#(( writes a whole ass novel back and i aint even started yet- ))

[cryopathiic-a]

60 + 61. It was one thing to come home to terror and mischief and interrogations— it was another entirely to come home and find Douma and her mother in the same room. With.. whatever they had together, it only meant that Ezra would be doing her best to drive a wedge between them, and now that she knew Douma were there Ezra would make it her mission to separate them.

She was lucky Atreus were there to send their mother away. She was lucky to get there as early as she did because she knew once her mother realized who they were to her— what would happen. Her only option was to try to rip the bandaid off as quickly as possible.

Astra was terrified. For the first time, they were seeing.. or hearing… the terrified beats of her heart, one after the other.

There was no smile, or emotion on her face— it would have been a very long time since they saw this expression in truth . And they would know that something was incredibly wrong.

Until the tears rolled down her face and she was clinging to him with everything she was. Because Astra had an intense fear of abandonment. And Ezra very much caused people to abandon her.

The cup of tea had been left to grow cold atop the table. Intricate patterns of vines climbing its handle, with the faintest little rose tinted blossoms; magnolia flowers painted by hand on its porcelain. The other one, across the table, had been used, but only slightly; just enough to be left tainted by the imprint of human lips, but not because the drink within had brought any real enjoyment. A sip; to mark? To possess. This cup I own, as I do everything in this appartment, even though it was not furnished by my own efforts, I still claim the spoils of another; because I own them too. To threaten, subtly; I barge into your space and touch your things, even if you would not like me to, there is nothing you can do, for I do not need your permission. His own slender fingers had poured that honeyed gold within, offering its warmth to what he had thought was a friendly intruder.

Of course, Astra had set some rules in place about opening the front door. No running, no yanking the humans inside without permission, no pranks; and most importantly, no baring his fangs at strangers. They were not supposed to know that she had allowed a creature like them this much freedom. It was a mutual deal, Dōma gets to breathe something other than the musty air of the boxes and cells they'd stuff him in before, Astra gets to supervise him at her own comfort. And perhaps he would do good for protection. It wasn't as if her appointed task could not possibly draw unwarranted attention. Though... he had always expected his time to be deployed as a weapon, would come when that door opened and a familiar face stood behind it. Not... her own mother.

Pale lips had showered a rain of relentless questioning upon the woman in question. What was Astra like as a child? Did she have long hair? What were her favorite toys? Did she like to dance and sing? All of those things, a mother would know about her child, he thought. Perhaps his own parents were not the best example. But he had thought back to that woman, the one with emerald eyes... Had Ezra held her little daughter like that back then? Bundled up and cozy, looking into her eyes as if she witnessed the ocean's expanse within? Hm.

Someone who looks at their child like that, would probably be more consistent with their narration, huh? A demon is not inherently perceptive; most of them are born in a haze, the rabid hunger taking over their minds when they first transform. But even Upper Two's first kill had not come like that; no, they had been very deliberate about the follower they called into their audience chamber and the way they approached, stripping her shoulders bare tenderly and allowing her to marvel before their beauty, until the very first bite. In many ways, Dōma held the disposition of a predator; and he would not be dragged into mundane tales, weaved by a tongue that did not glisten silver; but was laden with bile. She was filled with hate, that woman. After so many years solidified upon that plush flowerbed, he knew how to tell them apart.

Still, they had parted with a smile, even as her own progeny hovered at the doorway like some statue, paralyzed before the sight. No, he had never seen Astra that upset before. Normally, he would be the one rushing to the door to open, hopefully to coax her into allowing him a droplet of life, but the conversation had been too distracting. Especially after certain things begun to unravel.

❝ —! ❞ Arms found his waist with a thud. The sheer force would have had a human step back, surely, but for a demon that was optional. He would feel rigid, at first, naught more than an ice pillar in the middle of the main room. Standing idly, without much of an expression save for those prismatic hues fixing atop her head, somberly. For a moment, there would be no telltale sign heralding whether the demon was about to shove her across the room. She had stepped so close, without a warning; without heeding the hoarfrost falling from his breath. And then—

❝ There there. It's alright. ❞ It was mellow. Palms came to rest between her shoulders; atop her head. Words fell with practiced ease. It grew softer, but still cold against his chest; a completely still chest, without a heave and fall. His faint heartbeat encased in ice would not be perceived by human ears, unlike her own, that filled his head; as if she was cowering away from... something. From what? From that woman? How sad; how sad that her own mother's presence would provoke such a reaction.

❝ Hey— ❞ The bubbly smile lingered, albeit a little reserved, for once. Though he did not mirror her pensiveness; which was odd, even for him, as he would usually tune into her sentiment mechanically. But this too was a familiar situation, he supposed. Though normally he wouldn't be... grappled like this. Touch slipped to her waist, smoothing over messy hair as they concealed her features. Would her face fluster? Her eyes redden and sting with tears? Oh, she sounded devastated!

