#Uh... Our informants need some tissues...

[whatthe-lads-aredoing]

6:07 PM - Caleb is chopping onions for dinner

[pitlanepeach]

Radio Silence | Chapter Forty-One

Lando Norris x Amelia Brown (OFC)

Series Masterlist

Summary — Order is everything. Her habits aren’t quirks, they’re survival techniques. And only three people in the world have permission to touch her: Mom, Dad, Fernando.

Then Lando Norris happens.

One moment. One line crossed. No going back.

Warnings — Autistic!OFC, pregnancy, strong language, death-anxiety (no actual death), Lando being an amazing husband.

Notes — Get the tissues ready. Check out the R.S Pinterest board post-chapter for some visuals!

2024 (Monaco)

Oscar sat cross-legged on the sofa, unwrapping a granola bar. Amelia lowered herself onto the chair opposite him with her notebook.

"What would you do if a child started to projectile vomit in a moving vehicle?" She asked, pen ready.

He blinked. "Sorry—what?"

"Answer the question."

"...Pull over. Make sure they're, like, breathing. Crack a window to get rid of the smell."

Amelia nodded. "Okay." She jotted something down.

Oscar narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing?"

"No concern of yours. Do you know how to sterilise a baby bottle?"

"Uh... no?"

"Do you know how to swaddle a newborn?"

"No, but I could YouTube it?"

She scribbled again, then looked up. "If Lando and I died tragically in a freak accident, would you be able and willing to raise our child?"

He choked. "What the hell?"

"Answer the question."

He coughed. "I—yeah? I mean, if that happened, yeah, I'd step up."

Amelia tapped her pen. "You'd need to cut back on the amount of time you spend on the panel court."

Oscar muttered, "I'd just take the baby with me."

—

Max Fewtrell sipped his flat white while Amelia stared at him, all beady eyed and completely unreadable.

"Do you own a fire extinguisher?" She asked flatly.

"...Good morning to you too?"

"Max."

"Yes. I think. Maybe? I don't know. Why?"

"Do you have a last will and testament?"

He stared at her. "Jesus, Amelia, are you going to have me killed?"

"This is all hypothetical, of course."

"What is happening right now?"

"Final question," she said. "Do you think you could emotionally support a child through the grief of losing both parents in a tragic accident?"

"...Oh my god."

Amelia didn't blink. "You're being considered for the position."

"For what?"

"Okay. I have enough information. Goodbye."

She left him sitting with his untouched croissant, both confused and mildly alarmed.

—

They walked side by side, Amelia waddling more than walking at this point. Fernando glanced down at her notepad.

"You are writing notes about me?"

"I'm evaluating your parental fitness."

"Why?"

"You might be a candidate to become the guardian of my daughter. In the event that Lando and I both die."

He blinked. "That is very grim."

"Statistically unreasonable," she said. "For me, anyway. Lando not so much." She sighed, chewing on her lip.

Fernando rubbed his jaw. "What is the criteria I must meet?"

"Emotional regulation. Moral compass. Childproofing competency. Capability of enduring a preschool dance recital."

He made a considering expression. "That last one might be a difficulty."

"You're top three so far." She told him.

"...I do not know if that is flattering or mildly scary."

"I trust you not to let her become a Red Bull junior driver; should she decide to start karting."

He nodded sagely. "Yes. Very good."

—

Amelia leaned across the table. "I have a few questions."

Max didn't look up from his phone. They were drinking milkshakes at a local coffee shop on the harbour. "Sure."

"If you had to raise a child you didn't birth, what would be your discipline strategy?"

"...Sorry?"

"Say me and Lando die. Hypothetically, if you got custody of our daughter, would you leave her at a petrol station if she disappointed you?"

He finally looked up. "Why would I get custody?!"

"I'm evaluating every available options."

"For a child that isn't even born yet?"

"She already exists. She's just... inside."

Max stared at her. "Zusje, you and Lando are not going to die."

She frowned at him. "You can't know that for sure."

He sighed. "Fine. I guess... No. I would not leave her at a petrol station, or stab any of her mechanics with a fork. But I would teach her how to drive early. Enter her into karting at three. Make sure she is ahead of everybody else."

Amelia jotted that down. "Noted."

"Am I seriously being considered?"

"You have the lowest risk of emotional instability during a crisis." She informed him.

He blinked. "Oh. Really?" He asked. "I feel like I'm a bit... hot-headed."

She shrugged. "Never with me, though. So I think you'd be the same with my little girl."

He stared at her for a beat and then smiled. "Yeah, Amelia. I think I would be too."

—

Amelia had kicked off her shoes the second she stepped into the apartment, now she was curled on the couch, laptop perched on her bump, tongue between her teeth as she typed furiously.

Lando came in behind her, fresh from a shower and still towelling off his hair. "Hey, babe. You hungry or—" He paused. Squinted. "What's the spreadsheet for?"

"Um," she said, not looking up. "It's colour-coded." She said, instead of answering the question.

"Of course it is." He padded over, still shirtless, and peered over her shoulder. "Fewtrell?"

"Yes."

"...And Oscar? Alonso? Verstappen?"

"Mmhmm."

He leaned closer, confused. "What is this?"

"Um."

"...Amelia," he said slowly, his voice pitching higher with suspicion. "What is this?"

She tapped something in the cell next to 'Max Verstappen – discipline style' and replied casually, "I'm compiling an assessment list for potential legal guardians in the case of our untimely deaths."

Lando froze. "I'm sorry— what?"

She finally looked up, frowning. "You're speaking very loudly."

"Because you're interviewing our friends to be our child's guardians in case we die?"

"Yes. Obviously. We'd need someone capable, emotionally regulated, ethically sound."

He blinked. Hard. "What about our parents? Or, like, one of my siblings? You know... our actual family."

She made a face. "Okay, I see your point." She said, completely sincere. "But I'd feel more comfortable having a list of at least five people who would be capable of stepping in."

Lando ran a hand through his hair. "Babe, you asked Oscar if he'd raise our daughter and didn't even think to mention this to me?"

"I was testing him under spontaneous stress," she said matter-of-factly. "He passed."

"Oh my god." Lando dropped onto the couch beside her, one hand dragging down his face. "Baby, we are not going to die, okay? God, maybe we should go to therapy about this."

"You already have therapy," she reminded him. "On Tuesday."

"I meant extra therapy. For both of us."

She turned the laptop toward him. "Do you want to see the rankings?"

"I—No! Wait—yes. Who's top?"

"Right now... Fernando."

He pulled a face. "Fernando?"

"He's extremely competent. Low emotional volatility. Has a very secure apartment and a predictable routine. He is also old, wise, and very rich. He would be able to hire wonderful childminders."

"...That's fair."

"Oscar is second."

"Obviously." He said.

"Max — Verstappen — third."

Lando tilted his head. "Seriously?"

"He would make sure she was loved. She'd grow up with discipline and money. Also, he has very cute cats."

Lando laughed, despite himself. "That's not... wrong."

"I ruled out Daniel because I texted him and he said that he would 'just vibe it.'"

Lando winced. "Yeah, okay, that's fair grounds for dismissal."

"Fewtrell's somewhere in the middle," she added, with a conflicted sigh. "I know we love him, and P, but he's still young and not settled down properly."

"I mean..." Lando shook his head, half-exasperated, half in love. "Babe. I love you so much, but this is mental."

"It's preparation. Contingency is kindness."

He stared at her — tan skin aglow from the laptop screen, expression painfully earnest. "You're... god, you're terrifying and brilliant."

She frowned. "I'm not terrifying."

"You kinda are."

"Do you want me to stop?" She asked, earnestly.

Lando's face softened completely. "No. I want you to keep being exactly you. I just also want to have a say in our daughter's future, you know, if we're both exploded in a tragic yacht fire."

She nodded. "Okay. That's fine."

He pulled the laptop from her lap, setting it on the table, then leaned in, pressing a kiss to her temple. "Can I be honest?"

"Always."

"I get scared sometimes too. About what will happen if something goes wrong. I think about all of the worst-case scenarios. But I know that I can't let myself obsess over 'what if's', or else I'll forget to enjoy the life I do have." He told her softly.

"Maybe that's a good idea," she muttered, but softened when he slid his arms around her and tugged her gently into his lap, belly and all.

They sat like that for a long moment, her head on his shoulder, his hands resting protectively over the curve of her bump.

"You know," Lando murmured, "no one could ever really replace you. No matter how good they are at bottle sterilising."

Amelia blinked hard. "I know."

"And if anything ever happened to me... she'd still have you. And that would be more than enough."

She buried her nose against his collarbone. "Don't say that."

"Okay. But it's true." He said into her hair.

She sniffled. "Our parents would do it, wouldn't they? They'd work together and make sure that she's raised the way we were. With love and care and attention."

"Yeah, baby. I think our family is the best idea." He told her honestly. "But you can still use your spreadsheet to choose Godparents, maybe?" He suggested.

She scrunched her nose. "I'm an atheist."

"Me too. I still have Godparents. They're just like... glorified Aunts and Uncles."

"Oh." She mumbled. "We'll have to have a long discussion about that."

He chuckled into her hair. "Okay, baby. Whatever you want."

—

Amelia sat cross-legged on the bed, half in her pyjamas, a stack of papers pushed off to the side. Her phone was pressed to her ear, the lights dimmed low. The baby kicked once — firm — beneath her ribs. She didn't react.

"Hi, Mum," she said when Tracey picked up.

"Hi, love. Everything okay?"

"No." Amelia didn't bother softening it. "I mean — not catastrophically. But I need to talk about something and I don't want you to tell me I'm overthinking."

"I never would," Tracey said gently. "Go on."

A beat passed. Then another. Amelia closed her eyes.

"If something happens to me. Or me and Lando. What happens to my baby?"

There was a pause on the other end. Not long. But present.

"Darling..."

"I've been making a list," Amelia went on. "Of potential guardians. Interviewing people. Assessing them. I've made a spreadsheet."

"I'm not surprised," Tracey said softly.

"I thought about putting Oscar first, but he doesn't know how to sterilise a bottle. Fernando is high scoring but he's not got much experience for kids. Max F would probably fill her bottles with Monster Energy."

Tracey laughed, despite herself. "What about us?"

"I assumed you'd all be willing to help. But I need a legal designation. If we die, someone has to be named. Officially."

"Sweetheart... I understand. I do." Tracey's voice was steady, but warm. "But it's also so unlikely."

"I know it's unlikely." Amelia's voice was sharp, strained. "But I can't bank on unlikely. That's not how I work. That's not safe."

There was silence again. Amelia's fingers tapped restlessly against her thigh.

"I just—" Her voice cracked. "I don't want her to be scared. Or confused. Or be stuck with someone who doesn't understand her. Especially if she's—like me."

"She'll be loved," Tracey said immediately. "No matter what she's like. Because she'll be yours and Lando's little girl. And because you'll have taught her how to explain herself. Just like you've done your whole life."

Amelia blinked hard. "You think she'll be alright?"

"I know she will be. And not just because you've planned ten steps ahead. But because she'll grow up with people who see her. Who will do whatever it takes to understand her. Just like we did with you."

There was quiet on the line. The baby kicked again, softer this time. Amelia exhaled.

"I don't want to need the plan," she said, very quietly. "But I need to have the plan."

"And that's okay," Tracey said. "You make the plan. You have it in place that me and your dad, or Lando's mum and his dad, will be named legal guardians. But then, when you're ready, let it sit. You don't need to carry it every minute."

"I don't know how not to."

"Then I'll carry a little bit of it for you. So will your dad. So will Lando. That's what family's for."

A long pause.

"Thanks, Mum."

"I love you."

Amelia wiped her cheek. "Yeah. I know."

—

Amelia lay on her side, half curled around a pillow, hoodie bunched over the top of her belly. Lando was pressed close behind her, one hand splayed gently across the curve of her bump.

"She's awake," he murmured, grinning against her shoulder. "I felt her boot me in in the hand just now."

"She likes to kick when I'm horizontal," Amelia said, with a sigh. "She's very inconsiderate."

Lando chuckled and flattened his palm more purposefully, thumb brushing small circles near her belly button. "You think she knows it's me?"

"She reacts to your voice. She kicks harder for Oscar at the moment, though."

"That's rude." He leaned down, speaking directly to her stomach. "You know I'm the one who's gonna be changing your dirty, stinky nappies, right?"

The baby gave a solid thump.

Lando pulled back, eyes wide. "Did you feel that? She literally just responded to me."

"Of course I felt it," Amelia muttered.

Lando laughed again and shifted so he could look at her properly, brushing a few stray hairs away from her forehead. "Okay, okay. What if I..." He pressed a kiss to her belly, then whispered, "You're the coolest little bean in the universe."

Another kick.

"She's gonna be so spoiled," Amelia said. "You're already hyping her up."

"She should be hyped up. Look at her genes."

Amelia laughed. "Lando."

Lando turned to her with a mischievous glint. "What do you think happens if I play a recording of a V10 engine?"

"She might decide to come earth-side early." She said.

Lando snorted.

Amelia shifted onto her back, guiding Lando's hand as the baby rolled again, this time slower, like she was listening.

"She's so real," Amelia said, quieter now. "Still doesn't feel like it all the time. But she is. Real."

"I know," he said. "I think about it every day. That we're... gonna be parents. That I get to do this with you."

Amelia didn't look at him, but her fingers curled gently around his. "You're really good with me."

"Yeah, well," he murmured, resting his forehead gently against hers. "I kind of love you."

She turned her head a little, and he kissed her softly — slow and familiar, the kind that didn't lead anywhere except safety.

Their hands stayed linked over the baby as she shifted again beneath their skin.

"Do you think she'll be scared the first time we bring her into the paddock?" Lando asked.

"No. She'll be too tiny to be scared, I think. And by the time she's old enough, it'll just be... normal for her," Amelia muttered. "But we've got to get her paddock credentials sorted as soon as she's born."

He grinned. "We'll start with a tiny little VIP badge to clip to her baby grow. And some ear defenders."

"Smart," Amelia said. "We'll both have plenty of loud men to block out."

They fell asleep like that, legs tangled, baby between them, and the next morning came soft and golden through the curtains; the first light falling directly across Amelia's stomach, as if even the sun was trying to say hello.

—

It was already warm under the canopy, even though the Monaco sun hadn't fully crested the hills yet. The McLaren paddock buzzed—orange polos everywhere, cameras drifting past on gimbals, mechanics laughing over first-cup coffees that smelled like dark chocolate and fuel.

Amelia stood at the edge of it all, arms folded over her bump, dark sunglasses perched on her nose, clipboard hugged tight against her chest. She'd already rewritten a run-plan line item; now she was waiting—still—for Oscar.

He finally jogged up, bag slung over one shoulder. "You look like an army-recruitment officer," he puffed.

"You wouldn't last a day in the army," she replied, eyes still on her iPad. "You're always late."

"I'm sorry," he groaned. "And I'm only seven minutes late!"

"Seven minutes and you dropped croissant flakes all over the sim consoles last night. They ended up in the throttle pedal housing. I had to get on my hands and knees with the little handheld hoover. Do you know how difficult it is for me to bend over right now?"

"I was hungry. I needed energy!"

She raised one eyebrow. "Energy bars exist and they don't shed pastry all over the priceless simulator equipment."

He pursed his lips, sighed an apology, then nodded toward the interior of the motorhome. "Sorry. Fine. Come on. Tom's waiting."

—

The briefing room smelled of whiteboard marker and fresh rubber. Tom Stallard—clipboard in hand, headset looped around his neck—looked up as they entered. He offered Amelia a polite nod and Oscar a wry smile.

"Morning," Tom said, voice calm, measured. "Figured we could run through hand-over minutiae before first practice?"

Amelia slipped into the chair beside him, dropping her own clipboard with a soft thud. "Good idea. At least one of you is prepared today."

"Hey!" Oscar protested.

Tom chuckled. "I'm fairly prepared, I guess."

"That's good," Amelia muttered, tapping notes on her iPad.

She flicked the screen toward Tom. A colour-coded chart lit up; Oscar's preferred comms phrasing, ideal brake-migration tweaks per track, panic phrases to watch for. Oscar-Handling 101, the header read in dead-serious Helvetica.

Tom scanned it, impressed. "This is on-top of the big folder you've already put together for me?"

"Contingency is kindness," Amelia replied. "I'm not leaving him undefended while I'm off having a baby."

Oscar leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. "She's terrified you'll let me eat in the sim room."

Tom grinned. "Contraband food noted."

Amelia pointed at the final column. "He also says 'copy, copy' when he's flustered. Means he hasn't copied. Repeat the instruction."

Oscar's ears went pink. "Well you didn't have to put that in writing."

"It's an operational fact," she said simply.

Tom set the chart aside. "We'll be okay, Amelia. I've shadowed enough of your sessions to know how you translate his feedback. Not as well as you can — but enough."

She exhaled—one of those slow, controlled breaths. God, she felt like her organs were running out of room. "I know. My brain just... insists on double-checking." Her hand rested instinctively on her belly. "Can't exactly be on the pit wall at forty weeks."

Oscar's expression softened. "You'll still be in my ear sometimes, right? From home?"

"As a 'consultant'," Tom said, quoting with his fingers. "Team's already approved remote link-ups when needed."

Amelia nodded. "I'll ping in for data dives. But Tom's your primary. Listen to him. Trust him."

"Understood," Oscar said, suddenly earnest. "And... thanks—for all this. For everything. I knew you'd be — all Amelia about this. But you didn't have to be. And I really appreciate it."

She blinked behind the sunglasses, uncomfortable with sentiment. "Just keep running at the top of the field. Keep pushing yourself. Maybe win a race." She told him.

Tom pushed his chair back, easy and steady. "Right. Track walk in ten."

Oscar slapped the table once in mock salute. "Yes, sir."

He turned to Amelia as they headed for the door. "No more croissants in the sims," he promised.

She handed him a protein bar out of her bag. "Here. This is better. More stable energy, less saturated fats."

He grinned, unwrapping it. "Aw. You still love me even after crumb-gate."

"Crumb-gate," she echoed, her mouth twitched upward.

Tom watched the exchange with quiet amusement. As they stepped onto the sun-lit pit lane, he leaned toward her. "He'll be fine, Amelia."

She adjusted her headset, gaze following Oscar's retreating figure. "I know. So will I." A small pause. "But I still hate it when he's late."

Tom laughed. "I'll keep him on military time."

—

The Monte Carlo sun had a way of making everything feel cinematic. White yachts bobbed on sapphire water, the harbour glinting just beyond the paddock gates. Amelia stood by the McLaren motorhome in a clean papaya polo, sunglasses tucked into her collar, bump unmistakable beneath the fabric.

It was Media Day, and the buzz was palpable.

She adjusted her earpiece as the Sky Sports producer counted them in, the familiar voice of Natalie Pinkham coming through her headphones with a bright, practiced warmth.

"We are here in beautiful Monaco with a very special guest — Amelia Norris, McLaren's lead performance engineer and, of course, Oscar Piastri's race engineer. Amelia, welcome."

Amelia gave a nod, her voice calm, direct. "Thanks. It's really hot, isn't it?"

Natalie laughed. "That it is. Listen, you've had a phenomenal season — McLaren's surge in performance, Oscar's consistency, and Lando finally breaking through for his first win. You've had your fingerprints on all of it."

Amelia tilted her head slightly, weighing the praise before answering. "It's been a team effort. Good car, amazing drivers. We've been smart with upgrades."

"And you've done all this," Natalie gestured gently to Amelia's belly, "while also expecting your first child with Lando. How exciting for you both!"

A soft smile played at Amelia's lips. "Yes. She's a very involved team member. Likes to kick during data meetings."

That got a warm laugh from the crew and nearby media.

Natalie's voice softened. "And I believe you have a bit of news for us today?"

Amelia nodded once. "Yes. This weekend will be my last before I step back for maternity leave. Tom Stallard will be taking over race engineering for Oscar post-Monaco until further notice."

A small wave of murmurs rippled through the surrounding press. Natalie smiled at her. "So this is your last race weekend for a while?"

Amelia shrugged, still poised. "For a few months, yes. I'll still be consulting remotely. But I won't be on the pit wall again until later in the season."

Natalie leaned in a little. "How does it feel, stepping away at a time like this? With McLaren doing so well, and you being so integral?"

There was a pause. Amelia's eyes flicked briefly down the paddock — where Lando was laughing with mechanics, Oscar leaning against the wall with a coffee, talking to a camera crew.

Then she answered.

"It's... complicated," she said. "I like control. I like knowing things. And there's a lot about becoming a parent I can't forecast. But the team is solid. Oscar's going to be in good hands. And our daughter—" her hand instinctively brushed her belly, "—deserves my full attention for a while."

There was a beat of quiet. Then Natalie smiled, warm and real. "Well, on behalf of everyone watching — thank you so much, Amelia. For all you've contributed to the sport over the past five years. And congratulations to you and Lando on this wonderful addition to your family."

Amelia nodded again, just once. "Thank you."

The interview wrapped, and as the camera cut away, Amelia stepped back, peeling off her earpiece. She was halfway through unpinning her mic when she felt a familiar arm wrap around her shoulders.

Lando pressed a kiss to the side of her head. "You were brilliant," he murmured.

"I told people I'm going on leave," she said quietly, like she needed to repeat it aloud. "I made it real."

"It is real." He looked down at her bump, then back at her. "But don't worry. You're still the boss. Just... remotely."

Amelia leaned into him, the smell of sunscreen and motor oil clinging to his polo. "You think people will forget me while I'm gone?"

"Not possible," he said immediately.

She gave a small, short laugh, and he kissed her temple again.

They stood there for a moment; in the glitz and the hum of Monaco, wrapped in their own quiet kind of gravity.

—

The hospitality deck was quieter than usual at lunch time, tucked just above the paddock chaos. A few guests chatted softly over sparkling water and pasta, the harbour glittering in the background. Amelia sat at a small table in the shade, half-finished salad in front of her, sunglasses pushed into her hair.

Her dad slid into the seat across from her with a grunt and then a beaming grin. "You're hiding up here."

Amelia stabbed a tomato with her fork. "I'm taking a scheduled break."

"That's what you're calling it now?"

She gave him a dry look. "Better than 'aggressively avoiding small talk with a million people who all want to ask me the same questions.'"

Zak chuckled and took a sip of his iced tea. "Hey, I didn't say it was a bad thing!"

They ate quietly for a few minutes. She glanced at her iPad once or twice, fingers twitching like she wanted to reach for her stylus.

Then her dad leaned forward, voice a little softer. "Your mom called."

Amelia didn't look up. "Yeah?"

"Told me to keep an eye on you. That you're getting anxious over silly things." He said. "She wants you at home. She doesn't think you should be working this weekend."

"I know what I'm doing." She said back, not sharply, just matter-of-fact. "I'm flying to England on Tuesday and then I'm going to start nesting."

"Fine, fine." He said. He was staring at her. "You did an interview this morning?"

"Yeah. It felt strange." She hesitated. "Like I had to tell them that I was handing over part of my identity and pretend that I was fine with it."

Zak nodded slowly, watching her carefully. "You don't need to pretend, kiddo. You're just doing something new. Hard to do both at once sometimes."

Amelia chewed slowly, then asked, "Did it feel like that when you stopped racing?"

He was quiet for a moment. Then, "Yeah. I didn't admit it for a while, but yeah. It was hard. You build yourself around something that has a finish line, and suddenly it's not there anymore. It's just... your life."

Amelia's hand drifted to her bump without thinking. "What if I'm not good at the other thing?"

"You said the same thing when we put you into the advanced classes at school."

"I was eight."

"And you were wrong then, too."

She looked at him.

He gave her a small smile. "You're not just good at this job because you're smart. You're good because you care. And that's not going to change no matter how long of a break that you take."

Amelia stared down at her plate, silent for a moment. "I don't want to hand over Oscar."

Her dad leaned back in his chair, his tone more casual now. "You picked Stallard yourself. You trust him."

"I do." She took a breath. "But I know how Oscar works better than anyone else. How his brain ticks under pressure. And I've done everything for so long — pre-sessions, cooldowns, briefings. It's not just the job. It's him."

He nodded. "That's why you've been so good together. But you're also about to be someone's mum, Amelia. And that little girl is going to need all of that same care. All of that weirdly brilliant attention to detail."

Amelia huffed a laugh. "She's already demanding. She hates when I eat citrus. Just wants cake and tiramisu flavoured things all the time."

"She's got taste." He said. Then he reached across the table and placed his hand over hers."You're not disappearing, Amelia. Nobody is going to forget about you. You're going to have a baby, and you'll fall so deeply in love with her that everything else will fade into the background. But eventually, you'll be ready to come back. Your mom will travel with you, and you'll take over from Tom again, and everything will be just fine."

She blinked. Slowly. Then, she whispers, "Thanks, Dad. That really helps."

He squeezed her fingers. "You'll be back before you know it. And when you are—this place will still be yours. Trust me. You've made more of an impact than you will ever realise."

—

The restaurant clung to the cliffside above the marina, lit by soft lanterns and the shimmer of city lights below. The terrace buzzed with the gentle clatter of cutlery and the low hum of multiple F1 teams converging for one of those rare, off-track evenings.

It was still work, in a way — team bonding, sponsor optics, face time. But for now, it was pasta and mocktails and the smell of grilled sea bass drifting on the evening breeze.

Amelia sat wedged between Oscar and Lando, her hands cradling a chilled glass of pomegranate soda. Her feet were up on a second chair, legs aching just enough to warrant it. Lando kept refilling her glass every time she looked away. Oscar had already stolen her feta-stuffed olives.

When the main course wound down, she spotted Charles stepping out from a conversation with someone in red team gear. He looked relaxed — or as relaxed as Charles ever did in Monaco. Still sharp-edged around the eyes.

She tapped Lando's arm. "I'm going to say hi to Charles."

"You're not about to give him trade secrets, are you?"

She didn't answer. Just rolled her eyes and got to her feet.

Charles noticed her before she even reached him and smiled with something between fondness and humour. "You need a breather from the orange table?"

"I'm trying to be neutral and approachable," Amelia told him.

"You're failing," he replied, but his grin softened the jab. "How are you feeling?"

"Hot. Heavy. Slightly betrayed by my spine." She paused. "You?"

Charles tilted his head. "Nervous."

She nodded. "Understandable."

"It's Monaco."

"I know." She looked up at him for a beat longer. "The thing is, I want my boys to beat you. That's my priority and it always will be. But —" She bit her lip and leaned on the balcony. "But I want you to finish this race. Properly."

He laughed under his breath. "So do I."

She hesitated, then lowered her voice and leaned in, "So, maybe, if on your second quali lap, you just leave a little extra margin at the exit of Mirabeau. And maybe you should adjust your ride height a few inches. And your throttle pedal could, maybe, could be adjusted to the left; specifically for Monaco."

Charles stared at her. "What?"

"You heard me," she said with a faint smile. "Good luck, Charles. I hope you make your home crowd proud."

He smiled wider. "If anyone found out that you—"

"All my father would ever do is frown and me and proceed to tell me that I'm soft for you. Which I am." She smiled at him. "You've been such a wonderful friend to me, Charles. A good neighbour. You always listen to me when I speak, even if what I am saying makes no sense to you."

Charles looked at her, suddenly quiet. "Merci, Amelia. Thank you."

Amelia pursed her lips. "I'm not saying that those changes will make you win. But... They will give you a better chance at a front-row start. And we know how important that is here."

They stood like that a moment — Monaco locals by way of wildly different paths — then Charles glanced back toward the Ferrari table. "Tell your husband that I will be trying to poach you when you return from maternity leave," he said.

"Hm." She hummed. "You and Lewis next year — what a fun idea."

He blinked at her, a bit of hope clinging to the edges of his expression. "Really?"

She leaned in and kissed his cheek. "No."

He huffed out an amused breath and started to turn away, then paused and added, sincerely, "Good luck, Amelia."

"Right back at you," she said, then added, "Leave the barriers alone this year, yes?"

"I'll do my best," Charles said with a wink, and disappeared back into the red sea.

When Amelia returned to the McLaren table, Lando leaned in with a faux-casual, "So, how's your favourite Ferrari boy?"

"He's nervous," Amelia said, sitting again with a sigh. "I hope I gave him some hope. That's the most powerful tool a driver can have." She tilted her head. "Well, that and me."

Oscar smirked and raised his drink. "To questionable loyalty."

"To Monaco miracles," she corrected, and clinked his glass.

—

Later, long after the dinner had wound down and the drivers WhatsApp group had gone feral with memes and selfies, Amelia lay submerged in warm water, her back nestled against Lando's chest. The bathroom was dimly lit, the only light coming from the small lamp over the sink and the soft glow of the candles. Lavender and eucalyptus swirled in the steam.

Lando's chin rested lightly on her shoulder, his fingers tracing aimless lines over the curve of her belly just visible above the surface. The baby gave the occasional gentle kick, more thump than flutter these days.

"She's very awake," Lando murmured, thumb brushing over one of the movements.

"She likes water," Amelia said, closing her eyes. "She always calms down when I'm in the shower. But she loves a bath."

"Maybe she'll be a mermaid."

"Or a diver. Or an aero specialist. Hydrodynamics and aerodynamics aren't that different."

Lando laughed into her shoulder. "That's such an engineer answer."

"You asked."

A comfortable silence settled between them, interrupted only by the lapping of the water and the distant hum of the city outside.

"Have you thought more about names?" He asked softly.

She opened one eye. "You're not letting that go, are you?"

"You said we'd make a shortlist this week."

"Technically, you said that. I just nodded."

"Close enough."

Amelia tilted her head back against his shoulder, thoughtful. "I like Ada."

"Yeah?" He asked thoughtfully.

"It's clean. It has weight. Ada Lovelace was one of the first computer programmers."

"Shocker."

"What — that I want to name our child after a female computing and mathematical pioneer?"

"Sarcasm, baby." He mumbled against her shoulder.

She frowned. "Sorry. Missed it. My brains all misty recently."

Lando gave her a little squeeze, then said, a bit more seriously, "I like Ada. But I also kind of like names that sound like movement. Like... I don't know. Skye. Or Elia. Something with flow."

"Skye Norris?" Amelia mused.

"Eh. It's a good jumping off point," he said.

They lapsed into silence again, his hands slow and steady against her belly, her fingers lazily drawing shapes in the water.

"I'm a bit scared," she said quietly. "To be honest."

Lando didn't move. "Of what?"

"Of getting it wrong," she whispered. "The name, the parenting, all of it. I'm good at engineering because it follows rules. But babies — she'll be her own person, Lando. With thoughts and emotions. And I don't know how to... prepare for that."

He was quiet a moment. Then he said, softly, "Me either."

Amelia blinked up at the ceiling, throat tight.

"But if we mess up—" Lando continued, nudging her temple with his nose, "we'll apologise. Own up to it. And then we'll try again. That's all anyone can do."

She exhaled. "You make it sound so simple."

"Because you overthink everything."

"That's rich coming from you."

He smiled. "Yeah, well. We're both anxious perfectionists with trust issues. Our daughter is doomed."

Amelia laughed — a real one this time. "Shut up."

Lando kissed the side of her head. "She'll have us on her side, though. Always."

Amelia reached down, took one of his hands, and pressed it firmly to the curve of her belly.

Their daughter kicked again, right on cue.

"Maybe Ada Skye," she said after a long pause.

Lando hummed. "Can I suggest something else?"

"Of course." She said quietly.

"What about Rosella?"

