#As a kid she almost broke her arm falling from an apple tree

[lythea-creation]

Broken Toys - Johanna Mason x fem reader (Chapter 8)

Chapter 1

Previous Chapter

word count: 2.480

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I returned to district 11 immediately after the end of the Games.

When I arrived home Mary hugged me tightly, which I did not react to. I had not allowed myself to take in my emotions. It would destroy me.

Mary gasped when her arms wrapped around me touching my bones. “(f/n). What would you like to eat?”, she asked me.

I shook my head. “I don't need anything.”

“Yes, you do! Please. I don't want to lose another child.”

That made me actually face her.

Mary's eyes were bloodshot, insinuating that she had spent more time crying than sleeping. Furthermore she had lost some weight as well, not as drastic as me, but still.

I did not want to make her feel worse. “I'm going to eat some fruits”, I promised and left the house again.

On the tree I held an apple in my hand, but could not even get myself to take a bite. The sorrow was lacing up my throat.

Suddenly Rue appeared in front of me, sitting on the branch like she used to. We had always enjoyed climbing together.

My apple dropped to the ground.

“Rue?”, I questioned quietly.

“I'm sorry, (f/n). I didn't return to you.”

“No, it's alright. After all you're here now.”

“Don't torture yourself like that. You know I won't come back”, her soft voice rang in my ears.

“How can you say something like that while sitting right in front of me?” My voice broke slightly.

Her hand moved to my necklace. “I will stay with you, even if you can't see, hear or touch me. It wasn't your fault. You helped me so much. Please, do the same for our siblings. Create a world where they won't have to face the cruelties we had to survive. Keep fighting. For me.”

She disappeared.

“Rue? Rue! No, don't leave me!”

I fell down the tree, tears streaming down my face. The fall had not been bad. Actually I did not even notice any physical pain at all. The sorrow I felt was overpowering.

“Please, come back”, I nearly choked on my words.

Rue was finally free from the suffering of this world. Yet I wanted her to come back to ease my pain, to comfort me like she had always done. I had never taken that for granted. Why was I being punished? What for?

I was a sobbing mess. All the emotions I had suppressed burst out of me.

The sorrow was replaced by rage.

I hit the tree, until my knuckles were bleeding, but even then I did not stop. I only stopped when my body refused to move anymore.

My knees gave in and I crushed onto the ground. Now I could feel my whole body aching.

Overexertion, neither sleep nor food for almost two weeks, emotional exhaustion.

I felt devastated. I caught myself wishing I had died during my Games. At least I would not have had to endure this agony then.

I woke up in my bed. Apparently I had blacked out.

For a moment I hoped that everything had just been a horrible dream, but lately the reality seemed to outmatch even my worst nightmares.

“Don't leave the bed until you have eaten”, Mary instructed me.

I had not noticed her until now.

Reluctantly I ate the food.

Rue had wanted me to continue living. Not an easy task.

A few minutes later I put my empty plate aside. “Where are the kids?”, I wondered because Mary was in my room, alone.

“They are here at home looking out for each other. We are allowed to grieve for a while as long as we don't await to get anything. But we should be fine, thanks to your victor money”, Mary explained.

“You should take care of the others. I'm old enough. I will be fine on my own.”

Mary took my hand, tears pricking at her eyes. “It still hurts. I'm even older than you and can barely take it.”

“You're her mum. Of course you are devastated”, I mumbled, averting eye contact.

She squeezed my hand making me look at her. “Rue and you shared a bond I couldn't nearly explain. I never saw anyone that close ever before in my life and that counts up to a few years by now. Sometimes I thought … I don't know … as if you two were living in another world. As if you had your own language only you could understand.”

My heart felt like it was about to burst, although I had thought it had already broken apart. “Please, stop. I let her down. I was her older sister, her mentor and a victor and still couldn't protect her. I'm a total failure”, I cried.

Mary simply held me, knowing that no words could ease the pain. No words, that did not come from Rue.

Since Rue's death, a part of me was missing, a major part.

Suddenly the door opened revealing a peacekeeper.

I immediately jumped out of bed.

“We have to discuss something with you, Ms (l/n)”, he declared.

“Who is we?”, Mary questioned.

“President Snow is here.”

My expression darkened at the mention of his name. “Where?”, I asked bluntly.

“In the office.”

My feet moved on their own.

In front of the office I stopped to calm myself. Doing something reckless would not help now. I needed to protect Mary and my other siblings at any cost.

I opened the door and looked at the intruder who was sitting on my chair. How could he make it feel like I was at the wrong place in my own house?

“Hello, Ms (l/n). Nice to see you again. My condolences for your loss.”

Mary's hand gently squeezed my shoulder. “Thank you. Can I get you anything? Tea or cookies?”, she offered politely, pretending the man in front of her was not the indirect murderer of her dear child.

“No, it's alright. I don't want to impose. Sit down, please.”, he instructed me.

How could he dare to behave like that? Like he was going easy on us after everything he had done?

Nevertheless I followed his order while Mary left the room.

“Assuredly, you are aware of the riots going on here in district 11.”

“What?”, I exclaimed shocked.

“You didn't know?”, he wondered.

I simply shook my head.

“Your sisters' death, especially due to Ms Everdeen's actions, caused some uprisings. We don't want her death to be even more tragic than it already is. The riots need to stop before more people die.”

Anger boiled up inside of me.

How did Snow even get here without being killed? Was it not too risky to come here only to talk to me?

“I don't want people to die either”, I replied.

“That's what I thought. It's dangerous right now. Someone they trust has to soothe them.”

Rather to make them stop resisting against the injustice of the regime.

“Ms (l/n). As Ms. Crawfords sister, mentor and a recent victor, you would be the perfect candidate for that task.”

His eyes bored into mine, but I did not shy away. Instead the rage inside of me grew.

“What do you want me to do?”, I questioned.

“To tell them that their behavior is meaningless and will only lead to more deaths. The Hunger Games exist to maintain the peace. If they rebel now, your sister would have died in vain.”

“I see. I will talk to them”, I promised.

Snow smiled suspiciously. “That's a great help. I know you are still grieving, but please fulfill the task as soon as possible. We don't want the district to be a dangerous place, especially with so many younger siblings you have. They would not even be able to defend themselves”, he threatened me.

“Of course”, I agreed. “If you would excuse me now. I need to take care of some things”, I declared.

Without waiting for an answer I left the office. “Mary, I'm going outside”, I informed her.

“Please, be safe”, she responded.

I took a shower and brushed my teeth before leaving the house.

Past the victor's village the scenery changed dramatically. That was not anything unusual, but the extent was.

Instead of working, the people rebelled against the peacekeepers. They stood up and fought. I had never experienced anything like this before.

Unfortunately the peacekeepers were fighting back and they were better equipped with their uniforms and weapons. Some of them were already setting up barbed wire fences.

Something had definitely changed. Katniss had given the people of district 11 hope and strength. She had inspired us to fight.

Rue's death had not been in vain, but the exact opposite.

I had to get my family out of here without Snow noticing. How was I supposed to do that? Suddenly someone touched my arm, startling me.

Before even looking I had punched the person in the jaw knocking them over.

“Jake? Sorry! But you should have known better than to sneak up on me”, I apologized/scolded my friend.

We had gone to school together and stayed friends since then. Though I had not seen him for a while.

“Right”, he grunted due to the pain. “I didn't even know you had such a strong punch.”

“I trained after the arena to be able to defend myself, just in case”, I explained.

“You have to help us, (f/n). After what happened to Rue everyone would follow you”, he tried persuading me.

It seemed like this year's Hunger Games had also made me more popular than my own. Snow and the rebels both wanted me to join their side, slthough there was not a side for me to choose to begin with.

“I have to go now, Jake”, I avoided his request and returned to my house.

To my relief Snow and the peacekeepers had left.

Shortly after my return the phone rang. “Hello?”, I answered.

“Gosh! Finally you are answering my fucking call!”

“Johanna? How many times did you call me?”

“Doesn't matter.”

“More than a dozen”, Mary enlightened me.

“I wanted to visit you, but they won't let me and don't even tell me why! What's up?”, Johanna wondered.

“District 11 resembles a war zone. The combination of Katniss' actions and Rue's death inspired everyone to riot.”

“Geez, that's it! Finally it's happening!”, Johanna exclaimed rejoiced.

“Snow and the rebellion both want to win me over. Seems like I became an important piece in this game”, I declared.

“Well. That's out of the question, isn't it?”

“I have to protect my family, Johanna.”

“Don't tell me you're going to support the Capitol?” I could hear the rage and disbelief in her voice.

“(f/n), you have a visitor”, Mary let me know.

“Sorry, Johanna. I have to hang up.”

“What? Wait!”

“I will call you later again”, I promised and hung up.

“Who is it this time?”, I wondered.

“He wants to meet you at a special place. Here's the map. It's your decision whether you go or not.”

Mary handed me the sheet of paper.

I flashed her a thankful smile and left.

“Wait!”, Mary called after me.

I turned around and she pushed a slice of bread and an apple into my hand.

“Right”, I remembered and started eating while following the instructions of the map.

It took me three hours to arrive.

To my surprise I was now standing inside a run over house that appeared to break down at any moment. If that was not enough, not a man, like Mary had said, but a woman was standing in front of me.

“Hello, (f/n). I suggest no one has followed you?”

“No. I made sure of that.”

She nodded. “My name is Alma Coin. I'm the leader of district 13.”

Shock. Confusion.

As I stayed silent, Coin continued: “That must be irritating for you. District 13 has never been destroyed. We are living underground and gearing up for the war against the Capitol. The time has finally come to throw over the regime. We want you to be part of that rebellion as you play an important role for district 11, the brave district that started the uprising.”

“So you're telling me that district 13 still exists and we have been fooled the whole time? Okay, that's not too hard to believe considering that the Capitol is always manipulating everyone. But how can I be sure that you are not lying to me?”

“If I belonged to the Capitol I would not have to make such efforts. I could simply threaten your family and you would follow me, wouldn't you? That's why I want to bring them to district 13. They will be safe there and you can concentrate on the rebellion”, Coin resonated.

Honestly I did not know how to respond to that. It sounded too good to be true. If something was easy, it could not be right. There had to be a drawback.

“Choose your side wisely. We won't ever get a chance like that again. We have to act on it now. Without your sister's sacrifice we would not be at this point now”, Coin clarified.

“How fast can you get my family out of here?”

“Immediately”, she assured me.

“I want to accompany you. To make sure that they are fine before returning here.”

Coin agreed. “Get your family and return here”, she instructed me.

Back at home I could not explain the situation to Mary. The risk of being overheard was too high.

“Mary. Can you accompany me to a special place? A place connected to Rue. Of course the kids have to come, too”, I requested.

Mary complied without hesitation.

In the hovercraft on the way to district 13 I explained everything.

Mary did not want me to join the rebellion, but knew it was important.

“I will keep on fighting for everyone that is precious to me. Rue … she started this war without intending to. Now we will win it together”, I stated while holding my necklace.

We had already arrived at district 13 and Coin had not seemed to be lying. So I was about to head back to district 11.

I hugged Mary and my siblings, gave them one last smile and entered the hovercraft again.

“Sorry, Rue. But this time it's different. It's too early for me to return to you. There is more than a game to win. But it has always been more than that, hasn't it?”

Next Chapter

[babylooneytoonz]

Curly Hair and Blue Eyes, Just like yours

Pairing: Clark Kent x Fem! Reader

Summary: You decide to tell Clark Kent about the daughter he never knew he had with you, and he only wishes he had found out about her in a better situation.

Warnings: Kidnapping , Violence, Angst

[My Masterlist]

"Baby, we gotta go, come on out now," You called from the kitchen, having stuffed Piper's lunchbox into her tiny little bag that you had now propped on your shoulder. Little feet raced down the staircase of your home and you smiled, when you saw the little blue eyed girl, her hair neatly settled into two pigtails on either sides of her head, poked her head in. You knelt down in front of her, helping her put her bag on.

"Mommy? I wanna have Uncle Jerry's apple pie— " You smiled as you stood back up, quickly kissing the top of her head, as you took her hand in yours, your fingers clasping against the five year old's tiny ones.

"Well, if you are a good girl at school today, mommy might think of baking you one instead for dessert," you smiled down at her as the two of you walked out of your tiny two bedroom apartment in a tiny, cramped street in Metropolis where you had lived for years. You buckled her into the passenger seat, laughing to yourself listening to her as she had decided that now was the time to speak to her doll.

Being a single mother, there was so much on your plate always. Your days started with leaving Piper at Kindergarten, heading straight to the grocery store where you worked after leaving her. Four hours later you drove back to her school, picked her up and brought her back to the store with you, where you fed her and let her play around at the back, until 4 pm when finally, you ended your shift and the two of you drove your way back home.

You straightened the crease on your shirt, leaning against the fence along with the other young mothers who were waiting to collect their wards from kindergarten, just like you were until the bell rang somewhere inside, and a flurry of kids arrived, like bees floundering in the air.

You knelt down, throwing your arms out at the sight of your daughter who pushed herself into you, and you kissed her on her nose, and she giggled.

"Mommy, guess who vi- vitit— " She stammered, trying to say the word but she couldn't.

"Visited?" You asked, smiling at her, and she nodded.

"Visi- ted today."

You pulled yourself up, taking her hand in yours as you began walking with her towards the car parking, glancing down at her every ten seconds or so.

"Superman!!" She excitedly screamed, clapping as you opened the car door for her. The smile that was earlier on your lips dropped at the mention of him, and instead, a hollow look now ghosted your eyes as you regarded her briefly, giving her a fake smile and nodded, buckling her into the passenger seat, "Hm, I see. Why was he there?"

The car ride back to the store was a quiet one from your end, where only Piper spoke telling you of how the Superman had visited the kindergarten today, spent time with the children, telling them how they all were strong enough to grow up and be Supermen and Superwomen themselves. There were times when you snorted, not win disbelief, quickly masking it with a fake laugh, listening to your daughter talk about him.

You hated him, atleast you thought you did. You realized, the more you listened to her describe, Clark Kent was just the same— just the way you remembered him to be six years ago, when you had last met him.

How were you supposed to tell the innocent little child what Superman used to be to you?

Six years back, he had left you, leaving you broken hearted, and had walked out of your life, without giving you a reason as to where had you gone wrong in your relationship with him. No matter how much you tried, pleading and begging him to reconsider, it appeared as though he had already made up his mind.

"[Y/N], this will hurt for a while, and then you will be okay, trust me."

How the hell were you supposed to trust him when he was the one responsible for the excruciatingly painful heartbreak that you had witnessed?

You watched him, followed the news, watching every single success that Superman attained, his face plastered to your television screen, his charming boyish smile tugging at your heartstrings but you still felt happy, knowing how he was saving the world. Although, ironically, he had done nothing to save your crumbling relationship.

You would have still forgiven him, had you not found out, just a month after he had left you, that you were pregnant.

At first, you thought that Clark deserved to know— after all, he had every right to be in his child's life, and you were no one to take that boon away from him, or your child. Sucking it up, you had forced yourself to go to the Daily Planet building, to talk to Clark, to tell him what you had found out.

You didn't. You couldn't. Because he looked happy with Lois Lane. So you left.

Your home smelt like a freshly baked apple pie, as you stood against the kitchen counter, the baked goodie laying in front of you just like you had promised your little girl. Outside, in the living room, you could hear the television on, as Piper watched her favourite cartoon, her chuckling audible to you, which made you smile. Your golden retriever, Berry, nudged her head against your leg, causing you to bend slightly so you could pet the top of her head before she scampered off to be with her best friend once more.

"Piper, baby. Berry wants to go out."

The little girl dashed into the kitchen upon hearing your words, her excited eyes glimmering with delight as she began looking up at you.

"Mommy, can I take her out?"

You thought for a minute, planning to refuse at first but then you gave up, because the two of you, your baby girl and your furry baby both looking at you with big, googly eyes that you couldn't resist.

"Fine but stay close to the front gate, and inside. There's a lot of traffic outside, love. Mommy's gonna be watching you from the window here, alright?" You gave her a smile, watching as the two of them walked off, the dog first, followed by the girl— smiling at how considerate the big dog was around her tiny form.

While you were readying the plates, setting the dinner table, you momentarily made sure to glance out of the window, from where you could see them both, running around, being the big goofballs the two of them were. What you failed to see, was a dark hooded man, standing by your fence, watching the girl carefully, observing.

A few minutes passed by, and you decided that it was time to go out and fetch the two back inside, when you heard Berry mediating between loud barks, and pained whines. Your eyes widened, as you ran out of the house, on bare foot, the pads of your feet grazing against the grass when you saw two men, throwing your daughter into the back of a car, Berry having tied ruthlessly by her neck to the tree, the hold so hard that she was almost suffocating. By the time you ran to the gate the car was already turning down the street, until it finally disappeared out of view and you fell to your knees, screaming, crying, your heart pounding inside your chest. Someone had taken your daughter.

Finally, after two minutes of screaming your heart out, you leapt to your feet freeing Berry from the leash that had her pinned to the tree, tears still streaming down your face as you ran inside, grabbing your phone and your car keys.

There was only one who could bring her back, and there was nothing stopping you from asking from his help, because only he could do it— find her from whichever corner of Metropolis they were hiding her and bring her back.

At some time between you driving recklessly through the streets of Metropolis to the time you finally reached the Daily Planet building once again, the sky started pouring, heavily. You parked your car in the parking lot opposite to the building and without caring, you stepped out into the rain, racing your way into the building.

"Clark Kent, please, it's urgent," you literally slammed your moist fists against the desk of the office receptionist, her eyes widening when she saw the condition you were in— your hair and your outfit drenched in the rain, sticking to you, your body trembling with cold.

"Uh, sure, but who do I say is asking for him?"

"[Y/N], and please, tell him it's urgent."

You began rubbing the side of your arms fervently, trying to keep yourself warm, as the receptionist pulled the receiver to her ears, and looked up at you briefly, "Mr. Kent, a Miss [Y/N] is here. She, uh, says it's urgent, and it does look like she is in a state of.. emergency."

The receptionist disconnected the phone, slowly placing the receiver back. She looked up at you, and informed you that Clark was on his way now to see you. You began biting the insides of your cheeks— a sudden nervousness killing you from the inside. How were you going to tell him? What if he refused to help you? Where was Piper? All kinds of depressive thoughts began to sneak into your head when his silhouette finally appeared, his eyes falling on you as he was walking towards you.

Clark Kent pushed his glasses nervously over the bridge of his nose, his heart racing. He wasn't sure, why after all those years you were here to see him, and that too, this urgently. He hoped you were okay. When he stepped out of his office, his eyes fell on you. His heart broke, yet again, on the sight of you— you were dripping from head to toe, your body shivering due to the cold. His pace increased, until he was literally running towards you, his eyes fixed on yours.

"Clark." You began, only to find yourself give in, to nerve wracking sobs as he pulled you into his embrace, letting his arm around your shoulder, pulling you into him, as he soothingly rubbed your back, thousands of memories flooding back into both your minds.

"Listen to me, there's something you should know," you hicupped, still crying hysterically. Clark slowly walked you away from the crowd that had now gathered around you and him until the two of you were in an empty cabin. He lowered you in a leather chair and pulled one in front of you, letting his palms rest on your knees, "Whats wrong?"

"I didn't know who else to go to, I -- Clark," you swallowed the lump forming in your throat, you didn't know how to begin. You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, or tried to, but the heaviness of your chest couldn't let you breathe, "Someone took my daughter, right from in front of my eyes. Two men, dressed in black, they came and they took her, stuffed her into their car, Clark, I don't know where to find her, what to do."

Clark's face fell— it was as though someone had cut off his oxygen supply— what else was he expecting? That you would wait for him all your life? He looked at you in a strangled way, his eyes narrowed at you, but he wasn't angry. He just looked hurt. The hands that were resting on your knees slowly pulled away and you winced at the loss of the contact, looking up at him through your teary eyes. He pressed his lips together and parted his lips, "Do you have any idea who could have —"

"No, I— Who could mean harm to an innocent little five year old, Clark? She can't even hurt a fly." You cried.

"Five.. five year old?" Clark croak, as if something was lodged inside his throat.

"Five years, and a few months to be exact.." you whispered, as your fingers gently pulled out your wallet, and inside was a picture of your beautiful little girl, her long black hair, just like Clark's curled atop her matted head. She was a true replica of him, having his luscious curls, big blue eyes and the kindest of the smiles. You slowly extended the wallet towards him, your hand trembling as your heart beat like a supersonic train. "That's— that's her, Piper ..Kent?"

Clark stepped abruptly from the chair, his fingers clasping your wallet. Weakly, he looked down at the photo, the realization sinking into him. The eyes that looked back at him from the photo were the same eyes, he didn't need proof to believe that she was his.

"Clark, I know you have questions but this isn't the time, please help me, they took her! I — I need Superman.. she needs Superman.." You pleaded him, with your eyes, looking at him.

The next minute, Clark had his hand on your shoulder, as he was walking you out of the cabin, his eyes not meeting yours.

"Get back home, incase they call for ransom or something. I will get her back."

What you didn't see when you were on your way out, was the way Clark broke down after you left. He lowered himself to his knees, watching you walk off until he had both his hands pulling at his own hair, his eyes glowing with the heat vision, his body suddenly on fire.

Two days passed, and with these two days, whatever sanity that was left within you, drained out, anxiety taking over completely. You went to the Daily Planet, looking for Clark, but he wasn't there— of course he was out looking for her. But it still didn't let you rest any easier.

By the time it was nightfall, you were pacing around in your living room, your kitchen a mess, dirty utensils from two days back still soiling the sink. Your hair were a mess as you had not bothered even running a hand through them, for you were completely shaken and distraught.

Just when you thought that your mind will probably burst with the amount of worry that was eating at you, the doorbell rang. You ran— it was like running a life marathon— as you unlocked the door, finding Superman standing at your doorstep, holding Piper in his arms, the little girl having her arm locked around Superman's neck, her face glimmering with excitement.

"Oh my fucking—" you cursed under your breath, sniffling in retaliation to the sight and n front of you as you threw out your arms towards her, "Piper, baby! You're okay! Jesus, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, I should have been careful— "

"Mommy, do you know that Superman saved me from the bad men?" You gasped, almost wide eyed as Piper leapt into your arms, and you buried your face into your daughter's hair, nuzzling your nose against her face, holding her tight, as though if you didn't, she would slip away. What suprised you, and sort of, made you smile was her innocence — she was kidnapped and probably locked up somewhere and yet all she could think of or talk about was how Superman had saved her life. Your eyes flew to his, meeting his halfway, you could see how exhausted he looked, and a look passed between the two of you— a look of love that had been buried years back— the two of you didn't need words, and the two of you could feel how the other one felt — probably a mix of relief, anger and a lot of questions.

"Yes, he did—" You smiled, "Are you okay, Piper? Love, are you hurt?"

"She's— " Superman began speaking, and you looked at him once again, "She's fine. She isn't hurt, I made sure."

You bit your lip, your fingers toying with your daughter's curls. Finally, you stepped inside, leaving the door wide open, glancing at Superman with the corner of your eyes, "I know you want to to talk. Please, come in."

"Mommy? Is Superman staying with us tonight?"

"Piper, darling, would you go and check on Berry? She's not feeling well ever since you left—" You placed her on the floor, carefully eyeing her for any injuries, but much to your relief, there were none.

"Alright, mommy."

"You should have told me, [Y/N]. She's mine too!"

You gasped, almost inaudible, trying to suck in a mouthful of air as you fixed yourself by the window, looking out, almost cautiously, your mind still in a state of alert. When Clark saw this, he walked up to where you were, staring out of the window, and you saw his reflection behind you, his hands on your shoulders as he turned you around, "they won't come back, [Y/N]. I made sure of it."

"Who were they? What did they want?" You frowned, his hands still on your shoulders but you didn't seem to mind.

"They weren't anyone of importance, they did it for ransom, having randomly decided to kidnap her and ask you for money. How were they supposed to know they kidnapped my daughter? Like hell, I didn't know I had a daughter," he almost froze, letting his hands drop, his eyes now looking at you for answers.

You took a deep breath, running your hands through your hair, almost pulling at them in an attempt to straighten them a little, but Clark grabbed your arm, his grip on your wrist as he lowered it, showing you how his patience was wearing thin.

"You left me, Clark. Just because I was pregnant, it didn't mean I was selfish to use her as a means to get you back, or to burden you with her responsibility." You hissed, trying to pull on your wrists, but of course, how were you to match the Kryptonian's strength?

"I would have never left if I knew—"

"And this, Clark, is exactly why I didn't want you to find out. I didn't want you to decide to stay with me because.. of a baby," you had begun pacing in the living room now and Clark just stood by the window, his arms crossed against his chest, "You would have hated me one day." Suddenly, you stopped speaking and your eyes widened, your head sharply turning towards him and a thin frown appearing on his sublime features. The next minute, you were glaring at him, poking him in the chest with your index finger, "Before accusing me of hiding this from you, how would you justify you leaving me without giving me the reason? You didn't care about me, you didn't care about the fact that I cried myself to sleep for weeks, inwardly tortured for months. How very hypocritical of you, Mr. Kent."

He grabbed your hand, however his hold remained gentle on you. Very slowly, he twisted your arm behind you, stepping closer, in a way pinning you to the wall behind, looking down at you. He then scoffed— a dry, sarcastic scoff.

"I left you because I had no choice. Luthor took Lois—"

"Oh, great, Lois, and that's why you left me—"

"He took Lois because he thought Lois is the woman I'm with. You realize what this means? If he knew or find out it was you, he would have thrown you off that building. I couldn't have lived with that. I did it for you!"

Tears streamed down your face, his words finally sinking in. You parted your lips and all that came out was a gush of air. Clark placed his hand on your cheek, reluctantly, half expecting for you to push it away, but you didn't. His fingers felt hot against your skin, like embers as he cupped your face, his fingers gently brushing against your cheek.

"I came..one month after you left me .. to your office ..when I found out.. wanted to tell you," He nodded, blinking as he waited for you to continue. "I saw you with Lois. You looked happy, the two of you."

"Lois is just a friend, I never—" he frowned, his hand dropping from your cheek as he ran his fingers through his own hair, his exasperation evident, "It was always you."

"I can't believe this, Clark. I fucking cried myself to sleep thinking you hated me," you sniffled, falling back against your couch like a lifeless corpse, bringing both your palms to your face as you buried yourself to those, hiding yourself from his intense eyes, "That girl—" You looked up, your cheeks now stained with your tears, "she is more you than she is me. In every single way. I needed you Clark Kent."

"I'm sorry, I should never have —"

"Six years, Clark. You missed her birth, you missed watching her grow up, she was without you, and we were okay, you know? And now this happens and my life is a mess once again—"

He looked at you, dejected, his glances mediating between the floor to you and then back down to his hands. Finally, he cleared his throat, and you looked up at him, looking at the beaten Superman in front of you. He was everything but the strong superhero you knew in that split second. He was a broken man— just a man— in a spandex costume.

"If I could go back and change what I did, I'd do it in a blink of my eye."

You smiled, and replied, "It's easy to say. It wasn't your fault, though. It was perhaps, we were never meant to be."

His face fell, and he didn't try to hide it from you. You bit your lip, tasting the metal on your tastebuds as he slowly took a step away, his eyes moving from you to the stairs, perhaps hoping that he could see Piper before he left.

"If something ever happens, if you need me, I'll be there, [Y/N]. I couldn't be there when you needed me, but I'll be there from now until you don't need me anymore."

Would it ever happen when you won't need him any more? You never truly moved on, no matter how hard you tried. The void remained, in your heart, in your life and in your cold bed. Six years , and you couldn't make yourself fall in love with anyone, because no one was Clark Kent, they could never be him.

"Leaving us again, are you?" You wiped your tears with the back of your palm, and he looked at you, suprised as though he had heard you wrong.

You smiled and you looked down at your hands, they were trembling as you rubbed them fervently against the fabric of your thigh, and stood up, hesitantly at first, before a little confidence built up inside you when you saw the softness in his eyes as you walked towards him. This time you pinned him to the wall, and the taller man let you, without even trying to attempt to escape or show you just strong he was. He let himself be entrapped as you grabbed his chin, rather unceremoniously, yanking his head so he was looking down.

"Don't you want me to—" he stopped talking, finally realizing what you were trying to say to him.

"Six years, I watched you on TV, and that's just it. That was the nearest I had to feeling anything. Is this what true love is? You know someone isn't coming back yet you can't stop loving em?"

He smiled, but didn't reply. He just kept gazing into your eyes.

"Go on, go. The world needs you, Superman."