❝ — Master Astra? ❞ There was a comical tinge to it, and normally he'd expect to be scolded; was it to push a boundary, or to offer the reassurance of an inside joke between them, as the former Kizuki never called her by title, unless it was to provoke something. Should she look up in that moment, she would be offered a warm smile, as slender fingers pat the top of her head, ruffling the ornaments holding her hair in place. ❝ You're squeezing me a bit, and it's getting harder to hold my breath, you know. Want to... lie down on the pillows with me for a while? There's still more tea, and you could tell me about what set you off so badly. ❞ There was a hint of contempt. But old habits are hard to shake off. His one arm wrapped completely around her neck, squishing her to his frame as he pressed it over his cold, dead heart.

❝ I make a very good listener, as you know. ❞

[acrobaticcatfeline]

Of Books, Brothers, and Broadway (Creativitwins College AU) Chapter One!!!

Word Count: 1771

TW: So Remus, obviously, swearing, ocean mentions, sea creatures and reptiles, and I think that’s it!

Pairings: None yet. This chapter is just a ton of platonic creativitwins!

Notes: This is three pages that I wrote last night. I’m now at ten pages of this. I don’t know what I was possessed by but I’m not about to complain. Its a college AU, I mention it I think, but Roman is a theatre major and Remus is a marine biology major with a minor in creative writing. I’m excited for you guys to see more of this!

Summary: “Bro!!! Bro I found a giant ass lizard in the yard look at it bro!!!” Roman and Remus Reyes live together. They figured it would be cost effective to do so while in college. Roman deals with Remus’ reptiles and fish tank, Remus deals with Romans singing at 3 in the morning. They’ve had an interesting relationship, and when Remus reminds Roman of a deal they made years ago, hes ready to start crying. Can a couple of kids from Florida make a Broadway musical?

“Bro!!! Bro I found a giant ass lizard in the yard look at it bro!!!”

Roman was done with his brothers bullshit. He doesn't know where he got the bright idea that the two of them should cohabitate in an apartment during college, but as he panickedly climbs onto the kitchen counters to escape him he knows he must've been on some sort of drug. He released a scream as he backed into the corner of the room as his brother held out a lizard that was definitely going to jump and attack him.

“GET IT AWAY!!! ITS SLIMY AND GROSS AND MALICIOUS!!!”

“This little guy malicious? Nah bro, that's a you problem. He's so cuteeee look at his scales they’re almost a holographic!”

That caught Roman's attention. He stopped panicking to actually look at the critter in his brother's hands. Remus was right, he was almost holographic. Roman gave it a weak smile and Remus beamed.

“See? It's not that scary! I'm gonna keep him! He's gonna be named fred!”

Roman chuckled softly as his brother finally left and brought the lizard to his room. He slipped off the counter and followed at a safe distance.

“Don't you think you have enough reptiles? If you keep getting more you'll need more heat lamps and i'm giving you more of the electric bill”

“Ok fair point but hear me out, have you ever seen a collared lizard quite as colorful as this one? I mean he's such a pretty one aint he?”

Roman took more steps forward, relaxing once the lizard was placed in the terrarium. The lizard was quite colorful, and Roman couldn't deny, it was one of the prettiest ones Remus had captured. It immediately scurried around and dived into the water bowl. Roman laughed at it.

“Besides, he was just begging to be brought in! Like really this time! He kept bumping into my feet, he started climbing my pants leg, it was so cute you should've seen it!”

“I'm sure I would have cried.”

Remus chuckled as he moved to the other wall of his room covered in a giant aquarium that Roman was still amazed fit through the doors. Remus grinned at all the fish swimming around, tipping a good portion of fish food into the tank after turning off the filter. He then made his way to his bed and sat on the twin sized mattress covered with octopus blankets. He grinned at his brother and Roman rolled his eyes.

“When are you finally kidnapping an octopus huh?”

“I'm glad you asked! You know my internship right?”

“Of course, the only time you don't talk about the marine institute is when youre talking about your reptiles”

Remus popped up and grabbed Roman's wrist and dragged him to the whiteboard calendar that hung on the outside of his door, pointing excitedly at tomorrow's date while bouncing on his toes.

“Well they just got an octopus buddy in that needs constant care that they don't have the time for! She's real fucked up, she needs meds twice a day, she needs to be hand fed, its a real fucked up case, they were rescued from a seaworld copycat, the poor thing hasn't been healthy since it hatched we think. There's a chance that she won't even be able to be released cuz she's been so dependent on humans for her whole life. But they opened up for applicants, and I was the only one willing to take her in. they're coming and checking my tank tomorrow and if it is good enough, which i'm certain it will be, and then they'll hand her over and i’ll be her caretaker!”

Roman grinned at the excitement his brother had. He ruffled his hair quickly.

“That's cool rem. I'm happy for you. She got a name?”

“Mhmm! Her name is Cephanie! But I've been calling her Cephy. She's so pretty ro, i can't wait for you to meet her! And she's so friendly!”

