#(The Mer AU one in the works could definitely pass as such)

[asheanon]

Once again, since I've been mostly invested in words (though, I'm hoping the artistic inspiration will return to me soon...!) I figured I'd just take a moment to share some word-y things today.

If y'all like those little story prompts I've been doing, I've also been uploading them to AO3. You can find them all here. 💕 Individually, so far, there is:

A Walk In The Park

An Unlikely Duet

Tea Time

Beyond The Bar

And there are more in the works! 🖊️ (They're tiny reads. Like, snack-y reads. Don't go into them with a meal in mind, just a snack. I come bearing snack reads only. For now. Hahaha!)

They can be found under the "#I write sometimes 📖" tag as well!

[mistress-of-malevolence]

For this year's Mer-may (which I definitely didn't almost forget about) I present Angler Fish N & Octopus Uzi~ just the sketches though.

◀◁Possible AU details below? ▷▶ Warning: Long.

Ok, so I've never really made an AU before. Still, While I was designing these I was trying to figure out how the sea/ocean creatures would work good not just with their respective species (worker, disassembly) and abilities but also how I could integrate their pre-existing designs so that they would look nice and make sense.

First, I decided I didn't want them to be robotic for this since I like working with organic creatures a bit more. Having flesh eliminates most movement restrictions when posing since the body material is malleable. while the idea of robot mermaids is cool, I didn't feel like drawing a bunch of joints and stuff like that. Second, If they were organic then I needed to figure out why they were fighting if it wasn't for a huge human plot to destroy rouge AI. And finally, how was I going to incorporate their powers like absolute solver and other such stuff without necessarily using technology. Having all these things in the back of my head while I was drawing led to the following, so without further ado, here's that ↓. This gonna be long, I can already feel it...

_______

◇Story stuff.

A long time ago, merpeople ruled the water in peace. Humans kept to the land and the only thing they had to worry about were the sirens: Natural predators to the merpeople.

In the eyes of the merfolk, sirens were dangerous. Mindless, bloodthirsty monsters that couldn't be reasoned with. fortunately, their naturally heightened senses left them sensitive to sunlight. This kept them mostly contained to deeper, darker waters than the merpeople usually inhabited.

During the day it was safe to hunt, play and generally flourish as a species and at night they would hide in sea caves and other small spaces that a siren would have trouble fitting into.

That's how it was for many peaceful years. Occasionally one or two would die a victim to the monsters of the deep, but that was just nature.

But slowly as time moved forward and Humanity continued to develop, the merpeople were driven to deeper waters to escape pollution and being hunted.

Uzi's mother, Nori began having visions of a terrible fate that awaited her kind if things continued as they were and after weeks of pleading with her people and her husband to heed the warnings, she went to the sirens alone. for what reason? No one really knows. It's a mystery that only she knew the answer to.

After getting stung by the sirens paralyzing venom, her husband Khan made the heartbreaking decision to put Nori out of her misery before the sirens could do any worse, leaving him to raise their infant daughter Uzi by himself.

The incident resulted in a lot of deaths and many of the families of those that had passed blamed Nori. Saying that she was a mad woman and rumouring that she was a witch who had been meddling in dark magic that caused her to lose her mind and wander towards her death.

Seventeen years later, Uzi had grown up to be an unstable and particularly angsty teenager with a strained relationship with her colony and her father. Uzi believed that the ever-looming threat of the sirens was not something to hide from, but to confront head-on. Such notions labelled her as her mother's daughter in the worst ways possible: Crazy, an incident waiting to happen, most likely going to get eaten by a siren for reasons they will never understand.

Khan had kept the colony safe since Nori's death by having everyone hide away in a cavern big enough to house them but with an entrance so well hidden that everyone believed that the sirens would never find a way in.

Inevitably, Uzi grew tired of cowering and after fashioning the first semi-modern weapon her people had seen out of sea trash and other things humans had chosen to toss into their waters, she snuck out to confront the enemy.

The siren's lair was decorated rather grimly, with the nest seemingly fashioned out of the bones of long-dead mermaids, skulls stacked up together to make the walls of the lair. Inside the dimly lit den was a single male siren who was in the middle of feasting on a mummified corpse which looked to have been drained of all its blood.

As soon as he noticed her, he rushed toward her with killing intent. Uzi's fight or flight kicked in as she brandished her weapon, but it failed to deter the monster in his bloodthirsty craze. He grabbed her by the shoulders, stinging her with the paralyzing toxin in his Claws. Uzi barely managed to break free from his grip by slashing his face with her weapon, sending him reeling back from shock.

Uzi immediately felt her limbs growing heavier but ignored it in favour of taking the opportunity to take the Siren by surprise. While he was distracted she threw her weapon to the ceiling causing an avalanche of skulls to come crashing down on top of him. Uzi had only a moment to breathe, thinking her enemy was buried and dead before a clawed hand burst through the top of the pile like a zombie about to dig itself out of the grave.

Panic surged through her and with as much strength she could muster she pushed away the darkening of her vision and forced the few tentacles that didn't refuse to move to propel her forward with enough force to hopefully finish the job.

The siren's head burst through the pile of death with a groan of pain, but before he could do anything else, he was knocked unconscious as rock made contact with his already aching head.

All was silent for a moment, Uzi fighting for consciousness as her vision continued to darken, whether she was just crashing from the adrenaline or if the toxin was shutting her brain down she wasn't sure. but then the monster woke up, a confused look on his face as he pulled himself out of the skeletons. he blinked and turned his attention to the little creature before him.

"Did you just hit me with that rock?"

"Holy crap it talks."

_______

◈Extra details.

-The sirens and Humans have a deal with each other that if the humans drive the Mer-people deeper into siren territory the sirens will kill the species off in exchange for making them more powerful.

-Apparently, the humans want them dead because they are considered a threat, and can't be reasoned with.

-this is a giant lie on the human part, as they have made no attempt to talk with the merpeople and plan to kill all the sirens after the mermaids are dead.

-Rather than absolute solver being a program I'm changing it to being some form of magic that the humans discovered mermaids had after analyzing corpses that had washed ashore.

-In order to gain this power plan on reverse engineering it from the merpeople's remains while eliminating the prospective threat to humanity at the same time.

-The humans claim that they will make the sirens more powerful by implementing them with tech that will supposedly allow them to live and hunt during the day.

-This tech would actually be something of a remote detonator that once activated would be used to kill all the sirens off at once.

-I haven't decided if all sirens are angler fish, but probably not because that would be boring for me to design.

-Not all merpeople are Octopi though, that's for sure.

-I'd say that since merpeople can be the same species without necessarily being based around the same sea creature, the babies would simply take after one parent entirely.

-This would make sense in this as to why Uzi looks like the spitting image of her mom.

-While trying to figure out Absolute Solver I was really channelling Ursula for Uzi with the skull and the octopus stuff and it all just kinda resulted in sea-witch.

-Both mermaids and Sirens got bioluminescence as a default so that we don't gotta stifle that glow they got in canon.

-Since it wouldn't make sense for fish to have screens and stuff of their faces and bodies, those dark areas where the face-screen would be are just body markings now.

-Uzi's hat is now a sea anemone that just kinda chills on top of her head, kinda like how they do with crabs in real life.

________

I know this was really fucking long but if you made it to the end, thank you very much for reading❤️

Im still workshopping this and I don't even know if anyone has already done something like this. I wouldn't be too surprised if they had since it's May and Mermaids are pretty popular... idk, if I make a fic I'll let you know.

[neverregretthyfall]

AcTUM's Les Misérables

A few days I made a post about our local university adapting Les Mis for stage. Yesterday I went to watch the premiere and I really enjoyed it! It was super good and very engaging, the actors were fantastic and you could feel that they definitely read the brick as well. Unfortunately the pacing moved very fast and I think those not familiar with Les Mis might have gotten a little bit lost on occasion. All in all, I can definitely recommend going to the other two performances (June 17th and 18th) if you want to experience it for yourself.

Check out their website or their Instagram for more information (all in German).

Below you will find extensive notes on the stage play, keep reading if you’re curious ….

Technicalities: Modern AU, unspecified locations (just capitol city, smalltown, etc.), duration 2.5h (incl. intermission). The main message of the play was acceptance, tolerance and to show kindness to others.

(I will not rehash every plot-related detail that remains unchanged from the book, because otherwise this would get thrice as long)

‘Montreuil-sur-Mer’ (the smalltown) arc

We opened on JVJ being the mayor. He is the boss of a soup kitchen and to ease us into the story he talks to a new worker about his past. Unfortunately I cannot remember now if he really opened up about his own experiences or if he claims this happened to ‘a friend’.

Fantine is a recovering drug and alcohol addict and now works at JVJ’s soup kitchen. Due to her addiction she was forced by the court to give up Cosette into foster care (to the Thénardiers).

A letter sent to her by the court reveals her past to the colleagues and forewoman and Fantine is subsequently fired.

As she is now out of a job she turns to do illegal sex-work; they used some real cool shadow-play to show that, really enjoyed that part!

During this time she gets sick and is then caught by Javert, who wants to send her to jail for illegal prostitution. Fantine really panics then because she fears with a prison-sentence the court will never allow her to see Cosette ever again (!!)

The Arras plot is condensed to JVJ monologuing at the hospital with Javert overhearing him. While trying to arrest him, Fantine grabs a vase and knocks Javert unconscious (heck yeah, go Fantine!!). She then passes away from a combination of exhaustion and illness (one of the occasions that probably left non-fans super confused lol)

JVJ takes Fantine’s scarf as a memento and disappears …

Transition of dead Fantine rising and singing a song (aria) to Cosette (it was beautiful and very touching, I was super close to crying)

After getting Cosette from the Thénardiers, JVJ gives her Fantine’s scarf <3

‘Paris’ (the capitol city) arc

In true Marie (aka our Marius) and Cosette fashion they just stared at each other in the park, to shy to talk but really wanting to. Cosette then got called away by JVJ and accidentally left the scarf on the bench. Marie took it and vowed to find her again.

Marie studies law (as expected) and is an orphan (which she revealed super late).

Éponine is crushing hard on Marie, even reading a law book to impress her <3

Gavroche was super cool, he sang, made jokes, got the best one-liners and dabbed lol.

They included all of Thénardier’s aliases and he discovered the advantages of doing the ‘grandparent scam’ lmao.

Amis are introduced by running through the auditorium protesting, whistling, etc.

They are primarily fighting for queer rights (!!!)

Amis Count: 6/9

Named: Enjolras, Grantaire, Courfeyrac, Joly

Unnamed: one of the actresses said something very Combeferre-vibe-y, so I just decided that’s her then, lol; the other one I have absolutely no clue, Marie said to her at the barricade that she still owed her some money, which would make me think it’s Courfeyrac but he was played by somebody else, so alas, it shall remain a mystery ….

We got the ‘You don’t believe in anything / I believe in you exchange’.

Grantaire’s red waist coat was replaced by a huge-ass Enjolras-inspired tattoo on his chest, which was absolutely fantastic.

Making Marisette queer really improved the story, and especially Marie’s arc. Now Marie had a concrete reason for joining the Amis at the barricade (fighting for her rights).

We got super close to Cosette actually joining the fight, but in the end she didn’t unfortunately …

Lamarque’s funeral got replaced by a demonstration for queer rights, as expected the demo turns violent due to police brutality.

The Amis sang both a protest song and later – during the barricade fight – a drinking song (very DYHTPS and Drink with Me vibes)

Joly got very bad stomach ache when the fighting started but obviously he would never abandon his friends :')

When Javert got revealed as a spy, Enjolras threatened to shoot him and you could see how badly her hands shook (possibly an easter egg to ‘He could be your brother / He is’ ?)

Amis fought back bravely against heavy armoured police but alas, they did not make it this time either, rip …

permets-tu was fully included, long live the republic and handholding inclusive (!!)

Javert died via gun to the head.

The ending was super hopeful, during the four months Marie recovered in the hospital, queer rights improved and the biggest surprise of it all: JVJ survived!!

End Quote (paraphrased because I cannot remember the exact wording and I also have to translate it to English): “Freedom is a right but it's also a privilege that was bought with the courage of others!”

Various notes on appearances:

Thénardier looked straight outta the 70s (sans hair), fantastic outfit, 10/10

Enjolras wore a lime-green pantsuit and she looked absolutely excellent

The Amis had different coloured fabrics across their wrists, which I am pretty sure combined to the rainbow flag

Joly wore make-up and nail polish

unknown person at the demo: incredible hippie-look, also 10/10

Éponine had her hair up in some super cute buns decorated with violet ribbons <3

Gavroche gave hipster child vibes

Marie wore chic pants and top (she looked both elegant and laissez-faire)

Cosette wore a black pencil skirt, combined with a violet top and the pink scarf

Javert wore a very nice long black coat and a fedora

JVJ blending in with the rest and wearing a simple sweater/shirt combination

Courfeyrac wore simple slacks and a patterend shirt-top

Grantaire had a very revealing thin shirt/blouse thing going on combined with an orange/red scarf

Well, that's it! Thank you for reading up until this point. If you get the chance, please go watch this stageplay or check out their other works <3

[non-un-topo]

End of the year questions!

Tagged by @aphroditestummyrolls. Thank you, my friend! <3

Tagging @guarncre @spacegirlsgang @andrea-lyn @ladytessa74, and everyone!

What is your favourite thing you created?

I've talked about it more than enough, but probably my big baby, Axis. Jericho, My Moon is a favourite too, for its whimsy and dream-like quality and gothic romance. I want to write more things like that.

Which work are you proudest of?

Definitely Axis. It's just under 30 thousand words, and took me a year while I was working through a ton of grief, stress, an identity crisis (ongoing to this day lol), and just generally losing touch with reality. I think it's one of the most raw and beautiful things I've written, though I'm def overselling it. I'm also happy with the section break illustrations I made for it!

Is there anything you are proud of that you achieved this year?

Mostly my university achievements. I won 3 awards/bursaries this year due to my hard work! Got a work/study position at a small feminist library in my faculty, made some classroom friends, and have been enjoying helping students when they come to me. I guess I'm also proud of myself for... maybe.. perhaps... coming to the point where I can no longer deny that I'm trans. It's been a lot. It's shaken the very ground from under me. But at this point I don't think it can be denied anymore. It's time to be brave.

Did you explore anything new this year? (A new way to be creative, a trope you didn’t write before, or an idea you hadn’t thought of earlier, etc.)

I guess gothic romance is a new thing for my writing. I'm kind of a romance hater tbh, so I usually just background the relationships or struggle with forefronting them, but I'm becoming more of a fan of the weird and macabre kind of romance. Also not necessarily new, but I almost never write modern aus and I completed one this year: tempests of dust. I guess you could say my canon-divergent t4t au, Wolf Tooth, is new too!

Which work gave you the most difficulty?

Besides the aforementioned 30k fic, probably finishing misplaced items of great (in)convenience. I let that one sit for a while, which I guess kind of lines up with the themes of the fic lol. Burnout is real.

What was your biggest creative challenge this year?

Drawing ;_; At all. Perfectionism and self-scrutiny stop me before I can begin. That, and I have a lot of WIPs I started in 2023 that are supposed to be pretty big.

Which work brought you the most joy?

Hounds! I wrote that 8k bitch in nearly one sitting because I was so fired up.

Which of your works do you think people should check out?

Not all from 2023, but perhaps some of my less read ones. Obviously I want people to read the long ones about grief and liminal space and adventures that I worked so hard on, but I know most people don't have the energy or desire to sit down and read a lot of plot.

I'd recommend an Andy-focused one from my mystery series, Chronos, and Primavera, my little Nico 3000-headcanons-stuffed-into-a-trenchcoat backstory. My time loop fic, la mer a bercé mon coeur pour la vie, is also a fun little Andy-centric team adventure. My queer ass is also very fond of Eight Minutes. Lastly, one of my Booker fics, all things pass into the night.

I should say that not all of my fics are available for people without ao3 accounts.

Do you have creative plans for next year? Is there anything exciting you’re currently working on?

Oh gosh, I want to be so productive in 2024. I really hope I can be! I have plans for another queer quartet adventure with mystery elements that will hopefully be longer and more adventurous than the works in the Tetrad Mysteries. I miss it when that was my specialty! I also am working on a big canon-divergent au in which Joe and Nicky were childhood friends (and still end up killing each other). That fic mostly takes place during their adolescence and young adult years, so I'm sort of stuck on how to end it since I'm worried it'll be a disappointing read for people if it ends in Jerusalem. But we already know the rest of their story, more or less. I've put it on hold for a while due to sensitive subject matter that I feel is just inappropriate for the world right now.

Those are the two big projects, but I'm also hoping to do some collaborations, maybe open up commissions (we'll see how busy I am in the summer!), and have some smaller works in progress.

Lastly, any words of wisdom or anything else you would like to share?

We are not defined by our productivity. The process is always happening and we are always changing and learning, even if we're not actively "creating."

[emcscared-whumps]

WiJ 2023 - 04: Share Whumperflies Media

WiJ 2023 Navigation Post

A Show/Movie/Book/Series that Gives Me Whumperflies

Honestly? I'm far too picky about whumpees and I don't consume all that much media (especially not these days since i have my own purpose-built character who is capable of hitting just about EVERYTHING I like) to have many items to rave about ^-^'

HOWEVER.

That does not mean that there is nothing :)

I'll go right back to the start, in fact (in rough order)... just keep in mind that I don't watch for whump, and these aren't whump recommendations except for one lmao, they're just what have managed to give me whumperflies in the past.

Cybergirl (2001-02)

An Australian sci-fi superhero T.V. series that was airing in the morning when I was a young kid, maybe 6 or 7, back before I understood how T.V. scheduling worked lol. I don't often get whumperflies from media, but I think this time, I did, and it's actually my earliest memory of whumperflies.

Cy ended up trapped in a Big Fancy House by the Big Bad, Rhyss. It's been many years since I last re-watched the show so I don't remember a whole lot except there was a lot of urgency and a zappy barrier that Cy couldn't pass through, and I definitely got some kind of feeling about that :)

The writing was very average, not very substantial for an older viewer, but it was excellent for a kids' show. There was so much lore that just never got expanded on, and it didn't go particularly hard with the whump :')

H2O Just Add Water (2006-10)

To no one's surprise, I ADORED this series as a kid. My obsession with mer had just started, and honestly, this shit FED ME. This was another Australian show that I watched when I was fairly young (again, 6-7 and onward), but I don't recall watching it when it aired. I instead had a collection of DVDs.

The girls and co got into some pretty interesting hijinks while trying to guard their fishy little secrets, but shit got REAL in season 6 when a marine biologist coworker of the friend of the girls' Lewis managed to leave a sample of their skin/scale in the lab... OOPS.

You can guess where that lead-- the scientist trying to track down the owner of the magic scale that could turn back into skin (somehow lmao, ~magic~), and she eventually trapped the girls in their little grotto with a gate that she had installed at the underwater entrance of their grotto spot on Mako Island.

Here's where I mention that I did not actually get whumperflies from this lmao, but it was a close one (the scientist didn't go far enough lmao). That's okay though :) One self indulgent decision just under 10 years later sure fixed that :))

Vampire Knight Anime (2008, English Dub aired in Aus in 2011)

The whole show. Every episode. I'm not even kidding. (Well, just about every episode lol, there was maybe only one where I didn't). As many problems as I have with the series, (mainly that every time I see Yuuki or hear her voice I want to strangle her), Zero was just so. fucking. scrunchy-- almost the perfect whumpee ^-^ And the English voice actor does such a glorious job of voicing Zero's pain, the whole series is ABSOLUTELY worth enduring Yuuki's stupidity.

Iirc, my favourite episode was Crimson Chains-- full of spoilers, a lot of plot bits come together at that point, so I can't say much other than that Zero's lost his shit and has a whole big scene where he writhes and pants on the floor with the agony of his hunger. I am convinced the author ALSO liked that XD

I would sit at night and watch that episode over and over and over because man, those whumperflies were something else, super intense, 11/10 lmao

Doctor Who (1963-present)

Nine had that one episode where he got caught by some collector dude and tortured to figure out what made him tick, or rather that he had TWO hearts that made him tick... Fun times, that DEFINITELY gave me whumperflies and had me furtively returning to the episode to keep watching that scene.

