#ANYWAY this is all liable for change of course but this gives me somethin to ref for future drawings lol

[thedeafprophet]

Finished drawing my character designs/ line up of the Light Fingers Crew to formalize my drawing of them

Overview/ Design talk under the cut if anyone is interested in that sort of thing

For all the designs I used the art given for them in the game as a starting point and then went from there. For all but Hephaesta of course that means using a non character specific art. I also wanted all the colors to sort of fit together so where i would have done more vibrant stuff and i strayed away from that.

Clara and Her Sister

Putting the discussion for these two together, as their designs recieved similar thoughts because they are identical twins. ('She is wearing the Fading Music-Hall Singer's face, which seems rude.')

The basic art of the bohemian faction is used to depict the sisters.

So this was my basic starting point for the visual design. I ended up diving further into research into bohemian fashion, which of course lead to me reading up on the history of the term and the connection to the Romani people. According to wikipedia, the word comes from the french term 'bohémien', which was the word for the Romani people.

This of course put a complex spin when i looked into the clothing used in the time, as theres a question between cultural appropriation and cultural appreciation, and one I don't have the full understanding for.

Nevertheless i did take some inspirtation for the clothing here, Clara with having her hair loose and down and looser clothing, the singer with the hair scarf and the necklace among some inspirations.

Inbetween the two I imagine the singers appearance to be more reserved then Clarabelle's. For one, my interpretation of the singer is as someone who uses her singing as a backdrop for sneaking and gathering information (per her role as a 'contact' of the player). The other being that we are told Clara's title is the 'eccentric opera singer' to me implies a grander sense of creatativity and wilder clothing. In less stressful times I imagine her wearing brighter clashing colours and skirts with patterns on them and jewlery (which i intend to draw at a later time when i get better at adding patterns to clothes lol).

We also know the two of them are 'not young' so i attempted to not make them appear so.

Hephaesta

Heph is of course the one character of the group with a personalized art, which i used as the base for my design.

Hephaesta is supposed to be a large figure, as she is a strongwoman, and is described as towering over even jasper and frank. So of course I had to make her tall compared to the others of the group.

And of course i can't go without bringing up Katie Sandwina (again), a real strongwomen of the time who serves as a great inspiration both in body type and height.

What a woman huh.

Dr Vaughan

The Campaigner template art was the one used to depict her when you first speak to her and was a starting point here.

To me i always pictured her as a fairly older women given her experience and amount of time she's been researching. Clearly someone with a lot of exprience. And also i just vibe with it.

I kept her outfit simple, as i dont figure her as someone to put too much into the latest fashion given her focus on her work. I took the green from the art to use as her skirt to tie in that colour. I also looked up some photos of female doctors of the time and that partially influenced my art direction here.

Obliging Silverer

I debated including him or not given that you only have him as part of the team if you use the light fingers exclusive option to access the parabolan basecamp. But given the fact that he literaly dies defending the camp, I think its only fair that he gets included.

i just had a bit of fun with the design as there wasnt too much to restrict off. I dont draw a lot of characters with mustaches depsite them being a thing of the time, so I figured this was a good excuse as any. I kept with some orange colours within his colour scheme for further callbacks to parabola and his work.

Also hey did you know that people of an ashkenazi background can also have red hair? Fun fact heh.

[desiraypark]

Let’s take a tour...

A Tour of Clyde and Sherri’s Home Close your eyes and imagine. Well, don’t close your eyes because you have to read this.

Clyde bought the cozy two-bedroom house after the last great Cauliflower scheme. Sherri moved in a few weeks before their wedding. I imagine the exterior looking something like this...

LIVING ROOM

Alright. Now, we’re in the livin’ room. Very simple: Cream walls, butterscotch oak floorin’. Navy blue sofa against the wall, matchin’ recliner beside it. Dark wood coffee table. Flat screen TV mounted on the wall. Sherri’s additions: She picked out the table under the TV. Its color matches the coffee table almost perfectly. She put framed photos on top of it (we’ll talk about those photos in a few). At one point, she’d bought a coral rug to put up under the coffee table. Right now, she’s got a white vase in the middle of the table with some artificial peonies up in it. 

Oh, she also bought a shoe rack that’s by the front door (please use that next time). And a floor lamp. Just a regular ol’ floor lamp with a silver body and white shade. Before they got engaged, Sherri strongly recommended that Clyde get some real blinds and toss those temporary shades (he did). KITCHEN/DINING  Alright, now we’re gonna walk through the living room and into the kitchen and dining area. As you can see, the kitchen has maintained a...”classic” look—the wood panelin’, wooden cupboards and shelves.This yellowed linoleum that needs to come on up. The oven and refrigerator are both black--kinda new. Sherri’s mom once asked her when those two would get the kitchen remodeled, It reminded Clyde of his Grandma and PawPaw’s kitchen. The previous owners didn’t make any changes to it, so neither would Clyde.  Now--step on inside, y’all, I don’t bite--now, as you can see, when you walk all the way into the kitchen, the fridge is pushed to the wall on your right, sitting beside a half-counter that connects to the oven. You see the counter wrapping all the way around to the door--giving Clyde and Sherri some good cookin’ space. They do other things on this counter, but that ain’t my business to tell. They love lookin’ out this window over the sink to look at the birds and butterflies in the backyard. Of course, that door leads to the back yard, but this door is right here to my right is the pantry slash laundry room.  Sherri’s additions: So, Sherri got her grandma to make these cute lil’ embroidered curtains for the window and the door. Sherri keeps sayin’ that she’s gonna learn how to sew, but that ain’t girl ain’t gonna start no time soon. Anyway, she just bought this big blender--she said it’s for smoothies, but she really wants Clyde to make her some frozen margaritas this summer. She also bought them a 12-piece Pyrex set. Now, I don’t like to stereotype men, but both me and Sherri were shocked that Clyde had so much cookware, and silverware, and a good set of dishes. I mean, the man had all kinds of nice pots and pans--even a cast iron skillet! But the thing is, the stuff was barely used. Of course, he’s always busy at Duck Tape, but one day, he told Sherri that he’d bought it all during his “Food Network phase”. Okay, to your left is their dining table. Nothin’ fancy. Let’s move right along... MASTER BEDROOM So, if y’all turn around and step outside of the kitchen and look to your left--that door right there leads to Clyde and Sherri’s bedroom. It has the same design as the living room: cream walls, butterscotch flooring. Y’all follow me inside. So, as you can see, the bedroom set is a dark wood, I guess that’s ebony or somethin’. It came with a queen-size sleigh bed, a vertical dresser, and a nightstand. Clyde could have gotten a horizontal dresser with the mirror attached to it, but he didn’t think he’d need it. He just put a floor length mirror on the back of the door. Clyde also keeps sayin’ that he wants a king-size one day--he’s a big man, you know? But he didn’t wanna overcrowd the room. To your left is the closet, where Clyde and Sherri keep their shoes; their coats; their nice clothes--you know, dresses, suits, and all that. Now, as we look past the closet, our eyes will land on the nightstand, and beside that, the bed. Clyde put the bed there so he could look up at the sunshine in the morning. Then, on the other side of the bed is the horizontal dresser with its attached mirror. Then, directly to your right you’ll see a vertical dresser. That’s a case for Clyde’s prosthetic arm on top of it. Sherri’s additions: Sherri hasn’t added much to the bedroom. Of course, she was definitely gonna need some space for her clothes, so she and Clyde went on and picked out a horizontal dresser. Sherri kinda hates it, though--because it doesn’t match the rest of the set. Clyde bought the landscape painting over his dresser. But other than that, Sherri’s only additions are her personal items, a few candles, and some extra bedding sets that she keeps in the linen closet. BATHROOM Okay, now let’s step out of the master bedroom and walk across the living room and into that tiny, little hallway. In front of us is the linen closet. To your right is another room and to your left is the bathroom. Let’s step into the bathroom, it’ll be quick. Matter of fact, don’t even step inside--just peek in. The wall is a pale yellow, the floor white tile. The sink is to your left. That’s a medicine chest on top of it--I don’t think they put those in too many new houses, these days. Of course, that’s the toilet beside the sink, and beside the toilet is the tub. That’s Clyde’s shower curtain. The mother duck leading her ducklings across a pond. He picked out these green rugs, too. Sherri’s additions: Again, all Sherri really bought to the bathroom are her personal items...and her desire to set the shower curtain on fire.  SPARE ROOM

*closes bathroom door* Now, let’s turn around. We have what’s my favorite room in Clyde and Sherri’s home. The “spare” room. I love it and they love it because it’s a space they built together. When Clyde and Sherri were dating, it was an empty room, minus a few boxes and a random lamp with a bird on it. 

Come in, come in.  So, when they were engaged, Sherri helped him sort through his boxes. Just a few boxes--three or four, I suppose. They had books; photos; stuff from his time in the military, and some of his mom’s belongings--some jewelry and a few little accessories. Clyde told Sherri that he just never got around to unpacking the boxes, but she knew that he really meant, “I wasn’t ready to unpack these boxes”. So, she didn’t push him with this one. Instead, they just put a lot of thought into what they’d turn the room into--then the stuff in the boxes would find their places.  So, finally, they decided they just turn this into an “unwind” room. Not an entertainment room, but a place to just relax, or take a nap. But as you can see, they kept the furnishing minimal--because who knows? The unwind room might have to be transformed into the Lil’ Shlyde or the lil’ Clerri room, one day. Don’t tell them I came up with those names, they’re liable to take me serious. So, I know, the first thing y’all probably noticed was the console record player right in front of you. Somethin’ about the scritch and scratch of some vinyl just puts you in a different kind of mood, don’t you think? Up against this back wall is a modular sectional. Clyde and Sherri take many a nap on this thing. Doesn’t it look cozy? I wonder what they’ll do with it if they move out...

But anyway, to your left--is a modular bookcase that houses the lovebirds’ combined book collections. Over here, under the window is a mini fridge and a tub of snacks. The unwind room turns into the “PMS” and “eat your feelings out” room, real quick! Okay, that wasn’t my business to tell.  I’d show you the backyard, but it isn’t much. It’s fenced in--that I will mention. But other than that, the yard is patchy. They have a couple of reclining lawn chairs. They don’t have a grill because Jimmy is the designated Logan Grill King, so why bother? But it’s a pretty empty backyard--nothin’ special.

So, that brings me to the end of this tour. I hope y’all enjoyed it. Please pay Clyde and Sherri a visit. They’re a lovely couple. Ask Clyde to fix you up a drink he calls the “Sherri”. I don’t know what’s in it, but I know that thang had me in their living room doin’ The Wobble one night. The Wobble wasn’t even playin’ and I was doin’ it by myself. Needless to say, he doesn’t make it for me anymore.  But anyway. Bye y’all!

[ducktales-wco-oo]

‘Beyond The Grave’ [Negs Negs because >3]  - ✩ { @aflockoffeathers​​​​​​ } ✩

✩ { Meme​ } ✩

{ ☆ } It’s eerily quiet. A vast blackness, like the emptiness of space but without the stars. Without the slightest light to peek through the suffocating darkness, and yet… Negaduck can still see. Everything around him, clear as day yet dark as night. It’s an unsettling place, to be sure. Feeling like nothing, and yet overwhelming at the same time. Being in it for too long would be liable to drive anyone mad. Or would it? Already, Negs can feel himself growing accustomed to the strange place. With its silence: a terrible, echoing, all-encompassing silence... At least, that’s the initial thought, a voice soon cutting through the quiet.

Laughter, bubbly and joyous. Like the serenade of a songbird, only… rowdier. More chaotic and untamed, sweet and full of ironic life. Negs spins around to face where the sound seems to be coming from, feathers bristling with unease as the noise surrounds him. But no matter which direction he faces, how quickly he turns, he’s never able to catch it. It’s always one move ahead of him, one step too far, one giggle too faint… But there’s nothing. Darkness still stretches on forever. Where is that heart-wrenchingly happy sound coming from?

And what is it doing in a place like this?

“Daddy!” Being tenses when arms suddenly wrap around his waist, gaze darting down to look at a familiar face… Albeit, with a few distinct differences. Eye color for one. Not quite the eyes of the Gosalyn he knows. A shining, shimmering color that’s almost too vibrant. Too perfect. Red locks shift and fade: sometimes touching her shoulder, sometimes just above. Growing curlier, straighter, brighter, duller. As if they can’t decide WHAT they should be. Same with her dress: changing hues of pink, losing and adding ribbons, lace, glitter or no glitter, but all pristine and perfect… aside from the brief flashes when she’s not.

When she appears burnt, broken… Singed feathers and blackened hair, wide, blank eyes and tattered dress. Horrific visions that arise for a split-second, a moment so brief that one would wonder if they were even there at all. Where even is HERE? 

Sweet smile slips when she looks into his eyes, her own ever-constant ones growing misty as she sorrowfully says, “You’re not my daddy… Y-You are but- but you’re not too.” He’s not here. He hasn’t come for her… Yet. But someday he will. It’s like before, when she used to wait for him to come home. Sometimes it’d be hours later than he promised, sometimes days. One time it was even a couple weeks… but he always came back. Came HOME.

She hopes that NegaLP isn’t too lonely at home now.

“D’ya… wanna play a game anyway?” Gosalyn asks, a tentative smile forming on her face as arms release the kinda-stranger. Clutching his bright sleeve, she continues, emboldened by the fact that he hasn’t shaken her off, “I don’t really have any toys around here… but we don’t need ‘em to play! Here, lemme show ya-“ Before Negaduck even knows what’s happening, he’s engaged in a game of Slap Jack. Hands hovering above the girl’s, she moves with impressive speed... but Negs is a smidge quicker.

However, as time goes on, she manages to ‘win’ a few games. Which the little apparition girl calls him out on. “Hey! No lettin’ me win!” Brows furrow with adorable determination, eyes burning as she rivers her gaze on Negsie’s hands, a pout tugging at her beak as she mutters, “I have to earn it.” One of the lessons accidentally taught by Negaduck. A few moments pass as the game resumes, occasional warning glances aimed into unfamiliar garnet eyes, before Gos speaks again, “Do you… Do you know my daddy? He looks like you, ‘cept his eyes are a different color. Really dark, an’ his smile is pointier.” Nothing like the soft, melancholy one in front of her. Her Negaduck SNARLS or grins with teeth cruelly gleaming.

She strikes… and misses. However, disappointment is short-lived, expression brightening when Negs silently nods his head. Tail wags, briefly shown when her dress shortens before becoming covered by thick layers of ruffles. Baby-soft feathers fluffing, a smile stretches across her face, “Can you give him a message from me?! I know he can be kinda hard to talk to… but it’s really important.” Not waiting for an answer, the message pours forth. “Tell him that I miss him an’ I’m waitin’ for him to come an’ get me! N-No rush, of course! I know that he’s a busy guy an’ all…” Gaze wanders off to the side, Gosalyn shrugging, “Probably still has lots that he needs to do before he can. Plus, he can’t just leave NegaLP all alone.”

Being alone is the worst.

“I just… want him to know that I haven’t forgotten about him.” Demeanor wilts, gaze lowering and voice growing softer, that horrific visage starting to flicker more frequently. “That I’m not mad at him either. What happened… it wasn’t his fault. I shoulda listened to him. He said it was dangerous… He-he didn’t want me to go.” Of course, he never wanted her to go with him ANYWHERE. How was she supposed to know that this time, would be the one to prove him right? A small smile forms, hand rubbing at her eyes as vision grows blurry, lingering tears causing those constant hues to sparkle brighter as she looks up at Negsie, voice cracking but tinged with joy nonetheless. “H-He tried to help me.” 

