#Do you like the colors of the Danno? Which one

[pencil-for-a-dog]

[scarletsaphire]

Danny knew that he wasn't supposed to follow the wisps, but when you're a child, lost and alone in the forest, you don't have much of a choice.

---

I took a small break from @phicphight but I'm back with a fill for @jackdaw-sprite! The prompt I used will be at the bottom.

There were lots and lots of rules that Danny needed to follow; don't try and use the stove by yourself, don't wander into the lab without supervision, always wear his welding mask when helping his mom or dad with their work, and most importantly of all, do not, under any circumstances, follow the will o' wisps.

His parents had spent a very long time hammering that rule into his head, ever since he was a baby. "They may look friendly," his mom would say, as they cuddled on a sofa watching Brave . "It may seem like they're trying to help her. But they are not. If they hadn't appeared, than none of this would've happened in the first place."

"They're going to be beautiful," his dad had said, while hammering a sheet of metal into the shape he needed. Danny was standing on the stool next to him, a significantly smaller, less effective hammer clasped between his tiny hands. "They might even be the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. But that's a lie. They just want to trick you, and take you away from us. You can't trust them, just like you can't trust any ghost. Do you understand me, Danno?"

Danny had nodded, and his dad had ruffled his hair just like he always did. "You're such a smart kid, you know that? I wish I'd had half the brains when I was five!"

Now, lost deep enough in the forest that Danny couldn't see the sky, Danny didn't feel all that smart.

He hadn't meant to wander off; the rest of his family was still somewhere in the park, setting up the picnic blanket and basket for lunch. Jazz had been playing hide and seek with him, but knowing her, she was using his absence to read the book she’d brought. That was okay; as long as Danny hid well, they’d all have to find him eventually.

Danny had thought hiding in the trees would've been a good idea; he’d be able to see everyone, but they wouldn’t see him. There was the added bonus of being able to climb a tree, which was always a plus. He'd needed to go a few trees deep to find a good one he could climb. By then, he'd seen a flower, a lovely soft purple color that he thought would match his mom's eyes. But if he got his mom a flower, he had to get his dad one too, cause that was only fair, and there was a pretty yellow one only a little further in...

The next thing he knew, he'd been stumbling around the trees, tripping over protruding roots and dead logs that could've been there for centuries. He had no idea which way he'd come from, or which way led back to the park, and all he really wanted to do was sit down and cry.

His bottom lip had just started to quiver when the will o' wisp first appeared.

His father had been right; it was beautiful, a kaleidoscope of colors all mushed into one creature, constantly shifting and flickering in the air, as if someone had taken a chunk of the northern lights and left it right here, in a random park in Illinois just for him to look at.

Danny recognized it instantly. He should’ve looked away; he knew what the rule was. Do not, under any circumstances, follow the will o' wisps. But...

Danny glanced back up at the sky, completely covered by the canopy above him. He couldn't tell if the sun was starting to set or not. He had no way of knowing just how close to, or even how far past lunch time it really was, but by the growling of his stomach, he was fairly certain it had been a little while at least.

Surely it was better to follow the wisp than sit here and starve, right? It wasn't like they could lead him into any more danger than he was already in.

Danny took one, hesitant step towards the wisp. It stayed exactly where it was, circling through a dozen different colors. Danny took another step.

It did not disappear when he got close, like it did in the movies. It hovered inches in front of his face, close enough that if he just stretched his hand forward, he would be able to touch it. This close, he could see that he'd been wrong to compare it to the northern lights; those were probably beautiful, sure, but it didn't hold a candle to this.

It was like peering through water at the bottom of a pond, if the only thing on the other side was a rainbow. It rippled and flowed from one vivid color into the next, constantly changing and shifting and yet never once was it muddied. The temptation was too strong, and Danny couldn’t help but reach out. It was only then, just as his fingers were about to brush against the top of whatever it had instead of a head, that it disappeared, reappearing a few feet away.

Danny didn't hesitate this time. He was off as fast as his little legs could carry him, running towards the wisp. This time, the roots did not catch his feet, the weeds did not scratch his legs, and the logs did not break his stride.

He chased the wisp through the woods with reckless abandon, running as fast as he possibly could. Danny needed to touch that wisp, needed to catch it between his hands like a lightning bug. He didn't know why, he just knew he needed to know. He needed to know how it felt beneath his fingers.

He was so focused on the will o' wisp that he didn't notice when the ground beneath him became more level, when the sunlight streamed through the leaves in larger gaps. He didn't even notice that he'd emerged out of the forest until the wisp disappeared for the last time, and he couldn't find where it had reappeared.

Jazz grabbed a hold of his arm, and the memory of the will o' wisp was knocked out of his head all at once.

"There you are!" she said, dragging Danny over to where the picnic blanket had been laid out. "Mom, I found him!"

His mom and dad rushed over to him, pulling him into a hug. "We've been worried sick about you, kiddo!" his dad said, pulling away to look at his face. "We've been calling your name for fifteen minutes now!"

"You must've wandered pretty far into the forest, huh?" his mom said with a smile and a laugh. "What were you doing in there?"

Danny looked back at the woods. He hoped to see the wisp among the trees, one last glimpse of the beautiful, cascading colors. All he saw was the browns and greens the forest always had.

"I was climbing trees," he lied.

He was quiet for the rest of the day. His parents never bothered to ask why.

--

Danny was eight when he next saw the wisps. He'd almost forgotten about them entirely, so many years had gone by. He probably would have, if his parents warnings didn’t serve as near constant reminders.

He was supposed to be in class, but he wasn’t. Dash had been picking on him again, and the teacher had looked the other way, just like she always did. That was normal. Most days, Danny dealt with it.

Unlike most days, however, Danny didn't have Tucker to help distract him; his friend was home sick with some kind of stomach bug, so for this day and probably the following week, Danny was going to be all by himself.

Danny thought his solution made perfect sense. He’d waited for the teacher and Dash to turn their attention away, and slipped out into the hallway. He knew he wasn't supposed to be wandering around without permission, but it was probably fine. Dash wasn't supposed to be insulting him and his parents like that, at least not according to the signs on the walls everywhere, so Danny deserved a little bit of rule breaking here and there. It was only fair.

This staircase went to the roof, supposedly, but since he didn't have the key, and neither did any of the other staff as far as he knew, it was pretty much just a dead end. This worked perfectly for Danny's purposes; no one would come up here for any reason, which meant he had as much time as he wanted. At least, until someone realized he was gone, but that probably wouldn’t be for a while.

Now the problem was what he was going to do. He hadn’t thought to grab his backpack before sneaking away, so he didn’t have all of the random goodies he’d accumulated over the past few months. He didn’t have any homework or studying that he could do, not without his worksheets, and even if he did, he probably wouldn’t; that was something Jazz would do, and Jazz was boring.

Danny dug through the pockets of his jacket and jeans and came out with two halves of a purple crayon, a small container of extra pencil lead for a mechanical pencil, and a form he was supposed to give to his parents last week that he’d forgotten about.

It looked like he would be drawing.

He was halfway into a doodle of some kind of space monster eating a planet when he saw the light out of the corner of his eye. At first, he'd thought it was the door opening; the light was soft and natural, like sunlight would be, but that didn't make any sense; no one had come up the stairs, Danny was sure of it, and there was no way anyone was on the roof; they’d need to climb the side of the school, which was way too much work.

It was once he looked up that he recognized it: a will o' wisp, hovering above the stairs, just out of reach.

The crayon fell out of his hand. It was just as beautiful as he remembered it being, just as ethereal, and completely out of place with the bleak surroundings of the elementary school staircase.

Danny didn't bother packing up his things. He left his drawing unfinished on the floor, the pencil lead spread out against the tile. He climbed to his feet as if in a trance, hand outstretched, just like he remembered doing in the forest three years ago. Just like it had done then, it let Danny get close enough to almost touch it, close enough that he could almost feel it against his finger tips, and then it was gone, floating above the landing just below him.

He hesitated. The first time he saw the wisps, he'd been a dumb, scared, lost child, who didn't have any other options. It was different this time; Danny was older, and smarter, and most importantly, he wasn't

It was weird, for the will o' wisp to appear here, of all places. In all of the stories Danny had heard, either from books or movies or from his parents, the wisps had always appeared to people who were lost, or in danger, and (depending on who was telling the story) they would help or hinder whatever traveler happened to stumble across them. Danny wasn't in danger or lost, unless you counted Dash being mean, but if that was the case, the wisps would've appeared years ago.

Everything about the situation was wrong. Danny knew that it was all wrong, and that he should park his butt back on the floor and finish his doodle. He also knew that if he didn't investigate now, than he would never get the chance to investigate again.

The doodle could wait; it wasn't that good anyway.

With the initial shock and awe of seeing it gone, Danny approached the wisp cautiously, making sure to watch his step. The wisp stayed in place, glinting in the artificial school lights just as it had in the sunlight three years before. It was only once Danny had landed solidly on the landing, with his hand outstretched to the wisp, that it vanished, reappearing on the next landing down.

It brought Danny down to the bottom floor before disappearing. That was weird; It hadn't brought him anywhere, but it was definitely gone. Unless...

Danny pushed the door separating the stairs and the hallway open just a crack, then breathed a sigh of relief. The wisp danced in the hallway, just a few doors down from where he currently was. With a quick look glance for any wondering teachers, Danny was out in the hallway, chasing after the wisp again.

The chase didn't last much longer. He'd barely gone halfway down the hallway when it disappeared for good this time, leaving Danny standing right outside his own class's door.

"But-" Danny started, talking to empty air. He shook his head instead of continuing his question; he wouldn't have gotten an answer, even if the wisp was still here.

He opened the door to the classroom and slipped back amidst the students. As far as he could tell, nobody noticed he was missing.

The intercom crackled to life barely two minutes later. "Attention teachers and students. There is an active shooter inside of the building. This is not a drill. Stay calm and commence lock down procedures. I repeat, this is not a drill."

The class immediately panicked.

(Later that night, safely in a chair at home, Danny would overhear the news on the television. "It had been lucky that the shooter hadn't injured anyone, as a children's drawing was found next to the point of entry," the reporter was saying. "In the future, the Casper Elementary School will make certain that the roof access door is locked from the inside, hopefully preventing an issue like this from arising again.")

---

Fires were no rare occasion at Fentonworks. Between their positively abysmal cooking skills, the amount of faulty inventions that were tested in the laboratory, and the Fen-Toaster which was probably a violation of the Geneva conventions, the Fenton's were single-handedly keeping the fire hydrant companies in business. The fires were never a big deal, hardly more than a scorch mark on the ground or wall. They were always caught early, and proper fire safety had been ingrained into Jazz and Danny since before they could walk.

This fire was different. It hadn't been caught early, if the smoke that woke Danny up was anything to go off of, and it certainly wasn't something that could be tamed by a standard fire extinguisher.

Danny held the back of his hand up to his door. It wasn't hot; that was a good sign.

The hallway wasn't on fire, at least not that Danny could see, but he couldn't see much through the thick smoke that clogged the air. He fumbled his way towards the staircase, eyes squinted against the burn.

"Danny!" It was his mother's voice, raspy and punctuated with a cough.

He turned back around towards their bedroom, and could just barely make out the silhouette of both her and his father. Before he knew it, they had reached him, pulling him into a quick hug. 

"We need to get Jazz and get out of here!" his dad said.

"Right here," Jazz said, her blurry figure joining the rest of them.

"Good. Good." His mother's relief was palpable. "We need to get going."

She was right. They didn't have much time, and the fire was only going to grow worse as time went on. They needed to get out of Fentonworks, and fast. The front door was the easy answer; they could all get there with their eyes closed. Danny should've been following her down the stairs, as fast as his aching lungs could carry him. Instead, he found himself reaching out and stopping her descent.

"We can't go that way." He was certain of it. If the door was clear, than the colorful light, distorting through the smoke in the air, wouldn't be at the end of the hallway.

"Danny, we-"

He didn't wait for an answer, taking off towards the end of the hallway. The wisp was there to help , he was certain of it, just like it had helped him those times when he was younger. They'd proved that they were here to help, and despite his parents' warning, Danny trusted them.

His family was close behind, calling his name between coughs, but he didn't turn around.

The wisp lead him into the bathroom, which was surprisingly smoke free. With the wisp hovering in the window as it was, it wasn't hard to see why; the window had been left open, and the door closed. The rest of the family funneled into the room while Danny approached the window. Peering out, he could see the reason the wisp must have brought them here; his parents' old mattress, just recently replaced for a new, upgraded one, lay on the ground directly beneath the window. It wouldn't be the comfiest fall in the world, but they wouldn't get hurt. Probably.

Danny didn't think about it. He blocked out the protests of his parents and sister, heaving himself up over the windowsill and out into the clean, cool air. The fall was quick, not enough time for him to regret the decision even as his stomach flipped. The mattress did not completely cushion his fall - he'd probably be dealing with bruises for the next week, maybe more - but he was able to roll off the mattress and onto his feet without an issue.

The wisp was gone when he looked back up at the bathroom window, replaced with the worried faces of his family. He tried to shout up at them, but all he managed to do was trigger a coughing fit. Instead, he waved, beckoning them to follow. They seemed to understand. Jazz came down first, letting out a ear piercing shriek on her way down. She was grabbing onto Danny's shoulders mere seconds after she'd landed.

"What were you thinking?" she cried, shaking him back and forth. "You can't just run off like that! You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"But we're fine," Danny argued.

"And we would've been just as fine if we had gone downstairs! And you wouldn't have given all of us a heart attack and made us jump out of the window!"

"We can talk about this later." His mother had joined the conversation, and his father had just landed on the mattress with a big puff. "And we will be talking about this later-" she narrowed a glare at Danny "-but right now we need to make sure the fire departments been called. You two run over to the Pallay's house to borrow their phone, we'll see if the Kennywood's will let us."

Danny and Jazz nodded their head, before taking off around the corner. The moment they were out of earshot, Jazz started again. "What were you thinking?"

He didn't have an answer. What was he supposed to say, that he followed the wisp? Jazz wouldn't understand; she didn't believe in ghosts at all, and even if she did, she wouldn't trust them, not like Danny did. Luckily, he didn't need an answer.

The contorted, melted in mess of a front door was answer enough.

---

"It's a bummer that it doesn't work," Tucker said, making himself comfortable on the one empty spot of workbench. "Your parents have been working on it for like. Forever."

"Yeah they're not happy," Danny said, staring at the shell of what should've been a portal. "Jazz had to basically drag them out of the house today, they haven't left at all this week."

"I don't blame them," Sam said, raising the camera around her neck to her eye. "At least it looks cool, right?"

"I guess so," Danny agreed.

Sam hummed. "It doesn't photograph well."

"I can try and get another light on?" Danny offered.

Sam shook her head. "That's not the problem. It's just too... static. I think it'd look nicer with one of you in front of it."

"Not it!" Tucker called quickly, lifting his hand to his nose. "Too slow!"

Danny, who was midway through the same motion, lowered his hand back down with a sigh. "Fine, I'll do it. But I'm putting on my suit! It's still a dangerous machine, even if it doesn't work right."

Sam nodded while Danny got into the suit "I think it'll look better anyway. More thematic than jeans and a t-shirt. Though, maybe without the sticker of your dad's face."

Danny's face heated up as she removed the sticker. "I didn't put it there."

"Yeah, yeah, get in front of the portal," Sam said.

Danny listened, standing just beyond the lip of the metal. A chill traveled down his spine; there was something... disconcerting about it all. He knew what was actually behind him; he knew the portal almost as well as his parents did, years and years of talks about it over dinner, family time in the lab spilling over blueprints that should've been far above his comprehension. He knew that, when it lay dormant and dead like this, it was nothing more than metal and machinery, just like every other thing in the lab.

And yet he could feel it's exhale, cold and sour on the back of his neck. He could see stray wires on the corners of his vision, and he couldn't help but see them as teeth, closing in around him. This was the portal to the afterlife, supposed to bridge the gap between life and death itself. Maybe his parents were wrong; maybe it did work, and they just couldn't see it. Maybe he was balanced on the edge of death itself, and one more step, one slip of his foot, and he'd go falling backwards into whatever endless nothingness the afterlife had for a living soul.

Sam's camera clicked, chasing away to foreboding feeling in an instant. She grabbed the polaroid, shaking it out, before squinting at it. "Something's still missing."

Tucker leaned over her shoulder. "Yeah, it still feels kinda bland."

"Maybe you should go into it more?" Sam asked, glancing up at Danny, then back down at the picture.

"I don't know..." Danny said. "I don't think its safe."

"Come on, it'll be fine," Sam said dismissively. "Your parents said its not working. And besides, its a ghost portal. Don't you want to see what's on the other side?"

He wanted to say no. He wanted to walk away, take off his stupid jumpsuit, and go back upstairs to watch whatever stupid show Tucker had found them earlier today. Her words had hit a little to close to home, a little to close to that nagging fear he'd felt before, and he spared one glance behind him, just to assuage his nerves before shutting her down.

The wisp danced in the maw of the portal, brilliant, blinding, dazzling colors reflecting off the sheer metal surface of its mechanical innards, and Danny's worries washed away. "Yeah," he heard himself say. "It would be pretty cool."

The portal wasn't deep, so when the wisp disappeared, it didn't go far. It hovered alongside the portal wall, so very close. He took one step further, and then another, and was already in touching distance of the wisp. Danny reached out his hand slowly, cautiously, expecting for it to disappear just like always.

It didn't. It was silky and cool under Danny's hand, and yet it seemed to float away like water or mist, allowing him to put his hand further and further in. He let out a disbelieving laugh that echoed through the tunnel, and he almost thought he could hear the wisp laugh with him, a tinkling of bells, mischievous and soft, echoing just behind his own. The wisp seemed oddly happy to have Danny's hand through its not quite face, it's colors shifting swifter and more vibrantly than ever before. With reckless joy, Danny pushed his hand in further.

His hand met metal with a soft click, and the wisp disappeared, bringing its colorful, kaleidoscope lights with it. Danny was plunged into darkness before his world went green.

--

Prompts: jackdawsprite - Danny knows better than to follow the will o' the wisps. But the rules are different now, aren't they?

[owwi]

The youtube shorts arg got me so now here’s just a bit of theorizing and a timeline because. well bored + the fixation is strong with this one

The following contains spoilers for the recent uploads, so I recommend only going if you know the basics, don’t care about it or just wanna see it.

So. If you haven’t been keeping up, here’s a rough idea.

Starting on around July 16th, 5 shorts YouTubers began to post shorts with weird glitch things, randomly popping into each other’s. QR codes also started to show up, with someone wearing a purge mask whoabsolutely fucking hates the YouTube shorts (and maybe also normal shorts). And naturally they wanna get rid of them. We also get introduced to a company called CLONEVPN, which seems to be connected to the one just mentioned and is sending these youtubers clones after they agree to a sponsorship.

