#Happy Birthday Midnight I woves you

[104thsquadfam]

@ssatxr​​                           Happy Birthday~

     It was another day for the people of Paradis Island, they went about their day like any other...selling their goods in the markets, kids going to school to learn, Military Police....well they were just lazing about like they always did while the Garrisons patrolled the towns and walls. Yes today was an average day for most.....

     But not for the Survey Corp, today was someone’s special birthday, someone who was considered a dear ally who’s helped them through thick and thin, a friend, a daughter figure and little sister figure. In fact they meant so much to them that they took today to set up a surprise for this person, the permission for this event was approved by Commander Erwin Smith and the entire event was planned out by Captain Levi Ackermann who left no room for error....seriously if you put something it shouldn’t have been you could forget about even attending the event cause you’d be to busy recovering in the infirmary.

     The 104th and other scouts were helping set everything up since they had all agreed together to do this before approaching Erwin and Levi about it. While everyone worked to prepare things in the mess hall for this celebration, Connie and Sasha were in charge of keeping Midnight away and were only allowed to come back with her once the signal was given.

      “--So anyways that’s how I got stuck with three weeks of leaning duty! I’m sure Captain Levi forgives me by now but he’s so scary I don’t want to get on his bad side.” Connie laughed after sharing a story on how he’d made a complete mess of the kitchen and nearly set it on fire. It was fine he was used to messing some things up who didn’t??

     Sasha laughed a little as they both walked with Midnight in the middle of them “ Anyways I hope you don’t have anything planned today Midnight cause we really wanted to hang out with you all day....and night if that’s okay with you.” the brunette would smile a bit to her friend. She was about to say something else until Connie shouted “ It’s the signal!” which in turn had her gazing at the sky at the green signal flare.

     The two beamed as they each grabbed hold of Midnights arms and dragged her along towards the Survey Corps barracks “ Come on!” they’d both exclaim suddenly giddy, they really hoped she liked the surprise! Or at least didn’t feel too overwhelmed by it.

     Sasha couldn’t wait! All the food that would be there! Ah....of course she was also excited to see Midnights face when she saw her little surprise....but she was also excited for the food. And the fact that everyone made something even Captain Levi...what did his food taste like ? Did Commander Erwin also make food? Wait...did Ymir make something?

     All these thoughts flooded her mind all at once as they approached the Barracks, it looked abandoned but Connie and Sasha  didn’t seem too concerned with the lack of scouts that were usually around “ Okay here we are.” Sasha smiled as both she and Connie placed their hands on the mess halls large doors before swinging the doors open, well if she was wondering where everyone was now she knew as they all shouted in unison and stood there welcoming her as she was pulled in by Connie and Sasha.

     “SURPRISE ! Happy Birthday Midnight!” 

     All the scouts cheered and in no time they rushed the girl to surround her, luckily for her Reiner was the one to lift her up onto his shoulders while everyone continued to wish her a happy birthday “ Not what you expected huh?” the blond smiled over to her as he moved his free hand to her face pinching her nose a little, at least the one that wasn’t holding Midnight on his shoulder.

     “ Look at you getting the war hero treatment, how does it feel to have everyone cheering you on? Hopefully it’s not too stressful.” he’d chuckle a bit only setting her down on the ground once Erwin asked everyone to give her some space and looked down at her with a slight smile “ The others informed me that it was your birthday, so we all came together to do something for you. I hope we have not overstepped out boundaries in doing so.” 

     “ Try not to make a damn mess.” Levi says to them, that same indifferent look on his face as usual as everyone froze for a moment to look over at him “ Ah...yes sir Captain Levi!” they quickly responded “ Relax...I’m only joking it’s not like you lot are gonna be tame just clean up when you’re done.” 

     Sure Levi wasn’t the biggest fan of the place being turned into a mad house but he wasn’t going to rain on their parade...at least not today he wasn’t for Midnights sake “ Yo, Midnight so you’re an old hag now huh?” Ymir said with a smirk getting a punch to the side by Christa, which was as effective as a soft plush toy hitting her “ Ymir! You don’t have to be mean to her on her birthday!.” the small blond frowned up at her, which in turn only made Ymir chuckle more “ Relaaax she knows I’m just messing with her.” 

     Was she? Who knows she assumed Midnight knew when Ymir was just joking with her by now if she didn’t, oh well not her problem. Christa only continued to frown at Ymir before looking over to Midnight with a smile “ Happy Birthday Midnight I hope you like the gift I got you!” she says holding a small gift out to her “ Oh but open it later we made so much food to celebrate ! Everyone pitched in so I hope it all tastes good and that you’re able to enjoy yourself.” 

     “ Try not to eat to much though....you’ll upset your stomach...” Mikasa added from the crowd, watching the other female before feeling a hand on her shoulder to see Jean “ How’s she supposed to get drunk if she doesn’t have a little bit of fun? Besides we’ll be here to keep an eye on her and if we’re drunk too we have the Commander and Captain.” though he knew that they wouldn’t be baby sitting them...at least Levi wouldn’t, Erwin just might.

    “ Alright now that we have all that settled let’s go get this party started!!” Sasha shouted as the others agreed grabbing Midnight and moving her away from the door...where Bertholdt was shutting it so keep the noise to a minimum, there was no doubt that this party would go on through out the night....let’s just see how long the birthday girl could last with a bunch of drunk scouts cheering her on. 

[imdoingsortagay]

If you write for Oliva Octavius maybe you could do her surprising you for your birthday by taking off of work (unheard of) and treating you like you wove science itself? And if not, maybe you could do Agatha and Wanda plotting a whole weekend of birthday shenanigans for you!

The birthday plans

Summary: Your girlfriend makes your birthday extra special

Warnings: soft Olivia, Claire is here, milfs, kissing and smut alluded below the but so 18+

a/n: a full fic wow love that for me, anyways this is my birthday present thanks anon for the idea

If there’s one thing about your girlfriend, she was passionate about her work. Years of making big discoveries in science and sleepless nights in her small apartment at the time brought her to own her very own company to continue making big discoveries in her field. Not to mention shaping the future scientists of the future.

You honestly were proud to see her getting the recognition she deserved. But there were also time where you wished that she took some time to herself to relax, spend time with you but overall you knew that work was her passion, you being her other passion as well. Being the one to support her all those years when everyone else had doubts about her theories.

She never took off any days, only took off the major holidays in November and December. You had tried to talk her into giving her body a break before she crashes but being the stubborn woman that Olivia is, only failed.

So now here you were, Halloween nights in your shared apartment with a small amount of candy left from giving trick or treaters in your lap while a silly rom com is playing in the background.

“ more candy for me,” you mumble to yourself while checking the clock, but sad to see your girlfriend isn’t still here but from checking her location she seemed to be on her way back.

Meanwhile Olivia was taking her usual route back, happy to be working on a new project to show the investors, and checking up on all the messages she missed over the day.

The woman had been in work mode to realize it was Halloween until she had read your recent text.

My sweetheart: all the trick or treaters have left and she still have candy babe >:) saved you some for later.

Sent 10:15pm

“ oh fuck,” she thinks to herself, forgetting she was supposed to be home earlier to hand out candy with you.

She still had a long way to make it back to you and all Olivia can do is be mad at herself. All these years of being in a relationship with her and you always supported her. Brought her food at work, helped with getting supplies, gave her massages and the one time you had asked her for one thing, she bailed on it.

It was unfair of her to do that, she wanted to make this right with you. Wanted to treat you like you were more important than science herself so she checked her meetings for around your birthday and happy to see she had only one with her Senator friend but she’d understand if she rescheduled it.

