#and I am no longer going to be living where I’ve spent ten summers

[assiraphales]

the moment you realize the good times are behind you is so so bone deep painful. not all the good times (there will be more) — but a specific flavor. a friend you said you’d always love, and you always will, but now from a distance. a place you thought you’d have forever is now someone else’s. they’ve been over for a while but you just noticed. you could try to recreate them but it feels like a disservice to the original “good times”. a hollow, not quite right, attempt. and now they’re just memories out of arms reach

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

JON SNOW FORTNIGHT EVENT 2023

Day 6 - Shadows of Heroism

“Gared was near as old as I am and longer on the Wall,” he went on, “yet it would seem he forswore himself and fled. I should never have believed it, not of him, but Lord Eddard sent me his head from Winterfell. Of Royce, there is no word. One deserter and two men lost, and now Ben Stark too has gone missing.” He sighed deeply. “Who am I to send searching after him? In two years I will be seventy. Too old and too weary for the burden I bear, yet if I set it down, who will pick it up? Alliser Thorne? Bowen Marsh? I would have to be as blind as Maester Aemon not to see what they are. The Night’s Watch has become an army of sullen boys and tired old men. Apart from the men at my table tonight, I have perhaps twenty who can read, and even fewer who can think, or plan, or lead. Once the Watch spent its summers building, and each Lord Commander raised the Wall higher than he found it. Now it is all we can do to stay alive.”

- Tyrion III, AGOT

This fandom rarely ever acknowledges the skills that got Jon his place as Jeor Mormont’s steward - which subsequently marked him as next in line to lead the Watch. It seems that most people think it was purely because of Jon’s identity as a Stark, which doesn’t seem to track with what we’re actually shown in the text.

Because up until this point, Jon didn’t register in Mormont’s conscious.

Mormont frowned through his thick grey beard. “Snow? Oh, the Stark bastard. I think not. The young ones need to forget the lives they left behind them, the brothers and mothers and all that. A visit home would only stir up feelings best left alone. I know these things. My own blood kin … my sister Maege rules Bear Island now, since my son’s dishonor. I have nieces I have never seen.” He took a swallow. “Besides, Jon Snow is only a boy. You shall have three strong swords, to keep you safe.”

Jon is, as of now, just the Stark bastard. That’s all he is. And Mormont can barely recall him in conversation. As far as the Old Bear knows, Jon is merely a privileged lordling who is yet to earn his place at the Wall. And we must recall the tragedy of Waymar Royce, an inexperienced lad who was thrust into a position of leadership a bit too early - something Mormont deeply regrets.

So what tipped the scales in Jon’s favor?

He told them all of it, even the part where he’d set Ghost at Rast’s throat. Maester Aemon listened silently, blind eyes fixed on the fire, but Chett’s face darkened with each word. “Without us to keep him safe, Sam will have no chance,” Jon finished. “He’s hopeless with a sword. My sister Arya could tear him apart, and she’s not yet ten. If Ser Alliser makes him fight, it’s only a matter of time before he’s hurt or killed.”

Chett could stand no more. “I’ve seen this fat boy in the common hall,” he said. “He is a pig, and a hopeless craven as well, if what you say is true.”

“Maybe it is so,” Maester Aemon said. “Tell me, Chett, what would you have us do with such a boy?”

“Leave him where he is,” Chett said. “The Wall is no place for the weak. Let him train until he is ready, no matter how many years that takes. Ser Alliser shall make a man of him or kill him, as the gods will.”

“That’s stupid,” Jon said. He took a deep breath to gather his thoughts. “I remember once I asked Maester Luwin why he wore a chain around his throat.”

Maester Aemon touched his own collar lightly, his bony, wrinkled finger stroking the heavy metal links. “Go on.”

“He told me that a maester’s collar is made of chain to remind him that he is sworn to serve,” Jon said, remembering. “I asked why each link was a different metal. A silver chain would look much finer with his grey robes, I said. Maester Luwin laughed. A maester forges his chain with study, he told me. The different metals are each a different kind of learning, gold for the study of money and accounts, silver for healing, iron for warcraft. And he said there were other meanings as well. The collar is supposed to remind a maester of the realm he serves, isn’t that so? Lords are gold and knights steel, but two links can’t make a chain. You also need silver and iron and lead, tin and copper and bronze and all the rest, and those are farmers and smiths and merchants and the like. A chain needs all sorts of metals, and a land needs all sorts of people.”

Maester Aemon smiled. “And so?”

“The Night’s Watch needs all sorts too. Why else have rangers and stewards and builders? Lord Randyll couldn’t make Sam a warrior, and Ser Alliser won’t either. You can’t hammer tin into iron, no matter how hard you beat it, but that doesn’t mean tin is useless. Why shouldn’t Sam be a steward?”

[…]

Maester Aemon was gentler. “Is your friend a hunter?”

“He hates hunting,” Jon had to admit.

“Can he plow a field?” the maester asked. “Can he drive a wagon or sail a ship? Could he butcher a cow?”

“No.”

Chett gave a nasty laugh. “I’ve seen what happens to soft lordlings when they’re put to work. Set them to churning butter and their hands blister and bleed. Give them an axe to split logs, and they cut off their own foot.”

“I know one thing Sam could do better than anyone.”

“Yes?” Maester Aemon prompted.

Jon glanced warily at Chett, standing beside the door, his boils red and angry. “He could help you,” he said quickly. “He can do sums, and he knows how to read and write. I know Chett can’t read, and Clydas has weak eyes. Sam read every book in his father’s library. He’d be good with the ravens too. Animals seem to like him. Ghost took to him straight off. There’s a lot he could do, besides fighting. The Night’s Watch needs every man. Why kill one, to no end? Make use of him instead.”

Maester Aemon closed his eyes, and for a brief moment Jon was afraid that he had gone to sleep. Finally he said, “Maester Luwin taught you well, Jon Snow. Your mind is as deft as your blade, it would seem.”

- Jon V, AGOT

It must have been Jon advocating for Sam. He told Aemon how he stood up for Sam and led the other recruits in making sure that he wasn’t excluded. He correctly identified that the Watch needs all sorts of people and comes up with a workable solution for Sam’s inclusion. And given that Aemon is one of the higher ranking officers in the Watch, it’s more than possible that he told Mormont of everything Jon had said and done. And Mormont saw in Jon a man who was quick on his feet, knew how to lead and delegate, and knew how to tackle the Watch’s weaknesses, which are identified by Mormont himself a few chapters earlier.

So Jon proved his worth. He proved that he was a man who could inspire and lead, plan ahead, and take action. Remember that by Jon V (when he becomes steward), he has all but taken control of the Watch’s new recruits and become the de factor master at arms (thereby supplanting the thoroughly ineffectual Alliser Thorne). He has also proven that he has an analytical nature by rightfully acknowledging that the Watch lacks learned men like Sam and he tackles that problem by placing Sam near Aemon thereby ensuring that the Watch will always be served by a learned and skilled maester.

Jon is already thinking like a Lord Commander, and he’s only a few weeks in! He knows the Watch’s weakness and correctly identifies how to bypass them. It’s all the more impressive when we note that this is quite early in his AGOT arc, meaning that his ability to plan ahead was not gained on the fly in A Dance with Dragons, but is a skill that he has always had and was slowly developing over time.

[totowlff]

chapter nineteen — attention

➝ toto seems distracted, and elisabeth can’t help but feel like he’s ignoring her. she comes up with a plan to get his attention.

➝ word count: 6,2k

➝ warnings: smut

AUGUST, 2015

Walking through the paddock at Spa-Francorchamps, Elisabeth was excited.

She was back in action, and felt fully recharged.

After six intense months of travel, meetings and racing, the Formula 1 summer break was a welcome time for her to disconnect from work, like her parents, brothers and friends always asked her to. However, she couldn’t go long without a good challenge.

And in those weeks of rest, she had faced two.

Shortly after the race in Hungary, Elisabeth and Toto returned to England together to sort out some backlog at the factory before leaving, and it was evident that from the moment they stepped onto the private jet that she wasn't the person most excited for the two-week break.

— Are you okay, dear? — she asked, looking up from her copy of ‘The Fault In Our Stars’. She’d seen the book in Rosa’s backpack on one of the weekends she’d spent with the kids and got curious about it. After asking some questions about it, Elisabeth decided to buy and read it, in order to have something to talk about with Rosa. 

— Yes, Liesl. Why do you ask?

— You look like you’re going to jump out of your chair at any moment — she said as she slipped a bookmark in between the pages of Augustus and Hazel’s visit to the Anne Frank House, and closed the book.

— I’m looking forward to our trip. It’s our first trip together.

She giggled.

— You say that like we don’t live on planes and in hotels.

— You know what I mean — he chuckled.

— I don’t, Toto — Elisabeth said, placing the book on the seat next to her — Explain it to me.

— I mean… Our first trip for fun. You, me, the kids, in a villa in Porto Cervo. No particular time to wake up in the morning, no meetings, no business. Only us.

She smiled.

— I’m excited too. It will be an unforgettable summer.

And she were right.

The two weeks they spent in Sardinia seemed to have come straight from a dream. With the sun shining in the clear sky of the Italian coast, they stayed in a villa in northeast Sardinia. There wasn’t a day where they were bored, either — if they weren’t snorkeling in the crystal clear waters or taking a boat ride, they were relaxing on one of the practically deserted white sand beaches.

It was in those quiet moments that she found herself growing closer to Benedict and Rosa. They seemed to be getting more comfortable with having her around — they were no longer so reserved and shy, like the first few times she’d met them. Now, their conversations together were happy, full of laughter and smiles that filled her heart with love.