A lot of Ten's run had me by the throat, most memorably his regeneration at the start of his run, and his regeneration at the end directly after an hour (approximately) of whump was. AMAZING. I kept coming back to the start and end 😅

There were a couple more times I got whumperflies throughout his run. The main episodes that come to mind are Midnight, set on the planet of sapphires and lethal radiation, and 42, involving a spaceship hurtling toward a sun.

There was only one more whumpy instance, and that was that one movie they made. I forget who, when... EVERYTHING except the dude that played looked like Gene Wilder and it took place on NYE of the new millenium. It was another shitfight with The Master. ANYWAY. The whumperflies were at the START of the movie when The Doctor wasn't doing so well, I think he got shot?? And then rushed to the hospital, all while trying to avoid that and trying to communicate that they'll kill him

Supernatural (2005-20)

Ok. This one is weird in two ways. I forget which episode it was, but it was season 2 where Sam and Dean were trying to kick a group of vampires out of a town, but they were actually cool/chill vampires...?

Or at least some of them were...

ANYWAY.

This other hunter had this vampire chic tied to a chair baaaasically torturing her...? Memory's a bit foggy on what exactly what they were doing (the brainworms wouldn't stop wriggling about AUs), but I got these itty bitty whumperflies from that vampire lady getting hurt. That was weird because 1) I've only had whumperflies off the ladies once before watching Cybergirl which was SO long ago, and 2) I never have had them from watching a side-character, I usually have to be emotionally invested.

Weird right?? Absolutely wild though!

Anyway, that's pretty much everything, even though I've seen and read a fair few things lol, hope you enjoyed my rambling!

[youarejesting]

Wash Out.22

[Master List]

Banners: @purpleskies1999 Pairings: Dolphintrainer!Taehyung x SharkDiver!Jin,  Mer!Jimin x Reader, Scientist!Namjoon x MerKing!Jungkook, Mer!Yoongi x Mer!Hoseok. Rating: 16+ Genre: Mystery, Romance, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, little bit of Action, Slice of life, Enemies2Lovers, Friends2lovers, Social media au, Fake Texts, Fake Subs.

Summary: Taehyung and his best friend Y/N are Dolphin trainers at Wash Out; Marine Wildlife and Theme Park. When the nerdy marine biologist and resident veterinarian Doctor Kim Namjoon goes missing; the two friends form a ragtag team with Taehyung’s rival Seokjin and a…. Fish?

[Prev] 

There was no limit to which Taehyung could grieve. But there was a limit to his bank account. The new CEO Tom was a kind man, offering them a chance to mourn their losses and collect themselves before returning to work. There was a small funeral and memorial for Mr Schmidt within the theme park. 

Although the employee’s were respectful they remained impartial to the change of leadership. With new management came more appropriate wages. 

Waking beside Y/n reassured him things would be okay. You were the only reason he got out of bed and Taehyung suspected you felt the same. Uncanny how the two of you were sporting matching puffy eyes and pink tipped noses. Taehyung gave a soft smile, you had been supporting him while he broke down assuring him that Seokjin would return. 

It was time to show Y/n that she had someone to lean on. Knowing you had lost the first person you had developed such a strong bond with. There had been a few before Jimin and there may be more to come, but like magic the two of you had a special kind of love. The rare kind that happens only to few.

Taehyung wondered what you were thinking, if you were really okay, or just saying you were because that's what people wanted to hear. Dressing quietly he noticed you stir out the corner of his eyes. Begrudgingly pulling yourself out of bed and getting ready in the bathroom.

The playful banter on the way to work became silent pondering of thoughts. Hands reaching for one another if those thoughts turned dark. Taehyung was grateful for the company, grateful for the silence. He had no pressure to act like things were okay when they weren’t.

In saying that pulling into the employee parking lot Taehyung cut the engine. Pulling the visor down to look in the mirror, he tested a small smile. Almost foreign and unfamiliar to him, the muscles seemed to have weakened.

How many days had it been? Two and a half weeks later, as the days passed any hope of Seokjin or Namjoon’s return dwindled extensively. 

“Tae, we should go in,” Y/n smiled hand ready on the door handle braced for work like it was war. 

“Yeah, sorry.”

The security seemed awkward greeting them, rightfully so they had been accused of stealing money from the theme park. It wouldn’t surprise them if everyone kept their distance. Dolphins on the other hand seemed to understand their feelings better than humans. Bubbles, Captain, Dolly and her new pup Hopster came up to greet them, sensing their mood and trying to cheer them up with little jumps, squeals and splashes.

It pulled soft genuine smiles from you both, it was mid practice when a voice called from the bleachers behind the show tank. “You know Joonie, I have never seen a dolphin show, but it looks pretty lackluster, the dolphins are doing all the hard work. The instructors don’t really feel committed to the show.”

“I think they have been having a rough week, maybe they might have lost someone close to them.” Namjoon said softly. “You can never know what someone else is going through without asking.”

“Should I go ask them?” Seokjin said, standing and strolling over, the two looked clean and fresh like they had just come back from a vacation and not the bottom of the ocean.

Taehyung had broken down in the water, crying as the dolphins playfully bumped him with their noses trying to stop his tears. You pulled yourself out of the water and ran over, hugging Seokjin. His whines echoing around the small amphitheater.

After practically suffocating Seokjin in a firm hug you pulled Namjoon in as well, he was surprised by the action. Probably because the two of you were never really close but unlike Seokjin he didn’t complain about the wet patches left on his clothes.

Taehyung had practically crawled out of the dolphinarium show tank, the dolphins wiggling on their bellies beside him on the small raised surface. Seokjin walked towards him sorrowful and compassionate, opening his hands for the young dolphin trainer and groaning when he was pulled into the knee deep water. Letting Taehyung clutch him tightly, his complaints ceased when he felt the younger man shaking in his arms.

“It seems you must have been suffering with me gone.” He tried to coax Taehyung’s head from where it had buried into his neck, but it only encouraged him to grasp tighter and bury his face deeper into Seokjin’s chest. “Hey, you can’t be crying like this, you are going to make me sad.”

“I thought you had died,” Taehyung whimpered voice broken and small, his hands clutching the soft sweater fabric pulled tight over Seokjin’s shoulders. Taehyung looked up, eyes wet, puffy and red for yet another time this week. “I thought I lost you, before I had a chance to tell you properly.”

“Tae, I can barely understand what you are saying,” Seokjin wiped his sleeve under Taehyung's nose, “You have to speak clearly, don’t ruin my good pants for nothing.”

Taehyung pulled him forward kissing him passionately. Taehyung was thrilled to have Seokjin back in his arms. He was unable to stop himself from slowly walking backwards more and more until he reached the edge of the water. Seokjin was too distracted by the kiss to realise until it was too late.

Pulling the older man into the dolphinarium and giggling when they resurfaced. “Ya!” Seokjin shouted, “We were going to dinner after this, I was dressed up and everything.”

Taehyung was apologizing, his grin never faltering as he chased a soggy Seokjin back to the locker rooms. The three of you emerged from the change rooms spotting Namjoon standing awkwardly by the entrance.

“Are you ready to go?” Y/n asked, slapping his back playfully, “I hear Seokjin is paying for dinner tonight.” 

“What, you wanted me to come to dinner?” Namjoon said his words, stumbling unsure and confused.

“You don’t want to come to dinner, Namjoonie-Hyung?” Taehyung grinned up at him, before the two of you took Taehyung’s car following Jin’s from the parking lot to the restaurant. It was a small barbeque place, it was a secret treasure known to only a few.

The drinks started flowing. Namjoon seemed awkward at first but he was soon laughing with the rest. “I have never really done this before.” He admitted sheepishly.

“Drank?”

“No, I haven’t had dinner with friends before,” His ears were pink and your smile fell, Taehyung felt like the worst person to ever exist. “I know Jin and I tried but there were always things getting in the way.”

“Hey, we are your friends now, we were just rude idiots. We didn’t know about how cool you were until Seokjin told us how special you meant to him.” Y/n explained pouring him another drink.

“You weren’t rude, I just am really awkward and I know I talk about crabs a lot. It isn’t the most appealing conversation people want to have.” Namjoon waved his hands trying to calm the sad looks around the table, “I am just happy you think of me as your friend.”

Seokjin gasped, pulling a small cloth from his pocket, “Jimin asked me to give this to you.” He placed the cloth in your palm and you opened it slowly. “He got back safely and was definitely worried if you were okay,”

Opening the cloth to reveal a necklace, a cream shell spiraling in a cone shape and in the opening fitting perfectly secure was a gold Pearl. Taehyung leaned over, taking the necklace and helping you secure it around your neck.

~

You were called into work early one morning by Namjoon, he said something was wrong with Dolly and her pup and he needed help. Taehyung was outside and you sleepily let them drive you across town. You were being pushed into the old marine clinic, Taehyung threw you some swimmers and pushed you into the change room.

Moving quickly you followed Namjoon who was talking about the pups condition seriously, “This is our last chance, just go in first and check on how he looks and appearance and then we will begin the treatment, make sure you keep him calm and make him feel safe.”

You nodded, slipping slowly until you were treading water by the catwalk, about to ask a few questions when you were pulled under by the ankle. Confused and scared, you spotted Jimin in the water, his face showing how happy he was to see you. He swam at you grabbing your waist and resurfacing. You started crying and you wiped your eyes laughing and coughing from the water you had partially inhaled in shock.

“I am leaking,” Jimin touched his cheeks and you kissed him happily. 

“How did you get here?” You sniffed, “We have to get you back to the water.”

“Hey, it's all good I have something special with me this time, it allows me to walk on the ground just like you. Our king Jungkook gave it to me. He says I can visit whenever I want, because you are my promised.”

[Prev] THIS IS THE END! YAY! I hope you enjoyed it.

Tags: @backinblack1967 @miriamxsworld @moccahobi​ @simplymemyself @a-gayish-unicorn @ella-mella @vjinfan23

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[hiccanna-tidbits]

*kicking at your door, smashing it* DING DONG

Hello! 🥰🌸

from "Questions You Should Be Able To Answer For Any OTP" 1,3,4,5,9 and 10 for moanida!😅💜 But you can answer all of them or only few of them is it's too much ahaha

Ily, take care!!

YEAH BOIIII

Coffee shop AU: Who is the barista, and who frequents the coffee shop?

I'm just imagining Moana being a barista at some hole-in-the-wall authentic Polynesian coffee place by the beach, and of course Merida because she damn well needs her caffeine in the morning or she'll pass out, and Rapunzel insists on starting these fucking Squad Beach Days early. Merida was honestly willing to take the first cup of coffee she could get when the gang first went into town, but uhhhhhh oh GOD that girl behind the counter is cute!!! Merida starts "ending up" in there quite a lot, although initially she can barely string a coherent sentence together in front of that cute barista and can't make eye contact for more than half a second. Extroverted as she can be, Merida dissolves into an absolute mess as soon as a pretty girl is involved XD

Merida also pretends to only like black coffee to make herself seem tough, but in reality she kind of hates it and prefers sugar-laden lattes and sweet teas. After a while, when she and Mo have established kind of a friendship, and Merida can have an conversation with Mo without imploding and making an idiot of herself, Mo notices Mer making a face every time she sips her Plain Black Coffee and kinda smirks and is like “You know, there’s no shame in adding sweeteners. I mean, for god’s sake, my favorite drink here is the blonde vanilla coconut latte, and I’m still pretty tough.” Merida is just like “OH THANK GOD” and finally admits that she’d much rather be ordering an Irish crème, toffee, buttered rum, cinnamon, or caramel latte. If the seasonal flavor selection offers any apple-accented or apple pie-esque lattes, Merida’s all about that shit, too! Probably the most “intense” drink Merida actually enjoys is a pretty spicy cinnamon latte. She ends up ordering this pretty frequently to impress Moana with her spice tolerance, even though she really doesn’t need to.

Also, in case there’s any question about it--yes, Moana absolutely memorizes Merida’s orders! Moana also memorizes what flavor syrups Merida seems to like best (i.e. spicy cinnamon, apple pie, caramel, toffee, butterscotch) and gives them extra shots of them in her drinks. When the manager complains about all of Merida’s favorite flavor syrups running out frequently, Moana is like “Oh nooooo, I have no idea why THAT could be! That’s terrible!”

Rivals to lovers AU: Who takes their rivalry seriously, and who is half in it just to push the other’s buttons?

I love the idea of them having a super-petty sports rivalry in a modern AU! Merida strikes me as being competitive as hell, so I’m betting anything she’d be the one to take it way too seriously and get increasingly annoyed with Moana outdoing her, while Mo kind of gives in and indulges Mer but is also secretly amused and kind of flattered that Mer is like...that into their rivalry. Moana’s just like *Regina George voice* “Why are you so OBSESSED with me???”

Like maybe in a modern-day college AU, Merida has been the star of her college’s archery team basically since freshman year. She wins the championships!!! She gets the trophies!!! She’s very well-known within the tiny niche community that is college archery!!! Then, come junior year, this girl in Merida’s year who Merida’s never even SEEN before shows up out of nowhere and makes the cut for the team. She’s honestly way better than she has any right to be (like judging by how she is with that harpoon gun, Moana’s aim is pretty damn good) and is constantly stealing the spotlight, and Merida is a very angry lass. Like it seems like no matter what she does, Moana can always one-up her, and Merida wants to tear her hair out in frustration. Doesn’t help that every time Moana does ridiculously good on a drill and gets 7 bullseyes in a row or some shit, she’s insufferably smug and cocky about it. Merida very-nearly throws a fit every time Mo outdoes her, and Moana honestly finds the whole thing pretty amusing. She’s sort of flattered that apparently only she can get such dramatic reactions out of Mer, and that just tempts her to push Mer’s buttons all the more.

Then, come the annual Big Archery Tournament Finals! As usual, Merida’s college’s team wins--although this time, it’s through a combination of Merida’s and Moana’s skills rather than just Merida kicking archery ass for like 2 hours straight. On the individual evaluations, Moana scores higher than Merida, but only by a little bit. Merida is, of course, extremely salty, but she’s also grudgingly grateful that Moana being there was able to give their team a definitive edge in the competition.

Afterwards, the team goes out for celebratory drinks. After probably 3 drinks too many, Moana finally works up the courage to try and actually like...have a straight conversation with Merida for once, instead of just communicating with passive-aggressive show-offery. She wanders over, sits next to Mer at the bar, and half-slurredly asks if she can declare a truce just for one night, in honor of their kind-of-teamwork winning the tournament. Merida is also a few drinks in, so she’s just like “sure, fuck it, maybe yer not so bad after all. Now prove to me you’re not a pain in the arse!”

They chat for a while, and it turns out Moana is actually pretty easygoing and fun to talk to when she’s not mega-flexing with her archery skills. After a few more drinks, Moana is like “...can I tell you something?” and Merida’s like “why not?”

And then Moana just goes bright red and looks away and admits that the whole reason she got into archery and boosted up her skills enough to join the team in the first place was because she saw Merida making like 50 bullseyes at the previous year’s tournament, and developed a huge crush on her--to the point where she did all this extra-ass shit just so she could join the archery team and get to know Merida better. Also, every instance of Moana acting smug and cocky after acing a drill or perfectly hitting a target? It was honestly because she was trying to impress and show off to Merida, and also because she’s awkward as hell and has no idea how to actually flirt without being joke-mean and joke-cocky. Merida, a much more emotional drunk than she will ever admit, starts crying and gets super apologetic, because oh god, she was being so mean and rude to this girl who only ever thought she was cool and wanted to impress her from the jump??? How COULD she??? Moana lowkey loses her shit laughing because how mad Merida got at being upstaged was honestly kind of hilarious, and she was actually really flattered that Merida was, again, that obsessed with their rivalry. It made Moana feel weirdly special that only she could get to Merida that much, and she honestly liked the attention, even if it...wasn’t the most positive XD And Merida starts laughing, too, because she’ll admit that in hindsight, this whole thing feels a little ridiculous, and extracurricular college archery really isn’t that big of a deal.

Finally, Merida just rolls her eyes and says “C’mere, yeh bloody show-off yeh” and grabs Moana by the front of her archery uniform and smooches her!!! The entire archery team hoots and hollers because OH SHIT, DAT GAY!!! Merida holds out her other hand and flips the entire team off, which honestly just makes them cheer more.

Enemies to lovers AU: Which one switches sides?

Depends a lot on the conflict, I think! Maybe a war breaks out in an AU where someone other than Moana is chosen to return the Heart of Te Fiti--I’m gonna say Tui, for irony’s sake! Moana and Sina take over as co-chiefs while he’s gone, but he takes significantly longer than Moana did in the quest, so Moana’s tribe is eventually forced to flee Motunui to find new fishing grounds before their island is overtaken by darkness. The people of Motunui sail across the world, trying to find a new place to call home. Unfortunately, every time they find a habitable place, it’s already occupied, and the people who live there are uninterested in sharing their already-scarce food.

Eventually they stumble upon Dunbroch, far enough away from Motunui that the seas aren’t affected by the spreading darkness, and fish are plentiful. Naturally, Moana’s tribe sets up a camp on the shores and starts catching as many fish as they can, hoping they’ve finally found a place where they can have enough to eat again. Unfortunately Fergus and Elinor aren’t too crazy about this, and are like “yo, these oceans and these fish and other game belong to the people of Dunbroch and you gotta leave” and Sina and Moana are like “Pls we don’t have any place to go and we’ve been barely eating for a long-ass time, can’t you spare some food?” and Fergus and Elinor are like “sorry bro, it’s almost winter and we have our own entire kingdom to look after, we don’t need more mouths to feed. You gotta be on your way or shit’s gonna get real.”

So Moana thinks this sounds sketch as fuck because like...there’s an entire forest full of deer, rabbits, and other game, and they have NO food they can spare??? That night, Sina sends Moana to spy on the kingdom, since she can be pretty sneaky when she wants. Moana manages to climb the castle battlements and watch through a window, and she sees a bunch of people enjoying a massive feast in a huge dining hall. Her eyes are particularly drawn to a girl about her age with a head full of bright, fiery curls, wearing a nice dark green dress and gorging herself on pastries adorned with white icing and raspberries.

Moana heads back and tells Sina “actually it looks like these assholes have PLENTY of food to spare, and they just want to keep it all for themselves” and Sina is like “well shit...why don’t we raid their food store, then??? They’ve gotta have one somewhere!” And so the Motunui village storms Castle Dunbroch at dawn, catching them almost completely by surprise.

The first thing Moana does is seek out the redheaded pastry girl, whom she’s developed a particular disdain for. When she rushes her, she’s surprised that the ginger girl whips around and immediately sends an arrow sailing into her shoulder. When Moana gets close, the redheaded girl pulls out a sword. Moana takes out a long, sharpened wooden spear made from a particularly tough oar.

She turns out to be much more competent than Moana expected, especially for someone who was shamelessly shoving sweets into her mouth not 7 hours earlier.

They go toe to toe Raya-and-Namaari style, and the redheaded girl admittedly gives Moana a run for her money. The longer the battle goes on, the more Moana’s rage grows. She taunts the redheaded girl the entire time, calling her a spoiled, selfish brat who’d rather gorge herself with all the sugar in the world than share even one grain of it. Merida, who hasn’t exactly heard good things about these people from her parents, is just like “well, you’re no better, showing up and thinking you can just steal what belongs to Dunbroch and we won’t put up a fight!”

And thus the war begins. Motunui is never quite strong enough to get through the guards and raid the food stores, and Dunbroch is never quite strong enough to fully drive Motunui out of the kingdom. Fergus and Moana are both far too stubborn to surrender (despite the fact that Sina is kind of ready to), and so the battles continue. Casualties start to pile up. Dunbroch seeks help from the other clans, but they refuse--they did not take their leaders’ sons being scorned by the Dunbroch princess lightly.