"After Rosella Manfrinato?" Amelia asked, voice full of curiosity.

"Yeah. First female engineer to ever work for Ferrari." He said.

She nodded. "Yeah. I know." She pursed her lips in thought. "Ada Rosella Norris." She whispered, trying to get a feel of the name.

"It's strong." Lando said.

"Full of power." Amelia agreed quietly.

Lando grinned against her temple. "Our little rocket scientist."

"Our little engineer," Amelia said, smile tugging at the corner of her mouth.

"Let's not teach her about ERS until she's at least four."

"Three and a half," Amelia negotiated.

Lando laughed.

Amelia thought it sounded like home.

—

The apartment was silent now.

Water drained from the tub long ago, and Amelia was curled beneath the covers in their bed, one hand resting unconsciously on her bump, her breaths slow and even. Moonlight slid in through the curtains, tracing soft silver lines across her cheekbones. Lando stood in the doorway for a moment, watching her — still, peaceful, warm — before stepping back out into the living room and quietly closing the door behind him.

He crossed to the balcony, tugged on a hoodie, and pulled out his phone.

It took three rings before his dad answered.

"Lando? Everything alright?" His dad sounded like he'd just woken up — it was late, and Lando had forgotten the slight time difference.

"Yeah. Yeah, everything's fine. Sorry if I woke you up," he said, rubbing at the back of his neck. "I just... I couldn't wait anymore. I needed to tell someone."

A beat of silence.

Then, with a hint of caution, because he knew his son, asked, "Tell me what?"

"I did it," Lando said. "I bought it. The land."

"What land?" Adam asked.

"The land, dad. Where we got married."

"You mean the—? Jesus, mate."

"Yeah. The field. With the oak tree. The one Amelia didn't stop talking about for a month straight last year." Lando sat down slowly on one of the balcony chairs, heart thudding. "But, like, I didn't just buy it, you know? I've been working with some people — architects, contractors. Builders. Decorators. It's happening. Happened, I guess. The house. Her house. She doesn't know yet."

Adam was quiet, but Lando could hear the smile in his voice when he finally said, "You're building it."

Lando nodded, even though his dad couldn't see him. "Built. Almost. Just, like, a few more pieces of furniture to get delivered. But yeah, dad. It's a real home. Just in time for the first few months with the baby. Maybe longer. It's all eco-efficient and airy — her office, a nursery, a bathtub big enough for the both of us, just like here. And the nursery..." He let out a breathless laugh. "Dad, I had it copied from her Pinterest board. Down to the wall art. She doesn't even know I have her Pinterest boards."

Adam chuckled softly. "Of course you do, son."

"It's got these soft pinks and greys. Planet mobiles, wood textures, soft-glow lamps. She pinned a photo of a reading nook by a window and I'm getting them to build one, exactly like it. I want it to feel like she's known it forever."

"She's going to love it," Adam said, gentle now.

Lando's throat tightened. "I just— When we found out that she was pregnant, I knew that she'd want to have the baby in England, you know? And I know she's more than happy to stay with her mum for a while but — I wanted her to have something that's hers. Ours."

"She already has that in you."

Lando looked out over the dark water, letting that settle. "I know. But, when I can't be there... I just want her to know," he said quietly, "you know? Be surrounded by it. A reminder that I'd give her the whole world. That she doesn't even have to ask."

"She knows, son."

"I'm going to bring her there," Lando said. "Next week. I'm hoping everything will be finished. I was hoping maybe you'd be able to go and check it out, maybe you and mum? Make sure everything's alright?"

His dad didn't say anything right away. "Of course we will, mate. Whatever you need. God, I'm proud of you, Lando. You've become the kind of man I always hoped you'd be."

Lando swallowed, hard. "Thanks, Dad."

"Now go and get some sleep. You've got a race weekend to finish — and a very clever wife to keep from figuring all this out."

Lando laughed, soft and careful, so he wouldn't wake Amelia. "Yeah. That's been the hardest part. But — I genuinely think I've managed to hide it."

They said their goodnights, and Lando stayed on the balcony for a few more minutes, watching the moonlight ripple across the water.

Then he slipped back into the bedroom and under the covers beside her.

Amelia shifted slightly in her sleep, turning toward him. He curled around her carefully, hand resting on the curve of her belly.

In four days, he thought, she'll open the big front-door and find everything waiting for her. 

Everything she'd dreamed of — and more.

—

The sky was a crisp summer blue above the city, the harbour shimmering below. The McLaren garage was alive for the most important session of the weekend—controlled chaos, comms lines tight, eyes on telemetry, hands on buttons.

Amelia stood, headset on, bump cradled behind her clipboard. The engineers around her knew to give her room; she paced with deliberate, rhythmic movements when she was thinking, and thinking was all she was doing now.

Q3.

Tight margins. Traffic chaos. Purple sectors lighting up the screen like fireworks.

"Alright, Oscar," she said into the mic, her tone flat but alert. "Track's evolving fast. Leclerc's just gone purple in Sector 1."

"Copy."

He didn't sound nervous. Just wired in.

Her eyes flicked to the screen. Telemetry humming in real time. Every time she ran data analysis through her mind, Oscar's confidence had grown sharper, cleaner. The car was under him. And he was really, genuinely starting to believe in it.

"Go now. Push out of Rascasse. Clear air."

Silence. Then the rhythm of apex and throttle and millisecond corrections filled her ears like music.

Lando, on another screen, was midway through his final flyer. "He's purple in S2," someone said behind her, low.

"Copy that," Amelia replied. She didn't move. She didn't breathe. She just watched Oscar's delta fall green, then purple—

Then time stopped.

P2.

Right behind Leclerc. Less than a tenth off.

The garage burst into motion, restrained joy quickly overtaken by calculation. Strategy talk. Track position.

Amelia blinked hard and gave her mic one last click. "That's front row, Oscar. Hell of a lap."

"I left half a tenth at the hairpin."

"I'm aware," she deadpanned. "You also just out-qualified Verstappen and Hamilton in Monaco."

His laugh crackled over the radio as he pulled into Parc Ferme. "Holy shit."

Amelia turned in her seat and locked eyes with Lando just as he pulled his gloves off. "P4," he mouthed to her, not too disappointed—energised.

"Nice recovery after that wall tap in FP3," she called across the garage.

"I didn't touch the wall."

"You kissed it, then. Should I be jealous?"

He grinned.

A Sky Sports camera panned briefly to them. Amelia didn't flinch—just shifted her clipboard against her stomach again. Someone behind her passed her a small stool, and this time she accepted, sitting with a quiet exhale.

The top three were headed to press. She watched as Oscar removed his helmet, curls flattened, grinning wide, exchanging a look with her from across the paddock before getting swept toward the media pen.

"You nervous?" One of the junior engineers asked her as they unplugged telemetry cables.

"A little," Amelia said. "But we're front row in Monaco. There are worse problems to have."

And deep in her chest, beneath the clinical logic and mechanical heartbeat of the job, she felt it — a soft, surging pride. Her best friend, on the front row. Her husband, on the second. Her team, alive with momentum.

Their daughter kicked once, firm and sharp against her ribs.

"Yeah," Amelia whispered, rubbing her belly. "Let's make the last one good, baby girl."

—

The paddock was swarming. Engineers debriefed at speed, mechanics wheeled tyres past camera crews, and over it all came the distant call of the sea.

Amelia stood from the stool someone had given her earlier, brushing her hands over the front of her dress. She'd barely moved when she caught a flash of red.

Charles.

Helmet off, suit tied at the waist, damp curls sticking to his temples. He was deep in conversation with someone from Ferrari, nodding tightly — the thrill and heavy burden of taking pole position in Monaco sitting heavy on his shoulders, even under the roaring crowd.

Then his eyes caught hers.

For half a second, she thought maybe he'd just glance and move on. He was always polite, always kind, but this was a big moment for him. He had enough on his plate.

Instead, he paused. Just a beat.

Then — a smile, genuine and boyish.

And a quiet, grateful thumbs-up. Directed at her.

Amelia blinked, then returned the gesture with a small lift of her clipboard. A quiet acknowledgment.

She'd bent a few informal, off-the-record, definitely-against-McLaren-policy rules the night before at dinner. Just a few aerodynamic notes. Not enough to sabotage Lando and Oscar's chances. Just enough to give a driver she quietly admired the best shot he could get on home soil.

And now he was on pole.

Lando stepped up beside her, having just finished media, brushing his knuckles against hers without a word. He was still flushed from the car, hair wild and eyes bright. "Was that Charles just—?"

"Yeah," she said.

Lando gave her a suspicious look. "Is this about what you two were whispering about last night?"

"Nope." She lied.

"You gave him tips, didn't you?"

Amelia stayed perfectly still. "Prove it."

Lando opened his mouth — and then just laughed. "You're ridiculous."

"Am I wrong, though?" She asked mildly. "Oscar's still on the front row. You're in a great launch position. We've got a better long-run setup. I just want Charles to get through the damn first lap this year."

Lando shook his head with affectionate disbelief, still grinning. "Corporate espionage." He accused.

"I know," Amelia said. "How terrible." She joked.

He cupped her chin and tugged her to close the gap between this, kissing her chastely. "Come on. Let's go home."

—

The narrow streets of Monte Carlo felt quieter in the early morning. Calm before the storm. A million yachts bobbed in the harbour, a gull wheeled overhead, and the team trucks hummed with activity behind closed paddock gates.

Amelia stood just outside the McLaren garage, headset around her neck. The weight of the day — and everything it represented — settled into her bones.

Final race.

Final pre-race briefing.

At least for now.

Her eyes stung behind her sunglasses, but she didn't blink too much. If she started crying, she wasn't sure she'd stop. And she didn't want anyone — especially not Lando or Oscar — trying to hug her about it.

Not today.

"Morning," Oscar said behind her, nudging her arm gently.

She sniffed a laugh, turning around. "Morning. I have notes and spreadsheets for you."

He grinned. "Nerd."

She looked over at him — sweatpants, t-shirt, hair still wet from a quick hotel shower, eyes clearer than usual. "You ready for this?" She asked, voice quieter.

He hesitated, then nodded. "Yeah. Think so."

"Good. You're going to get him at the start."

Oscar raised an eyebrow. "Leclerc?"

She didn't answer, just tapped her temple, then pointed at his heart. "Use both."

Oscar's grin turned boyish, proud. But then his eyes dropped to her belly. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," she said. Too fast. Then slower, "I'm fine. It's just... I feel like I'm abandoning you."

He didn't try to give her a speech. Just nodded, understanding threading his features. "It's just for now," he said.

"Yeah," she whispered. "Just for now."

Lando found her a few minutes later, sneaking up behind her and sliding a cool bottle of water into her hand. "Hydration for my queen and my princess," he said, lightly.

She took it with a small smile. "You're annoying."

"You're emotional."

"I'm pregnant."

"Yes. I know," he teased, and she elbowed him. Then he pressed his forehead against hers. Just a moment of stillness in the bustle. "We'll do you proud," he said.

"You always do."

"And when you come back, our little girl in tow..."

"I'll be even smarter, and more terrifying."

"Exactly," he said, grinning. Then, a little softer, "You okay?"

She hesitated. Then nodded. "I'm okay. I'm... not not emotional. But I'm okay."

"Do you want me to find you a crying room?"

"Lando."

"I'm just saying. I'm sure there's an empty space around here somewhere."

Despite herself, she laughed. Then, very softly, rested her forehead to his chest, breathing in the smell of fuel and soap and Monaco air.

She didn't cry.

But her throat ached from not doing it.

And when she finally stepped back into the garage to take her place at the pit wall, clipboard in hand and headset secured, the world narrowed in a way she loved — to data, to pace deltas, to strategy windows.

To racing.

Her last Sunday. For now.

And her boys, Oscar and Lando, were about to make it count.

—

The buzz in the pit lane was razor-thin, and under her headset, Amelia could hear her own breathing.

The lights blinked red.

"Five." Four. "Three."

Oscar's telemetry spiked as his revs climbed.

Two. "One." Out.

The cars launched.

"Good launch," Amelia called into Oscar's ear. "Mode five. Hold your line into turn one."

He did — perfectly. Charles swept clean into Sainte Devote, Oscar tucked in behind, and Lando angled sharp around the outside of Hamilton to defend P4. But into Massenet, there was a twitch.

"Contact," came the warning from race control.

Amelia's eyes flicked to the feed — a Ferrari nudged too close. Carlos.

"Oscar. Status?" She asked tightly.

"I think I touched Sainz," Oscar said quickly, voice calm but clipped. "He turned in — we tapped."

She scanned his data; pressures stable.

"Copy. No damage on our end. Carlos has a puncture," came in from strategy.

"Maintain pace," she said. "You're still P2."

Then...chaos.

A screech; gut-churning and metallic — tore through the live feed. The monitor lit up with a yellow. Then double yellow. Then red.

"Red flag. Red flag. Slow the cars and return to the pit lane," came the immediate order from Race Control.

Amelia's stomach dropped. Another monitor showed Perez's Red Bull obliterated at Mirabeau, tangled with both Haas cars. Carbon fibre everywhere. A front wing clinging to a wall.

Amelia's hand tightened instinctively over her bump.

"Is that... all three of them?" Will asked, incredulous.

"What happened?" Oscar asked on the comms.

"Big collision. Perez, both Haas. There's debris everywhere through sector two. They've thrown the red flag so mode seven please, and come straight through to line up in the pit lane."

He exhaled. "Jesus."

"You're clean," she told him. "You did well to defend against Sainz and keep it as clean as possible. Keep your head in it, ducky."

Oscar didn't respond.

She exhaled, slow and controlled.

She glanced down at her bump and pressed her palm lightly against the curve.

Five minutes later, when all of the cars were lined up in the pit-lane and most of the drivers had climbed out, Lando found her.

"You alright?" His voice came quietly from behind. He'd handed of his helmet to one of the engineers in his garage.

"Yeah. I'm fine," she said. "Just didn't want my last one for a while to start like this."

He gave her a small, lopsided smile. "Still a long way to go."

She nodded once. "Yeah."

"Want to go and find some capri suns?" He asked.

She glanced at Will, who nodded as if to say 'Might as well, not like anything's happening here.' So she got up, took Lando's hand, and let him guide her toward the mini fridge in the back of his garage.

—

The paddock was a knot of tension. Mechanics hovered. Engineers tapped frantically on keyboards. Drivers paced.

Amelia stood in the garage, headphones looped around her neck, one hand resting on her lower back. Oscar leaned against the pit wall barrier, helmet off, sipping from a water bottle.

"Fronts are still stable," she said quietly, scanning the screen. "You were holding well into sector three before the red flag."

He nodded. "Do we go back to the grid, or rolling start?"

"Standing restart," Tom said, appearing beside her with a tablet.

Oscar took a deep breath. "Copy."

Amelia's voice dropped, so only he could hear: "Eyes forward. Don't chase Charles — let him cook his tyres. Lando's breathing down your neck, but he won't dive you into Turn One. You've got space to think."

Oscar gave her a crooked smile. "You gonna miss bossing me around?"

"Immensely," she said.

Back on the grid, the tension returned like a rubber band pulled taut. Cameras swiveled. Engines revved. Amelia's screens lit up again — tyre temps, ERS levels, delta charts. She exhaled slowly.

Lights out — again.

Charles launched clean. Oscar slipped ever so slightly — enough to give Carlos and Lando a sniff. But he held P2 into Turn One, Lando defending hard from Hamilton, who wasn't giving up without a fight.

By Lap 36, the order held steady: Charles, Oscar, Lando. No one risking the undercut — it was Monaco, after all. Strategy would come down to patience, tyre life, and sheer mistake-free laps.

Amelia's voice was calm in Oscar's ear: "Keep him honest. Don't push yet — wait for the window. If Charles blinks, we leapfrog him. Otherwise, you're the threat."

Behind them, Lando was making time. Slowly, surgically. Amelia's chest swelled with pride.

She didn't even flinch when he came over the radio to Will, his own engineer. "Tyres still feel good. Let me know if Oscar drops."

Oscar stayed tight. Impressive, really. This wasn't his circuit — but he'd driven like it was.

Then the inevitable: Charles crossed the finish line in P1. Oscar brought it home in P2, and Carlos crossed in P3. Lando missed out on the podium by a hundredth of a second.

Amelia unmuted. "Box, box. That was clinical. Well done."

Oscar whooped through the radio. "Thanks, Amelia. That was unreal. Thanks for—everything."

She smiled, actually smiled, throat tight. "Gonna miss you, ducky. Drive fast as hell for me, alright?"

"Copy that." He said.

Andrea reached over and squeezed her shoulder. "Good job."

"Thanks." She said quietly.

—

She waited by Parc Ferme for Lando to finish being weighed.

He ran straight to her.

"You're done," he said, breathless, wrapping his arms around her.

"I'm done," she echoed, burying her face in his shoulder. "For now."

He kissed her. "I love you so much, Amelia Norris."

"Yeah," she mumbled, blushing. Because she knew for a fact that there was a thousand cameras pointed right at them. "I love you too."

—

Amelia stood near the edge of the pit lane, half-shielded by the shadow of the McLaren garage. Her headset was off. Her hair was tied back. She looked tired — tired, but finally still.

A rustle of footsteps approached behind her, softer than the usual thud of boots or trainers. She turned, and Charles was there.

In a fresh pair of sweats. His face was flushed, hair damp from his dive into the water, but the light in his eyes was quieter now — grounded.

"Amelia," he said gently.

She blinked, then straightened a little.

Charles stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her, and pulled her into a hug.

It was warm. Steady. Just tight enough.

Not rushed or awkward, but full-bodied and honest.

"Merci," he said into her hair, voice low and thick. "Merci pour tout."

Amelia hesitated, stunned for a breath, then carefully hugged him back, fingers clutching the fabric of his sweatshirt.

"You made it stick," she said. "Finally."

He pulled back just enough to look at her, eyes glinting. "I think maybe... I needed you to tell me that you believed I could."

Amelia's throat tightened. "I didn't do much," she said, voice soft.

Charles shook his head. "You never give yourself enough credit."

She snorted. "That's not true. I know that I'm excellent. I'm just not... sentimental."

His grin spread, warm and crooked. "Just this once." He gave her one more squeeze, then stepped back, nodding toward her bump with quiet reverence. "She's going to be very proud of her mother. One day."

Amelia's smile was small but real. "I hope so."

Charles gave her a parting wink before melting back into the paddock's glow.

—

The restaurant overlooked the water. It wasn't flashy — just candlelight, open windows, and long tables pulled together to fit the team. Plates were passed around. Bottles of wine, soft drinks, sparkling water.

Oscar sat beside Amelia, nudging her knee under the table every so often like he couldn't help himself. Across from them, Lando had changed into a casual shirt, hair still slightly damp from the post-race champagne photo. He kept glancing over at her, soft-eyed and full of pride.

Zak stood and tapped the side of his glass, raising his voice just enough to call the room to attention.

"Right. I think we all know what today meant," he said, smiling faintly. "Charles took the win, but Oscar gave us a hell of a podium and Lando brought it home clean and sharp. Great points for the team." He looked toward Amelia. "But more than that — today was Amelia's last race before maternity leave."

The team clapped — loud and long. There were whistles. Shouts of "legend!" and "go on, mama!" from the mechanics.

Amelia flushed, shifting in her seat.

"She's not just Oscar's engineer," Zak went on. "She's part of why this team found its footing again. You've felt it. I've felt it. She redefined what we thought we could do. And I know — I know — she's going to come back stronger."

Oscar leaned in and whispered, "I'm not ready for Baby Norris to be smarter than me by age four."

"Don't put that pressure on her," Amelia said. "Give her until she's five, at least."

That earned a echo of amused snickers.

Then Tom raised a glass. "To Amelia," he said, smiling. "And to Lando. Congratulations."

Amelia's eyes prickled. She wasn't good at this part. The centre-of-attention part. But she looked around — at the sea of orange and grease-stained fingernails and sunburnt faces. And she felt it. All of it.

Later, when the plates were cleared and the candles burned lower, someone passed her a small envelope. Inside: a card, signed by every team member. Tucked behind it — a folded drawing. A sketch of the McLaren garage. Tiny details included. A crib nestled between the tool chests (which was not going to happen). Her in a headset, baby in a sling. A caption underneath: "When you come back, we'll be waiting with open arms."

She stared at it for a long moment, then slipped it into her bag without a word.

Lando wrapped an arm around her as they left, walking her slowly through the cobbled street, his voice low.

"That was a lot. You doing okay?"

"I'm more than okay," she murmured, leaning into him. "I'm just... trying to remember it all. Every second."

"It'll all be here when come back," he said. "But for now — we've got a baby to get ready for."

She exhaled.

And then she smiled.

—

They were back in England by the Tuesday.

Amelia was sitting in the passenger seat, her iPad on her lap. For once, she wasn't reading sim telemetry or reviewing Oscar's feedback — that was Tom's job now.

She was just... reading. A romance novel. She'd renewed her kindle unlimited subscription for the first time in almost three years.

When the car veered off the familiar road toward a narrow lane nestled between fields, she furrowed her brow.

"This isn't the way to my mums," she said.

"I know," Lando replied, his tone light but unreadable.

"Are we visiting someone?"

"You'll see."

She frowned at him but he just reached over and squeezed her leg.

They pulled up a gravel path flanked by hedges still brushing off their spring blossoms. At the end of it: a gate. New. Black metal. The kind that hummed softly as it opened automatically.

Immediately, she knew where there were.

Could see the blur of the old Manor House in the distance, hidden by the rolling green hills.

Amelia turned to him, heart thudding, eyebrows slowly drawing together. "Lando?"

He glanced at her. Smiled. "Just trust me."

The driveway opened into a wide clearing. Green everywhere. Hills rolling in the distance. And in the centre of it: a house.

A new house.

But not just a new house.

It was...

God.

Holy shit.

It was her house.

Amelia stared at it. White stone, deep-set windows, pale wood accents, red brick roof. A big front-door with a place to kick off muddy boots. Like a conglomeration of the millions of pictures that she'd shown him on sleepy nights.

She was quiet for a long time.

"I don't understand," she whispered wetly.

He got out of the car, came around to open her door. Helped her out gently, hand on her back, then on her belly.

"You told me," he said, "that you felt safest where things didn't echo too much. Where the air didn't feel tight. That you wanted your daughter's first memories to be somewhere soft. This is going to be that place, baby."

She stared up at the house again. "When?"

"When you got pregnant." He scratched his neck, suddenly sheepish. "I— Well, I'd already bought the land. Bought it the first time you sent me the listing. But I only started talking to architects after we found out you were pregnant. Designers. Pietra sent me your Pinterest, by the way. I had to bribe her."

Amelia made a shocked sound somewhere between a breath and a laugh.

"Come inside." He whispered.

Inside, the air smelled like cedar and fresh paint. Light poured through tall windows. There were shelves already filled with books — her books, she realised, when she looked closer. All of the books she'd left at her mom's house in Woking because it would have been ridiculous to ship them all to Monaco. A kitchen with an enormous window overlooking acres upon acres of green, a table big enough for noisy breakfasts and quiet late-night sandwiches. A fireplace in the living room. A crocheted blanket already draped across the back of the couch, ("my nan made it for us," Lando murmured), and Amelia felt like crying.

And then — the nursery.

Creamy white walls. A crib. The exact mobile she'd dreamed of. Tasteful art hung on the walls, pink accents. Calm. Serene. An armchair in the corner. A side table with a lamp that looked like the one from her childhood bedroom — it was, she realised, upon closer look. A window overlooking the hills. Blackout curtains. A chest of drawers packed to the brim with an array of different sizes of nappies and a million packets of wet wipes and a closet that was full to the brim with the suitcases worth of baby clothes that she'd been buying and having delivered to her mom's house for the past seven months.

She pressed a hand to her mouth. "You remembered everything."

"You deserve everything."

Her eyes brimmed with tears. "I don't even know how to..." She trailed off, too full to finish.

Lando stepped closer and placed her hand against his chest. "You don't need to say anything."

"But I—"

"This is for you, baby. All of it. Forever."

Tears spilled silently down her cheeks.

He leaned in, pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Welcome home, baby."

NEXT CHAPTER

[sonofcoulson]

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 3

Episode 3

"Banshee":

Freedom Force have tracked Sean Cassidy to Camp Lehigh. They arrive at the gates and demand entry as they are harbouring a wanted mutant. Peggy does not recognise their authority leading to a standoff between the two sets of agents. Peggy orders her agents not to fire first. She keeps all those with superpowers inside so as not to stoke tension.

Unbeknownst to her, a shrunken Hank Pym has snuck out and is investigating the enemy convoy parked outside the gates. He disables the weapons of the combatants in the first van causing much confusion, especially as he has also disabled their radios.

A S.H.I.E.L.D. tower guard by the gate sees agents pouring out of two vans with a third following swiftly after. Peggy knows exactly what is happening…

Peggy: Pym! What the hell do you think you're doing! Get back here right now! We do not want to give them the excuse to-

Hank (having entered the 5th van): Peggy, I know what I'm doing.

P: Do you? If you get captured they can bloody well keep you!

H: Uh, the agents in this van are unarmed and they're all wearing power dampeners.

P: …Hank, get out of there.

Forge switches one power dampener off and radios that Dukes is ready and the other ‘hounds’ are on standby.

Hank retreats, but his Pym Tech fails as he runs towards the gate. The Freedom Force agents open fire. He is able to shrink before he gets hurt but the damage is done. Gunfire is exchanged between the two agencies and the agents with disabled weapons and radios are re-equipping. Peggy is livid.

Fred Dukes, the first ‘hound’, emerges from the fifth van and is sent to the gate as he has superhuman durability and can repel the bullets. This is a young, fit Dukes, before he becomes ‘Blob’. He uses his super strength to wrench the gates off and Freedom Force swarm the base.

As Freedom Force technically fired first she orders Jacqui and Brian to slow down the advancing horde. Angel Salvadore and Sean Cassidy offer to go with them…Peggy agrees but gives them an alternate route to the hangar and the mk II Quinjet. Says they'll retreat to Muir Island, if Dr. MacTaggert will have them. Sean assures them she will.

Pym returns and tries to apologise. Peggy tells him to save it, she'll deal with him later. Pym is ordered to supervise the concealment of ‘sensitive’ tech, including his own.

Peggy calls the President to see if she can get a reprieve.

James Braddock goes to prep the Quinjet for escape.

Howard begins to barricade with some volunteers. The non-combat staff are told to evacuate through the warren of tunnels running under the base, including Howard's heavily pregnant wife, Maria.

Cassidy, Salvadore and the Falsworth twins enter the fray and are making fairly short work of the Freedom Force agents. But they grind to a halt against Dukes as he swats away their normal attacks. They realise they need to work together. Jacqui flames on to obscure his vision and Brian sucker punches him in soft tissue (eyeball). Dazed, he is unable to brush Angel Salvadore away and she spits hardening goo on his face so he can't breathe. Cassidy sonic screams him hard, direct in the face, and Dukes is down. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents begin to retake the upper level.

Peggy gets off the phone and informs them that Nixon told her that his hands are tied. She then asks Pym how many others there were in the 5th van…

Simultaneously, Henry Peter Gyrich confirms that the other ‘hounds’ should be released. Forge deactivates more collars in the 5th van.

The hounds are all dressed in black combat gear with slight variations.

One of them (Avalanche) touches the ground by the van, causing the ground by our heroes to rumble and crack. This breaks the hard goo on Dukes’ face. The hounds approach the team as Dukes remains prone on the ground recovering his breath.

Our team group together. Jacqui lays down a wall of fire to keep them out.

Another hound (Stonewall) walks straight through as he has turned himself to stone. Angel goos him before he can grab Jacqui but he starts to crack it with his stone hands. One hound (Toad) leaps over the fire and dropkicks Spitfire to the ground.

Brian starts toward her but is caught by a blow from another hound (Crimson Commando) who also has super strength.

The hounds battle the S.H.I.E.L.D. squad, who just about manage to hold their own, even when Dukes recovers, and the S.H.I.E.L.D. troopers are managing to keep Freedom Force out of the underground part of the base.

Gyrich calls for the last hound.

Out of the 5th van he steps and begins to charge his chest plate. Cassidy and Salvadore recognise him, even under his helmet and armour, as Alex Summers (aka Havok). They scream for everybody to fall back.

When the blast comes the three flying heroes manage to get out of the way, and some of the hounds too. But Brian, Fred Dukes and several troops from both sides are caught in it.

Peggy, hearing all this, calls on everyone to retreat. Troopers are to get to their nearest safe house and the supers to the hanger where the Quinjet is prepped and waiting. Jaqcui drags her brother to his feet. But they are obstructed by another hound (Super Sabre) who has super speed.

Cassidy warns everyone to cover their ears and lets out the loudest, widest ranging scream he's ever produced. With the enemy stunned and Brian up and they make haste to safety.

Havok is charging up another shot for the Quinjet but deliberately misses after Forge instructs him to let them go. This was at Gyrich's request. He knows where they're going and wants an excuse to follow them there.

When Gyrich leaves the channel, Forge is livid that they had Havok fire on their own men. Val understands Forge's anger but says the must achieve their objective no matter the cost.

Forge says the cost is rising and wonders where Gyrich will draw the line.

We see a shot of the team landing and disembarking on Muir Island while Moira McTaggart looks on.

We also see that Pym stayed, as he didn't want anyone to find his stuff and has enough Pym Particles to keep himself hidden.

We cut to Mystique, collared, in a cell. A guard lets Evangaline Whedon in. She sits. Pointedly she does not turn on the tape recorder. She puts a small medical kit on the table, unzips it and puts a syringe next to it.

Evangaline: Miss Darkhölme. How are they treating you?

Mystique: 

E: They've sent me here to administer your medication.

M: 

E: I believe this was your job.

M: You know what it does?

E: They explained it. It is deeply unethical. 

M: And yet here you are…

E: I didn't have a choice, just like you didn't have a choice.

M: There's always a choice.

E (momentarily thrown by Mystique's assertion): …They seem to have given up any pretense that we have rights in this place.

M: Isn't that why they brought you here? Mutant rights?

E: They brought me in to avoid a prisoner revolt. To give these mutants the illusion of due process, of a proper government department.

M: The truth! I wasn't expecting that from you.

E: What were you expecting Miss Darkhölme?

M: You have singularly failed to stand up to Gyrich or even Cooper. What about the rights of those prisoners? What about a fair trial?

E: You helped to capture all of those prisoners. Some of whom were former colleagues of yours. So don't try and lecture me about mutant rights.

M: So Cooper finally told the team about my past…you need a mutant to catch a mutant, right?

Has she told them about Irene Adler?

E: Yes. That made sense. Her predictions were a little too good.

M: Did she tell them about Forge?

E: Forge is a…

M: Yes. He just doesn't know it yet.

Did she tell them about you?

E (momentarily thrown again): …Me? What about me?

M: That you're one of us.

E: Is this…Did Cooper put you up to this?

M: I think that was my response.

E: To whom?

M: …Can I really trust you, Evangeline? 

E: You noticed that I didn't turn the tape recorder on? Gyrich's going to string me up for that.

M: Maybe you want to trick me into giving you my co-conspirators and escape plans to feed back to Cooper.

E: …I just want to go home, Raven…You want an affidavit? 

M: …Okay…If I'm vague on the details…then there's nothing to report back…

First, you need to decide what you're going to do with that medication.

E: …

M: I told you, there's always a choice. It has to be your decision. 