“It was such a nice vacation”, she thought, waving at a reporter who passed her in front of the Red Bull Racing’s motorhome. However, the man next to Elisabeth would use a word other than “nice” to describe his summer break.

Her father, who was walking beside her, had spent what should have been a relaxing two weeks studying the W06 data collected during the first ten Grands Prix. Not even a trip to the family’s home on the Spanish island of Ibiza had taken Niki’s focus off his ideas to perfect the car for the second half of the season.

— You’re excited — her father muttered.

— Of course I am! I missed the paddock — Elisabeth replied, smiling.

Niki shook his head.

— You, missing this mess? — he said, a smile on his face. It was ironic for her to say so considering her previous aversion to the circus that was Formula 1 in her very early months involved in the sport. However, there was poetry to the madness.

“Or I’m officially crazy”, she thought, looking at her father.

— So, you see what I’ve become because of you — she replied, the shutter clicks of the cameras that accompanied them becoming more insistent, recording almost every step they took down the paddock.

Her father laughed, turning into the Mercedes garage. Inside, she found the usual hustle and bustle, with mechanics making adjustments to the car, engineers and drivers watching the screens mounted in the middle of the garage. At the far end of the Engineering Station, standing next to Toto, was a familiar figure, his curly hair rumpled by his black cap.

It was her brother.

— Mathias — she exclaimed, enveloping him in a tight hug as she approached — How are you?

— Hi, Elschen — he replied, while she placed her lips on his cheek — I’m fine. How are you?

— Everything’s good. How was the summer?

— Hectic. Lenny is walking now and hasn’t stopped running around for a second, Claire is going crazy trying to make the house completely safe for him — he said, laughing — It looks like you got some sun on yours?

He was looking at her shoulder, exposed by the neckline of the dress she was wearing. Pale stripes of where her bikini had been contrasted with her tan. It was a reminder of her days in the Italian sunshine.

— Let’s say I finally disconnected from work — she said with a grin.

— Disconnected a bit too much for my liking — Niki butted in, putting his hands in the pockets of his jeans — Trying to get ahold of you these past two weeks has been a challenge.

Elisabeth raised an eyebrow.

— Weren’t you the one telling me I should rest more?

Her father laughed.

— Rest, not disappear. Not just you, but Toto too. Were you in the same place, by chance?

She felt like she had been punched in the stomach. Elisabeth turned to the team principal with a smile, eyes pleading for help.

— I spent the break with Ben and Rosi in Portofino, Niki. They wouldn’t even let me think about picking up my phone. I could only reply to messages while they were sleeping. — Toto said, laughing.

Aside from the fact that he had said Portofino, which was one of the options they had considered before choosing Porto Cervo to take their summer vacation, everything he said was true. Benedict and Rosa had set a tight leash on them, preventing both of them from using their cell phones. Even taking pictures became a challenge — the moment either one of them would take their phones out of their pockets or bags, they would glare at them in disapproval.

The only time they were able to respond to messages was when the kids slept, exhausted after a day exploring the Sardinian coast.

— And you, Elschen? — Mathias asked, his expression carrying an air of curiosity.

— I was in Sardinia.

— By yourself? — Niki asked.

— Yes — she lied.

— Why didn’t you come with us to Ibiza? — Mathias asked, crossing his arms. The inquisitive gaze was causing Elisabeth to get anxious.

— I just needed some time for myself, that’s all.

— And if I may say so, it did you a lot of good, Liesl — Toto said, appearing beside her with a mischievous grin on his face. Not even her best scolding look made him stop talking — You seem so much more relaxed. Besides, it looks like you got some sun.

— You too, Toto — she replied, before looking at the back of his neck and removing a piece of peeling skin  — Too bad your tan didn’t turn out.

Niki and Mathias chuckled, while Toto gave her a knowing look. Even with her best efforts to keep everyone’s skin well protected from the blazing sun on Costa Smeralda, it only took one afternoon of distraction before she spent the night smearing aftersun lotion on Toto’s back, his groans of pain being accompanied by her laughter, as well as her delicate kisses on his burned skin.

— Well, while you guys were busy getting a tan, I was looking into the aero team’s solutions — Niki said, pointing with a thumb at Lewis’s W06, which was behind him.

— Did anything change in the car? — Elisabeth asked.

— Yes, Mauslein. Mike, Jarrod, and I came up with a new, spoon-shaped rear wing.

She approached the car, eyeing the rear wing. It was different, with curved flaps that were indeed reminiscent of a spoon.

— Why the change?

— We were looking for a way to balance drag and downforce on the high-speed tracks — Toto said, behind her — We tried to do it in Monaco by tweaking the monkey seat and got pretty satisfying results.

Elisabeth raised an eyebrow at him.

— What is a monkey seat?

The three men laughed. Elisabeth felt her face redden with embarrassment. She hated it when that happened.

— It’s this part here, Elschen — her brother said as he walked past her, touching an exposed carbon structure just below the rear wing.

— It wouldn’t be enough to have downforce here in Spa — her father continued — The drag would be too much and we would lose a lot on the straights, so the aero guys and I started talking about solutions for the faster tracks ahead.

— In this case, here and Monza — Toto added.

— Exactly. So, while I was watching some videos from other races here in Spa, specifically the 2004 race, when Räikkönen won with the McLaren MP4-19B. I noticed something different in the wing of his car, so I called Mike and told him and discussed it with him.

— Were you watching old races while you were in Ibiza? — she looked at her father, indignant.

— I already told you, Elisabeth, someone needs to work while the rest of you are idle.

She shook her head.

— So you bothered Jarrod about it in the middle of summer break?

— Well, I tried calling Toto, but apparently his kids wouldn’t allow interruptions.

— Rightly so — she muttered under her breath. It earned her a reproachful look from her father.

— So, then, I decided to go directly to the aerodynamics guys. — Niki said, explaining his reasoning — My point is that the curve in the lower flap generates more downforce in the centerline of the car, at the same time it cuts the drag and reduces the vortices originating from the top of the rear wing endplates. It should give us the balance we were looking for between downforce and drag.

Elisabeth blinked. She felt like her dad was speaking an entirely different language. Of course, being there among the mechanics and engineers, she understood what some words meant, but so much technical jargon didn’t make any sense to her. After all was said and done, she still didn’t understand why a curved wing would make a bigger difference to the car’s speed in only two circuits in the whole world. 

However, she smiled.

— The tests done in the wind tunnel last week were very promising, so after talking to the engineers and Lewis and Nico, we chose to bring this wing package here this week.

— Isn’t it risky, dad? — Mathias asked, crossing his arms.

— Well, yesterday the car behaved very well with the changes.

— Didn’t Nico spin out yesterday? — Elisabeth asked, raising an eyebrow.

— The tire blew out — she heard a voice say beside her, making her jump. She turned her head to the side and saw Nico, who had a mischievous smile on his face — How are you, Elisabeth?

— Everything’s great, Nico — she replied, greeting him with a kiss on the cheek — Thanks for the information.

— No problem — the man smiled, placing his hand on the curve of her spine casually — Actually, I’m thinking about it even now.

— What do you mean by that? — Toto asked, staring at his driver, coldly.

— The mechanics said it was an external cut that caused the tire to go — Nico explained — It’s just not the first time this season this has happened. Honestly, it doesn’t make any sense since there was no debris on the track.

— Do you have any theories? — Mathias asked.

— I still think that Pirelli got something wrong in the design of the structure of the compounds. I even talked to Tony about it. We decided we need to be more cautious at pit stops when using used tires instead of new ones.

— That’s not good — Elisabeth said, looking at the driver. She always rooted a little more for Lewis than she did for Nico, but she couldn’t deny his importance to the success of the team as a whole. In the end, what mattered were the results that both cars produced.

— Indeed — he smiled at her, before looking at the others present — But we’ll figure it out. We always figure it out, don’t we, Toto?

— Always, Nico — the team principal replied, a small smile on his face — But, on that note, shouldn’t you be getting ready?

The driver glanced toward his side of the garage, where mechanics were huddled around his car, making the final adjustments for free practice.

— I still have ten minutes, Toto — Nico smiled, running a hand through his blond hair.

— I think you’d better go check it out. We don’t want any problems later on qualifying.

— Well, you’re the boss — the driver said, removing his hand from her back — I’ll go there then.

— Good luck, Nico — she replied, with a friendly smile.

The man gave Elisabeth an affirmative thumbs up before turning his back and heading towards the left side of the garage. After Nico walked away, the conversation turned back to the spoon-shaped wing, with Niki explaining about the data that had been collected the day before, even going so far as to call Lewis to briefly comment with him on his impressions.

However, as hard as Elisabeth tried to understand what everyone was discussing, she was completely lost. Slowly approaching Toto, she nudged him. He looked at her and smiled.

— What is a vortex? — she asked softly.

— It’s the spiraling movement of air around an axis.

Elisabeth stared at him, waiting for him to continue to explain further, maybe in words a little clearer than the ones he’d just used. However, he turned his attention back to her father, completely ignoring her. “What the fuck”, she thought, pursing her lips.

Free practice results were not surprising — Lewis led the session after completing 15 laps. His best time was 1'48’‘984, more than half a second ahead of Nico, who had to settle for second, having scored 1'49’'482.

— The new wing idea was brilliant, Niki — Toto said, rising from his chair with a smile on his face. Elisabeth expected him to turn to her and greet her with a hug, as he always did after good sessions. However, the team principal’s attention was on her father, who hugged him warmly — We have everything for a front row lockout later.