You smacked him on his chest, watching his eyes to shift to confusion once again. Awkwardly, he tilted his head to his side and shook his head, only his chin moving.

"And you? You don't?" He asked.

"No." You smiled smugly, watching his face fall, so you hurriedly added, "I need Clark Kent, not Superman. He is very broody, and I am scared of him. I would rather have my Clark back."

He gave you a toothy smile, and in that minute, he wasn't Superman anymore. He was your Clark Kent, only in a spandex costume. He wrapped you in your arms , pulling you to him, bringing down his lips to the side of your jaw, as he kissed your chin at first, and then moved on to your lips. Your lips met his, after a long time, and your insides exploded, your hands flying to the back of his head.

"Mommy!"

Clark cleared his throat, and you immediately pulled away wiping your lips and the two of you looked at each other, both your cheeks a slight crimson. You two felt like a child again, having been caught stealing cookies and Clark smiled, sitting down until he was squatting on his heels. He threw out his hand towards Piper and she ran up to him, settling herself on his thigh.

Clark looked up at you, and so did she, and you couldn't help but give them a warm smile back, because the sight was melting your heart. It was like a mini me, Clark and his little female version, looking right at you with that big blue eyes.

"What?" You asked Clark.

"Shall we tell her? Shall I tell her?"

"No, Superman." You changed your voice, grabbing him by his Cape as you pulled him up, "I don't want targets on her back. Why don't you just go on out, change into some human clothes and then we can tell her who her father is."

"But sweetheart, it's a little too late for that don't you think?" He pointed towards Piper, and your head shot towards her, you jaw almost dropping when you saw her eyes turn orange due to the heat vision, just for a bit before they turned blue again, and Superman slid his arm through your waist.

"It's okay, let them find out, Superman has a family. They still can't touch a hair on your head, not until I'm around. And I'm not..going anywhere."

"No, sweety," you gave him an apologetic smile, "that's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried she's gonna go to school and boast around how her dad's Superman."

"Well, they are going to find out, one day or the other."

"You're right, Clark." You nodded, as the two of you watched her scamper off, chasing Berry, you leaning on to him.

A/N- Fuck, I realised I really got carried away with this one. I think this is the longest one shot I've ever written? I thought I'd break it into parts but oh well. I hope you guys liked it.

[manonblaqkbeak]

Midnight Cravings

so, i actually wrote most of this in july but never finished it and decided to fix it up for todays prompt bc i was feeling a lil lazy lol. and i think its one of my faves, especially the ending.

2.2k words

cw: none

enjoy!! :)

It was just past two in the morning and Aelin was wide awake. Not due to a mountain of paperwork, or a nightmare or one of her kids needing her. Aelin was wide awake because she was absolutely starving.

The type of starving it felt like she'd never eaten a day in her life. Like her stomach was going to eat itself.

Her stomach growled again, louder than before, and beside her, his voice muffled, Rowan asked, “Is that your stomach or the wind outside?”

“Shut up,” Aelin mumbled, as her stomach continued its song. Gods, why was she so hungry? She practically devoured the fruits in the fruit bowl just before bed, she had a healthy serving of dinner, and a large slice of chocolate torte for dessert.

But here she was, close to eating her damned pillow to sate her starvation.

Aelin glanced over towards her mate, his back to her, and she shuffled closer, resting her chin on his shoulder.

“Rowan,” she started to say, but Rowan cut her off.

“I'm not going to the kitchens.”

She pouted, although he couldn't see her. “Please?” she knew that if she used her manners, then he would do just about anything.

But it didn't work. Not just yet. “There's some fruit in the bowl.”

“I ate them all.” He sighed heavily, knowing that he was losing this conversation. “Please? I am your mate, your wife, the mother of your children.”

Rowan snorted. “Really? I was starting to suspect that the three silver-haired children were Lorcan's.”

Her hunger nearly disappeared at the thought of that. “Don't be gross.” Reaching over, Aelin kissed the tip of his ear, smiling as he shuddered in pleasure as she nibbled on it. “Please?”

Rowan sighed heavily, knowing that he lost, and Aelin barely hid her smile. “I'll go,” he said. “But only if you join me.”

Her smile did disappear at that. “But the bed is so warm.”

“Exactly. If I have to leave it, so do you.”

“Fine,” she mumbled reluctantly, but quickly perked up, realising that she would be getting food. Rowan was a much better cook than her. Aelin used to have basic cooking skills, but with being Queen and then becoming a mother, she never cooked anymore and really had no need to; not with multiple cooks under the palace roof. She did try a few years ago as a treat for her family, but everything turned into a crisp and wasn't even suitable for the dogs in the kennels.

Scrambling out of bed, the Queen and King of Terrasen tied on their robes and put on their slippers. Aelin loved the sight of Rowan looking so domestic, it was ridiculous how much she loved it.

Since Isolde was only six months old and far too young to be left behind, Rowan put her in the wooden carrier to take with them into the kitchens, their movements silent as the grave as they transferred their youngest from her crib and into the crafty carrier—Isolde was the only one of their children that slept soundlessly through the night at such a young age, and loathed to be woken up. As Rowan did that, Aelin checked in on Alder in his room, their son a little over three years old, but he slept like a log and Aelin knew that he wouldn't wake up at any point when they were gone.

As they left their chambers, Aelin nearly ruined all their good work and almost woke up their other children when she bit out a curse at the sudden leg cramp that shot up her right calf. Rowan glanced at her, asking if she was okay, and after a moment she was, although she was left a little dazed at the suddenness of it all.

Aelin's legs had been cramping randomly of late, but she didn't notice anything of concern. If it continued, she would go to Magnolia and see if anything could be done about it. The last thing Aelin needed was to fall ill, she had far too many things to do with winter arriving in a few weeks. She did know that if anything was wrong with her, that she could rely on Rowan completely.

Aelin's stomach growled for the umpteenth time, the sound lasting for a good minute before it settled. Isolde fidgeted in her sleep, but did not wake.

“I think your stomach was just trying to talk to me.”

“It was,” Aelin agreed. “It said that we need to hurry the hell up or it's going to disintegrate.”

“We better do as it says then. It'd be cruel to subject Terrasen to a hungry Queen. No one should suffer as I do when you're starving.”

“You make me sound horrible.”

“You are,” he said, humour dancing in his dark eyes. “And not just when you're hungry.”

Aelin mumbled under her breath. Rowan decided to pretend not to hear her, even as he fought a smile.

After what felt like an eternity, they reached the kitchens, Rowan placing Isolde onto the counter closest to them. Aelin rushed towards the bowls of fruit, grabbing an apple and a pear, eating the fruits simultaneously. She missed the small, private smile Rowan gave her as he went to the pantry, asking her what she was in the mood for, one eye on their child. But still, she slept and Rowan for a moment, wished that all of their children had been like that, but knew that there was no point in complaining when they all slept quietly now.

“Something filling,” was all Aelin could think of to say. But after a moment decided on an omelette, filled with bacon, mushrooms, onion, red bell-peppers and carrot. As she and Rowan prepped the ingredients—with Rowan wanting his own omelette—Aelin contemplated in silence, her brows furrowed as she chopped up the carrots.

“What are you thinking about, Fireheart?” Rowan asked when he noticed his wife's expression.

“Just trying to remember the last time I was this hungry. I've been like this for at least a week and a half.”

“I've noticed. You haven't had this big of an appetite for a good number of years.”

She didn't comment on that, lost in her own world. “And my legs have been cramping lately too. I haven't injured myself. Have I been sleeping in strange positions?”

“No, you're sleeping just fine.”

Her frown deepened. “Maybe I'm just stressed for the winter preparations.”

“Possibly, I know that you worry a lot for the people during winter.” They both did, as the winters in Terrasen were brutal. Each year there was always a small number of people that passed due to the cold for a number of reasons. When those lists made their way in Aelin's hands, it always hit her hard, her guilt a palpable thing, even after Rowan would tell her that it was in no way her fault.

But that wasn't the reasons for her consuming hunger and leg cramps—Rowan had noticed the change in her scent weeks ago and when he noticed, he thought that Aelin would too. But she was completely oblivious and he didn't want to spoil the surprise, although it was getting harder each day not to say something.

However, he couldn't help but count back the weeks to the day of conception. He was fairly certain that it was when Aelin had been reading a particularly steamy novel on the window seat in their sitting room and jumped on him like they had never had sex before when he had come to ask if she was joining him in bed.

It would fit in with list of unusual places they have conceived their children. Elentiya had been in the library (either in the archives or in Aelin and Rowan's private nook, neither were sure), Norrin against an oak tree (which they discovered after they have calmed down that the Little Folk had watched the entire encounter, with Aelin becoming stuck between wanting to laugh or hide under a rock), Alder against one of the many palace chimneys, and Isolde in a linen closet.

Maybe one day they would conceive a child in their bed like most people did.

They got to cooking, with Rowan standing behind Aelin and guiding her with the wooden spoon and plating their midnight meal before it burned into a crisp. Isolde babbled in her sleep as the sounds of cooking reached her, but still slept. It wouldn't be long, however, until she woke up to be fed. Aelin placed their youngest by her feet as they sat down at the small dining table in the far corner of the kitchen where the workers took their breaks.

The smile on Aelin's face as she bit into the fluffy omelette was certainly worth being woken up in the middle of the night.

However, her fork stilled in mid-air when she was halfway done when realisation dawned on her.

Finally.

“I'm pregnant,” was all she said, her Ashryver eyes growing wide. Rowan didn't bother to hide his smile. This was why he didn't say anything. It was always worth it when she revealed those beautiful words to him. “Rowan, I'm pregnant. The last time I was this hungry was when I was pregnant with Alder and the leg cramps are from Norrin's pregnancy. And all the fruit I can't stop eating is just like when I was pregnant with Isolde. How haven't I noticed anything?”

“You've been busy,” Rowan said, reaching over to take her hands in his and kissed her fingers.

“You knew, didn't you?” Aelin asked, her eyes narrowed just slightly.

“I may have noticed.”

“You should have told me.”

“I like it better when you come to the realisation yourself,” he said simply.

Aelin shot out of her seat and sat on his lap, a pretty smile gracing her face as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, her fingers playing the the hair at the nape of his neck. Rowan wound his arms around her waist and kissed her on the cheeks, the tips of her nose, the corner of her lips and then her mouth.

Aelin hummed contentedly and kissed him back. When they broke apart, she rested her forehead against his.

“We're insane.”

Rowan laughed deeply at the sudden statement. “What makes you say that?”

“We're having a fifth baby. Lorcan and Elide only have three and I always thought that they'd have at least a dozen, but they don't and we're about to have five. That's insane. We're insane.”

“We are, but I like that about us,” he said, kissing her again. Her face was open and soft, her eyes dancing with happiness, but he still found himself asking, “Are you okay with it?”

“Of course I am, buzzard. More than words can say.” Aelin kissed him to emphasise that fact, his hand reaching down onto her belly and was content to stay like that forever. She couldn’t believe how lucky she was. She always thought that she’d just have one child, maybe two, but to have five was something she never dreamed of.

Isolde finally decided to wake up and scream her displeasure at being hungry. Aelin was off him in an instant, cooing at their daughter as Aelin sat back in her seat and fed not just herself, but Isolde at the same time. His mate was spectacular at multitasking like that.

They couldn't wait to meet their fifth child.

X X X X X X

Rowan was surprised that his children hadn't kicked down the doors to the bedchamber with how excited they were. Even little Isolde was a ball of energy and she was by far their most quiet child. Rowan lead them to their mother, reminding them that they had to be quiet and gentle, because mama had just gone through a long process of bringing in their new sibling into the world.

They entered the bedchamber and Aelin greeted them with a tired but loving smile telling them to come meet their new sister, the kids went onto the bed, surrounding Aelin and the baby, happiness and wonderment in their eyes as they took in the little bundle of joy, her silver hair stark against her lightly tanned skin. She had opened her eyes briefly during her first feeding and Aelin had groaned playfully when she spotted that they were pine-green, muttering how of course I labour for a whole day to give birth to another you. But he knew that she didn't care if she was born with green hair and yellow eyes, Aelin loved her immensely.

“What's her name, mama?” Elentiya asked softly, carefully trailing a finger down her sisters cheek.

“Elowynn-Yrene.” Rowan would never forget the pure joy in Yrene's eyes when Aelin asked if the healer would give them her blessing to grace their child with her name, as a thank you for all the years of coming down and helping Aelin, for eradicating Erawan, and for being a great friend to both of them. It had taken them a few minutes to convince their friend, citing that the honour was far too much, but Yrene eventually said "yes".

“That's pretty,” Alder supplied, a wide smile on his face. Aelin kissed his temple and thanked him for his kind words.

Aelin moved her eyes from Alder to Rowan, smiling as her mate stood there, taking them in.

His family, their family. Never did he think he would be so blessed to have this.

His and Aelin's children; the most beautiful thing Rowan had ever seen.

Rowan went and joined his family on the bed, the smile on his face one of Aelin's favourites.

[dumbhaikyuusimp]

don’t. it’ll just hurt more.

eren yeager x fem!reader

words: 2326

synopsis: you go to find eren to get any details about what’s to come next. 

warnings: NSFW, smut, rough sex, anger sex, shouting, dom!eren, just the smallest amount of fluff, spain without the s, heartbreak.

Live bait. That’s what you were sent as, basically. Sure, they called it ���recon”. Find the camp of the Yeagerists, find Eren, and report back to the Survey Corps about what they had planned beyond the Rumbling. When it would happen, how they would start, things like that. But as the only member of the 104th who wasn’t dead, pregnant, or traitorous, you were the pick to go. Armin and Mikasa were deemed “too close” to Eren to complete this mission, despite the four of you being as thick as thieves from before you could remember. Eren saw Mikasa as a sister. Armin, a best friend. But he always had a softer spot for you. A crush, maybe? 

That’s what Jean called it anyways. He was juvenile. 

Hanji sent you because of anyone, you could get him to talk. Or at least, if you were caught, you were less likely to be killed. Hence why you were sure that you were simply live bait. 

A lot of the searching was done by yourself on horseback, taking out the occasional straggler titan here and there whenever one approached, since no one really knew where the Yeagerists’ camp was. You searched in and around the forest, but something in you knew that Levi wouldn’t risk putting his own camp with Zeke anywhere near Eren’s. You soon approached an abandoned town, which looked like it had been abandoned for many years despite being within the walls and titan free. And there just so happened to be the faint glow of a fire and smoke within the town. It was a fair distance anyway from any Scout posts, and well off the beaten path, so they were well hidden. But you knew Eren enough to find him nonetheless. 

You slid off the back of your horse just outside of the town limits, feeding her an apple from your pack before tying her reins to a small tree next to a small pond so she could drink. 

“Good girl, Scooter,” you praised her gently, petting her mane gently before tugging your cloak around your shoulders a bit tighter. It was a breezy, cool night and the nerves didn’t help with the chills either. You were stepping into enemy territory, despite many of the Yeagerists having once been your teammates and friends. Including your childhood best friend. You then stepped into the town limits, the gravel under your feet crunching with every step as you tried to be as quiet as possible. You didn’t want to be seen, just wanting to get in and out with as much information as you could possibly get. 

However, you were only one person. And while that would normally cater to your stealthy needs, a random straggler would be easily caught. 

“Now, what do we have here?” a familiar voice mused from behind you as you got closer to what you assumed to be their main base in the town square. You groaned externally, and not quietly either. You were already caught so why bother?

“Hi, Floch,” you greeted him as you turned around, a sour smile on your face as you saw his cocky expression like he caught the crime of the entire century. What did piss you off is that he knew it was you, like they’d either been watching you or knew that the Scouts would send you. “Alright, I’ll cut right to the chase. Where’s Eren? I need to talk to him.”

“Yeah, no, I’m not gonna do that,” Floch replied as he approached you, backing you into a wall. After all, he was armed and you were not. Your ODM gear was back in a pack and sheath on your horse, not wanting to deter any talks or negotiations with the presence of weapons. However, you would have loved your ODM gear to leave right about now. 

“If you don’t get the fuck out of my face and take me to Eren right now, I’m gonna kick the shit out of you,” you warned the kid, eyes narrow as you stared daggers into him. Floch let out a chuckle before pulling out one of his swords, holding it to your neck. However, before he could say anything else, you heard someone approaching the two of you quickly. 

“Floch,” a stern yet calm voice spoke up from beside you, and Floch immediately backed up and put away his sword. “Fuck off, will you?”

Floch nodded without a single word and hurried back to the town square, leaving just you and Eren standing alone in the dark street. The breeze picked up a bit, the sound contrast of your Scouts cloak and his baggy cardigan filling your ears as they blew wildly against the wind. 

“Hey buddy,” you finally spoke, nodding at him. His hands were nonchalantly in his pockets, eyes devoid of any emotion as he just looked at you. “How have you been?”

“Cut the shit, Y/N,” he replied coldly, shaking his head almost in disbelief. “Why are you here? You’re not gonna get anything from me, so you might as well leave.”

“And why do you say that? What if I wanted to join your cause?” you shrugged. “I have intel your guys don’t know now that you’ve completely left the Scouts.”

He stared at you a little while longer before shaking his head again, approaching you and taking your hand a little bit roughly. “We’re not having a conversation like this out here,” he told you sternly, leading you into the building that you had been pressed against. 

“Why not?” you questioned him once more. Seeing him face to face after so long made a bunch of unknown emotions bubble to the surface. “You don’t want your men to hear me chew you out? Yell at you for abandoning us, your best fucking friends? Huh, is that it?”

Eren slammed the door behind you as you continued to rant. The building you had been led into had once been a home, and the decorative plates still perched on some shelves shook as he did so. “You don’t want me to yell at you for laughing when Sasha died? Or for breaking out before we even had a chance to talk? Talk to me, Eren! Why?”

“Because I can’t fucking lose you!” he finally turned to you, screaming in your face. You stood your ground, not flinching as you were more than used to his anger. “I want to get as far away from you as possible so it doesn’t fucking hurt when either of us die because it’s fucking inevitable!”

You were silent for a little bit as he huffed, his face red and angry as he looked at you. His eyes were furious, but you were unsure if the fury was directed at you, or himself. 

“You done?” you asked as if you were scolding a tantruming child, which is almost what he was right at that moment. “We can still help you, Eren. Trust me.”

He shook his head, the ponytail holder in his hair becoming loose. “You can’t fucking help me anymore. No one in the Scouts would take me back, not even Mikasa or Armin. And Mikasa is basically obsessed with me. I need to stick with this plan.”

“God, is everything about you? Always? You’re a fucking joke,” you snorted, moving around him to leave the house. You weren’t going to get anything from him at this point so you just wanted to cut your losses and go back home. He suddenly grabbed your wrist and pulled you back to face him, just so he could press you against the wall. He towered over you, placing one of his hands by your face and leaning close.

“You’re one to fucking talk. Eren, why did you leave me? Talk to me, Eren,” he mocked you.

“Fuck you,” you spat in his face, and he grabbed your jaw to make you look at him in the eyes before locking your lips together almost furiously. You weren’t sure how you got to this point, since you were at each other’s throats not even two seconds before that. 

But you weren’t complaining. 

You forced your lips against his with equal force, the kiss filled with lust, fury, and longing. You could tell he had been wanting to kiss you since you were kids, had wanted to hold your hand and call you his, but all of that was gone now. There was no hope for your future. Or anyone’s futures. Not with his plan. 

He unbuttoned your cloak, letting it drop to the floor as you shoved his cardigan onto the floor as well. His hands moved to around your waist, pulling you close as he tried to get your shirt unbuttoned. His hands were trembling, either from nerves or fury, so he resulted in ripping off your shirt instead. The buttons popped off, flying everywhere. You even heard one knock into a decorative plate, causing it to fall to the floor and smash at your feet. Eren’s hands then moved to your butt, picking you up with ease as you wrapped your legs around his waist. 

“What are we doing?” you whispered breathily as you finally broke the heated kiss, Eren now moving to the stairs and walking up them with you still in his arms. He was leaving kisses and marks down your neck now as you did so. 

“Something we’ve always wanted to do,” he growled back to you, kicking a bedroom door open and practically throwing you on the bed. It was well slept in, the sheets clean and the blankets ruffled, and it was now clear to you that this was the house Eren had been staying in. “Our last chance.”

“You’re a fucking prick,” you told him, but he quickly shut you up with another rough kiss. He began working on taking off your pants, throwing them across the room. There was no getting either of you ready, the both of you were just too needy for that. Eren then got up, staring directly at you as he lifted off his shirt and tossed it aside. 

“Keep talking like that and I’ll give you an actual reason to hate me. Shirt off, now,” he commanded, to which you easily complied. Eren pulled off his slacks, kicking them away before rejoining you on the bed. He, however, didn’t touch you for a solid ten seconds. He just...stared at you. Drinking in all he could of you in that moment, not wanting it to end before it even began. He then grabbed your thighs, pushing your legs back and moving the fabric of your soaked panties aside. 

You didn’t say a word as you watched him, but simply reached for his hand and held it as tightly as possible as he slid into you. The two of you didn’t waste any time. Eren gripped the back of your head with one hand, your hand still tightly held in his other, as he began to thrust desperately and roughly into you. You were sure that his crew outside could hear your moans, but you didn’t care. This is something that you had been wanting for a while, ever since you realized your feelings a couple of years prior, and this was truly the last time you would get the chance to do this with him. Be close, pressed together with your lips against his. 

“Y/N,” he grunted breathlessly, head buried in your neck as his thrusts became sloppy. “Y/N, I love y--” 

“Don’t,” you whined, holding his hand tighter and now placing your joined hands between your sweaty bodies. “Please, don’t make it hurt more th...that this is our first and last time together…”

Eren just nodded, kissing your forehead as he continued to fuck you with everything he had. You wanted this moment to last forever, but of course, nothing did. 

You watched Eren sleep soundly next to you as you sat up on the bed. You gently brushed his hair from his face, smiling gently at him. You wanted to stay with him. Every fibre of your being longed to just run away with him, leave all of this behind. But nothing could convince him to stop his plans. Not even your love. You leaned down, kissing his forehead before standing up. You got dressed once more, in all but your cloak. It was still downstairs along with his cardigan. You made your way there, picking up Eren’s ODM gear that he had and putting it on along the way so you could make a clean escape. You picked up your cloak, folding it nicely so the Scouts logo was front and centre as you placed it on the table. You then took his cardigan and shrugged it over your shoulders before leaving the house and Eren behind forever. As you made your way down the streets, zipping between the few buildings back to your horse, you couldn’t help but let out a harsh sob. 

You had failed your entire mission to begin with, and also got your heart broken in the meantime. When you got back to your horse, you dropped Eren’s ODM gear there at the tree before untying your horse and getting on. You then dug into the pockets of Eren’s cardigan to warm your hands. Your eyebrows knit together in curiosity as you pulled out a little piece of paper, and the curiosity persisted as you opened it to read what was there. You smiled a little bit upon seeing Eren’s handwriting, but also in amazement at what was there. A note to who you assumed was Zeke, to be passed through many hands to somehow get to him. A small snippet of the plan, enough to make Hanji ecstatic. With one final look at the town, you clicked your tongue as a signal for your horse. And just like that, you were gone.

[jacobsbrainrot]

as a family, dream

IN WHICH

dream and you both enjoy family time with sebastian and kai

PAIRING cc!dream x fem!reader

WARNINGS swearing & a happy f-family🤢

WORD COUNT 1.27k

NOTE kai uses they/them and sebastian uses he/him pronouns grr dad dream!!

    CLAY AND YOU BOTH SAT on the creme-colored couch, you both had work and came home to relax and enjoy some time together, the kids as well. "mom, seb's on my laptop, watching porn again!" kai's voice rang from what sounded to be just above the stairs to the second level of the house, they were fifteen now, time flies when you're at your happiest.

your husband ran a hand through his recently-cut hair with a sigh, picking up the plates from the coffee table walking them into the kitchen, and sitting them in the sink. he mumbled swears under his breath, padding up the stair with loud footsteps.

the sound of your son's bedroom door opening and shutting quickly, made you get up as well going into kai's room, they laid sprawled on their bed, phone in hand scrolling through whatever social media they used these days. "your brother is such a damn handful" you groaned laying down next to them on the mattress.

"so is your husband" they huffed locking their phone, laying it face down on the navy blue comforter, they didn't love clay but they didn't hate him either, kai didn't know their biological dad, but they fought with clay quite a bit

you tried your best to change the subject, but before you could get the question out kai cut you off, "did you ever have a girlfriend, mom? before dad and clay, of course" they asked, glancing in your direction. it's been a while since you've been asked that question.

"um- yeah. maybe when i was around thirteen, a little younger than you i'm sure" you spoke, the whole family knew about your sexuality, you liked girls, boys,  anything and everything in between. when you were in middle school, you thought you were bisexual, and even more so when you met a girl who absolutely rocked your entire world.

"what was her name?" kai continued to bombard you with questions, "that's not important." you replied when she broke up with you, it felt like your entire world had ended, she was the only source of happiness you had, but being from two different places and only meeting over the internet was difficult, and it really strained on your guy's relationship and she had met someone else and liked them better than she liked you and sent you a message that read, "things are weird between us now, and someone likes me and i like them too, sorry. i hope we can still be friends" you didn't stay friends, all communication cut off.

it hurt a lot, but life went on. if you stayed with her maybe you wouldn't be as happy as you are now, with two kids and a husband that loves you dearly. "it was great while it lasted" you smiled over at her. your eyes scanned kai's room, the l'manberg ( clay had given both sebastian and kai their own after telling them stories about the old minecraft server he used to run. ) and the pansexual flag hung side by side, kai was proud of who they were and you were almost more proud of their courage to come out to you back when they were confused and questioning.

"is there any particular reason you ask, love?" you asked, they never really asked questions like this, there no issues you were simply curious. "there's- there's this girl in my social studies class, and god mom, she's so pretty and nice" kai practically swooned, a cheesy smile etched on their face. they continued babbling on about this girl, you could tell how much kai liked her. "you're very loveable, i'm sure she feels the same" the compliment made the small on their face grow even bigger, you were boosting their confidence and you could tell.

"how about you and clay-" at the mention of his name they groaned, hands covering their face, "let me finish, he's good at picking out stuff like that, I, on the other hand, am not. plus, you two can bond and not have to deal with seb for like, a full day." you finished, kai perked up at the mention of not dealing with sebastian."fine, only because you're keeping the demon spawn."

you got up from the spot you were laying and reached for kai's hands, when they complied, you pulled them up to you, "now, let's go watch a movie together. as a family!" you were excited, kai clearly wasn't, but they'd get over it eventually. flipping the switch on their room's light, they headed down the stairs while you went to knock on sebastian's room door.

muffled words were heard through the door and you took that as an opportunity to walk in, the door, "hey." clay breathed out a tight-lipped smile present on his features, the conversation they were having was probably something stupid about how to hide porn on computers. you knew the many stories about how clay, sapnap, and george had watched shit like that together on their pcs years ago.

"kai and I are gonna pick a movie to watch, maybe some popcorn. care to join us?" your eyes glanced between the two of them. sebastian jumped up from his bed, nodding and squeezing between you and his door frame.

another sigh left clay as he stood up from where he was sitting as well, his arms wrapped around you, pulling you into him, "this kid has a porn addiction" he smiled against the nape of your neck, breathing in the smell of you. you chuckled running your nails along his shoulder blades, "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree" you smirked as he looked at you feigning offense. his hand came to his chest, he jokingly scoffed and stomped out of the room. you folling behind him.

overdramatic as usual, absolutely nothing new. the rest of the night you all spent together laughing at the movie and at each other. after two and a half movies, you all decided to call it a night. you made sure everything was turned off and made a mental note to wash the dishes in the morning.

peeking your head into kai and seb’s room, whispering ‘goodnight’ and ‘i love you’ and went to clay and you shared room.

the mattress was damn near calling your name at this point. clay was already on the bed, scrolling through his phone, most likely twitter, he still did the whole youtube thing. he had done a face reveal a few years before sebastian was born.

his fans loved you entire family, and requested vlogs pretty often, you had recorded a few times, but posted them on your youtube account rather than clay’s. you were very grateful for the support from them.

he looked up at the door, locking eyes with you, and a warm smile took over his face. he opened his arms for you, you reluctantly crawled into bed and snuggled up close to him.

“i enjoyed tonight” you mumbled truth be told, you didn’t hang out all together very often, kai didn’t like clay too much and sebastian was a too busy playing video games or watching porn on electronics that didn’t belong to him.

“me too, love. me too.”

[giorno-plays-piano]

Cry Little Sister

Pairing: Peter Parker x Reader

Warnings: yandere, obsession, verbal threats, gaslighting, both reader and Peter are high school students, kinda slight incestuous undertones (the characters aren't related, though).