“ put reminder to call off for three days,” she mumbles as she types it out on her notes app and takes the rest of the ride home to think of all the things she wants to do with you.

And to you but not the point.

It doesn’t take long before her driver leaves her at her apartment complex, the woman leaving a hefty tip before running inside to the building. She was happy at least that traffic wasn’t too horrible for Halloween night, just barely getting back home before midnight.

You wake up from your slumber right as she opens the door , a smile on your face seeing her.

“ So what’s this you say about candy?” Olivia asks you as she approaches you on the couch.

“ we have enough to eat for a week babe,” you pause as you give her a kiss,” maybe you can give the interns some candy as well”.

“ yeah I don’t need them hopped up on candy daring, had to deal with Peter making weird jokes” she told her eyes.

“ Babe just cause his humor is closer to this new generation doesn’t mean you can call them weird,” you start off ,” remember when you made jokes I didn’t get at his age?”

“ fine fine I won’t make fun of the boy” she tells you as she cuddles into you. She spends the rest of the night with you in her arms and planning out how amazing she’s gonna make your birthday.

*the next morning*

“ WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU CANCEL OUR 11am OCTAVIUS?????? “ Claire says as she barges into her friend's office, while all Olivia can only roll her eyes at her actions.

“ Honey it’s a meeting discussing small stuff about your campaign and my support stupid-“

“ You’re the one person I know who’s married to her job , now why in the fuck are you canceling meetings ???” Claire tells her.

Claire gets no response from the brunette at her desk, too focused on whatever seems to be taking up her attention until she makes her way to the desk and turns around the screen.

“ A 2 day trip to the other side of the country?” Claire reads aloud.

“ yeah I - “

“ oh thank fuck you need it,” Claire rejoices,” and god knows your partner does as well since they’ve been your number one supporter throughout”.

“ why not send me a text you were planning a trip for y/n ? Honey we’ve been friends long enough to discuss what’s happening”.

“ I know and” Olivia tries to protect but her friends stops her form even continuing her sentence.

“ Y/n deserves your undivided attention for more than two days and you know it. Don’t tell them I told you but once during your company Christmas party she confided in me that while they was happy to see you live out your dreams, sometimes they wanted you to take just some time to where you weren’t up in the labs making plans to kill super heroes or whatever”.

“ I was not killing super heroes-“

“ y/n told me the one time they walked in on Parker almost getting hurt stupid, not to mention it was because of your tech, “ Claire tells her.

“ moral of the story I know their boss , just book the trip for a week got it?” Claire says with a thumbs up and Octavia follows her command as to not upset her more.

Lucky for her the day went by quickly as Claire had decided to stick around to do her work there and Olivia was excited to spend the next week alone with you.

“ Helloooooo,” She announces into the apartment as she find you in the kitchen making a small snack for you.

“ You do anything interesting at work my love?" She casually asks.

" Usual boring staff member stuff but," you pause," i have the next week off babe".

" That's interesting-"

"Maybe they saw your birthday and decided to give you the day off honey,' you hear Olivia explain while she makes her way to the couch to sit. All these years of being with her you could tell right away when she was hiding something.

" Maybe but you know i don't request a whole week off babe," you say as she watches you sit on her lap" and we have a bunch of proposals to finish before Congress is on break for Thanksgiving".

" Some people can be-" and before she tries to come up with a shitty excuse, you start to leave kisses all over her neck. It was her main weakness after all.

" What the fuck are you-"

" You are a bad bad lier Octavius," you say as she feels your hand go into her pants.

" Fine fine," she gives up," Debella callef them to give you the week off for a surprise"

" I knew it," you say as you get off of her," for a woman that was evil in the past, you sure seem to be bad at secrets".

" Keeping a secret from strangers is easy but from you," she tells you as she gets on top of you," is a struggle in itself"

" Now i need to show you what happens when you put stunts like earlier".

The next morning

" Are we there yet?" you ask Olivia, excitement brewing as you both are in the airplane to San Fransisco.

" we are halfway done my love," Olivia tells you," how about you nap while i read my book".

" Is it a science one?".

" Nope," she confirms and you giggle in excitement seeing that she's reading the book you got for her when you went to the bookstore," taking a break from work stuff and i need to read the book so i can compare the show".

Olivia could not wait for the things that she had planned for the both of you

[lake-archive]

Day 7

AO3 Link

Fandom: Ensemble Stars

Series: Walking The Road Together

Characters (main): Ritsu Sakuma, Anja-Sophia 'Ann' Wolff (OC), Karl Wolff, Hilda Wolff, Ole

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The time has come… Once the clock had hit midnight it had echoed all through the room, one sentence very loudly.

“Happy Birthday~”

The sound of glasses echoed through the tiny room and it was overall a lively atmosphere. Even if it was so late at night… Or rather early in the morning. Regardless, it would not stop the good mood in any way. Having the five across the table lead the usual upbeat conversation while eating some cake. Though it looked like pancakes stacked upon another, cream and marmalade in between each. What did Hilda call it?

“Oh, this is one of my dearie’s favorites – We call it–”

“Pfannakuachatorte Bursche!” Karl had interrupted her mid sentence however. Ritsu was not even going to try repeating that in any way. It already sounded weird, perhaps a little too complicated. He got a light bonk on his head as a result yet the father didn’t seem to be sorry in any way whatsoever. 

“It’s Pfannkuchentorte."

Needless to say the atmosphere was no different compared to what Ritsu had witnessed days ago. It was addicting and he found himself playing along all the same. The family had not even left Ole out who had gotten a special treat it seemed… After having hopped onto the table and meowed Karl’s ears full, not getting off until his demands had been met. Said treat having been a few pieces of a sausage, just for the cat. And he was content. 

Needless to say it was the equivalent of a small party of its own. And yet, one of them had gotten a little carried away… Seeing drinks all over one would think that only the two older ones would drink. But no, Ritsu had witnessed a side of Ann’s he had not expected, at all. Actually, he didn’t even know that she had been drinking for a good while now. He had never seen anything like that around her apartment but here? 

“It’s fine since no one sees it. We are in Japan after all. But don’t drink too much Sweetie~” Hilda had warned her daughter, this one only huffing.

“I… I am always careful!” 

Well, so she had said but… Once walking out the apartment and heading home it was another story… 

Hah… Ann could be a handful, couldn’t she? She sure smelled like alcohol, wine to be exact. And she was acting like it too, having leaned herself against Ritsu while walking and nuzzling one of her cheeks against his. It was something he had not been used to, he was going to be completely honest. Even less with her constant mumbling. 

“Hehe… Ritsu wove~” She mumbled and chuckled, not stopping to squish herself against him, like an overly affectionate cat. “Soft too, ehehe~”

“Weren’t you told to not overdo it?” He sighed. Usually it was him who was doing these things but right now the roles had become reversed. She was the one nuzzling over and over, mumbling whatever came to mind. And she seemed to just be… Out of it overall. A very unusual sight, one he would have to get used to. 

“I wasn’t, reaaaally~” She responded and let out yet another random chuckle from her mouth. “Look look. All fine Ritsu–Chan~”

“Ritsu–Chan… That’s new.” All of this was new but… He didn’t entirely hate it. In fact she was a little adorable like this as well. Looking so needy, as if desperate for cuddles and hugs. Should he brace himself once reaching her apartment? Maybe he will get tackled to the ground for once. Well, it didn’t sound so bad. 

“Eh? Is it? But… Whatever~ Ritsu–Chan~” And her embrace while walking got a little tighter. She just couldn’t let go, could she? In fact, she was probably so close to cuddle him on the streets… Yet he could not let that happen at the very least, could he? 

