: 1,080 ish

-

Watching Liu Sang drop was terrifying. Kan Jian knows the dangers of tomb... uh... excavation, but there was something far worse than his own life being on the line: Liu Sang's life being on the line.

The dart trap hadn't been triggered by Liu Sang, and Kan Jian is ashamed that he even thought for a moment that he wished the one who had triggered it had been shot instead. The dart had barely grazed Liu Sang though, and Kan Jian hadn't known yet that there was more to the trap than projectiles that Liu Sang could (mostly) hear coming.

Poison.

There had been poison.

-

Liu Sang had been listening for danger from outside of his body, from further down the halls, from inside the walls. So he thought he shouldn't be held accountable for not realising right away that his heartbeat was turning odd until it was beating dangerously out of rhythm.

He doesn't usually pay that much attention to his own heartbeat, automatically tunes out the noise in fact. He really should have considered the risk the dart, which had left a scratch along his thigh, had been poisonous. Or covered in dangerous bacteria at any rate. He'd let Kan Jian disinfect the wound and put a bandage over it, but then someone had been calling out about a door Liu Sang hadn't drawn on the map and...

and now his heart was noticeably off-beat.

He needed to stop, to get medical attention, but he wasn't going to be able to if his heart kept doing whatever the hell it thought it was doing.

“Kan Jian,” Liu Sang hated the fearful, worried look on Kan Jian's face when he heard his name slur in Liu Sang's mouth. “I need you to be my heartbeat.”

Liu Sang's heart fluttered painfully in his chest and he knew he was close to running out of time. He didn't even know if it would help...

He stopped listening to everything that wasn't Kan Jian's heartbeat. He stopped paying attention to anything that wasn't that one single sound.

There had been a game his master had played with him, before she'd passed, one that taught Liu Sang to not only differentiate heart beats, but to hide his own in someone-else's.

It wasn't a game now, but he trusted Kan Jian to get him to help, he just had to stay alive long enough. Which meant wrangling his heartbeat. It was something he could do by himself in theory, but with his attention drawn down so deep, he'd lose sense of time, of timing.

He could send himself into cardiac arrest.

Kan Jian's heart was strong, and steady, and so wonderfully familiar. Liu Sang let the sound of it consume him.

-

Kan Jian didn't quite know how he made it out of the tomb and back to camp, be he did, he didn't know what Liu Sang meant by 'be his heartbeat,' but Kan Jian would do anything Liu Sang asked of him.

Just... Liu Sang had to wake up.

Kan Jian's hearing isn't super levels, but he didn't think Xiaoge was trying to hide it when he finished examining the dart and looked at Liu Sang and said: “he should already be dead.”

If he weren't so scared, Kan Jian might have noted the approving awe in Xiaoge's voice. But Kan Jian was scared, and his heart went tight and prickly at the idea, and the mobile heart monitor attached to Liu Sang beeped unexpectedly.

Kan Jian turned to Liu Sang, but his boyfriend hadn't moved, hadn't shown any signs of anything but the shallow breathing he'd done since he dropped in the tomb. Kan Jian was scared, and his breathing hitched as he began to panic, Liu Sang's monitor blaring as Liu Sang's heart started racing.

“Kan Jian!” Xiazi's yell is unexpected, and it drags everyone's focus, even Kan Jian's. “Kan Jian, Liu Sang is going to be fine. This poison wears off, the fact that Liu Sang is still alive now, means he won't die from this, but you need to calm down.”

Xiazi lied about stuff, and for various of reasons, but he doesn't lie about important things. He wouldn't lie about this, so Kan Jian believes him and he breathes.

Relieved, Kan Jian picked up one of Liu Sang's hands and brought it up a little so he could press a kiss to the back of Liu Sang's hand.

There's a sudden scoff from Xiazi, and Kan Jian realised he'd missed some conversation.

“-all this poison does is stop the heart,” Xiazi was saying, “if you can keep the heart beating for long enough, the poison breaks down. Normally you'd have to do it artificially but Liu Sang... I'd say Xiao Mao taught him a thing or two.”

“A thing or two?” Pangzi asked.

Xiazi grinned, “wanna see a cool trick? Hook Kan Jian up to a second heart monitor right now.”

Kan Jian was pretty sure you were supposed to have trained medical staff apply the heart monitors, but his laoban already had the second mobile heart monitor unpacked before he thought he should maybe say something, and by that point it seemed too late.

Kan Jian didn't really get it, the lines and beeps on the two machines were the same. That was normal right? This was just what heartbeats looked and sounded like, wasn't it?

He was focused so hard on trying to figure out what the big deal was, he didn't notice Xiazi creep up behind him until Xiazi blew in his ear.

Kan Jian yelped, startled, and his monitor beeped in outrage.

And so did Liu Sang's.

They wavered and then settled. There was a barely there gap between Liu Sang's heartbeat and Kan Jian's, and Kan Jian's heart rate returned to normal, the gap disappeared.

“Huh,” Pangzi sounded impressed, “he's actually matching his heartbeat to Kan Jian.”

'Be my heartbeat.'

Was this what Liu Sang had been asking?

They were sharing a heartbeat.

Kan Jian blushed because 'oh no, this is so intimate and everyone in the tent knows what's happening.'

Xiazi snorted, “okay, this crisis is as over as it's going to get until Liu Sang wakes up, and I'm hungry.” He made a big production of exiting the tent and everyone who was not Kan Jian or Liu Sang were forced out alongside him, leaving only the two young men and the pair of monitors counting out two matching heartbeats.

[delimeful]

WIBAR Intermission: New Friends

winner of the first july patreon poll! thanks to @legendsgates for allowing me to sneak in a brief cameo of their alien species, cetarfreka!

previous intermission episode | start of WIBAR

warnings: violence, fear, tension, ptsd episodes, injury mention, being held hostage, misunderstandings, deception

-

It was about halfway through their trading circuit that the vidcomm from the Mindscape popped up.

Remyy perked up instantly, Patton’s distinctive singsong voice clear even from half across the main bay. They dropped to their feet and tucked all their wings tight against them to signal that anyone in the way should swiftly get out of the way. Those in the bay who knew them cast strange glances in their direction as they hop-skittered across the floor.

Remyy couldn’t blame them; this was probably the fastest they’d moved all week. They usually maintained a much more casual demeanor for the sake of their reputation, but in this case...

“Patton! Babes, you’re really okay!”

“Remyy!” The Ampen fluffed up, a pleasant glow filling the room around him, face pinching up happily.

In this case, exceptions would be made.

The Obrxyx currently managing the comms sighed at them, unimpressed. “You have this one, then?”

“Sure do,” Remyy drawled, still leaning between xem and the monitor so that half their face took up the comm screen. “We go way back, I’ll get them docked.”

They waited impatiently for xem to move to a different comm terminal, adjusted the seatpad so they could be seen properly through the comm, and promptly started complaining. “I can’t believe you guys, holing up in that rinky dink ship for so long with only voice calls to tell everyone that you were okay! Where’s the gossip? Why in the universe would you keep it from me?”

Patton’s hands jerked, and the comm screen wobbled, blurring his expression strangely for a moment. Remyy tilted their goggles slightly for a better angle, but by the time the mobile communicator stabilized, any change in demeanor had vanished.

“Be careful, Rem,” Patton said teasingly, “it almost sounds like you care about us or something.”

“Funny,” Remyy replied dryly, “I’ll have you know that I’ve just been missing Logan’s high quality deathbrew, none of that sentimental garbage.”

Patton laughed at them silently with his gaze alone. Innocent, naive Ampen, their ass.

“Are we cleared to dock y-- Is that Remyy?” Another voice from offscreen dropped abruptly into horror, and Remy’s eyes narrowed in gleeful amusement.

“It sure is, gurl,” they called, “and the Remyy in question seems to recall a certain bet that was never paid up on. 30 cenals, cough ‘em up.”

There was a loud groan, and then a thump that shook the comm slightly. Patton spent a moment staring at something with a confused frown, and then seemed to get it, nodding. He turned back to them very seriously.

“Sorry, Roman can’t come to the comm right now,” he informed them. “He, uh, died. Very recently. And tragically."

Belatedly, he put on a sad expression, antennae drooping. Remyy raised their eyebrows, unimpressed.

“Uh huh. Well, I suppose I’ll just have to join in on the funeral rites once I get down to help carry the goods over, huh--?”

“No!” The voices of both his friends overlapped, making the comm audio fuzz harshly for a moment. Remyy’s secondaries flared slightly, taken aback at the vehemence.

“Uh, I mean, we don’t have that much,” Patton hurried to patch up the awkward pause. “How about we meet you in the docking lobby instead? You can get Roman’s credits there.”

“Hey!”

Remyy’s ears angled back with displeased confusion, but they acquiesced anyhow. “Hurry up, then. And make sure Logan brings my brew!”

Whatever it was they were hiding, Remyy was sure they’d be able to weasel it out of them in no time.

---

After grabbing a short meal and a boring haggling session between the Mindscape’s crew and the cargo manager of the Starwinder, Remyy finally got to learn about what had happened to Patton during his disappearance.

It wasn’t pretty.

Their senspatches felt dry at the mere thought of Patton stripped of his coat and forced to starve because of it. It was beyond lucky that the remaining two of the trio managed to find and free the Ampen from the harvesters before it was too late. If anyone could do it, though, they believed this crew could.

Patton had grown quieter and less fluffy throughout the course of the tale, with Roman and Logan taking turns delivering a well-practiced explanation of the events. Seeing as these were extenuating circumstances, Remyy submitted to cuddles just this once, allowing the small alien to bury his face in the folds of their leathery armwings.

They took a moment once the story was over, casually and completely unintentionally folding more of their wing over Patton. “That bites, babes.”  

“Yeah.” The Ampen hummed in response, mouth pinched strangely. “I… I’m really grateful that I got help when I did.”

Logan set a careful hand on Patton’s back, though the motion almost came across as less comforting and more… cautioning? Remyy’s senspatches flared up slightly as they tried to read more into the situation.

Before they could really investigate, though, Roman was leaning forwards and grabbing the edge of their arm to get their attention.

“Remyy. We’ve been having something of an adjustment period. Drop it, please?”

They flickered their ears at him dismissively, but really… looking at the small crew, they could see a sort of wariness reflected in their stiff posture, the way the three of them constantly cast glances back to the dock hall that would lead to their ship. Trying to make sure they had a quick exit. Whatever the details of their experience, it was stressing them out to lay it all out in the open like this. Remyy could understand that.

“Fine, whatever,” they sighed, sipping at the bitter brew Logan had thoughtfully provided. “I suppose I’ll keep my awe-inspiring ability to root out interesting tidbits to myself for now. I can just grill Lo later.”

The three friends slumped in relief, and Remyy turned their face away slightly to allow them some privacy to recover. They probably wouldn’t appreciate it, that was mostly an Elimtran thing, but it was the effort that counted. They cast about for some other topic to distract. What else had they heard about lately… oh!

“Have you all heard the stories about the rogue Human going around lately?”

There was spluttering, and they turned back to see Roman seemed to have inhaled mid-drink, and was now muffling coughs into his shoulder. Patton studiously avoided eye contact as he patted the Cravon sympathetically. Logan shifted one arm out from where they were politely tucked away, looking intensely intrigued. Strange, he wasn’t usually one for gossip.

“We have not,” he stated, hands twitching in preparation for his thought weaving thing. “Would you care to elaborate?”

“Uh, duh,” they replied, trying not to think too much on the rather extreme reaction.  If the crew was really so stressed, it made sense that news of a Human would freak them out. Shit, they sucked at this. Gathering information would make them feel more secure, yeah? “It’s been circulating at some of the more shady ports we’ve been to, rumors that a small-tier smuggling ring recently managed to rise through the ranks just because they got their hands on a Human and knew how to use it to their advantage. That much is like, okay, horrifying to know that there’s still Humans out there in the outer ranges, but whatever, it’s under lock and key.”

Patton clung to their wing tighter. They paused, deliberating on whether or not to continue.

“I assume, going by the fact that you called h-- it a ‘rogue’ Human, that's not the case anymore?” Logan supplied, waving for them to proceed.

“Well, yeah. Apparently, it tore through practically half the group members before escaping, and now people are reporting cases of a bloodthirsty Human all over this quadrant. Not that the calls are accurate. It’s just hearsay,” they made sure to add. “It might just be someone trying to work the local governs into a panic, put pressure on the Council for this or that political maneuver.”

Logan didn’t respond for a concerning amount of time. “Right. Of course, that is plausible. Still, thank you for the information, Remyy. We will… keep it in mind.”

Remyy sunk lower in their seat, regretting bringing the topic up at all. “Mm. You do that, babes. Remember the stats, too. There’s a warrant out. Sooner or later, the Council will probably find whoever’s at the source of the rumors and put them to rights, Human or not.”

“That’s… great,” Roman got to his feet abruptly. “I think maybe we should head out soon. We’ve got that next landing to prep for, after all. Holmao isn’t known for its gentle terrain.”

“What?” Remyy’s secondaries flared slightly as they stood up too, abandoning their drink and dislodging Patton. “You just got here! Aren’t you at least going to catch a night’s rest? No offense to your ship, but the arti-grav ain’t exactly stellar.”

“That’s why we need to do more jobs! Save up for better arti-grav installation, right guys?” Roman’s voice seemed slightly frantic. Remyy suddenly remembered what little history the Cravon had shared with them, and swore mentally. They really, really shouldn’t have brought up the Human.

“Ro, look, I’m so--”

Their voice abruptly cut off as a cool line of metal pressed between their wings, right against their life vein. They saw as Roman’s eyes locked on something behind them, scales rising to a prickling stand quicker than they’d ever witnessed before.

“Nobody move,” a voice behind them called in clear, precise Common. “Or you get to bleed out right after this one.” The flat of the blade pressed harder against their back, and they couldn’t stop their ears from flattening completely in terror.

“Let them go,” Roman demanded, halfway to a snarl. Before he could even take a step, though, more armed strangers were swarming into the lobby, barking orders for the few other people currently in the room to get down. Expression dark, Roman held his arms out in a gesture of compliance, though his scales continued to stick out in a defensive bristle.

Raiders, it had to be. Remyy knew they knew the reptilian symbol that was engraved in each of the strangers black masks, but they couldn’t remember the group’s name for the fear flooding their mind, keeping them frozen in place.

One of them kicked Patton clear away from Remyy’s legs, and the Ampen let out a short shriek of pain before clapping his hands over his mouth. The raider behind Remyy laughed, apparently unconcerned about any alarms being raised, but Remyy was more focused on the way the Mindscape crew exchanged panicked glances, Logan kneeling next to Patton and subtly signing something in Crav’n.

“Now, here’s how this is going to work.” The one behind Remyy gestured with their other hand, which Remyy could now see was holding a paralyzer. Raiders were known for using them to get information, since most aliens could take a few shots from one before succumbing to the pain. “You’re all going to line up against the wall while we search your vessels, and in exchange, nobody has to die, got it?”

Remyy could only look straight ahead, so they got a clear view of Patton’s furious glow dimming down to horrified in an instant at the leader’s words. Whatever the three of them were hiding, it was hidden on their ship, and apparently not well enough.

They ran their tongue along their teeth for a moment, debating, and then wiggled their ears slightly, loosening the grip their goggles had until they were slipping down their face slightly. Only their upper eyes were exposed, but with any luck, it would be enough.

It wasn’t long till they managed to make eye contact with a nearby raider; the leader was the one giving orders, after all, and they were being held hostage by said leader, so it made sense that eyes would stray in their direction.

The moment they locked gazes, Remyy flickered their pupils and let their senspatches slowly pulse. The raider took a moment to bob their head in confusion before becoming visibly more relaxed, and Remyy didn’t waste any time. 'Circle around and attack the one holding me.'

The raider swayed slightly for a moment before moving to obey, a side effect of not being exposed to the full hypnotic effect of their eyes, and Remyy had a moment to feel hopeful that maybe they could actually pull this off.

“Grahh’m, what are you-- Oh, you little shit,” the leader spat, moments before a strike to the side of Remyy’s head had them seeing stars. They heard Roman growling furiously, still forced to the ground under threat of gunfire, and hoped that he wouldn’t do anything stupid. He wouldn’t be any use if he was convulsing from pain.  

“I should have known better than to leave an Elimtra awake and armed, hmm?” The leader flipped them to their back, pressing a knee to their chest and crushing their secondaries uncomfortably against the floor. A moment later,  their other hand was shoving their goggles harshly back over their face.

Remyy gagged slightly as all the air was forced from their lungs. “Probably should’ve, ye-- eah,” they replied, struggling to inhale again.

“Funny.” There was a glint of silver uncomfortably close to their eyes. The knife. Remyy regretted the snark. They regretted the snark so much.

The leader paused. “Oren, is it the eyes or the little spots under them that do the hypnotizing, do you recall?”

There was a pause, in which ‘Oren’ seemed to have no answer, and Remyy realized with a chill just what was being threatened. The leader considered them for a moment, and then pulled their dark mask further up to cover more of their face.  

“I suppose I’ll just get rid of both, hmm?” The knife wavered closer.

Across the room, there was a loud crash, and a strangled yell that cut off as quick as it started. Remyy watched as the leader’s head jerked up, and saw the moment that the severe frown on their face abruptly transformed into utter terror. Hurriedly, the raider stood back up, and they were pulled up along, shoved in front of them like a shield.

It didn’t take long to see why. Across the lobby, near the entrance to the dock halls, a tall, slender figure was holding the remains of what must have been a seatpad. The rest of it appeared to be lying crumpled along with the limp raider that had been closest to that entryway.

The whisper spread through the room as quick as any small-town rumor: Human.

The being was scanning the eerily-silent space, and when it reached the spot where the leader stood, accompanied by Remyy and friends, it’s lips curled up into a vicious snarl, teeth on full display. It moved forwards in a way Remyy could only describe as predatory, and the leader went tense behind them. “Stop that thing, now!”

One raider, either damn brave or damn stupid, charged right in, and received the rest of the seatpad to the skull for their efforts. Remy winced at the sound. This seemed to be the signal for the rest of the raiders to converge, and the room descended into pandemonium.

In the thick of it all, the Human-- for what else could it really be?-- continued to advance, unrelenting. It wasn’t as fast as some aliens Remyy had met, but it didn’t need to be. The way that it stalked through the room radiated threat like an oath, and when opponents did dare to stand in it’s way, the blows were vicious and crunching, often leaving splatters of residue on its skin.

Most frightening of all was the way it handled the paralyzers, which should have driven any creature with pain receptors to the floor. Each time a shot landed on the human, it would tear the spiked prongs out with a twitch and a grimace and just keep moving.