“Before everythin’ went crazy, an’ I couldn’t see anythin’ anymore... I saw my Daddy.” Tears stream down her face, a light laugh slipping out— appearance sweet and soot-free as ever —as she says, “He was trying to help me.” The world grows hazed, blurry and unstable. The darkness starting to overwhelm, to SUFFOCATE. But Gosalyn doesn’t pay it any mind, just wiping the remainder of her tears away with a soft sigh. “I guess it’s time for you to go. It’s probably for the best. Ya really don’t wanna get stuck in this place...” She starts to fade- or is it Negsie that’s fading? Either way, she’ll be gone soon. He’ll be gone soon.

Everything will go back to the way it was... more or less.

“Hey... Negaduck?” Chimes a small voice, the last lingering remnants of the little girl fighting to flicker in front of him as he reaches out towards him... and baps the back of his hands, Negs having forgotten that they were still held outward. Giggling brightly at having ‘earned’ that point, NegaGosalyn then begins to cheerfully wave him goodbye as the ‘world’ around him disappears. A faded voice echoing through the darkness that encapsulates Negsie, “Oh! An’ tell him to remember some toys or somethin’ for me! It’s pretty borin’ here!” { ☆ }

[collapsingintojupiter]

Birthday Party

So before I begin, lemme just say--

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

It's @starbucks-remy 's birthday y'all, so please go and let them know how great they are!!

I asked them what they wanted to see and they mentioned Logince and Intrulogical, so I did my best to combine a little fluff and comedy with both! (Also I've already written a couple of fics with Logince fluff in them if you want to see 'em here and here). I wrote this kinda fast cause I really wanted to give it to @starbucks-remy on their birthday, so I’m sorry if it’s not as good? I tried I promise.

Anyways, without further ado:

Characters: Logan, Remus, Roman, Virgil, Remy, and Patton.

Relationships: Kind of a smash up but I tried to include some (mostly platonic) Intrulogical and Logince, as well as a little background Moxiety (also platonic).

Warnings: Uh, there’s like one curse? Food mention. Also Remus is in it, for those of you that are triggered by him. Please tell me if there’s something else I should add.

Logan sat on the front porch with a glass of water in one hand and a calculator in the other. A chemistry book was open on his lap, and he squinted against the bright sunlight overhead as he read the next question to himself and sipped at his water. Being hydrated, if he remembered correctly, would allow him to study more efficiently by improving his mood, focus, and concentration. The sunlight also provided valuable vitamin D. Speaking of which, maybe he could call Virgil, and they could--

"Logan!" A shout from down the road dragged his attention away from his studying and Logan looked up, surprised. Someone was approaching him at a rather unsteady run, almost as if they were injured. Remus…?

"Logan!" He called again. "LOGAN!" 

Logan scrambled to his feet and threw the book aside, his heart pounding.

"What's wrong?" He shouted, running to Remus' side. "Are you hurt? Where's Roman? What happened? Is someone in danger?"

Remus stumbled to a stop and doubled over, gasping for breath. A black long-sleeved shirt hung loosely from his shoulders, matched by pants that were the most peculiar shade of green one had ever seen. Logan didn’t see any blood.

"It's…birthday… Roman...wanted...somethin' special…" Logan blinked at the other boy.

"Wait…what?"  Remus grabbed his shoulders.

"Birthday!" He shouted in Logan's face. "Roman's birthday is today!" He coughed, sucked in a deep breath, and tried again.

"I need your car." Logan blinked.

"I…you've got to be kidding me!" He stumbled over his own words, but that didn't stop him. "I...I thought someone got...got hurt or something and you just need my car!? Where's your car? What…what about Roman? Where is he? I thought he was dead or something with all your shouting!"

"Well obviously I can't go shopping with him for his birthday present now can I?"

"And your car?" Logan tried to fight off the exasperation creeping into his voice.

"I got my license revoked." Remus grinned widely.

"You what?" 

"Yeah. Apparently I'm a reckless driver or something--can we go?"

"I...I don't even know how you got a license…" Logan sighed and adjusted his glasses. "Okay, so let me get this straight--"

"--Logan, neither of us are straight." That earned Remus a sharp glare, to which he only grinned in response.

"--So it's Roman's birthday and you're trying to…?" That statement actually made Remus stop and think, which was quite worrying to see when you knew the kinds of things that happened when you let Remus think. He scrunched up his face and puffed up his cheeks, then exhaled loudly through his nose.

"Uh... birthday party…" he said finally. "Like...a surprise? For Roman?"

God help me.

Logan sighed. "You want to use my house don't you?" Remus' eyes lit up at that.

"See, I knew I could count on you!" He broke into a run towards the garage.

"Wait...I didn't…" Logan let his voice trail off and sighed again as he watched the other boy go. Then he started after Remus. Looks like I'm in charge of this now, he thought to himself. I’ll have to put off studying until tomorrow morning. There was absolutely no way Logan could let Remus create this surprise party unsupervised, as someone's house was liable to end up catching fire if he did (and yeah, he was saying that from experience).

Remus was already seated in the passenger side of the car as Logan climbed in. 

"You need to contact Remy, Virgil, and Patton right now," he told Remus as he started the car. "And put your seatbelt on. Tell the others to meet us at my place in twenty minutes. You're lucky my parents aren't home, but if we're doing this at my house this means you're agreeing to clean up afterwards. Understand?" Remus nodded and quickly pulled his phone out. 

"Good."

---

Three figures were standing on the front porch when Logan and Remus got back. One, dressed in a blue polo and wearing glasses, another with shades down and a frappe in one hand, and the third hunched over in a purple and black patch jacket. 

Remus barreled out of the car and insisted on carrying all of the bags into the house by himself--Logan had decided to pick up everything on his parents' grocery list while they were at the grocery store, so there were quite a few stacked up in the trunk. Of course, that didn't stop Remus. His arms were covered in the white plastic handles and he’d even wrapped several around his neck, despite Logan’s protests.

"You're going to choke yourself…" Logan sighed as Remus marched up the steps without heeding him, nodding to Virgil and accepting a hug from Patton as he followed.

"How'd it go?" Remy asked with a smirk, glancing up from his phone.

"We almost got arrested."

"Again?" Virgil snickered. "What happened this time?"

"THEY CHARGE WAY TOO MUCH FOR THE DONUTS!" Remus shouted over his shoulder. 

"How'd he try to steal them?" Patton asked. Logan slapped a hand over Remus' mouth before he could blurt out the answer. 

“Don’t you dare,” he hissed. He looked up at Patton. "Creatively," was all he said. He stepped past Remus and unlocked the house, leading everyone inside. "So this is a very last minute project, but I believe that we can accomplish our goal if we’re efficient at our jobs and work together." He winced as Remus roughly dumped the bags onto the kitchen counter. "Remy, let’s put you and Virgil in charge of decorating. Patton--"

"Uh, actually…" Patton cleared his throat. "Remus helped me come up with a good gift idea earlier…" Logan listened as he explained, and found himself nodding.

"Alright, you want to go take care of that, then?" Patton nodded and rushed off. "Okay, so slight plan change. Virgil, you and Remus will be in charge of the cake. Remy, I will assist you with the decorations. Any questions?" 

"Yeah. Can you kill me?"

"I'm sure you two will be fine, Virgil." Logan looked down at his watch. "We have three hours. Let's get going."

Virgil disappeared into the kitchen, muttering, and Remus pranced after him. Logan worried about it for a minute, but that was why he'd put Virgil in there with Remus. Surely he'd be able to handle him.

"Alright, so I've got some ideas. Ya think you can rig something up that'll drop confetti from overhead when you trigger it? Say, when someone opens the front door?" Remy looked back from where he was examining the walls, eyebrows raised. Logan thought about his suggestion for a moment, then nodded. 

"I'll see what I can do," he answered. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to hang up steamers and make a sign that'll hang from…probably here," Remy motioned to the ceiling and set his coffee down on the kitchen counter.

Logan set about gathering the materials he'd need for Remy's suggested confetti drop, and he was in the middle of trying to figure out what kind of tape to use when pandemonium erupted from the kitchen.

"Remus, we're trying to hurry here!" 

"Oh don't worry, I can mix it really fast!"

"REMUS NO!"

A high-pitched whirring sound came from the kitchen, and Logan and Remy burst into the room just as a cloud of flour and other ingredients exploded from the bowl. Instantly, everything within a twenty-foot radius was coated in white powder. Virgil shrieked and before Logan knew what was happening he was on top of the fridge, his hood pulled down over his face and his hands over his ears. Remus scrambled to stop the mixer, and ended up toppling the entire bowl of cake batter over onto the floor. The crash of breaking glass combined with the string of curses that came from Remus' mouth were enough to make anybody's ears ring, the mixer was still running, and how the hell did Virgil even get on top of the fridge?

Logan shook himself, then suddenly he was hurrying over towards Remus and the chaos he'd created, being careful not to step on any glass as he did so. He reached over and shut off the mixer, and the three exchanged glances over the now flour-coated kitchen.

"Huh," Remus said finally. " So that's why you're not supposed to do that." Logan sighed and ran a hand through his hair, causing a small avalanche of flour to join the rest of the disaster on the floor. 

"Go get a broom, Remus, I'll start wiping off the counters. Remy, can you get Virgil down from the fridge?"

"Oh thanks, give me that job,” Remy muttered. 

“Would you prefer wiping down the counters?”

“I would to getting bit by that bitch-ass vampire!” Logan sighed again and handed Remy the sponge. 

“Here, take this then.” Remy took the sponge and he started over to where Virgil was still sitting on top of the fridge. His hands hadn’t come away from his ears yet. Logan reached up and gently nudged his knee with one hand.

“It stopped,” he said quietly.

“Hsssssssss…” Virgil opened his eyes and glowered down at Logan. “I’m not getting down and you can’t make me. Not with that...not with Remus in here!”

“He’s not in here right now.” The other glanced up at this and seemed to consider this, but he didn’t move. 

“Look...I’ll trade with you,” Logan offered. “I’ll help Remus cook, and you can set up the confetti drop. That shouldn’t be too complicated and you won’t have to interact with him anymore, alright?” Virgil thought over the offer for a moment, then nodded slowly and slid off the top of the fridge. 

“How did you even get up there?” Remy asked as he exited the kitchen. 

“I have my ways.” The one in shades rolled his eyes and tossed the sponge to Logan, who only barely managed to catch it and got flour all over his shirt as a result. 

“Have fun.” Then Remy was gone. Logan began wiping everything down with the sponge and Remus came in a few minutes later, having finally located a broom. Somehow they managed to clean up the mess without any further incidents, and moved on to making the cake...again. There’s a reason I bought at least three boxes of cake mix, after all, Logan thought to himself with a small sigh. Once all the ingredients were in the bowl Remus moved to turn the mixer on again, but Logan stopped him before he could. 

“I don’t think so,” he grumbled. “Already had to get Virgil off the fridge once today.” “How’d he do that, by the way?”

“Who knows?” He started the mixer--slowly, this time, and soon enough they had a decent bowl full of cake batter.

“Remus, can you get me a glass pan?” He went in search of one while Logan went looking for the oil spray. 

“Can I do it?” Remus asked when they met back at the kitchen counter. How much of a mess could he cause? Logan hesitantly handed it to Remus, who promptly sprayed the oil in his own face. Okay, a lot of a mess.

“Dammit!” Remus quietly cursed and turned the nozzle, and before he knew what was happening Logan’s glasses were coated in oil, along with the rest of his face.

“Remus!”

“SHIT!”

Logan fumbled with his glasses and tried to wipe the oil off with the corner of his shirt, but he only succeeded in smearing it all over the lenses. 

“There, it’s in the pan!” Remus called. “How’d I do?”

“Remus, I can’t see.” 

“Don’t worry! I can take care of--”

“--REMY!!”

“What’s happening? Who’s on fire...Logan?” He saw his sassy friend’s blurry form enter the room, and gestured helplessly towards the green and black blob on his right. 

“Can you...stop him...get the cake in the oven...I gotta clean my glasses off now.” Logan stumbled over to the kitchen sink; Remus sounded outraged that Logan wasn’t trusting him with cake duty, and Remy was even more outraged at having been put in charge of the wildest, most chaotic human being that any of them had ever met. 

“Okay it’s in, try not to burn the house down Remus...chow.” Logan heard Remy leave as he scrubbed at his glasses with dish soap, while Remus flopped down onto the floor to watch the cake bake. Well, he probably wasn’t actually watching it bake, but as long as the house wasn’t catching fire things were going pretty good as far as Logan was concerned. He finished getting the last of the oil off of his glasses, dried them, and breathed a sigh of relief as the world came back into focus around him. It always made him nervous to not be able to see, though he’d never admit it of course.

Soon the cake was ready and the decorations had been prepared for the surprise party. Patton came back, laughed at Virgil’s wild telling of the incident in the kitchen, told Remus he’d done well for trying, and helped Logan make the frosting for the cake while Remus disappeared in order to ‘take care of Roman’s present,’ as he’d said. 

Whatever that meant.

“Got the pizza ordered?” Logan poked his head out of the kitchen once the cake was out and cooling off on the counter, directing his question at Remy.

“Hey, this bitch don’t mess around with pizza--of course I did.” Remy might’ve said more, but before he could continue Remus burst back into the house, holding a very oddly-wrapped something in his hands. 

“THE SACRIFICE HAS BEEN PREPARED!” he shrieked. Virgil flinched away from the loud noise and shook his head, while Logan and Remy raised their eyebrows and exchanged slightly worried, slightly amused glances. Remus’ wrapping skills were tragic at best, and as Patton came out of the kitchen his eyes went wide at the sight. 

“Do…do you...” he stopped himself and shook his head, retreating back into the kitchen. Logan glanced over at Remus. 

“We’re putting all the gifts on the counter over there, go ahead and add yours,” he told the other boy. Remus nodded and hurried over, adding his gift to the others that had already been stacked there. 

“You contact your brother?” Remus nodded quickly. 

“Yup!” Logan nodded, checking the room around them to ensure that all was in order. The front entryway had been transformed by Remy and Virgil’s handiwork--the confetti drop was up and ready over the doorway, set to fall when the string which had been tied to the door handle was pulled. Streamers were hung up on the walls, balloons were scattered around the low ceiling, and a large sign that said “Happy Birthday Roman!” hung from the middle, done in Remy’s handwriting of course. Virgil’s handwriting was usually illegible, Logan’s looked more like chicken scratch than the work of an actual human, Remus couldn’t spell, and Patton’s cursive was impossible to decipher in even the best situations. 

“The cake’s ready!” Patton came into the room, the cake balanced delicately in his hands. A blue, powdered sugar-coated apron hung from his shoulders and his hair was dusted white, as were his glasses. “Hey Logan--can you get the candles, please?”

“Certainly.” Logan retrieved the candles and lighter, arranging them on the cake in what he thought was a pleasing pattern. “Is Roman almost here?” he called to Remus. The other boy rushed to the window. 

“He’s coming down the street right now!” he announced. “Light the candles!”

“What did you tell your brother, anyways?” Logan asked as he flicked the lighter on. 

“I told him that you were texting him from my phone cause I got hurt and he needed to come over right away.” Patton’s eyes widened and he looked at Logan, who just shook his head. 

“It’s definitely believable,” Remy said, sipping at his Starbucks.

“How have you still not finished your coffee?”

“I bring extra.” Logan would’ve continued his questioning (like, how does one bring extra coffee and where was Remy hiding it?), but then a knock sounded at the door. He strode forward and opened it a crack. Roman was standing there, and he looked awfully worried. 

“Oh Lo, I’m so sorry about my idiot brother!” he burst out immediately, but before any more could be said Remus crashed into Logan, dragging the door open the rest of the way and yanking his brother into the house. 

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROTHER!” He shouted as confetti rained down on them and Remy laughed his head off in the corner and Patton tried not to drop the cake. He came over with the dessert and they all started singing happy birthday to Roman--yes, even Logan did, though he’d never admit it later. 