Words: 2214.

Summary: Your adopted older brother is not as nice as he seems, but no one is willing to believe you.

P.S. And yep, I used one of my favourite citations from Grishaverse in the end of this story. Hope you enjoy!

__________

"Peter, sweetheart, I knew you'd make it!" Your mother had clasped her hands together while your father patted Peter's shoulder. "The best test results in the whole class! My goodness, we need to celebrate it!"

You smiled at them tiredly, seeing the faces of your parents practically glowing. True, Peter was a damn smart guy. You had never achieved such high results despite all those nights you spent studying, while he didn't care much about it at all, it seemed. You hadn't seen him with a book yet.

"I'm gonna bake an apple pie for you." A smile of your mother made you feel bitter, and you averted your eyes, missing an odd look your older adopted brother sent you.

Half a year ago he finally came to live with your family once your parents finished gathering all the papers and waited for almost a year to receive "the call". You remembered how you had jumped happily in the living room along with your mom, believing it was finally over. Well, maybe it was over for Peter, but for you it was only a beginning. You could hardly imagine the sweet skinny guy who you considered very shy and bashful would change so drastically.

It started very subtle. First, Peter was trying to be helpful, assisting you when you did the housework - he was actually way better at cooking and cleaning than you and easily got praised by your mom. You were truly thankful to him for his help, especially since it was easier to get to know him while working together. It was then when you first spotted the odd looks he was sending you when he thought you didn't see. There was something... uneasy lingering in his gaze. You couldn't quite put your finger on it, but sometimes Peter made you shiver with the way he spoke or touched you discreetly. It was strange. Of course, the boy didn't do or tell you something that would make you worried, but you just couldn't shake the feeling that something wasn't right. You blamed it on the fact you couldn't get accustomed to a new life with an adopted brother yet. Surely, it wasn't supposed to be easy?

But the more you spent time together, the stronger that feeling got. Despite Peter becoming a part of your family as easily as if he had always been your parents' son, you were wary of his sudden urges to touch you and always keep you in his sight. At first you thought he was just touch starved and needed human warmth. Maybe for Peter it was just easier to come to you rather than your parents since you were almost the same age as him.  But then... one day you saw him going through your things and taking one of your lipsticks from your makeup bag. You suddenly remembered losing a lip gloss two weeks ago.

Trying to voice your concerns, you talked to your mom who was so insensitive she went to speak with Peter right away. Of course, he said it wasn't true and you had probably misunderstood him since he only wanted to borrow a pen. He even showed his table and wardrobe to demonstrate he didn't hide anything.

From that time Peter had changed. He didn't hide his unhealthy behavior from you anymore, and he was scaring you with the things he had done, keeping an eye on you when you were around and stalking you if you were not, never staying far away aside from the time he had to be in class.

Of course, he sensed that you were becoming resteless, less and less eager to spend time with him, blaming it on lots of homework or sudden meetings with friends. You weren't blind to his frightening affection - if you could call his feelings like that. Why was he doing it? Despite spending only several months living with you, your parents loved him dearly, paying him twice more attention than you. You had never protested against it, knowing a poor soul like him who didn't have his own family needed all the help he could get now. But this... this wasn't alright. This wasn't a feeling siblings should have for each other. Did Peter consider you one? Did you truly consider him your older brother? You weren't sure. Nevertheless, it still didn't feel right.

Carefully, you attempted to talk to your father about it, vagualy wording your concerns and giving him little details - sure, you didn't like how Peter was behaving, but he didn't deserve to be banished from your family and sent back. You still believed something could be done to set everything right. Maybe the boy just didn't realize things were not supposed to work this way in a family. However, your father laughed it all off. He said little girls like you were thinking too much of themselves lately, claiming the whole world was obsessed with them. Peter simply tried to be a good brother and look out for you.

You had never felt more humiliated in your entire life.

Dropping all attempts to bring Peter's unhealthy behaviour to your parents' attention, you decided there was just one thing to do - separate yourself from him completely.

No more doing the housework together, no more chats in the kitchen in the morning, no more having lunch together at school, no more cuddles in the evening. You kept yourself as busy as you could - in the morning you did jogging, at school you spent time with your friends, in the evening you were taking your books and doing your homework in the park, at your friend's place or anywhere convenient. Even though Peter tried following you, you had started to change places all of a sudden to keep him away from you.

This was when he had enough of you distancing yourself.

Suddenly, Peter fighted for affection of your parents with such ferocity as if you tried to strip him of their love. His gradea were suddenly way better than yours - he claimed he had finally felt safe in his new home and could spent his energy elsewhere. The way he behaved was even more sweet than before. On the other hand, strange things started happening to you: once your mother found your expensive satin blouse torn and blamed it on you and your carelessness; the other time the chicken you cooked was so salty it ended in a trash bin; your friend received threats coming from your phone number, though you had never ever sent anything like that to her.

It was easy to guess who was doing this to you, but Peter never admitted it out loud. Talking to your parents was worthless, too, as in their eyes the boy was a pure blessing. How could you blame him for things you did to catch their attention?

Shit. You knew something was wrong with Peter, but you could hardly imagine to what extent he could go to have his way. It was unbelievable a boy like him could manipulate people so easily, wrapping them around his finger. Why was he doing it? Everyone already loved him. Everyone but you.

"Y/N!" Your mother's sharp voice broke the silence, and you hurried downstares, finding your mom near the washing machine with a wet black sock in her hands. "Are you out of your mind?! Did you put your black socks in there when I said to bring your WHITE clothes?!"

"But I didn't!" You gawked at her, knowing perfectly you only brought her what she asked you to. "I swear I didn't!"

"Oh yes, of course, it's Peter who went through your dirty clothes to incriminate you, dear." She sneered at you. "You have to come up with a new excuse, this is getting old. Look what you've done, my white jeans are ruined!"

"Please, mom, I-"

"Go to your room. I don't want to see or hear you." She snapped, tossing the sock to the floor as you stared at her in horror. She had never been so irritated like in the past month when your "slip-ups" were happening more and more often.

Racing upstairs, you pressed your hand to your mouth, trying not to cry. Why was he still doing it to you? Why did Peter want everything to be like he wished? Why did your parents never believe you? It was you who was their true daugther, for God's sake!

Locking the door, you fell down on your bed, burying your head in your soft pillow. It started to become unbearable. Why was this all happening? Despite your growing hate towards Peter, you couldn't say that he was ugly and unpleasant. He was easy on the eyes and could be really nice to people around him, and it made Peter quite popular among the girls at school. Why on Earth didn't he set his eyes on anyone other than you? There were plenty of girls who'd be willing to date him and give him as much attention as he wanted.

You wiped away your angry tears with your pillow, biting on your lower lip. It was unfair, and you weren't going to give in to him just because Peter wanted to play with you like a spoiled child. You'd find a way to prove you weren't guilty of all those things he wanted to pin on you, you just needed to gather yourself and think properly.

Suddenly, you heard someone knocking on your window and rushed to it immediately: your room was on the third floor. Seeing Peter sitting on the bench of a tree, you gasped in shock. You opened the window right away, praying for him to stay still.

"Are you out of your mind?" You whispered in horror, holding out your hand to him. "What are you doing there?!"

He smiled at you like nothing was happening, taking your arm and crawling towards your window. In the next moment he was already inside your room, grinning like a kid and shutting the window behind himself. You furrowed your brows, your heart racing. Peter was insane!

"What if you slipped?" You asked him furiously. "Are you mad? Do you want to die?!"

"No, but you wouldn't let me in your room unless I came in the window." He admitted carelessly and smiled, reaching out to you and enveloping you in a hug. "I'm glad you don't want me to fall."

"You're out of your mind, brother." You grunted, trying to push him away, but his grip was only becoming stronger. "What are you doing? Let me go, please."

"But I want a hug from you. Is it so bad?"

You clenched your teeth, watching him angrily. "You just made my mom scream at me for that stupid sock. You think you deserve a hug?"

"I only did it because you're stubborn. It's your fault I had come to this, Y/N." His sickly sweet smile made you nauseated as you put your hands on his chest in attempt to keep him away. "Come on, why have you been acting so cold? I just want to be a part of your family."

"Are you serious?"

Your eyes could burn a hole in his face as you stared at him, getting more and more angry with his behaviour and trying to blame you for his own actions.

"This isn't like it should be in a family, Peter. We're siblings now. Siblings don't do it... l-like that." You felt your face growing hot as you became deeply embarrassed, knowing how your words could be interpreted.

"But we're not siblings, are we?" He tilted his head to the side, narrowing his dark eyes at you and smiling widely.

You growled in irritation, still unable to get rid of him holding you like a doll in his hands.

"If you don't want me to be your sister, what family are you talking about, then?"

"We'll, it's not the only family I can have with you, right?"

You stilled, unsure you understood what Peter meant as he chuckled with content, watching you getting more and more confused while he gently caressed your back. What other family he could possibly mean?

It took you a few seconds to realize he was talking about marriage between you two.

Your eyes popped out of its sockets. Was he fucking serious? That kind of family? No, he should have been out of his mind completely. He definitely had to see a psychiatrist or something!

"You're joking, aren't you?" You muttered, shocked. "You can't be serious!"

"But I am, sister." Peter's sweet smile was slowly turning sinister as he leaned closer to you, dropping a kiss to your temple as you shivered against him, wanting nothing but get away. "And you better stop with that silly attitude of yours if you don't want me to get real angry."

"And what are you going to do if I don't? What if I will tell everyone about this?"

He smirked, touching your forehead with his and closing his eyes for a second.

"I see you still don't understand." Peter whispered to you, watching you getting more and more nervous. “I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no one but me.”

___________

Tags: @finleyjayne @alexakeyloveloki   ​@helenaeisenhower @villanellevi @hurricanerin ​@void-hoechlin @abyssaint @heeeyitskay @chris-evans-indian-fanfic @rosalynshields @brattycherubwrites @sllooney @angrythingstarlight

[aquafolia]

Sokai Day Fic 1: True Love’s Kiss(es)

So yes, I am a Classics/ancient history blog, and this is obviously super different from the content I normally post on this blog. Please forgive me, but I’ve recently become OBSESSED with Kingdom Hearts and I have nowhere else to post this stuff at the moment. So please forgive me, normal content will resume soon!

Anyway, as I said I just started playing the KH games for the first time this summer and it’s been so much fun. And seeing all the amazing stories and artwork in this fandom has inspired me to write some stuff too. Anyway, I’m Holly, and I hope y’all enjoy :)

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True Love’s Kiss(es)

‘Ugh!’ Kairi groaned, unceremoniously setting down the basket she held in her hands. ‘I forgot that when you pick apples, you have to actually carry them all back, too!’

‘Your basket’s not even half full, Kairi,’ Sora remarked, ‘and we’ve only just started!’

She grinned. ‘Well then, it’s a good thing I have a strong, manly boyfriend to help me carry all of these.’

He could hardly argue with that. Sora feigned displeasure by rolling his eyes and letting out a dramatic groan, which made Kairi giggle. But then he walked over to her, grabbing one of the basket’s handles as she grabbed the other, and the pair made their way deeper down the rows of apple trees. They could hear the distant shouts and laughs of their friends echoing through the orchard as they went. Apparently, Twilight Town– a world basically in perpetual autumn–  was known for its fall festivities, including its legendary apple orchards. Once they’d visited the orchards, the gang hoped Remi would help them make apple pies, apple cider, and all sorts of goodies during their visit. To that end, the group had decided to break up into teams in order to pick as many apples as they could carry. Today, Sora and Kairi were paired up. But Sora knew that if they only returned with a measly half basket of apples, the others would surely tease them, accuse them of slacking off.

They wouldn’t be totally wrong, Sora thought with a grin. Sure, Kairi was determined to focus on their task: she was deep in concentration, examining each apple carefully before deciding to place it in her basket. Sora, on the other hand, was much more determined to get Kairi off task. It wasn’t that Sora didn’t want to help out, but this was an opportunity for him and Kairi to spend some time alone– that was a temptation greater than any fruit, in Sora’s world.

Kairi set her sights on a shiny red apple that hung high on a nearby tree. She stood up on her tiptoes, making adorable little noises as she tried to grab it. Sora was staring intently, but not at the apple: Kairi’s form was stretched out in front of him as she reached high over her head, accentuating her curves, and Sora was mesmerized. It was only when she said his name that he snapped out of his trance: ‘Sora,’ she called out, not taking her eyes off the fruit, ‘would you come over and help me with this one? You should be able to–’

Kairi shrieked as Sora, having silently moved behind her, wrapped his arms around her legs and hoisted her up onto his shoulder.

‘Tall enough now?’ he asked casually.

Her surprised squeak was the only reply Kairi could muster. Once she’d successfully picked the apple, Sora released her hips. He held her by the waist as her body slid down his until she landed gently on the ground. Even in the autumn chill, Sora could feel his cheeks burning.

Having regained some of her composure, with a giggle, Kairi said, ‘Guess we make a pretty good team, huh?’ before she turned to the next tree. Sora tried to hide it by replying with a level ‘Absolutely,’ but inside, he was beaming: watching the effect he had on Kairi just never got old for him– but given how hard he had to try to appear cool and unfazed, it wasn’t like he was much better than she was.

Now that he’d had his fun, Sora walked up next to Kairi to help out. The pair picked apples side by side, happily chatting and admiring each other's finds, and over time, their basket filled with bright red apples. While they worked, something about the orchard nagged at Sora’s mind, but he couldn't place it. As he studied a large, blood-red apple in his hands, it finally clicked.

‘All these apples remind me of Snow White,’ Sora remarked. ‘Aqua told me how Snow White’s evil stepmother tried to kill her by getting her to eat a poisoned apple. The dwarves thought she was dead, so they placed her in a beautiful glass casket,’ Sora recalled, his eyes still fixed on the apple. He found himself absentmindedly tracing the spot on his chest where a scar marred the skin over his heart: the permanent reminder of his sacrifice for Kairi– well, his first one, anyway.

‘But she wasn’t dead,’ Sora continued, thought bleeding into memory. ‘She was asleep, and she couldn’t wake up…’

‘Until her true love saved her.’

That broke Sora out of his reverie. He looked up to find Kairi already gazing at him, her eyes soft and sincere. Sora replied, ‘Yeah… Reminds me of another princess I know.’

Did she really mean…?  They’d talked about their first adventure numerous times before, but she’d never said it like that.

‘I would have killed for a nice bed to sleep on,’ she continued. ‘You and Riku took me on quite a journey– napping peacefully in a meadow sounds pretty good to me,’ Kairi said with a grin.

A breeze drifted through the orchard, rustling the leaves over their heads. ‘I remember your dad telling us all those old fairy tales when we were kids,’ Sora said. ‘After all the adventures we’ve had… it’s strange to think we sort of became one ourselves.’

‘They’re not always as fun to live as they are to hear…’ Kairi remarked, almost to herself, ‘when you don’t know if there’ll be a happy ending after all.’ Her eyes grew distant, drifting aimlessly down the row of apple trees.  ‘I… I still remember waking up at Hollow Bastion, seeing that Keyblade in your chest… And then how you–’ she started, but then faltered, unable to bring herself to say what came next.

Sora gently placed a hand on her shoulder, turning her to face him. She still seemed lost in thought, not meeting his eyes. ‘I know what you mean. But we did get one, didn’t we, Kairi? It took a while, and we’ve had to find each other again and again, but now you’re here. And thanks to you, I’m here. We’re finally together, and nothing is ever going to change that. That’s the best ‘happily ever after’ I could have wished for.’

The pair were alone, the trees standing sentry around them, but his voice grew softer all the same: these words were just for her. ‘All that doesn’t really matter anymore,’ Sora continued. ‘What I mean is… what matters is that we’re here now. That means it was all worth it.’ He took her hand, interlacing their fingers. ‘Back at Hollow Bastion, when I saw your eyes open just before mine closed, when I knew your heart was safe… it was worth it, Kairi.’

She finally looked up at him. Sora hoped his eyes conveyed the sincerity of his words: It had all been for her– and it had all been worth it, every moment. Every time Sora got to see her sweet smile, got to hear her lovely laugh, it was worth it. And now, he wasn’t just connected to her across the worlds by promises and oaths– if he wanted to find Kairi, all Sora had to do was reach for her hand. How was that not a dream come true?

A small smile forming on her lips, Kairi gave him a look of such love and gratitude that Sora knew she felt the same. ‘It just makes our time together now even more precious to me,’ she finally said, giving his hand a gentle squeeze. ‘I’m never going to take this for granted.’

Sora decided then to gather her into his arms and bring her close, her head resting in the crook of his neck, his cheek on her soft hair. ‘You know,’ he started after a pause, ‘I have to admit, when I heard Snow White’s story, I got a bit jealous.’

Kairi pulled back just enough to shoot him a quizzical look. ‘Jealous?’

‘Yeah, of Prince Florian. All he had to do to wake up Snow White and save the day was kiss her– pretty nice deal, if you ask me,’ Sora explained. Kairi smiled, but her eyes were still a bit sad. So he continued, a grin spreading across his face, ‘Don’t know why I didn’t think to try that first…’

‘Oh, Sora!’ Kairi giggled, giving Sora a playful smack on his arm, her face brighter. ‘What, does that mean you thought about kissing Ven at some point, too?’ she countered.

‘I was getting so desperate to find the Power of Waking, I just might have!’ Sora replied, and they both laughed again. Keeping one arm around Kairi, he took a bite from the apple still in his hand. It was crisp and fresh, and amazingly sweet– it was just right, like everything else in this moment.

Suddenly, with a smirk on her face, Kairi plucked the half-eaten apple from Sora’s hand. She lifted the fruit to her lips, holding Sora’s gaze as she took a large bite next to where he’d just bitten, a small drop of juice running down her chin as she chewed. All Sora could do was watch her, hopelessly mesmerized. It was bold, yet playful– Kairi to a T. Before Sora’s brain could fully resume normal functioning, Kairi said, feigning innocence, ‘What? Isn’t sharing fruit kind of our thing? It’s no paopu fruit, but still…’

Staring into her eyes, the radiant sunset bathing them in soft, warm light, Sora grew bold himself: They’d spent so long in silence, so long apart, why waste any time? He’d fought so hard to find her, to come back to her, over and over again. She was right here– if he wanted to kiss her, what on earth was there to consider? Sora reached a hand forward to cup her cheek, wiping the juice from the corner of her lip with his thumb. Kairi let the gentle pull of his thumb part her lips. ‘It is pretty good,’ Sora said, ‘but… you definitely taste better.’ And with that, he lowered his head and kissed her. He heard the sound of the apple landing on the ground, utterly forgotten, as Kairi’s arms wound around his neck.

And Sora had to admit, kissing Kairi felt pretty magical– Maybe those fairytales were onto something after all.

But of course, the distant sound of Aqua, Ven, and Riku calling out in search of them forced the pair to break their kiss, albeit begrudgingly. Sora expected Kairi to step away, pick up her basket, maybe call out to their friends– but she didn’t. She stayed as she was in Sora’s arms, one hand resting on his shirt, over the scar. Sora could feel his heartbeat racing under her touch. When she looked up at him again, something in her eyes was different. Still happy, but mixed with something else– not just happiness, but a determination to be so.

‘This is a pretty large orchard,’ Kairi remarked, her eyes bright. ‘Our friends probably won’t find us for a little while longer…’

‘We’d better not make them wait too long, or Axel will use his chakrams to–’

Kairi grabbed Sora’s hoodie with both hands and pulled him back down to her lips. For a moment, Sora stood frozen, eyes wide with shock. But as she melted into him, his eyes fluttered closed and he wound his arms around her, each kiss between them less ‘Fairy Godmother Friendly’ than the last. Traditionally, in all those fairytales, the heroes only ever got one ‘True Love’s Kiss.’ Sora considered himself the luckiest prince of all time– he had a never ending supply.

Twilight Town was always just that– hanging in perpetual dusk. So Sora really didn’t know how long he and Kairi spent like that, lost in laughter and kisses and caresses beneath the trees. But once their friends’ voices grew dangerously close, Sora and Kairi managed to untangle themselves, wiping swollen lips, readjusting ruffled clothing, and fixing disheveled hair (not that Sora’s hair had been tidy in the first place– and Kairi burst out laughing when she realized her attempts to smooth it didn’t do much good, either). As Kairi called out to their friends, Sora picked up her basket, now full of delicious looking apples, and the pair began to head back toward the orchard entrance. They probably hadn’t gathered the most apples– and he was sure their friends would point that fact out–  but Sora didn’t care one bit. He wouldn’t have traded this day for anything.

‘Hey Kairi?’ Sora said as they walked, ‘For the record, if I’m ever in a fruit induced coma– or any other kind of coma, really– feel free to make out with me, in order to revive me. Thought I should say so, you know, just in case.’

‘Oh, really?’ She teased back. ‘I’ll make sure to tell Donald– you always complain he never uses Curaga when you need it.’

‘What? No! Ew, gross!’ Sora blanched as Kairi dissolved into laughter. But when his eyes found hers again, he couldn’t help but smile.

As her giggles died out, she replied, 'Okay, I’ll remember that… But that doesn’t mean you can go throw yourself into danger so I’ll kiss you better!’

‘I can’t help it– when you kiss me, I feel like I can do anything,’ Sora answered simply. Kairi’s eyes widened at his remark, and she ducked her head as her cheeks bloomed pink. Sora beamed. He may have been laying it on her thick, but Sora wasn’t lying: He had true love on his side– the most powerful magic of all.