By the time the leader realized that a strategic retreat was long overdue, it was already far too close for comfort. Remyy heard a swear behind them, and then they were being shoved, hard.

They caught a glimpse of Roman moving, and then they found themself busy tripping directly into a Human’s warpath. So much for surviving this.

They folded their wingarms over their head in some paltry attempt at defense as they fell. There was a grunt, and then a hot grip on their shoulders, all-too-close to the base of their secondaries and stars above were they going to have their glider wings torn clear off--?

“‘Scuse me,” the Human muttered in Common, and then lifted Remyy clear off the ground, easy-as-you-please, and set them down to the side. It brushed past them, heading straight towards Roman and the others, and Remyy stared after it.

Rather than continue after the leader, who had been thoroughly pinned by Roman and was currently swearing viciously, the Human stopped in front of Logan and Patton and dropped to a crouch. Remyy jerked forward, but neither of their friends seemed keen to jump away or defend themselves. In fact, Patton looked to be carefully headbutting the Human’s chest, and Logan was speaking in low, comforting tones. Even stranger, the Human seemed to be listening.

The circuits connected in their mind, illuminating a truly outlandish conclusion.  

They whistled lowly, drawing all the attention in the room to them. “Listen up, babes. As a subsect representative of the Council, I’m authorized to do my thing here, so I’m gonna need everyone to follow my directions.”

“Remyy, what?” Roman asked, and was thoroughly ignored. A nearby Cetarfris protested from where they were practically pressed halfway up the wall, red eyes wide and patterned tail thrashing in terror.

“Are you genuine? Do you not see the Human right there?”

Remyy clicked their tongue in reproach. “Gurl, do I not have enough eyes for you or somethin’? I will handle the Human. What else is the Council good for?”

“Uh, governing?” someone else muttered. Remyy ignored them, too.

“I need all the raiders that haven’t already jetted in holding cells immediately. I’m sure there’ll be a hefty reward for members of this particular gang, even if they’re small fries, so anyone who pitches in can get some of that bounty. And remember, keep your mouths shut about this unless you want to be up to your orifices in paperwork at best. If you have to gossip, keep names out of it or I'll know who snitched.” Remyy shifted their goggles up on their forehead, turning to the Human and ignoring the thick tension in the room. “I’ll escort the Human to proper captivity. Roman, Logan, Patton, with me.”

As expected, the mere fact that the Mindscape crew were accompanying seemed to put the Human at ease, even if just slightly. Now, came the bit that would make or break the lie. They moved forwards slowly and reached out for the Human’s shoulder, tugging slightly at it as though this wasn't the creature that had just plowed through a band of raiders like they were dust in the wind. “C’mon, babes.”

After a pause, the Human followed. The relief in the room was palpable, and Remyy was no exception. They liked a good bet as much as the next guy, but generally preferred when there weren’t so many lives at stake.

See, the thing about being a species that was somewhat infamous for their hypnotic abilities was that everyone assumed you were using them, even if you weren’t. This tended to lean more in the direction of being a bad thing, but in this case, it helped Remyy tremendously, as nobody cast a second glance at them as they guided the docile Human through the lobby.

That might also have been because nobody wanted to be in the same room as a rogue Human for very long, but such was the way of things. Small details.

Soon enough, they reached the dock halls, and Remyy swiftly led the four of them onboard the Mindscape. They closed and locked the connecting port after them, and resisted the urge to collapse in relief.

Instead, they turned around to assess the rest of this mess.

It was quite a scene, and at first, they seemed too busy amongst themselves to even notice Remyy.

The Human was curled in on themself in one corner, looking pallid and ill, but also coiled so tightly it looked like they were one wrong word from fleeing the quadrant. Positioned firmly in front of them, Roman was audibly rattling from head to tail, moving on automatic as he bodily prevented the other two from approaching. Remyy would have thought the gesture was for the Human’s sake if not for the way Roman angled his own body, like he expected to be attacked from behind at any moment.

“It’s not safe,” he uttered over and over, gaze haunted. “It’s not safe. You have to hide.”

Patton warbled in wordless distress, and Logan gave up on trying to pull Roman away, instead simply holding his ground and speaking to the Cravon, calm and firm.

“This isn’t then, Roman. We’re here, and that is Virgil, and he is not going to hurt us. We’re safe. We are on the Mindscape. We are safe. Observe the space around you. Can you tell me five things you see?”

Remyy waited unobtrusively as the two of them slowly coaxed Roman back into the present, bit by bit. When he hunched over to be closer to his shorter friends, Patton carefully grabbed his hand, rubbing small circles into it in a soothing gesture Remyy wasn’t familiar with. “You with us, Ro?”

Roman signed something with his other hand, too quick for Remyy to grasp, and Patton smiled, a bit sad. “We’re okay, but there’s a little bit of a situation going on with Remyy, remember?”

Roman glanced at them, and then to the Human, who was still vibrating violently. Remyy had thought it was barely restrained anger, at first, but the longer they watched, the more it seemed compulsive, more fearful than furious. It only increased as Roman’s attention fell heavy on him.

“I didn’t mean to,” the Human said, voice as shaky as the rest of him. “I swear, I-- I just heard Patton yell, and they had weapons, like-- I… I didn't want to hurt anyone. I’m sorry that I-- that I did. But you guys were in danger. I couldn’t just... leave you to that.”

He sounded almost resigned, like he was trying to plead his case but had already accepted deep down that it was pointless to fight his sentence. When Roman turned away from him, his thoughts only seemed to be confirmed, and his face dropped another shade as his gaze darted over to Remyy. He seemed apprehensive, not that Remyy could really blame him. Poor guy probably thought he was about to be surrendered to law enforcement.

“Remyy.” Roman’s voice sounded wrung out, and from Patton’s concerned expression, the Cravon probably didn’t normally force himself to speak after episodes like this. “Virgil isn’t-- He’s better here with us. He doesn’t... deserve to be subjected to the Council just because he decided to... to save us.”

The Cravon opened his mouth as though to say more, but the words didn’t come. Instead, he signed something short and planted himself in a sitting position in front and slightly to the side of the Human, even as his scales still shivered. ‘Virgil’ was staring at him like he’d grown a second head.

“Roman’s right!” Patton took the opportunity to jump in front of them like the universe’s smallest, cutest guardian angel, cloak and ruff fluffed up stalwartly. Most effective of all was the Ampen’s ‘I’m-not-mad-I’m-just-disappointed-at-your-life-choices’ look. “Virgil is part of our family, and I’ll fight you about it!”

The Ampen’s tiny glare wasn't nearly as alarming as the assessing look Virgil cast over them, like he thought Remyy was really going to try and fight Patton and was prepared to intervene. They resisted the urge to cast their lower eyes up in exasperation. Who would fight Patton? There was no reward, you’d just end up feeling bad. And also end up getting totally trashed by a Human, apparently.

As always, Logan was the one to get it first. He stepped forwards, extending a hand. “Before you take any legal action against our crew member, I’d like to see your Council identification.”

Remyy’s cheeks bunched up smugly as they stretched their armwings out in front of them casually. “That’s too bad, Brainiac, ‘cause I totally don’t have any.”

There was a brief pause. “What, you guys really thought I was some kind of narc?”

“You lied right to all those people’s faces?” Patton asked, somewhat aghast. Roman shot them a dirty look at the deception, but he also let all the tension leak out of him, so Remyy counted it as a win. Logan simply looked exasperated.

“Not completely. I’ve got connections to get their bounties called in quick, and I ‘handled’ the Human, didn’t I? It’s not my fault if they misinterpreted things.”

“This is all you’re going to do to… ‘handle’ me?” the Human asked, looking uncertain, a little suspicious, and even kind of bewildered. “Just… let me go? What’s the catch?”

They really did roll their eyes up this time. “Babes, I’m covering for you. Seeing as you literally just saved my beautiful face, and these losers vouch for you, I figure you can get some benefit of the doubt. Besides, I’m not done with you all just yet.”

The four of them studied Remyy with varying levels of wariness, and then confusion as the Elimtra strolled past them all to head further into the ship.

“If you think you’re going anywhere before you tell me all about how this whole situation came about, honey, you’ve got a big storm coming.”

[lovelycheollie]

Back Home

“I believe that all of our lives we’re looking for home and if we’re really lucky, we find it in someone’s loving arms. I think that’ what life is-coming home.”  –Anita Krizzan

Words: 2512

Hi there! It’s been years, and I’ve been attracted to embrace my Carat side again! I hope everyone’s doing fine, despite of the pandemic we’re experiencing right now. I decided to create a Vernon fic for the reason that I missed my mutuals, especially @chillihansol ((she’s still a Vernon stan how constant I am jelly!)) I hope you guys enjoy this read! My ask is always open for requests 

 “This is ridiculous,” you mumbled to yourself, staring at the white cyber abyss in front of you. The laptop screen showed nothing but a blank document, a pile of notebooks unevenly stacked to your right. Your chin rested on the top of your palm while you tried your best to think of something that may make you start on your assignment. So much on learning online, you could only rely on yourself and on the urge of just simply finishing and passing whatever needs to be submitted.

It was early in the morning, and supposedly you were to have a hearty breakfast while thinking of ways to somehow cope with the academic stress you were feeling. Even if you were stuck inside your room, you at least knew how to have fun despite being by yourself, may it be simply listening to your favorite song, or cook something easy. While you strolled towards the kitchen, you heard your phone ring and you were being summoned to an online meeting with your classmates. Your to-do checklist was filled again with some assignments meant to be passed on the next day. Staring at the list alone removed the motivation in you to work on your pancakes, and the weather outside could only join you in your tired state.

So there you were, sitting on the office chair and struggling to find the single word that will push you forward to work on your assignment. No word you’ve thought is good enough for the first sentence. Oh how much you’ve hated going through a writer’s block. Deep inside, you just wanted to cram on the homework and sleep your troubles away, but then again, you just really wanted to get rid of everything and just relax without worrying.

As you decided to brew another cup of coffee, someone knocked on your door, which almost caused you to drop your favorite mug onto the floor. You dragged your feet towards the doorway, eyebrows knitted together and eyes ready to glare on whoever was brave enough to bother you early in the morning. But as soon as you saw Vernon flashing a toothy grin, the eyebrows separated, the glare turned into a loving pair of eyes, and your feelings were everywhere. After months of not seeing each other, Vernon was in the flesh, and was already making your morning better.

“’Sup Y/N,” he said, placing his face mask in his bag and removing his white sneakers. You took the time to gawk at his pink sweater and jeans, while still being mentally at awe at his sudden presence. You heard him chuckle a bit as he welcomed himself in the room. “What’s the mug for?”

You rose the mug near to your face, stepping away from the door. “Ah, well, I was brewing coffee. I wasn’t really expecting a visitor, let alone your face.”

“Kind of mean, but I understand.” He lifted the messenger bag and showed you the contents. He had store-bought meat buns, bottled coffee and milk tea, some chips and biscuits stacked inside the bag. Vernon showed another smile which made your heart throb a bit. “I figured you would be stressed today, so I brought the good stuff.”

“How did you even ‘figure out’?”

“You tweeted last night, and you know me. If practice is over then I do the second best thing.”

“Which is?”

“I check your tweets because I’m such a great friend,” he replied to you as he found himself sitting on a bean bag. Vernon placed the goods on the coffee table and stood up again, joining you in the kitchen to get some glasses and plates. He was always like this in your room; he felt like he was at home, especially when he was with you.

Placing the plates on the table, he proceeded to fill the glasses with the coffee and tea, then looked at you and patted the bean bag next to him. You could only roll your eyes while removing the ice tray from the fridge. As you sat beside him, he dug his teeth on the meat buns and let out a satisfactory hum. He found himself at peace, with you alone, and with some convenience store goods. But before you could even copy him, you remembered you had an assignment to start on. The pain of standing up again to grab your laptop was bothersome, and the temptation to relax has strengthened itself.

While chewing on a hearty bite, Vernon took a short glance on the empty online document, then to your struggling fingers, then back to the screen again. He could tell that you were just not having it, the motivation in you to study was missing.  Remembering on how he welcomed himself inside, he couldn’t help but feel a little bit guilty. “I can see you’re pretty busy. Did I come at the wrong time?”

“What? Oh no, it’s okay! You actually came at a good time,” you tucked your hair behind your ear, his sight fixated on your fingertips. A sigh escaped your lips as you finally typed some words on the keyboard. “I just needed a small push to start on this one.”

“How many assignments do you have?”

“I got two, plus this one, so three,” you stopped and looked at him, seeing a bit of sauce on the side of his lips. With your motherly instinct, you wiped the sauce off with your thumb and then wiped it on a tissue paper. Before it could even sink in your thoughts as you continued to type, Vernon was flabbergasted. Yes, he knew you were a bit motherly to your friends, but he wasn’t aware that you had the gull to touch someone else’s face. He could feel the blood rush to his cheeks, and he was just trying his best not to let you know how your simple gesture made him feel giddy. The troubles of having a crush on a friend was very much real for this man.

Despite being busy on working as an idol, Vernon would always find time to be with you, as the two of you were close friends. He despised the thought of only being friends with you until the two of you reached adulthood, and he was so sure that he wouldn’t let the two of you stay as friends. But then, even if he finds himself in the perfect situation, the courage to muster up the feelings and confess to you was still a hard mission for him to do. Simply put, he was just crushing on you so badly.

And so, the feelings were put in the lyrics he would sing. They would be seen in the steps he would do onstage. You weren’t that naïve; you can feel that Vernon was signaling something to you. However, you didn’t want to simply assume that this charismatic friend of yours was trying to be more than friends. Hence, you and Vernon are still friends, up to this day.

“Do you want me to help you?” he stammered while trying to act as normal as he can, which you could see, was failing. Seeing him like that, you were starting to feel jittery as well. Your fingers kept pressing backspace from the typing mistakes. The two of you were now facing the same dilemma: how to act properly beside the person you’ve been liking for months.

You cleared your throat and sipped from your glass. Opening the packet of biscuits, you munched on a piece and continued on your homework. “No, I’m okay. I know you’ve been busy, so you should just relax and let me do my own thing.”

“Are you sure Y/N? You know I could help you.”

“Yes, I’m definitely sure. And what you should be doing is resting because I know you’d be pretty busy by tomorrow.”

  Then it became silent, with only the rustling of the plastic bags and your fingers typing making the noise. Vernon continued to slip a glance on your work from time to time, and you just did whatever you were doing, despite feeling the heavy weight of his glare. Sometimes, you would catch him looking at you, and he would just give you a goofy grin, and that would be enough for you to punch him lightly on his arms.

 As you were reaching the final paragraph of your paper, you felt the urge of chewing something. The last piece of biscuit was across the table, and sadly, you couldn’t rely on your own to reach it. Luckily, beside you was Vernon who had long, slender arms, who busied himself with his mobile games. It was time for you to have him do something.

 “Hey Vernon?” you said, eyes glued once again to the monitor.

Vernon paused his game and turned his head to you. “Yeah?”

“Can you pass me the last biscuit? I can’t reach it,” you spoke charmingly, giggling in your head. You were expecting that the biscuit would be placed nearer to you, but your friend wanted revenge to what you did earlier.

Vernon opened the packet and positioned the biscuit in front of your lips. For him, he was doing it simply to lessen your troubles, but to you, it was making you crazy.

“Here you go Y/N,” he spoke, placing the thin, chocolate-flavored biscuit on your lips and licking the rest of the crumbs on his thumb. You were staring with wide eyes as he did so, and when he noticed your surprised look, the thought of his actions hit him on the face. Right now, the two of you were a blushing mess. Panicking for your life, you hurried into finishing the last paragraph of your assignment. There were less mistakes this time as you typed, which felt as an accomplishment to you. You couldn’t dare to look at Vernon with your reddened state, which made you to focus more on your paper.

“Hey Y/N,” he finally spoke as you saved the file. Vernon was simply waiting for your response, sitting beside you while you swallowed your feelings and shut your laptop off. He sat on his knees, eyes staring at you which took you aback. Vernon was serious, and you felt a pang of nervousness to whatever he was thinking. You settled the laptop on the table, and just sat there, thinking of what to say to ease the atmosphere somehow.

“Yes? What is it?”

“Why are we so awkward?” he mumbled, and you made a small laughter as soon as you heard him. Your laughter was music to his ears, and it quickly perked him back to his normal self again.

“I don’t know about you, all I wanted was for you to reach the biscuit, not feed it to me, you dork!”

“You did it first! You wiped the sauce from the corner of my lips!”

You could only blush more while making up words for your rebuttal. “It was my motherly instinct! You did not have to take your revenge on me!”

And while you continued on, Vernon was simply looking at you, adoring your flushed cheeks in the morning light. In his head, you were pretty, even if your face was red, even if you were chatty and embarrassed. His heart was full of you, he knew that he likes you that much. A tiny smirk grew on his lips, which turned into a large smile. Surrendering in defeat, you turned to the other side, bit your lips into one straight line and planted the thought of him smiling at you in the center of your mind.

“Why did you have to be so charming?” you whispered to yourself, making sure that you were the only one who could hear it. You were mistaken though, as Vernon heard it, and kept the butterflies in his stomach.

Vernon’s ringtone broke the silence, and with quaking hands, he answered the call. While he was talking with the caller, you took a piece of paper and wrote something simple on it. Quietly, you sneaked the paper inside his bag, and laughed at yourself. You imagine a laughing Vernon in the middle of the street, with the paper in between his fingers.

“Y/N, our manager called. He said he wanted to meet us all in the dorm,” he told you while fixing his bag and checking his belongings inside. He had a gloomy look imprinted on his face, and you were affected by the sudden news as well. Vernon was going to leave so soon, and it will take a while again to see him and bond with him. “He wants to meet us right now. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, you’re an idol! You’ll be busy at times and it’s okay! I understand!” you showed a sad smile, which made Vernon ache for a hug with you.

“Don’t you worry! After the meeting, I’ll come back immediately! Lunch will be my treat!” Vernon replied with another grin, lifting his arms to pat you on the head. The two of you walked to the door, and you can’t help but become a little bit greedy to him. Deep inside, you wished that he didn’t have to leave, and that you would spend the whole day with him.

After putting the mask on, he stood up, looking at you once more and poking your head. “Hey, don’t be sad. I’ll be back soon enough!”

You braved yourself to hug him, which startled him a bit. He then hugged you back, his warmth seeping on his clothes to your skin, and his arms tightly wrapped around you. The moment was short-lived, as you backed away from him and returned the smile he’s been giving you. “You better take care of yourself Vernon!”

He opened the door and stayed outside, still holding on to your warmth. Head turning, you were there behind him, in your favorite loungewear, waiting for him to continue ahead. To him, you were the epitome of a home, and he knows that no matter what would happen, he would always come back to you. In the busiest day, or in the darkest night, he would always think of you. You are his home.