The most common crossover involved Riggy from Danno Cal, who notably seems to be one of the two who actually knew that hey maybe he shouldn’t be in other videos! The other being RoyalPear. However, RaZer makes a short saying that he needs help to build a new computer, since his is causing these problems (spoiler alert: ITS NOT IT BRO-)

A new video was released for the QR codes as well, known as Rebirth. This shows the cloning process and it works for a bit, with only two unsuccessful clones, being of Joe Caine, who presumably is just too cool for it, and Riggy, who’s cloning process struggles and ends up making a more blue version of him that notably seems to just be a rabbit. Below are the two. Note how Clone Riggy (Picture 1) has a more vibrant color pallet, no eye color, a crumpled up paper border, and, most notably, lacks the tail that indicates him to me a Runkey. This indicates the cloning process just made him a rabbit. Meanwhile, Riggy (photo 2) is a less turned up shade of blue and red, has the green eyes, a grid paper outline, and of course, the tail.

We didn’t know what this would do until yesterday or the day before, when Jonny RaZer began a stream, ending with his presumed death by clone (also everyone tried to get the clone to eat the thermal paste but it failed). Other videos soon followed from almost all channels listed in the tags, the two exceptions being RoyalPear, who was marked as replaced by a new pfp and avatar they use to represent themself (became a more crudely drawn Tropius). The other is Joe Caine, who is the only one that I know of who never accepted. If not please let me know-

We also got a website! Clonevpn.com, which has a few pages and a spot to enter your email. As of now, I cannot find any hidden pages, but we have been getting codes, so it’s a matter of time.

Okay. That’s the rough timeline. I reccomend watching because I did NOT watch the streams in full. Seriously, go watch if you haven’t.

Now to some theory stuff!

So, Jonny is gonna do a r/place stream, and I bet they might make a QR code. Maybe to the website! Or we might find new links. It’s not much, but it’s gonna be a domino? And… hey! Mayhe thay’ll give us a new hint. Point is, that r/place stuff is something to watch, since we’ll maybe get an idea as to what the hell the clone has been doing.

In addition, it seems implied that both Riggy AND RoyalPear are currently alive, but not well. RoyalPear in particular is not having a good time and it seems the clone replacing him only has a few days to live and prove itself. So, expect something there in a few days! Probably a secret video, likely of the clone getting taken out. Or we might see something to do with Joe, since he’s the only one who is currently known to own his channel.

I gotta be honest, of all of these guys, I don’t watch much bundun. But he does seem to be similar to Riggy, as he IS implied to currently be alive! As of today, he has appeared in the channel’s respective clonevpn sponsorship, and thus, I expect to see him again. He hasn’t showed up nearly as much as the others, but the fact he is ALIVE is a good sign for him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if him and Riggy might team up or something.

Finally, the main theory one. JOE CAINE. Yes that name is a bit… y’know, certain thing sounds, but Joe is actually an interesting case to me. He is one of the few who hasn’t released a clonevpn sponsor, and also has not shown any sign of being replaced. However, his computer IS mentioned to be glitching out and being slow (sound familiar?) and also his… voice being weird? There’s heavy implications that if another creator is present in the short, he is voicing them?? So, that’s a thing.

Also, he can’t be cloned, and I have a small theory. Joe is already a clone. Think like this: Clones are likely harder to clone than things that aren’t clones. In addition, his appearance is based off of Harold, the grandpa meme dude. So, he could theoretically be a clone of that meme, though not Harold since I don’t think we should bring people who aren’t participating into this without them knowing. Plus, the whole voicing thing. If your a clone, maybe you can imitate other voices. It’s a bit far fetched, but this was fun to right. However, there’s one problem. As of soeeddunning shorts 113, we see he has received a sponsorship offer, and I don’t think they’d be after him if he was a clone. However, if he’s not doing what he should… there’s a chance? Either way I expect

tldr: Jonny is dead, Riggy and bundun teamup, Phaluer was not included because I have no clue where he fits in yet, Joe MIGHT be a clone we’re still figuring it out, and RoyalPear is double doomed. also thanks for reading this mess of thought soup, and make sure to take a look for yourself.

EDIT: This was made before we got confirmation Jonny was alive, sorry bout that. most of the above seems to apply still. Might make a new post tommorow okay thanks again!

[ilovewriting06]

I Love Him- Part 10

I look up with a French fry in my mouth as Lilly and Grace come back from the bathroom. Grace, Tani, Lilly, and I are dress shopping for the wedding. It’s June 12th meaning it’s only five days until the wedding. We decided it would be best to wait till closer to the wedding to get dresses since my pregnancy could make my stomach bigger before the wedding and then the dress wouldn’t fit so here we are in a mall eating McDonalds.

The wedding colors are sage green and dusty blue. Tani and Grace have picked out their dresses which are sage green satin dresses with a slit up the side with spaghetti straps. Lilly has a dusty blue dress that has a white lace top and a dusty blue tulle skirt. My dress still remains a mystery. I’ve decided I want something simple since our wedding is going to be simple and on the beach but we just haven’t found the right dress. Being seven months pregnant limits my choices and my picky fashion sense is making it damn near impossible.

We started our shopping trip around ten in the morning and it is now 2:30. I take a sip of my milkshake as Lilly goes back to finishing her nuggets and apple slices. I look over when Tani sits down, “So, when are your parents coming in?” I smile, “They’re coming in the 15th and mother being the ever traditionalist that she is has decided that I will be staying with Danny the night of the 16th.”

Tani snorts and Grace chuckles, “Sounds like Grammy.” I nod and glance at Lilly to see her perk up at the mention of her grandmother, “Can I stay too?” I chuckle and smooth back her hair, “Yeah baby, I’m sure Grammy and Danno won’t mind.” She smiles and nods before grabbing her chocolate milk.

I huff as I’m pulled into yet another bridal shop, “Why must you put me through this torture?” Tani spins around and crosses her arms, “I’m sorry, did you want to get married in some grease stained jeans and an oversized navy shirt with McGarrett plastered on the back?” I nod frantically, “Yes!”

Tani sighs before rubbing her temples, “Well, you’re not.” With that being said she grabs my arm and drags me in with Grace and Lilly following behind.

After looking for a few minutes I look up when a woman with bottle blonde hair comes up to me with an aggravated smile. I look at her confused, “Is everything alright Maam?” She raises and eyebrow as the girls flank my side with Lilly standing behind me holding my legs, “No, I can’t say that it is.”

I glance at her stance and know that this isn’t going to go well, “I’m sorry about that, but what can we possibly do?” She huffs and leans forward before poking a well manicured finger at my face, “Leave.” My mouth drops, “What?” She shakes her finger before continuing, “You need to leave, you obviously don’t take marriage seriously. Your marriage won’t last a day!” I grit my jaw and put out my arms to stop the girls from moving forward, “Back off girls, she’s mine.” I whisper the last part so only they can hear me. They know me well enough to know I can handle it and if not they’re right there so they take a couple steps back but watch like a couple of hawks.

I cross my arms and pop my hip, “I’m sorry, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She leans forward and hisses, “You’re pregnant!” I sarcastically widen my eyes in surprise, “Woahhhh, what ever gave you that idea?” She scoffs and pulls back a little, “Respect your elders.” I nod, “Now that you mention it I apologize,” she smiles and goes to nod until I continue, “I didn’t realize how old you were, but I see it now. The crows feet by your eyes l, the wrinkles covering your face, should I call your elderly care facility and let them know one of their grandmas got loose?”

She gasps appalled by my words, “You have no right to say that to me.” I rolled my eyes, “Listen, I don’t know what your problem is but I’m trying to find a wedding dress.” She smirks and nods, “That is my problem.”

“What my wedding dress?” She puts a hand on her hip and hums, “Precisely. Mostly the fact that a girl who decided to get pregnant outside of marriage is now getting married when it’s clearly obvious you shouldn’t. That poor man would get cheated on left and right because you could never stay in one bed.” How the hell does she get that bullshit from me being pregnant? “Excuse me! What’s your name?”

She crosses her arms with a proud smile, “Marge.” I nod before my smile goes from nice to pissed off, “Well listen Marge, I don’t know what the hell you went through but don’t take it out on me. I’m pregnant but I’ve also only slept with one man since and for months before that he was still the only man I slept with, and he knows it. So I may have done things a little out of order but I swear it makes my day when bitches like you decide to throw it in my face because I have some things you and any other old wrinkled busy body do not have. Happiness, family, love, all something you lack and Marge if you so much as tell me one more time that I don’t deserve to get married I swear to God you’ll regret it.”

She pulls back and before I know it a hand comes in contact with my face. I grit my teeth when I hear Lilly whimper into my legs, “You have no idea what you just did.” She looks smug and I look at Tani, “Tani, would you do the honors?” She smirked, “Gladly.” She grabbed the handcuffs from her back pocket along with pointing to her badge on her hip, “Marge, you are under arrest for public harassment and assault.” I smirk and look at her, “Anything else you would like to say?” She looks away obviously humiliated and I look at Tani, “We'll take her to meet Steve and Danny later, right now I’m going to find a dress.” And sure enough twenty minutes later I’m wearing a wedding dress that I absolutely love and tears prick my eyes as I realize how close I am to marrying the man I love. I open the door and Grace and Tani’s eyes widen and Grace smiles, “It’s beautiful and simple, just like you wanted.” I nod and look in the mirror knowing this is the one. (A/N: I won’t describe this dress because it’s your wedding so you can decide on whatever dress you want :))

I hold Lilly’s hand as we walk into 5-0 with Marge cuffed before leading her to the room where all the magic happens. When we walk in I smile as Steve looks up before looking at Marge confused.

I stand beside Steve as Danny comes to stand beside me on the other side as I say, “Guys let me introduce you, “Steve, Danny, this is Marge.” Marge looks up terrified and I continue with a smirk, “Marge, this is Steve, my fiancé.” I make sure to emphasize fiancé before turning to Danny, “And this is my older brother, and you know how protective they can be.”

Steve and Danny look at me before Steve gently tilts my head so they can see the handprint still present on my cheek, “Curtesy of Marge over there. Did it right after she called me a whore and vowed that our marriage wouldn’t last more than a day.” Steve’s eyes harden as Danny grits his jaw. Marge looks between them wide eyed before looking at me, “I didn’t know he was a cop! I’m sorry!” I cross my arms and raise a brow, “Marge, honey, that doesn’t change a thing you’re still under arrest.”

I roll my eyes as she tears up claiming I’m lying and she didn’t do anything but the only she managed to do was piss off Steve and Danny more. Steve steps forward with anger in his eyes when he sees how Lilly hasn’t let go of my legs obviously scared of the woman, “Did you hit my fiancé in front of our daughter?” Marge looks at all of us and shakes her head only making Steve angrier, “Oh, now we’re going to add lying to law enforcement to your charge, but let me tell you something, the second you laid a hand on my fiancé in front of our six year old daughter you lost any chance of talking your way out of this.

Once Marge was booked and out of HQ Steve turns to us with a smile, “Did you find your dress?” I nod with a smile, “Yeah,” I turn to Danny, “I’m going to swing by your place and drop the dress off there so nosey over here doesn’t go snooping.” Danny laughs and nods while Steve pouts.

June 16th

I sink into Danny’s couch crossing my arms as I look at mom , “Ma, this is ridiculous, why can’t I see him today?” She sighs, “Y/N, it’ll make tomorrow all the sweeter.” I look away from her glaring at the wall, “Well it’s stupid.” She sighs before walking away leaving me alone in the living room.

I look up when Danny enters and groan when he sits down saying we need to talk, “What Danny? Change your mind about the wedding already?” He leans back into the couch before looking at me with a wide smile. I smile nervous and confused, “What?” He shakes his head before wrapping an arm over my shoulders, “I’m just proud of you.”

I lean my head on his shoulder before snuggling a little closer, “What do you mean?” He squeezes my shoulder before looking at me again, “Do you remember when we were kids and you vowed you would never get married because you wanted to be free and a man wouldn’t let you be?” I chuckle, “Yeah, I was twelve and my friend had just gotten a boyfriend and we didn’t hang out anymore.” He nods, “Yeah but you were serious, you didn’t date anyone until you were 20 and they only lasted a couple months at most.” I nod knowing he’s right, “Yeah, I guess I changed my mind.” He places a kiss on my forehead before smiling, “Oh he changed you in a lot of ways. But I can’t say I’m not happy. Seeing you with him, someone who I think of as a brother, I was happy not just for you but for him too. You came after Catherine, and I think that’s one of the reasons I was dead set against you two.”

I look at him confused and he sighs, “I’m not gonna lie Y/N I thought you were going to break his heart.” I sit up a little hurt by his words and he rushes to sit up, “It’s not that I think you would have done it on purpose but I knew how you felt about relationships and I know you didn’t want tied down but then I watched you two and I realized the only way you two would separate is if one of you died.”

I smile and nod, “Danny, the reason I’m not scared to settle down with him is because I know he won’t tie me down, he won’t try and control me, he doesn’t think for me he lets me make my own decisions and say what needs to be said. He isn’t trapping me he’s given me the option to be free, and he still does. If I want to go somewhere and do something he doesn’t tell me it’s dumb, even though it usually is, he encourages me to do it because he knows it’s what I want to do. He respects me and loves me and in turn I respect him and love him.” Danny smiles before grabbing my hand, “I know, that’s why when he asked for my blessing to ask you to marry him I gave it to him. I didn’t hesitate because I knew he was the one for you, you’re both wild and crazy, that’s what makes you two so beautifully insane together.”

I lean back into the couch, “I love him Danny, ever since I talked to him, he was there for me, a total stranger but somehow someone I felt I knew for my whole life.” He chuckles and nods, “That’s just the kind of man Steve is.”

The Day of the Wedding

I woke up at 5 am from nerves and anxiousness and check on Lilly to see she’s still asleep in Charlie’s room. Yesterday after everything with Marge, Steve and I sat down with Lilly and made sure she was okay she smiled and told us she was okay because her mommy would protect her. I had never felt so important until that moment.

I sip on my tea since coffee is a big no no while pregnant and jump when I turn around to see Danny, “What the hell Danny?” He shakes his head and chuckles, “Someone’s on edge, do I sense nervousness?” I bite my lip and shrug, “Maybe, or maybe the twins are kicking the crap out of me.” He glances up and down before shaking his head and making coffee, “No, they aren’t, you usually have a look of discomfort and you unknowingly put a hand under your stomach.” I purse my lips and sit at the island, “Okay, I’m nervous.”

He grabs his coffee and stands across the island from me, “I know.” I roll my eyes and sip my tea, “You think he’s nervous?” Danny snorts out a laugh, “Steve, nervous, about you? Yes, the man is nervous, he’s always nervous when it comes to you.” I sit my mug down and squint my eyes, “What’s that supposed to mean?” He takes a drink of coffee before shrugging, “Means he cares about your opinion and decisions and right now you have a very big decision to make.”

“I already made my decision though,” I hold up my left hand to show off the ring. He nods, “Yes, but it wouldn’t be the first time a wedding was canceled on the day it was supposed to happen.” I scowl, “I’m not leaving.” He nods, “I know, he knows too, it’s just nerves everyone goes through. Admit it, you have those same thoughts nagging in the back of your mind too.”

I sigh knowing he’s right before groaning when I hear my parents bedroom door close knowing it’s my mother. Sure enough she rounds the corner and smiles, “Darling! I’m so glad you’re up we have so many things to do!” I drop my head into my hand and whine, “No, not right now.” She grabs my arm and pulls me up before dragging me down the hall, “Yes now, your wedding is at 1 and it’s 6 already, the time is flying by.”

I glance back to see Danny shrug at my help me face, “Sorry, I have to go to Steve’s and help set everything up. Let me know when you’re on the way so we can lock Steve outside.” I laugh, “Will do, but if he wants in that house he’s going to get into that house.” Danny shrugs before heading back to the kitchen.

June 17th- 10 am

I smile as Tani comes rushing through the door to pick, Grace, Lilly, Ma, and me up and take to the house to get ready, “Sorry I’m late, traffic.”

I nod before looking at mom, “Ma call Danny and let him know we’re on the way, Grace go get Lilly.” They all nod and carry out their tasks while I rub my stomach which I do believe the boys are having a party in right now.

When we’re all in Tani’s car, very squished I might add, I relax back into the passengers seat, “Tani don’t poke sitting is not helping my bladder right now.” She turns to me confused, “You just peed!” I nod and hum, “Yes, but I’m pregnant with two active boys that love to jump on my bladder. I could probably pee all day if I wanted to.” She grumbles out how she’s happy she’s not having kids and I roll my eyes at her antics.

June 17th- 12:45 pm

I tap my foot as Grace finishes the last few touches on my hair, “There, now you can get dressed.” I smile and turn around to see Lilly in her dress, “Lilly you look so pretty baby!” She smiles and spins in a circle, “Look it floats!” I chuckle and nod before walking towards mom who is just now seeing my dress. She turns around with teary eyes and pulls me into a hug, “You’re growing up, long gone is the little girl who always terrorized her siblings and had to be pried away from every mud puddle. Now you are a beautiful young woman who terrorizes her siblings and friends and has to be pried away from Steve and the ocean.”

I laugh and blink back tears before tightening my grip on her, “I’m still you and Pops’ little princess,” I glance at Lilly with a smile, “I just have a little princess of my own now.” She nods and pulls me into another hug before pulling away and wiping her tears, “It’s almost time dear, we have to get you in your dress.”

June 17th- 1 pm

I gulp as I loop my arm through Pop’s and stand on the back patio waiting for the bridesmaids and flower girl to make their way to the front. I let out a shaky breath and Pop’s squeezes my arm, “Relax, ignore everyone else and just focus on him.” I nod glad he knows my nerves are from all the people and not that I’m vowing to spend the rest of my life with Steve, that was the one thing that made me continue on.

I suck in a deep breath as the wedding march plays and then I see his face, and everything disappears, just like Pop said.

Everything flies by until the vows, and then I know how Steve felt when he proposed. I squeeze his hands as I take a breath, “Steve, I can say I now know how you felt the night you proposed because I remember nothing about what I was going to say.” He laughs as do the guests before I continue, “So I’ll just pull a you and fly by the seat of my pants,” he rolls his eyes playfully when I squeeze his hands, “I’ve told you over and over again that the day I called you I fell in love with you and I couldn’t imagine my life without you and that’s true but I never told you something. I was reminded lately, by someone that when I was twelve I had vowed to never settle down and I would never get married. And I stuck to that vow until I was 20 and even then no relationship lasted more than six months. And then Danny got shot and you called and offered your services to help ease my anxiety and then Danny got shot again and I took you up on the offer. We talked everyday and then within six months I made the decision to move to Hawaii. I talked myself into believing that Danny, Grace, and Charlie were the reason I was moving, but deep down, I knew it was you. You are the reason I moved and you are the first person I have truly loved and the only person who could ever get me to settle down, so I Y/N Y/M/N promise to love you and stay by your side till the end of time.”