“Ann–Chan, can you wait until we’re home?” He asked, not minding usually where he laid down but… She would mind. Plus if anything it should be where the two could be all by themselves.

“Eh? But it’s cold… I wanna hold Ritsu–Chan more! Ritsu–Chan!” She whined, almost like some baby. Anything coming out of her mouth right now didn’t make any sense. Or rather it did, she just didn’t care. It made sense but for her it was so out of character. It had to be the alcohol talking, it just had to be. Then again, it could’ve been worse. As long as it is just her getting a bit more cuddly it would be no problem… Right?

“You can do that later, alright?”

“But now! Ri–” Yet before she could protest any further he decided to just go for it, using the bits of his strength to lift her up, right off her feet, and carry her in his arms. One hand around her thighs, the other holding her waist. It was the equivalent of a bridal carry, wasn’t it? And it had silenced her all of a sudden, her letting out a light gasp. “Huh? Ritsu–Chan?”

“Alright, there you go. You can hold me as tight as you like.” He said, amusement audible however. “I’ll bring you home, ok?”

She pouted for a moment though nodded soon after, then wrapping her arms around his neck and before knowing it she had become all nuzzled and cuddly again, moving her head against his chest like some kitty cat would. Now all she would have to do is purr and she may as well resemble one right then and there. Someone was being overly affectionate and yet, seeing her like this was rare, very much so. If she just could be like this more often.

Hmm… Maybe he will remind her once she is sober again~

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[monstersandmaw]

Male drider x male naga (nsfw)

This is a commission for someone who asked me to hold off posting it til today because it’s their birthday. So, happy birthday! I hope you like this. I really enjoyed working with these two characters of yours, and I’m totally in love with Ambrose...

Contents: one naga with some colourful language, one shy and arachnophobic drider boy, some thievery, some fluff, and some smut. Length: 4847 words

___________________________

Aiden cursed as he ducked and wove through the dense pine trees as evening pressed on relentlessly into night and the baying of the hounds and shouting of guards faded behind him.  

It had all been going so well until the duchess had returned early to her chambers and caught him red-handed with his sharp, taloned claws in her safe. She’d shrieked half the castle down, screaming about thieving snakes, leaving the naga no choice but to hurl himself out of the window and take a long dive into the freezing, filthy moat surrounding her castle. At least he still had her jewels in his satchel. He grinned wickedly to himself, canines flashing in the dying light of the day.  

Honestly, he was exhausted.

His python-like lower half was built for stealth rather than for prolonged speed, and his muscles were screaming at him to stop. The warmth had faded from the day, and the cold-blooded naga was starting to feel the chill as his muscles tightened and began to burn. His underside bore scratches and scrapes from his long flight, first through the remote castle’s extensive grounds, and then out into the wilder woods beyond. Sharp rocks had scored along his thick, red-scaled hide, leaving him bruised and a bit bloody, and he ached all over.  

Thirsty, weak, and with nowhere left to go, he eventually slowed his pace, breathing hard, and came to a halt in a quiet glade amid tall, silent pine trees. The wind hissed in the needled canopy above, but down here between the sentinel trunks, nothing moved. The baying of the duke’s hounds had long since faded into nothing, and as he swept his spiky, dark red hair back out of his eyes, he went utterly still, straining to hear any sounds at all. His head swam and his vision went double for a moment. He’d not eaten in days and while that wasn’t normally an issue for a naga, it was going to be problem for him soon after expending so much energy on escaping.  

Lightheaded, weak, and shaky, he swayed on the spot.  

Something darker than the surrounding shadows moved in the trees up ahead, and he swore softly, trying to get his eyes to focus.  

He ground his teeth and drew his body up tall, hoping to look menacing, but the extra effort sapped the last vestiges of strength from him and before he knew what was happening, he had pitched forwards and was lying face down in the carpet of old pine needles. Woozy, on the edge of consciousness, he watched as the dusk-dark body of a drider emerged hesitantly from the trees. He couldn't see enough to make out any features, but the blue-black of the delicate limbs that speared down silently into the forest floor was enough to tell him it was a drider.  

“Shit,” he hissed and his eyes rolled shut as he finally succumbed to his exhaustion. 

When he next stirred, he was chilled and sluggish, and lying in the dark somewhere. Warmth; he needed to get warm. And where the hell was he? The last thing he recalled was the approach of a drider. He realised with a jolt of fear that he should be wrapped up in webbing, stored for some future meal, if even half of what was said about driders was true. But he was free, if sluggish and sore.  

He blinked and tried to push himself upright on shaking arms, his cold muscles reluctant to obey him, and as he shifted, something squeaked at the back of whatever dank cave he was in. A rat?  

Still fighting the lingering grogginess, he lifted his head and saw a drider shoot backwards, stumbling over its tangle of spindly limbs, only to sit down heavily and stare at him with wide, panicked, dark eyes. The drider looked young, but into his adult years, and his dark, messy, almost violet-purple hair fell into his eyes as he panted, clearly terrified, and stared at the naga. The skin of his human half was bear and almost pure white, in stark contrast to his dark spider’s body, and his torso was rather scrawny, skinny, and a little pathetic, but flawless as carved marble.  

“Hello,” the drider croaked awkwardly. “You’re awake. You startled me.”

“No shit,” Aiden grunted. “Where the hell am I? And who are you?”

“My… My name is Ambrose,” he faltered, following it up with a frankly adorable smile, and Aiden was pleasantly surprised by the little dimples that formed in his cheeks at the gesture. “You’re… You’re in my -” he broke off with a screech and shot sideways, limbs scrabbling on the stony floor as he stared at the floor beside him.

“What the fuck?” Aiden muttered as he watched the drider panic at apparently nothing. “What is wrong with you?”

“Spider,” the drider whimpered pathetically, pointing a slender finger at the spot where he’d been sitting in a mess of dark limbs only a moment before.  

Aiden found laughter bubbling up inside him and he roared with amusement, the whole cave echoing with the sound of it. “You’re shitting me!” he wheezed. “Oh that’s fucking precious! A drider that’s afraid of spiders!” He laughed until his sides hurt and his eyes watered, but when he eventually got himself together, he wiped the tears from his eyes and crooned in a patronising baby-voice, “You want me to put it outside for you?”

“Yes please…” the drider mumbled miserably, not meeting Aiden’s gaze.  

Aiden snorted, still chuckling to himself, and scooped the tiny black spider up and chucked it out into the forest, feeling the drag of his cold tail and the ache of his muscles. He grunted and winced, rubbing the back of his neck and looking around the cave. “So, this dump is your home then?”

Ambrose’s cheeks flushed scarlet, and he nodded. “Yes. It’s… It’s not much. And thank you for putting the spider outside,” he said. “Normally I just wait over here until they’ve gone away…”

“You have to be the worst spider boy ever,” he snickered, ignoring the way Ambrose’s face crumpled dejectedly.  

The drider levered himself up off the ground, arranging his stick-like legs underneath him and, to Aiden’s surprise, the naga realised he was really quite tall. His legs were thin and fragile looking, and his pendulous, midnight black body was covered in silky-soft hair. The tactile naga was almost overwhelmed by the desire to touch it, and drew himself back before he could give in to the unexpected urge.  

“Well,” Aiden said, “I don’t suppose you’ve got a fire pit in this hovel, have you? I’m fucking frozen, and I stink from my impromptu swim in that foul bitch’s moat. I need a bath, and I need to warm the fuck up.”