E: Some choice…

M: And then, when the time comes, you will need to use your power to help everyone escape.

E: …I can’t…

M: You can, Evangeline.

E: I killed someone the last time it happened.

M: I heard they had it coming.

E: …

M: It was you or them, right?

E: …I did a lot of damage too.

M: We're kind of counting on that.

E: Raven, I completely lost control.

M: You may have more control than you think. You just need practice.

E: …No…I…

M: Just a fingernail, a hand…an arm…start small.

E: Does everyone escape?

M: Unclear. But you give us the best chance of success.

E: That sounds like Irene talking.

M: No. No names. Not yet.

E: How will I know when the time comes?

M: Oh, you'll know.

M (Looking at the syringe, then at Evangeline): So…what's it going to be?

Aaand scene

[itsbenedict]

Two-Faced Jewel: Thunderbrush 19

Let's Get Zombies Out Of The Way

A conwoman disguised as a noble and the delegation of university students studying her have arrived in the jungle city of Thunderbrush, ruled by ancient dryads and organized crime. Will they manage to stay uninvolved in shady conspiracies? (No.)

Story so far | Session log index | Previous session

Last time, the party made some preparations for a trip to Dead Jane's territory, a circle of land centered on a long-since-incommunicado ghost dryad who emits a field of magical murder radiation that kills everything in like a hundred meter radius. Why are they doing this? They got a hot tip from an evil vampire who works for a gang of shady mafia information brokers that said some people from a conspiracy would be there. This is a good enough reason to go on a deadly adventure!

Anyway the magical murder radiation doesn't technically kill everything, and the things it doesn't kill might also kill them, so they've got a few issues getting inside.

First things first is getting there- though it's not as difficult as their prep makes it out to be. They've got to pass through three Stumps' territories- the Green Hats, the Oaken Casket, and the Gentle Chains- but for the most part, this isn't a real obstacle. This wooded area is still part of the city, with a lot of these trees having buildings built into or on top of them, and the Stumps really only care about defending their territory from rival gangs. Civilians like the party are mostly ignored, except by the various oversized spiders and other unpleasant jungle fauna that occupy these woods. There's a risk of getting jumped, but the party's stealth more than suffices to cover the distance.

After securing a safe route, the stealthy and invisible members of the party call in their backup- mainly Orluthe and his clanky armor and heavy backpack. While they wait, Saelhen proffers AMAZING DEALS.

Saelhen happens to have right here... a jar of honey! A jar of honey containing a weird prickly vine (weird, where'd she get that from? hasn't come up before...) and a good deal of extremely deadly neurotoxin pilfered from some of the evil stuff that bit her in her bracer dimension and extracted by Looseleaf.

The deer moves with an unnatural gait- its legs don't move in sync with each other. It's like it's playing QWOP with its own body. It's pretty horrific, but not as horrific as the bevy of deer puns that happen during this brief combat encounter:

Saelhen: [I suppose it's time to get to the hart of the matter.] [Though I suppose we won't need to rack our brains for this encounter.] Oliver: [You could also stop with the puns, doe.] Saelhen: [Oyobi, I'm happy to give you free rein here, dear.] Oyobi: [Don't worry- I can... h'antler.] [Uh, him.] Saelhen: [Boo.] [Hiss.] [Pathetic.] [I no longer trust you to do incredible violence.] Oliver: [You're the one who didn't want to part with the poison without making a buck first.]

As they're dealing with this thing, Miriko shows up (she wasn't initially with the group) and helpfully informs them that this is a revenant.

Revenants are the victims of revenant bugs- colonies of tiny flat bugs that slip beneath the tissues of corpses and use them to try and kill more living things to lay offspring in and infest. They use silk strands and incredible teamwork to animate their hosts, acting as a sort of auxiliary musculoskeletal system! Nature is amazing!

Saelhen decapitates the thing with knives, which makes a zombie deer a whole lot less threatening.

With that out of the way, it's time to actually enter the zone- and as soon as Looseleaf takes her first step inside, she feels like she's dying. She can't point to specific damage being done- she just feels sick. She's queasy and her head hurts and it feels like she hasn't eaten in days.

On using her spirit magic... she's able to determine that what's happening is that her spirit has been turned into a corpse, and her body is just taking a while to catch up. There's a spiritual force being exerted on it, just like her own magic.

She's able to manually make repairs to her spirit, since the actual difference, physically, between being alive and being a corpse... not that big. The cells of her body are being screwed with just enough to make them nonfunctional, and she can put them back easily enough.

But having to constantly re-heal herself and all her teammates in this place would be a giant pain in the ass- so she tries employing her own spiritual force to push back against this effect and stop it from affecting her in the first place.

She rolls a crit fail versus the effect's crit success.

The force of it doesn't seem to be pushing as quickly as Looseleaf can, but she can't just completely repel it- she has to let it do its thing and correct the damage as it occurs. What this means is... she has to constantly heal everyone, and nobody can stray too far from Looseleaf (or Orluthe, who has divine healing available), or else they'll just run out of HP. Ouch.

A side effect of this, though, is that Looseleaf and Saelhen get to make a sort of knowledge check about another tree that might know spirit magic:

Hm! Dryads can do that, huh? That's! Concerning!

This has some pretty grim implications for how much they can trust Evelyn, one of the few ghost dryads who isn't running a crime empire- but they've got a job to do here. They've reached Dead Jane proper- and there's a bunch more revenants to contend with.

It's time for combat! We've got two revenant panthers, three revenant halflings, and a GIANT revenant spider perched up on the staircase that's been carved into one of Dead Jane's roots.

Saelhen opens by throwing knives and slicing off a revenant panther's dessicated legs, immobilizing the nearest one and functionally taking it out. Oliver pursues the same general idea, dumping a bunch of pneumantic goo on the other panther to keep it from moving temporarily (until the goo evaporates into pneuma, anyway). Big cats are definitely more dangerous than humans as zombies, right? Take them out first and don't give them a chance to attack! And don't provoke that giant spid-

Oyobi has other ideas, because she loves nothing more than Leeroy Jenkinsing at the biggest baddest monster available. She splits from the group and charges the thing to slash at its face.

Miriko uses Mirage Coordinator, which basically just means watching the battlefield and granting teammates free dodge attempts. Orluthe chops at the nearest human, and cleaves it from its neck to its waist... which doesn't kill it, because those were not the parts necessary for locomotion. It's about to counterattack... but then Vayen does something unexpected: Helping At All. He fries it with lightning.

On the enemy turn, the giant spider is about to punish Oyobi for her hubris, right?

ha ha ha no she rolls a crit success on dodge

The spider does have a second attack, though, albeit a lot less dangerous- it tramples her and pins her to the floor under its weight. Everyone takes damage from the death miasma, and then...

Well, Saelhen throws some knives, and Iska-via-Orluthe throws a divine fireball, and the spider is reduced to half health. Which... triggers a special ability!

Luckily, Oliver has the perfect solution to a swarm of tiny monster bugs: an AoE attack! His pneumantic pressure bombs make short work of the swarm of baby spiders, at the cost of dealing a little damage to Oyobi, too. He can't do that and keep up his stealth spell though, failing the roll to maintain it.

The party continues throwing damage at this spider while Oyobi tries to extricate herself, because this thing still won't fucking die aaaaaaa, but it's not enough to take it out.

not that oyobi doesn't KEEP MAKING EVERY SINGLE DODGE EVERY TIME SHE GETS ATTACKED THOUGH. the only way she's going to get hurt is if the party's least helpful party member does something about it!

The spider is finished off, and somehow Oyobi still hasn't lost all her hit points from that.

Oyobi shakily gets to her feet and limps over to Looseleaf, brushing a smoldering hair out of her eye. "Roomie," she says, "I'm invincible." Then she falls down.

The remaining halfling revenants didn't seem to aggro the party throughout all that- and the party's able to mop them up pretty effectively. Looting the corpses... they find unfamiliar antler tattoos on their necks, but the only actual loot is an ostentatious gold necklace with a picture of a cottage embossed on it. Oliver feels a vague tingle putting it on, which is scary, so he has Looseleaf scan it.

With a success... it turns out this thing was supposed to be a protective amulet of some kind, but it's apparently been damaged. Currently it's doing nothing but slowly leaking mana from its battery all over the wearer.

Oliver attempts to repair it... and fails the roll. But... there's a Luck mechanic in my new system, see. You can spend Luck before a roll for free to boost it by 10, or you can spend it after the roll to get the same boost but take a Karma, which lets me sabotage later rolls. He takes two to boost his repair attempt to a full success. So... now he has a magic amulet he can turn on to grant himself +1 Armor, which is a big deal when a baseline basic attack usually does 2. It's a little awkward, though, since it's not permeable to air and doesn't let you breathe- you have to activate it when you're expecting to get hit and hold your breath.

...Unfortunately, the amulet repels physical blows, and doesn't do jack shit against the magic death field, which is probably part of why it was found being worn by a shambling corpse. Whoops!

Still, they've made it to Dead Jane in one piece, more or less- next time, they'll be exploring the ruins of a 102-year-old mafia hideout in search of loot, magical lore, and criminal conspirators.

[thesecretoflivereactions]

Well if the thing the balls are in looked like a golden marbel then I am not surprised anyone took them... (I can not believe the stuff I am writing for this live reaction...)

People who still bullied you yesterday suddenly beeing nice to you is NEVER a good thing. Don't trust them! They either want to tease you (in a not very nice way, I my add) about the information they get out of you OR they use that information against you in any way, shape or form. (In this case they might just be scared of Ayase tho... and thus treat him nicely ^^')

Ah right... I forgot to mention that possibility. Using you is also always something they will do. In his case for introducing them to the cute and cool girl in other cases for helping them with school stuff they can not be0 bother to do by or for themselves. And remember, they will stop being nice the moment they have what they wanted! So I repeat: NEVER trust them!

Now this is almost adorable XD

Uh-Oh. I guess his other person does somewhat give him a boast in confidence when he is angry, huh?

He needs to learn to control that power, especially when angry. And he better do it fast ^^' (Although... this might actually scare his bullies a bit...)

Bringing the cat to school in your bag? Did the author of this story possibly play Persona 5 at some point? XD

She is just a tiny bit arrogant... nothing too much or anything... ^^'

Oh... she can see those things.

Its not really a surprise that she has that thing... very predictable move.

The openings start like 5 minutes into the Episode... I know that isn't new in Animes these days but I still find it so odd ^^' (I grew up in the nineties, our Animes always started with the opening... - haha, that sounds like, one of those "in my time we didn't have those modern things blah blah blah" XD Sorry, but I guess I am old.)

OH! So she can only see supernatural stuff BECAUSE of the "marble". Makes sense...

Yeah... that... will totally work on any real demon... uhu... ^^'

Was it really necessary to throw them away like that?

Seems like the times without those odd beeings are over ^^'

Uh... O.O What?

No wonder he wanted to go home ^^'

She ate him. Poor guy. He looks so cool in his other form, but he is still such a loser ^^' (I mean this in an endearing way...)

She switched gears real quick, huh? ^^'

I guess at least Ken isn't alone anymore in her stomach then, huh? XD

You know what? Forget the guy's family marbles. With what her body has been through in the past days alone, she must have so much scar tissue in her uterus that becoming pregnant would be a problem anyway...

They should not be looking so cool and victorius after being eaten alive and then almost burned to death ^^'

The Episode ends here tho.

[bbnha-manga-scripts]

Chapter Five

Note: Mext: Ministry of Eduction, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

[Flash Back to the exam room]

Unknown: The results of the practical skill entrance examination are here. 

Unknown: We’ve had entrants ace off against that thing in the past, but it’s been quite a while since someones sent it flying like that.

???(I think it’s Mic): I couldn’t help but should “Yeeeeah!” when I saw that!

Unknown: At the other end of the spectrum, we have the kid who ranked 7th even without any villain points.

[They say as they show Midoriya Izuku in the panel]

Unknown: Though he earned 0 rescue points, Bakugou still placed first! Wow!

Unknown: He targeted the 1p and 2p villain-bots, approaching them slowly and continuously intercepting them to lure them into a flashy explosion blast once they’d gotten weaker during the second half of the exam. That kid’s as tough as they come.

[They say as Bakugou shows in the panel]

Unknown: But the injuries he incurred from the black-back were intense… it was almost like watching a child manifest for the first time.

Unknown: Kid’s definitely an anomaly, apart from that oen blow he was the picture candidate for rejection. 

Unknown(Pretty sure it’s Mic): Whatever, dudes, who cares!? I’ve taken a liking to him. He made me throw my hands up and go “Yeah!”.

Aizawa(Thinking): Jeez, what an idiot.

Izuku[Narrorating]: The night after the opening the notification letter. 8PM. We agreed to meet at seaside park.

Izuku: All Might! 

Small Might: Who the hecks that?!

Extra: Did someone say All Might!? Where!?

Small Might(Whispering): Quick kid, tell em ou mistook me for someone else.

Izuku(Covering his face, embarrassed): I mistook him for someone else!

Small Might: Congrats on passing. Just so you know, I didn’t inform the academy about our point of contact. You’re the type who’d worry that you got accepted solely by connections.

Small Might(thinking): I wasn’t even one of the judges.

Izuku: Thank you for thinking of me!

Izuku: I was surprised to hear that you’ve been made a teacher at UA! That’s why we need to meet here… I get it. But isn’t you office locatied at Roppongi, Minato War, Tokoyo, 6-12-...”

Small Might: Stop right there.

Small Might: Anyways, I told the academy about my predicament, but haven’t breathed a word about it to anyone else. I Had UA notify tme on the chance they found me a suitable successor.

Izuku(Thinking): Thats right… he said he’d been searching for a successor for a long time. I see… he was planning to choose among the stupids. It’s a hotbed of capable people, overflowing with awesome quirks.

[Izuku looks at his hands]

Izuku: One for All… just one punch or kick is all it takes to wreck my body… oh really… I can’t handle it at all.

Small Might: That can’t be helped for now. If you tried to get a guy who suddenly sprouted a tail to do tricks with it, he wouldn’t know how to control it properly enough to do so. It’s the same story here. 

Izuku: Huh? So you mean to say you saw all of that coming!?

Small Might: Well… there’s just been no time,,, but everything worked out all right…! Or should I say, All Might!

[Small Might picks up cans]

Small Might: Right now, you’re still stuck at all or nothing… but you can learn to tone down and adjust the power level and save your body the strain of a full-strength power emission.

[Buffs into All Might]

All Might: The more you build up the vessel. The more you can control the power within it!

[All Might crushes a can with one fist]

All Might: Like this!

All Might: Like unto the sacred fire of lore… the transferred flame is still small, but from now on, not even driving rain will check growth. 

Bystandards: Wait, isn’t that… it is! All Might!? When did he get here?!

All Might: Uh-oh. Let’s run.

[Midoriya and All Might began to sprint away]

All Might: And my flame will slowly fade away and eventually vanish and my duty will be done!

Bystander: He’s… so cool, huh?

[Time Skip to springtime and a new year]

Inko: Izuku!? Did you pack some tissues?

Izuku: Yes Mom.

Inko: What about your hanky? You can’t leave without a hanky, dear!

Izuku: Yes Mom.

[Izuku, tying his shoes in a hurry]

Izuku: I packed it! Ugh, look at the time… gotta hurry.

Inko: Izuku!

Izuku: What!?

Inko: You’re mega cool right now.

Izuku: See you soon, mom!

Izuku(Narrating): And that was how my high school days officially began!

[Izuku arrives at UA]

Izuku(Narrating): Every year, less than 1 in every 300 examinees make it in. Only 36 kids passed. So with 18 kids in a class, that makes for two classes.

Izuku: Where is 1-A… This place is too back.

[Izuku arriving at 1-A]

Izuku: Well… this door’s humongous… guess it’s for an inclusive design. I’ll be alongside the chosen few who passed the exam.

[Izuku thinking about Iida and Bakugou]

Izuku(thinking): If only those two end up in 1-B, I’ll be eternally grateful.

Tenya: Don’t put your feet on the desk! Don’t you think that’s disrespectful towards your classmates!?

Katsuki: No, as a matter of face, I don’t think so. Which middle school are you from anyway, you two-bit extra!?

Izuku(Thinking): Just my luck!

Tenya: A private sch— ahem. I’m from Soumei Junior High School. The name’s Iida Tenya.

Katsuki: Soumei!? Well aren’t you an elite. Seems I’ve got a reason to fucking end you after all!

Tenya(shocked and maybe disgusted): What nerve! You, want to be a hero!?

[Iida Tenya spots Izuku]

Tenya: Hello, I’m Iida Tenya from Soumei—

Izuku: Oh yeah, haha, I overheard. Uhh… I’m Midoriya, nice to meet you, Iida.

Tenya: Midoriya, I must hand it to you. You divined the actual nature of the practical skills exam, didn’t you? I… was blind to iy! And I completel misread you! I hate to admit it, but you were the better man!

Izuku(Thinking): But… I didn’t realize it either.

Katsuki: Deku…

[Uraraka Ochako walks through the classroom doors]

Ochako: Ah! It’s you! Curly-haired kid! Glad I found you!

Izuku(thinking): It’s her! The nice girl! She looks amazing in her school grab!

Ochako: You made it, just like Present Mic said! Yay, go you! By the way, that punch was outta this world!

Izuku: No, it’s not like that, uhh, that is to say, it was really all thanks to you speaking on my behalf… I… uh…”

Ochako: Eh!? How did you know about that!?

[Bakugou having a dramatic flashback]

Teacher: This means that two kids from our middle school go into UA. Two! And Midoriya’s acceptance in particular is a miracle upon miracles!

[Bakugou and Izuku behind the school]

[Bakugou is holding onto izuku's uniform]

Katsuki: What dirty goddamn tick did you use to pass the exam, shithead!? I was supposed to be the first to enter UA from here. Me alone! You ripped my future glory to pieces and pissed all over it! I told you to go someplace else, fuckmunch!

[Izuku putting his hand on Bakugou’s arm to stop him]

Izuku: Someone… finally acknowledges me. Tey told me I could become a hero! Kacchan, I’ve won the right! You can’t stop me! I’m headed to UA!

[Flashback ends]

Bakugou(thinking): That [athetic rat actually put up a fight! There can’t not be a flipside to this.

Ochako: I wonder if today’s the ceremony? Or is it the guidance counselor stuff today? Oh, that the teacher, what’ll they be like? I’m so anxious, like wow!

[Aizawa in his sleeping bag on the floor like a homeless man]

Shouta: If you’re gonna be hunting for buddies, do it elsewhere. This is…

[Aizawa proceeds to pull out a jelly pouch and suck the life from it]

Shouta: of heroics!

Class A(collectively): Who the hell… is this guy!?

[Aizawa getting out of his sleeping bag]

Shouta: Hmm, it took you lot 8 seconds to quiet down. Life is short, kids. You’re all lacking in common sense.

Class A(collectively): Sensei!?

Izuku(muttering): So he must he a pro hero, too, huh…?

Izuku(Thinking): But… I’ve never heard of him. He looks washed-up…

Shouta: I’m your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta. Pleasure meeting you.

Class A(collectively): Our homeroom teacher!?

[Aizawa pulls out the UA gym uniform]

Shouta: Put these on, immediately and then shove off to the P.E. grounds. 

[Small Might appears on screen]

Small Might: UA’s system is aberrant… depending on the homeroom teacher, even today they might…

[class 1-A on the field]

Class 1-A: A quirk apprehension test!?

Ochako: But what about the ceremony!? And the guidance counselor meeting!?

Shouta: If you want to be heroes, we don’t have timefor frilly niceties. You all understand the school’s reputation for freedom on campus. Well, that “freedom” goes for us senseis, too.

Shouta: Softball pitch. Standing long jumps. 50 meter dash. Endurance running. Grip strength test. Sustain side ways jups. Upperbody excise. Seated toe touch. Those are all activities you know from middle school, naturally. Physical tests where you were barred from using your quirks.

Shouta: The country still hasn’t gotten around to standardizing those sorts of records or keeping track of average performance levels. Well, tht’s negligence on the part of mext.

Shouta: Bakugou, how far could you throw a softball in middle school?

Katsuki: 67 meters.

Shouta: Try using your quirk this time around. As long as you don’t exit the circle, anything you do is fine. Don’t hold back.

[Bakugou winding up.]

Katsuki: You got it.

[throws the ball]

Katsuki: Die!

[Everyone is shocked]

Shouta: Before anything else, one must know what they’re capable of. This is a rational metric that will form the basis of your “hero foundation”.

[Shouta shows the meter counter, it’s at 705.2]

Unknown: Awesome!That looks so fun!

Unknown: 705 meters!? Unreal!

Unknown: We can really use your quirks now!? That’s the department of heroics for you!

Izuku(thinking): Uh-ho this is bad… 8 trails? This is all so sudden!

Shouta: It looks fun… you say?

Shouta: So you were planning to spend your three years here having a good ol’ time? What happened to becoming heroes? 

Shouta: All tight then, in that case, new rule: the student who ranks last in total points will be judged “hopeless” an instantly expelled.

Izuku(thinking): Whaaaa!? Seriously!?What am I going to do!?

[Small Might appears again]

Small Might: So they’ve got Aizawa, huh…

Small Might(thinking): Oh brother, they’re really in for it with this guy.

[The panel shows Aizawa’s file. On it, it reads: “Aizawa Shouta” “Codename: The erasing hero” “Name: Eraserhead” “Total number of expulsions: 154.” “Homeroom teacher of: class 1-A”]

[Back to Izuku]

Izuku: I’m still at all-or-nothing mode! I can’t adjust yet!

Shouta: Our “freedom” means we dispense with students as we please! Welcome to… the department of heroics!

Izuku(Narrating): My first day turned into a huge ordeal! What do I do!?

[crickey-itsjake]

Yeah, Jake had no idea how to deal with a crying Marie. So he just let her handle herself with her tissues.

He just interlaced his fingers over his chest as he slumped slightly in his chair because somehow he felt that would make up for how vulnerable he was feeling in this moment. It made his skin crawl a bit to be honest, but he knew he'd have to get over that.

Jake just gave her a warm smile, "Yeah, I'm happy for us as well. Uh, we have. Just sort of in general. She wants something a little big proposal wise. Probably involving her family. She thought we were kind of too informal in our previous steps like becoming official and everything. I don't reckon she's expecting like something massive from me." He sighed, looking up a bit before looking back to Marie, smile obviously a little more anxious, "I mean, I've got some ideas but I think I'm just too nervous about the whole thing. Not nervous about askin' her because I know she'll say yes, I just want it to be good, ya know?" He took a sip of his coffee, "Obviously I've just never done anything like this before. I don't exactly have the connections which is where I think you can help because you probably know at least a halfway decent photographer."

He needed to take a breath, so he inhaled and scratched his beard a bit, "I've been thinking like... either doing something at the house or doing something near the water. She loves the water. Maybe something like sunset-y on a dock or something, is that a ridiculous idea? Should I be doing something more than that? Like renting out a yacht or something."

@marie-a-bonfamille

An Expert Opinion || Jarie

[bantaro-bird]

Stuck Here A Little While

That’s right, I’ve finally done it. After teasing for months, I hecking wrote the fic. In this AU, Grian and Mumbo Jumbo are borrowers. If you don’t know what that is, go watch The Secret World of Arrietty or something.

I am more familiar with some of these people than others, so I am hoping my characterization for each is at least decent. [] Lastly, I want to mention the drawings I’ve included were doodled over the past few months as I’ve been thinking about the story. I hope you enjoy~

EDIT: I finally named the story.

Grian had just escaped being tormented by a stray cat, making it out alive, but bleeding profusely from a deep bite wound. He hobbled into an alley and sat against the wall. Blood was trailing into the street. He was unable to move much, so he was basically waiting to die. Just then, Lizzie was arriving home with some groceries and stopped at the sight of the blood. She followed it into the alley and found Grian. She pushed the shock of the sight to the back of her mind, as his wellbeing was clearly more urgent. She set her bags down and gently went to pick him up. As this developed, Grian was thinking to himself. He knows what humans are like, generally. That they’re just people. Some are dangerous, some are kind, some are manipulative. Borrowers are taught from a young age not to mingle with humans, because even if one seems friendly, it’s not worth the risk of being tricked. But in this case, he had no choice. So he was desperately hoping this was a nice one. She carried him inside and set him on the kitchen counter by the sink. She told him to stay calm and assured him she was going to take care of him.

She said, “I’m going to lift your shirt up to see the wound, okay?” As she worked, she kept communicating with him, so as not to scare him. 

“This is really nasty. How did this happen?” She asked. Grian explained that he had been caught by a cat and barely got away. Lizzie cleaned and disinfected the bite, then had him keep pressure on it while she got bandages. After he was wrapped up, she grabbed a bottle of paracetamol and laid a pill on the counter. To Grian’s horror, she brought out a big chopping knife. She used it to cut the pill, and half of it crumbled into a lump of powder. She asked him to take a pinch of it. She then filled a shot glass with water and stuck a coffee stirrer in it. She apologized that it was still awkwardly large, but it was the best she could do. She gave him the water and instructed him to use it to take the pain medicine. She then asked for his jumper so she could try and get the blood out of it. This was a task she didn’t need to speak to him about, and it was going to take a few minutes, so they finally had a moment of quiet to take the situation in. After a pause, Grian spoke up, “Thank you for helping me. I don’t think I would have made it.” 

“Of course!” She replied, a bit anxiously, “I mean, you looked like you really needed help. I wasn’t gonna just leave you there. I’m Lizzie, by the way.” 

“Oh, right. Uh, my name’s Grian.” 

There was another pause before Lizzie asked him, “I’m sorry. This- I don’t know if this is a rude thing to ask, but… What are you?” Grian was taken aback.

“I- I’m a borrower. I don’t- do I look like something else?”

“No, but, well… What’s a borrower? That sounds more like an occupation than a species.” He couldn’t believe his ears. Lizzie had never even heard of borrowers. She didn’t know what they were. I mean, he supposed it made sense, but it had never even occurred to him. All borrowers are taught not to talk to humans and to stay out of sight. How in the world were humans supposed to know they were around? She really didn’t know anything. He was going to have to start from scratch.

“It’s sort of both.” He informed her. “We’re called that because we borrow things. Small things that humans wouldn’t miss. Like tissues, a bit of sugar, some string, that sort of thing. We use those things to feed ourselves and build our lives. We live in small, isolated communities. We have to. If too many of us are in one place, we get too noisy, and they find us.” He stopped, realizing what he was beginning to say. He wasn’t sure how to talk to a human about how much of a threat humans are to his kind. 

Lizzie pressed the shirt between her fingers under the stream of tap water, and the stream turned red briefly. “So… you’re saying there are more of you. And that you’re all over the place, but no one has ever noticed you?”

“That’s been the goal.”

“That doesn’t make any sense. For all the scientists and record keepers over all of human history, I can’t be the first human to have ever spoken to a borrower. Do you have some sort of camouflage magic or something?”

Grian raised his eyebrows. “Oh, no, you misunderstand! You’re not the first. In the grand scheme of things, we get found relatively often. Besides families becoming too large, being found is probably the number one reason borrowers move house. Growing up, we hear our parents repeat all kinds of horror stories about borrowers who-” He stumbled over his sentence, but pressed through, “Who- well, who encountered a human… and didn't… come back.”

“WHAT!?” Lizzie startled Grian with her volume. He flinched and then winced. The sudden motion disturbed his wound. “You’re telling me that humans have found tiny little men and then decided to HURT THEM!? WHY?” After getting her whole thought out, she saw how scared Grian looked and shrunk backward. “S-sorry. I didn’t mean to shout. I just- I just can’t imagine why someone would want to hurt you. You’re just… You’re just a little guy.” She had started to drift into a bit of a baby voice at the end there. Grian chuckled, and then winced.

Grumbling he said, “Aw, you’ve got to be kidding me! It even hurts to laugh.”

“Listen,” Lizzie began, “I know we’ve only just met, but you’re clearly in no state to go back outside. I can try to help you get back home or, if you want, you’re completely welcome to stay here for as long as you need. It won’t be any trouble, really!” Grian paused to think on this. Lizzie couldn’t help him get home, even if she tried. He couldn’t think of any way for her to access his home without tearing some things apart, and there was no way he was going to be able to drag himself to his house by himself. Even if he could, once he was there, there wouldn’t be anyone to take care of him. He wished he could just stay with his neighbor, Mumbo, but he knew that was just as unlikely. He found himself in essentially the same position as when she found him outside, in that he really didn’t have any choice.

He looked back up at her. “Yeah, I don’t imagine I can get anywhere else with or without help. I really appreciate it.” Lizzie was now patting the little yellow jumper dry between some paper towels. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to get all of the blood out. It covered the lower right half of the jumper and had already dried at the edges. While the stain was much more faded from being washed, it was still clearly present; Although if you didn’t know any better, it almost looked like an intentional design. She set it down next to him.

“Sorry. I wasn’t able to get all the blood out. But at least it looks a lot better than when I found you outs- - Outside! The groceries!” Without another word, she sprinted out the front door to retrieve the bags she had left in the alley. Now that he was alone, Grian turned his head gently to look behind him. Behind the sugar jar he could barely see it. A little inconspicuous crack around the rim of a backsplash tile. He turned back to the jumper sitting next to him. This was his favourite jumper. There was no way, even able bodied, that he would have been able to do this good a job with the stain. As he put it back on, Lizzie came back in. She set the bags down and began to unpack them. Once everything was put in the fridge, she sighed in relief. As she folded the bags to put away, she asked him if he had eaten lunch. He said he was fine, so she told him she was going to retire to the living room and to give her a shout if he needed anything. It felt a bit impolite to leave him alone, but she was a little scared to move him. And she didn’t know him very well yet. She thought it best to give him his space. She didn’t shut the kitchen door behind her. From where Grian was, he could barely see Lizzie take a seat on a recliner, open a bag of pretzels, and turn the TV on. She kept it on low volume. Grian examined his wound again. He tried to stand, but couldn’t. At least, not without bearing severe pain. He winced as he tried to at least find a way to rest that was comfortable. The cold countertop did not make for a very good bed. Giving up, he called out.

“Lizzie!” She popped up from her chair and poked her head back into the kitchen.

“Yeah?”

“I hate to be a bother, I know you just sat down, but is there anything more comfortable I could rest on?” Lizzie looked around and thought to herself. She went to the linen closet and grabbed a couple of hand towels. She came back and arranged them on the counter like a bed with a pillow and blanket, with plenty of back support. She offered him a finger to hold for stability as he climbed onto it.

“This is much more comfortable, thank you.”

“It’s no problem. Again, don’t hesitate to shout if you need anything at all. You don’t need to be exerting yourself while that heals.” She returned to the living room to watch her show. Grian laid back and pulled the blanket up. He figured, as bad as he felt, the best thing to do was probably to try and get some rest. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. 

He had never been less tired in his life. A couple minutes passed. He opened his eyes. He knew there was no way he was going to get any sleep. He could faintly hear the TV in the next room, but couldn’t understand enough of the dialogue to follow the story. There was nothing else to keep his interest in this room. He bit his lip. He knew exactly what he wanted, but he felt terrible asking for it.

“Lizzie…” He called as timidly as he could while retaining enough volume to be heard. Lizzie got up and poked her head back through the doorway.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t want to be a bother. I- I mean I hate to intrude. I was just wondering… if you wouldn’t mind letting me come watch TV with you?”