Steve lets go of my one hand to wipe his eyes and sniffles, “Damn, I should have went first.” I smile and chuckle under my breath before he continues, “Now that you’ve got me crying I’ll go.” I smile and whisper an I love you causing him to smile, “A little over a year ago we got a little tipsy and made what we thought at the time was a mistake,” I blush a deep shade of red as it’s revealed of the unknown start of our relationship. “And then, in the morning we realized that it wasn’t a mistake, it was the best decision we’ve ever made. After that we went out and decided that we didn’t want it to end and it didn’t. We managed to keep it between us for five months and then during an argument you outed us both, and then outed you were pregnant. Not exactly how I pictured finding out I was going to be a father but I was still thrilled.” I laugh as Danny rolls his eyes remembering the night everything went down. Steve ran his thumbs over my knuckles, “I never thought I would settle down, not because I didn’t want to but because I didn’t think I would ever find someone to settle down with, but now, now I have you. I have a family and I can settle down with the woman I love and a beautiful daughter and two sons. I promise to love you and protect you, as well as our children until the day I die.”

I lean my head back and blink, “You jerk, It’s not waterproof.” After I banish the tears it’s officially that time, “You may kiss the bride.”

I squeak as I’m dipped back a little bit with Steve’s lipped locked on mine as our friends and family cheer and clap and a few flashes go off.

I pull back and smile before whispering against his cheek, “We did it, we’re married.” He nods, “Yeah, yeah we are.” I pull him into another kiss as more flashes appear quickly blocked out by my eyes closing from pure bliss.

Tag List:

@djs8891 @kati-1997

[half-deadmagicperson]

And He Answered

Chapter 2

For @phicphight

Words: 1162 (For this chapter)

Prompt: Mermaid AU, where instead of being ectobiologists, Jack and Maddie Fenton study wildlife from under the sea— specifically mermaids. Amity Park is next to multiples large lakes and rivers, the Ghost Zone is underwater, all the ghosts are mers, and Danny is struggling to find a way to explain his sudden aversion to any things water. (By @erebecula)

Summary: Danny makes a new friend! Also Sibling time!

Warnings: None for this one!

Here's a follow up from the first one.

First | Next | AO3

   

Danny examined his new form. His new tail swished occasionally to keep him upright. He observed the scales on his hand which spread sporadically up his arm. The scale colors flitted between black and dark green, matching the murky lake. Looking back at his tail, he decided it was time to test it out. 

   Gliding through the water was one of the most freeing things Danny has ever experienced. His new eyes allowed him to see underwater clearly as he watched fish swim around and stoneflies scuttling on the rocks.

    Lake Amity was one of the deepest lakes in the United States, meaning much of it was unexplored. Danny swam around taking in the new sights. He decided to swim deeper. Danny's eyes widened in wonder. Creatures he'd never seen before swam past him. Danny felt something brushing against his back. When he turned around he saw what looked like a log. He felt the brush on his back again and whipped around. The same log? But how's that possible? He turned over to where the log first was to meet the face of a serpent-like creature. It had a long snout like a gator and the body of a snake.  Whatever it was, it scared the shit out of him. It's mouth spread into a playful grin, full of teeth. It gently nudged Danny with its snout. Danny hesitantly reached a hand out to its head. 

    The creature reminded him of a story his dad told him about a sea monster in Lake Mendota. Its name was Bozho and it was known to follow sailors and tickle people's feet while they swam. His dad told him about one summer he saw it while fishing with Danny's grandpa. 

   He needed a name for his new friend.Well he couldn't call this one Bozho. That name was already taken. 'Hmmm what should I name you?' he thought, 'I know! I'll name you Cujo.' 

     He wasn't sure how he'd be able to talk to his new friend to tell him his name, but he learned the serpent likes head scratches. Cujo nudged him and turned his(?) head towards the  surface. Danny should probably go back. His family was most likely worried.

    Danny swam over to shore; Cujo followed until the water got too shallow. How was he gonna change back? Danny sat on the sand in confusion. He noticed his scales start to dry up and turn to more of a tannish hue. Eventually, his tail split into two legs and he grabbed his stuff to leave.

   By the time he got home, his scales were all gone and his fingers were dewebbed. He walked in to see Jazz reading a book while his parents were tinkering on a new net. 

   "Heya, Danno! How was your walk!" His dad's boisterous voice filled the room.

   "It was good!" Danny replied. 

    A beep from the microwave signaled that dinner was ready. Dinner was simple and quick enough. Maddie had put a frozen pizza in the oven. Either way there were still a few dishes, and it was Danny's turn to clean them. 

    He should wait until his family leaves the room before attempting dishes. There wasn't a lot, so maybe he could get it done quickly. Maybe he could say he doesn't feel well and have Jazz do it.

   "Don't forget Danny, it's your turn to do dishes!" His mom reminded him.

   "Um, actually I'm not feeling all that well still. Could Jazz maybe cover for me," Danny replied, staring at the sink.

   "It's only a few dishes? You sure you won't be able to handle it?" His mom asked.

   "I'm sure! I just need to go lie down!" he said before bolting up the stairs.

   Jazz looked over where her little brother's form once was. Poor Danny. He's probably scared of water after what happened. Maybe he needs to see that the water won't hurt him?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

   After Jazz finished cleaning the dishes she grabbed a glass of water and went upstairs. 

"Hey Danny?" Jazz asked, knocking on his door.

 "What do you want, Jazz?" came a muffled reply.

 "To talk," she stated simply.

  Danny opened the door and let her in. Jazz set her glass on the nightstand and sat on his bed next to him.

 "I know that what you experienced, whatever actually happened, traumatized you. I want you to know that if you ever want to talk about it, I'm here for you. You don't have to face this alone."

   She could tell that he was listening even though he was staring at the glass of water. She continued, "I know water probably scares you, but I wanted to prove to you that it's safe when not in large quantities."

   Danny's eyes widened when she picked up the glass. Man his drowning must've really messed with his psyche. Jazz took her finger and dipped it in the glass.

  "See! Perfectly fine! Now your turn!"

  Danny stared at the water for a hot second before dipping the very tip of his finger in.

 "See I'm not scared of water Jazz. I'm perfectly fine," he stated. 

  "Prove it."

  "What?"

  "Put your whole hand in."

  "Why would I do that? That's stupid."

  "Because it would prove you're not scared of a silly glass of water."

  "Of course I'm not scared of a glass of water! I love water!" Danny's voice raised.

  "Alright then prove it! Put your hand in." 

  Danny moved his hand towards the glass and stopped.

  "I-i-i can't," his voice was barely a whisper.

  "Whatever happened to you clearly had an impact on you. Would you like to talk about it?"

  "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

  "Try me."

  "I went in the parent's submarine and I accidentally deployed it, and it cracked open," he blurted out. He looked over to see her signal him to continue.

  "I'm not exactly sure what happened before I was found, but I remember drowning. I also had a dream about this man who came to the sub and said I was gonna be some 'unitor of land and sea' or something like that. Either way I think I was blessed by a mer and it changed me."

   Jazz looked at him with an arched brow.

  "Mers don't actually exist you know?"

  "That's what I thought too until yesterday. What if he's how I got to shore?" 

  "Okay. That may be, but how do you know for sure that mers even exist and it wasn't just some hallucination you had?"

  "Because of this." 

 Danny took the glass and dunked his hand in. He pulled it out to reveal a black blotch of scales on his hand. Jazz stood awestruck. She grabbed his hand to inspect the scales. They were beautiful.

  "Also, could we please not tell Mom or Dad. They might want to experiment on me."

  "I won't let that happen, Little Brother," Jazz replied before pulling Danny into a hug, "I won't let that happen."

[five-rivers]

Three Twilights

Can be considered a loose sequel to Deep Sea Diver (same vibes).

Warnings: Soft body horror, Danny totally ignoring objectively horrifying things

.

.

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“I was thinking,” started Maddie over breakfast, “we could start observations of that island that came into view last week, the blue one.”

Danny shook his head. “You’ll have to use the Speeder, then,” he said. “I’ve got an errand to run.”

There was a pause as both of Danny’s parents looked at him, confused. He didn’t blame them. Danny rarely went out as a human anymore, and certainly not for anything like errands. Looking like he was still fourteen after all this time made doing anything even remotely official difficult.

But this wasn’t a human errand. “Yeah,” said Danny. “In the Ghost Zone. I’ve got to go to Three Twilights.”

“Where?” asked Jack.

“It’s, um, a city,” said Danny. “Well, three cities, I suppose, depending on how you want to group them. One Realm. On the shores of the Celestial Sea. I’m sure I’ve put it in your files.” Probably a direct copy from his files from before he came clean to them, but still. He stirred his cereal counterclockwise, letting his ice powers chill the milk.

“Yes,” said Maddie, “but there are a lot of places in there. I’m not sure we’ve had a chance to properly look at them all, much less memorize them.”

“Okay, yeah,” said Danny. “I guess that makes sense.”

“What kind of errand are you running, Danno?”

“I’m picking something up for a friend. A book,” he clarified. “They lent it to someone there, but they need it back.”

“A book,” said Maddie. “For the Library of Tongues?”

“No, they’ve got a contract service for overdue loans.”

“Contract service?” asked Jack.

“Yeah. Moonlighting bounty hunters mostly.”

“For a library?”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” said Danny, shrugging. “They’re really serious about their work.”

“If it isn’t for them, who is it for?” asked Maddie. “The princess? Wulf?” Wulf had actually been over a few times, and his parents had… Well, saying they got along would be an overstatement, they didn’t really have anything in common beyond ripping portals in the fabric of the universe, but everyone had been civil. “The boy at the school?”

“No,” said Danny. “Wulf would just get it himself.”

“Who, then?” pressed Maddie.

Danny put a spoonful of cereal in his mouth, delaying. Maddie hadn’t eaten anything since Danny had mentioned the errand. The errand was, in fact, for Clockwork. Danny was always more than happy to do anything for Clockwork. The older ghost had saved him too many times for him to be otherwise. But Jack and Maddie were wary of Clockwork. Danny didn’t get it, but talking about it hadn’t been productive so far.

He didn’t want to lie to his parents. Not ever again.

“It’s for Clockwork,” he said.

Ah, yes, there were those suspicious looks. The ones Danny could have interpreted even without being able to almost literally taste emotions.

“I see,” said Maddie.

“Anyway,” said Danny, quickly, “if I haven’t shown you Three Twilights yet, it’s really cool. I don’t want to take the full rig, but maybe the little ectocam would be okay? The one that I can clip on.”

“Why not the normal camera with an ectofilter?” asked Jack. “That has more features, and it’s easier for us to get data from.”

“Three Twilights. It’s dark there,” said Danny. “It might work in Civila, but not so much in Naŭtika and Astronomia, and I sort of want to go down to the beach and see if I can find any star pearls, and that’s really dark, so if you want to see anything properly, it’ll have to be the sonar setup, which I’m not doing, the noises that thing makes are offensive, or the ectocam.”

“And the Fenton Phones?” asked Maddie.

“Sure,” said Danny. “But I always bring those.”

“Yes,” said Maddie, after a moment. “You do.”

“Great. It’s settled, then.”

.

Most of the journey to Three Twilights could be made by air. Or, rather, what passed for air in the Infinite Realms. But when the rocky edge of an island came into view, Danny touched down. Further in was a blue wood, and Danny walked under its inviting branches.

The atmosphere started sunny, summery. The leaves and needles of the trees were the color of a clear blue sky. But as he got deeper, the leaves were touched with sunset colors: golds, reds, oranges, purples, and pinks. They fell to the ground, crunching beneath Danny’s feet. The sunset grew longer, deeper. The leaves on the trees grew sparser, revealing patches of sky.

By the time only bare branches framed the sky, it was a dusky, dim, purple. A few lonely stars twinkled in the sky.

He passed out of the forest. The city of Civila rose above him. Windows glowed in the near dark like eyes.

Danny had changed, too. His aura had dimmed. The whites of his suit were now dark gray, and patterns swirled on its surface like camouflage, like wind-twisted clouds, like nebulae.

Shadows bled around the corners of the city buildings like ink in water. Will-o-the-wisps bobbed, casting pools of illumination in lieu of streetlamps. Ghosts walked up and down the streets, or floated only a few meters up.

The buildings glittered. Everything was dark, vibrant, colors. A sharp, sweet scent filled the air, something dark and rich beneath it.

The canals in the center of the street were filled with flashing fish. Or perhaps serpents. Or perhaps worms. Between how fast they moved and the dimness of the light, it was difficult to tell.

Danny could feel his irises contracting, shrinking down to needle-thin rings. His teeth were sharp. He matched the other ghosts around him. This was how the Civila liked it, how things were in this part of Three Twilights.

Everything in order. Everything peaceful. Everything civil.

Danny walked through the market square, and bought some charcoal-colored cherry pastries from a vendor who looked like someone’s nightmare demon with a chip of ghost ice.

Much to his parents’ protests. They didn’t care for him eating ghost food.

There were seven bridges to Naŭtika, which was built half underwater and half on boats that floated both on the water and in the air. As the dark waters of the inlet lapped at his feet, Danny felt the changes ripple across his skin. To a human, he would look pure black, except for the faintest glimmer of rim lighting and the stars of his eyes. He and the other ghosts moved silently, cutting through the waters like shadows.

To Danny’s ghostly senses, the place was alive with emotion and force, energy loud and crackling against his senses.

“We’re solely on the ectocam, now,” said Maddie. “You were right about that.”

“Mhm,” said Danny, half distracted by a whispered sea-shanty backed by a choir of not-voices and not-sound that wove together with the mastery of a hundred years of practice.

He glided up a rope net, and began to navigate the ropes to the taller ships. The very tallest, the ones that scraped the ever-darkening sky and blotted out uneven sections of stars, moored the glass-like ships that floated above. He’d need to reach them, to get to Astronomia.

“What’s that?” asked Maddie, breaking his concentration on his path.

“What’s what?” asked Danny, whisper soft, drawing some looks. He turned, slowly, on the spot, planks barely creaking under his steps. A gentle wind ruffled his hair.

“There,” said Maddie. “By the ghost that’s registering red.”

It had taken Danny a long time to learn what color on the ectocam’s artificial sensor signified what, but he had, if only to reduce the guessing when they played this game.

“Star pearls,” said Danny, eyeing the ropes of stone that glimmered brighter than his eyes currently did. They were one of the only reliable forms of light, out on the Celestial Sea, although they were valued for other things, too.

“They’re putting out a massive amount of energy,” said Maddie.

“You mentioned them before,” said Jack. “You wanted to look for some?”

“On the shore,” said Danny. “Out past Astronomia.” He wanted to find his own, rather than buy them.

Partially because they were expensive. He didn’t really want to think about how much unmelting ice he’d have to conjure up to equal one of them. They were usually bartered in exchange for… more significant things.

The ghost by the pearls beckoned him closer, clearly hoping to make a sale. Danny shook his head, broadcasting regret and admiration for his wares. Speech might be faster but, under these circumstances, it would not be polite.

When Danny left, the social rules of Three Twilights would only leave the faintest impression on his mind. But, for now, they were a heavy, but not uncomfortable weight. One he could shrug off if necessary, but which was currently useful.

“What are they?” asked Maddie, as Danny turned away.

“They happen when big enough things fall into stars,” said Danny. “They’re all the memories of what they used to be… and the imagination of what they could become, when the star dies. Well, that’s what they’re supposed to be. I don’t think anyone really knows for sure.”

“And you can just… find these? Lying around?”

“Not… not really,” said Danny, slowly drifting towards a crow’s nest. “It’s like that one national park. That one where you can collect diamonds? You never really find anything good, but you can look.”

“I see,” said Maddie. “So, you don’t expect to find one?”

“Yes and no,” said Danny. “If I don’t expect to find one, I probably won’t. Unless the sea is feeling ironic, which it usually is, apparently. I mean, it’s an ocean and the stars. And prophecy is, like, ninety percent irony, but mostly for an outside observer. Which honestly makes sense, I think. An observer, not an Observant. Those are different things.”

The kind of silence on the other side of the line was the one that emerged when Danny used too much ghost logic.

“Anyway,” he continued as he scaled the crow’s nest and started traversing the glass ropes and chains to the all-but-invisible glass ships, “no, I don’t really expect to.”

The path to Astronomia was a staircase carved from moonstone harvested in October, when the moon was full and orange-red. It burned Danny’s eyes to look at and feet to walk upon. Like many ghosts who fixated on things like astronomy, he adapted quickly and thoroughly to the spiritual dark.

This darkest twilight was built of delicate bubbles, whorls, and arches of glass, any of which could cradle a ghost, all of which could be phased through with impunity. There were no true roads here, but certain places were easier to travel through. Addresses were carved in the glass in glimmering, holographic sigils made from glass-caught starlight that humans would never be able to read, but Danny could understand with a glance. It was not silent in Astronomia, the high wind sung through the glass like the immense instrument it was, playing ethereal and eternal music that mirrored heaven.

As always, Danny was enraptured. Perhaps the stars here were not true stars, only their memory and imagination (or simulacra made from stripped ghost cores, he remembered with a shudder), but he felt so close here.

“Danny? Are you still with us?”

Danny started to reply, but realized he had forgotten, once again, that he had no mouth here.

A phantabulist played a story for a group of not-quite-children, characters made of carefully constructed light chasing each other about with vigour. Danny stopped for a while to watch the story, a parable about spiders and fish. They were common here, storytellers who plied their craft this way. The stories could be pressed into glass prisms and orbs that served as books and viewed even in other environs of the Ghost Zone.

He moved on, passing through a glass bubble full of ghosts that snatched at and stroked him as he passed by, leaving stars and dark clouds to swirl across his skin. His suit had long since smoothed over and sunk in. His skin was a thin surface, a membrane holding in liquid night. He was like smoke, like vapour, thin and easily overlooked.

The places he passed were homes, places of business, warehouses, and hotels, organized without any apparent reason. A phantabularium glowed like a struck match, snatches of story visible inside its walls. He walked by.

Eventually, he reached the palace at the city center.

The ghost who lived there was old. Older, perhaps, than Pandora. She filled the vessels of her palace in placid pools connected by crystalized threads and looping tubes. Seven round-bottom flasks, radiating outward, like the spheres of heaven. The music here was almost deafening.

This was Urania, Muse of Astronomy. Astronomia was her city, and subordinate to her will before all else.

Danny resisted the urge to kneel. He was not here as a supplicant, and they both knew it.

The lowest pool bubbled, and slowly a glass prism, a dodecahedron, floated to the top. Danny took it with careful hands and left Urania’s direct presence as quickly as possible.

Being near her was always difficult. She was the Muse of Astronomy, and she felt he did not indulge his second Obsession as much as was proper.

Indeed, she thought it should be his first.

(The starlight inside him pulsed. He was never sure how much influence Urania could exert on him when he visited Three Twilights, never sure how much the relationship between his passions shifted when he was here. He loved it here too much to stay away forever.)