“Wait...wait...you’re not hurt! This was just a surprise…” Roman’s jaw dropped, and then he snapped his mouth shut. “Remus! I thought you’d killed yourself!” He dragged his brother into a hug. “You idiot! Come up with a better excuse next time, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry!” Remus said, though he was so excited that he didn’t sound sorry at all. “C’mon c’mon c’mon, we got you presents and everything!” Roman looked around at the decorations that had been put up for him, and once he was sure that his brother was okay and the anger from that had worn off he grinned like an idiot as he walked through the room. A rather illegally cute idiot as far as Logan was concerned, though of course he didn’t admit that as he ushered the others into the living room and brought in the packages. 

“So the pizza should be here in a few minutes,” he said as the others sat down, “but we thought you’d like it if you could open your presents first.” Roman looked wide-eyed at the packages that had been set out in front of them, grinning from ear to ear. He reached first for a small, neatly packaged gift that had been wrapped in purple paper, and pulled it away to reveal a pair of red headphones. Virgil smiled awkwardly at his friend, who immediately reached across the room and pulled him into a hug. 

“I hope you like it,” he said quietly. 

“Like it? Like it? LIKE IT!? I love it!” Roman set the headphones down next to him, admiring them for a moment before reaching for a tiny silver package next. 

“Now you can stop begging me to buy you coffee,” Remy grinned as Roman held up a Starbucks gift card. 

“That’s awesome, thank you Remy!” Roman cast a confused look at the third package, which was wrapped in green, then looked at his brother. Remus looked like he was about to explode from sheer excitement and chaotic energy--it was a miracle he’d managed to stay quiet for as long as he had. He reached for it and pulled off the paper, holding up a large machete with a slightly-confused-but-excited expression. 

“Remus…?” “I’ve been saving up to get us matching ones!” Remus burst out. “Now we can duel! Isn’t that gonna be awesome!?”

“Nice!” The two high-fived and Roman hugged his brother again. Patton looked at Remus and Logan and stood up. 

“Just a minute,” he said quietly. He disappeared and came back a few minutes later, and Roman’s brow crinkled in confusion. 

“A backpack? Why’s it...moving? Why does it look so heavy?” Roman reached for it as Patton gently handed it to him, and let out a squeal as he opened the top and a little golden puppy leaped out of the bag and started licking his face. 

“Oh my gosh, a puppy!” He squealed. Patton and Remus both grinned, and Logan found himself smiling a little as well. 

“Remus got permission from your parents, I got my dad’s help, and Logan picked the puppy out for you,” Patton explained. Roman reached for the little note that had been tied to the puppy’s collar, reading it out loud. 

Dear Roman,

I hope you find this gift satisfactory, your brother mentioned that you had been wanting a dog for quite some time, so we thought that we would try to make your wish a reality. His name at the shelter was Tillie, but you may name him whatever you would like.

“You...amazing...nerd…” Roman slowly set the card down, then launched himself into Logan’s arms, hugging him tight. “Thank you so much!” They were suddenly joined by Remus, and out of the corner of his eye Logan saw Patton yell something and hug Virgil. The puppy wagged his little tail and tried to climb into Roman’s lap; he let go of Logan so that he could and then hugged the pup too. Remy watched them all from the couch, shaking his head and smirking. 

“What should we name it?” Roman asked, looking around at the others. 

“Shadow,” Virgil suggested. “Or maybe like, Killer, or Demon, or--”

“Chaos! Death! Destruction! Carrion! Carcass! Vulture! Decay!” Remus shouted, bouncing with every name idea. 

“How about...Rose? Or Lily. Or Tulip. Or Dandelion. Or Daisy…” Patton tried, clearly trying to remember every flower name he’d ever heard.

“Frappe, Latte, Mocha, Capuchino, Coffee bean.” Remy yawned, pretending that he wasn’t interested in the conversation at all.

“The most popular dog names include Max, Buddy, Jack, Rocky, Bear, and Charlie,” Logan quoted. 

“You googled most popular dog names?” Remy asked with a snort.

“I’m not good with names.” Logan shrugged. “But I figured I would do my best to contribute.”

“That’s so cute,” Patton gushed. “What do you think, Roman?” Roman held up the puppy, who wagged its tail and licked his face. He giggled.

“How about...Princess?” he said. “I like that name.”

“The dog is a male though,” Logan said, a little confused. 

“Princess the Magnificent, then.” Roman laughed and set the puppy down. 

“Princey for short,” Virgil said. 

“I like that!” Roman nodded, then hugged the puppy to his chest again. “You’re so cute!” he told the puppy.

The doorbell rang. 

“Pizza’s here,” Logan announced. Roman jumped up as he stood, then hugged him again.

“Thank you so much,” he whispered, “for making this the best birthday ever.”

[villainscomplex]

the corner of first and amistad

i can’t believe it rlly took me getting neck deep into haikyuu to yeet my writers’ block smh

Also on:

AO3

FFnet

Quotev

Wattpad

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

Ukai Keishin grows weary of the city.

He’s a country boy at heart, born and raised in a place where he can glance outside and see the stars anytime at night. The crickets sang to him when he jogged through the chilled night air, lungs cold and body warm.

Here, the cacophony of cars keeps him awake at night. People are only polite because they have to be. There’s nothing but the black sky above him, empty of the starlight he’d taken for granted as a kid.

When he’s twenty-two, he moves to the city to make a better life for himself. By the time he’s twenty-six, he’s just tired, in a bone-deep wary sort of way. He takes up smoking a year and a half in. It isn’t as if it’ll kill him any more than this place will, after all.

Sleep seldom comes easy. He turns in around ten every night, but without fail he’ll toss and turn until two or three. After that, he finally gives up and rises again. Sometimes, it’s easy to occupy his mind with the same two late-night television channels until he passes out or the sun comes up. Sometimes, he’s too restless.

Tonight is such a night.

His apartment is on the third floor of the complex. The rent is spiked high for such a dingy, busted place, but it’s barely in his pay range and he’s lived here for the past four years, so it’s home now whether he likes it or not.

Despite the time he’s been here, it hasn’t changed much. It’s the same ratty couch and low table that serves more as a catch-all than anything else. The carpets are stained with things he doesn’t care to question and the occasional bugs aren’t favorable, but at least he hasn’t seen any rats thus far. The appliances are liable to break and there’s been two break-ins at the complex since he’s lived here, but not at his apartment.

The window to the fire escape whines in protest as Keishin shoulders it open. It doesn’t have a particularly good view unless the viewer is fond of brick walls and dark alleyways, but Keishin doesn’t particularly care about his view. He shuffles out in his cotton pajama pants, no shirt, no shoes, bleached hair loose around his face, armed only with his lighter and a single cigarette.

It’s three a.m. and the city is still awake. The cold air bites at his face as he flicks his lighter several times without success, attempting to light his cigarette. Finally, it gives him a feeble enough flame to light the end, and he takes a long inhale. Distantly, he hears the sounds of the cars on the busy streets. There are sirens somewhere in the distance, high and wailing above the blinding lights and dark skies.

He exhales into the chilled air, watching the smoke curl into wisps and fade into the darkness.

Everything feels kind of muted, like he’s the only thing living in this moment, like the city is bearing down on him all at once, softly requesting his humanity in exchange for blinding lights and endless noise and eternal pleasures.

God, he misses the stars. He misses the serenity of the country, even with its mosquitoes and nosy people. It was so easy to forget the world there, in his quiet bubble of serenity.

He shifts from foot to foot in a half-hearted attempt to warm up, exhaling another breath of smoke from between his teeth. He considers, not for the first time, that this is a bad habit he needs to break, but it’s the only thing that never fails to ease him on nights like these.

Keishin snubs the last bit of his cigarette and turns to flick the butt off the railing and go inside, but scuffling sounds and muffled voices give him pause. He watches as two men, hoods flipped up over their heads, wrestle a third into the end of the alleyway. The third man is visibly afraid, even from this distance, short black hair ruffled, glasses askew, and clothes disheveled.

Probably a mugging. They happen commonly in the area. Keishin sighs. It really isn’t his concern, but he’s not a bad person at heart.

He raises his hand to his ear like he has a phone – not that they’ll be able to tell from where he is – and his voice. “Yes, officer? There are two men here attempting to rob someone,” he starts, watching out of his peripherals as the three men down below start, their heads whipping up.

He starts in on the address, but the two would-be robbers have already abandoned their mission and raced out of the alleyway, leaving the third man unceremoniously dumped on the cold concrete.

Keishin watches him stumble back to his feet, seemingly disoriented. He sways a little like he’s been drinking, and then adjusts his glasses and peers up at Keishin properly.

“Oi,” Keishin drawls, finally flicking his forgotten cigarette butt, “it ain’t safe to wander around these parts at this time of night. You stupid or somethin’?”

“I guess so,” the man replies, voice soft and grateful. “Thank you for helping me. I figured it’d be safer to walk intoxicated than drive, but I guess I should have just gotten a cab, huh?”

So he’d hit the nail on the head. Tipsy businessman, probably out drinking with equally irresponsible coworkers. Keishin has a nasty feeling this guy is a magnet for trouble. He looks too nice. With a quiet groan, he drops his head against the cold metal of the railing, debating -- not for the first time, as usual -- his life choices.

“Fuck’s sake,” he mutters to himself, and then, louder, to the man, “306. You’d better sober up before you get mugged again.”

He doesn’t even pause to wait for a reply, going back inside and shoving the window shut behind him. If the dude decides not to take him up on the offer, it isn’t Keishin’s problem. He’d tried and that’s all he can do.

Suffice to say, he isn’t actually expecting the soft, hesitant knock a few minutes later.

Keishin opens the door and fixes the man with a scrutinizing look. “I was right,” he decides, “you are too trusting. What if I tried to kill you or somethin’, huh?”

Up close, the man is visibly shorter than him and narrow, all messy black hair and wide, brown eyes. His face is scuffed, undoubtedly from the earlier alteration, and tinged red, which Keishin assumes is from drinking.

The man blinks back at him, confused and a little scared. “...You’re not going to murder me, right?”

Keishin snorts and steps out of the way to let him come in. “‘Course not. Murder aftermath sounds like a pain in the ass to handle.”

The man seems a little hesitant, but he shuffles in, nonetheless, and promptly bows at the waist. Keishin jumps.

“Thank you for helping me even though we’re complete strangers!”

Keishin grimaces. “It’s not a big deal,” he says, reaching past the man to shut the door, “you don’t gotta bow or nothin’. Any properly raised person woulda done the same.”

The dark-haired man straightens up slowly, frowning. “Most people here would have turned the other way, I think.”

Maybe so, Keishin thinks, offering out a hand. “Name’s Ukai. Ukai Keishin.”

The man smiles, gentle and warm, taking it. “I’m Takeda Ittetsu.”

After the initial introduction, Takeda settles in on the couch with a cup of water while Keishin starts some tea and puts on a proper shirt. It doesn’t really matter too much anymore since their first meeting isn’t really all that orthodox to begin with, but Keishin has nothing if not some manners.

Takeda seems to be sobering up more or less, but he’s clearly still tipsy enough that he’s a danger to himself on the city streets at this hour. Maybe it’s just Keishin wanting the company, but he thinks Takeda doesn’t seem like he’s in any haste to leave regardless.

They talk some over tea. Takeda tells him he’s a teacher – no, he laughs, when Keishin brings it up, I’m not a businessman in that sense – and he teaches high school literature. He seems all too happy to talk about the antics his students get into.

For the first time in a while, Keishin forgets about the city.

When he wakes in the morning, draped awkwardly on one end of the couch with a blanket over him, Takeda is gone. There’s a note on top of the TV, where Keishin luckily sees it quickly.

It’s a hastily scribbled thank you and goodbye.

Keishin crumbles it up and throws it away, stepping out for another cigarette.

Things return to what Keishin has come to call normal. He doesn’t think about Takeda Ittetsu or the brief warmth that had come into his shitty apartment the moment the teacher had crossed the threshold. He works, he comes home, and repeat. Occasionally, he goes to the gym. Generally, sleep evades him.

“Keishin,” his mom says over the phone, days later, her voice hardly audible over the bustle of people on the sidewalk, “you’re twenty-six already. Haven’t you found a nice girl yet? You’ll be thirty before you know it and then it’ll be much harder for you!”

He’s watching the traffic light impatiently, waiting for it to change so he can cross. The walk sign on the opposite end seems to be taking its sweet time, though. Keishin just wants an excuse to get off the phone.

“Ma,” he sighs, “I already told you, it’ll happen when it happens. I don’t have time for a relationship right now, anyway.”

It’s the easiest thing to tell himself. The light finally signals for them to walk, and Keishin hurries across the street with the rest of the crowd. A man jars him from the side and he nearly drops his phone. Instinctively, he checks his pockets and-- Sure enough, his wallet is gone.

“Ma, I gotta go,” he grumbles, hanging up as he shoves through the people after the man. God, he’s not in the mood for this today.

The man breaks into a run the moment he realizes he’s being pursued and Keishin races after him. His wallet is the last thing he can afford to lose, and of course the one day he forgot his chain is the day he gets pickpocketed.

“Oi!” He shouts, irritated and exhausted, shouldering through people. At this rate he’ll get--

He watches the guy suddenly eat shit, feet coming right out from him.

--away.

Huh. Keishin slows to a stop and yanks the guy up by his collar, snatching his wallet back with a snarl. The man has a bloody nose from hitting the concrete so hard, and Keishin can’t help the little sting of pleasure from the karma.

“Oh, no,” says another voice from behind him, “I didn’t mean to make him hurt himself! I just meant for him to trip up a little, but he was going so fast-”

Keishin turns around. Takeda Ittetsu stands behind him, looking distressed out of his mind and suspiciously like he’s close to panicking. Keishin puts the pieces together. Takeda’s presence, the man abruptly wiping out.

“Did you… trip him?” He asks slowly.

Takeda straightens up when he’s addressed, gaze darting to Keishin’s, and then away again. “I, um. I saw you chasing him a-and he reminded me of those two from that night I almost got mugged and I just… reacted?”

Keishin drops the man in favor of howling with laughter. He barely even notices when the almost thief scrambles away. “Damn!” He laughs, slapping Takeda on the back so hard that the man stumbles and his glasses slide halfway down his nose. “I didn’t know you had it in ya, sensei!”

Takeda fixes his glasses, glancing up at Keishin. “Neither did I.”

He finds out Takeda had been waiting for a taxi to head home. He’s got a bag full of books over his shoulder. Keishin’s admittedly a little surprised – in a place like this, running into someone twice by coincidence isn’t a very easy feat. He hadn’t thought for a second he’d meet Takeda again.

“I was on my way to get groceries,” Keishin tells him, “so it woulda been a pain in the ass to lose my wallet. Normally, I have a chain for it, but I completely forgot to attach my new one after my old one broke.”

“Oh,” Takeda’s eyebrows rise, “that’s a really good idea. I didn’t think about a chain.”

“Can ya even wear one as a teacher?”

Takeda considers this. “No,” he finally admits, “probably not.”

“You’re doomed,” Keishin remarks, patting the other man’s shoulder. “In any case, thanks for your help with that. I’d better be off.”

“Oh, wait!” Takeda scrambles after him. “Let me thank you properly for the other night.”

“Huh? I think you’ve definitely repaid me plenty just now.”

“At least let me treat you to drinks or something,” Takeda persists.

Keishin gets the feeling this guy is a very, very stubborn person. He frowns a little at the determined furrow between Takeda’s wide eyes and the little, persistent downward curl of his mouth.

In hindsight, this is the exact moment Ukai Keishin could have pegged himself as screwed.