Over and over, Moana can’t help but be drawn to the redheaded girl. She realizes after a few battles that this girl isn’t just anymore, but the Dunbroch princess--her resemblance to the king and his protectiveness over her can’t be a coincidence. It only makes Moana hate her more--but time and time again, she isn’t able to get the better of the princess. Moana can fight hard, and she can be vicious--but so, she’s discovering, can the Dunbroch girl. The princess is clever and cunning, and underestimating her has almost gotten Moana a blade in the throat one too many times.

Merida would be the one to change sides eventually, I think (wooo! Finally got to the actual question!). Once she finds out her parents didn’t tell her the whole truth about their first meeting with the Motunui village and sorta fudged what happened, Merida is livid that they turned away people who needed help. She said if she had known there were people who were tired and hungry and just needed a place to rest, she would have gladly given up some of her own meals for them! To prove this, she gathers up her dinner--plus some apples and some pastries she was going to have for dessert--and puts it in a basket, taking it to the Motunui camp as a peace offering. Moana ambushes her and very nearly slices the basket in half, if only because Moana was convinced it was filled with venemous snakes. After some bickering, Moana finally snatches the food away and, after testing it to make sure it wasn’t poisoned, brings it to Sina.

Unfortunately, one basket of food isn’t enough to feed the village, and the fighting continues. Merida tries to convince her parents to share their food stores with Motunui, but they still refuse, saying they need those stores for their own people and the Motunui people killed any chance of goodwill they might get when they attacked. Determined not to see people starve, Merida starts stealing from the reserve herself and sneaking the food out to the Motunui camp. Moana is feeling a lot more kindly towards Merida at this point, and feels a little bad about being so quick to judge her initially.

Eventually, Fergus and Elinor notice the food in the stores going missing, and figure some of the Motunui villagers must be running stealth operations to sneak in and get it. Dunbroch launches a full-scale attack on Montunui--while Merida is at their camp sneaking them food, in fact. Fergus makes a beeline for Moana. Word has gotten out by now of the times she managed to spy on the castle, so her sneakiness is well-known--and Fergus is all but certain she’s the thief. He charges at her with his sword, aimed to kill, when his own daughter steps in the way.

He barely manages to stop himself, but he does just in time. Merida admits she was stealing the food the whole time, and she can’t let Fergus hurt Moana. Fergus demands to know why, and Merida tearfully admits “Because I love her!”

Fergus, in a rage, takes out his sword again and charges Merida. Swords clash between father and daughter, and Merida looks like she’s just about to be overpowered. Moana can see the fear and betrayal in her eyes, appalled that her father would actually contemplate hurting her.

Not wanting to see whether he actually would, Moana steps in and helps Merida to fend Fergus off. “Enough!” she screams. “How can you live with yourself? My father risked his life to try to save his daughter and his people--and you’re willing to fight yours because she doesn’t agree with all this senseless violence?! You make me sick! I’m standing with Merida, because...because I love her too. I’ll leave if you want, but I want this to end.”

This finally snaps Fergus out of it, and he and Elinor decide that maybe the fighting has gone on long enough--and maybe it’s not worth it anymore, if it’s pitting them against their own daughter now. They end up trying to work out something with Motunui. Establishing a peace treaty and figuring out how to proceed forward is a long and messy process, but everyone is willing to put in the work--for the sake of Merida and Moana, if for nothing else.

Soulmate AU: Who is eager to meet their soulmate? Who absolutely does not want to meet their soulmate?

Neither of them want to meet their soulmate XD Merida has just been repulsed by the idea of marriage and commitment since she was young, mainly because she can’t not see it as just a means of taking her freedom away and making her be subservient to someone. Besides, given the, um...heteronormative culture of Dunbroch and all, she assumes she’ll get not just stuck with, but cosmically bound to a man and that idea just...doesn’t do anything but fill her with unadulterated disgust XD Like please no, she’s perfectly happy to go where she pleases when she pleases with no one but Angus for company. The last thing she needs is some stuck-up, snot-nosed boy telling her what she can and can’t do.

Moana has similar concerns, although maybe a bit less extreme. She’s mainly worried that when she meets her soulmate and, as per expectation, marries them, she’ll be expected to “mature” into a full adult and fully embrace her responsibilities as chief, leaving behind her childhood dreams of exploring the ocean. Same as Merida, she’s worried the person she’s destined for will tie her down and prevent her from exploring and going on the adventures she craves so badly. She’s also, like Merida, worried she’ll get stuck with some lame, boring dude who she’ll be destined for because...he loves her!!! And will be really nice to her!!! But will not stimulate or interest her in any way whatsoever!!! And Moana is pretty uninterested in romance and dating regardless, so the idea of any kind of romantic partner who she’d hypothetically have to run crazy ideas by before just doing them doesn’t sound too appealing to her. Like, she’s happy where she is and having her friends and family for company, what does she need an SO for??? It just feels like the whole “soulmate” business is just the universe attempting to give her a babysitter, and Moana ain’t about that. She can do things on her own, dammit!!! And what makes the great elder love gods think she wants another person to keep track of on her escapades, anyways?!? It’s enough effort keeping herself safe without worrying about someone else!

Imagine their shocked delight when each finds out their soulmate is a) a girl and b) a girl arguably just as chaotic, adventurous, and rebellious as they are!!! They meet and they’re like “huh...maybe the universe wasn’t being some big dumb fucking idiot binding us together after all. I can work with this!!!”

Pirate AU: Who is the pirate? Who is the member of the royal family who did not sign up for this?

Merida is the pirate! Or at least...the one who becomes a pirate first! XD Maybe to escape her betrothal she steals a ship and flees Dunbroch, and BOOM trouble on the High Seas time!!! Eventually she sails to the south Pacific on her naval escapades, and stumbles on Motunui. When she finds out Moana is a chief’s daughter, she naturally kidnaps her and holds her for ransom--because screw it, she hasn’t successfully pillaged any merchant ships recently and she needs some cash. But instead of being like “Noooo take me home!” Moana is like “Actually this fucks, I’ve always wanted to sail the ocean anyways and my dad wouldn’t let me before, so you’ve accidentally given me an avenue to achieve my dreams!!! Thank you!!!” And Merida realizes that a first mate would actually be a lot more useful in the long run than a handful of hostage money, so she just kind of shrugs like “aight, yer on the crew.”

Merida is a bit salty because Moana takes to the pirate lifestyle excellently--so much so that before long, she’s arguably a better pirate than Merida XD While Merida is a bit cranky about being outdone in the art of piracy, she also can’t help but admire Moana’s natural aptitude for sailing and propensity for mischief on the High Seas!!!

Their ship is called “The Arrow,” and Merida definitely uses her bow during pirate-to-pirate combat! She teaches Moana how to shoot a bow, but discovers Mo is pretty nifty with a harpoon gun as well!

Childhood best friends AU: Which one was super obviously in love with the other the whole time? Who was oblivious until they were older?

Oooooh, this is a fun one!!! Admittedly I don’t usually think about these girls in a Childhood Friends to Lovers AU (very possibly due to...geographical constraints lol) so this’ll be a cool thought experiment!

SO in order to fix my unfortunate geographical constraints, I’m gonna say that this is an AU where the people of Motunui were wayfinders from the jump, and while voyaging (admittedly a LONG way), they stumbled upon Dunbroch. Moana’s parents and Merida’s parents immediately hit it off, and established a political alliance of sorts.

Moana, meanwhile, pulled the classic “little girl on vacation/at an event immediately seeks out other little girl and becomes best friends with her.” Moana and Merida naturally also hit it off immediately, and are both pretty bummed out when Tui and Sina want to leave and continue voyaging and such. However, they make plans to visit as frequently as they can and Merida and Moana are super hyped about this! They both always get extremely excited for said visits, and Little Moana nearly falls off the front of her family’s boat several times because she’s leaning over so far and squinting so hard to try and see Dunbroch.

I love the idea that Moana was the one who was totally smitten from the jump, to the point where it took her years to realize she was aspec because she was like “Of course I can fall in love!!! I’m in love with Merida!!!” She just didn’t realize most people have romantic inclinations toward more than one person over the course of their lives XD

It absolutely does not help that Merida is extremely romance-repulsed when they’re kids--mainly because she associates romance in general with being docile and acting stupid to impress some annoying macho guy, and that thought kinda makes her want to puke. That, and given how, er...heteronormative things are in Dunbroch, it doesn’t reall occur to her that romancing girls is like...an option. So poor Moana has always kind of resigned herself to thinking she has no chance with Merida, and keeps her feelings under pretty tight lock since she doesn’t want to ruin their close friendship and all and she doubts Merida even swings that way.

THEN when they’re in their early teens, Merida is like “hmmm...I wonder what it would be like to kiss Moana?” but then IMMEDIATELY feels weird for thinking that and tells absolutely no one. She’s definitely starting to feel something a little different than just platonic friendship though, and of course she’s also convinced Moana only sees her as a friend and probably doesn’t like girls.

Then one day they’re wrestling around out in the woods, like they have since they were little, and at one point Merida leans down and just impulsively kisses Moana. She’s super flustered and apologetic afterwards, but Moana just stares in shock before being like “holy shit, I never thought you’d actually want me too. Holy shit!!!!” After that, they start secret-dating and everyone around just thinks they’re still “very good friends” XD

When Merida turns 16 and gets the news of her betrothal, she’s devastated. It takes her several days to process her emotions, and several times she tries to protest to her mother, but Elinor steamrolls her and talks over her at every turn. Finally, when Merida can get a word in edgewise, she tearfully bursts out that she can’t go through with this because she loves Moana. Elinor, traditionally-minded woman that she is, is horrified by this.

When Fergus finds out, he GOES OFF at Elinor and sticks up for Merida. He basically says that she’s their daughter and they should want her to be happy, and they should be happy for her that she did find someone she loves, even if it’s a bit...unconventional.

Later, at the betrothal ceremony, Merida picks an archery contest for the suitors with the hopes of cheating the system and winning her own hand. Imagine her surprise when Moana rushes in late with a makeshift bow on her hip, shouting “I am Moana of Motunui, and I’ll be shooting for the princess’s hand as well!”

Luckily, due to Moana’s years and years of informal archery training from Merida herself, the other suitors really don’t stand a chance.

It turns out that Elinor and Fergus set this whole thing up, deciding in the end that their daughter should at least be able to marry who she loves if she had to get looped into a political marriage. And honestly, they weren’t going to say no to a stronger alliance with Motunui at the end of the day. Merida is so pleasantly shocked by the whole thing that she forgets to be mad about the fact that she’s still being pressured into a marriage pretty young XD Luckily, Moana has no intention of trying to hold Merida back or take her freedom away! Their relationship really barely changes after they officially become wives, and they’re still just as in love as they’ve basically always been.

As for the issue of heirs, Elinor and Fergus just make Merida’s brothers the heirs of Dunbroch, and Tui and Sina are fine with Moana and Merida choosing an heir for Motunui who isn’t necessarily their biological child. Neither Moana nor Merida are crazy about the “leaders have to be from the chief/monarch’s bloodline” rule anyways, so they’re more than fine with this!

This is in reference to this post! Still answering these questions for Moanida and Hiccanna, if I haven’t done so already!

@takaraphoenix come get your daily dose of Moanida!

[yukipri]

On what her crew wants to see Mer!Luffy wear:

In response to an ask from @sideeffectsofwriting:

1) What do each crew members or even others like seeing Luffy wearing? Or want her to dress up in?

Thanks so much again for sending this in! Here’s the thoughts of some of the crew, up to around Alabasta:

Ace: Honestly doesn’t usually think too much about clothing for Luffy, since he knows she doesn’t care about it much. Ace likes accessorizing, but knows from experience that Luffy is very prone to breaking/losing most things she can wear. It’s only after he sees Luffy try on his necklace, and sees Nami pick out clothes for Luffy in Ace’s colors that he thinks...Oh, oh, that’s actually really nice...He kinda doesn’t know how to put it into words though and feels weirdly confused/embarrassed when he thinks about it, so he mostly just shrugs. (everyone else on the crew: you’re feeling possessive, that’s what that feeling is, Ace)

Sabo: Unashamed and very open about liking it when Luffy wears his clothes. She’s basically swimming in his tunic, and it reeks “Boyfriend Shirt,” which he’s very proud of (Ace looks painfully interested in this look, and Sabo sighs and explains to his brother that in order to experience the Boyfriend Shirt, Ace must, in fact, first have a shirt for Lu to wear). He likes her in most other things too, from her usual vest to the cute and/or sometimes sexy things Nami picks out, but Sabo admits to being partial to wearing matching things. He’s the type to very proudly wear matching couple outfits (of course he’ll get one for Ace too, the three of them must do everything together after all), and he drinks the tears of jealous rivals with his tea.

Thatch: He kinda feels lame having an answer like this, when honestly Luffy’s cute in everything, she’s kinda his definition of cute...but since this is specifically asking for a preference: he likes seeing her in bikini tops. She’s a mermaid after all, can’t really wear much on the bottom, and there’s something exceptionally romantic about her wearing something that sings to the more traditional “Mermaid” aesthetic, and it’s a nice gap from her usual outfits. So many cute bras out there to compliment her gorgeous crimson tail, and lovingly embrace her lovely assets...He would also be very, very interested in seeing her in something a little more mature like lingerie but knows Ace would have his head so is wisely keeping his mouth shut.

Deuce: He’d say he doesn’t care, but that’s a cop out so...he’s gonna say it makes him feel weirdly more aware of her when she’s wearing more normal, concealing clothes, like a shirt. Maybe because he’s used to Whitebeard’s nurses being all over him, but the usual “sexy ladies” look doesn’t really do much for him, and he also kinda shrugs off visible cleavage like Lu’s regular very open vest. But there’s something about seeing her in a casual shirt, looking like a normal girl and not an extremely powerful pirate, the hint of her body through the way it stretches the fabric that...well. Ace, stop glaring.

Zoro: He likes how Luffy looks after a victorious battle. He always feels this feral pride when he sees her as the dust settles, her clothes ripped, shallow cuts and bruises visible on her bared skin, muscles shifting with restless energy as she comes down from an adrenaline high despite her eyes still being alert. It reminds him why he chose to follow her, and it’s hot. (Sanji: that isn’t a clothing preference!!!)

Sanji: Sanji wants to say a lot of things here, because he has a lot of thoughts about how adorable Luffy would look in a variety of things, including but not limited to a bikini (what, that’s already been said?!), a maid outfit, a school girl uniform, a dancer outfit, a wedding dress--but, because he’s never had the honor of seeing any of those...he admits he has a weak spot for seeing Luffy in clothes stained by food that Sanji cooked. Which, okay, objectively he knows that it’s pretty nasty, but she’s such a messy eater and...it makes him feel sickeningly warm inside, to see all this evidence of how much she enjoyed his work, and then being able to get close to tenderly wipe it clean, all while she looks content and full...

Nami: In a crew full of uncivilized men, and poor Luffy who grew up surrounded by them, of course Nami has to take it upon herself to introduce her to fashion. And of course Nami thinks Luffy should wear what she wants! But, her captain’s apparently never worn a bra, and doesn’t know anything about having proper support for her chest, and okay fine she’s rubber so maybe she doesn’t need it but...Nami doesn’t so much have a particular type of clothing she wants to see Luffy wear, but she DOES very much enjoy when Luffy wears things that Nami’s picked out for her, because Nami puts a lot of thought into what things she knows Luffy would look amazing in, and what she hopes Luffy will also find comfortable enough to wear. Nami likes it when she sees Luffy look jaw-dropping gorgeous because it’s what Nami coordinated for her, and yes there is a lot of undeniable very personal possessiveness, but also, gentlemen, she’ll take those tips now thank you...

Usopp: He was going to say he strongly prefers to pass on this question, as he only ever Looks Very Respectfully and look ok he doesn’t want reason for the Terrifying Big Brothers give him Scary Glares...but actually, y’know what, he does having something he thinks Lu looks really great in. He drew and designed the ASL Pirates jolly roger, y’know? And Luffy once casually mentioned that she really likes it, and it makes her feel so awesome and proud of her crew, and it’d be cool to see it on other things too...so the next island they stopped at, Usopp grabbed some fabric paint, and whipped up a shirt with the jolly roger and a few little artistic details. And Luffy’s face when he handed it to her, and she tried it on...That’s a good memory, one that he doubts he’ll ever forget.

Chopper: Chopper’s still learning about merfolk, and he knows frustratingly little about them and is constantly pushing himself to learn more so his lack of knowledge never ends up putting him in a situation where he can’t properly treat Luffy. But one thing he’s always so worried about, is how cold Luffy gets. He already feels kinda concerned for humans in general, they’re all so hairless! But Luffy gets especially cold, and seems to be partially cold blooded and gets chilled super easily when she’s not active and, as a mammal with a very thick and warm coat, Chopper’s always so worried that she’ll get too cold, especially when she sleeps. So it really reassures him when he sees her bundled up in something thick and fluffy, like a fur coat, because she seems like she could really use it.

Koala: Koala would love to see Luffy wearing some more traditional Fishman Island outfits. Koala knows Luffy knows basically nothing about her heritage, and doesn’t want to force it on her but--Fishman Island is so incredibly dear to Koala, and she knows how beautiful and vibrant the culture is. She knows Luffy would look stunning in mermaid dancer outfits, mermaid prayer outfits, mermaid formalwear, anything and everything that was specifically designed for her people...and not just the feminine things too! Luffy would look amazing in fishman karate gear just as much. It’s a mix of both Koala really, really appreciating the aesthetic mental image, but also the representation of Luffy learning more about Fishman Island.

Vivi: Vivi knows very specifically what she ideally would like to see Luffy wear, because she gave it to her already. Or rather, she put it inside Sabo’s bag the night before the ASL pirates fled Alabasta, with a note that it’s for Luffy, fully aware that the more careful older brother would hold on to it for her until there’s an appropriate occasion. It’s a traditional Alabasta outfit--specifically, a royal one. In fact, pulled from Vivi’s own wardrobe, and she knows it’s only meant to be worn by royalty, but she wanted Luffy to have it, and knows her father would support her, after all Luffy and their crew did for Alabasta. It’s an outfit not unlike the one Vivi wore when she waved at the crew as they disappeared--but in crimson and gold, with hues of rose, and Vivi couldn’t help but associate it with Luffy. She knows Luffy will look amazing in it, and knows that the world will know that Luffy has Alabasta’s support should she ever choose to wear it in public.

❀ ❀ Send YukiPri an Ask! ❀ ❀

~This ask has been added to the Mermaid AU Text Headcanons Compilation post~

[bunnimew]

Starstruck

Fandom: Rise of the Guardians Relationship: Jack Frost/Pitch Black Also featuring: Jamie Bennett Tags: Mermaid AU, Sea Stars, MerMay, Idiots in Love, Fluff without Plot, Modern Mer AU istg, Pitch is a literal drama king, Jack likes rocks Rating: T Words: 2349 Summary: Pitch finally proposed to Jack, but it's not just his fiancé on Jack's mind.

He's absolutely smitten with his engagement gift, too.

For RotG Mermay 2021 prompt Sea Star On AO3 Here.

Jack carefully brushed away the sand and sea life that had settled over the cold, hardened lava. Small pieces of rock broke away in his calloused hands, and he tossed them into the bottom of the sled, because why waste material? But he was here for the bigger pieces. The biggest, if Jamie and he could lift them.

This flow stretched forever. There would be plenty of rock to drag back and Jamie already had, like, thirty hands cleared. Jack was totally slacking. It wasn’t his fault, though! Jamie didn’t have a little guy to look out for the way Jack did, now.

Jack admired the beautiful little sea star wrapped securely around his arm. The tight little warmth was already so comforting and familiar. Jack couldn’t imagine going back to—

“Jack!” Jamie cried from across the lava flow. Jack looked up just in time to see him roll his eyes and flick his tail irritably. “You’re not even on the rock anymore! You’re just clouding up the water, you idiot!”

Okay, yes, Jack was doing that. His brush wasn’t anywhere near the lava. His bad. Jack shook himself and swam back to where he had meant to be working. “Sorry, I just—”

Jamie snorted and didn’t let him finish. “I know! You were distracted by your brand new sea star! I get it!” Jamie laughed. “But seriously, I want to go home tonight, so if you could focus for like ten more minutes, that would be great.”