Astronomia did not end all at once. Instead, as one walked farther from the palace, the delicate, clear glass was replaced by black sand. When Danny had feet again, and could feel the grains beneath them, he knew he was no longer in Astronomia, but on the Shores of Night. The Isles of the Moon were faintly visible in the distance, sea-spray framing them in silvery halos.

He felt human here. His breath moved in his lungs, and his skin rose in goosebumps, the sleeves of his t-shirt fluttering in the wind. The sea and the sky were the same, and twice as beautiful for it.

“Sorry for going silent on you there,” said Danny. “I keep forgetting I don’t have a mouth there.”

“How do you forget that?” asked Jack.

“I don’t know.” Danny shrugged, even though he knew Jack couldn’t see him. “Do you think the ectocam might be able to spot buried star pearls?”

[bitch-i-migth-be]

Of Demonic Hands & Beloved Soulmates

Crossover: Danny Phantom, Batman

Summary:

It would be easier to convince his parents that his hand wasn’t, in fact, possessed — thank you very much — if he could bring himself to believe it first.

One thing was for sure, Danny was extremely attached to his left hand and he would like to keep it that way.

Or

Danny Fenton is the only person in Amity Park with a Soul Mark.

The only person with one in the entire planet.

LINK TO AO3

Chapter 01:

It appeared when Danny was four years old.

Jack and Maddie, in a true feat of displaying their a+ parenting skills, didn't notice until he was six .

And even then they had not thought overly much about it. Kids were kids, after all. And their kids were more creative than others. With parents like them how couldn’t they be?

Then they noticed the markings were appearing by themselves, and-

Well.

Something had to be done.

“But mom !” Danny started to squirm in his mothers arms, trying to keep his arm – if little else–  from being manhandled around too roughly. Maddie and Jack, convinced that this had to be some sort of ecto-entity plaggin their little boy, had chased Danny all over the house so they could do a proper examination of the limb and evaluate how they would deal with what was clearly a problem on their books. Now, if only they could get Danno to cooperate- “It’s not a ghost-!”

“Honey-” Maddie started, trying to find the words to convince a pouty, stubborn, and already heavily attached to whatever-it-was on his arm, little Danny.

“Nu uh! Not a ghost!” It wasn’t working.

Mostly because the kid wouldn’t let them get a word in.

“Daniel-”

“It's a demon!” The color seemed to leave the parents' faces, and Jazz, who until that moment had been waving wildly to get Danny's attention, facepalmed behind them.

As his parent’s grip grew slack around him, both still trying to process the words just uttered by their six year old, Danny took the opportunity to wiggle himself out and start his retreat to safer pastures, Jazz following a pair of steps behind while keeping a careful eye on their parents in case they decided deploying one of their ecto guns on her little brother seemed like a sensible option.

After what they had done to her hair the last time they thought she was ‘possessed’ Jazz wasn’t above being wary.

Jazz has known about the words on Danny’s arm for a year or so, but acted on it for the first time just that morning because her brother had seemed completely fine on his own until now. He was still fine actually, but Danny himself had decided to run to her wanting to show her his new discovery.

The littlest Fenton had actually honest to god tried to ask his hand – by writing it down, after not getting a response when he tried out loud after so long trying –  if it was a ghost.

Unknown to him, the littlest Al' ghul / Wayne – somewhere in his own universe, and wasn't that amazing? – still not having known english at that point, but ecstatic of finally getting a response and having under his belt a bunch of other languages to pick from, responded in as many as he could in hopes of finding a match.

Danny, seeing the enormous amount of unending squiggles rapidly etching themselves to his skin – which didn’t seem to be stopping anytime soon –, let his brain go the only logical way the movies on the tv in the middle of the night had taught him to:

‘Oh, it’s a demon then. Cool.’

Which ‘No, Danny’ an exasperated nine year-old jazz decided to help him identify the language, or variant maybe? to know what was going on.

That was when his parents had found them and the situation came to their attention.

Now their parents are too busy being outraged about the ghost clearly trying to scare their baby boy to notice the kids going back to their research, much less the fact that Danny is actually utterly delighted with the situation.

Because he was making progress with the mystery of his arm. Not beacuse his parents were going ballistic again — That last one was pretty normal and just resulted on the neighbors complaining —

It had taken a while, but they had found some answers. Before they could finish the list of translated words Jack and Maddie found them again, and thus they started chasing a sneaky asf 6yold Danny all over the house, again, because no one was exorcising Danny's demon-possessed hand if he had anything to say about it, no sir.

Danny was extremely attached to his left hand — figuratively and literally — and he would like to keep it that way, thank you.

Jazz, still on her seat, watched them run all over the place and couldn’t help but wonder about how, if the other words meant the same as the ones already traduced, the word ‘beloved ’ was still being written in as many languages as possible in her brother’s arm.

[stardancerluv]

Unlikely Delights

Part Two

Summary: Reader tries to “run into” Dan again, will it work out?

Warning: establishing age!gap, Dan mid 30’s Reader 21, 22

Note: It’s about Novemberish...they met in September. Reader and Dan have been running into each other a handful of times.

It was bitter cold today. “Billy remind me again why we didn’t tie the tarps around the buildings last week when it was in the fifties?” Dan grumbled

“Because the weather was supposed to hold.”

“Right.” Dan shook his head and pulled down on the cord and fastened it down.

“At least its not snowing yet.” Billy peered around his side of the small pharmacy.

“True, oh Tammy we got this. It is too cold out here. We’ll clean and do the rest?”

Tammy, smiled tucking some blond hair behind her ear. “Are you sure Mr. Torrance, Mr. Freeman? I finished my homework.”

Dan nodded but raised an eyebrow. “Dan, please.” But he smiled. “Yes, sweetheart we got this. Gone and enjoy your free time.”

She shifted where she stood. Billy stood up and echoed Dan’s nod. “Yes, go on little lady we got this. And yeah, Billy please. I don’t want to feel older then I am.”

She smiled brightly. “Ok. Have a good one, Dan and Billy.” Tammy waved, grabbing her bike that leaned against one of the oaks hopped on and rode off.

“She’s such a good kid.”

Billy nodded. “Yeah. Good kid, good family.”

“Yeah.” Dan sighed as he eyed the rest of the layout, “The clock tower or the church next?”

“Let’s get the clock tower, its such a pain in the ass.” Billy complained.

“It certainly is that.” He paused. “Hey Billy wanna hit the diner for dinner tonight.”

“Sure.” Billy shrugged.

“I’m so glad I’m off from the hospice tonight and I am in no mood to cook.”

“I hear that.”

*****

You were eyeing your phone. Class was over five minutes ago. The professor was just droning on and on, all because of the three day weekend.

Finally! You excitedly thought, you practically rocketed out of your seat. You pulled on your coat, and almost strangled yourself with how fast you tied your scarf. You rolled your eyes at how silly you were but all you could think about was Dan.

You really hoped you could catch him at teeny town. Today was when they were closing it for the winter. After that, you didn’t know how you were exactly going to run into him. Maybe today you could suggest coffee or something.

“Y/N are you coming to the party tonight?”

“Oh, hey Jen I’m not sure. I’ll call you.”

You walked fast out of classroom then the building. The coldness of outside hit you hard and you shivered, but the thought of possibly catching Dan made butterflies appear in your tummy. It was three blocks to Teeny Town, you could make it.

*****

“Alright, let’s now get to the rest of it.” Dan rubbed his hands together.

Together they unraveled the drop cloth and then stretched it good and tight. As he did and pulled it down then he paused.

Warmth filled him as he felt you. You were close. You were such a breath of fresh air, you were like the sun. His heart had picked up knowing, he’d see you. These last two months of little chats and encounters had always left him wanting a little more. You never failed to make him smile.

“Dan, Dan did you tie it?”

“Oh.” Dan chuckled. “Sorry got distracted.”

Billy laughed. “It’s alright Danno. Pull and tie.”

He did and then fastened it down. Eyeing the knot he made, he cleared his mind and himself be surprised your arrival.

“Guess who?” Two very soft and dainty hands covered his eyes. He let out a loud gasp.

*****

You had made it, a smile spread wide across your face. You calmed your breathing. That would be a dead give away. You had to be cool.

You eyed his soft dark strands, the curve of his cheek, which had the shadow of growth. Clean shaven, goatee or full on beard it had all looked great on him.

Walking over on small steps, you crept up behind him. With your heart racing you put your hands over his eyes.

“Guess who?”

His warm, pleasantly rough yet smooth hands covered yours. “Who could it be? Oh I know Janice from the diner are you bringing me a piece of pie?”

“Nope.”

Billy popped his head up and smiled and shook his head.

“One more guess!” You said cheerfully.

“Oh! I know. Abra! Does my sister know you’re here?”

You giggled. “No! It’s me silly.” You stood back to give him room to stand up.

He stood up and dusted his knees off. “Oh, hi there Y/N, I could have sworn you were my niece.”

“Oh Dan!” You just smiled and rolled your eyes. Gently you pushed him. “I’m so sure!”

He reached out and grabbed the ends of your scarf, he gently tugged on it. “Remember when your hair was this colorful?”

“I do.” He didn’t immediately let go of your scarf. “Maybe I will do it again soon.

“Hi Y/N!” Billy came around and Dan let go of your scarf.

“Hi Billy.” You said sweetly.

You stuffed your hands into your pockets.

“You must be cold.” Dan looked around, and gave you a soft smile.

“I’m fine.” You fibbed but couldn’t hide the shiver.

He stepped closer and rubbed one of your arms. The butterflies in your stomach went into a frenzy.

“Billy and I are going to catch dinner tonight at the diner.” He pressed his lips together, running his fingers through his hair. “Why don’t you meet us there, get a table and warm up.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded and gave your arm a squeeze. “Unless you have to go to help at the boutique?”

You shook your head. “No! I have the entire three day weekend off!” You said happily.

He smiled and your heart squeezed, as the butterflies stopped and turned entire flock of birds flapping their wings inside of you. “Fantastic! I have tonight off too.”

“Great! Ok, I’ll go grab us all a table.”

*****

“Dan?”

“What?” Dan, had not been able to wipe the grin off his lips as they finished up.

“Umm, you were grumpy and cold, well now...” His voice trailed off.

Dan nudged his friend in the shoulder. “She’s cute.”

“She is, she twinkles when she looks at you.”

“Does she?” Dan stopped.

“Yeah buddy. But Dan, she’s young.”

Dan sighed. “She is but she’s not a kid. I don’t know. I..” Now it was time his voice trailed off.

“True. Just be careful.”

Dan rose eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

Billy shrugged. “You are a bit of heart breaker.”

“Two girlfriends and a few dates does not make me a heart breaker. And Janice is happily engaged now.”

“Yes, but still moony over you.”

Dan shook his head. “She is not.”

“She is too.” Billy stopped. “Alright just don’t let her be the reason why you get back on the bus.”

“Billy! Seriously?”

“I had to say it. She seems like the one that could really be something.”

“You think so.”

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “I worry about you.”

He nudged his friend again. “Billy, I’m not going anywhere. My family is here, Abra would probably kill me.” He chuckled. “And my best friend is too.” He eyed Billy.

“Oh, don’t be sentimental.” Billy replied dryly.

“Well, its true.”

“Thanks pal. Alright, as your best pal of course, I’m going to worry.”

“Thank you. But I think it will be ok. I have a good feeling.”

“Ok, good. You are happier since that first hug.”

“I am.” Dan chuckled and pushed open the door to the diner.”

*****

You glanced back as you walked away. You couldn’t help notice Dan was still smiling, that certainly brought a spring to your step.

Once in the diner, you began to warm. Dan had certainly been right about that. You shrugged out of your coat and scarf.

While you waited you had switched where you sat twice. You were so nervous. Then you tried sitting as differently as you could after finally settling on what side you sit on.

“Water, honey?” Asked the warm voice of the waitress.

“Yes, please. Three.”

“Three?”

“I have some friends joining me.”

“Oh ok! Great. I’ll bring those over.”

Hearing, the rich sound of Dan’s laughter made nervously open and close your hands under the table. You could do this and not be completely silly.

Turning, where you sat you smiled and waved. “I’m over here!” You called.

@hollow-r-us @mrskenobi19 @i-cant-hear-you16 @thebeckyjolene

[sunny-flower-girl-01]

Ohana- A Hawaii Five-0 Fanfic Chapter Four

This chapter is super long, so I apologize in advance lol. I’m hoping to still have the next chapter up next week, but I won’t has as much free time to write at work like normally do. Please enjoy and let me know what you think!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

FRIDAY NIGHT STEVE MCGARRETT’S HOME STEVE’S POV: 

“See, Gracie? You have to wait 4 minutes before you flip it, or it doesn’t get cooked on both sides.” I said, flipping one of the burgers over. She nodded that she understood, her arms wrapped around my neck to hold on since I had her up on my hip so she could see the grill better. We were just waiting on Thea and Nora to arrive, so I went ahead and started the food and asked Grace to be my helper. 

Mindy, Kono, and Max were in the kitchen getting the rest of the food together. Danny walked up behind me, nudging me in the shoulder and holding his arms out for Grace. She grinned and jumped into her dad’s arms. “Are you teaching my daughter the incorrect way to grill a burger?” 

I rolled my eyes. “Yes, Daniel.” I said sarcastically. I flipped another burger and glanced back at Danny’s girlfriend that he brought with him today, Kari. “So, how is Kari doing?”  She was nice, blonde, and a paralegal. She seemed to get on with all of us just fine, minus Grace. Which, in my mind, was more important than her being friendly with us. It was very obvious that Grace wasn’t a fan of the woman. She had stuck with me for the whole hour that she’d been here already and had already asked me 4 times when Nora was going to come. Kari didn’t seem to be that big of a fan of Grace either. She gave Grace an indifferent smile when she became the center of attention, and with our group, that was quite a lot. We all loved that little girl. Overall, I wasn’t too impressed with her and was sure Danny and I were going to talk about it tonight when everyone went home. 

Danny shrugged. “She’s fine. She’s enjoying getting to know you guys.” I saw Grace roll her eyes and push away from her dad to be let down. I knew bringing up Kari around Grace like that probably wasn’t the best idea. Danny set her down and she immediately made her way back up to the house. Thankfully, he didn’t see her eye roll. 

“I’m going to wait for Auntie Thea.” She said. 

Before I had a chance to say it, Danny took a step closer to me. “Grace doesn’t like Kari.” He said quietly. 

I tried my best to hold back a laugh. “I could have told you that, buddy.” 

Danny sighed and smoothed his hair down. “God, I don’t know what I’m going to do. I mean, Kari is nice but Grace means more to me. She knew I had a kid and she just isn’t that interested in getting to know her.” He glanced over at the table I had set up across the yard where Kari was sitting with Malia, Chin, Adam, and Charlie. I felt bad for Danny. He had always told me that dating with a kid was difficult, but I had never seen him really struggle with it. It made me think about what it would be like with two kids. I tried to think about it but really the only person I wanted to be with was already having my kids. Since I found out that Thea was pregnant and we were spending some time together and we were talking more, I’ve really come to like and care about her than just the mother of my unborn children. And Nora has become really special to me like Grace has. I did invite her because the team wanted to meet her, but I also wanted her to get to know them like I know them. If I was gonna try and pursue this with her, I wanted all my ohana to get along. 

“Danno! Uncle Steve! Nora is here! Look! We’re matching!” Grace and Nora came running out of the house hand in hand. They were both wearing the same romper outfit over their bathing suits, but Nora was wearing navy and Grace was in army green. 

Danny and I both smiled at the two girls. “My two favorite girls, wearing my two favorite colors!” I said, scooping them both up into my arms causing them to giggle loudly. I looked up to see Thea walking out the back door with Mindy and Kono who were carrying bowls of food out. I smiled at her. She had on a blue and white polka dot dress. She smiled over at me, her eyebrows raising slightly when she saw me holding up both girls. I couldn’t help but grin at her. I loved watching her smile and seeing the dimples on her cheeks. 

‘God, she looks amazing’ 

“Can we go play in the sand?” Nora asked, staring over at the beach. I remembered Thea telling me she loved the water. I set both girls down and handed the spatula to Danny to finish manning the grill. 

“We’re about to eat so I’ll tell you what,” I said, looking at them. “After we eat, I’ll take you both out into the water. That way Danno doesn’t have to get his hair wet.” The girls giggled when Danny smacked me in the arm. 

“Hey, it takes a lot of product to make it look this good.” He claimed. 

Thea, Mindy and Kono walked to us. Nora quickly started to tell her mom about how we were going to go swimming after we eat. Thea smiled at the little girl who was practically bouncing. “That sounds great baby.” 

Mindy and Kono set their bowls down on the table that was set up for the food. “Alright that’s all of it boss. Let us know when to come make our plates.” Kono nodded. Mindy made her way back to the table with Nora while Kono linked arms with Thea and led her over to the group over at the table. I remembered Thea telling me that she and Kono went to high school together. It comforted me a little bit that not everyone here was a complete stranger to her. 

I watched them walk to the table and Kono started to introduce her to everyone. She had a smile on her face the whole time and took a seat right next to Malia. My family felt complete watching everyone sit and have fun together. 

I must have been staring for a bit because when I looked at Danny after he obnoxiously cleared his throat, he had the burgers on a plate and was setting them on the food table. “Stare some more, I don’t think she noticed.” 

“Shut up.” 

“Seriously. Maybe it’s time to thaw your heart and tell her you want to be with her.” Danny said, grabbing two paper plates. He handed me one. “Alright Super Seal. It’s time for your Dad Training.” 

“My what?”

“Your Dad Training.” He said. “You’re about to have not just one but two babies you’re responsible for. On top of that you’re practically in love with a woman who has a 7-year-old.” 

“Hey-” 

“So, do what I do and make Nora’s plate for Thea. The girls are going to eat at the table up on the lanai.” He gestured for me to copy him. 

“This is ridiculous.” I sighed but started to make the plate like he was. “I’m going to assume you know what Nora likes to eat.” 

He nodded. “She’ll basically eat everything but she’s allergic to onions. So, don’t put her food anywhere near onions.” He filled up the plate with a burger, plain with ketchup, mac and cheese, salad, beans, and the fruit salad. I did the same, quickly avoiding the small plate of onions that was set out for people to put on their burgers. I glanced up at Danny. 

“Should these even be out?” I didn’t want to risk her eating them and something happening. I think Danny noticed my small moment of panic and placed his hand on my shoulder. 

“No, idiot, she’s not going to go into anaphylactic shock by looking at them. She just can’t eat them or anything they’ve contaminated. She’s good about avoiding them or telling people she can’t eat them. Thea and Rachel both did give me a big speech about it the first time I had her over for a sleepover with Grace though. She always has an epi-pen when she isn’t with Thea- so get that nervous look off your face, it’s fine.” He handed me one of the plastic forks and turned to look over at the table. “Gracie, Nora! Come on time to eat, guys!” 