While walking along the street, Vernon checked the contents of his bag. He would often check the insides of his bag when he was already outside, a perk he does to secure that he has everything with him. At the bottom corner of the bag, there was a folded paper. He knew the note was yours, as he remembered that you had a small habit of leaving memos in your friend’s belongings. As he opened the note, he found himself running back to your home, knocking on your door and locking you in his arms, embracing you with all of his heart. Vernon thanked his stars, and this stressful morning, as he realized his worries were answered with your sincerity and with your own feelings as well.

“Vernon, even if you run away, always come back home. I love you.”

[tsarisfanfiction]

Nothing VII

Fandom: Thunderbirds Rating: Teen Genre: Hurt/Comfort/Angst Characters: Gordon Tracy, Virgil Tracy, Scott Tracy

The seventh and final part for my answer to @gumnut-logic‘s SensorySunday: See challenge. Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Well, this has been an adventure, with a lot of screaming readers to say the least (I love you all!).  Thanks for all the response, and hopefully I’ll be back soon with the next sense to start you off all over again!

Gordon cut through the water effortlessly, striking out length after length of the pool for his morning swim.  It had been a month since that awful, awful day, and the signs were still ever-present.

John was still down on Earth.  Usually, John would be finding any excuse to go back up to his beloved space station after a matter of hours – and he had many arguments stored up for the benefit of zero gravity on broken bones.  Gordon knew that because he’d heard them all before, after previous incidents.  This time, John was suffering his least favourite force (and crutches) in silence.  Gordon could understand that – none of them really wanted to leave the island, now. Missions were always met with the slightest reluctance before he and Virgil traipsed their way to Thunderbird Two and wherever in the world needed them.  Thunderbird One hadn’t been used at all.

Thunderbird Three was still out of operation.  The damage from her ill-advised hurtle home during a cyclone had been severe, and not only was the rocket herself still being partially rebuilt, but the scaffolding surrounding the round house told the rest of the story.  They’d made a start on the repairs, but none of their hearts had been in it.  Not right now.

Not when Alan was still too quiet, blaming himself for something that hadn’t been his fault – that none of them could have done anything about.  John was spending a lot of time with Alan, connecting to him in a way Gordon couldn’t, because it was all space this and space that.  When it came to space, Gordon was the last Tracy to talk to.

He slapped his hand against the edge of the pool, bringing his lengths to an end for the moment.  He had another task to do, now.

“Special delivery!” Virgil declared as bare feet dipped into the pool beside him.  He grinned up, meeting his older brother’s eyes.

“For me?” he asked playfully, heaving himself up to rest crossed arms on the poolside.  “Aw, you shouldn’t have.”

Virgil laughed and backed away, booted feet making their familiar noise as he traipsed over tiles towards the kitchen.  Gordon didn’t bother to watch him go, his attention still on the brother getting his feet wet.

When Scott had finally opened his eyes, a couple of hours after Gordon had abandoned his Thunderbird’s maintenance half-done and dragged him and the mobile equipment keeping him alive into the waiting medical bay, their relief at seeing blue eyes had quickly turned to horror when it became apparent that just because they were open, it didn’t mean he was seeing them.

Gordon saw those blank eyes in his nightmares, and he knew he wasn’t the only one.  They hadn’t known how long Scott had been without oxygen for, but they all knew the possible effects of hypoxia.  Blank, unseeing eyes terrified them, until Grandma had the presence of mind to check his reactions.

They’d never been happier to see pupils react.  Scott was still in there, somewhere.  They just needed to find him again, and find him they had.  In true Scott Tracy style, there was no keeping their biggest brother down for long, and true consciousness had returned to him in a matter of hours.

Not that that meant everything was fine.  Scott didn’t remember what had happened – more than that, he had no memory of the entire week leading up to the accident – but he’d developed a phobia of the dark. Not that Scott wanted to refer to it as such, but they’d all been in earshot when the lights went out for that first night and the heart monitor screamed.  The problem wasn’t the dark, Scott insisted once they’d all stampeded back in and turned the lights back on, it was not being able to see.  Apparently there was a difference; the rest of them didn’t see it, but they let Scott win that debate without comment and made sure there was always at least one light on in every room by the time dusk set in.

Gordon suspected he wouldn’t be going back into space any time soon, even after Thunderbird Three and her silo were repaired.

“Come on in,” he invited his brother, gesturing to the pool.  Scott was in swimming trunks and ready for his first dip since the accident – a broken rib from John’s desperate resuscitation had put pay to any strenuous exercise, and it was still a week or so before Virgil and Grandma would even consider letting him back on light duty.

He still wasn’t allowed to swim, but Gordon was a firm believer in the healing power of water, and Virgil had conceded that floating was acceptable.  John had pointed out that he’d done a lot of floating in space before being rescued, and that Scott might have an issue with that as well as the dark.  Scott, in true Scott fashion, had immediately bristled at the implication and demanded to be allowed in the water, so here they were.

Despite his earlier fire, Scott was hesitating slightly and Gordon suspected it wasn’t due to residual pain from his ribs, no matter what he was trying to pretend.  He rested a hand on his big brother’s ankle and waited, watching his chest rise and fall as Scott convinced himself that the water was safe.  In only swimming shorts, Scott’s scars were on display – they all had them, and Scott was no exception.  Privately, Gordon thought it was wrong that hypoxia didn’t leave physical scars, and nor did a broken rib.  There was a story on Scott’s skin, but it didn’t reflect the time he came closest to leaving them, unlike Gordon’s own road map.  Instead, the scars were in their minds.  All different ones, from the different aspects they’d seen.

Eventually, Scott allowed himself slid in slowly.  It was shallow at this end – Gordon had stopped here specifically for that reason.  Even he and Alan could stand up with their heads above the water here, and when Scott’s feet hit the bottom his shoulders were still dry.

How to float was ingrained in all of them; Gordon had ensured that personally during their training with him for water rescues.  With only Gordon as witness – Virgil was long gone, and the rest of the family had been subtly poked and prodded away from the pool before Scott had even arrived – Scott slowly let the water take his weight.  Very slowly, with the same hesitance he’d had getting into the water in the first place.

Gordon stayed close by, and when it became apparent that Scott wasn’t at all comfortable letting the water take his weight – as John had feared – he reached out and caught him, as though he was teaching him to float for the first time.

“I got you, Scooter,” he grinned as Scott looked at him with grateful eyes, taking a deep breath and lifting his last foot from the bottom.  Apparently no matter how unsure he was, he still trusted Gordon impeccably.  Gordon refused let him down.

“Scooter?” Scott asked after a moment, once he was settled with Gordon’s hands gently pressing against his back despite the fact that it was the water doing all the work, and the aquanaut stiffened.  It had just slipped out without thinking, a teasing reassurance like… like Dad used to do. He hadn’t called Scott Scooter in years.  “Been a while since I heard that.”

There was something off about his voice.  Gordon didn’t know what, couldn’t put his finger on it, but there was the sinking feeling that he’d just put his foot in something.  Nice one, Gordon, you idiot.  Scott was frowning, raising a hand to rub at his forehead.  Gordon had to duck to avoid an elbow to the face.

“I feel like I had a question about that,” Scott mused after a moment, letting his hand fall back into the water with a small splash and a sigh.  “But it’s gone.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Gordon said, wanting to wipe the melancholy look off of Scott’s face and hurrying to change the subject even as he continued to mentally scold himself for the slip.  “How’s the water?”

It worked.

“Wet,” Scott said dryly, turning his head slightly towards him with a small grin.  It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.  “Warm.”

He hadn’t seemed to have noticed that one hand was no longer touching him, Gordon kicked back until he was floating, too, and slid his arm under Scott’s shoulders, holding him loosely.

“So are you,” he retorted, and Scott laughed.  It was a reassuring sound, one they hadn’t heard anywhere near enough of recently.  Out of the corner of his eye, Gordon saw movement – most likely a trio of brothers watching from the kitchen – but he ignored it. This was his domain, and his time with Scott.  The fourth out of five meant he’d always had to share the attention of his eldest brother and right now he didn’t want to.

A month ago, he’d thought he was going to lose his biggest brother.  He hadn’t, but it had been far, far too close for his liking, and his grip tightened just a little, pulling their sides flush together as they floated in the shallow end of the pool.  Scott was home, and Scott was recovering.

Scott was safe.

Fin

[thelittlesttimelord]

The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 27

TITLE: The Littlest Timelord: The Death of the Doctor Chapter 27 PAIRING: No Pairing RATING: T CHAPTER: 27/? SUMMARY:  The Doctor’s death is looming on the horizon and Elise is growing every  day. What the Doctor doesn’t know is that he has 200 years to teach  Elise all he knows. Amy, Rory, and River let Elise in on their secret,  because River knows she will keep it. What will Elise do when he’s gone?

“Apalapucia,” the Doctor said, dancing around the console. He was still wearing that long green coat that Elise didn’t care for.

“Say it again?” Amy asked.

“Apalapucia.”

“Apalapu…”

“Chia.”

“Apalapucia,” Rory said, giving it go. He got it right on the first try.

“Apalapucia,” the Doctor said.

“Apalapucia,” Amy said, finally getting it, “What a beautiful word.”

“Beautiful word, beautiful world. Apalapucia! Voted number two planet in the Top Ten Greatest Destinations for the Discerning Intergalactic Traveler.”

“Why couldn't we go to number one?” Rory asked.

“It's hideous. Everyone goes to number one. Planet of the coffee shops. Apalapucia. I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades.”

They all ran for the TARDIS doors.

“I give you…” The Doctor threw open the doors and there was nothing except a set of doors across from them.

“Doors,” Rory said.

“Doors. Yes. I give you doors. But on the other side of those doors, I give you sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades.”

“Have you seen my phone?” Amy asked.

“Your phone?”

“Yeah.”

“Your mobile telephone? I bring you to a paradise planet, two billion light years from Earth, and you want to update Twitter.”

“Sunsets, spires, soaring silver colonnades. It's a camera phone.”

“On the counter, by the DVDs.”

“Thank you.” Amy disappeared back into the TARDIS to get her phone. “

How do we get in?” Rory asked.

“I don't know. Push a button,” the Doctor told him.

Rory pressed the Green Anchor and they went inside the room. The door closed behind them.

“Okay, so rain check on the soaring silver colonnades,” the Doctor said.

Elise patted him on the back.

“Yeah,” Rory said.

There was a magnifying glass in the middle of a table.

“Hey? Hey, it's locked,” Amy told them from outside the room.

“Yeah, push the button,” Rory said.

They assumed that the doors would just open and Amy would be standing there, but nothing happened.

“Come on, Amy,” Rory muttered. He walked over to the door and pressed the button.

The doors opened, but no one was standing there.

“Where is she? Where on wherever we are is my wife?” Rory asked.

The Doctor sat down in one of the chairs and pressed the green button on the magnifying glass stand.

Amy appeared.

“Rory, I think I've found her,” the Doctor said.

“What do you mean you've found her?” Rory walked over to them and jumped when he saw Amy. “Whoa.” He ran around to the other side of the magnifying glass. “No, but, she's not, she's not here. I can see her, but she’s not here.”

“It’s like a mirror,” Elise said.

“Where am I? In fact, where are you?” Amy asked.

A white robot entered the room with them. It didn’t have a face and was holding up a hand.

“Hands. Hello, hands. Robot with hands, Rory,” the Doctor said.

“Welcome to the Twostreams facility. Will you be visiting long?” the robot asked.

“Er, Doctor, something's happening,” Amy said.

The image in the glass started to waver.

“Er, Amy? Stay calm. Stay still,” the Doctor told her. He took out his sonic screwdriver and soniced the glass. “Ah, time's gone wobbly. I hate it when it does that.”

“Will you be visiting long?” the robot asked.

Rory backed away from the robot. “Good question. Bit sinister. What's the answer to not get us killed?”

Elise stood in front of Rory, between him and the robot. At least if something happened to her, she could regenerate.

“It's okay, I've got you, you're fine,” the Doctor told her.

“Will you be visiting long?” the robot asked again.

“A little help, Doctor,” Rory said.

“And where have you been?” Amy asked.

“Dad! What do tell it? There’s got to be a way to turn it off!” Elise snapped.

“I've been here a week.”

“A week?” the Doctor asked Amy, “A week? I'm so sorry. Ah-ha. Same room, different times. Two different time streams running parallel but at different speeds. Amy, you're in a faster time stream.”

“Doctor, it's going again!”

“Doctor!” Rory yelled.

Elise had her screwdriver out and pointed at the robot, but it wasn’t doing anything. The robot was almost touching them. Elise knew something would happen, but she wasn’t interested in finding out what.

“Amy!” the Doctor yelled.

“Doctor!”

The Doctor soniced the glass again. “Come on. Gotcha. There. Stabilized, settled, shush.”

“Why has this got hands?” Rory asked.

“Organic skin. Ultimate universal interface, grown and grafted, not born. I mean, it's actually seeing with its fingers, scanning the room,” the Doctor explained, “But why not just give it eyes?”

“Will you be visiting long?” the robot asked.

“As long as it takes.” The Doctor walked back over to the glass. “Amy, what exactly did you do?”

“I just, I came in and I pressed the door button.”

“Oh! Amy, there are two buttons. The green anchor and the red waterfall,” Rory told her, “Which one did you push?”

“I pushed the red waterfall.”

“Great.” Rory left the room and came back a minute later. “I pressed Red Waterfall, and she wasn't there!”

“Okay, so you can't follow her directly. No, it's never simple. Did you hear that, Handbot? She pressed the wrong button, that's all. We're aliens, we didn't know.”

“Statement rejected,” the Handbot said, “Apalapucia is under planet-wide quarantine. This is a kindness facility for those infected with Gen-7.”

The Doctor covered his mouth and nose with his coat. “What?”

Rory did the same and walked over to him. “Gen-7?”

“The one day plague.”

“What, you get it for a day?”

“No, you get it, and you die in a day.”

“There are 40,000 residents in the Twostreams Facility. Please remain in the sterile areas. Visiting hours are now,” the Handbot said before it beamed out of the room.

“Sterile area. I'm safe,” the Doctor said. He walked over to Elise and kissed her forehead, smoothing a hand over her hair. “We’re safe.”

“What about me?” Amy asked.

“Gen-7 only affects two-hearted races like Apalapucians.”

“And Time Lords,” Elise said, realizing why the Doctor had been reassuring her.

“Yeah, like us. Walk into that facility, we’re dead in a day. Time moves faster on Amy's side of the glass. Amy, you said you'd been here a week. What did you eat?”

“Nothing. I wasn't hungry.”

“No, because that Red Waterfall time is compressed. That's the point. The Time Glass syncs up the two time streams for visits. You could be in here for a day, and watch them live out their entire lives.”

“And watch them grow old in front of your eyes?” Rory asked.

“That’s awful,” Elise said, her blue eyes filling with tears. Were they going to have to watch Amy age and die?

The Doctor put a hand on her shoulder. “No, it's kind. You've got a choice. Sit by their bedside for twenty four hours and watch them die, or sit in here for twenty four hours and watch them live. Which would you choose?” The Doctor pulled the Time Glass off the table.

“Doctor!” Amy cried out.

The Doctor moved and placed the glass where Amy would be sitting. “I'm here, Amy. I'm right here.”

“Where are you? Am I looking at you?”

“Turn left just a fraction.”

Amy did as he said.

“Bit more. Stop. That's it.”

“Eye to eye?” Amy asked him.

“Eye to eye.”

“Hello.” Rory told her.

“Amy, I'm taking the Time Glass back to the TARDIS,” the Doctor said, “Like satnav, I'll use it to get a lock, then smash through using the TARDIS to get you out. Until then, you're on your own.” The Doctor soniced the glass.

“Er, what are you doing?” Rory asked

“Locking it on to Amy. Small act of vandalism. No one'll mind.”

An alarm started going off.

“Ah, that'll be the small act of vandalism alarm. Amy, I need you to go into the facility just for a bit. Find somewhere safe and leave me a sign. Remember, you're immune to Gen-7, but don't let them give you anything. They don't know you're alien. Their kindness will kill you. Now go.”

Amy walked over to the other set of doors and pressed the button. She turned back to them before she entered the facility. “Rory, I love you. Now save me. Go on.”

The now trio headed back to the TARDIS.

“Are you sure this going to work?” Elise asked her father.

“This is locked onto Amy permanently.” He placed the Time Glass onto the console. “Play the signal into the console, the TARDIS'll follow it.”

The Doctor pulled out a tool box and started rummaging through it. “Now then, I know you're in here. Er, er, ha ha!” He turned around with a pair of thick rimmed glasses on his face. “How do I look?”

“Ridiculous,” Rory told him.

Elise would have said cute if the Doctor wasn’t her adoptive father.

“Glasses are cool, see?” He put them on Rory. “Oh, yes. Hello, handsome man.”

“Oh, hello.”

Elise giggled.

“Hello, Rory-cam,” the Doctor said.

“Huh?” Rory turned around and saw the Doctor on the monitor. “Oh, you can see what I see.”

“You’re breaking into Twostreams. Now, I can't go in there. The Gen-7'll kill me and Elise, no regeneration. You will be our eyes and ears.”

“Rory-cam. Rescue Amy. Got it.”

“That's the spirit. Now, smashing through a timewall could get a bit hairy.”

“Is it safe?”

“Don't know. Never tried. Best hold onto something.”

Elise grabbed onto the railing as the TARDIS started wheezing.

[mostfacinorous]

GO Whumptober Day 29: I think I need a Doctor [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]

There were many benefits of being immortal and immune to disease, aging, and the sorts of bodily decline that flesh was heir to. 

However. 

That did not apply if you were, say, hit by a car on the way across the street to fetch a pastry, and knocked unconscious, and rushed to the emergency room.

Aziraphale came to looking up at a white ceiling full of whiter lights, surrounded by bright stark white walls and curtains, and the smell of antiseptic, and for a moment he thought he was in Heaven, again. 

He panicked. 

And that was before he noticed the plastic tubing in his throat. 

His heart rate spiked, and the monitors he was wired to began their shrill calls, sending two nurses scurrying in to speak with him. 

“Mr. Fell, it’s alright. There’s been a little accident, but you’re going to be okay.” The first assured him. 

He could not speak but he did his best to still, and wrinkled his brow in the hopes of communicating his ongoing confusion at the circumstances that led him to this. 

He reached up and touched the tube coming out of his mouth, gently so as not to upset it, but intentionally so as to make his question known. 

“We need to leave that in just a bit longer.” The second nurse told him, looking apologetic. “You took some damage I’m afraid, and one of your lungs had collapsed by the time you got here.”

Aziraphale greatly doubted it was still collapsed, but he couldn’t say as much. He simply and obediently moved his hands away. 