Yeah, okay, Jack could do ten minutes. He could promise no more than that. “Alright, alright. Let’s get this done,” Jack said with a grin born of Jamie’s good humor. His smile gentled into a smitten upturn of lips when he leaned down to poke and prod at his passenger. “C’mon, little guy. I’m gonna need you to move so I can go faster.” Jack slowly and carefully peeled each of his little arms away until it was easy to move him from Jack’s arm to his back, just over one shoulder where he would be safely out of the way.

“I really do get it,” Jamie said. He was looking down at his work, but obviously talking to Jack. “I want one, too. It’s really cool that you and Pitch…”

Jack bit his lip and tried not to grin too hard or let his fluttering fins give him away. He loved talking about it, but he had sort of already talked Jamie’s ear off and it was actually kind of cool that Jamie had something to say about it now. So Jack was going to try really hard not to talk over him, and let Jamie have his say. About Jack’s thing. That just happened to him.

“I mean,” Jamie laughed, “I’m not sure how I feel about you and the word, ‘Commitment,’ but try anything once, right?”

Jack laughed with him. He had a point. “Hopefully once is all I need. That’s the idea, right? Hey,” Jack asked with a gesture at the rock beneath them, “How much of this do you think we can take at once?”

Jamie shrugged. “I’m willing to go for all of it if you’re willing to go for all of it.”

“We will never lift all of it.”

Jamie put his hands on his scaled hips. “Not with that attitude we won’t.”

~o~

They did not lift all of it.

But they gave it a good try. The important part was the sled was full, their job was done for the day, and Jack’s sea star was safely and happily back on his forearm where he could admire it the whole way home.

It was the sound of Jamie’s amused snort that made Jack finally look up. Pitch was there, looking regal as ever with his huge flowy fins and a tail that went on forever, hovering by their fancy little fanbike holding a bag of takeout. Yeah, they were acting like a disgustingly smitten pair of seahorses. Jamie’s attitude was completely warranted.

Jamie nudged Jack’s shoulder. “I’ll push this the rest of the way to the shop,” he offered. “You go home with your mer.”

Jack nudged him back. “Don’t be stupid; this thing is heavy. I can make it the rest of the way. Pitch can wait five minutes.”

It was Jack who could barely wait the five minutes, and everyone knew it. As soon as the sled was settled in its cradle, Jack was off with a parting, “Have a nice night!” a return, “See you tomorrow!” and Jamie was laughing the whole time.

Pitch also definitely had laughter in his eyes, even if he was keeping it mostly inside. He handed the bag of takeout to Jack with a kiss then put both hands on the fanbike handles. “I thought we’d skip cooking tonight. Ready to go?”

Jack was ready to investigate the bag in his hands, but he’d only gotten the corner unrolled when Pitch asked. Fine, okay, he could wait until they were home. It wasn’t like he could eat it on the way, anyway. “Sure. Take me home, Riptide.” He wrapped both arms around Pitch’s waist, one hand full of delicious takeout, and rested his cheek against Pitch’s spine.

With the flip of a switch, the little bike panels opened and the fan was exposed. It always took a little fiddling to get the fan going, but then the water was passing easily through and propelling them effortlessly toward home.

Jack closed his eyes against the oncoming water and enjoyed the feeling of holding on to Pitch, of his little sea star clinging to his arm, of the warmth between them compared to the cold flow of the ocean. Jack loved the cold. But he loved Pitch more.

Their home wasn’t as big as it could be. Pitch was horribly dramatic (Which was a good thing; it’s how he got paid) and wanted some huge cavernous maze of a house, but when Jack pointed out that someone would have to keep the thing clean, he folded to Jack’s much more sensible idea of a reasonable home with plenty of room around it for a coral garden and fancy toys like the fanbike.

Pitch still got his wish of a horribly dramatic house, with different rocks used in geometric patterns all up the sides. It sure showed off how much money famous actors made compared to someone like Jack, and Jack secretly suspected that was all Pitch really wanted, anyway. The show-off.

If Jack didn’t find his posturing adorable, they would have a serious problem.

As it stood, the reminder of their stark walls and clearly custom everything (Except the one cheap dolphin Jack stuck in the coral because he thought it was cute and Pitch couldn’t stop him) just made him smile and bury his face deeper into Pitch’s back. His fiance was a ridiculous man and Jack absolutely loved him, drama and all.

Pitch spun in his arms to wrap one around Jack’s shoulders, effectively locking them in an embrace. He lifted Jack’s arm to bring the little sea star closer to his face and, hilariously, began to coo at it. “How’s the little guy been today? Behaving? Happy? Did you feed them?”

Jack wanted to laugh, only he’d been the same way all day. No wonder Jamie was fed up with him. Not wanting to get stuck outside fawning over their baby for the next four hours, Jack tugged them along toward the house. “I just fed them yesterday. But yes, they were an absolute darling. Stayed wherever I put them and didn’t bother me one bit.”

“Aww,” Pitch cooed some more. He gently ran his fingers over the little legs and Jack was one-hundred percent certain that if he was not guiding them through the door, Pitch would have swam right into the wall for all the attention he was paying. As it was, his hair brushed the top of the doorway and Jack grimaced. That was close.

When Pitch nearly smacked into a side table, Jack rolled his eyes. “Maybe you should wear them for a day. Get some quality time in so you don’t lose your mind as soon as I’m home.”

Pitch woke up enough to scoff. “That defeats the purpose, Jack. It’s your engagement gift.” Suddenly a light lit up in Pitch’s eyes. “But you could always get another one for—”

“Pitch!” Jack interrupted with a laugh. “We’ve barely had this one for, what, three days? Let’s get good at caring for it before we double our commitment.”

Pitch’s expression failed to dim. “I love that you want to care for it. I love that you want to get good at it. I would gladly double our commitment if that’s what it takes—”

Jack pressed his hand over Pitch’s mouth to stop the rambling waterfall of dramatic confessions, then pressed his lips to the back of his hand in a mockery of a kiss. “I love you, too. I’d love it if you’d wear a sea star for me. But I’m also very hungry and you promised me takeout. It’s time to show your love by feeding me.”

Pitch blinked in shock, and slowly held up the bag of takeout.

Jack smiled. “Thank you, Cuddlefish.”

Pitch had them set up on the lounge and the food dished out in record time. The mer moved fast when he was motivated, and showing Jack how much he loved him was a goal Pitch strived for like he had something to prove. He didn’t, of course, but reassurance never seemed to reassure Pitch for very long.

Maybe a sea star of his own finally would.

Jack placed his sea star on his chest while he ate, where they would be safe from Jack rolling onto his back. Pitch neglected his dinner in favor of petting the tiny legs again, and petting Jack’s skin beyond them. “It looks fantastic on you.”

Jack smiled. He felt like he was glowing. “You picked a really good one. I love it.”

Pitch leaned down to press his lips to Jack’s shoulder. “I love you.”

Jack took hold of Pitch’s chin and pulled him into a kiss. “I love you, too. Eat your dinner.”

Pitch pouted at him.

“I love you,” Jack said, petting Pitch’s hair. “Therefore I want to feed you. Eat your dinner.”

Pitch gave a dramatic sigh, but obligingly shoved some food in his mouth. Jack grinned.

Honestly, it was hard not to talk and pet and preen when they were together right now. The guppy love was unbearably strong and with Jack’s meal already eaten, he found himself doing nothing more than gazing adoringly at his fiance while petting the symbol of their engagement. They were hopeless. How had Jamie not punched him, already? Jamie was a saint.

Pitch definitely noticed Jack’s stare. Thankfully, they were long past the point in their relationship where eating was embarrassing. Nope, the only embarrassed one here was Jack, for getting caught being stupid and helplessly in love, again.

If anything, Pitch enjoyed the attention. He always enjoyed attention; how else could he be a famous actor and not go mad with it? He was licking his fingers, and Jack wasn’t even sure Pitch had gotten anything on them, when the silence between them broke.

“My agent wants you to sit for an interview.”

Jack blinked. “Say what?” He’d been watching Pitch’s fingers and not listening.

Pitch laughed and snuggled down beside him. “You’re the new fiance of Riftland’s most prominent actor. Everyone wants to hear from you.”

“Except Jamie,” Jack muttered.

“My agent thinks it would be a good idea to cash in on the interest. And they’re my agent, so you know they won’t publish anything untoward.”

Jack’s lips pulled into a smirk. “Say ‘untoward’ again, slower this time.”

Pitch swatted Jack’s shoulder, careful of his beautiful sea star. “You’re horrible. Tell me you’ll do the interview.”

“Of course I’ll do the interview.” Jack swatted Pitch back. Just to keep them even. “I love talking about you. And me. And this wonderful little sea star I now have.”

Pitch’s smile lit the room. Jack felt pride that he put it there. Neptune, they were hopeless.

“Just let me know when,” Pitch said. “They were thinking sooner rather than later, but I know you have a real job to do.”

Jack snorted a laugh. It was a running joke between them, that Jack was the only working adult between them. Some days it really seemed to be true.

“I’ll ask Jamie about starting early tomorrow. He’ll probably be glad to be rid of me!”

Pitch slid an arm over Jack’s waist. “Nonsense. Jamie adores you.”

“He adores me when I can think about something other than you.”

Pitch’s grin said everything he didn’t. Jack shoved his hand in Pitch’s face to make that stupid, silly look go away so Jack could breathe again. Fuck, they were so in love.

They were so in love.

“I know we only just got home, but,” Jack tentatively began, twirling a finger in a lock of Pitch’s soft hair, “I think it’s time for bed. How about you?”

In place of an answer, Pitch pressed his face into the crook of Jack’s neck and did something with his tongue that made Jack’s tail squirm.

He clutched at Pitch’s shoulders and tilted his head back in bliss. “I’m glad you agree, but you seem to have already forgotten the bed part.”

Pitch swept Jack off the lounge and swirled them through the water of their home. “You must forgive me, Jack,” he said with a playful leer, “I thought ‘bed’ was a metaphor for something else.”

Jack laughed and wrapped his arms tighter around Pitch. “You’re the melodramatic artist, Tigershark. I just collect rocks for a living. When I say bed, I mean bed.”

Pitch halted abruptly on the threshold to their room and raised both eyebrows in interest. “Can we have both?”

Jack made him wait a handful of seconds, just to make him want it.

Then shrugged. “Yeah, sure.”

[acabecca]

Fine Line // a Billy Russo x OC fanfic

A/N: This is just a snippet of something I might continue writing (I have lots planned for Billy x Kaia but it depends on whether or not I lose my nerve). Believe me when I say I have no idea what I’m doing and I will probably regret posting this lol this is my first (possibly only) attempt at delving into writing a Billy Russo fanfic. I wanted to try and do Billy x reader but, as much as I LOVE reading them, I find them impossible to write! Also I can not stress enough how much of an AU this is. VERY AU. But let me know what you think I guess??

*

“Dance with me.”

It wasn’t a request, it was an order, and Kaia glanced at the outstretched hand with slight disgust, her eyes travelling up to find Billy stood in front of her, eyebrows raised. She pursed her lips and looked back down at her phone.

“No thank you.”

He rolled his eyes. “Come and dance with me, Page,” he wrapped his fingers around her wrist and pulled her out of her seat. “Call it practice for the wedding.”

“I’m not going to be dancing with you at the wedding, either,” Kaia scoffed, turning to glance at Foggy and silently pleading with him to help as Billy led her away from the table, but he just shrugged his shoulders weakly in reply. Kaia flipped him off and made a mental note that she owed him a healthy dose of payback.

“Of course you are,” Billy frowned over his shoulder. “It’s tradition for the best man to have a dance with the maid of honor.”

“I’m not sure that’s actually a thing, and anyway, Karen’s not big on tradition,” she pulled her hand out of Billy’s grasp as they reached the dancefloor, only for him to quickly wrap an arm around her waist and pull her closer to him. She scoffed again, but decided to stay where she was - one dance wouldn’t kill her. Besides, she could see Karen watching them both hopefully, and she knew her sister was silently praying that she be able to get through her own engagement party without witnessing another argument between Kaia and Billy.

Billy was surprised when she didn’t immediately step away from him and head back towards the table, so it took him a few seconds before he placed a hand on the small of her back and pulled her even closer, her chest pressing against his. He smirked when he saw her roll her eyes again.

“Why do you hate me so much, Kaia?” he hummed.

“I don’t know, how long have you got? It’s a lot to get through.”

Billy blinked. “You have a list?”

“Maybe,” she replied, and Billy laughed in disbelief. Kaia narrowed her eyes. “Well, why do you hate me?” she asked defensively.

“I don’t.”

She faltered for a second. “What?”

“I don’t hate you,” he told her with a shrug. “I’ve never hated you. I just enjoy winding you up, getting a rise out of you. It keeps me entertained,” he grinned, and Kaia let out a huff. “So, why do you hate me, then?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Billy,” she looked away from him. “Maybe it’s because the first time I met you on the date from Hell, you made me feel so… Small. So unimportant and insignificant, like I was just something to pass the time until you got a better offer,” she sighed, her eyes drifting around the room and missing change in Billy’s expression. “I mean, I wasn’t expecting you to be the one great love of my life or anything, but having your attention for longer than half an hour would have been nice. Especially considering Karen was the one who set us up and she promised me what a wonderful time I’d have. I hated having to go back and tell her that her friend was actually a jerk,” she looked back up at him, sending him a small smile when she saw the frown on his face. “And I’ve been known to hold a grudge, so…”

“I’m sorry I made you feel that way,” he told her quietly, his grip tightening on her waist. “I didn’t realise that’s what I was doing, but that’s not an excuse. If it means anything, you definitely had my attention for longer than half an hour-”

“I’m sure that would make a lot of other girls swoon-”

“You had my attention from the minute I picked you up, until I dropped you back at Karen’s,” he interrupted. “I’m sorry if I made you think otherwise. I’m not one to usually leave my dates feeling… unsatisfied,” he watched her, curious as she rolled her eyes again and looked away from him. “Let me try again.”

“What?”

“Let me try again,” Billy repeated. “Let me take you out.”

“Billy,” she sighed. “I have less than zero interest in going on another date with you.”

“It wouldn’t be a date,” he bit down on his bottom lip. “Not a real one. Just a do-over.”

Kaia met his gaze and narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Why?”

He shrugged. “It could be a friend thing.”

“We aren’t friends.”

“But we could be,” he leaned in a bit closer to her. “Come on, Kaia. We’re gonna be spending a lot more time together now that your sister and my best friend are getting hitched, and it’s gonna be easier for both of us if you don’t hate me, so what d’you say? Coffee, Monday after work.”

Kaia paused, keeping her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed as she regarded him carefully, trying to figure out if he had any ulterior motives. She couldn’t see anything sinister behind his invitation, but she still didn’t accept immediately.

“You’re not going to like, have me kidnapped and tied up or anything, are you?”

Billy smirked, bending down slightly so his lips were next to her ear. “That’s for the third date,” he whispered. “And only if you ask really nicely.”

taglist: @sgtbuckyybarnes @mer-writes @furtherapart @foxesandmagic @starcrossedjedis @ocappreciationtag @lukespatterson (let me know if you want to be added/removed) (also tagging @jewelswrites-ish who has listened to me cry/yell/scream about Ben/Billy for a Long Time)

[percywinchester27]

A lot like ‘Us’ (Part-3)

Word count: 3.8K

Pairing: Sam X Reader AU

Warnings: Some angst, some fluff, mention of depression

Series Summary: Y/N Y/L/N is eager and honestly, still in awe that she managed to get herself an acceptance from Stanford Law School. On the face of it, her life seems as put together, mysterious and independent as one might hope for. On the insides, she carries the burden of past that haunts her till date. Seemingly, she’d left it all behind; that is until she sets foot in the class of the Law School’s youngest, most promising professor.

A/N: The story employs two different timelines. The present timeline for the story takes place in 2014. Please let me know what you guys think :)

Beta: @deanssweetheart23​​ I love you, Athina <3

A lot like ‘Us’ masterlist

Monday morning rose brighter than it had a right to be; to the point that the sun was stabbing you in the eyes. You had been over and over the plan in your head throughout the weekend. By now, you were absolutely sure that you had mapped every second of the day and nothing could go out of hand.

The plan went sideways almost as soon as it started.

You dropped your bag at the threshold of the lecture room with a loud crash. All of the last row turned to look at who was that much of a klutz. You did not meet anyone’s eye as you took a seat at the very end of the top row. Maybe that would make you inconspicuous.

It did not.

“Y/N!”

Madison slid next to you on the bench, followed by her brood of friends. Lacey and the other two, whose names you didn’t remember.

“How are you, Sweetie?” Madison asked sympathetically. “You looked awfully ill when you left the other day. We were so worried about you! Weren’t we, Mer?”

Meredith- you remembered her name now- did not look worried in the least.

“What happened?” Madison asked.

“I was just really faint,” you answered automatically, having anticipated this. “I’m feeling much better now. Thank you so much.”

Madison looked relieved. “I’m so glad, Y/N. I wanted to check on you over the weekend, but I didn’t have your number or knew where you lived. You have to give me your number right away.”

You did, and she texted you immediately.

“Awesome!” she said. “Now you have my number, too.”

You tried to smile. “Hey, if it’s not too much, could you tell me what I missed in the two days?”

Madison became animated instantly. “Well, lets see. After you left, there was advanced legal writing by professor Mills, then Supreme Court Litigation by Professor Mcleod and Organisation and transactions law after that. Most of Friday was free except for another lecture by Professor Mills. I have the notes. Once you put your email id on the class database, I’ll forward mine to you.”

“That’s seriously more than I can ask from you,” you said, feeling small. 

She placed her hand on top of yours. “You’re not asking. I’m offering.”

“Thank you!” You said, looking down.

Madison huffed. “You thank me too much, Y/N! Besides, you really didn’t miss any of the fun.”

“What do you mean?”

“Professor Winchester didn’t show up either,” Lacey giggled. “Didn’t we turn up fifteen minutes early for his class on Thursday? And the man never came.”

Your stomach lurched, a feeling you hadn’t quite experienced in years had you feeling lightheaded. 

“Well, he didn’t completely disappear,” said the blonde. “He did turn up for the last half an hour of his lecture on Friday and outlined the syllabus of the semester.”

“He looked stiff and serious. Nothing like his first day here. And even that day he stormed off, remember?”

“Oh yeah,” Madison nodded. “Right after you left, Y/N. It was a bit weird.”

You swallowed nervously, your forehead already clammed up. What was it? Was it fear or worry that you felt for Sam? You had been so wrapped up in your chaos that you hadn’t stopped to consider about Sam, assuming that he must have grown passive and wouldn’t care about the past anymore.

Sam had looked warm and at ease with himself that day, happy even, while you had only survived all these years. You’d be lying to yourself, if you said that the image of Sam on the podium, smiling at the students hadn’t felt like a knife in your gut.

But if he had not turned up for classes either… did that mean….

There was noise at the front and you saw Sam on the podium. He looked every bit as dressed up and neat as he had on your first day, if not a bit more severe. 

He greeted the class curtly, and instantly jumped to the lesson. You tried not to stare, but it was hard to look away. It was harder still to keep looking. His features seemed more angular now, and he was definitely leaner than when you had first set your eyes on him. Today he was dressed in a dark grey suit and no tie, the button at his throat was undone.

He spoke for an hour about the merger of disputes and cases where it had benefited the original plaintiffs and not once did his eyes stray towards the corner of the class where you sat. It was as if he was deliberately avoiding that very portion of the classroom. He wasn’t genial today. A good teacher, just like he always had been, but absolutely formal. When the class ended, he retrieved the attendance sheet from a kid in the first row and exited the class.

“Well, that was quite intense,” whooshed Meredith. “Hadn’t pegged him for the serious sort.”

Blonde hair giggled at the double entendre, and you almost gagged. 

“He’s actually quite good,” Madison murmured, uncharacteristically serious. “He knows what he is talking about.”

Absentmindedly, you nodded. Not that you had paid much attention to the lecture, what with your heart struck in your throat.

