#Caffeine-less

[thevoidstaredback]

Tim was curious. Maybe a little addicted to whatever the hell was in that coffee, he's still standing by the point that no other coffee will ever be enough, but that's not the point.

He wants answers. The Justice League want answers. No one has been able to get them. Because Phantom stays in the House of Mysteries, no one but the JLD can actually get time him. The Supers have tried listening out for him, but magic is something they're weak against and therefore can't hear through. Batman has tried to get into the House, but he's been sent everywhere else for his attempts. They would track him down as a civilian, but no one actually knows if he has a civilian disguise. It's very hard to hide hair that starkly white and skin pale enough to be blue.

Regardless, everyone wanted answers and Tim was determined to be the one to get them. Why does Phantom claim to be thirty-eight, fourteen, and eighteen all at the same time? Where did he come from? When did he die? How did he die? What the hell is in his coffee because damn was it good!

Off topic.

Tim had the rest of the Titans return to the tower while he stayed out. It'd be easier to track if he was the only one doing it. Besides, these guys work with Raven, they won't hurt him. Probably.

The fact that Phantom apparently smelled like death was another concern Tim had. Was it because he was dead? And what did Constantine mean that 'the smell lingers'?

More questions kept popping up like goddamn daisies, and there was no answers to clip them down. Tim was getting frustrated, to say the least.

***

Danny made an effort to at least try and help Constantine with the demon problem the building was having. Honestly, it wasn't even that bad, in Danny's humble opinion. The demon was just messing with people, not hurting anyone or stealing anything! He was, at most, planting minor inconveniences everywhere.

That's not technically his monkey, though, and it was most definitely not his circus. He figured he'd offer to be helpful, though, if only so that Constantine would owe him a favor. A favor he already knows how he's going to cash in.

"Why'd you really want to tag along?" Constantine asked Danny while they searched for the demon.

"What do you mean? You offered to bring me along."

"Yeah, but that's because you need to get out of the House more."

"Funny, coming from you."

"I spend more time outside of the House than I do inside." the Brit scoffed, "Now tell me why you agreed to come along. This is demon hunting. You only ever go ghost hunting."

Danny sighed and ran his left hand through his hair. Not that he could feel it, stupid nerve damage. "Deadman's been on my ass about my first trip to Gotham. I would've left to go find some place to crash, but the entire Justice League is also on my ass for some reason! I'd honestly rather not have to face any of them."

"You've been to Gotham?" Constantine asked, "When?"

Danny groaned, "Not you, too!"

"Whoa, okay, okay. You don't need to share with the class."

"Sorry."

"You better be."

"Hey!"

"Now tell my why the JL proper are after you?"

A sigh. "You remember at that meeting when Red Robin mistook my drink for his?"

"Yeah. Hard to forget. You freaked everyone out a little bit."

"Yeah. Turns out they all have questions that I don't want to answer. Avoiding them all has been the best way to not answer."

"You know you can't dodge them all forever."

"I know, but I really don't want to have to explain anything!" he whined, "The questions that they'll end up asking are gonna be really painful to answer."

A raised eyebrow. "How do you know what they'll ask?"

"Because everyone always asks the same things. Worded differently, but still that same."

"Then refuse to answer."

Danny met Constantine's eyes with a deadpan glare. "You're gonna look me in the eye and tell me that the Justice League and their sidekicks will leave me alone if I tell them 'no'?" He shook his head. "Lying's a bad habit, old man."

Constantine rolled his eyes as he went for his lighter, remembering they were were in a no smoke zone and retracting his hand. "Don't sass me, brat. Wonder Woman and Superman, at the very least, would back off. They'd get everyone else to, too."

"What about Batman and his brood?"

"Touche." the man said, "But you can't hide from them forever."

"I can try,"

"But you'll fail."

Another groan. "Can we just get this thing over with? I want to lock myself in the basement and wallow."

Part 5 Part 7

Tag List:

@zaiothe4th @someonebored0100 @wolfeyedwitch @angelheartgamer @nymanders @princessbelix @luminanightfall @kgne-k @bianca-hooks123 @reigning-catsanddogs @sassywombatranchhorse @dontfightmecauseillcry @soul-lime @anarinette @serasvictoria02 @the-chaos-goblin-child @confusedshades @caicie @fantasticstoryteller @randomshtickidk @itsberrydreemurstuff

[dustykneed]

i just think spock has great mom friend potential tbh. strong contender for the cutest thing i've ever drawn

[justheblueberry]

home

[figofswords]

wow I didn’t think reblogging that tea post and then seeing people’s tags would deal me such strong psychic damage. come over I can fix you I can find a tea you will like. “I don’t like tea” how can you say that as a blanket statement when there are so many vastly different kinds of tea. head in hands

[novadragoness]

Builder & Qi are the kind of power couple that would give Miguel heart attacks daily.

