#unfortunately i got 3 comms already recently….

[silkjade]

i’ve been making my way through rewatching the night at the museum trilogy recently and it makes me want a museum au comm more than ever !!!!

[fandomflotilla]

Need I say why I’m here again? More fluffy arkos stuff for the PR au please?

The people have spoken! Moar arkos for you.

Okay, so Jaune and Pyrrha have been training in secret for a while. Jaune delightfully oblivious to Pyrrha’s actual identity, and her budding crush.

He’s still not competent, but he’s at least getting better.

So that’s great.

But when you zoom out a bit, things in vale are…complicated. Jaegers always had attrition from a bunch of things, from maintenance to, you know, dying fighting Grimm Kaiju.

And Vale was in a bit of a rough spot. Their premiere Jaeger team, the Xiao Long girls, recently broke up because of “personal difference”, and several good Jaeger teams were sent to mistral in exchange for Pyrrha…who also was unable to pilot a Jaeger.

Long story short, while there were a few Jaeger teams in Vale, they were stretched thin.

So, on one terrible day…that comes to bite them in the ass. Vale’s best Jaeger teams, and most of the Atlas airship fleet was deployed on a wild goose chase in the forests of anima. That may or may not have been partially caused by Cinder & Co.’s actions.

And unfortunately, that was when four category 3 Grimm Kaiju surfaced off Vale’s coast.

The Renora was the only Jaeger close enough to stop them, with even the second closest, the White Rose, not expected to arrive for at least an hour.

Ren and Nora fought valiantly to keep them occupied, but even then, one Kaiju got bored and wandered into the city.

Jaune was getting ready to take a test at the time. More specifically, he was taking his Jaeger training exam. You know, the “once every year, do well or otherwise you will fail” kind of exam. Where you pilot a virtual Jaeger and prove you’re a potential pilot.

When he gets a text from Pyrrha.

“Jaune, I need you to come outside and meet me right now.”

The kaiju sirens are going off, but this is literally the safest place in the city, so the test is going to continue.

“It’s a matter of life and death.”

They’re ushering in students…

“Please.”

The last text is never read.

Pyrrha sighs. She’ll go into battle alone if necessary-

“Pyrrha? I’m here. Where are you?”

Pyrrha zooms in on her screen and seems Jaune’s tiny form hundreds of feet below her, in the middle of the Jaeger launch bay, still wearing his training gear.

The Jaeger launch alarm goes off, and a coordinated chaos ensues as almost everyone clears the bay, confused, as supposedly all the jaegers were already out fighting, right?

Their unasked question was answered, as The Nikos shudders with power, and technicians all around the war machine scramble to decouple everything that had been tied to it.

But to everyone’s surprise, instead of immediately lurching out the door in a rapid deployment, the great machine bends over, and opens a massive hand.

…in front of a shocked, and terrified Jaune.

His scroll beeps.

“Please.”

He cautiously steps onto the massive hand, and is lifted up to the level of the head, where a hatch opens, and he finds…

Pyrrha. In red and bronze Jaeger pilot armor.

Jaune is just staring at her dumbly.

“So…you’re a ranger.”

“Yes.”

“…have you always been a ranger? Or is this like a new thing-“

“Yes, Jaune. I have always been a Ranger.”

“…”

Pyrrha rubs the back of her head sheepishly.

“I was really really hoping we could have this conversation at a better time, but there is kind of a Kaiju destroying the city, and Ren and Nora could really use some help, so…”

She holds out a helmet, and gestures with her head to the neural links that would interface with his training armor.

“I…uh…yeah, yeah sure!” He says, hurriedly putting on the helmet and moving to the neural bridge, systematically plugging the masses of wires into his suit.

“Hey, quick question, is there anything i should know before this?” He says through the comm.

“Don’t worry.” Pyrrha says with a hint of excitement. “In a second, You’re going to be in my head.”

“Ok. Okay. Ohhhhkkkayyyy.” Jaune says, breathing deeply.

“Also, don’t chase the RABIT” she added before flipping the switch.

“Wait, what’s a RAB-“

Suddenly years and years of memories flashed before him. Things he never knew about Pyrrha, things he never thought to ask.

He could feel Pyrrha’s presence in his head too, standing on the sidelines of all of his deepest memories.

Before, with a slam, he was brought back to reality.

He shook his head slightly, and the walls around him moved. He blinked, and slowly raised his arm. To his right, he could see Pyrrha mimicking his movement. But more importantly, out the view screen, he could see The Nikos’s massive metal arm imitating him too.

He turned to Pyrrha to see his gobsmacked grin matched by her tender one as she rolled her and her jaeger’s shoulder like someone who’d just woken from a long rest.

She looked to him for assurance, and he gave her a nod.

“Let’s do this.” She whispered, and as one, they walked the metal behemoth out of the launch bay and into the warzone that Vale had become.

[lemony-snickers]

Lem, lem ,lem!!!<3 <3 <3

Can u answer 17., 18. And 20. C: <3

( c○m€ b@☆Ack :* )

hello, sweet kali. thank you for playing.

(ps. did you all know kali has a ko-fi where you can tip her for her beautiful art and sometimes even commission her? it's true & you should check it out if you have not already. i got an absolutely stunning comm from her recently & would absolutely recommend. <3)

17. what do you do to motivate yourself to write?

eh, i'm pretty bad at doing it these days, if i'm honest. generally, it's making sure i have a dedicated space and time to write. unfortunately, the best time for me to do this is also the only time i can go running, and that's been winning out for months and months now.

18. do you have people encouraging you to write?

nisi, always. as you well know she's about the most encouraging friend on the planet.

in my real life, my father and (very surprisingly) my uncle keep telling me "i have to write," which is honestly very exhausting, lol.

20. how do you usually come up with story ideas?

this is difficult to answer because it can happen a number of ways. sometimes it's a dream, sometimes my writing will be inspired by some other story or a single line of dialouge/conversation i overhear. often, my stories will sort of start as one single image that i get stuck in my head and then have to figure out how to get to it.

ask me stuff if you wanna

[overdramatic-queer-antagonist]

Mick Mercury's Failed Attempt At Espionage

Summary: Mick Mercury was easily the most incompetent person Peter had ever met, and it infuriated him how long it took for them to be introduced. Notes: There is a severe lack of Mick Mercury in Season 3, and that will not stand, so I put him in.

Read it on Ao3

Fic:

"JJ! Hey! JJ! Hello? Can you hear me?"

Peter would not have made any connection to the aforementioned 'JJ,' and Juno Steel had he not been glowering at the petulant ex-detective when the unfamiliar man called out and seen how Juno had tensed at the voice.

The large man made a noise of annoyance, and oh God, he's walking towards Juno. Peter wasn't worried for the lady, he was wholly aware Juno knew how to handle himself, but Peter had yet to foresee an outcome of this conversation that didn't blow their cover.

"Juno Steel!" the man yelled as Juno continued to ignore him. 

It was, unfortunately, very clear who he was addressing, and the woman Juno had been flirting with gave him a confused look. Peter would be lying if that didn't please him ever so slightly, but, as always, he filed that feeling away for later and went to save Juno's ass.

"Dear," Peter called out, attempting to get into the act of a doting husband, which had recently become much more difficult for him. Juno glanced at him appreciatively and went to stand at his side, where Peter promptly put an arm around his waist.

“You gave me a bit of a scare Mercury,” Juno said, looking at Peter for confirmation he wasn’t being dumb. Peter nodded ever so slightly as permission to continue. “Haven’t heard my maiden name in a while, no one’s called me that- well- since the wedding!” Juno forced a laugh that sounded more nervous than casual, but the woman he was talking with looked like she understood which- okay. That bothered Peter because that meant she was okay with flirting with a married man, but whatever, filed away.

“Wedding?” Mercury yelled. “JJ, You never told me anything about any wedding.”

“Listen, Mick, I know you're upset, but can we talk in private,” Juno’s eyes flickered to the woman he’d been speaking with, and Mick- Mick Mercury. What a fucking name- nodded. Juno led Mercury to a private corner of the ballroom, and Peter followed automatically. Mick gave Juno a look, but Juno returned it with one of his own, and Mick dropped whatever he was thinking. Peter couldn’t decide if it was frustrating or charming that they could hold a conversation without speaking. He settled on frustrating, simply because they were clearly close, and Juno had never thought to mention him. Granted, Peter wasn’t sure why that frustrated him, but it did. Another thing to file away.

The exact second they’d arrived at their designated corner, Mick spun on his feet. “Okay, what the hell, J? I always thought when you got married I’d at least get invited! I mean, obviously, I thought Benten or- hell, even Sasha would be man/maid of honor, but I thought I’d get an invite!” Juno tensed at the mention of Benzaiten, and Peter subconsciously put a hand on his lower back. Juno tensed more at this, but after a moment, relaxed. Mick continued on, oblivious. “And come on Juno, how long have you ever known this guy? We saw each other recently, and you didn’t even think to mention him?! I mean, I know we’ve grown apart since I almost got you killed by a serial killer lady, but come on, man!”

Juno gave Mick an incredulous look. “Okay, first of all, last time we saw each other, a robot made you try to kill me, not exactly the best time to bring it up. Second-”

“Second…” Peter interrupted before he, himself knew what he was doing. “We’ve known each other for three years. And my apologies for the lack of notice, Mick. See, I lead a very dangerous life, and my lady and I thought it safer to keep knowledge of my existence away from anyone who wasn’t trained in combat. And also Rita, but mainly because she tapped Juno’s comms and listened in on a very…”

“Oh my god!”

“Sorry, dear. I forgot how easily flustered you are.”

Mick gave Peter an appraising look for a second before deciding the answer was good enough for him and moving on. “So if you live such a dangerous life,” he lowered his voice to a -frankly terrible- whisper, “Then what are you doing here?”

Peter lowered his voice conspiratorially, “I really shouldn’t tell you this but, we’re on a secret mission. ‘Above Dark Matters’ secret. How about you?” This was a ridiculous cover, but he’d gotten away with stranger, besides, he was a little distracted by the woman Juno had been speaking to, looking their way, hungrily, no doubt at his companion. Peter’s grip around Juno tightened, and, to his surprise, Juno leaned into it.

“Really? Above Dark Matters? Juno, that’s great! Wow, Sasha must’ve flipped when you told her!”

“I didn’t Mercury, that’s what secret means. And I didn’t tell her about the mister either, and if you do, I’ll gut you like a fish.”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Good. Hey, my husband asked a good question, why are you here?”

“I thought it might be good to get off of Mars after the whole Newtown debacle, so I got a job at a catering company, and then I got fired for eating all of the cupcakes, so I decided to join the party, and they haven’t noticed yet.”

Juno snickered. "Glad to see you're back to normal."

"Yeah, me too. Being responsible was exhausting, even with the good habits some of it brought. Anyways, I'll get back to the party, let you two plan out your secret mission," Mick finished that statement walking backward and, when it was finished, promptly ran into a plant. 

"What was that about?" Juno asked. "I mean, I get that you had to lie to him, but why... That?"

"Why did you leave me in that hotel room?" Peter asked. He'd meant it as a joke, at Juno's expense, of course, but it came off a bit more genuine than he would have liked.

Juno flinched, and for a moment, all Peter wanted to do was sweep him up in a hug, apologize for bringing it up and move on, but Peter was allowed to be angry. After what felt like an eternity but was probably 5 seconds tops, Juno spoke, "We need to talk about that eventually. You know. If we're gonna be working together."

"And we will, Dear Detective, but not right now. I believe the bidding is starting soon."

---

The bidding did not go as planned. While Peter would like to claim it was entirely the fault of his accomplice, he would be dishonest if he did so, and Peter Nureyev lied to many people, but not himself. Mostly.

Their new plan was as followed, Juno would continue to distract Ms. Zolotovna -the woman, who'd been eyeing him all night- and Peter would swipe it while nobody- not even the cameras- was looking. The first flaw of this plan came from one Mick Mercury, who was really starting to piss Peter off.

Mick had cornered him while he was making his rounds to destroy all the cameras.

"Hey! Uh... I never got your name, but Juno's husband!"

Peter turned around a little more aggressively than he meant to. "Yes?" He asked, already on his last nerve.

"I- uhh... listen, bud, this conversation is gonna be real awkward if you don't give me something to call you."

Peter quickly scanned his brain for a moniker he'd used with Juno, one that the lady may have mentioned to Mick in passing but not have gone into too much detail. There was only one with the chance of fitting the bill. "Rex. My name is Rex."

Mick's eyes lit up with recognition, and Peter immediately regretted his decision to use a name that had been plastered all over Hyperion to a native of the area. But there didn't seem to be any panic in Mick's eyes. Just... worry.

"Listen," Mick said, more serious than he had been all night. "I don't wanna give you some shovel talk. I'm sure you already got that from Rita." Peter had, which was strange considering Juno swore up and down that he never mentioned their past relationship. "But I just want you to know that, when all that went down, and you left, you really broke his heart. So just- be careful this time, okay? You and I both know he's more delicate than he lets on, and I can tell from the way you look at him that you love him, so just don't mess it up. Please?"

There was a definite moment where Peter stopped breathing until he remembered Juno and he were posing as newlyweds. He then forced his well-practiced laugh and asked, "Am I that obvious?"

"Yeah, like the way you were glaring at Ms. Zolotovna? You looked like you wanted to kill her! Oh! But you don't have to worry about that. Juno looked like he was just as close to killing her as you were, and I don't think he's ever cheated in his life. Well, there was that one time, in second grade when he-"

Mercury went on rambling for a while. He and Rita would get along swimmingly. Not that Peter was paying attention. No, he was far too busy staring into space. Apparently, Mick thought he was jealous of Ms. Zolotovna. Which, of course, couldn't be farther from the truth. He'd just been bothered that Juno would allow himself to become so distracted, that was all... Mostly.

Looking at him with Zolotovna felt wrong. Of course, it felt wrong, Peter tried to convince himself. Once upon a time, he had been in love with Juno. Even if those feelings had since dissipated it still made his stomach churn to think of Juno with anyone else. Maybe that wasn't healthy. Peter was starting to think maybe Juno was right about them needing to talk. But now was not the time nor the place for a heart. Just another thing for him to file away.

Right, Mercury was talking to him. God, Peter really needed to swipe that map so they could get out of there. "Well, Mick. I can assure you, I'd sooner die than hurt Juno. Will that be all?"

Mick seemed to have been interrupted mid-sentence, but he was friends with Juno, so Peter assumed he was used to it. "Oh! No, Juno wanted me to go get you for your-" he dropped his voice to a stage whisper "-secret-ay mission-ay."

Peter's brain stopped for a solid second. "Was that- was that meant to be Pig Latin?"

"No," Mick said, winking dramatically.

Peter followed Mick, a tad bit shaken by the implication that Mick Mercury didn't know what Pig Latin was in the slightest until the pair eventually reached Juno.

"Took you long enough, what? Were you stuck in a flowerpot?" The lady asked when they'd reached him.

Peter laughed, not entirely sure who the question was directed at. "Mick tells me you have a plan?"

"Not a plan, an observation. There's a camera trained on the map, one which you won't have time to dismantle before the dance begins in-" Juno looked at the grand clock in the center of the room "-4 minutes."

Peter grimaced in thought before eventually coming up with a solution. "Mick, when I give you a signal, try to get caught. Juno and I'll give you a lift back to Mars."

Peter was expecting some resistance from Mick, but he just nodded enthusiastically, "Okay, Rex. Uhh... I'm not really used to all this spy stuff. What's the signal?"

Peter only thought for a moment before coming up with an answer, "I'll trip on my heels."

Juno laughed, "Babe, that's a shit idea. What if you actually trip?"

Peter pointedly ignored the feeling in his chest when Juno called him 'babe' and instead responded, "I don't trip, dear."

Juno blushed and began to argue before being interrupted as the dance began. Peter silently held his hand out for Juno to take, and the lady barely hesitated before taking it.

Once they were far enough from Mick, Juno began to snicker softly to himself.

"What?"

"Feeling nostalgic, Rex?"

Peter laughed along with him. "What? It's the only name I could imagine you bringing up. Granted, I didn't expect it to stick with Mercury, but uh... I'm-"

"Don't. At least you had a reason. I was just scared."

"Of what?"

"Later, Nureyev," Juno whispered.

As they walked onto the dance floor, Peter could almost laugh with delight. Zolotovna hadn't been tracking his companion this entire night. She'd been tracking him. Maybe that said something about his self-confidence, maybe it said something about his affection for Juno, or maybe all it said was he would not make a very good detective. Either way, there would be a slight change in their normal routine.

"Juno, I do believe you'll have to be the one to swipe the map, someone seems to be watching me."

'Ugh! She's still doing it? That's messed up. Like our cover is as a married couple, and she has no problem making goo-goo eyes at you!"