“Fine,” he sighs, “but not alcohol. I’ve seen firsthand how you handle that. Coffee or somethin’ is fine.”

Takeda visibly brightens. “Great! When works for you? I don’t have any other plans today, and tomorrow is Sunday so I’m off too, but during the week I’m not done until about three if I'm lucky…”

Keishin considers the fact that this sounds suspiciously like a date, but ah, what does he know? He hasn’t been on a date since he was twenty. Besides, he barely knows this guy.

“We can go now,” he replies, deciding it’d be best to get it out of the way immediately, “I can do my grocery shopping later.”

Takeda takes him to a small cafe near the local dog park. It’s a little more out of the way, and Takeda offers to pay for a cab, but ultimately they end up walking there. Takeda is naturally a slow person, but he tries to speed up and Keishin tries to find a middle ground for them.

It’s only a little successful.

“Yeah, unfortunately,” Keishin says as they arrive, opening the door, “I’ve been working at the same convenience store since I moved here four years ago. It’s not the worst. I work at this hole-in-the-wall flower shop, too.”

The bell overhead jingles to announce their arrival. One of the employees calls out a greeting as the two men join the short line. Keishin eyes the menu.

“Well, that just means you’re committed, doesn’t it?” Takeda asks. “I didn’t take you as the flower type. Do you enjoy it?”

Keishin assumes that’s short for you look like a thug, but he takes it in stride. It's not the first time someone had that impression of him. He shrugs noncommittally at the question. He does enjoy gardening, but doing any enjoyable thing for money tends to suck the joy out of it, so he’s not really sure how to answer that. Besides, they’re at the front of the line.

“Get whatever you want!” Takeda tells him.

Keishin ends up getting a medium coffee, nearly black, and dumplings. The dumplings are surprisingly good – a compliment coming from someone as picky as him – and Takeda looks a little terrified at the idea of his nearly black coffee, having gotten a disastrous, caramel loaded abomination himself.

They don’t stay, but they don’t go their separate ways. The dog park is only a little busy, so they sit on a bench nearby, watching some of the dogs playing around. Keishin likes dogs, but he definitely doesn’t have time for those, either. He’d hate to get one and have it on its own most of the time.

“I love dogs,” Takeda voices his thoughts, “but my apartment complex doesn’t allow them.”

“Mine does,” Keishin says, taking a drink of his coffee, “but I don’t really have time or the means to take care of one right now.”

His phone rings again in his pocket. Takeda glances sideways at him as he fishes it out and glances at the caller ID. It’s his mother, probably annoyed after he’d hung up on her earlier. Keishin doesn’t want to deal with it right now, so he ignores the call and mutes his phone.

“You aren’t going to answer it?” Takeda asks tentatively.

“Nah,” Keishin shakes his head, “it’s my ma. She’s just harassing me about my love life, s’all. I ain’t even thirty and she’s tryin’ real hard to make me get married as soon as possible.”

Takeda pauses. “How old are you?”

Keishin grins sideways at him. “Awfully forward, ain’t you?” He asks, and when Takeda looks apologetic, he continues, “I’m kidding. I’m twenty-six.”

Takeda pauses, drink to his lips. “Wait,” he says, “you’re younger than me?”

Keishin’s eyebrows rise. “How old are you?”

“I’m twenty-nine,” Takeda says.

Keishin snorts, nearly chokes, and then doubles over laughing. “Damn, really? I thought you were my age or a little younger! I guess it makes sense with you bein’ a teacher and all, but you definitely don’t look like you’re almost thirty.”

“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult,” Takeda admits.

“I wonder,” Keishin remarks, downing his coffee.

They watch the dogs a while longer, but inevitably, Keishin needs to leave. He has to get his shopping done, get home, and go to his night shift at the store. Takeda looks as though he wants to say something more, but ultimately, they say their goodbyes and go their own ways.

Keishin puts Takeda Ittetsu in the back of his mind again, convinced that he’ll more than likely never run into the man again.

Fate has a funny way of proving him wrong, he supposes.

He takes Takeda for a rational person, but this time might just prove him wrong. Keishin stares down at the unsteady dark-haired man, frowning. He’s not sure why Takeda ended up here again, drunk again, but here he is, dressed down in a blue sweater and missing his glasses at eleven at night. He squints back at Keishin, smiling a little lopsidedly.

“Why are you here?” Keishin finally asks.

Takeda beams. “We’re friends! I wanted to see you! Also, I think my coworker has my house keys,” he slurs.

On god, this man was going to be the death of him. Keishin sighs, but he moves out of the way to let Takeda stumble in and shuts the door behind him. He doesn’t bother with a shirt this time.

“Please don’t throw up on my carpet. There’s too many weird stains as is.”

Takeda hears him, he assumes, watching as the teacher locates the bathroom very rapidly on his hands and knees. Keishin starts some tea again. When Takeda returns, he drops down on the couch and burrows underneath the blanket that had been abandoned there, groaning softly.

“M’sorry,” he mumbles, when Keishin nudges him to hand over the tea.

Keishin watches his head resurface from beneath the blanket, still squinting and hair even messier. He isn’t sure how Takeda is this bad at holding his alcohol, or why he keeps doing it despite knowing he’s bad, but Keishin isn’t really one to judge. Besides, he’s still thinking about the whole we’re friends thing Takeda had dropped on him at the door.

Are they friends? He doesn’t want to dwell on that too long.

“It’s fine,” he waves it off. “Drink that and get some rest. You can worry about everything else in the morning.”

He rises from his crouch and crosses to the kitchen to clean up some. Takeda only finishes half the tea before he’s out cold on the couch. Keishin fixes the blanket over him and shuts the lights off, locks the door, and retires to his room.

Sleep evades him.

He spends the first hour staring at the ceiling. When this grows painfully boring, he rolls over to check his phone. TV isn’t an option tonight with Takeda sleeping in the living room, but clearly he isn’t going to be getting much sleep tonight himself. At two, he finally caves and rolls back out of bed.

Keishin slinks quietly into the living room and grabs his new lighter and box of cigarettes off the table, creeping to the window and carefully shuffling it open. Mercifully, it doesn’t squeal this time.

Keishin slides out onto the fire escape, sitting on the outside windowsill so he can listen if Takeda wakes. His new lighter produces a flame immediately, and Keishin lights a cigarette, putting it to his lips. The sting of smoke is familiar, as disgusting as it is. Really, he needs to stop depending on this habit.

There are sirens somewhere in the distance again.

“Ukai?” Takeda’s groggy voice floats from inside the apartment.

“Did I wake ya?” Keishin asks, glancing back.

“No,” Takeda blinks back at him from the couch, squinting to see. “Why are you awake?” “I couldn’t sleep.”

Keishin exhales another breath of smoke and Takeda wrinkles his nose.

“That’s a bad habit,” he says softly. “Do you do this often? Come to think of it… It was the same situation when we met, wasn’t it?”

Yes, Keishin thinks, but he doesn’t reply out loud. Things have changed since then. Not just for him in particular, but for both of them as a whole. Back then, Takeda had just been a complete stranger that Keishin had saved out of the goodness of his upbringing, if not his heart. He takes another drag and exhales into the chilled night air. Goosebumps prickle over his exposed torso.

He can feel Takeda’s gaze on his back.

“Oi, sensei,” he says into the air, “you’re a good person. Stay that way, yeah? You gotta be careful 'round here. City like this'll eat your humanity.”

“Ukai,” Takeda asks softly. “Why do you make yourself suffer like this? You’re a good person, too.”

Keishin takes a long drag of his cigarette. For a moment, he considers not answering. It would make it easier. He could just finish his cigarette and go to sleep. Takeda probably isn’t going to remember any of this in the morning anyway.

But he finally exhales.

“I stopped focusing on what made me happy,” he breathes, “it makes life a lot easier.”

He almost misses Takeda’s whisper.

“Not from where I stand.”

Keishin leans back on his hands, cigarette in between his lips and gaze fixed on the starless sky. It's lonely.

“...Go to sleep, Takeda.”

In the morning, there’s another hastily scribbled note. Ukai, it reads, I’m so sorry about my state last night. Thank you again for letting me stay.

There’s a phone number at the bottom in lieu of a signature. Keishin plugs it into his contacts.

Somehow, slowly, Takeda Ittetsu slowly becomes a cornerstone of Keishin’s life. They see each other frequently and text even more. Keishin gets scolded about his phone more than once at work and he feels like he’s a teenager again. Takeda visits often and somehow makes a home in Keishin’s shitty little place, and sometimes Keishin goes to his own cramped apartment, simple and flower-filled and very much Takeda.

But somehow, Takeda ends up back at Keishin’s house every time he goes drinking without fail.

It occurs to Keishin, one night, when a half sober Takeda is slung over the arm of his ratty couch, hunched over a trash can, that Keishin isn’t so tired of the city anymore. He misses home certainly, but in the near year he’s known Takeda now, he’s become more at ease. It’s easier to breathe now.

“Oi,” he knocks a glass of water lightly against Takeda’s head.

Takeda looks up, glasses disheveled, hair messy, and eyes glazed over. He’s in various states of disarray, but even under the dim lighting of the apartment, there’s something so brilliant about him that Keishin thinks he might be a little in love.

Takeda shifts to sit a little more upright and curls his fingers around the cup of water, but Keishin doesn’t quite let go. Takeda squints at their overlapped hands.

“You don’t work weekends,” Keishin states more than asks, “so come back home with me this weekend.”

Takeda frowns unsteadily. “But we are at your house.”

Keishin releases the cup. “No,” he says, “home. Back in the country.”

“Oh,” says Takeda, but then he puts the cup to his lips and doesn’t reply.

Keishin wakes in the morning to Takeda sitting on the kitchen counter, a cup of hot tea in his hands and a pensive expression resting on his features. He’s a little surprised because even now, Takeda is usually gone by the time he gets up, having left a note or a text. He’s still in some sort of state of disarray, though he looks as though he’d made an attempt to clean up.

“Morning,” Keishin greets, bending to dig through the refrigerator.

“Good morning,” Takeda replies absently, frowns, and then continues, “Ukai, did you mean what you said yesterday?”

Keishin glances up in confusion. “'Bout what?”

“Me- Me coming back… home with you?” He won’t meet Keishin’s eyes.

“Ah, I didn’t think you’d remember that,” Keishin admits. “I guess. It was kind of a spur of the moment thing, so you don’t gotta worry about it if you don’t wanna. Figured it might be nice to have a break, s’all.”

“Okay.”

“Huh?”

“Okay,” Takeda repeats, pushing his glasses up his nose, “I’ll come.”

Keishin grins crookedly. “Okay.”

So they go.

Keishin had already taken the weekend off, having planned to go home this weekend anyway. Sometimes, a break is just a good change of pace, even if he's finally gotten himself in a good state of mind in the city. They leave in the late afternoon, after Takeda is finished at the school, and head straight to the train for the long ride ahead.

It’s dark by the time they arrive, and Takeda is out cold, leaning heavily against Keishin. He nudges the other man awake and guides him out of the train. Takeda’s awake the moment the cold air hits his face. It’s even colder here than in the city since it’s further north, but it’s more open for the wind as well.

“Wow,” Takeda breathes, and for a moment, Keishin isn’t sure what he’s talking about.

He follows Takeda’s gaze up and his breath steals away in a manner that he’d nearly forgotten. The stars blanket the sky above them, brilliant little pinpricks of light across the expanse of swirling darkness, flickering and blinking down at the earth. The more rational part of him knows they’re nothing impressive, nothing more than massive balls of gas billions of miles away from them, but it does nothing to diminish the fact that he’s desperately missed the sight of them.

“I’ve seen stars in theory,” Takeda says, “but I’ve lived in cities my whole life. I’ve never… seen them in person.”

Keishin smiles. “Trust me, it’s not a sight you’ll ever get tired of.”

Takeda gazes at him then, and Keishin isn’t sure what he sees in the other man’s eyes.

He apologizes in advance, later, for his parents. His mother is, as expected, overbearing, but nonetheless excited that Keishin has a friend to bring home. She gives him a curious little sidelong look that he pointedly ignores.

They crash as soon as they hit the pillows. Saturday blows by in a whirlwind of meeting up with old friends and getting back to old hobbies. Keishin remembers the stings of a volleyball on his hands as surely as he’d been in high school. Setting is still second nature. Takeda watches from the sidelines, eyes wide and attention rapt, and if Keishin shows off a little for his sake, nobody says anything about it.

“There’s one more place,” Keishin says, as the sun dips below the horizon later that evening, “I always went there as a teen. It should still be fine, I think.”

It’s just nearing the end of the autumn, in any case, so he thinks it should still be around. The weather is getting colder every day. Keishin absently drapes one of his two scarves around Takeda’s shoulders and takes the lead into the back parts of town where he’d run wild as a boy.

They crest a hill, breath forming white clouds in the chilled night air, and sure enough, red cloaks the tree-dotted area on the other side. Spider-lilies. Takeda gasps at the crest, gazing down in awe even as Keishin carries on, picking his way towards the central cove.

“I loved it here in high school,” Keishin admits, “I got into gardening for a while over it, but that ain't easy in the city, so it kinda fell to the wayside.”

"Is that why you work at the flower shop?" Takeda asks.

Keishin hums noncommittally. "Maybe."

He drops rather unceremoniously into a slightly emptier patch and lays on his back, staring at the sky. Takeda carefully sits beside him, tucking his knees up for warmth. The ground beneath them is cold, and Keishin knows the flowers won’t be alive for much longer.

“I always came here to stargaze. I’d sit for hours. It was kinda a safe haven, I guess.”

He looks to Takeda, expecting him to be looking at the sky, but to his surprise, the man’s dark eyes are fixed on him, glittering in the darkness like they’re reflecting the starlight itself. Keishin’s heart does a funny little thing in his chest, something he’s started to become comfortable with associating with Takeda.

“Ukai,” Takeda says, voice soft, as if he’s afraid of being heard, lips parted and one hand raised like he’s going to reach out.

“Aw, man,” Keishin tells him, “don’t look at me like that. I don’t know if I can stop myself, then.”

“Then don’t,” Takeda whispers, leaning in to meet Keishin’s mouth halfway.

His mother gives him another knowing look when he smiles privately at Takeda the next morning, but he pretends, once again, not to notice.

--

“In hindsight,” Keishin tells him, years later, when they’re thirty-two and thirty-five, living together with two dogs, five years into their relationship and counting, “I think you started a lot of the changes in my life that I ended up desperately needing.”

Ittetsu laughs as he rolls over, tucking his arm around Keishin’s waist. “You should learn to listen to your elders better!”

Keishin snorts. “I don’t have to take shit from a cradle robber like you.”

“Cra-?!”

Ittetsu sputters indignantly, and Keishin howls with laughter. Five years ago, he’d nearly forgotten what it felt like to laugh so freely.

Nowadays, he can’t even imagine living how he had before. Maybe when autumn comes around again, he’ll take Ittetsu back to the spider-lily field. Maybe he’ll buy a ring this time.

“I think I should save pretty teachers from getting mugged in alleys more often, don’t you?”

[lajulie24]

The notebook

“Listen, Your Highnessess, I ain’t one of your little lackeys sayin’ ‘how high?’ when you tell ‘em to jump, understand?” Han’s finger was pointed squarely at Leia as they faced off again in the hallway. “I work for me,” he continued, moving his finger back to point at his own chest.

Leia took a step toward him, ignoring the technicians slipping past them to get to the hangar. “I’d nearly forgotten,” she said, her voice laced with sarcasm. “You only tell me three times a day.”

Neither party seemed to notice just how close their faces were to one another’s, and as usual, the tension and the heat between them was palpable. Vibrant. It was hard to tell whether it would ever resolve—and if it did, whether it would end in a passionate kiss or a literal explosion.