— And we’ll make it, I’m sure — Niki replied, patting Toto on the shoulder — Want to have lunch now?

— No, we have the debrief now — he replied, setting his silver headphones on the table — That way everyone is free until the qualifying session. Is that a problem for you, Niki?

— No, let’s go — her father replied — See you later, Mauslein.

— See you later, Elisabeth — Toto said, walking out the back of the garage with Niki on his heels.

She felt strange about the whole situation. While she was happy to see them interacting, she couldn’t help but feel left out. Was it because of the conversation they had earlier? “Shouldn’t I have talked about his sunburn?”, she wondered, her gaze lost on the screen in front of her, which was replaying Lewis’s practice runs.

— Elisabeth — she heard someone say behind her — Do you want to have lunch with me?

Looking over her shoulder, she saw Mathias smiling at her. She set her headphones on the table and took a deep breath. “I’m imagining things”, she thought, walking toward the back of the garage to meet her brother.

Elisabeth had hoped that, by the time she got back from lunch, her mood would have improved. However, as she sat in the chair just behind the Engineering Station, she had no idea what was going on in qualifying. She couldn’t focus. She was so angry. 

Her brother was sitting in a chair at the Engineering Station, next to her father and Toto. The three of them were talking excitedly about the Lewis and Nico’s results, who had left the garage for Q1 on medium tires, unlike the rest of the grid that used softs.

— I think our biggest concern will be Valtteri — she heard Toto say, pointing his finger at the Finn’s name on the screen — He managed the medium tires very well this session.

— Are Nico and Lewis going to be on mediums? — Mathias asked, his eyes fixed on the numbers and names she had taken so long to understand at first.

— So far, yes. Let’s see if we can save the softs for Q3 — the team principal replied, giving her brother a smile. A smile much like the one he gave her.

Elisabeth had no idea what made her get out of her chair and go to the garage’s bathroom. It wasn’t like Toto was going to leave her for her brother, that was ridiculous. But relative coldness from the man she’d finally accepted that she loved was hard to swallow, especially coming back from two weeks of being showered with affection.

She locked the door of the restroom stall and stared at her reflection in the mirror on the back of it.

— What do I do? — she asked herself, her gaze taking in her hair, up in a ponytail, the necklace around her neck, the comfortable dress she’d chosen for that day. She ran her hand down her dress and felt the elastic of her panties through the fabric of her clothes.

That gave her an idea.

— Let’s give him a reminder — Elisabeth said quietly, lifting the bottom of her dress and pulling her panties down, sliding them through her legs. She folded them carefully into a small triangle.

Then, hiding them in a clenched fist, she took one last look in the mirror before opening the door and stepping out of the cubicle. As she walked down the corridor, she could feel her pulse quicken in her ears and felt something tighten in her abdomen.

It was excitement.

When Elisabeth returned to the garage, she found the familiar chaotic dance of equipment and mechanics around the two cars, preparing for the next part of the qualifying session. In the midst of it all, Toto, Niki and Mathias stared at some graphs while Bono explained something, pointing at some colored lines on the screen. The atmosphere around the engineering table was one of pure concentration, even with the deafening noise of the pneumatic pistols.

Approaching them, she started to follow Lewis’ race engineer’s reasoning as Toto looked at her, smiling. She took another step, getting closer to him. Close enough to bring her face close to his ear.

— What are you looking at over there? — Elisabeth asked softly, innocently. In her left hand she clutched the lace anxiously.

— Lewis’ performance graphs correlated with the data we collected in the free practice sessions — the team principal began to explain, pointing to the driver’s braking and accelerating points. She moved closer to him, feigning interest in the matter. However, her hand was already snaking towards his coat pocket. She left her panties tucked inside his pocket, trying to hide her smile.

— Interesting — she replied, pulling away and crossing her arms. Then her gaze met his, a curious glint appearing in his brown eyes — Bono, something we should be worried about?

— Not really. The results from this session and from the earlier sessions are looking pretty similar — the engineer said, pushing the square-framed glasses back to the top of his nose. As he explained his observations to Elisabeth, out of the corner of her eye, she saw that Toto had his hand in his coat pocket. From the movement of his hand through his coat, she knew his fingers were grasping the garment in an attempt to discover what she had just left there.

— There’s only one braking point that shows a discrepancy, but I believe it’s because of traffic Lewis picked up on one of the laps — the engineer continued, pointing to a couple of lines on the screen. However, she was no longer paying attention to the chart in front of her. Elisabeth only had eyes for Toto, who was shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “Has he guessed what’s in his pocket yet?”, she thought, running her tongue over her lips.

— Is he going to continue with the medium tires? — she asked, trying to keep her voice casual.

— We’re going to try to hold him as long as possible with the mediums. Clearly Lewis is managing to deliver results with him on track. Nico, too.

— The wear is going better than expected, Elisabeth — Toto finally spoke up, his voice in a serious, measured tone.

— Didn’t Nico say he wanted to change his tires early because of the blowout earlier? — Mathias asked. If he got an answer, she didn’t hear it. Elisabeth’s eyes were fixed on Toto’s and she couldn’t hear anything else going on around her. His look conveyed a clear message to her without saying a word or even changing his facial expression. 

“I’m in trouble”, she thought, returning to her chair at the back of the garage and crossing her legs.

As the Q3 clock ran out, the Mercedes garage erupted in cheers. Another pole position from Lewis, and a front-row lockout with Nico in P2. She stood up and walked over to the Engineering Station, giving her father a hug and kiss on the cheek.

— You’re a genius — Elisabeth whispered to him, smiling.

Then, she gave Toto a hug, too, not saying anything to him. However, she heard the words she feared most into her ear.

— My office. Ten minutes.

Lewis and Nico returned to the garage and she greeted them. Then, she spent a few minutes talking with her father and brother, until Elisabeth realized that Toto was no longer there. She excused herself and left the garage to go to hospitality. She had a million guesses as to what the team principal wanted with her.

After saying hello to Barbara, who was cleaning a table, Elisabeth walked upstairs to Toto’s office. Her heels echoing through the stairway corridor only made her more tense. She felt like she was a dead woman walking, even though she knew he wouldn’t do anything to her. “Or would he?”, she thought, her eyes reading his name on the placard bolted next to his door.

Elisabeth turned the handle and opened the door, finding Toto leaning against the table, his gaze fixed to the floor. She wordlessly stepped into the office, feeling the anxiety build up in her belly. She had no idea what to expect.

— Could you close it, Liesl? — Toto asked, calmly.

— Yes — she replied, pulling the door closed.

She stared at each other for a few seconds, until he lifted his hand in front of her, her panties unfurling between his fingers.

— Could you explain to me what these are?

— Those are panties, Toto.

— And where were they?

— On my body.

— And why are they in my hand and not on your body?

— Because I took them off and put them in your pocket — Elisabeth replied.

— And why did you do that, Liesl?

— Because I wanted your attention — she said, softly.

— My attention? — he rose from the table, approaching her like a predator stalking its prey.

— Yes, Toto.

— You mean… Miss Lauda wanted my attention? — he asked in a low tone.

— You were ignoring me. I had to take drastic measures — she replied, struggling to get the words out of her mouth.

He raised an eyebrow.

— Your way of getting my attention is by making me hard in front of your brother and your father, Elisabeth?

— You are exaggerating, Toto — she started to say, until he took her hand and placed it at the front of his tailored black pants, making her feel him through the fabric. Realizing he wasn’t lying, she let out a shaky breath.

— No, I’m not, Elisabeth. After you did that, I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. There was no pole position, front row lockout, and no telemetry charts that could take my mind off of you. So close to me and, at the same time, so far.

— Toto…

— You have no idea how much of my attention you have, Liesl…

— But…

— Let me show you — he brought his thumb up to her cheek — Please, let me show you how important you are to me. How you are always in my mind. How I appreciate you. How I need you.

Her heart felt like it was going to explode, it was beating so fast.

— Show me — she whispered.

A mischievous smile appeared on his lips.

— Sit on the desk, Liesl.

She obeyed his order without hesitation, pushing aside the papers and pens to make room for her to sit on the white surface, her thighs pressed together in a feeble attempt to ease the arousal building up in her body.

— Open your legs for me.

Again, Elisabeth obeyed, pulling her knees apart. As he approached her, Toto brushed his lips against hers before giving her another order.

— Lift the dress.

She lifted the fabric to her waist, exposing her pussy to him, a shiver running through her body as the cool air in the office came in contact with her wetness. The vision made Toto’s tongue flicker over his bottom lip.

— You are the most important person in my life, Elisabeth Lauda — he said as he kneeled in front of her, dipping in the space between her tights. He gave a vigorous lick between her folds, spreading her juices through her pussy. The sensation caused a strangled groan to escape her lips. She’d remembered halfway through the sensation that she couldn’t scream.

The movements of his tongue, as well as the grazing of teeth against her clit were relentless, the aching sensation of pleasure building up in her body causing the muscles in her legs to quiver, threatening to close around his head. As if he knew what her body wanted to do, Toto’s palms landed on her thighs, his fingers squeezing them tightly, keeping her still.

With one hand supporting her on the table and the other grasping at his hair, Elisabeth squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the tears welling up. Her mouth opened in a silent scream each time he sucked at her clit with a passion that could make her turn into a puddle in that very moment. 

— Yes, oh my god, yes — she murmured, as she felt his tongue at her entrance while the tip of his nose brushed lightly against her clit, just the way she desperately needed it. Pressure began to build in her abdomen, as her breathing became more and more labored. Elisabeth was fighting her own instincts to push him away from her pussy by bringing him closer.

Almost there.

She was almost there.