-----

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - Can’t Stand It

For @ho-ne-ye.

~~~~~~~~~~

Stan was having a bad day. Well, a bad week. Scratch that, a bad month.

It was March, a beautiful time out in the Arctic. For several weeks the Stan twins hardly ever saw the sun or didn’t see it at all. Closer to the holidays they traveled down south to Northern Europe, exploring the United Kingdom and the Northern Islands in order to enjoy daylight, but now that Summer was approaching and Spring was on their side, the Stan O’ War II was moving up to sail above Canada, breaking melting ice and meeting new creatures.

Today they had stumbled across an island covered in woods. The twins had docked to enjoy stable land, but of course it didn’t take long for them to stumble into trouble when they explored the island. Something about trespassing, Stan may or may not have been magically transformed into a small and cute version of himself, but then turned back to normal by a knocked-over potion. It was all a blur, and it all ended with Stan and Ford being tied together hanging over a raging fire as the clan of seal-people with war paint danced around them and singing a weird song.

Enough was enough. With a knife slipped out of a boot and a few left and right hooks, Ford and Stan managed to get away, now being chased by the angry clan and flying arrows. Stan dove on top of Ford to shield his brother from an arrow and they both scurried to their feet and ran deeper into the woods, heading for the beach, but their path was blocked by a giant monster, a half-spider, half-scorpion kind of creature with eight legs, pinchers, a sharp tail, four red eyes, and an angry kiss as it’s hairs vibrated.

Ford shot at it with his ray gun and that only made it angry. It dove for the six-fingered scientist, but Stan shoved him out of the way and soon Stan was thrown back to a tree and made very little attempts to get back up.

“STANLEY!” Ford cried out and shot at the monster again, this time hitting it in the eye. Temporarily blinded and distracted, Ford was about to grab a nearby spear thrown by a villager, pierce the monster, and leave it to bleed to death as he ran to his brother and knelt in front of him. “Stanley! Stanley, can you hear me? Are you hurt?”

“M’fine, m’fine,” The old sailor mumbled as he blinked a few times. “Just lemme catch my breath…”

Ford noticed how he had a hand to his side. He gently prided it away and was horrified to find blood. The monster must have pierced Stan. In one swift motion the eldest by fifteen minutes scooped Stan up and began to carry him to the shore. “You’ll be okay. I’ll fix you up, I can fix this.”

His brother grunted in response, his hands loosely over his wound, but Stan was losing his strength. Ford then noticed a bead of blood dripping down the back of Stan’s neck; he must have also hit his head perfectly on the tree. Ford swallowed, making his Adam’s apple bobble, and he firmly instructed, “Stay with me, Stanley. Don’t go to sleep. You might have a concussion.”

“M’tired.” He muttered in his twin’s chest. They were close, so close to home. Ford’s boots crushed the sand beneath them.

“Stanley Pines, stay with me!” Ford shouted, ignoring the way his brown eyes stung.

“Why should I?”

Ford’s heart threatened to stop. Stan’s voice had been so quiet that he had nearly missed it, but the old scientist heard every word. The wounds didn’t look that bad, Stan would be fine, he was too tough to be taken down by some pathetic monster like that, but the fact that Stan was even considering…

“Wh-Why?!” Ford repeated, mortified by his brother’s delusional question. “Why?! Because I need you! Don’t you dare think about giving up on me, Stanley, don’t you dare! C-Come on, d-d-don’t you wanna see Dipper and Mabel again? Don’t you wanna see Soos marry that Melody girl?”

Stan’s breathing was shallow against his twin’s blue jacket. “You’d be better off…”

“NO!” Ford screamed as he saw the boat farther along the beach. He broke into a faster run. “No, we wouldn’t! I swear! Stay with me, we’re almost there!”

But Stan wasn’t answering. He was very quiet. And a bit limp in Ford’s hold.

“Stanley?! Stanley! Lee! Lee, don’t you dare give up! Don’t you dare leave me, please! I… I can’t do it!” He shut his eyes at the thought and let tears flow down his cheeks as he climbed up onto the Stan O’ War II. “I can’t lose you again. Please, don’t make me.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t fair.

Stan should be perfectly fine, he should be happy. He got his brother back, he had a real family for the first time in forty years, he was living out his dream with his best friend. He wasn’t alien to feeling this cruddy about himself, but at least back then he had something to work towards, something to keep him going, and something to distract him from the voices in his head. But now his thoughts were more apparent now more than ever before and they wouldn’t go away.

The fact remained that everyone would be better off without Stan. He was a mistake, the screw-up, a criminal, a con-artist, a dirty sailor, a worthless heap of flesh. No one really wanted him around, and the people who did would soon get sick of him. Dipper and Mabel called them less and less (which to be fair they have been very busy with exams on the way). And even if it was Ford’s idea to go sailing, how long would it be before he changed his mind? Or had he really meant what he said? Or had he only said what he said because he felt guilty?

No. There was no changing the old man’s mind. Everyone would be better off without him.

He walked down the dock with his hands in the pocket of his brown trenchcoat, his boots clicking against the wood gently. It was bright and shiny and beautiful without it hurting his eyes or requiring sunglasses over his regular glasses. The sun glistened on the water and a soft breeze made him comfortable. The only odd thing was that there was only one boat.

A small boat, actually. It had a sail, like their dream boat as kids, with a cabin down in the bunkers. It was plain and clean and new, with a golden pole and rims on the windows. On it sat a young lady, about early-twenties, with short blonde hair. She was odd, wearing a white Hawaiian shirt with golden palm leaves, white shorts, and had a golden watch on her wrist as she filed her nails, reminding Stan of a secretary from high school. This girl was sitting on the boat with her legs crossed, sporting white sneakers, and hummed a familiar tune, though Stan couldn’t pinpoint it.

The girl glanced up at him, put her eyes back on her work, and called, “You coming?”

Stan shrugged, his hands still in his pockets. “Depends. Where you going, sweetie?”

“Well I’m hoping to grant a handsome sailor his wish, but it’s whatever.” The woman said as she held up her hand to look at her nails boringly.

Stan smiled cockily. “Oh yeah, how so?”

“You think everyone would be better off without you, right?” The woman stood and gestured to her boat. “Wanna see for yourself?”

Stan blinked. Okay this was weird. Was he on TV? He shook his head like a wet dog and scratched next to his red beanie. “Uh… ‘cuse me?”

“You heard me. Wanna see if you’re right?”

“How are you gonna show me if I’m right or not?” Stan asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

The woman sighed as she glanced at her watch. “Look, I don’t have a lot of time, so here’s how it’s gonna go. I’m gonna go sailing to a timeline in which you were never born. Ford never had a twin, Caryn and Filbrick only had two sons, et cetera and et cetera. Then we can talk about where we’ll go from there. But whether you’re coming or not, this boat is leaving in thirty seconds.”

Stan looked away from the woman, down at the sea crashing against the dock gently. This didn’t make any sense. This was like something out of a cheesy movie. He didn’t have to go with this girl and see a world without him in it, but it might answer some of his questions. He just wasn’t sure if he would get the answers he wanted. Oh well, it’s not like he had anything better to do.

“Ten seconds.”

“Alright, I’ll bite.” Stan shrugged and climbed up on board. “Set sail, Ms… Hey, what’s your name, anyways?”

“You can call me Honey.”

“Okay, Honey…”

“Oh my God, he called me honey…”

“Wait wut?”

“Time to go!” The woman grinned for the first time, a sly foxy smile with sparkling eyes and beautiful lips curled upward. She stood from her seat, pulled her sail loose, and it suddenly jetted across the sea so fast it threw Stan back and he had to catch himself from falling into the ocean, meanwhile the girl in all white stood perfectly calm.

“So, where we going?”

“I told you,” Honey said calmly. “We’re gonna go see what it would've been like if you had never been born.”

“Yeah, but where?”

“First stop, Gravity Falls.” The sea around them was fading into woods and trees and dirt, and soon the bot came to such a sudden stop that Stan was thrown to the other side and sat his head on a pinetree, growling as he stood up straight on the sailboat and rubbed his forehead.

Stan looked around and recognized the woods. Yup, this was definitely Gravity Falls, but… something was off. It was gray and cloudy overhead. And they were in front of a big open patch of woods Stan had never seen before.

“What is this place?” Stan asked as he hopped off the sailboat in the mud.

“Gravity Falls.”

“I know that! I mean… I’ve never been here before.”

“Yes you have.” The woman said as she got off her ride and stood beside the old sailor. “You lived here for thirty years in another timeline.”

Stan’s eyes widened. “No… Is this where the Mystery Shack’s supposed to be?”

“You got it.”

“But…” Stan was racking his brain, thinking. “What, did Ford never come here? Cuz he went to that West Coast Tech school he never came here?”

“Nope. Ford never moved to Gravity Falls, which means no Mystery Shack.”

“I always thought there’d be a big mansion here or something.” Stan shrugged and said, “Okay, so there’s no rundown tourist trap. Big deal.”

“Eh, so you think.” Honey started to walk into the woods, giving no invitation for Stan to follow, making it easier for the conman to do so. “Do you remember what this town was like before the Shack?”

Stan shrugged with his hands in the pocket of his trenchcoat. “Not much. Just a bunch of paranoid weirdos who needed a good laugh.”

They emerged from the woods and Stan gasped at the town. It was even more worn down and cheap than it had been when Stan came thirty years ago. Broken windows were boarded up, pavement was cracked, and either ketchup or blood was splattered here and there.

“Whoa hey, what happened?” Stan asked as they left the woods and walked through the town, shouts and coughs being heard in the distance. “I know this place is a dump, but not this much of a dump.”

“Stan, do you really think your business was the only one to succeed due to the tourists coming in?” The woman in white asked. “What about the motels? Diners like Greasy’s? Stores and gas stations? All those out-of-state tourists didn’t just give money to the Shack. You’d be surprised how much one tourist trap helps the economy of one struggling town.”

“Okay, sure, but there’s no way the Shack helped out the town this much.” Stan argued, gesturing around them lazily.

“No, you’re right. Really, the town didn’t hit hard times until about five years ago.”

“Why…”

Screeching tires interrupted the old man. He and Honey watched as a very nice, rich-looking pick-up truck spun around the corner and came to a sudden stop in front of a grocery store. Stan’s jaw dropped to the pavement as he watched someone he barely recognized get out of the passenger’s seat.

Soos had a black baseball cap on backwards, wearing a cold, spiky, black-leather jacket, torn jeans, and a gothic, graphic t-shirt. His eyes were so cold and menacing, he seemed a bit taller due to holding himself up with so much pride, and when he snapped his fingers and pointed to the grocery store, five guys emerged from the truck and raided it like it was the end of the world.

“S-Soos?!” Stan gasped. “Soos, what are you doing?!” But he was ignored.

“No one can see or hear us, Stanley.” Honey said as they watched Soos’ gang drag a cashier out by her long hair and began to pumble her just because they could. Soos did nothing to stop it, even smiled a little as the girl screamed for help.

“I don't get it… Soos is a good kid! He’d never hurt a fly! Why in Moses’ name is he…” Stan couldn’t finish the sentence. He was frighteningly reminded of the Colombian gang he was once under.

“Oh, c'mon sweetie, connect the dots. Who do you think taught Soos to be a good kid?”

“His abuelita did.”

The woman chuckled and shook her head. “She tried, but as he got older it really began to hurt that his dad didn’t wanna be around him. And cuz you weren’t there to tell him otherwise… let’s just say high school never happened for him.”

“What?!”

“He dropped out of school in the eighth grade and joined a small gang outside of town. Eventually he made his way up the ranks and now his little gang terrorized the bottom half of Oregon.”

“B-But why?! All cuz I wasn’t there?” Stan asked, shaking his head. “There’s no way…”

“Stanley, who do you think taught him that he was worth something? Who taught him how to stand up for himself and give bullies left hooks? Who had him put all of his energy into hard work?”

Stan stared at his pretty tour guide. There was no way Stan did all that, no way. Sure, he liked the kid a lot, but he never actually thought he impacted Soos’ life this much. Stan looked back at this horrible version of Soos as his gang loaded the car with food and cash and they sped off, leaving the woman to bleed on the sidewalk and wipe the blood from her lips.

“C’mon,” Honey said and gestured onward. “We’ve got more people to see.”

“Okay so,” Stan followed her and racked his brain. Surely somebody benefited from him not being alive. “What about Wendy? Is she still around?”

“Nope. Without you to give her a job here in town, she had to move upstate to her cousin’s lodge, remember? She had to leave all of her friends behind and she was miserable. Still is, actually. Very quiet gal. Doesn’t say or do much.”

“Wendy? Quiet? I don’t believe you.”

The woman opened a door to a shop, but instead of the inside of the building they saw a black-haired Wendy sitting on her bed in her new room, criss-crossed, holding her pillow as she listened to depressing heavy metal.

Stan winced. “Yikes. She turned into a real Robbie.”

“That kid joined Soos’ gang, BTW.” The woman said as she closed the door.

Stan was having a hard time buying the idea that nobody actually got some good out of him not being around. "Wh-What about that lil' troll? Gideon?"

Honey snorted and led the way through town. As they walked, Stan was having a hard time buying this scenario. There was no way he made this much of a difference. Okay, sure, if he not being alive meant Ford never moved to Gravity Falls, and that meant Gravity Falls changed a bit, Stan could understand that, but there was no way this town turned for the worst all because Stan wasn’t there. There was no way the screw-up actually made things better. Right?

“Here we are.” The woman said to snap Stan out of his thoughts.

The car dealership looked mostly the same. A little more run-down, sure, and there was no Tent of Telepathy in sight, but Bud still wore that stupid straw hat with a baby-blue Hawaiian shirt and tan pants, but he didn’t look quite right, either. Heavy bags were under his eyes, looking a bit more like his wife, and the little bit of hair he had was graying a bit too early. He waved his customer goodbye with a smile, but the second they were gone he sighed tiredly and was frightened by a window being shattered by a rock.

“DADDY! GET OVER HERE!”

“Oh, boy.” Bud steadied himself and went back to the house.

“Hey, how come the little jerk’s business isn’t booming?” Stan asked, more interested as to why his biggest competitor wasn’t flourishing in a town that needed someone to believe in. “He’d do great here! He could’ve used his little camera to tell people when S-... when the gang was gonna strike, or…”

“Stanley, sweetie, how do you think Gideon started that tent?”

“I dunno, he decided to use his cuteness to get some cash?”

“Not quite. For a few years he was just a bratty kid, but then he found a journal in his playground full of mystical objects, including a magic bow-low tie. It was that journal that made him think of telepathy. Even if he was fake, it was Journal 2 that inspired him.”

“Okay, okay,” Stan held his chin. “So with no me there’s no Ford in Gravity Falls which means no journals which means no Tent of Telepathy. Fine, but the twerp’s gotta be a better person without that spooky book making him think he’s all powerful.”

The woman in white laughed and pointed to the house. “You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you? See for yourself.”

Stan walked up to the broken window and was mortified at the state of the house. Stains everywhere, chipped and torn furniture, cracked walls, torn carpet, and in the midst of it all was a ten-year-old lying on his stomach on the couch, banging his fists and kicking like a toddler as he screamed horribly. Stan winced, but then was completely thrown off to find Gideon’s hair not white and up Dolly Parton-style, but orange and cut short.

“I WANT IT, I WANT IT, I WANT IT!” Gideon screamed as if he was being murdered.

His poor mother was against the wall, holding her heart and breathing heavy; Stan noticed the signs of an anxiety attack.

Bud slowly approached his son and tried to calm him down. “Now, sugar pie, please…” But the human beaver was kicked in the jaw, leaving a bruise and making him bite his lip so hard he bled. Bud held his mouth as Gideon continued to scream.

“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU! YOU NEVER GIMME ANYTHANG I WANT! WHY YA HAVE TO BE SO STUPID?!”

“Yikes, how did not being possessed by a freaky journal make him worse?” Stan asked Honey as they walked away from the house. “I don’t get it.”

“Sure, Gideon wasn’t the best kid before the journal, but at least with the journal he had something to work towards, something to put all of his energy into, and he also had you.”

“M-Me?”

“Don’t you remember the first time you met him?”

“Yeah, he took my parking spot with that stupid van.”

“Actually, you met once before.” Honey chuckled as they walked back into the woods. “You were both at the grocery store when he was four. He was with his mom, bouncing in the buggy and demanding for candy. She gave in just to keep him quiet and tuned to pick some milk. You were across the aisle, picking orange juice, when Gideon dropped his chocolate bar while trying to open it. You noticed the candy and the boy making grabby hands at you and the candy, but you grinned, said ‘no’ firmly, picked up the chocolate…”

“... and ate it right in front of him!” Stan laughed. “I had forgotten… I didn’t know that was Gideon! I thought that was just some spoiled brat.”

“Well, it was. You were the first and only person who ever told that boy ‘no’, the only person who really challenged him and pushed him. Thanks to you, he channeled his anger and energy into trying to take you and the Shack down. But without you around to push him, he had no way to get his energy out, except his parents.”

Stan looked down at the dirt and they stopped walking for a second. “This… This doesn’t make any sense.”

“How so?”

“I’m just a screw-up!” Stan argued as he looked back up at the woman. “I’m the twin no one wanted! I’m just some loser of a conman! It doesn’t make sense that a guy like that could… it… there’s gotta be somebody to benefitted from me not existing! What about Lazy Susan? With no Mystery Shack that means no lazy eye, right?”

“Actually, Soos’ gang raided the diner and it ended badly when Susan stood up to them.” Honey winced. “She ended up not only losing her job, but her eye, too.”

Stan swore under his breath. “Fine… What about that McGucket dude? His life’s gotta be better than living at the dump with his mind all jacked up.”

The woman shrugged and led the way deeper into the woods. “Barely. C’mon, we’re going to Tennessee.”

Stan followed the mysterious tour guide back to the sailboat and this time properly braced himself for the sudden speed. Very suddenly they were racing along the sea, colors swirling by them, until they stopped very suddenly on a river. Stan’s jaw dropped to see a huge, beautiful mansion up on the hill by the river. The woman parked the sailboat by the dock and they started to walk up to the rich house, passing a weeping willow with a stone bench with a big crack in the middle.

“This is McGucket’s place?” Stan clarified.

“You got it, genius.” Honey gestured to the six horse stables, the lush garden, all of the nice cars and wagons, and at just how huge and nice and rich the mansion was. “Fiddleford still went to Backupsmore and met his wife, Emma May, and with no Ford to ask for help on a portal, Fiddleford became the inventor of not only person computers, or what’s commonly called laptops, he became the founder of the largest tech company in the country, Berri.”

The woman reached into her pocket and pulled out one of those smartphones the kids had, except the back had a little strawberry with a bite in it. “They went on to invent the first cell phone, BerriWatch, and right now they’re testing a self-driving car. Fiddleford found himself with more money than he knew what to do with and after he built his family their dream home, which by the way is the richest house in Tennessee, he simply expanded his company and made historical international deals. He’s also made huge donations to small run-down towns, like the one he grew up in, to create jobs and try to help out their economies.”

“Cool, okay, see.” Stan said with a smile, impressed by this hillbilly’s success. “One person got a good deal from me not being around.”

Honey rocked her hand side to side and led the way around the mansion, walking alongside the clear open space, passing the weeping willow and bench to move around the hill. “Just cuz he was successful doesn’t mean he was better off. Don’t forget, Fiddleford was never the greatest at handling his stress well. He invented that Memory Gun because Ford accidentally inspired him to, saying scientists have a way of creating solutions to their problems. So with no way to forget his stress and anxiety, Fiddleford drank to forget how worried he was about losing his company if he made a bad deal or if his newest invention or work or if he was putting out a good public face.”

“No.” Stan shook his head. “That goody two-shoes? No way.”

“Hey, he grew up around moonshine, he just couldn’t get his hands on it when he was living at the dump.” The woman shrugged and they came upon a stone pathway and walked down it to a small flower garden that formed a circle. “Anyways, Fiddleford was never violent, thank goodness, but he was drunk more than he was sober. He should be happy, with a wife and son and booming business to boot, but he wasn’t. He fell into depression and drank until he ended up here.”

Stan looked ahead and felt the wind get knocked out of him. There was a flat tombstone in the middle of the circle of flowers. He knew what was on there, but he still slowly approached to read what the stone said. “Fiddleford H. McGucket. 1956-2011. The angels now sing a whisky lullaby.”

Stan backed away, backing up farther than the woman was, shaking his head and even punching his forehead as he tried to think. “This… This doesn’t make any sense! Their lives were supposed to get better without me, not worse!”

“Stanley…”

“The kids!” Stan gasped and looked up at Honey. “Where are the kids?!”

The woman looked sober and she gestured back to the sailboat to go to their next stop. “Back in California.”

Stan was anxious the whole trip, though it only took a minute to get where they were going, but soon they were on the side of the road in front of a middle school. Stan watched on the boat as the bell rang and kids started pouring out. He kept his eyes peeled for his kids and he grinned at the sight of two brown-haired twins.

Dipper wore a long-sleeved blue flannel over his orange t-shirt to go with his gray pants. He still had bags under his eyes and he still had that lucky star hat to hide his birthmark, slouching a little with his backpack, but he was still here, a brilliant thirteen-year-old. Stan was a bit worried to see him looking so down and upset, but both men soon smiled as a young girl skipped out of the school.

Mabel had her long hair up with a scrunchie today and kept back with a headband, still wearing her sweaters, today wearing leggings with her skirt, and she grinned at her twin and punched his shoulder before hugging him. “Hey bro bro! Wanna go to the arcade today? I hear they got some new prizes!”

“Sure, sounds fun.”

“There, you see.” Stan sighed with relief as he watched the kids walk down the sidewalk, passing the boat. “They’re fine, they’re happy. They still got each other.”

Just then, some big buy came around the corner and bumped elbows with Dipper, making Stan’s nephew stop, and the bully shoved him onto the concrete.

“Dipper!” Mabel cried out and looked ready to punch the bully, but a guy came up behind her and grabbed her around the arms, pinning her. Another guy joined the bully and they cracked their knuckles as they gazed down at their prey.

“If it isn’t the best punching bag in town.” The bully sneered. “Feel like fighting back today, Dipstick. It’s no fun having a sparring partner that doesn’t fight back.”

Dipper growled and made a flimsy attempt to stand and punch his opponent, but the bully grabbed his wrist and punched him in the gut and kicked him down, leaving poor Dipper to huddle on the sidewalk while the two bullies hammered on him and Mabel fought to be free and help but was powerless against her capture.

“HELP! HELP! SOMEONE HE-” And Mabel’s mouth was covered, but she still wiggled and screamed.

Stan couldn’t watch anymore. He had purposely waited to give the kids a chance to fight back, but sometimes you just need a little help. “I’M COMING!”

“Stanley!”

Stan jumped off the boat and ran to the kids to pull the bully off his niece and scoop her into his arms, but his arms went right through them. He frantically tried to shove the bullies off his nephew, but again his body went right through them, like he was a ghost.

The woman stood by his side and said calmly, “I told you, no one can see or hear or feel us.”

“I can’t just stand by and do nothing!” Stan yelled at her face.

“Why not? Everyone else has. No one had ever taught them how to fight back when the world fights them, except…”

“Me.” Stan finished for her with a sigh. He made himself watch as the bullies continued to beat Dipper up, finally stopping after the ring leader kicked him in the jaw, and Mabel was let go as they ran off to celebrate their victory.

Mabel crawled to her twin’s side and checked over his injuries as he carefully sat on his knees. “Dipper! Dipper, are you okay? What hurts? Show me what hurts.”

“Ow, ow, ow,” He whined as Mabel touched his swollen eyes and busted lips. Dipper spat out a tooth and held his chest. “I think… I think they cracked a rib.”

“Let’s go home.” Mabel carried his backpack for him and had him lean on her as they wimped onward. “Mom can look at it and take you to the hospital.”

“I don’t get it.” Stan said as he watched his kids walk away. “They’re good kids! Isn’t anyone gonna stand up for them?! What about their parents?! What about their friends?!”

“They don’t have any friends.” Honey said sadly as they watched the twins. “The only friends they had ever made were in Gravity Falls, which they had never visited cuz there was no family there. And Shermie taught your nephew to keep your head down to stay out of trouble, which he’s trying to teach his kids. Unfortunately, it isn’t working out for them, and what used to be bad nicknames and gum in their hair has escalated to fights and notes to kill themselves.”

Stan bit his lip. Not those kids. Not his kids. He wanted to believe things would get better for them, but if no one taught them that they were worth something, that they could stand up for themselves, he didn't have much hope and he didn’t dare ask what their future looked like. But something didn’t sit right…

“Shermie,” He muttered without looking at the woman, still looking ahead. “Y-You said he taught his kid to keep his head down.”

“I did.”

“Why would he do that?” Stan asked. “I mean, sure he’s always been a lame square, but that’s really bad advice, even for him. He taught me and… He taught Ford to stand up for himself. Crampelter was terrified for weeks when Shermie found out he had been breaking Ford’s fingers.”

“He and Ford didn’t see much of each other.” Honey answered quietly.

Something clicked in Stan’s head. While all of this was interesting or whatever, there was only one person that Stan truly believed was better off without him. His better half, the genius, the loved son, the author of the journals, the criminal of the multiverse. His brother. Stan turned to her and asked quietly, “Where’s Ford?”

For the first time, the woman looked scared. She looked away and said, “You don’t wanna know.”

“Yes I do!” Stan bellowed and grabbed the woman by the shoulders. “Please! Where’s my brother?!” This gal had been scaringly quiet about the one person Stan cared the most about.

“Don’t do this to yourself, Stanley, let’s just get back on the boat…”

“Only if you take me to see my brother! Where. Is. Stanford?!” Stan demanded darkly, his eyes pleading the woman to make his request.

The woman sighed and Stan let her go.

They slowly got on the boat and it zipped to the docks of Glass Shard. Stan blinked a few times at being back to where he grew up for the first time in forty years. Dark clouds covered the sky. Not much had changed throughout the years, but why on Earth was Ford still here? They hopped off and planted their feet on the sand, and Honey led the way as she spoke.

“Stanford was still born with six fingers on each hand. Your mother tried to assure him that it only made him special, but Filbrick did a good job of making it clear that that wasn’t the case, and things only got worse when he went to school. You weren’t there to beat up bullies, you weren’t there to tell him that he was special, you weren’t there to help him dream of a future where they would sail away and he’d be free.”

“Yeah but Ford was always a little genius.” Stan interrupted as they left the sand for dirt, the beach slowly turning into a small patch of woods. “He’d win a handful of science fairs and spelling bees and then at least Pa was okay with acknowledging that they were related.”

“But Stanford didn’t win a handful of science fairs and spelling bees.” Honey corrected sadly. “Stanley, you were the only person in his childhood that made him think that he was actually worth something. You were the only one who made him shoot for the stars and believe that he was worth keeping around. Without you to give him confidence, Stanford never expressed his intelligence and therefore never allowed it to grow at all. He did okay in school, but he wasn’t the top student. He never participated in science fairs of sleeping bees or math competitions because he didn’t have enough confidence to put himself out there. Sure he was smart, but teachers weren't going bananas over him because no one, not even himself, knew his potential.”

It started to rain, but of course the two didn’t feel it or were affected by it. “So… he didn’t go to West Coast Tech?” Stan dared to ask as they walked deeper down the dirt path, oblivious to where they were as he was thinking this through.

“No.”

“But… I thought you said he did.”

“No, I said he never moved to Gravity Falls. He never felt home.”

“So… what happened to him? What did Ford end up doing with his life?”

Honey bit his lip and refused to meet Stan’s eye. They walked on and Stan finally realized where they were. He felt ready to throw up. He waited for his guide to speak.

“Much like Dipper and Mabel, things only got worse as he got older. He got to a point where Stanford was stealing Filbrick’s boos and he even started to hurt himself. It wasn’t enough. It was all too much for him. He… He…”

“No.” Stan’s voice cracked and he was terrified when the woman stopped and motioned to a tombstone that laid among the others in this graveyard. “No! You’re lying! He wouldn’t! He didn’t!” He yelled.

“I’m sorry, Stanley.”

Stan finally made himself read the rock. He fell to his knees at the words that shined through the rain. “Stanford Filbrick Pines. 1956-1970.”

“NO!” Stan screamed and punched the ground beneath him as he gritted his teeth and shut his eyes. “NO! HE WOULDN’T! HE DIDN’T!”

“Ma found him dangling from the ceiling. She was never the same after losing her baby.” Honey croaked. “He was only fourteen.”

“NO!” Stan shook his head as he ignored how wet his cheeks and eyes were now. “NO! He… He… He never needed me. He never wanted me around.”

“Yes he did.”

“You’re lying.”

“Stanley, listen.” The woman said firmly behind him. “You said it yourself that family needs each other. I know it’s hard to believe that you’re actually worth something when there’s a dozen voices in your head telling you otherwise, but just like how you need them, your family needs you. Your brother needs you.”

Stan listed his fists up from the dirt, his eyes on the tombstone without seeing. “I… I just thought he’d be… they’d be better off I hadn’t been around.”

“No one knows for sure how they change things or how much they really impact others. But you do. And even if you forget all of this, you know your family loves you enough to tell you that they need you.”

Stan snorted. “Yeah, but what’s keeping them from saying that outta pity?”

“You can’t let yourself think like that, Stanley, you just can’t.” Honey said firmly. “Your family loves you. Stanford loves you. He needs you, and if you don’t believe me, just take a look at what he’s like when you’re gone.”

“Wait what?”

Honey got on her knees beside him and showed him her golden watch. The face changed to a scene, like a tiny TV, and Stan started to find Ford back at the Stan O’ War II, kneeling beside his injured twin who laid more dead than alive on the couch. With tears streaming down his face Ford was wrapping a bandage around Stan’s head and feeling his heartbeat and checking that the bandages around his torso were well and secure.

“Stanley, Stanley please,” Ford begged as he took Stan’s hand and squeezed it. “Please don’t leave me. I need you, the kids need you. Please.”

“Whoa hey, I’m not going anywhere.” Stan said, but then his eyes grew wide and he looked up at Honey. “Am I?”

“I dunno.” She asked as she lowered her arm and smiled at him. “Do you wanna go?”

“Go where?”

Honey chuckled. “On.”

Stan blinked at her. “No. No, I don’t. If… If that knucklehead really wants me around, then I’ll stay.”

Honey blinked her eyes dry and stood up. “That’s what I like to hear. I’ll get you home.”

Stan stood up and followed her back to the boat. “By the way, honey, why’d you do all this for me? What, wanted to earn your wings?”

“No, this was pure self-indulgent.”

“Wait wut?”

~~~~~~~~~~

His head hurt. His side ached a little, but his head really hurt. That didn’t matter. He had no idea why, but he had to see his brother.

Stan forced his eyes open and found his vision blurry thanks to his glasses being folded on the end table. He smiled when he saw that Ford had fallen asleep by his side, kneeling beside the couch, holding his hand, and resting his head face-first into his own folded arms. Outside it was dark, which could mean it was seven in the morning of seven at night, given the fact they were up in the Arctic.

The younger, injured twin, snorted at his brother, which made the aged scientist sit up too quickly for it to be wise, wide awake, with his hair in a gray floof and his red eyes wide and alert.

“Stanley! Thank Moses!” He cried out and stood up to better look over him. “How do you feel? Any pain? How many fingers am I holding up?”

“Calm down, Sixer,” Stan chuckled weakly as he slowly tried to sit up, sensitive to the wound on his side. “My head hurts, but I’ll be fine with some painkillers, and you’re holding up two fingers like some dumb hippy.”

“Oh, thank goodness!” Ford hugged him around his shoulders tightly as his whole body trembled. “I know you showed no signs of a concussion and your wound is not nearly as bad as it could have been, but i didn’t know for sure if you would pull through or what I would do without you and…”

“Geez, relax, it’s okay, Stanford.” Stan shushed as he hugged him and rubbed his back. “M’fine, okay? I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good.” Ford said firmly and sat back, a hand still on his shoulder. “Don’t you ever think for a second that I don’t want you here with me, Stanley. I need you.”

“Yikes, where’s all this sappiness coming from, eh?”

Ford blinked at his twin and said slowly, “Y-You said you thought I’d be better off without you…”

Stan waved that away. “Ah, you say stupid stuff when you hit your brain too hard. I swear, Sixer, you’re stuck with me, as long as you’ll have me, anyways. Somebody’s gotta make sure you don’t kill yourself out here.”

Ford chuckled tiredly and shrugged. “I suppose you’re right.”

“I’m always right. Now do we have any stew left? I’m starving.”

[ninjakasuga]

Sonally Celebration Week, Year 3, Day 2: Mystery

Day two has come for the celebration of one of the best furry OTP’s ever~. @gojira007 ‘s celebration blog @boundforfreedomsonsal of Sonic and Sally continues and here’s my second entry. Enjoy all~

Sonsally Week, Year Three!!

Day 02: Mystery

Foreword: This episode is still set in the Archie-Verse depicted in my fics of last year and day one’s story. This one is set some years after the fall of Eggman, when peaceful times finally settled on Mobius for the first time in ages. Of course, peace doesn’t always equate to ‘easy’, especially when babysitting two spirited scamps.

“Sonia, Manic- WHERE THE FREAKING BLEEP ARE YOU?!!” Shouted an irate, and clearly frustrated blue hedgehog as his right eye twitched something horribly. Standing in the town-square of the rebuilt Knothole Village, his gaze shifting back and forth from the trees, and the various huts of the quiet village. While mostly destroyed during one of Dr. Eggman’s devastating attacks; the entire village was rebuilt as it was during the war era of fighting the original Robotnik. With a few Eggman era buildings kept, and one or two new additions. Knothole was mainly a tribute to the village that sheltered the survivors of the fall of the original Mobotropolis, and became home of the resistance that would become the Freedom Fighters. Mostly a standing all-may-come museum to pay homage to the place that started as a Royal Retreat/shelter, but became so much more. A few of the huts were still livable, home away from home for certain members of the Freedom Fighters who occasionally would return to Knothole with their families to celebrate and remember those days.

Today, it was host to a game of hide and seek, giving the two instigators of the game a plethora of hiding places. One that was driving the elder brother of Sonia and Manic Hedgehog, one Sonic the Hedgehog, former hero of Mobius, crazy!

After tapping his foot rapidly for a scant few seconds, Sonic cupped his hands together again and shouted as loudly as he could manage. “MANIC! SONIA! FOR BLEEPING FRACK’S SAKE YOU BETTER GET YOUR BUTTS OUT WHERE I CAN SEE EM’! AIN’T FUNNY NO MORE!” It really wasn’t, Sonic nor his lovely wife, had agreed to hide and seek, but his two younger siblings opted to begin a game without anyone’s consent.

A voice soon called to him, followed by familiar footsteps. “Is there a reason you’re using frack and bleep? Is that a new sibling code of some sort Sonic?”

Speaking of lovely wife’s, there she was. Turning to face his wife, Sonic shrugged with a sheepish expression. “It was censor myself or risk using words I don’t think Mom nor Dad would care for two nine-year-olds to repeat.”

“That is probably for the best.” Agreed Sally, with a tired sigh as a hand went to her rounded stomach. She wasn’t far enough along in her own pregnancy; her movements were not hampered; but the extra weight of the two passengers in her belly was sapping her energy. “Whew, I’ve just been walking but I feel ready to kick back.”

Concerned, Sonic walked over and touched her shoulder. “All the more reason I’m not too happy they started this ‘game’ when I made it clear you can’t be as play-happy as usual because you’re pregnant.”

Shaking her head, Sally reached over to place her hand over his, giving an assuring squeeze as she managed a smile. “They’re just kids, it’s alright Sonic. They probably just want to get some last playtime with us before I’m truly an invalid.”