The crowd was laughing as they made their way over to the food table. Danny and I went and set the girls plates on the smaller table closer to the house. Grace has pretty much claimed it as her table anytime she is over. There were marks all over it from craft projects she had done on it. “Grace, go show Nora where the juice boxes are. When we get done and clean up, we can go for a swim, okay?” I said to her and watched them run off into the house. 

Danny rushed off to go make his plate with Kari as Thea walked up behind me. “Her burger doesn’t have onions on it does it?” She asked. She had that same nervous look on her face I’m sure I had a few moments ago. 

“No no, Danny told me she’s allergic. I just put ketchup on it.” I said softly. 

She looked a little shocked but smiled softly at me. “Thank you for making her plate.” 

‘Damn that smile will be the death of me’ 

I put my arm around her shoulders casually. “Let’s go eat before our friends eat all the food.” 

She laughed and nodded. We made our plates and sat next to each other at the large table. I noticed she constantly had a hand on her stomach, almost like she was nervous. Kono quickly pulled her into the conversation she was having with Malia and Charlie. 

“Thea used to surf with us in high school. She could have totally been pro if she wanted.” Kono said. 

Thea laughed. “Yeah, I don’t think so. I was good, but nowhere pro level.” 

Mindy shrugged. “I don’t know, T. You definitely could have taken on Kalakaua.” She teased, causing Kono to throw the cap of her Longboard at her. I leaned back and watched the girls interact. Danny was having a semi-private with Kari. I couldn’t hear them, but I could tell from the look on his face he was upset, and Kari didn’t have a care in the world. I gave him a look, asking if he was alright. He just rolled his eyes and shook his head. He and Grace have that eye roll down pat. By the time we had both turned back to the group, the topic had changed. 

“Oh, trust me, Danny has several things to say about Steve’s crazy behavior.” Chin laughed as he drank his beer. 

“Crazy how?” Thea asked, turning to look at me and then over at Danny. I looked at Danny, silently asking him not to tell her anything but he ignored me. 

“Oh, this crazy bastard got me shot our first day working together.” Danny said extremely calmly. 

“You what!” Thea exclaimed, her eyes wide looking at me.

“Hey, I apologized! It was just an arm graze.” I said, putting my hands up to defend myself. “You were fine, you even punched me in the face.” 

“Yeah that was after you put me in an arm lock!” 

“Danny it was over a year ago, get over it.” 

“I-” I cut Danny off by changing the subject. 

“Anyway, anything else to talk about that doesn’t revolve around me?” I said, whacking Danny in the arm. 

Malia spoke up. “So, do you guys know what you’re having yet?” 

Thea and I both shook our heads. “No, we might find out in 3 weeks. Our last appointment the doctor said if they’re in the right position we should be able to tell.” Thea said while she stroked her stomach. 

“Are you planning on having a gender reveal?” Kono asked. I gave a confused look. 

“A what?” 

“It’s where the expecting parents invite friends and loved ones to find out the gender of the baby, or in your case, babies, after the ultrasound. Typically, the parents don’t know either. It usually involves a mild, but colorful powder explosive or a pink or blue cake.” Max piped up from the end of the table. 

“Jesus, why’d you have to say explosive?” Danny shook his head. 

Thea looked at me and then Kono. “Uh, we haven’t really thought about it.” 

“Do you want to do something like that?” I asked her. 

She nodded. “I think it’d be fun, if you’re up for doing it.” 

“Oh, he’s always ready to blow something up.” Danny chimed in. I rolled my eyes and told him to shut it. “Rachel and I did a cake for Grace’s gender reveal. White icing and a strawberry cake since it was a girl.” 

“Maybe we could make two smaller cakes. One for baby A and one for baby B.” Mindy smiled. 

“My aunt makes cakes for gender reveal parties all the time at her bakery, I’m sure she could do two for you.” Kono said. Thea just looked at me with a smile on her face. 

“What do you think?” She asked me. I had never done anything like this, or even heard of anyone doing it. 

I shrugged, leaning back in my seat. “It sounds like it could be fun. If you want to do something, we can.” I smiled at her. She turned to Mindy. 

“Alright but you have to plan it.” She laughed. The conversation moved on while we continued to eat. Max went into a long explanation about his fossil collection before Danny interrupted him. Despite my trying to keep the conversation off the “dangerous” things I do for work, the team ended up telling more stories about me. I was nervous she was gonna get scared off by some of them. We did have a long conversation about my line of work and what it entails. I wasn’t gonna be home the same time every single night, I was going to be in danger, and I could get called in at any moment. She told me that she understood and as long as I was making an effort to be there, that was good enough for her. I had gotten a better understanding of her childhood out of that conversation too. Her and Nora’s father was almost never around, and their mom was checked out. I had gotten a bit more information from Mindy about her background. Thea basically had Nora from the moment she was born. Her mom was incapable of raising her and Thea didn’t trust her to raise another baby. Her mother gladly handed her off to Thea. I lost my mother at a young age, but to know she was physically here and not involved would have killed me, I couldn’t even imagine that. 

After everyone was finished eating, the table was cleaned up and the food was put away. Everyone went on with their activities. Max, Charlie, and Chin were sitting and drinking longboards. Malia, Kari, and Kono were gathered around the fire pit that Danny had started up even though it wasn’t dark yet. I had gotten Grace and Nora ready to go in the water. Danny was standing about knee deep in, refusing to join us any farther than that. Mindy and Thea were sitting in the sand. They had both shed their clothes to sit in their bathing suits. It took everything in me to keep my eyes off of Thea and focus on the two 7-year old’s demanding my attention. I swam around in the water with the girls for a while, enjoying the intense game of Marco Polo they started and teasing Danny about not wanting to come join us.

Later after it got dark, everyone was gathered around the bonfire. I guess I wore the girls out because Grace was asleep in Danny’s lap and Nora was asleep, curled up at my side. I had my arm over her to keep her from slipping off the bench we were sitting on. Thea was on my other side, my arm over the back of the bench behind her. It felt nice having them both this close to me. 

“Jeez Steve, you really wore them out.” Danny said, looking down at his daughter. 

Thea shrugged. “It’ll make bedtime easier for Rachel, that’s for sure.” She said, yawning herself. Both their phones pinged at the same time. “Speaking of, I guess she’s here.” Danny got up, still cradling a sleeping Grace in his arms. He walked up the house. Kari followed behind him. Thea stood up and looked like she was about to take Nora from me. I shook my head and stopped her. 

“I can carry her for you.” I said. I stood up and gently placed the sleeping girl on my chest, her head resting on my shoulder. Her arms came up and wrapped around my neck. 

“Are you sure?” She asked, looking a little nervous. I wanted her to know that I wasn’t scared of kids, and that I didn’t care that she already had a kid. Again, I was thinking about the comments that Danny had made about dating with a kid. 

I nodded. “Yeah, I got her. You don’t need to be carrying her anyway.” 

We walked out to the front of the house. Danny was putting Grace in the backseat. Kari and Rachel looked like they were having a stare down. Thea sighed. 

“Here we go.” I heard her mumble before looking at me. “There’s already a booster seat in the back for her, if you’ll put her in, I’ll buckle her up.” 

“I can do it.” I said, but quickly realized how demanding that probably sounded to her. “I mean, if it’s okay with you, so you don’t have to bend down-” 

“It’s fine, Steve.” She put a hand on my arm and smiled gently at me. “I just don’t want you to feel like you have to.” Her eyes glanced down at her hand. 

I took my hand that was on Nora’s back and put it on hers, squeezing gently. “Look, Thea, I don’t care to help out. With Nora or anything you need, okay?” 

She squeezed back and nodded; her eyes looked like they were watering up but she turned away before I could really see. She went over to Rachel while I carefully placed Nora in her booster seat. Danny stayed bent down in the car to show me how to maneuver the seatbelt. I was shocked at how easy it was. 

“Oh, don’t go thinking you’re a pro just yet, booster seats are easy. Just wait until you’re trying to put a squirming baby in a car seat with multiple straps and buckles.” He said, kissing Grace’s head and closing her door. 

“You’re really helping calm my nerves about this Danny.” 

“It’s what I do best.” 

Thea’s POV:

I went up to Rachel and gave her a hug. I knew she and Stan were going to talk about a divorce tonight, that’s why Grace was with Danny this afternoon. I wasn’t sure if she exactly told Danny what her plans were though. 

“I told him.” She whispered. I could tell she had been crying recently. “I told him and here I am having a staring contest with Danny’s girlfriend.” She rubbed her eyes with the sleeves of her sweater. 

I rubbed her arms soothingly. “It’s gonna be okay.” I tried to comfort her. “We can talk more about it tomorrow after the apartment showing.” Rachel and I were finally going to look at some new apartments and condos for me and Nora. She nodded, sniffling as she gave me a hug. I pulled back to look at her. “Are you gonna be okay with the girls tonight? I don’t care to take them if you need to be alone tonight.” 

She shook her. “No, I’ll be fine. I think some time with them might be what I need. Stan packed a bag and left after we argued, so he won’t be home.” 

I walked to the car to kiss Nora bye even though she was still asleep. 

“Are you okay?” Danny asked her. He probably saw how upset she was. I glanced over at Kari then looked at Steve. It was obvious he picked up on the anger radiating off of the blonde woman. 

“I’m fine Daniel. I’ll call you next week.” She said shortly and got in her car. The four of us stood and watched her drive off. Kari stormed off to her car, Danny quickly following her. We could hear the argument starting so we headed back to the backyard. 

“I’m gonna say bye to everyone and head home.” I told him. “Rachel and I are going to look at apartments tomorrow.” 

“You’re moving?” He asked, holding the back gate open for me. 

“Yeah, my apartment is only two bedrooms and the stairs up to it are starting to kill me.” I laughed. He looked at me like he wanted to say something. “What?” 

“Oh, nothing. Just let me know if you need any help.” He said, giving me a smile. “I know you’re not incapable of doing things yourself and I’m sorry if I’ve made it seem that way. I just want to be able to help.” 

I stopped walking and put my hand on his arm to stop him. “I know, and I really appreciate it. Just going to appointments with me and helping me with the doctors’ bills has helped more than you know. I promise I’m not over doing it.” I told him seriously. “Also quit listening to Danny about how scary pregnancy is.” I laughed. Steve laughed too, shaking his head. 

“Yeah, Danny has been giving me advice.” He chuckled. 

“Yeah, that Dad Training advice might come in handy though.” I giggled and walked towards the group. Everyone looked like they were getting ready to go. I heard Steve groan behind me. 

“Oh, God. You heard that!” 

After saying goodbye to everyone and giving a round of hugs, Steve walked me out to my car. 

“Thank you for inviting us tonight.” I said. 

He grinned at me. “I’m glad you had a good time. You and Nora are welcome here any time. I know she absolutely loved the beach, just like you said.” 

I laughed. “Oh, yes, she’s my water baby for sure.” I got in my car and Steve closed my door for me. “Let me know when you get home, okay?” I nodded and waved as I pulled out and headed toward my apartment. 

After my 10-minute drive, I parked and went to check the mail before slowly climbing the stairs to the apartment. I looked through the mail as I closed and locked my door. A large yellow envelope caught my eye. I set all my things down on the bar in the kitchen and opened it. 

Peter Kenwood, Plaintiff

Theodora Kenwood, Defendant 

Petition for Change of Custody

My breath caught in my throat. I reached for my phone and my first thought was to call Mindy. ‘No, she’s going home with Charlie tonight.’ My next thought was to call Rachel. ‘She has the girls, I can’t push this on her too’ I braced myself on the bar and sat down, dialing the number on my phone. 

“Hey, did you make it home?” Steve asked me after he answered. I was silent, trying not to let my tears fall. As soon as I opened my mouth to speak, they fell anyway. 

“Can you come over?” My voice broke. 

I heard some shuffling on the other end. “Thea, what’s wrong?” He asked, concerned. 

“I-I just really need you.” 

[lexosaurus]

Dannymay2020 Week One: Comfort

I decided to do the @dannymayevent​ weekly calendar this year! I was heavily inspired by @mostlikelynothuman​‘s work, so I went ahead and made one of my own. Except I can’t draw for shit, so instead of having art with each song, I’m writing a fic instead!

Each fic/song can stand on its own, but they all are made sequentially in the same storyline.

Peep my tissue box which made a special feature as the kick drum!

---

Read Comfort on [ao3] [ffn]

Warnings: None

---

Clink!

Clink!

Clink!

Danny paused, raising his plastic drumsticks above his head with chubby fingers. He turned towards the kitchen door. “Mommy!”

“Yes, Danny?” came his Mommy’s voice.

“Watch this!”

“Just a second, sweetie. Mommy’s just finishing up some work.”

Danny frowned and stared down at his toy xylophone with wide eyes. It seemed like lately, Mommy was playing with him less and less. Daddy said they had an important showcase coming up, but Danny missed playing with Mommy. He normally would go ask Jazz if she wanted to play with him, but she only wanted to play house and while Danny didn’t mind playing house sometimes, he also liked playing with his other toys too.

Like right now, with his plastic instruments.

Clink!

Clink!

Clink!

“Sounding good there, Danno!”

Danny’s head shot up to see his Daddy beaming at him from the lab entrance, his thumbs raised in front of him. He stepped into the living room, allowing the lab door to close behind him. “You sound like a pro!”

Danny smiled. “Mommy showed me!”

“Well you can show me, then. Hot Cross Buns is one of my favorites!”

Nodding, Danny adjusted his sticks and was just about to demonstrate how to play the xylophone to Daddy when an even better idea popped in his mind.

“Daddy! Play with me!”

“Oh?”

“Come here! Play with me!”

“Well then,” Daddy said, grabbing his ukulele from the wall and sitting down on the couch across from Danny. “That sounds like a pretty tempting offer, son! I think I might just have to.”

Danny waved his arms in excitement. “I’ll start, I’ll start!”

“Alright, Danno. You lead the way!”

Clink!

Clink!

Clink!

“What’s going on in here?”

Daddy halted his ukulele playing mid-strum. “Oh hey, Mads! We’re putting on a concert in here.”

“I can see that,” Mommy said slowly. “But it’s almost Danny’s bedtime and we still need to go over the notes from today’s ecto-weaponry test.”

“Aw, come on, live a little! We have all night to go over those notes. Why don’t you join us for a few minutes?”

“Yeah, Mommy! Come play!”

“Jack…”

Daddy grabbed a purple plastic drum and lifted it out towards Mommy. “You know, Danno, I think our band could really use a drummer. What do you think?”

Danny’s eyes lit up. Was Mommy gonna play with him?

“Mommy! You can play the drums!”

“Aw, that’s no fair!”  whined a voice from the top of the stairs. “You can’t do this without me!”

Twisting towards the stairwell, Danny grinned up at his sister. “Jazzy! Come play with us!”

“I don’t know what to play!” Jazz said, tugging on the pink hem of her pajama shirt.

“Oh I got a special instrument for you, Jazzy-pants!” Daddy leaned over and picked a bright pink plastic egg shaker off the floor. “Oh yeah, this one’s got your name written all over it!”

“Ooh!” Jazz skipped down the stairs and snatched the shaker from Daddy. “I call this one!”

“Jazzy, sit next to me!”

“Alright, kiddos! Looks like we got a full band. What do you say, Mads?” Daddy pat the empty couch cushion next to him. “You wanna be in our concert?”

“Come on, Mommy!” Jazz said.

“Yeah!”

Mommy surveyed the room one last time before her tense expression melted off her face, her thin lips replaced with an warm smile as she made her way over to the couch.

“Yay!” Danny cheered. Finally, after weeks of mounting stress in their home, everyone was playing with him.

Nodding once at Daddy, Danny began tapping his xylophone with his plastic sticks.

Clink!

Clink!

Clink!

The song was warm, cozy, and suddenly Danny was transported to a distant realm on another planet where the trees were all different colors and everyone lived in giant cupcakes. The sun sparkled down from the sky, and a fluffy cotton-candy cloud drifted into view. If Danny reached his arm up high enough, he could pluck a piece of the cloud out from the sky.

There were aliens on this planet, but they were friendly and gave everyone a big hug. They played with Danny too, and some of them even joined their band. One of them was named Mr. Trumpet and he had a bright green trumpet on his head that he could play whenever he wanted.

Mommy and Daddy were inventors on this planet too, but they invented candy machines for the aliens. One of their guns shot out ice cream and another one shot out sprinkles, so Danny could eat ice cream with rainbow sprinkles whenever he wanted.

Clink!

Clink!

Clink!

“Alright, kids! It’s time for bed.”

“Better hop to it before the ghosts come eat you!”

“Dad, stop it!” Jazz said. “Mommy, tell Daddy that ghosts aren’t gonna eat me!”

Daddy chuckled, leaning his ukulele against the wall. “No, it’s true! When little boys and girls don’t go to bed on time, a big ghost comes to their house and gobbles them up!”

Danny’s eyes widened. “How big is the ghost?”

“It’s this big,” Daddy said, stretching his arms out beside him.

“I don’t wanna be eaten!” Jazz exclaimed.

Danny blinked, his attention completely absorbed by the monster ghost. Daddy was so big and the ghost was even bigger than him?

“Does it have teeth?” he asked.

“It has lots of ‘em!”

“Mommy! Tell Daddy to tell the ghost not to eat me!”

Mommy shook her head. “Don’t worry, Jazz, the ghost isn’t going to eat you.”

“Oh yeah!” Daddy said. “Your mother and I put a big force field around your bedroom, so as long as you’re in bed, the ghost can’t come get you. He’ll get zapped away if he tries!”

Jazz’s head whipped around to Danny. “Come on!” She tugged at his pajama sleeve. “We need to go to bed!”

Clink!

Clink!

Clink!

Danny snuggled into his covers, thankful that Mommy and Daddy were protecting him from the monster ghost. He didn’t know much about Mommy and Daddy’s job, but he knew that they protected people from things like the monster ghost.

They always said that as long as he was with them, that he would be safe.

And Danny believed them, because his parents loved him and they played with him and they put that big force field on his door so the ghost with the mouth full of teeth couldn’t hurt him. He didn’t like that ghost, it was mean!

Danny turned, shoving his face deeper into his mountain of blankets. Someday he was going to build a rocketship, and he was going to go to that planet with the giant cupcakes where there were no ghosts, and he would bring his Mommy and Daddy and Jazzy with him so they could come live with the aliens too. And Danny would be there, and his Mommy and Daddy would protect him there too.

Just like they always did.

Because they loved him…

…they loved him…

...and they wanted…to protect...him...

...Clink...

...Clink...

...Clink...

...wake up.

[cowandcalf]

Writer’s Month 2020 - To Find A Way

Epilog Ohana

Chapters 1 -13

Chapter 14

Three months later

Danny peels an orange and watches with amusement and a warm fuzzy feeling in this stomach how Aunt Deb conquers the kitchen at the McGarrett's house.

"Danny, be so kind as to hand me the spatula over there?"