Ambrose looked frankly horrified at the naga’s crass language, and Aiden reminded himself to rein it in a bit. No need to offend the person who’d been kind enough to pick him up and bring him here. He mused on that for a while and then asked, “Hang on a second… How the fuck did you get me in here? You look like one stiff breeze would send you spinning away like a tumbleweed!” He laughed at the image of the poor little drider cartwheeling away on the wind, only to find Ambrose looking hurt and embarrassed. “Ah, shit,” the naga added. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s alright,” Ambrose mumbled. “I’m stronger than I look though. I dragged you here. I made a litter out of web and pulled it like a sled. You’re heavy, but I managed alright.” He tucked a stray strand of his inky hair behind his delicate ear and added, “There’s a stream just a few hundred yards that way, if you wanted to wash. I’ll start a fire for you.”

Something about the quiet sadness in his voice made Aiden pause. He looked at the miserable looking drider and asked, “You live out here alone?”

He nodded mutely and turned away.

With a sigh, Aiden slithered painfully out of the cave and found the stream. It was freezing, but it washed off the muck from the moat, and with every icy wave that bit into his skin, he promised himself he’d be warming up beside a toasty fire before too long.  

Aiden hauled himself back up the steep bank, panting and groaning, his head aching and his vision blurred from exhaustion and lack of food. He let out a string of vile curses when he had to force himself to stop and take a breather. “Damned, fucking cold-blooded snake,” he swore, cranking his tail up the last bit of the incline and beginning his slow drag back to the cave.  

When he got there, he found that Ambrose was heating a pot of something over a now-roaring fire, and it smelled amazing. “What’s cooking?” he asked, nearly adding ‘good looking’ for good measure afterwards, but he decided against it.  

“Rabbit stew,” he said. “I made it this morning. It’s good to be reheated once more though. Is that alright?”

“Fuck yeah,” he grinned, and Ambrose gave him a very shy little smile in return. Something about it made Aiden’s stomach flip over and he crushed the sensation immediately. It wouldn’t do to go falling for some cute little spider boy when he was out in the middle of nowhere and still had to turn his thieved goods into his guild’s boss.  

The two shared their meal in relative silence, but Aiden couldn’t help noticing the way Ambrose always made sure he had enough, and how the drider watched him eat and then glanced away whenever he caught him staring.  

“You really don’t get out much, do you?” he asked boldly when it happened for the third or fourth time. “How many other people have you seen lately?”

Tears formed suddenly in Ambrose’s eyes and he looked away. Guilt lanced through Aiden, and he lowered his empty bowl, setting it down on the ground.  

“Hey, come on, don’t cry. I didn’t mean to be…” He broke off and turned away. “I know I can be a real dick sometimes. Maybe it comes from having two of them…” he interjected, and then cursed himself for saying something so crude. “Anyway, look, I just meant… you seem nice. You don’t deserve to be shut away up here in the mountains, living alone in a cave full of spiders that you’re absolutely terrified of.” He couldn't help the little giggle at the memory of Ambrose tripping over himself in his terror at the little spider, but his mirth was short-lived.

“I have nowhere else to go,” Ambrose said in a tiny voice.  

The way he said it made something in Aiden’s chest crack. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

He nodded. “I’m scared to go out alone. So many people hate my kind. I’m scary to them, but really… I’m… I’m the one who’s afraid.”

“Come with me,” Aiden said before he’d even thought about what he was going to say. The sudden statement shocked him; Aiden was not known for random acts of kindness.

“Where? Where will you go? I saw what was in that bag,” he said, pointing to the satchel with the stolen diamond tiara and necklaces. “You’re a thief and a criminal. What kind of life are you trying to offer me?”

Aiden hissed out a sigh. “You’re right. But I mean… spider silk is really good for healing, and you could maybe work at a healers nearby if… you know… ah shit, what am I saying? I don’t know.” He scratched his head, feeling the rake of his sharp claws over his scalp. “You don’t even know me.” He sighed. “Forget I said anything.”

Ambrose looked at him steadily across the dancing flames of the fire pit. The light reflected in his big, dark eyes, and Aiden felt that strange coiling in his gut again that had nothing to do with the excellent food that the drider had prepared for him. He was strangely beautiful, in his skinny, slightly creepy looking way, but it was easy to see how some folk might be unnerved by the sight of him.  

The warmth from the fire began to make his head nod and a drowsiness washed over him as he coiled himself up tightly beside the fire pit a few minutes later.  

“You should rest,” Ambrose murmured quietly, coming over and stooping gracefully to pick up the wooden bowl that Aiden had abandoned beside him.  

“Thankssssssss…” he hissed, forgetting not to lisp as his body tipped towards sleep before he could stop it. He must have been more exhausted than he’d realised as he slurred, “That wassssss reallygood.”

“I’m glad,” Ambrose said in a soft voice. “Do you want a blanket?”

“Mmm,” was all Aiden could get out before he slipped into sleep.  

Inhaling deeply, he stirred and felt the warm weight of a huge woollen blanket over him, and he looked up to see Ambrose on the other side of the cave, curled with his legs stowed neatly beneath him on a wide hammock of web. The thought struck Aiden that he looked oddly sweet like that, and he smiled.  

The gentle vibrations caused by the naga waking and stretching must have reached the slumbering drider because he twitched awake with a yelp of distress and scuttled back into the deepest corner of the cave, eyes wide and fearful and unfocused.  

“Hey, it’s just me, dumbass,” Aiden chortled. “Remember, the criminal snake you adopted yesterday?”

Ambrose surprised him by beaming a wide smile at him that stopped his slow-beating heart for a few seconds and stalled his brain. Gods above; he was beautiful.  

“What?” the drider asked. “Do I have drool on my face? Have I leaked webbing or something?”  

“Is that like pissing yourself?” he snorted, shattering whatever moment had hung pendulously between them.  

“No,” Ambrose replied, blushing prettily. “It’s still embarrassing though.”

When he looked around and saw that in fact everything was as it should be, with no drool or webbing out of place, he sighed and stretched. Aiden tried not to watch too closely as his torso flexed, but he found that he had to turn away all the same.  

Ambrose went lax with a grunt and looked over at Aiden with his big dark eyes gleaming softly. “How are you feeling today?”

“Stiff, tired, achy…” Aiden complained. “But mostly alright, I guess.”

Ambrose’s previously relaxed posture tightened and he looked suddenly as though he were staving off tears.  

Aiden moved closer, his smooth, hard scales barely whispering on the cold rock of Ambrose’ dank little home. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing,” he said, trying to hide his emotions behind a wavering little smile. “Nothing…”

Aiden cocked an eyebrow, and Ambrose caved.  

“Fine,” the drider sniffed, turning away, legs moving like a clockwork automaton.  

Not having legs himself, Aiden would have been lying if he had said that he didn't also find Ambrose’ eight, slender legs fascinating. Forcing himself to concentrate, he shifted a little closer to the drider, who paused when he sensed him getting near, and drew in another long breath before speaking.  

“I suppose… I mean… it’s kind of lonely up here in the forest…”

“But this cave is full of spiders to keep you company,” Aiden jested, and Ambrose suppressed a shudder. “Ok, seriously though, if you hate it so much, why do you live here? There’s a town not fifty miles away, and for someone with legs like yours, that wouldn’t be a taxing journey… I don’t get the whole hermit act… Give people a chance… Trust me, there are way scarier looking beasties out there than you. You’re positively angelic in comparison to some of the folk in my guild, let me tell you…”

Ambrose looked over his slender shoulder at Aiden and gave a sad little smile. “You’re the first person who’s ever seen me and not run screaming.”