“Mr. Fell, we know who you are from your shop, but I’m afraid you have no medical file that we could find. Do you use a different name, or perhaps have a family member we could contact to get your information from?” 

The business of records was always a problem-- Aziraphale was such rubbish at tracking when one alias was meant to be dead of old age and the next needed to take over and, being as he was usually safe from all but the most severe of harm, he had no need to go to the doctors or a hospital. 

And he wasn’t sure what to do about that-- he couldn’t suddenly miracle records into existence, if he didn’t know what was meant to be inside of them. As for a family member…

He wondered if Crowley would know any better than he would, and knew that foisting the problem off onto him would not be a kindness, but at the same time, no doubt he was wondering what had come of Aziraphale, and, given recent happenings, had probably whipped himself into a frenzy of concern some time ago. 

Aziraphale raised a finger, and the first nurse came closer, offering him a pen and pad. 

Azirpahale wrote down “Call Anthony Crowley- tell him where I am.” And scrawled Crowley’s mobile number beneath it. 

That done, he made a point of collapsing back against his pillows, feigning exhaustion. It seemed to work; the nurses looked sympathetic, and the second nurse tucked him in, checking to make sure everything seemed as comfortable as possible. 

“You rest, we’ll take care of letting him know.” He lifted a small grey box, also attached to a wire, but this one running to the bed. “If you need anything, just go ahead and press this button-- it’ll send us an alert, and one of us will come to help.” 

Aziraphale nodded at him, making his eyes smile even if his mouth was thoroughly hindered. 

“What a nice man.” The first nurse said, after they left the room, her voice still audible in the hall. “I can’t believe some of the yelp reviews for his store.”

“You never know,” the second nurse followed up. “People are different when they’ve been injured. It’s humbling, isn’t it?” 

Aziraphale sighed and leaned back, resting his eyes while he waited for Crowley to show up and spring him out.

It didn’t take long; as expected the demon was beside himself with worry, so when he burst through the door, paying little heed to the nurse trailing behind him trying to ask questions like, 

“Do you happen to know his full name, next of kin-- what’s your relation to the patient--?”

Instead, he focused in on the sight Aziraphale made, laying on his back, intubated, hands laced together quite calmly and resting on his stomach, listening to some panel show or other. 

“Oh, angel, you’ve only gone and done it this time, haven’t you?” He asked. He gestured upwards and the nurse stopped with his questioning.

“I’ll just… leave the two of you be, shall I?” He said, and quickly backed out of the room, closing the door behind him. 

With another quick demonic miracle, the tube was laying on the table by Aziraphale’s side. He worked his jaw, delighted to be free of the damned thing. 

“Ah, Crowley, hello.” He smiled up at him peevishly. “Apparently I was hit by a car!” 

“Well there’s no need to sound so bloody delighted about it, had I known you would enjoy it so much I’d have offered years ago!” 

Aziraphale pouted. “I’m not delighted, per say, it’s just that it’s such a new experience, and one that’s… admittedly the tube was quite awful, but… you can only imagine my relief when I woke up to this and discovered it wasn’t heaven.”

That seemed to knock all the bluster from Crowley’s sails. He looked around. “Knew I hated hospital for a reason.” He mumbled. 

“I’m afraid it gets worse, too-- they know I’m ‘Mr. Fell’, but I’ve no records or proof of existence.”

“File taxes, don’t you?” Crowley asked sharply, and Aziraphale laughed. 

“That’s nothing to do with being counted as a real person, and you know it. So. How do we get out of here?” 

“I think… malpractice.” Crowley said, a mischievous glint in his eye. “A case of mistaken identity, perhaps.” 

With a quick miracle or five, Crowley was back out the door, this time dragging Aziraphale with him, leaving screaming machinery in his wake. 

“Who admitted him?” Crowley demanded, in full drama and fury mode.

“He was brought in by ambulance.” The woman nurse from earlier said, standing up to him quite handily despite her shorter stature. 

“There’s been some mistake.” Aziraphale said simply, and she stared at him. 

“Your lung was collapsed! There was internal damage-- how--?”

“I think you’ve the wrong man.” He said apologetically. “You called me Mister Fell, if I recall?” 

“That’s right, Mr. Fell of Fell and Co books!” Her voice had gone up a bit in shock. 

“Here’s his wallet right here.” Crowley said, holding out what was definitely Crowley’s wallet, but contained a brand new fake identification card with Aziraphale’s face and some new name on it.

“Alright, Herman, be that as it may, it does not change the fact that I saw you with blood coming out of your mouth.”

“Well he hasn’t any now. And he might have said as much, if you hadn’t needlessly put aquarium bits down his throat!” Crowley hadn’t dropped the act of angry partner, and Aziraphale knew it was his time to step in and play good cop-- or angel, as the case may be. 

“Now, dear, they were only trying to help. But as you can see, I am fine, and really, it seems your treatment was most unnecessary. Is there anything we can do to just… sweep this whole affair under the rug? I understand things are hectic, but I don’t want a bill, and I’m sure you don’t want some sort of court proceedings, so…” He smiled benignly. 

The poor woman looked shaken, and finally sighed. “Just go. Not much I can do if we don’t know who you are, is there?”

Aziraphale gave her a winning smile. 

“Thank you, dear. You have a lovely day now!” He gave her a little blessing-- her feet wouldn’t ache after long shifts anymore, and she would be off bedpan duties for the foreseeable future. It was the least he could do in exchange for all the trouble they’d caused. 

“What were you after that got you hit like that anyway?” Crowley asked mildly as they got into the Bentley. 

“Oh-- my pastry! It must have been hit as well!” The thought was upsetting to Aziraphale, and Crowley heaved a sigh. 

“Are you still in the mood for pastry, or would you rather something else?” 

Aziraphale thought about it. “Perhaps a curry. Not takeaway, though, I want to sit down somewhere and soak in the atmosphere.” And the spice would help to burn away all of the antiseptic scent that clung to him. 

Crowley nodded and took the next right. “Remind me to show you how to put emergency contacts in your phone, in case it happens again.” He said. 

“Oh… I think that’s back at the shop.” Aziraphale mumbled, feeling quite sheepish. Crowley handed the mobile in question to him, and Aziraphale pocketed it a little shame facedly. 

“Dishoom, then?” Crowley asked, and Aziraphale brightened right back up. 

“Oh yes, let’s!”

[ohgodanothersideblog]

5 Times Tony Stark Fell Asleep on Someone, and the 2 Times Someone Fell Asleep on Him

@bookeatingworm posted this in a discord we’re a apart of, and I wanted to write it. I hope you guys like it ❤️ any weird format issues I’m sorry, had to post on mobile 😭

Tony Stark didn’t fall asleep next to people. That didn’t change when a certain Sorcerer Supreme became his boyfriend. In fact it almost made the whole thing worse.

“Tony you need to rest.” Stephen sighed, bandaging up the engineers wounds. He had multiple lacerations on his chest and back and probably a few broken ribs. They both sat in the common room, the debrief had already happened, now it was time to patch everyone up.

“I’ll be fine doc, I swear.” Tony said, gently batting at the sorcerers hands. He didn’t need to rest, he needed to make his suit better. Tony attempted to get up but strong arms wrapped around him, pulling him back down onto the couch. He winced at the sudden pressure on his ribs before settling against the taller man behind him.

“How about this; we watch a movie and rest for a bit, if you’re still feeling up to attempting to not listen to me, we can go down to the lab, together?” Stephen offered, kissing the top the smaller mans head. He was going to convince Tony to rest whether the engineer wanted to or not. Tony just sighed and nodded. “Good.” With that, FRIDAY put on a movie without being told. The AI knew what the Doctor was doing and was planning on assisting him as best as she could. Tony was running on 12 hours sleep combined this week. He had a fear of sleeping because of his nightmares. They had been really bad the past few months. He also didn’t want to almost kill Stephen like he had done to Pepper a few years back.

“I can hear you thinking.” Stephen rolled his eyes, carding his shaky fingers through the engineers hair. Tony sighed, it was becoming harder to stay awake between the warm body behind him and the feeling of someone gently massaging his scalp. Soon enough, soft snores could be heard and the sorcerer smiled down at the sleeping figure against him.

__

It was another nightmare. The wormhole again. Dying again. Only this time he saw Peter and Stephen die too. Stephen tried to wake up Tony. He called in the suit again. Stephen wasn’t hurt, but Tony was shaking.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t--” Tony was cut off by Stephen pulling him into a hug. He sighed, resting his head against the bare clavicle, feeling Stephen run his scarred hands up and down his back.

“I’m not going anywhere, you’re safe.” The sorcerer whispered into Tony’s hair. Stephen pulled Tony back down to the bed and continued to draw small circles along the engineers back.

“Just go back to sleep, it’s okay.” Stephen whispers, Tony sighs and gets comfortable, laying on top of Stephen basically. If it were anyone else, he’d leave. He would go to the lab and stay up until he passed out.

___

Tony was on day four in the lab. He was running on coffee and sheer willpower. He needed to update one of his suits. He was reconfiguring one of the gauntlets that malfunctioned during a fight. Stephen had to patch him up after that fight. He was so absorbed in what he was doing, that he didn’t hear the door to the lab open.

“Tony...c’mon. You’ve been down here for four days.” Stephen sighed at the smaller man who was hunched over one of his work benches. He looked exhausted.

“‘m fine, jus’ need more coffee…” The engineer got up and staggered to the coffee pot. Stephen intercepted him and forced Tony to look at him. His eyes were bloodshot, the bags that were under his eyes were dark, he looked like a wreck.

“You’re going to bed.” Stephen sighed. Tony looked like he was about to argue “Try me, Beyonce.” He glared at the engineer, gently pushing him over towards an open portal.

“I don’t need sleep.” Tony huffed, trying to leave their room, quickly the cloak that was hovering in the corner swaddled the man and laid him on the bed, not retracting from said swaddle. “Asshole.” The cloak smacked him upside the head.

“Your tech can wait, sleep is important.” The doctor was coming out, Tony knew he wouldn’t win this argument.

“I’ll stay...can you please have your cloak let me go?” He asked. Almost instantly the cloak released him and went and settled in the corner. Stephen rolled his eyes and propped himself against some pillows. He began to read silently. Tony laid his head on the sorcerers stomach and soft snores filled the room.

______

“Boss, Peter is entering your bedroom.” FRIDAY’s voice filled the master bedroom. Tony was propped up against some pillows, doing work on his STARK pad. Peter pushed open the door and looked at the engineer sheepishly. He was trembling and looked a little pale.

“Nightmare?” Tony asked, looking at the teen. When Peter nodded, he patted the bed. Peter wasted no time climbing up and leaning into his dad. Normally he went to Stephen for nightmares. But the sorcerer was away on a mission of sorts. He never really had to talk about it with the sorcerer, he always knew what it was about. So they’d snuggle and watch a movie. When he went to Tony about his nightmares, he’d want to know to an extent what the nightmare was about.

“It was the water again.” Peter mumbled. Tony sighed and put down his work and put an arm around the kid, pulling him in a little closer. “Only you didn’t save me.” His voice started to quiver. If Tony could, he’d have squeezed the kid even harder.

“I did save you though. You’re safe. You’re alive.” Tony reassured him softly. Peter wrapped himself around the man and made himself as comfortable as possible. “Don’t use your spider grip on me and we should be good.” Peter just nodded. Tony turned on a movie and relaxed. Normally he would have tried to get the teen to go back to his room, but with Stephen gone for a bit, he was lonely. He began to match his breathing with Peters. Slow and steady. It was causing Tony’s eyes to feel heavy.

Peter looked up at his dad, not realizing he had fallen asleep. His dad never really slept around anyone, aside from Stephen. He was too scared of his own nightmares and of hurting those he loved. At least that’s what Aunt Pepper had told him when he asked. Stephen told him it took months for Tony to fall asleep around him, and it was only because he had gotten hurt during a battle. “Night dad.”

____

It was movie night in the compound. Most of the team was already sprawled out in their select spots. Tony strolled in last second and plopped himself next to Stephen. He leaned into the sorcerer this time. Stephen wrapped an arm around him and kissed the top of his head. Peter, once again, draped himself over both his parents only this time he also grabbed a blanket. Tonight's movie was Clint’s pick: Lord of the Rings.

“Of course Legolas would pick Lord of the Rings.” Tony rolled his eyes, only to be hit in the head with a piece of popcorn. “You’re cleaning up the mess if you keep it up.”

“Children, please.”

“I thought you were on my side!” Tony’s eyes widened with feigned shock. Stephen just smacks him lightly earning a grunt from the engineer.

Once the movie started, Tony settled back against the sorcerer and pulled Peter closer. A small smile played on his lips as he realized this was his family. With that, the engineer willingly fell asleep in a room full of earth's mightiest heroes.

“Is he actually asleep?” Rhodey’s eyes were wide. He hadn’t seen Stark fall asleep in front of anyone since their MIT days, and that was even a rarity back then. The others all stared at the engineer in shock. It was a few moments of silence until someone cleared their throat.

“Wake him, and I’ll kill you.” Stephen glared over at the others. He was terrifying when he needed to be and this was one of those moments. It had taken almost a full year to convince Tony to sleep in the same bed. Now that he was comfortable falling asleep here, in front of all of them, he wasn’t going to have it ruined. The others silently nodded and returned their attention to the movie.

__________

Stephen stumbled through the portal and into the lab. He had a few new cuts and bruises, but overall he was exhausted. He used too much magic and now he needed to sleep. He hated how much his magic could drain him at times. It made it almost impossible for him to do anything. It didn’t help that he had started to try to heal himself. Wong glared at him for that one.

“Stephen!” Tony rushed to his husbands side. He helps the taller man up and they slowly make their way to one of the couches in the lab.

“‘m fine, used all my magic. Sleep.” Stephen mumbled, collapsing on the couch, pulling Tony down with him. Before Tony could move, a soft snore escaped from the sorcerer. Tony chuckles, and settles in against Stephen before eventually falling asleep.

____

Peter was sick. Really sick. Stephen had barely slept the past week because of Peter’s temperature spiking. He ended up in med bay with Peter around 4 AM to put the teen on IV’s with Bruce. Bruce had also drawn some of Peter’s blood to see if he could figure out what was going on. The teen, who normally put up a fight about med bay, didn’t even care that he was there for once. Stephen was just glad that he was finally getting some fluids that he wouldn’t throw back up. Tony had walked in with a cup of coffee and his STARK pad. He’d be able to monitor Peter, while getting work done.Now it was convincing Stephen to get some much needed sleep.

“Steph, go to bed. I’ll stay here with him. I promise.” Tony reassured the worried sorcerer. Ste “I’ll have FRIDAY call you if anything changes.” He added, hoping to convince his husband to go lay down.

“Okay, make sure he stays here. Hopefully it’s a bad flu. Call when Bruce has the results.” Stephen’s sentences were short. Tony nodded, kissing him and then sitting in the chair. He glanced at Peter; he had lost weight, he was white as a ghost, he looked awful. Tony sighed and had FRIDAY put on a Disney movie to help the kid sleep.

“Dad?” Peter asked quietly, causing the engineer to look up. He had some color back and his temperature was maintaining. The teen moved over a little bit. Tony knew what the kid wanted without him even asking, he climbed into the bed and Peter wrapped himself around his dad.

A few hours had passed and Peter was looking more and more like himself. Stephen had woken up, feeling well rested and ready to take care of Peter.

[tere706]

Love is Blind - Chpt 17

(Hey, see. Just needed to kick myself a few times. And the idea that I wouldn’t be able to post this chapter because of the log off phase 3... I don’t want to wait another week! So I bulled my way through this. 

I want to thank everyone who has come with me on this journey. I’ve had so much fun writing this fic. I hope you have too. A lot of things changed during the writing of this idea, but the fundamental ending is basically the same as what I had imagined at the beginning. 

There’s still a chance of me coming back with a sequel fic for this, but I do want to take a break from writing. I’ve got a lot going on this semester... and I have a bad habit of pressuring myself to get chapters written. 

Anyways, enjoy the finale of Love is Blind!

Tagging: @inumorph, @dark-night-sky-99, @liadreyar-dragneel, @lunalustrix, @thirstyforvenom, @mltcp)

The realization of consciousness came slowly. It wasn’t any one moment of awareness, just a progressive understanding that she could distantly feel her body. Liz was fairly sure she should be grateful that her body felt so distant. Her head felt fuzzy too. She remained still, just processing what was going on around her while she tried to get her brain working.

Her breath was warm against her lips and nose, strangely so since the rest of her felt cool. And there was a pressure of something against her chin, cheeks, and nose. Something beeped off to her left, a rhythmic sound, and hushed voices came through walls. They were too soft to understand. It was the rhythmic beeping, a heart monitor, that caused her brain to drag up a location. Hospital. She was in a hospital. Why?

Liz gave a soft groan, breath rasping in her throat. It sent a sudden surge of pain through the cloud of pain medication. At least, she assumed that was why her brain felt like it was stuffed with wool and her body almost dislocated from her.

“Liz.” The voice was hoarse, carrying a hopeful desperation. The voice, Eddie’s voice, stirred her memories of why she was now in the hospital. Aaron. Fire. Venom and Eddie screaming. Pain.

“Eddie.” She managed to croak back at him, mostly so he would know that she was actually awake.

A chair scraped along the ground to her right as Eddie moved. “Hold on a second. I’ve got water for you.” He murmured and pulled the weight away from her mouth. The end of a plastic straw touched her lips and Liz was grateful that he wasn’t going to accidently dump half a cup of water on her. It wouldn’t have been his fault, everything was too fuzzy for her to try and coordinate herself. She sipped slowly, letting the cool water slide down her throat.

“Thanks.” Liz was pleased to find that it was a bit easier to talk now. “You both okay? What happened?”

Eddie chuckled as he sat back down in the chair. “You’ve got your priorities. V and I are fine now. He’d be hovering protectively over you, but we’re in a hospital. They, uh, make us kind anxious. Bad experiences. Tell me what the last thing you remember and I’ll try to fill you in.” His voice was low and soft, meant to sound comforting. Liz had to blink back tears of relief when he told her that both of them were alright.

“Aaron?” He’d been right that ‘both’ had meant him and Venom, but she still had some concern for the teen.

“I’ll get to him, answer the question.” Eddie said with a faint snort.

“I heard you hit the ground. Ven had screamed. I… I tried to grab Aaron. I wasn’t sure where he was, too many sounds all at once. Then… heat and pain.” Her voice grew softer as she spoke and Liz ended with a cough, throat feeling like she’d scraped it with sandpaper.