— Yes, yes, yes — she whispered, the feeling in her belly becoming almost painful. She needed it. She needed to know how important she was to him. Elisabeth needed a demonstration of love from Toto like she needed air to breathe.

And it was almost there.

— I’m coming — she whispered, her fingers grasping harder on his hair, her legs contracting under his palms.

Between her legs, Toto mumbled something Elisabeth didn’t understand, her focus completely on the bubble of pleasure that was about to explode.

Almost there.

Almost there.

Almost there.

Until the door opened.

— Toto, have you seen my — Mathias’ voice died mid-sentence. What he saw was too shocking for him to say anything more.

Elisabeth’s eyes snapped open, wide. Upon meeting her brother’s gaze, her impulse was to push Toto’s head away from her and close her legs, her hands lowering the bottom of her dress clumsily, fingers trembling. Then, she realized that, with her push, Toto had lost his balance and fell backwards.

— Mathias — she said with a trembling voice, the euphoria that was almost taking over her body being replaced by the terror of her brother walking in on them — It’s not what it looks like.

His expression changed from shock to disbelief as he looked between Elisabeth and Toto. She was red-faced with arousal, her hands shaking and her dress was completely wrinkled. As for Toto, his hair was disheveled from her fingers and his face was shining from her juices.

It was definitely what it looked like.

— Elisabeth, come with me — her brother said, irritation evident in his voice.

— Mathias…

— Now, Elisabeth.

She got up from the table, hesitating to trust her legs as they were so limp due to the adrenaline of the orgasm she hadn’t reached mixed with the fear she was feeling in her bloodstream. After a few seconds of steadying herself, she took slow steps toward the door, her mind still a little foggy.

— Let’s go, Elisabeth — Mathias snarled, making her flinch.

She looked at Toto, who was still panting and sitting on the floor. He looked up at her and gave her an apologetic smile. She bent down and touched his face lightly.

— Are you okay? — she whispered.

— Yes, Liesl, you’d better go — Toto replied, placing his hand on hers and giving it a light squeeze. Elisabeth got to her feet again and walked slowly out of the office, her heart thudding heavily in her chest.

She’d seen Mathias angry before, especially after races where he hadn’t performed well. But at that moment, he wasn’t angry. His face was completely red, his nostrils flaring, his breathing heavy.

Mathias was furious.

Irate.

Incandescent with rage.

He strode to a meeting room that was on the same floor as Toto’s office and opened the door, pointing into the room. His jaw was clenched. She went into the room and he closed the door behind her. Then, Mathias finally turned to her, eyes burning into her face.

— Elisabeth.

— Yes? — she asked, voice shaky.

— Could you explain to me what the fuck you were doing?

— Nothing — she replied in a thin voice.

Mathias ran a hand over his face. He was clearly beside himself.

— You’re kidding me, aren’t you?

— Mathias, it was nothing.

— Elisabeth, I’m not stupid — he replied, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

— I never said that you were, Mathias — she took a step forward, trying to defend herself.

— You must think I’m an idiot. It’s not possible that motherfucker had his mouth on your pussy and you say that it was nothing.

Elisabeth swallowed hard, looking down at her feet.

There was no point in denying it anymore.

— Since when? — her brother muttered.

— What do you mean?

— Since when are you… Doing… Him… This?

— This? — she asked, almost innocently. Her mind just couldn’t process everything that was going on, still fogged by the aborted orgasm and the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

— Fucking him, Elisabeth. Since when are you fucking Toto Wolff?

— Since October of last year — she muttered.

Mathias slapped his palm against his face.

— Are you serious? October, Elisabeth?

— Yes. Sochi — she said softly.

— Damn it, Elisabeth! — Mathias yelled — Do you have any idea what you’re doing? Do you have any idea who you’re having an affair with?

— It’s not just an affair, Mathias!

— It sure looked like an affair, or did he not have his face between your legs?

— Our relationship is serious!

— You’ve got to be kidding — he chuckled — Or crazy. Completely crazy.

— Mathias…

— Have you ever thought about how dad will react when he finds out that you’re having sex with his business partner? Worse, he said that Toto is his friend, Elisabeth!

— Mathias — she repeated.

— Dad keeps saying he has no friends, so when he decides to finally make one, you decide to have sex with him. Honestly!

— Mathias! — she yelled, silencing her brother — It’s not just sex.

— That’s not what I saw — he said dismissively.

— Toto and I are together, Mathias. It’s a serious relationship! We’ve been living together since January…

— I can’t believe it, Elisabeth — he put a hand to his face again.

— We’re together. We are a couple. I was not alone in Sardinia, he was with me. I was with him and the kids.

— You mean that…

— Benedict and Rosa know about us, and are very happy, if you must know.

Her brother put his hands on his hips.

— I don’t give a fuck about the kids, Elisabeth. You two lied to dad about your vacations in the garage. How could you be this careless?

— Mathias, we are not being careless…

— Well, if you are not being careless, if everything is so serious, if you like each other so much, why don’t you just tell our father? I bet he’d be delighted to hear that his sweet little daughter, his golden child, is fucking his friend, his only friend.

— Mathias, you know it’s not that simple…

— You should have thought about that before you started fucking him. 

— I did think about it, Mathias. I did.

— It doesn’t look like it — her brother said, turning to her and heading for the door. “No, this can’t end like this”, you thought.

— Mathias — you said, causing him to stop with his hand on the doorknob.

— What?

— Where are you going?

— I'm heading back to the garage. Someone has to stay with dad.

Panic took hold of Elisabeth. She rushed toward Mathias, gripping his arm tightly, desperation plain on her face.

— Please don’t tell dad — she said in a thin voice.

Her brother looked at her with disdain.

— Give me one good reason not to tell him I found you fucking Wolff in his office.

Elisabeth blinked, her mind desperately searching for a reason strong enough to keep Mathias silent on the subject. Until her eyes focused on the picture on the wall behind her brother. In the black and white image, a steering wheel of a Formula 1 car stood out, along with a pair of gloves and a helmet with the Mercedes star stamped on it. The memory hit her like a bullet.

— Because I didn't tell dad you went karting again even after he forbade you to go anywhere near a track.

She saw the color leave Mathias' face.

— You remember what happened, don't you? You remember I caught you putting your racing suit in your school backpack and you tried to lie to me, but I immediately understood your plans.

— Elisabeth...

— I called Lukas and we argued with you, we tried to get that idea out of your mind. But you asked us to be silent because that was your dream. And we supported you in the end. We even gave you money!

— I couldn't ask dad to pay for it, Elisabeth.

— So you asked Lukas and I to lend you our allowance so you could buy gloves, and a new jumpsuit. We even went a month without having lunch at school to help you pay for repairs on your kart.

— I wasn't doing anything wrong, Elisabeth! — he spat.

— You were risking your life without telling our parents, even after they told you not to. Do you remember what mom said when she found out you were racing again and that Lukas and I were covering for you? — she asked him. Noticing that Mathias was rolling his eyes, she kept going — It's no use rolling your eyes, you know that we have you covered for you to continue your adventure. You have no idea how many times we had to say that you had gone to do some homework with a classmate after school for them to not discover your secret.

— I just asked you to not tell them, you lied because you wanted to!

— And what do you want us to say to justify the fact that you're just not in school? That you walked home? That you just didn't want a ride? We had no choice, you idiot!

— But they eventually found out, didn't they? And I was grounded without being able to race. You and Lukas didn't suffer any consequences…

Elisabeth gave an incredulous laugh.

— They grounded both of us for helping you. I went months without receiving my allowance because of it. And now that you have the chance to repay me, you want to act like you have some sort of moral high ground? 

— It's not a question of having the moral high ground, the question is that the right thing is to talk to him.

— It was also right for you to ask our father to be a driver and you didn't!

— I was a teenager, you are an adult woman. You know the weight of your actions, I didn't.

— Didn't you know you could die, Mathias? That you could get hurt?

He stayed in silence for a few seconds.

— I did…

— So you knew the weight of your actions too.

— But I wasn't fucking my dad's friend.

— And I'm not risking my life doing that! — Elisabeth exploded — It’s my life, not yours. It’s my choice, not yours. It’s my relationship, not yours. So, you better keep your mouth shut just like I did when you decided to risk your life in a race track again or we will have problems.

— Do you think I’m afraid of you, Elisabeth?

— No, I don’t. But you should be, considering I am the one who manages your sponsors.

Mathias sighed. The idea of losing the sponsors of his racing career would certainly compel him to silence.

— Then you need to tell him yourself — he finally said, after some seconds of silence — But you need to know that dad trusts you, Elisabeth. And, like it or not, you’ve already let him down.

Then, her brother opened the meeting room door and left her alone in the room, tears welling up in her eyes.

“You’ve already let him down”, a voice said in Elisabeth’s head.

[itsohh]

Snow Angel

A/N: G/N reader, ah I apologise this is so short, I actually struggled a bit with this one. I’ve actually never seen or been in snow before. Where I live it doesn’t get cold enough. As someone who lives in the southern hemisphere I have as we call it ‘Christmas on the beach’ situation. Back to the question at hand tho, winter’s pretty stormy and it floods in my town more than anything. I uh legit just play video games on my pc and read fanfiction in bed. (The same thing I do in summer but like with a blanket and not fucking sweating. I uh hate summer.)

Word count: 400       

Warnings: None

AO3

Spending the winter together had been his idea, one that you had accepted with glee. However, just because you were spending the winter together didn’t mean that the pair of you had to be together every minute of the day. When Shuhrat had gone out shopping he had asked you if you wished to come, or if you wanted anything. A pair of questions were received with no and nothing. Yet when he arrived home he had noticed that the door was shut and the house had long since cooled- void of any life. Admittedly his errands had taken most of the day as the sun had started to set. His search for you quickly ended when he found a  small note on the dining room table.