Peter laughed, "Madam Dauphine, are you jealous?" 

Juno gave him a smirk, "Of course not, Monsieur Dauphine. I know you have better taste than that."

"I must've if I married you."

Juno gave him a smile. Not the snarky one Peter'd been expecting. A soft smile, one full of admiration. Peter remembered this smile, right after they'd stopped Miasma, and Juno miraculously survived, bleeding from one eye and looking at Peter as if he'd been the one locking himself in a room about to explode.

"What's with that look?" Peter asked.

"Nothing," Juno said. "I just forgot how fun it is to work with you when you aren't pretending to be someone else."

Peter grinned at Juno as they separated. Him going to distract Zolotovna, Juno going to swipe a billion-dollar artifact.

---

Their plan had gone off without a hitch, Zolotovna was rambling on with some love confession, or the other, and Peter was pretending to listen, watching in awe as Juno gracefully swiped their prize from behind his glasses. Peter had come up with some logical reason to reject Zolotovna, guessing she wouldn't be all too satisfied with the excuse of "I'm happily married," something about organized crime. He doesn't remember. Even managed to get a little over a billion creds from her.

He then made his way over to Juno. Planning on waiting a few minutes to escape into the crowd before signaling Mercury. And as he made his way to Juno, a golden goddess, a perfect image of beauty and grace, with his dark brown skin and curly hair and the scars scattered across his skin. Peter did the unthinkable. He tripped. Too distracted by the image in front of him to notice his misstep. That is until Mercury started taunting the guards.

Then he, Juno, and Mercury were running across the yard to where Jet was waiting with the car. At some point, Peter's arm had ended up around Juno's waist, likely when he nearly fell over trying to throw his heels off and grabbed onto Peter for stability. They finally reached the car, and Juno threw open the door, the three of them clamoring in at top speed.

"Hello, Ransom, Juno. Who's this?" Jet asked in the same deadpan tone, as always.

"We'll tell you later, now fucking drive!" Juno rushed, a little breathless.

"Alright, then. Buckle your seatbelts."

"Go!"

---

When they got back to the ship, Buddy spent approximately 30 minutes rotating between tearing Peter and Juno to shreds for their performance and greeting Mick and asking if he was staying for dinner. She did, however, agree to bring Mick back to Mars before making their way to their next mission.

Later, Peter and Buddy had a much kinder conversation. One that brought up an emotion that Peter had not felt in a very long time. Familial love. He would try not to think too much of it, but an undeniable comfort had begun to settle into Peter's stomach.

There was another knock on the door after she left, and he already knew who it was. Finally, after nearly a year, it was later.

[hasquetzorkukudoneanythingwrong]

Foggy Fate

Recently Rex and Quetz had dealt with two annoying situations, both of which had left Quetz in a situation that Rex hated to see her in. First was a meeting with another universe's master, who decided to immediately start fighting and had managed to beat out Quetz with his servants by a bit of luck. Second was in Madrid where a trap specifically meant for Quetz had weakened her and had her captured by the enemy.

The two managed to come out fine in both situations, Rex even gaining new symbiotic powers in Madrid, but he still hated how it happened at all. He got paranoid, and wanted to prevent any similar scenario from happening again. One measure was that he requested many of the caster servants create a special charm to prevent Quetz from getting harmed by any magical traps like in Madrid.

But suddenly, the control room had detected a singularity. Nothing major, but needed to be addressed soon.

Rex: another one? We've been seeing a lot of these lately.

Da Vinci: might be a bit of a side effect of the lostbelts. Singularities happen all the time anyways but these have been different.

Sion: this one's in London, same time period as the London singularity of The Grand Order.

Rex: interesting...

Da Vinci: it's not nearly as big an issue, but we'd still like you to take a look.

Rex: I will, but I'm not taking any risks.

Under normal circumstances, these small singularities would be handled by Rex and Quetz, but after the last two incidents he felt he needed to take further measures. For one he brought in Jalter as backup.

Sion: bringing in some backup?

Rex: yeah... I won't be having Quetz harmed again...

Quetz: I understand your feelings mi amor... but still a bit embarrassing...

Rex: I realize that, but... that's reality unfortunately. Besides we know Jalter's dependable backup.

Jalter, blushing a bit: ...thanks master...

Sion: anyways, we need you all in the coffins soon.

After the 3 entered their respective coffins it was time to rayshifting.

3...2...1!

The three found themselves in the foggy streets of London. It looked like a ghost town, not a soul in sight. Not too unique for singularities but still unnerving.

Da Vinci: ...huh, that's odd. About the same time you got there, we've detected another life signature and a servant.

Quetz: ...could it be another universe's master of chaldea?

Sion: that's a very strong possibility. If they're anything like the last one... then be on your guard.

Rex: don't need to tell me twice

Jalter: do you know where they could be?

Da Vinci: yes... a few blocks away

Rex: ...great...

Meanwhile, with the other universe's master: Maya.

Maya: so you've detected more servants?

Maya was sent in to deal with the same problem, she brought along her surrogate daughter Abigail Williams.

Da Vinci: yes... though one seems a bit odd. Two are pretty standard, rider and avenger classes. But there's another that's... fluctuating? It's not far from a berserker but...

Maya: could be a pseudo-servant or something?

Sion: maybe...?

Abby: are they source of the singularity?

Da Vinci: not likely...

Sion: heads up, they're getting close

Rex: hey you!

Maya: here we go...

The two groups could see each other, Rex decided to call Maya out. When Maya saw the group she already got a decent read on the servants. She knew Jalter already but this one was... different? Closer to the one from Orleans. Quetzalcoatl was... dangerous, not malevolent but a risk. Rex was... confusing. She could tell he was a decent guy but something seemed off.

Maya: hey there!

Rex: hey...

Maya: lemme guess... are you another universe's master?

Rex: yeah... same for you?

Maya: yup! You got some interesting servants there...

Rex: thanks... what's your name?

Maya: Maya. Maya Hinagami.

Rex: Maya... lemme ask you something, you know a Faye?

Maya: yeah actually... you know her too?

Rex: we've met up a couple times.

Maya: nice! Wait! She might've told me about you too. Lemme guess your name... Rox?

Rex: Rox?! It's Rex!

Maya: oh! Sorry about that! Must've misheard her.

Jalter: hey... I'd hate to cut the discussion short... but the fog's getting thicker.

Quetz: she's right.

Da Vinci(s): you better get moving *bzzt* servant *bzzt* danger- *bzzt*

Eventually the comms cut off, the fog now much thicker and the masters were getting nervous.

Maya: Rex! You still there?

Rex: yeah!

The groups huddled close to stay safe.

Abby: Maya... what could it be?

Maya: not sure...

Quetz: don't worry girls, we'll come out of this fine.

Jalter: yeah, always turns out good eventually.

Then the group heard an unnerving scrapping sound. Like metal being dragged across the pavement.

Rex: what the hell?

Maya: must be the source of the singularity.

Abby: what could it be

But before anyone could answer suddenly the enemy strikes from behind

Jalter, blocking with her sword: fuck!

Then suddenly they disappear.

Rex: what the?

Maya: some kind of warping ability?

Quetz: this will be annoying.

The fog was thick with mana, messing with the comms and preventing Maya from getting a read on the enemy.

Suddenly another strike!

Quetz, countering with her Macana: don't think so!

Gone again

Rex: is it the fog that let's them do that?

Maya: no idea. But it's irritating regardless.

Rex: I got an idea... on my signal all of you duck.

Maya: what do you have in mind?

Rex: you'll see.

After a bit of waiting, Rex gave the signal.

Rex: now!

The rest ducked and Rex unleashed dozens of spikes from his body! He feels some impaling the enemy servant.

Rex: gotcha!

Maya: wtf was that?!

Rex: long story!

The fog clears a bit but not much and the enemy servant is seen stabbed in several places in their body. Finally getting a good look at them the group can see what their opponent looks like. They're covered almost entirely by a cloak, with a large white mask covering their face, tho it seemed to have been damaged by the spikes.

Maya: are they still alive?

Abby: they aren't fading...

Suddenly the enemy servant warps again, leaving some blood dripping on the spikes they were impaled on.

Rex: fucking hell!

Quetz: that didn't kill them?!

Jalter: I've had enough of this bitch!

Jalter in a fit of anger unleashes a large circle of flames around the group.

Maya: Jalter! What the hell!?

Jalter: they can't warp into fire that easily!

Maya: but it may kill us!

Then suddenly the enemy warps rights above the group, axe in hand ready to strike!

Rex: there you are! Maya, Gander!

Suddenly the two shoot out consecutive gander shot right at the enemy, causing them to lose focus and let go of the weapon.

Immediately in response Quetzalcoatl leaps and grabs the enemy forcing them into an aerial suplex and launching them into the flames!

???: RAAAAHHH!!!

Jalter: now I'll hande this!

Le Grondement de la Haine

She unleashes her noble phantasm killing the enemy servant.

The fog clears away, and to clear the flames Quetz uses her authority to bring about enough rain to put it out.

After everything is said and done the two masters have to talk to their respective Da Vincis and Sions.

Sion: don't know if you figured it out or not from everything but it seems the enemy was an alternative summons of Jack the Ripper.

Abby: did Jack... grow up?

Da Vinci: no... not likely. Jake the Ripper's a very unique servant when it comes to how they can be summoned.

Maya: that's what happens when you're never even seen.

Rex: so is the singularity gonna clear up soon?

Sion: actually, it looks like you two being there is causing a new but much weaker singularity. Not far off from the incidents with Faye and so on.

Rex: ah, just us being here will keep it stable until we leave.

Da Vinci: yep! So if you guys want to talk like with others then by all means!

Maya: is that cool with you?

Rex: suuure, don't see why not.

The two groups sat at a table near a Cafe that was still abandoned. Discussing their adventures and making comparisons. When Maya learned Rex had not 1 but 6 different versions of Quetzalcoatl she was shocked!

Maya: how does it keep happening?!

Rex: your guess is as good as mine.

Maya: ...how the...

Maya, remembering what Rex did: wait! Another thing! How the hell did you just shoot out spikes from your body!

Rex: oh yeah! That

Rex explained the events of the Madrid singularity and how he gained symbiotic pseudo-servant powers to save Quetzalcoatl.

Maya: that explains a lot.

Rex: yeah... they were supposed to leave with the singularity but nope! So until we understand things better I'm stuck like this. Not that I'm complaining or anything.

Maya: well I probably wouldn't complain either.

The two continued on, until an interesting topic came up. Maya didn't bring it up until the servants went off on their own for a bit.

Maya: so... Faye tells me you and Quetz are actually married.

Rex: yup! Tied the knot a while ago now.

Maya: but... are you sure that's the best idea?

Rex: why not? I love her! I've loved her for so much of this journey, and she loves me! After I resummoned her in Russia and we together again I decided then and there I should propose.

Maya: I understand that but... she's a servant. She's not going to be here when this is all over.

Rex: ...yes she will be.

Maya: ...what do you mean?

Rex: she'll still be with me, after the lostbelts and so on, we'll still be together.

Maya: but after everything's said and done the servants won't be needed and just like after Goetia will be unsummoned.

Rex: well they can't unsummon her.

Maya: yes they can? Why wouldn't they be able to?

Rex: because back in Russia I didn't use the Chaldea system to summon her, I used a traditional summoning circle.

Maya: !!! You did what!?!?

Maya: how the hell!? How is your body able to handle the strain of not only a servant but a divine spirit a that!?

Rex: well... according to my records my magical circuits are scarily good? They said it's astounding I had such good ones when my family had little prior connection to magecraft.

Maya: so... you were just blessed with amazing circuits?!

Rex: no! My predecessor... actually did some small experiments on members of the family as the generations went on... until I came about with the right circuits.

Maya: ah, so you're the result of generations of experimentation to create an heir with the right circuits and can thus summon a divine spirit without Chaldeas, no problem.

Rex: well... yeah....

Maya realized just how odd of a master candidate Rex was. When it came to the world of magecraft such experiments weren't unheard of, but rarely did they produce such results. How fortunate for him to end up in chaldea. And he needn't worry about losing his wife thanks to that.

Rex: but hey... I'm sure you can still be with Helena after you finish up with the lostbelts.

Maya: ...how can you be so sure?

Rex: I dunno... call it optimism or call it foolishness, but I think you two can still find happiness together in some way after all this. You two had to say goodbye once and then got to meet again, whose to say it won't happen again?

Maya found his optimistic view on things... amusing. Maybe he was right... in some form or another, they may be able to stay together after all is said and done.

The two groups went their separate ways eventually. Seeming to have made new friends of another universe's masters again. Time will tell if they were to meet again.

A/N: so there's the Rex/Maya crossover. Thanks to @hasabbydoneanythingwrong for volunteering Maya as tribute. Hopefully you all like it and hopefully I got Maya right.

Tags

@hasishtardoneanythingwrong @haspaulbunyandoneanythingwrong @hasnightingaledoneanythingwrong @haskamadoneanythingwrong @hasbbdoneanythingwrong @grievouslyxorvia

[onelastbreath-writes]

I’ll Meet You There (Part 1)

Pairing: Marcus Moreno/ Wife!Reader (AFAB, no y/n)

Word Count: 2.5K

Warnings: Mentions child loss, loss of a spouse, survivor’s guilt, vague references to suicide/suicidal thoughts after loss of child (all located in the first 500 words, so it’s brief and not too dark, but please take care) and violence, swearing, and action/fighting.

Summary: What if Marcus’s wife didn’t actually die? What if she and a few others were kidnapped during an attack on Heroics’ HQ, and then held captive for years without realizing? If the only thing you “remember” from your past is that your husband and daughter were killed, well, you surely wouldn’t want to go back to the people who you believe did it. But maybe, with the help of a tenacious child and some re-awaking parental instincts, you’ll be able to break through the brainwashing and forced amnesia, and find your way home.

Tags: Hurt/No comfort (for now), ANGST, eventual happy ending, one really sad man for whom I just keep making things worse, #sorrynotsorry

A/N: This is my first We Can Be Heroes fic, and first reader fic, so please be gentle. I’ve got the rest of the story outlined, so I hope I can get down to writing and posting it soonish, but my RL is busy and doesn’t leave much time/energy for quick updates. If you like it and want me to do a taglist, let me know so you can know when I update again. Also a big thank you to the amazing Jay @disgruntledspacedad​ and her fic The Right Thing for inspiring this one, and for allowing me to use her wife!reader idea. Please go check her blog out, and give her some love <3

AO3 Masterlist

---

“You’ve been in a terrible accident, Doctor, and I regret to inform you of your husband’s and daughter’s passing. Our rescue and recovery efforts after the incident were unfortunately unsuccessful, and you have our deepest sympathies.”

It took months for those words to even sink into you; months before you even remembered anything about who you were... the accident, or the attack, as it was more commonly known by you and the other victims, took your entire life away in an instant. You survived, physically, but at the cost of your partner? Your child? All the memories of your life together? How could you be worth it?

“Your transcripts and accomplishments are phenomenal, Doctor, and I’m in need of talented and capable individuals such as yourself to help right the wrongs, and demand justice, from those who have committed such heinous acts against us. The Heroics are murderers, destroyers of peace, and they have gotten away with their crimes for far too long. They’ve been praised and applauded and worshipped as gods while all they truly are, are terrorists. How many more innocent lives can we allow to be lost to their carelessness? ‘For the greater good’ is quite the insult when the people saying such things aren’t the ones losing their families to the chaos, wouldn’t you agree? Join me, Doctor, and we can make a difference.”

It was easy decision for you, even in the early days of your recovery. From the distant and foggy memories of your past, your anguish in what you could recall, you knew that if you could stop someone else from having to feel the loss and pain that comes from losing their spouse and children, you would do so in a heartbeat.

Your husband had been an incredible man, your Everything, you would imagine, going by the ache in your heart when you thought of being without him. His name, his appearance; that was all lost to you when you lost him. His existence in what could be healed of your memories was just a shadow, a shade, the vague impression of the man you loved. You remembered his warmth, his kindness and gentleness, his love and devotion to you and the child you created together.

And your beautiful baby girl... if thoughts of your husband left your heart aching, then thoughts of your daughter left you in unparalleled agony, completely inconsolable. You tried to avoid thinking of her, if you were being honest, tried to leave all what-ifs and could’ve/should’ve/would‘ve’s behind... you had worked with people, mothers, who had lost children before, had seen them tear themselves apart in their grief, taking the blame for something that was in no way their fault; you had seen them destroy their lives with their hoarded guilt and perceived crimes... you couldn’t allow yourself to fall for that, those falsehoods, you had to be alive if you wanted to honour your child and husband’s sacrifice.  

“We will make them pay for what they’ve done to us, Doctor, I promise you that. Together, we can get justice for your husband, for your little Missy.”