This was, of course, how Wes Janson was making so many extra credits these days. The Han/Leia bets were far from the only ones on his docket—he handled wagers on everything from the number of times General Dodonna would say “classified” in a briefing to the next couple to get caught hooking up in the storage area—but they were by far the most lucrative. And entertaining.

He soon had a huddle of other pilots and technicians around him, waiting to up their bets or place new ones based on the latest Organa-Solo faceoff. “Just a second, just a second,” he said, going to his interior pocket to find the flimsi notebook in which he recorded the wagers.

Huh, he thought, patting his pocket again. Not there. He must have left it in his quarters—he’d been tallying up what the group attending last night’s round of sabacc owed him before heading over to the Falcon for the game.

Ah, well. “Have to catch you later, boys,” he said to the group. “Don’t worry, I won’t forget.”

Their argument in the hallway had blown over, like it always did, and in the end Han had accepted the latest mission Leia had brought to him. With a few caveats, of course. But that just came with the territory, and Leia was nothing if not an excellent negotiator.

So she was in a considerably better mood as she arrived for her usual weekly dinner on the Falcon with Han, Chewie, and Luke. Han was even being a rather gracious host, offering her a drink while they waited for Chewie and Luke to return from their respective patrols.

“Tell you what,” he said conspiratorially, opening a panel above them that Leia hadn’t noticed before, “We’ll get out the good stuff.” He reached inside and pulled out a bottle of Whyren’s Reserve.

Leia was amused. “Do you always keep your whiskey in the air ducts?” she asked.

He chuckled as he poured two glasses. “When the Rogues come over to play sabacc, I do,” he said. “Antilles can sniff out the good whiskey at 50k away.” Leia laughed.

Han brought the glasses over and sat down next to her. They clinked their glasses in a toast, and suddenly Leia could feel it again—that energy between them that she didn’t quite know what to do with. It felt dangerous, made her uneasy, but at the same time she was drawn to it.

She tried to ignore it, taking a sip of whiskey and listening to Han’s account of the game the previous night, but found herself focusing on his lips. No, no, no, stop that! She was suddenly acutely aware of exactly how closely they were sitting, and scooted over slightly to give Han a bit more room.

He noticed. Of course he noticed. “What’s the matter, Sweetheart, I smell bad or somethin’?” It was friendly teasing, but at the same time he seemed strangely offended for some reason.

“Just giving you a little more room,” she returned, distracted by something stuck between the cushions of the booth.

“A-ha!” she said, grateful to have discovered a way to change the subject. She pulled out a small flimsi notebook. “What’s this? Han Solo’s Little Black Book? Got so many dates you can’t keep track of everyone?” she teased.

He gave her a look. “That ain’t mine.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh, right. I’m sure Chewie keeps notes in Basic about—“ she flipped open the notebook to a random page—“the top ten hottest male beings in the Rebellion?” She scrutinized the page a bit further. “This isn’t your handwriting.”

“Told you, it ain’t mine. I haven’t seen that thing before.”

Leia was looking more closely. “There are—votes recorded. And initials.” She looked at Han. “You’re currently running at #2, hotshot.”

He grinned smugly at her. “I have fans,” he said. “Lemme see that.”

She handed it to him, and he flipped through a few pages, looking at the bets. “Ah, here we go. Top ten hottest femme beings in the Rebellion.”

Leia was rolling her eyes already. Somehow, these kinds of lists seemed worse when they were about women. And they were ridiculous anyway. She shook her head, hoping Han would move on to some other page.

Han was counting up the votes beside each of the names on the list. “I’ll be damned—I mean, you’re no slouch, just didn’t think they were so into—“

Leia raised her eyebrow at him, a silent inquiry.

He smirked at her, raising his glass. “The Empire’s not the only one who’s got you at the top of the Most Wanted list, Princess.”

She laughed and toasted him again. “I have fans. More fans than you, to be exact.”

“Careful, you get a big head, you’re liable to fall to #2.”

She tilted her head at him. “Mmm, just like you. How is that?”

They were hitting the ball back and forth again, over the net, back and forth. It was comfortable and risky, dangerous and familiar. A highly satisfying bit of volleying, as long as no one went out of bounds. Leia had to admit, she rather enjoyed it.

After a bit more back and forth, they started flipping to other pages in the book, trying to place the handwriting. Whichever Rogue was keeping this notebook—they’d figured it must have been left at the sabacc game last night—was meticulous in his notes and comprehensive in his variety of bets.

They were still laughing over the book when Chewie and Luke arrived. Luke obviously knew whose book it was; his sabacc face was still terrible, and his eyes had immediately gone wide when he’d realized what Han and Leia were poring over. Chewie was acting weird as well, and kept encouraging Han to give him the book so that he could give its owner a piece of his mind.

“C’mon, Kid, you can tell us whose book it is. I mean, we’re gonna read the whole damned thing anyway,” Han said.

Luke looked panicked. “No, don’t do that—okay, I confess,” he said hastily. “It’s mine.” He held out his hand. “May I have it back?”

Han smirked at him. “Alright, first of all, bantha shit. We don’t believe it’s his, do we, Leia?”

“Luke, the handwriting doesn’t even match yours,” she said. “And now I really want to know why you don’t want us to see it. Is there something in there about you?”

Luke looked unsure. “Ye—yeah. It’s embarrassing, I wouldn’t want you to see it.”

“Huh, that’s funny,” Leia teased. “I didn’t see him in the list of people who got caught boning in the supply closet, did you, Han?”

Han laughed out loud for a good minute. “Boning, Princess?” he asked, and she blushed, laughing in spite of herself.

[Dinner is ready!] Chewie called from the galley. [Please put that ridiculous book away.]

Wes Janson was freaking out.

The notebook wasn’t in his quarters. It wasn’t in the mess, it wasn’t in his locker or his X-Wing cockpit or any of the other places he’d looked. Which meant that there was only one place it could be.

Solo probably wouldn’t give a shit about most of the book, but seeing as how the whole back section was devoted to a series of bets about him and the Princess…Wes was nervous, to say the least.

Then he arrived at his squadron meeting, and Luke, of all people, was glaring at him. Oh, kriff.

He tried to escape after their training run, but Luke called him into the office before he could claim sudden illness or something.

Once the door was shut, Luke fished something out of his pocket and put it on the desk. “Missing something?” he asked. It was the notebook.

Wes sighed with relief and began to reach for the notebook, but Luke stopped him. “Hold on. You owe Chewie and me big time,” he said. “Do you know who found this?”

“Solo?” Wes guessed.

“Leia,” Luke informed him. Wes’s face went white.

“They were about a second away from reading about themselves,” he continued. “Chewie distracted them and helped me smuggle out the notebook.”

Wes was immediately, desperately penitent. “I’ll do whatever; what do I need to—“

“Next time you play sabacc?” Luke said. “You’re going to let the Wookiee win.”

[marvelousbirthdays]

Happy Birthday, bailee416!

April 16 - WinterShieldShock, fluffy with “Make me”, for @bailee416

Written by @ozhawkauthor

“Darce, I really think this is a bad idea,” Clint kept saying as the elevator zoomed up to the penthouse. The ride only took thirty seconds and he still managed to say it five times. Darcy debated clobbering him around the head but settled for pretending he wasn’t there.

“Shut up, Clint,” Natasha said finally. “I wouldn’t have let her do it if I didn’t think she’d be perfectly safe.”

Clint gave a put-upon sigh as the doors slid open. “I don’t know where to put my eyes,” he complained. “It’s the most outrageous outfit.”

“It’s a very practical outfit for fighting,” Natasha disagreed. “I approve of the costume designer’s choices.”

“Everyone approves of the costume designer’s choices, but mostly not for the reasons you do, Nat,” Clint pointed out.

“Oh, I appreciate it for those reasons too.” Nat grinned at Clint.

Darcy shook her head at their banter, took a deep breath to steel her courage, then had to pause for a hasty tuck back inside her bodice. She and Nat had to majorly redesign the outfit to accommodate Darcy’s boobs, and even so, she had to be careful how she breathed.

Of course, she hoped not to be wearing it for all that long, if everything went to plan. Her boyfriends were being old-fashioned about courting her slowly before taking their relationship to ‘the next level’ as Steve called it, and Darcy was frankly horny as fuck. She’d killed two vibrators in the last month, and she didn’t want toys anyway.

So, it was time for desperate measures.

Neither Steve nor Bucky were rude enough to openly admire other women, but they’d both absolutely adored Wonder Woman when Darcy took them to the movie. She’d heard them both mention Diana as the kind of superhero everyone should aspire to be, which was hilarious in her opinion, especially since she’d heard Gal Gadot say in an interview when asked who would win between Captain America and Wonder Woman “Don’t be ridiculous, they wouldn’t fight. Diana wouldn’t want to risk damaging that fabulous booty!”

Darcy totally agreed with the sentiment. Which was when she’d come up with this fabulous idea and recruited Nat - and Clint, who was suspiciously good at stitching together leather and metal pieces. He muttered something about making his own costumes when he was a carny, which was definitely a story Darcy was going to have to get to the bottom of one day.

She was procrastinating. Nat and Clint were waiting for her by the slightly-open double doors which led into the big room where the party was being held.

It wasn’t a fancy dress party, so the second Darcy stepped into the room a shocked silence fell. It was quickly broken by (of course) Stark letting out a loud wolf-whistle.

“Allow me,” Natasha murmured, heading off in Tony’s direction. Clint looked around, checking for anyone else liable to cause trouble, but frankly all the women were smirking and giving Darcy not-at-all-discreet thumbs up, and all the men were staring goggle-eyed. Including Darcy’s intended targets.

Clint started counting under his breath.

He was quite surprised, considering both Steve and Bucky had super-soldier reaction speed, that he got all the way to eight before Bucky’s arm swept him away from Darcy’s side. He tucked and rolled, came up grinning next to the bar.

“Pour me a large one, thanks, Vis,” he said cheerfully. “Time to watch the fireworks!”

*           *           *

“What,” was all Steve could say, gaping as he took in Darcy’s outfit from the diadem perched in the shining dark waves of her hair, all the way down to her long, tooled leather boots. “What.”

“Don’t you like it?” Propping a hand on her hip, Darcy gave him big eyes. “I thought it’d be a nice surprise.”

“Guh.”

He was quite literally stunned speechless, Darcy realised, and turned her attention to Bucky, who hadn’t said a word after almost hurling Clint away from her. He was standing close to her now, close enough and angled just so that she’d be barely visible to anyone else in the room.

“That’s not somethin’ you should be wearin’ in public, doll.” His Brooklyn accent had returned, and broadened, since he came back to the Tower. “Why don’t you go and change into somethin’ more suitable for a party?”

“This is perfectly suitable,” Darcy said brightly. “And Steve likes it. Don’t you, Steve?”

“Uh.”

Bucky moved closer again. “Darcy. You gotta change.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, not liking the commanding note in his voice. “Make me,” she challenged.

Which was, in retrospect, a mistake, because Bucky just scooped her straight off her feet and over his shoulder in one easy movement, heading straight for the elevator.

Darcy shrieked.

“C’mon, punk,” Bucky said over the other shoulder, not in the least concerned about Darcy’s squealing and wiggling. “Looks like our girl’s not willing to wait any longer.”

Steve rushed after them. Darcy squinted at him upside-down. “Help?”

“Really?”

“...on second thoughts, no.”

“Stark, unlock the damn elevator,” Bucky bellowed when the doors didn’t open for him.

“Darcy?” Tony called across the room.

“I’m fine!” At least, she hoped she was. Bucky’s hand was on her almost-bare ass, anyway, warm and firm and making her feel decidedly hot between her legs.

The elevator let them out on the private floor Steve and Bucky shared - the floor they’d never yet brought her to. Still upside-down over Bucky’s shoulder, she looked around with interest as he carried her through a large living area furnished with comfortable-looking couches and into a bedroom dominated by a huge bed.

She half-expected Bucky to drop her on the bed, but he laid her down gently, hand between her shoulder-blades supporting her all the way down… before he lay down on top of her.

“Hello,” Darcy said as his face ended up about two inches from hers. “Do we have a problem?”

“Apparently you do, or you wouldn’t have worn an outfit that should really only be modeled for us in private unless you want me to lose my god damned mind!”

She smiled. She could feel exactly how she’d affected him, considering he was lying between her thighs, their groins pressed together.

“And you?” Turning her head to the side, she addressed Steve, who’d joined them on the bed.

“You make an incredible Wonder Woman,” Steve said, “but Buck’s right… wearing it in public isn’t the best idea unless you want to see both of us totally embarrass ourselves.”

Darcy reached out a hand to touch his cheek. “Maybe I just wanted to see if I could push you to the point of losing control,” she murmured.

Bucky nuzzled her throat, laughing quietly. “Oh, doll. You have no idea. Every time we leave you, we’re like a pair of wild animals. We were just tryin’ to take it slow an’ easy for you.”

“I’m more a fan of fast and hard, actually,” Darcy said, with a little gasp when he bit at her collarbone.

“Can’t imagine an Amazon princess would want it any other way. Now, how do I go about gettin’ this magnificent outfit off you?” Bucky lifted himself off her and started looking for the fastenings on her armor.

Grinning, Darcy directed him exactly which straps and buckles to unfasten.

[fallen029]

Remember Me: Birthdays and Jealousy

"It's not every day, you know, boy, that your son turns such an age," Gajeel bellowed to his son as they walked down the road together, a grinning Pantherlily fluttering along beside. "Eleven. Eleven! I was a man by that age, you know."

"I know, Dad," Locke agreed because it was easier than arguing.

"But you, you still got some way to go, but you sure are getting closer, you know? To being a man?"

Making a face, the boy said simply, "You sound like Elf."

Which, of course, got him a hard crack to the top of the head. One strong enough that, griping, Locke reached up to rub at the tangled mass of course black hair he had, staring at his father in shock.

"Don't ever say somethin' like that," Gajeel grumbled simply as Lily tasked from above. "And you sound way too familiar with that stupid family either. It's why I don't like you hanging around that Dreyar girl."

"Haven's my friend."

"Friend? Friend? Who needs friends? You think that I had friends? When I was your age? Huh?"

Locke was silent for a moment before replying, "No, I don't think you have friends. Not if you hit them in the head all the time."

"Why you little..." And Gajeel trailed off as the glare that was going towards his son slowly turned softer and then they were both grinning at one another and snickering and that time, when his father popped him one good on the noggin, it felt great.

Lily, still flying above, grinned as well as he asked, "What is it that you wish for your birthday then, Locke? A new bike, perhaps? Some sort of toy? There must be something."

"Well, uh, I dunno," he said slowly as he shrugged a bit. "I guess I haven't thought about it much."

"That's unheard of," the Exceed insisted. "When it is close to any of their birthdays, your friends at the hall cannot keep quiet about what it is they wish for their families to purchase them. Just last year, it was all you could talk about, those nice shoes you wanted. What-"

"Don't question it, cat," Gajeel complained with a glare. And that time, instead of patting the boy on the head, his hand found it's way onto Locke's back with such force he nearly knocked him over. "He's just becoming a man, is all."

"Being a man means you must be impossible to buy a gift for?"

"Being a man means that you have no need for such childish things." Gajeel even snickered a bit. "Ain't that right, Locke?"

"I...I guess not."

"That's right you guess not." With a nod of his head, the slayer told his son then, "A year older though, a year learning and suffering, should be met with some sort of gift worthy of such an accomplishment."

"You think so?"

"Of course. Maybe I'll take you on a super hard job, huh? Something your stupid Dreyar friend will never be able to go on. Would you like that?"

"I'd like it a lot."

"Great!" That time, the slap on the back was way too hard and did cause Locke to fall. When Lily paused to look on with concern though and Gajeel stood there, waiting, Locke only lifted his head to grin at the pair and get right back to his feet.