Shuhrat

Outside having fun, come find me when you’re home.

Love you

After putting away the groceries his hoodie was zipped out and he ventured out into the backyard. White had long since coated the landscape yet there was a decent trail. Into the snow, he trekked evidence of your adventures all around. From the snowmen dressed in white to some more questionable scenes, it had been obvious how your time had been spent. It was about ten minutes of walking until he found you. In the snow on the ground you were, gaps in the ground where your hand moved your arms and legs. A snow angel, there was multiple of them around you. “Hey, your back.” You grinned up at him, your coat barely showing your face. It opened partially as you let out a yawn having tired yourself out.

“Have you been out here the entire time?” 

“Perhaps.” Shuhrat said little in response but held his hand out to help you up. 

“Just a little longer.” You pleaded with him. “Perhaps I can manage to move my limbs.” Your voice spoke now under your breath, yet he heard it all the same. A small exclaim came from your lips when he bend over, picking you up into his arms. 

“Learn your limits.” He mumbled, not rather harshly, the small curve of his lips told you he wasn’t grumpy in any matter. 

“Mmm, I don’t know this is pretty nice.” You snuggled your face into his hoodie, the man seemingly unphased by the weather. “How else am I going to get you to carry me?” 

“Next time ask and find out.”  

[firstbeachgoblin]

Hey! I hope you’re well, can i request an imagine where reader is Embry’s imprint and they haven’t seen eachother in months because reader has a life she can’t just drop for him but she comes back when the pack is blowing up her phone ? Thank youu and don’t worry if you don’t write it, it’s fine!

Thank you for the request! It took a Long time But It's now complete with a total whopping 5k words!! Any way I hope you enjoy the fic.

I put it under the cut because it's so long but it's my brain baby at the moment lo.

Returning to you.

Embry Call x Reader

5058 words

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

Most of my life has been spent in the Forks area so getting to travel to Europe for six months to see the art and culture was a dream come true. The past four months I’ve been travelling through Europe, starting in Greece and ending my trip in the Irish countryside.

The old art and architecture filled me with a joy that I could not get anywhere else in the world. The smells, sounds and sights all played their own part into the experience. I got to see the moon rise over Mount Olympus, the David by Michelangelo in the Vatican, tour through the Louvre, drink wine on the beaches of France and so much more. I’ve been living my best life.

It's been a dream to see the world, I've met so many new people and tried so much food. I’ve enjoyed every minute of my trip, but there was a part of me that longed for the beaches of La Push.

That part is Embry. Embry Call. My boyfriend, my pal, my love and my light. To me Embry is my everything and to him I’m his everything. That is one thing that has been made perfectly clear the past four months I’ve been away. Every day he’s told me he misses me and I know he means it, I’ve been told not just by him but also the rest of the pack.

Everyday I’ve woken up to ‘Good morning I miss you.” Sometimes he phones to tell me that he feels like he might die if I’m away for any longer. I always chuckle and tell him he will survive, it’s not like I’m going away forever; but that's what he feels like it is. This usually earns me a long winded whine from the other end of the line.

My phone buzzed against the smooth surface of the bedside table while Embry’s face flashed across my screen signalling that he’s calling. A smile graces my lips as I pick up the phone to be greeted with his loving voice.

“Hi (y/n)!! I miss you so much.” sadness was laced in his usual cheery greeting, it hurt my heart to be away from him but I would never trade this experience for anything. I’ve been planning this for years and I wasn’t going to pass up cheap plane tickets.

He filled me in on the pack's shenanigans, complaining about how they keep teasing him for being glued to his phone awaiting any updates I would send him. The later it got the heavier my eyelids seemed to feel, my speech started to slur with exhaustion of time zones while Embry continued to become more energetic with each passing minute.

“Em. . .” A yawn interrupted me mid sentence, a low whine emanated from the phone as he knew I would want to get to bed to have the energy for the long trip I’ll embark on tomorrow for Ireland, which is my last stop. I’d be spending the remaining two months of my trip in the lush countryside.

“I think I should get to sleep, I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.” I mumbled into the phone.

“But (y/n)!” he dragged out. I knew he wanted to talk longer but I physically cannot do it. Even though Embry and I don’t live together officially yet, we’d talk into the early morning till one of us fell asleep.

“But (y/n) what?” I dragged out the ‘a’ matching his whine.

“I miss you and want you to come home.” I could hear him pause over line before he continued.

“Besides, sleeping isn’t the same without you.”

I ran my hand through my hair gently tugging on the roots easing the tension that’s built up over my trip. As much fun as I’ve had, he does have a point. Sleeping just isn’t the same without Em. My nights have been spent restless in beds that aren’t mine without the comforting touch of my boyfriend; but that doesn’t mean I can just drop everything and go back home.

“Em you know I can’t just pack everything and go home. . .” I looked at the painting that hung over the tv that sat opposite of my bed. A puppy-like whimper fell from his lips when he spoke again, his voice cracked like he was going to cry. It broke my heart hearing him upset.

“I-I know I just really miss you.”

“I know Embry I miss you too, but it’s only two more months then I’ll be home.”

We chatted for ten more minutes before I fell asleep on the phone. As much as I missed falling asleep in his warm embrace I can’t just fly back home, not yet at least.

The blaring of my alarm woke me from my slumber. The clock face read 6:02 a.m. taking everything within myself to peel back the blankets that encased me in their warm grip. I patted through the bed sheets to find my phone only to knock it onto the floor in the process.

My lock screen adorned a photo of Embry with icing smudged across his face from his birthday party but a swamp of text messages from the pack covered my favourite photo of him. Five texts from Leah, seven from Jake, nine texts from Paul, 12 texts and two missed calls from Sam and a whole group chat titled ‘(y/n) come home.’

The group chat kept pinging with the members of the pack who were still awake discussing the logistics of flying out to Ireland to take me back home. Was Embry really causing that much strife in the pack for them to create a group chat? Knowing him, it couldn’t be too far from the truth.

Leah and I call once a week to check in and make sure the other is doing okay since I left. It’s one of my favourite parts of the week being able to have a one on one with someone sensible. Every week she fills me in on Embry begrudgingly, she does it because she knows it makes me happy which I appreciate.

Reading through her texts she didn’t say much in regards to Em’s behaviour the only message relating to him was “come get your man child please, he’s getting snot on the floor.”

I listened through Sam’s voice mails which were begging me to come home, he informed me that once Em knew I was asleep he started moping around Emily’s house again for the fourth consecutive night in a row. This was news to me.

The texts entailed that Embry was becoming a pain on patrol and that Paul ‘couldn’t take another minute of the incessant whining.’ I told them the same thing I told Embry; I’m not dropping everything and rushing back home to sooth the wails of a love sick boy. There isn’t much I can do from across the ocean anyway.

I stretched my body and headed towards the bathroom to brush my teeth and shower before I had to leave for the airport.

I packed the few remaining things I left out to prepare for the flight and headed my way to the lobby to check out. I enjoyed travelling but I wasn’t going to miss sleeping in hotels and hostels.

Two weeks have passed since I touched down in Ireland and to say I’ve been having the time of my life is an understatement; I’ve been having a ball living my best life.

The land was capped in a luscious emerald green sea of grass that waved in the wind, the roads were lined with hand built stone walls that marked the division of farmers fields.

Sheep and cattle grazed in pastures, and old castles dotted the countryside. It was gorgeous. It was a view that I wanted to see again, a view I want to see with Embry.

It felt like time was flying by between sight seeing, trail hiking, museum tours and calls with Embry and Leah. It has already been a month. I had one more month before I was to jet set back to the U.S. and see my Embry.

One more month before I was back in La Push surrounded by the scent of sea water and trees with the looming threat of rain constantly overhead except in the summer. For two months of the year La Push was bright and sunny with the expected summer storms that happened.

I had fallen asleep on the phone with Embry again when I realized my phone was lost in the sea of sheets as it buzzed with an incoming phone call.

I couldn’t find it until the call had gone to voicemail and my phone landed on the ground when I gave up and ripped the blankets off of the bed but whoever called must have felt it was really important. Picking up my phone the most unflattering photo of Jacob was plastered on the screen, his name in white.

“Hello?” I asked groggily into the phone, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I looked over at the clock which said in bold red numbers 1 am.

“Hey (y/n)! You sound like you just woke up.” I heard him chortle from the other end.

“That’s because I just woke up Jake, it’s one in the morning.” a yawn escaped my lips, I know I’ll have a rough time getting over jet lag when I go home.

He occupied twenty minutes with idle chatter and borderline interrogation about all the sights I’ve seen before I asked him why he was calling me so early in the morning

“Embry has spent the week at my house, you need to come home there’s nothing we can do anymore to occupy him till you return.” He sighed, Jake knows I want to finish my trip but we made a deal that I would come home early if there were absolutely no options left to keep Embry from sending the pack into hysterics.

I knew he was buttering me up for something.

“Are you sure you can’t figure something out? It’s just another month!”

“Another month of him eating my cereal and getting dirt on me from my dad!”

I snorted with laughter at the fact that Billy was telling Embry every embarrassing detail from his childhood.

“Jake please just let me think about it okay?” I sighed, flopping back into my hollowed cave of blankets and sheets.

“Okay, I’ll let you think about it but don’t think I won’t be telling Sam.” he warned.

We laughed together and he wished me a good night before hanging up the phone, before I slipped back into slumber I sent Jake one more text.