“Drink first.” Eddie placed the end of the straw back in her mouth so she could get some relief. “You got burned, Liz. It… it was bad.” He paused and pulled the straw away, setting the glass to the side to give himself a moment. “You scared us bad. We thought you were gonna die.” Eddie took a deep breath. “Aaron stopped freaking out and called an ambulance. He’s alive. Turned himself over to the police and explained what he was, at least tried to. I think they’re going to have him transferred to somewhere that can help him. We… uh, said we’d been attacked in the warehouse and that he’d helped drive off the attackers, but you were hurt. So, I think they’ll go lenient on him, accidents from his abilities.”

Liz smiled gently, her head tilted toward Eddie’s voice. “Thank you for that. I can’t imagine you like him much.”

“I don’t. But you do.” Eddie sighed. “So, we all made it out alive. You’re the worst off. You have a concussion, I’m assuming that’s from Aaron?”  He paused long enough for Liz to give a slight nod. “Yeah. You have burns in your throat and lungs from hot air, but the doctor said those weren’t too bad. You had an oxygen mask on, if you’re curious. It’s your arms that took the most damage. What… what were you thinking, throwing yourself at Aaron?! You had to know he was wielding fire!” Eddie sounded like he was struggling to keep his voice from rising in anger and worry. He probably didn’t want a nurse poking their nose into the room yet.

“I couldn’t let him kill you, Eddie. I couldn’t lose you.” Liz swallowed hard, feeling the wave of remembered panic. “I didn’t know if Ven was even alive. I heard him scream in pain and I know fire can really hurt him. If I’d been brave enough to do something sooner, I… I couldn’t lose you too.”

Eddie’s fingers brushed gently against her cheeks, wiping away the tears that had slipped past her self-control. “I’m sorry you were put in that situation.” He whispered tenderly. “Do you want me to continue? Or do you want to rest?”

Liz smiled faintly and shook her head a little. “I feel kinda… fuzzy. Musta put me on the good pain meds. I think I can handle whatever you say without freaking out.” She had a feeling that she wouldn’t be so calm without those pain meds clouding her thinking. Maybe hearing it now would allow her to process it a bit before she was really able to think.

“Okay.” Eddie blew out a slow breath and stroked his thumb gently across her cheek. “You have third degrees burns. They had to do skin grafts on your left hand and part of your right arm. Second degree burns expand out from there. The doctor says you have a high probability of regaining full use of your left hand if you’re careful and go through physical therapy. They also have you on some antibiotics.”

She leaned her face slightly into his touch. “Wow. That sounds pretty awful. And like it would hurt a lot.”

Eddie couldn’t stop a surprised laugh from escaping him. “Yeah, that’s probably why you’re on the good stuff, hun.”

“I… I don’t wanna be alone, Eddie.” Liz whispered the words, feeling herself falling slowly down into the quiet again. She was just too tired to stay awake much longer.

“We’ll be right here. Both of us. We’re not going anywhere.”

The last thing she remembered before falling back asleep was the brush of Eddie’s lips against her forehead.

~

“The splint itches.” Liz gritted her teeth in frustration. She couldn’t move her left arm at all, it was still suspended up on a sling to keep the swelling down.

“Mmhm. Finish up your last hand stretch and I’ll feed you dinner.” Eddie didn’t sound nearly as sympathetic as Liz had wanted. To be fair, he’d been listening to her growl and grumble for the last four days as they weened her off the pain killers. She was still in the hospital. The doctors wanted to keep an eye on the worst of her burns, and they were concerned about her damaging the skin grafts.

Liz slowly spread the fingers of her right hand, which hadn’t been burned as badly. That one was ready for the start of physical therapy. It hurt, skin pulling tight. But she didn’t want to lose any mobility. Her hands were a large part of how she interacted with the world. The doctors had sounded positive around her getting full feeling back in the right hand. But the left… While she might get her range of motion back with lots of physical therapy, it was unlikely that she’d get full sensitivity back. There was too much damage to sensitive nerves. It only made her more determined to take care of her right hand, since it had better odds.

“There, done. I can’t wait to be able to feed and take care of myself again.” Liz’s voice turned wistful. Being unable to use her hands was degrading in so many ways. She might never enjoy bathrooms again.

Eddie chuckled and scraped a fork across a plate. “Open up, you can have the mushy hospital dinner now.”

Liz sighed and obediently opened her mouth, trying to swallow the bite with minimal tasting. “I miss fruit cups and chips. Real fruit cups, not that junk the nurse tried to offer me.”

“We’ll get you as much as you want once you get out of here.” Eddie promised. Liz felt a warm tendril from Venom slide under her head to help support it as Eddie offered another bite. The symbiote had been quite during the days spent in the hospital. Eddie couldn’t spend the night with her and it was dangerous for Venom to show himself. Still, Liz didn’t mind getting to share this time with Eddie. It was pleasantly normal. Despite the burns.

“Let’s make it a date. I’m holding you to it.” Liz quickly swallowed the next mouthful of mush.

~

Liz didn’t leave the hospital until two weeks later, when her right hand was deemed healed enough for use. It still needed physical therapy to ensure the muscles and tendons finished healing. She didn’t care. Finally, she would be able to start taking care of herself again. No more help in the bathroom, no more hand feedings, no more treating her like an invalid. Well, mostly at least. The third degree burns on her left hand and part of her right arm still had to be cared for every day. Eddie had offered his services on that front, taking lessons from the nurse on how to look after Liz’s injuries.

As soon as they walked into Liz’s apartment Eddie gently touched her shoulder. “V is going nuts, wants to be able to hold you.”

“I’m surprised by how patient he’s been up to this point.” Liz stated teasingly. A moment later she felt large, warm arms wrap around her waist and carefully lift her up. Venom was treating her like she was made of glass as he settled on the couch and cradled her form against himself.

“NOT PATIENT, WORRIED. YOU WERE BADLY HURT, LITTLE BIRD. WE DID NOT PROTECT YOU.” Venom was nuzzling his face against the top of her head and she could feel the rumble coming from his chest.

Liz tilted her head up and placed a gentle kiss along the edge of his jaw. “I don’t need you to protect me, Ven. I need you to support me. We look out for each other and we cover each other’s weaknesses.”

“WE?” He sounded amused now, that long tongue sliding down along her cheek. It left a cool trail in its wake.

“Yes, we. As in you, me, and Eddie.” Liz tried to push the distracting tongue away. Venom just curled it around her right wrist, testing the healing flesh gently.

“MMMM, WE LIKE WE.”

Liz smiled faintly, amused by his antics. Venom wouldn’t be the least bit disgusted by the scars she was likely to have from the burns. Appearance mattered about as much to him as it did to her. Eddie had made his stance about it clear while they were still in the hospital. He wasn’t leaving her.

“Me too, Ven.”

~

The doctors had been right. After three months of physical therapy Liz had gotten almost the full range of motion back in her left hand, but she’d lost some of the sensitivity. A few months ago, that would have been devasting, but now it was mildly inconvenient. Besides, Liz had too many good things in her life to let one raincloud darken her life. Not a day went by without Eddie and Venom in her life. Eddie would stop by with food and gossip. Sometimes he’d spend the night with her. Other times it was Venom, sneaking in through the window for a chat and some chocolate. He was still terrible about closing the window behind himself. Liz had managed to convince him to stay and cuddle with her instead of going back out a few times.

Tonight was a date night. Her boys had taken her out for a swing to enjoy the cool night air. Now they were sitting on the edge of a roof, Venom’s arms curled around her body to keep her close. Liz felt warm and safe here, head resting against his chest as she listened to both his heartbeat and the heartbeat of the city around them.

“Do you know how to dance?” She broke the quiet between them suddenly.

“NO.”

“Not really, I know a little.” Eddie’s voice came a moment later. Which meant they were doing that weird half and half face thing again. It didn’t disturb Liz the way it used to, but it was still odd.

“I want to dance. We’re up on a roof, no one will see us.” Liz grinned playfully, head tilted up toward their face.

They lifted her up and stepped back from the edge of the roof before setting Liz’s feet on the rooftop. She kept her hands on their arms as Venom’s heat vanished and she was holding warm leather instead of Venom’s slick skin.

“Alright. But, uh, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about too.” Eddie sounded anxious as he wrapped one arm around her waist and grabbed her right hand with the other. They swayed in place for a moment before Eddie started to lead her in a slow dance.

Liz smiled happily, trusting Eddie’s lead as he spun her away and then back to himself. His hands were warm and comforting on her skin. She waited for him to continue his line of thought, but he didn’t seem sure how to say whatever it was.

“You know, you’ve been in and out of my apartment a lot the last couple months. Do you even really use yours?” Liz asked as she was pulled back in close to him.

“Well, yeah. We need a place to crash too.” He sounded startled by the question, pulled out of his own thoughts. Or was he pulled out of a silent discussion with Venom? No way to know for sure.

Liz shrugged slightly. “I was just thinking… wouldn’t it be easier if you moved in with me?”

Eddie stumbled to a stop, still holding her. “Are you serious? You want us to move in with you? What if we mess this up? What if we make a mess or-“

She leaned up and kissed him to make him stop talking. The first kiss missed, bumping her nose against his, but the second was much more successful. Liz pulled back, settling back on her feet again. “We’ll deal with that together. I value having you in my life more than I value the perfect order of my apartment. I’ll traverse the dangers of dropped shoes for you, Eddie.”

“I love you.” The words were blurted out, more of a startled statement than anything else. “I love you, Liz.” That time his voice was full of too much emotion. Eddie wrapped his hands around Liz’s waist and lifted her into the air, swinging around in a quick circle before setting her back down and kissing her this time.

When he finally pulled away, Liz panted and chuckled. “I love you too, Eddie. I take that as a yes?”

“Yes. Yes, we want to move in with you.”

“FINALLY! WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO SAY THE WORDS, EDDIE?!” Venom sounded so exasperated and amused. Liz smiled and lifted a hand so that Venom could nuzzle his head into her touch.

“It wasn’t that simple…” Eddie muttered, sounding embarrassed.

“YES. IT WAS. NOW, DO WE LIVE HAPPILY EVER AFTER?”

Liz tilted her head. “Ven, have you been watching Disney movies again?”

“NO!” Oh, that defensive tone could only mean ‘Yes’.

Eddie groaned softly. “V, I told you to stop watching movies while I’m sleeping.”

“WE GET BORED. WE COULD GO EAT SOME PEOPLE INSTEAD.”

“No, no, I’ll accept the movies.” Eddie was quick to backtrack on that one. He was still a little grossed out by eating people. It was better just to not think about it.

Liz scratched gently along the underside of Venom’s jaw, eliciting a rumble from the symbiote. “To answer your question, Ven, no. Happily ever after isn’t a real thing. But we can make the most of every moment we have together. The good ones and the bad. We have each other, so we can’t be doing too bad.”

Venom rumbled happily as she continued to scratch along his jaw. “EDDIE, WE WANT THE RING.”

“Ring?” Liz asked in confusion, listening to the choking noises coming from Eddie. He’d tightened his grip on her waist as well.

“VENOM! We can’t just… you can’t just say that! We’re not… we haven’t even-“

“WE LOVE HER, GIVE HER THE RING SO THAT THE OTHER MALES KNOW SHE’S OURS.” Venom stated imperiously.

Liz could feel the heat rising to her face. “Oh. Ven, we need to have a talk about that. Uh, marriage might be a little too soon. Not that I don’t love you both, but we haven’t… I mean we don’t know… what if…”

“YOU ARE BOTH MAKING THIS TOO COMPLICATED. WE SLEEP TOGETHER. WE WILL LIVE TOGETHER. WE LOVE EACH OTHER. WE WILL NEVER LEAVE YOU, LITTLE BIRD.”

Liz leaned her face against Eddie’s chest, shoulders shaking.

“Liz, I’m sorry. You know how he is. He only learns enough about culture to suit his own purposes. Don’t be upset.” Eddie had shifted his hold to carefully rub a hand up and down her back.

She tilted her face back up toward Eddie and threw her arms around his neck. There was no stopping it now, laughter bubbled free as she peppered Eddie’s face with quick kisses.

“I love you! I love you both so much! Life would be so boring without you both!”

No, there was no such thing as happily ever after. Sorrow and pain always find their way into life. But without those emotions, how would we ever know what happiness is?

[endlesstalesofwonder]

Malec Week: Office AU

Hello! I’ve finally gotten this prompt done! Took me three/four times, but I got there eventually. Enjoy some Malec Office AU for Malec Week 2018!

*

Alec walked through the front doors of the New York office at promptly five in the morning where the sun had barely begun its ascension over the various skyscrapers and condos to alert those who dare wake up at the ungodly hour that it was time to start moving. Alec was one of those few.

It was necessary in his current business. Pandemonium was run by a fierce, yet passionate, man who deserved nothing but absolute perfection. Alec, of course, never saw it this way at first. He had just been the one who ran and got coffee for everyone and somehow made it to being the personal assistant of the number one himself; Magnus Bane. Intimidating, watchful, and keen would be the perfect words to describe him – along with asshole, The Warlock, and the workroom’s personal favorite, Satan himself. Alec would never report those back to Mr. Bane in fear of him making the majority of his business disappear, and his ego expanding to the size of Jupiter.

Alec prided himself on perfection and doing his absolute best to ensure the wellness of the entire team. His earliness meant an early start and, possibly, an early finish to a hard day’s work. He made the reports based on the previous day’s sales and marketing, as well as all interactions on their mobile site, and placed them on the desks of everyone in the social media management department. Then, he replaced the paper stock in the copy room; prepared all the strictly black making coffee machines in the break room; sent emails to the guys in IT – because something was always broken; and called people halfway across the world to tell them that Magnus Bane did not want to be caught dead in their clothing.

Mr. Bane – Alec always made the correction – was hardly ever on site. He found it more “productive”, as he once told a temp that dared to stare at him in awe, to be inspired on location, surrounded by culture and, again, “dozens of men and women for strictly professional arrangements.” Peru was one of his favorite destinations to travel to, and was currently residing for inspiration – “and a tan.”

There was an occasion that Mag – Mr. Bane – would stay at the office for a prolonged period of time, and it could be summed up into two little, frightening words: Fashion Week. The office was always turned upside down in the months prior to the event. People were running around, forgetting things, and possibly ruining their careers by acting so foolishly. Alec was the ones with the reigns, barking orders and demanding order amongst the chaos. There were another two weeks until that time of fire and brimstone, and Alec was prepared to handle it as he always did – with an iron fist.

Six eventually came around, after Alec drank a whole pot of coffee for himself, and his fellow coworkers started to flood in and go to their assigned desks and departments. John Underhill was always one of the first few to arrive. He, like Alec, would rather be half an hour early rather than half an hour late. He also managed to help Alec when he was in a particularly tight knot. He greeted him with a wave when he came in.

“Late night, Alec?” John commented, as he passed through to his desk closest to the main office.

There was a downside to working so much. Sleep, as much as it was a necessity, did not come easy the closer Pandemonium got to its “hot spots”, as Alec liked to call them. Fashion Week, commissions, holiday seasons were all hell, and it took a toll on all of them – especially Alec. “More like an early morning.”

A few others started straggling in: Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn from marketing; Mark Blackthorn from Human Resources; Maia Roberts from social media; a few others from the work room downstairs that Alec hardly had any affairs with, and last – and certainly the least – Raj.

Alec never made it a habit to learn the man’s last name. He believed that he would be fired within the first few weeks of him working the floor after the whole incident with the copy machine during the Christmas season. He didn’t see what Mr. Bane saw in him, but perhaps it was meant as a challenge to see if Alec could tame the untamable.

“Morning, Lightworm,” Raj greeted, then disappeared like he always did when he insulted him. Alec took it as a sign that he was afraid that he could do even worse than Mr. Bane ever could.

Pandemonium was finally bustling with chatter, the sound of cheap coffee, and the mix of typing keys and numbers into their computers. Alec settled himself behind his own desk, placed beside Mr. Bane’s for the sake of convenience, and started making his usual calls to clients and partners.

“Pandemonium, Mr. Bane’s office, please hold. Pandemonium, Mr. Bane’s office, please hold,” Alec repeated. When he clicked on the third line, the voice was familiar.

“Check your computer.”

Alec sighed. “John, you can’t call me on this line. I have a separate line especially for –”

“Check the damn chat, Alec.”

“Fine.” Alec hung up with a sharp click. He twisted his seat around towards his double monitored computer and spurred the thing to life. A little blue box popped up immediately on the screen along with a red dot displaying an array of messages left unread. He opened it, clicking on the chat room that some of the other employees had created and renamed accordingly.

The_Twenty-Fourth_Floor_of_HELL Chatroom [LIVE]

RAJJ: Morning losers

Emma_C: How did you get into this chat, Raj?

Emma_C: Sleep with IT again?

RAJJ: For your information Carstairs I don’t need to sleep with someone to have my way

Emma_C: Yeah, you just annoy the shit out of them

RAJJ has been removed from the chat.

Alec rolled his eyes. He scrolled down past the various attempts of kicking Raj out of the chat, and still he managed to find his way back in, until he got to the section that made his heart stop.

MarkB: Is something going on today?

JulesB1: No… Why?

Emma_C: What’s going on?

MarkB: There are people shuffling around every

MarkB: Shit

MarkB: CODE RED

R_ Maia: Heads up! Bane is here.

Underhill_J: He’s not supposed to be here for another week.

Emma_C: The Warlock is passing by

JulesB1: Why is he here?

thebestmanraj: Oh? Did pretty boy not tell you?

thebestmanraj: Bane dropped out of a business meeting after a scandal in Peru.

thebestmanraj: whoops

Thebestmanraj has been removed from the chat.

Alec lunged from his seat. He pushed past various interns and nobodies who were in his way, beelining it towards Underhill’s desk. He turned the corner and the man was already standing coffee and magazines in hand – both were Mr. Bane’s favorite’s and must-haves whenever he was in the office.

“You,” Alec said, grabbing them from the man, “are a lifesaver. I owe you one.”

“You owe me many. Now, move!”

Alec didn’t need to be told twice. He spun on his heel, sprinting back for his boss’ desk in hopes of beating him there. The room, thankfully, was empty. Alec fanned the most recent fashion magazines down on the corner of his desk, coffee in hand. He made sure, then double and triple checked to make sure the entire office was in perfect condition before moving to the front doors to greet Mr. Bane – Alec slams right into him. Crashing the coffee all over his seven hundred dollar shirt and jacket.

The workroom froze. Printers stopped working; fingers stopped moving; everyone stopped breathing in fear of their imminent death. Alec could only hear the hard thud of his heart beating away in his chest as if it could run away from this situation. Running, however, would make the situation much, much worse. And Raj was already looking far too smug from his corner of the room.

“Alexander.” It was never good when Mr. Bane used his full name. “Do watch where you’re going next time.”