Aiden’s heart cracked at that. “What?” he breathed. “You’re shitting me! But… But you’re -” he cut off quickly before he embarrassed himself.  

“I’m a drider, that’s what!” Ambrose said hotly, drawing himself up tall, and for the first time, Aiden saw him as perhaps others did: more than a little ‘otherworldly’, with his big dark eyes and ghostly pale skin, his long limbs and his rounded, downy arachnid body. “People hate driders. They think we’re creepy or scary, or that we eat their children, or wrap them up in web for later and suck them dry…”

“You don’t?” Aiden snorted. “Damn, I quite liked the idea of being able to say I’d survived a few nights with a monster…”

The hurt on Ambrose’ face cut Aiden to the quick once again.  

“Ah, shit,” he said. “I’m sorry. I always run my mouth when I get uncomfortable.”

“See? I make even you uncomfortable!” he said, huge, crystal tears rolling down his pale cheeks. “And you’re a criminal and a thief!”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he huffed defensively. “Just because I nick stuff for a living, doesn’t mean I hang around with creeps… Ok, maybe I do, but they’re alright. My crew is alright. We don’t steal from people who don’t deserve it, you know?”  

He darted back to where his satchel still lay on the rock and scooped it up, drawing out the sparkling gems.  

“The bitch who owned these has a whole vault beneath the castle. She just kept these ones in her room because they were her favourite. She also keeps a tiefling on a leash as some kind of sick pet, and she’s got a centaur whose coat she dyes baby pink and has her paraded around for her amusement. Trust me, I’ve seen monsters, and you, my friend, are not one.”

Ambrose was still crying silently, but he lowered his dark spider’s body close to the floor, legs moving seamlessly like the dwarven and goblin lifting mechanisms at the docks. “I guess I don’t want you to go yet,” he said in a small voice.  

“Who said I was going anywhere?” he grinned, wondering what he was getting himself into. This wasn’t like him. Had Ambrose been anyone else, he’d have left him in the dust a long time ago, but there was something about his curious innocence, and the way he had instinctively helped the weakened naga, despite his obvious wariness of others…  

Ambrose perked up visibly at that. “You… You mean you want to stay?”

“Maybe for a few more days,” he shrugged, putting the jewellery back in the sack. “Just until I feel myself again, you know?”

“This isn’t you at your best?” Ambrose joked, and he was met with an answering grin from Aiden.  

“Ho boy,” Aiden beamed at him, sharp canines showing. “I’m unstoppable when I’m on top form. Just you wait.”

The exchange seemed to have cheered Ambrose up, but when Aiden asked the drider if he fancied showing him around the surrounding forest, Ambrose shrank away again, shaking his head. “I can’t,” he said.

“What do you mean?”  

“I… I don’t go out much.”

Well, that much was actually obvious to the naga, but still… “Just a few yards from the cave?” he said. “I’m cold and I could use some sunshine on my scales, you know?” he said, flicking his red hair playfully. It was enough to draw a little smile from Ambrose, and he agreed to accompany Aiden to the mouth of the cave, and then just a bit further.  

Aiden found himself drawing the drider out more and more, both literally, and metaphorically as they laughed together over meals, or, more accurately, as Aiden scandalised him with tales of his thieving crew’s antics and escapades. However, after another four days, Aiden was certain of two things. The first was that he had stayed too long and his crew would be wondering if he’d just run off with the profits of the heist, and the second was that he was falling for this sweet, intelligent, shy, under-socialised drider faster and harder than he ever would have thought possible.  

“Come with me,” he murmured, on the evening when he had decided to announce that he absolutely had to return the next day.  

The two were lying beside the fire, Ambrose with all his legs tucked up adorably beneath him so that he looked like a little black cat with its paws scrunched in close to its body. He was also leaning his upper body against Aiden’s, who was coiled around Ambrose’ entire form. He was just long enough to be able to encircle him completely, the very tip of his tail just coming to rest in front of Ambrose’ spider body. Occasionally, the dark tip of his tail would twitch involuntarily, and Ambrose’ eyes would always dart down to look at it, and he would twitch his pretty lips into a little smile every time. Naturally, Aiden did it deliberately sometimes, just to watch his new friend’s reaction.  

“I can’t,” Ambrose whispered hoarsely.  

“Do you want to?” Aiden asked. “I mean, don’t you want to see the world? Do you really want to live out your whole life in this one cave full of spiders which you’re terrified of? How long do driders even live anyway…?”

His face crumpled. “We can live a long time,” he mumbled. “And no. Of course I don’t want to stay here alone forever.”

Aiden reached his hand out and ran the back of his fingers up the smooth, slightly fuzzy surface of the leg nearest to him. Ambrose shuddered violently and let out a gasp of shock, eyes rolling closed. When Aiden repeated the gesture, a moan spilled from Ambrose’ lips, and it was the most seductive and delicious sound that Aiden had ever heard anyone make.  

“Holy shit,” he breathed. “Ambrose, you… the sound you just made…”

“I’m sorry,” he panted, pink flushing his skin from collarbones all the way up to his ears. “That… That felt so good.”

“Has anyone ever touched you?”

Ambrose shook his head, his messy hair tumbling into his heavily lidded eyes.

The naga went very still and removed his fingers from the incredibly soft velvet at the ‘hip’ of Ambrose’ spider leg, where it joined his spider body. “Would you let me?” Aiden asked. “Would you let me make you feel good?”

Ambrose licked his lips and opened his glittering eyes. His pupils were huge in the dark, and he nodded slowly. “Please…”

“You want me to make you feel good?” Aiden asked again. “How far do you want to go?”

“I don’t know,” he said. His pulse beat rapidly at his throat, but he looked determined. “Will you stop if I ask you to?”

“Of course,” he said, and he couldn’t resist adding, “I know I’ve got two of them, but I’m not that much of a dick…”

Ambrose snorted, his lips hitching up on one side. “I barely have one, so…”

It was Aiden’s turn to be confused, and Ambrose’s turn to laugh.  

Ambrose blushed and giggled his way through a rapid-fire lesson in drider anatomy, and Aiden was suddenly very interested. “Male driders don’t really have a… you know… I mean we do, but it only really comes all the way out when it’s mating season. Mostly it just stays inside. Even if… you know…”  

“So wait, you’ve got a slit, or what?” he asked. “I mean, some male naga have both, so I’m cool with whatever you’ve got going on down there… but that’s… that’s kinda hot, you know?”

Ambrose’s answering blush was so pretty that Aiden felt his cocks stirring already, and the heat must have shown in his gaze because Ambrose’ blush only deepened when he realised. “You think…? I mean… You’re… You’re turned on by me?”

“Yes,” he hissed. “Very much so.”

“And it’s not just curiosity?”

He shook his head. “Part of it is - I do like the idea of something new - but mostly it’s just you. You’re sweet and bashful, and you deserve to be praised and told how beautiful you are. I want to give that to you.”

A single tear rolled down Ambrose’s cheek. “Alright,” he said. “How… How do you want to do this?”

A little while later, Ambrose was on his back, and Aiden was trailing his claws down his incredibly soft and wildly sensitive underbelly. Ambrose jerked and twitched and bucked, crying out and biting the back of his hand as Aiden worked him all over, just getting him used to the sensation of being touched and, quite honestly, worshipped. Aiden noticed almost immediately that Ambrose was getting wet in a very particular place on his lower body, and when he ran his fingertips over it, he discovered a slit that was slick and warm and wet.  

“Can I use my mouth on you?” he asked huskily.  