Sonic had to admit she had a point but his ire was not fully dissolved. “Maybe, but this is still too much. Even Mom n’ Dad told em’ to not get carried away.”

Smirking, Sally lifted an eyebrow as she glanced at her husband. “Sonic, they’re ‘your’ siblings. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. There seems to be an innate sass-o-meter in your family. Pushing buttons seems to be something of a religious doctrine.”

Opening his mouth to counter, Sonic slowly shut it, frowning deeply. “... Fair nuff, but I still say you’ve rubbed off on them if we’re going for sass influence.”

“ME?!” Sputtered Sally, an incredulous frown, forming over her face. Beautiful blue, eyes narrowing almost dangerously. “How pray tell, do I count as a bad influence toward Manic or Sonia?”

Smirking widely as he got her goat, Sonic yanked the chain more, counting off with his fingers. “Well again, you’re the Queen of Sass and not just the Kingdom. When you gotta be right, you will argue til’ the cows come home. Plus you’re good at being playful when you want something, Manny’s baby-of-the-family routine is killer thanks to watching you. N’ Sonia’s all about emulating her Sis-in-law’s fancy mannerisms, and silver tongue. Just the other day she was in trouble and convinced Mom to let her off the hook light with a buncha big words she got from you.”

Almost mirroring Sonic, Sally opened her mouth, then closed it as she thought better of it. “...Touche’, but that doesn’t excuse the bad habits you’ve given them love-of-my-life.”

Laughing, Sonic gave her a big, if careful hug. Letting her have that one as, one it was true, and two, he knew jerking her around too much with hormones a-flame was a bad idea. “Of course, of course, but they also picked up on my coolness factor.”

“Truly…” Replied Sally in a dull, drawl that spoke volumes of how little she believed that. “I just hope our own bundles give us something of a break compared to these two. I can see why your parents are all-too-eager for us to babysit when we can.”

“Knowing us, they’ll drive us insane cuz they’ll be just like us in ways, but we’ll love em’ anyway.” Sonic mused, placing a hand to her belly and leaning in to kiss her gently. Sighing in a content manner, Sally melted into the kiss and hug, feeling a bit of the weight of impending motherhood ease off her shoulders to a degree.

Almost as if on cue, a duo of childish voices are heard uttering, “Eeeew gross!”

Instantly, both Sally and Sonic broke the kiss, angled their heads upward, and pointed as they both cried out in triumphant unison. “AH-HA! THERE YOU TWO SCAMPS ARE!”

“Aw crude!” Muttered Manic, as he and his sister clung to one of the large tree branches, quite a ways up that was connected to one of the tree house type huts.

“Well we gave them the ghost for a good twenty-minutes I’d say we won.” Stated Sonia in a rather faux-haughty manner. The more purple-blue of the two, whipped back her-pink hair? Wait, Sonia was blonde! Plus some of her fur looked more magenta-purple now?

In fact, why was Manic’s fur and quills more of a green-ish tinge than the light-blue they should be? Not to mention that punk-esque quill style... Eyes narrowing, Sonic let go of Sally, zipped into the hollowed out large tree with a hut built around the base. With the same speed, he charged up the ladder within the hollowed out tree, allowing him to come out at the point where the tree-house hut was, and lean out where the landing gave way to a natural, thick tree branch. 

“Oh no, you two did not!”

Putting on the best coy, innocent face he could, Manic twiddled his fingers together in a playful manner. “What’re you talking about Big-Bro?”

“Seriously Sonic, you need to use clear, concise words.” Snickered Sonia.

“You both dyed your hair and fur!” Sonic pointed between each sibling. “Mom’s gonna have kittens!” Growled their elder brother as his mind swam with images of a none-too-pleased Bernadette Hedgehog glaring at her son and daughter-in-law.

Arms crossed, Sally tapped her foot, in a manner not unlike her husband. “You two sneaks lost us to go and do the dye-jobs yourself didn’t you?”

“Maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe.” Both twins chorused.

Sighing Sally frowned more. “Manic, Sonia, you do realize your Mother and Father are going to tan the crap out of your hides. They both told you, neither of you could have such radical dye jobs until you were fifteen, thirteen at the earliest if you both proved responsible enough! Plus, Manic, sweetie, why are you intent on making yourself look like Scourge?!”

“Hey!” Manic cried indignantly, a pout forming on his lips. “I just like the color, it’s not my fault Sonic’s scrub of a doppelganger had the same color-job! It screams ‘me’! Plus I don’t have sharp teeth or those evil eyes like he does, plus my quills are cooler lookin!”

“I’ll give you that li’ bro, on the being cooler looking thing, but dam-er dang it!” Sonic grabbed his own head-quills, mussing them up some in frustration. “Urgh Mom n’ Dad ain’t gonna let us watch you two ever again if you pull crap like this again!”

“He’s right.” Sighed Sally, rather dramatically. “We’ll be seen as so irresponsible they will forbid us from ever seeing you again!” She put a hand to her heart, and the other against her head. Truly, piling on the dramatic flair. “They may even question if we’re fit to be parents ourselves and have our babies taken from us.”

While Sonia rolled her eyes, Manic’s went wide as panic took over his earlier nonchalant attitude. “R-really?! We don’t want that!”

“Manny, bro she’s trying to guilt us!”

“Well it’s working! I didn’t wanna get them in that deep of trouble!”

“Manic she’s the QUEEN!! Mom and Dad can’t do jack to her!” His (slighty) older twin argued, seeing her partner-in-crime was about to fold.

“Wanna bet?” Sonic crossed his arms, smirking fully as he saw the sliver of doubt in the two’s eyes. “Mom can be scary when she wants and Dad, Dad is aaaaaaaaaall about the ‘subtle, quiet big stick’ kind of approach.”

Now even Sonia was doubting if they’d gone too far, especially as it pertained to how much trouble this might land her and Manic. Maybe she underestimated her ability to talk her way out of trouble. “M-Maaaybe we got a little carried away?”

“You sure did you two scamps, now if you come with me down the tree, we might ‘might’ convince Mom and Dad to let you both stay the night, and we can wash out the dyes and treat your fur so they never notice.”

Nodding as they both climbed fast, but still safely across the branch to Sonic. The two younger hedgehogs cling onto his legs. “We give, we give!!”

“Smart choice!” Laughed Sally from the ground, smiling at the won tag-team victory of talking the kids into doing their bidding. “If you two behave onward, there might be my special ice cream sundaes after supper.”

“Really?!”

Maybe handling kids wouldn’t be so hard after all? Sally thought before speaking aloud to them. “Cross my heart!”

“N’ you know Sal’s promises are good as gold.” Quipped Sonic as he guided the two once they stood up towards the ladder down to ground level. “Also, expect to help do some chores as further punishment for this stunt.”

“What?! Oh come on big brother-!”

“Nope, nada, don’t even try to talk me down Sonia!” Sonic cut her off as he coaxed first Manic, then Sonia to climb down the ladder. “Sal’s gotta take it easy and I need help doing this and that.”

“But you guys got a staff at the castle to do stuff!” Pipped Manic, his voice echoing through the hollow tree.

“It keeps us honest to do our own chores.” Quipped Sonic, watching them both get halfway before he started down the ladder himself. “Plus if you want us to keep quiet about the dye-thing-.”

“Oh fine!” Both younger hedgehogs huffed, giving up arguing.

“Being a big brother has its perks.” Chuckled Sonic to himself as he made his way down. Maybe in a few years, Sally and he could return the favor and foist their own kids on Manic and Sonia to babysit. Oh the payback will be sweet!

[rohad93]

Moonlit Masquerade: Moonlit Forever After Pt 1

Finale and Part 15 of the Moonlit Masquerade Series

Luz woke slowly, bright sunlight shining on her face from the opened, stained glass window. She grumbled to herself, scrunching her face before turning over to snuggle into Amity. She frowned to herself when she found no warm fiancée and reached out, hand sliding across the sheets, searching, but found them empty and cold, she frowned before peeling an eye open to find the other side of the bed empty, devoid of Amity.

“Oh, right…,” she mumbled groggily and frowning. Amity had stayed with Willow last night so they wouldn’t see each other till tonight at the wedding. She grumbled and let her eye slide back closed, almost falling back asleep.

Her eyes popped open, grogginess falling away as she sat up in bed.

The Wedding!

Today is her wedding day!

She jumped out of bed and dressed quickly. Once she’s finished she stops and looks around at what has been her bedroom for the last three years, then her and Amity’s for three more. The room is barren save for the bed, her things for the ceremony, and some boxes sitting on the floor, they have already packed up all their things over the last week and moved most of it into the new house sitting just a short walk away. They decided to wait until after the wedding to move in, even though the house has been finished for over a month. Neither could bear to leave the owl house yet, knowing the time would come soon enough, and now it was here. She looks around at the bare walls a little sadly. It feels so final, even though she knows she will be back in this house many, many times from this day forward, even if it won’t be her house anymore, the Owl House will always be home. She carefully makes the bed for the last time before taking a deep breath and smiles as she walks out, passing the clothes hung up on the closet door in their garment bag, she wouldn’t get dressed in those till the last minute before leaving the house. She took the stairs two at a time before sliding into the kitchen.

“Buenos dia, mi familia!” Luz grinned brightly at Eda, Lilith, and King, sitting at the kitchen table. “Today is the day!” she declared as the Clawthorne sisters smiled back at her.

“Excited?” Lilith asked with a grin.

“Terrified actually, but also excited, yes.” she grinned, grabbing some apple blood out of the fridge before sitting down with them.

“Last chance to back out and run away to the knee and start life as a hermit,” Eda said with a grin that spoke of her teasing.

“Not on your life.” Luz grinned making Eda chuckle.

“Just checking.” Eda smiled at her fondly from across the table and Luz smiled back, looking around at them and knowing that there will be many more days like this again, but they will never be quite the same as this one. It’s sad even as it’s exciting, starting a whole new chapter of her life, with Amity as her wife.

“I’m kinda nervous just thinking about it, this time tomorrow I’ll be Luz… well, still Luz Noceda, but you know,” Luz chuckled.

“You’ll be Mrs. Luz Noceda, married to Mrs. Amity Noceda,” Lilith supplied, nodding and Luz’s stomach erupted in butterflies at that, the same way it did every time someone said it.

Amity Noceda

She grins stupidly to herself at the thought and Lilith and Eda share an amused look.

King sniffles, looking up at her from his breakfast.

“Do you have to go?” he blinks up at her with wide eyes and Luz smiled at him, picking him up and squeezing him gently, he lets her, squeezing back, burying his face in her chest.

“Yes, King, I do, but it’s okay. You can always come over to our house, and I’ll still be here all the time, me and Amity,” she assured the little demon, squeezing.

“It’s quite sad in a way.” Lilith smiled at her forlornly. “The end of an era, it won’t be us sitting here having meals as a family anymore.”

“It won’t be exactly the same,” Luz agrees. “But Amity and I will come over often, you can bet on it.” She set the demon down in his chair and he sniffles but nods. “You’re still gonna be my ring bearer tonight, right, boo-boo buddy?” Luz asks him and he jumps back up, nodding.

“No one will bear those rings better than the King of Demons!” he declares, clawed fist raised in the air, and luz smiles at him.

“I don’t doubt it.”

“You and Amity might be the Noceda’s after tonight, but you’ll both always be Clawthorne’s” Eda declared and Lilith nodded in agreement. Luz smiled at them, truly touched by that.

“I could probably convince Amity to let us be the Noceda-Clawthorne’s.” She grinned.

“Aw, that’s too much of a mouthful, Kid, but I appreciate it.” Eda smiled at her.

They eat breakfast in comfortable silence, pancakes, and enjoy this last breakfast that is not the last, but it’s the last one that will ever be like this again.

Luz pulls out her scroll and taps Amity’s contact and types out a quick message.

‘Good morning, my soon to be wife! Can’t wait to see you, mi amor. <3’

She slipped it back into her pocket and looked up at everyone.

“Welp, the caterers, and stuff are in charge of getting everything set up tonight for the reception at the school, and the rest of the wedding party promised to get the chairs and stuff put up at the tree, so I guess I have a while to kill before I have to go pick up Mami. You guys wanna do something? One last unmarried, family hoorah?” she looked around the table.

Eda and Lilith looked at each other curiously before a grin broke out across both their faces.

Luz blinked.

~ ~ Amity yawned as she slowly rolled over in bed, immediately reaching for the warm body she’s so used to and is disappointed when she finds only cold sheets. Her eyes slide open and she’s met with an unfamiliar room and remembers she’s at Willow’s place, while Luz had stayed at home to spend a final day as a resident of the owl house with the others before tonight. She frowns, sitting up, it was strange, sleeping alone after almost never doing so for the last three years. Even during the war when they were out in the field they would curl up together in a tent or even on the ground to rest. Not waking up with Luz’s gentle breath in her ear or her arm wrapped around her; she doesn’t like it. Though she knows that after today it won’t happen again.

She slid out of bed and got dressed, passing her dress bag hanging on the wall as she walked out into the living room, checking her scroll, and seeing Luz's message. She smiled to herself and tapped out one back.

'I can't wait to see you either, querida. Xoxo'

Willow, Viney, and her sister were standing around the kitchen when she walked in.

"There's one of the brides to be!" Emira grinned.

“Hey!” Willow looked up from the stove, smiling.

“Mornin’.” Viney nodded with a smile.

“Good morning.” She smiled at them as she sat at the table.

“Are you ready for tonight?” Viney asked.

“Yes ...and no,” she sighed, running her hands through her loose auburn hair. “I’m nervous, but excited too…,” she mumbled and Viney chuckled as Willow and Emira set plates on the table and they all sat to eat.

“Nervous? You're marrying the biggest dork in the Boiling Isles,” Emira snorted. “Granted, an incredibly brave, sweet, and powerful dork, but a dork nonetheless.”

“Maybe, but I love that, sweet, brave dork.” Amity smiled to herself as the others grinned. “I want tonight to be… and I hate this word; perfect,” Amity hummed, playing with her eggs.

“I’m sure that no matter what happens it will be perfect.” Willow smiled at her.

“Even if something blows up, it’ll still be perfect for you two, cause at the end of the night, come hell or high water, you’re gonna be married,” Viney agreed.

“And let’s be real, it’s Luz, so the chances of an explosion are not as low as we might hope,” Emira laughed.

“Don’t say that…,” Amity moaned as they laughed.

“Did you ever finish writing your vows?” Willow asks as they eat.

“Ah, yes!” She jumped up and hurried into Willow’s guest room before coming back with a stack of paper. She set it and her pen on the table and the other three looked at it questioningly. Emira set her fork down and reached over to pick up the hefty stack of papers and flipped through it, eyebrows drawn between her eyes as she read some, flipping through the many pages covered in her sisters neat, sloping penmanship before she finally looked up at Amity, who was flushed. She knows what’s coming. She went overboard, she knows.

“These are your vows?” Emira blinked holding up the literal sheath of paper.

“Yes…” her cheeks darkened.

Emira, Viney, and Willow share a look.

“It’s an essay…” Viney cocks a brow.

“This is a book…,” Willow says, failing to hide her amusement.

“Mittens… you’ve written a manifesto of your love for Luz…,” she says, flipping through the pages with a laugh.

“I got going and then found I had a lot to say…,” Amity mumbled, face hot.

“Obviously,” Viney barked a laugh.

“I’m sure everything in here is super sweet and cute, sis, but we don’t have all night for you to harangue about why Luz is the most thoughtful and wonderful person who ever lived in any realm.” Emira grinned knowingly at her making Viney laugh harder and Willow coughed, unconvincingly into her hand.

“I know…,” Amity whined, resting her head in her hands. “I can’t figure out how to cut it down…,” she mumbled.

“Let’s try this…” Emira took a blank piece of paper from the bottom and ripped it in half and slid it across to Amity. “Only what you can fit on this,” she said.

“That’s not nearly enough space…” Amity frowned looking down at the half sheet of paper.

“It is, only the really important things, the things you really want to tell her tonight. It should fit on this slip of paper perfectly,” Willow agrees.

“Yeah, you have the rest of your life to wax poetic to her about why she’s the best thing since sliced bramble wheat bread.” Emira nodded. “And if you actually want to be married before tomorrow morning, you need to cut it down.” she smirked as Amity scowled at her.

“I have thirty snails that say Luz forgot to write vows,” Viney piped up over her toast.

“I’m not taking that bet,” Willow smirked, if there’s anyone who knows Luz nearly as well as Amity, it’s Willow.

“I will, my dear sister-in-law can be just as sappy as Mittens.” Emira grinned and Amity frowned at the couple as they shook hands.

Luz would never..., that's what she wants to say, but Amity knows Luz, knows she can be as unpredictable as the ocean. Whether or not she remembered to write her vows is a toss-up, yet Amity can't find it in herself to be annoyed by this, it was all part of Luz's charm. She wrote as much on page five of her own vows.

"So!" Emira starts, pushing the slip of paper and pen toward her. "What do you really, really want to tell Luz tonight when you promise to be her partner in love, insanity, and anarchy for the rest of your lives?" Her sister asks with a grin and Amity chewed her bottom lip and picks up the pen, but she doesn't hesitate, the words come easy, and before she knows it the paper is filled. She reads it over a few times before sliding it back across the table to the other three.

Emira picks it up and the other two look over her shoulders as they read. Emira bites her lip as her eyes glaze over. Viney's mouth hangs open and Willow just smiles and they all look up at her.

"Well damn…," Emira says thickly at last.

~ ~

“Faster, faster!” King squealed from Luz’s shoulders as they sped through the air on her staff.

“Whoo!” Luz whooped as she dived past Eda and Lilith on their own staves. “I know you two are faster than that or are you that old now?” she goads as she and King fly past the sisters. “So much for the ‘Mighty Clawthorne sisters’,” she laughed and King cackled.

“Oh, those are fightin’ words!” Eda shook a fist as she took off with a wicked grin, gaining on Luz. Lilith hot on her heels, scowling as they zipped between the bones of the Isles.

Luz laughed as she flew through the air, barrel rowling and flipping as Eda and Lilith chased her, their laughter echoing through the air as they chased each other through the sky.

Eda and Lilith pulled to a stop next to each other, hanging in the air and laughing as they watched Luz shoot straight up into the sky.

“There she goes.” Eda grinned, pulling out her scroll and tapping the record button, as she held it up.

“What are you doing?” Lilith cocked a brow at her sister.

“Nothing…,” Eda said far too innocently.

Luz pulled her staff straight up, rising higher and higher and higher into the sky, wind whipping at her face and hair., the Isles growing smaller and smaller as she climbed into the open blue sky.

“Ready, Buddy?” Luz grinned as the air thinned around them.

“I’m the King of Demons, I was born ready!” King screeched, hunkering his body against her back, claws dug into her shirt.

Luz allowed the magic of her staff to fade and she slowed as gravity’s grip took hold and pulled her back toward the ground. She let herself go limp, save her grip on her staff, and started to fall, she let it drag her for a second before flinging herself into a few spins and flips

King’s exhilarated scream is swallowed up by the howling winds as she righted herself and held her arms out, whizzing toward the ground nose first and closed her eyes, feeling the cold wind whip at her face and clothes.

At this moment, as she plummeted back toward the earth, she can only think about how incredibly lucky she is that she chased Owlbert through the portal door six years ago.

There were moments that weren't so magical, naturally.

Sometimes she and Amity fought, argued over stupid things and frustrated each other, or she’d have bitter disagreements with members of the covens about the politics of the Isles and how things should be under the new order, and sometimes, even though she tried to avoid it, and though not often, she would still get anti-human rhetoric from some witches and demons.

There had also been the truly dark days of course.

She’d hurt her mother, she knows and feels guilty about it, because as much as she wishes she hadn’t, and that she wanted to take that pain away, she knows that she wouldn’t change the past, and that eats at her some nights, the whispering of selfishness in the back of her mind, but she’s seen and lived through enough things to know that there's no point living a life of regret; it changes nothing.

Lilith had kidnapped her, tried to kill her, and captured Eda, making her lose her magic and she’d destroyed the portal trying to right her wrong and save her mentor.

Eda and Lilith lost their magic, which took them a long time to come to grips with. Sometimes they had been bitter and angry about it, and Luz tried her best to help them adjust in those first few years, showing them how to do things the non-magic way, or the human way as she called it, to make it seem a little less dreary; having their staffs helped.

Then the war had come and they had killed and struggled to survive for two years, feeling like the fighting would never end. Blood and fire had drowned the Isles in so much red Luz still saw it in her nightmares. At times she could still feel the dried, flaking liquid under her fingernails and smell the metallic tinge in the air mixed with smoke and ash that choked her on the days her PTSD reared its ugly head.

As dark as those days had been, they are shadows in her memories, drowned out by the bright light of the last six years spent on the Isles and they are the farthest thing from her mind today.

She met Eda and King, started learning magic, then she met two incredible, lifelong friends, she knew would always be by her side in the form of Willow and Gus, among the others she knew she could call on anytime, day or night and they would come running.

She’d fought a war and changed The Boiling Isles forever, for better or for worse.

She’d met her best friend and fallen head over heels in love with her. There’s nothing she wouldn’t do for Amity, and she knows she is loved back just as fiercely, even when they argue, they always make up quickly, they learned long ago to just talk it out.

After fourteen years of feeling like she was an outsider looking in, a character in the wrong play, trying desperately to blend into the scenery; she had finally found the place where she belonged.

She feels weightless.

“Luz!” King shrieks in her ear.

She smiled, opening her eyes as the ground was rushing up to meet them.

She twirled her staff beneath her, feet planted on it and with one hand she jerked upward, pulling them out of their free fall, arcing out of the dive a scant fifteen feet from the ground and Mochuelo’s wings flap as they soar back into the sky toward Eda and Lilith with loud whoops of joy.

“I’ve never felt so alive!” King is squeaking, breathless.

“Nice, Luz,” Eda laughed, tapping a few buttons on her scroll before slipping it back into her hair.

“Quite the graceful maneuvering.” Lilith smiled and Luz only grinned, planting herself back down on the staff.

They hang around, drifting lazily through the air and enjoying the scene of the Isles sprawled out beneath them in all its glory. The bones of the Titan laying still and quiet in eternal slumber, belying the constant hustle and bustle far below. The sun has moved to the western side of the sky and Luz knows that she needs to go pick up her mother. More than half the day has slipped through their fingers, having felt more like only a couple of hours then the closer to six or seven it’s been.

“I need to get Mami,” she finally announces and they know it’s time to go home.

“Right, we gotta get ready too, especially Lily since she officiating the whole shebang.”

Lilith nods and they fly back toward the owl house.

~

Amity and the other girls spend the day primping to the extreme at Emira's insistence.

She would be fine just sitting at Willow's house and hanging out as they prepped but she gives in quickly when Emira offers to pay for all of them, her wedding gift to her sister, who can’t refuse her gift.

The Boiling Isles version of a spa is very similar to the ones in the human world according to Luz, though she admits she’d only ever seen them in shows, she’d only been fourteen when she’d come to the Isles so she’d never actually been to one, but she said the ones in the Isles were pretty similar to what she’d seen, with a few key differences. Such as massages being given by multi-tentacled demons, which was where Emira and Viney had gone, but she digressed.

“This was really nice of your sister,” Willow hummed, sinking further down into the warmth of the hot tub.

“It really was, even if it was unnecessary…,” she agreed.

“Speak for yourself.” Willow looked at her and Amity laughed.

“Has helping with the wedding been that taxing?” Amity cocked her head and grinning.

“No, not that, recently I’ve been getting a visitor to my shop…,” Willow mumbled.

Amity looked at her questioningly.

“Boscha,” Willow grumbled out a name that had caused her nothing but dread during their Hexside years.

"Boscha!?” Amity jerked up. “I haven’t thought about her in a long time… she’s been to your shop?” Willow nodded. “She hasn't been bothering you or anything has she?” Amity frowned and Willow barks a laugh.

“As if she could,” Willow smirked and it’s well deserved. Amity had watched her childhood friend take out scores of loyalists over the two years the war had raged. Last she had heard Boscha’s family had sequestered her away from all the fighting, choosing neutrality. Cowardice, Amity called it, but the result was the same, Boscha was a gnat on the wall compared to Willow.

“So what does she want?”

Willow sighed.

“She comes in twice a week, tries to make small talk with me, buys some flowers or plants and leaves,” she said. “… she apologized, for all the things she did to me when we were kids, and wants to make amends for our school years.”

Amity doesn't know what to say to that.

“She seems different… but I don’t know, after all the things she did to all of us, it’s hard to brush that aside even if she really is different. Hell, she almost destroyed you and Luz.”

“It did end up working out for the best in the end, Luz and I would never have had the courage to be public with our relationship if we hadn’t been forced into the light like that; we were too afraid.”

“You’re condoning what she did?” Willow asks incredulously.

“Absolutely not, I’m just saying that it happened and it ended up working out in our favor, nothing more.” Amity shook her head.

“I don’t know, I’ll think about it.” Willow hummed.

“How’s the water, girls?” they looked up as Emira and Viney walked over.

“Great, how was your massage?” Amity asked.

“Great, I don't know what Luz is talking about, you just can’t give a good massage if you only have two arms.” Emira shook her head as they slipped in beside the other two.

They sat chatting a while before Willow’s scroll dinged and she sat up out of the water and drew a spell circle, the device popping into existence.

“Oh, Eda sent me something…” she tapped the video and watched, the only sound coming from the scroll was the sound of static and wind but a grin was breaking out across Willow’s face.

“What, what did she send you?” Amity asked.

“I don’t know if I can show you, you’re not supposed to see Luz until tonight.” Willow hummed, her grin was teasing, and to say Amity’s interest was piqued was an understatement.

“I think that only counts for in person, I mean, her scroll background is a picture of the two of them together after all,” Emira hummed.

“Checks out,” Viney nodded in agreement.

Willow turned the scroll around to show them the video from Eda of Luz on her staff, climbing higher and higher into the sky, King on her back.

“Oh, we’ve done this before!” Viney said.

“What is she doing?” Emira asks.

“It’s called free falling, watch.”

Finally, Luz reaches the apex of her climb, and then she’s falling and Amity’s chest lurches automatically but relaxes as she watches her fiancee's bright grin as she spins and flips through the air before just letting herself bolt rapidly toward the ground, past the camera, looking serene and at peace.

‘Is she going to splatter?’ Eda’s voice comes out over the speaker and they hear Lilith grumble in reply.

‘Amity would kill us both…’

That makes them laugh.

Finally, just before she meets the ground, Luz pulls her feet atop the staff and pulls up in a graceful arch, flying back toward Eda as she and King whoop with excitement, and then the video ends.

“She is a riot…” Emira smirked.

“Luz in a nutshell,” Willow laughs and Viney nods.

Amity just smiles to herself.

Titan, does she love that crazy woman.

When they get back to Willow’s they start getting dressed

Amity tried hard to follow Luz’s advice and not be so controlling about the things that didn’t matter and let her three bridesmaids pick their own outfits for the evening, though she is secretly glad that the three seem to have at least coordinated with each other and are wearing the same burgundy colored dress, much darker than her own, but in the same family, so she’s happy. She wonders, not for the first time that day, what Luz and the boys picked out.

“Have any of you seen what Luz and the boys are wearing? I don’t want to know what, I'm just curious.” They all looked at each other and shook their heads.

“I doubt they coordinated with each other.” Willow planted a hand on her hip and sighed.

“Well, this could be interesting…” Viney grinned, combing out her hair.

“So long as my future wife is not dressed as a werewolf, it’s fine,” Amity hummed to herself as she curled her hair into loose ringlets, making the others laugh.

“I’m surprised you got Bump to let you have the reception at Hexside,” Emira says.

“Really?” Willow looks at the older woman amused. “Amity and Luz were both top of their tracks, and became the two most famous witches of the war, especially after they killed Belos, they’re legendary Hexside Alumni, it’s great press for the school, being able to say they got married there.”

“We're not getting married there, we’re just having the after-party there,” Amity reminded. “And he offered it to us when we invited him.”

“Wha- really?” Emira laughed. “I shouldn’t be surprised really, you were always a teacher’s pet,” Emira teased and Amity huffed.

“I’d also remind you that Hieronymus Bump was a member of the rebellion and Luz and I fought side by side with him on many occasions, he even saved Luz’s life once. We wanted to invite him, he was our headmaster as kids, but he’s our friend now.”

“Sometimes forgot how powerful old Bump really is,” Viney added her two cents. “Still, nice of him to let you use the school courtyard, especially since it’s so close to the grom tree.”

They chatted about their old headmaster and school as they went about getting ready.