It wasn't even his birthday yet and it was already shaping up pretty well.

Across town, however, a similar problem was arising as said Dreyar girl who would no doubt be super jealous over the job he was going to get to go on, was actually very busy trying to pick out a gift for the boy as well.

"That's a dumb idea, Marin."

Err, well, she was being mean to her sister, but with the intention of eventually weeding through all of her terrible suggestions and eventually arriving at the right one.

"Haven, don't be rude," Evergreen sighed as she led the two sisters through the market place. "Marin's trying to help you."

She'd made the horrible mistake, Ever had, of mentioning around the two girls that she was going shopping that day and, well, Haven seized the chance. Marin came along too because she liked her aunt so much, but mostly because her only real friend at the guildhall, Kai, hadn't shown up that day and she'd been pretty bored without him.

Plus, she needed to get Locke a gift too! Her mother had given her a few jewels for helping sweep up the guildhall that morning, so she was going to put it to good use. Locke deserved a nice birthday present for being such a nice guy.

Haven maybe sorta felt the same, but probably was only getting him a gift because it then gave her something to lord over him. Or at least that would be her own excuse, if called out on it. Same reason she gave anyone anything, honestly.

"I'm just telling the truth," Haven muttered to the only aunt she truly feared. Evergreen was pretty scary. Even Elf thought so. It didn't help that Haven could tell the woman didn't like her. She might love her, but she certainly didn't like her.

Marin, who she did like, only sniffled a bit from the allergies the changing weather gave her, as she asked, "What would you get Locke? Aunt Ever?"

"Well, he is a dirty, gross little boy," the woman told them both with a bit of a shrug. "And when I was your ages, I had to buy gifts for gross, dirty little boys as well. Well, one. Freed wasn't gross. Or dirty. Bickslow though-"

"What did you buy him though?" Marin insisted as Haven, though she wouldn't admit to it, felt her ears perk up as well.

"Paint, typically," the woman told them with a bit of a shrug. "It's not cheap, you know, when you're also trying to use your income to support yourselves. And he needed it for his little doll bodies. He used to go through so many of them back then because they would constantly bash into things and break. So he'd have to paint new ones."

"That doesn't help much," Marin observed. "I don't think Locke even knows how to paint."

"Neither did your uncle." Then, with a shake of her head, the woman told them as they walked down the road, "Think of the things that Locke likes. That's how you'll find the right gift for him. Personally, I would go with a comb, but I suppose that would be a bit too on the nose."

"A comb goes in your hair."

"I know, Marin, I-"

"Locke doesn't like anything except being a loser," Haven said then with her head held high. Crossing her arms over her chest, she said, "And pretending like he's so smart because he actually reads books. Who reads books? He's so stupid."

"Maybe you should get him a book," Marin offered then with a bit of a bounce. "Haven."

"No. I shouldn't. Because that's dumb and you're dumb."

"Hey-"

"Haven, I'm serious about behaving," Evergreen said with a glare down at the little girl then. "I can send you back to the hall without getting anything at all. You do realize this, yes?"

And she took a big kick at the air before she said it, but still, a grumbled, "Yes," did leave Haven's mouth.

For a few moments, they were all quiet once more. Evergreen even went into a shop, taking Marin with her, and leaving the pouting Haven behind. But that was fine. Haven didn't wanna go look at stupid girlie clothes anyways! She didn't even like Evergreen either! Or her stupid rules!

Ugh.

Off on her own for a bit, Haven decided she needed to double down on this gift giving thing. She was in a foul mood now though and felt liable to just buy stupid Locke a lint roller if she saw one. That's how pissy she was over being reprimanded.

She didn't take correction well.

She learned this from the best after all; her father.

Laxus was actually the one that insisted, the day before, that she and Locke would be all made up by the time that his birthday rolled around (they had, once more, had a pretty big falling out), and that she'd be mad at herself if she didn't at least get him something. While she doubted this very much, what he said was true to a certain extent.

They would be made up by then.

They always were, after all.

It was while she was stomping about the busy bazaar, however, that she found it. Just the best gift ever. She couldn't wait to give it to him, even. Haven rarely felt true excitement over things, not unless they had to do with herself (and even then, her emotional range was rather stinted), but the second she saw it, she knew that it was the best gift for him that anyone could ever buy.

So that's exactly what she spent her hard earned job jewels doing.

Marin, in turn, found a little machine that gave out tiny, keychain sized water guns. She used her few jewels to buy one for her, one for Kai, and one for Locke.

Though the day hadn't gone exactly how either planned, if you were to ask them how their journey to buy Locke gifts went, they would have claimed perfectly.

They weren't his only guild friends though, of course. Navi, though she might not always feel like it, was one of his closest friends as well and felt the need to buy him something nice. He'd done the same for her, her previous birthday, and though her family was struggling a bit financially, this felt rather lost on Navi for the most part. She knew her father was gone a lot more on jobs and her mother as well, when he wasn't, but for the most part, that just gave her a chance to be gone on them too, as they didn't mind bring her on lower level stuff.

And they always let her keep a small portion of things to spend on whatever she wanted.

That morning, as she awoke to Happy drooling on her pillow, she only shoved the feline away before bounding out of bed to get on with some present finding.

She was a bit shocked to find her parents already up, before the sunrise even, in the kitchen. They were sat the table together, going over bills and things. Well, Lucy was going over them while Natsu mostly looked bored, but he did sit up as his daughter came into the room.

"What are you doing up so early?" Lucy asked with a bit of a frown as the girl came over to hug her father. "Navi? Is something wrong? Did Happy-"

"No," she was quick to say as she was turning then to go find something for breakfast. "I have to go out and find Locke a gift."

"So early?"

"After that, I have to go with Haven to-"

"You should come with me," Natsu challenged with a thumb jerked in his direction. "Hap and I are gonna go train. Some heavy stuff. Way better than anything Haven can offer you, I bet."

"Well-"

"You just want her to go to provide you with fire, don't you?" Lucy remarked with a suspicious eye.

"Never denied it. Gives her practice as well. What's wrong with that?"

Sighing, she spoke to her daughter then as she asked, "Well, whatever you decide to do, do you think if I gave you some jewels you could get something for dinner tonight? While you're out getting something for your friend?"

Of course. Which is what she was very busy doing when she ran into none other than Erza Scarlet who was out with her two little charges. Upon seeing and questioning Navi of what she was doing out so early on her own, she immediately began to brag the girl up to the two little boys who didn't seem to be listening.

Not that they ever seemed to be listening.

Kai, the youngest, was very busy trying to get the zipper on his jacket unstuck while Ravan, the elder, only glared so heavily at Navi the whole time that she was more than a bit creeped out by the whole thing. The former was harmless, as he was showing at the moment, but the latter always seemed to have a deep distaste for, well, most everyone, but Navi felt this extended heavily on her when Erza was involved.

Without her? Forget it. Ravan hardly even seemed to realize who she was. His main focus up at the hall seemed to be to torment Haven and, by proxy, Locke, but he didn't really seem to think that Navi was a part of that, so she got left alone a lot.

Erza changed things a bit though.

Before Ravan and his brother came strolling into town, looking to take her life, Erza honestly had no interest in ever being in charge of a child. It wasn't a desire she had. She saw herself more as a fearsome warrior than any sort of motherly type. She did, however, find herself frequently looking after Navi when the girl was young and found it somewhat enjoyable. Because of this, she considered herself and the young girl bonded and, considering the typically well-behaved nature of the girl, even attributed herself to part of her raising. This meant that she saw no problem with bragging up the girl's behavior. She always had. She thought that Navi was the epitome of how great a child could turn out (even when lackluster parenting at home).

Of course she would think that Ravan and Kai should take notice.

And oh, take notice they did.

It was that childish misunderstanding of true feelings that got Ravan all crossed up when it came to the other child. To him, Navi was kind of useless. She didn't like fighting. She didn't offer up much help on jobs. Honestly, she seemed like a pushover who let Haven boss her around. Then there was the fact that a good amount of the time, she didn't even want to hang out with the rest of them (she actually had much better friends in her neighborhood that she far preferred in some regards than the ones she had from Fairy Tail) and that made her even less interesting to him.

He might, in a way, like her more than Haven and Locke. Just because he didn't hate her. But to say that they were in any way friends was too far off the mark to be accurate.

Ravan, for the most part, just didn't think of Navi at all. And she rather liked it that way.

When she found herself around Erza though, the woman that the boy refused to admit, even to himself, that he admired so much and wished deeply would feel the same way about him, things got a bit sticky. The swordswoman view of the girl as the perfect child whereas Ravan was inadequate and useless and needlessly bothersome kind of…

It didn't hurt his feelings.

He refused to let it do so.

But at the same time, at the end of the day, he was still a little boy with feelings and emotions that, fine, he was adept at burying deep, but still had to deal with when that failed through. He'd been with Erza for over a year at that point and a lot of time, it felt like he, his brother, and her had all found a relative peace with one another, but there were others when he felt like an intruder or just didn't belong.

She liked Kai so much.

And she seemed to adore Navi.

But he just felt like an annoyance or bother to her. Which, considering he didn't properly know how to process this, caused him to act out even more. Slam doors, refuse to help clean up around the house, yell at his brother. Anything to get her to yell at him.

Anything to get attention from her.

She wasn't his mother and he knew that and it wasn't right for him to feel like she owed him anything more than all she'd already given him, but sometimes…

Sometimes it was just really hard.

But Erza didn't understand these sorts of things. How could she? She was so literal and serious that, short of Ravan outright telling her what he was feeling, it would only go over her head. She thought that he was disruptive and disagreeable simply because he chose to be out of defiance. Not that he felt the need to be out of some sort of emotional neglect.

To have to hear her then scold him on how he should be more like Navi did little more than make him dislike the other child.

It could hurt Kai's feelings at times as well, but he was rather open about those sorts of things and great about expressing it. So when he was upset with Erza, it typically got resolved. Not Ravan though. He was left to his own devices for self comfort.

And, at the moment, he was thinking about twenty different ways he could bloody Navi's nose as she stood there, rocking on her feet a bit, as she stared up at her parents' friend, listening diligently to the words she said.

"I'm sure Navi is also able to find her way home once more, all on her own, when she is finished shopping, Kai. Something that you too could learn from."

"I'm just tryin' to figure this zipper out! It's so hard."

"Yes, well, Ra- Ravan, where are you going?" Erza turned as she saw the boy tugging his hood over his head and rushing off into the sea of people that always flooded the market place on weekdays. "Ravan!"

Kai glanced after the boy as well, but just as quickly he was looking to Navi and speaking.

"So what are you getting Locke for his birthday?" he asked as, giving up on the zipper, he smiled brightly at the other girl. "I'm thinking about getting him whatever Ravan decides."

"Uh, I don't think Ravan's going to get him anything, Kai."

"What makes you say that?"

"Well-"

"Your brother is impossible," Erza huffed as she turned to look once more down at the other two children. "He is always so moody. I honestly do not know what is wrong with him."

"I dunno," Kai was quick to say before continuing on with what he wanted to get at. "Navi, do you think that Locke would like a nice, fresh fish?'

"Uh...Kai, I have to go."

That, at least, got Erza to nod some at the girl and agree, "You should be on your way. I plan to take leave for a job soon, Navi, so in case we do not see one another again, I look forward to when we do once more."

Navi made a bit of a face, but still bowed her head and whispered, "You too, Erza."

"Bye, Navi!" Kai waved at the girl who disappeared in about the same speed as his brother. Then, tilting his head up to stare at his technical guardian, the boy asked, "You'll leave before Locke's birthday party?"

It was Erza's turn to make a face as, turning, she patted him on the head and led him in the opposite direction. "What difference would it make to me, Kai?"

"Well, I for one sure am happy 'bout it." He went back to toying with his zipper. "There'll probably be cake and ice cream and-"

"What did we say about being less piggish?"

"I'd only eat a little, Erza."

"Hn."

"'sides, I'm gettin' in great fightin' shape, don't you think?" And, giving up on the zipper again, Kai took some shadow punches at the air. "I'll be able to go out on a job in no time."

"Yes, well, for the time being," the woman said with a heavy frown, "you are to stay with Marin while I am away."

"Alright!" That time, the punch he threw was out of pure joy. It was only after thoughts of staying up late (till nine, at least) giggling and talking, had fled his mind that Kai thought about something else. "What about Ravan? Is he gonna go with you? Or-"

"I know little of Ravan, currently," the woman told him simply. "He was fine today, until-"

"Until we saw Navi." Then Kai stopped for a moment and gasped. When Erza didn't play along with his dramatics, he was quick to fall into step with her once more. Still, he said, "Think he was mad about that?"

"About what?"

"That we stopped and talked to Navi."

"Why would that upset him?"

"I dunno."

"He and Navi are friends."

"I guess so."

"Unless..."

"Unless what?"

But Erza was already thinking things in her mind that she didn't want to say aloud, for fear fo ruining them. She was around their ages, after all, when she first developed a crush on another child. It was rather typical, she figured. She knew too that such feeling could often scare children into being rather brazen with one another and could even lead to, perhaps, one running away in fear of said feelings.

Because what a perfect world would it be for Erza if her little protege did have a crush on the child she helped rear so well?

Probably not even close to one, actually, considering Ravan was still an orphan, she was still stuck with the expenses of the two children, and the loves of childhood rarely had any bearing on real life.

But in those fleeting moments? It felt rather perfect. If not reassuring. Ravan was a bit of an, well for lack of a better word, ass. And it bothered Erza a lot the way he seemed unable to connect truly with the other children. Or with anyone. She wanted him to have friends. She wanted him to have normal, childlike emotions. He was so hardened, it seemed, at times. Brutish.

Though she played it so well that at times the boy was unable to see through her, the swordswoman cared rather heavily for the little boy. His brother as well. Time had passed so quickly and yet so slowly. She'd learned much of both boys and, though Ravan wasn't nearly as open as his brother, she felt as if she knew his motives and mannerisms well.

She just wished for them to be happy.

And proficient in their magic.

But the two weren't necessarily exclusive.

"Perhaps," Erza told younger boy then, "I will stick around. For another day."

"Really?" Though Kai loved the idea of getting to spend the night with Marin, he wasn't too upset at the notion of getting to spend some extra time with Erza. "You think you'll go to Locke's birthday party as well?"

"I- What?"

"And do you think you could loan me some jewels? To get him a gift?"

That brought all the joy right out of the woman as, with a glare down at the boy, she shook her head a bit before saying, "I think I have some armor at home you can polish, if you wish for jewels."

Still, Kai beamed up at the woman as he declared, "I sure like you a lot, Erza, you know."

That too caused her to pull a bit of a face, but still, she settled on a soft grin before nodding. "And I you."

But the feeling wasn't mutual for Ravan who headed far away from the market and continued down the maze of roads far away from stupid Erza and stupid Navi and stupid Kai and stupid everyone.

Stupid everyone.

He hated them all. Even his brother. They were all jerks and they were constantly on his back about things and Ravan just wanted to run away. Far away. From them all. And he'd go join another guild. One that wasn't filled with the stupid children of stupid slayers and annoying swordswomen that couldn't even save his parents and he just wouldn't come back!

He'd never come back!

He could do so much better on his own. Without Kai. He'd be a really great mage without someone like Erza breathing down his neck. Without Haven constantly trying to throw him off. Without stupid perfect Navi and stupid idiot Locke that was so great and amazing and nice and...and…

He didn't even know that he was running until, out of breath, he leaned forwards to rest his hands on his knees as he panted heavily. When he lifted his head, of course, where else could he be, but outside of the Fairy Tail gates.

So he sucked in his teeth and ignored the screaming in his lungs as he began to run again. This time to the outskirts of town where he then disappeared into the forest, vowing never to return.