Ambrose whimpered and nodded his assent. “Wait,” he gasped, and the naga halted. “Are you poisonous?” His words were slurred and weak, but he cracked one dark eye open and tried unsuccessfully to focus on Aiden through the pleasure of the touches he was still receiving from Aiden’s fingertips.  

The naga snorted, amused. “ ‘Venomous’ is the term you’re looking for, and no. No juice in these,” he said, flashing his canines. “Some of us are, but I’m not. Don’t worry.”  

And with that, Aiden leaned his weight against the curve of Ambrose’ body and cautiously lowered his mouth to taste him. Aiden’s long tongue lapped at him, finding him slightly sweet and a little salty, and he soon discovered Ambrose’s cock seated deep inside him. As he worked his tongue repeatedly along the length of it, sometimes managing to curl the long muscle almost all the way around Ambrose’s hidden cock, he felt the walls of the slit pulse almost rhythmically, and he knew that it would feel incredible to be inside him.  

When Aiden paused and voiced this aloud, Ambrose, who was quickly becoming a whining, mewling mess of limbs and heaving body, groaned, “Yes! Please…”

Aiden looked down the length of his own, scarlet red body, and bit his lip. Not only was the larger of his two cocks fully erect and weeping profusely, but the second, which usually only became fully erect during the naga’s heats, was also hard and slick. “Well, well,” he said. “Look what the sight of you like this has done to me,” he chuckled.

Ambrose managed to open his eyes with a flutter of long, dark lashes, and he smiled. “Beautiful,” he rasped. “I want you…”

Aiden shifted, coiling himself up so that he could slide easily into the slick heat of Ambrose’ sheath. The moment their cocks touched, he felt a jolt run right through him, and he gasped, clinging to Ambrose’ body. “Fuck,” he snarled. “Fuck, you’re perfect…”

Ambrose was beyond words at the sensations coursing through him.  

“I’ve never felt so full,” he managed to gasp a few minutes later after Aiden had begun to rock back and forth inside him. “I… I don’t think I’m… I’m going to…” he panted, his body convulsing and shaking with over stimulation beneath Aiden. “I -” and with a rush of heat beneath Aiden, the drider came.

Spurts of thick, hot come pulsed around Aiden’s two cocks, and the naga lost his rhythm and his control, coming with a gasp a second after Ambrose.  

Ambrose’ uninhibited yell of pleasure echoed off the walls of his home as he came, his body twitching and rocking with pleasure, while Aiden rammed his eyes shut, cocks buried inside him, and ground his teeth, gasping at the intensity of it. He had never come like this.  

It took a while for both of them to come back to their senses, and when they did, Aiden laughed nervously and slid free of Ambrose. “You alright?” he asked, voice hoarse.  

Ambrose nodded and tightened his skinny torso, abs clenching as he looked down his body to where his lower half was frankly a mess. “I think I might need to bathe tonight,” he said. Then, with a wicked glint in his eyes that Aiden would never have suspected from him, he added, “Unless you want to go again?”

“What have I unleashed?” he laughed.  

In fact, they did go again, twice more, before the dawn.  

As they were both tired and spent, washing clean in the freezing stream, Ambrose said quietly, “I think I will come with you.”

“What, you only want me for the sex now?” Aiden joked.  

Ambrose remained serious as he said, “No. I was thinking about it before. If you promise that you will help me… I’d like to come with you. I’d like to see something of the world.”

Aiden was not expecting his heart to react in the way it did, but he flashed Ambrose a wide grin. “Great,” he said. “I promise. You’re going to love it. I just know it.”

___________________________

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[disruptedvice]

Starmora Prompt: Peter and Gamora's first Christmas with Elspeth Quill.

Summary:

“We’d make paper lights, like starsin the night sky, wrap them around the tree like a nice, warmblanket,” she told her daughter, miming stringing up the paperdecorations in the branches, then making what Peter calls ‘itsy-bitsyspider fingers’, mimicking the lights falling into place like ashimmering of dusting and snow, till the tree was covered andbeautiful.

The stars on her tree looked settled inher memory, like they were meant to be there, making their home onthe branches and finally coming to a rest. The paper stars were whiteand bright, jumping out and yet holding onto the dark, midnightleaves, making everything look so complete. The paper stars in hermemory. They tied everything together.

“Hey, that sounds kinda likeChristmas,” Peter noted without really thinking. He didn’t mean tointerrupt, but it just kinda slipped out.

“Chrismust?” Gamora asked, eyebrowsraised in curiosity as she glanced over at him. She hadn’t realizedshe had an audience other than the little girl in front of her.

It looked like he didn’t either,slumped over the counter the way he was, like he only meant to stayfor a few seconds before he got invested in story time. It made hersmile.

AO3 Link

___________

Winter Solstice__________

It’s the first timethey’ve celebrated this, ever.

Gamora’s never brought upthis holiday before. He had no idea it even existed. This is thefirst time she’s shared this Zehoberei tradition with him.

Apparently it was a verybig thing back on her home planet. Of the celebrated days, this wasthe most important to her people.

She’s never mentioned itbefore.

They’ve been married foryears, and a team for even longer, but this is the first Peter’shearing of it. The first time she’s shared it with him.

He doesn’t mind, though.He’s not bothered by it in the slightest, that this is his first timefinding out about this holiday that was apparently super importantback on Gamora’s home planet.

He knows how painfulmemories of home can be. How some things hurt less if you let themstay settled. How dredging things up and talking about them isn’talways the best thing to do for the sake of your emotional stabilityand sanity. He has first hand experience with that too.

Peter particularlyunderstands why she’s never brought it up before, and what changedthis year.

The solstice was a familyholiday, she said. A gathering and celebration she remembered fromher childhood.

Gamora and Peter have beenofficially family, husband and wife for years, and the Guardians havebeen unofficially family for even longer.

But even with her foundfamily and her husband, memories of the solstice were best left inthe past instead of being drudged up, for the sake of normalcy andemotional well being. That’s just how it had to be with some things.

But this year wasdifferent, because of the newest addition to their family. Theirdaughter.

Peter never knew he’d bethis lucky. He already thought he hit the jackpot with Gamora. Whenshe agreed to date his stupid ass, he thought he was the luckiestperson in the universe. Couldn’t get better than this. He already hadhis fortune shining on him.

Flash forward a bit, ofbeing together and thinking this was where his luck tapped out, andhe was fine with that being his peak.

Just when he thought hecouldn’t go any higher- that’s when she agreed to marry his stupidass. He was sure his luck had run out after that, that whatevercontrolled luckiness had spent all of Peter’s luck on Gamora, so hegot to spend the rest of his life with her.

But now, looking at Gamoracrouched and bouncing a 5 month old little girl, with light greenskin and big brown eyes in a white dress and black little booties, henever imagined anyone could be as lucky as he was, looking on at hisfamily right now.

Now, dredging up memoriesof the solstice wasn’t harmful in the way it might have been before.It wasn’t risking emotional stability dwelling on those memories fromthe past.

Now, it was healingbringing up the winter solstice.

Because of her. Theirdaughter.

Peter doesn’t mind thatthis is his first time hearing about it, since he knows this isGamora’s first time celebrating this special holiday in over 20years. She must have missed it.

He’s happy to becelebrating it with her for the first time since she was a child.He’s happy to share this with her.___________

“And we’d go off intothe everwoods,” Gamora continued, taking the black little shoesElspeth had on her feet and miming walking along the beaten path withher legs as she continued the tale. Elspeth loved her little bouncyswing, and it was always her favorite place for story time. Sheseemed very enraptured in the current story, but being a baby andall, she always liked hearing her momma’s voice and the wide eyed,big smile, vivid expressions that Gamora used during story time.“There were many things to collect, as an offering to Alma, inreturn as thanks for all our blessings. Everything she had providedfor us that year. The berries of Sau and the dripping leaves from theGogi flower were always good to make halos out of, in a circle, toshow how everything’s connected, continuing on and on,” she said,drawing a circle in the air, describing the creations that Peterthought must have looked a lot like wreaths, or flower crowns- somering made of fauna and foliage.