[harryskalechips]

It’s all about connections Part 2

A/N I really had fun writing this one! Thanks for reading and enjoy!

It’s been 3 months since Y/N and Harry broke up. Now, Olivia is trying to worm her way in and fully break off their connection. 

Word count 3226

Part 1

Let’s backtrack a bit. Harry used to be in love with Oliva in high school. She was perfect. She was smart, pretty, funny… he was head over heels for her. But the moment, she chose to move to the United States, Harry was left by himself to attend his local university. What he didn’t realize was that Y/N, Olivia’s cousin was going to be seeing him… a lot. 

3 years. 3 solid years of peace for Y/N. She was no longer competing with her cousin to satisfy her parents and she was finally in a serious relationship with Harry. The long drives home, the late night cuddles. He was everything she wanted but that was until she found out he only showed an interest in her in the first place because of Olivia.

~

Ring ring

Y/N quickly shoves the mascara wand back in the bottle as she leans to her side to pick up her phone on the bed. It was Olivia.

“Hey, Harry and I are in front of your house. You ready?” Olivia’s voice was utter velvet through Y/N’s speaker. It almost made Y/N stare at herself longer in the mirror. Maybe, I should change my outfit? She hates the inner voice in her head. 

Ever since Harry and her broke up and decided to stay as friends, Olivia managed to squeeze herself in between the two when she moved back from Florida. It’s been three months and although Harry never showed or spoke about having interest in Oliva, Y/N couldn’t help but feel second best. Goddammit even her voice is pretty. It’s not like Y/N smoked 3 packs a day but Olivia was like the big bright moon that everyone notices.  All she was is the little star that no one cared about unless she was falling. 

“Yeah, alright I’m coming down.” Y/N ends the call as she steps behind her pink curtain to peak through her window. She specifically gazes down at Harry’s car to see him resting on the side door laughing with Olivia. Maybe, since you’re so in love with her, you guys can go on your own little date. Y/N makes a little rat face as her head tilts a bit side to side in annoyance. 

“In the back!” Olivia smiles sweetly as she opens her window and gestures to her cousin to open the other door. Y/N nods with a tight lip as she locks the front door of her house and sets herself in Harry’s car. 

His range rover. It’s a pretty expensive car to have as a university student but Harry’s family was well off. It’s not like it mattered to Y/N. She could be in any car of his as she would watch him drive. 

Her eyes casually glance at the console in the middle and she gets mini flashbacks of the nights he would drive her home. How his hand would rest on her thigh. How he would laugh and smile as they shared their day with one another. His hand playing with hers as he stopped, waiting for the light to turn green. Now, here she was sitting in the backseat while he was in the front with the girl he was “madly” in love with.

“So before classes start again, I was thinking why don’t we go on a hike!” Olivia exclaims as Harry and Y/N just stare at her with wide eyes. This is how their new trio worked. Olivia made the plans, Harry would swing by to pick her and Y/N up and she would share the activity of the day as a surprise. 

It used to be so simple though. Harry would drive to Y/N’s and he would cuddle her for maybe a couple minutes and then he would watch her get ready for their date. At least, they both knew where they were going the day before.

“Olive, I’m wearing my skinny jeans. How do you expect me to go hiking? (Fratboy!Harry) Y/N tries to hide her discomfort as she hears his old nickname for Olivia come off his lips.

“You’ll be fine H. It’s only like a 10 minute hike and then we’ll be at the top of this really nice cliff looking over lake Superior.” Luckily, Y/N chose to wear her tights and a basic top. She wouldn’t want to be the sweatiest one of the three.

“Should I go back inside to get some water bottles?” 

“No, I packed our food and drinks!” Olivia turns back and laughs. She reaches over for Harry’s phone in the cup holder as she casually unlocks it. “Lemme just put in the address and we are all set to go!” Harry and Olivia must’ve been hanging out together without Y/N, how else can Olivia just take Harry’s phone and unlock it! 

~

“Here take my hand, let me help you up.” Harry reaches down to Y/N. Currently, they were 15 minutes into the 10 minute walk Olivia mentioned when they were driving here. They were in Pukaskwa Conservational park. It truly offered a beautiful sight but the trail Olivia chose leading to the cliff was about 30 minutes.

“Thanks.” Y/N smiles at him as she steps on the rock to grab his hand. Olivia was already with Harry, looking around at the trees. 

“Y/N, I got up here just fine. Maybe, you should hit the gym again.” Olivia teases as she walks beside Harry again. He wanted to speak up for Y/N but he bit his tongue. All he knew was Y/N did not need to go to the gym. She’s already fit. He turns around to see Y/N following right behind them as they continue to walk. Her bangs messily stuck to the side of her temples due to the late transition of summer going into autumn. She kept her eyes on the floor as she swung her teal water bottle back and forth. She is so pretty. Harry thought to himself.

 Olivia catches him off guard as she wraps her arm around his. It wasn’t too shocking for him. She used to do that throughout high school and she’s been doing it quite frequently too lately. Olivia smiles at him as she continues to walk while he follows her. 

~

“You would think to catch a pretty view like this, it would take only 10 minutes but it actually took 30.” Y/N dryly laughed as she stood at the edge of the cliff at a safe distance. Olivia was sitting on the blanket eating a bite of the pre packed salad in her plastic container while Harry sat next to her, writing something in his journal. 

“Stop complaining.” Olivia laughs as she turns around to see Y/N walking towards them to sit on the blanket. “This is nice, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah.” Y/N leans herself back on her hands as she looks at the sky with her shades on.

“What’s in that journal?” Olivia leans forward to check what Harry is writing in it. 

“Oh, he likes to draw.” Y/N replies for him.

“Yeah, Y/N gave it to me for our 2nd anniversary. I’ve been using it since.” He cheekily smiles at Y/N as she gives a soft smile back. 

“I never knew you liked to draw H. Can I see?” Olivia excitedly places her salad on the floor. 

“Erm, no. Kinda private.” He shyly pulls away from her. The only person who has ever seen his drawings was Y/N. 

“That’s alright.” Olivia smiles as she gives an apple to Y/N. “So who’s Evan?” She smirks at her as she takes a new bite of her salad.

“Evan?” Harry speaks up as he puts away his journal. He wasn’t finished his drawing but this topic seemed far more important “The guy who kept offering you rides last year?”

“Yeah.” Y/N bites into her apple. “He’s just a friend. Valerie and Mika have been busy so I’ve been hanging out with him.” She couldn’t help but watch Harry scoff.

“Olivia and I are here you know.”

“Well, you two hang out by yourselves. Why can’t I hangout with someone new?” Harry had his mouth parted a bit as he watched the pretty girl in front of him snap. Y/N probably thinks something is going on between them.

“Y/N, I swear when Harry and I hang out, we always consider inviting you. It’s just… well- You two broke up a couple months ago and I know Harry longer than you have. I just want to catch up with him. It’s been four years!”

“I never said I was mad about it. Harry brought it up first.” Harry couldn’t tell if Y/N was looking at him due to the shades she was wearing. Unfortunately, he couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous that she’s finally moving on. 

~

“Ow, fuck!” Y/N sits her butt down on the dusty trail. They’ve been walking for 6 minutes on their way back to Harry’s car but it seemed like she must’ve twisted her ankle or something. 

“Hey, you alright?” Harry leaves Olivia’s side as he walks back towards Y/N. He crouches beside her as he takes her ankle into his hands. 

“It just hurts, I think I slipped on a twig.” He couldn’t help but laugh at clumsiness. “What? Don’t laugh!” She slaps his arm as he stands up.

“Alright, on my back you go.” He turns around and crouches in front of her. “Olive, mind carrying the bag now? Y/N fell.” Olivia slowly walks back towards them. 

“Oh you broke your leg? Are you okay?” Olivia takes the bag and watches Harry adjust her cousin on his back. 

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“I thought you lost something so I kept walking.” She lets down her hair as she picks up the bag. “Did you slip on purpose so Harry can finish the trail for you?” Olivia teases as she walks beside Harry once again as they continue to walk. 

“No.” Y/N’s eyes widen as she pulls her cheek off of Harry’s shoulder. 

“It’s alright.” Harry smirks as he holds onto the back of Y/N’s thighs tighter. He could almost feel her legs clench as his hands went a bit higher.

 “Maybe, next time we go on a hike, Harry can give me a piggyback too.” Olivia jokes as she opens her water bottle to take a sip. “Obviously kidding but I have to walk down and you don’t? Lucky.” 

~

“Where are we heading?” Harry asks as he takes off his shirt and starts the car. Not only was today a warm day but after carrying Y/N down the trail for 20 minutes, he couldn’t help but feel very hot. Funny thing is, he couldn’t tell the two girls in the car with him had very red cheeks. 

“Can we come back to mine?”  Olivia questions as she licks her lips and asks Harry. “I have some drinks. We can hang out on the patio.” Harry turns around to look at Y/N. She was sitting horizontally with an ice pack the park staff gave her. 

“You alright with that, love?” Harry bites his lip as he watches her. It was an accident to call her that.

“Yeah, alright.” Y/N was too shy to reject Olivia’s offering. Especially since she didn’t want to feel like a burden to Harry since he would have to drive her back. 

~

It’s around 9 PM and after a box of pizza, the trio sat around the little bonfire Olivia had past her patio. “Do you like your new house?” Y/N asks as she roasted a marshmallow talking to her cousin. Harry was just glaring at the fire while Olivia was taking sips of her beer. 

“Yeah. it’s bigger than the other two houses I’ve lived in.” She glances at Harry. “It’s nice to be back though. This is where I should’ve been the last four years.”

“Yeah, we missed you around here.” Y/N smiles. It wasn’t really a lie. As much as she felt overshadowed by Olivia, she was still one of her best friends. 

“Oh, the lights turned off.” Olivia glares at the windows from her house. “I should go get a plastic bag so we can clean up our mess.” She pauses a bit before looking at the boy across from him. “Urm, Harry, can ya come with me?” She sits up and waits for him. Why does she need Harry?

“Okay.” He glances at Y/N eating her marshmallow. 

“We will be right back. I just need Harry to help me grab the boxes at the top of our cabinets. It’s easier for him to grab one than for me to get a stool.” 

Y/N just nods as she watches the fire. It didn’t matter what Oliva told her. It was suspicious that she needed Harry to grab some stupid box of bags. 

2 minutes turned into 4 minutes. 4 minutes turned into 10. 

Curiosity killed the cat as Y/N stood up to enter the house as well. She was wondering what was taking them long. She stepped into the dark hall to the kitchen only to hide near the doorway as the bright kitchen lights were on Olivia and Harry. 

“Olivia, you’re crazy.” Harry whispers as he pushes Olivia away. He had a frustrated look on his face as he looked at the blonde haired girl. 

“Haz, come on. We liked each other in high school. Why can’t we be together? You even said you were madly in love with me!” 

“Yeah I was but not anymore. I don’t see you that way!” He combs his hand through his hair. 

“Why because of Y/N? Her mom told my mom what you did to her. You wanted to see me again.” She rests her hand on Harry as she steps closer. 

“I dated your cousin. You should know I’m off limits now.” 

“Maybe that makes me want you more.” And with that, she leans in to kiss him. Harry out of shock puts his hand on her waist to push her off of him in a quick second

“Glad to see you guys found the garbage bags.” Y/N steps in as she throws the wrapped bag of marshmallows on the counter. “Also great to see you guys professing your love to each other...again.” Y/N bitterly comments as she turns around to leave the house.

“Y/N, wait.” Harry pulls away from Olivia. Why is Y/N always catching him with her at the wrong time?! “Olivia, don’t call me....again. I have to get her home.” He walks away to chase after his ex.

“Hey, where are you going?” He steps outside into the backyard as he watches Y/N put on her hoodie that he had in his car from a couple months back. 

“I have to go home. Is Olivia going to put out the fire or you?” She asks without looking at him. Instead, she’s already tapping away on her phone.

“Olivia.” He answers as he walks towards her. “I’m giving you a ride home. You know that right?” 

“Really, no it’s okay.” She shakes her head as she unlocks the gate. “Wouldn’t want to interrupt your little kissing session.” Harry takes her phone and closes the app before giving it back to her. 

“Come on Y/N. No uber. You’re coming with me.”

~

She was sitting beside him in the front like the old times as he navigated through Y/N’s dark neighbourhood. Throughout the whole ride, she was silent and he wanted nothing more but to put his hand back on her thigh because it belonged there.

He stops the car a few houses from her’s. Harry wanted to make sure, she wouldn’t just leave his car without him talking to her first. He turns off the engine and faces her. He could notice her teary eyes as she had her arms crossed. 

“You know I care about you right.” He whispers to her in the dark. He pauses briefly before rambling on. “I met you again when we were 18 at some house. You were really quiet but I noticed you talked a lot to Mika and Valerie during the parties that Mitch hosted. I remember catching eyes with you the first time. You were wearing a little naughty tube tank and those tight black jeans I adore you in. You flashed me a smile and I thought to myself, wow is that Y/N? She’s really pretty.” Harry leans his head on the head rest. 

“It’s hard for me to tell the difference between love and infatuation but the moment we broke up, it was different from the way I felt when Olivia told me she was moving to the States.” Y/N lets her arms down as she plays with her nails. 

“H. I get it. You love her. I was just a rebound.” Y/N shrugs her shoulders. Of course, he was infatuated with her and he was in love with Olivia.

“No. Not true. I’m in love with you. High school Harry didn’t notice high school Y/N but the Harry who is beside you right now does. I love you.”

“After Olivia practically kissed you and begged you to be with her? She’s your dream girl.” Harry just rolls his eyes as he takes her hand into his. 

“A dream isn’t a fixed variable. Things change that dream. You changed that dream.” He watches her fingers play with his. After all, it wasn’t like Y/N was mad at him anymore. She was just hurt that she had to see her cousin try to steal Harry from her. “You’re my dream girl. You used to be mine but now it’s just another dream I wish would come true.”

“I’m sorry I broke up with you. She  mimics his position. “I was hurt about your confession. Why couldn’t you tell me?”

“I know how you feel about her, Y/N. I didn’t want to make you feel less or a rebound. I’m not lying. I may have gotten excited that you would see her again before any of us do but I was and still am very much interested in you.”

“Okay.”

“Would you come back to me? Be my girlfriend again?”

“I don’t know. Are you trying to get Olivia jealous again? It worked the first time.” Y/N jokes as Harry moves his chair back so she can cross over the console to straddle him. 

“It’s probably going to work again but I want nothing to do with her. I only want you, baby.”

“Mhm. Are you going to kiss me with that mouth of yours?” She teases him as she squints her eyes. Harry eagerly reaches forward to grab the neck of her hoodie so he can harshly rub his lips. “Not my fault okay!” He rubs his lips harder on the fabric that smells like her. “She kissed me out of nowhere. I had to push her off me.”

“Alright.” Y/N rolls her eyes as she kisses him. 

“You know I would love to love to take you right here but I was thinking about going to your bedroom while your parents are asleep. I wanna fuck you properly. What do you think?” Y/N quickly pushes herself off him to sit back in her seat. Her eyes were wide as she heard what he said. 

“What are you waiting for? Drive!”

[lennydaisy]

SWAN SONG || The Walking Dead || CHAPTER TWO.

‘You have to trust that every friendship has no end, that a communion of saints exists among all those, living and dead, who have truly loved God and one another.

You know from experience how real this is.  Those you have loved deeply and who have died live on in you,  not just as memories but as real presences.’

HENRI NOUWEN

                       The Walking Dead.

      Season 1-?

                                       FEM OC! and ?

Hope you like it :)) and here is the link to CHAPTER ONE!

My home is nothing but radiant. It's a place that is constantly filled with smiles and laughter and sometimes the occasional tear, but no matter what we get through it because we are a family. It's filled with so many memories; like when Corey and I tried to make mom a cake for her birthday and ended up spending her birthday at the hospital because Corey somehow got a teaspoon stuck up her left nostril, or when I came home from school claiming to have a new pet. My mom thought it would have been a snail or a worm, like something normal, but no I was a bit of a weird kid and brought home a skunk. I don't know how I found it or how I managed to get it to rest peacefully in my school backpack all day, but what I do know is that we all had to spend a week at a motel whitest our house got deep cleaned.

I had my first heartbreak in this house, my room filling up with tears like that one scene from Alice in Wonderland, only difference was I was 6 years old and claimed I had already met the love of my life.

This house has blessed me with so many things. One of those things being a chance. A chance at a normal upbringing in a comfortable home. It also blessed me with 2 sisters at the age of 4 and the most amazing mother I could have ever asked for. At the end of the day, my home, 76 Baden Way, Mormont, is the one consistent happiness in my life.

That's why I'm confused.

The drive up the all too familiar street was oddly unsettling. It didn't feel right. To be fair I didn't grow up in a white picket community with neighbours that give you cookies every fortnight or invite you to their weekly barbecues in their freshly mowed lawns, but it wasn't a bad place. 

Was I gone for too long, it's only been a couple of days.

The houses that once stood tall, the house that once signified homeliness, now appear to be on there last leg. The once standing, chipped fences are now nonexistent, flattened into the ground. The once curtained windows, with the occasional flower pot on the window sill, are now completely bored up, no light being shown into the what I assume darkened houses.

Normally finding parking in my street is a nightmare, it's always something for somebody. Whether it be a birthday or a family get together, there is never any space for me to park my car relatively close to my own house. Of course, I complain, it's annoying, but for some reason being able to just drive straight into my own driveway is sickening to me. Where's mom's car?

My car whistles to a stop as I cut the engine. Neither I or Cora dare to move as we look upon what we once called home. The once fully in season apple tree is now snapped basically in half, rotten apples scattered around the dying grass. As for the house itself, it's not doing so hot either, the garage door is now covered with large indents in the shapes of fists, the odd splatter of blood causing bile to gather in my mouth. The usually crystal clear windows are now dust-ridden and black with ash, unable to see what's within the once homely home.

"What it like this when you left for school this morning?" I question Cora, the unsettling feeling that our home is giving me makes my voice lose all strength. 

Shaking her head timidly, "No," she replies, "Everything was normal."

'Now is as good a time as any', I thought as I reach over into the passages seat pocket, grabbing my Cloy Python. Looking my scared sister in the eye I said, "You can stay in the car if you want. I'll scoop the place out, make sure it's safe."

Shaking her head vigorously at my suggesting, gripping onto my arm, prohibiting me from leaving the car alone, "I'd feel a lot safer with you." If it wasn't for the situation I would have poked fun at her for needing her big sister but honestly, I'd feel safer with her too.

Nodding my head, I exit the car and make my way around the front of our house. With shaky legs, Cora stands as tall as she could beside me. Not knowing what we're about to walk into, I detach my baton from my belt and hand it to my timid sister. With trembling but understanding hands she clutched it tightly, white-knuckled.

Mom normal locks the door, no matter what, it's always locked. That's the first sign that somethings wrong. The front down just swung open. I keep my gun raised as I slowly step into my house, the sound of glass crunching under my combat boots, the side window had been smashed. Would explain why the doors unlocked.

"Someone else could be here, be careful, stay alert," I whisper to my sister how had barely moved an inch into our house, my baton still stuck to her right hand.

The dark wood cabinet, where all our favourite captured memories were framed, is now broken, laying on its fronts, surrounded by glass and water from the Fine China flower vase. 

Bending down to flip over one of the pictures scattered on the floor, only to be met with the smiling faces of my family. We went to the Grand Canyon a few years ago, we were all so excited but we didn't check the weather. Who knew the Grand Canyon, y'know that big dry place, had flash floods, beats me, but that didn't stop out Mom from forcing us to still have a picnic on the waterlogged grass. 'It's all part of the experience' she said. If the experience was having a cold for weeks after the trip then we nailed it. I couldn't help but smile it the silly but fond memory, but I guess with the way the world is headed moments of endearment and reminiscing don't last very long.

A subtly whistle from my sister causes me to raise to my feet slowly, turning to see her pointing quietly into the family room. Standing still for a minute or so, the loud silence is broken by the soft sound of pattering feet. Signalling for my sister to stay behind me, I stalk my way into the room. Expecting to see one of those things in our living room, I flip the safety of my revolver, taking aim. As though glued to the spot, my legs for some reason forgetting how to work as my eyes settle on a figure standing, back towards us, facing the bookshelf. Not moving like any of those things from before, or making any similar noises, I come to the conclusion that's there is a person in our house. A person I don't know.

"Stay where you are and don't move," my once shaky voice now filled nothing but authority as I order the person before us to halt. Getting the picture, the person raised their hands slowly not daring to move another inch, "Who are you and why are you in my house?" I question, my aim on the back of their head never flatters.

"Ain't no need for that now little missy" their thick Geogiran accent breaking through the tense air in the room, "what happened to a little common southern hospitality?" He asks laughing clearly not taking any of this seriously.

"You broke into my house and you expect what, a welcome party. Oh wait and I'll fetch the balloons," the sarcasm rolls of my tongue like venom. The nerve of this guy.

"Correction I didn't break-in, I was pleasantly granted access," he corrects cocking his head to the side. Even though I can't see his face I already know that's there's a shit-eating grin.

"Granted access by who?" Perks up Cora, her voice not as protruding towards the figure but her point still stands.

Seeing the man nodding his head in acknowledgement, clicking his tongue in the roof of his mouth, "ah you're the sisters. The cop and the college chick," he laughed, his hands no longer held up but instead on his knees as he leans over slightly in laughter. Not understanding what's so funny, I cock my gun causing him to shot back up to attention, any signs of joking no completely evaporated into thin air.

Turning his head slightly despite my order to not move, his stubbly side profile coming into view, half a smirk lazily dancing along his face, "I take it you're the bad cop," he attempts to joke again, but it falls short, in a situation like this, one that has my moms safety on the line, is not the time to be Mr Comedian.

"Where's my mom" I rolled my eyes at the man, asking the serious question at hand. If he as much laid a single finger on her, I swear, if he thinks I'm the bad cop now, he's got another thing coming.

"Well if that's what you wanted this whole time you should have just asked little missy," he exclaims turning round to fully face us. He's a shaggy looking man, looking to be in his early 40s. His short blond hair sitting a mess on the top of his head. He has a few scars here and there and eyes that sent an uneasy shiver down my spine. His attire, clad in an old button-down shirt and a dirty wife-beater that looks to be stained with sweat from the Atlanta heat.

I already knew he was armed, spotting the gun that was tucked tightly into the back pocket of his cargo pants. Based on looks alone I already know what type of man I'm dealing with here. A stereotypical, boorish, southern redneck. Most of these men are ticking time bombs and the fact that one has found there way into my home, the place where my mother is, doesn't sit right with me.

"Come on out now Charlotte," He called out of the broken-down door, leading to the stairs, "I think it was a bird," he mutters, kicking this right leg quickly. Looking down at the ground, aside from the broken glass and wood chips, there are also feathers. Must have been the bird he was talking about.

The sound of light feet pattering down the stairs causes my ear to twitch, almost cat-like, but I don't flatter my aim on the man, "are you sure, I thought I heard-" the voice of my mother echos through the room from behind me. Mom. As subtly as possible I attempted to flip the safety back on my gun, not want to catch the attention of the man before me, but the silence fails me yet again, the soft clicking of my gun makes the man look at me, a knowing grin on his face. Cocky bastard.

"Cora, Macy," relieves mom, as she rushes over the glittering glass, skidding with friction, pulling both of us into a bone-crushing hug, "you're okay?" She asks as she separated from us, holding us at an arms distance, looking us over for signs of injury.

"Mom, Mom! We're fine," Cora reassures our panicking mother, holding her ageing face between her hands, looking her seriously in the eye, "we're okay." 

Yeah, we might be but what about her.

My mom is a colourful woman. She always said 'the world is simply in black and white, but that doesn't mean we can't add our own colours'. Whether it is a bold pair of earrings or an eyesore of a scarf, she is always surrounded by colour, but not today. She clad in a shirt that appears to big for her petite frame, baggy jeans and hiking boots. No colour, just black and white, not like our mother at all. Her hair resembling that of a birds nest and her glasses sitting at a slant. She doesn't look put together.

"This is Merle," my mom waves her hand in the direction of the man whose eyes have not left mine, not so subtly looking me up and down with a look that makes me feel sick to my stomach, "He and his brother saved me from those people, brought me back here safely."

"That we did Charlotte," this Merle character near enough shouts in reply. 'What is this man so damn loud for?', "Just a bit of Southern hospitality. Something your daughter here could learn about," he says clearly not liking the fact that I still have my gun pointed in his direction.

"Macy put the gun down," the stern voice of my mother caused me to holster my gun against my thigh, but I refuse to let my guard down. I don't trust this Merle, whether he saved my mom or not, something just doesn't sit right with me.

"That's more like it girly," he says sounding assertive as if he has just won. It pretty clear that the man has some military experience. I can feel it in the air. The way he thinks he can control the room and the people in it, "My baby brother should be back soon, but I say we meet him halfway."

Is this some kind of joke?

"Look thanks for help our mom," I eventually cave into thanking the man, "But no way in hell are we going anywhere with you."

"Now I think your mommy over there would disagree with that?"

I turn to look at my mother who has a reluctant look in her eye, but not at the sketchy man in our living room, but at me. Is she really thinking about leaving with this man? Everything about him screams red flags and that's not just because I'm a cop but from just general observation. This is the type of man you would not want to meet alone at night.

"He and his brother have plans to head for Fort Benning," My mom starts slowly, clearly trying to find the right words, "I thought we could go with them."

I'm already shaking my head as my mom is speaking and I can hear her breath getting quicker and quicker, panicking, "Please," she begs, her voice cracking as I notice the tears building up in her eyes, "Please Macy, I want us to be safe."

Safe.

With the way things are going, I don't know how much longer we can be safe. I’ve always seen my home as the safest place on earth. It's where I live. It's where I grew up. My whole life started here in this very house, surrounded by people that I love. I always swore to protect my family. I didn't know what I would have to protect them from but seems as though the time has come to prove this more than ever.

"Ah, now Macy, baby," Merle begins to taunt, starting to walk closer but stops when he sees my hand rest on my gun again, "What kind of daughter would you be to deny your mom of safety."

"Why don't you just stay the fuck out of this?" I snapped at the man how held his hands up in defence and walked over to our couch bending down to pick up the rifle that I failed to notice resting on the table.

"Macy," I hear Cora whisper from behind me and when I turn to look at her the look in her eye tells it all. She's scared.

She's scared.

Mom's scared.

I'm scared.

"Where's this brother of yours?" I sigh turning to face Merle who is looking out of the window, his eyes darting from left to right.

"Away hunting," he shrugs, "should be back in an hour or two, but we're losing light. I say we meet him halfway."

For some reason, my mom just agrees with this and turns to Cora, telling her to pack a bag for her and me. My mom wonders off to wait outside, but I stay put. I don't trust this man, and I sure as hell don't trust him wandering around my house where both my mom and sister are. I stand my ground and clear my throat causing merle to turn in my direction, "Try anything, and I won't hesitate to put one between your eyes."

"I'd like to see you try," he lets out a burly laugh before pushing his way past me and out of the front door.

'What have I gotten myself into?' I thought as the sound of a car door slamming shut snaps me from my own world.

Call it wishful thinking, I already knew the answers to the question that was spinning around in my head. She wasn't back, and she was never going to come back. But there was no harm in checking. Right?

Bare. Empty. Any trance of anybody living in this room had been completely erased. It's hard to believe two people I held so dearly to my heart lived here. The once painted black walls which were covered with the typical posters of any rebellious teenager are now newly painted white, hiding all the scratches or chips that were previously there. I kind of glad about the change of walls, in my opinion, once you reach the age of 30 it's maybe time to let go of your rebellion.

All that is left is a set of drawers, a double mattress on the floor with no covers and a small single mattress on the other side of the room. Moving over to the dust-ridden drawers, I pulled open the first one and to no avail, it's completely empty. What was I expecting? She's been gone for years and she was never coming back. Especially not now.

It might sound dumb but every night after she left, I would leave her bedroom light on hoping that it would encourage her to come back home. But she never did. Mom eventually got annoyed about finding me asleep outside of Ally's bedroom door every night and had to have a word with me. Sure I stopped leaving a light on for her, but that didn't mean that I missed her any less.

Without Ally being around I had to step up and fill in the gap that she had left in our family. Ally was always the hardass. The tough one. If you were in a fight you'd want Ally in your corner. Despite anything that she says, she did love her family at one point. She was always on our side. In our corner.

Then one moment that all changed. We had a new addition to the family.

Little DeeDee.

DeeDee, my sweet little niece. Such a sweet kid, not a bad bone in her body. It's almost hard to believe that she's my sister's daughter. What they lacked in a shared personality they make up for in identical looks, they look the spits of each other, a true carbon copy.