“Ah.” She looked down and to the side, with what appeared to be a frustrated expression. Grian felt awful. He was being the imposition he feared to become. 

“I-it’s okay. I’m sorry I even asked. You just go ahead and watch by your-”

Lizzie cut him off “What? No no no. Of course you can come! I’d love the company. I’m just trying to figure out how to transport you without disturbing your wound. I think I’ve got an idea.” She stepped into the living room and picked up a wooden lap tray off the ottoman. She brought it into the kitchen and aligned the surface with the countertop in front of Grian. Ensuring the surfaces were adequately flush, she leaned forward to hold it in place with her knee and hip. She held the near corners of the towel between her fingers and gently slid the whole make-shift bed onto the tray. She moved his water to the tray as well, then took the tray back in her hands and slowly carried it back into the living room, taking care not to spill the water or jostle the Grian. She set it down on the end table between the two recliners. She took a seat herself and turned the volume up a little. She unrolled her bag of pretzels and popped one in her mouth, then offered one to Grian. He held it in both hands and took a tiny little bite out of it. Lizzie had to remind herself that this was a grown man and just a regular old person. She had to fight the urge to absolutely melt because no matter what it was, everything he did was adorable.

An episode or two of TV later, the two heard a door open across the house. Lizzie recognized it as the sound of her husband, Joel, coming home from work. Grian also recognized that a new human had entered the house and tensed up. His instinct was to run and hide. But with that option eliminated, what was he meant to do? He stared at the doorway, frozen in fear. Joel entered the living room and Lizzie greeted him.

“Joel! The craziest thing happened today and you wouldn’t believe it if you couldn’t see it with your own eyes!” Joel hadn’t noticed Grian yet. He was a bit sarcastically indignant.

“Oh, I see. We just go straight to talking about you. No ‘How was your day?’ No, it’s fine!”

“Joel! Look!” Lizzie gestured to Grian, who was shrinking behind his towel-blanket, eyes darting between Lizzie and Joel. Joel stared in awed silence. He slowly climbed into the empty recliner to get a better look, gaze fixed on Grian the whole time.

Lizzie continued, “I went to the shop today and when I came home I found him bleeding out in the alley, so I brought him in and cleaned him up. His name is Grian. Grian, this is my husband, Joel.” Grian felt as if Lizzie was encouraging him to feel comfortable, but it was hard with such big eyes fixed so securely on him. He wasn’t able to formulate a reply.

Joel spoke slowly, in a quiet voice, “Hey there little guy… What are you?” Grian began to stutter the words out, but before he could make much noise Lizzie blurted it out.

“He says he’s a borrower! They’re just like humans except small, of course, and they-”

Joel cut her off, “Yeah, I know what a borrower is. I just thought they were make-believe, you know?” His gaze had now relaxed. He had looked at Lizzie to speak to her.

Grian finally piped up, “Y-you’ve heard of borrowers?”

“Yeah, I mean, I’ve heard of lots of mythical creatures from books and stuff as a kid. I used to have a book about borrowers. Is that surprising?”

“Only because Lizzie hadn’t heard of us. But to be fair you’re the second human I’ve ever spoken to, so I don’t really have anything else to go on.” Grian was intrigued by the idea of human literature about borrowers. He wondered what they knew. 

Grian ended up spending the rest of the evening picking Joel’s brain about that book, learning what humans know about and correcting what it got wrong. When it got to be late, Lizzie and Joel got ready to head off to bed. Lizzie tried to make sure Grian would have everything he could need for the night. She left the remote next to him in case he wanted to watch some TV. She told him if he needed anything to turn the volume up real high, rather than straining his voice calling for them.

“Is there anything else? Another towel, something to drink? Anything at all?” Lizzie flustered herself trying to exhaust possible problems.

“There is one thing I’m worried about.” Grian hesitated. “It’s just… I had someone coming over tonight.”

Grian invited a guest over on his first day staying here? Lizzie was puzzled. “How did you- oh no of course you mean where you live.”

“Well, you see, that’s the thing. I wasn’t really sure how to bring this up… I kinda… live… here.”

Lizzie paused. “YOU LIVE IN OUR WALLS!?” Grian winced from the volume, and the embarrassment. 

“No, not technically. I live… well, I think it’s under the living room somewhere. I-I do have passageways in some of the walls though, yes.”

Lizzie couldn’t tell how she should feel about this, other than being surprised. Angry, perhaps? “So this whole time! This whole time you already knew this place, huh! I thought I was bringing you into a big strange mysterious place but this is just home-sweet-home!”

“I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve only explored the areas I can borrow from. A lot of this place is really unfamiliar to me, especially lit up like this. I uh, I did already know your names, though.” Grian watched her expression get more flustered and became more embarrassed. “I probably should have said something right away, but I mean, this entire situation has been so bizarre. It’s not like I knew the best thing to do… Does this… change anything? Should I leave?”

That final comment brought Lizzie into clarity, and she calmed down quickly. “No, no, of course not! I still want you to stay here as long as you need to heal. You’re completely welcome here. It’s just- I mean you know that changes everything, right?”

“Does it?” Grian asked. Lizzie paused to think.

“I guess I don’t know.” 

After a chunk of silence, Grian repeated himself. “So, I uh.. I was worried, because I had someone coming over tonight. If I’m not where he expects to find me, he’s gonna get worried, and he’s not gonna know where else to look.” Lizzie agreed that was not ideal and asked how she could help. Grian asked if she had a scrap of paper and something small to write with. She said she didn’t have any small writing utensils. He asked if she had any pencils she could break the tip off of. She brought him a pencil tip and a sticky note. He wrote a message down and folded it up. He instructed her to check behind the TV and down a bit for a hole. She turned the screen so she could squeeze her head through the gap, and spotted the hole in the wall about halfway between the TV stand and the floor. She slipped the note through for Grian’s friend to find. After confirming that Grian wouldn’t need anything else, she turned the lights out and went to bed.

Later that night, Grian was awoken by a rustling noise. He looked over towards the TV stand to see just what he was hoping to find. Mumbo Jumbo was crouched under the screen, scanning the room for Grian. Grian sat up a little, waved his hand in the air, and called out for Mumbo at a normal speaking volume. Mumbo was alarmed, and looked angry. He stepped to the edge of the TV stand and pulled a lever on the contraption he had strapped to his back. Two thin wire and leather wings sprung up and he glided over to where Grian was. 

Mumbo whispered harshly, “Grian! Have you lost your mind!? What are you thinking, setting up camp in the middle of the living room like this? And if you don’t keep your voice down one of the humans might hear you!!”

“Mumbo! Mumbo, calm down! I need to catch you up on what happened to me today.” Grian explained to Mumbo that he was attacked by a cat and Lizzie saved his life. He’s too weak to try and go back home and Lizzie offered to take care of him. He knows they aren’t supposed to trust humans, because they could be deceived, but he doesn’t feel he has enough of a choice to doubt. Besides, Lizzie and Joel seem nice. Mumbo objects as much as he can, but Grian kind of has a point. Mumbo could try to help Grian get out of there, but it wouldn’t be a smooth process. Grian would risk getting even more hurt.

Mumbo asked if there was anything he could do to help. Grian explained to Mumbo about the pain medicine Lizzie gave him, and that it had worn off. Mumbo asked how she could possibly have given him medicine. Even the smallest human pills are too big to swallow and would be a sure overdose for a borrower. Grian looked at him with a puzzled expression. He had no idea how human medicine worked. He explained that she cut a pill and just had him take a pinch. Mumbo told him he’s lucky nothing bad happened and asked him where the medicine was. Grian told him it’s probably still a pile of dust by the kitchen sink. Mumbo glided into the kitchen. It was too far a distance to maintain the altitude needed to land on the counter, so he landed on the floor and pulled a device off his pack. He set the metal rectangular object on the ground and stood on top of it. He positioned himself a certain way to make sure his aim was good and then pressed a button on his pack. The device expanded quickly like a piston, sending Mumbo into the air with a trail of string following behind him. He stuck the landing on the counter and then pulled his device up by the string and reattached it to his pack. 

Once on the counter he pondered the pile of pill dust for a moment before deciding it was useless to him. He climbed into the cabinets and found the paracetamol bottle. He was able to use the instructions and measurements on the label to determine, roughly, what would be an appropriate equivalent dose for a borrower. Looking around he spotted a chocolate bar, too. Little portioned piles of powder are difficult to keep track of, so that’d be useful for sure. Being a resourceful borrower, he was able to find the tools to cut and portion the pills, melt the chocolate, mix the pill powder into it, and cool his home-made borrower-sized paracetamol chocolates. He found a sticky note and wrote down dosage instructions for Grian. He dug a plastic bottle cap out of the trash and cleaned it off so he’d have something to carry the chocolates in. He cleaned everything up and glided back on over to Grian, again using his piston device to reach the end table. Grian was elated to have more medicine, and very impressed at all the effort Mumbo went through to make sure he didn’t overdose. Grian, knowing he’d be here a while and the humans attempts at borrower accommodations were sub optimal, also asked Mumbo to go to his house and retrieve some of his plates and cups. When Mumbo got back, they hung out and chatted for a while longer over a pretzel. They talked into the late hours of the night and ended up dozing off without realizing. 

The next morning, Mumbo awoke suddenly at the sound of footsteps. He looked around in a panic, realizing he had failed to go home last night, and he was now exposed in the sun-lit human living room. He didn’t see any humans around. Hoping they must have just woken up, and not come out yet, he made a dash for the nearest exit. He slipped out without being seen, but as Joel came into the living room he did notice a bit of a rustling noise coming from the TV area. Joel looked down at a still sleeping Grian and noticed a few more items there than there were last night. He picked up the bottle cap to get a closer look at its contents. The text on the attached sticky note was difficult to read because it was so small. He set it down, looked at Grian for another moment, and then took one of Grian’s plates and continued on into the kitchen.

A bit later, Lizzie came into the living room as well. She leaned over Grian to check on him. She gently tried to pull at the towel to get a better look at his bandages. They were very dirty by now and needed to be changed. The tugging at the towel woke Grian up, and the looming figure set his heart racing. He flinched and let out a little scream. 

“It’s just me! It’s just me!” Lizzie reassured him.

“You scared the life out of me!!” He scolded.

She apologized. Joel poked his head in from the kitchen to ask Lizzie if she wanted some breakfast. She did.

“Oh, Grian, you’re up! Wait one second.” Joel went back into the kitchen for a moment and then returned with Grian’s plate. It had two tiny strips of bacon cut from a full strip, a corner of a piece of toast, and a singular baked bean on it. He set it down next to Grian “I made you a plate.”

“Oh my goodness, thank you!” Exclaimed Grian. “Wow, this smells amazing!” This breakfast wasn’t much like anything he had had before. Grian was used to cooking with much smaller ingredients. Baked beans came in a can larger than him. It was hard to borrow meat because you can usually tell when some of it has been taken. So the meat he ate usually came from smaller animals or bugs that he had hunted. The only thing familiar was the toast, although he had only ever had home-made bread. He was trying store-bought bread for the first time. He didn’t think it was as good. After eating, Lizzie put her coat on and waved goodbye to the boys. She was off to work for the day. Joel cleaned up the kitchen and then brought some bandages over to Grian and asked him to lift his shirt.

“Yeah, I figured.” Joel said, “It’s gotten pretty nasty. Let’s get some clean bandages on you, alright?” Joel slowly removed the bandage, cleaned the wound, and wrapped Grian up in fresh cloth. After putting the first aid away, he got his coat on as well. He asked Grian if he’d need anything else while he was gone. Grian said he’d be fine. Joel let him know he worked close by and would try to pop in occasionally to check on him. Joel said goodbye and headed out. His place of work was very close by. Right next door, in fact. He worked as a part-time caretaker for his disabled neighbor. Joel let himself in with his key and called out into the house.

“Good morning, Scar! I’m here!” Scar rolled backwards from his office to poke his head out into the hall and wave.

“Mornin’ Joel!” They continued with small talk as Joel hung up his coat. Scar followed him into the kitchen to chat with him while he started on his tasks. Scar did need the help, but his favorite thing about Joel coming around was just having someone to talk to. He lived alone and it was hard for him to get out of the house. Joel got to a stopping point and excused himself to use the restroom. After doing so, while washing his hands, the medicine cabinet mirror mysteriously swung open and knocked him in the noggin. As he turned the faucet off and reached for the hand towel, he looked up at the open cabinet. To his surprise, standing on the top shelf and leaning against a bottle was a tiny little mustachioed man.

“So, you’re the one watching after Grian.”

“Oh, you must be Mumbo, right? Grian mentioned you, but I didn’t realize you lived here!” Mumbo fumbled his composure. He didn’t expect to be recognized.

“W-well listen up, bud! You better not hurt him, alright? Don’t underestimate me. I can make life very hard for you.” Joel leaned in and spoke a little more quietly.

“Does Scar know about you?” Once again, Mumbo was sweating. 

“No.”

“Wow… You’re being very brave right now.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t even know me and you’ve come to confront me like this? AND you’re trusting me with your secret? I mean, I could just walk out and tell Scar about you right now. And if I don’t, I’m here all the time. I could reveal your secret at any time. It’s respectable, I think. You must really care about Grian.” It was at this time that Mumbo accepted to himself he never really had the high ground at all. He almost felt as if he was getting smaller with every word. None of this was going the way he had planned it in his head. He reached behind a bottle and flipped a lever that activated a contraption that pulled the cabinet door shut. Joel flinched. He reopened the cabinet, but Mumbo was nowhere to be seen. Joel couldn’t figure out how he’d left, either. Mumbo retreated to his house and stayed there for the rest of the day. Joel decided not to mention this encounter to Scar, but he did tell Grian about it. Grian laughed at Mumbo’s expense.

Joel visited Scar several days a week to help with various things around the house. Besides this, Scar didn’t really have all that much social interaction. It was hard for him to leave the house because of all the accessibility accommodations that had to be considered for any trip. There were a few routine places he went. Joel accompanied him on grocery trips, for example. He was the type of person to delay the checkout line because he was chatting with the cashier. At home, he found various activities to keep himself busy. He was a big fan of movies and he liked to play video games. Mumbo, when he first decided to move in below Scar, thought the wheelchair situation would prove to be very convenient for him. It meant there was a lot more of the house that wouldn’t be touched by humans, and therefore more space to play with. This turned out to not so much be the case, because of Joel. 

Mumbo was an engineer. He liked to design various machines to make his life easier. While other borrowers might make do with a human item that was close enough to what they needed, Mumbo preferred to melt down metal and plastic and make exactly what he wanted. He had built a glider he used to get between higher surfaces without having to climb from the ground. And he built a piston device to help him get up to counter tops quickly. This device was a real pain. It was so finicky. Some nights it worked perfectly. Others, it was totally useless. Today, Mumbo was sitting on top of the kitchen cabinets behind a couple of decorative plants. He had several spots like this where he liked to tinker and watch Scar. Often, Scar wouldn’t even be doing anything interesting. He just found it easier to focus with him in the room. Scar was organizing his medicine at the time. Mumbo was trying to disassemble the device, planning to start from scratch with a new blueprint. His grip slipped and the device burst open with explosive force. The platform launched right into Mumbo’s gut and sent him backwards forcefully. He was flung off the cabinet top and right into the center of the kitchen, but unexpectedly stopped short of the floor. He sat stiff, frozen, staring wide eyed back at what stopped him. He has been caught on Scar’s extended hand. Had Scar not reacted so quickly, Mumbo would probably have been injured by the fall onto the tile floor. Scar was panting a little bit and had a very earnest worried expression on his face. 

“Are you okay?” Mumbo didn’t say anything. Scar waited for a bit. He could see how scared Mumbo was, and he knew this wasn’t supposed to happen, so he gave him a minute to answer. But after a long pause, he still hadn’t said anything.

“Hello?? D-did you break something? Are you okay?? Say something!”

“Y-yeah….” Mumbo could only slowly squeeze out the one word. Scar sighed with relief. He set Mumbo down on the table in front of him. The two of them were locked in eye contact. Mumbo’s brain was racing. He was trying to think if there was any reasonable escape. He was a bit stranded on the table. He didn’t figure he could get away fast enough from here. He wasn’t even wearing any of his borrowing equipment.

“W-w-what are you going to do with me?”

“What? I’m not gonna do anything to you! What would I even do??”

“B-but… you found me. In your house. Borrowers aren’t supposed to be found. I- I can’t just go back like nothing happened…” Scar looked down and let out a heavy sigh. He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck.

“Listen,” He couldn’t make eye contact. “I kinda… already knew about you?”

Dumbfounded, Mumbo spat back, “...what?”

“I’ve known for a long time. Probably the whole time.”

Mumbo could not believe his ears, “And you never said anything!?”

Scar was becoming flustered, “W-well you seemed like you were trying really hard to be sneaky and I didn’t wanna ruin it for you!” Mumbo was mortified. This whole time. This whole time he had been a complete failure of a borrower and somehow managed to end up with a human who didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He wondered how many times he had been seen. When he thought he was completely out of view atop shelves, was he actually exposed? Could Scar hear him running through the walls? Could Scar hear him working on his machines?

“I’m really sorry,” Scar continued, “You clearly didn’t want to be seen so I did my best not to bother you. A-and that doesn’t have to change now. You’ve never been a bother or anything. You’re totally free to keep doing your thing. I promise I’ll leave you totally alone.”

Mumbo was looking down at his shoes, still trying to process the lie of the last several years of his life. Without looking up, he said, “I can’t leave from here.”

Scar looked at the height of the table. “Oh, right. Uhm. I can’t reach the spot you were in, but I can put you over by the toaster. There’s a hole there, right? Will that work?” Mumbo clenched his fists. Scar even knew about one of his entrances.

“That’s fine.” Scar offered his hand, and Mumbo reluctantly climbed onto it. Scar carefully rolled over to the toaster and placed his hand down next to it. Mumbo leapt off and left without another word. 

The following weeks in that house were very awkward for the both of them. Anytime Scar saw Mumbo, he wasn’t sure if he still needed to uphold the habit of pretending he hadn’t seen anything. This caused a delay in his reactions, which made it more clear to Mumbo when he was seen, and just how often it happened. One day, Scar was pawing at a cabinet shelf for some formula. He had forgotten to ask Joel to move them forward while he was there. The rest were all closer to the back of the cabinet and he couldn’t quite reach them, or even see them from his chair. Mumbo happened to be working on something on top of the cabinets at the time. He was sitting right up against the wall, further back than normal, to better avoid being seen. He could hear Scar struggling. He sighed, set his device down, got up, and made his way to the cabinet entrance. Sure enough, the entrance was almost totally blocked by formula cartons almost as tall as him. He leaned against one and pushed it forward until Scar could reach. 

“Oh, thank you!” Scar was surprised to see Mumbo intentionally interacting with him, even if in a hidden capacity. Mumbo didn’t reply. He was walking back toward the back of the cabinet to move another carton when Scar, still feeling blindly around, accidentally grabbed him. They both flinched and Scar yanked his hand back out of the cabinet.

“Sorry!” Scar shouted. Mumbo didn’t reply. Scar still needed a few more cartons of formula, but he went ahead and started pouring the first one into the bag before getting more. He tried to pour slowly. When he was sure he didn’t hear any more rustling in the cabinet, he reached back up and got the rest of what he needed.

Another week went by with the two trying to avoid acknowledging each other, tension growing. Mumbo was on a credenza in the hall, standing behind a vase. He tripped and stumbled backwards into it, knocking it over. He and the vase both tumbled onto the floor. The vase had landed upside-down on top of him. He tried to lift it, but it was too heavy. He tried to tip it, but the shape made it impossible to get any leverage. If he had some tools on him he could think of a few ways to get out of this. But he didn’t. Stumped, he tried to sit down to think. He couldn’t even do that, because the narrow neck of the vase prevented him from bending his knees very far. It crossed his mind that, as unfavorable as it was, he did have one option. And it was probably his best bet at the moment.

“Scaaar…” Mumbo called out weakly. Scar rolled into the hall.

“Mumbo? Was that you? Am I hearing things? Where are you?” Mumbo was apprehensive to answer. Scar began to roll down the hall when he noticed the vase and its contents, some plastic reeds, scattered on the floor. “Ah,” He said to himself. He rolled beside the vase and gently tipped it up. As soon as there was a gap big enough to squeeze out, Mumbo made a break for it. He ran away desperately, looking behind him to make sure he wasn’t being pursued. In his haste and carelessness he ran right into the reeds and got tangled in their leaves. After several seconds of struggling while Scar watched patiently, Mumbo freed himself and kept running, this time watching where he was going.

The next day Scar was sitting at his computer, reading, when he heard Mumbo’s voice come from behind him.

“Scar?” Scar turned and looked around the room until he spotted Mumbo sitting atop a floating shelf. Specifically one that was too high for Scar to reach.

“Yesterday, when you helped me, you said my name, didn’t you?” Mumbo asked.

Scar was confused. “Did I? I can’t remember exactly what I said, why?”

Mumbo pressed, “When we first spoke, we didn’t tell each other our names, did we?”

Scar was starting to catch on. “That doesn’t sound right. I’m sure you introduced yourself!”

“I already knew your name because I hear you and Joel speaking all the time. But I’m sure I never told you my name.”

“I think you’re misremembering…” The both of them were starting to get flustered.

“Scar, I was just curious. It’s worse that you’re obviously trying to hide something. How did you know my name?”

“W-what was your name again anyway? I can’t seem to recall…”

“Come on, I’ve broken my rule to come out and ask you this.” Mumbo insisted. Scar sighed. Mumbo was right. As much as he hated disappointing Mumbo, he deserved a straight answer.

“Sometimes… when Grian comes over, I can hear you two talking. Not entire conversations or anything! It’s muffled. But enough to pick up your name.”

Mumbo dropped his face into his hand. “And Grian’s.”

“Yeah.”

Mumbo let out a heavy sigh. “Okay. Thanks.” He turned around and slipped back out of sight. Scar felt bad about revealing another harsh truth to Mumbo, but he was also a little excited. This was the second conversation he had ever had with Mumbo, and Mumbo was the one who initiated it! As much as he didn’t want to bother Mumbo, he had always wished they would become friends one day.

A few days later, Scar was at his computer again when Mumbo made his boldest move yet. He glided down towards Scar and landed on a push handle behind his head. Scar jumped when he sensed the presence. He was only able to turn his head far enough to see Mumbo out the side of one eye.

“Well, hello there!” Scar said, bewildered. “You’re awfully close all of a sudden!”

“It’s fine.” Mumbo said, “I know exactly what I’m doing. I know my reflexes are faster than your reach. I can get away from here faster than you can try anything.” He had planned it out in his head. If Scar tried to reach for him, he would hop off the back and glide straight for a mouse hole across the room. He was confident he was in no danger at all. Scar raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, really?” He found Mumbo’s overconfidence cute, and was instinctively motivated to undermine it. “Well, what if someone came from BEHIND YOU!!” Scar shouted quickly, gesturing to behind Mumbo, who flinched and looked where Scar gestured. With his guard down, Scar reached up and grabbed Mumbo off the handle. He yelped. Scar only held him for a second and set him right back down, laughing all the while.

“I’m sorry, I had to!” He chuckled. Mumbo stumbled to regain his balance, then pushed off the handle towards the mouse hole. Scar’s expression dropped. Mumbo’s glider failed to catch air properly and he hit the ground, landing very short of his goal. Scar’s expression changed to fear and he started to turn his chair around.

“Are you okay!?” He called out. Mumbo didn’t reply. He was desperately skittering across the floor, trying to scrape his way out of sight as soon as possible. Scar tried to stop him, but couldn’t catch up before he disappeared behind the drywall. Scar sank. He laid a longing hand against the wall and pounded his forehead against it a couple of times.

“Stupid.”

He should have known better. Mumbo was finally gaining enough confidence to try getting close to him and the first thing he did was take advantage of him. Stupid.

Scar didn’t hear anything from Mumbo for a few days. Whenever Joel wasn’t around, he’d announce to the air how sorry he was. He’d write little apology notes and leave them by Mumbo’s access holes. He wrote about how bad he felt and why what he did was wrong. How he promised not to let it happen again. And about how much he’d like to see Mumbo again. Any time he went to check, the notes were untouched. And any time he called out, there was no response. After several days of no trace, Scar called out saying that he was starting to get really worried that something had happened to Mumbo. He asked that Mumbo would please just give him a sign that he was okay. The truth was Mumbo had heard every plea and read every message. Unfortunately, no matter what Scar said, what happened reinforced what Mumbo had always been taught. No matter how nice they seem, humans are dangerous, and they’re not to be trusted. Mumbo was inside the office wall. He still found it easier to work near Scar, but he couldn’t risk being close enough to be heard or seen. Mumbo sighed. He stepped toward the entrance to a shelf, carefully looking out to make sure he wouldn’t be seen. If anything, this whole situation had done a lot to improve his borrowing skills. He reached his arm out toward a thin book on the shelf and nudged it until it fell off. Scar whipped his head around to see the source of the noise. He had hoped to find Mumbo, but just a sign that he wasn’t dead was still a whole lot better than nothing.

That night, Mumbo went to visit Grian. Grian’s condition had improved a lot over the past few weeks. He was slow, but he could walk now. He still spent most of his time on that living room end table. Mumbo waited until Scar, Lizzie, and Joel had all gone to sleep and made his way over. After some hellos and small talk, Mumbo explained to Grian what had happened. He told Grian about how it reinforced what they had always been taught.

“I had to learn it first hand. No matter how nice they seem, humans are dangerous, and they’re not to be trusted.”

“Well, that’s a load of rubbish.” Grian scoffed. Mumbo was taken aback.

“How can you say that after what I just told you?” Mumbo sputtered.

“Oh, come on. You say that like something terrible happened. You got grabbed. For a second. As a joke. Are you even hurt or anything?”

“W-well, n-no.” Mumbo was indignant, but he wondered if Grian had a point.

“Then I don’t see what the big deal is. Take it from someone who’s been at the mercy of humans for weeks against his will. Yeah, they’re big and scary, but they mean really well. If Joel or Lizzie actually hurt me I’m pretty sure they’d implode. One time Lizzie accidentally poked my rib while redoing my bandages and it made me wince and she apologized like a HUNDRED times! I kept telling her I was fine! … My point being, I didn’t want to come here, but when I’m all better, I don’t plan on leaving.”

Mumbo was having a hard time trying to keep that nice idea from breaking through the hard shell he’d put up. It could be a fluke. Just because Grian trusted Joel and Lizzie didn’t automatically mean Mumbo should trust Scar. But looking at everything, it was getting harder to justify not trusting him.

The next day, Scar was at his computer again, playing a game. Mumbo was standing at the edge of the shelf entrance. This shelf was the last safe place he had spoken to Scar. The last place he had been where nothing went wrong. He took a deep breath and stepped out onto the shelf. He looked down at Scar’s monitor, trying to figure out what exactly he was looking at. He took a deep breath, and looked at Scar.

“Hey, Scar.” Mumbo practically mumbled. Scar quickly tapped the escape key and his eyes darted around the room until he found him.

“Mumbo! You’re back!” Scar tried to contain his excitement. He was elated and relieved, but he couldn’t scare Mumbo off again.

“Yeah. I just… needed some time to think. Uh.. whatcha doin there?” Scar turned to look at his game. It had been only moments, but he was so caught up in Mumbo’s return he had already forgotten.

“Oh, I was just playing Minecraft. Do you… know what computer games are?”

“Sort of. I mean, I’ve seen you do this from a distance, but I don’t really get what it is.” Scar explained to him the gist of how video games work and told him about how Minecraft is a sandbox game where you can do all sorts of different things depending on your play style. Building stunning buildings, farming hours away, fighting enemies, or even building complex machines. The machines part really piqued Mumbo’s interest. They set off into a more relaxed, naturally flowing conversation. They both felt like they were finally, for the first time, having a good interaction. Until Scar started to struggle to get his words out. Within minutes, he started to cough and choke so frequently he couldn’t finish a sentence.

“Mate, are you alright?” Mumbo worried. Scar couldn’t answer, and his face was turning pale. Mumbo was panicking. “Scar!? What’s happening? What should I do??”” Scar tried to pick up his phone, but his hands were shaking. Without stopping to think if it was safe, Mumbo jumped off the shelf and glided to Scar’s desk. He pressed the button on the side of the phone and saw it needed to be unlocked. He had seen Scar do this before with his thumb print. He looked back at Scar. Scar was fading. Mumbo reached for his hand, which was still on the desk, and pulled his thumb over to unlock the phone. He opened the phone app and tapped the first name he recognized: Joel. When he heard Joel pick up he didn’t even wait for him to get out a hello.

“JOEL SCAR’S NOT BREATHING I THINK HE PASSED OUT WHAT DO I DO I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO PLEASE”

“I’m on my way.” Joel hung up the phone and showed up within the minute. When he came inside he was already on the phone with the emergency services operator. Mumbo stood back and watched him as he explained the situation and checked on Scar’s condition, seeing if there was anything he could do before the ambulance arrived. Mumbo’s own heart was pounding so loud it practically drowned out the hasty noise of the room.

“Yes. Yes I’ll stay on the line. One second.” Joel turned to Mumbo. “You did the right thing calling me. The paramedics are on their way, you should go hide.”

“B-but, i-is Scar g-going to-”

“Seriously, they’ll be here any minute! Go!” Mumbo hurried off behind the desk and found a nearby hole to scurry off into. He positioned himself at an opening near the ground where he was sure he wouldn’t be spotted. He was terrified to the core, and he had to see what was going to happen. The paramedics came pouring in. Faster than Mumbo could even process, they had Scar loaded into the back of the ambulance and were on their way. Joel followed directly behind with Scar’s wheelchair and some essentials. Before Mumbo could even get a grip on the situation, he was sitting alone in a vast empty house, and it had never felt so soul crushingly lonely.

A while later, Lizzie came home from work. She asked Grian where Joel was and he told her he had stepped out a few hours ago because of a phone call and never came back. Lizzie called Joel and, after apologizing for not calling sooner, he explained what happened and that he was at the hospital with Scar. Scar was stable, but he wasn’t going to be ready to be discharged for a good while. Lizzie asked him to come home but he insisted on staying in case anything changed with Scar.

“It’s getting late. If it’s this serious his family should come stay with him.” Lizzie reasoned.

“He hasn’t got any family close by and he doesn’t deserve to be alone. I think I’m gonna end up spending the night here.”

“Joel, no! Then you’ll just be leaving me alone!”

Joel smirked. “Don’t you think you can share me for just one night?” Lizzie rubbed her brow.

Lizzie realized something, “Wait, you said Grian’s friend Mumbo was the one who called you? Where’s he now?”

“He’s still at the house. Where else would he be?” Joel said.

“He’s not with you?” Lizzie asked.

“What? No! Why would I have taken him with me?”

“Because he’s obviously worried about Scar? Tell me you at least have a way to contact him and he hasn’t just been in the dark since you left!” Lizzie pleaded.

“That was not the most pressing thing on my mind at the time, Lizzie.”

Lizzie sighed. “Fine, then. It’s decided. You watch after Scar, and we’ll watch after Mumbo. I’ll see you in the morning. I love you.”

“Love you.”