He did, of course.

But only once the hour was late and he was tired, but not too tired to convince himself he actually wanted to spend the night all alone in the forest.

She was waiting up for him though, when he stumbled through the backdoor. Of course. Sitting there with her smug attitude and oh! He just hated her. He hated Erza so much.

He wished he'd killed her when he had the chance.

He wished he'd truly at least once had the chance.

"Ravan," she said simply as she nodded at the chair across the table from her. His chair. He hated having his own chair. "Come take a seat. I will make you hot chocolate."

He glared at her, heavily, and she could tell that he was caked and mud and sweat. He must have been training. As if her perfect day could get even more perfect.

Still sour over...over everything, actually, and not at all having found an ounce of calm inside of him the entire day, he grit his teeth as he told her simply, "It's too hot for hot chocolate."

"Nonsense. You're a child. You love such a thing."

"No, Erza, I don't."

"Well, your brother-"

"I'm not my brother."

This was true. Very true. And, conceding that fact, Erza still was all smiles as she said, "I will treat you to a soda then. There's one in the fridge, I'm sure, that you can have."

"Why are you being nice to me?"

"Am I not always?"

He didn't want to answer that. Not when he was so upset with her.

"Anyways, I wish to speak with you," the woman kept up as, glancing off, she coughed a bit into her hand. Now he was suspicious, Ravan was, and knew that something was up. Still, Erza only nodded at his chair. "Take a seat."

He was too tired to argue.

As soon as he sat down, Erza took to clasping her hands together and giving him a look that he couldn't quite read. Still, he only popped the tab on his soda and waited, knowing something was coming.

Something was always coming.

"So," the woman said slowly as she looked him over. "I gather that something upset you today, when we were in the market. That is the reason that you ran away, yes?"

"No," he grumbled back much faster. "It didn't. Nothing bothers me. At all."

"You know better than to think that I believe this veneer you put up," she critiqued with a shake of her head. "Everything bothers someone at some point."

"What difference does it make to you?" If Ravan was good at anything, it was moving a goalpost. "Why I ran off?"

"Because, Ravan, I am, at heart, your mentor."

"My what?"

"And I wish for you to understand that you can instill trust in me," Erza went on. "I would not break your confidence. Why, when I was your age, after I arrived in Fairy Tail, I would have loved to have someone so accomplished, so talented, so-

"Humble?" he grumbled softly though she was talking too highly of herself to hear him.

"-wise, to take me under their wing. To care for me as I wish to care for you and your needs." Then, giving him a look, Erza said, "So feel free, Ravan, to tell me. Whatever it is. I won't be upset. There's a good chance I'll even be beneficial to you."

"Beneficial?"

Nodding her head, the woman told him, "I know many things, after all. And though I am a woman, of course, my guidance could be very helpful in most aspects of life. Even those that you may not traditionally think to ask me about. So-"

"What are you talking about?"

She didn't want to come right out and say it. For a lot of reasons. But mostly not to embarrass the boy.

The crushes of childhood were a delicate thing, after all. And Erza was excellent at navigating delicate things. Mainly because she refused to acknowledge any shortcomings on the subject.

"Ravan." And she looked him dead in the eyes then. "Surely you can be honest with me. If not me, then who?"

Narrowing his eyes, he was almost completely certain that not only was his 'mentor' completely off base with whatever it was she thought, but also that she was off her rocker in general.

Now annoyed once more (though he wasn't too sure why; maybe because Erza was just being annoying, but also maybe her inability to understand what had made him so upset), he shoved away from the table then, leaving his hardly drank soda behind.

"You will come around," Erza called after him. "And eventually will find that when it comes to confidants, I am the best you will find."

This was not to say that Erza's feelings were not a bit crushed by his refusal to, in her mind, open up to her about his incoming feelings that he'd yet to experience, she was sure, before. But no matter. She knew that Ravan was a difficult child. She would get him to eventually tell her.

It was as she sat there though, lamenting her failure and considering other alternatives to getting him to divulge to her all his secrets, that she was, once more, joined at the table.

"Kai?" she complained with a bit of a frown. "What are you doing up?"

He only sat there in his pajamas though, looking tired, as he said, "I got up to get some water, but you and Ravan were talkin', so I waited. 'cause I have manners and all."

"Yes," the woman replied slowly as she eyed him. "And all."

"But I did listen, 'cause how could I not?"

"How could you not?" And Erza did this at times, repeat the boy. It was in futile attempts to get him to hear his own words back and, hopefully, recognize their idiocy, but so far, this had failed to land with the little boy.

"And I wanted to know if you were kind like my mentor too?"

"Did you want to know that?"

"Yes. I did."

"I suppose it depends on what you define a mentor as," she said slowly, eyeing him. "And also why it is that you wish to know this."

Grinning widely, he said, "Simple. I wanna know if you can talk me through somethin'."

This did peak Erza's interest a bit and, though skeptical, she did ask, "What is that, Kai?"

"Well, you know how I have a really neat jacket that someone who really likes me loads bought for me and I said I'd take care of it if they did and I was real grateful and everything, but then when I got home today, the zipper was stickin' still and I panicked a bit and ripped it clean off and I don't know how to tell that person that not only am I sorry, but it's gonna rain again, probably, soon, and I'd like a new jacket, please, Erza. Mentor. Whichever."

When she looked deeply into Kai's eyes, it was with a different form of hardness and exhaustion.

"Go," she told him simply, "to bed. Now."

"But-"

"Get your water and go. Before I take you by hand there." Before he could say otherwise, she was sure to add, "And you will not like it if I do."

A long sigh accompanied his shoving up from the table, but after getting a drink, he did diligently head off to bed and, for the next few hours, she heard little of the boys. It was around the time that she got up to train, however, that she heard the heavier footsteps of Ravan as he left the house and, with a sigh, she decided not to follow him.

Perhaps, she should change her mode of attack.

Unfortunately for Navi, however, this new mode had less to do with the child under Erza's dominion and more to do with her.

The day of Locke's birthday was upon them and Navi arrived early to help Ms. Mirajane with setting up the downstairs game room for it. The woman told her that she'd give her a few jewels, for the help, and Navi had been set back a bit by the birthday gift buying, so she couldn't pass up the opportunity.

Her mother had gone with her down to the job, leaving her brothers, father, and Happy at home where they hopefully all would be when Lucy returned from her job. She was yawning some, over at the request board, while Navi only rushed right over to Mirajane to question what it was she wanted done first.

It was while she was seated at one of the table, mixing the big bowl of ingredients for his cake, that Navi was joined by Erza. The second the woman walked into the hall, she'd immediately zeroed in on the poor little girl.

"Navi. It is good to see you up and so active this early in the morning," the swordswoman greeted as she sat across from the child. "An admirable trait for sure."

"Hi, Erza," Navi sighed as she struggled a bit as the ingredients got rather difficult to stir, sticking together rather well and forcing her to use her full strength with that wooden spoon. "I'm helping for Locke's birthday."

"Ah, Locke, yes. He is a very well-mannered child as well. For the most part, of course." Erza continued to stare right at Navi as she questioned the girl. "You two are quite close, are you not?"

"Well, kind of. I guess. He and Haven are closer, probably."

"So is the way of life. We naturally find ourselves drawn more to one person than all others. Happy prefers Natsu above all others, your mother is very close to the Master's wife, you yourself are drawn to… Who is your best friend? Navi? I do not believe I am aware of one."

It was a weird question, coming from Erza, but Navi was far too focused on the stirring of that cake mix to honestly consider just why the swordswoman would be interested in such information.

"I dunno," she answered truthfully then. "I guess Haven."

"You said that Haven and Locke are already very close to one another. Yes?"

"I guess."

"Then the only other one of your little friend group would be-"

"Marin's alright, I guess, but-"

"Ravan," Erza finished because clearly the pink haired little girl was just not going to follow her so easily into delusion. "You and Ravan would both be the odd ones out. But not too odd, I suppose, considering an even number still exists."

Navi felt like the woman was talking in circles and was a bit lost by the whole thing, so she stopped stirring then to stare over at the woman. With a frown, she asked, "You think that Ravan and I are best friends?"

"It would only be natural, after all. Locke and Haven are so close, Kai and Marin, and you and-"

"I don't… Erza..."

"Ravan is a bit rough around the edges, of course, but I am certain if he just had one person he felt comfortable around, then certainly he would open up more. In general. Not to mention, he is becoming quite adept at his sword training-"

"Erza, I don't like Ravan."

"It's a silly word, yes, that scares children, sometimes, but-"

"No, I mean, I don't like him at all." The sort of like that Erza apparently had been implying would have made Navi barf to even consider. "He's kind of mean."

"He is only strong willed."

"And he's a bully. He picks on everybody."

"As does Haven."

"But we all like Haven."

Yes. Erza had long pondered the implications of that as well. Haven and her behaviors were a conundrum for certain. A problem for another day, however.

"Well, if you would only learn to like Ravan-"

"But I don't want to though. Why would I?"

As Navi frowned up at the woman though, Mirajane happened to pass by and come to collect the bowl. That was the little girl's cue to rush off, as to earn every cent of those jewels. Still, she did bow her head to the swordswoman before rushing off.

It was all Erza's fault, of course (though she struggled with admitting this). Her own oversight that had caused the whole thing. Never once did it occur to her that Navi might not like Ravan. Perhaps needed her mind opened to the idea of it, fine, but that she did not even consider him a friend…

Erza was certain the young boy would be crushed. Absolutely crushed. His first childhood love was ill-fated and would no doubt set his already downcast view of the world even lower. It wasn't Navi's fault, of course, for not returning whatever sort of affection he had for her, but Erza really wished things had turned out different.

Ah. Well, it was part of childhood, yes? The realization that your hopes and desires were not the same as others. It was best to learn it young rather than be deluded into believing that what you wanted was either exactly what others did or, worse yet, not caring how they felt.

Mostly though, Erza felt poorly for herself. In the single day she'd considering the possibility of the two even just being friendly, she'd grown extremely excited by the concept. Young love was silly and stupid, but the idea that Ravan could even just have a friend, a real friend, was exciting. He was so alone so often.

Navi though put the weird situation right out of her mind. Erza was always kind of off and, considering she was the one that took care of Ravan, it made sense to her that she'd be asking equally as off stuff about the boy. The day was about Locke's birthday and that's all she wanted to focus on.

Haven and Marin showed up at the hall eventually, of course, with their father. He was all grouchy about the celebratory mood his wife had and, upon arrival, only growled that he would be in his office for the day and didn't want to be bothered.

"Who wants you at a party anyways, Laxus?" Haven griped at him and, well, was she wrong?

Never, if you asked her.

At least not in this case, if you asked anyone else.

The party was around noon and all the kids were more than pumped up for it. Mirajane, knowing how annoyed Laxus was by the whole thing, made them all go down to the game room where she'd set up a table with all his presents sat atop. Gajeel didn't go down there with him, but snort a bit and shove at the boy some.

"A man has duties, I guess," he remarked. "You probably feel too old for this, huh, Locke? Like you don't need it? It's stupid. But you gotta do your duty. All your stupid little girlfriends are waiting for you, I guess."

"You could let him enjoy things sometimes, Gaj," Levy retorted with a frown. "Without making us all thing about your friendless childhood."

"I didn't need friends!"

"Don't worry, Locke," Lily assured him with a grin. "Having parties like this mean you won't turn out like Gajeel when you grow up."

Downstairs, the girls (plus Kai) were very excited. Well, Marin and Navi were, Kai was waiting for cake, and Haven just didn't seem as put off by the whole thing as she usually did.

Ms. Mirajane though was by far the most excited. She always was. Birthdays really made her happy. They reminded her of that little shack she lived in with her brother and sister, where their parents couldn't afford much less than what they needed, but always made each of their birthdays (for the short time they lived for them) so special. Just by being around.

"Open mine first," Marin requested, if not a bit softly, and Locke was feeling good that day so he did so, pulling the tiny package from the pile. "I hope you like it."

Well, the concept was cool. Like though was a strong word. Still, Locke told her he'd put it on his housekey, maybe.

"Marin and me both got one too," Kai told him. "So if you do that, it'll be like we're all matching!"

"Yeah!" Marin too was pumped up by the thought. "It will be."

Which meant that Locke definitely wasn't doing that.

"Get mine next," Kai requested. "I picked it out this mornin'! Just for you, Locke."

"It is his birthday, after all," Navi muttered to Haven who only rolled her eyes.

"Oh, wow, Kai," Locke remarked with very little enthusiasm actually in his voice. "You bought me a bookmark."

"You read," the boy insisted. "A lot. You need a bookmark. And look, it glows in the dark! Cup your hand around it!"

"That's actually really thoughtful," Levy remarked as she stood behind Locke, overseeing the interactions with Mirajane. "Kai."

It was true. More thought than anyone actually believed he'd ever put into something. Though the gift was lackluster, even Locke was kind of impressed with that.

"I'm a deep thinker," Kai said simply, but even Marin seemed to not really believe that.

He opened a gift from his mother before he got around to Haven's gift. When he saw it, he blinked some, as if surpised by it before frowing and looking up at her.

"Don't you know what it is?" she griped at him as he only shook his head slightly.

"Well, yeah, but why'd ya-"

"You like puzzles, don't you?" Haven kept up as the pair sat across from one another at the table, her already glaring. "It's like a puzzle. It's a model of the capital's castle. You put it together, idiot."

"I'm not an idiot!"

"You sure seem like one!"

"Okay, okay." Mirajane was moving then to hand Locke the last gift. "Let's move on, huh?"

"And Locke, you say thank you when you get something," Levy reminded gently as she took the box that Haven's gift came in and went to set it down with the others. "Don't be ungrateful."

Both were angry with one another again (they rarely went an extended period without it) and Locke only made a face at the girl while she crossed her arms and glared off.

But he had Navi's gift then to be concerned with and it, by far, went over the best out of all the gifts.

"Wow!" Locke had the sweetest grin, his mother always told him, when he showed his teeth and he had that going then as he peeled off the wrapping paper to reveal a thick, old looking spell book. Which, on it's own, wasn't anything particularly interesting, but the specific kind it was really impressed him. "It's only about medicine?"

"Yeah!" Navi perked up as well, seeing her friend so excited. "I don't even think we have it here, in our library at the guild. I saw it and thought you needed it."

"It's probably filled with stuff," Locke gushed as he sat it down on the table then to begin flicking through it. "I can't wait to..." Then he stopped and looked up at his mother with a stricken face and said, "You won't tell Dad, will you?"

Gajeel hated his son's love for that sort of magic. He saw 'medic work' as nothing more than girly shit you let the your ten year old daughter do so that she could be a mage too! Bleh. Fucking hell, he'd die before his son became a damn medic.

Of course, considering everyone was slated to die eventually, this wasn't too far off from how it'd all end up…

"Don't even worry about that right now, huh?" Levy remarked simply as he only nodded. "Maybe it's time for-"

"Cake?" Kai was quick to jump up. "I'll help you get it, Mrs. Master."

As he went off with the barmaid, who only giggled, to go get it, Locke looked over his book and spoke with Navi on it as Haven only glared off. Marin though, in her fear of her sister, knew better than to say exactly what she was thinking.

She'd told Haven to get him a book.

And did she listen?

Marin would definitely be telling Aunt Ever all about this next time they saw one another.

Haven refused to sing Locke Happy Birthday with the others and, when over cake he was invited by Kai to go fishing for his big day (the younger boy would use any excuse to grab a pole and sit by the river) and Locke declined because he was going out on this cool, exciting, fun adventure with his father all alone, Haven tossed her plate down and got up and stomped off. The other kids were a bit shocked by it, but Locke was mostly just annoyed.