‘You wake me up at one in the morning again and it’s over for you.’ in which he responded with ‘Oh no I’m so scared lol.’

I reached over to the bedside table and plugged my phone in before the sweet embrace of warmth and slumber took over my senses.

The next three days I was bombarded with texts from Paul whining about the wolf mind link and how every patrol shift he had with Embry was spent tuning out his constant thoughts of me.

Standing in the shower with hot water running over my skin soothing my tense muscles I heard my phone buzz against the granite countertop. I rolled my eyes and continued to bask in the endless hotel hot water.

As bad as staying in hotels could be, the hot water made up for the early breakfast and sheets that were tucked in a little too tightly.

I had shampoo in my hair when my phone started buzzing again, this time with a call. I grumbled under the stream of water washing away the soap before it could get in my eyes; whoever's calling can wait.

I moved on to conditioning my hair, letting it sit while I wash the rest of my body with a lightly scented lavender soap.

I refused to use the complimentary soap because it dried out my skin and the lotion just left me feeling sticky instead of moisturized.

Watching the soap run down the drain my phone rang again, I clenched my fists, who could possibly be calling me now? I still refused to get out of my steamy heaven to answer my phone.

My gut told me that whoever was calling wouldn’t let up until I answered. I washed out the conditioner from my hair and wrapped it in a towel.

The mirror was coated in a layer of steam, the tiles were cool against my feet. I wrapped the plush towel around my body, mopping up the droplets of water that remained.

My phone started vibrating with rapid fire text messages from the pack’s group chat they made a month ago. I sighed, picking it up to sift through the messages. I read a message from Jared telling me he’d pay me to return.

The pack always made me laugh, together they’re a walking sitcom. There is never a dull moment with them, someone always had something witty or sarcastic to say.

I checked to see who had called me and it turned out it was Sam, I listened to his voice mails and immediately phoned him back.

As soon as I hit the call button it only rang for half a second before he picked up.

“Thank you for calling back, I thought I’d have to call two more times.” he chuckled.

“Well I was in the middle of a shower, can’t really take a call there.” I moved through the room with my phone pressed between my shoulder and cheek. Stopping at my suitcase to pick out what I was going to wear for the day.

“I’m going to be frank with you, I need you to come home. . .” I let out a huff before he continued.

“Embry needs you badly, he’s just a pile of mush on the floor now. It’s a chore to get him up to go on patrol. Please?”

“Fine, I’ll see what I can do Sam, I’ll try to book a flight for the earliest date I can find.” I knew I was giving in but from what they were telling me and the constant texts were getting to be difficult to manage.

“Thank you, when you get back I’ll buy you take out for a month okay?”

“I hate that you know what my weakness is.” I laughed through the phone, a month of free take out? Hell yeah. It made the prospect of going back a little brighter since I wasn’t going to complete the rest of my trip.

I wasn’t losing out on too much though, I had seen and done everything that I wanted. It wouldn’t be too bad to go home early.

We talked for a couple more minutes before parting ways, I threw my phone on the bed and watched it bounce a couple times before turning my attention back to getting dressed. Since I had a flight to book it was okay to spend the rest of the day lounging in pj’s.

The soft fabric of my pj’s brushed against my skin as I jumped into bed with my computer in hand, and now it was time to book a flight back home. Maybe text Paul and tell him he can quit complaining as well.

I woke up the next morning with my flight booked for take off in the afternoon and my daily good morning text from Embry. I felt a little sad to be leaving such a beautiful country but the trees, ocean and Embry all called my name.

Pacing through the room I grabbed the comfiest set of clothes I packed for my return flight back to Seattle, I had enough time to sleep on the plane to be conscious enough for the three and a half hour drive back to La Push.

I was set for a long day ahead of me but it was going to be worth it in the end, seeing the bright and happy face of my boyfriend, getting to hug him and kiss him again.

I made one last check of the room before I gathered my clothes and toiletry kit and made my way into the bathroom to shower before my long flight. As I was stepping into the shower my phone pinged from the counter with a text from Sam.

“Have you booked that flight yet?” it read.

“Yeah I’m due for take off at 1. I should be back in La Push some time tomorrow!”

My fingers brushed the cool surface of the counter top as I put my phone back and got into the shower, hot water immediately running down my back; this time my phone wasn’t being blown up by a desperate wolf pack trying to get my attention.

I can’t sit in the shower for hours on end this time, I have a flight to catch and a boy to surprise. Embry was currently still under the impression that I would be coming home in two weeks. Boy would he be in for a surprise.

The residual steam wafted out of the bathroom while I brushed my teeth revealing my towel wrapped body and hair in the mirror behind the skin. I checked the time and noted that I had two hours to check out, make my way to the airport, and check into my flight back home. Two more hours before I could smell the trees and ocean, two more hours before I could see my friends and hug Embry.

The time managed to move by in a blur by the time I was shutting the trunk of the yellow cab that was going to drop me off at the airport. I got into the back seat and the driver peeled away from the hotel front onto the winding roads.

“Aye where are you headin’?” The driver inquired in a thick Irish accent.

One thing I noticed in my stay here was that the accent changed in every town or village I passed through. It added to the charm

“Well, I’m on my way home after spending six months in Europe.” My eyes scanned over the green hills that rushed past in a blur.

“My favourite places I’ve been have definitely been Ireland and Greece.” I smiled towards him.

The lines around his eyes crinkled with the smile that graced his face at the mention of Ireland.

“Well that’s good to hear innit? Glad you’ve enjoyed your stay. We welcome ya with open arms if you return.”

We held a light conversation until we arrived in front of the drop off area for passengers, thanked him and grabbed my bags before heading into the crowded lobby.

The front of the terminal was metal and glass that reached towards the heavens with automatic doors gaping open like a mouth. Inside was a dull white with light grey floor which my shoes clicked against with each step.

It was packed with people like a can of sardines, I weaved my way through the masses towards the check in desk which thankfully only had a short line to get through.

Under the mix of fluorescents and natural light the desk lady’s bags that donned under her eyes glared with visible exhaustion from the mass amounts of people that swarmed the terminal.

Despite her clear drowsiness she still greeted me with a warm smile and a soft hello.

I grabbed my ticket and thanked her then turned and pushed myself through to the security check, dropped my luggage off and took a seat to wait for the boarding call for my flight.

As I waited grey clouds started to fill the sky blocking out the little sun that was once shining in its place.

My eyes grew heavier by each minute that passed, waiting could be hard, but waiting in an airport where there’s no sense of time is worse. So I distracted myself by people watching.

A lady was bouncing her baby, the old man across from me was snoring. A businessman paced back and forth speaking urgently into his phone, a family chatted excitedly for their family trip to the Canary Islands.

I pulled my eyes away from them as the call for my flight rang out over the crowded terminal, grabbing my suitcase and making my way towards the gate.

Excitement filled my every step as the anticipation grew and bubbled inside me. I gave the greeting flight attendant a small smile and made my way to my seat, for being last minute I managed to get a window seat.

We sat on the tarmac for twenty minutes before taking off and before I knew it the seat belt light pinged off and I was fast asleep jet setting my way back to America, back to my home.

I couldn’t tell what time it was when I woke up but the clock on the tv screen said 2 a.m. and that we’re due to arrive in an hour. I sat up in my seat and gazed out the window into the starry night sky.

Energy started to course through me as I watched the arrival time tick closer and closer. A light rain misted down over Seattle as I left the Seatac terminal and made my way through the maze of cars in the night that was made darker by the rain.

I spotted my blue Subaru and popped the trunk so my interior and seats wouldn’t get wet. It had been a long six months since I last sat in my driver's seat, the wheel almost felt foreign in my hands as I turned the key and listened to the engine roar to life.

I drove through the winding roads of the city to the Seattle-Bainbridge Ferry to take the 45 minute ride into Bainbridge and headed North to get on the 101 then turn onto 110 which would take me back into the heart of La Push.

The closer I got to Forks the brighter the sky became; well as bright as it could be on a gloomy day. The clouds became painted in the glow of purple and pink as the sun rose over the horizon, the rain had let up and left me with an overcast sky for the remainder of the drive back.

Since I slept virtually the entire flight back I didn’t feel the weight of exhaustion at all, but surely when I arrived back in the arms of Embry I knew I’d hit the wall with sleep deprivation.

As I barreled through the corridor of trees I passed the signature ‘welcome to Forks’ sign and turned right onto the 110, twenty minutes to home. I was so close but my soul felt like it was light years away.

The clock on my radio told me that it was currently 6:45, the pinks and purples that coated the sky faded away to the typical grey that fills my senses with delight. Sea salt and washed up kelp started to seep into the air that circulated into my car making the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

Closer to Beach Drive I got the stronger the smell of the ocean became. The turn signal clicked as I turned onto the road that gave way to Sam and Emily’s house so they could take me over to Embry’s in the off chance that he happened to be awake at this hour.

It’s highly unlikely that he would be up at this hour but it’s not something I could be one hundred percent positive about. I stepped out of my car and turned around to see Emily running as fast as she possibly could towards me with open arms and a huge smile plastered across her face.

Dropping my bags I dashed across their lawn into her embrace.

“Oh (y/n)! I missed you so much, you must be so tired.” She released me from her hug and settled her hands on my shoulders giving them a gentle squeeze.

“I missed you too Emily, I knew I’d be tired but not this tired.” I chuckled while wiping at my under eyes in a feeble attempt to wipe away the exhaustion.

She put her hand on my lower back and led me inside for the awaiting cup of tea while Sam moved my bags into his truck.