[safety-pin-punk]

yall Im so fucking tired. This month has been exhausting. I promise Im alive, just barely functional atm.

[doueverwonder]

sorry wttt fandom but you now have to deal with me getting way too emotional over the fact that Louisiana is canonically christian, and more importantly canonically Christian and not a stick in the mud.

[t00thpasteface]

I love how you draw Nemo and Arronax like Beatles

i don't even know what this means because i have never voluntarily looked at any images of the beatles. every time i've seen a beatle it has been against my will

[horrorlesbians]

the a24 civil war movie is either a poignant commentary about the manufactured divide in the us largely due to factors outside the citizens control or one of the most tone deaf movies of the moment but I don’t care about it enough to figure out which it is

[btwn2lungs]

"I'm home", Kazuki calls out as he steps into the apartment, a sleeping Miri cradled carefully against his chest.

She had a long day full of running and laughing at the annual fair the elementary school held. Hell, Kazuki had a long day too considering he planned, organised, and baked fifteen different pastries for the damn thing. Really the whole month had been long but he expected as much, what with being head of the Parent Teacher Association and all. But he was happy to be busy and more than willing to be present for any and all of Miri´s school events. He had more time now.

They had more time.

And thank God for Rei, Kazuki thought to himself as he gently laid Miri on the couch, pulling a blanket over her. He sank down onto the couch beside her and closed his eyes, happy to finally rest his back after running around all day.

If it wasn't for Rei´s help this past month, Kazuki is sure he would have pulled his hair out or worse: get premature grey hair. Kazuki liked to plan but between the event, taking care of Miri, and the usual household chores, it was a lot to take on by himself. He was thankful he didn't have to.

Despite his initial eagerness and the overwhelming satisfaction of another successful day, Kazuki was glad the day was finally over. He had woken up before the sun rose to finish some last minute baking and his phone had been ringing nonstop since 7:00am with last minute preparation questions from the moms. If it wasn't for Rei´s help with getting Miri up and dressed, preparing her breakfast and entertaining her with a few rounds of Morio Kart while Kazuki rushed around the house in a frenzy, he's sure he would have been late.

Kazuki barely had time to brush his teeth and put on clean clothes let alone clean up the monstrous mess he had made in the kitchen. Kazuki was a "clean as you go" type of guy but this morning proved to be quite the exception.

"Fuck," Kazuki groans under his breath. "The kitchen."

Visions of the catastrophe he had left behind had been plaguing him all morning but they were soon replaced with the present chaos that was decorations, tables and chairs, children and parents alike milling around like ants through the school grounds.

He kept his eyes closed for a few moments longer, bracing himself for the disaster only a few meters away from him. When he finally stood up and faced the kitchen, he was convinced he was hallucinating. How he hadn't noticed before was beyond him.

There was no mess in the kitchen. In fact, the kitchen, and the living room too he now realised, having whipped his head around so fast he felt dizzy, were arguably cleaner than they had been all month (hey, between this shit, a kid, and Rei having recently started his physical therapy, some things had to be deprioritised. Sue him).

He turns back around to the kitchen (slowly this time) and notices that not only is it spotless, but the dining table is set for three, a bouquet of roses in the middle, and a white envelop placed on his side of the table.

Kazuki had never been so confused in his life. Was this an early sign of dementia? He needed to sit down.

As he was about to do just that, Rei walks in the front door with a box of pizza under his left arm.

"Oh, you got here before me", Rei says, toeing his shoes off at the door.

"Uh," was all Kazuki could manage to respond. He gestures vaguely around the apartment. "What happened here?"

Rei places the pizza on the dining table and shrugs nonchalantly but there's a hint of mirth in his eyes that Kazuki doesn't quite understand.

"I cleaned", Rei says casually. And while Rei has been helping out significantly more in the past couple of years, he cant help the look of disbelief that crosses his face.

"You," Kazuki starts and then stops. "How did you....When did you," he glances quickly at Rei´s right arm, newly freed from its splint, and back up to Rei who is now standing over Miri with a soft look in his eyes.

"You had physical therapy today," Kazuki tries again.

It was still early in his sessions. 90 minutes a day, three times a week. Usually Kazuki drove Rei to and from therapy, more at his own insistence than Rei´s but Kazuki had reluctantly agreed to let Rei manage his appointments for the month. Just for this month, Kazuki had insisted.

It was the reason Rei couldn't join them at the fair today.

"I did," Rei says, looking at Kazuki from the side of the couch with that same amusement twinkling in his eyes. "I had some time."

Kazuki narrows his eyes at him, knowing that couldn't possibly be true let alone physically possibly at this stage in Rei´s recovery but he doesn't push the point.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth as they say.