---

Marcus knew something was wrong as soon as his commlink started transmitting static instead of his teammates’ conversations. The Heroics had been deployed to stop a hoard of rogue security androids that were infected by a virus or something (he couldn’t usually follow the technobabble), which had led them to escape their testing facility and target nearby civilians with their advanced weapons technology.

Evacuating the citizens trapped in the line of fire was the team’s first objective, and once the area was cleared of potential victims, they moved onto the containment and neutralization of the enemy combatants. The Heroics team was decently cohesive; they could work together to ensure the protection of innocent lives while in a firefight, but once the civilians were in the clear and the stakes not so high, the supersized egos of the members emerged with a fiery passion. This particular firefight was no different.

“Hey ‘Legend, bet you a week of incident reports that my count is higher!” Miracle Guy’s voice broke out over the ‘link, as eager to show-boat as ever, from where he was steadily piling up his deactivated attackers.

“I’ll take that action, Miracle, easy. It’ll be like taking candy from a baby!” Crimson Legend wasn’t the type of person who could ignore a bet, especially one issued from Miracle.  “You’re probably so behind already that you don’t even stand a chance, ha!”

Of course, they just had to make it a game, keep the superiority contest going; like a single mistake couldn’t cost them a life or a limb. And just to further prove how amazingly mature the rest of Marcus’s team of Adult Superheroes were, they all started in on the bet too.  

“If I beat your totals, I want a week off from training!”

“Ha! Like any of you have a chance of winning against me! I want my on-call weekend, off”

“If I win, you’re all my personal slaves for the rest of the day!”

Did Marcus say Adult Superheroes? He meant infants.  

And they had started the mission so well, communicating and strategizing, actual teamwork instead of bickering and joking around like children. Hell, even their children didn’t get into as much trouble as their parents could.  

“Guys, it’s really not the best time to be playing around. We need to focus on-” He was cut off by the loud static burst of an out-of-range radio. Shit. That’s not good. If his comms unit was fried, he couldn’t direct his teammates, couldn’t keep track of them, couldn’t help them.

They were pretty spread out by now, giving everyone room to use their powers without worrying about another Heroic getting caught in the blast zone. He knew from their most recent locational sound off that Crushing Low and Invisi Girl were working together near the intersection two streets over from him, and if he could make his way over to them, he could figure out what was going on.

Marcus needed to know if it was just his commlink that was out of commission, or if their entire network had gone down. The former scenario was a minor inconvenience, the latter was a major issue. Either he’d have to lead his team by correspondence, or he’d have to worry about them being completely alone in the field, without support from HQ, and without any chance of backup or rescue.  

He couldn’t worry about the details now, he had to keep focused on finishing off the seemingly endless wave of androids. Androids with guns. Androids with guns that he was trying to kill with a pair of katanas... Maybe he hadn’t thought his primary weapon for this mission out very well... It was just something that he’d have to come back to later. For now: sword, robot, teammates.

---

They didn’t pay him enough for this. He should have gone into acting like he had planned before his powers manifested. This sort of shit didn’t happen to actors.  

Marcus had destroyed all the androids delaying him from reaching his nearest teammates and was finally able to move to their location with relative ease and only minor distraction. He could see Crushing Low laying waste to the few remaining functional robots in the area, and could assume that Invisi Girl was around somewhere, disabling any downed but not dead enemies while protecting ‘Low’s back.  

He was proven right when he heard a feminine voice call for him to “hit the deck, Moreno!”.

“Thanks Vis! You two doing alright? What’s your comms sitch?” He stood back up straight, just missing being nailed in the head by a flying metal limb had it not been for her heads-up.

“We’re a-okay! Comms are out though. No known damage to them, no knocks or surges, might be the tech, or it might be the channel. We’ll have to see what Tech-No thinks.” She was still invisible, but Marcus could imagine her animated expressions and movements. She was one of the most... normal... of the Heroics, if normal could ever be used to describe any of the team. Reliable and observant, with a good sense of battle strategy. He greatly appreciated her skills and efficiency in the field; she and Tech-No being the most down-to-earth of the Heroics, most willing to help him keep the peace between the rest of them.

“I’ll watch Low’s back if you can go find Tech. We need to know what’s going on, ASAP. If all the comms are down, and Tech can’t get them back up, I need you to find everyone and tell them to meet back at the robotics facility. Get Miracle and Fast to help if you can. If anyone’s injured, they’re your first priority, okay? Thanks, Vis.”

---

Getting every member of the Heroics team back together took nearly an hour, all coming fresh from the fight but thankfully not too banged up or bruised. They set up a perimeter once enough of the team had arrived to their meeting spot, allowing Tech-No to deep-dive into  investigating their communications malfunction.

“It’s the network, not our comms. We’re dealing with a drop either from HQ’s side, or a forced drop here from RFI. But considering the standard distance and all the buildings and stuff around us, a radio frequency jammer wouldn’t be able to block our communications network as far out as we were. We must assume that the problem comes from HQ. which presents further concerns, obviously. I designed most of the technology there myself, so I know exactly how much work it would be to take down the whole system. We need to consider this as part of a bigger plot, and plan accordingly.” Tech-No’s eventual explanation hang heavy in the air, no one willing to break the silence following it... If something had happened to HQ… Their co-workers were there, their friends, their children…  

Marcus thought of his daughter and wife. They were both there today. His wife worked in the medical centre, and they brought their daughter there for daycare. If something happened there... shit. If he was panicking about his family already, his teammates were doing the same. He had to head this off. He couldn’t let this get out of control. He took a breath and squared his shoulders. It was time to be Marcus Moreno the leader of the Heroics, not Marcus the husband and father. Lead by example, they’re all counting on you.

“We have no proof that anything is actually wrong, and until we know for sure why we can’t reach them, we need to do our jobs. Finish the mission. We’ve always trusted our people to hold down the fort at home so we can help people out here, and they’ve never let us down before. We are not going to doubt them now, understood? Whatever happened? We know HQ is doing their best to keep our loved ones safe. So, we finish up here, quickly and thoroughly, and then we head back to base. Let’s get moving,” He met his teammates’ eyes, allowed them to witness his own fears, but also his stubborn determination. He wasn’t asking them to ignore or dismiss their worries, but rather, put it into finishing the mission so they could go home sooner.  

No one fought him; thankfully just picked their tasks and headed out.  

“Tech, we need transport. Now. I don’t care how you do it, just get it done, alright?” Marcus refused to acknowledge the slight tremble in his voice, tried to breathe around the lump in his throat and the dread sinking in his stomach. He desperately stopped himself from thinking about coincidences and probabilities. This was all a fluke, a random string of events that didn’t mean anything more was going on. They’d be able to laugh about it when they got home and saw everything was just as they’d left it. He had to believe that. He didn’t have any other choice.

—-

Transport home turned out to be a military helicopter big enough to fit the whole team, in addition to the fully outfitted squad of soldiers already inside.

“According to the press release your director gave, there was small but powerful group of gifted individuals who invaded Heroics’ Headquarters, intending to either kidnap or kill certain “important personnel” within the building. Didn’t specify much more than that, other than that your organization would be dedicating as much manpower as they could to bring “those who would cause such destruction and terror” to justice. The address was filmed in the parking lot, but there were a lot of emergency responders and vehicle in the background. I’m sorry we can’t tell you anything more, but well, we were scrambled to your location ASAP, barely had time for the news we got...” The staff sergeant sitting across from Marcus briefed the team about what the intel they had on the HQ attack. And that was what it was. An attack. The thing they all feared most.

“Thank you for the information, and for the ride back home; we lost communication in the middle of a battle, with no clue as to why. Now, at least, we have an idea of what we should expect when we arrive.” The mention of “important personnel” jump-started Marcus’s heart into overdrive. That was the code phrase they used when describing their most vulnerable people to the public, non-combatants and injured persons usually; a smokescreen meant to dissuade targeted attacks, and shift attention away from those who couldn’t protect themselves in the case of an emergency. It was also the code that frequently represented their children.  

The families of the Heroics were classified as high-risk targets; villains and enemies of their organization didn’t often have the moral decency to leave their loved ones out of the fight. So, to afford as much anonymity and protection possible, any time the team had to reference their partners and children in physical records and documentation, it was under that code phrase.  

This attack was centred on their kids.  

What kind of monster do you have to be to go after a bunch of kindergarten and primary school children?

Fuck.

The only good news was that there was no mention of the attack being a success.  

So, all the Heroics knew for certain was that a group of villains had tried to get to their children, and while obviously causing significant damage to HQ, they had been stopped. Were unsuccessful. The Home Team had saved the day again.  

Marcus thanked every deity he could think of for keeping his and his friends’ kids safe.  

The rest of the flight home was quiet. Him and teammates finally able to get some rest after all the fighting and panic, and the soldiers conversing just loud enough to be heard over the headsets and hum of the chopper’s motors.  

He was pulled back from the edge of unconsciousness he had been drifting along for a while when the pilot gave them their five-minute ETA.

They were home at long last, and everything was going to be just fine.

---

[Next Part]

[awhitehead17]

Whumptober 2020: Day 23 - What’s a whumpee gotta do to get some sleep around here?

Prompt: Sleep deprivation

Summary: When Tim gets hit with Poison Ivy’s new toxin, he’s forced to stay awake until an antidote is created. Normally it would be easy however since he’s already pulled two all-nighters prior to being affected, it becomes a whole lot more difficult.

Enjoy! :D 

“Okay, so, don’t be mad, but something’s happened.”

It takes all of Bruce’s self-restraint to not let the sigh slip past his lips upon hearing his eldest son’s words. He knew the night had been going too smooth to be true, nothing has happened up until Dick called him through the comms.

“B? You still there?” Dick’s concerned voice travels into his ear.

“Yes, Nightwing, I’m still here.” Bruce answers evenly, waiting for his son to get to the point.

Nothing good ever follows the words ‘something’s happened’. 

“In simple terms, Red Robin’s been hit by Ivy’s new toxin. He’s fine, except not if you know what I mean.”

Unfortunately Bruce does know what he means. Tim is fine physically and not injured however he has a poisonous toxin running through his veins.

“Red’s on his way back in the Batmobile with Robin, not the smartest move I know but Robin was there when Red got hit.”

Bruce finally gives in and lets out that sigh. He wish he could have been out in the field helping to find Poison Ivy, however he’s stuck in the cave behind the computer because of a damaged hip he acquired 3 nights ago, he was in no shape to go out and fight villains.

Ivy has recently conjured up a new toxin one of which takes affects when the body is asleep. When the body is relaxed the toxin begins to shut down the organs, eventually killing the affected in their sleep.

This new toxin appeared two nights ago and has been a headache since. Bruce has had to split the family up into two, one half going out on patrol to find Ivy herself and the other half is mixed between working on an antidote (since it’s new they have not yet got one) and working out what Ivy’s other motives are as there’s reason to believe this toxin is simply a distraction for something bigger.

The fact Tim has now been hit with the toxin brings a new urgency to creating an antidote.

Bruce is disrupted from his thoughts when a familiar engine could be heard echoing throughout the cave. He waits patiently and observes as the batmobile pulls to a stop and two doors open up. The bickering could instantly be heard and Bruce takes a deep breath in order to help prepare himself to be deal with his two youngest.

His sons immediately head over to him at the computer and stand a couple feet away. Damian was scowling, he had his hood up and arms crossed over his chest. Tim had his cowl down and Bruce could see the way his eyes were dilated and how sweat was coating his skin.

“Father,” Damian demands his attention after a moment, “Drake has once again proven that he is incompetent in the field.”

Next to him Tim grits his teeth and Bruce could see how the boy was holding himself back from making the retort he desperately wants to.

“Damian, you’re finished for the night, go get changed and head for bed.”

“But father-”

Bruce’s glare stops his youngest from voicing the rest of his protest. Once Damian is heading for the changing rooms, he turns to Tim. “Tim, I want you to go to the medical bay, let Alfred take a blood sample and then get yourself washed and changed. Once you’re done, we’ll talk.”

Tim wordlessly nods and heads for the medical bay where Alfred was waiting for him. While he waits for Tim to sort himself out he turns his attention back onto his other family members still out in the field. He updates them with the situation and gets reports back in return. By the time he was all caught up Tim had retuned to the computer.

“How are you feeling?”

Tim sighs and runs a hand through his damp hair. “I’m fine, I don’t feel like I’ve been poisoned or anything. Nothing is hurt, well maybe except my pride. It was a stupid mistake and I messed up.”

Bruce leans forward as much as he can in the chair and pins Tim with a firm look. “You do understand the seriousness of this situation don’t you Tim? You may not feel anything right now but under no circumstances, as much as I hate to say it, you cannot go to sleep. We’ll be having a conversation on your performance once we know you’re safe and toxin free.”

Tim rolls his eyes in that typical defiant fashion that teenagers seem to have. “I know Bruce, I’m not stupid. I can help create the antidote. Also, I’m pretty experienced of working without sleep, I’ll be fine.”

“That's great except you’ve already pulled nearly two all-nighters prior to tonight.” A new voice joins their conversation. The two of them look over to see Dick walking towards them, glaring at Tim as he does so.

Upon hearing this Bruce rubs his forehead. So it’s going to be much harder to keep Tim awake than he thought because his son was already sleep deprived as it was. Keeping him awake for another 24 hours or so was going to be difficult.

Tim glares at his brother. “I’ve handled worse. I’ll be fine.” With that he storms off and heads towards the stairs in order to go up to the manor.

Bruce shares a look with Dick. “We’ll rotate people to keep an eye on him at all times. He can’t be allowed to sleep until we can clear the toxin from his body. It’s nearly done now anyway, another day then it should be complete, hopefully.”

Dick nods slowly. “Yeah, like I said he’s already running on fumes so it’s not going to be long until he crashes for good. If you and Alfred focus on the antidote then the rest of us will keep Tim awake. Please finish it soon.”

------

The day that follows is interesting for everyone. Much to his annoyance Tim was being watched like a hawk, anytime he even closes his eyes for more than two seconds someone was there either calling his name or physically shaking him.

This of course leads Tim to being snappy with anyone who was around him at the time, his tiredness was quickly coming through and it was clear he wanted to rest but could not do so.

Dick watches as Tim floats about the manor, going between the kitchen, library, bathroom and his bedroom. They’ve banned him from any form of training, saying that the exercise will tire him out quicker. In result Tim is working on WE reports and case files to fill up the time while the antidote gets made.

Dick joins Tim in the library and silently works on his own files while keeping an eye on his brother. It doesn’t go unnoticed on how Tim sometimes pauses as if he’s forgotten what he’s writing, or the way he stares at the page for a good five minutes before carrying on with the task.

Dick was getting worried because the sleep deprivation was clearly getting to Tim now and it’s only a matter of time before he crashes.

The two of them work in companionable silence until Tim groans and stands up to stretch. He looks over at Dick, “I’m going to get some food, want anything?”

Dick shakes his head. “No thanks.” He watches as Tim nods and begins to head for the door. He’s glad he had been watching Tim because after a couple steps Tim swayed on his feet and without even thinking about it, Dick jumps out of his seat and lunges for his brother. He reaches Tim just in time to catch him before he hits the ground.

Dick lowers them both to the ground and checks Tim over. “Tim, you okay? What’s wrong?”

Tim blinks at him owlishly for a moment and frowns, “I uh, I don’t… God the room just spun like crazy then and I lost my balance I guess.”

“That's the sleep deprivation, it’s really hitting you now. You just need to stay awake a little longer bud. Bruce is nearly done with the antidote.” God he hopes he is. Without any other words, Dick picks Tim up and takes him to the couch, putting him down gently.

Tim slumps into the cushions behind him and Dick feels terrible because he looks so wiped out and awful. He wants his brother to be healthy again. When Tim’s eyes close, Dick reaches out and roughly pats his cheeks. “Hey, none of that, not yet Tim okay.”

Tim noncommittedly hums as he pulls himself into an upright position and leans over his work again. Dick studies him for a moment before deciding to return to his own workstation. As he settles into the seat he sends Tim a look. “I’ll text Jay and see if he can bring in some food for us, perhaps a drink as well.”

When Tim doesn’t respond Dick shrugs it off and sends Jason the message. After that he cracks back on with his own work.

Time goes by and Dick soon realises he hadn’t checked on Tim for a while. He looks over to where the teenager was sat only to feel his heart stop inside of his chest. For a second time, Dick is lunging across the room to get to his brother, who was lying down on the couch with his face pressed into the cushions.

With one hand Dick reaches out to check for a pulse and with the other he scrambles to get his phone out of his pocket. Thankfully there’s still a steady beat underneath two of his fingers but he has no idea how long Tim had fallen asleep for. This was Dick’s fault, he should have been paying closer attention to his brother.

“Dick?” A voice calls for him through his phones speaker.