Lizzie sat down next to Grian and asked him how much of that he caught. He said he caught the gist of it and asked what she had in mind for Mumbo. She said she wasn’t sure yet. She was going to play it by ear. She said she’d probably need some help, if he was up for it. She offered her hand and he climbed on. She hadn’t taken her coat or shoes off yet, so she headed right out the door. She held Grian close to her as she walked, keeping him inconspicuously tucked partially behind her coat in case there were any passersby. She walked up to Scar’s door and tried the knob. She shook her head. Joel had carelessly left it unlocked. She gingerly stepped inside and shut the door behind her. She softly called out for Mumbo. No response. Grian pointed out the credenza and asked her to bring him there. She set him down and he swung open the door there made to look like an outlet cover and stepped inside. Grian hadn’t traversed a wall corridor in a while and he forgot how treacherous some of them can be. They’re spaces for passage only, not meant to be stayed in. They can be a bit difficult to traverse. Grian thought he’d at least check Mumbo’s house. This was the closest entrance to it. He carefully climbed down the staircase and looked around the rooms. No Mumbo to be found. He climbed back up and reported back to Lizzie. He suggested they try checking out some of Mumbo’s other favorite spots. He admitted he didn’t know all of Mumbo’s entrances, but hopefully he knew enough of the important ones. Lizzie tip-toed down the hall while Grian called out for Mumbo. After a couple of calls they heard a weak reply coming from the office.

“Grian?”

Lizzie stepped up to the edge of the doorway and knelt down to let Grian go in on his own. Grian limped over to Mumbo, who saw Grian and stepped out of his hole to meet him halfway.

“How in the world did you get here all by yourself? And what are you doing out in the open, those doctors could be back at any minute!” Mumbo asked.

“It’s okay, Mumbo, no one is coming!” Grian reassured him.

“Don’t say that! You don’t know that!” Mumbo snapped back. Grian realized how what he said sounded.

“Mumbo, Lizzie brought me here to tell you that Scar is going to be okay. He’s in the hospital. He’s breathing.” Mumbo stepped back and let out the biggest sigh he had ever sighed.

Grian continued, “Joel told Lizzie more about his condition. I just kind of overheard the gist. Joel is gonna stay with him until he’s well enough to come home.”

“He’s not coming home yet? Why?”

“Like I said, Lizzie knows more than I do.”

“Well then go ask Lizzie already!” Mumbo pleaded.

“Why don’t you go ask her yourself? She’s just waiting out in the hall.” Grian offered.

“Grian. So far, every time I’ve spoken to a human something terribly wrong has happened.” Mumbo moped. Grian put his hand on Mumbo’s back, pressing him in the direction of the door.

“No, every time you’ve spoken to Scar! You’ve never spoken to Lizzie before! I’ve spoken to her lots of times and nothing bad has ever happened. You should give it a whirl!” Grian was admittedly growing impatient about Mumbo’s apprehension towards humans. He strained his injured muscles a little giving Mumbo a shove that sent him a few more steps towards the door. Lizzie piped up from the hall. 

“You don’t actually have to come out here right now, if that makes it easier.” Grian was a little annoyed. She was kind of undermining him. Mumbo was slightly alarmed. He hadn’t realized how close she was. But, if anything, knowing how far he had come without realizing only gave him the confidence to close the gap. He started forward. The moment she came into view and he perceived her stature he did an instant 180 back into the office.

“What was that?” Complained Grian. It was the realization that for the handful of times Mumbo had spoken to humans in the past, it had been at eye level or higher. He was not prepared to address a human from the ground.

“Just. Wait here. I’ll be right back.” Mumbo said before heading back into the wall. A minute later he reappeared on his floating shelf. It was far out of reach for Scar, but just noticeably above eye level for Lizzie. He invited her into the room.

“Oh, there you are! It’s nice to finally meet you!” Lizzie beamed.

“Why isn’t Scar coming home?” Mumbo asked.

“Right. That. So I didn’t get a lot of details from Joel, and I don’t understand a lot of this medical mumbo jumbo anyw- haha hey, Mumbo Jumbo!”

Grian glared, “Lizzie, come on.”

“Right right yeah, sorry. From what I understand, Scar’s condition is stable. Meaning he’s not completely better, he’s still relying on a lot of medical equipment, but he’s not getting any worse or dying or anything like that. I forget what Joel said the thing was called, but I think it boiled down to him getting over excited at the same time that his heart was doing something funky. That sounds even less informative now that I say it all out loud, but that’s about everything I was able to gather. Sorry.”

“Thank you.” Mumbo said. He tried to think of something more to say, but all he mustered was a second, “Thank you.” Lizzie knelt down and picked Grian up off the floor.

“Mumbo, come stay with us tonight.” Grian offered. “You shouldn’t be alone on a night like this. I insist.” Mumbo tried to think of a reason to say no, but couldn’t come up with one. He couldn’t come up with much at all. He was distracted still thinking about what he did to Scar.

“Okay.”

“Oh, really? I expected that to take some convincing. Okay, great! Uh, would you prefer to come over yourself the usual way, or I’m sure Lizzie wouldn’t mind carrying you. It’d be much faster. You probably don’t want to do that though, huh?”

“I don’t mind at all!” Lizzie added. Mumbo closed his eyes. 

“Yeah, I probably ought to go with you.” Mumbo admitted.

“Wait, really?” Grian said.

“You clearly want me to get more comfortable with humans. And I trust you. So yeah. I’ll do it.” Mumbo was pretty certain that if there wasn’t an active crisis taking up all his brainspace, he’d have the wherewithal to deny Grian. Lizzie held her hand up against the edge of the shelf. Mumbo first looked at Grian, as if to take note of how to do it, and then carefully climbed onto her hand. Lizzie made her way slowly and carefully to the front door and then stopped.

“I didn’t think this through. I don’t have a free hand to open this door or a key to lock it.” Lizzie admitted. Grian looked at Mumbo, who was usually the problem solver, but he just looked defeated. 

“Mumbo,” Grian asked, “are you able to lock this door yourself from the inside?” Mumbo looked up at the mechanism to evaluate it and compared its height to the ground.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“I really appreciate your efforts, Mumbo. But I think the best solution here is for you to lock the door behind us and just meet us there.” Mumbo accepted and Lizzie set him on the doorknob before stepping out and shutting the door behind her. Mumbo turned the lock and glided down to find a way into the wall and make his way next door. A few minutes later he squirmed out from behind the TV and glided over to Grian, who was already settled into his usual spot. Lizzie came into the room and greeted Mumbo with some accommodations for him. She got some extra hand towels so he could set up a little bed as well. Grian and Lizzie made it their goal to get Mumbo’s mind off Scar for the night, since worrying about him wasn’t helping anyone. They chatted about all sorts of things, getting to know each other. Grian was relieved that Mumbo got on pretty well with Lizzie. He was visibly nervous the whole time and flinched every time she moved very much, but he was trying his best. Grian figured it was just a matter of time before Mumbo adjusted and got as comfortable as he had. After a bit, Grian said he needed to use the toilet. Lizzie scooped him up and brought him to the bathroom floor. He ducked under the sink cabinet and disappeared into it. He had a restroom in the wall back there piggybacking off the plumbing of the humans’ one. While waiting, Lizzie walked back near the end table to keep chatting with Mumbo. He cowered as she towered over him. She chuckled, which made Mumbo feel worse. She thought about how different he was to Grian. She figured when she first met Grian, he must have been scared for his life, but he didn’t express it so pathetically. 

“What are you so afraid of?” She asked. Mumbo wasn’t sure how to answer. She scooped him up in her palm and brought him to eye level. Mumbo hated the feeling of her hand supporting him. He felt incredibly awkward and terrified.

“I’m not going to hurt you, little guy.” She failed to hide a smirk. She thought she’d tease him, just a little, and maybe the rapport would ease tensions. “It’s fair enough, you know. I could totally do anything I wanted, and Grian’s not even here to help. I wonder, what exactly is it  you’re scared I’m going to do?”

“LIZZIE!” Grian’s voice shattered the growing suspense in the room. “What are you doing!?” Lizzie whipped around to see Grian standing in the bathroom doorway with a stern expression on his face. 

“Grian! You missed the context! It was just a joke!” Lizzie explained in a panic. Grian wasn’t having it. He could see the look on Mumbo’s face.

“Not funny. Put him down. Now.” Lizzie hastily set Mumbo back down and then helped Grian back onto the table before taking a seat herself.

Grian worriedly asked Mumbo, “I’m so sorry about that. Are you alright?” Mumbo was very not alright. A lot had happened today and he was having a hard enough time as it was without Lizzie intentionally messing with him. Even so, he could recognize that Lizzie’s joke, despite being in poor taste, was just meant to be a joke. And he could clearly see from her expression that she was embarrassed.

“I-it’s fine. I’m fine.” Mumbo lied. He brushed Grian aside and stepped closer to Lizzie. “The truth is, I really do want to get more comfortable with this. I want to be able to talk to Scar without it sending my heart racing. But it’s still new to me and every time I look up at you or see a hand coming at me, my reflexes kick in and I go into panic mode. If anything, this is like, exposure therapy, or something. I think it’s good for me.”

“Yeah, gonna expose you to a heart attack.” quipped Grian.

“Hey, you didn’t stutter at all during that.” Lizzie pointed out.

“I-I didn’t?” Mumbo hadn’t even noticed. “Ha ha! I guess the exposure therapy really is working!”

Grian interjected, “That’s great and all, but I am genuinely worried about you getting overwhelmed, Mumbo. Lizzie, hanging out like this is fine, but you have to remember the rules.”

“The rules?” Mumbo asked.

“When I started to get well enough to walk again, Lizzie started letting herself get a little… grabby. We had to set up some boundaries. Mainly she’s not allowed to pick me up without asking.” Grian turned to Lizzie, “Those same rules apply to Mumbo, too, okay?”

“Yeah, that’s reasonable. I’m sorry, Mumbo. We’re still good, right?” Lizzie held out a finger toward Mumbo. He stepped back and just looked at it, holding his hands up defensively.

“It’s supposed to be a handshake.” Lizzie clarified. Mumbo took a deep breath and slowly reached forward to shake her finger.

“Yeah.” He said, “We’re good.”

Shortly afterward Lizzie retired to bed. Grian told Mumbo that if he was willing to help him through the corridors, they could stay in his house that night. There were a couple of actual beds there, where it would be more comfortable. Mumbo agreed. Grian was excited, because it had been weeks since he had been able to sleep in a real bed. The two carefully navigated to Grian’s house. Grian almost seemed to have magically healed faster, the way he was moving about the place. He was just so excited to be back in the comfort of his own home again. He got out clean linens and prepared the guest room for Mumbo without much trouble. Soon, the two were off to sleep. This was the best sleep Grian had gotten in weeks. It was not so much the case for Mumbo.

Mumbo dreamt that he was back in Scar’s house, standing in the middle of the hallway. Scar rolled into the hallway and turned to face Mumbo.

“There you are.” said dream Scar in a haunting distorted voice. He started towards Mumbo, who made a beeline for the nearest hole in the wall. No matter how fast he ran, he didn’t seem to be getting any closer, and Scar was steadily gaining. Mumbo was stopped in his tracks by Scar’s fingers closing tightly around him and raising him up off the ground. Mumbo writhed and wriggled until he could get his arms free. He tried to rip the massive fingers off himself, but they wouldn’t budge. Dream Scar reached for Mumbo’s face with his other hand, grabbing him by the cheeks and positioning his head forcefully. Dream Scar’s grip on Mumbo's face tightened and tightened until, suddenly, Mumbo woke up. 

Panting and sweating, he bolted upright. He looked over at the watch mounted to the wall. A quarter after three. Still catching his breath, he laid back down. He held his hand out in front of himself and looked at it. There was something about hands. He tilted his hand away and remembered shaking Lizzie’s hand. Well, shaking her finger. The whole night had a theme of ignoring how scared he was. He had hoped if he kept pushing past it, eventually, it wouldn’t be scary anymore. He closed his eyes and tried to go back to sleep.

A few hours later, a loud crash woke Mumbo suddenly. He jumped out of bed and ran out of the room to investigate. He ran into the kitchen and saw Grian standing there clutching a couple of pans, with about five more still settling on the floor.

“Are you alright?” Mumbo asked.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to wake you. I was trying to be quiet but I dropped some pans.” Grian explained.

Mumbo sighed and went to help Grian clean up. Grian was scrounging around for something to make for breakfast. It had been a while since he had cooked and he was still excited about being back in the comfort and amenities of his own home. Mumbo insisted Grian sit and let him do the work. They chatted as Mumbo started picking through Grian’s pantry, tossing out things that had gone bad while he was away. Then, they heard a muffled voice shout from above.

“Grian! Where are you? Can you hear me?” Lizzie called from the living room. Mumbo and Grian looked at each other.

“Yeah?” Grian called back. It felt a bit wrong to be so loud in his house. They heard a shuffling. The ceiling creaked and a little dust spilled down. Lizzie’s voice was closer now.

“I’m headed out for groceries. Did you want me to get you anything?” She asked. Grian thought for a moment.

“A pretzel?” He asked.

“Pretzels. Got it. I’ll be back in a bit!” She headed off. Grian and Mumbo chuckled about the strangeness of the interaction and got back to chatting. Mumbo managed to scrape together enough food to have a bit of a disappointing breakfast. Grian was still pleased at the familiarity of the taste. He liked human food, but it was a pretty different flavor palate from what he was used to. They cleaned up and got dressed, then ventured back upstairs to meet Lizzie when she came back home. They slowly made their way through the corridors. As they neared the kitchen, they heard Lizzie come inside. Good timing. Mumbo pulled back the kitchen tile and crawled through, then helped Grian through behind him. As they walked out from behind the sugar jar, Lizzie had just finished putting the food away and was going to stow her shopping bags. She turned around and jumped at the unexpected sight of Grian and Mumbo standing there to greet her. She popped open the bag of pretzels she had just bought and handed one to Grian. He snapped it in half and offered the other half to Mumbo. Lizzie put the bag away and told Mumbo that Joel called her while she was at the shop. She told him that Joel said Scar would be coming home sometime today. She clarified that he didn’t have to go right away, and if he wanted to he was welcome to stay with them until Scar arrived so he wouldn’t have to be alone.

“No,” Mumbo said with haste, “I want to be there when he gets back. Thank you so much for everything, really. I have to go.” He set his pretzel half down and scurried back into the wall without paying much attention to Grian and Lizzie bidding him goodbye. He had been kept in suspense for so long. He couldn’t bear it. He had to see Scar as soon as he possibly could. He got back home and climbed onto that credenza in the hall by the front door. Time passed painfully slowly. And yet Mumbo spent two more hours sitting still as a rock, eyes locked on that door. Mind spinning.

Finally, he heard the sound of car doors on the street outside, and familiar voices. Sure enough, the door opened and Joel pushed Scar inside. Scar looked the way he usually did after longer hospital visits. He still had the hospital wristband on. He looked noticeably tired from the stress, but, most importantly, healthier. As the door shut, Mumbo stood up and shouted.

“Scar!” 

Scar and Joel both looked at Mumbo and froze. Neither of them knew what to do. Scar wondered if Mumbo had somehow not seen Joel standing behind him. He awkwardly tried to discreetly point Joel out. Joel wondered if Mumbo had finally gotten up the confidence to introduce himself to Scar, or if he had just gone insane.

Joel tried to play along, “OH MY DAYS, IT’S A TINY MAN!”

“He knows. You both know.” Mumbo clarified. Scar and Joel looked at each other. This only raised more questions for the two of them. The most present one for both being ‘since when?’

Mumbo continued, “Scar, I’m so sorry. I-I didn’t mean for this to happen. I didn’t know-”

Scar cut him off, “What are you talking about? What did you do?” Mumbo looked at him with the biggest, saddest eyes.

“They told me your heart got sick because you were over excited. I-It happened when I came to speak to you…” Mumbo explained. Scar finally put it together.

“You think this was your fault?”

“Isn’t it?” Mumbo sniffled. Scar rolled a little closer, being careful to maintain a certain distance.

“No, Mumbo. You’re not the reason I got sick. I promise. In fact, if you weren’t there to call for help, I probably wouldn��t be here right now. You saved my life.” Scar reassured him. Mumbo stared at his shoes, processing. He looked back up at Scar.

“Really?”

“Definitely.” There was another pause before Mumbo accepted this truth.

“Can I see your hand?” Mumbo asked without making eye contact. Scar held up his right hand.

“This hand?” He asked.

“Doesn’t matter.” Scar rolled closer to the table. Mumbo stepped back to make room and Scar laid his hand down in front of him. Mumbo put his hands around the tip of Scar’s index finger. He had been overwhelmed by emotion since yesterday. He realized that he wasn’t fully sure what he was doing. Maybe this was like a hug? Whatever it was, he just knew he needed it.

“I’m really glad you’re okay.” Mumbo said. Scar smiled.

[puftpasstea]

Matilda 

Chapter 1

When I got to the desk that morning, Fran was out-- as usual-- probably getting her 5th cup of coffee that morning. I saw that she had left me a note saying that someone had requested an appointment with "an expert librarian" for a "consultation." The note didn't say much else, so I logged into the library database to see when the appointment was made, and what kind of information this person's looking for, but, I couldn't find any record of the request in our system. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

The prospect made me nervous. I've never been good at waiting. I'm also not particularly good at being around people. I need time to prep. armed with information. options. Spontaneity isn't my thing.

"There you are!" Fran smiled, rushing through the door with a bevarage tray and a brown paper bag. She'd grabbed me a muffin and a cup of coffee, ever the confederate colleague.

We balanced our breakfast on piles of recently returned books that needed to be sorted back into the main stacks and spread some tissue paper to protect against crumbs.

"So, what's up with this vague appointment request?" I asked in between sips of coffee. " It's not even in the system."

"yeah," Fran nodded wiping the corner of her mouth with a napkin. "That's cuz the guy made it over the phone." She gestured toward the library landline.

"Wait, you mean this thing actually works?" it was what could only be described as a "vintage" corded contraption that didn't even have called ID.

"You kids and your screens." She playfully rolled her eyes. "Anyway, he said he'd be here in an hour, and I told him you wouldn't mind. It's not like we're swamped. With most college kids off for the summer, we're lucky if we even get a soul in here these days."

She wasn't wrong. Though I liked the quiet, and the uninterrupted time I got to spend around books, sometimes it felt like I wasn't actually doing that much to help people with research. Which was the primary purpose of my role.

***

I busied myself with scanning barcodes and stacking boxes of books and materials that needed it to be moved around. I was counting how many books I'd scanned when Fran elbowed me and whispered, a little too loudly, "that's your guy!"

He was a tall guy with thick curly hair. A little too well dressed and put together to be an undergrad. As he approached the front desk, I could also tell that his cologne was probably also too expensive for a student. Now that I could see him clearly, I knew exactly who he is.

'Hi. I'm Harry--"

"We spoke on the phone." Fran interrupted, eagerness a little too obvious in her tone.

"Yes, Fran?" he smiled at her

"That would be me" she laughed. "uh, but, your appointment is with her" she nodded in my direction.

" Hello. I'm Harry," we shook hands and got introduced. I gather my note pad and usual supplies as we spoke, then asked him for more information on what he needed. "So, can you tell me what brings you in today?"

He ran his fingers through his hair and licked his lips nervously. I was glad to not be the only awkward part of this interaction.

"Uhm, yeah, so, this is gonna sound a bit weird, but, I'm doing a movie-"

my eyebrow raise must have given away what I was thinking because he laughed, and said "yeah, I told you, it sounds a bit weird. But, so, we're filming nearby soon actually. And-- well, I'm playing this...poet character, and he's kind of the academic type. While I have some experience with the writing bit, I think I need a little more help getting the school bit." He smiled at me.

"some experience" I echoed his words and tried to hold back a chuckle.

Yeah, sure, ummm I'll need a bit more information, but please follow me this way." Vowing to keep my dramatic surprise and other facial expression to a minimum, and mustering all the professional composure in my body, I looked back at Fran briefly, who winked at me, and guided him into the literature section.

A/N: This is my first fic in a LONG time so please be gentle! comments, questions, feedback, etc always welcome!!!

[twimshi]

Reigen x Platonic!Reader

a/n: YN has trouble with her co-workers and goes to a seminar recommended by a friend.

YN decides to attend the weekend slot for the seminar.

(hEY HEY !! I thought about dipping my toes in tumbler just to self-promote my fic teehee because of the end of MPO and the fear of the fandom dying T^T Anyhow my fic has about 13 chapters which is about 80k words as of now. It is far from complete but also is complete? Well, the side arc is done but I marked it as complete because it can be seen as complete !! I think its worth checking out and uhm yeah !!)

Also this is chapter 12 of the fic, I just posted this chapter here because its less plot focused and more adult shaninigans.

Reigen’s presentation was not what YN expected, it was a sparkly Hello kitty-themed.

With dramatic music.

Was this why it was free?

“Number one the thing you need to do to increase productivity in a workplace filled with lazy slugs! A presentation by me” Mob dimes the light as his Shishou starts stating the sponsors for the presentation which makes YN tilt her head with disbelief at him.

The slideshow begins with a drawing of an otaku holding a body pillow that looks straight out of Wikipedia “This young lad has a problem with gaming and seems to be addicted which prevents him from doing work. What would you do?” Reigen stares at the audience which was a total of one since YN was the only one there.

He flamboyantly points at her “Ah YN! You want to answer?”

She turns around suddenly feeling like she was in class again “Me?”

“Yes, you! Now, what would you do?”

“Tell them to uh…..stop?”

Reigen stalks her chair for a moment then turns screaming “Wrong!”

“Confiscate the electro-”

“Once again you are mistaken mesmosele. Mob next slide”

The next slide is a gif of a grim-reaper taking a selfie with someone “You gotta show your enthusiasm to work, even if you feel like death!” Reigen signaled Mob to come near him “Mob, slap me”

“Shi-shishou what?”

“Nevermind” Reigen slams himself on the wall, YN thinks there's blood on the wall now “Always SHOW YOUR ENTHUSIASM” She gets up immediately and hands him a tissue to wipe his nose with, he takes it and grins “Do you agree with that?”

“Uhm? ye-”

“WR-WR-WRONG AGAIN!” He sounds like a wrestling moderator now.

“Shishou please sit down-”   

“Never take shit from anyone!" He makes an 'X' sign with his hands "No matter what, show that you're the boss. As you saw just now, Mob didn't slap me because he takes himself seriously and knows his boundaries!” Mob just nods his head blushing.

He does a mini spin and there's now a disco ball? He throws around edible confetti which he strangely kept clarifying with her, she thinks it's probably from one of his sponsors because he is now shoving a bag of skittles in her hand.

YN thinks of how absurd this is yet, she finds some weird type of comfort. 

Was she ever going to use this information?

Probably not.

Was it entertaining?

It might have been one of the best things she has ever seen in a while.

Even almost beating that one time she witnessed an old man cheat on his wife in the park, that was pure cinema - but this was pretty close to topping it.

-

YN stares at her paperwork and the old man “YN please you've got to do something about the elevator”

She takes in a breath and smiles, something she learned at the seminar “Yes Suki, I've already informed you that it's already fixed”

“It is not just that YN! It keeps making weird noises and-and I keep hearing this gentle whisper…IT'S FREAKING ME OUT! Do something about it!”

“That might be your hearing aid, even I can hear it”

“YOU CAN HEAR THE RINGING TOO?!”

“What's all this fuss about?”

Suki then berates the boss about the weird sounds along with some of the other employees, even Mika “Even you?”

“I dunno? I just saw people crowding the boss and wanted to join” This was the only time YN relates to Mika. 

“Sir, I BEG OF YOU TO CHECK THE ELEVATOR FOR GHOST, EVERYONE IS TALKING ABOUT IT”

He turns to YN raising his non-existent brow, the boss was bald “Sir, I’ve already called maintenance, and it all fixed, the noise is probably from how old it is, we would have to use our entire funds to fix-”

“Mrs.LN meet me in my office” 

Everyone stills.

YN just says a small yes in acknowledgment and pushes her hair back “Y-YN I'm so sorry I didn't mean to cause you so much trouble” YN knows there was no point taking it out on an old man and just nods and bites her tongue until it bleeds and proceeds to the room.

“Sir-”

“LN, what’s the problem?”

She pulls out her files “He’s complained about the elevator even though I told him that it's just the screws making the noises, I already called the company who fixed the elevator, and like I said before, they said it can't be fixed unless we do a full-”

“Whoa whoa, why so serious?” The boss chuckles nervously.

“Huh?”

“I just called you here so they all can shut up, want a mint?” YN accepts “They said they think it's haunted right? Its been a running trend in this stupid country”

“Yes, he says he hears whispers”

“So call an exorcist, it's cheaper anyways”

“You're serious?”

“Why would I not be, I'm always serious” He spins his chair “YN as assistant manager, you need to ensure everything is up and running, do I make myself clear”

The scissors on the desk look sharp enough to cut her neck. 

“Crystal”

YN hates everything, stupid job.

Stupid people.

Stupid-

Cute puppy cat……She named him Sherman…

He’s been such a brat lately, he takes up the entire bed. Whenever YN moves him to his DIY bed she made from drifted shirts, he always ended up sleeping on her face which always gave her a rash in the morning.

YN watches a Youtube video on how to make a healthy cheap meal for Sherman, Tuna, and rice were fairly cheap and tasty. Though Sherman likes wasabi for….an unknown reason…but also enjoys the helping of daffodils.

She wonders if she could sell the creature for science.

“Sherman don't jump on the table- SHERMAN DON'T SCRATCH MY BAG AND RIP MY PAPERS!” The puppy-cat was already inside her bag, YN sighs in relief when the cat-dog walks away, her paper was still in its file.

The relief is cut short when he starts barking, YN runs to shut him up, animals weren't allowed “I swear to god if you don’t shut up I will starve you…..” She sees Sherman clawing on a flyer that she picked up.

It was Reigen’s flier.

Wait.

YN forgot that Reigne ran an exorcism company, she still thinks it's fake but calls him anyways when she flips the flyer with the payment - which was cheaper than the other exorcist she tried to find around the city.

Like really cheap.

So cheap it made her skeptical for a moment.

But it did say he was certified on the back at least, shouldn't that information be on the front instead of the back....

She dials the number “Spirits and such with consultations! I’m sorry but we’re about to close but you can call tomorrow!”

“Oh sorry, I’ll give the number a call tomorrow-”

She thinks Reigen might have coughed and burped from what she can assume is shock “Y-YN?! W-wait why are you calling this number, how did you get the number”

“I mean I got a flyer….you are an exorcist or something”

“Oh yeah,” She hears some shuffling “Completely forgot, wait you said, exorcist?”

“About that, apparently my office is having some issue with the elevator being haunted or something… even if I don't believe it ….I think it would be better if you checked it out, I checked your website and it said you're certified?”

“Of course, I'm certified” Reigen proudly says “Do you want to book an appointment?”

“I thought you were closing? I don't mind calling tomorrow”

“Nah it's fine, I have my pen out anyways. So what day and time”

-

YN meets Reigen at a train station, which was a bonus since Reigens stop was a few steps away from her workplace.

She spots him and waves him down “I wanted to say thanks again for helping me last minute”

“No worries, it is my job anyways” 

“Speaking of, why is mob here? You babysitting him?”

“Morning Mrs.LN” “I’m actually working with Shishou”

“Wait….your working for him?” YN can’t even hide her shock, it is a little shocking for a high schooler to work with a grown man for exorcism. She wonders if she should just distance herself from the whole situation but realizes it's none of her business.

They enter the crowded train and YN is still experiencing some type of shock, was Reigen exploiting this kid? I mean she knows he would never, would he? “Mrs.LN your face is making a strange face. Are you hungry? Here have my onigiri”

YN didn't realize she was making a face that resembled a squashed cartoon character until she starred at her own reflections on the glass “O-oh, thank you Mob but I don't think eating on the train is allowed, maybe later” 

“Of course! My brother Ritsu made these on his own, I tried some when he wasn't looking and it really is amazing” YN had to cover her eyes from how bright the boy was glowing.

“I actually was about to decline you, but free foo- I mean the way you described the food sounds good”

Mob swats away something with a cloud of green dust “..she…not…pig” Was all YN heard before Mob see’s her staring at him strangely the snaps his finger “Sorry sometimes I just talk to myself”

“I do that sometimes so don't worry” Reigen watches the interaction as he is squashed between two sumo wrestlers.  

As they reach the building YN warns them about the unpleasant smell which they both dismiss at first saying they could handle it until they actually reached the building. YN thinks Mob is holding it pretty well, gagging a little.

Reigen on the other hand was full-on gagging, needing to lean on a nearby tree for stability.

YN hands the two a tissue that has been infused with peppermint knowing this might happen “Mrs. LN do you want my tissue? I think I can still stand the smell”

“No worries Mob, people who work here like me have gotten used to the smell” YN lightly reassures him.

“Question” Reigen asks raising a hand.

“Yes?” 

“Do you still have your sense of smell after working here?”

A rude but reasonable question “I suffice, now here's the elevator”

They all enter the tiny box “Work doesn't start till nine-thirty and all the elderly people are already upstairs since they do taichi and come here early on a Thursday, so we have the whole thing to ourselves”

Mob inhales on the tissue more.

YN looks and him and feels sorry for making him tag along “Hey kid, I don't mind if you weren't here and I'm sure he won't mind”

“It's okay Mrs. LN I can handle it” she just nods at the boy and looks at Reigen “You said there was a ringing noise?”

“Yup, but its probably from the rust, since the elevator is so old”

“Hmm…I don't sense anything actually. There are no spirits”

Mob crouches and touches the floor “Actually Shishou I do feel something from the lower floor”

“-From this floor at least” Reigen saves himself, luckily YN did catch on “We should go downstairs”

“Well there are only two floors”

“No” Mob suddenly says seriously looking around “Mrs.LN, me and Shishou can handle it from here so you can step out”

“Wait am I that heavy, gosh I thought-” YN teases.

“N-no t-that's n-not w-w-w-” Mob was short-circuiting which had YN giggle in nostalgia.

He was saved by Reigen who stroked his hair gently “There there Mob, she knows what you mean. Would you explain it to her….and me” He whispered the last part.

“I can't tell how dangerous this will be since we're dealing with an older spirit. I don't want Mrs.LN to get hurt”

What on earth were the two going to do? “Hurt? I thought you were going to just exorcise a spirit”

“Oh he is definitely going to”

Mob nods his head “Yes, I sense something below. Something weak, as I said, it's an old spirit. If they feel like they're in danger they can be dangerous, it's like that time when Shishou and I went to a farm to exorcise another spirit” He explains like it's a fact.

When YN knows that it is clearly not “Listen, I think…I can be late let me text the boss that this might take some time. Seriously, guys, I know what you're doing here, the little thing that's going on. Don't have to lie to me to just ‘sell’ the act”

Reigen falters “Sell the act? You might be mistaken, there is no act being done. There is an actual spirit. Right Mob?”

“No seriously Reigen, I could not care less about how you're making money, I'm just saying you can relax, you guys are still getting paid, no need to get worked up over it”

“I am not worked up, you called us in for a job and you are disrespecting me. Mob, how far down is the spirit”

“S-Seven floors…down” He whispers suddenly feeling overwhelmed with the situation.

She senses Mobs discomfort and yields.

“My bad, I'm sorry I disrespected you like that” YN bows her head “I don't mind being late to work, I’ll watch your little exorcism, I don't mind getting roughed up”

Reigen places his hand around his neck “It's fine…You sure about it?”

“Positive, I might even be able to skip work if I get hurt so it's a win-win scenario for me”

Mob looks back at his shishou for approval which he nods at and gives him a smug face “Let's do this then”

YN decides to play along “So how are you going to do this, there are only two actual bottom floors in the building and you said six?”