Next time. Alec loosed a relieved breath. There was going to be a next time.

“Get me another coffee, Angela from downstairs – and everyone get back to work.”

A snap of his fingers, and the workroom resumed like a song put on pause. Everyone ignored the enormous elephant in the room – all except Raj who was clearly gossiping with a cute temp passing by – and Alec moved towards Underhill for the coffee, then in search of “Angela from downstairs.”

Alec escorted her all the way up two flights of stairs, claiming the elevator was “broken”. She smoothed out her skirt before entering, staying just beyond the field of reach outside of Mr. Bane’s desk. “You asked for me, sir.”

Magnus’ brilliantly sharp eyes found Alec’s. Alec ignored the fact that he was wearing a completely new outfit. “Close the door – and stay,” he added. “I’ll need a witness.”

A string of curses wafted through Alec’s head, and all of them threatened to leave his lips. He closed the door, staying in the corner of the room.

“Miss,” Magnus drawled.

It took a moment for the woman to reply with a light, “Woods.”

“Miss Woods. You’re fired.”

Alec’s heart jerked. Mr. Bane was nothing if not straightforward.

“But – But, why?” Ms. Woods blubbered, making her cheeks turn pink with unspilled tears.

Mr. Bane stood to his full, domineering height. His fingers, adorned carefully with different rings of shapes and sizes, danced over the front pages of the magazines splayed out for his choosing. Alec recognized one of them, the thin, twisted silver band on his pinkie, but was caught by an image hidden in the bottom of the magazine pile. Magnus picked the issue out, flipped it open to a precise page on the first try, and turned it around for Ms. Woods to see.

“Magnus Bane is seen managing his time in the comfort of others rather than in the solidarity of his own business. It would seem he cares more for his own success, an unnamed source claims,” Magnus continued, “If he spends this much time away, how will Pandemonium survive? Photos supplied by an anonymous source.”

Alec gulped. There could only be one thing –

“Your boyfriend is Axel Mortmain, correct?” Magnus kept pushing the subject, drawing it out and making the poor woman sweat in the very hole she had dug.

“Yes, but –”

“And he works with Trendy Magazine, correct?”

“Yes,” she ground out. “But –”

Mr. Bane held up a single finger, silencing her as he took the argument home. “Did you, or did you not, supply him with these claims and photos of my personal life?”

“You’re hardly around!” She exclaimed, and Alec knew she had nailed and sealed her own coffin shut. “I was venting to my boyfriend after a long day of sitting behind a desk – Why are you laughing? Are you laughing at me?”

Magnus was chuckling. It wasn’t the same one that made his eyes crinkle at the edges, or bend over to regain his breath. It was deep, dark and a sinister sound that Mr. Bane only used to prove a point.

He flipped to the next page, and amidst the various photos clearly taken from afar, he pointed a slim finger to the passage near the bottom. “Can you explain this to me?”

Alec had to bend forward to see what it was. The words were printed in a much larger font than the rest, bringing all attention to its phrase.

He’s just as bad as his father.

“Is this from sitting behind a desk? Did you bang your knee on one of the drawers and think, Magnus Bane is just as bad as his father?” Ms. Woods stayed perfectly still. Her hands poised tight against her sides. “That’s what I thought.”

Magnus slowly turned and took his seat behind his desk. Ms. Woods had been tossed out of his peripheral, as far as conversations went. He ignored her fuming in the middle of his office.

Alec moved to get the door. It was clear to anyone that they were done, ties cut and bridges burned, but Ms. Woods would not stand down.

“You can’t fire me,” she sputtered. Alec made a move towards her wrist, and she swung, missing his cheek by an inch.

Mr. Bane straightened once again. “And why can’t I?”

“I’ve been working her for years! I’ve put my heart and soul into this place and to throw it all away would be –”

“Alexander has been working here for twice – three times as long as you have or ever will. You are a speck of dust in comparison. Why would I keep dirt around?” With that, Ms. Woods was done. Magnus turned to his computer. “You have an hour to get out of the building, and if not, security will be happy to remove you.”

Alec opened the doors for good this time. He walked her as far as the elevator to ensure that she didn’t stir anything else up on the workroom floor. He hit the little button, a green arrow springing to life, and the doors split open.

Ms. Woods’ hand shot out just before they could close. “I wasn’t wrong.”

Alec sighed. “Ms. Woods, please leave.”

“You’ll see. He’s just like his father, and you know it.”

Asmodeus Bane was Magnus’ father, true. He used to own a large, entrepreneurial company in Indonesia, then Los Angeles and New York that had turned sour with reports of embezzlement, poor working conditions and pay, and unsportsmanlike conduct of business transactions, which were also true. He had almost roped in Magnus to work with him, but he declined, cut all ties with his father, and made his own life, career, name. Magnus Bane was most definitely not like his father – he was much better.

“All I know is that you have wasted five minutes of your hour to leave. You better get moving.”

Ms. Woods removed her hand, allowing the doors to almost close before saying, “He doesn’t deserve you.”

The doors clicked close, leaving Alec standing there with her last words rolling right off his shoulders. He had heard them many times in the time he had been working at Pandemonium. He accepted this job without so much as a single idea of what fashion really was, or how to dress properly around other people. He doesn’t deserve you, had been a motto, a fact that Alec was determined to break down and change into, He deserves you.

Alec made his way back to the main floor, which was busy but carefully listening for aftershocks of the afternoon. “Get back to work,” he barked, and all eyes turned away. Underhill approached, saddling up to him and handing him another coffee. Alec never knew how he could get it so fast. “Thanks.”

Alec went back to Magnus’ office with the new coffee in hand, but he had a feeling that it wasn’t the solution to their problem. Magnus was still seated at his desk, computer abandoned, a single hand running through his hair without end and turning his neat hair flip into wrecked strands. Alec said nothing and sat the coffee next to him.

Magnus muttered a weak, “Thank you,” in exchange. He didn’t reach for it.

Alec felt the need to say, “You are not your father,” but the words wouldn’t do the justice that Magnus deserved now. He needed a distraction. “What happened in Peru,” he asked instead.

Magnus scoffed. His hands stopped and rested on the edge of the desk. He uninterestedly played with the corner of one of the magazines.

Play with me, Alec’s eyes practically begged. Tease me. Do something. Magnus was notoriously messing with Alec’s head, sending him on bogus errands and calling random numbers. It was his way of breaking him into the job and showing Alec how he worked.

Finally, Magnus cracked, a small pull of his lip upwards into a smirk as he recalled his excursion. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”

“I would,” Alec countered.

“Don’t you read the papers?”

“I’m more of a hearing-it-from-the-source kind of guy.”

A wider smirk, and a pause. “There was a lot of alcohol involved.”

“Naturally.” Alec silenced with a ringed finger pointed at him though it held no seriousness. Not as it had been with Ms. Woods.

“Let’s say I am no longer welcome in the country.”

“Magnus,” Alec breathlessly chuckled. Of all the people who would be able to be kicked out of a country, and banned, Magnus would be one of them.

A familiar spark returned to Magnus’ eyes, gratefully. His fingers played with a bead on his necklace, rolling them back and forth as he scanned Alec’s figure. “Shouldn’t it be Mr. Bane?”

“Shouldn’t I be Mr. Lightwood?” Alec countered.

Magnus fingers stilled, and a natural coy smile crept to his face. There it is, Alec thought. “Touché. Careful, I may fire you for being too cocky.”

“I’ve been told it’s one of my finer qualities.” By you.

The man leaned back, a hand creeping up the side of his neck and towards the golden ear cuff he was adamant on wearing at all times. “Indeed.”

Alec’s gaze flickered to the cuff which Magnus was playing with. He smiled, then nodded to the door. “Come on.”

“Why?”

“Where’s your sense of adventure?” Magnus rose an eyebrow. “Fine. Overflow. You need to get out of the office.”

Overflow was a whole floor dedicated to displaced outfits and unused cuts of past seasons’ clothing. It was the one place where prior year’s runway duds go to die. It also happened to be one of Magnus’ favorite places to drag Alec – it had been one of those ridiculous errands and favors – to try on horrendous outfits.

“You don’t need to do that, Alexander. I’m fine.”

“I know you are.” Alec meant it. “You are early, however. We expected you in two weeks and nothing is prepared.”

Magnus, posing in protest, stood and made his way around to his assistant. “Nothing?”

“Nothing?” Alec mocked. “I have not worked here this long to be unprepared. Everything’s ready, but I think having a little fun takes precedence.”

“Fun? Who are you?”

“The best assistant ever –” Magnus made a face. “Really? Because I was thinking of trying on that piece from Jeremy Scott. You know, the one with the leather –”

“Let’s go,” Magnus snapped, grabbing Alec’s wrist and pulling him out of the office and towards the elevator, Alec laughing the entire way. He made sure to tell Underhill that Mr. Bane was not taking any more calls, and to watch over his station until he returned. When Underhill asked for how long, and Magnus tugged impatiently on his arm, Alec managed a quick later before being dragged away.

 Underhill closed Mr. Bane’s office, then settled at the desk mirrored from Alec’s. He logged into his server, then the chatroom.

The_Twenty-Fourth_Floor_of_HELL Chatroom [LIVE]

therajster: Lightwood’s dead. He has to be.

Emma_C: About time.

Emma_C: You owe me 20, Jules.

JulesB1: Nope. You owe me.

JulesB1: You said Monday AFTERNOON. It’s clearly still the AM.

therajster: what’s going on?

MarkB: Nothing.

Emma_C: Really?

Underhill_J: He’s a goner.

R_Maia: I knew it

therajster: that’s what i said

therajster: He’s def getting fired.

therajster: Hello?

therajster: I can see you’re still here.

Emma_C: Are you blind or just stupid?

therajster: Excuse you?

Underhill_J I can’t.

Underhill_J has left the chat.

Emma_C has left the chat.

therajster: What’s going on?

32 others have left the chat.

therajster: What just happened?

therajster: Hello?

 “Are you serious?” Alec laughed at the screen on Magnus’ phone. The chatroom was exploding with comments from everyone, especially Raj, all of which had something to do with the pair of them disappearing.

He settled on the couch in the back of Overflow, pulling Magnus onto his lap. “How long have you been logged in?”

“Day one. Who do you think moderates this thing?” Magnus scoffed. “I can’t let people go off on their own and talk about me. Remember this: I have eyes and ears everywhere.” Magnus pushed a finger into the upper corner of Alec’s peck. He pushed it away.

“Everywhere-everywhere?”

A small noise of approval, similar to a thick purr, came from the back of his throat.

“You’re insatiable.”

“And don’t you know it,” Magnus quipped. One of his ringed hands ran through his locks. “I don’t know how Raj keeps getting back into the system though. He should be kept out until he’s invited back in by an existing user.”

“Mhmm,” Alec hummed, not really listening anymore. His face dipped into the notch of Magnus’ neck and shoulder, breathing in deeply the scent that was irrevocably Magnus. “Are we going to talk about Raj the whole day?”

“Do you have something else in mind?”

Alec pried himself from Magnus’ closeness, peering up and towards a pile of clothing. “I’d like to see you in that.”

“That?” Magnus pointed towards the same piece Alec was glaring at. “That’s a scrap of cloth.”

“I know.”

Here’s the link for the outfit Alec said he’d wear:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjY9MLU75_cAhUCVK0KHQ0TD3QQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cosmopolitan.com%2Fstyle-beauty%2Ffashion%2Fadvice%2Fg1517%2Fworst-runway-looks-new-york-fashion-week-spring-2012%2F&psig=AOvVaw2r89vTpCjdgVxr9i7npbHv&ust=1531701707914592

[magnoliasinbloom]

Awake

Previously - AO3

9: London Hospital

“I’ll manage, Jamie, dinna worry!”

“I’ll give ye the password to the e-mail account just in case, and check up on that order—”

“Fine! Please rest!” She leaned in to give him a quick kiss on the forehead. “I’d like you to take a few weeks off. Come back to Lallybroch?”

“I’ll consider it, Janet.” Jamie raised an eyebrow at her bossy tone, but smiled. “I’ll be out in a day or two.”

“Perhaps I’ll put up a sign, ye ken? Closed until further notice?”

“Aye, that would be grand. Hadna thought of it.”

Jamie was sitting up now, albeit gingerly due to the stitches in his side. His head hurt less, and his finger was on the mend. The rest were just bruises – a minor inconvenience. He would be discharged soon. Jenny would take care of D’un Monde A L’autre on her way back.

And life would go on as usual.

Jenny put on her coat. “I’ll be meeting Claire fer a coffee later on. Hope ye don’t mind.”

“Why would I mind?” His voice went higher-pitched for some reason. His hospital-issued blankets were suddenly fascinating.

“I dinna ken. Ye seem… odd around her. Do ye like her?” Jenny turned away, so she couldn’t see how much her innocently phrased question altered him.

“She’s alright, I guess.” Jenny gave him a look over her shoulder. “Ye say we knew each other as bairns, but I dinna remember her at all.”

“Nae worries. She’s a nice lass. Well, I’d best be off. I’ll call ye tomorrow. Is yer mobile working?”

“I dinna ken. They took it with my personal effects when I was admitted. It may have cracked a bit,” he said, wincing.

“Like yer heid. Wee idiot.” She pinched his toes at the foot of the bed while he laughed out loud. His first real laugh in ages.

A brief knock sounded before Claire’s curly head poked in. Jamie was glad the nurses had removed the heart monitor.

“Hi there! I just wanted to check up on you before I head home. Is everything alright?”

“Sure. I was just wondering… Will I be leaving tomorrow?” Jamie scratched his nose, careful to mind the healing scabs.

“You might,” Claire smiled. “There’s some things I’d like to brief you on, for after care, and because of your spleen removal. And you’ll need the cast and splint removed in about five weeks.”

“Oh.” Jamie lifted his left arm gingerly. “Hadna really thought of it. Guess I’ll have to write crookedly for awhile.” Claire frowned. “I’m cack-handed, ye see.” He waved his arm around.

“Cack—you mean, left-handed?” Understanding dawned, followed by a rueful smile. “Part of the lucky ten percent, huh?”

Jenny looked between them, like at a tennis match. She gave Jamie a mysterious smile before blowing him a final kiss. “I’ll be off now. Claire, I’ll see ye later, yeah?”

“Of course! Bye, Jenny!” Claire slipped further into the room, and Jenny swept past her, closing the door behind her. She leaned against it, fingers tapping lightly at her side.

“What is it?” Jamie felt self-conscious; he knew his hair was probably as unruly as hers, but the bandage wasn’t helping. The healing bruises on his face, the hospital gown… he must look a fright.

“I wondered if I could talk to you about something.” Claire blushed. “I don’t know if you’ll believe me or not, but I have to tell someone.” She stepped forward, gesturing towards the uncomfortable plastic chair. “May I?”

“Please.” Jamie tried to raise the pillow behind his back so he could face her, but she beat him to it, plumping it and helping him lean back gently.

“Okay. Here goes.” She sat down gingerly on the edge of the chair, hand wringing in her lap. “I had this dream last night—no.”

“No, you didn’t have a dream last night?” Jamie asked confusedly.

“No. I mean, yes, I had a dream. You were in it.” She smiled briefly, but shook her head. “It’s just that… I’ve been dreaming, for a while now. Of you. You’re in my dreams. Constantly. I didn’t know who you were. It was always these mundane things, nothing strange like flying or monsters. Just dreams.”

Jamie’s heart began to pound, his palms tingling. Fear, awe, nerves… recognition. She had also dreamt of him.

“Mundane things, ye say? Such as?” he swallowed.

“You manage this bookstore. In Glasgow?” Claire ventured. Jamie just nodded. “French name. Beautiful. You go for a run at this park, and sometimes you’re in the country, with dark green hills all around you.” Her voice dipped lower. “I don’t blame you if you don’t believe me, but I find it incredible. I saw you in my dreams before I ever met you.”

“Claire, I—”

“Before you say anything, just let me say this. When I saw you here, after your surgery… your face. Your red hair. I finally knew your name.  And it was like something falling into place.” Claire’s cheeks burned red. “Last night’s dream was a reminder of how we met. Our parents were friends—did Jenny tell you?”

He nodded again, right fist clenching the blankets. “We knew each other as bairns. Played together. So she says. But I haven’t had a dream like that.” Claire stilled, tensing all over.

“I meant, not a dream of us as children.” Jamie cleared his throat. “But I have dreamt of ye too, Claire.”

Her head shot up, her hand halfway towards the bed where his hand lay. “You—you have been dreaming of me?”

Jamie hesitated. “There’s… a wood carved pipe? In yer living room.” Jamie had noticed it, an odd ornament to have in a relatively modern apartment. “With a black mouthpiece.”

Claire shook her head in wonder. “It belonged to my Uncle Lamb. He raised me after my parents died. We traveled a lot; he was an archaeologist.  I kept it after he passed away.”

“I’ve seen ye in this hospital. At Sainsbury’s too, I think. Making tea with yer husband.” Jamie almost got stuck on that last word. His eyes traveled up her face to the bruise on her temple, already turning yellow-green. She caught his gaze and touched her fingers to it.

“He’s not—well, he was. But I’ve left him.” She hesitated. “It was the first time he ever… it will be the last.” Claire pursed her lips. “I’ve filed for divorce.”

Despite the confirmation of his suspicions and the anger that welled inside at the thought of anyone harming Claire, something else loosened in Jamie’s chest. Relief, he thought. Hope, his heart whispered.

“Our relationship had been fracturing for some time now. There were… pieces of me, that he didn’t know what do with.” Claire gestured with her hands at the room around them. “Things about me that he didn’t understand, or that maybe frightened him.” She glanced at Jamie. “But not you.”

Jamie smiled in reassurance. “Nothing about ye could frighten me, Sassenach.”

Claire smiled. “What does it mean, sassenach?”

“Oh, ‘tis Gaidligh for ‘outlander’, or an English person. I dinna intend it as an offense,” Jamie clarified.

“None taken. I like it.” Claire glanced at her watch and stood. “I appreciate you listening to me, Jamie. And I’m glad you understand about—about the dreams. I still don’t know what it means, that we’re in each other’s heads. Since we were children together, I suppose that’s related but… I’d like to find out.”

“So would I.” A minor stab of pain coursed through his side, and he flinched visibly, much to his embarrassment. She was at his side in an instant.

“Jamie, although you are recovering you must still take care. Does it still hurt?” Claire snapped on latex gloves from a box next to his bed and prodded at the stitches in his flank.

“Occasionally. I guess I’ve been lounging in this position for too long.” Jamie allowed Claire to ease him onto his back, fussing and tucking the blankets around him. Truth be told, he didn’t mind being taken care of. By her.

“You will have to have yearly vaccinations, since your spleen is gone. It compromises your immune system a bit, but other than that, you’ll live a full, normal life.”