Dick frantically shouts into the phone while desperately trying to shake Tim awake. “Bruce please tell me you have the antidote ready! Tim’s fallen asleep and I have no idea how long he’s been like it!”

“Yes, it’s just been finished, we’re prepping a needle now. Where are you?”

“We’re in the library. Bruce hurry!”  

“Alfred is on his way. There are precautions however because it hasn’t been tested-”

“Fuck the precautions Bruce! Tim is dying we need to save him!”

Bruce continues to speak on the phone but Dick wasn’t listening. He was too focused on his sleeping brother, worrying about how his body is going to shut down if he doesn’t wake up. Tim wasn’t waking up no matter what Dick tries.

“Master Dick, please allow me.” Dick looks up and is relieved to find Alfred approaching them. Dick shuffles to the side to make room for the butler and watches with an intense stare as Alfred takes Tim’s arm and injects him with the antidote. As soon as it’s administered Dick is asking questions.

“How long until it takes affect? Will it work? What if it doesn’t Alfred?”

A gentle hand on his arm stops him from rambling. “Master Dick, unfortunately all we can do is wait and see. Master Bruce is still in the lab triple checking it over but an estimation will be a few hours or so, especially considering how exhausted the lad is.”

Dick nods his head and takes a few deep breaths, willing himself to calm down and trust Alfred’s words.

The next few hours were awful. Dick could feel all of the anxiety, the anticipation and worry storming inside of him as he paces around the library waiting for Tim to wake up. In that time, Bruce had now joined them in the room along with Alfred and even Jason.

A small gasp soon gets his attention and Dick abruptly stops walking to stare at the couch where Tim was lying. Sparks of hope travel through him as he watches Tim stir and joy explodes in him when Tim’s eyes open up. Before anyone else could react, Dick was moving, making his way to the couch and pulling Tim into a fierce hug.

“God I was so worried! Never do that to me again baby bird.”

Tim’s only response is to loosely hug Dick back while he tries to wrap his head around what happened. Dick ignores it all, loving the feeling of having his brother back and mostly out of danger, they can deal with everything else soon enough.

[wordsfromthesol]

Stalker

Author: @wordsfromthesol​ Pairing: Jason Todd x Reader Warnings:  Language, kidnapping, happy ending per usual. Word Count: 1.8k Requested: @vvipgot7be​

A/N: P.S. No one could ever annoy me by sending requests. Or just in general, I’m pretty hard to annoy. Feel free to send messages, requests, or just say hi 😊

You knew you shouldn’t have kept them, but there was just something more eerie about throwing them away. Unfortunately, your decision blew up in your face one night when you got home from patrol. You were grateful for the slow night, but you could immediately tell something was wrong when you got home. Your eyes darted around the dark apartment, focusing on the beam of light coming from underneath the bedroom door. Slowly you walked over and opened it, relaxing a bit when you saw it was only Jason, only to tense up more when you saw what was scattered on the bed around him.

“What the fuck is this?” He questioned you, eyes transfixed on the various letters and photos laid out before him.

“It’s no big deal, really.”

“No big deal?! This is a photo of you stitching up a bullet wound. I’m not even going to start on why you shouldn’t have been doing that here.” Your eyes sank to the ground. “Oh and here’s one of you at the coffee shop…YESTERDAY. Unless you’ve worn that exact outfit to the coffee shop some other time.”

“I mean probably…but that is from yesterday.”

“And these letters? A sick combination of possessive admiration and death threats. Why haven’t I seen this before?”

“I didn’t want you to freak out. It’s fine, I can handle it.”

“Clearly, the oldest one I’ve found is dated 5 years ago.” Something clicked in Jason’s mind. “Wait, did this all start when you became a vigilante?”

“Yeah, but I don’t know that that’s the reason.” Jason sighed as he picked up another picture, it was you changing into your suit, and showed it to you.

“Believe me, I’ve seen it. But I only started getting costumed pictures of me like 2 years ago.”

“ONLY?!”

“Well I have been one for 5 years…”

“Just pack a bag. You are not staying here.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Seriously Y/N. Ridiculous. This person describes kidnapping you, in great length and detail. You’re staying with me, I’m not arguing about this.” You sighed and dug through the box until you found a photograph of you at Jason’s apartment.

“It doesn’t really matter where I am. Remember about three when I stayed with you for almost a month straight?”

“Yeah…” Jason took the photo to examine it.

“That was when I got gotten a particularly bad letter, it just really stressed me out. Then I didn’t get anything for almost 2 weeks, but the creep is persistent.”

“Well then we are going to the Manor. Even if he knows you’re there, we have plenty of security. And you aren’t leaving until we figure out who it is.”

“Oh…I know who it is.”

“WHAT?!”

“Jay, I’m a vigilante too. Of course I looked into this. He’s just a nobody, nothing to worry about.”

“Those are the worst kind, you never know when they are going to snap. Listen, get your shit, we are going to the Manor. I’m calling Dick to arrest this guy.”

“You can’t arrest him, he hasn’t done anything.”

“These photographs and letters say otherwise. Now, let’s go.” Jason gathered the documents and put them back in the box, firmly tucking it under his arm.

**

It was still weird waking up in the Manor, even though you’d slept here dozens of times, it just felt big and empty. You stumbled downstairs, joining Jason and Tim in the kitchen.

“You have a stalker and didn’t tell us?” Were the first words out of Tim’s mouth.

“Don’t tell me Jason’s roped you into this. He’s a nobody.”

“Do you actually know that? How extensive did your search go?”

“Well I’m sure not as extensive as yours is about to,” you mumbled as you made your way to the coffee.

“You’re right, give me that.” Tim snatched the box from Jason’s clutches and headed straight for the cave.

“See what you’ve done?”

“Stopped you from getting kidnapped?” Jason’s voice went up a few octaves while his head tilted in response.

“Hm mm, well I’m giving you two days here. Then I’m going home. You are all being ridiculous.”

**

They may be keeping you from your apartment, but there was no way they could keep you from going on patrol. Before Jason could stop you, you suited up and headed for the door. Unfortunately, Jason did catch up with you in the garage.

“Are you crazy?”

“Jay, I’m completely geared up, on alert, and on comms. I think I’ll be okay on patrol. Besides, what is this dude going to do? Scour rooftops until he finds me?”

“I don’t know, I wouldn’t put it past him. Some of the photographs were taken from some intense vantage points.”

“Stop being paranoid. I’ll get past you one way or another.”

“Fine. But if you don’t check in every hour, I will come looking for you.”

“Deal.” You were thankful that Jason didn’t try too hard to stop you. Mounting the bike next to you, you immediately headed for the Narrows. You needed to punch something or someone, and that would be the quickest place to find said thing.

You didn’t even make it that far. Someone ran you off the road soon after you left the cave. You swerved to avoid hitting a tree, causing you to flip over your bike, rolling down the hill until your head smashed into a rock.

**

“Do you know where Y/N is?” Tim questioned his older brother.

“She left like half an hour ago for patrol, I couldn’t stop her.” Jason explained.

“Well learning about this dude has been a trip. You know he’s on like 4 different antipsychotics…”

“Uhm, why would I have known that Timmy?”

“Well, it doesn’t look like he’s filled the prescriptions recently. By my calculations, he should’ve run out almost 3 months ago.”

“3 months…shit. I’m going to find her.”

“Keep your comms on.” Tim warned his brother.

**

You woke up in a bed, an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room. If you could call it a room. The concrete walls encased you, no openings except a steel front door with a small slot.

“Oh my beautiful, you are awake! You know I was ever so worried when you did not go back to your apartment all day. I scoured Gotham and couldn’t find you. I decided it best to keep you safe. Where I always know you’ll be.”

“Ian? Is that you?”

“Well of course it is darling. Don’t be silly, who else would it be?”

“Right, how silly of me. Why don’t you come in so I can see your face?”

“In due time, now you need rest.”

You immediately tried to contact Jason on your comm, but all this concrete was blocking the signal. Looking around, you searched for any kind of opening or even something you could boost the signal with. No luck. Even the bathroom didn’t seem to have any ventilation.

“Ian?” You called out. “I would really love some water.”

“I will fetch some…as soon as you let me know where you’ve stashed my stuff.”

“Your stuff?”

“Oh yes, the letters and pictures. I did love going through them again and again. I went to look for them and well, they weren’t under your bed anymore.”

“Of course, I was planning to stay with a friend. So I simply brought them with me. I couldn’t leave such valuables unguarded.”

“You say that, but the last time you left you left you left for a month! A month and my love was just alone. Under that bed. Though I must thank you, I would not have made it through had it not been for them. That’s why when I found you gone again. Well I couldn’t let that happen. You’re mine. You know you’re mine. I humored your relationship with that BOY. But no longer. You. Are. Mine.”

“That’s all I want to be. How about I take to my friend’s and we can get them together.”

“No. You cannot leave. Tell me where they are.”

“Wayne Manor. It’s at Wayne Manor.”

“You showed them to HIM?!”

“Only, only to show him how much you loved me. So he would back off. I swear.”

“Good. Maybe the insolent creature got the hint. I will go retrieve them now.”

In a minute you were alone. You stuck your comm through the slot of the steel door, hoping to get any kind of signal. No luck. Signaling a continuous SOS, you attached it to one of your boomerangs and threw it through the opening.

“Jason is so going to kill me” you mumbled to yourself as you went through your equipment, trying to calculate a way out.

**

“Tim, did you get any hits on her location? I can’t find her or her bike anywhere.”

“Not yet. Everything is saying no signal. I’m going to try and get a piggy-back to boost the signal. Maybe she’s underground or something.”

“Where’s that Ian guy live?”

“I’ll send you the address on file, but Jay…he’s here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean security cameras just picked him up outside the Manor.”

“Get what you can out of him, I’m going to head to his house.”

Jason drove around the house a few times before deciding to enter. Well if this doesn’t scream creepy stalker, I don’t know what does. He carefully went room by room, looking for anything to indicate you were here.

**

You heard the sound of a door opening. No way Ian is back from the Manor that quick. Grabbing one of the small detonations you had laid out on the bed you pressed the trigger and threw it out the opening.

**

Jason heard a muffled blast. Even if it wasn’t you, something sketchy was happening. He went towards the sound and ended at a dead end. He searched around the room, when suddenly a door opened behind him. He saw your boomerang lodged into the door.

“Jason?” Tim called out over the comm.

“Did you get him?”

“You could say that. Uhm, I don’t think he’s going to be giving any information though.”

“That’s okay, I think I found her. Call Dick because if that bastard is there when I get back, I will kill him.”

“He’s already on the way –” Tim’s voice cut off as Jason entered the hallway.

“Y/N?” Jason called out.

“JAY! I’m here!” You called back, delighted to hear his voice. Jason raced towards you, ignoring the small hole in the concrete floor several feet from a steel bunker door. As the door creaked open you collapsed in his arms, mumbling against his chest, “If you say I told you so I will murder you.”

“Fine, but you owe me.”

You pulled back and looked at him, “And what do I owe you?”

“Well you aren’t living by yourself ever again, that’s for sure.”

You started laughing, “Alright alright. Now get me the fuck out of here.” Jason pressed a kiss to your forehead before leading you out of the bunker.

[norcumii]

I'm gonna be predictable and put in a really basic prompt: more Domino!Bad Batch. I don't have an exact prompt other than this, just a bunch of possibilities to choose from? Finding Fives, meeting up with Rex after getting Echo, Rex actually being told Domino is ALIVE??? There's so many ideas.

...this hit 1.6k, I think I can (SHOULD) declare this done. >_>

THANK YOU, THIS WAS AWESOME! For this set of prompts, based upon this plunnie. Armor designs are based on @mercysewerpyro’s gorgeous speculations!

******

“I hate being back here.” Droidbait glared around the hallways, his body language obvious to Hevy. He didn’t respond beyond a click of acknowledgement over the comms, because they all did. Kamino might be home to a lot of brothers, but it just held a lot of hurt and memories for him.

It ached, every time he thought about how they hadn’t been here, hadn’t been able to save their brothers when the Seppies attacked. He couldn’t stop himself from brushing the underside of his left bracer, where 99’s number rested on the inside against his wrist. Cutup saw the gesture, and leaned in to bump shoulders. Hevy rocked with the motion, nudging back with an elbow, and tried not to sigh.

They were specialists, a commando squad that went everywhere and did everything. The past was past, and back then....

He hated to admit it, but their presence might well have done nothing but add to the body count.

Yeah, he hated being back here too. At least this was just another routine checkup, and then they could go.

It still felt so weird, walking through Kamino’s halls in their armor. It was ARC style, bulkier than standard with better protection, pauldrons and kamas, all in their dark gray with subdued – but extensive – dark blue markings. It was better for stealth than the typical white, but it made them stand out like highlighted targets in the endless stark white of Tipoca City. It meant the local brothers – young, you could tell from the body language and the tight way they clutched at their weapons and watched them too overtly – were staring at the squad in a mix of awe and concern.

“There seem to be an awful lot of armed brothers here?” Cutup asked, way too casual.

“Someone’s nervous about something,” Hevy muttered back.

A loud scuffle and a yell behind them had the squad whirling around, hands on blasters but not drawing yet. There was some kind of escort squad there, longneck in the lead – at least, they had been. Some brother in reds had shoved the Kaminoan down, was wrestling weapons from the guard squad in a way that was damned impressive. Sure, garri-troopers were...not the top of the line soldiers, but this guy was good. ARC quality, probably, to get three down that fast without a single shot fired. The restraint was one of the reasons Hevy and the others didn’t draw – the other was something...familiar? Some weird sensation crawling up Hevy’s neck.

The rambunctious brother was arguing with a medical droid, then the Kaminoan slammed an alert button. The hallway lights went red, the brother grabbed the droid and ran, and Cutup cried out.

Droidbait managed words, which was more than Hevy could do upon seeing the fleeing brother’s goatee and temple tattoo.

“Fives! That’s Fives!”

-----

By the time they figured out what was going on, Fives was already en route to Coruscant. Droidbait didn’t bother asking permission; he just sauntered into their ship with a droid in tow, and poor AZI-3 was claimed as part of the team.

On the plus side, he and Reesh seemed to be okay with each other, and by the time they arrived at Coruscant, it was obvious they were keeping him. The intel he carried, though – that was...concerning.

Fives was crazy, but not the kind of crazy that would make up some kind of wild conspiracy theory.

They had a plan, they had a helpful med-droid, and all they had to do was stop being at least one step behind the action.

-----

Fives woke up. He hadn’t expected that. He distinctly remembered getting shot, and it hurt, and then it was just darkness grasping up and pulling him down.

But here he was, waking up. He opened his eyes, and that worked too. The ceiling looked like any other in a transport ship, which meant he could be anywhere. Limbs felt all accounted for, and he was far clearer headed than he’d been when–

When things went bad.

Noise to the side drew his attention: three troopers were there, in dark armor that probably indicated some kind of specialists. Well, they probably had answers.

“I’m dead?” he asked, not sure how death was actually supposed to work.

“No!” a cheerful, familiar voice declared, and AZI-3 floated into view far too close to his face. “You are still alive and now back to almost normal levels of functioning!”

“AZI! You’re–” He bit back a relieved sigh, because he was terrified the poor tinny was going to be recycled. “You’re ok?” He sat up, wincing at that feel of deep pain in his chest, a low ache that meant bacta had been applied and done its work, but it was recent and his body sure as hell remembered what had just happened to it.

“Okay, and part of the squad!” The little droid did a happy twirl, showing off a new paint job that was in the same subdued blue as the troopers.

Fives looked over at the one standing in front of the other two, jaig eyes on his dark bucket and a ‘1’ on  both vambraces. “Congratulations. The squad?”

The leader nodded. “Experimental unit Clone Force 99. The Bad Batch.”

Oh-kay. “That’s a rousing endorsement.” He didn’t mean to be disparaging, but he was still getting over being dead.

The brother on the right shrugged – his bucket had an impressive set of fangs detailed on it, as if some large creature were trying to swallow it from behind. “S’what we get for bein’ weird,” he said, funny lilt to his voice and apparently not caring about Fives’ tone at all.

The third trooper sighed, giving the second one a look. “Unconventional, the word you’re looking for is unconventional!”

Trooper Two’s bucket waggled mockingly at Trooper Three, as if the brother there were making rude faces. Fives couldn’t hear anything, but he was willing to wager a few credits he didn’t have that there was something being taunted over a private channel.

The leader ignored the byplay. “Fives....” He hesitated, then shrugged. “I’m sorry, I just have to ask: you do realize that you might as well be dead to the Republic? The GAR?”

He’d been trying pretty hard to ignore that. Fives allowed himself a moment to close his eyes and just breathe. “I was raving, wasn’t I.” His voice was quiet, and he’d meant it as a question, though it didn’t come out that way. “At General Skywalker and Captain Rex. I didn’t give them anything coherent, did I.”