The classes that followed weren’t as eventful as the morning and you were more than grateful about it. The other professors all seemed so knowledgeable and expert. You had enough on your mind by the time you left the university, your plate already full of assignments.

When you got home, Meg was sprawled on one of the two sofas that came with the house and were perched in the living room.

“Hey,” you said tentatively.

Meg raised an eyebrow, clearly surprised that you were initiating a conversation after a whole week of thoroughly avoiding her. 

“Hey,” she said. 

You placed your bad and laptop on the side table at the entrance and went to sit on the empty sofa. “I’m sorry about not greeting you earlier… I was going through some stuff.”

“Clearly,” she snorted.

The hurt must have shown in your eyes, because she straightened up into a sitting position.. “I’m not offended,” she said. “Locking myself in my room and avoiding human contact like it’s the fucking plague is my monthly PMS schedule. I’m not mad or anything.”

“Oh, alright,” you breathed out.

Meg looked amused. “Your face is like an open book,” she said. “If you keep that up, you’re going to be a terrible lawyer.”

You didn’t fight her on it. It was a problem… it always had been. Over the years mostly it had been a blank and your boss had commented on your excellent poker face… but clearly even the dumb expressive face was back with all the feelings.

“I don’t know what you’re studying,” you changed the topic.

“MS, Applied physics.”

“Damn. That sounds hard.”

Meg chuckled. “You really think that, don’t you? You look terrified.”

You rearranged your expression into what was just polite interest. Enough with Meg’s expert face reading class.

“You wanna grab dinner?” Meg asked.

“Sure,” you said. “What’re we doing?”

“I made some stir fry. I didn’t know if you’d be up for dinner, though.”

You felt terrible about skipping the meals and in turn her company over the past week. 

“No worries,” she said, getting up. “I’ll just toss some pasta and we’re good to go.”

“Hey, Meg?” You asked, “I see you’ve stocked up the pantry. It’s incredibly kind of you. I might drive to the supermarket tomorrow after classes, why don’t you let me know if there’s anything you want.”

She looked at you with some surprise and a hint of actual liking. “Sure. We can make a list over food.”

“Great,” you smiled.

The rest of the week passed without any more surprises, and you took your time to settle in… getting to know Stanford- both, the University and the town. You attended all lectures regularly and gave your hundred percent effort to every assignment.

In classes, you listened with utmost concentration… all except one. Civil Procedure wasn’t a lecture, it was slow seething torture. Watching Sam talk on the podium, interacting with students simply made it hard to breathe. The walls of the lecture room converged in on you while you gasped for air. On Sam’s part, he ignored you completely. It was as if you didn’t exist at all. Over the course of the week, his stiff, formal stance loosened and you could see more and more of the guy who had introduced himself on the first day. You didn’t know what you had been expecting from him? That one day he would suddenly look at you with hatred and throw you out of the class? That he’d lose his mind and yell at you? Ask you the questions that you didn’t want to answer?

But even for all that, he’d have to acknowledge your presence. Look at you. Somehow the ignoring and pretending that you didn’t exist was so, so much worse. It was killing you. Every second of the class, you fought your tears. However, you did not miss a single class. 

Apart from those two hours everyday, you were doing well, all things considered. On Thursday, you packed more food than just your lunch, and after classes, walked to the Green Library. It was just as breathtaking as it had been on the first day. You set out to find that one table that felt right. After a quarter of an hour of testing and teasing, you finally found a desk that looked oh so inviting. It wasn’t the one below the tall, arching windows, but rather a small desk niched between the bookshelves. It was perfect.

You unloaded your bag, and set to work with the assignments that had been set for the class by Professor Mills. You personally thought Jody Mills was a total badass. She took up cases that others were too scared to touch. Her assignments didn’t require you to reference too many books, so you could make yourself comfortable in the chair. Your mind wandered as the time passed. There were a lot of things to be thought through. For starters, if you had to afford living here, you needed a job. Your savings would last a couple of months at most.  The expense of moving across the country then having to pay for the lease of the apartment had taken a massive toll on your bank account. By the time holiday season began, you’d be as broke as the china in your grandma’s old cabinet.

Earlier, you had put in an application at the Student’s employment centre for oncampus jobs. You weren’t hopeful, given the number of applications they received, but you sure meant to check in on them next week in hopes that something suitable might have come up.

It was past 8 in the evening when you finally wrapped your stuff up, somewhat satisfied with how your assignment had turned out. You lowkey congratulated yourself on finishing it a week before the deadline as you made your way back home, crashing the minute you found your bed.

********************

18th July 2008

“Y/N! There’s someone here to see you!” Jo hollered from somewhere in the living room.

Thankfully the door to the room you were sharing with Jo was open.

“Coming!” You yelled back, wondering who could it possibly be. Maybe it was the postman with your grandma’s letter. She was a weird old lady who still loved writing handwritten letters. Gramps had been to the war and their love story had blossomed over letters sent across borders. Even though gramps had passed away many years ago, she still got that rosy look on her face whenever she talked of him. You wanted a love story like hers. Was it too much to ask for?

You made your way down the steps two at a time, excited for the letter. Maybe she had sent cookies along with it. Oh, how you loved her.

On the bottom step, you stopped. Sam Winchester was standing in the hallway, one hand balancing a lot of books, the other scratching the back of his neck, looking adorable in old jeans and an open button up over his t-shirt.

“Hey!” He said.

You were wearing a loose shirt without a bra over a pair of boy shorts, with hair falling over your shoulders. Needless to say, you were mortified. 

“Give me two minutes,” you muttered and rushed back upstairs. 

As you were pulling on a pair of leggings, it occurred to you how dumb the interaction had been. He was here to see you and neither had you invited him in nor asked him why he was here.

To add to your embarrassment, when you returned downstairs, he was still standing at the bottom of the stairs five minutes later, exactly where you had left him.

“Why’re you still standing here? Please come in!” You urged, scandalised that you had kept a guest waiting like that. Gran would have tutted so hard had she been here.

Sam followed you into the living room. Jo was lounging on the smaller sofa chain and you glared at her. She could have easily invited him in when she opened the door.

But no! How else would Y/N suffer in life?

Jo gave you the evil grin and waved to Sam. 

“Would you like something to drink?” You asked, not meeting his eyes.

“I’ll have coffee!” Jo ordered and you threw her the stink eye again. 

You gave Sam a chagrined look. “I’ll put the pot on the stove for her anyway. Do you want coffee?”

He looked like he was trying very hard to smile. “Black please. With half a spoon of sugar.”

You tried to calm your nerves as the pot boiled. Being a nervous wreck wasn’t going to help your case.

When you brought the two mugs of coffee outside, Sam was reading one of the books he had bought along and Jo was nowhere to be seen.

“Where’s Jo?” You asked, carefully placing the steaming mug before him on the table.

Sam shrugged. “She said she suddenly felt sleepy. And that you should drink her coffee because you both like it the same way.”

Oh, that sly girl.

“So, what brings you here?” You asked, taking a seat next to him on the sofa.

Sam smiled shyly. “You said you could use a second pair of eyes for the application.”

He had come all the way from wherever he stayed just to help you with the applications? 

“Really?” 

“Sure.” He tilted his head, the bangs on his forehead sliding to one side. He just had such beautiful hazel eyes. You have to avert your gaze so you wouldn’t just blatantly stare at him.

You excused yourself a second time and pulled out all your application stuff. Forms, copies of essays, documents and everything. It would be absolutely stupid to not make the most of this opportunity. 

Sam took his time with all of it, going through each paper carefully and you counted your breaths to keep away the anxiety. At least he wasn’t laughing at how ridiculous your applications were. That was something. When he was done, he slowly put the papers down and looked up at you.

“Where else have you applied?” He asked.

You told him.

“You didn’t think of applying to any major universities?”

You shook your head. “I didn’t think I had a chance… and I don’t even think I was cut out for those.”

Sam reached out to place his hand on top of yours. A tingling sensation went up your spine. “Y/N! This looks great. Your essays are top notch. You should apply to Ivy Leagues.”

“I’ve already missed deadlines for them… and there are some good universities on my list as well.”

“But you deserve better!” He insisted.

You shrugged. “I don’t have that sort of money, and before you say scholarships, I don’t have those types of recommendations either. I come from a small town. People who are born there, spend their whole lives in the same house. They are happy with what they have.”

“Are you happy with what you have?” He asked, the light from the setting sun hitting his face, illuminating those eyes so they looked like burning topaz.

“I’m happy,” you said, looking at your lap where his hand rested on yours. He seemed to have forgotten about it. “But I know I can do better… for myself and my Gran.”

You made the mistake of looking up then… into his eyes, and they were closer than you had expected them to be. As if, he had no control over it, his hand reached out to touch your hair, the fingertips caressing your cheek on their way there. Slowly, but surely, he drew your face towards his… and you went, willingly. His lips had barely grazed yours when there was a loud noise in the hallway.

You sprang apart. 

“Y/N!” It was Jo.

Ordinarily, you’d have flicked your tongue at her or something for interrupting like that. Afterall, she was the one who kept egging on you to get lucky, and the one time you had… that too with Sam frigging Winchester, she had to come barging into the room. Uhgg… Jo was going to get it.

But her face was completely white, and her hand, which was holding the phone, was shaking.

“Y/N,” she whispered again. Your neighbour called. It's your grandma… she passed away last night. 

********************

You woke up in a cold sweat to the sound of the blaring alarm.

Gran!

The worry felt so fresh, you had to remind yourself that it had been seven years since she had passed away. Grief was peculiar like that… even after years and years of feeling it, some days it just felt fresh and new. Sad memories opened up the box of more memories, not all of them sad. The thought of gran was always accompanied by a warm feeling and memory of sunlit kitchen, and freshly baked bread.

This… dream or whatever it was had triggered more than just that… you could almost feel the whisper of Sam’s lips on yours. You had suppressed it so long that the feeling was almost forgotten now and how it ached knowing that you would never feel it again. The raw, desperate part of you tried to cling on to that feeling, the memory of his touch. It was three in the night, no one could blame you for wanting this comfort of your own memories. As painful as they were when you were completely in your senses, in this darkness, they were all yours to do what you pleased with them. However, like a dream, the memories kept evading your grasp. The more you tried to hold on it, the further away it slipped. Sleep eluded you completely after that.

Needless to say, you were tired and sleepy and irritated by the time the last lecture for the week commenced. You hadn’t memorised the lecture schedule yet…. you only knew when the Civil Procedure class was. First lecture on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and the last lecture of Thursday and Friday. Lacey had mentioned something about Sam having to travel to the City for work on the first three days. 

Sam was dressed more informally today. He was without a coat and glasses, hair just a little out of order… less sleek.

“Oooohhh looks like the professor had a rough night!” Lacey giggled.

“You don’t know that,” Madison shushed. “Maybe he’s single.”

“Oh, c’mon!” Lacey rolled her eyes. “He lives in the faculty residence on Alverado row. And his house is definitely a family house, not a bachelors pad… So that means he at least has a woman.”

You caught your breath. Alverado row was right behind your Santa Ynes street, where you lived. Literally right behind, less than a block away. You knew a majority senior faculty staff resided there, but it had never crossed your mind...

“I don’t see no ring,” snarked Rebecca, Madison's blonde friend, who was sitting a row ahead of you to the left.

You quickly looked. She was right… there was no ring. Your heart skipped a beat.

“Doesn’t have to be a wife,” Lacey made a face. “Could be just a girlfriend.”

“Whatever,” Rebecca rolled her eyes. “Doesn’t mean we can’t try our luck.”

It stung, listening to them talk about it stung more than you wanted to admit even to yourself.

“Before we start today's lesson, I have a question for you,” Sam said, calling everyone’s attention and the gossip promptly stopped.

“Basic Property damage,” he said. “The plaintiff has proved beyond a shadow of doubt that the defendant is liable. The only issue of debate which remains is the amount of damages to be recovered. Before the last hearing, new evidence comes to light about a completely unrelated matter where the plaintiff has unintentionally harmed the defendant. If you were playing the part of the DA, what would be your obvious course of action.”

‘Settlement’ you muttered to yourself, just loud enough for the few people around you to hear.

“Anyone?” Sam asked, and on cue, Rebecca raised her hand.

“Settlement!” She called out.

“That’s correct,” Sam said, “It should occur to you faster than lightning to draw out a settlement. Good job there. That was quick.”

Next to her, Madison was looking at her friend incredulously. Then she turned around and gave you a sorry look. The boy sitting on her opposite side, the blond one, who had snickered at you on the first day also raised an eyebrow.

You didn’t care one way or another if Rebecca got the praise for your answer. You were simply relieved that you got that answer right… and that you were able to concentrate in the class better than you had been able to uptil now.

Perhaps that was the reason that it caught your attention, the quickest flick of Sam’s chin in your direction, before he stiffly averted his gaze. When the class ended, few students rushed to Sam’s desk, while you made to leave the room.

“Hey!”

You turned to see the blond dude standing right next to you.

“Y/N, isn’t it?” He asked.

You nodded.

“Brad,” he offered his hand. “Brad Rowan.”

“Nice to meet you.” you murmured, shaking his hand whilst glancing at the door. 

“So, we have a party tomorrow evening,” he said, grinning with too much confidence. “Down at the western dorms. Everyone cool is coming. You should, too.”

“Thank you,” you said politely. “But I already have plans for the weekend.”

“Better than spending time with me?” He winked, stepping ever so slightly in front of you.

You were firm this time. “Yes.”

“Oh, let her be, Brad.” It was Madison, who had come sauntering down the aisle. “If she says she’s busy, she probably is. We’ll miss you, Y/N!”

You threw her a grateful look… Madison didn’t seem to catch it.

You said your goodbyes to her and Brad and left the room quickly.

Maybe it was your imagination, but out of the corner of your eye, you saw Sam’s gaze flicker towards you… if only for one moment.

********************  

A/N 2: The next chapter is Sam’s POV ;) So we’ll finally know what’s up with him, huh ;)

PLEASE let me know what you think of this story?

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[irondadbigbang]

IronDad Big Bang 2019 Masterlist

Masterlist below the cut! Or read on AO3.

Baby Bird by WhimsicalEthnographies @whimsicalethnographies

Peter stares at the envelope, sitting in the middle of his work table, in his little corner, in Mr. Stark’s lab. He’d been checking the mail as soon as he gets home from school and pulled it out before May got home, which won’t be until after nine o’clock. And there it was, finally, the envelope adorned with Massachusetts Institute of Technology, gray and maroon across the white paper.

art by ulzyuu

Castle on a Cloud by CaptainStarSong @captainstarsong

“How the Hell am I supposed to help some kid when half the time my own life is crashing and burning,” Tony asked, incredulous that Fury was thinking that he could possibly take care of some little boy that he didn’t even know. There was a reason why Tony’s life was practically always falling a part, why the closest people around him either died or left him. It wouldn’t be fair to bring some kid into the mix of his crazy life, especially after Afghanistan. 

Fury took a deep breath as looked at Tony with a hint of pity. “Because, Tony, his name is Peter and he’s your son.” 

Or in which SHIELD finds a young and hurt Peter after raiding a HYDRA base, and Tony must learn how to become the father Peter needs.

art by eve-valution

Casualty of the Darkness by kianisabitch @kianisabitch

Peter remembers when they used to cuddle or simply curl up together and listen to each other’s heartbeats. They used to be the perfect couple. Alex would bring him milkshakes when he had a bad day, he always came to Peter’s science fairs and he even let the boy sleep over at his house whenever May had a night shift at the hospital (which was more often than not at this point due to a single paycheck never being enough to support their small family). But slowly, Alex stopped doing those thing. It started with him forgetting to bring Peter milkshakes when his eyes were red rimmed or anxiety attacks shook through his bed like a hurricane, but quickly morphed into daily insults and verbal abuse and then backhands to the face when he was angry or hands grabbing him too hard and finally the violent sex he was now so used to. Sometimes he missed how their relationship used to be. But the good times were a thing of the past and there was no use mourning what he no longer had. 

OR 

Peter is stuck in a highly abusive situation and Tony starts uncovering the truth in order to save the spiraling teenager.

Damaged At Best (Like You’re Already Figured Out) by JolinarJackson @jolinarjackson

”Don’t come any closer,” Spider-Man said, his hand raised threateningly, his fingers resting against a trigger mechanism nestled into his palm. 

”Alright,” Tony answered. For a moment, they looked at each other – Tony stuck to the wall on one side of the alley and Spider-Man stuck to the other – then Tony opened his helmet to show his face. 

”Hey, there”, he said. ”Nice to finally meet you.” 

— 

The Avengers are left shaken in the aftermath of the Sokovia Accords. With half the team under house arrest at the Compound, Tony finds himself seeking refuge in Avengers Tower and starts forming a tentative friendship with the neighborhood vigilante Spider-Man. A friendship which is quickly threatened by Secretary Ross doubting Spider-Man’s intentions and integrity. 

Tony is left wondering who to trust, especially when Spider-Man manages to uncover the one secret Tony never wanted anyone to know about: the child Tony had with a woman named Mary Fitzpatrick sixteen years ago.

art by @shoyzz-art

Dreams Like Ashes by Captainkirkmccoy @captainkirkmccoy

Tony Stark may not know the danger he’s unleashing on himself, his team and his kid by reworking the old plans for the PASIV/Dream sharing project his father sold to the military, but he does have the best intentions. Irondad Big Bang.

How The Mighty Fall by Meep_Morp @gayspiderboy

Since his duel against Toomes on Coney Island, Peter’s life has settled down considerably. May knows about his double life and accepts it (mostly). Tony has welcomed him back, and given him more independence as New York’s Spider-Man. 

One night during patrol he crosses paths with Connor, a teenager who has Extremis in his blood and answers to the wrong kind of people. Though Tony is quick to distrust him, Peter finds himself reluctant to follow his mentor’s lead, and a bond develops between the two boys. Their relationship is further complicated when Connor’s former master, Negative, makes it a personal mission to destroy them both in his quest for power. 

Taking down a superpowered psychopath? Tough, but Peter isn’t going to back down. 

Stopping Tony from blasting his first potential boyfriend into space? He might need a miracle for that.

If You Could See Me Now by geekymoviemom @geekymoviemom

New York City is bracing itself for the worst hurricane to hit in over thirty years, and the kid isn’t back yet. 

Light by funnygirlthatbelle13 @funnygirlthatbelle

Tony Stark has given up. While the other heroes are in Wakanda trying to figure out a plan, he drinks to forget in New York. But when he discovers tickets to Next to Normal; a rock musical about mental illness, grief, the misuse and abuse of drugs, and parents recovering after the death of their child; that he and Peter had bought, he is forced to face his worst fears all over, and learn that, despite everything he’s been through, there may still be light.

Look Over Your Shoulder, I’ll Be There by Colourcodedbinders @colourcodedbinders

It starts as a simple enough gag: see how long he can manage to keep sneaking into Avengers Tower with his friends before Tony Stark notices. But when an unexpected gaggle of men wearing identical ugly navy blue suits and driving around in equally hideous blue cars join the mix, controlled by a guy with horrific fashion sense and the strength of twenty pumas, Peter has to suit up and do what he does best: superhero the hell out of it. 

And if it ends up being the hardest, scariest, most unplanned thing he’s ever had to do? Well then that’s no one’s business but his. (And Tony’s. Definitely also Tony’s.)

Radioactive by Emily_F6 @justme--emily

Things haven’t always been great between Tony Stark and his son. He wasn’t ready to become a father…didn’t even know he had a son until the boy’s mother died. Over time, though, he thought he got the hang of it. But that was before his son went on a field trip to Oscorp and was seemingly left fighting for his life.

Sea Spider by Bean_reads_fanfic @the-reverse-mermaid

“Tell me I’m not the only one seeing this,” Tony prompts, gesturing to their catch. 

It’s a kid. A teenager, by the looks of him, no more than 15 or 16, with curling brown hair plastered over his forehead and eyes. He lays there prone on his side, covered in cuts- some shallow, some deep, all of them most likely caused by the barbs on the fishnet. Tony can just make out blood matted on the back of his head- he probably hit it on the side of the boat and got himself knocked out. Clinging to his torso is a soaked, faded t-shirt and below that… 

…below that, his lower body is a tail. A full-on fish tail. 