"Where have you learned to cook for a whole crew?" Danny reaches over to hand her the cookware. He darts a quick look out the window. The backyard is crowded with all their friends and family who gathered today to celebrate a special ceremony for little Kalea. He hauls himself up to sit on the countertop neatly nestled in the corner out of Aunt Deb's way but still in the middle of things. He eats the luscious orange with delight, licking the juice off his fingers.

Also on AO3

She lifts her head and stretches to her full height, wiping a hand at the white apron. She smiles wisely with so much love, it warms Danny from head to toe. "I've spent years in the show business. Do you have any idea how starved we were after a performance on stage?" Aunt Deb's laugh comes deep from within her gut. It's so strange and unexpected Danny freezes, intrigued by this dazzling personality in front of him. Steve has the most fascinating relatives.

"You performed? On stage?" Danny askes with wonder in his voice. "As in dancer? Singer?"

"A singer and the dancing just happened. Hell, yeah, those were the good ol' days. Crazy, sometimes no money in the pocket but, God, did we love it. We had fire in our hearts and were ready to conquer the world. We had so much fun!" Aunt Deb's voice was filled with a hint of wistfulness. "But family is the most important thing in the world. I came home after my sister-in-law died. I wanted to be there for Steve and Mary. But – " She nods firmly over where Danny hangs on her lips not to miss a single moment, "yes, I and my crew often ended up hungry in the bar's kitchen where we had our gig. The best parties were celebrated in various kitchens. We knew some of the owners. They enjoyed a private concert while I made a late-night dinner for the whole team. Those were great and fun times. We could eat and entertain like no one else." She tells in a sparkling, enticing way that charms Danny on the spot.

Danny forgets to eat his orange and kind of jerks from the spell he's under when Mary floats into the kitchen. Her cheeks are pink and her eyes shine like stars. She looks beautiful and motherhood suits her well. She spreads happiness into the air like a new brand of air freshener.

"Aunt Deb's stories as a singer captivates everyone, right Danny?" She pats Danny's knee and flashes him one of those famous McGarrett smiles before she walks up to her aunt to hug her around the waist. "Aunt Deb is the queen of homemade food. She's famous for her roast and for the best stuffed turkey at Thanksgiving." Mary steals a sweet potato slice freshly out of the oven. "Mmm, God, it's pure manna! Tastes good, Aunt Deb." Mary pants to cool the hot vegetable in her mouth.

Aunt Deb chides her about eating with her fingers and makes her take a plate. Mary kisses her cheek and comes closer to lean into Danny.

"Where's your baby girl, Mary?" Danny snatches a piece from her plate.

"Steve's carrying her around. She's hungry and whiny. I need to feed her." Mary pricks Danny's finger with the fork to make him back off. "Those are mine. Have some of your own. You haven't even finished your orange. I'm hungry. I need to produce milk."

Danny chuckles and shoves the slice of warm, spicy-sweet potato in his mouth. It mixes with the taste of orange. "Whoa, these are madly tasty. You have to teach me how to get it that delicious, Aunt Deb."

Aunt Deb smiles knowingly and hums a melody. She turns when Steve walks in.

Danny's eyes are glued to how Steve gently cradles the youngest offspring of the McGarrett family in his arms – baby Kalea. Danny can't get enough of the soft and tender expression on Steve's face whenever he carries his niece. He's the proudest uncle Danny has ever seen, overprotective over both, mother and child. Kalea is embedded in a warm-hearted, wonderful family of which Danny and Grace and even Rachel and Stan are now a part of it too. It's overwhelmingly wonderful.

"Hey, Danny, here you are. I've been looking for you everywhere." Steve steers right into the corner where Danny still sits on the kitchen counter.

"Did you miss me?" Danny asks and strokes with a finger featherlight over Kalea's tiny head, wrapped protectively in a tiny cotton cap. "The best stories you always get waiting for the food in the kitchen."

"Aunt Deb rocks," Steve answers with a laugh. "I still love to listen to all her stories." Steve rocks his niece gently. She complains about how she feels with a small voice and lets everyone know she's upset. "Is she okay, Mary? I couldn't calm her." Steve sounds worried. "Kawika said she's just hungry."

"Yes, my sweet girl needs her milk. Look she searches with her mouth to find the food station but your dry as a desert, dear brother. Come, let's go upstairs. I need somewhere to sit comfortably and away from loud voices. She gets startled easily. I need her to drink quietly and afterward, she'll sleep peacefully."

Danny watches how Steve's cheeks flush adorably when Mary tells him how useless he's to a hungry baby with no milk to provide. "Go upstairs, Steve. Help Mary to get comfortable with cushions. Take Grace's and Nahele's pillows too. She needs to be all propped up with all kinds of support to relax.

"Okay, come on Mary," Steve signals with his head to head upstairs. "You can sit on our bed. It's big and it's quiet. No one will disturb you. I'll carry her. Eat up." Steve rubs soothingly over Kalea's back. She whimpers and pumps with her small legs. She's getting agitated.

Mary shoves the plate with the rest of her veggies into Danny's hand. "Let's go, Punk. She's working herself up into a mood. She's hungry. I don't want her to start crying. She would be too upset to drink. Come on, Steve. Let's go." Mary almost rushes outside.

Steve kisses the baby's head. "Sit tight, Danno. I'll be back."

Danny watches Steve leave the kitchen. He forces himself to slowly finish the rest of Mary's vegetables. He saves the three last slices of orange for Steve. Aunt Deb sings a wonderful, slow tune, immersed in getting the main course ready for the crowd. Danny knows she gives him the space he needs. No talking. He blinks furiously to clear his vision. Danny smells the grilled meat while he chews almost meditatively on a potato slice to make his chest unclench. Kamekona is the proud barbecue chef of today's family celebration. The animated chatter and the occasional outburst of laughter filters through the back door. It's the happiness that constricts Danny's throat and makes his chest uncomfortably tight. He's glad Aunt Deb doesn't want to pick a conversation.

Danny waits for Steve at the bottom of the stairs. He balances the three orange pieces on his palm. Everyone is somewhere else. He's alone for precious five minutes. He debates in his head if he should sneak upstairs to call for Steve to tell him he's about to go looking for the kids. He knows it takes time to feed a baby. Grace had trouble to suck properly and she was a slow drinker. Rachel never minded. She loved those bonding times with Grace. They were precious. She wanted them to last. Danny envied her for those moments, those most intimate moments when a mother breastfed her baby. It hurt him that he would never know how this might feel. It must be incredible and soul-altering beautiful.

He lifts his head. Steve silently comes down the stairs. His eyes find Danny's and Danny feels how Steve sinks into him, touching him on the inside like he always does in the same insane way.

"Hey, babe," Danny gets greeted with a soft press of lips, "how's it going? Is she drinking?"

"Yes, they're fine. I made sure Mary feels comfortable. I haven't checked but the sucking sound told me she soon will fall asleep with her little belly full of milk." Steve's cheeks are still colored pink.

"You didn't stay?" Danny leans into Steve's touch and welcomes Steve's tender, consuming kisses.

"I – no, I don't know. It didn't seem appropriate."

"Appropriate? Why? It's a mother breastfeeding her baby. The most natural and most wonderful thing in the world." Danny pulls back a little and sees how Steve's face is flushed.

"It's my sister, Danny. It's – I don't know, kind of too intimate to sit and to watch the baby suckle at Mary's nipple. Kawika is allowed to see this, not me, not her brother. I – " Steve gazes sheepishly at Danny, holding his face between his large, rough hands. "Did you watch Rachel and Grace?" He asks a bit breathless.

Danny's face lit up in a warm smile. "Yes, I did. It was beautiful, full of love and peace. It hit me every time how powerful this simple act of deep love is. A mother nurtures her baby like women have done over centuries."

Steve's eyes take him in, wander over his face. "You're so special. Do you know this, Danny?"

Danny breathes in Steve's scent when Steve drags his lips along his cheek to get to his eyes, giving him butterfly-light kisses on his closed eyelids. Steve pulls him into a hug. "I kinda felt excluded, too." Danny adds, "and sometimes I was jealous of not having this deep bond with my daughter.  As a man, you miss out on so much intimacy but I loved to sit there and be a part of something bigger."

Steve rests his chin on Danny's head. "Mary said it was okay if I wanted to stay. She's such a great mother. I'm so happy for her and Kawika. But still. I guess it was too much. I felt a bit overwhelmed, to be honest." Steve mumbles into Danny's hair.

"Eat a slice of orange. It helps to deal with the overload." Danny brings his hand up and Steve turns his head.

Danny sighs when Steve doesn't let go but signals him to bring his hand to his lips. He pulls his abs taut when Steve's lips graze over his palm to catch the orange pieces. He chews and swallows and smiles at him. Steve's tongue licks the juice from Danny's palm. "Steve, you gotta stop this – "

"Why? No one's here. Just us." Steve sucks Danny's digit into his mouth and runs his tongue alongside with a glint in his eyes.

"Hold this thought," Danny tries to free his captured finger. He feels the heat spread into his groin. Steve gets this heated look. He smiles lasciviously when he grabs Danny's wrist and holds it firmly. "Steve," Danny tries a stern tone and fails completely. "Give me back my finger. Don't be a dick. The backyard is full of guests. Aunt Deb is cooking in the kitchen." Danny hisses but laughs and maybe he also moans.

"Make me," Steve says with a smoky voice.

"Make you what?" Danny's hips push forward. Not good.

"Make me give you back your finger." Steve mumbles. His mouth sucks at Danny's finger, running his tongue like velvet over the finger buried in his mouth.

"Jesus, Steve! I can't sport a hard-on at a family gathering. Your father is outside. Maybe he's already looking for us." Danny grasps at straws. He laughs at Steve's expression and how that magical word sobers him up instantly. He gives Danny his finger back.

"That was a mean one," Steve says with a gruff voice.

Danny's amused and flattens Steve's already flat shirt with his other hand. "Don't challenge me, big guy," he grins. "Have you seen the kids recently?"

Steve wipes at his mouth with the back of his hand. "Not since I've stepped into the kitchen with Kalea. I told Kamekona to keep an eye on them. I mean, Rachel and Stan are still outside. So are Kono, Chin, Kawika – everyone keeps an eye on Grace and Nahele and they're with Jeanne. They don't go far."

"Come, I need to wash my hands. I wanna know what they've been plotting. They've become so wild." Danny grabs at Steve's shirt and pulls him in for another kiss. "And then we spent some time with your father."

Danny calls out to the crowd gathered around the colorfully decorated tables. "Hey everyone, have someone spotted the kids and Jeanne? I haven't seen them in a while."

Kamekona points with the burger spatula in the direction where the beach is. "Don't worry, Danny, the keikis are with gramps at the beach."

"Gramps?" Steve snorts walking behind Danny.

"Your father, grandpa McGarrett, Steve," Kawika comes up to stand beside Steve. He throws an arm around his shoulder and heartedly pats his chest. He grins like a loon.

"You worry too much, Danny," Kono calls over where she's invested in a conversation with Rachel.

"I worry too much?" Danny mocks indignation. "They always turn up without their shirts or shorts. Wet and sandy, although they know they aren't allowed to be even near the ocean. And there are sharks out there!" Danny complains, pointing with his outstretched arm to the wild sea that sloshes against their doorstep.

"Danny, you're overdramatic. They're never alone near the water. They're not that silly to walk into the surf." Rachel answers with a soft voice and a laugh.

Danny's eyes are wide. Rachel sits relaxed in a comfortable chair with a pillow stuck behind her back. She has a flower tucked behind her ear and Stan watches her with a stupidly happy smile. Pregnancy suits her well. Grace is going to have a sibling soon. Danny inhales deeply. "You're not allowed to do that, Rachel. She's your daughter, too. You have to be on my side. "

"I'm on your side, Daniel and as I said, don't be so dramatic. John is with them. They're alright."

"There are no sharks out there, Danny. I'd feel them. Your keikis are safe." Mamo's soothing voice comes from the other side of the table.

"I don't even want to know how you would sense if there were sharks swimming around." Danny's brows are furrowed. He's not yet used to all the Hawaiian mambo jambo about 'the sea speaks to me' and 'the wind tells me when to hang my laundry to the west' and 'when it's the right time to plant the seeds because the earth is ready to embrace her children'. Steve has told him that once and he still can't wrap his mind around how someone could feel that.

"Wait until you see the surfboards I've made for Grace and Nahele," Kawika informs everyone.

Danny sputters and turns around. He points with a fierce finger at Kawika and jabs his left pec hard. "Don't. You. Talk. About. Freaking. Surfboards.!" Jab, jab, jab. "What is wrong with you?" Danny calls Rachel for help. "Rachel! Tell me you haven't agreed to that crazy plan?"

"Kono and Mamo are with them. Kawika surfs since he's a child. We're in Hawaii, Danny. Surfing is the way of life here." Rachel smiles gorgeously and leans back against her fluffy pillow.

"Who are you?" Danny stammers.

"Danno," Steve's beloved rumble makes Danny keep his balance. "No shark will eat one of our kids. They will see the dolphins, as I have promised. And we will start in the shallow water. Mamo knows the sea like no one else. Trust the locals. Grace and Nahele will be fine."

Danny kind of deflates and leans into the invisible support Steve provides. "Okay, okay. One step at the time."

Kawika has still his arm around Steve's shoulder. He looks like he's completely drunk on happiness. "How's Mary and my baby. They okay?"

Steve's moved easily these days. Danny gets all the mushy vibes Steve gives off. He tries to keep a solid frame but it suits him well to be all gooey on the inside while the outer shell is a rock-hard and muscled and fierce as always. "Yes, Mary's fine. Your little one drinks as if there's no tomorrow." He squeezes Kawika's hand. His gaze drifts off to the beach. "So, you're telling me my dad is at the beach with Grace and Nahele?"

"Oh look, here they come!" Danny shouts and waves back when Grace calls his name. "And here we go. What have I told you? No shirts, sandy and wet."

They walk closer. Nahele and Grace hold on to John's hands. He leads the kids up to where everyone waits. Grace bounces excitedly and Nahele giggles his sweet laugh with his head thrown back.

"What – " Danny can't hide his smile either. The kids are so loose and content, "what happened to your shirts?" Danny's hand makes a complicated move. He also stares at John McGarrett. His pants are rolled up to his knees and the rim of his pants is wet. They have been in the water. "Hey, John, thanks a lot for taking care of them."

"No worries, Danny, it's a joy to be with them. We had fun, right kids?"

"Yesss!" Nahele shouts and shoves the shells he has found at the beach into Danny's hands. "Keep them for me."

"Where's your shirt, young man?" Danny tries to give him a stern look. But God, he's so irresistible with his smile and he's Grace's best friend.

"I gave it to Grace."

"Why?

"She likes it. Jeanne needed a shirt too." Nahele sighs dramatically as if Danny asks to most boring questions. "I'm hungry." He whines.

"Go wash your hands, put on a new shirt. You know where they are. In your dresser, bottom drawer. And you too, Grace. You know, I could buy you a spiderman shirt any day if you wanted one." He has tried so many times but her answer stays the same.

"I like wearing Nahele's shirts. He doesn't mind." She peeps and pulls at her pigtails before she runs after Nahele.

"And why needs the dog to wear your shirt?" Danny calls after his daughter. He darts over to watch Jeanne panting with Grace's pink glitter shirt and the lettering 'be a princess'. Sometimes, Danny can't get rid of the feeling that this sweet dog grins at him.

"Jeanne likes pink!" Grace screams back. Nahele almost topples over when the fit of giggle tears through his sun-kissed body. Grace laughs along with him and together they bounce into the living room. Wild and carefree.

Danny shakes his head and smiles. Steve steps up behind him and pulls him close. Steve can't form words when too many emotions constrict his throat. "Let's eat. Come on, dad. You look hungry too. Thanks for hanging out with them."

"We had fun," John repeats before he awkwardly but affectionately pats Steve's shoulder to stroll off to sit beside his wife.

"Let's eat, folks!" Aunt Deb shouts and claps her hands to get everyone's attention. "Lunch is served!"

Steve sneaks stealthily out of bed not to wake Danny. Grace is with Rachel and Nahele sleeps at his sister's house. It's only Danny and him. Steve doesn't need much sleep. The nightmares aren't tearing that often through his mind anymore. He can rest while he sleeps but the uneasy feeling when he lies awake in bed stays. Healing can't be rushed he has learned the hard way. It's better to get up, drink some water, watch the ocean, and waits until his limbs get heavy again to crawl back under the cover to be with Danny for a few more hours.

The beaten, old chest of his grandfather is heavy. He pulls it carefully from under the bench where it's stashed close to the window. The lid opens soundlessly. He holds the simple wooden box for a moment before he flips the lid open. The dog tags with his name rest there in the same heap of a coiled up chain. Two small plates with his name stamped in lie on top, just the way he has left them the last time he held them. His grandfather's dog tags are in the second, identical wood box right there where he has put them.

Steve strokes the metal with his fingers before he takes it out to hold it, to run it through his fingers, to refresh the sense that ripples through him whenever his fingertips make contact with his past. He gets lost in thoughts. He still misses it, the team, the thrill, and the purpose. The drill, the way of life that leaves no gap to think about anything else but about the next step in the mission, the training. Being a SEAL will forever be carved in his bones no matter the damage it has brought being part of missions, doing the job of an elite soldier.

Plants and seedlings have been his lifeline back to life, have held him upright when he didn't know how to make it through the day, how to make a life out of the Navy. Until Danny came along to buy one of his plants. And he sold it to the guy he hasn't known back then but to whom his heart has answered without his consent. Everything has changed after that.

It's time to move on. Kamekona and Mary have taken over his flower shop. They have plans to develop a business but are serious about how they want to run it with economical sustainability. And Steve – Steve has finally accepted the Governor's offer to run a task force. He has needed time to think about it but he's ready now. The support group helps to understand his issues and to deal with them. That's the reason he took the dog tags from the wall to keep them safe, out of sight because he doesn't need to look at them to drag him through the day. He's ready for action and stress and pressure. He needs it like air to breathe.

He carefully and slowly puts the dog tags back into the wooden box. He closes the lid and hides the boxes where they belong. It's a ritual. It's important. Each movement is accurate, dedicated, and executed with humbleness.

Steve drinks the glass of water in complete silence and gazes out to the black mass of water. He doesn't make a sound. Kono and Chin will come by for breakfast. Danny got a bit antsy when Steve didn't come out with the truth about that meeting. He got suspicious but Steve made him shut up and made him moan instead. Thoroughly fucked and tired Danny was out cold without the change to pepper him with questions.

They are going to be a team and as a team, Steve wants to inform all of them at once. HPD won't be happy to lose three good cops in one day. Hawaii needs their best and Steve and his team will be the best. The smile that spreads his lips feels damn good.

Steve climbs back into bed and curls around Danny's warm body. He's excited and the well-known, much-missed vibration of strength makes it difficult the fall asleep. He's finally back. Steve kisses Danny's neck and buries his face in the soft curve of Danny's strong shoulders.