She always had to make everything about her.

"Boy," Kai remarked with a frown after the older girl. "If I'dda known she wanted to be invited, I'dda definitely asked. Course, I don't think we'dda liked fishin' together too much."

Navi stared hard at Kai for that remark and, as she typically found herself doing with the boy, had to truly question whether he was as big an idiot as he made himself sound or if he was pulling the biggest prank on them all.

Mirajane let Haven go as the girl had already more than added her own dramatics to the day and knew better than to reward her for that. Plus, Mira knew Laxus would more than placate Haven later in the day, with teasing jabs and ribs.

It was how the two connected.

Haven stormed out of the hall entirely though, but didn't leave the guild grounds (you had to establish just enough space to show your anger, but leave enough so that someone coming after you could find you; but no one was coming after her). That was how she ran into him, anyways. Ravan. He was being his typical moody self behind the building.

"What are you doing back here?" she asked with a frown at the sight of him back there, one of his weapons drawn, seemingly practicing some sword drills.

Ravan, who found that he liked it back there, behind the guildhall, where he was kind of connected to the others, but still definitely not because yuck, he hated all of the, especially then, only frowned at the other child.

"What are you doing?" he retorted, lowering his sword slightly. "Shouldn't you be with Locke? Or did he already kick you out of his party?"

"He can't kick me out of anything," Haven barked right back. "I chose to leave."

"Well, leave here too then." Ravan raised his weapon again. "I don't need your ugly mug bothering me while I'm training."

"I can stand wherever I want!" Haven was not one to be pushed around. Figuratively or literally. She was the one to always do the pushing. "You can't tell me what to do."

For a long, tense few seconds there, the two children had a glaring match going on, but at about the same moment, they both looked off. They were too upset about other things, it seemed, to be able to pretend to have any for one another right then.

"Why aren't you at the party then?" Haven finally asked after a few moments of them just not looking at one another. "Ravan?"

"Why would I go? To Locke's birthday party? No one threw me a party when it was my birthday."

Haven might not have much anger left over, but the glare was commonplace, it seemed, as she only told him, "No one knows when your birthday even is, stupid."

"So? You know that I've been here for a long time. Over a year. Do you think that I just don't have a birthday?"

Honestly, Haven had never considered it. Even once. She really didn't think that deeply about anyone other than herself. The idea that Ravan did or didn't get a birthday party since she'd known him, perhaps even deserving of two by that point, didn't mean much to her. At all.

It was only just occurring to her that she didn't even know exactly how old he was…

"And why would I be there anyways?" he asked. "When you're not even there? You're his girlfriend."

"Shuddup."

"You shuddup."

"It's stupid Navi anyways!" Haven huffed some then, looking off again. "I could have gotten him that cool book too. It's not even that cool. And he likes puzzles!"

Ravan's desire to rub whatever pain Haven was feeling in was drowned out by that name.

"I hate Navi."

It just slipped out. He didn't even really mean it, probably. But he said it.

And, across from him, Haven didn't mean it either as it slipped from her mouth as well.

"I hate her too."

They'd never reached that before, the two of them. An agreement.

It was more than a bit horrifying to consider.

The thing that always separated them was their anger and sharp tongues. They lashed out at those around them for very different reasons, but still the same methods. The idea of them both lashing out at the same subject was a powerful one and probably the sole reason why they were able to complete jobs together.

If there was ever a chance of the two of them seeing eye to eye more often, well, that might actually spell some amount of trouble for the guild. The one thing saving that, however, was the fact that, for one, neither truly hated Navi anyways. Rather, they were both experiencing some form of jealousy that was redirecting their anger at different people towards poor, innocent Navi who'd done little more in either situation than just be a casual bystander.

Of course, when you were as far gone in your feelings as Haven and Ravan were by that point, little mattered other than what you personally believed. And in that moment, they personally believed they each hated stupid Navi.

Which they didn't and wouldn't in less than an hour for both, but in that moment, the emotion felt very real.

It was while the unlikely pair shared this singular moment though that they were joined. Haven, apparently, did have someone who was coming after her. Locke found them, back behind the building, holding Haven's hardly touched plate of cake in one hand. He glared at the sight of Ravan, but only went to stand by his friend.

"Why do you always have to be such a brat, Haven?" was Locke's form of a greeting it seemed as he only shoved the plate off on the blonde haired child. "I don't make problems on your birthday. Can't you ever just be normal?"

She snatched the plate too, with a glare (because, hey, it was still cake), before replying, "I didn't ask you to come find me."

"I don't care what you ask me to do."

"Then-"

"I'm going with my dad now," he told her simply. "On my birthday job."

"So? Why should I care?"

"You don't have to, I guess, but I don't get why you're mad at me."

He rarely did. Haven was very confusing to Locke. She seemed to have an equal disdain for things that weren't any good for her as she did for things that were. Anything could set her off at any moment. Even things that hadn't previously. Haven was a walk endorsement to happiness being fleeting.

Haven, however, didn't understand how he could say that. That he didn't know why she was so angry with him. It felt so obvious to her, all of her different feelings and reactions, that the idea that others might not be able to understand them was crazy to her. It was plain as day that he was rubbing it in her face that he had a father who could still go on cool jobs and would take him on one, when she did not. Not to mention the original slight, which was seemingly not immediately loving and understanding what her gift was while praising stupid Navi for just buying him a dumb book.

That he could have somehow missed realizing that these were problems and lead to her being upset was unacceptable. It made her even angrier, honestly.

"I'm mad because you're a stupid idiot, Locke, who thinks he's so great because his dad's a mage. Your dad's not even S-Class! And neither is your mom! Your parents suck!"

Locke glared then and about shoved her for that. Face dark, he said, "At least my parents like me."

"I don't like mine, so I don't care what they like!"

"Great then, Haven! Because they don't like you."

Ravan, who'd only stood there for a few moments, listening to the two argue, had had enough. He came to his spot back behind the guild hall to be alone. Not to be bothered by Haven and Locke. He'd accepted the former, since they were sharing a sentiment, but the pair of them was something he never wanted to be around.

"Could you two do this somewhere else?" he asked before, with a dark glint in his eye, he raised his sword once more, this time towards Locke. "Why are you over here anyways? Don't make me cut you up before your dumb trip."

Locke ignored him though as he continued to glare at Haven. To her, he said, "I didn't do anything to you, Haven. I never do. And you always get upset. You always-"

"I bought you that real nice model thing and you acted like a jerk about it."

"How, Haven? Huh? Because I didn't know what it was? I'm going to build it."

"After you read your stupid book," she said with a huff and, finally, he had some idea what he'd done wrong. "That's a dumb magic anyways."

"I can like two things, Haven." Locke didn't sound so annoyed then as he only frowned at her. "I never said I didn't like your model. I just didn't know what it was at first. That's all."

She only looked off though, still angry, apparently, while Locke sighed and kicked some at the ground. If happiness was fleeting for her, anger was for him.

"If you really wanna go with me and my dad," Locke sighed finally. "Then I guess-"

"I don't want to go with you or your stupid dad, Locke."

His glare returned, for a moment, before he glanced at Ravan, who still looked ready to skewer him. With a shake of his head, he turned off to go then. Gajeel would be calling for him soon enough.

After he left, Haven looked down at her cake before at Ravan. Frowning at him, she only moved to start picking at the dessert with her typical scowl.

"I hate Locke too," she added softly and, with a nod of his own head, Ravan found it rather easy to agree.

When Ravan went home that night, it was to find Erza sitting up, waiting on him again in the kitchen. He wasn't really wanting to deal with her, but she insisted he take a seat.

"I," she began as he mostly glared at a spot on the wall behind her, "have taken notice of your attitude since the market incident."

He didn't glance at her as he asked, "You have?"

"I have." Erza even nodded. "It has to do with Navi, does it not?"

That got his attention and, staring right at her, he felt his stomach flip a bit because he'd never seen them getting to that point. He wasn't even sure what that point was. His feelings over the matter still confused him and though he knew the taste of jealousy, the concept of why he'd want Erza's attention anyways was beyond him. He didn't get why he cared so much what the swordswoman though of him, much less Navi. He just knew that, for some reason, he did care. And what she thought, honestly, hurt his feelings.

"In my infinite wisdom," the woman was going on, "I decided the best course of action would be to confront the problem head on. Go to the source. Navi herself."

He paled some. "You what?"

"Do not fear," she tried to console him. "I did this with the delicacy that should be involved in such a matter. Navi didn't even know what I was speaking of, it seemed. However, I did get to the bottom of the problem and it pains me to say, Ravan, that perhaps you should set your sights on another."

Now she'd completely thrown him.

"Another what, Erza?"

"Well, that's a question only you yourself can answer, isn't it, Ravan?"

He blinked some, glare failing as he tried very hard to understand what she was saying before, in confusion, he asked, "What did you talk to Navi about?"

"About your little crush on her, Ravan."

"You what?"

"Do not fret. She is none the wiser. However, you are wiser, now, thanks to my interference and it has saved you from-"

"I don't...like Navi, Erza."

"Do not play coy with me. It is as I told you last night," she insisted. "I am your mentor. Your-"

"You're an idiot."

Her face dropped as she frowned at him, "Ravan-"

"I don't like Navi! At all! We're not even friends! I don't like anyone! That's stupid. Why would you even think that?"

"W-Well, you ran away, at the market, because you got flustered from seeing her, yes?'

"No!"

"Then I do not understand, Ravan," Erza told him with a shake of her head. "If it is not young love that caused you to flee, why-"

"It's because you suck! You do! You sit there and talk about how great Navi is and act like me and Kai don't do anything! We do do things! We try real hard at things. But you don't care because you think Navi's so perfect, but she's not! I wouldn't wanna be like her anyways, even if she was. I don't want to be her. I'm me. And if you don't like that, fine! I'll just go somewhere else. To another guild. Where they do want me."

It was the culmination of a lot of things that forced that out of him and Ravan hated every second of it. It tasted awful. Much worse than jealousy. He felt like he'd just retched his entire insides up.

"Oh, Ravan."

And the look Erza gave him made it that much worse.

Crossing his arms tightly over his chest, he looked away, but could still feel her heavy eyes.

"I didn't… Perhaps sometimes I...I do not think when I talk," Erza admitted slowly. "I struggle at times to realize just how...childlike you are. And of course I appreciate the things that you do."

"No, you don't."

"Ravan-"

"All you ever do is talk about how horrible I am."

"I do not."

"You do so."

"Ravan, to pretend as if you were the perfect house mate would be a lie," Erza said to which he only huffed some more. "But I like having you here. There are ways in which you could improve, but there are ways in which I could improve. In which Navi could as well. No one is perfect. If I have made you feel poorly for not being so, then I apologize. There is a reason I've invited you to stay in my home and allowed you to live here. Not Navi. You."

Ravan wouldn't look at her. Only grumbled out, "Can I go now?"

Sighing, Erza allowed this and, hopping up, he rushed off to bed. Kai was snoozing already and Ravan just left him be as he clambered up to the top bunk of their beds and tugged the blankets over his head.

He felt different now, than he had the past two days, but he wasn't sure why exactly. All the anger and self-consciousness that had plagued him had fled for the time being and he just felt normal again.

Then, just as he was drifting off, he remembered that Erza had apparently taken it upon herself to try and talk to a girl for him and his face heated up and oh, wow, embarrassment was a new one for him,.

He'd have to get Erza back for this slight.

It was still there in the morning and Ravan decided he couldn't face the hall for a few days. Just the thought of possibly seeing Navi, knowing what Erza had done, made him feel queasy. So he decided to mope around the house and not do much at all in retaliation.

And plus he was just feeling a bit lazy.

When he arrived back the next week, Locke had returned from his birthday job with his father and all the kids seemed to have gathered at the hall. Kai and Marin were spending the day at the pool, playing with some real water guns that her Uncle Bickslow had got for them after seeing their puny key chain ones while the older kids sat at a table just the three of them, putting together that model that Haven had bought Locke for his brithday.

It was...going about as well as expected.

"Haven, you can't just jam pieces in."

"That's not what I'm doing, Locke."

"It is what you're doing and you're going to break the pieces and then-"

"Why don't you just shut up? Huh? The instructions say-"

"You didn't read the instructions, Haven! Whenever Navi or I try to read them to you-"

"Instructions are for people who don't know what they're doing, Locke."

"Yeah. You, Haven."

"Can't we do something else?" Navi finally asked. "Anything else?"

"No," both Locke and Haven shut her down in unison and, well, at least they agreed about something.

Ravan started to walk over to them, but he was hardly even over there when Haven's eyes found them. Only, whatever agreement they'd had on Locke's birthday was gone and she only glared.

"Go away, Ravan," she ordered as Locke glared at him as well. Navi mostly just laid there with her head down, wishing she'd stuck around her house instead of being drawn into model building. It was bad enough on it's own, the concept even sounded boring, but add in Haven and Locke's bickering and, well, Navi would rather watch paint dry. "We don't need you over here screwing things up."

Ravan felt his face heat up then, but it was more because Navi looked right at him and gross, what if now she thought that...that…

Why did Erza have to always screw up his life?

"I don't want to play with you idiots anyways," he growled at them before taking a sharp turn. "I'm going on a job."

"A job?" Suddenly, Navi's head picked right up. "Hey, do you think that you would wanna go together? Ravan? Or-"

"No!" And he had to rush then, to get away from her. Before she thought, like, he liked her or something. Gross. If anything, Erza now made it to where Ravan did have to consider Navi. Consider that she might have been duped into thinking something that definitely wasn't at all in any way true. Ugh. He rushed over to the board even faster. "You can't!"

"Why would you wanna go on a job with him anyways?" Haven tsked as Navi only laid her head back down with a sigh. "When you can stay here and- Oops."

"Haven, you broke part of it!"

"It was already broken, Locke. That's how come the parts wouldn't fit together."

"They broke because they weren't supposed to fit together!"

"I bought it, Locke. I should know."

"Do you usually break things that you buy for other people?"

Well...she didn't usually buy things for other people…

It was becoming increasingly clear to Haven, however, that she had been wrong and it had been her that had caused the toy to break and she needed something else to distract the others with then, rather than harp on the fact that she'd possibly ruined the whole model.

Glancing around the hall, her eyes fell to where Ravan was considering jobs before jumping up and rushing off.

"Come on!" she told Locke, who was pretty upset with her then (he really did wanna build his model), and Navi, who just wanted to do something other than what they were doing. "Let's go on a job with Ravan."

"What? No!" At the sound of her approach, Ravan only glared. "I don't want you to-"

"Consider it your birthday present," Haven told him simply. "Isn't that what you wanted? The other day? Here. Happy birthday."

"It's not my birthday!"

"At least she can't break this," Locke grumbled as he came over to them.

"When is you birthday, Ravan?" Navi asked though more out of courtesy. She, like most others, had never considered him as having one of those and was a bit surprised. "It's not really soon, is it? If you tell Ms. Mira, then-"

"Stop talking to me, Navi," he growled at her which surprised them all. He was rare to speak to her, honestly, but to be flat out rude to her was definitely odd. "If you idiots are coming, then just all shut up!"

"You shut up!" Haven ordered. "We can do whatever we-"

"It's my birthday present, right? Then just shut up!"

That was fine with Locke who was mostly just upset about his poor model and really wasn't in the mood to hear Haven's whining. Navi was confused by the hostility, but was used to that sort of abuse from the likes of Haven and knew better to question it.

The girl in question though just glared heavily at Ravan for a long time before reaching up and snatching a job down.

"Fine," she hissed softly at him. "But I pick the job."

That was alright with the other kids. Anything to stop the fighting.

For the moment, of course. They'd fight on the way to the job, during the job, and on the way back from the job, but for a moment, all four of them were content in their shaky pact.

Full Series on Archive