(Mer!Peter AU)

Sometimes, a Family Is by CrystalRoza19 & NeonCrayons

Sometimes a family is comprised of you, your recently divorced dad, an unruly group of teenagers and a semi-unemployed former world-class neurosurgeon… 

Peter Stark hoped that moving back to the city would help his father get passed all the struggles and animosity that plagued him after his divorce. What he hadn’t thought to hope for was a way for his father to move on; he’d always had a hard time letting people go, after all. 

Stephen Strange was everything Steve Rogers was not. Maybe he could be everything Tony Stark needed to heal his broken heart. Throw in an unruly group of teenagers and you have yourself a family.

turn back the clock (and I’ll try again in the morning) by madasthesea @madasthesea

Peter gets stuck in a time loop. In it, he lives through some of his worst nightmares, only to wake up that morning and have no one remember. He needs Tony to help him get through. 

And if that isn’t bad enough, his identity is revealed over and over, every day.

art by @the-reverse-mermaid & starlight-sparks

VERENDUS by Lorein_nur 

New York 1935, Trish Parker was on her way to deliver a letter when all hell broke loose on the busy streets. Due to fates twisted sense of humor she found herself caught in the middle of a mafia disspute, if a stray bullet doesn’t kill her May sure as hell would.

art by @hereandnowwearealive

We’ve Made It This Far, Kid by EmAndFandems @jlmarch

Tony’s just trying to protect the kid from SHIELD. Why does everything have to be so hard? 

Meanwhile, Peter’s biggest problem is buying movie tickets, until he gets a harsh awakening.

[iamtrebleclefstories]

Let You in on a Little Secret

This story was an idea that just popped in my head and I couldn’t get it out until I wrote it down. It takes place in a season 12 AU where Cristina never left, Derek is still alive, and Jo divorced Paul with the help of Alex after confiding in him about her past at the end of season 9 (before the tree crashes into the living room). This is my first Jolex and Grey’s fic so I hope you like it!!

To say he was excited would be an understatement. He was bursting with joy, anticipation, and love. He had tried his best to contain it, truly, but he was sure that he had weirded a few of the nurses out with the large grin that was on his face. He hoped no one would care enough to ask, because if they asked, he didn’t know how long he’d be able to keep this secret to himself. And that was saying something, because despite his bluntness and honesty, Alex Karev was a private and guarded person. He knew how to keep a secret if necessary. But today was different. Today he was walking on air. Today he was happy. Today he had finally grown up.

Making his way into the attendings’ lounge, he hoped he wouldn’t run into anyone. He entered the lounge to find it empty and poured himself a cup of coffee before sitting on the couch to read through a patient chart. He was alone for about ten minutes when the lounge filled with people. He looked up from his coffee and smiled, “Hey guys.”

“Karev, what’s with the look on your face?” Jackson asked.

“Ooh he’s making the ‘I just got laid face!’ Did you and Wilson do it in an on-call room?” Yang teased.

“No I did not just get laid. I’m just in a good mood today,” He answered.

“Alex Karev in a good mood? Yeah I’ll believe that when pigs fly,” Callie snorted.

“Whatever, I can be in a good mood if I want to. I had a great night, a great morning, a successful tumor resection, a cool surgery scheduled today, and I get to tell a kid and his parents that we found a lung after 2 years of searching.”

There was a pause before Cristina spoke, “Ah! So he got laid last night and this morning.”

There was a chorus of laughters as Meredith walked into the lounge. “What are we laughing about?” She asked.

“Alex is all bright and shiny today because he got laid last night and this morning,” Cristina wiggles her eyebrows.

“Shut up,” Alex grumbled. “I already told you guys. I’m not smiling because I got laid. I told you, I’ve been having a very good day today. I’m allowed to smile.”

Meredith’s eyes widened as she walked over and pressed her hand to his forehead, “Well he doesn’t have a fever so it’s definitely not the delirium talking.”

Alex rolled his eyes, “You know what? I’m not gonna let it bother me. I’m having a good day and I’m not gonna let anyone ruin it. I’m gonna go see patients.”

*****

A few hours later, he was at the nurses station updating a few charts when he felt a pair of airs wrap around his waist. Smiling, he pulled them closer to him before turning, “Hey.”

“Hey,” a beaming Jo answered.

“How’s your day been so far?”

“Great! Callie keeps asking me why I’m smiling so wide today. She mentioned that you seemed to be in a very good mood this morning and asked me if we had really hot sex this morning.”

Alex laughed, “Yeah... they kept teasing me about the goofy look on my face while we were in the lounge. Yang was convinced that we had just come back from a quickie in an on-call room.”

Jo chuckled, “If only they knew the real reason we’re so giddy today. I think they might combust.”

“You’re probably right. I know we said we weren’t gonna make a big deal about it yet but, I’ve gotta tell someone before I spontaneously combust.”

“Okay, you can tell one person. But they must be sworn to secrecy. Also, I think I would be kind of hypocritical to say that you can’t talk to anyone about it because I kind of already called Ms. Schmidt this morning on my way in before rounds.”

Alex looked at her in disbelief, “I can’t believe you spilled before I did. You owe me thirty bucks.”

“Haha, I know. I’m so weak.” Jo exclaimed.

“No you’re not,” Alex shook his head. “You’re just excited and happy and so am I. I mean, I’m scared out of my freaking mind but, I’m happy.”

Jo smiled softly at him, “I love you.”

“I love you more,” he said before kissing her. “Okay, you gotta go before Torres gets on your ass about wandering off during work hours.”

“Ugh, I know. I’ll see you later!” She called as she walked away.

Smiling to himself again, he made his way over to the elevator. When the doors opened, he found himself face to face with Meredith Grey. He smiled at his friend as he pushed the buttons for the peds floor. They stood in silence for a minute before Meredith the emergency stop button, “Okay seriously. What the hell is going on with you? You’re scaring me with that happy look on your face. Who are you and what have you done to Alex Karev?”

Alex huffed out a breath, “It’s nothing, Mer. I’m just happy, is all.”

Meredith looked at him skeptically for a moment and let out a gasp, “Oh my God! You proposed, didn’t you?”

“What?” Alex scrunched his face, “No I didn’t propose. You’re still holding onto the ring. But speaking of rings, I think I’m gonna need to back soon.”

“So you’re gonna do it? You’re gonna propose!”

“Soon, yeah. I finally feel like things are coming together and the time is right, ya know?”

Meredith nodded, “I do. But I still don’t get why you are in such a good mood today. You haven’t proposed yet.”

Alex sighed, “Okay. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. But you have to swear you won’t tell anyone. Not Cristina. Not Shepherd. Not Torres. Not Zola. Not even your damn pillow. You’ve got to be sworn to secrecy.”

“I swear.”

“Okay,” Alex took a steadying breath. “Jo and I have been talking about fostering kids. We both had really rough childhoods and wanted to make a difference in some kid’s life. So we went through the whole process and got approved two weeks ago. Last night we got a call that we’ve been placed and we’re getting a four year old kid at the end of the week. And to top it all off, this morning, we found out that Jo is pregnant.”

“OH MY GOD!” Meredith squealed in joy. She threw her arms around his neck and gave him a giant squeeze, “Oh my God. Alex! I am so happy for you!”

“Thanks,” he replied, allowing the goofy grin to make its way back to his face.

“This is huge! You two are going to be parents!”

“I know,” he laughed. “I can’t believe it. It still feels like I’m dreaming.”

“Well okay, but I need the details! So spill everything.” Meredith said, matching his smile.

“There’s not much to tell. The kid we’re getting is a boy named Beau Carter. His mom died of an overdose and his 19 year old dad was raising him but realized about a year ago that he wasn’t fit to raise a kid so he’s been passed around for the past eleven months. If we’re a good fit, the hope is to foster to adopt. And as for Jo’s pregnancy, we’re not positive how far along she is, but we’re pretty sure she’s about ten weeks or so.”

“Were you guys trying?”

“No,” he chuckled. “We were being careful because we knew we wanted to foster, but you remember the inter mixer Bailey forced us to all go to? Well, Jo and I got pretty drunk that night and I don’t remember using a condom so we’re pretty sure that’s when it happened. We made an appointment with OB for tomorrow morning to find out.”

“Alex! I’m speechless. Now I understand why you’ve had that look on your face all day. I would too!” Meredith beamed. “You’re growing up! You’ve got a girl that loves you, a foster kid, a baby on the way, and you’re going to propose. What the hell happened to you?”

“Haha, I’d say I don’t know but the truth is, I do. Jo happened.”

Meredith patted his face, “Okay. So I’m going to be the godmother, right? I swear if you give it to Cristina, I will haunt you after I die.”

Alex rolled his eyes, “I have to talk to Jo first but yes, I think you’d be the perfect godmother for my kids.”

“You have to come over and get that ring. It’s sitting in my sock drawer. You’re lucky Derek hasn’t found it and started asking questions yet. Or worse, one of my kids.”

“I know. I’ll come get it this weekend. I was hoping we could maybe come over and introduce Beau to the kids. I think it would be a good way to get him to be more comfortable with everyone.”

“Of course!” Meredith nodded. “We can have Sunday brunch with the kids. We can make waffles.”

“Sounds good to me.”

The stood there for a minute taking in the moment before Meredith pulled on the emergency stop button, “We’ve been in here too long. I was so excited about your news I forgot that we have patients.”

“I know me too.”

The elevator doors opened and as he stepped out, Alex heard Meredith call him, “Alex!”

He turned to look at his closest friend, “Yeah?”

“You are going to be great.”

He smiled as he thanked her genuinely. Yeah today was a great day. But he knew it wouldn’t compare to all the amazing tomorrows to come.

[artificialqueens]

Mer-made For Each Other (Crystal x Gigi) - Mina

A/N: I’ve had this mermaid au in my drafts for ages and finally deemed it ready to post. I have a fun enemies to lovers thing coming out sometime this week so look forward to that, I hope you like this! As always you can come yell at me on @goodemornting :)

Summary: There’s something weird about Crystal’s new neighbour, the shy and shrimp-loving Gigi Goode. Something… fishy.

It felt like bricks were being stacked one by one on Crystal’s limbs as she trudged home from the library at nearly one o’clock on a Saturday. Her worn bookbag was slung half hazardously over her shoulder, the books inside almost certainly working to unravel the tightly woven threads meant to hold them. She felt as though she was slowly breaking down, like even a simple gust of wind could knock her over or simply erode her as if she were dust from a stone. Pulling an all nighter was definitely not the redhead’s best decision, but in the rare moment she got the motivation or the information to write her thesis, well, Crystal knew better than to ignore it.

Coffee, she needed coffee, sweetened until it could hardly be considered drinkable, but in favor of her bank account keeping steady she didn’t stop for any on the way home - a walking zombie with only one thing on her mind, said thing the plush blankets laying bed ready to welcome her back home. Tiny cheers erupted from the back of her mind when she finally reached her floor, the cheap and frayed beige carpet and faded salmon colored wallpaper a comforting sign that soon she could plummet into the depths of sleep.

But, the path to her door just happened to be blocked.

Blocked by a person carrying a box.

Crystal paused, blinking - her eyes burned with the need for sleep - and took in the figure before her who stared right back. It was a woman, pale skin peeking through a stylish black cardigan and tucked into a simple plaid skirt that ended just shy of the middle of her thighs, long legs extending to slip into modest heels. The redhead met her deep eyes - they looked black, but the light of the hall catching in them revealed a deep blue - beholding her sloping nose, lips upturned and glossy, and eyes framed by an abundance of eyelashes. Her hair was long and straight and wet, like a dark brown river dripping globs of water onto the floor as she blinked right back at Crystal with a tilt of her head.

Oh, she was cute.

“Who are you?” She asked, words echoing around through the hallway. Seconds after the words left her mouth she felt stupid. The boxes, the new woman before her, the lack of residency in the room beside prior, the landlord telling her yesterday before she had rushed out to get her materials from the library, should’ve answered that question immediately.

“Oh, um, hello,” the woman held a box between them, her arms swallowed up by the oversized cardigan. “I just moved in. I’m Gigi Goode.”

Oh, she’s very cute. And hot.

“Crystal,” She managed to mumble back with a small tired smile, “Elizabeth.”

The woman - Gigi Goode - smiled, a dainty one, her teeth extremely white and seemingly pointy like a shark. “I hope we can become friends.”

“Likewise,” The redhead reciprocated with a tiny wave, ending in a yawn that she’d feel bad about later but right now the image of her fluffy pillows is beckoning her. Crystal had meant what she said though, she certainly wouldn’t mind making friends with the supermodel next door. Especially when she was less tired.

“Ah, um, it was nice meeting you, but gestured to the door just behind her, beside the one currently propped open with a box labeled dishes. Her eyes widened when she realised Crystal was probably trying to get inside as well, audibly letting out an “Oh!” followed by an apologetic, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stop you.”

The taller woman shrugged nonchalantly in return, taking the needed steps to her door whilst digging in her jean pocket for her keys and brushing it off with a “It’s fine, nice meeting you!”

The task of fishing her keys from her pocket - which should’ve been easy because of all the chains and ornaments she stuck to them - took longer than she would’ve liked, but thankfully, she was tired and couldn’t feel any embarrassment when they finally plummeted to the beige carpet. She huffed, going to pick them up before a delicate hand got to them first. Crystal jerked back, Gigi offering her shy smile, fitting the key in easily and turning it until there’s an audible click.

“Thank…you?” The redhead mumbled, pink cheeks covered by all the makeup there in the first place. There was a salty smell to Gigi, it reminded Crystal of her trips to the beach as a child, all the sand that got caught in her hair and how much icecream she consumed every day of summer. She shook her head, trying to escape from the thoughts of how good the shorter woman might look in a swimsuit.

The brunette nodded, “Don’t mention it”, politely stepping back to the box she’d set down, picking it up easily and disappearing through her door.

Crystal decided to follow suit, making her way through her darkened apartment with practiced ease and hitting the pillows just as she heard a thud echo from the other side of the wall.

***

Two and a half had weeks passed until Crystal saw her neighbor again. Honestly that could’ve been due to the fact she left and came back to the apartment at the most ungodly hours and sometimes spent the night at her friend’s house when she couldn’t work up the energy to walk all the way from campus back to the place she pays for to sleep in. But what she noticed when she did come home is that Gigi didn’t leave her apartment much, or when she did she left for long periods of time. Whenever the redhead came home there was always a takeout box in front of her neighbor’s door from the seafood place two blocks down, no signs that anyone was out to collect it soon. Crystal tried to mind her business, but when the smell of fish always wafted through the hall, carpet permanently littered with trails of water drops, she couldn’t help but get a little curious.

It was one of the rare days Crystal actually came home when the sun was out - granted it was settling for the evening. When she entered the hall and smelt the familiar seafood she almost groaned audibly, before spotting a young kid - high school age at least - carrying the familiar takeout box and rapping his knuckles three times against Gigi’s door. The first time they met, Crystal hadn’t thought much of the dripping wet hair, but when it popped out of the door, her brain couldn’t reason that maybe the pale woman just got out of the shower. After all, most people dry their hair with a towel after bathing, not letting thick drops of water fall onto the beige carpet of the hall when they smile wide and accept more seafood.

Maybe Gigi just got hot easily? Understandable, since she was quite attractive. But why would you always have wet hair? To be fair the redhead had only seen her twice.

Crystal’s head ached, deciding that prying into her neighbours strange habits - especially when she has plenty herself - was only going to add more stress to her already way overblown stress meter, when Gigi opened her door to the child with a soft smile, immediately shifting to her gaze to Crystal.

Her cheeks stretched into a warm smile, “Oh, Neighbour!” She waved.

The taller woman paused, mentally checking how worn down she looked. Her clothes were noticeably wrinkle-free, the bags under her eyes concealed by the glasses she put on instead of contacts, and her hair was mussed. Crystal reasoned that it was a huge improvement from the past few days, hell, she wasn’t wearing sweatpants.

“Hey Gigi,” she waved back politely, “seafood again?” It was meant as a polite attempt at conversation, but the way the thin woman tensed maybe she shouldn’t have brought it up. 

The laugh the brunette let out must’ve been meant to be nonchalant but it was much more stiff.  “Oh, you know, just my favorite.”

Without thinking, “Really? What’s your favorite?” Crystal wished she would have just read the atmosphere and go into her apartment, sit down, and agonize over her thesis like usual instead of pry into a topic her neighbor obviously wanted to avoid. Maybe someone had thought Gigi’s love of seafood was weird and told her that and now she’s self conscious about it.

“Uh,” The pause was almost comical, the shorter woman glancing nervously at the takeout in her hands, “shrimp.”

Crystal blinked, echoing “Shrimp?”

Gigi breathed in sharply, fingers fiddling with the plastic bag. “Yes,” she said sagely, “shrimp.”

Oh. Okay.

“I like shrimp too” Crystal giggled, and that wasn’t not really a lie, as much as she used it to ease whatever awkwardness is around them.

“Oh.” Gigi’s shoulders relaxed almost immediately, “Cool.” They stared back at one another for awhile, the brunette half inside her apartment clutching a box of fishy smelling food - probably shrimp - and Crystal clutching the strap of her worn backpack slung on her shoulder.

“Well, I’ll get going now, got-“ The brunette awkwardly lifted the takeout box “-shrimp to eat.”

“Oh, yeah of course.” Crystal bowed her head politely, awkwardly shrugging her shoulders, “I’ve got a thesis to write, so.”

They exchanged one last glance, before Gigi shut her door and the redhead let out an audible sigh, returning to her own room and lighting some incense to drown out the salt water scent.

***

The next time she encountered Gigi, was at the small convenience store two buildings down from the cheap apartments, two minutes before closing at ten pm on a Tuesday.

Crystal didn’t have a reliable schedule, the owner of the store knew this, many times in the past staying open well after closing just for the poor graduate student to get some groceries so she could eat something other than instant noodles that week. Looking back, she really should’ve paid the extra thousand for the other apartment with the cramped bathroom because what she needs is a kitchen that has more than a sink, fridge, and counter space for a microwave.

Gigi locked eyes with the redhead from opposite ends of the frozen produce aisle, both visibly tensing. Crystal knew the reason she did is because she wore a oversized green hoodie and baby blue shorts that covered maybe a third of her thighs, feet protected by obnoxious pink crocs. Her hair is definitely not combed and the back is sticking up in her reflection in the freezer glass, eyes squinting unflatteringly because she’d decided against contacts and lenses.

Basically she looked horrible and her neighbor was illegally good looking for this time of night.

The taller woman averted her eyes into Gigi’s basket, quickly tucked behind her jeans before she can get a proper look. Maybe she’s embarrassed about a purchase, which was ridiculous since Crystal was carrying a comical amount of cabbage - on sale - and as luck would have it, shrimp - also on sale. Among other notable items there’s deodorant and toothpaste, the cheapest one, which happened to be melon flavored. 

Gigi’s items couldn’t be that bad, not that she especially cared, approaching cheerily with the most enthusiastic “Gigi!” She could muster.

Gigi smiled back, a little forced. Crystal wondered if she’s the type to hold her tongue when someone is bothering her to much, also wondering if maybe that’s exactly what she’s doing right now. “How are you?” She asked politely, not exactly feigning interest as she turned her attention to the basket half obstructed by the other’s body.

“Just shopping,” Gigi replied, chuckling and shifting so her basket was even more hidden, “haven’t had much time lately with all my classes.”

“I know what you mean,” Crystal sighed out of understanding, giving up taking a peak at the mystery contents of the brunettes basket, “I haven’t gotten to a store in two weeks.”

“Oh, that’s sad.” Her neighbour chuckled, anxiously shifting from foot to foot, “Well, the store should be closing soon so I’m gonna,” Gigi motioned past her, awkwardly beginning to sidestep with her basket still concealed, but turning as she walked so it couldn’t be seen.

“Oh yeah, gotta hurry myself,” Crystal shook her own basket, returning a nervous smile and starting to awkwardly make her exit, “see you around neighbor!”