THE END

[five-wow]

10.19!!! watched it, had thoughts about it, wrote them down. the usual under the cut.

there is a random man in steve’s kitchen (is it the helicopter guy? i... don’t know him well enough to be sure but i am genuinely unsure who else it would be) wearing a “seals do it better” apron while he’s cooking and talking to junior about how this recipe helped him “seal the deal” with the love of his life. okay, random man. you’re not acknowledging it, but you just made a seal pun, so you have my attention.

btw, for a good long moment i genuinely thought this guy might be danny in some kind of weird dream sequence future. i mean, old danny in steve’s kitchen wearing a seal-themed apron and making waffles? i wouldn’t hate it.

junior about how it’s going with tani: “it’s amazing.” okay a) YAY and THAT IS VERY CUTE and b) even so, it’s hilarious to me when random guy says “sounds like you’ve got it bad” just based on junior saying that it’s amazing while he kind of smiles vaguely. cute as it was, it wasn’t a passionate love declaration.

junior lies in bed awake at night dreaming of his thing with tani working out (and not sleeping because he’s scared it might not) and i just !! he’s a smitten mess over her and i adore it, even though his level of anxiety sounds like it’s a little detrimental for his sleep, omg.

fjdkfd we get a scene of adam and quinn who went surfing together and OF COURSE they’re standing under the beach showers as they talk because i feel like adam is literally contractually obligated to have a certain number of shower scenes each season.

tani!! gave quinn!! some surfing pointers!! let’s review: we know that tani is really great at surfing and definitely better than junior, because we had a scene once of them getting back from a surfing trip and junior was slightly pouty over it and tani was absolutely unwilling to downplay her own skill and it was Very Good, and now, in these last few episodes, tani was first present during noelani’s surfing lessons and now she’s apparently been giving quinn advice, and the idea of the h50 women hanging out? the idea of tani being supportive and sharing her knowledge? it’s all so good, ahhh. (ALSO. my mighty need for tani and kono to meet grows with each and every mention of tani’s surfing skill.)

oh my gOD i wrote that bit in brackets and hit play on the episode and IMMEDIATELY adam says that he’s used to being second best in the ocean because “my ex wife was a pro surfer, and very competitive.” YES. GOOD. LOVE THE KONO REFERENCE.

quinn gets a dramatic call from an olivia! i read an episode description, so i know that’s her ex-step daughter. i’m a little hesitant about this “btw quinn has an ex-husband” subplot, but also curious to see where they’re going with it, and quinn jumping to help out a teen girl that she still has a strong bond with is an angle of approach that could potentially be very very relevant to my interests.

cows! “moooo” say the cows, quietly, under the music. they’re not important or plot-relevant, i just like cows.

fjdkfd olivia has a Bad Dad and yes, i do want quinn to adopt her now. it could be good! she could swap tips with steve about how to let your adopted teen know they’re loved and safe and worth so much more than what their parents gave them.

tani to junior: “what, you think i didn’t have a life before i met you?” junior’s eyes: [shoot up to steve, standing right behind tani, who is junior’s mentor AND boss, making it slightly awkward to have a relationship talk right in front of him during work hours] POOR BOY (but also, yes, tani, tell him).

junior is now obsessed with the mystery of why tani is so familiar with a random rancher bar an hour away from her house, and to be honest, so am i.

tani wON A LINE DANCING COMPETITION FOUR WEEKS IN A ROW. that is the BEST solution to the mystery, my gosh.

tani: [brags about her line dancing skills and calls herself the queen] junior: “who are you?” fdjkfdjkfd junior, i don’t even know why you’re suprised that a) tani slays at something she did or b) she is utterly unapologetic about that fact.

olivia says that maybe quinn could come watch her play volleybal some time and quinn says that she’d love to but it’s complicated and don’t do that, quinn! my heart hurts now!

OKAY so olivia isn’t doing cheer this year even though she was captain the previous year and she makes up an excuse about it being because of the other girls but it’s actually about HER DAD taking the money that quinn gave her for a UNIFORM which means she probably couldn’t even try out and I HATE THIS. find your ex and kick his ass, quinn.

lou, after talking about macadamia farming: “but here’s where the story gets a littllllle... nutty.” tani, fistpumping: “nice one.” punner solidarity!! good stuff, good stuff. (though i do wonder what happened to danny’s punning streak in later seasons. anyone remember 1.14, when he joked about the head in a box? he’s lost his appreciation for this fine art and it’s a tragedy, honestly.)

quinn has enlisted adam’s help in tracking her ex (jake) down and she’s telling adam a little about how she never thought she’d fall for a guy like him but he was charming, and then she says “and olivia” and THAT’S when she really smiles, and look, PLEASE don’t let this episode end with olivia still living with her dad because will have to write fix-it fic.

quinn: “i haven’t told anybody i was married, not even steve.” that’s cool, but like, do we believe that means steve doesn’t know? if his background checks haven’t gone completely downhill in the last few years, i would assume he’s figured this out, right? (i love quinn’s “in case you haven’t noticed, i’m not really a sharer” that she adds, because it fits with her personality and it’s just nice to have a female character that’s allowed to be a little secretive about her past in a way that doesn’t feel, idk, sensationalized.)

i have seen a lot of gifs of this episode by now and they’re all of steve and danny and the horses so i’ve seen most of their very polite discussion that ensues when danny calls steve out on not asking him if he wants to ride along, but it’s still utterly glorious. grace gets mentioned, too! and the way danny ends it with “why don’t you try to keep up?” as he passes in front of steve, with steve watching him go? that is flirting. blatant flirting in front of all of their poor teammates. (at least now junior can feel a little less awkward about bringing his relationship with him on the job!)

fjdkfdjk lou’s “all this and they still go time to argue, isn’t that nice?” is A+

steve and danny, as they’re super leisurely chasing some criminals through the woods on horseback: yes, this would be a good time to make up an argument about absolutely nothing at all.

oh gosh, okay, danny says “you know i can uh, i can hear you at night” and steve’s response is “why don’t you get some earplugs?” and um. uh. it’s followed by context, i know, but come on, jfc.

“when i moved in a couple months ago” he’s just GOING for it now, omg. not “came to stay with you”, no attempt at hiding that he’s been staying with steve for literal months at this point - just. when i moved in. a couple months ago.

(i am obviously also very aware of what danny is saying about steve not sleeping and how that’s a new thing because it wasn’t like that a few months ago and steve’s evasiness about it and i am VERY WORRIED ABOUT THAT but i’m also electing to somewhat ignore it because. my god. screw that. we don’t want any of where that seems to be headed in this house.)

“i appreciate it. thank you.” this is growth and it’s good and it’s steve realizing that maybe just his quippy putdown isn’t enough of a response to danny’s genuine offer of support! (and again, we’re not thinking about reasons why he might want to think twice about how he treats danny so danny will know he’s appreciated, because there is no reason for steve to be worried about that, because nothing is going to happen.)

steve: “cuff him, danno.” DANNO. danno has returned from war!!

fjdkfd and then steve says it again in like, the next sentence he says. really cramming in those danno’s suddenly.

oh noooooo. quinn tells adam that jake could be a very good dad (which is valid! addiction is a disease and it’s good to know he wasn’t always like this to olivia, even if i don’t think it excuses what’s happening now), but then she says that jake was all the things she always wished her own dad could be and that maybe that’s why she was so drawn to him, and. okay. did not need that. h50 has a tendency to make women compare their love interests to their dads that makes me very uncomfortable. (the other big one that springs to mind is when abby and chin are courting and chin opens a car door for abby and she says something about how she always admired chivalry in her dad and she thought that died out with his generation and it’s this weird thing where she seems to be flirting by going “wink wonk you make me think of my dad” and oh my god. let’s just say it’s very much not my thing.)

steve and danny end up holed up in a cabin while seven people shoot at them and ahhh, just like old times. also just like last episode, to be honest, with the whole cabin filled with poison thing, but at least there’s no poison this time! that’s a plus!

steve’s improv involves LASSO’ING a guy i’m screaming

dude gets the drop on steve, they have an epic fight, steve HITS HIS HEAD and the dude picks up a GIANT LOG to hulksmash on steve’s head, presumably, and then danny swoops in to the rescue and!!! that’s also very much like old times!!! especially with this forest green color scheme and steve lying on the floor a little dazed it really reminds me of that episode with the girlscout troop in season 3.

(so. in this possible universe we’re not talking about where steve might be sick again and could be pacing at night because he knows or fears he’s going to die (you know the one) do you think that maybe part of why his first words to danny are “why’d you leave the cabin? that wasn’t the plan” is that he was kind of... hoping the other guy would get to finish him off? do you ever think about how steve mcgarrett, man of action, would almost definitely rather go out in a blaze of glory after taking out six guys all on his own with danny having his back, than after watching his own body slowly betray him and give out on him after losing a painful and drawn-out fight with itself?)

confused, frowny steve who almost definitely has a concussion and is also still very bloody is oddly cute, gosh. also, nincompoop! definitely one of danny’s most wonderful insults yet.

quinn gets her ex arrested and yells at him and tells him that if he doesn’t clean up his act, he’ll lose custody of his daughter, and then she drives away and she’s sobbing and trying not to and just !!!!! this was definitely the good kind of “quinn has an ex-husband” storyline, but also very painful.

the sunset scene! seen this in gifset too, but hoooo boy, it hits very differently with actual sound. (i may also have described the scene to my sister and mentioned the “probably ‘cause i figured i’d see a million more” and her immediate response was “oooh, he’s dead” and yES, that’s what i was TELLING YOU i’m worried about and also what i’m not thinking about so let’s just pretend i’m not typing these words right now.)

fdjkfdjkfd i’m sure that steve turning to danny just as he says “those are the things that you’re gonna miss the most in the end, you know” after mentioning things you see every day is just. a total coincidence. yeah. he’s totally just turning away from this sunset he was so entranced by a moment ago to look at danny’s face because he wants to stretch his neck. uh huh.

there’s banter about squirrels and it’s good and then steve says “admit it danny, you’re gonna miss this when it’s done” and that sounds very meta, omg, but it gets better when danny says “yeah, maybe, but i would never say it out loud” because that is literally a way to say it, out loud.

a very good episode!! i loved meeting olivia and learning about quinn’s background and there was some prime tani content and to top it off a lot of mcdanno in the second half, and if we just completely ignore that this episode also made my anxiety about the series finale skyrocket (which i knew it would, based on what i’d gathered of other people’s response to it, but that still didn’t accurately prepare me) it was wonderful and i liked it a lot! 

[logicheartsoul]

#3 and #20 for the unique writing asks!

Hey, Danno, I hope you’re doing well! Looking at these questions, wow, you really picked some interesting ones! I can’t wait to answer.

3. What loves do you tend to write about? Agape (unconditional, spiritual love), Eros (romantic, passionate love), Philia (affectionate, platonic love), Philautia (self-love), Storge (familial love), Pragma (enduring love like between long-married couples), Ludus (playful love, infatuation you feel during the “honeymoon period”), and Mania (obsessive love that leads to madness and jealousy) 

Looking at this entire list, I think I mostly write Eros, Philia, Storge, Pragma, and Ludus. I’ve read stuff containing all of these but usually more private things I’ve written sometimes are full of agape or Philautia but more public/published stuff are the others above. Mania...is a lot and it really sometimes reminds me of the yandere trope, which isn’t something I’m too fond of writing or consuming much. It takes a skilled author to write it without turning it to an exaggerated caricature or too off the rails.

20. If you were published and had complete control over your covers, what would it look like? Do you have any specific artists that you’d like to illustrate it? Do you like when characters are pictured on covers or do you prefer inanimate objects? 

If I were published... I’d definitely like something colorful or have really nice typography. Depends on what kind of stuff I published lmao. Definitely would like something pleasing -- I’ve done so many digital graphics work and enough photography that I might end up doing my own covers unless it had to deal with people. That’s more tricky. I don’t mind if characters are depicted or if it’s just an object instead -- it just has to be something tasteful and not inappropriate or bad and it’s relevant to the content inside. Like if there’s a character depicted but it’s leaning towards some bad visual stereotypes, then no, I’d be upset. As for artists...I can think of a few people but I dunno if they’d be up for book covers.

[ send me unique writing asks! ]

[mcdanhoe]

You should totally do 29 or 31 from that prompt list : )

hi zara ilyyy thank you for this, sorry for answering so late, i just haven’t felt like writing up until now, so im gonna combine the two :)

“Do you want to kiss as bad as I do right now” and “Stop biting that fucking lip!”

***

The air conditioning was buzzing in Danny’s ear, invasive but a complete necessity with the oppressive humidity that had overtaken Oahu in the past three days. The sun had set, the sky a dark blue peppered with glittering stars. Tani, Lou, and Junior had left already, calling it quits after the case had been closed and the paperwork was finished. Only him and Steve were left, both attempting to finish their work in their respective offices.

Unfortunately for Danny, the air conditioning was barely working in his room, making it nearly impossible for him to concentrate and finish up the last of his paperwork. For Steve and the others (besides for Lou), this particularly sticky heat was something they were used to, but despite living in Hawaii for nearly a decade now, Danny still could not adjust. He had already peeled off his dress shirt and slipped on an undershirt, in a lame attempt to stave off the inevitable stickiness and sweating.

It wasn’t working.

The pen in Danny’s hand was slicked with sweat from his palm, and Danny slams it down in frustration. He sits back in his chair, running his hand through his hair, scrunching his nose in disgust as the sweat from his hand slicks his hair back. He tilts his head back against the top of the chair and huffs out a breath, staring at the ceiling. 

“Hey, Danny,” he hears what he immediately recognizes as Steve’s voice, coming from the entrance of his office. 

Danny picks his head up and sits up slightly in his chair, and glances at his partner before leaning forward and slumping his head in his arms on his desk. 

He hears a few footsteps coming towards him. “Oh, geez, it’s fuckin’ boiling in here, man, what the hell?” Steve’s voice goes up an octave. Danny picks his head up and rests his chin in his palm, his elbow leaning against the corner of his desk. “Why didn’t you come work in my office or somethin’?” Steve asks.

“I don’t know, I can barely think right now. Somehow I’m more stressed out now than I was during the entirety of this case, which is slightly terrifying and concerning, but I’m choosing to ignore it in favor of sitting here and torturing myself,” Danny mutters, and Steve cocks an eyebrow in response. “I don’t know, I’m hungry and tired and- fuck, I hate this stupid island so much with its unbearable heat and stickiness and I wanna go home right now but I can’t bring myself to get out of my stupid chair,” Danny complains, waving an arm around to gesture his frustration.

“I see,” is all Steve says, and he moves toward the desk and picks up the papers directly in front of Danny. “I got this, don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it tomorrow morning,” Steve insists, and Danny doesn’t even try to fight back.

“Thank you,” he replies, and the warm look on Steve’s face makes an involuntary, small smile spread on Danny’s face. “Okay, carry me to my car,” he jokes and holds his arms out in Steve’s direction.

Steve chuckles in response and reaches out, interlacing his hand with one of Danny’s and tugging him up to his feet. “Let’s go, lazy ass,” Steve teases, and Danny is standing directly in front of him, their hands still interlaced. Danny loses his balance for a moment, stumbling as he’s pulled up, but Steve uses his free hand to ground him. “Alright,” Steve intones and shoots Danny a smirk.

The two men stand there, in the middle of Danny’s office. Steve’s hands are still on Danny, one on his shoulder and the other interlaced with Danny’s. The throbbing, pulsating pain at Danny’s temples is nearly unbearable, stinging with every eruption of pain. Steve is looking down at the blond man, his eyes expressive, tenacious, a myriad of colors and emotions that could easily see through.

Danny feels his heart beating, rapid and untamed, tumultuous in his ears. His mind is muggy, he feels as though his every thought is being dragged through heavy, sticky mud before it could reach him, which is why his mouth starts moving before his brain has cleared the thick sludge away from his next thought. Before his brain can process and determine the fate of the thought, which, in any other scenario, he would’ve swiped away with embarrassment and refused to say aloud, his mouth moves on its own. Which is why before his brain can react, he says this:

“Do you want to kiss as bad as I do right now?”

Which, uh, okay, Danny did not clear that for release, he does not remember allowing his mouth to say such a childish and movie-esque line. God, Danny thinks, how stupid am I to reveal my deep-seated love for my work partner and best friend with a cheesy, cliche question that should be paired with a string quartet and romantic lighting?

No, there’s no romantic lighting or gentle, caressing music that follows, rather there’s harsh, white lighting and stifling heat, and Steve standing in front of him with wide eyes and reddened cheeks, in his dumb cargo pants and his stupidly-tight black t-shirt that has been the star of many of Danny’s fantasies (if he’s being honest). Steve’s hands don’t move, but the look on his face falters, his head jerks back in surprise.

Danny tries to open his mouth to say something, to take it back and cover up the messy, oozing mire that had fallen out so quickly from the crevices of his brain, but it was too late. Danny had spoken his mind, albeit unwillingly, and he was going to have to face the music- and it was not going to be a string quartet, Danny assumes.

“Yes.”

The single word is announced, floating in the air, and Danny thinks he’s imagining it, thinks his brain is so muddled by the heat, the exhaustion, the headache, everything. Danny thinks he’s imagining it, but he finally brings himself to look back up at Steve and is greeted by a timid smile, darkening eyes that were unmistakably saying the same thing that had just come out of his mouth. 

“Y-yes?” Danny echoes, and he flinches at the roughness of his voice.

“Yes, Danny, yes, I wanna kiss you,” Steve chuckles, and before Danny can even react, his best friend is leaning in, sliding his hand up Danny’s shoulder to lightly grip the back of his neck. Their lips meet, Danny’s are embarrassingly dry and he stumbles forward, trying to reach up to close the distance between him and the taller man. Their hands are still intertwined, and Danny loosens his from Steve’s and uses it to grab his waist and pull him in closer.

The kiss deepens as their bodies are pressed closer together, Danny’s lips slotting perfectly with Steve’s. It’s delicious, a warmth that Danny’s body quickly acclimates to. Steve flattens his hand on Danny’s neck and pushes it up, running his fingers through Danny’s hair. His other hand meets with Danny’s jaw, caressing the area where his jaw meets his ear, his thumb rubbing back and forth.

Steve opens his mouth and Danny understands that as him giving him permission to deepen the kiss and slip his tongue in. Their tongues touch and Danny has never felt more weak, more human, more enveloped in the sense of overwhelming desire than he does right now. He and Steve, standing in the middle of his office, in the middle of headquarters, in the middle of the place where they went from strangers to partners to friends to best friends, to… whatever they were now- this made sense to Danny, it fit perfectly. They were two men, two partners, two best friends, and nothing in the world mattered except for this moment in time, with Steve flicking his tongue over Danny’s, his grip on Steve’s torso tightening as their kiss turned into something more, something that neither of them had known before, and it terrifies Danny half to death but god, he would do anything to understand it more.