Mob inspects the elevator “Yes, the remaining floors have been abandoned, which is probably where the spirit roams at” 

“Okay….but how are we even going to go down the buttons don't even go that low”

Reigen has a shit-faced grin on his face when he sees the girl have a confused expression on her face “Watch and see”

“Please hold onto the railing Shishou and Mrs. YN” Reigen braces himself on the wall and looks at the confused YN expecting her to do the same “You heard the boy”

“What do you-” The girl lost her balance, the pressure of the elevator going down makes her fall to her knees, Reigen grabs one of her arms for stability which she accepts still on the floor as she clings on it for dear life.

It stops abruptly “We’re here, sorry for the bumpy ride”

How did he even? Must have been some wiring that she didn't know about.

The place smells like upstairs but ten times worse, it reminds YN of how she felt when she just joined the firm, she wraps the scarf she had in her bag around her mouth “God what is that damn smell, I'm going to pass out”

“Please don't faint Mrs.LN, I really didn't want to get you hurt” 

“Don't worry your little face mobbu-Mob, sorry that slipped out”

“Reigen flips out his phone as a flashlight “He likes that name, he's even blushing right now let's move on, I think I saw a tail”

“Tail?!” YN shouts, a tail could mean an animal.

An animal living down here should be impossible.

Said animal would and will be dangerous.

“Shhh we don't want it to know that we’re here,” YN thinks back on her life and regrets not staying in the office “It's over there Shishou, it's strong but I’ll be able to handle it. You can just wait here” Mob then walks in a straight line forward, slowly disappearing as the light fades.

YN watches as Mob ventures deeper while Reigen just plays Candy Crush “Are you not going to go after him?”

“The kid says he can handle it, he can handle it, Plus he said this a relatively weak spirit and told me to just wait”

“There might be an animal there that might hurt him, do you not care?”

“Relax, we can go after him if you're so worried” 

They both make their way forward, which was basically the only way.

The hallway is dark and the air is thick, she never knew that the lower floor was even a thing until today even after working here for years. 

Then she feels it, she feels pushed back by a force it knocks her back slightly.

That slightly shocked her enough to yell out mobs name “Mob! Mob! Hey, you don't have to do this job, I’ll just grab some salt and throw it around and even pay you guys! Mob!” She shouts as she sees him putting out his hands like he’s casting a spell “Reigen, REIGEN! Get your ass here!” She hears the shuffling as she clings on the slimy wall not caring if it kicks her.

The air feels heavier when she sees his Mob's stance change like he’s pushing something heavy, how much did they pay for a special effects team? She thinks she’s dreaming when there's a colorful blue-ish hue surrounding an unknown object. 

There's a clang and a bang. YN can't see much due to the darkness but suddenly something illuminates and she sees it.

Then she has to blink.

Mob is floating in the air.

He floats with such grace, and the light around him glows a little brighter along with some shapes. It's strange how YN is almost in a trance for it, stepping closer to see it better.

She isn't proud to say but she was quite captured by the fact that the schoolboy was floating.

She was not so captured when he had been flung into her direction which resulted in her and Reigen who was right behind YN thumping on the floor “Mob immediately gets up and checks on YN who looked pretty dazed at the fact she’s been knocked back so hard and Reigen who looked pretty pissed - not at Mob, but the spirit.

Mob walks menacing slowly to the ‘Thing’

Spreading out his arms and YN thinks she sees his hair float.

“Y-YN? Are you okay? Are you hurt-”

All she can think about is how Mob was doing She feels dizzy but tries to keep steady “Get Mob out of here! What's even happening? I think I just saw him float!” her words slur slightly from the impact, Reigen kinda help softened the blow.

YN lifts herself up, giving a hand to Reigen to help him get up “I know this is the last thing you want to hear but, Mob has this and he is a psychic”

Before she can say anything else the smell of the room lessens, it feels clean and less like dead birds.

“Mrs.Y-YN? Are you hurt?! Shishou?!” Mob walks out from the smoke seemingly unharmed other than his hair is in a mess.

YN doesn't know this boy all too much.

But she would die for him.

She runs up to him and checks for wounds which consisted of a scratch on his leg which was blue, she can only assume it was painted but there was no paint around - or maybe it was from before and she didn't notice.

The injury looks familiar.

“YN Mob, you can call me YN” She hugs him like he’s going to disappear, then let's go “S-sorry for hugging you suddenly, It's probably the adrenaline”

“It's alright Mrs- YN, I don't mind hugs. I’m alright, the spirit was a little stronger than I expected but gave up really fast when I lost control a little”

She has no idea what all of this means but just nods dragging both of the boys the ‘elevator’ that she will never use again.

“See, told you he had this under control” Under what circumstances is was this under control at all “Mob you alright? I’ll treat you for some ramen…”

YN places one hand on her hip and one on her face trying to get rid of the headache forming “I have so many things to say...But my head really does hurt so I’ll say one”

Reigen anticipates an insult or a complaint and readies a reply.

“That was so cool”

Mob blushes.

Reigen wants to grin and say something smart, but can't so he just mutters a little “I know” as Mob brings them up, this time with less force since it was going up. 

“Uhm, you guys can wait outside while I go grab my checkbook…and probably go ask my boss for a day off”

-

The boss's eyeballs were popping from his skull, he has tried for years to get rid of the smell “Holy shit, did the exorcism company clean the elevator?” even investing in a cleaning company years ago but it never worked.

“No, but they did actually get rid of the ghost”

“Psh get rid of the ghost, anyways I can always trust you to fix things” He signs the check and hands it to YN “Actually, you don't look so good”

“The exorcism was pretty intense and I feel pretty dizzy”

For a moment YN wonders if he worries until he says “Oh, well there are headache patches in the cabinets”

“Actually, I was wondering if I could have the day off?” YN picked on her fingers nervously.

“That was sudden, may I ask the reason?” you just told me I don't look so good?

“Well I was pretty knocked up when they were doing the exorcism”

“I see….I hate to say this, and I actually mean this but I have to go for an actual meeting with the Wasabi firm all the way in the soy sauce district so I won't be here the whole day. Kelsey could do the job but I don't think she can handle everyone” YN turns pale “But I’ll add this on your sick day”

“I’ll hold you on that boss” She tries to chuckle and holds her head in her hands “Have a good day”

Outside she hears everyone praise her for finding the exorcist, she really is too dizzy to deal with this.

She hands Reigen the check “Me and mob are going to Family Mart to go grab some drinks, do you want to follow?”

“I would love to” She sees her boss get into his car “I have to work”

“What I thought you said you weren't feeling well”

“Welp, duty calls”

“Mrs. YN, here take my onigiris” 

“Mob…Thank you, but I can't possibly take all of them” He places the whole Tupperware in her palm and steps back smiling “Don't worry, Shishou is going to treat me for brunch anyways so these would go to waste anyways”

"Thank you...I'll cherish every bite" She held onto the onigiri like it was a newborn baby.

Reigen tells Mob that he can go ahead and wait at the train station saying he'll catch up with him later "You know if you ever have problems like this you can always call us"

YN smiles, her head still hurts but Reigen reaches into his pocket and hands her a headache patch, she slowly accepts it - the tiredness is still there, but the warm feeling felt nice.

"I'll be sure to I guess come over for more seminars, they are quite entertaining the more I think about it"

"It is my job"

"It is indeed, I'll see you soon? For the next seminar next week"

"I'll prepare my slides, with more pizzaz this time" When was this man never anything but pizzaz.

Just like that, she's walking back to her office.

YN takes the stairs.

It doesn't reek of dead birds.

At home, she greets Sherman who wags his tail at her return.

While taking her bath, her bones were still sore from everything, something she didn't expect from a mere exorcism.

It took her breath away.

She had work tomorrow and is still trying to make sense of her idiotic co-workers.

What she witnessed today was nothing she's seen, well obviously - you don't always see a young boy fly in the air and body slam you or magically find out that your office was haunted for years.

It feels childish to admit but, she wants to see more of it again.

[i hope this convinces people to try out my fic <3]

[sanyu-thewitch05]

Custody War Part 9

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Phillip and Yuu walk into the town between the rival schools and search for a restaurant to dine. They pass by restaurants similar to ones from Yuu's world and restaurants unique to Twisted Wonderland. Eventually, a restaurant named Lulu's Pizzeria catches their eye, and they walk inside.

"Welcome to Lulu's Pizzeria! Would you like to sit inside or outside today?" A black lady with a New Orleans accent and long black curly hair exclaims, grabbing two menus.

"I think we'll sit inside today," Phillip answers, not risking NRC seeing them outside.

"Follow me! I'm Tatiana, your server for tonight," Tatiana says, guiding Yuu and Phillip to a booth near the window.

Yuu and Phillip flip through the menu and decide to order a large cheese pizza for their main meal.

"Have you lovebirds decided what you want to drink, or do we need another minute?" Tatiana asks, pulling out a notepad and pen.

"I will have a glass of red wine, and Yuu, what are you having?" Phillip asks, looking directly at Yuu.

If I'm able to drink here, I might as well try something. But a drink that's hard on alcohol. Maybe I can try the strawberry lemonade margarita?'

"I'll have the Strawberry lemonade margarita. We also decided on a large pizza for our meal," Yuu responds, closing her menu and handing it back to Tatiana.

"Your order will be right up!" Tatiana replies enthusiastically.

"So, Phillip, what's it like at your home? I barely know anything about you," Yuu asks, hoping to get information about Phillip.

"Oh, I'm Rosé's brother. My parents named me after my cousin's husband. I'm pretty sure I got blessed by the fairy godmothers at some point," Phillip answers, taking a sip of his wine. "Then there's our long-lost brother. He didn't get named yet, but he had silverish-blue eyes and silver hair. My mom left my brother in her childhood cottage for Godmother Flora. But, someone else walked in and took him away. We haven't heard from him since. But, people have seen a boy like that around Briar Valley, so we have hope that he's still alive. The fairy godmothers also blessed him with the gift of every animal liking him."

Wait, what the fuck?! Silver is Phillip's brother! Oh my god! A war could start between Briar Valley and Phillip's kingdom! And that old fossil Lilia kidnapped someone else's child will be the cause of it all!

"Mhm, so, uh...I have to go to the bathroom," Yuu stutters, internally panicking about the possibilities of Silver's future.

Yuu runs into the bathroom and shuts the stall door. She wraps a lot of tissue in her hand and uses it as a gag in her mouth.

"AAAAHHHH!" Yuu screams, the tissue paper muffling her scream.

Yuu washes her hands and walks out of the bathroom and back to Phillip. The food is already on the table, and there's a plate with three slices of pizza on Yuu's side.

"I already served you up a couple of slices of pizza. What's it like back in your world?" Phillip asks, giving Yuu her margarita.

"My world..it's a beautiful mess. That's all I'll say about my world, for it is too complicated to explain all the ills from my world," Yuu answers, getting sad about the evil in this world.

I can't believe I'm thinking this, but the evil people in this world are nothing compared to the evils people have done back home.

"If we get married, does that mean I become a princess or a noble?" Yuu asks, taking a sip of her margarita.

"Technically, but you'd also be a future queen as well. Due to the large size of Cousin Aurora's kingdom, her parents split it up between her father and her uncle. The uncle is my dad, so we control the part of the kingdom near the enchanted forest. It's an agriculture producer for us, and the area is rich in nature-based holidays and traditions," Phillip explains, finishing a slice of pizza. "Interestingly enough, we have our different ways of coronations. Aurora's part of the kingdom has its coronation in late January, around the 29th. My family's part of the kingdom has our coronation on May 1st, as it got combined with the holiday of Beltane. Since our part of the kingdom is near the enchanted forest, witches, nymphs, and herbalists lived there. We did our best to get along with them, and eventually, holidays and events got combined. We still celebrate whether or not someone is getting coronated, but we use it as an excuse to hang out around the bonfire, make flower crowns, and honor our agricultural roots."

Beltane. That's a holiday from my world. Somehow our worlds were connected but got cleaved apart at some point.

"That's so cool. You'll have to take me to your kingdom someday," Yuu replies, getting excited at the thought of anything from home.

Yuu and Phillip finish eating, and Phillip pays the bill. They stroll around the town and come upon a store for everything involved with sleep.

"We do have to get pajamas and pillows," Phillip says, smiling at the store's name of Sleeping Beauty. "Let's go inside. I have a family discount."

Yuu and Phillip pick out pajamas, pillows, sleeping bags, and sleeping masks. They pay and walk out the door to find a place to eat dessert.

"Ooh! How about this place?" Yuu asks, pointing to an ice cream shop with vines growing on the sides and walls.

"That seems like a nice place, princess!" Phillip replies, leading her inside.

Phillip and Yuu get chocolate ice cream, and they walk back to their spot on the beach.

"Hey, Phillip, why are we going back to the beach? We could stay at the cottage?" Yuu questions, wondering why they're going back to the beach where she'll get wet and cold.

"I suppose that is a good idea. Plus, we would have a warm place to sleep and shower," Phillip answers, changing direction in his path. "Into the woods!"

Phillip and Yuu skip into the woods and enter Snow White's cottage. Yuu enters the shower and does her nightly routine.

"Yuu, do you mind if I shower with you? My hair really needs to be washed, and it's starting to get unbearably itchy. Plus, my body is covered in sand from the beach," Phillip asks, sand hitting the floor as he steps close to the bathroom door.

"Sure. Besides, I need help washing my hair, anyway," Yuu answers, opening the shower door and releasing steam.

Phillip strips naked and steps into the shower with Yuu. He opens the shampoo, getting a whiff of the flower scent. Phillip squirts a bit onto Yuu's hair and begins to scrub her scalp. Yuu notices Phillip's six-pack, and she plushes while looking away.

"You might as well get used to seeing my friends below. We both know we're too in love with each other to not be in the other's presence. Naked or not," Phillip teases, making Yuu's head jolted up.

"Phillip! I was looking at your abs!" Yuu exclaims, her soapy hair standing on their ends.

"Yeah, yeah, princess. It's ok to admit you like every inch of my body," Phillip teases once more, doing a model pose.

"Shut up!" Yuu shrieks, putting her soapy head on Phillip's chest. "Let me finish your hair, and we can get into bed and watch the local news to see what's happening at school."

"Ok, maybe we can have a nice breakfast in the morning, too," Yuu replies, wiping the soap out of her face.

Phillip finishes washing Yuu's hair and his own, and they walk out and change into their respective pajamas. Yuu pushes four beds together and pulls out the blanket from the Sleeping Beauty store. Yuu and Phillip get into bed, and Phillip spoons Yuu.

"I brought my phone with me. Luckily, I can access the local tv channels through my phone," Yuu says, putting the phone onto Channel 2 news.

Phillip sits up to watch the news and puts his chin on Yuu's shoulder.

"Give us back, Yuu!" Crowley screams, throwing a fireball at Ambrose, who quickly deflects it with a ball of water.

"Yuu isn't here!" Ambrose screams, throwing his hand to the side, making a beanstalk shoot up and smack Crowley into the air.

"We should probably stop them," Phillip says, looking at his brother Rosé, smacking Lilia with a shovel.

"We'll do it in the morning," Yuu replies, closing her eyes.

"Ok," Phillip responds, kissing her head, then doing the unexpected and leaving a hickey on the left side of Yuu's neck.

Part 10

Tag list: @pookiedragonfire @lizzileth @hipsterteller @marrondrawsalot @kingfargas @justarandomhumaninthisworld @shi-mel @iwant2dienow @nai17 @nerdy-diamonds @naughtybodypillow @felfei @tinnyflute @r-0-tt-3-n-m-1-lk @iamfriedpotato @sweettooth-87 @otaku-explosion

[thesquidkid]

Who says science isn't exciting?

4x04 Dear Mama

Hi, and welcome back to my science meta! I'm actually writing this merely a few hours after watching the finale, and I haven't gotten a chance to rewatch any of season 4. So this might get updated in the future as I intend to rewatch the entire show to give you the best science breakdown possible!

Anyway, this is not about the finale, it's about 4x04 and science. Hence I will ignore all my feelings about this episode, and focus on my favourite thing in the world: science!

So buckle your seat-belts, deconnect all your braincells, and prepare yourself to dive into some alien made-up science!

(Content warning for this meta, I talk about squids a lot, because as you can see from my username, I like that animal)

We start up with a dialogue between Isobel and Liz:

Isobel: "All right, uh, Dr. Dyson, why don't you tell me about this, uh, alien ectoplasm, hmm?"

Liz: "Oh, I prefer the term "goo," but it's technically epidermal tissue. Mm-hmm."

The ectoplasm is the outer layer of a cell's cytoplasm. The ectoplasm is usually of an elastic texture.

The cytoplasm is the all of the material in an eukaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, excluding the cell nucleus.

Euraryotic cells are cells whose nucleus is enclosed by a nuclear envelope.

The cell nucleus is what contains all of the cell's genome (all genetic information of an organism).

So, the thing is, what we see on screen looks like skin that has been shed. Which is not what ectoplasm is. And I really don't know why Isobel would mention that. I guess one could theorise that after spending many hours around people (Liz and Kyle) who talk about biology, one would absorb some of that vocabulary.

However, Liz indeed corrects her, by saying something scientifically correct! Skin is indeed epidermal tissue.

Epidermal tissue is the outmost cell layer of the primary plant body. So, really, humans are plants and therefore the outer layer of skin, since our skin is composed of 3 layers, one of which is called the epidermis (corresponding to the outer layer), which is an other word for epidermal tissue.

I know this is a weird thing to be proud of, but the fact that they used correct terms (as far as I know) is pretty cool. Just afterwards, Liz mentions the third helix and hence it is definitely alien. Which, personally, I didn't need to look at it under a microscope to tell. The skin sample glowed. Human skin, as far as I know, doesn't do that.

But, better be safe than sorry. It's always good to check your results, and give background to the results that were obtained.

***

The next science is something that kinda confused me at first, and then seemed to make some sense. Liz seems to be walking around the desert with a metal detector (spectrometer). And she says:

"Yeah. I rigged it so that it would locate the alien tech component in alien biology. I mean, at least I hope I did."

A spectrometer is a scientific instrument used to separate and measure spectral (over a spectrum) components of a physical phenomenon.

There are light spectrometers, that can separate white light (visible light) and measure the individual bands of colour that compose the light (called a spectrum). There are mass spectrometers which measure the different masses of the atoms or molecules in a gas.

There are other types of spectrometers, like a magnetic one, which is what I had initially assumes Liz had used, but turns out a magnetic spectrometer requires very specific conditions.

Then, I decided to look further into mass spectrometer. It appears that it would work on solids rather than just on gasses. We then can conclude that Liz probably used a mass spectrometer, and tweaked it so that it would "detect" the change in mass between alien DNA (which contains a third helix, which I'm guessing must affect it's mass), from the rest of the desert.

Well, she does find an odd change in mass, in, you know, a truck buried under sand. Very normal, of course.

***

Liz saying "For the first time in forever, the science doesn't make any sense to me." really really describes my constant state watching that show

***

Liz and Kyle science!

Liz: "Kyle. What if the alien cells aren't dead? What if they are only playing dead? Like an octopus does when it-it's scared and it turns into coral."

Kyle: "You're talking chromatophores."

Octopuses (I had to google the plural of octopus, and I'm just going with what google answered) wan indeed turn into coral! It's fascinating to see (here's a youtube video for you). Squids can also change their colour (which I can actually talk about a lot, I have done extensive research on squids 😅😂).

Squids and octopuses have cells called chromatophores that have the particularity of changing colour. These cells are situated just below the the surface of the skin, which is thin enough to show the colour of these cells.

Chromatophores basically work by having a center that is elastic and contains a certain colour. The elasticity means that when it stretches out, the coulour would appear brighter, and hence give the illusion of changing colour (since then the colours seems more visible). This elastic center, like a little pouch, is controlled by nerves and muscles. These cells are found in a large number, in varying sizes. Hence, it can create a full camouflage. Thing of it like pointillism, a painting made of thousands of little dots of different colour.

To go back to the alien science, basically the alien cells taken from the skin sample have the same property than squids and octopuses. I guess you could say, that I, squid kid, am an alien. (Sorry, I had to, I have been saving this from the moment I watched the episode. It is my moment to shine).

By introducing the sample from the blue eyes, it is like saying "hey don't be afraid, I'm a friend", and the squid/octopus basically reverts to their "original form".

(Moral of the story: don't scare me. I'll turn into coral 😂)

(Side note, but this is one of the reasons thesquidkid is my url)

***

I could talk about Tezca and Jones' body. But I genuinely have no idea what is going on, and I don't even want to know. However, I am always happy to talk theories and ideas!

***

This is the end of the meta for this episode! It took me most of the day ngl. I was writing in during the breaks in my lectures, because I was so excited to finally talk about how cool squids are 😂

I don't really know when I'll upload the next one, but I'll keep doing them episode by episode, instead of all in one post. I did that for the first three seasons and that was not a great idea for my sanity. You have no idea how stressful it is to write a full meta all on tumblr drafts. I was so scared it would crash and I'd lose everything. I guess I like to live dangerously 😂

[ashiristic]

villain and hero bickering and some stuff in front of an important person/event???

REQUEST:

“H-“ the car door closed harshly on the Villain’s face. They could hear several gasps from the civilians outside as laughter erupted from the crowd. But the servant’s gasp was the audible of them all as their eyes instantly filled up in fear. 

The red luxurious car door opened, and their faces contorted between rage and embarrassment. Villain’s servant hurriedly holds the door, trembling before the Villain’s dark crimson eyes. 

“Oh god, this is supposed to be MY grand entrance.” Villain rolls their eyes, frustration evident in their voice. The servant shakily holds the car door open, hoping that people won’t witness his head flying up in the sky, and splashing blood everywhere in sight.

They stood up from their car as two bulky men stood in between the Villain, holding a roll of the red carpet. Villain snaps their finger, and the henchmen throw the carpet open for their boss to walk on. Flicking their hair into the right side as cameras began taking a shot of his posts. 

Then they glanced to their left. Their bright eyes turned dull at the servant’s side. “Can’t you do anything right?” their hand grabs the servant’s shoulder, gripping it tightly before looking up at the hero with a bright smile on their face. “Oh, the mightiest hero of the country, being awarded by our precious little mayor.”

They raised their hand at their shoulder level, shifting their gaze back to the Hero, then shooing the servant away. Villain smile innocently as if they are truly here for genuine reasons and not to destroy the ceremony. 

“This is my first time seeing you in a tuxedo. Why don’t you also do it while we’re fighting?” Villain asked, grinning.

“I can’t fight with this.” Hero replied, crossing their arms.

“Oh, yes, you can. Yes, you can Hero. I’ll gladly change our fighting place to the bedroom if you would like.” They said, winking.

“We can’t fight inside the bedroom?”

“I think they mean about having uh- boom boom Chaka boom.” the sidekick whispered behind the hero with their eyes closed and putting on their headset again. Not daring to join with these two people batshit.

“You know I don’t do boom boom Chaka boom yet.” Hero said, frowning, and looking back at Villain who is picking their ears and blowing their index finger afterward.

“Can’t you both just say sex?” Villain asked, raising their eyebrows, confused.

“They can’t say the word sex without stuttering.”

“Nobody asked you.”

“Villain did, but you did not.” Sidekick points at Villain, who is clicking their fingernails together in pure boredom. Hero glances at Villain, disappointment crawling on their face as they sighed. They leaned against the huge pillar of the office, eyes fixed on the criminal.

“Well, I heard them. I am not deaf or anything. Just why do you need to answer them?”

“Because they fucking asked, what do you want me to say? That you are still a virgin and can’t bring a person in bed even though you have a huge thing behind your pants?” Sidekick shrugs, sticking their tongue out slightly and shifting their gaze towards the camera before posting for a picture.

Hero watched them do terrible poses for a second, cringing as they closed their eyes. Even Villain acted like throwing up, turning to their car and grabbing a random bucket inside. Retching what they ate before they went here. They supported themself with the car, asking for a tissue paper from their servant.

“Well…” they wiped their mouth modestly like their last bit of pride had been thrown in the bin with their food.

“Too much information now. My ears are bleeding already, and it seems like the mayor is already having a heart attack.” Villain paused, rolling their eyes as Hero didn’t even spare a glance at the mayor beside them. On the floor, spasming. The guards immediately tend to the mayor and carry him inside the office, as panic ensues in the enormous crowd in front of them. 

The door flew open again, revealing the mayor that looks good as new. As if he wasn’t having any major health condition earlier. Hero smiles at them, shaking their hands with a wide vigor while Villain can’t help but to roll their eyes again. 

 “I am not even here for this, anyway.” Villain said, cocking their head as a smirk curls up their lips. Clapping their hands, then several henchmen began kicking and shooting the guards. 

This isn’t a surprise at all, not at all. Villain is a villain anyway, so they should’ve expected this. They did nothing good to begin with, but to be pretty and a smartass. But Hero can’t help but to feel annoyed by this not-so-surprising fight happening before them.

Hero watches their nemesis’ henchmen knocking down their subordinates and the mayor’s guards. Crossing their arms, deeply infuriated by Villain’s shenanigans. Their golden eyes shifted between their beaten-up people and the frightened mayor. 

“Hey mayor, calm down because your doctors are still taking a long breath to save you from the dead.” They said, gesturing a hand sign to the Sidekick. 

Sidekick holds the mayor’s hand, guiding them inside their office, and ducking when several gunshots are heard. 

Hero sighed for the thirteenth time, glaring at Villain when they saw them smirking frivolously. All they wanted was a peaceful ceremony in front of the Mayor’s office, then receive the award for stopping the war between their nation and the other country. What did they even do to the heavens for this to happen?

Now that they think about it, this is an enormous problem.

Villain cocked their head, blinking endearingly as if they were seducing the hero. However, Hero’s gaze darkened, their nails digging deep through the thick layer of material of the black tuxedo. Their neatly styled hair is slightly ruffled, glancing away from the criminal before their blood pressure rises to a dangerous level.

“Villain, you are really daring today. Are you asking to be tied to bed tonight?” Hero asked, loosening their tie as they took a step down the stairs every second. They could see a mischievous grin dancing on Villain’s lips, a black baton on their hand, and it turned into a dagger after they pressed a button.

“Let’s see if you can, virgin.”

A damaging fight has begun about whether the hero would take the villain in the bed tonight.

[folklorelise]

Adorable clumsy dummy

MASTERLIST

Request are here!

You joined the survey corps two years after Hange became a squad leader. With your energy and personality, Hange requested to have you in their squad. You were obviously flattered and happy to accept this offer.

Like every other morning, you were in Hange’s office, helping with their paperwork.

“Erwin brought three new recruits today, they were assigned to Flagon’s squad.” Hange informed you.

“Uh, let’s go meet them then!” you shouted excited.

“I already did.”

“I didn’t, where are they now?”

“Hm probably in their dorms.”

After Hange told you in which room they were in, you run to your room first before knocking on their door. You heard loud whispers before the door opened on a tall man.

“Furlan, reporting for duty ‘mam.” he saluted you. “Are you part of our squad?”

“Oh no! I am with Hange. I just wanted to say hello.” You smile shaking his hand even if he did not stretch out his hand.

Then you went over the other guy and shook his hand.

“I’m Y/N!” you smiled, “and you are?”

“He’s Levi.” Furlan told you when he saw that Levi did not plan on answering.

“It’s really nice to meet you! But I thought there were three of you?”

“Isabel is a girl so she’s not with us.” Furlan said.

“Oh right!” you nodded. “Mh, I brought chocolate for you as a welcome present. My mom is a baker, so I have a lot of these!” you gave them each a piece of chocolate. “It’s safe to eat them!” you said when you saw them just looking at the food. “If you like it, I have more in my room.”

“It’s fine.” Levi said.

“Can we have some for Isabel?” Furlan asked you.

“Yes, of course! Or we can all go together now. I’d really like to meet her!” you proposed enthusiastically. “Or not?” you said when you saw them look at each other.

“We don’t have the time for that right now.” Levi stated. “We have to clean this mess first.”

“Oh!” you shouted, “I can help! I love cleaning. You know what, I’ll bring some cleaning supplies, you just wait me here!” you said before leaving.

“Doesn’t that make her your soulmate?” Furlan joked once he was alone with Levi which only made him glare at him.

Isabel and you got along very well, very quickly. Furlan was extremely nice too. The only problem, if you can call it a problem, was Levi. You tried to talk to him, but he rarely answered you. One night, since Isabel was sharing your room, you asked her if Levi even liked you.

“I’m sure he does. You are too adorable for anyone to not like you.”

“Is he always this silent?”

“Definitely.”

“What does he like then?” you wondered.

“Levi loves tea so maybe if you brought a cup or two per day.” Isabel suggested.

The next morning, you wrote a letter to your mother asking her to send you some tea leaves, some of every flavour they had in stock. Three days after you request, Hange told you that your package had arrived. You took your tea and made two cups of black tea. You had asked Isabel to tell Levi to join you in the kitchen because you had no idea where he was.

“Did you need something?” Levi asked you once he joined you.

“Mh, not really, but I made tea and I thought you would like some.” you said which made Levi look at the two cups of tea.

“What is it?”

“It’s tea.” you repeated smiling.

“Yeah, I figured. What flavour is it?” Levi asked.

“Ooh.” you laughed, “it’s black tea. I have other flavours too if you don’t like this.”

“Black tea is fine.” Levi said taking his cup.

Both of you sat down at a table, in front of each other and drank in silence. You noticed how Levi was holding his cup, and you thought ‘how bizarre’. You looked at your cup for a second and tried to hold your cup like Levi did, but you just ended up dropping your tea on your lap.

“Ah!” you screamed from the burn.

“What were you thinking about?” Levi yelled taking your hand so he could bring you to the kitchen.

Levi took a tissue and tried to clean your white pants.

“You’ll have to wash it. Now, let’s clean the tea on the floor.” Levi turned around to leave but then he came back to you and asked, “are you hurt? The tea was still pretty hot.”

“No, I’m good.” you paused, “thank you.”

—————

 By the time Levi made captain, he became a close friend of yours. Drinking tea together was also a tradition between you two. You would bring him tea in the morning, and he would bring you tea at night.

Deep down, Levi wanted to ask you to join his squad, but he knew how happy you were in Hange’s so he never did. When he lost his friends, he was devastated. Naturally, he did not want to lose you too during an expedition. But he knew you were a capable soldier.

One morning, Hange asked you to bring some paperwork to Levi which you gladly accepted. You also remembered that you had to bring him his tea, so you went to the kitchen first. You had the paperwork under your arm and the two cups of tea in each hand and walked slowly towards the captain’s office. Levi on the other side was looking at the clock every minute because you were late. After five minutes, he decided to leave his office to go and look for you.

Before he could start looking, he heard a scream – your scream – just a couple meters from his office. You were on the ground, with papers flying around and two broken cups of tea on the ground. Levi, worried, run to you and helped you get up.

“What happened?” Levi asked you.

“I fell.” you faltered. “Oh no, the paperwork! And the tea!” you cried horrified.

“Are you hurt?” Levi cupped your cheeks in his hands so you would look at him.

“I’m good!” you told him leaning, unconsciously, into his touch.

“What happened here?” Erwin asked coming out of nowhere which made Levi move away from you.

“She fell.” Levi said picking up the paperwork.

“Oh, are you okay?” Erwin asked you.