The silence went on too long. “I’m sorry,” the leader said.

Fives opened his eyes, and he thought he saw sympathy in the brothers’ body language. “What happened?”

AZI puffed up, the droid ready to infodump in the way that he did, but the third trooper raised a hand in a polite, minimalist gesture to stop – and miracle of the Force, AZI did.

“AZI made up a cocktail to slow down your body’s functions, to let us fake your death” the leader said, crossing his arms. “We’d hoped to snipe you before things went to shit, but – that didn’t go so well. The Guard–” His hands balled into fists, and while it was nice to see this guy had emotions. “No one can figure out why the fuck they weren’t shooting to stun, which is basic fucking protocol, but – they got you. We tagged you at about the same time, swapped bodies en route to the morgue, and now we’re about mid-rim.”

Fives’ hand went up to his chest, to where that ache still lingered. “How close was it?”

“Very.” AZI sounded subdued, which both was, and really really wasn’t an improvement. “Someone drugged you before we did, and the chemical combination was bad. But we worked through that and now you’re back!”

He couldn’t stop himself, frustration boiling over till he slammed a fist against the examination table he was on. “Nala Se,” he growled, because he could at least keep from shouting. “It must’ve been on the transport to Coruscant!”

The Bad Batch was patient enough to let him calm down, then the leader took a step forward. “You’re certain there’s a conspiracy. That the Chancellor is....”

“Bad news,” he growled, brain shying away from that unfortunate memory.

He nodded. “Then I’ve got an offer for you. Fives is dead. We’ll need time; none of us are great slicers but we make do – and we could use a new member to the squad.”

“And you’ll help me stop this?”

“Yes.”

Fives held out his hand. “Then you’ve got a deal.”

The leader grasped his wrist and they shook. “I gotta say.” His voice sounded...off; too thick and almost shaking. “I’m glad. Welcome back to the Bad Batch, Fives.”

“Back?”

The two troopers removed their buckets. The smartass had a neatly trimmed, minimalist beard and mustache, and a wry grin. He was crying, like his brother. That one was cleanshaven, with closecut hair and some kind of snaky tattoo coiling up from the neck of his blacks.

Then the leader took back his hand, and pulled his helmet. He had some impressive old burn scars along the face, but that didn’t obscure the matching designs that wrapped around his neck and up onto his cheeks.

Fives stared at those familiar Z-6 blaster cannons, and on some level through the shock he realized he was crying too. “Hevy?” he finally managed, looking over and registering that it was Cutup and Droidbait, then looking back because this could not be happening. “I thought you said I wasn’t dead.”

He was swamped in a sudden group hug, and through the laughter and tears he could hear his brother. “You’re not,” Hevy promised. “You’re not, and we’re not, and we’ll explain everything, but most of all we are going to solve this. Together.”

~end

[chubbyooo]

The Road to Redemption - A Blurred Lines Spinoff Chapter 1: Voss

hey all part 3 of my spinoff series that will focus on Kavaraa from her escape from imprisonment to the end of KOTET, it'll run alongside it showing her story where the main story stays mostly the same apart from the little moments where the stories inteact

Like the other spinoffs this aint necessary to understand the story of BL but it will add a little context for all yall who want it :D

With the Battle of Odessen finished and the Eternal Emperor missing tensions are high in a galaxy at war, Jedi Consular Kavaraa previous Basen'thor for the republic was recently broken out of jail after being locked up for five years by Arcann after an attempt to save her old sith rival Darth Nox went wrong (see part 2). After her escape she traveled to Voss and is trying to tow the line between helping the alliance and helping her old rival, but she is about to get stuck with a huge moral decision that will test her resolve and moral code. Will she redeem herself in the eyes of her old rival and will she be able to redeem others lost by the galaxies enemies

Kavaraa calmed her mind, she needed to be ready when Theron needed her, she sighed the last few weeks had been a blur after years and years of imprisonment on Belsavis he’d come and saved her. She was still surprised he’d managed it, she was positive they couldn’t be found but he’d managed it, he was the best person she knew she’d missed him so much and he’d done it out of the goodness of his heart. But she needed to collect herself on Voss and he needed to return to the alliance to help in the fight with the eternal empire, she’d have loved to have come but she expected if Nox saw her she wouldn’t last long. So for now she was treading water helping out where she could but she did feel a little directionless.

Either way she didn’t want to rock the boat and she felt right at home on Voss, she’d been anxiously waiting for a transmission from Theron with an update after the last couple weeks. There had been a big battle over Odessen and they were still collecting themselves after Emperor Arcann and his mother disappeared. She was still very new to all of this Eternal Empire stuff and a little out of the loop spending five years in prison would do that to you, still it’d helped her find center she was ready to help the alliance despite its difficult leadership. Apparently Nox was just as volatile as before having killed soldiers for insubordination, Theron had told her that despite her difficult and cruel nature she was fighting to stop the Eternal Empire so that was at least something.

Nox and her were old rivals and on many occasions had fought over an artefact or temple but that all felt so small now after the time she had to contemplate, she doubted Nox felt the same way but you never know. She hoped Nox would somewhat appreciate it when they tried to save her but getting captured may have made that ineffective, they were imprisoned quickly after that but she’d been unconscious for most of it. The prison had been anyone who could be considered a leader of Martyr for the republic or empire, the Voidhound, Cipher nine and the Commander of Havoc squad were captured with her but later the Emperor's Wrath was captured too after a failed attack on Zakuul. Kavaraa had made sure when she escaped to put an alarm on her cell just in case the Wrath ever escaped, she’d been even more dangerous than Nox so having that secure would help. There was only so long you could contain a rage machine like that, still she had to help make amends for her failure by helping the alliance take down the eternal empire.

She sensed someone come into the room and turned round to see Gaden Ko “I sensed you were troubled is everything ok Barsen'thor” she nodded at her long time friend as he stood in the doorway, when she’d arrived Ko had been more than ready to take her in as she found herself again.

She responded “no don’t worry Gaden I’m just waiting for a communication with Theron uh Agent Shan and I’m just a little tense” he nodded sitting down next to her

He gave a slight smile “do not worry things have a way of working out just follow the force and you and your partner will get through this” Kavaraa’s eyes widened as Gaden spoke what did he just say?!

She went turquoise “wha um what do you mean me and Theron aren’t together that’s ah what, I’ve never even thought about that and it’s uh ridiculous you’d even suggest that i um ah?” Gaden Ko frowned clearly misunderstanding as Kavaraa continued to stammer

Gaden Ko held up a hand “my apologies I just assumed because of the way you too act you seem like two with a very strong bond” this was not the first time someone has insinuated this and Kavaraa wouldn’t be so opposed to the idea but there had just never had the right moment

Kavaraa shook her head “don’t worry about it, just a misunderstanding” she looked away trying to hide her embarrassment the Voidwolf Gacen had been telling her she needed to give it a go but there just wasn’t the right time during this war she may have to wait til it’s over

Gaden Ko nodded “nonetheless I’m sure the force has put you where you need to be and the path will reveal itself to you soon” she smiled at Gaden Ko, he truly believed in fate and our place in the galaxy.

She patted his back “thanks buddy, I really appreciate you letting me use the temple” he nodded getting back up

He responded “since you’ve been away I have gained significant influence so it’s the least I can do” Kavaraa nodded she was glad someone had benefited from her time as Barsen’thor 

Suddenly the comm sprung to life “Kavaraa come in are you there?” Theron’s voice rung out and Kavaraa quickly answered

“Hey Theron I’m here how’s everything” last she’d heard Nox had sworn death upon Senya and Koth so she wondered how she was doing now

Theron took a second before responding “well she’s not throwing a tantrum anymore” Kavaraa let out a sigh of relief “now she’s just fueling her anger into finding them and she is on the warpath” it was good to hear his voice again she’d been getting lonely with only Voss Mystics to talk to

Kavaraa frowned “so a bit of a mixed bag then?” she had to admit sometimes she did wonder if supporting Nox would be a huge mistake but it was better than the Eternal Empire right? “And the Eternal Empire? How is it back at full potential” it was a wonder without Arcann at the helm that it hadn’t fallen apart

Theron sighed “well it seems like Arcanns sister Vaylin is now in control and using the help of one of our former robotic friends” Theron had mentioned the AI SCORPIO but it was unfortunate to learn such a complex AI now controlled the fleet, Kavaraa shuddered last time she had seen Vaylin she got her ass kicked by her.

Kavaraa’s heart sank “so the wars gonna be going a while longer?” she’d hoped the battle at Odessen had made them some real headway

Theron confirmed her question “yeah unfortunately so, we gotta build ourselves up a little more and find the best way to cripple the Eternal Empires resources” that sounded smartest Theron had always know what to do 

Kavaraa sighed “well make sure to keep Nox under control Theron you know how she can be” very murdery was an accurate description 

Theron chuckled “yeah don’t worry me and Lana have her under control we can push her anger in the right directions” strategizing around the whims of a difficult leader must be frustrating

Kavaraa responded “ok just be careful and look after yourself I don’t want anything bad happening to you ok” there was a mumbled agreement response that Kavaraa couldn’t quite make out but assumed was a reluctant yes “and any update on Koth or Senya” Kavaraa frowned as she could hear a commotion coming from the main temple

She started to walk over as Theron talked “not as of yet Koth is good at avoiding us, scrambling our systems and Senya appears to be laying low” Kavaraa nodded as she walked into the main chamber to see some mystics rushing someone by

She responded only half listening “I still can’t believe he stole the Gravestone this is the first time Nox’s anger may be justified” Kavaraa frowned as she noted an older woman wearing Zakuul like armour with the mystics hair in a bun and some stones in her forehead “um Theron what does Senya look like” she hadn’t looked her up but as she got closer the person being rushed did look familiar to her

Theron responded quickly “uh tall, grey black hair and most notably two little stones in her forehead, why?” Kavaraa’s eyes widened as she saw the broken form of Arcann as he was rushed into the healing chamber

Kavaraa stammered “uh um because they’re here, I’m gonna have to call you back” she turned off the comm and rushed over to Senya

She walked up with purpose “um what’s going on here that man is wanted by literally everyone in the galaxy, and you’re gonna heal him?” she didn’t know if she’d turn them in or if she kinda already had telling Theron

Senya’s face was frightened and Kavaraa quickly lowered her guard “I know I know but please just let me heal him then we can face our crimes, I know there’s good in him I promise but unless he’s healed he’ll be lost” she grabbed Kavaraa’s hand “I sense you’re strong in the force please do this for me just let them heal him and then I promise I’ll do whatever you want” Kavaraa’s mouth hung open what should she do Senya was clearly being genuine but this would create an even greater rift between her, the alliance, Theron and Nox

She knew what she had to do, she took a deep breath “sure ok I’ll help you, maybe we can help him together” much to her surprise Senya pulled her into a tight hug, she wasn’t quite sure what to do but Gaden Ko had said she was here for a reason maybe she was here to help heal Arcann...

[estrelladeishtar-archive]

Guess its time for update posts again huh?

So I just want to lay this out first, in light of some things...

Personally, I really am not okay/comfortable with tracing of my work in any way/shape/form. It is something that I do take issue with & would prefer NOT be done, & especially if it is vent art. However, since I feel someone is going to do it anyway (since I know this stuff can happen regardless of my wishes), the only thing I can ask is that I at least be credited for whatever is copied & that it NOT be used for profit. I DON’T want my work being used that way at all due to how my personal stuff is, well, personal to me? But if that still isn’t going to stop someone, then I at least ask for credit where due, & that it be solely for personal use.

That said, I also am going to say this—I am more than willing to be asked for art tips & stuff of that nature. I add this bc I know in most cases, it tends to be due to someone wanting to be better w their work (even if it isn’t exactly approached in the best way at times)... so I figured, why not be willing to help, since to me that’s much more beneficial a solution in the long run. Better this method for me, personally.

Now, all that out the way, bc I don’t want to discuss that any further—

Life so far has been a bit... well, idk. Lupus still is a bitch to deal with & I’m soon barely gonna be on month 2 of treatment for it. Meds for lupus that I’m on unfortunately take about 3-6 months to see their full effects, so until then I am more or less getting by, doing what I can & resting on the days I get major flares. I will say tho it is ... well, VERY difficult to make it through the days when you have this, as well as a bunch of past issues & mental illness bs, & more irl stuff like bills to add to that... but I’m managing as best as I can. After all I did manage to finally pay off two of my bills, so. Progress. Nothin’s gonna be keeping this bitch down LOL

Commission work rn is in progress too—& thankfully I am doing better on that front, as meds have at least gotten me to function a /little/ better. Its not by much sure, but any sort of progress is better than none, especially when I’m actually getting work done (rn I got 1/4 comms done for this batch & am workin on my 2nd, which was bein paid to be self indulgent <<“). I am still taking it steady, making sure to pace myself appropriately, but also making sure not to overdo it. I plan also to maybe make designs to sell more, but we shall see how that goes?

Also I am trying to get back to bein more active on dA. I need to REALLY be reminded to update that place bc I am super forgetful >>.... but still. Details.

Now, in regards to personal work, I do want to say this... I most likely will, for a while, be kind of focusing more on my own self indulgent stuff (be it fandom related or not), as well as be more oriented towards my own OCs & probably talking abt them more. This is both in part due to recent events AS WELL as the fact that this sort of thing helps me cope, & honestly I figure maybe its about time I start lettin myself be open to talkin abt my own original stuff again & let myself be more self indulgent (regardless if its purely oc stuff or oc/canon or whatever the fuck). It makes me happy to be able to be more open in discussing this stuff, & frankly that’s most important, so.

For a long time I kind of clammed up abt my stuff due to being in a crowd that kinda heavily discouraged that, & over the past two years I’ve managed to break outta that enough to where I feel ready to try again. So If you notice I’m not postin /as/ much j.s.@.b related content in my free time? It is due to this reason specifically, & I would heavily appreciate not being pestered abt this decision. This doesn’t mean I will stop making fanart altogether, but I feel I need to give much more time to myself & my more personal stuff too. My AU blog will also be on a temporary pause again due to this—as I feel a need to kind of reorient myself & also do other things I love that aren’t just fandom based—goin back to my roots as more OC focused which was what this acct was when I first started <<

All this said, I also want to thank people for the support I HAVE received, as I am both close to 600 follows here & already reached over 1k on my twitter (to which I’m hosting a raffle for over there)! Its not somethin I anticipated this soon, but it does mean a lot. I’m thinking I may do a sketch rq stream for this place when I get the chance—uncertain yet, gotta see what my physical health will allow me ofc lmao. But if I do I may also set it to be mic on & all that, so. There’s that. For now these are just ideas though, no solid plans set in stone or anything.

I guess that’s about it for updates? Bit longer than usual I gotta admit, but 🤷‍♀️

[ernmark]

Ok, in the space vegas fic, we have Juno realizing he's screwed and actually really into Peter. How about the moment when Peter realizes he's actually fallen for Juno? 👀

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3  | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | NSFW Part 9

It isn’t inevitable. 

Juno may insist that there’s no getting out of it, but he hasn’t seen the escapes Peter has made over the course of his illustrious career. If he wanted to avoid a phone call, there was no force in all the universe that could make it happen.

It is important to note, then, that Peter fully consents to having this conversation with Juno’s secretary. And not because he was bullied or annoyed into it, as Juno seems to believe. True, there may be an inkling of guilt involved-- after all, it was Peter’s carelessness that spilled the secret of their relationship to her in the first place-- but Peter would hardly call it a guilt trip, either. 

In fact, he rather enjoys their conversation.

“So this is Rita!” he effuses, the moment she appears on the screen of Juno’s comms. He flashes his warmest, most winning smile. “Juno’s told me so much about you, but you’re even lovelier in person.”

Really, it takes nothing at all before she’s blushing and giggling, her questions deflected with compliments and charm and gushing commentary on the most recent drama streams. 

Juno watches him the entire time-- at first ready to intercede and yank the comms out of Peter’s hand, then scowling and surly, and finally dumbfounded as his secretary dissolves into a drooling mess. 

“How the hell did you do that?” he asks, once Peter finally ends the call. 

“I just found the right way to talk to her. There’s a right way to talk to everyone, Juno – you just have to find it.” Peter folds the comms and presses it into Juno’s hand, leaning too close to be casual. His fingertips linger against Juno’s palm. “Here’s hoping we find ours soon, eh?”

“Real funny, Nureyev.” Juno rolls his eyes, but he can’t stop his gaze from flitting to the point of contact. “You already got me in bed with you. I think we’re past the point where you need romance me.”

Peter leans closer still. “But what if I want to romance you?” 

Juno misses a beat, but he manages a shrug. “Everybody needs a hobby, I guess.” 

“Then perhaps you wouldn’t mind joining me for dinner and a show tonight. There’s a performance of Love in the Time of Vaudeville that I’m told I can’t miss.” 