I’d like to spend it wi’ ye.

Jamie hoped his thoughts were not betrayed by his expression. He merely smiled and settled into the bed. “Are ye off to meet Jenny for a coffee?”

“In a bit, yes. I’m hoping she can fill in some of the details from my childhood. And you.” Her smile was luminous. She patted him on the shoulder before heading out.

“We have coos!” Jamie burst out incoherently.

“I beg your pardon?” Claire turned to him, bewildered.

“At the farm. Lallybroch it’s called. Coos? Um, Highland cows.” Jamie took a deep breath. “They’re huge and shaggy and noble. Would you like… maybe… to visit it sometime? Wi’ me?”

“With you?”

“Well, us—the family. Jenny and her husband Ian manage the estate. She’s the eldest, so she inherited everything after… Mum and Da passed.”

Claire’s eyes softened; she too knew the loss of beloved parents. She reached out to his uninjured right hand and squeezed it briefly. “I would love that.”

“When?” He could barely contain the hopeful tone in his voice.

She grinned. “Soon, perhaps.”

“I’ll be holding ye to that.” Before she could take her hand away and he lost his courage, he lifted it to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to the back of her hand.

Claire blushed prettily. Mumbling excuses about being late to meet Jenny, she said her goodbyes and left, nearly crashing into the door on her way out. Jamie grinned, pleased with himself and the progress he felt he’d made. He had almost extracted a promise from her to visit Lallybroch. With him. Together.

One could dream.

[markipwiwer]

Request if you still take them: maybe anti getting too much electrical energy or glitchy energy and he goes in some sort of tunnel vision state, and it takes both wilford and dark to calm him down and tend to his wounds p.s I love reading your work some times it's the highlight of my day

So this ended up being a spiritual successor of another request and I’d link it but I’m on mobile (as always). It’s called “Backed Up” on AO3 though. I really did want to do something with this again so thank you for requesting it. And you have no idea what that means to me, there are writers that I am constantly looking up to, getting excited every time they post something new. So the idea that I could be that for someone is just…… whoa man

-

It had been a week since Anti had fully been restored again, with the disgruntled help of Google Red. And he’d been ‘hanging out’ a lot more with Bing. That was, there was a lot of silent sitting, holding hands, transferring of information.

It was through Oliver, Yellow, the softest of the IRL units, with which Anti had been able to find exactly which hospital that bastard was in. The stupid hacker guy that had torn Anti to literal pieces. And Oliver did have other decent information. But as Anti quickly discovered, the entire hospitals network was super outdated and wasn’t compatible with the sleek, modern IRL units.

And Bing was pretty cool to hang out with anyway.

Anti could have, if he wanted to, gotten the information he needed to go and haunt the shit out of that guy and be out in a flash again.

But there was something… hypnotising about knowing the schedules of hundreds of people. Knowing who lives and who dies according to the system. Knowing everything down to peoples eating habits in the cafeteria, or the little corners of the grounds staff go for cigarette breaks. It was empowering.

So Anti spent days on it, slowly ruminating, building a plan, down to the predictable minute.

Dark and Wilford had never seen him this hyperfocused on something before. And it was a little unnerving. On one hand, Dark was glad that Anti was slowing down a little, formulating things instead of being impulsive and erratic. On the other hand, Wilford noticed he was considerably more distant and quiet and… not that Wilford was usually the jealous type, all things considered, but he was spending an awful lot of time holding hands with Bing. Wilford wanted to hold Antis hand more often.

He was also… buzzing a lot more.Usually, Antis touch was a light tingle at best. But he’d given Wilford several electric shocks without meaning to in the past few days and Darks hairs stood on end from the static when they merely got close, let alone held each other or kissed.

It was like Anti was accumulating power. Not that Dark had any particular problem with that, it would make him more useful on missions and hunts. But if he and Wilford knew Anti at all, they knew that kind of thing could get to his head pretty easily.

One day, Anti looked… almost dressed up. As dressed up as Anti got. Clean skinny jeans, for once, despite them still being ripped, a black tshirt with the sleeves merely rolled up instead of being cut off, a clean bandage around his neck and a worn leather jacket to top it all off.

Wilford wolf whistled in his direction in the kitchen. Anti didn’t react. Wilford tried a slightly stronger approach.

“Got a fancy date, darling?”

Anti shrugged, seeming to be reflecting and concentrating on something Wilford couldn’t see.

“Somethin’ like that.”

“Is it with Bing?”

Wilfords question was simple, but it took Anti by surprise enough that he stopped looking into the distance - or right in front of him, Wilford couldn’t tell - and actually looked at the pink idiot.

“What? No. Why would… no, I’m working on somethin’.”

Wilford scooted closer, raising his eyebrows. This was allowed in their relationship, it was fine, but Wilford being himself, loved all the juicy details.

“Working your way into his robotic heart, it seems like.”

Anti rolled his eyes and focused back on… whatever he was focused on. He pulled out his phone, checking the time, before putting it back in his leather jacket.

“No. Bings been helping me with the hospitals network.”

Wilfords eyebrows furrowed.

“…Hospital? The one where -“

“Don’t even say his name. He’ll be either a shell of a man or dead soon, and no one will remember him.”

In that moment, Anti sounded an awful lot like Dark. It was disconcerting how driven he was about this one guy. Granted, this one guy took a limb and a chunk of his stomach but still. Anti promised he’d go easy. This just sounded more hardcore, maybe without the same manic tendencies that Anti usually put into things.

“…alright. Well then, have fun, cutie code, and don’t overexert yourself. We want you back home in one piece this time.”

Wilford tried to add a jovial tone but it fell on deaf ears and Anti bit back.

“Thanks.”

He didn’t like feeling weak.Anti checked his phone once more before disappearing in a chaotic mess of frayed programming.

-

“Bing, I need to know what Anti has planned. He was really… I just need to know, okay?” Wilford tried to reason with the Android, with limited success. Luckily, Dark happened to wander in while Bing was trying to explain how it wasn’t super easy to just give Wilford the plans since they were encrypted.

“Bing, you will explain to me what Anti has planned for his course of revenge. In a way that we can understand.”

Bing clenched up for a moment, before a light shone past his eyes.

“… Admin user detected. Dude, he’s gonna kill me for this…”

“And we can put you back together. Now explain, that’s an order.”

Bing huffed, but obeyed. He rattled off Antis plans about the hackers doctors schedules, security schedules, when things were most vulnerable, what was and wasn’t controlled by machine. Anti was going to take away his pain medication first, and instead pump him full of psychosis-inducing drugs. He’d be sent to the psych ward, they’d have a bed available later on in the day. Until then, the guy would stay tied down, hallucinating and in pain.

His restlessness would get him sent to the acute ward, where security was pretty tight. But several guards went out for cigarette breaks at the same time. Just before evening medication time, power would go out in the facility. For some there, not having medication for one day wasn’t a big deal. For others, it was a huge deal. So the guy would be hallucinating, in pain, with a bunch of undermedicated, unstable people and not enough staff to deal with so much happening at once.

Then he’d haunt. He’d access screens, monitors, emergency broadcast systems specific to the hospital and read out the guys extensive medical and criminal history. He’d flicker lights, lock doors, the whole shebang.

For most of it, he didn’t need to even be in the building.A few checks on schedules and routes, that’d be it.

Dinner would come past, and later that night, Anti would finally, FINALLY, stab the hacker with a simple butter knife.

No one would actually know how the hacker snuck the knife away, or how he managed to basically impale himself, but Anti didn’t leave fingerprints by nature. It’d be an assumed suicide.

There were some extra bits and pieces but Dark had heard more than enough. Although part of him had to be impressed, this was a very strange length for Anti to go to for one person. It wasn’t really Anti. Having that kind of knowledge, that kind of control, it was already getting to Anti. Dark knew all of the warning signs.

“Where would Anti be in his plan right now?”

Bing paused, glancing at Wilford standing behind Dark. Wilford looked… sad, in some way, though Bing didn’t understand Wilford quite enough to place the emotion exactly.

“He’d be close to cutting the power by now. The other stuff was done pretty easily outside the facility, but he wanted to… see.”

Dark turned to Wilford.

“He has a lot of power right now that he’s not fully in control of. It’s going to be an effort to bring him home safely.”

Wilford looked guilty. That was it. He had been the one to let this guy live in the first place, not wanting Anti to miss out on revenge. But this was a lot more than just seeing blood spill.

The guy had made Anti feel weak. And so he needed to see how strong Anti really was.

Wilford took Darks hand.

“Let’s bring out pet home.”

Bing hesitated before they made to move.

“W-wait! Did I.. did I do anything wrong?”

“No, Bing. You followed orders.”Dark left the reply at that before transporting with Wilford to the facility.

-

They returned a half an hour later, black and pink fog mixing, clashing with pixels and static and screaming. So much screaming. The guy was dead, there was no way he would have survived that pulse.

The thing about Anti was he ate up mistakes. Mistakes in programming and code, all the way up to tiny surface level mistakes of information just being put in the wrong place.

Anti had caused trouble, yeah, but he also completely freed the hospitals network of bugs. Trade that for the life of a guy that no one would mess and was dead according to the system anyway? Sure.

But Anti was surging - that was the best way to describe it - and it took both Dark and Wilford to transport him back, forcing him backwards.

Anti thrashed and clawed back, his eyes animalistic and raw and too full. Black. Just black, the way they got when he was trying to be scary, except it usually wasn’t this constant.

His form was unstable and terrifying to anyone else but Dark just held him down, kept Antis arms behind his back because he knew what this kind of power could do.

Anti would spiral like this forever if he was left unchallenged.

Wicked sat in front of the raging form, on his knees, and held Antis face in his hand. Anti was covered in blood and Wilford hadn’t even realised.

There had been more than one death. The hospital just hadn’t figured it out yet.

“Hey… you need to settle petal, alright? You’re with us now, your home…” Wilford put a hand to Antis cheek, which honestly hurt at this point, it buzzed hard on Wilfords fingertips and not in a good way, not even in a sexy way. It just hurt.

Anti screamed something that neither of them understood, too much static, but it sounded work down. He screamed again and this time it cracked.

Darks loosened his grip on Antis arms specifically and instead brought his arms around to Antis front, hugging him from behind but still keeping him firmly in place. His aura rubbed soothing circles into the glitches back.

His voice echoed, and it was something close to soothing.

“It’s alright, love. We’ve got you now. You need to let this extra energy go.”

Dark and Wilford shared a look that this wasn’t exactly the kind of thing they could wear Anti down from just by fucking him.

Antis buzzing didn’t hurt Dark nearly as much as it hurt Wilford, so he used the opportunity to wrap himself around Anti, lovingly, in a way that he wouldn’t usually. Wilford continued whispering into Antis ears, about how it was okay and how much they loved him and how he did a good job today but hat it was time to let it go.

Antis form, which had been throbbing with power and making the two stand on edge, eventually, slowly, went limp. It wasn’t a quick thing, it was gradual, and every now and then, he’d get some sort of a flash in his eyes and it was like he was inspired in the worst way again. And he’d struggle. But each time, the struggle got a little easier to contain. A little weaker. Of course, they would never tell Anti he was weak. If he thought about it too much, he might come to the conclusion that he was still weaker than the both of them at full force. That wasn’t entirely true. He just loved them and listened to them. But only them.

He’d exhausted himself in the fight, in trying to bat away their care and affection. Anti whimpered and sighed in Darks arms and Wilford stroked the side of his cheek while they transported him with a lot more ease this time around. There was a small, static-y sob that escaped his lips when Wilford shifted to hug Anti, gently, from behind, and Dark took his hands. Dark kissed as his forehead, and let his own ringing take over as the prominent sound while Wilford spoke calmly still.

[mononoke-no-ko]

[Trans] R2 Sound Episode #5: C's Mushroom-ed C.C.

Someone always snapped at the end of these Sound Episodes xD.

C-take Rareta C.C.

C.C.: Please forgive me, Master!

Lelouch : Really, please remember already, C.C. You even got wet like this.

C.C.: Sorry, I'm sorry, I will never get wet again. Please forgive me...

Lelouch : I'm asking you, just don't try to wash my computer or mobile phone ever again. C'mon, stop hiding there and come out here.  

C.C.: I'm very sorry! Please, don't hurt me...!

Lelouch : Don't say things that will make people misunderstand! Anyway, why is your bulliable aura is so transparent?

(From monitor) Charles: Seems like you're having a great time, My Sweet Son!

Lelouch : Dad?! How did you find out my communication channel?

Charles: Facing C.C. who's different than usual, do you feel your heartbeats accelerating? No need to hide it.

Lelouch: What does that even mean? Don’t change the subject! What is your business anyway?

Charles: You know, I just want to see my son's flustered expression because of C.C.. Maybe one of these days I'm going to be a grandfather!

Lelouch : Like hell you're! I'm going to hang up, you stupid dad!

Charles: Wait, wait, wait! Wait a minute. The truth is, I came to share with you an information you would like to hear.  

Lelouch : Information?

Charles: Don't you want to know the method to change C.C. back, Lelouch?  

Lelouch : WHAT?!

----

Lelouch : So, now, "The first ever, sprouting and sprouting, cooking mushrooms that you have never seen before! A great gathering of friends who are confident about their craft in mushroom! Seek C’s mushroom assembly" is officially started.

Kallen: The title's long! Also, this is the hangar... right? You went as far as transforming it into a huge kitchen?!

Chiba: I heard that this is the biggest event of the Black Knights, so I come and see...

Todo: Looking at this situation, I can't even laugh.

Diethard: What's going on, Zero? Did you eat something bad? No, did you hit your head?

Rolo: Geass!

(SLAP! SLAP! SLAP!)

Rolo: Geass lifted!

Kallen: It hurts!

Todo: Uh!

Chiba: Aw!

Diethard: Ack!

Kallen: W-who is it? Just now someone just slap my head.

Todo: Unbelievable, someone actually punched my nose!

Chiba: It hurts. The inside area of my upper arm's softest part was twisted?!

Diethard: Just now I suddenly got stunned.

Rolo: Nii-san, I punished them a bit.

Lelouch: Sorry about that, Rolo. The next time they grumble again, I'll be relying on you.

Rolo: No big deal. Next time I have to make an effort not to kill them.

Lelouch: Hey hey, don't overdo it, Rolo. Well, regardless of those boring things. As I've said, I'm gathering you here for anything but one reason; to help to change the maid groupie with transparent bulliable aura, moe moe girl C.C. back to her previous self. For that purpose I need your strength.

Kallen: "Transparent bulliable aura"?

Todo: "Maid groupie"?

Chiba: "moe moe girl"?

Diethard: "Change back"?

Lelouch: That's right! In fact, I just received a contact from Emperor of Britannia.

Everyone: EHH?!

---------

Charles: There is only one way to recover C.C.'s lost memory. That is, for her to eat a new type of mushroom that grows in the underground city of the Geass Order; C-take. 

Lelouch: Shiitake (TN: a type of mushroom that's common in Japan)? Isn't that something that's sold everywhere?

Charles: You're wrong! Stupid Lelouch, C-take means C's mushroom, not the shiitake! The guy who doesn’t even know these things is actually a Geass user, how laughable!

Lelouch: Oh, I see. Because it's a mushroom that grows in C's world people called it C's mushroom... Who the hell knows this kind of thing?! How can there be such unreasonable naming method!

Charles: If she eats it, C.C. will be able to change back to the original C.C..

Lelouch: Really?

Charles: However, the underground city has grown a variety of mushrooms. You can't tell which one is C's mushrooms unless you eat it. And I heard that other mushrooms except for C's mushrooms have terrible side effects. Do you have the courage to take this risk?

Lelouch: Of course I have!

-----------

Todo: So, you are completely on his hook.

Chiba: I feel that I can already see the end of this story.

Lelouch: Rolo, let everyone take a look at the mushrooms that have been collected.

Rolo: Yes, Zero.

Kallen: Uwa-! What's this? Are these all mushrooms? How much is it...?

Rolo: These are what I've collected. The total is about 10 kilograms.

Diethard: Red, blue, green, yellow, purple, striped, and there's a red and white Bodhi leaf pattern. All are mushrooms that've never been seen before.

Todo: Somehow they scream 'don't eat', 'dangerous', and 'trouble'.

Chiba: What are we to do with these, Zero?

Lelouch: Isn't it obvious? Make dishes for C.C. to eat.

Everyone: Ehh?!

Diethard: But aren't they toxic and dangerous?

Lelouch: No, you got it wrong, Diethard. The Emperor said there are side effects, he didn’t say it’s poisonous.

Kallen: Hmm~ doesn't it sound interesting?

Chiba: K-kouzuki, you...

Kallen: If that's the case, let me help you.

Todo: But..!

Kallen: It should be fine~ it doesn't seem like there's anything dangerous in it. Moreover, everyone here has been looked down upon and made fun of by C.C.. Now it's a great opportunity for payback, don't you think?

Lelouch: Kallen, you've been harboring this kind of thought towards C.C.?

Kallen: Just a little revenge, but at the same time it can change C.C. back too. Isn't it killing two birds with one stone? Let's do it. "The first ever, sprouting and sprouting ~ cooking with mushrooms that have never been seen! A great gathering of friends who are confident about their craft in mushroom! Seek and cook the C mushroom assembly", begin...!

Diethard: The title is too long to fit into the title bar.

Todo: Title bar?

Diethard: And, last but not least, the title that's too long shows that he is not confident in the content of the show. Because the content is so boring, he wants to use the title to fool the-

Rolo: Geass!

(beating sounds)

Rolo: Lifted!

Diethard: Ahh!

Todo: Diethard suddenly gets in a tragic condition that couldn't be show on TV!

Lelouch: Ignore it. Now ladies and gentlemen, let's start this event with full power!

Kallen: Well, let's get Miss C.C., our protagonist today, to enter the stage. Miss C.C., please come up and introduce yourself!

C.C.: U-um... Excuse me, I'm a maid groupie with transparent bulliable aura, moe moe girl C.C.

Chiba: You say that about yourself?

Todo: In other words, is this the name that Zero forced C.C. to remember?

C.C.: Today, I'm ordered by Master's to help everyone here. Even though I'm just an ordinary servant, please give me your guidance.

Kallen: Come, C.C., we are all gathered here to make delicious mushroom dishes for you. You have to, without leaving a speck, finish them all.

C.C.: Master..., this woman's eyes are scary...

Todo: Well for now, try my dish first.

Kallen: Todo-san, you can cook?

Todo: That is a requirement to survive in the war.

Chiba: While we're still in the Japanese Liberation Front, snakes, mice, ants, caterpillars, weeds, barks, and roots, we've eaten anything that can be put into our mouth.

Todo: It's really nostalgic.