Gigi nodded, smile stretched stiffy across her face, walking backwards to conceal her basket behind her long pale legs. Man, Crystal was really curious about what exactly she’s buying that she wanted to hide so much. The redhead kept walking, plucking a popsicle from one freezer, and then ducking around the aisle to wait for Gigi to finally turn back around. Once she saw a relieved sigh huffed from the pretty neighbor’s lips, turning around and relaxing her grin, Crystal snuck a picture with her cellphone, quickly zooming into the contents of the basket.

And it’s just—lotion.

For the first few seconds zoomed in on the familiar looking bottles of moisturizing lotions and creams, Crystal was very confused. Very lost.

Why would the brunette need that much? There was no way that that was all that was in there but moving the zoomed in area around didn’t reveal any other contents beside foundation and a protein bar that tastes like sand in your mouth in her experienced opinion.

Was that why her skin was so smooth? She literally bathed in lotions and moisturisers?

Crystal shook her head at the ridiculous thoughts, especially the one of Gigi in a bathtub, flailing limbs sticking out of a thick cream of white and off-white lotions, rubbing it into said limbs as she closed her eyes in lotion-ey bliss. The redhead needed more sleep, she realized, waiting until Gigi left to purchase her items and lag a bit behind so she didn’t try to strike up more conversation and say something stupid or flirty.

*** 

She lay in bed - her mattress on the floor stacked high with blankets because her old bed frame broke - staring at the ceiling, laptop set aside as she pondered.

What was Crystal pondering?

It should’ve been her thesis, due date looming ever so close as she spent more moments like this not working on it.

No, the graduate student thought about how much she wanted to make an actual meal. How much she missed eating more than icecream and salad every night. Crystal couldn’t even afford to get chicken delivered, or even go pick it up herself. Her kitchen was tucked beside her bathroom, no microwave, and cabbage gets really old after two weeks of nothing but cabbage and the occasional piece of shrimp. The scent of saltwater wafted to her nose as it usually did, the redhead starting to relate the scent to the arrival of her neighbour as it and the aroma of seafood - specifically shrimp? - always seemed to fill the hallway when Gigi was around. No one had complained yet, but really that could be because Nicky from across the hall was weak to Gigi’s looks just like Crystal, or that Jan on the other side of the apartment burned sandalwood incense 24/7 which was quite permeating like the sea scent as well.

The redhead lamented how pretty her brunette neighbor was, ignoring the ever growing hole in her stomach of not focusing on her work to instead consider how if only she came and went from her apartment at normal times she could maybe have a proper neighbourly conversation with Gigi about, well, something that neighbours normally talk about. But no, she had better things to do, like not work on her thesis. Her thesis on what jellyfish stings can power, which was quite an interesting topic if you thought about it.

She heard a loud thud from next door, jumping slightly at the unexpected noise. It wasn’t the sound of the door shutting, no, it was the sound of something hitting the ground, heavy.

Crystal lifted her head, looking over at the wall she shared with Gigi and furrowing her brows. She herself was definitely clumsy, but her neighbor, her seemingly always put together, not a strand of hair left uncombed neighbour, I drink strawberry tea and go running for fun neighbour, had dropped something that heavy on accident?

She waited, the hum of her fridge loud in the silent apartment, until she heard a muffled ‘shit’ followed by the sound of bottles clattering to the floor.

Honestly she didn’t know why, but she hopped to her feet, red hair bouncing behind her as she exited her apartment and knocked loudly on the shorter woman’s door, calling “Gigi?”

A muffled voice murmured something through the door quietly, Crystal suddenly thinking maybe it’d have been better if she’d knocked through the wall. But the thought that maybe Gigi had fell and hurt herself overpowered her so she tentatively twisted the door handle, elated to find that it was unlocked.

The smell of seaweed and oceans swarmed her as soon as she entered the apartment hesitantly, footsteps slicing through the otherwise silent hallway. “Are you okay? It’s just me, your neighbour!”

It was the same exact apartment Crystal owned, if only reversed and the walls being painted an off white colour compared to her own mint green, so she moved with shy certainty to where Gigi presumably hid behind the bathroom door.

“I-I’m alright,” The brunette called frantically, voice unsteady and breathy. “I just lost my footing, you didn’t need to come over.”

Crystal ignored her, placing a hand on the bathroom door handle getting ready to open it after she responded, “I’m sorry, I was worried you might’ve hit your head.” She paused, debating whether her next words might come off to strong. “Can I come in?”

“Uh-“ Gigi seemed to knock over more bottles in response, the sound causing Crystal to fuck it, pull the door fully open so she could see just what was happening.

The bathtub was full of water, spilling onto the tiled floor, pink coloured bubbles consuming the tub. The familiar bottles of lotion and moisturizers she recognised from the sneakily taken photo are scattered on the floor, and Crystal’s eyes focused on the center of the room. Gigi was naked, but that seemed quite unimportant compared to the fact that her pale skin - the redhead remembers it being smooth and glowing - was bumpy, textured, overlapping?

It reminded her of fish scales.

Fish scales.

Fish, gills, long slits in the skin stretched across her ribs, opening and closing with each huff of Gigi’s chest.

Crystal knew her jaw had bid goodbye to her skull, hanging open as she stared wide eyed back into similar shocked blue eyes. They were both silent, the slosh of water over the side of the tub making loud splatting sounds with each wave of overflow.

“You’re a,” Crystal wasn’t really sure what, but “fish?” Is what comes out.

Gigi’s eyes scrunched immediately, a look of shock quickly subsiding into disbelief. “Excuse me?”

“You’re a fish?” Crystal repeated, wearing disbelief as well but of a different cloth.

“I—no,” The brunette sputtered, shaking her head, “what?”

“You,” She raised a hand to motion at the gills and scales, “what are those?”

Her neighbor kept her mouth shut, obviously trying to find the words, or maybe a believable excuse, but soon the time is passing to make an excuse for what Crystal can’t pass off as a dream the longer she sees it.

“I’m a - uh - a fish person? Not a fish,” She began, quickly shutting down anymore fish thoughts, “whatever you call us.”

Crystal felt like her jaw might actually detach and fall to the floor. “You’re a mermaid?” She managed to breath out, barely audible.

“Yes.” The fish woman calmly replied, holding her gaze. It’s then that Crystal looked down at the long, scaled legs supporting Gigi’s body, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.

“But why don’t you have a tail?” She questioned, motioning at the other’s lower half.

“I should have a tail, but obviously there’s not enough water for that to happen right now.” Gigi scoffed, narrowing her eyes as though Crystal was the weird one, “Some have legs or fish heads, both, or neither, or it could depend on natural stuff,” she pointed to herself.

The redhead blinked a few times, turning to glance at her own, very not fishlike reflection in the mirror, before stepping out and shutting the bathroom door.

A moment passed, Crystal standing silently behind the barrier in Gigi’s living room. She took a deep breath, convincing herself that maybe the cabbage she had eaten beforehand was rotten and she was hallucinating, and then -

The door opened back up and she stepped through, looking her neighbor up and down again scrutinizingly. She still sat very much fishlike in the pink bubbles, scales glistening in the water. Shit.

“I don’t believe you,” She finally concluded, “you’re just,” Crystal pursed her lips in thought, nose twitching, “good at special effects makeup.”

Gigi rolled her eyes, giving a death stare at the taller woman. She grabbed a towel from the rack on the wall beside her, emerging from the bubble bath and wrapping it around her exposed body hastily, reminding Crystal that she herself was the one who had stormed in on a naked unsuspecting fish person.

A fish person.

“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Gigi adjusted the towel slightly, getting it comfortably around her hips and then itching around a gill, “but I’m the real thing.”

Crystal laughed disingenuously through a frown. “Oh, you’re so funny.”

“This isn’t a joke,” The fish - no, her neighbour, deadpanned.

“Oh you,” The redhead chuckled, slowly shutting the door as she backed away, “be careful and enjoy your bath!”

The door clicked shut again.

And Crystal promptly returned home to stare up at her ceiling instead of work on her thesis, head positively swarming with reasonable explanations as to what the fuck just happened in her pretty neighbours bathroom. She could hardly breathe, practically choking with the knowledge that holy fuck, actual mermaids existed. 

It wasn’t long after she’d sat there on her mattress that there was an incessant knocking at her door, and Crystal knew - barely a few minutes had passed - that it was her neighbour. A small glimmer of hope that it was all a dream filled her as she stumbled to her feet and tugged open the door in between the succession of knocks. Of course that hope wad crushed when she saw the peek of grey-blue scales from under the lilac sweater Gigi had thrown on, around the ankles exposed by the grey sweatpants, gold shimmer catching in the flickering hallway lights. Her long dark hair was still wet, much like the first two times they’d met, drops hitting the floor gently.

“Can I come in?” The mermaid - there was no point in denying it anymore - asked, eyes wandering down the hall nervously - probably because her scales was on display.

Crystal wondered how she could show so much skin all the other times without those slightly darker pigmented scales being as apparent as they were now. She realised that she hadn’t replied when Gigi impatiently entered, hand on the redheads shoulder pushing her back into her apartment and closing the door with the other.

“Sorry, I just,” She shifted uncomfortably, “don’t want to be seen, again.”

“No uh,” Crystal felt apologetic now, seeing Gigi’s nervous stance, making her wait anxiously in the hall, “I’m sorry too.”

It fell terribly silent, not for lack of words, but lack of where to start. Gigi was obviously there for a reason, and Crystal definitely had some minor questions.

Finally - “You can’t tell anyone,” The brunette asserted, sharp eyes narrowed seriously although she picked up a twinge of uncertainty behind them.

“That’s a given,” Crystal nodded, scratching her neck awkwardly, “I don’t know if anyone would even believe me if I wanted or did tell them, so..”

The sigh her neighbour let out then is relieved, as much as it could be in the face of her secret being revealed. Crystal wasn’t sure of the full extent of said secret, but that’s probably for the best.

“What exactly does being a fish person mean,” The tan woman asked, “for you? And me, I guess?”

The brunette stared bullets into her, expressionless for a second, before her eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Why?”

She shrugged, shifting awkwardly, “Cause I’m curious?”

“Why?” Gigi repeated.

“Cause you’re Interesting?” Crystal regretted making it sounding like a question.

“I’m interesting? Because I’m a fish person?” The fish person scoffed, scratching impulsively at the scales shining near her clavicles.

“Wouldn’t you be interested if I was like,” Crystal tried to think of a strange animal, “a donkey person?” Wolf person, werewolf. She could’ve gone with werewolf.

Gigi looked utterly caught off guard, staring at the redheads face for a long moment. Crystal watched the exact moment her eyes begin to crinkle, cheeks bunching, and her pink lips parted to release a breathy laugh. It’s not what she’d expected at all, but quite welcome after the slew of things that just happened. Gigi looked pretty cute when she laughed, even if it was teasingly directed at her.

“If you must know,” The younger calmed down, taking a few breaths in and out to stop her snickers, “mermaids are mostly the upper body of a human and the lower of a fish. In my case, the tail only comes out when my legs are surrounded by a lot of water, if that makes sense.”

The redhead hummed, “So there’s like different species of mermaid then?”

“I guess?” Gigi giggled with a shrug, “Most of us have human features but ocean attributes, its rarer for the whole tail and normal head thing.”

“Wait then,” She paused, brief image of a mermaid lying seductively on a rock coming to mind, except this time it’s a fish with legs which caused her to snort with a grin, “not all fish people are actually the maneating beauties they’re said to be?”

Gigi snorted herself - admittedly much more attractively than Crystal had - shaking her head, “Of course they aren’t, that’s why mermaids are a myth.”

“And they actually live among us, eating lots of shrimp?” Crystal asked with wide eyes, suddenly wondering just how many mermaids she might’ve met in her lifetime.

The other paused, meeting her eyes once more. “Look,” she started, “you can’t take pictures underwater. Cameras and the ocean don’t mix, trust me I tried.”

“Waterproof cameras,” She deadpanned.

“They’re expensive, how long do you think it took me to save up for this apartment?” Gigi retorted, picking at her manicured nails that shimmered under deep green polish.

“Probably would’ve been faster to just save up for a waterproof camera,” Crystal hummed in return.

The mermaid huffed, rolling her eyes, “Land is way more interesting than sea.”

“Oh,” The taller perked up in curiosity, “so you’re, like, sticking around?”

Gigi grinned, “For now, thinking of becoming a photographer, you know.”

“Cool.”

A silent moment passed before Gigi seemingly remembered why she even came over, shifting back towards the door. “Anyway, uh, thank you for your silence,” she dipped her head politely, some dark brown strands of hair falling around her face. “I’ll be,” she pointed at the door, other hand wrapping around the handle, “on my way.”

“Oh uh,” Crystal reached out, pulling her hand off the door gently, “wait, would you like to, maybe, go somewhere sometime? Together?”

Gigi looked back at her with a confused frown, hand tensing in the taller woman’s grip. “Why?”

The redhead sighed, rolling her eyes, “Why else?”

“What do you mean ‘why else’?”

For a second Crystal thought Gigi was messing with her, but by the way she waited patiently for an answer she  knew she really didn’t have a clue. And honestly at this point the redhead was grateful for that, deciding not to spell it out.

“When are you next free?” She asked.

The mermaid quirked a brow in even more curiosity, “Thursday, why?”

“Okay, on Thursday I’m gonna come and get you and we’re going to go eat somewhere together,” Crystal announced, voice shaking slightly.

“Okay?” Gigi replied without missing a beat, hesitantly opening the door, “Goodbye?”

“Yep, see you Thursday!” Crystal waved, shooing her out.

The other watched her curiously all the way out the door until she shut it with finality. Alone once more, she inhaled a deep breath and let it out loudly, ringing her hands together as she tried desperately to clear her mind.

It was then that her door suddenly opened back up, startling Crystal into turning around meeting Gigi’s eyes with a gaping mouth.

“Is it gonna be a date?” She questioned, cheeks a little flushed, scales still visible.

“Y-yes” She admitted, fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

Another second, and then Gigi turned and left once more with a quick “Wear something warm, it might be cold. Also I’m not paying.”

It seemed as though Crystal did have a date this Thursday. With a fish person. And she felt strangely okay with that.

[whereisstevethestove]

Boys Who Cry Pearl and Sea: Flying Dutchman AU

Fandoms: Sanders sides and technically the lore behind the Flying Dutchman.

Characters: Virgil, Roman, Remus

Relationships:  Roman/Virgil

Additional tags: Mer AU, Pirate AU, Human AU, Siren!Roman, Sailor!Virgil

Word count: 3263

Summary:  Virgil Tempesta was born at sea.  Perhaps that is why he has never felt like he belonged on land.

Notes: I wrote a sea shanty for this! (x)  I hope you enjoy!

AO3

Virgil Tempesta was born at sea.

His English mother was traveling from her home in London to join her merchant husband in Cuba, but by the time that she arrived, her son was nearly a month old, and strange, with storm grey eyes that seldom blinked.  He grew up mostly indoors, there not really being any other children his age that his family would let him socialize with.

Virgil himself was an odd child, quiet, and when he turned ten, his father sent him to another sea captain for an apprenticeship.

The Windborne was a young ship, not even five years old, and the captain was quick to shove the pale boy belowdecks, for a child has no place among a crew of men.  Virgil spent his first year feeling like an outcast, a stowaway on a ship he was technically part of.  

That was of course until they found out that Virgil could squeeze himself into small spaces, and climb faster than anyone else on ship.  He also seemed to need less sleep, so they started to put him on the night watch as months passed.

Virgil didn’t mind.  At least it gave him an excuse to hum the shanties that the others sang as he stared at the dark water that was reflected with stars.

He was fifteen when something interesting finally happened during one of his watches.

“There was a boy, Icarus~”   The haunting melody stretched over the water in the secluded cove that they were anchored in and Virgil leaned a bit more over the side of the ship as he strained to hear the song.

“You pronounced Icarus wrong.”  Virgil called out and the song stopped.

“How do you pronounce it then?”

Virgil pursed his lips before answering.  “It’s not I-Car-Us, it’s all one beat, kinda like: ǐːkaros.”

“Oh.”  The voice seemed confused.  “There was a boy, Icarus, who flew too close to the sun-”

“That’s better.”  Virgil smirked as the voice sputtered in annoyance.

“His wings were made of brass and wax-”

Virgil listened as the voice sang about the greek myth, before abruptly hopping topics to sing about a sailor’s myth, the Dutchman.  Virgil wasn’t one to believe in silly legends, but the voice was nice and it made him feel lightheaded in a good way, so he continued to listen as the second chorus faded out and the voice switched verses again.

“There is a simple sailor boy,

Not wanted by land nor sky-”

Virgil stood up from his spot and looked over the water.  “Woah, wait.”

“What?”  The voice was definitely irritated now.

“Simple?  That’s all you can think of to describe me?”  Virgil teased as some of his hair fell into his face.

“Uh... to be honest, I thought you’d be drowned by now.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, the shanty only has two verses, I’ve been making the rest up.”  The voice said sheepishly and Virgil heard a splash of something going into water.   He watched as the dark water below rippled and a moment later, a red and gold blur shot out and landed on the deck next to him.

Virgil fell back onto his ass in shock.  “Mermaid.”

The creature flashed him a grin.  “Close, I’m a siren and I am a male by your kind’s definition., so not a mer-maid either way.”

Virgil took in the red and gold tail, the dark skin as he slowly looked the siren in the eyes.

“You’re gorgeous.”  He breathed out reverently and the siren’s fins on the side of it’s head flared in surprise.

“You are very pale and small.”  He responded back, which broke Virgil from his reprise as he scrambled back up to his feet.

“Thanks, I get that a lot.”  

“Oh.  I thought for sure you’d be taller standing.  Hmm, okay.”  The siren balanced himself on the railing better, looking at Virgil with curious eyes.

Virgil blushed, ducked his head and then looked back up.  “So, how am I not dead?”

“Excellent question.  I have no fucking idea.”  The siren shrugged and Virgil nodded.

“Alright then.”

“Can I get your name pale one?”  The siren asked as he leaned forward and Virgil leaned back.  

“Me giving you my name doesn’t do any weird shit- like I sell my soul to you, right?”

“No, why would it do that?  Is that some weird human thing no one told me about?”

Virgil rolled his eyes. “It’s a fae thing, I thought that since sirens are real, maybe they were.  Anyway, I’m Virgil.”

The siren’s eyes widened.  “You have a siren name.”

“Okayyy?”

“I’m Roman.”

“That’s an odd name.”

“Says the one who literally didn't know that my kind existed, despite having a siren name.”  Roman shot back with a sharp grin.

Virgil smirked and gently shoved at the siren, who wobbled nervously.

“You should go.”

“Why?” “My watch is almost over.  I want to go to sleep.”  Virgil yawned and the siren shrugged.

“Alright.  I’ll get you one of these times.”  Roman said as he fell back, disappearing into the water.

…

Virgil didn’t see him for another year.  The Windborne traveled to many different locations and so it was rare for them to pass through the siren’s waters, and when they did, they didn’t stay the night.

So he wasn’t surprised when the song started across the water.

“I’ll sing you a song of ravens and stone--”   Roman’s voice definitely had some bite to it and Virgil could feel himself slipping as he struggled to keep his mind clear.

“With the temper of a storm!”

Virgil jumped into the water, fully intending on beating up Roman for being so fucking annoying.

What he wasn’t expecting was for arms to wrap around him and start dragging him down.

Virgil tried to elbow the person, mer(?)  behind him, but the singing just intensified and his head felt like it was full of cotton….

…

…

…

Roman couldn’t believe that Andy had managed to snag Virgil the second the teen had jumped in.

His half brother was a force to be reckoned with though, and Roman watched as the lithe siren dragged the sailor out of the water and tested for a pulse.

“Aw, he’s still alive.”

“I asked for him to still be alive An.”  Roman muttered as he looked at his human.

“I don’t know why you’re attracted to him.  He’s awfully pale.  And when there’s so many other options up there on that ship..”  Andy trailed off once he saw the look in Roman’s eyes.  “Oh, you see the pale on as a mate?  You’re a mess, sing once you get your life together Ro.”

With that, he left with a snap of a jet black tail slapping water.  