Elspeth kept trying tocatch her mother’s hands as she moved them as she talked, and Gamoragave them to her.

“But the most importantpart was the tree,” Gamora said so emphatically, in a hushed sortof exalted tone like she was sharing an exciting secret, stillholding onto her daughter’s tiny hands. “That’s what was so specialabout the everwoods. We would cut down one before it’s prime, leavingthe roots and trunk for it to regrow, and placing berries at the basein thanks, for all that it was giving up, so we were grateful to thetrees during the solstice.”___________

“We’d make paper lights,like stars in the night sky, wrap them around the tree like a nice,warm blanket,” she told her daughter, miming stringing up the paperdecorations in the branches, then making what Peter calls ‘itsy-bitsyspider fingers’, mimicking the lights falling into place like ashimmering of dusting and snow, till the tree was covered andbeautiful.

The stars on her treelooked settled in her memory, like they were meant to be there,making their home on the branches and finally coming to a rest. Thepaper stars were white and bright, jumping out and yet holding ontothe dark, midnight leaves, making everything look so complete. Thepaper stars in her memory. They tied everything together.

“Hey, that sounds kindalike Christmas,” Peter noted without really thinking. He didn’tmean to interrupt, but it just kinda slipped out.

“Chrismust?” Gamoraasked, eyebrows raised in curiosity as she glanced over at him. Shehadn’t realized she had an audience other than the little girl infront of her. Though it looked like he didn’t realize either, slumpedover with his elbow on the counter and supporting his head, like heonly meant to stay for a second or two, but then became invested instory time and settled in, getting quite comfortable practicallylaying on the countertop. Gamora smiled.

Peter flushed slightly. Hewas really caught up in her story, and didn’t mean to interrupt. Butnow Gamora was waiting for an explanation, so he gave it to her.

“A winter holiday we hadon Earth. We did stuff like that for Christmas too. Bringing home atree, decorating it with lights. And presents. We always put presentsunder the tree to open on Christmas morning.”

“Ah! We had giftexchanges on the solstice too!” Gamora brightened at this newshared discovery. Shared experience.

“You didn’t put themunder the tree, did you?” He asked with a facetious little smirk toshow he was only joking, knowing full well that sounded a bit toospecific to be replicated throughout the galaxy.

Some things weren’t thatsurprising to find out were rather universal concepts. Things likebirthdays. Turns out, lots of people liked celebrating the day youwere born, whether those people were on Terra, Xandar, Saakar… youget the point.

Having a winter holidaythat included the tradition of gift giving wasn’t that uncommoneither. People like giving and receiving gifts (well, a lot do), nomatter what planet they were from, and incorporated similar ideasinto their cultures to make for expressions of joy.

He would be sincerelysurprised to find that Terrans and Zehobereis agreed on the exactplacement of where to put their presents, though.

Gamora shook her head witha chuckle. “No, the gift giving was family to family. Every familyin the village would give one gift to another family, and they wouldreceive one gift from another family too. Like an exchange. One year,I helped out with the makings of our family’s gift. A basket, filledwith nuts and winter berries. I had picked flowers, and wove theminto the handles of the basket,” she smiled at the memory. “Mommasaid it was beautiful.”___________

“Why have you nevermentioned that before? You love talking about Earth traditions.”Gamora had stood up to join Peter, and gave him a very, very weakpunch in the shoulder, biting her lip as her eyes crinkled at thecorner.

Peter shrugged. “I‘unno. It’s been awhile. And Christmas was a pretty big deal onEarth, like your winter solstice, but I was born like a week beforeChristmas, so I think my mom tried to place a little bit less of anemphasis on Christmas and make my birthday a bigger deal, so itwouldn’t get lost. She always said something about celebrating thebirth of baby Peter and the birth of baby Jesus was her favorite timeof year.”

“Children were also oneof the blessings of Alma we celebrated at the solstice,” Gamorasaid, a fond look in her eye as she rested her head against Peter’sshoulder, watching their daughter play with her stacking blocks.

“Yeah, it’s a prettygood thing to celebrate,” Peter agreed, kissing the top of her headand pressing his smile into her hair.

Gamora moved in closer tohis side, and wrapped an arm around his waist, to hold him tight.

“It really is.”

[tehlaen]

Survival (Pt. 1 of 5)

[tl;dr: Teh’laen and her sister Rai’laen, ages 12 and 17, struggle to keep each other safe and sane through the coup attempt that leaves them orphaned. Five parts: Part two, part three, part four, part five here.]

Teh’laen lay on her side, watching through her bedroom window as the fireworks turned night to day for a fraction of an instant, over and over again. The patterns and shapes and colors dazzled her, but it was the thunderclaps of the largest ones that took her breath away. The smaller, sharper cracks interspersed among the bass-line of wall-shaking thumps wove a frantic, erratic drumbeat, and the young Twi’lek smiled blissfully, imagining the rhythm of her own heartbeat was shifting tempo to sync with the pulse of the festival below.

Chasli’voth, the Va’shuvrk holiday, technically didn’t start ‘til midnight, but her clan was hardly a slave to time when there was an excuse to celebrate.

At eleven years old—at least for another couple of hours—Teh’laen was considered far too young to join in the all-night revelry. That didn’t stop her from appreciating the music and lights, though; she liked to pretend they were all a prelude to the birthday she shared with her older sister Rai’laen, which just happened to coincide with the clan’s most important holiday. (Technically, it was the date of Teh’laen’s adoption by the clan leaders as their own daughter, but Twi’leks didn’t tend to split hairs.)

Teh’laen glanced at the chrono on her bedside table, waiting expectantly. For as long as she could remember, Teh and Rai had made a tradition of waiting up til midnight, so that they could be the first to wish each other a happy birthday.

Rai had been seven when their parents brought the two-year-old Teh’laen into their family. For the first few years, her big sister had treated Teh as something between a pet and a living doll. As the younger sibling developed her own personality and interests, her willingness to go along with any of Rai’s ideas—no matter how ill-advised or humiliating—gave way to defiant independence, and unquestioning adoration turned to genuine (and mutual) affection and friendship.

The slapping of feet on tile in the courtyard outside her door startled the girl out of her reverie. Walking soundlessly was a point of pride for the mischievous sisters. Sneaking was for getting into trouble; running was for getting out.

The explosion outside her window dwarfed the thumps and cracks of the fireworks. The shockwave bounced Teh’laen out of bed. The ringing in her ears matched the ringing in her head as she cracked the side of her skull against the tiled floor. It took her a moment to get her bearings; she was dizzy, the room spun and it didn’t feel like her limbs were all where they should have been. A throbbing pain took up residence at the back of her skull, and she dully realized that she’d landed with her shoulder digging into one of her lekku.

The boom, the pains in her head—one throbbing, one stabbing—and the shock of… well… all of it was too much. Teh curled up onto her side, wrapping her lekku around her neck and shoulders protectively. Tears leaked from her eyes as she rubbed the ugly purple black bruise already marring her battered headtail. It was okay, though—Rai was coming, Rai would know what to do.

The bedroom door slammed open and her older sister barreled through. Rai’laen’s eyes widened and she pulled up short a fraction of a second before she would have tripped over Teh’laen.

“Teh? Are you okay?”