“Yes, I’m sorry about this mess. I’ll clean it.” you told your commander.

Levi put the paperwork on his desk before helping you clean the tea. The teacups were broken, and you went to pick them up, but Levi quickly took you arms in his.

“If you touch that I’m sure you’ll hurt yourself so don’t. I’ll clean that, just bring me a broom.”

After the cleaning was done, Levi told you to wait in his office; he would bring the tea from now on.

—————

One morning, the commander had organised a meeting with the captain and the other squad leaders. Without Levi, you had nothing to do; that is why you were collecting flowers on the training grounds. When you finished collecting all the pretty flowers, you found a string, so you could make a bouquet.

“Have you seen the captain?” you asked Petra when you saw her.

“He’s still in that meeting room. Although, I don’t know if they finished or not.”

“Thank you!” you said running to that room.

You looked at the clock in the corridor and noticed how it has been over three hours they were in that room – they had to be over. You opened the door wildly but immediately froze when you saw them still talking about the next expedition.

“Oh no.” you mumbled embarrassed.

“Y/N, is something wrong?” Hange asked.

“Did you need something?” Erwin questioned with a smile.

You shook your head and turned around, but Levi called your name.

“What did you need?”

“It’s not important.” you said shyly, “It can wait.”

“You already here so just tell me.” Levi pointed out.

Everyone else was looking at your interaction with the captain eagerly.

“I– I made a bouquet.” you showed them your flowers. “I just – I wanted to give them to you.” you told Levi.

“Oooh.” Hange, Mike and Erwin giggled which made Levi blush hardly.

“What are you waiting for?” Hange asked excited. “Go give Levi your beautiful bouquet.”

You walked to him hesitantly and handed him your bouquet.

“To decorate your office.” you whispered. “I thought it would be pretty.”

“Thank you.” Levi mumbled taking your flowers.

He put them in front of him and stare at Erwin because he was too nervous to look at you. You saluted your commander before leaving happy. Then you decided to wait for Levi in his office, his door was locked so you just sat on the floor. After a few minutes, you heard footsteps approaching and stood up quickly when you saw it was Levi.

“Why were you sitting on the floor? Do you know how dirty this floor is?”

“Your door is locked.”

“I gave you a key to my office!”

“But I don’t have it with me now.”

“You– never mind, just come in.” Levi said opening his door.

“Do you like the flowers I picked?” you asked him, sitting on his couch.

“Yes.”

Levi put the bouquet in a vase with some water and went back to his desk.

“I’m sorry if I embarrassed you earlier, I thought you would be done by the time I came.”

“It’s fine.” Levi assured you, “but next time, just wait in my office.”

“Noted.”

—————

An expedition during autumn meant roads full of colourful leaves everywhere. It was one of your favourite time of the year so naturally you were extra happy that day.

“Alright, be careful out there.” Levi told you before joining his own squad.

“You two are adorable.” Hange told you smiling.

“We’re just friends!”

“Yeah right. Two adorable friends then.”

The expedition was going well, there were only a few titans and no abnormal ones were spotted. The commander ordered every squad to prepare their tents because you were probably going to spend the night outside.

“Hange,” you said, “I’ll go and collect some wood for the fire.”

When Levi found Hange, he expected you to be somewhere near, but you were not.

“Hey four eyes, where’s Y/N?”

“She went looking for wood over there.” Hange pointed at the forest.

“Are you serious? You let her go alone?”

“Yeah, I’m sure she won’t go far away, she knows it could be dangerous.”

“Are we talking about the same person here?” Levi asked worried. “I’m going after her, I’ll be back.”

You on the other side, had a bunch of wood with you. But on your way back to your squad you found the prettiest leaf ever. It was red and slightly frozen due to temperature.

You took it and went the other way to see if there was any other pretty leaf. You started to collect a bunch of them and sat down next to a big tree. You tied them together with a sprig and suddenly you heard Levi screaming your name at the top of his lungs. You looked up and saw him flying towards you and taking you with him. He put you on a high tree before going back to kill a titan that you did not see.

“What is wrong with you?” Levi yelled once he was back with you.

“I didn’t see it.”

“Yeah! That’s the problem! Why were you so far away? What were you thinking?” he continued to yell.

“I– I saw some pretty leaves and I gathered some. Here.” you hold it for him.

“Seriously?” Levi snapped at you. He took the leaves and throw them away. “I don’t want that. I want you to be more careful next time because next time, I probably won’t be there to save you.”

You watched your tiny leaf bouquet falling from the tree.

“I’m sorry.” you murmured. “Are y–”

“Let’s just go.” Levi said before taking you with him. “Next time, keep your gear too.”

Levi did not speak a word to you the rest of the evening. He did not speak to you the next day either. The rest of the expedition was spent far away from Levi. Hange, worried, asked you what happened but you assured them that everything was fine. Everyone could see it was not, but no one wanted to upset you. You looked like a sad puppy and nobody wanted to rub salt in the wounds.

Levi and you never fought before. Every time you messed up, he was there to fix it and help you, but this time, he was not. Once you were back from the expedition, you directly went to your room. That night, Hange went to see Levi.

“What?” Levi asked coldly.

“What is wrong with the both of you?”

“Not your problem.”

“Y/N is my friend, and I am her squad leader – it is my problem. You are my friend too so just tell me and let me help you.”

Levi explained how reckless you were and how you almost died eaten by titan when you went looking for wood.

“She almost died because she picked up leaves!” Levi screamed exasperated.

“You were worried about her, that’s all. Y/N is attached to you, a lot. You, telling her off might made her think you do not enjoy what she does. Which include getting you flowers and rocks just because it’s pretty.”

“What now?”

“Go talk to her.”

“Right.”

Levi decided to let you sleep and that he would come talk to you in the morning. He was expecting to see for breakfast, but you were not here. He walked to your room, but at the last minute he walked away. Levi decided to go in town and buy you some flowers before talking to you.

You were still in bed, too tired to get up. You did not get any sleep last night because of what happened during that expedition. You were too afraid to go talk to Levi; too afraid he would stop being friend with you. When you were about to fall asleep, you heard a small knock on your door.

“Y/N?” you recognised Levi’s voice which made you run to open the door.

When you opened the door, you threw yourself at Levi, crying a little.

“I’m sorry!” you both said at the time.

“I’m sorry,” Levi apologised, giving you the flowers. “I chose these because they were really pretty… like you.” he mumbled the last part.

“You’re really pretty too.” you admitted smiling, feeling your cheeks getting hot. “So, you’re not mad at me?” you asked uncertain.

“I was never mad. I was– I was worried and scared to lose you.” Levi confessed. “When I saw you and that titan, I thought I would be too late an–.”

“I’m sorry, you were right anyway. It was stupid of me.”

“No! Well, a little, but I like that.”

“I like you.” you said happily.

“Does that mean I can kiss you now?”

“Please.”

—————

I really liked your request, I hope it was fine. I know you asked for a friend one but I really wanted to make them a couple at the end because I love Levi, so I hope that was okay. I hope you guys like it.

[moon-spirit-yue]

Fought for Me

Chapter 2: Ms. Perfectly Fine

(Chapter 1)

(Possible TWs: super brief mentions of an abusive relationship. It doesn't have anything to do with Raya or Charanya so it won't come up again and it's not very descriptive but I don't want to make anyone upset. Also a mild description of childbirth since that can also be a bit of a sensitive topic. I’ll make it obvious when the TWs begin and end. Please enjoy!)

See, Raya was expecting this outcome. Truly, she was. That still doesn’t take away the pure shock she felt at hearing what she already knew.

“Raya, are we still in there?” Charanya asked nervously, rubbing Raya’s shoulder to snap her out of whatever trance she’s in.

“I’m going to have a baby?” was all the Heart princess asked. Hwa smiled kindly and nodded.

“Yes, you are. Looks like you’re about six weeks along,” the medic agreed.

“Wow,” Raya breathed out. She gently placed a hand over her stomach and rubbed the area. Someone was growing in there. That’s kind of incredible.

“I take it you will be helping care for her and the baby?” Hwa asked, directing her attention to Charanya. The young omega nodded in confirmation. “Alright then. Step outside with me so that we can discuss what’s to be expected, how to make this pregnancy run smooth, all that stuff. I think she may need a minute to process.”

Raya’s best friend nodded once more and stood up to follow Hwa out of the tent. Before exiting, she turned back to Raya and squeezed her shoulder.

“We’ll be back in a couple minutes, okay?” Charanya whispered. Raya smiled and gave her tiny thumbs up. Watching the two women leave allowed the Heart princess to flop on the ground and try to recollect her thoughts.

She’s really doing this. She is having a whole child. Not just half of one, oh no, the entire kid. In like nine months. Technically closer to eight but even so. Wow.

Raya was going to give birth to a baby. Toi, she was going to have a tiny human to love and take care of. She’s getting a smaller version of herself to raise to be a good person. She’s going to have a mini family.

Raya’s eyes widened as she felt tears stream down her face. Honestly, the Heart princess never thought she would get this kind of opportunity. With an apocalypse dictating her entire world, even the idea that someone would get her pregnant is far fetched. She might not have chosen this particular time to get pregnant but hey, the best things in life are unexpected, she supposed.

“First things first we should go to Talon- hey hey why are there tears? Please don’t cry right now cause if you cry I cry and I really can’t deal with that right now,” Charanya whimpered, already rushing to Raya’s side. The older Heart omega laughed and shook her head.

“No I- I promise these are the good tears,” Raya choked out despite the crying.

“Okay, I can deal with the good tears,” Charanya smiled.

“I just- I never thought this would happen, you know? But now it’s here and- and I’m so excited but I’m so scared,” Raya stuttered out.

“I know, I know. Let it all out, I’m right here,” the shorter omega soothed, wrapping both arms around Raya.

The older omega leaned in and let the overpowering emotions wash over her. She went from sobbing to laughing to angrily screaming all in the span of ten minutes. Looks like the hormones are already kicking in.

Superb.

Once the Heart princess finally stopped her mental breakdown, Charanya shoved some tissues in her hand and yanked out a few pieces of paper from her bag.

“Uh, what do you got there, bestie?” Raya asked curiously.

“Information about pregnancy stuff and what our next moves will be,” Charnaya responded casually.

Raya rose a brow at all of the little scribbles her friend wrote on the pages. Damn, the girl worked fast. The older Heart omega is admittedly impressed.

“Well, lay it on me. What do I need to know?” Raya asked. The younger woman ruffled through her papers for a couple seconds and began to speak.

“First of all, no alcohol,” Charanya stated firmly, earning a loud groan from the pregnant woman.

“Well how the hell am I supposed to cope with my shitty life now?” the woman huffed. The shorter omega scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Okay, we both need to lay off on the alcohol consumption. It’s become a nasty habit over the years,” Charanya sighed. That is definitely a true statement.

While neither girls do anything risky like get black out drunk when they’re out venturing the lands, it’s a completely different story when they’re at Heart on their little boat house. Raya cringed at the memories of them downing way too much wine on the boat and vomiting for what felt like hours. They really did need to work on that, pregnancy or otherwise.

“Yeah, fair point,” Raya said. Neither of them could afford being alcoholics at the current moment in time.

“I was such a straight lace when I was younger. Hated even smelling alcohol. Still do, if I’m being honest. I only drink the nasty stuff to get drunk. Ma had to coerce me into trying her wine. Oh, what would my mother say if she could see me now?” the shorter omega asked with a far off look in her eyes.

“Well, I ended up pregnant at seventeen out of wedlock so don’t you worry, if the family comes back I’ll make you look like a saint,” Raya smirked. This caused her friend to laugh and shake her head.

“So in their eyes, nothing will really change,” Charanya giggled.

“Exactly. Besides, your mom will probably laugh when she hears that you’ve been drinking,” Raya grinned, thankful to see the smile on her only friend’s face.

Raya was always the one who managed to get them both into trouble, it kind of became her thing after a while. The only reason why their parents didn’t scold them until their ears fell off was because they were thankful the two girls were having fun together. Ah, the sweet memories. She really wishes there were a bit more of them.

“That is very true. Alright back on track, you’re also really going to need to watch what you eat. Yay, pregnancy!” Charanya cheered, waving her hands a bit for added effect.

Raya sighed and flopped on the ground face first. She’s probably going to lay like this for a while.

Completely ignoring the Heart princess’s sounds of distress, the shorter woman kept on telling Raya everything she needed to know about her pregnancy. The list felt like it was never ending and she almost cried tears of joy when Charanya’s words came to a halt.

“I never knew that much needed to be taken into consideration for pregnancy. Hard to believe that so many people practically kill themselves to go through this. Glad that’s the last of it, though,” Raya sighed. That’s when Charanya made a strange face that was a combination between a grimace and a frown. Oh, that doesn’t look good.

“Hey what’s with the face?” the pregnant omega frowned.

“You should also be aware of the fact that because of your omega instincts, you’re going to want to be around Namaari. Like, all the time,” Charanya grimaced. Raya groaned and rubbed her temples in order to suppress the ever growing migraine slowly building up.

“You’re telling me I’m actually going to miss the binturi because my omega decided to be a whore and get pregnant with Namaari’s kid?” Raya asked with a disappointed face.

“Afraid so,” the shorter woman frowned.

“How do you even know about all this stuff anyway?” Raya questioned. Charanya has a lot of knowledge about random things that the Heart princess hasn’t even thought about.

“Oh! I read about pregnancy and child care on a few of the days I wait for the crops to grow,” Charanya said, shrugging casually.

“You just read about that stuff for fun?” Raya groaned, feeling herself on the verge of vomiting once more.

“I literally ran out of things to read. You have no idea how long my days are out there,” the other Heart omega shivered.

“Well, that’s changing now that a baby is in the picture. Speaking of which, how exactly are we going to do this? The whole me searching the rivers to find Sisu thing is probably going to be a lot more challenging than before,” Raya said with a rather stressed voice. How the hell is she supposed to run from the authorities in these conditions?

“Oh, that’s simple. You won’t!” Charanya cheered. Raya glared and opened her mouth to protest before her best friend slapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her voice.

“Before you say anything, I have a solution. At least, an idea that mostly resembles a solution,” she smiled awkwardly.

“I’m definitely going to hate this but go on,” Raya said with a deep frown on her face.

“Basically, the best way to do this with minimal repercussions is if we just switch spots during your second trimester. In other words, you have to drop off supplies to Heart refugees and I go try to find Sisu,” Charanya sighed, awaiting Raya’s reaction.

“I was right! I do hate this!” the taller woman scowled. Charanya took in a deep breathe to regain her thoughts, as terrible as they were.

“Look, I know this isn’t what you want because trust me, I’d rather not have to pretend to be you right now but it’s our best bet. There’s no way in hell you can live off the land, fight someone and have a whole child grow in your uterus without royally screwing something up. You’ve already done that once and we don’t need a repeat offense,” the young omega smirked.

“Go die,” Raya snapped with no real venom in her words.

“Toi, I wish. Anyways, as I was saying, you or the kid could get injured or die out there and that’s not a risk I’m willing to take and what I say goes. But, I know you don’t want to be feel useless which is why I think it’d be good for you to take my place in helping the refugees. In the meantime, I’ll finish following the rest of the rivers in Talon. After all the time I’ve spent there, I know the lay of the land pretty damn well. It’ll take me about three months to wrap it up, which means I’ll be right back with you to help you in the third trimester. Then once you give birth and recover, you can spend a few months bonding with the baby then go on to search the very few Tail rivers that exist and that’ll be that!” Charanya exclaimed in one breathe, surprisingly enough.

“This feels like a terrible idea,” Raya said after several beats of silence. The other woman sighed and nodded in agreement.

“It does, doesn’t it? Unfortunately, it’s our only idea that has even the slightest chance of working,” the younger omega frowned.

“Shit,” Raya groaned, knowing her best friend was right.

Charanya always thinks things through. If she says this is the best way to solve the problem, nine times out of ten she’s right on the money. Doesn’t mean Raya has to like it though.

“Fine. If you get yourself killed out there I’m going to laugh,” Raya said. The shorter woman snorted and shook her head.

“Fair enough. First things first, we need to get to Talon. I’ve got a lot of people I can blackmail into giving me what I want,” Charanya idly told her as she began flipping through more of her papers.

“Toi, and you say I’m the terrible one,” the Heart princess scoffed. It’s moments like these where she is extremely happy that Charanya is on her side.

“One of the perks of living in the brothel for a couple months. I hold knowledge that could ruin people’s lives forever,” the younger omega smirked with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

“Oooooookay you little psycho, focus,” Raya said, clapping her hands in front of Charanya’s face to snap her out of whatever creepy daze she was in.

“Right! Let’s pack it up here and we will hit the road!” the other woman exclaimed. She immediately began working in a hurried pace to gather all of their stuff and load it onto Tuk Tuk.

As Raya sat back and watched Charanya busy herself with getting ready to leave, she felt an odd feeling in her stomach. It wasn’t necessarily a bad feeling, just odd. Something is off and Raya is unable to put her finger on it. She thought long and hard about it for a couple seconds before shrugging and standing up to leave.

Eh, it’s probably just the hormones.

****************************

“Just breathing in this air has to be detrimental to the baby’s health,” Raya scowled as she was forced to take in the Talon market’s oxygen.

It’s always been rather obvious that toxins float around in Talon’s air, but her sensitive pregnant lady nose picks up on it way more than usual. Especially now that she’s three months along.

The two girls were originally planning to gather the baby stuff right when Raya found out she was pregnant, but bandits have been roaming the area around Tail’s borders so neither one of them were willing to take the risk. They had to hang at Heart for a little while after that. Now that they seemed to have left, the omegas were back at it with finding baby items.

“Yeah, probably. Oh hey, that’s the house,” Charanya said, pointing to a nice little home a few feet away.

POSSIBLE TW START

Apparently, Charanya was not kidding when she said she knew someone who was on the run from her ex that has extra baby stuff she doesn’t use. They carefully opened the door to see the place completely thrashed. Charanya sighed quietly and shook her head, leading Raya through the wreckage.

“Shit, Rayna. The hell happened here?” the pregnant woman asked. Charanya cringed as she accidentally stepped in a pile of mud before continuing her path.

“Poor girl’s old alpha was a total ass. Scum of the earth, if you will. Possessive, manipulative, narcissistic, all the red flags. She only left because he backhanded their four year old kid. This must be his way of dealing with the loss,” the young omega grimaced. Raya felt her jaw drop and anger flare through her entire being. The thought of someone physically harming a child is absolutely appalling to her and her pregnant state of being.

“Well it’s a damn good thing she got away from him. I’d like to have a little chat with him. You know, just me, him, and all three of my knives,” Raya scowled.

“Ugh, I know. She was a total binturi, too, but I was horrified at what happened to her. I feel terrible now, and even worse since she was so willing to help us. I’ll be sure to drop off some extra food to her when I do my deliveries. Okay, on her note she said she put the baby stuff in her closet in the kitchen. It’s supposed to have a black handle so let me know when you find it,” Charanya told her, scanning the completely demolished kitchen.

“Oh, you mean this?” Raya asked, point right at the door her friend had been describing.

“That would be the one!” Charanya confirmed. She cautiously opened the door and lit a candle to see the room.

Raya was in awe of how much baby stuff was in one place. Everything you could think of including all the parts to build a crib, clothes, books, blankets, even unused diapers. Weirdly enough, they look like they haven’t even been touched.

“How does everything look so new in here?” the Heart omega asked in awe, holding up a small bunny plushie that doesn’t hold a spec of dirt on it.

“Her shitty alpha never let the poor kid use any of this stuff. Everything had to be approved by him or else it wasn’t allowed. Her mom and sister helped her pick out all of this really nice baby stuff, but he said he didn’t like any of it so it’s just been wasting away in here,” Charanya frowned.

“Toi, I really want to punch this guy,” Raya said, feeling her blood begin to boil.

“Pick fights after you delivered your child, please and thank you. Now come on, I can smell your pissed off pheromones. Work off that energy by loading everything onto Tuk Tuk,” Charanya said, already picking up a box of baby clothes.

Raya huffed and did as told in hopes it would distract her from her slightly murderous thoughts. By the time it was dusk, they were able to get everything on Tuk Tuk and were already planning the next move.

POSSIBLE TW END

Night time rides would be a lot nicer if the Druun weren’t lurking around every corner. Raya had to pull out the gem three times until they were able to find shelter for the night.

“It’s been such a damn day,” Raya sighed, rolling out her mattress and carefully laying down on the cushion that honestly did nothing for her.

“So true bestie,” Charanya sighed, following suit and instantly closing her eyes.

“Don’t die in your sleep, I have no clue how to set up the crib,” Raya smirked. She heard a muffled groan come from her left side and laughed at the other omega’s suffering.

“Bold of you to assume I know shit about building anything,” Charanya groaned.

“But you have to be the one to make it because I’m so pregnant and helpless!” Raya exclaimed with fake innocence.

“Damn you, Raya,” the younger woman grumbled tiredly. Raya’s laughter quickly turned into quiet snores which led her into a calming, dreamless sleep.

****************************

“I think this is what’s waiting for me when I arrive at the gates of hell,” Charanya groaned, flopping onto the floor of their boat.

“An unassembled crib? That’s going to be your eternal punishment?” Raya laughed, munching on her jackfruit jerky as she watches Charanya unsuccessfully build the baby’s crib.

“Yeah, and it would be damn effective one too! And stop eating that crap, you’re going to kill the kid with the number of negative nutrients that are in that damn jerky!” Charanya huffed. Okay, rude.

The two girls made it back to Heart about two weeks ago and are setting the kid’s nursery on their little boat house safely tucked away in the middle of a big Heart lake. Neither girls knew how to set up the crib so they’ve been avoiding the struggle until they literally had nothing else to work on. Unfortunately for Charanya, they’ve finished everything besides the crib and Raya’s bump is starting to show. That means the pregnant woman is using her belly as an excuse to not deal with the pain that is the stupid crib.

“I have been trying to figure this out for two days and I have made no progress! Ugh!” Charanya groaned, slamming her head against the floor.

“Hey, don’t do that you’ll get yourself concussed! Then who’s going to make my crib?” Raya frowned as she swatted the other girl’s shoulder.

“I despise you,” the younger woman said with intense passion. Raya just rolled her eyes and waited for Charanya to stop being dramatic.

There was a few minutes of silence where Charanya just laid on the floor, completely ignoring her responsibilities, when she just shot up from the ground with a look of awe on her face. To say Raya was surprised at her sudden positive attitude was an understatement.

“Uh, want to tell me why you look like Tuk Tuk when he finds a pile of nasty bugs?” Raya asked as Charanya began dragging the pieces of the crib together.

“Shut the hell up Raya. The master is at work,” Charanya whispered, gathering certain pieces in piles and connecting parts together.

“I am only choosing to listen to you because you seem like you’re figuring this shit out,” Raya said to make sure Charanya knew that Raya didn’t answer to her or anyone. Got to establish dominance from the get go.

Sure enough, Charanya’s silent breakdown seemed to be very effective in building the crib. It’s like a switch got turned on inside her head and she was putting things together like she was made to do it.

In no time at all, the slightly unstable omega was able to build a baby crib. She quickly put heavy things like pots and toys in the crib to make sure it would hold. She breathed a major sigh of relief when the crib stayed intact and did not collapse in on itself.

“I am a genius!” Charanya exclaimed with pride.

“Well I’ll be damned, you actually pulled it off,” Raya mumbled in shock.

“Hell yeah I did! It was looking super questionable for a moment, but I did it!” she cheered. Charanya then began looking disappointed and leaned against the crib.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You just finished building a crib! You should be rubbing it in my face more by now,” Raya said, tilting her head in confusion.

“Hah! You know me too well. It’s just... now that everything is done, that means it’s time for me to hit the road,” Charanya frowned. Ah, right. That agreement.

The two omegas thought it would be best if Charanya stayed in Heart until they finished setting up the nursery. Then she would go search the rivers and try not to die. They’ve had to leave each other time and time again through out the years, but it’s never felt this painful before.

“Are you sure you have to go?” Raya pouted. Though she already knew the answer, it didn’t hurt to check.

“We both know I have to,” Charanya sighed.

“Yeah, you do. I just wish you didn’t,” Raya said sadly, tears welling up in her eyes at the thought of parting with the only comfort she has.

“Ah! No tears or else I’ll stay and we already established I can’t do that! Besides, I’ll be back before you even realize I’m gone! It’s just three months,” Charanya said, wrapping her arms around Raya.

“Just three months,” Raya sighed, returning the hug.

It didn’t take them long to pack, Charanya didn’t have much. In a mere couple of hours, Raya was helping her friend onto Tuk Tuk and handed her the Dragon Gem with extreme caution.

“The Druun could be around any and every corner so make sure the gem is at an easily accessible place at all times. And if you run into Namaari just book it. Don’t forget to-,” Raya instructed, only to be cut off by Charanya’s voice.

“Raya, I’m okay. This isn’t my first time going out alone. I’ve got this. You know, you’re already nagging me like my Ma. You’ll be a good mother, I can feel it!” Charanya laughed.

Just when Raya was about to give her some witty insult, Charanya already ushered Tuk Tuk away. The pregnant woman watched them go until she could no longer see them before climbing back into the boat. She closed her eyes, laid on the floor of her room, and listened to the water move beneath her.

Toi, she’s bored already.

****************************

Well, Raya certainly went to Fang to drop off supplies for Heart refugees a month after Charanya left. That adventure was a disaster in more ways than one.

But hey, her best friend was right when she said the time would fly. She’s been so distracted with gathering what the refugees need that she had a damn near heart attack when she woke up from her nap on the boat and saw none other than Charanya, already unpacking her stuff.

“I’m back, binturi!” Charanya yelled, sweeping Raya into a tight hug. Raya immediately melted into the other woman’s embrace and squeezed her back just as tight while being mindful of her six month pregnant belly.

“Toi, I’ve missed you,” Raya whispered, fighting back the tears stinging her eyes. Her gaze shifted to Tuk Tuk who just hopped onto the boat and rushed to give him a big hug.

“I missed you too, buddy. So much,” she cooed, rubbing his head affectionately. He nuzzled into her touch and completely relaxed into the floor.

“We’ve missed you too, loser. But hey, I’m here now and I brought food,” she grinned, though it seemed rather forced. Something definitely happened out there. Of course it did.

“Perfect. Now tell me, how was it out in the wild?” Raya asked as Charanya sat on the bed next to her. She also slid some food onto Raya’s lap but she just didn’t have an appetite for once.

“Don’t even get me started. I can’t believe you live like that. I’m pretty sure I discovered like three new species of animals out there. And none of them were cute, trust me,” the younger omega shivered.

“It is brutal out there, for sure. I’m just glad that you’re okay,” Raya said with relief in her voice.

Raya always knew Charanya’s anxiety could spiral out of control, so when she told Raya about how worried she got whenever Raya went out to find Sisu, she just thought Charanya was freaking herself out. She had no clue how truly terrifying it was to have someone you care about out go into the world alone with everything trying to kill her.

“Yeah, I made due. Other than the animals and multiple Druun incidences, I did pretty okay. I didn’t have a run in with Namaari, thank everything for that. Obviously the rivers were a bust, but that just means we’re that much closer to finding the right one,” Charanya informed.

“Since when did you try to have a positive outlook on things?” Raya scoffed.

“Since it was the only thing that kept me mentally sane out there. Now let’s eat, it’s been a hell of a journey coming back,” Charanya said.

Wordlessly, Raya took what Charanya gave her and just stared at it. Now that they weren’t talking, she remembered everything that happened when she was in Fang. Toi, she hated thinking about it. It’s making her physically ill.

“You need to eat, Raya. You’ve got two people to think about now. It’s not like you to refuse a meal, anyhow,” Charanya said.

Raya can’t bear to stomach and food right now. Not after what she saw and feels.

“Please, talk to me. I care about you and you’re kind of worrying me right now,” Charanya sighed, gently cupping Raya’s face. The taller omega closed her eyes as her best friend began lightly caressing her face. Well, she’s got to let it out at some point.

“I saw Namaari. At my last trip to Fang, I mean. When I dropped off supplies to the Heart refugees in your steed,” the Heart princess said in a monotone voice.

“Okay, and what else?” Charanya asked, waiting for some elaboration.

“And she’s doing great. She was training the newest recruits for the army and playing with the kids from the elementary school. You should have seen her out there. So confident, strong, happy. Namaari’s thriving,” Raya mumbled.

“Is she now?” the shorter girl asked.

“She is. I saw her with an omega, too. She’s pretty. Very pretty. It’s kind of funny how the moment I realize I’m pregnant with her child I discover she’s seeing someone else. I mean, it’s kind of like I don’t exist. In her eyes, I probably don’t,” Raya sighed, completely unaware of tears gathering in her eyes.

“Oh, Raya,” Charanya whispered, looking at her with sad eyes that Raya couldn’t handle to see right now.

“It’s stupid, I know. Namaari’s made my life a living hell ever since she entered it. But I’ve been drawn to her from the very start and it sucks. Like, really sucks,” Raya whimpered, finally realizing that she is definitely crying.

“She’s uprooted my entire life! Twice! And both times she’s never been in the least bit effected by it! I’m nothing to her when she’s been everything to me and it hurts, Ranya! It hurts so bad! I hate feeling this way! I wish I had never met that binturi!” Raya sobbed, all but collapsing in the other girl’s arms.

“I know, Raya, I know,” Charanya said in a quiet voice, calmly stroking her hair.

“I also really hate pregnancy because I know for a fact that I would not have said any of that out loud ever if I wasn’t raging with hormones right now,” Raya sniffed. That caused a small laugh to erupt from her dear friend.

“Yeah, I know that too. Well if it makes you feel any better, I too, have a wretched love life. I was in Fang a month back to restock on food when I ran into Tien. Then she introduced me to the omega she’s courting. That was one hell of a blow,” Charanya snorted. Raya openly gaped at the statement and immediately dove into interrogation mode.

“What? Are you sure?!” Raya asked worriedly. The other girl nodded and took a long sip of her rice wine.

“I mean she looked me dead in the eyes and said “Hey Short Stack! Good to see you! Bye the way, have you met whatever the hell her name is I’m too upset to remember, we just started courting a couple weeks ago!” I’m pretty sure she’s taken now, girl,” the shorter omega sighed and took yet another long sip of wine.

“I can’t even believe it. I was so sure she liked you back,” Raya frowned. She’s literally seen it with her own two eyes. What is she missing? Where is the error coming from?

“Yeah, well, I saw it coming from day one. Being right all the time is both a blessing and a curse,” Charanya joked.

Raya had at least hoped that Charanya had a chance at a normal and happy relationship, even if Raya herself didn’t. Suddenly, an overwhelming wave of sadness swept over her at the realization of what this meant. A fresh round of tears began welling up in Raya’s eyes. The Heart princess put a hand over her mouth to muffle the sob.

“Oh c’mon, that was supposed to make you laugh, not cry!” Charanya said, looking incredibly distressed. Seeing her best friend look so concerned just made Raya cry harder.

“It’s just so- so sad! I thought you two were perfect together! I saw Tien when I went to Fang too and she looked miserable! I assumed you guys got into a fight again! The only person that’s happy with herself is Namaari! Why does she get to be fine when literally everyone else’s life sucks?!” Raya yelled and loudly blew her nose.

These pregnancy hormones are a serious binturi.

“Ugh, for some people happiness is so easily attainable. Even if they are an asshole. Life blows,” the younger omega shrugged.