“You know every day I get less confused at your choice in major. And more confused about your minor”

Remus grinned at Roman and released his wrist, skipping over to their kitchen, relishing in the fact that Roman followed still. He poured himself a cup of coffee and jumped onto the counter with a grin still plastered to his face. He took a sip from his mug, the one with a tentacle handle, and kicked his feet.

“I don't know why! It's totally sensical to have a minor in creative writing ro! It's not like you can expect me to be your playwright if i don't know what i'm doing! Besides, i can write epic lovecraftian horrors that aren't incredibly racist and who doesn't want that?”

Roman blinked. He had to process what Remus had said and he was still confused. His head tilted like a dogs.

“My playwright?”

Remus giggled, it was funny when Remus giggled, it wasn't a sound that you would expect to come out of him. And yet he did it often.

“Did you forget? Aw ro, you can't back out on it now, you asked me when we were still in middle school to write you a book for a musical, and you were gonna write the music and you kept saying you were gonna get it on broadway. I've held up my end of the deal! In fact, I actually have a story started, I think you're gonna love it! Course, i haven't written it all out yet, it's gonna be my final”

“Wait, you remembered that? Rem we were like 10!”

“And now we’re 21, what's your point?”

“We, we can't get on broadway! We’re a couple of idiots from florida! I’m, i'm not a musician, I'm barely even a dancer, what are you talking about? That was a fever dream from a couple of kids, it's not like we can actually do it!”

Remus frowned. He set his mug of coffee down and hopped off of the counter. He crossed his arms over his chest and gave Roman a serious look.

“Do you know when lin manuel miranda wrote his first broadway musical?”

“No i-”

“His sophomore year of college. Who says we can't do the same? Roman you under sell your talents. You're a theatre major, you may not be amazing at any instruments other than your voice but damn bro, your voice is good enough on its own. I've seen you dance, you're one of the best dancers i've ever seen and you're in your fourth year of college. We have potential. I know we can do this if we try, but i can't make it happen alone. I need your help”

Roman looked lost. He wanted, oh so desperately he wanted, to make it happen. It had always been a dream of his to make it to broadway, but he wasn't wrong, they weren't lin manuel miranda, they were some twins from florida, they had no idea what they were doing. And yet. And yet he held out his hand to his brother.

“Ok. ok, we can try this. I can, I can make a score. We can do this”

Remus grinned again and took Roman's hand. He tugged him into the living room. He sat on the couch, pulling out his notebook and flipping to a bookmarked page. Roman sat next to him and looked over at it. There were a few doodles around a plotline that was both gorey and Romantic a la sweeney todd but also quite similar to ella enchanted. Remus grinned at the book and then started explaining.

“Ok so the main character, played by you presumably, is an author”

“Did you just write out your personal fantasy Remus?”

“No, shut up! Ok so he's written several books, like neil gaiman or terry pratchet level several, but those aren't all the stories he's made, he has several stories that have never seen the light of day. He writes his stories in notebooks and journals ordinarily, waiting until they’re fully developed to make them digital. In one of these notebooks there lies a bit of magic. So he writes in this unknowingly, writes of a powerful magician, and as he sleeps it awakes. The magician escapes and brings each of his hundreds of creations to life just the same as him. The characters run amok and the author awakes to see the most beautiful man he's ever met at the foot of his bed. It takes him seeing the magician running through his home to realize that these are his characters. And the man is the protagonist from his most famous novel, one he wrote as a guilty pleasure, writing of a man he had met in his dreams. And he finds that these characters were pulled from different points in their books. The character had been pulled from the early pages, after he had suffered a major trauma and had no clue of the powers he possessed. So now, with his dream man in his living room, in pain from an event he had written, and gifted with emotionally driven powers, he has to fix this mess with the added hurdle of the character creating villains and fiends ready to destroy humanity as a whole with no way to stop. Along the way, some of his characters suffer mortal wounds at the hands of heinous and violent creatures, and all the author has is one magic notebook to fight them off. Romantic plot between the author and dream MC, with angst from the reality of once everything is dealt with, he will have to go back to the book. Thats what ive got so far, what do you think?”

Roman is starry eyed. It's far less violent than Remus’ normal brand of writing, it doesn't inherently include any sea monsters or snake men, and it's something Roman can really appreciate. He loves it, he can already feel the gears turning for songs and dances. Now that he heard the actual story instead of just going on the drawings, he saw far more nutcracker vibes from it. 

“Oh, and there's a happy ending or whatever that the author gets to like, marry the other MC, and everyone lives happily ever after. I know you like the cutesy shit”

“Remus this is amazing! I can't believe I hesitated, I already have some ideas for the score! Remus you're a genius. I love you!”

Roman launched into a hug with Remus, which had the other laughing. Remus hugged him back.

“Penny for your thoughts?”

It was Roman's turn to turn into a giggling mess.

Taglist: @fivebyfive-finebyfive @tacohippy56900 @analogical-mess @crookedlyoptimisticdestiny @angels-and-dreams @fandomloverangel

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Thank you for reading I will see you later ladies lords and nonbinary royalty!!!