…

Virgil sat straight up and vomited,  coughing as seawater exited his lungs and he shivered on the rock that he was somehow on.

“Are you okay?”

Virgil threw up again and shook his head as someone gathered him up, pressing a hand against his chest.

“I’m sorry, I got worried because you stopped breathing.”

Virgil’s mind had cleared enough for him to look up through lidded eyes to see Roman looking at him with concern.

“What?”  Virgil croaked out, voice absolutely ruined by the seawater that he had ingested.

“Uh, you jumped overboard, my half sibling brought you here and then I pulled the life back into you.”

Virgil vaguely remembered jumping over, but after that…

He passed out again.

…

Roman was not expecting humans to be so fragile.   Virgil had indeed become unresponsive after throwing up, but now he was asleep again, with no warning at all.

At least the sun was coming up, so it would be a bit warmer.  

He just had to hope that Virgil’s ship wasn’t leaving, or else Roman wasn’t sure what he’d do.  This was supposed to be a fun interaction, not him watching an almost corpse.

Unfortunately for him, the sun rose, The Windborne left the cove, and Virgil slept.

Roman wasn’t sure how he was going to admit to his human that his only way back home was gone.

…

Turns out, Virgil was fucked.

He woke up and realized almost immediately that his ship had left and the first thing he did was try to sneak off the rock that Roman had stuck him on, so that he could swim to the shore and try to work out his life then.

He didn’t notice that Roman was on the rock also, until the siren grabbed his shoulder.

“Where are you going, the ship is gone.”

Virgil hissed and recoiled, falling into the water before surfacing to curse at Roman.  “What the fuck?”

“Sorry!  I assumed that humans could hear when someone is coming up on them!”

Virgil hissed again and scrambled back onto the rock.  “I wasn’t paying attention, and yes I know that the ship is gone, it’ll be another few months before they anchor back here.”

“A few months?”

“Yep.  We had planned a few routes over the next year that come this way…  I just have to wait out the storm, and I’m not doing it on this tiny ass rock.”  Virgil went to slip into the water when Roman stopped him again.

“Let me swim you over, it’ll be faster.”

“Thanks I guess.”

Virgil watched as Roman slipped into the water and then swam around the rock to wink at him.

“Ready my raven?”

“Oh, stars no.  No pet names.”  Virgil grumbled as he got in and wrapped his arms around Roman’s neck as directed.

“Ready?”

“You won’t drown me, right?”

“Of course not!”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Roman swam slowly, but still, it was faster than Virgil could’ve gone, so it was nice to hitch a ride in a sense as they made their way to the beach.

They finally made it to where Virgil’s feet could touch, and he quickly let go, wading through the water to collapse on wet sand.

“Are you okay?”  Roman called from his spot in the water and Virgil stuck his head up.

“Oh yeah.  I’ve been kidnapped by a siren, threw up my body weight in saltwater, haven’t eaten since almost two days ago, and now I’m here for a good long time, all alone!  Don’t forget that if I don’t get some actual water soon, I’ll be a rotting corpse on this beach!”

Roman was by his side faster than Virgil could comprehend, eyes flashing nervously.  “Water?”

“What about it?”

“You can’t drink seawater?”

Virgil groaned and buried his face in his hands.

This was going to be a long three months.

Assuming he could survive for that long.

…

The first week was the worst.  Roman had to watch as Virgil disappeared into the treeline, leaving for long hours, even though he had offered to provide for any of the sailor’s needs, after all, it was his fault that Virgil was stuck.

All the human had asked for was a knife though.

He built an odd structure on the shore, and Roman watched as he (unsuccessfully) fished, and got sick from being in the sun for too long the second day.

By day eight, Virgil was screaming at the sky to just hit him with some lightning.

Roman was impressed that his human had even made it that long.

By night nine, he finally had the courage to go back on shore.  Virgil was laying on the ground, staring at the stars, seemingly distracted, but his eyes did flit over to Roman as the siren adjusted his tail and also lay back.

“Are you okay?”

“No.  I miss people.”

“Ah.”

They lay there in silence, and it wasn’t until Roman looked over and he saw the streaks of silver running down the other’s face that he realized something was wrong.  He sat up and scooted closer to Virgil, gently wiping at the strange stuff.

“What is this?”

Virgil blankly looked at him, still not moving.  “Tears.”

Roman brought the ‘tears’ to his face.  “Weird.  They look… wrong.”

Virgil sniffed and sat up, wiping at his face with a torn sleeve.  “Why is that fish?”

Roman looked at the ‘tear’ again.  “It is a liquid.”

“Are you implying that tears aren’t made of saltwater?”  

Roman sniffed the tear and realized that Virgil was right.  It smelt like ocean. 

“You cry the sea when you are sad?”

“I guess.”  Virgil sniffed again and Roman sighed before putting a finger to the corner of his own eye, quietly shedding a pearl as he cried.

“I do too.  Perhaps we are not as different as we like to say.”

…

The dynamic changed after that.  Roman started to bring fish, which was a godsend in Virgil’s opinion, and in exchange, he’d tell the siren about something from his world, or he’d teach him a new shanty to sing.

And as much as he denied it, Virgil fell in love.

It wasn’t a major revelation in a sense.  It was about a month into his stay and he looked up and remembered that it was his birthday.

Hurray, seventeen years on this earth.  He hadn’t told the siren, who didn’t understand the concept of age, and even though Roman certainly acted like he was Virgil’s age, he had told him once about the first time his pod had moved, and it was because the first merchants were sailing into the area.

So yeah, his siren, wait, when did he start considering Roman as his siren?  Virgil shook his head, trying to clear it of the traitorous thoughts as Roman came in with the gentle waves, grinning.

“Hello my stormy night!”

“No nicknames!”

…

Roman was in love.

Deepy, irrevocably, in love.

He was screwed.

Sirens only choose one mate, and it is always the first one that you fall in love with.  No take back, so changing in the future.

The only problem was that he knew that Virgil didn’t love him back.

The different specie? Not a problem, many sirens fell in love with humans, and they could change their mate to be like them with a simple draw of blood.  The fact that Roman was immortal and Virgil wasn’t.  Fixed when turned into a siren.

Literally everything had a solution.

Except when your love didn’t feel the same way.

They were both on a rock one night, Roman and helped Virgil swim out, although the young sailor was surprisingly good, despite most at the time who couldn’t swim, and Roman had been caught up in the way that the moonlight framed Virgil’s face to notice that the human was addressing him.

“RO.”

“Oh sorry, what?”

Virgil laughed before suddenly looking serious.  “The ship will be arriving any day now.”

Roman deflated and looked away.  “I know.”

“I have to leave.”

“I understand.”

“Part of me doesn’t want to, you know?  Stay here for the rest of my short and pathetic life… but I don’t want to watch you watch me die..”  Virgil trailed off and Roman saw that he was crying again, oddly reminiscent of their first night like this.

“What if you didn’t have to die?”

Virgil looked at him sadly.  “I’m not like you Roman.”

Roman gulped.  “I know, but you can be.  There’s just one problem.”

“What?”

“You’d have to be my mate.”

Virgil’s eyes widened and a blush spread across his face as he ducked his head to hide behind his longer hair.  “Oh?”

Roman nodded.  “I know, it’s something that we take very seriously and I understand that you wouldn’t want to do it and--”

“No, I want to.  Maybe not now, but in a few years?  Yeah, it sounds amazing.  All of it.  Being with you… mates.”

Roman blinked at Virgil.  “Really?”

“Really.”

Roman surged forward and kissed Virgil, wrapping his arms around the human’s waist, sparks flashing across his vision as Virgil kissed him back, all passion and quiet love.

It was his first kiss and Roman could feel it clear as day that the human was meant to be his.

When they pulled away, with Virgil gasping for air and Roman trailing kisses along his mate to be’s jaw, nipping at the skin.

“Seas below, I love you.”  Roman whispered as he pulled away, looking into Virgil’s dark eyes.

“I love you too.”  Virgil kissed him again and this time they didn’t break away for quite some time.

…

Virgil stands at the edge of the ocean.

The Windborne came into the cove about a week after he and Roman had claimed each other, the siren later marking him with a bite that scarred silver against the still pale skin.

Hell, Virgil really wished he could get tan.

Roman had also given him a gold coin, one that he was supposed to give away when he was ready to return, and then they would be ready.

Roman had promised to come back for him.

When Virgil boards the ship later, they’re overjoyed to see him alive.  When they anchor for the night, he collapses in the barracks below decks, grateful to be sleeping in an actual hammock, rather than on sand or on stones.

When they sail out of the cove the next day, only he can hear the song that Roman sings in mourning of his mate.

Only he wants to jump back.

…

Years pass, three to be exact, before they sail by that cove again.  Virgil meets Remus, a younger sailor that he teaches everything, despite sometimes wishing that the younger would just shut up and give him a peace of mind.

Remus is bold though, and he believes in mer.  Virgil tells him about Roman, one day when they’re both in the crow’s nest and he doesn’t think that he sees anyone look so excited.

Of course, that is before he hears the song as they are sailing by, not stopping as night falls.

“I’ll sing you a song of ravens and stone--

With the temper of a storm!

With those who sail the waters deep,

Calling the entire sea their home!”

Virgil doesn’t realize that Remus is allured by the song until he snaps out of his funk and drags them both below decks, defying his heart.

He gets sick.

Remus nurses him back to health.

A month later, he insists on being alone for night watch, and luckily they are anchored just outside the cove.

Roman still has that wild smirk and he still kisses with a passion that makes Virgil dizzy as his mate cuts their palms and presses them together, mixing human and siren blood.

Transformation doesn’t hurt.

Virgil lets Roman pull them both overboard and the first time he breathes in saltwater properly, he cries, his tears still made of sea.

“You haven’t changed a bit my love.”

Virgil laughs, his voice carrying the unrestrained power of a new siren.  “Oh darling, but I have.”

His song is wild, just like a storm on the sea, free.  It melds with Roman’s perfectly as the two harmonize, voices weaving sea shanties and siren lullabies as easily as a fisherman mends a net.

Virgil wonders if Remus can still hear a siren’s song.  He may regret leaving the young boy behind, but he can take care of himself, after all, Virgil did as well.

…

Virgil Tempesta was born at sea.

Maybe that’s why he never felt comfortable in his own skin, why he was quiet for a child, taking in everything he saw.  Maybe it was the siren name that his mother gave him, for she believed in the beautiful creatures that dripped with song.  

Perhaps it was like in Roman’s shanty:

Not wanted by land nor sky...

[hiddendreamer67]

Mandy in the Multiverse

Summary: Mandy the writer witch doesn’t know what to write for her prompt, so she goes searching back through her plethora of AUs for inspiration and accidentally stumbles into a few others as well.

(Shoutout to @callboxkat, @lefaystrent and @delimeful for letting me reference their works in this!)

October prompt #23: Witchcraft.

Check out more of my writing at @hiddendreamerwriting!

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Mandy sighed, laying on her back and tossing her pen in the air to catch again. It was dull, lacking the usual shine of inspiration. It seemed she was quickly burning through her magic supply this month. 

Her eyes traveled over to the portal, humming in the corner. Several portals, actually. An entire wall of infinite portals, each leading into a different dimension she had created. But what did it matter? All the portals in the world wouldn’t help the young witch find a good story idea. She needed a new portal.

Mandy paused, catching her pen one last time. Or…she could always do a sequel. And for that, a quick lil’ inspiration trip wouldn’t hurt anyone, right?

“I’ll just pop in for a second.” Mandy grinned, already grabbing her cloak and sprinting through one at random.

A bright light flashed, forcing her to cover her eyes. She blinked the spots from her vision, peering around to find… a pet shop?

“Oh, tiny mers.” Mandy hummed, walking through the aisle ways. “Not exactly original, but-”

“Can I help you, gurl?” Remy the sales clerk interrupted her musing.

“Oh, hey Remy.” Mandy gave a disinterested wave, not even looking over as she peered into the empty tanks. She sighed. “Man, this is so boring. There’s not even anything happening here. Well, except with the cats.”

“We don’t sell cats.” Remy informed her.

“I know.” Mandy adjusted her cloak. She didn’t feel like walking all the way over to Picani’s place of residence just to see the shredded remains of Logan clinging to life, that’d just be depressing. “Don’t worry about it.” Without another word she twirled on her feet, the scenery swapping once more. 

“Alright, where we headed?” Mandy rubbed her hands together, looking around to try and get the lay of the land. It was a wide open field, which didn’t give her many clues- that is, until she saw how dead the grass was and the hole left behind by what must’ve been a beanstalk.

“Aww, I missed it?” Mandy groaned. She looked around, seeing nobody at the bottom of the stalk either. “Well this sucks.  I can’t even tell if this is Virgil’s or Patton’s story. Why does the beanstalk have to come down, anyway? Just let it stay up and eventually consume all the water on Earth.” 

That was an idea, maybe. But today was not the day for mythical eco-terrorism. Instead with a sigh Mandy twirled again, crossing her fingers. “Please something fun, please something fun-”

Unfortunately, her hopes were dashed when she opened her eyes to see generic apartment number 3. “Darn it, just a borrower story.” 

There was a quiet clattering behind her. Mandy turned, seeing a very startled human Logan standing in the kitchen. “I- how- what did you say?”

“Oh dear.” Mandy winced. Logan was always the one with too many questions, no matter the universe. “Um, a borrower? Tiny person about yeigh high?” Mandy held out her hands for scale. “You might have one already in a cage. That, or they’re still in the walls. I don’t really know what stage you’re at.”

Logan’s eyes widened, turning a deadly pale. He glanced back at the living room door anxiously, leaning forwards and lowering his voice. “How much do you know about the little mouse men?”

“The mouse men?” Mandy wrinkled her nose in confusion. Since when did Logan call borrowers ‘mouse men’? That sounded more like Littles, and the only story she knew with Littles was…

Mandy gasped, smacking a hand to her cheek. “This is Kat’s story!” She excitedly whispered. The witch looked down at her own hands in awe, having not been aware she could even do that. “Oh my goodness I could see Littles. Wait should I? What if I break something? No, I shouldn’t, they’re all so depressed right now, and Kat’s Littles are always so skittish.”

“Cat? What’s this about a cat?” Logan was frantically trying to keep up with her logic, to no avail.

“Don’t worry about it.” Mandy said hastily. “Tell them I say hi. Wait don’t, forget you saw anything. Okay. I love you. Bye.”

With these parting words Mandy spun away, eager to get out before she ruined over a year’s worth of careful planning. But this opened a newfound realm of possibilities; what were her limits? How far could she go? She eagerly focused her energy away from her own stories, trying to see if she could breach the wall again.

“...oh great. Another Remy.” Mandy sighed, opening her eyes.

“Gurl you better check yourself before you shrek yourself.” Remy judged her, taking a long sip from his cup. 

Mandy glanced around, taking in the house in disarray. There was a strange amount of potato chip bags and binoculars. On a notebook was a list labelled ‘Vampires?’ where Logan’s name had been written, crossed out, rewritten, repeat.

“Is this Lefay’s Welcome to the Neighborhood fic?” Mandy guessed.

“Yup.” Remy nodded. Mandy wasn’t even surprised Remy had that knowledge; he was some sort of demon of the night anyways here. Or something.

“Good.” Mandy nodded as well. “So I can’t break anything.” 

“Bold of you to assume you’re worthy enough to derail this plot.” Remy raised an eyebrow. “Where you headed?”

“I dunno.” Mandy shrugged, leaning against the couch. She cringed, feeling something sticky beneath her. “I mean not that you lovable trash raccoons aren’t, er, great… but I was kinda aiming for Delimeful.”

“The tiny dragon one?” Remy asked.

Mandy nodded. “I wanna introduce Puff to my dragon Virgil. Who isn’t really a dragon, just raised by dragons, and-”

“We get it, ya’ basic. First door on your left.” Remy interrupted with a point. Mandy paused, before with a shrug opening the door that was Remy’s haphazardly thrown together portal. There was another flash of familiar light, but this time the walls appeared more hazy. Translucent, even.

“So, this is a mind palace.” Mandy let out a low whistle, because she could do that in fiction. “Weird. I don’t work in canon enough, huh?” 

But that wasn’t the focus right now. Instead her attention was drawn to a scuttling in front of her, a little purple dragon caught off guard by her arrival. Mandy grinned, taking the opportunity to lunge and catch him. “Gotcha!”

Puff did not appreciate this gesture, frantically clawing and biting at Mandy and nearly causing the young witch to drop him entirely. 

“Geez, stop struggling, Virgil!” Mandy huffed, readjusting her grip.

“...Virgil?” 

Mandy paused, looking up to see she had an audience. Roman, Patton, and Logan were giving her looks caught between confusion and horror. The dragon in question had frozen, terrified when she said his name.

For a moment Mandy thought she ruined everything, but no recognition dawned on their faces. “Oh right, you guys are pre-accepting anxiety.” Mandy gave a small sigh of relief, the others tensing further. “Don’t worry, it’s just a, uh, nickname. Totally irrelevant. Definitely not something worth pondering or asking Anxiety about. Okay, toodles!”

But as soon as Mandy attempted to spin on her heel with Puff in tow, a searing hot pain overtook her arms. She yelped, dropping the fledgling and spinning into the other realm alone, collapsing with a grimace.

“Okay, no taking things between realms.” Mandy grit her teeth. “Good to know.”

She looked up, her eyes peering through the darkness to see a sword glinting in the meager light, pointed threateningly at her face. Strangely, she hadn’t even heard the movement. That was suspiciously terrifying. 

“State your business.” The not-dragon Virgil threatened. 

Mandy looked down the length of the sword. She looked back up at Virgil. “I was just trying to bring you a present.” Mandy huffed, annoyed that her plan had failed. “It was a dragon version of you. A real one.”

Well, that was not the right thing to say. Mandy yelped, rolling out of the way as the sword came slashing down, clanking loudly against the rock wall.

“Lovely seeing you as always!” Mandy waved, turning on her heel to the sound of cursing behind her. 

The witch gave a sigh of relief, trying to focus her mind again after getting so jittered. It was difficult whenever her creations got away from her, especially when she was at the wrong end of the sword. The Lord only knew how many times her giants got out of hand, putting Mandy in all sorts of compromising situations.

“Think Mandy.” Mandy told herself, continuing to spin as she began to get dizzy, multiple universes passing by and only offering her glimpses: cages, a butterfly wall, the ocean…. And of course the accompanying cast, but that was a bit harder to decipher considering they all shared the same fate. “If you could go anywhere, do anything, focus on that. Where would you go? What would you do?” 

Her focus was shattered as in her dizzy state she took a single step back, breaking the spell and immediately tripping over something alive.

“Mrow!” The white cat hissed, scrambling fearfully up and away from Mandy and into Patton’s lap.

“Oh dear!” Patton gasped, bending down to check on her. “Are you alright?” She took in his light blue robes, recognizing a fellow magic user.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Mandy took his hand, standing up. She looked down at the bristling cat, glaring up at her haughtily. Mandy winced, slowly recognizing this to be her witch AU. “Sorry about your tail, Roman. Also sorry about your allergies, Patton.”

Patton gave her a bewildered look, not so subtly wiping at his nose. The cat hair was clearly getting to him again. “What? It’s just this spring air. Hardly your fault.”

“Right.” Mandy didn’t bother to explain that she was the one who gave him allergies in the first place. She sighed, wishing she could at least cuddle up Roman with his fluffy coat, but Roman looked to be in no mood to accept her apology. “Aristocat.” She muttered. “Are Logan and Virgil around?”

“No, I believe they went out to collect potion ingredients.” Patton explained.

“Ugh why didn’t I just do that?” Mandy smacked herself in the forehead. “I could have just written something about you four doing potion stuff for witchcraft. This is so needlessly complicated.”

“...sorry?” Patton didn’t know how to respond.

“Whatever, I’m getting out of here.” Mandy glanced at the pair one last time. “I suggest inventing magic benadryl. Or getting regular benadryl. I have no idea what time period this actually is because you refuse to go outside.”

With this mystic advice Mandy disappeared, forever on the hunt for that elusive inspiration.