“Toi, I need to get a grip,” Raya groaned, clutching her stomach. Charanya rolled her eyes and shoved a bowl of fruit towards her.

“You’re going through a lot right now with a baby inside of you, so experiencing every single type of emotion at once is pretty on brand. But, you still need to eat,” the woman insisted, glaring at Raya until she finally took a bite of an apple.

As the two girls ate in silence, Raya noticed in extreme displeasure that Charanya was barely eating anything.

“I know damn well you didn’t berate me about not eating only to not eat anything yourself,” the Heart princess frowned.

“You need the food more than I do. I’ll just finish off whatever you don’t have,” Charanya shrugged as she casually flipped through one of old books she hijacked from the library.

“Yeah, that’s not going to cut it. Eat this food before I forcefully stuff it down your throat,” Raya said with a harsh edge in her voice.

She then proceeded to grab the book her friend held and tossed it to the other side of the boat. The longer the omega’s pregnancy lasted, the more maternal she felt. The fact that someone she cared deeply for wasn’t taking care of herself was sending her into a pissed off motherly frenzy.

“First of all, rude, second of all, it’s fine! A little less food in my stomach isn’t going to kill me. Hell, I can’t even eat as much as I used to because my body is trained to function on a low amounts of nutrients! I’m pretty sure my stomach has actually shrunk over the years so it’s really not that big of deal,” the younger woman argued. Raya gaped at Charanya’s words as another wave of anger coarsed through her.

“How the fuck is that supposed to make me feel better? ‘Oh, Raya, don’t worry about me! I never eat anyways!’” Raya mocked before glaring right at her.

“I understand your concern, but I am fine. Seriously. Just eat already!” the shorter omega groaned with irritation evident in her voice.

“Are you going to argue with a pregnant woman, Rayna?” the Heart princess snapped, throwing the pear at the other girl’s face.

“If the pregnant woman is you, then yes!” Charanya said, throwing the pear right back at her. There is not a woman more difficult than her best friend, that Raya is sure of. Time for a new tactic.

“Please, just eat a little bit more. I care about you and just want to see you healthy,” Raya said in a soft voice. The Heart princess saw the other girl’s face soften at the genuine tone in her voice. Hah! Hook, line, and sinker.

“Curse you and your pregnant belly, making me feel bad,” Charanya sighed as she piled a little more food onto her plate. Yes, a victory! Finally!

“Love you,” Raya cooed, hugging her best friend’s arm.

“Yeah yeah, whatever,” the younger woman sighed, though there was a tiny smile on her lips that Raya could spot from a mile away.

All of a sudden, Raya felt a small kick in her stomach and couldn’t fight back the grin on her face.

“Speaking of my pregnant belly, put your hand right here,” Raya said, directing Charanya’s hand just above her belly button.

“Uh okay? What am I- oh toi this is amazing,” Charanya rushed out, felling the pressure of the baby’s kick against her hand. “When did they start kicking?”

“Last month. I was about to fall asleep and then bam! The little binturi kicked me good,” Raya chuckled.

“So this kid is already starting to cause problems?” the shorter girl grinned.

“Yeah. They’re just like their aunt,” Raya smirked, outright laughing at her friend’s offended gasp.

“Excuse you! You’ve got a lot audacity for someone who basically lives to cause problems,” Charanya huffed.

“I keep your life interesting, Rayna. You’re practically indebted to me,” Raya argued. The other woman rolled her eyes once more and shoved another piece of fruit in her mouth.

“I have to give you that one,” Charanya sighed. Her eyes immediately lit up as another tiny kick pressed against Raya’s stomach.

“Pretty damn awesome, huh?” Raya whispered, as if talking any louder would be disturbing the baby.

“It really is. I really hope the poor guy or girl doesn’t turn out to be as screwed up as we are,” Charanya mumbled, resting her head against Raya’s stomach and closing her eyes.

“Me too, Ranya. Me too,” Raya said, stroking Charanya’s hair.

Genetically, this kid has a lot of problems and they haven’t even popped out of the womb yet.

****************************

The third trimester is the real trial. Fake contractions can go back to whatever hell they came from because Raya genuinely doesn’t know how much more she can take of this insanity.

Once Raya was eight months in, her and Charanya made their journey to Fang for the birth. It was the worst thing she had ever experienced. A journey that was supposed to be one week max took almost three because of her stupid pregnancy. She felt like she was about to burst, damn it!

Finally, finally they arrived at the little campsite they were instructed to go to when Raya was close to her due date. It’s a small area on the outskirts of Fang meant for people that can’t afford to go to a fancy medic. The plan is to just sit around there for a week, maybe two until the baby pops out and then the pair of omegas will be on their way with the a little baby in tow. What could possibly go wrong?

They got to the tent where they were meant to stay at through out this process. Charanya unpacked while Raya flopped on the bed.

“That was the longest couple weeks of my life,” Raya groaned, gently rubbing her stomach.

“Here, here. I’ve never been more happy to have the chance to rest for a bit,” Charanya sighed in pure relief when she got to sit down.

“The medics come around to check hourly right?” Raya asked, already closing her eyes to get some much needed sleep.

“Mhm. If anything happens between those check ins I can just go and grab one so we’re all set,” Charanya said, pulling a book from her bag.

“And Tuk Tuk is comfortable?” Raya inquired.

“He’s having the time of his life. I made sure he got two helpings of food at the little stables area. Don’t worry, girl. I always think of everything. It comes with the territory of being paranoid,” the younger omega chuckled.

“Alright, wake me up when I’m pushing out a human,” Raya mumbled, knocking out as soon as her head hits the pillow.

When she wakes up a few hours later, Raya feels a horrible pain in her stomach. At first she thinks it’s the stupid fake contractions, but the she felt a liquid between them.

Well, fuck.

“Bestie?” Raya mumbled, staring between her legs.

“Yes ma’am?” Charanya asked, completely distracted by her book.

POSSIBLE TW START

“My water just broke,” Raya gulped, fearful for what’s about to come.

“Well, shit,” Charanya cursed. She then leapt from her seat on the floor to grab a medic.

In no time at all, several people filed into the room with Charanya behind them and the pain was already excruciating.

“Hello, ma’am, my name is Nin. I will be helping deliver your baby today,” the woman explained calmly.

Raya noticed she’s also an omega, thank toi for that. Scents and pheromones tend to get out of control when omegas give birth so she didn’t even bother with the scent blockers. Raya did not think she could deal with the worry of an alpha getting out of hand during birth. No thanks, she was already stressed enough as it is.

“You might want to start holding her hand. Until the baby actually comes out the pain is only going to get worse,” Nin told Charanya. The young woman rushed to Raya’s side and grabbed her hand tightly.

“I got you, girl, okay? I’m here, I got you,” Charanya assured her.

“You promise? I’m scared Rayna,” Raya whispered, tears filling her eyes.

“I know you are. This is pretty scary I won’t lie. But I’ll be here very step of the way. You can’t get rid of me that easily,” she smiled. Raya took in a deep breathe and nodded.

“Alright, let’s do this,” Raya sighed, slightly more calm from Charanya’s words.

“Okay, we need to go over your birth plan because we never really talked about it,” Charanya said, rubbing her back in an attempt to soothe her a bit more.

“Hang on,” Raya winced, feeling the contractions worsen by the second.

“I can’t bully people unless I know what to bully them about!” Charanya hissed worriedly.

“Toi, I feel like I’m dying,” Raya whimpered as another contraction hit her. And when it hit, it hit hard. Harder than Namaari’s stinging betrayal, even. Soon enough, Raya was reduced to a crying, sweating mess. She felt like a lake in three minutest flat.

“She’s going to dehydrate! Raya, do you want some water?!” Charanya yelled, noticing how fast Raya was losing fluids. Just when Raya opened her mouth to say she would very much like some water, she received a vicious cramp at her lower abdomen and let out a shrill shriek instead.

“SOMEBODY SEDATE ME!” the Heart princess screamed as she felt her insides literally rip apart.

The younger omega winced at the volume and squeezed Raya’s hand tighter to provide her some sense of comfort. This is truly a pain like none other.

“Raya, we haven’t even thought of a name yet! You’re literally giving brith and we don’t have a boy or girl name!” Charanya yelled.

“I am pushing something the size of a damn watermelon out of my vagina, so I am not really considering baby names right now! With the the amount of pain this stupid kid is causing me, it will now be referred to as Binturi until I can hear myself think! OH FUCK-” Raya screamed, squeezing Charanya’s hand impossibly tight.

“Yup, it’s time to push. Alright, go!” Nin instructed.

With just one push, Raya knew in her heart of hearts that this is going to be the most painful experience of her life.

“I hate this I hate this I hate this-” Raya cried out as she was instructed to give another push. Nin huffed and looked at Charanya worriedly.

“Is her alpha here? Their scent can help with the pain or at least calm her down,” Nin asked, only to be disappointed with Charanya shaking her head.

“No alpha, it’s just me,” she frowned. At that moment, Raya somehow found the strength to push yet again and it truly felt like the gods were punishing her for something. There’s no way a good person should ever experience torture like this.

“It hurts, Rayna, it hurts. Make it stop, please make it stop,” Raya sobbed. She tried to get it together, but she just couldn’t. It’s becoming unbearable.

“I know it hurts, I’m sorry. I’m sorry Ba isn’t her or ma and grandma, I’m sorry that shitty alpha of yours is gone too. I’m sorry I can’t be enough. I’m so sorry. But you’re doing great, okay? Just hang on a little bit longer. I know you can, you’re the strongest person I’ve ever met,” Charanya firmly told her with silent tears streaming down her face.

Raya wished she could be of some comfort to her best friend. She wanted to say that none of this is Charanya’s fault, that she is enough, but the blinding pain doesn’t allow her to do more than push and receive the instructions to push.

The process of having to push a child out was becoming so damn terrible that Raya felt like she was about to pass out from pain alone. She didn’t know how much longer she could do this.

“You’re almost there! One more push! Just one!” Nin exclaimed, fully concentrated on the task at hand.

“I can’t, I can’t do anymore,” Raya denied, shaking her head as fast as she could.

“You can! Raya, you got this! Time to meet Binturi!” Charanya told her encouragingly.

Raya laughed a bit at the binturi part and let out on final blood curdling scream as she pushed the damn baby out once and for all. Cries filled the room that instantly that sent Raya and her inner omega into protective mom overdrive.

“Why are they crying? Are they okay?” Raya asked fearfully. If something was wrong with this baby, she would never forgive herself.

“Crying is a good thing. It means she’s okay,” Charanya told her calmly, looking at the baby in awe.

“That’s right, she’s here and looks healthy as can be! Would you like to cut the cord, dear?” Nin asked Charanya. She nodded and stood up to be near the baby.

POSSIBLE TW END

“Oh thank toi! Wait, did you just say she?” Raya whispered, tears filling up her eyes once more. Only these were tears of uncontainable joy.

“Meet your baby girl. An omega like her ma, too,” Nin smiled. Charanya was holding her little girl and angled her so that Raya could see.

“She’s everything,” was the first thing that came out of Raya’s mouth when she saw her.

Admittedly, Raya had been a bit scared of the idea of not loving her child. Though Charanya said it was normal for mothers to not feel a connection for a while, Raya herself didn’t want to have to spend months doubting her love for her own kid. But seeing her lay there melted those worries away because how could you not love something as precious as her?

“Would you like to hold her?” Nin asked. Charanya was already walking towards Raya, clearly knowing the answer.

“Yes please,” Raya responded, holding out her arms. When her daughter was gently placed in her arms, Raya never wanted to let her go.

“She’s perfect, isn’t she?” Charanya whispered, watching the child’s cries die down as she nuzzles into Raya’s neck.

“She is. She kind of looks like a little mole rat, though,” Raya snorted.

“I know. She gets her looks from you,” Charanya grinned.

“Don’t be a rude whore, Charanya. I just gave birth,” Raya huffed, unable to look away from her daughter.

“You ask too much of me. But she looks way cuter than most newborns. Se’s got a full head of hair and eyebrows. You did good, girl. You did good,” Charanya chuckled, holding one of her daughter’s tiny hands.

“She’s so little,” Raya mumbled, looking at the size comparison between her daughter’s hand and Charanya’s finger.

“Excellent job, dear. And hey, that was one of the easy births, so take some comfort in that!” Nin told her happily as she began cleaning everything up.

“That was one of the easy births? Are you kidding me?” Raya asked with horror painted all across her face.

“Well, yeah. I mean, you were only pushing about half the time most people do. There was also no life threatening complications for you or the baby, or even any complications in general. Now that I think about it, that was actually probably one of the best births I’ve ever delivered,” the medic said carefully.

“That actually kind of makes me sick,” Raya mumbled, holding her baby even tighter.

“Me too, ma’am. Me too. Well, I’ve done everything I need to so I’ll give you guys some alone time to bond,” the medic said, walking out of the tent.

Raya finally felt like she could breathe now that it was just her, her daughter, and her best friend. Her tiny family.

“That was the worst thing ever, no doubt. It killed me seeing you in so much pain. Hey, do you need anything? Something I can do to make you feel better?” Charanya asked, dabbing a wet wash cloth over Raya’s forehead.

The Heart princess sighed happily, grateful for the feeling of the cool cloth cleaning her off. She had seriously felt like she was on fire.

“Yes, actually. Could you please get me some water? I was going to say yes when you offered the first time, but the excruciating pain of delivery totally cut me off,” Raya asked. Charanya was already up on her feet before Raya could even finish the sentence.

“I got you girl. I’ll be back in a bit,” Charanya said. She quickly kissed her daughter’s little head and exited the tent in such a hurry Raya would think she was being chased off.

“Wow, I just can not believe I made you,” Raya mumbled, just observing her daughter’s features.

That cute little nose, the already thick hair, that beautiful skin, she’s just perfect. And now Raya’s internal monologue sounds so soft and mushy which makes her feel super gross but this is her life as a mom now. Soft and mushy.

Her inner omega has absolutely no problems with showing how affectionate she is with her new kid, however. She’s been purring up a storm ever since the girl has been in Raya’s arms. One of the very few things Raya and her inner omega can agree on is how wonderful this child already turned out to be.

“You just might be the only good things that ever came out of me and Namaari meeting,” Raya sighed, gently caressing her little girl’s cheek. How something so good could come from very questionable parents, Raya doubted she would ever know.

After a little while of whispering to her baby and just holding her, Charanya practically threw herself back in the tent and she is not looking good. She was panting heavily and looking more panicked than a cornered animal.

“Woah, Rayna what’s wrong?” Raya asked worriedly. The other omega gulped and began fiddling with the ends of her braid like she always did when she delivered bad news.

“Raya, I’m going to tell you something but I need you to not freak out because it could make the situation even worse,” Charanya shakily whispered upon reentering the tent.

“Oh, I don’t like the sound of that. What is it?” Raya asked fearfully.

“Namaari’s coming. To the camp site, apparently it’s a thing for her to check on thes guys. She’s ten minutes away and I have no idea how to fix this,” Charanya whimpered.

Raya’s heart plummeted in her stomach. All she could do was clutch her newborn daughter closer to chest and watch as her best friend begin to pace back and forth hurriedly.

As it turns out, the worst has only just begun.

Taglist: @faithfulwarrior-og @isitbussinjanelle @ratld-sideblog @tigerlillyruiz @anywhere-but-here-plz

[theskywaslookingback]

tma fic recs please ? 🤲🏽

Oooooo yes! I never get asks like this, thank you!

[my tumblr fic recs tag is here for browsing]

I had to put it under a cut because it got...entirely too long barely half an hour into making it, sorry.

Under 5k

means of cartharsis by orphan_account [G] [965]

“You’d think – you’d that at this point nightmares would be second nature for me, hm?” Martin says, forcing a smile even as he tugs the blanket tighter around his trembling shoulders.

It’s meant to be a bit funny. Instead of laughing, though, Jon frowns.

“No,” he says simply, and matter-of-factly wipes the moisture from Martin’s cheeks with a tissue like he’s a crying child.

A Proper Sleepover by Goodluckdetective (scorpiantales) [T] [1.4k]

In a different world, one where Elias is not waiting for them outside the Lonely, everyone has a chance to savor a moment of respite. As much as they can get these days. If only to talk about things that long need to be spoken.

“Basira says we should all sleep in the same room tonight,” Jon says without looking up. “Safer. So we can keep an eye out for intruders and also each other.”

“So we’re having a proper sleepover then?”

Jon scoffs. “Technically we’ve been having a proper one for months.”

where i go, when i go there by rainny_days [T] [1.7k]

Martin wants Jon to hold his hand. Martin doesn't want Jon to hold his hand.

It's complicated.

all the other ways by AptlyNamed [G] [2.2k]

Jon loses his first soul mark when he is eight years old.

a palace from ruin by bibliocratic [G] [2.2k]

"What're you sorry for?” Martin asks.

“I should have asked,” Jon says finally. “I'd never.... you were always so private about him, so I mean, at first I wasn't sure he was even yours, but then – when you, when you went with Peter, and I – he was so small, and I thought he was h-half-dead. S-so I picked him up and I carried him. And I'm sorry.”

interiors by doomcountry [T] [2.7k]

In the doorway, he fumbles with his keys. Their sound is loud in the silent stairwell. You don’t remember getting here.

searching for a light (for a right) by Kalgalen [T] [2.7k]

Some people make the mistake of assuming he's naive about sex, for the simple reason he hasn't dated in a while. Tim has called him a prude, at one point, and implied that he was somehow afraid of the intimacy required by the act; he wasn’t entirely wrong, but this definitely isn’t the reason for Jon's disinterest and general bafflement toward what most people seemed to consider as "what makes them human".

Jon simply hasn't found the right person. That is all it is: high standards, and a reticence to let people in.

(In which Jon finds out society is wrong about what a romantic relationship should be.)

how to plant a garden in rocky soil by treeprince [T] [2.9k]

Sometimes you just need a good pair of hands to work out all the kinks in your life.

Good thing Martin has two.

A Weather In The Flesh by cuttooth [G] [3k]

"There is a span of years where Jon doesn’t touch anyone other than the occasional hand shake. It’s not so bad. He’s never been someone who’s needed physical affection."

*

Jon has never been any good at making people want to stick around.

I'll bring the motion by callmearctus [T] [3.1k]

A long series of kidnappings and international flights leaves its own special mark on someone. Before the Unknowing, Jon is a mess.

Martin helps.

A Bread Made In Heaven by Againstme [G] [3.3k]

Martin moves over and watches how his boyfriend handles the dough. He's awkward with it, tentative and gentle, as if he's scared of hurting it somehow.

"Is this, uh, am I doing this right?" Jon asks, still slowly stretching out the dough and folding it onto itself.

"Well," he says shifting closer to Jon again, "you could be applying more pressure. Here, let me help you out, dear."

Martin moves fully behind Jon, and reaches around him, putting his hands on top of his boyfriend's. Jon inhales sharply, but doesn't say anything else, just lets Martin's hand rest on top of his.

Martin's hands are bigger, but not big enough to entirely envelop the other's hands, and Jon's hands are much, much warmer than his own are. To see what they're doing, Martin moves his head to look over Jon's shoulder. Though he can't see his boyfriend's face from this angle, he can see how it is slowly growing red at the edge of his vision. He decides not to tease him on it, instead content with letting a smile spread across his face and slowly guiding their joined hands in the proper motion.

Or, Martin teaches Jon how to make bread.

stumbling and spinning by lady_mab [G] [3.3k]

“Things happened,” Jon says demurely, trying to untangle Gerry’s fingers, but it only results in him getting pulled in so Gerry can kiss him properly. “It’s not all that bad.”

“I suppose not,” Gerry says with a sigh, sitting back upright. “You somehow managed to snag an incredible boyfriend out of it.”

It takes a solid few seconds before realization clicks in Martin’s brain. “You mean me?” [...]

“You have to admit, Jon has great tastes,” Gerry teases.

nothing sweeter than local honey by beeclaws [T] [3.4k]

So Tim is content, one arm leaned into the spray, waiting for the water to warm, enjoying the feeling of homecoming underneath the gentle fuzz of jetlag, when he hears gasping, panicked breaths coming from the other room.

Tim and Jon, in the aftermath, relearning how to be okay.

When Words are Inadequate by Mugatu [T] [3.8k]

Meals and the preparation of are, for want of a better word, informative. Fact gathering. A place where they can fill in the gaps of their knowledge of the other.

Jon cooks for Martin, and they learn more about each other.

go softly by doomcountry [T] [4k]

And there is nothing else besides this.

Imago by cuttooth [T] [4k]

“Jon?” he asks tentatively, tightening his grip around the poker as it slips against his sweaty palm. The antennae twitch, and suddenly Martin knows that it’s Jon, the knowledge sliding into his mind in a surge of desperate affection, the same profound love he felt that first time he truly saw Jon in the fog of the Lonely.

“Oh,” he whispers. “It really is you.”

*

Jon changes, but he’s still the same to Martin.

shoreline by bibliocratic [G] [4.1k]

“Martin," Tim says kindly, tipsily, only mildly slurring. "Dearest, dearest Martin. You're wankered, babe. Last train to Stockwell fucked off hours ago because it is now piss off o'clock in the morning, and there's a sofa with your exact name on it at my place. Thought you said you wanted some handsome fellow to take you back to his tonight?”

Or: The OG Archive crew go drinking, Martin comes out, and gets some well deserved TLC. In that order.

get your epitaph right by bibliocratic [G] [4.2k]

Martin's daemon has tried on the shape of dogs and lizards and snakes and horses, and even – once, when he was younger and Mum took him to the seaside, a fish.

Martin's never seen his soul in the dressing of a spider before.

i've known the warmth of your doorways by beeclaws [T] [4.2k]

'I’m always in pain, Jon wants to say, even as he dismisses the thought as melodramatic. Between his growing collection of old wounds and scar tissue, the supernatural hunger for statements that hasn’t been truly satiated in months, and the unpredictable aches and strains his body threw off day by day long before he ever set foot in the Institute, some level of pain and discomfort follows Jon wherever he goes now. He is used to being in pain. He’s not used to someone holding his hand as he suffers through it.'

Jon catalogs the comforts he receives, and wonders how long he will be allowed to keep them.

lay down your weary head by Zykaben [T] [4.6k]

Jon has been running himself ragged, searching for every scrap of information he can possibly find about the Unknowing. He's exhausted and sleep-deprived but he can't bring himself to take a break, not now.

Luckily, Tim and Martin are there to make sure that their boyfriend gets the care and rest he needs.

only the sweetest words remain by bluejayblueskies [T] [4.6k]

This isn't how things are supposed to go, right? Jon remembers those ratty paperbacks from the charity shops, dime-a-dozen romance novels with broken bindings and yellowing pages and words that spoke of love and passion and sexuality in prose that was more than a bit too mature for someone whose age hadn’t yet reached double digits. Stolen glances turn into dinner dates turn into passionate kisses turn into…

Well, he’d never actually read those parts of the books, because it had all seemed so deeply uncomfortable and gross. But he got the picture.

Or, Jonathan Sims, on being loved

5k-20k

and they keep not letting go by Marianne_Dashwood [G] [5k]

It’s an electric feeling, something strange and new and familiar all at once, even though he has been holding Martin’s hand for most of the day. His stomach swoops, like he is standing on the edge of the precipice of realisation and staring into the void of unknowing. But at the same time, he does know. In this instant of contact between them, the last few years of cups of tea and small smiles and momentary glances, of panic and fear and only feeling safe with Martin’s solid presence in the room, despite his paranoia, rush into him, and oh, oh oh.

ready to call this love by yewgrove [G] [5.6k]

How is Martin supposed to tell Jon that he panicked, stupidly, when the lovely old lady down the village asked him what they were doing in this part of the world? Got the shopping! Oh, by the way, we're married now! Whole village thinks we're on our honeymoon, hope you don't mind!

Prenons-nous la main by luftballons99 [T] [6k]

They still haven't talked about it, any of it, not even to pass the time on the long train ride to Scotland. Instead, Martin fell asleep in the seat next to him, pressed into his side from shoulder to knee, and Jon thought about love confessions and verb tense and how the two fit together when you think you're dying.

or: Good cows, mediocre poetry, and other crucial topics of discussion.

This Must Be The Place by cuttooth [T] [6k]

“You said – you said we were going home,” Martin says softly.

“I did,” says Jon, and is grateful that Martin doesn’t comment on him calling the Archives home. “I – I don’t really know where to go. I, uh, I don’t have a flat anymore, I don’t think. We could find a hotel?”

“Let’s go to my place,” says Martin. His hand squeezes Jon’s, more gently than before. Most importantly, Jon notes, he doesn’t let go.

*

Jon and Martin go home for a little while.

Small Things, Simple Acts by ZaliaChimera [T] [6.6k]

Even after leaving London, Jon and Martin are not free, not really. Maybe they never will be.

But for now they can be themselves, and maybe in the end, that's enough.

house by tomatoes [G] [9k]

Martin can take care of himself.

roses, roses, roses by acetheticallyy (judesstfrancis) [T] [9.3k]

Rose scented laundry detergent. Running into Jon in the breakroom. Running into Jon on his way back to his desk. Rose scented detergent. Running into Jon. Roses. Jon. Roses, roses, roses.

a deeply annoying child by ajkal2 [G] [9.6k]

Jon is hiding under the desk.

----

There's a child in the Archives, who shouldn't be there.

Inseparable by voiceless_terror [T] [10.3k]

“You can stay.” The voice interrupts his internal panic, and he looks over to find Jon studiously avoiding his gaze, staring hard at a neighboring bush. Martin wonders what caused his sudden change of heart. “But you have to sit on the other side. And don’t talk to me.”

Jonathan Sims and Martin Blackwood meet as children. Some things change, others do not.

i'm almost me again, you're almost you by gruhukens [G] [12k]

After a second Jon steps in towards him, close enough that Martin flinches, but all Jon does is put two fingers under his chin with his free hand and raise it until Martin can’t duck away. Jon has never touched him so casually before – at least, not until today, and it raises a lot of thoughts and feelings that Martin is trying very hard not to process.

Much like a lot of other things that have happened, he thinks. Not that it’s horrible or terrifying or numbing like everything else has been: it’s just another thing on the list of things he doesn’t have the capacity to deal with.

---

In the wake of the Lonely, there's a lot that Martin doesn't really want to think about.

hello my old heart by firebirdsuite [T] [15.8k]

Peter’s wrong, of course. When it’s all over, Martin does still want to tell Jon everything. It’s just—well, there’s a few things they need to work through first before they can get there.

Martin and Jon find each other again in Scotland.

Over 20k

The Kindness of Strangers by TheOestofOCs [M] [23k]

It was easier to treat Jon like a monster when he wasn’t shivering against his back, brokenly humming—wait, was that…

“Are you trying to do ‘Hey, Jude’?” Tim demanded.

Jon stopped, stiffening. “Mm hrmh mm mmh hm,” he said defensively.

“You really can’t hold a tune, can you, boss?”

*

It was just an ordinary walk to a restaurant. Tim had insisted that if they were going to talk, there would be no tape recorders or weird Archives ghosts listening in. A bit of fresh air wouldn’t kill him, Tim had said. What could go wrong?

By the time Jon spots the white delivery van, it’s much too late.

The Stranger kidnaps Jon. Tim comes along for the ride.

Misjudged by ShastaFirecracker [T] [36.5k]

Martin's been a longtime listener of What the Ghost, so when Georgie gives a shoutout to her flatmate's Twitch channel during a Q&A, he checks it out - only to discover that her flatmate is also his most terrifying coworker at his new job. The first time they crossed paths, Jon yelled at him for incompetence. But on the streams, Martin sees an entirely different person - someone fun and relaxed, engaging and unfairly attractive. Over time, Martin begins to find that Jon buried inside his dour, awkward coworker. He also learns to live with the fact that his crush is painfully one-sided... or is it?

if we make it through the night everyone is gonna hear us (Series) by skvadern [Ratings Vary] [42.4k]

In which Sasha survives the NotThem (with a little help from a certain Distortion) and she and Jon spend s2 working together to try and make sense of everything that's happening to them. It goes...interestingly

the garden of forking paths by bibliocratic [T] [49.7k]

Whatever he had predicted might happen, Jon wasn't expecting to survive upon demolishing the Panopticon. He certainly wasn't expecting to be rescued.

Instead, he wakes up in an alternative universe where he's never been the Archivist, and Martin Blackwood doesn't exist.

Martin Blackwood wakes up somewhere else entirely.

it's only forever by lady_mab [T] [50.9k]

“The castle at the center of the labyrinth,” Jon breathes, recalling again the words from one of the past conversations with Martin. “He’s there.”

“Turn back, Jonathan,” the Goblin King says, and Jon is surprised to hear a slight edge of desperation in the tone. “Turn back before it’s too late.”

“I can’t,” Jon answers with the same tone. “You know that I can’t.”

The Goblin King’s grin is gone completely, and he regards Jon with a degree of pity before that melts into resignation.

Yesterday is Here by CirrusGrey [T] [53.3k]

"Who the hell are you?" Jon could feel his hands shaking. The man laughed, taking a step forward and raising a hand to point at him. "I'm you, from the future!" he said, then swayed, eyes going unfocused, and collapsed to the floor in a dead faint. -------- Post-season-four Jon and Martin time travel back to the season one Archives.

A Home For What Loves You by TheWrongShop [T] [151k]

It was completely fine that Jon was following up on this very normal, non-supernatural statement at midnight on a Friday. He was going to find nothing at all, and then he was going to go home and sleep for fourteen straight hours and feel absolutely no qualms about moving case #0150409 directly into the filing cabinet marked "discredited".

Or; Jon and Martin end up investigating Carlos Vittery's basement and finding the entity formerly known as Jane Prentiss together.

RATED E *MINORS DNI*

A Look And A Voice by cuttooth [E] [6.9k]

“Do you want to have sex with me?” Jon asks bluntly, and for a second Martin can’t breathe.

“It - it doesn’t matter what I - ” he begins valiantly, before Jon interrupts him.

“Because I want to have sex with you, and frankly it doesn’t matter if you think it’s for the wrong reasons. I’m an adult. I can make my own decisions. The only thing that matters is if you want to as well.”

*

Martin meets a guy in a bar and takes him home.

Warms The Coldest Night by cuttooth [E] [11k]

"Flame that warms the coldest night Bring to us the waxing Light, Be with us on Solstice Night." Gypsy - Bring Back The Light

There is mistletoe hanging in the doorway to the Archives when Jon gets in.

Curiosity by ShastaFirecracker [E] [11.6k]

“You know that conversation we had the other day about how one of the most important things for queer youth to learn is that it's okay to change their minds, because identity and self-discovery are always fluid?”

Behind him, Martin slipped oven mitts over his hands and pulled open the oven door. The scent of garlic and rosemary flooded the kitchen. “Yeah?” he said.

“I, um... I'd like to revisit the topic of sex.”

At the Interim (Series) by Rend_Herring [E] [41k]

A Measure Outside the Lines and The Residuum

triptych (Series) by Stacicity [E] [44.9k]

A collection of Jon/Tim/Martin fics

a steady hand, a delicate man by callmearctus [E] [52.8k]

Martin is the proprietor and manager of a very discrete and fairly exclusive brothel situated between Belgravia and Chelsea. Blackwood House excels at special requests and pleasing any client.

Except for Jon, who probably has never been pleased a day in his entire life.

Despite that, he still comes back. It eventually begs the question: how do you solve a problem like Jon Sims?