The warmth of their home embraced me, the comfort of their kitchen was familiar. The only thing missing was the rowdy group of boys that made up the pack who usually occupied every available seat in the home.

I took a seat at the kitchen table where three cups of tea sat waiting, I should have expected a q and a when I returned. Wrapping my hands around the mug the warmth that radiated from it filled my hands.

Emily took a seat beside me and Sam entered through the door and sat adjacent to both of us.

“So how was the trip?” We sat around their table chatting until our cups were empty and filed out of the house into the early morning air.

“Emily and I will drive your car back to your place after I drop you off at Embry’s, the kid’s been sleeping in my living room more often than I’d appreciate.” Sam’s eyes crinkled with a smile, I knew he was joking but at the same time there was truth to his words; and honestly I couldn’t blame him.

“Thank you for putting up with him while I was gone, I owe you guys one and you owe me take out for a month.” He rolled his eyes and ruffled my hair turning into the Call's driveway. Embry’s mom had already left for work leaving him to his own devices; which meant he would sleep in as late as his heart desired.

We got out of Sam’s truck and he dropped my bags on the doorstep. I turned and gave him a quick hug and a thank you before sticking my key into the lock.

The door creaked open and I dragged my suitcases to a stop in their front entry way and shut it behind me.

My shoes landed on the floor with a soft thud and I gingerly walked up the stairs to ensure I wasn’t too noisy while making sure to avoid the one squeaky stair.

I got to the top of the stairs and hung a left down their light beige hallway that gave way to the oak door that guarded Embry’s room. His soft snores filtered through the door, it’s door knob was cool in my hand. Making an audible click with the turn of my wrist.

Dark mahogany brown hair peaked up from beneath the sheet that tucked Embry’s body out of view. One pillow was on the floor while the other was tucked firmly between his cheek and arm, I smiled at the sight of my sleeping boyfriend which filled my every inch with the utmost joy.

My sock covered feet pressed into the carpeted flooring with each step I took towards his bed making sure to step over the piles of dirty clothes that were scattered around the room.

The sun filtered through the gaps in the window blinds casting pools of golden light on the floor and along his walls causing the crystal prism that hung above his closet to sweep dashes of colour across his walls.

I pulled back the grey top sheet to reveal his peaceful face and I swear my heart was going to burst with the amount of love that I feel for him. His hair was tousled in every direction and a cow lick stuck straight up on the left side of his head.

My hands ran over his hair, smoothing it out while I whispered his name. Embry groaned a bit and rolled over, I whispered his name a little bit louder and moved my hands from his hair to his shoulders running them along his arms finally waking him from his slumber.

“Hi Em!” I gushed out as his brown eyes opened and focused on me. His face split with his toothy smile and his arms shot around me, pulling me down into his chest.

“Do you know how much I missed you?” Embry mumbled into my hair.

“I figured a lot with the amount of texts I got from the pack.” I reached up brushing the hair from his face.

“You can never leave me for that long again. . .I didn’t know what to do without you here.” He ran his hands through my hair placing a gentle kiss upon the top of my head.

“I was so worried about you. I couldn’t protect you and make sure you were safe.”

“Well next time I’ll make sure you can come, then you don’t have to worry.” Craning my neck up I placed a kiss upon his lips which were still a bit swollen from slumber.

“The important thing is that I returned safe and in one piece. The other important thing is I get to spoil you with the gifts I brought back!”

His laugh filled the room sending vibrations through my body.

“Hey! That’s my job to spoil you, not the other way around.” He ruffled my hair causing us both to laugh. I peeled off my socks and wiggled my way under his blanket.

“I think it’s time we catch up on six months worth of cuddling.” I poked a finger into his side.

“Yeah I think that’s a good idea, you owe me for being gone so long.”

“What? I came back early!” His hands made their way under my shirt to rest on the bare skin of my back sending waves of heat through my body from being pressed into him. Oh how I missed my heater.

“Yeah, by like what? Two weeks?” his silky voice chuckled out.

“I missed you Embry.” I told him, placing a kiss on his exposed shoulder.

“I missed you too. Now let's go back to sleep, you look tired.” He said to me as he rested his chin atop my head and pulling me closer.

[some-dr-writings]

Fuyuhiko x Reader who won’t confess

·       Of all people you could have fallen for, why did it have t be the YAKUZA BOSS!? He has a bad temper on top of that! What if you tried asking him out and he was insulted by it so he had you killed!? Nope! No! You couldn’t do it! You were way too scared! It would be best you ignore the feelings…

·       …

·       But how could you!? Sure, he was a hot head, but he was a good guy, kind and loyal to his friends. It didn’t help either that you saw each other every day because you were in the same class. It also REALLY didn’t help that your best friend there was Peko, her and Fuyuhiko never spent much time together but the few times they did they seems to be good friends, and Peko seemed to know a lot about Fuyuhiko, so the pair of you would end up talking about him and your crush on him often.

·       “I understand your apprehension, but you can try talking to him more, nothing has happened to our other classmates who have gotten close to him.” “Peko. Gurl. I am the Super High School Level Crime Boss. I may be bold and cunning, but I’m not going to approach the heir of the biggest and greatest crime syndicate in Japan with something like this. I could go with the excuse we are both great powers and should be on amicable terms so we don’t slaughter one another, but that would be a lie, and we don’t lie in my family.” “… Would it be a lie to say you wanted to get to know him because you like him, and he is your classmate?” “… Hmm… perhaps. Even so, I don’t need others on looking, possibly seeing us getting chummy and taking that as a threat.”

·       You didn’t avoid the man per se, but you did try to spend as little time with him as possible, fearful of him asking something in just the right way where you couldn’t dance around it and would have to confess. The few times you did get to spend time together was rather nice.

·       The wind rolled past carrying bright green leaves along with it, a much-needed break from the heat that came pouring down from the cloudless sky. You sighed, taking a sip of your cold drink. With the condensation on the glass, it slipped in your hands for a moment, almost spilling into your lap. You and Peko chatted away at the balcony of the café, loving the summer day. You sighed noticing Fuyuhiko from the corner of your eye. You had figured out long ago that Peko was Fuyuhiko’s secret bodyguard, the man always was near by whenever the pair of you spent time together outside of school. He was even generous and kind to his subordinates letting them live life outside of his syndicate. It truly kind man.

·       “Hmm, oh, Kuzuruyu, hello.” “Huh?” “What?” Clearly both you and the man were caught off guard, it evident on your faces. “What are you doing here?” “Uh… Well, this place just opened but I’ve heard nothing but good things, so I decided to check it out.” “Same with us. Say why don’t you join us?” You spat out your drink, choking on it mid-sip hearing the suggestion, thankfully for the heir who only would have gotten flustered if you had noticed the bright scarlet that had erupted on his cheeks when he approached you and Peko. “Y/N!?” “I’ll get some more napkins.” Peko immediately dashed off, leaving Fuyuhiko with you. You were still coughing, covering your face with napkins, embarrassed by the whole situation and not wanting your crush to see you like this. Nervously Fuyuhiko pat your back, feeling too awkward to do much else. When you settled down you were completely embarrassed but tried to remain calm and let the staff clean the table. “You okay?” “Physically, yes. Emotionally, no, I am a wreak right now.” “Ah.” …

·       …

·       Thankfully for the awkwardness neither of you tried to make idle chit-chat allowing you to notice… something. “Since the staff are taking care of things let’s look for Peko.” “Yeah.” Instead, you both immediately left the premises. Your suspicion was confirmed, you were being followed. At the first opportunity you raced to anything you could use for a quick getaway, a motorcycle this time. Mentally you apologized to the couple and made sure make a note to repay them with a new motorbike later as you slammed a helmet on Fuyuhiko’s head, dashing away on the bike.

·       “Sorry for getting you caught up in this. I recognize the bastard, some assassin who’s like a cockroach, won’t just die no matter how much lead I pump into em’!” A bang sounded, a gun having been fired, the bullet landing right beside the tire sending a few sparks flying. “A cockroach. I’ve dealt with the likes before. Focus on driving, I’ll take care of them.” “Alright. Let’s see how good of a shot you are!” A chuckle seeped out of you, the thrill of the chase always something you couldn’t help but enjoy no matter the danger. With a rev of the engine you took a sharp turn, turning around, leaving skid marks on the pavement as you did so before charging head on for the car behind you. Fuyuhiko blew out a tire as you raced past. “Only two in the car, usually has at least ten assistants. Don’t let your guard down!” “Wasn’t going too. This isn’t my first assassination plot.” “Except you’re a bystander who got dragged in this time, so at least you aren’t the primary target.”

·       Fuyuhiko kept up carefully aimed fire, only having so-many bullets, but you though trying to escape and dodge fire you also specifically made opportunities for Fuyuhiko to get good shots in on any attackers.

·       “Fuck! Gun’s jammed!” “OF COURSE!” Fuyuhiko kept muttering swears under his breath desperately trying to get the damn thing to work again. You looked over your shoulder for a moment, finding Fuyuhiko opted the hurl the junk at the car, cracking the windshield right on the driver’s side. “Hah! Nice one.” “Don’t celebrate just yet. We’re out of fire now.” “Hell no! We could die at any moment, so we’ve gotta celebrate when we can!” You laughed, speeding away as the car behind you wavered, almost crashing. Still though it made chase. Now it was completely up to you to keep you both alive. Taking a sharp turn off the street you instead raced down an alleyway in between buildings. You smiled seeing where you were. “Take in that ocean air Kuzuryu! We’re almost home free!” “Home free you say? Alright, show me what you’ve got!”