--------------

The show is, naturally, a delight-- even moreso thanks to a running commentary from Juno, shared behind a cupped hand during the show, and bantered over the dinner table as they share their meal, and mumbled incoherently across the pillows as he drifts off that night. 

Peter stays awake, watching as Juno’s face goes soft, as his eyes flit about behind their lids while he dreams, as he drifts into the deepest phases of sleep.

This is the time to get up and leave-- if he waits too long, Juno might wake up from the sound of it-- but Peter puts it off for another minute, and another, and another. Juno just looks so vulnerable like this, so trusting and tender and sweet, and Peter wants--

He slips out of bed and into his clothes without making a sound. 

Peter wants to not be caught, and that means taking care of the paperwork before the Solar government catches wind of an Outer Rim terrorist in their space. According to the keyloggers he left on City Hall’s servers, the marriage license has finally been filed. It’s time to move.

Getting into the building proper is no issue, thanks to the key card he swiped from the assistant governor’s pocket just before the show. The cameras are obvious and easily avoided. Just like that, he’s in the filing room, staring down a hundred thousand physical documents.

His gloves whisper against the stacks of file folders until he comes to the right date and time. The marriage license and certificate, each signed in a drunken but unfortunately legible scrawl: Peter Nureyev. 

He slides them free from the file and slips them into his bag. These nobody will miss-- enough documents get innocently misfiled every day that their absence will go unnoticed. 

Now all that’s left is the digital record.

It won’t be difficult. He already knows the passwords. Using one of the local networked computers will get him safely past the firewalls and security encryptions. It’s even well-organized, as far as government filing systems go. He finds the file quickly.

All it will take is a few key strokes, and he’ll be no longer married to Juno Steel.

His name will be a secret once more. He can leave Venus behind, and with it the hotel room, and the performance, and the pretend relationship and all its absurd trappings. 

He stares at the file, his fingers lingering over the mouse, not quite willing to open the file. 

It doesn’t make sense. Why should he hesitate? This past week was certainly fun, but it was a vacation from his real life, nothing more. Years from now he’ll look back fondly over his brief marriage, but that’s all it will ever be: a fond memory. 

But he doesn’t want it to be just a memory.

The realization closes like a fist around his chest, and suddenly he can’t breathe. He doesn’t want it to be over. Not yet. Maybe not ever. He wants to keep being married to Juno-- he wants to take him to dinner and talk to him for hours about things that don’t matter and listen to his breathing slow as he falls asleep. He’s gotten the briefest taste of a hundred quiet intimacies, and he wants to bask in a hundred thousand more-- he wants to explore them all. 

With Juno. Only with Juno.

He opens the file.

[spinningsidetable]

Gentleman 2/3

Pairing: Octavian/Leo Valdez (leotavian)

Warning/Genre: Genre/Warning: AU, No Godly Parents, Spy Shit, Action Movie Parody, Non-Linear Story Telling, Admittedly Unhealthy Relationship, Descriptions of Violence, Dubious Consent Smooching, Sexual Situations,“Humor”

Rating: Mature

Summary: Leo has worked for the Agency for awhile now, the guy in the chair helping Agents save the world and all that, but now it seems like an actual supervillain is enamored with him.

(Notes: Sexual situations in this chapter, which will probably get the story flagged by tumblr. or maybe it won’t care, and just continue to mark pictures of my geckos as porn.)

Leo blearily opened his eyes and found himself in a familiar room. White plaster walls, deep red accents, and ancient looking columns on the veranda overlooking a lush garden. It would put the hanging gardens of Babylon to shame, or so Octavian had told Leo once. Leo didn’t know anything about plants, or the outdoors, or what it had to do with that show Babylon 5. But, it was really pretty. The whole base had a classic feel to it, like you’d been removed out of time, or if you had been transported into a bad series on the unfortunately named History Channel. Octavian had a weird thing for age-old Roman things, like conquest and domination. It was partly why no one was entirely sure if his name was Octavian from birth or not. It could have just been a complicated reference to Caesar Augustus, founder of Rome. The current theories about Octavian’s motives were world domination, or at least the creation of a new military state, a New Rome, but it hadn’t ever been confirmed. No one had much on him to go off, no known history, no paper trails, nothing. Just a love of gladiator movies, very presumably BDSM, and apparently Babylon 5. “Ugh,” Leo groaned, turning to grab the aspirin and glass of water he knew would be on the side table. “I should just move some shit in, spare clothes, maybe a toothbrush. I seem to be here often enough…” “I agree, mi amor.” Octavian said, reading from a book at the foot of the bed. Leo also knew he’d be there. “In fact, I believe we should get married. We’ve been dating for quite some time, now. What kind of ring do you want? I have access to an asteroid.” “I’m sorry to break this to you, but we’re actually not dating at all. Not even a little bit. Also, I can’t physically give you any heirs.” Leo sighed, running a hand through his hair. It wasn’t as messy as it usually was, but Octavian usually brushed it while Leo was out for the count. Leo’d never admit Octavian speaking specifically Spanish did things to him. “That’s something crazy dictators want, right? Bunch of heirs?” “Mm, ignoring adoption or surrogates, all we’d just need a host uterus, artificial or otherwise. My people have developed a way to combine the DNA of two men or two women within an artificial egg.” Octavian turned the page, like he wasn’t a supervillain bent on world domination (presumably) “Granted, I don’t particularly care about any heirs. It is possible though.” “Wait,” Leo held up a hand, realization dawning on him. “…Did Larry and Mark finally have kids?” “Mhmm,” Octavian closed the book, looking up at Leo with a pleasant (non-manic) smile on his face. “They’re trying.” “Oh my god, I’m so happy for them!” Leo’d really gotten to know a few of his guards by now. “I’m still not marrying you though, you just blew a hole in an aircraft carrier. That being said, I do also want access to an asteroid, would I get half of it if we got married?” Octavian shrugged a shoulder, never concerned. “I have a sneaking suspicion the military industrial complex will recover, for now. However, I am glad to hear you’ve changed your mind about my so-called manipulation via…how did you put it, sweet talk? I’m glad to hear you think it’s sweet.” Leo faltered, pushing the blankets off and getting out of bed. Silk pajamas, always the best. “That’s…” Leo had forgotten about that. That was right. He remembered the looks on Reyna’s face, on Piper’s and Jason’s. “…If I agreed to marry you, but I promised to never tell you a single secret about the Agency, about Jason, or about anything that could in anyway help you with any of your plans…you’re telling me you’d…be okay with that?” “Oh, mo ghaol, I’ve never assumed you’d tell me anything. Have I ever asked? Threatened you? Hurt you in any way?” Octavian stood, and came to Leo’s side. He raised a hand to Leo’s face, fingers resting causally at Leo’s neck and thumb rubbing small circles into his cheek. “I adore you.” “Why, though?” Leo looked at the floor, away from Octavian’s face. “I’m just…” “Brilliant, smart, handsome, clever, funny, beautiful, talented…” Octavian finished for him, tone slightly chastising, but in a fond way. “Yes, I have no idea.” “I’m 5’2, I’m a tooth pick, I’ve got like a mole on my forehead I keep covered with hair because I’m a little scared it might be an absorbed twin, because it’s got like this massive whisker in it I pluck secretly. And then I say things like that when I’m nervous…” Octavian laughed, shaking his head. “Your size is convenient, cute even; you still have a good deal of upper body strength, your muscles are toned even if you’re slim. And, you have a beauty mark. You’re interesting, and funny. It’s not like I’m particularly muscular either. I think you called me a murderous scarecrow for half a year.” Leo groaned and flopped back down onto the bed, “I still have braces, Octavian!” “It’s respectable that you care about oral hygiene,” Octavian responded with a shrug, kneeling down to the ground between Leo’s legs. He looked like a knight, bowing before his king. “I understand why the Agency may think I have ulterior motives; admittedly, you would be a great target. But, like I said, I truly adore you solnyshka. In time, you’ll accept that, because I believe you already know deep down that I’m telling the truth.” The Brazilian government had apparently covered up the fact that they had recently discovered a massive underground temple. It was a lost holy place for numerous native Brazilian tribes, but the current regime didn’t want to award any more protection of land over to the native peoples. Why? Because of course they didn’t. That would mean they couldn’t strip it for resources, who cared about history, preservation, or other cultures in the face of cold hard cash? The Agency was tasked with keeping peace, and with further private exploration of the temple before the government got to work. The entire place was still majorly unknown, the exact size and scale was a mystery. No one was entirely sure who built it even. Leo and another tech Rachel, were the grunts that were sent down into the terrifying and dark abyss with just flashlights and backpacks. They’d spent a week developing an advanced mapping system, that could create a 3D rendering of any hidden passages and tunnels. But, they had to place a few probes in the temple first at strategic points for it to work, which meant having to be there in person first. Two Agents accompanied them, Agent di Angelo and Agent Levesque. They were apparently the only ones willing to go spelunking with the tech-y desk jockeys. Leo would have preferred Jason, but he knew the guy was terrified of enclosed spaces underground. These two didn’t seem to be bothered by it in the slightest. The two Agents hadn’t talked much at first, but eventually Levesque and Rachel got on like wildfire. Di Angelo wasn’t so friendly, and when it came time to split up, Leo was disappointed he got stuck with the angry emo Agent baby, instead of the stupidly hot spy lady. Agent di Angelo only got angrier for some reason when Leo said as much. They had been walking throughout the tunnels in the cavernous temple for about an hour, when Leo and his babysitter came across an old rope bridge to the other side of the cave system they were in. It was too big to jump across, but Leo needed to get to the other side to place a probe. “Hey, too spooky?” Leo grinned, turning to the Agent who grimaced at said nickname. “Have you ever heard why the lion crossed the bridge?” “What are you talking about- Hey!” Leo was already darting across the bridge, backwards, big hefty backpack and all. He could feel it creaking and cracking under his feet, but Leo made it safely. “To get to the other side! Get it?” Leo called over, cupping his hands around his mouth. Agent di Angelo flipped him off. “That’s not very professional! Come on! It’s totally safe!” The rope bridge promptly snapped and collapsed into the nothingness below. “I rescind that! Don’t do it!” Agent Angel whipped out a comm and seemed to be having a very tense conversation with someone on the other line as he paced back and forth, his light moving around the room. “Hey, it’s fine, buddy!” Leo yelled. “I’ll just go plant the other probe, while you get like a ladder or something! Not like anything else is down here! You know, besides snakes, and spiders, and scorpions and other totally natural things that could kill me!” An hour or two later and Leo was increasingly worried there really was nothing down here. The temple seemed to be built into an existing cave system, which could theoretically be hundreds of miles long. It was just endless amounts of rock and water dripping and bats and bugs. Leo was getting tired, and hungry, so when he heard voices and the reflections of light in the distance, he couldn’t help himself. He bolted towards the commotion, waving his flashlight. “HEY! I’m so glad you-“ Leo found himself in a large cave opening, surrounded by men and women in black attire, now all pointing guns at his face. Octavian stood in the middle, eyebrow raised, and a manic smile beginning to overtake his expression. “Oh boy. I am lost. I am but a poor lost…Brazilian person. I got a bit turned around back there, I’ll just…turn around and go the other way.” “Don’t shoot,” Octavian waved a hand. “I know this little vagalume.” As Octavian walked forward towards sweaty, filthy, gross covered Leo, and the crowds parted around Octavian like he was some kind of God. Supervillains sure knew how to make an impact. “My, my, why are you here, meu querido?” Octavian’s smile was dangerous, and the flashlight casting shadows just accentuated the madness. “The Agency must know something, if they’re willing to send you in.” “I, uh,” Leo was flustered, his sweat sticking his hair to his forehead. “…Searched my soul? And found you!” Octavian laughed, coming close enough to rest his hand on Leo’s cheek. “Well, you weren’t what we were looking for, but I can’t say I’m displeased.” He turned to the men closest to him, “leve-o de volta ao acampamento.” Leo yelped as he was grabbed and thrown over a shoulder. “What the fuck did you just say?! Octavian! Hey! Why are we in the one South American country I can’t speak the language of! Oi, hablar español por favor-” “I hate you, I hate you so much, oh my god.” Leo gasped, moving up and down, his hands clenched into the headboard behind Octavian’s stupid face. Leo was sweating so much, it was disgusting. Had he sweat this much the first time he had had sex? No, Leo was pretty sure he had gotten in the girl, whimpered, and collapsed to the side pretty much immediately. “Do you want to stop?” Octavian grinned up at him knowingly, his own hands on Leo’s lower hips stopped encouraging him. Leo’s thighs were burning, his abdominal muscles were tensed almost the entire time. He needed Octavian’s help to keep going, to keep moving. Leo was already shaky after extended foreplay, he had already spent holding himself up on his arms and knees as the villain decided to take his time and use his tongue. “I will actually kill you if you stop,” one of Leo’s hands left the headboard to dig into Octavian’s scalp and pull him forward for a messy kiss. The angle shifted Leo away from riding the cock inside him, to just rocking back and forth in a needy manner. He needed more momentum, the pressure was good, it was so good, but he needed more. It didn’t help that Octavian had a hand around his cock, with just enough pressure at the base of the shaft that Leo couldn’t find the release he was looking for. He wasn't stroking it, he wasn't doing anything that Leo needed. He was being an actual cocktease. “I will remove your windpipe I swear to god, I refuse to be a pump and dump,” Leo pulled away, nipping just slightly at Octavian’s lower lip. “Octavian, come on, estoy loco por ti, te necesito. Please?” Octavian’s eyes were normally very light blue, but right now Octavian’s pupils were blown wide and black. He flipped Leo over onto his back. “Anything for you, the entire world for you.” Maybe he was easy, Leo thought, sprawled out in bed that night. 16 kidnappings were all it took for him to go full Stockholm Syndrome. Octavian was asleep next to him, completely defenseless, if you didn’t count the armed guards outside and the whole island fortress thing. “Poor thing, wore himself out”, Leo whispered as he reached over and pushed a few pieces of hair away from the man’s forehead. Granted, Leo had fully passed the fuck out after their romp as well, he just woke up sooner. The benefits of horrific insomnia, not even 3 orgasms could keep him asleep for long. “Oh my god, I slept with a supervillain,” Leo flopped back down onto his pillow. The thread count on these sheets was ridiculous. “Repeatedly.” “Mm, was I at least a gentlemen?” Octavian’s voice was somewhat rough from sleep, and probably from the blowjob, but he was awake enough to throw and arm around Leo’s side and pull him close. “Very much so,” Leo whispered back, shoving his face into Octavian’s neck. “Maybe…I can be the…uh, gentleman next time?” Octavian had a great dick, just perfect. Hit all the spots. Looked good, felt fucking fantastic. But, he also was pretty in his own way, and had a nice ass. Leo wanted in it. “Whatever you wish, mi amor. I look forward to it.” Octavian pulled Leo in closely, kissing his forehead. He really was a gentleman. Octavian then swung a leg over Leo, and straddled his waist. “Wait, right now?” “We are going to fucking die!” Leo screamed at the scarecrow on stilts. “I refuse to die because a piece of anthropomorphized spaghetti with a God complex kidnapped me!” Octavian looked mildly annoyed at the insult, or maybe just the fact Leo had been yelling nonstop for about five minutes. Octavian rarely looked particularly bothered by anything Leo did or said, so he must have been fairly stressed out. “We’re not going to die from this,” Octavian glanced at his passenger, who hadn’t put down a small metal lighter. “We might die if you burn up all our oxygen, however.” Leo’s eyes narrowed, and he flicked the lighter shut. “Don’t talk to me like I’m stupid, Julius Caesar. Your navigation system is shot, your craft is taking on water, and the control panel is fucking glitching halfway to Siberia. You did this, this is your fault. I’m smaller than you, when we inevitably die horrifically here, I want to at least survive long enough to see you die first. You’ll need oxygen before I do.” “No,” Octavian corrected, clenching his jaw. “Your Agency did this by sabotaging my submersible, knowing fully well you were aboard. So much for loyalty.” Leo rolled his eyes, and threw his legs up on the console, as they were starting to get soggy. “No, they didn’t. I’m too valuable. They’d still be stuck with tech from the 50’s if it wasn’t for my ass. Say, how painful would it be to get eaten by sharks?” “Probably very,” Octavian grabbed one of Leo’s feet and tossed it off the machinery. “You know very little about the organization you work for, apparently. They track all assets.” “Uh, yeah, no shit. I removed that crap forever ago.” Leo gestured at a small scar on his arm. “So, again, back to being your fault. You, alone, used a submersible to kidnap me. In my fucking pajamas!” They were classic teenage mutant ninja turtles, Leo had told Octavian. “I thought it would be…” The madman, for once, appeared to be struggling to find the words. “Romantic. Moonlit dinner, with nothing but the ocean around us.” Leo looked in the back of the compartment, at the nearly cliché picnic box and bottle of wine. There were even fucking roses. “Goddammit. Move, you asshat.” Leo got out of his seat, and pushed Octavian to the edge of his own, sitting beside him. Octavian looked at him curiously, but Leo was already starting to fiddle with the console controls. It didn’t look like much was happening. “If we are to die here, then I can’t say I mind the company,” Octavian admitted, only to get flipped off. “…Leonardo was always my favorite ninja turtle.” Leo sat up sharply, looking directly at the man. “Where the fuck are you from?! I swear to Christ, how do you speak 500 languages, yet know TMNT? Ain’t no one in American public school systems do word good.” “Maybe I was raised by a giant rat in the New York city sewers?” Octavian offered, with a smirk. “Who knows. You know, I know some about your past. You were doing extremely advanced mathematics in elementary school. You make fun of my education, but you’re obviously brilliant yourself, in fields and ways much more advanced than I.” “I hate you, leave me alone, I’m working.” Leo’s face was slightly red as he grumbled but turned back to the display. “…I expect more than a picnic when I save your pasty white butt.” “Of course, mój drogi.” The water had gotten uncomfortably close to the electrical equipment, but it had only taken Leo a few minutes before the submersible was back in some amount of working order. It would still sink, it was taking on far too much water with no way of repairing physical damage like that, but at least now they could deploy the emergency raft. Within five minutes, they were sitting in a black and red raft. It wasn’t small or flimsy, thankfully. Leo had enough room to fully stretch out on the blanket that had been in the picnic basket. Octavian had made a call to his men, it was likely they’d be there within the hour, but for the time… Octavian laid down beside the shorter man, staring up at the stars. “I guess it is kind of romantic. Maybe not the impending threat of death so much, but it is pretty out here. There’s not as much pollution out here…the stars are really bright.” Leo pointed at a few, “do you know any constellations?” Octavian did, so instead of answering, sat up on his elbow and leaned over to kiss the mechanic. Leo jerked backwards, eyes wide. “What the hell, did you just kiss me?” Octavian kissed him again, before pulling back and looking mighty pleased with himself. “I hate you, that’s such a breach of my personal space, it is completely uncalled for.” Leo ranted before he was grabbing the back of Octavian’s head and pulling him in for another.