When my sister found out she was pregnant she ran away. Telling not a soul why. Except for me.

I found out on my own, we have always told her to clean up after her self or something might happen. Well hi, I'm that something. She never kept me updated through the duration of her pregnancy, not like I expected her too, she just up and left. Until DeeDee turned 3. It's only been a year since she came home and she's was more disconnected than ever, especially with mom.

The rattle of an all too familiar engine interrupts my conversation with mom. Giving each other a knowing look with flickers of uncertainty as though maybe we heard wrong.

We didn't hear wrong.

The pounding of her heavy-duty boots slapping against the hardwood floor, echoing through the entire house. The house was so silent you could probably hear a pin drop.

Mom went to 'greet' her first, myself in tail, just in case this all goes south which it most likely will. We haven't seen or even heard from her for well over 3 years now, it got to the point where we all just assumed that she was never coming back. It explains the shock towards her arrival. Well, half of her arrival.

"Ally... your home," mom squeaks out unable to hide the overwhelming shock in her voice. It's awkward, so awkward that it makes me want to itch. The passing eye contact between one another speaks more than their unspoken words. 

The reunion of a mother and her absent daughter.

The shock must have gotten to mom's head because she failed to notice the new soul in the room with us. A person we have never had the pleasure to meet. Standing behind her mother, not tall enough to reach her hip yet, is a little girl. All wrapped in a cosy jacket despite the Atlanta heat is the reason why I haven't seen my sister in 3 years.

Moving forward to where Ally can fully see me, making brief eye contact before kneeling down before the little girl. Hands tugging tightly on her mother's leg as she hides her face from mine. It's understandable, I'm an unknown face, so I decided to introduce myself, "Hello," I said gentle, just looking at the innocent girl softly not wanting to overstep my boundaries, "I'm Macy."

I'm oblivious to my surroundings, so much so that I didn't hear the stampede of feet rocketing down the stairs. The only thing I'm focusing on is this little girl. She just looks at me in what I'm assuming is confusion because she's never seen me before and I her. It's new for all of us.

"What's your name?"

I honestly didn't expect an answer, she looked like such a delicate flower, but a genuine smile covered my face when she said "Lydia" in the quietest voice I've ever heard.

"Nice to meet you, Lydia," I say as I reached my hand forward for her to take in her own, and she did. Slowly but surely her hand was in mine, her tiny hand. Smiling softly at Lydia hoping to have her mirror my actions, she does, but it's short-lived as I'm sucked back into the reality that is the rest of my family.

"So you run off, get knocked up and have the audacity to come back here 3 years later begging for a place to stay," laughed Cora at the mentality of her older sister. I can't help but shake my head as I let go of Lydia's hand, her smile falling behind my back, "Cora, she had a kid," I said to my sister hoping to get her to understand, but it seems as though I don't understand either.

"Oh no the kid can stay, but her," she laughed at the thought, "no chance, not again," shaking her head at the idea of us welcoming Ally back into our home, into our family again. Cora is strong-minded, no doubt about it, but when it comes to her family, if anyone stands in between them and happiness, even if it's our family themselves, they best hope they don't cross Cora. 

Cora and Ally have never gotten along. I've always blamed it on the fact that they are too much alike. Cora may be extremely vocal about everything, but Ally is too, just minus the vocal part. You can tell a lot about Ally and how she's feeling just by looking at her. And right now she looks vulnerable. She has a child and I don't know where she has been staying for the last few years but right now she's homeless and what type of family would we be if we shunned out our own.

A terrible one that's what.

"Corrina, if she wants to stay she can stay. If she wants to go she can go. This is just as much her home as it is yours," mom ushered out all in one breath, still baffled that her daughter and newly found granddaughter are standing before her.

I really feel for our mother, ever since Ally vanished she hasn't been the same. It was a drastic change, not enough for the people she sees on her daily shop, but us, her family have noticed that a little light behind our mother's eyes has been duller than usual. Looking at her right now, the light is still flickering but instead with hope. Hope at a new beginning with her daughter and her granddaughter.

"If you ever leave my mother like that again, after everything she has done for us, especially you, it'll be the last thing you do," threatens Cora, never breaking her eyes from Ally who is doing the same.

Coming back to her senses, Ally snaps out of the trance that is Cora's eyes, clicking her fingers like a royal pain in the ass, "Lydia, come," she orders the little girl as she readies herself for the March up the stairs.

Noticing that her mother is no longer standing in front of her, hiding her from the picture that is her family, she rushes to her mother not before looking at me though and I can't help but feel bad, "Lydia if you want you can stay down here, I can make you something to eat," I said trying my best to convince the little girl that she doesn't have to do everything her mother says, but little Lydia shakes her head in rejection. 

Maybe it's because she genuinely just wants to stay with her mom in a foreign place or it could be that her mom is staring at her, as though waiting for Lydia to make the wrong choice. P.S I'm the wrong choice in this situation, according to her.

Stomping her away up the stairs like an angry teenager, she leaves her daughter behind assuming that she will just follow her like a helpless puppy. Unable to hide my pity for the little girl, I attempt to cheer her up a bit, "see you soon DeeDee," I promised as a subtle smile appeared on the 3-year-olds face before running after her mother's tail.

The hallway is left in silence, not an awkward silence but just a thoughtful one. The same thoughts and feelings are running through all our minds; Ally's back, with a child. She was bad enough on her own, but now with a daughter, I fear not only for us but for that little girl.

Rubbing my eyes, as the only thought that is running through my mind behind 'this is not my fault', 'there was nothing I could have done to make her stay', no matter what, if she left for a reason or not, I just hope she keeps DeeDee safe because God knows she never done that when she was here anyway.

Just as I  had enough of the energy to leave he room, a pile of papers tucked under Ally's mattress caught my attention. Behind down to pull them out, I'm shocked at what she had hidden. It as a collection of loose picture. My curiosity getting the better of me, I start to flick through them, she not here to tell me otherwise.

There are ones from her senior year of high school and her only 2 friends, who I've only had the pleasure of meeting once. On was called Barrett from what I remember, I don't remember the other name, all I know is that the unknown friend mysteriously disappeared a few years after they left high school.

The rest of the picture where weird but oddly boring, snaps of her smoking and drinking, kicking a few gravestones, y'know typical Ally behaviour. It's the last picture that struck me, made my blood run cold but in a comforting way. It's a picture of Ally and I for that time I shaved my head. I briefly remember mom taking it after me begging for hours, trying to convince her and Ally that this was a moment the was worth capturing. 

There I stood, tall and proud, both hands on my head with a cheeky grin plastering on my beetroot face, my eyes holding a sheen of water from laughing. It's a contrasting picture. Ally slouched beside me, well a wingspan away from me, because I'm was an embarrassment to her. Her eyes deadly staring into the camera, making no effort to show any emotion.

I remember being disappointed with her lack of effort in the picture, but looking at it now it's perfect. It really shows how we were and are. I always wondered where this picture went. Mom got it reluctantly developed for me and even framed it for my bedside table. I only had it for a few days before it went missing. At first, I blamed mom, believe she wanted to erase the memory from her brain, but all this time Ally had it, and that oddly warms my heart. Sure it was hidden under her bed, but she still had it and kept it. Now I'm deciding to take it back because if the world continues the way it going, I don't know when the next time I'll see my sister will be.

"Do you think we'll ever see her again?" the sudden voice breaking through the air causing me to jump, and I spin around to find Cora leaning on the door frame, looking around the room in wonder just as I had moments before.

"If you asked me a week ago I would have said yes," I replied looking down at the picture in my hand before folding it and putting it into my back pocket, "Now I don't know."

The thought of Ally coming home was always a distant one. I wanted to believe that the day would come where she would be back and our family would be whole again. That was when the world was normal and even then she still showed no signs of ever coming back.

It seems to me as though the world as we know it is changing, coming to an end if you will. The though of Ally coming home was a longshot before but now more than ever.

A redneck just apparently saved my mom life for crying out loud and now I'm having to drive with said redneck to find his brother.

The worlds went mad.

It's changed and I don't know if I like it.

But it seems like I have no choice.

And thats chapter two done. Its going to be an interesting ride thats for sure. 

You got to learn some more about Ally and we also met the lovely man that it Merle Dixon.

If you want to be tagged when I post for this AU just ask and I will for sure do that.

But anyways, yeah, I hope you liked it.

DAISY.

[mingtopiaa]

˗ˋˏ°• 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 •° ˎˊ˗

soulmate!au, enemies to lovers!au

⤿ san x fem!reader || word count; 1290 || genre/s; angst, fluff

⤿ warning; there’s some cursing, implied sexual content (trigger warning: there’s character death but neither of the main characters die)

— a/n; this is my first oneshot! ive been working on it for a while, enjoy!

A 10% chance to have a soulmate and of course you had to have one. Most people are extremely happy when they find out who their soulmate is, but not for you. Unluckily for you, your soulmate turned out to be Choi San. The very man you’ve hated since you were kids. What made it even worse was that, though knowing it would pain you, San would go out and get girlfriend after girlfriend.

“Choi San!” You yelled, pounding your fist into San’s front door.

“What? What do you want this time Y/N?” San sighed, reluctantly opening the door.

“What the fuck San? Are you trying to kill me??” You peeked behind him to see a half-naked woman on his couch, looking on her phone. She’s bored and waiting for San to return to him.

“I’m just living my life.” He deadpans, glaring at you. Visibly irritated. For a moment you just stare at each other, no words spoken. You gulp and try to avert your gaze somewhere else so it isn’t as awkward but your eyes fix on the woman behind him. San glances back at the woman, hoping you take the hint to leave. You’re hesitant to say anything, especially if the wrong words come out. You take a deep breath before continuing.

“I swear you’re gonna kill me at this rate!” You’re so close to either slapping him across the face or bursting into tears. Why, why did you have to be fated to be with an asshole?

San just stares at you, stares into your eyes, then moves his gaze to the small etching in your wrist. The small etching with his name, 최산. You look at your wrist, covering his name up with your other hand.

“Goodnight Y/N, I think you should go.” San waves goodbye to you and then gently closes the door. You’re lowkey shocked, he didn’t slam the door on you with a grumble this time? Were you dreaming? In what world did San not hate you?

San not being rude to you was a concept you couldn’t bring yourself to accepting. You’d gone your whole life hating him, him hating you. He did hate you, didn’t he? There’s no way he could treat you like shit since forever and not hate you, right?

Monday. You walk past San and flinch, expecting him to throw an apple at your head. He doesn’t, you flinched for nothing and his friends laugh at you for shrinking like an idiot.

Thursday. San’s friends laugh at you for dropping your books and San defends you. What?

On Friday you build up the courage to ask him why his behaviour suddenly changed after what? 18 years?

“San!” The door opens and you’re greeted by a sleepy San.

“What? What is it now?” He mumbles, scratching his head.

“Why are you being nice to me?” You glare at him.

“Y/N, I know I’m a huge jerk and all, but aren’t I supposed to be nice to you? The whole soulmate thing means I’m supposed to love you or something, doesn’t it?”

“You- You’re fucking with me. You’ve never been nice to me. I’ve known you since we were three and not once have you been nice to me. What’s gotten into you? What happened to you being a big bad boy?”

“Y/N..” San hesitates, hesitates to tell you the truth. How he really feels about you, why he’s how he is.

“San, you can’t just do that. You can’t bully me my whole life and then just suddenly decide ‘Oh we’re soulmates, time to be nice to you!’. You can’t do that!” Your eyes are getting watery, lips trembling.

“Y/N, don’t cry. I- I’m sorry. I’m sorry for the all shit I’ve put you through. You didn’t deserve any of that.” San cups your face, wiping the tears running down your cheeks.

“Then why’d you do it?” Your voice comes out as nothing more than a cracked whisper.

“There’s so much you don’t know about me.” He smiled, pain flickered in his eyes. 

“Sannie, what happened?” Sannie. A nickname he hadn’t heard in years, hadn’t heard since you both were little kids.

“I- I’d rather not talk about it.” San averts his gaze from your eyes, letting his hands fall to his side. He seems so timid, unlike his usual confident persona. You almost feel like you’re talking to the Sannie you were best friends with years ago.

“Sannie. Tell me.” You grabbed one of his hands, intertwining them. A hopeful glint in your eyes, hoping he’d tell you what happened in the years you drifted apart.

“It’s nothing, Y/N. Nothing you should be concerned with.” His eyes are glossy, the grip on your hand tightens. You bring a hand up to his hair and stroke it delicately, as if he was a piece of frail glass.

“No. San, you’re clearly upset. Why can’t you just tell me? Wouldn’t it help if you had someone you could talk to about it?” Your hand moves from the top of his head to cup his cheek, staring into the abyss of his eyes.

“Y/N. I’m fine.” San sheds his first tears, first tears in a long time. He promised himself he wouldn’t cry anymore, wouldn’t cry anymore after the incident.

“San. You’re crying.” Your hand moves from his cheek to wipe his tears away. “Please. Please tell me what happened.”

“My mum.. My mum passed away. My dad killed himself.” He holds you close, arm wrapped around your waist. San cries into the crook of your shoulder, hugging you. Normally, you’d be uncomfortable if anyone did this. But right now? San. San was the only exception.

You stood there for a while in his embrace, trying to calm his breathing. “Sannie, it’s getting cold. Let’s go inside?” San simply nods as you both enter his apartment.

“I’m sorry you had to see that.” San says after a comfortable silence. The two of you had been ‘cuddling’ (snuggling under the only large blanket he could find) on his couch, watching random cartoons.

“It’s fine, Sannie. It’s nice to see you like how you were when we were kids. A cute, innocent, sensitive, soft n lil ball of sunshine. My sunshine..” You mumble the last part, praying he didn’t hear it.

“Your what?” San chuckles, smiling like a fool.

“Sunshine. My sunshine.” You feel shy, looking anywhere but him and playing with your fingers in your lap.

“Y/N, that’s so cute!” He lifts your chin up, eyes locking with yours. 

“Shush. I thought of a lot of dumb things as a kid.” You bite your lip.

“Remember when we used to try and climb trees together?” San suddenly speaks up after a somewhat comfortable silence.

“Yeah, good times. We could never get up, though.” You giggle, thinking back to the good times with him.

You spend the next hour or so reminiscing about all the dumb things you did as kids. The time you tried stealing food from your parents, the times San would mess up your hair on school picture days, the times you shared your lunches. 

As San was telling the story of the time you accidentally broke his pencil, you had fallen asleep with your head laying on his shoulder. 

“Y/N? Why aren’t you-” San turns his head to see you sleeping peacefully on his shoulder, “Oh.”

He sighs, but carries you to his room. San gently places you down on his bed, covering you with the blankets hanging off the side of his bed.

“Sleep tight, Y/N.” He takes a risk, a huge risk. San pecks you on the lips before finally whispering those words he’d been waiting years to finally admit, “I love you, okay? Sweet dreams.” 

[free-pancakes]

A Fire in the Shadows

LeviHan - Avatar the Last Airbender AU

Characters: Levi, Hange, Erwin, Mike, Nanaba, Moblit, Kenny, Zeke, Sasha, Jean

Summary: Levi, the nephew of a fire nation captain, stumbles upon a ragtag group of 5 known as the Scouts, formidably known for foiling the plans of local fire nation control, living in the forests a few miles north of Ba Sing Se. 

Chapter 2: Trust Chapter 1: The Scouts

(crossposted to ao3) this is definitely a set-up kind of chapter, so i’m sorry if it’s a bit boring! i had a lot of fun writing the scenes tho, especially the first one. hope u like it!

CHAPTER 2: TRUST

“No, I won’t!” Levi cried out. He woke up suddenly, his heart thumping wildly against his chest. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. Nightmares have plagued Levi nearly every night since he officially became a soldier, but he rarely remembered the details of his dreams. He would simply jolt awake, beads of sweat forming on his brow—like tiny droplets of fear and regret lingering on his skin.

“Hey Levi, are you okay? Did you have another bad dream?” Hange squinted at him from the other corner of the small room. His startled yell must have woken her up, he thought. She was clearly half-asleep, eyes ridden with exhaustion, hints of drool hugging the corner of her mouth, glasses balanced crookedly on the tip of her nose.

“It’s okay, Hange. Go back to sleep,” Levi said quietly.

“Alrighty,” Hange yawned. She laid back down next to Moblit who was cuddled up next to her, and soon the sound of her snores filled the room again. Levi quietly crawled towards Hange, carefully slid her glasses off of her face, and set them down beside her. He then slipped out from the room and stepped outside of the little hut.

Hange was kind enough to let him share a room with her and Moblit for the last 5 days, as there wasn’t a spare room in their refuge in the trees. Levi still could not believe that he was actually up here, sleeping in a literal treehouse for the past few nights, at least 70 feet above the ground.

He continued along the narrow path outside the hut and peered over the edge of the rails. Looking down at the countless sets of branches and leaves under him, his eyes glimmered in awe over how the Scouts managed to figure out how to live here. He looked ahead, his gaze following the extensive sets of rope bridges connecting huts from tree to tree, each holding either one of the Scout’s quarters, or acting as storage space for food, weapons, supplies, medications, and other materials they needed for their activities. They had animal traps and pulley systems stretching throughout many areas of the vast forest.

Levi limped across the nearest bridge towards a ladder leading up to a looking post that extended above the trees. His leg wasn’t fully healed yet, but he managed to make his way up the ladder, albeit slowly.

The view was simply breathtaking from up there, dawn hurling shades of lilac and orange over the edge of the horizon. Levi closed his eyes as the cool morning breeze gently pushed strands of hair out of his face, and with that, memories of his mother spilled into his thoughts.

On the night before she died, he remembered her hands softly pushing his hair back and tucking it around his ears, her lips planting a small kiss on his forehead. “Levi, someday you might find yourself having to making difficult choices and I won’t be there by your side to help you. The fire nation is not the peaceful land it used to be. So, being born into this world with firepower at your fingertips at this day in age might be a burden to carry, but don’t forget that the most powerful thing about you, Levi, is right here.” She gently placed her finger on his chest, right over his heart. She smiled warmly and took his hand, dropping her good luck charm in his palm. She closed his fingers around it.

Levi opened his eyes and looked down at the charm in his hand, a small metal keychain embossed with the fire nation emblem, and gripped it tightly in his fist. He wondered why these memories decided to flood his mind—why now?

Suddenly, he felt something hit his head. He watched a small pinecone drop and roll away in front of him. He spun around to find Moblit peeping his head through the small opening in the floor. “Tch,” Levi sputtered. He tossed the pinecone back at Moblit, bonking him on the head. Moblit giggled, and climbed up into the deck, a small satchel hung around his arm. He dumped its contents onto the floor. He slid half the food towards Levi, as well as a small jar of ointment. “You forgot to put this on your leg before you came up here,” Moblit said shyly. Levi nodded silently, and started applying it onto his skin, inhaling sharply at the slight burning sensation. Moblit quietly munched on an apple while carefully observing Levi.

After he was finished tending to his leg, he reached for his sandwich, and right before he could take a bite, he was interrupted with a question.

“Why did you come here?”

He looked up at Moblit, whose head was cocked questioningly to the side.

“To get away from your sister’s loud ass snoring,” Levi sighed. Moblit laughed, “No no, why did you come here that night? To this forest?”

Levi chose his words carefully. “I was running away from home.” “Well those burns, did you escape from…” Moblit lowered his voice to a whisper, “…firebenders?”

“…Yes. And that’s enough questions for now,” Levi said with a tinge of annoyance in his voice. He was just like his older sister, asking way too many questions, but least he was much more polite about it than Hange. He exercised patience when it came to Moblit because other than Hange, he was the only Scout who at least started to warm up to him over the past few days.

“Hm, okay,” Moblit pouted. “Thanks for answering my questions. You’re pretty nice, yknow?”

Levi scoffed. “What makes you think that?”

“Hmmm well…” Moblit put his apple down and hugged his knees to his chest. “You don’t say anything when Erwin or Mike are rude towards you. And you try to help my sister carry her supplies even though it’s hard to keep up with her with your leg like that. Oh! And I notice you trying to wipe down dusty surfaces, which frankly is kinda weird…”

“Clearly, none of you can manage to keep things clean,” Levi retorted softly.

Moblit laughed. “You’re not wrong.” He then looked down and said bashfully, “And you take off Hange’s glasses when she falls asleep with them on. I think that’s nice.”

Levi blushed—embarrassed, he quickly turned to look out over the trees away from Moblit. This kid was quite observant, Levi thought. Which meant that he should continue to be careful with his words and actions—he couldn’t let him figure out who he really was, because who knows what Erwin, Mike, and Nanaba might do to him. They weren’t benders, but outnumbering him with their level of skill could be problematic, and he wasn’t sure if Hange or Moblit would defend him if they discovered his secret.

If anything, Levi was thankful that Moblit developed a small liking towards him. He thought that Hange probably convinced Moblit to be nicer to him, but it seems he came to this decision all on his own. With that in mind, Levi figured this might be his chance to inquire more about the Scouts.

“Hey Moblit, can I ask you something?” Moblit looked into Levi’s eyes with an intense curiosity. “Why are you all so opposed for me to possibly join your group?”

“Because Erwin doesn’t like you!” He exclaimed matter-of-factly. Levi was caught aback—kids really are just brutally honest sometimes, he thought. “Why?”

“Well, I’m not completely sure, we don’t really talk too much, just the two of us. Buuuut my guess is that they don’t trust you because that’s sort of their default? We’ve had some potential members join our squad in the past and they ended up betraying us.” Sadness fell over his face. “We almost lost Nanaba that one time…“

“Hey you two!” Unintentionally interrupting their conversation, Hange jumped up onto the deck with a goofy smile spread across her face. “I’ve been looking all over for you both! Moblit—Nana wanted you to help her set up the animal traps.”

“Okay, Hange!” He stood up quickly, grabbed his satchel, and hurried towards the ladder. He looked back at Levi and gave him a small wave before heading down to help Nanaba.

Hange bent down to check on Levi’s leg, inspecting the burn wounds. “They’re healing quite nicely, Levi! Hey, if you’re up for it, would you like to come assist me with tending to the wounded in a nearby village?” Hange leaned a bit closer to Levi in excitement. “We just received word of it, and I just know I have some healing salves I’ve been working on that would be of great help!” She looked up towards the sky with a warm smile on her face, her eyes aflame with determination and excitement. The sunrise shrouded the outline of her frame with a warm glow, while her fiery passion to help anyone in need burned brightly inside of her. She was simply a ball of sunshine, radiating light inside and out, and he was utterly mesmerized. Levi had lost his sense of determination since his mother died, and didn’t have much driving him forward or really any goals in his mind to to pursue, other than wanting to defy his uncle, or General Zeke. He felt he had no purpose, but here was this woman, a force of nature living with all the purpose in the world. He was simply entranced by all of her. He’s known her for less than a week and there have been multiple moments like this one, and where he simply could not look away. However, Levi felt that there was something more about her that he felt drawn towards, but he just couldn’t put a finger on it.

“Levi? Hellooooo!” She waved her hand in from of his face with no reaction. “Levi? …HEY SHORTY!” She yelled into his face. Levi finally looked up and locked eyes with hers. He was completely lost in his thoughts, but he was now suddenly aware of how close she was to him, peering into his eyes. Startled, Levi broke out of his trance and he shifted, his knee accidentally bumping into Hange’s back, causing her to yelp out in surprise and topple over right on top of him.

For a fleeting moment, they laid in each others arms, both of them suddenly feeling oddly comfortable being so close to each other. Quickly, the moment fizzled and Hange nervously scrambled to stand up. Levi blushed as he swiftly scooted himself from underneath her.

“Levi, I’m so sorry, is your leg okay??” Hange asked with worry written all over her face. He waved her off, and stood up.

“Yes, don’t worry, it’s okay. And to answer your question, I’ll come with you to help.”

“Oh Levi, thank you!” she smiled brightly. “It’s a large village just northeast of here! There were many casualties among the people there, so a lot of injured people to look after!’

Levi froze.

...What?

Flashbacks of the night he escaped flooded his mind. “…You said a village n-northeast of here?”

“Yes!” Hange exclaimed. “They were attacked by fire nation soldiers just a few days ago, sadly enough.”

Levi broke a sweat, panic quickly taking over his mind. He desperately thought of a way to avoid going back to that village. Why of all places did it have to be that village? He did not need to be reminded of how he sustained his current injuries, but more importantly, he did not want to risk someone recognizing him from that night and blow his cover.

“Oh, actually... maybe I shouldn’t go. I might be a burden to you with my injury and all…”

“Nonsense! You’ll be a great help, Levi. Our intel shows that the fire nation troops that were there are long gone for now and don’t show any hint of movement currently, so we’ll be safe! Plus, you might be able to meet some earthbender friends of mine—I believe one or two may have been in the village during the incident, so they should be there!” She grabbed Levi by the hand and they started towards the ladder.

He considered standing firm in his opposition, but he weighed the pros and cons, concluding that his denial might make the Scouts suspicious. Levi gulped—he did not like where this was going.

———————————

They mounted the backs of two ostrich-horses, and made their way out of the forest towards the village, the early morning sun lighting their path.

After about an hour of Hange babbling on about her ideas on new animal trap designs, the two shared a few moments of peace and quiet, other than the soft sounds of the ostrich-horses feet sliding against the dirt as they continued forward.

“I didn’t realize the Scouts did more than infiltrate fire nation activity,” Levi said, breaking the silence.

“Well yes, we do all sorts of things! I mean that’s primarily what we do, but I mean, there’s so much more things for us to do to help around here,” Hange said excitedly. “Whether that’s bringing food surplus, or aiding to wounded and sick, we try to aid the Earth Kingdom civilians. They’re all really good people, yknow? They don’t deserve this.”

“Well, even if you take part in ways to help like this, what do you hope to do about the fire nation ultimately? Do you have a plan? And…do you think the world could ever change back to how it used to be?” Levi asked.

Levi wondered—was there a way the Scouts thought they could defeat fire nation troops? Because Levi knew it would be impossible to win. At this point, all seemed hopeless, and the Firelord will continue to make moves to take over this world and hurt all these innocent people. He may have made the hard decision to leave his nation behind, but beyond that, figuring out his next move almost felt pointless. How was Hange so optimistic and filled with purpose? Levi desperately needed to hear her answer.

“Wow, Levi,” she teasingly punched his shoulder. “Why are you so talkative all of a sudden? Have you finally decided to break your gloomy silence?”

“Just answer the question, four-eyes,” Levi huffed.

“Aw okay,” Hange pouted. “Well…” Her expression changed ever so slightly, into one of seriousness, hints of sadness in her eyes. “There is no plan.”

“What do you mean there’s no plan? I thought the infamous Scouts would have some kind of plan to overthrow the northern fire nation troops. I mean, I’ve heard you’ve all infiltrated and ruined their raids plenty of times.”

“You’re right, Levi. But in the end, defeating the fire nation is not our role.”

“What do you mean?” “I mean, that it’s the Avatar’s job to do that, silly!” She said matter-of-factly.

“What, you believe in that crap? It’s been almost 100 years since the Avatar went missing.”

“There are rumors that he will come back someday to restore the peace that used to be, but anyway…” She balled her right hand into a fist and softly tapped Levi’s chest with it. “You can believe what you want to believe, Levi! But in the end, we’re just simply a side-story to something bigger. But just because we’re a side role, doesn’t mean we aren’t significant!” Levi looked down at Hange’s hand, and he remembered his mother’s words, her finger lying over his heart. Hange grinned at him, “As Scouts, we decided that our role is to protect those within our reach. And maybe once you’re all healed up, I really hope you decide to join us.”

———————————

They arrived at the entrance way to the village, Hange and Levi staring at the burned ruins and destruction of half the buildings there. Tents were set up all around tending to wounded, and several people were walking around carrying food and supplies. He felt sick to his stomach seeing all the damage done—he felt nothing but shame.

“Hange!” A young, brown haired girl ran up to give Hange a hug. “It’s so good to see you Sasha,” Hange said softly, and pulled her into her embrace. Levi felt the strength of their bond from where he stood, those feelings of strength and solidarity which each other after years of fighting against the shit that his own comrades plagued these lands with. He tried to push his sadness to the deep recesses of his heart, and continued to stayy vigilant.

As Sasha explained to Hange how the wounded were divided up amongst the tents, Levi looked around in worry. He tried to avert his eyes from anyone else’s gaze, lessening the chance anyone could recognize him. There’s was too much chaos that night, and it’s not like he would have known who was there, but there was a higher chance that someone recognized who he was.

“Levi!” He looked up towards Hange. “Come on, I think I’ll have you join one of our trusted comrades to help hand out our sets of bandages we brought.” The three of them walked into the nearest tent.