Danny’s thoughts are no longer muddied, they are crystal clear, running through him like a waterfall, each thought like a spark as he tugs at Steve’s bottom lip with his teeth.

He doesn’t know who breaks the kiss, but Danny finds himself out of breath, his chest heaving and an involuntary smile on his face once again. “I uh, I don’t,” he breathes out, and he’s staring up at Steve who looks thoroughly wrecked, his lips, as cliche as it sounds, were swollen, red and parted, his pupils were dark.  “I don’t know why I said that, but, uh, I don’t have an excuse for it.”

“Really? That’s what you’re gonna say right now?” Steve pipes, and his hand is still hovering near Danny’s neck.

A surge of heat runs over Danny’s body, and he bites his cheeks as he tries to hold back a smile.

“What? What’s so funny, Danno?” Steve presses, and Danny rubs his tongue over his lip, pausing for a moment as he tries to bite back a smile, his bottom lip between his teeth. “Stop biting that fucking lip, Danny, I swear to-”

Danny cuts Steve off by pushing up on his tiptoes and crashing into his lips, and Steve tightens his grip on Danny’s neck again. This time the kiss is more desperate, more teeth, more tongue, more heat. Steve pushes Danny back, and the back of his legs hit his desk. Danny, in a moment of heat, surges forward and grips both of Steve’s arms and flips them around, pushing Steve into the desk. 

The kiss breaks for a moment, and Danny runs his thumb over Steve’s bottom lip as the taller man sits on the edge of the desk. Steve bites the tip of Danny’s thumb, teasing him, and Danny pulls it away in favor of kissing him again. The kiss is slower, Danny leaning his weight on the bigger man, both hands on either of his hips.

They kiss for a while, exploring the newfound contact that left them both breathless and hungry for more. Eventually, it wasn’t kissing, just light pressing of lips and touching of skin and small gasps of breath and humming, but it was everything Danny wanted, and more.

“You still wanna go home?” Steve asks, teasing Danny as he stood up. Danny interlaces their hands once again, their fingers pressed firmly against one another. Steve gets up from the desk and purposely bumps into his partner.

“Yes,” Danny replies after a moment, and grabs his keys from his desk. “Let’s go home,” he concludes, and hands the keys to his partner. 

***

hope you enjoyed!!! i literally just wrote it and didn’t proofread so pls dont hate me. send me more asks/prompts if you want :))))))))

[chrissys2boys-dannysteve]

Senator Daniel Williams is facing a problem – a spate of kidnapping attempts on kids of other Senator families in his circle has him on edge.

His six-year-old son Charlie is the guiding of his life, and he’d do anything to protect him. As it turns out, though, ‘anything’ must include hiring the man he slept with and ghosted on six years ago to serve as a bodyguard.

Daniel went on a date with Steve McGarrett that was filled with chemistry, fondness and a night of passion – but the morning after, fear overtook him, and he slipped away before Steve woke up.

Part One

“Danno,” Charlie drawled, in an ever more familiar-sounding complaint. “You’re not paying attention.”

“Sorry, buddy.”

The truth was, however, that Senator Daniel ‘Danny’ Williams knew he wouldn’t be able to focus. There were more pressing things on his mind, and those things all related to the news story that was still running on TV from earlier this morning. He had it on mute so as not to alarm Charlie, but the ticker tape still read the same.

KIDNAPPING ATTEMPTS CONTINUE: Children of Senator families across New York remain a target of criminal activity.

So far, only one of the attempts had been successful – Danny only had to look into her parents’ dead, red eyes as they gave their interviews to understand. If this shit was going to continue to happen, then he was going to need to make sure it didn’t happen to them. If anybody came for his son while they were out together, then he wasn’t 100%, completely certain that he could protect him, and that was a problem he couldn’t live with.

Thankfully, this problem had an obvious solution – and that solution was due to arrive in about ten minutes.

“Danno,” said Charlie, arms folded. “You didn’t draw anything in the last five minutes!”

“But I made a good model for you buddy, huh?”

The boy wrinkled his nose, unsatisfied with this excuse, and Danny couldn’t help bit grin at his son. Charlie was such an intelligent kid, and feisty as you like. Danny knew that it often hurt children when their parents divorced, but if it had hurt Charlie, then the boy had buried it deep. His confidence, stability and pride in what made him special were admirable. Danny often felt he had a lot to learn from his son.

“We’ve got a guest that’s going to be here in about ten minutes,” Danny told him, finally picking up a crayon and starting to sketch. “Is that okay?”

“I guess so,” Charlie told him, mostly focusing on the color he was adding to his background. “Who is it?”

“I don’t know his name,” Danny admitted. “But it’s a bodyguard for you.”

“What do I need a bodyguard for?”

“To keep you safe buddy,” he said, which he knew was a shitty answer to give a smart kid like Charlie. The boy already knew that. Danny just didn’t want to tell his son the gory details. “There are a lot of bad people out there, so I just want to make sure both of us have somebody here to protect us.”

Charlie finished coloring his background, tongue stuck out in concentration. “Well, okay.”

Time seemed to pass more quickly after that - maybe because Danny was actually paying attention to their drawings instead of torturing himself with the rolling news report. As such, it startled Danny when the buzzer for the door sounded, and it took him a moment to compose himself.

“Danno,” said Charlie, eyes fixed on the page. “That’s the bodyguard.”

“It sure is,” he said, standing up and stretching before he headed to the door. Danny could only hope that whoever the agency had sent was a nice person. They’d all be spending a lot of time together, after all, and he felt things would get awkward fast if they couldn’t even marginally enjoy each other’s company.

Either way, now was the moment of truth. Danny answered the buzzer, standing by the door. “Can I help you?”

“Senator Williams?” asked the voice on the other end. “I’m from NY Star Security. I believe we have an appointment scheduled.”

“Absolutely,” Danny said, pushing the button to admit him. “Come right up. We’re in the penthouse.”

Danny took one last glance in the mirror. It shouldn’t really matter what he looked like, but he couldn’t help it. First impressions, and all that. His blonde hair styled neat and tidy this morning was still in place. The thin dusting of stubble did not look disorderly - and his personally tailored clothes fit him like a glove.

The knock at the door followed not soon after. Danny stepped over to it quickly to open it up, polite smile already fixed across his face - and set eyes on somebody eerily familiar. “Hi,” he managed, puzzled enough that it made it hard for him to get the words out. “I’m Senator Daniel Williams. Come right in.”

The slightly sour look on the other man’s face was what threw him off. Danny couldn’t recall having any enemies, and he was absolutely sure he’d met this man before. Then it dawned on him in one flash of panic. This was the first and only man he’d ever slept with.

“Steve McGarrett,” he introduced himself. This was useful, as Danny could only remember his first name. Steve… It didn’t look like he had recognized Danny yet, but surely it was only a matter of time. He had the same look on his face that Danny had felt on his own - that faint, uncertain recognition. Who is this guy? “I believe I’m here to see you about your son.”

“That’s right,” Danny said faintly, standing back to let the man pass. “Come in.”

to be continued…

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I’m tagging: @cowandcalf, @ohmy-mcdanno, @hawaiianohana15, @auntie17, @mcdanno4life, @gatorasmus, @anotherrandomsonglyric, @teamfortress2ofresidentevil, @alexisa1206, @be-yourself-with-hims, @kozuszek, @omgmcdannoshipper, @mymcdanno, @bookemfangirl, @surewouldbeinteresting, @murphyhatesme, @ladysnowstorm, @udkl, @mcdannoangelwolf

[randomnotesonrandomness]

Nota del traduttore

Translator’s note

English below

Ho ricevuto in regalo tutto i libri di Mary Ruefle dal suo editor, più o meno tre anni fa. È stato amore a prima vista. Una montagna di libri vicini vicini in borsa, poesia e prosa. Non un amore canonico, passionale, no, ma una cosa fatta di strane affinità elettive e un costante senso di smarrimento che non trovavo sgradevole, forse perché mi piace perdermi.

La scrittura di Ruefle può provocare uno strano timore reverenziale – il misto di paura e fascino che forse proverei davanti a un marziano – però a volte ti fa scoppiare a ridere. O almeno a me capita spesso. E soprattutto ti fa perdere l’orientamento. A un certo punto non capisci più dove sei e segui solo le immagini come i sassolini e le briciole di Hansel e Gretel. È affascinante se leggi e basta, un po’ una fregatura se devi tradurre.

Le poesie me le ero lette in un sorso appena avevo avuto i libri in mano. La sensazione di perdersi c'era, ma in quella forma me l'aspettavo, e mi dava chiavi di ritmo ma non soluzioni sensate per tradurre.

Ho deciso quindi di lavorare su pezzi a caso, uno sui colori e uno con una struttura più convenzionale – se mai Ruefle si può definire convenzionale – per capire cosa poteva farmi da sassolino oltre alle immagini. Perché io le immagini le vedevo bene, e le sentivo, ma dovevo stare nella griglia della scrittura, che non è mai colloquiale, ma sempre precisa e algida e severa nella forma - d’altronde in America la sua prosa è venduta nel settore poesia, oltre a essere insegnata in tantissimi master di scrittura creativa - ma poi in parecchi punti fa ridere o rimanere a bocca aperta. Tipo, quando scrive di menopausa, ‘Quando impazzisci non hai la minima propensione a leggere quello che Foucault ha scritto a proposito di cultura e pazzia’. Oppure “Una cosa è certa: non vorrei essere un albero di Natale.” O quando parla di teste rimpicciolite chiedendosi, sinceramente stupita, come mai la gente non ci pensa spesso.

Dopo la prima stesura di qualche frammento non ero soddisfatta. Allora mi sono messa a guardare i video di lei su YouTube. Dice cose serissime con un’espressione impassibile – la classica deadpan, letteralmente faccia morta – ma anche furba e allerta, sembra una volpe, e poi qua e là inserisce delle battute rimanendo seria seria, magari con l’aggiunta di un piccolo sorriso. A un certo punto durante una conferenza dice: ‘Gli artisti sono solo persone che non hanno dimenticato come si disegna, e per disegnare intendo creare. Ma non fatevi ingannare, hanno dimenticato moltissime altre cose. A volte si dimenticano che non hanno più otto anni. Ecco perché gli artisti sono per natura molesti.” E poi in un’altra conferenza dice che bisogna tornare bambini per ritrovare quel tipo di immaginazione, e che il buon senso e la razionalità non vanno molto d’accordo. “L’immaginazione ha vita propria e autonoma, l’immaginazione non è una cosa con cui giochi, è l’immaginazione che gioca con te. Ha il potere di creare e distruggere, di formare e deformare.”

Poi ho guardato alcuni dei suoi lavori di cancellatura, le erasures, perché Ruefle è anche un'artista di talento. E mi è venuto in mente che era tutto un lavoro per sopprimere la comprensione e creare qualcosa di nuovo a partire dalle parole pure.

E così finalmente ho capito, come in una sorta di epifania, che dovevo sospendere la logica. Esattamente come nella poesia. Anche perché non potevo farle cento domande su cinquanta pagine (via lettera poi, perché non ha il computer, scrive tutto a macchina). Nella sezione Contact del suo sito si legge: “Sorpresa! Non posseggo un computer. L'unico modo per contattarmi è scrivere alla mia casa editrice, Wave Press, oppure incontrare per strada qualcuno che conosco di persona.” Quando ho visto quella frase sul suo sito, praticamente dopo aver letto tre poesie, mi è venuta in mente la parola sassy, simpatica sfacciata e poi ho pensato, è matta. E poi ho pensato, non vedo l'ora di conoscerla.

Comunque a quel punto non so bene cosa sia successo, quando ho abbandonato la comprensione per il dubbio, ed è stato un po’ come entrare in uno stato di trance e lasciarsi guidare – forse anche commettendo errori ignobili, ma era il rischio da correre. Un po’ come succede con gli allucinogeni. E in effetti ho capito che leggere e tradurre la prosa-poesia di Ruefle è un'esperienza sinestesica, in cui senti colori e annusi parole e tocchi suoni.

Ovviamente gliel'ho scritto. Cioè in pratica mi sono immaginata un sacco di soluzioni di cose non solo difficili da tradurre (tipo giochi di parole di cui ho cambiato proprio il testo) ma a volte del tutto incomprensibili senza chiederle il permesso, senza la certezza che fossero giuste, come buttarsi in mare e nuotare di notte. E alla seconda lettera (gentilmente stampata e spedita con francobollo dal suo editor e poi via mail la risposta fotografata se no ci mettevamo due anni tra poste italiane e greche), quando le ho chiesto il significato di una parola contenuta in un brano già di per sé a dir poco astratto, ashling (che i vocabolari danno come sogno o visione in una rara accezione irlandese) lei mi ha risposto: 'Oddio pensavo a ash, a cenere ma non ricordo dove ho trovato quella parola, o se l'ho inventata, ma che bello questo significato irlandese del sogno che hai scovato! Comunque usa l'immaginazione e inventati qualcosa che dia l'idea di sogno, oppure di cenere ma anche di albero, e fai che sembri piccolo, minuscolo... Magari tipo ashtray??'

Per un altro brano intero dove c'era un gioco di parole praticamente intraducibile mi ha scritto: “Oh sì che guaio. Vuoi che lo riscrivo? Anzi, riscrivilo tu! Cambia anche il titolo!” In fondo a una delle lettere ha scritto: “Bellissima questa cosa che le lettere ci mettono settimane ad arrivare fino a te. Non ho mai messo piede su un'isola greca. È solida o spugnosa?” Eh. Bella domanda. Però mi ha fatto capire che dovevo vedere l'isola – e il mio modo di tradurre lei – toccandola con i piedi, annusandola con le mani, immaginando tutto con i sensi ribaltati.

Dopo varie riscritture, ho fatto un po' di prove di lettura con alcuni amici, chiedendo di chiudere gli occhi e ascoltare senza sforzarsi di capire e mi hanno detto che funzionava, che cadevano in quello stato di trance e vedevano le immagini. Ho amici adorabili ma non compiacenti, quindi forse non finirò nell'inferno dei traduttori. E se anche fosse, probabilmente sarebbe una storia in stile Ruefle.

xxxxxx

I received all of Mary Ruefle's books from her editor at Wave about three years ago, and it was love at first sight. A mountain of beautiful books sitting close together in my bag, poetry and prose. It was not a canonical, passionate love, no, more like a feeling of deep closeness made of elective affinities and a constant, but not unpleasant – maybe because I like getting lost - sensation of being confused and out of my depth. A complex kind of love. Ruefle's writing can be a source of strange awe - the mix of fear and fascination that perhaps I'd feel in front of a Martian - and make you lose your bearings. At some point you don't understand anything anymore and just follow images, like Hansel and Gretel's pebbles and crumbs. It's fascinating if you just read it, but it's a bit of a bummer if you have to translate it.

I had read all of her poetry as soon as I had the books in my hand. The feeling of being lost was definitely the same, but perhaps I kind of expected it in that form. The poems gave me keys to the rhythm, but not reasonable enough solutions.

So I decided to translate some fragments at random, one about colors and one with a more conventional structure - if ever Ruefle's writing can be called conventional - to understand what else, besides images, could be my pebbles. Because I did see the images quite vividly, and I felt them, but I had to keep playing within the writing grid, which is never colloquial but always precise and aloof in its form – after all in the US her prose is sold in the poetry section, and it's being taught in many creative writing MFA - but it is often very funny. Like, talking about menopause, "When you go crazy, you don’t have the slightest inclination to read anything Foucault ever wrote about culture and madness”.

Or "One thing is certain: I wouldn't want to be a Christmas tree." Or when she talks about shrunken heads wondering with genuine surprise why people don't think about them very often.

After the first draft I was not at all satisfied. So I started watching her videos on YouTube. She says very serious things with an impassive expression - the classic deadpan, an expression that I always liked - but also crafty and mischievous at times. Then here and there she just comes out with a joke while remaining very serious, maybe with a tiny smile. In one lecture she says: "Artists are just people who have not forgotten how to draw, by which I mean create. But don’t be taken in; they have forgotten a great many other things. Sometimes they forget they are no longer eight years old. This is why artists are of a troublesome nature.” And then in another conference she says that we need to become children again to rediscover that kind of imagination, and that common sense and rationality do not go very well with it. "The imagination has its own independent life, the imagination is not something you play with, it is the imagination that plays with you. It has the power to create and destroy, to form and deform. " Then I looked at some of her erasures, because Ruefle is also a talented artist. And it occurred to me that it was a way to suppress understanding and create something new from pure words. So I finally realized, like an epiphany, that I had to suspend logic. Exactly like with poetry. Also because I couldn't ask her 100 questions in 50 pages (and send them by letter, because she doesn't have a computer, she works only with her typewriter). In the Contact section of her website, she writes: "Surprise! I do not actually own a computer. The only way to contact me is by contacting my press, Wave Books, or by running into someone I know personally on the street." When I checked her website, immediately after reading three poems, I heard the word sassy in my mind, and I thought, She is crazy. I can't wait to meet her, she must be adorable. I don't really know what happened next when I gave up understanding, and it was a bit like entering into a trance state and letting myself be guided - perhaps even making ignoble mistakes, but that was the risk I had to run. A bit like what happens with hallucinogens. And in fact, I realized that reading and translating Ruefle's prose-poetry is a synaesthetic experience, in which you hear colours and smell words and touch sounds. Obviously, I tried – tried – to explain all this to her. In other words, I came up with a lot of solutions for things that were not only difficult to translate (such as puns I had to change the whole text for) but sometimes completely incomprehensible, and this without asking permission, without the certainty that they were right, like jumping in the sea and have a swim at night. And at the second letter (kindly printed, stamped and sent by her wonderful editor who also scanned and sent me her answer otherwise it would have taken years – Greece is paradise, but speed is not its forte), when I asked her the meaning of a word contained in a piece which is already abstract, to say the least, ashling (according to one of the many dictionaries I consulted it is a dream or a vision in a rare Irish meaning) she answered: 'Oh 'God I was thinking of ash, but I don't remember where I found that word, or if I invented it, but how beautiful this Irish meaning of the dream you found! Anyway use your imagination and come up with something that gives the idea of a dream, or ash but also a tree, and make it look small, tiny...? Maybe like an ashtray??' For another whole piece where there was a pun that was practically untranslatable, and she wrote, "Oh yes, that's a problem. Do you want me to rewrite it? In fact, you should rewrite it! Change the title too!" At the bottom of one of the letters, she wrote, "Isn't it beautiful this thing that letters take weeks to get to you. I've never set foot on a Greek island. Is it solid or spongy?" Ha. Good question. It made me realize, though, that I needed to see the island - and my way of translating her - touching it with my feet, smelling it with my hands, imagining everything with my senses turned upside down. After

several rewritings, I did some tests with friends, asking them to close their eyes and listen without trying to understand. They told me it worked, they could see the images and get into a kind of trance too. I have lovely friends and I know for sure that they are not complacent, so maybe I won't end up in translators' hell. And if that were the case, it would probably be a Ruefle style story.