Teh’laen started to nod, putting on a brave face for Rai, then the dam broke and she shook her head almost frantically. “No. It hurts.”

Rai’s expression bordered on panic as she ran her hands over Teh, feeling for injuries. Green-skinned fingers gently pried red away from the bruised lekku. She winced at the pitiful whimper her probing elicited from Teh’laen, but sighed in relief and stroked her little sister’s lekku comfortingly. “It’s gonna be alright, Teh. I know it hurts, but we need to get up. Something’s happened.”

“What? What is it Rai?”

Eleven-year-old Teh’laen looked up through tears. She didn’t know enough, at that age, to realize her sister was holding something back and instead just took Rai’laen at face value when, after a long pause, she shook her head and replied, “I don’t know. But I need you to come with me, okay?”

The younger of the two nodded at the older and let Rai help her to her feet. She turned back toward her bed, and one foot was already in a slipper when Rai spoke. “Not those. Put on real shoes, Teh. But first…” She looked around, then her eyes fell on the laundry hamper in the corner of the room. Dirty clothes went flying as Rai bent over and dug through the hamper. A muffled “ah ha” preceded the pair of sturdy trousers she lofted to her sister. “Put those on.”

Still dazed and hurting, Teh didn’t question her big sister’s instructions. Nor did she question why the rectangle of her bedroom window was now leaning sharply to one side. She wriggled into the clothes Rai tossed her, then waited expectantly.

Rai glanced at her anxiously, then moved to the bedroom door. She peeked through the crack, then waved Teh’laen after her as she moved out into the hall.

The two snuck through a house thrown into chaos, chaos that Teh’laen couldn’t understand. She didn’t understand why people were shouting and running past, and she didn’t understand why, every time anyone came close, Rai grabbed Teh and the two of them hid until the coast was clear. She didn’t understand the booms—some far off and some very, very close by—or why they made the floor shudder and plaster fall from the ceiling. And she didn’t understand why, every time she tried to ask Rai what was going on, a hand clapped across her mouth. Until they turned the corner.

The long corridor that led to their parents’ bedroom was a gaping void some ten meters across. The door to Mama and Papa’s rooms hung from one hinge and beyond it, darkness.  The exterior wall, the hallway, and large chunks of the two floors below rested in a mound of debris a hundred meters straight down.

Teh’laen edged closer, ignoring Rai’s insistent tugging on her arm. She peered through the shattered wall.

Once, a couple of years before, there had been an accident on the far edge of the town. Her father had gone with his advisers to assess the damage and direct the relief efforts, and for whatever reason he had brought Teh’laen and Rai’laen with him. Teh didn’t recall what had happened—she was nine at the time, after all—but she remembered not seeing what all the fuss was about. Not until they’d gone up in one of the skyhoppers and seen the damage from above. The crater at the center, she hadn’t understood. But the devastation beyond, moving out in rings like ripples in a pond, that had stuck with her: the houses nearby, knocked flat by the shockwave; the big, multistory buildings that looked fine from one angle until you came around the side and then they looked like a mountain-sized monster had taken a bite out of it; the dull orange glow as fires smoldered in the rubble, then the bright yellow and red flares shooting into the sky when the flames reached some new fuel source.

The scene below her in the present was eerily similar to the snapshot in her memory. A ruddy orange haze blanketed entire blocks of the town below. The sudden, sharp bursts of light weren’t as colorful as the celebratory fireworks from earlier, but were just more harsh reds and yellows. There were other colors, too: blues and reds and greens, that sped horizontally, parallel to the ground, instead of shooting up into the air. And one end of the villa… Teh’laen swallowed hard. One end of the villa was simply gone. The militia barracks and the plateau on which it stood were reduced to a tremendous mound of shattered rock and twisted metal at the foot of the cliff.

Teh’laen didn’t understand, not really, but she was starting to get an idea.

[sanguisfulgur]

For @artemiisiia, happy birthday! 

Where was he?

Eyes travelling down to the phone in her hand, Sharna glanced at the time. Okay he’d only been gone a few minutes, it just felt as if it had been longer. Slipping her phone back into her coat pocket, Sharna gave a soft sigh and mentally cursed her over-paranoid nature.

It was then that she felt something be gently rested upon her hair, brushing against her ears with something cool and... plastic?

Turning abruptly, she almost collided with something solid. A familiar something solid.

"Neal!" With a laugh Sharna back offed, hands reaching up to her head. "What did you put on my head?" Fingers wrapping around the plastic something, she realised the base was a headband. It was weighty though, so up her index and third finger went until the met something thin and colder than the base... metal springs. "What?"

With furrowed brows, Sharna lifted the band from her head, catching sight of Neal's sun-outshining smile as she did. "You mentioned you wanted one, so I figured I'd get it. Make the experience complete."

Suspended at the top of the wire springs was a felt, glittery set of numbers, numbers the marked in the new year.  "First New Year here in New York, used to watch the countdown on TV and I always wanted to be standing in Times Square in person myself to see it in. Kind of overwhelming in person."

TV screens didn't truly capture the sheer volume of people and the thunderous level of noise. She'd kept herself off to the side to avoid been swallowed by the ever-growing crowd (and so that she had hopefully been easier or Neal to find.)

"We can go if it's too much for you," Neal said, reaching out to give Sharna's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

"No, no! The countdown will be starting soon, I don't want to miss it!"It was the first New Year she'd spent with anyone for a few years, and the first with Neal too. She didn't want to spoil it. "How long do we have?"

Neal looked down at his watch. "About two minutes."

Grinning, the vampiress reached down and grabbed Neal's hand. "C'mon then!" With little warning Sharna hurried forward, dragging the FBI consultant behind her, almost forgetting he was human and that she was inhumanely strong in her excitement.

One plus side of her strength was definitely how easy it was to push through the sea of people, even with another person trailing behind her. Crowds were something she disliked greatly, but tonight she wanted to get as close as they both could to One Times Square.

The air was buzzing, she could feel it prickling her skin even beneath the winter coat she wore. So much excitement and anticipation hung in the air that even when she finally came to a stop - still clutching Neal's hand - she kept shifting her weight from foot to foot, bouncing like a child waiting to see Santa.

"Give me a head's up next time," slightly breathless, but trying to laugh all the same, Neal reached out with his free hand to grab the headband and place it back onto Sharna's tangled mane of hair, giving it a quick flick. "some of us need to breath, you know."

"Oops?" That was all Sharna managed to offer before the descending ball caught her eye. One minute to go. "Look!" Pointing with her free hand - the other still firmly clasped in Neal's - "Almost time."

There was something of an odd silence as the ball travelled down the pole, as if the hundreds of thousands of people present were collectively holding their breath, awaiting the last ten seconds.  

Time always seems to pass slowly when waiting for something, the newyear was no exception. When it finally came, they were both amongst the ountdown chorus.

"Ten!"

"Nine!"

"Eight!"

"Seven!"

"Six!"

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

Screaming, cheering, hollering and the shrieking and banging of fireworks as midnight hit and a new year rolled in.

Turning to face Neal, Shar was met by that smile again; the one that to her was more brilliant than the sun in brightness and warmth.

"Happy New Year." Neal leaned in for the traditional New Year's kiss, one graciously accepted.

Soft, short, sweet. But it still made Sharna feel all fuzzy inside. A feeling she hadn't had in awhile. Letting go of his hand, she instead wove her arms around his back, bringing herself close and resting her head on his shoulder. feeling his arms wraparound her too, was probably the best feeling in the world.

"Neal?"

"Yeah?"

No, don't spoil it. "... Happy New Year.”