Chiba: Looking back, my cooking skill is also trained in those hard times.

Todo: The three cuts on the bear, your cutting method with a knife was really outstanding!

Lelouch: I see, you've gone through lot of hardship.

Todo: Next, what I made is a barbecue from the blue mushroom with a bright yellow-green round pattern on top.

Chiba: It's awesome, Todo-san. It completely researched and utilized the material color. Compared to this, the bear I did was far behind.

Todo: And with a little drop of soy sauce... here, C.C., please enjoy the dish!

C.C.: Ah, um, but it looks... kind of grotesque...

Lelouch: Eat it, C.C.. Isn’t there an old saying that effective medicine looks ominous?

C.C.: Yes..., then I'm going to eat.... (Chew)... En!

Lelouch: How are you feeling, C.C.? How does it taste? Do you feel any change?

C.C.: N-not really! There's nothing special about the taste! I ate it simply because Master would be troubled if I didn't. I'm totally NOT interested in you, okay?!

Chiba: Yet you're blushing

Todo: What? What is this change?

Diethard: Oh wow. This is a lucky first strike.

Kallen: Right. There's no mistake, this is Tsundere-mushroom.

Lelouch: Tsundere mushrooms? What's that?

Kallen: It's a new breed of mushrooms. Though I just came up with the name, but anyway this doesn't seem to be C's Mushroom.

Chiba: Then next try my dish.

Kallen: Here it is! The leader of Black Knights' kitchen, whose handmade dishes made countless men get the wrong idea, Chiba Nagisa! Today she has came to make mushroom cuisine for us... what is it?

Chiba: Don't add any weird commentary, Kozuki. I mean, originally I only made dishes for Todo-san...

Todo: Uh? What is it, Chiba? What did you say about me?

Chiba: N-nothing at all! Anyway, um, what I made is simple gratin mushrooms.

C.C.: Gratin? Again it's either too obscure or too pedestrian. In short it's just a semi-finished product. But, if you're feeding me, then I wouldn't mind eatin-

Chiba: Stop yapping and eat!

C.C.: Ah... it-it's hot... Hey...!

Chiba: Alright! So how is it?

C.C.: Um, what happened to me?

Kallen: Eh? Looks like the personality has changed again. I wonder if she just changed back.

C.C.: Somehow, my mouth is burning.

Chiba: That's of course, because I just transferred the newly baked gratin from the oven right to your mouth.

Todo: It seems only the effect of Tsundere mushroom that has disappeared. This doesn't seem to be a C's mushroom either.

Lelouch: Then let's decide the name of this mushroom as “Reset mushroom”. Haha, I've came up with a really fitting name.

Rolo: As expected from Zero!

Chiba: No creativity!

Diethard: Well, then it's my turn. Now you may not be able to tell, but my first work as an AD was on a gourmet show, and even now I’m still picky about food... ehem. The dish I made is a Britannia style dish with colored mushrooms and sweet and sour sauce. Dazzling sky blue, lemon yellow, shocking pink, emerald green, red rouge, and all these colorful colors create unprecedented flavors.

Kallen: Uwah... it looks bad for your health.

Todo: Looks poisonous.

Chiba: It's definitely poisonous.

C.C.: Master, this... do I have to eat this too...?

Lelouch: W-well, that's...

Diethard: Zero, don’t tell me you're thinking that my dish is something that can't be eaten by C.C.? I hope you're not having that kind of thought!

Lelouch: O-oh! Of course not! Since we don't know which one is C's mushroom, we have no other choice but to try every mushrooms! That's right, C.C., eat it.

C.C.: Uweeh. In the first place, why do I have to eat every one of these dishes, I don't know the reason anymore. (Eat)

Lelouch; How's the taste?

C.C.: Different from the appearance... it might be quite delicious. Unexpectedly, it's edible. Wha-!

Lelouch: What happened, C.C.?!

C.C.: Master, my hands are turning into strange shapes...!

Lelouch: The sharp-edge cone, the shape, and also the high-speed rotation while making "zing zing" noises. This... this is...!

Kallen: It's a drill.

Chiba: It's a drill huh.

Todo: How marvelous!

Lelouch: What the hell is going on?! Diethard!

Diethard: Well, no matter how you look at it, it's seems to be a mushroom that turns your hands into drills. How about naming it "Drill Mushrooms"?

Todo: Drill, huh... this is a man's romance, right, Chiba?

Chiba: Of course, Todo-san!

Kallen: What's that, fuufu manzai (couple skit)? (TN: manzai is a Japanese comedy act consisting of two people, usually one had a role of ‘funny man’ who acted silly/stupid and the other one made some retort/comment of the silly thing the other one did) 

Lelouch: You are wrong, Kallen! That was 'MENOto manzai' (wet nurse skit) because there’s no retort! 

C.C.: No, Master, the correct name should be 'MEOto manzai' (husband and wife skit). Anyway please hurry and change my hand back!!!

Lelouch: Oi, C.C., don't come close to me while waving that kind of hands! The drill will hit me!

C.C.: How could it be...! Master...! Diiethaaard! This all happened because you fed me with a strange mushroom!

Diethard: C-C.C., why only me?

C.C.: I'm going to kill you!

Diethard: Ah! It's piercing me!

Kallen: Eh, it looks painful. This is the kind of scene can never be shown on public.

Lelouch: Kallen, this is not the time to calmly admiring it!

Kallen: Well, maybe my dish could change her back.

Lelouch: Very well, try it!

Kallen: Well, what I made is mushroom risotto. This slightly turbid purple might make it seems toxic, but the taste is probably okay, though I haven't tried it myself.

C.C.: Heh, but, I can't eat with these hands.

Kallen: It can’t be helped, then! I'll be the one to feed you~! Come on, open your mouth and say 'ah~'

C.C.: A-ahn~

Lelouch: How is it? Do you feel like you're going to change back, C.C.?

C.C.: Um, somehow... my eyes feel strange...

Todo: Hmm, looks like there's no change in personality.

Lelouch: Your eyes? Does sand get into your eyes? Here, let me take a look.

C.C.: Yes, master.

Lelouch: Ack! What happened?! Just now C.C.'s eyes are glowing! They're glowing!

Todo: Rather, doesn't it seem like C.C.'s eyes are emitting beams...?

Chiba: There's a hole on the hangar walls....

Kallen: No no, Chiba, this is exactly the result that we're aiming!

Chiba: But even so, this is too...

Todo: For now, let's call this mushroom "Beaming Eyes Mushroom."

Chiba: Beam is also a man's romance right, Todo-san!

Lelouch: If we tell Rakshata about this, there's no doubt she will be very happy.

Kallen: The attack is really powerful, we can use it as a weapon.

Lelouch: Or not! Everyone, look! The beam just now scratched my helmet and left a mark! Kallen, how could you act so calm!

Kallen: That's because we have this "Reset mushroom", don't we? She just needs to eat that to change back to normal. Did you forget about it, Zero?

Lelouch: !! I DIDN'T!

Kallen: You forgot, huh.

Lelouch: Don't worry, C.C., now we will return you to normal. Come, Chiba! Bring your mushrooms gratin over.

Chiba: I'm sorry to inform you, Zero. Actually we've used all the Reset mushroom remained.

Lelouch: What did you say?

C.C.: Then what would happen to me, Master...!

Todo: Another blow on the wall. This is equivalent to the destructive power of a warship.

Lelouch: There's no other way. In this situation, let her eat each and every one of the mushrooms, then pray that there's any that can change her back.

Rolo: That’s Zero for you! It's a creative and amazing idea!

Chiba: Isn't he just trying his luck.

Lelouch: I need everyone’s help! Put all these mushrooms into C.C.'s mouth!

Everyone: Understood!

C.C.: Please stop, that unreasonable... uh... uh... W-w-whoa! Why am I getting bigger?

Lelouch: C.C. is turning into a giant!

Chiba: She grows to be even bigger than Zangetsu! This development is too unexpected.

Todo: So this is the power of Chinese Federation for 4000 years!

Rolo: Well, for now, let's name this mushroom as "Giant mushroom".

C.C.: Who cares about the name...

Lelouch: C.C. just... broke the hangar's ceiling!

Diethard: No, no, this must be CG! Or maybe it's a bluescreen effect that's used in the past... na ha, na ha ha!

Kallen: Diethard is escaping from reality.

Lelouch: Sorry about this, C.C.. I've used every method existed, but turns out modern science isn't able to help you yet.

C.C.: It's...! It's that so...

Lelouch: C.C....

C.C.: About this, or that matter, it's all the same. In the end everything is my fault.

Lelouch: No, this is Emperor of Brittania's...!

C.C.: No, it's okay. It's all my fault. Summer is hot and sea is salty because of my fault.

Todo: She doesn’t make any sense.

Kallen: Hmm she has became this big yet she feels small inside.

C.C.: This body now has became an obstruction. I can no longer stay by Master's side! Please don't look for me.

Chiba: Well, even if we don't look, you stick out.

C.C.: Bye-bye, everyone! Bye-bye, master!

Lelouch: Really, don't run, C.C.!

Diethard: Ack, it's collapsing...

Kallen: Stop, C.C! —————————————————————— Suzaku: Your Majesty, I have something to report to you.

Emperor: Oh? I was wondering who it is. So it's you, Suzaku. What's your business?

Suzaku: We got an emergency report from the spy we sneaked in to the area of Chinese Federation. It said there's a sight of unknown giant creature at Black Knight's HQ.

Emperor: Giant creature?

Suzaku: The reports says it looks like a young woman. I'm afraid there must be some mistake in this report.

Emperor: "Young woman"? Hahaha! Zero, I got you fooled!

Suzaku: Your Majesty?

Emperor: Zero... no, Lelouch... you are completely at my service! BWAHAHAHA!

Suzaku: H-huh?

———————————

C.C.: Please don’t look for me!!!

Fin.

Visit Index for other translations of other Code Geass materials.

[jenhedgehog]

A New Addition To The Family - A Lapidot Fanfic

Chapter Six – Go Together Like A Horse And Carriage

 "Lapis Lazuli, will you marry me?"

 Time seemed to stand still for the Ocean Gem as her girlfriend's words echoed inside her head.  She looked down at the technician, whose teal blush was becoming more and more prominent with each passing second.  For a moment, Lapis felt like she was dreaming.  Her mouth betrayed her as she tried to formulate her answer - but could only muster a stutter.  After a few seconds, which felt like a lifetime, the blue Gem came back down to earth.

 "Yes," she replied, the moonlight shimmering against the tears that were now forming in the corners of her eyes, "Of course I will, Peridot!  I... I love you, too... you're my whole world..."

 "W-wow..." Peridot stammered in reply, her emotions beginning to get the better of her.  With a shaking hand, she slipped the gold ring out of its box and slid it onto Lapis's finger as the blue Gem watched her.  Peridot smiled - it was a perfect fit.  A tiny white jewel was set in the top of the ring, catching the light beautifully as Lapis moved her hand to admire it.

 "That's some sort of non-sentient earth rock," Peridot quickly pointed out, "It's quite common for humans to use these as decorations."

 "It's beautiful, Peridot..." Lapis whispered in awe, "Thank you..."

 "No, thank you, Lapis," Peridot piped up, "Thank you for accepting my proposal!"

 Lapis snorted with laughter as she pulled the small Gem into a gentle hug, tears of absolute joy running down both of their faces.

 They sat in a hug which lasted for the rest of the evening, while the two newly-engaged fiancées quietly watched the stars together.

 ---

 The next morning, Peridot received a frantic call on her tablet.

 “Well?! What did she say?!”

 The green Gem grinned at the faces who were looking intently back at her from the screen – the Crystal Gems were all waiting with bated breath for the technician’s response.

 “She said yes!” cried Peridot, as the tablet’s speakers erupted with the cheering and hollering of the other Gems - Steven and Amethyst in particular.

 “Oh woooow!! Congratulations!” Steven yelled excitedly as Amethyst stood next to him, cheering at the top of her voice.

 “Wait... you all knew about this?!”  Lapis enquired as she walked to stand behind Peridot, staring at the screen in disbelief.

 “Of course we did!” Amethyst announced proudly, “I helped out quite a lot, y’know.  Dot couldn’t possibly have done all that by herself...”

 “Congratulations, both of you!” Pearl called delightedly, whilst waving into the camera on Steven’s phone.

 The ever-cool Garnet looked on with a grin and gave the happy couple a thumbs-up.

 ---

 A few weeks passed since Lapis and Peridot’s engagement.  After a conversation with Dr Maheswaran, Peridot had managed to adjust her limb enhancers such that they could act as a monitor for the Gemling ("Don't forget where I am if you need anything, though" the doctor had reassured them).  This is something that was incredibly useful, even if Peridot was becoming slightly obsessed with it.  In spite of everything, she was still worrying about Lapis and their Gemling. She put it down to a maternal instinct and tried not to dwell on it too much; but with Lapis’ bump seemingly getting larger by the day, pushing her worries to the side was becoming an incredibly difficult feat for the technician.

 Peridot had been sat on the sofa since the early hours of the morning, carefully analysing the Gemling's data once more.  All the signs were positive; and also pointed to Lapis now being rather close to giving birth, which is something that the pair of them were overjoyed (albeit slightly nervous) about.  Lapis was sat outside at the table, enjoying the cool morning air, Pumpkin sitting somewhat protectively under the table next to her.  The Ocean Gem was scrolling through her fiancée’s tablet, looking at ideas for the wedding.

 After a short while, Peridot stood up to go and check on the Ocean Gem - and let out a small squeak of surprise as the nearby warp pad activated.  She glanced over to see who was there...

 "Yo, Double-L!" came a very familiar voice. It was Amethyst – and she had both Steven and Pearl in tow.  Peridot walked over to greet the other Gems as they sat themselves down at the table with Lapis.  Grinning wildly, Amethyst placed a large bag of donuts in front of Lapis.

 "Here we go, girl - a dozen donuts, as promised.”

 "Amethyst!  You can't keep giving donuts to Lapis, they have no nutritional benefits..." Pearl scolded the purple quartz.

 "Relax, P!  It's all good...” Amethyst looked over to Peridot and Lapis for some reassurance, “Right?”

 “Yes, I believe so,” Peridot answered matter-of-factly, her eyes glued to the screen on her limb enhancers, “The statistics that I have here all point towards the Gemling being perfectly healthy. Besides, it’s far from the strangest thing that Lapis has decided to eat recently...”

 Amethyst’s eyes lit up instantly.

 “Oooh?” she grinned at Lapis as she leaned towards the blue Gem, eager to hear what unusual foods she’d been sampling.

 “Um...” the Ocean Gem blushed slightly, “I had a slight craving for hay... and there’s plenty of it in the barn...”

 Amethyst burst into a fit of laughter; Steven was covering his face and trying not to join in.

 “Oh my...” Pearl gasped, making Amethyst laugh even harder.  Peridot looked over at Lapis, who seemed slightly crestfallen.

 “C’mon Laz, it is pretty funny!  You were laughing about it yourself yesterday...” a concerned Peridot said.

 “Yeah, you’re right...” the Ocean Gem replied with a weak chuckle, “Sorry, I’m just feeling a bit out of sorts at the moment...”

 “Oh my stars, are you ok?!” Peridot exclaimed as she jumped out of her seat and ran over to her fiancée.

 “I’m fine, it’s just... everything aches,” Lapis replied with a slight groan as she tried to straighten her back out.  The size of her stomach was making everything rather difficult – as well as uncomfortable – for her now.

 “Just... take it easy,” Peridot said soothingly as she grabbed her chair and pulled it up right next to Lapis, carefully placing her arm over the blue Gem’s shoulder.

 "So, what brings you all here?" Lapis asked, attempting to change the subject.

 "We just wanted to see how the two lovebirds were getting on," Amethyst answered with a wry smile, "Still wedding planning, huh?"

 "Yeah.  I want to wait until after the Gemling is born before we actually have the wedding , though," explained Lapis, "It's going to be too much to prepare for otherwise... and I can’t exactly move very well at the moment, either."

 “That seems very sensible," Pearl said as she nodded in agreement.

 "I agree-" Peridot's sentence was cut off by a familiar zing and flash of bright light - as Garnet appeared on the warp pad, accompanied by Greg.  The others couldn’t help but notice that the tall Gem was carrying something large in her arms...

 "Surprise!" she called with a grin as Peridot and Lapis stared on in awe.

 It was a beautiful baby crib, which had been painted in a pale blue.  Inside lay some pretty green blankets, while a mobile full of stars and moons dangled over the top.

 “I wanted to bring it here myself,” said Greg, “But I couldn’t get the darned van to start up this morning.  So, Garnet offered to help me bring this to you instead.”

 “Wow, Dad, did you buy this?!” Steven asked, staring at the crib with starry-eyes.

 “Sure did, kiddo!” Greg replied, looking quite bashful.

 “Greg, this is beautiful...” breathed Lapis as she inspected the crib, “Thanks so much!”

 “Yes!  Thank you, Greg!  This is perfect,” Peridot piped up, running a hand across the crib’s meticulously-decorated wooden frame; upon closer inspection, it was engraved with a pattern that looked like the waves of the ocean.

 “Aw, it was nothing!” a blushing Greg said, “I’m just glad you both like it!”

 “Let me take it into the barn for you,” Garnet said as she hoisted the crib over her shoulder.  She paused as Pumpkin ran out from under the table and excitedly began yapping at her feet.

 “Oh, we didn’t forget about you, Pumpkin...” Garnet told her with a kind smile.  She lowered the crib again, allowing Greg to reach inside it – and pull out what appeared to be a fluffy, orange pet bed.  It, too, was full of new blankets and pillows.

 “Awwww!” cried Steven, “A little bed for Pumpkin, too!”

 Peridot and Lapis beamed, and the small veggie got even more excitable than she was before.  The two Gems couldn’t thank Greg enough for these kind gifts. Hand-in-hand, the couple took a slow walk to the barn behind Garnet, with Pumpkin weaving her way in and out of everyone’s feet as they went.  Peridot and Lapis gazed at each other and smiled – a look of pure love written clearly across both of their faces.  They glanced back to the table, where Amethyst was joking with Steven as Pearl looked on bemusedly.  Everything about this day was perfect.  

 This is a life – and, indeed, an extended family unit – that neither Peridot nor Lapis would swap for anything.

 Lapis stopped walking and gasped as she put a hand to her stomach; she could feel something moving.  Peridot stopped too, and placed one of her hands onto her fiancée’s bump. With a laugh, the pair of them realised what it was - they could feel their daughter kicking.  Peridot knelt down next to Lapis and gently kissed the baby bump.  

 “It won’t be long now...” she murmured.

 Peridot and Lapis both felt something else in this most perfect of moments.  An acute awareness that their lives would soon be changed forever...