[jiminthestreets-bonesinthesheets]

Lost in Translation

Title: Lost in Translation

Fandom: Star Trek

Pairing: Mckirk

Rating: Explicit

Tags: minor character death, hurt, little bit of self destruction, stranded, possible smut down the line, new addition... there will be fluff!!

Summary:

    “Attention citizens. This is the crew of the Enterprise asking for your aid. On Stardate 2264.78 a shuttle manned by our captain and fourteen cadets was ambushed by an unknown source and chased out of sight of our ship and into open space. Those cadets as well as our captain, James Tiberius Kirk, are still missing. We are asking anyone with any information on their whereabouts, or regarding the attack, to please contact the Enterprise immediately. Our family would appreciate any assistance you can give.” 

AO3 Link

Masterlist

Special Thanks: wanted to give a huge shout out to my girl Katie, AKA @goingknowherewastaken for being a huge inspiration for this fic as well as for being a huge help (especially when it comes to putting up with my frantic ramblings lol) you're awesome boo <3

A/N: So this is a work in progress but it’s basically finished and I’ve been making great headway with this recently, so this will be the first fic I’ve ever finished! Woohoo!! And I'm thinking that I’ll probably stick to a Sunday post schedule.

    Also a little note for y’all to keep in mind while reading. I have tagged this fic “possible eventual smut” and that’s because right now I don’t have any planned buuuuut… I'm going to leave that option up to you guys! Between the readers here and AO3, if you're still with me by the end of this fic, leave a comment and let me know if you would be interested in an epilogue or end scene with smut. I’ll post a reminder at the end, but keep it in mind while reading.

    And if anyone is interested in being tagged for future posts for this fic or any others I may post, please let me know and I’ll add you to the list! Thanks for reading <3

Chapter 4:

    The storm was raging, and had been now for almost two full days and nights. Now on day three of the torrential down pour Jim was at his wits end. Still with an injured knee, he limped around their crappy shelter as best he could while attempting to patch it up. There were holes everywhere it seemed, and he had run out of shuttle scraps to use for repairs. Water was coming into the shelter from every angle, the ground beneath them was soaked, his already suffering cadets were shivering and with injuries so bad he couldn’t risk moving them, and he was sure his worst fear was coming true.

    After last night’s winds and brutal drop in temperature, two of his young cadets had woken late that day with deep, chesty coughs. Pneumonia. And what could he do about it? Nothing, absolutely nothing, not a god damn thing and he hated himself for it. He had tried to get his cadets off the ground as best he could, tried to keep them warm and dry, but one man could not fight the endless amounts of rain this storm was throwing at them. And it seemed, from what Jim could see, there was no end in sight.

    After one last failed attempt at fixing more holes, Jim ducked into the shelter to check on his crew. They were holding on, they had been for ten days so far, but who knew how much longer that would last. The two cadets who had definitely come down with pneumonia were still coughing, struggling to breathe in the driest corner of the shelter. And of the other five, three were in and out of consciousness, and the last two were more then likely going to be fighting infections as bad as Colten’s was. 

    With nothing more he could do, he pulled himself to lean against the back wall of the shelter. He leaned his head back against the cold metal, the sound of the rain hammering on the metal scraps of their shelter drowning out his worries for the time being. He allowed sleep to take him in hopes that tomorrow would bring the familiar faces of his bridge crew, and the handsome doctor he found himself craving more and more each day. As his eyes slowly closed he thought about strong hands on his face, arms wrapping tightly around him and pulling him close, firm fingers running through his hair as a melodic chant of “Jim, Jim I'm here, it’s ok,” drawled in a sweet southern accent pushed him closer to sleep. And just before his eyes closed completely, a whispered, “Bones…” left his lips and he was finally asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Captains log, Stardate 2264.89. Last night was probably the best sleep I have had since the crash. I had hoped that perhaps today would bring better fortunes for me and my remaining crew, but unfortunately it was exactly the opposite. Some time in the night we lost two more members. Cadet Owen McDouglas had not only injuries from the crash, but possible pneumonia as well. And Cadet Obnerick Niich, I know he had some pretty bad injuries, but the actual cause of his death I am afraid I will never know. He was one of the members I thought might make it through to rescue. His injuries were not as severe as most others, yet he was gone before I woke up this morning…”

    Jim was sitting at the edge of the shelter, looking out into the haze of rain still pouring from the sky above. He was cold, fed up, angry, and soaking wet. All he wanted was to get to the ship, to beam aboard and head straight for his best friend, to Bones, to home. But he had no way of getting there, no way of getting any sort of signal to them, or communication. Getting home was looking more and more like it was never going to happen.

    “I hope that the admirals…” he stopped, shaking his head. At this point who cared what the admirals thought, he certainly didn’t. If they ever found the wreckage and his comm, Jim wasn’t making these logs for them, he was making them for Bones. Yeah, the admirals would want to know what happened to him and each individual crew member that passed in their time on the planet, but that didn’t mean they actually gave a rats ass about any of them, but Bones would. Bones would not only want to know what had happened, but would care about what happened to him. And if anyone knew that grump of a doctor it was Jim, and he knew that Bones would not give up until something was found. And if the only thing he found was this comm, then Jim was going to make sure that Bones knew he was thinking of him too. “You know what, I don’t give a damn what the admirals think. Bones… I'm sorry for this, for all of it. But I want you to know that I'm not sorry that you weren’t on this shuttle with me, things are bad down here, really bad. Most of my fourteen are either dead or… or dying, and I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if that was you, Bones.”

    Jim reached up with his free hand to wipe away a stray tear before continuing, “But I'm not giving up yet. I’ve still got five cadets counting on me, and I know you won’t let me go so easily. If I can count on anyone in this galaxy, it’s you, Bones. I know you'll find me…”

~~~~~~~~~~~

    “Captains log, Stardate 2264.9-” Jim paused, he felt like he couldn’t breathe let alone finish his sentence. Fourteen days in, fourteen days shipwrecked on this so far deserted planet, fourteen days of hell he wished he never had to experience. All he wanted was the ship, the crew, Bones… he wanted Bones more then he could express, and fourteen days in he was starting to seriously worry that he would never see him again.

    With as calming of a breath as he could manage, he wiped the wetness from his eyes and tried to continue, “Bones… I lost them, I lost them all. I failed every single one of these cadets, our family, I failed our family, Bones!” His voice gave way as the sobs began to take over his entire body. “Cadet M’haka, Cadet Nyara Blanir, Cadet Liam Tyler, Cadet Blake Shaw, and Cadet Dierdra Graff… the last of my crew gone. Some perished from their wreck injuries, others from pneumonia, and a few from I don’t even know what, but I know you could have saved them, Bones.”

    He looked out across the endless empty in front of him, the storm still raging on with no end in sight as he spoke again, “It’s been… fourteen days now since the crash, the storm is still going on, I'm cold, wet, hungry, home sick… alone. I have yet to see any sign of life, no species of any kind, and now with all of my fourteen crew members gone… I'm completely alone, Bones.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

    For the next three days Jim slept. There was really nothing more he could do. He had no more cadets relying on him for aid, the rain was still hammering down on the shelter, seeping through the cracks and running like a river underneath him. He was soaked through to his core and if something didn’t give soon, he was going to be this storms next victim. But four days later he woke to warmth on his skin, a small ray of sunshine came sneaking through one of the cracks in the shelter landing on his face.

    He stretched into it, let his cold skin absorb the welcome heat. Slowly he crawled out of the shelter and into the sun that was already high in the sky above him. Once outside he laid on his back, arms out wide and revelled in the humid air breathing it in deep. Finally, finally his shivering would stop, his clothes would be dry for the first time in days, and his skin could return to its normal non-wrinkled texture. The ground beneath him was already dry and back to its desert like state, but he couldn’t be happier to finally see the sand covered ground surrounding him.

    After what felt like hours of just laying in the sun, Jim sat up and faced the shelter. A pang of guilt and sorrow hit his chest hard, hindering his breathing as he thought about the fourteen bodies inside. He had to face it, there was no getting home for them. There would be no bodies to burry if he was ever found, no closure for their families, no peace for his cadets, hell, no one may ever even know what happened to any of them but what was he supposed to do about it? What could he do? With every fibre of his being he wished with everything he had that he could give them the peace and closure that they all deserved and it killed him that now he wouldn’t be able to do that, or at the very least inform their families of their bravery in the face of death.  

    Bones would know what to do, he thought as he sat up wrapping his arms tightly around his knees, Bones always knows what to do. But Bones wasn’t there, and Jim had to do something. Not only did he have his cadets to think about, but he was also now completely out of food and almost out of water. If he didn’t come up with some kind of plan he would be joining the cadets soon enough. All protocol stated to stay where you were, to never leave the original site if you were lost or wrecked, but he was starting to think that he wouldn’t have much choice soon.

    He looked around himself, seeing desert in every direction. Not a single tree or bush anywhere in between, not even a blade of grass, aside from a small mountain to his right. It was a fair distance away, and he could potentially spend a few days crossing the desert to get to it, especially on a wrecked knee. But there was the potential of finding a water source up there as well as hope that there could be something more on the other side. Maybe people, something he could eat, someone who could help. Normally he wouldn’t take the risk, but at this point he didn’t see any other option.

    He reached into his pocket and took out his comm. “Captains… captains log, Stardate 2264.96. Bones, I know it’s against protocol but I’ve decided I have to move on. The storm finally stopped this morning and I can’t stay here and wait to die. I… I'm out of food, I barely have any water tablets left, and that mountain to the right seems to be the best option. I'm hoping that at the very least I can find water and maybe some better shelter, and maybe there’s more to this planet on the other side of the mountain. If I could find some kind of food that would be great, then at least I could survive a bit longer, and if I could find people, hopefully people advanced enough to help, that would be a miracle. So far the only thing that’s on this side of the mountain is desert. But… leaving the cadets here, it feels wrong, Bones, though I can’t exactly take them with me. I’ve already let them down and now I don’t know what to do.”

    Jim moved the comm away from his mouth, staring again into the shelter at his cadets. A soft wind had started to blow through, cooling the already sweltering heat. When the wind hit the shelter his eyes darted to a piece of metal that began bouncing around, causing a loud bang to linger across the desert. The piece of metal was hanging on by a thread, it must have been dislodged some time during the storm and Jim hadn’t noticed until now. He watched it flap back and forth, continuing to crash into the metal pieces underneath it, and finally Jim had an idea.

    He forced himself up on weak legs, already shaking from lack of food, and slowly limped his way over to the broken piece of the shelter.

~~~~~~~~~~~

    Leonard placed the padd on the table beside Jim's bed, more like slammed it down. What little resolve he had left was gone, he couldn’t hold back the tears any longer and let them take over. Eighteen days and Jim was now alone, the Enterprise at this point was no where even close to finding him, and it was starting to sound like Jim was giving up on the ship and even himself.

    Jim had grieved for the cadets he lost, kids, and so did Leonard. Fourteen young and promising lives gone, but Leonard also grieved for Jim. He knew that if anything had happened to any of those kids while they were missing, Jim would blame himself. Even if there was absolutely nothing he or anyone else in his situation could have done, Jim would blame himself entirely, and now he was blaming himself for the deaths of fourteen cadets. He could hear it in his voice, they way he spoke about their loss, about letting them down, failing them. He knew that even though Jim was here, in this room with him, body warm under his touch, that a small part of him died on that planet along with those kids, and now Leonard grieved for it. If Jim woke up this would be a hard bump to get over.

    The door creaked open then, and without looking up he knew who it was. “Spock.”

  “Doctor.” He came inside and closed the door behind him. He could see that Leonard was crying, that he was holding Jim's hand and running his thumb melodically across his fingers, and that he had abandoned the padd behind him on the table. “Have you finished the logs, Doctor?”

    Leonard shook his head, gripping Jim's hand tighter in his, “I can’t Spock,” he whispered, not looking at the Vulcan, “I can’t finish them.”

    “You must,” Spock spoke not with an air of authority, but an almost plea, which Leonard had never heard in the Vulcan's voice before. “I know this is difficult for you, I listened to the Captain’s logs as well. But I assure you, all will come together in the end, Doctor. If anything, you must finish them for Jim.”

    Without so much as another word Spock silently slipped from the room. Leonard heard the soft click of the door and Spock's steady footsteps leaving the sickbay, then reached back to grab the padd. He let it sit in his lap for a while before he tapped the screen and brought up the next log. Turned out, the next ship log that fell in line with Jim's logs, was one of his.

    He looked at the stardate on the log, the same stardate as Jim's last log. Eighteen days of no Jim, of searching the stars and endless planets for him and the cadets, and coming up empty handed every time. Leonard remembered the feeling of hope that would rise in him every time Spock would take a landing party to the surface of a new planet, the anxiety he would feel for the hours or sometimes days they would spend searching the surface, and the gut wrenching heartbreak he would feel when Spock would walk into the sickbay and shake his head. Every time Leonard would find himself in the bathroom, huddled over the toilet and emptying what little was in his stomach. And it only got worse.

    With each passing day, and each Jim-less planet they searched, Leonard worried more and more that Jim was already lost. That they would never find him, or possibly find him dead. He didn’t know which was worse.

    “CMO’s log, Stardate 2264.96. It’s been eighteen days of searching every god forsaken planet we’ve come across and we haven’t found a god damn thing in this black hell hole up here. No sign of Jim or his shuttle, or the god damn idiots who attacked us in the first place. And now Jim's out there, in god knows what state, on some god damn planet, and surrounded by who knows what kind of bacteria and infectious diseases. And the damn med kit on that metal death trap he was in ain’t got nearly enough supplies for fifteen people to survive on for more then two weeks, and it’s been longer then that already! If we don’t find them soon then… damn it! We need to find him! I need the kid back more then I even knew, actually… maybe I did know, I just couldn’t say it. God, I wish I had… to hell with this! I need a drink.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A/N: Little more angst, and next is the chapter I’m pretty excited about.... the Bones centered chapter!! XD

But I also thought I’d let you guys know that I had a bit of a revelation this morning lol. While trying to update this fic for y’all I decided that I’m going to slightly alter the original path I had outlined for this. Not so much alter but rather add to. So, this fic is probably going to be a little longer then I originally anticipated, but who doesn’t love a good long Mckirk fic? lol Anyways, hope you guys enjoyed this update, hopefully more to come soon!! And as always your wonderful thoughts are always welcomed, and thanks for reading! <3

Tags: @goingknowherewastaken @bi-e-ne @medicatemedrmccoy @weresilver-in-space @resistance-is-futile81 @0dannyphantom0 @jimboy-mccoy @reading-in-moonlight @flaminglupine @haveyouseenmymind

[ruvatia]

Hi

Of course! Also please note though that most of these is how I used to comfort friends that had panic attacks and they were all different people with different needs when being calmed down. Though the universal thing; deep breaths!Also most of the paladins use pet names when they become an item w someone i’m convinced fight meThis turned out pretty long so it’s on a read more!