“Hey, Jean!” Hange said brightly. They walked towards the tall, messy-haired boy. She firmly placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed tightly. “How’s the rebuilding efforts going?”

“Slow, but sure. Mikasa, Eren, Armin, and Connie went on to the next village over to help, but Sasha and I have been working pretty hard here.”

“Great, I’m so proud of you both.” She turned to Levi, “Jean is one of the earthbenders along with Sasha that work with us closely, and use their bending to help construct and rebuild where they to speed up construction for shelter to house all of the surviving civilians who lost their homes. But Jean here is gonna take a break, and help you hand out supplies! Go say hi!” She cheerfully pushed Levi in front of her and towards Jean, while she turned back to Sasha to continue discussing their plans.

Levi crossed his arms, and looked up towards Jean, who stared back at him, his eyes wide, shock written all over his face. And his shock slowly faded into fear. The two stared at each other, paralyzed. After a moment, Levi came to his senses—he couldn’t let Hange and Sasha see Jean’s reaction to their meeting. He took Jean’s shoulder and turned him to face the other way. “Hange, I think Jean and I will start heading towards the other tents,” Levi said quietly.

“Okay!” She squeezed Levi’s hand. “Meet you back here in an hour, alright?”

“Alright,” Levi said quickly. He swept Jean away and swiftly made their way out of the tent. They continued behind the remains of a destroyed building around the corner, away from all the people walking around.

Levi grabbed Jean’s shirt and shoved him back against the rough, brick wall. “Don’t. Say. Anything.” He tightened his hold on Jean’s collar.

“Not to anyone here, not to anyone who was with you that night, and especially not to Hange.”

Jean was amazed at Levi’s strength, but quickly came to his senses and tried to wriggle himself free. “I won’t, I won’t! Please just let me go,” he pleaded. Levi stared at Jean intensely, and then loosened his grip, letting Jean slide down to the floor. Thinking fast, Jean, hit the ground with his heel, causing the rocky earth to jut forward, encasing Levi’s feet under the dirt, subduing him. Levi lost his balance and fell forward onto his knees. He pushed a flame from his right palm in his frustration, but as he saw Jean’s frightened eyes reflect the fire in his hand, he emembered that he was one of the benders he decided to defend that night. Levi put out the flame and sighed, closing his eyes and looking away.

Jean looked at Levi curiously. “So, I take it that your change of heart that night wasn’t just a fluke?”

Levi didn’t answer, and continued to avoid Jean’s gaze. After a few moments of silence, Jean slid his foot across the ground, and the rock around Levi’s feet smoothly disintegrated back down into the rough soil under him.

Levi finally looked up and locked eyes with Jean. “Just… just don’t tell Hange. Or any of the Scouts. Please.” Underneath Levi’s scowl, Jean noticed a small hint of softness in his eyes. Even though his head screamed in defiance and told him not to trust the young man in front of him, Jean knew that his gut feelings and judgment was almost always right—so he decided to follow those feelings instead.

“Don’t worry, Levi. And… your decision to turn on Kenny, did save us that night. So I do owe you my life.” He relaxed a bit, letting his guard down, and leaned against the wall behind him. “But can I ask, why? Why did you suddenly… decide to side with us?”

“I am not siding with you,” Levi muttered. “I’m not siding with anyone. I did what I did because I chose to, on my own accord.”

Levi knew exactly what triggered him to finally stop passively carrying out missions for the fire nation, blindly following whatever propaganda they spewed out to him his whole life, but he didn’t think it was important to share that information with anyone. It was in the past, and he simply had to live with everything he did prior. But what he did feel compelled to share with Jean was what he intended to do with his life from now on—Levi wanted to be honest with someone for once in his life. On top of that, he wanted to gain Hange, Moblit, and the rest of the Scouts’ trust. For the first time, he felt that he might have a shot at finding purpose in his life if he followed them.

And he hated to admit it, but he felt drawn towards the four-eyed weirdo. He might have been surrounded by fire and flame his entire life, but he’s only ever felt cold for a long time. But when she babbled on about her stupid shit around him, he strangely felt... warm.

“My choice... is to work with Hange, and the rest of the Scouts. But in order to do that, I need you to do something for me.”

Levi reached his hand out towards Jean.

Jean looked at the intense determination in Levi’s eyes, and hoped with all of his heart that helping Levi wouldn’t be a mistake.

They shook hands, confirming their pact.

———————————

Night fell upon the forest, and Levi climbed up once again onto the deck of the Scout’s looking post, staring out at the vast evening sky, the leaves shrouded in the glow of the moon, like a glimmering sea stretched out in front of him. He sat in his thoughts leaving his food beside him, untouched. He wasn’t sure if Jean pulled through successfully, and his fate rested on whether or not they believed him. He couldn’t stand thinking about leaving Hange and Moblit behind, let alone them turning on him if Jean broke his promise. Because then, he’d be truly alone and wouldn’t really know what to make of himself anymore.

A rustling of leaves broke his train of thought.

Without turning around, Levi spoke. “Hey Moblit, if you wanted some more food, you could have some of mine. I’m not really hun—“

Erwin cleared his throat. Levi quickly recognized that this definitely wasn’t Moblit and spun around. He craned his neck up to look towards Erwin standing directly behind him, his intense, blue eyes fixated on the view.

“Levi, what do you plan on doing once Hange is finished tending to your injury?”

Levi scowled and looked away, unwilling to answer Erwin.

“I figured you wouldn’t respond to that kind of question, coming from me.”

Suddenly, Levi felt Erwin’s hand on his shoulder and found himself being shoved down onto the floorboards. Erwin laid his foot on Levi’s chest, and pointed his hooked sword at Levi’s face.

“Hange tells me that Jean spoke very highly of you. Did you convince him to say that?”

Levi glared back at Erwin and spoke unphased by the physical threat.

“No. We worked together once about a year ago,” Levi lied.

Erwin knew this information checked out according to what Hange told him, but kept his stance. “Jean is a trusted comrade of ours, but although this has convinced the rest of our team, I’m not thoroughly convinced. You’re gonna have to prove that to me over time, after you’ve spent at least a few months with us as a Scout.”

…As a Scout? Levi wouldn’t ever consider him feeling “joy” even in his happiest moments, but this was probably the closest he’s ever been to that sort of overwhelming emotion. However, he maintained his calm demeanor. No need to let Erwin see him break.

“Before you officially join us, I need you to understand this. The Scouts have my utmost respect and loyalty. But Hange has been by my side since we were kids. She has always been like a little sister to me.” Levi continued to match the intensity of Erwin’s stare, and showed no sign of backing down.

“You two seem to work together very well, and we’ll confirm this when we start training you up to par with how we fight…” Levi internally scoffed—he was only a respected fighter for his age among high fire nation ranks. “…but I only have a gut feeling that you both will be paired on missions together often, based on the synergy of your complementary energies.”

Levi wasn’t surprised that all the Scouts were ridiculously observant people, but Erwin was considerably more calculating.

“And I don’t know why, but she seems to put a lot of faith in you. So Levi, if anything were to happen to Hange on your watch or if you hurt her in any way…”

Erwin pushed his sword against Levi’s neck.

“Levi, promise me that you’ll protect Hange always, at all costs.”

Levi pushed Erwin’s sword out of the way gently, balled his right hand into a fist and laid it over his heart. He thought of Hange’s goofy smile and the beautiful fire present in her eyes when she looked at him.

“I will protect her with my life.”

[generallynerdy]

Discovery (Rey X Solo!Reader)

Summary: You take the time after the war to bring Rey to Naboo, one of the greenest places in the galaxy. It isn’t hard for you to understand why it was here, of all places, that your grandparents fell in love. The apple apparently doesn’t fall far from the tree.

Requested by Anon: I don’t know much about Star Wars lmao but I think Rey is neat. Can I get a Rey/Reader please? Something fluffy!

Key: (Y/N) - your name Warnings: holy FUCK this is fluffy anon what have you DONE, finnpoe is only background :(, some self deprecation, mentions of character death, unfortunately it follows canon plot but just ignore it and it doesn’t exist, mention of K*lo R*n Word Count: 1,944

Note: u dont know how much strength it took to not put Jar Jar in this fic just because also WOW holy fuck this is so fluffy i think i choked. Oh also please tell me if that idiom in the summary is wrong because growing up bilingual means I Don’t Get Them. anyway sorry i’ve been inactive things have been...wack.

    “I didn’t know there was this much green in the whole galaxy,” she’d said when you met her what felt like forever ago.

    It broke your heart.

    Your father later said that he could see it in your eyes. You’d spent your whole life travelling the galaxy, experiencing its every wonder, and there was Rey, who had never been off Jakku in her entire life.

    You wanted, at that moment, to drag her back into the Millenium Falcon, point at a map, and tell her to pick a place, any place. More than anything, you wanted to show Rey every corner of the universe, every sand-free planet or moon that you could possibly find.

    The pity the woman thought she saw in your eyes was much more than that; it was horror, despair at what she had missed.

    You eventually settled for showing her Takodana and D’Qar, after your father was killed, but it never sat right with you. The more you got to know Rey and the longer the war dragged on, the more you wanted to give her the infinite freedom she so desperately deserved.

    To put it simply, you wanted nothing less than to hand her the galaxy on a silver platter.

    It wasn’t until the war was over that you finally had the opportunity to do so.

    You and Rey were still travelling with Finn, Poe, Chewie, BB-8, and D-0, as you had since the end of the war. With their help, it was easy to surprise her.

    Carefully, you led her down the Falcon’s boarding platform and onto solid ground. Poe had lovingly donated his jacket to be a blindfold, in order to keep Rey completely in the dark. Luckily, the Force wouldn’t tell her where she was-- it didn’t work like that.

    “I’m not great with surprises,” she warned, gripping your arm tightly.

    “You’ll love this one, I promise. Now, take off your shoes.”

    “What?”

    “Just trust me,” you laughed, having already discarded your own.

    You watched with pure childlike glee as her feet met soft grass. She wiggled her toes about in the dirt, a smile coming to her face. Sure, D’Qar had gotten her used to grass rather than sand, but you were almost certain she’d never taken a moment to go barefoot in it.

    “Grass?” She asked hesitantly. “Where are we?”

    “Only the prettiest planet in the galaxy,” you teased, already reaching forward to pull the jacket from her face. “Welcome to Naboo.”

    When the jacket came off, Rey found herself gaping-- as soon as she’d gotten used to the brightness of a sunny day on Naboo. You’d landed in the middle of a great, grassy field near the edge of a cliff. A waterfall tumbled over the edge of that cliff from a stream, a feature that Naboo was well known for. You were pretty sure Rey had never seen one of those-- something you had to correct.

    *“(Y/N)--” she breathed out, gawking. “I don’t-- I don’t know what to say.”

    You laughed a little. “Neither did I, the first time my mom brought me here. I spent days exploring.”

    “It’s so...alive,” she said, reaching down to feel the grass.

    She meant in the Force, though even the least Force-sensitive person could probably see how alive it was. Naboo was an explosion of light and life, even for those not strong in the Living Force, and could be overwhelming for those who were.

    “C’mon,” you called to her with a smile, holding out your hand. “I know the best place to take it all in.”

    Her lips twitched up into a grin, one of the brightest you’d ever seen from her. Her eyes shined as she reached out, taking your hand in hers and squeezing it as she stood back up. With her free hand, Rey tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and opened her mouth to say something-- but a shout from the Falcon interrupted her.

    “Have fun, lovebirds!” Poe called with a devilish smirk, waving the two of you onward.

    You shot the man a rude gesture that made him cackle. Rey turned bright red, an adorable look on her, you thought, as Poe was dragged back into the ship by Finn, who chewed him out the whole way-- fondly, though.

    (Bittersweetness struck you at the memory of your mother laughing her ass off at the fact that both of her children, blood or otherwise, were head over heels for Force-sensitives.)

    Rolling your eyes, you dragged Rey along through the field at a near sprint. Her musical laughter in your ear made you run faster and hold her hand tighter. The breeze swept up both of your robes and hair, completely ruining your venerated Jedi facade that Rey had insisted upon since getting lightsabers, which you both wore on belts, though they swung wildly now. If your father could see you right now, he would be so, so proud. Uncle Luke would probably cry.

    At the very edge of the cliff, by the waterfall, you came to a skidding stop with a bark of laughter.

    “Now, this is gonna sound crazy--”

    Rey scoffed. “You always sound crazy.”

    “Aw, thanks,” you said, heavy with sarcasm before continuing. “Uncle Luke told me stories about Jedi during the war, how they’d jump off cliffs without a second thought. Ben and I spent weeks practising how to cushion our falls, just so we could be like the old Jedi.”

    Her eyes were wide. “You what?”

    “Yep! And now it’s your turn!” you declared.

    “What? (Y/N)--”

    Before she could panic, you grabbed her hand again. “We’ll jump together and I’ll stop the fall. You’ll be completely safe.”

    She bit her lip. “You’re sure about this?”

    “Completely,” you reassured her. “Do you trust me?”

    Despite herself and her growing fear, Rey smiled. “I do.”

    “Great! On three.”

    “One.”

    “Two.”

    “Three!” the two of you shouted together, racing toward the edge of the cliff.

    Rey was immediately screaming, out of terror at first, but as you tucked her against your side, holding her close against the resistance, the shriek turned into an exhilarated one. You let out a joyful whoop as you went down, Rey’s face buried in the crook of your neck, which only elated you further.

    As the ground grew closer, you pulled on the Force and the two of you touched ground gently, as if you’d never fallen at all.

    Rey didn’t pull away, but laughed gleefully. “That--” she gasped, breathless, “--was amazing.”

    “Wasn’t it?” you asked, grinning. Then you pointed at the horizon ahead. “But the view’s even better.”

    She followed your gesture and froze.

    You were standing on another lush, grass-covered cliffside, as the waterfall tumbled onto a layered terrain, almost like massive steps. After another two layers, the falls gathered into a lake that stretched out for miles. Surrounding the lake were other cliffs with their own waterfalls, towering trees, and blankets of flora. And in the sky, the sun was nearing the horizon, painting the world in pinks and purples and oranges.

    “Sweet Force,” she whispered.

    Your gaze shifted to the woman next to you. You wore a smile that would make Chewie gag.

    The light of the sunset fell gently on her features, outlining her face with an ethereal sort of glow. Her eyes reflected the sparkling water and the sun, a window into her soul and the flame of fierce bravery that you knew she always carried in it. Lips slightly parted in awe, Rey looked more beautiful now than you had ever seen her, watching something so simple, so unknown and taking a galaxy’s worth of joy from it.

    You wanted to see that look on her face every day. You wanted to drag her across the galaxy and show her every corner of it, if only to watch her smile the way she was now.

    “It’s beautiful,” she said in quiet awe and respect.

    You exhaled sharply. “Yeah. You are.”

    She didn’t process your words for a long moment, but when she did, her head snapped over to look at you and her eyes went wide. “(Y/N)...”

    “Rey, can I-- can I tell you a story?”

    She frowned, uncertain, but nodded. Before you could speak, she reached out and took your hand once more, sending a wave of warmth up your arm.

    You smiled and took a deep breath. “When my grandmother was young, she was the Queen of Naboo and, after that, its Senator. My grandfather was a Jedi and-- and he was tasked with protecting her, so he brought her home, brought her here. She showed him everything about this planet: the sights, the people. He was already in love with her then, but it was here that, with nothing but them, the Force, and the life around them, that she realised she loved him back. He was a kid from Tatooine who had never seen anything like Naboo before and watching him discover something she loved so dearly, she just...knew.”

    “Sounds familiar,” Rey said with a little laugh, her voice soft.

    You echoed the noise before lifting her hand, bringing it to your lips and kissing her knuckles gently. “I have watched you come from nothing, seen you face down the most terrifying people in the galaxy and hardly blink. You terrify and amaze me, Rey, and I-- I think I’ve been in love with you for much longer than I thought.”

    “Oh, (Y/N),” she breathed out. Turning to face you, she put her free hand on your cheek, caressing it with her thumb. “I’ve never-- well, I’ve never really...had anyone. Your family took me in and that-- that means the galaxy to me, having a family. You are so, so kind and so much more than I ever hoped for. I’m nothing. I don’t have anything, (Y/N), just this lightsaber. I don’t even have a name. How could you possibly love me?”

    Unable to resist, you placed a fond kiss to the inside of her wrist. “Take mine.”

    She blanked. “What?”

    “You are not nothing. You are everything to me,” you told her firmly. “If you want more than that lightsaber, more than this family we have, take my name. It belongs to you...and so do I.”

    Rey opened her mouth and then paused, unable to find words. Instead, she decided on an action.

    She grabbed the collar of your robes and pulled your forward, slanting her mouth against yours. You did not squeak as she would claim later, but you did make a wordless noise. After a moment, you pulled her in close, slipping your arm around her waist.

    For an innocent, young desert scrapper who had supposedly never kissed anyone before, she was damn good at it.

    When you finally pulled away, you couldn’t help resting your forehead against hers.

    (A Keldabe kiss, Aunt Ahsoka and Uncle Rex had called it. It was just as intimate as any regular kiss and meant so much more)

    “Rey Organa-Solo has a ring to it,” you murmured against her lips.

    She laughed, a sweet, song-like thing that melted your heart again. “Is that a proposal?”

    “Definitely,” you said, kissing her again. It was soft, but sank into something deeper, the sort of kiss your father would say he and your mother shared after defying death yet again.

    A fairytale moment in a fairytale place. And, technically speaking, you were royalty.

    “I think,” Rey said when you finally let go again, “that we have a lot more to see.”

    You grinned. “Naboo first, love. But after that, believe me, I’ll show you the galaxy.”

River Tags: @hahaboop & @mystoragehatesme

Masterlist

[gothamsglam]

How Wonder-land-a-ful!

Transferring to SHIELD high did many things for Tony, one of them was reuniting him with James Rhodes. Just not how he wanted to.

Ever After High/Marvel Fusion. Ironhusbands, of course. (You don't have to know much about Ever After High to read this, think just some fairy tale AU and you'll be fine!)

AO3 LINK IN NOTES

I wanted to churn out one more story for the end of 2020, I thought something more silly would be a great way to end this uh year.

This idea has stuck with me for a while, and I finally wrote it.

Hope you enjoy!!!

~Vix

SHIELD High was so bland . Yes, it was grand of course, structured like the classically large fairy-tale castles of Ever After. The hallways were marble with lockers and vines lining the walls and trees and plants growing willy nilly around the school. Chandeliers hung from the high ceilings, and large arched windows showed off the beauty of the lands around them. In the distance, Tony swears he can see Sleeping Beauty’s castle.

But SHIELD high was just bland in comparison to home. To Wonderland . Not even the personalized dorms could make up for the fact that school was all year long— ew , who made that rule—instead of one day a year. Tony missed the nonsensical beauty of SI High, where the hallways ran instead of you, where you had to find the paintbrushes in passing period to paint the doors—free art credits!—, and the cafeteria that was switched with the auditorium.

But the castle-teria at SHIELD was just a long hall with rows and rows of marvel benches, pillars in the corners to honor the greek storylines and pay tribute to the last generation of Fairytale legends.

It was so boring. And just looking at it made Tony want to *poof* right there and then.

“Hi Tony,” Steve Rogers asked, coming behind him in the castle-teria, “Need a place to sit?”

Oh and this, this was another thing Tony wasn’t fond of. Transferring to SHIELD high meant he actually was walking among the children of fairy tale legend.  Disgusting.

Father was too fond of them, far too fond of them. Back when Wonderland and Ever After had many open portals between one another—back before the curse on Wonderland by the Evil Queen of the HYDRA family. Howard was an ambassador , the git.

Howard didn’t get the White Rabbit legacy as Tony did, no, Uncle Jarvis had. Howard was a part of the Wakandan court, one of many peace ambassadors to the other royal families, particularly the ones in Ever After. Oh, the tales Tony was told as a young bunny, of the Rogers Family’s legacy brought forth by the apple, of the Red Hooded Romanoffs, and the Rose pricked Wilsons.

Tony was glad he didn’t have to walk among them at SI High, he was content to only have to see them in the crowd at Legacy day. Tony was actually really excited for Legacy day, his own legacy wasn’t following his father, but rather his mother and Uncle Jarvis. Signing his page in the Storybook of Legends was a milestone Tony didn’t mind looking forward to.

However Tony also understood why James Barnes, heir to the Evil Queen, wouldn’t want to sign. To each their own, he supposes.

But ugh, SHIELD high had too many Princes, he hated it.

His nose twitching, Tony ducked away from Rogers—who was bigger, blonder, and oh the clocks was that a red crown on his stupid head? “Thanks, but no thanks, golden boy. I’ll just—uh—”

He looked out at the rows and rows of tables, at the heads of up-dos and flower pins, and the sea of gelled down curls and impeccable sleeves. Seriously how does no one have a stain on their shirt? It’s mud-loaf day!

There! Out in the crowd, a hand popped out waving him over, Tony grinned, popping up a bit and rushing away from the other guy, “See ya, Rogers!”

“Bye…?”

Resisting the urge to stick out his tongue, Tony padded away with swift steps, the click of his shoes drowned out by the noise of the castle-teria. Reaching the table in the back, he grinned at the sight of familiar friends.

He wasn’t the only one apart of the exchange program of course, in fact, he was the second wave of students, prepared by letters sent by the other students. Tony had his own assigned group of the next exchange student. A lovely little trio of kids. Peter would not stop asking about the royal classes offered at SHIELD and MJ was more interesting in the classes offered by Maria Hill. Tony wouldn’t know, of course, he switched out of those classes the second day after running into pig shit mid-chase. For a house on chicken legs, it was surprisingly very fast.

Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts was donned in swirls of light peach and blue with subtle armor around her waist and shoulders. Her hair was curled, pinned away from her face in a half updo, with the rest falling around her and nearly touching the table as she leaned in to pat the now empty spot across from her.

“Tony!” She exclaimed, freckles dancing across her face as she broke out into a smile, “got lost?” She teased.

Tony blew a raspberry, “Pssht, no, How could I get lost here? Wonderland was more interesting, this place is just boring,” he waved, twirling his fork in his food.

T’challa laughed, the matte gold detailing on his black jacket catching the light beans from the windows, it covered his purple and black card-like patterned dress shirt “That’s what you think, Stark. But with everything looking the same, you’ll pass by the same five classrooms over and over without noticing.”

Tony also laughed, “True. Remember, how—when you missed the upside-down sidewalk outside of bio-mechanics—you could end up in fishing class because of the fountain step? Every time the freshmen would come in dripping halfway through class.”

“Oh, does everyone still call them fish?” Sharon asked, pulling out Earl the dormouse from her empty teacup. He hopped up her shoulder to hide in her mini top hat. Her suit jacket was draped over her shoulders—rather than it being on the bench—and her cream shirt had mini hats detailed, blending in with the folds as it was only a few shades darker.

“Classically,” Tony replied with a wink. They turned back to their conversations, gossiping about their peers such as Maximoff—from Cinderella’s line—who was enamored with Vision—from the hunter’s line. Scandalous.

Tony halfheartedly listened to the discussion but was really on the verge of nodding off. His roommate—Justin Hammer, stupid son of the Cheshire cat—kept playing pranks on him and ruining his things with paint bombs. He almost got a fairy fail in physics because his latest essay had swamp goop over it! He had to stay up rewriting it, which wouldn’t be a problem normally but he had stayed up trying to make weld a new type of gear for his pet project.

Tony must have dozed off for a bit, because when he blinked open his eyes, he was resting on his elbows, folded under some familiar fabric. Blinking blearily at the side of his tray, Tony sat up. Well, that’s embarrassing, so much for his reputation. Pushing a hand through his hair, he avoided glancing around and instead went to look at his lap and pull out his pocket watch. However, someone else reached out to poke his side, resulting in a leap and an ‘eep!’.

“Hey there, sleeping beauty!” Rhodey smirked at him, “I think you and Wilson were supposed to have each other’s destinies. That was some impression you were doing.”

Damn him, Damn it all. Of course , Tony would fall asleep right then and there, drooling over his arms in front of James Rhodes . Of course the first time he’d see the precious son of the Alice bloodline—after literal years in different worlds—would be when he’s conked out in front of his dripping mashed potato tray in the flipping Greek castle-teria. Unbelievable, Tony.

And Rhodes— Rhodey —has the literal audacity to sit there with a playful smirk on his face. Sit there in his v-neck— v-neck!!! —map patterned shirt that should make him look like a dork but he doesn’t , and a necklace that dips over his collarbone —and oh stars —his hair .

Tony really should say something, “Uh—Hi, honey bear?” His voice cracks, because of course, it does.

“Hi, Tones,” Rhodey replies with a smile, and it’s dazzling . Tony just might scream.

Everything is muted, he couldn’t tell you if Pepper and Sharon were still talking, if T’challa had left the table or if lunch was even over. It feels like, for a brief moment, there’s only Rhodey.

Rhodey, who’s turning around to address someone else. Tony also looks away, trying to keep his ears from burning up and turning red.

“Tony, were you drawing in your mash potatoes?” Rhodey looks over, pressing slightly against Tony to peer over at his tray.

Which prompts Tony to dart out and pull the tray towards him with a, “Nooooo?”

Rhodes looks back at him, raising an eyebrow, “Really?”

“Maybe~?”

That prompted a laugh out of him, gaining the attention of Pepper sitting a bit away from them. “Oh, Tony’s still doing that? I thought that was only a Wonderland thing.”

“Hey!” Tony wrinkled his nose and glared at her, silently grateful at the fact that pulled him out of mentally gaping like a fish at his best friend—are they even best friends anymore? Rhodey probably has like a billion of them at SHIELD. “I can do it anywhere. It’s called art.”

“You wouldn’t know art if it slapped you in the face.”

Tony opened his mouth, literally about to say, ‘I mean if Rhodey slapped me in the face I would say he’s art.’ before he’s stopped by the one jellybean of a brain cell in the back of his mind.

Well that and Rhodey’s “If anyone can bring wonder with them to SHIELD, it would be Tony.”

Which, oKAY , Tony needs to stop exploding inwardly and actually say something, “Um, speaking of wonder, does anyone know anything about that one well myth?”

“The well of wonder?” Sharon asked, polling her hand from her mouth where she was probably stifling giggles, which rude, ok.

T’challa also answered, “I believe I might be of help. Why are you asking Tony?”

Tony darted a look at Rhodey—he can’t see his face because he’s looking at T’challa, but he swears that under the table his fist clenches. Weird—before looking at T’challa, “It’s a surprise,” He winked.

And it was! But for Rhodey. He was supposed to have it done pre-meeting him at lunch, but thanks to Hammer he missed his mental deadlines. It wasn’t like he had sought out Natasha Romanoff beforehand to ask about James’ schedule so he could know when they had lunch together or anything, absolutely not.

See—back when in Wonderland—, Tony and Rhodey would galavant about, exploring the lands and falling down many rabbit holes, quite literally. Tony remembers how in his workshop, Rhodey would always love seeing Tony design the swords and spears for the Wonderland card-guards—the Dora Milaje. However what Tony specialized in was watch-making, specifically enchanted watches. Watches with personality, with faces that weren’t just hands and numbers or mini mirror-pods, but near people like. Pixel-faires born of Tony’s creation. DUM-E was his first.

‘You’ was meant for Rhodey, he’d been making them ever since he heard he was chosen for the second era of exchange students. It really shouldn’t have taken so long, but without the wonder of Wonderland and his workshop, it was harder.

So when he heard about the well of wonder, the last remain flow between the two worlds, he knew he had to find it. Too bad it disappeared every night, popping up all over Ever After.

“It would be best to go with someone Tony,” Sharon said, “The well likes to frequent the forest.”

“I could go with you!” Rhodey exclaimed, well not exclaimed, that was just Tony projecting. Mostly... Maybe? No, probably.

“Really?” Tony asked, “You don’t—?”

“It’s my free period anyway," Rhodey shrugged, “Besides you’re already using my jacket, so now you can wear it in the forest too!”

“I—” Tony looks back at the table, and oh.

Oh , that’s what he was sleeping on.

T’challa mentioned stopping by their—his and Rhodey’s—dorm so they can get directions. There’s more regaling of the well, and mentions of seeing Bruce Banner and Thor frequenting the area, which ooo? But all Tony really remembers is seeing Rhodey reaching over, draping his jacket over Tony’s shoulder.

“It’s a date,” Rhodey grinned with a dazzling smile.

~FIN~

So do you like who is who? I didn't recast everyone, but I might continue this AU so maybe I will later down the line! Please let me know what you think in the comments and leave a kudo too! Love you all!!!