"That still doesn't explain the flowers or the card or the pizza. I thought we agreed to save pizza for the weekends. I could have cooked us something."

Ah, apparently he will look that gift horse in the mouth after all.

The amusement in Rei´s eyes doesn't lessen, if anything it grows brighter and Kazuki is getting a little frustrated at feeling like a joke is being played on him, at the thought of Rei exhausting himself over Kazuki's mess.

"Do you know what today is?," Rei asks carefully. And Kazuki really doesn't understand what he's getting at. Of course he knows what day it is.

"Its Wednesday. Physical Therapy day, School Fair day, trash day," Kazuki replies matter-of-factly. His eyes have been glued to his calendar since the start of the school year, keeping close tabs on Miri´s school events and extracurriculars and Rei´s physical therapy and doctor appointments.

Hell at this point he probably didn't need the calendar anymore, each event, day and time, so vividly burned into the front his mind.

Of course he knows what fucking day it is, what kind of question —

"Its our anniversary."

And holy shit, maybe Kazuki needed his calendar more than he thought. Anniversary? Of all the things, how could Kazuki forget something as significant as their first anniversary? He felt dizzy again. Had he been standing this whole time?

Rei must notice the internal reprimand Kazuki is giving himself because he walks over to Kazuki and gingerly walks him over to the dinner table, pulling out a chair for him to sit down.

"Rei, I am so sorry. I—," Kazuki tries to explain but stops at the feeling a feather light kiss at the top of his head. Kazuki had been spluttering all night, but that got him to finally shut up. That seemed to be Rei´s intention if the smug look on his face was anything to go by.

"You had a busy day. I wanted to do something for you." Rei takes his hand as he sits across from him at the table. Rei was generally soft spoken but he always seemed to lower his voice in moments like this, barely a whisper; eyes focused intently on their clasped hands above the table. "You deserve nice things, Kazuki."

Kazuki is really at a loss of words now. He did not think he deserved nice things, could barely believe he had any nice things at all: a roof over his head, a family, love. He especially didn't feel deserving of nice things after forgetting one of the most important days of his life. And we wanted to argue that point but the sound of Miri´s voice made the words die on his tongue.

"Pizza!" She squeals running excitedly up to the box that sat at the opposite end of where Kazuki and Rei sat at the table.

"Lets wash our hands first Miri," Rei says as he begins to stand, taking his hand away from Kazuki´s. Kazuki frowns slightly at the loss.

Miri giggles as she runs into the bathroom to wash her hands.

"I got your favourite," Rei offers as he goes to join Miri in the bathroom. "But only on half because pineapple on pizza is gross."

And Kazuki laughs so hard that he starts crying. Of course it's those words that make Kazuki burst into tears.

Maybe for today, just for today, he can believe he was worthy of nice things.

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

Nobody asked for this but @girlboyssing said "Kazurei" and "anniversary" and I became possessed. I hope you like it :)

[bromcommie]

running a bazillion errands and cleaning the whole apartment all the while in turns blasting either 70s/80s bops or the winter soldier suite 2014 comp. henry jackman into headphones at 120% just to feel alive kind of friday

[uldahstreetrat]

I wanna start recording my nerd ass creative shit for YouTube but I don't know where the fuck to start lmao

the ridiculous research on the history of receipts? a similar spiral about stamps and designing them for XIV? a culmination of my thoughts about bread tags and bagels within the game lore??

also I spent all day making personal databases on Minecraft redstone mechanics so my brain sure is doing something in here but I can't tell you what

[eatclean-bewhole]

Avoiding caffeine on an empty stomach is also ideal for hormone balance, for those with a compromised gut, and for those with anxiety.

[miminmimikyu]

It's my headcanon that before transferring all medical dossiers back to Starfleet when Voyager returned to Earth, the doctor made sure to add "It is noted that Captain Janeway's coffee consumption is excessive and may result in kidney damage in the long term. However, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES should a physician attempt to limit the patient's coffee intake or recommend herbal tea as a surrogate. The adverse effects may not seem immediately apparent but the caffeine is playing an essential role in the patient's internal biochemistry" to all Janeway's medical files. Only, every single Starfleet doctor was like "lol no we're not listening to that. no more coffee for you vice-admiral" .

But then Mindwalk happens and now the Dauntless's Doctor suddenly gets the feeling he fully understands what the holodoc's warning was about. His respect for the holodoc increased by 1000%.

[uygfiug]

how do you people study through extreme exhaustion? bc thats what always gets me during the exams & i cannot keep doing this forever

[pierogipete]

my anxiety has been so bad this last couple weeks i keep waking up with such crazy anxiety but like for no reason its so fun. im just chilling and get hit with a wave of anxiety. im doing fucking paperwork? anxiety. idk whats going on