SHIRO

You were on your way back from talking to some leader on a planet that Voltron had just freed, telling them about the alliance with other civilizations across the universe.

As you reported in some galra prisoners escaped and obviously tried shooting you down because they thought you were in their way

They were taken care of quickly but the adrenaline of battle after you had managed to stay out of their line of fire kinda backfired

Your ship stopped moving, and that immediately alerted Shiro

He connected to you and heard noises too close to hyperventilation, and immediately started talking to you through your comms

“Hey, I’m sure you can hear me somewhere in there. Look, baby you’re going to be just fine, I’m right here beside you and I’m going to make sure that nothing like this ever happens again, okay?”

His lion is right in front of your craft, he’s too afraid of suddenly grabbing the ship with his lion and causing the movement to shock you even more than this whole ordeal already has

He keeps repeating things like “you’re going to be okay, take deep breaths, you’re doing great” and calling you pet names, “baby” usually because he doesn’t usually call you anything else other than your name

But he knows that you’re pretty weak to pet names and you told him once that it made you happy to know that you were his so he uses pet names only when he either really feels it or when he really needs to

The moment you’re back on the ship together he sticks to you like glue unless you tell him to give you some breathing space

Shiro loves you baby ;)))

KEITH

You were on your way back from checking something outside of the castle after a battle, and unfortunately some galra ships came back

You rushed inside your ship but you were trembling so much that you couldn’t get yourself back into the castle

The paladins took care of their enemies quickly and Keith was talking to you the entire fight through your comms

“You’re going to fine, I’m not going to let these shitheads lay a single finger on you. Just stay there I’ll be there as fast as I can. I’ll be there right by your side soon, I promise.”

The moment that he’s close enough to your ship he gets out of his lion and hops onto your ship, though you’ve closed the door because you’ve retreated to a fetal position in your chair

Keith knocks a few times, telling you to let him in but then he remembers how scared you are

He presses his forehead on the ship and speaks softly to you over the comms

“I’m here, I’m right here. If you’d just let me in I’d hold you and I won’t let go until you tell me to, no matter what happens to me. Please, let me in. I just want to help you out.”

When you do manage to open the door, Keith throws off his helmet and hugs you tight, whispering softly to you until you’re breathing is calmer

he strokes your hair too, hoping that it calms you the same it calms him (he’s never asked but you’ve never said anything about it, so he keeps doing it)

Back at the castle he insists that you sleep together for a few days, he was scared because he almost lost you, even if he’d never say it out loud but you figured it out p quickly

LANCE

After hearing your unsteadly breath on the other side of the line, Lance immediately starts humming to you

First starts off singing something dumb like despacito or havana just to catch your attention, but after you call out his name he brightens up

“Hey! Yeah! Yeah yeah yeah, that’s me. Hey, babe I know you’re not feeling too swell, but look, you’ll be home soon and I’m here for whatever you need until you get back here, yeah?”

He becomes the weirdest jukebox until the fight is over, and immediately rushes to your side when Voltron disbands

Before grabbing your ship with his lion he communicates with you through the comms, letting you know exaclty what he was doing. 

“Hey baby, we got rid of the baddies, and uh, I’m going to have red here take your ship back to the castle okay? I don’t want to startle you, but your breathing sounds a little better to me and I’m so, so proud of you for holding on for so long. Look, focus on my voice and not the weird shaking okay? I’ll be there as soon as I can baby, just hold on a little longer.”

Doesn’t shut up until you’re both back at the castle and he’s running from his lion to your ship, somehow having the door open for him and you hug him back.

“Thank god you’re okay.”

HUNK

The moment Hunk can hear your odd breathing pattern or a whimper from you, he asks you if you’re okay.

When you don’t answer, or when you let out a very shaky “no”, like Lance Hunk can’t shut up until he’s beside you

“Hey, hey baby listen to me, okay? We’re gonna do what we usually do and I’m going to talk your ear off until you get so annoyed you’re distracted from your panic attack to tell me off. So let’s start.”

He talks about everything and anything, and most of the time it starts with his most recent dream or recipe.

It really does keep going until he’s beside you, his arms around you and his voice soft in your ears instead of over the comms

He refuses to let you go until you’re all cozy and comfortable, reluctant to go take a shower because all that fighting obviously tired the hell out of him

You fall asleep together in your room, unfortunately losing hunk to dreamland but that’s okay, his sleeping face and steady breathing helps you regain your calm

When he wakes up and realizes he fell asleep before you he tries to make up for it

PIDGE

No matter how much time passes, Pidge is still a little awkward when dealing with your panic attacks

She theoretically knows what it is and what will calm it, a few hours of research and some description of what you feel when you’re going through helped her but

She’s known for being brash and is aware that things can often come out wrong with her

So the first thing she says to you is obviously to calm down and take deep breaths, but after such words yield no results because you’ve heard them so many times

She starts stressing herself

Of course Pidge is someone that can perform well even under stress but that stress is usually from others

it’s a little different when the source of stress is herself

She’s a little more hasty-- reckless to get to your side, and every passing second is one that your spend tormenting yourself and she hates that, her favorite thing is when you’re happy

When she finally gets a chance she makes her way to you, and she doesn’t know what to say so she just hugs you tight, to remind you that she’s here, she’s real and she’s all yours

maybe shushes you softly and pets your hair, and the way she kinda crushes you in the hug helps you snap back to reality

when your shaking stops and your breathing becomes steady again it’s your turn to comfort her though, she was hella scared that something worst would happen

[vcepsis]

Would you do K+3 for your babies Sheith pleeeease? With cherry on top? ❤

thank so very much ilu

From this drabble ask  (and hey if anyone else wants one feel free to send me an ask)

So the meme is for a drabble but I uhhhhhhhh wrote 2k so have some Shiro suffering under the cut (this is my first time writing for vld so I hope it turned out ok)

--

When this was over, Keith was going to see to it personally that this planet was bombarded from space.

He wrapped his good arm around his knees, gritting his teeth as Shiro coughed next to him, the sound wet and horrible.

They were coming up on day two of being stranded on this planet, and Keith didn’t like it any more than when they had first arrived. It was supposed to be a simple diplomatic mission: make contact with the locals, shake some hands, gush about Voltron and the fight against the Galra, go home.

Keith remembered looking forward to it: a mission with just him and Shiro. And Pidge, but, well, she would probably lose herself in the planet’s tech almost immediately, so she didn’t count. Keith also remembered the deliberation to cancel the mission when Shiro had picked up a virus the week before, with symptoms similar to a bad cold. But in the end, Shiro had managed to recover enough that it was decided to push forward with the original plan.

Shiro had brushed off Keith’s concerns, insisting he was fine. And he had looked fine as well; in fact, the only indication that he’d been sick was a lingering cough, and even that wasn’t too bad.

The species that lived here was skittish, and not under Galra control. While their technology was impressive, they were used to keeping a low profile so as not to attract Galra attention. It was decided (by Allura and Shiro, mostly) to only bring the Green Lion, to not scare off these potential new allies.

Unfortunately, their secret keeping abilities weren’t quite as advertised. Because no sooner were Keith and Shiro meeting with a group of their leaders, the Galra attacked.

Of course, the locals blamed the Paladins for the Galra’s sudden appearance, and left them to fend for themselves. Luckily, Keith and Shiro had been together, and while Pidge had been alone, she had managed to get to her Lion.

”There’s too many of them!“ she had cried over the comms. ”I can’t get to you!“

“It’s fine!” Shiro had called back as he and Keith sprinted through the jungle terrain, a small army on their tail. “Just go!”

“I’ll contact the Castle, we’ll be back as soon as we can!” With that, the line went dead, and Keith and Shiro were on their own.

In the process of escaping, they had gotten pretty banged up: Keith would have a collection of impressive bruises come morning, and he was pretty sure his left arm was broken from a three-on-one fight. It paled, however, in comparison to Shiro. He’d taken two direct shots to the chest from a hidden Galra soldier, and while the armor stopped the shots from tearing through him, it didn’t stop a few of his ribs from breaking.

It had taken time, luck, and more than a few close calls, but they finally managed to find a small, shallow cave, naturally protruding from a large moss covered rock. It seemed the Galra had turned most of their attention to the fight in the sky and in the city. So they had settled in, expecting rescue to come fairly quickly.

It didn’t.

The only thing Keith could think of was that the planet was under heavy fire, and the others couldn’t getto them. Attempting to raise them on the comms did nothing as well.

Shiro continued to cough, and Keith looked over at him, trying to keep the panic at bay. After a few minutes, the fit finally subsided, and Shiro rested his head on the rock wall behind him. His breaths were coming in short, shallow gasps, and sweat plastered the white of his bangs to his face. The whole planet was just so warm and humid and gross. Keith felt the sweat beading in his own hair and under his armor.

Shiro looked over at him, turning his head without lifting it. Despite the heat, his face was pale, making the red of his scar more prominent. “How’s the arm?”

Keith shrugged his good shoulder. When they first found their makeshift camp, Shiro had managed to set and wrap Keith’s arm pretty well, despite the shaking in his hands and his own injuries. The pain had been excruciating at the time, but had eventually faded to a dull throb that Keith was able to tolerate. “As good as it’ll be. How about you?”

It was a dumb question, but Shiro gave him a soft smile. “S'ok. Not bad.”

They hadn’t been able to do much for Shiro: the armor covering his chest and stomach had been removed, leaving him in his black under suit. Keith had hoped it would make it easier for Shiro to breathe, but it wasn’t going well. That cough was making Keith nervous, especially with the wet edge it had recently taken on. The humid environment, broken ribs, and last remnants of that virus were creating the perfect storm in Shiro’s lungs. Truth be told, it was scaring Keith.

“Maybe you should lie down?” Keith asked hesitantly, unable to keep the worry out of his voice. God, he was just so bad at this. There were lines of pain etched into Shiro’s tired face, and Keith wanted nothing more than to make them go away.

Shiro shook his head slowly, closing his eyes when the small movement made him dizzy. “Can't–can’t breathe, like that.”

They had a bit of distance between them; Keith told himself it was to not crowd Shiro, but in reality, he was just scared. Scared that if he touched him, he would do something wrong and end up hurting Shiro even more.

“You’re quiet,” Shiro said softly, breaking Keith out of his spiraling thoughts. “You sure you’re ok?”

Keith had to laugh at that; it was either that or burst into hysterical tears. “Me? What about you?”

Shiro chuckled softly, which set off another round of rough sounding coughing he tried to smother into his fist. When he was done he was blinking tears out of his eyes. “It’s fine. Only—hurts when I breathe.”

Keith shot him a look. “You’re not funny.”

“I’m hilarious,” Shiro responded, voice practically gone. His breath was rattling in his lungs. Pneumonia flitted through Keith’s mind, but he had to quash it down; he already felt like he was barely holding it together, seeing Shiro hurting so badly and not being able to do anything about it. He didn’t need anything else adding to his stress levels.

Shiro shifted slightly, hissing in pain when it jostled his battered ribs. “What are you doing?” Keith asked, the sound sharper than he intended. “Sit still, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

Shiro blinked at him, and Keith noticed with alarm that he seemed less aware than just a moment ago. “S'cold. Wanted to…get closer.”

Cold? Keith frowned, confused. It was the exact opposite of cold here; Keith felt the humidity under his skin, felt the warm air sticking his bangs to his face.

Then it dawned on him. He scooted closer, finally crossing the distance between them. Pulling off a glove with his teeth, he pressed his hand to Shiro’s forehead, gently lifting the bangs away. Yes, it was warm out here, but even Keith could tell the heat radiating off Shiro wasn’t normal.

“Shit.” Keith couldn’t stop the curse from rolling off his tongue. Panic bloomed in his chest anew, washing over him like a wave, ripping through him like a thunderstorm.

Shiro blinked slowly at him, not understanding. “Keith?” The sound was so soft, so worried, and Keith felt sick.

“It's—it’s fine, Shiro. Do you want to try to sleep?”

“What about you?” Shiro asked, voice still raspy. “You haven’t slept since we got here.”

There was no way Keith could even consider sleep, not now. Not with Shiro hurt so badly. “Neither have you. You’ll feel better if you sleep.”

The lie was obvious, but Shiro hummed in response, eyes already slipping closed. He scooted down the wall a bit so his head was level with Keith’s good shoulder, resting on it. Keith sat up as straight as he could so Shiro could still sit in a somewhat upright position. Keith found himself wishing he had taken off his own armor; sleeping on it couldn’t be comfortable. But he wanted to be ready in case the Galra came back. Besides, taking off his armor felt a little like defeat—as if the action would be admitting they wouldn’t be rescued for a while yet.

Despite not sleeping since they landed, Keith felt wide awake. Shiro’s head was heavy on his shoulder, his good arm caught underneath. Out of the corner of his eye, Keith saw that their hands were just inches apart, resting on the ground between them. Slowly, carefully, Keith moved his hand so it was over Shiro’s, giving it a gentle squeeze. Shiro sighed a bit in his sleep.

Looking over, Keith took in Shiro’s pale complexion, save for the faint flush beginning to bloom across his cheeks, and listened to the labored sounds of his breathing. At least he was breathing. Keith tried to focus on that rather than the fear coursing through him.

They stayed like that for a while, Keith eventually leaning his head gently on top of Shiro’s. Suddenly, his helmet crackled from where it sat a few feet away, making Keith jump a bit. “—ith? You there?”

Keith blinked, taking a second to process it, then lunged for the helmet. The movement startled Shiro awake, who managed to catch himself before falling on his face. Keith made a grab for the helmet with the arm Shiro wasn’t resting on, which, unfortunately, was his broken arm, and he cursed loudly as the pain shot through it anew. Jamming the helmet on his head, he heard the static sounds of jumbled voices on the other end. “I’m here. We need a pick up, stat.”

“Keith!” It was Lance. Never in his entire life did Keith think he’d be so happy to hear his stupid voice. “Where are you? We tried to contact Shiro, is he withyou?”

“Yeah, he’s here.” Shiro had managed to shift so he was leaning back against the rock, eyes closed tightly in pain.

“Thank God,” Lance said, relief evident in his voice. “We couldn’t reach him, it was freaking us out. Are you guys ok?”

Keith looked over at Shiro. His head was resting against the rock wall, arm draped loosely around his stomach, panting hard. “Shiro’s hurt. You need to get here, now.”

Lance cursed. “Where are you? There’s a break in the fighting, I’m pretty sure I can come get you in Blue.”

“I’ll send you our coordinates,” Keith replied, already bringing up the armor’s floating touch screen. Shiro was looking at Keith now, brows up in question. “Lance is on his way.”

Shiro smiled, and though it was tired and hazy, it was like the sun coming out. “That’s good. But tell him to be caref—” The rest of his sentence was abruptly cut off by a coughing fit that sounded worse than all the others combined, practically doubling him over with the force of it. Keith’s relief at contacting the team quickly turned back to that familiar, heavy feeling of dread he’d had for the past two days. He scrambled over to Shiro, rubbing his back as he worked through the fit. When he was done, his lips were flecked with red.

Keith’s eyes widened at the sight. He grabbed Shiro’s hand roughly, turning it palm up to see the fabric of his glove nearly soaked in blood, which Keith could see even against the dark fabric. Shiro was practically gasping for breath, too exhausted to protest Keith’s manhandling.

“Lance,” Keith said into the helmet, voice just this side of hysterical. “Hurry.”

“On my way.” Lance’s voice was serious, for a change.

Shiro was slumped against Keith, breathing hard and fast. Keith put his arms around him, ignoring the scream of protest from his broken arm. “Lance is on his way, alright?You’re gonna be fine, ok?”

Shiro looked up at him, though his glazed eyes didn’t seem to really be seeing Keith. “Yeah,” Shiro agreed softly. “Everything’s….gonna be ok. You’ll be…” Before he could finish the thought, his eyes fluttered shut and he went boneless in Keith’s arms, unconscious.

Keith wasn’t sure how much more of this he could take. “Lance!”

“I know, I know, I’m coming!” The sounds of battle came through the comms, along with low grunts as Lance fought through it.

Keith tightened his hold on Shiro, the pain in his arm secondary to the fear that had taken root in his chest. “It’s ok. You’re ok.” Keith wasn’t sure if he was talking to Shiro or himself at this point. He rested his head on top of Shiro’s, frustrated that the helmet was in the way. But he could hear the sound of Shiro’s breathing, shallow as it was, and focused on that. “I’ve got you.”

And five days later, when Shiro stumbled out of the pod, Keith was the one to catch him.