·       “There’s more assassins!” “Got it.” Unfortunately the streets by the sea side were much narrower than deeper in the city so dodging was near impossible, all you could do was weave between cars and hope for the best.

·       “Kuzu, Hold on tight!” You dashed through traffic, turning into the opposite lane and cutting across it, slipping between spaces in the railing. Unfortunately, the hill beyond the railing was a bit steeper than you remembered, the pair of you being in the air for a while before crashing down, wavering too much you could only keep balance for a few moments before flipping over.

·       “Hey. Hey, Y/N!” You groaned, slowly getting up, your head ringing and the world swirling and spinning. “Y-you alright?” “For now, but we need to go!” Taking your arm he pulled you up and ran along. The motorcycle left deep marks in the ground, signaling where it crashed, pointing out where you were. “Just gotta get to the docks. We’ll be safe there.” “Got it!”

·       Quickly the pair of you ran along, hiding behind anything you could, from shrubbery to beach umbrellas, the gun fire raining down around you. However for a short time it did suddenly come to a stop. “Peko!” Indeed it was the swords woman, putting a stop to the attacks as long as she could.

·       “Young Master!” Finally you had reunited on the docks. Not stopping for even a moment you raced for a building, kicking the door down upon entering. “Get in the seaplane, now!” The moment your companions were in, you started the engine, immediately going not even giving them the opportunity to strap in.

·       You were surrounded by nothing but blue. Blue skys, blue water, not another plane or boat in sight. You let out a shaky breath, shuttering. “Holy hell, I have not had a chase like that in a while! You two okay? If not there’s a first aid kit under my seat. If you have any serious injuries we’ll have to land and do work on the wing of the plane. But if it can wait for an hour or so we can take care of it on the island.” It was a rather small plane, just for personal use so there was little room, only enough for four seats to be squished against to one another. “I’m fine. Peko-” “I am unharmed. However, you have several cuts.” “Y/N, you’ve been shot!” You gritted your teeth, instead focusing on piloting. “Maybe… but it can wait.” “No! You’re landing this thing right now!” “Kuzuryu! The island has much better supplies for this, and though I know there are no other sea planes in the docks they could have them hidden elsewhere and I want minimal risk of them finding us and my private hideaway. So we have to out run them” “… Fine, but we’re using the first aid kit on you.”

·       You winced as Peko and Fuyuhiko tried patching the wound as best they could. The bullet didn’t get in too deeply but the longer your flight went on the more that fiery pain seeped into you, it no longer being ignorable as your adrenaline lowered and slowed. You could feel our heart pounding against your rib cage, your breathing getting heavier. “Y/N, you’re pale.” “I-I’m fine.” “Like Hell you are! Don’t pull that bull shit with me!” “I can fly this thing, if I can keep doing that I’m fine. It… it’s not too much farther now.”

·       …

·       You were in the cabin. “A-aunty, Uncle.” You smiled, knowing you had arrived at the island safely seeing the elderly pair. “Wh-where’s my guests? How are they?” The woman simply gestured to the wide open doors leading to your tropical paradise, the sand and ocean waves so close, Fuyuhiko and Peko standing in the frame. Fuyuhiko had a few bandages but seemed fine. Both of them looked relived. “Boss shall we leave you with your guests?” “Yeah, but before you go, how long till I’m healed?” “You may get up now.” You looked questioningly to the older gentleman. “We sedated you with sleeping drugs this time so you would not have to just lie in bed and constantly sneak out instead of resting for your health.” “H-hey! I’m not that reckless!” “Boss, you had three bullet wounds.” You simply shriveled in your bed. “I-I needed to check on everyone else myself. Too many got injured that time. Those basters needed to pay.” “And you can not risk your health when doing so, Boss.” “… Thank you, Uncle. You and Aunty prepare some food for us.” In unison the elderly folk said ‘Yes, boss’ heeding your command and making their leave. “I shall assist.” And Peko left with them. Slowly you sat up, getting out of bed. “Well… care for a walk? I feel rather sluggish from having slept for several days at least apparently.” “Sure.”

·       Even if you would regret it later, you could safely spend time with the man now, knowing none other than Peko where here to protect him and heed his command. Just this once you could get a little closer without fear, and more importantly, learn exactly how bad his injuries were.

·       You took the chance to explain to Fuyuhiko just who exactly your assailants were, how they were actually an organization made by rogue government officials who wanted you dead no matter the consequences. How this island was your personal place you only allowed the most trusted of family members in your organization to go to, or those injured should this place be the most convenient, how you ‘Aunty’ and ‘Uncle’ were individuals who had worked in your organization since you first created it and were like family though not actually being blood related to you or even married to one another. And… you just kept talking like how you found this island and made it your home away from home, about school and your classmates. You both just talked about whatever through the day.

·       And soon there you were sitting on the sandy shore, looking up to the starlit sky. “Really? I don’t believe it.” “No, I really did crash the car there.” “You call the assassins cockroaches, but that more so describes you.” “What!?” Fuyuhiko couldn’t help but chuckle a little seeing your reaction. “Yeah, surviving car crashes, being shot through the chest, poisoning, now a motorcycle crash. Seems you’re unkillable.” “Excuse me, but all of those were calculated risks!” “Exactly. Even in crazy situations you can keep calm and take the less disastrous outcome…” His smile faded, a more serious expression taking on his features. “Y’know… When I step up as the leader of the Kuzuryu clan, I’ll need someone strong, and capable by my side… maybe… someone like you.” “……… Are you… confessing, or am I horribly misreading this.” Fuyuhiko froze, a blush flaring up on his cheeks. “Well, I think we worked rather well together today so… W-wanna go out?” “Yes! Absolutely yes!” “O-oh… alright then.” Clearing his throat he stood up. “Well… it’s getting late, I’m shoving off to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow… maybe you could give me a run of the grounds here?” “Yeah, definitely!” “Good… I’m looking forward to it.”

·       “Oh my god, Peko, I finally asked them out! And they said ‘Yes’!” “Good for you, Young Master.” “I didn’t even hesitate! I know you said they it would be safe since nothing had happened to our other classmates, but… they’re still the Boss of the greatest crime syndicate over seas! This could have gone horribly and I just did it! I didn’t even use the excuse we should be on good terms or allies, so we don’t kill each other. I just asked them out!”

·       Even if Peko’s plan didn’t go quite as she thought it would it still worked out. Her duty is to protect her young master, so it would not do for him to kill himself due to stressing over asking his crush out. She already knew things were going to turn out great for the pair of you. You were so alike and so drastically different you just complimented one another perfectly.

[sodamnbored]

I so badly want a Roman prequel series. More than a Solangelo book. There could be so many great things in it.

Ideally, we’d get a series, basically original PJO but on the Roman side, presumably then following Jason in the same way we originally followed Percy.

But that would just be rehashing what we’ve already seen! Jason’s story would be too similar to Percy’s! - I hear you cry. But bear with me.

Yes: there would be some big similarities - following a son of one of the big three as he grows up and masters his powers and all that. And yes it would also conclude with him fighting a titan. But! I also think they’re different enough that it would read more as parallels than just copy and paste. It could be really interesting.

For one thing: Jason is starting way earlier than Percy. And I am desperate to know about the wolves thing. Correct me if I’m wrong, but all the info we have thus far is pretty vague, no? We know he went to the wolves when he was about two years old. But we don’t really know how long he stayed with them.

There’s the idea that he was raised by wolves (which don’t get me wrong I love that) and only went to the Legion when he was older - for parallels sake say about twelve. But we don’t know that’s the case for sure. He might’ve just spent the more or less normal time period with the wolves, or even if he were there longer than most - a year, two years even - he might’ve toddled off to camp still pretty young.

Cause this is another thing: we know very little about Camp Jupiter. In CHB you see for a fact that there are plenty of young demigods there, talking ten and under. Unless I’m mistaken, we never really heard mention of any little kids in the Legion right? Hazel was what, thirteen, in SoN, which is fairly young, but I don’t think there was any mention of anyone much younger than that. There was the little girl helping Terminus, but she was from New Rome not the Legion. And the Legion isn’t a summer camp of course, that’s a crucial difference.

They are quite literally an army, preparing for war should one ever arise. So do they have a minimum age requirement? Would not be unreasonable to assume they would. We know the majority of Legionaries are legacies from New Rome as opposed to actual half bloods, so it’s not unreasonable to think these kids live normal lives in New Rome until they hit a certain age and get conscripted/have the option to join the Legion for training.

If this is the case, then Jason might not’ve been with the wolves for years at all. He could’ve done his time and then been passed along to the care of New Rome. Set up somewhere to go to school and grow up and have something of a life to prepare him for his future in the Legion. That would be an interesting difference from Percy who had grown up not knowing about his heritage, for Jason to be fully aware of his godly parentage and to grow up knowing he was heading to the Legion as soon as he was old enough. I’m not sure about timings because in The Lost Hero pretty sure he’s fifteen and has twelve lines on his tattoo “for twelve years of service in the Legion” according to the wiki; but the wiki for the tattoos alone says the lines can be for years at Camp Jupiter or for completed quests and such, so it could mean he was toddling about CJ at three years old in mini Legionnaire armour like Caligula (oh the irony), or just that he crammed a crap load of cool stuff into just a few years when he was older.

So the series could quite happily start with him joining the Legion and maybe just summarise his life before that, have the important parts explained as relevant to the plot, I dunno. But it would give us more info on how Camp Jupiter actually works because personally I am clamouring for more info on the Romans.

Presuming that Jason is at least a Probatio by the time he’s about twelve (and it’d be cool to see him earn his full place in the legion too), that also means we’d get to see other people’s stories happening alongside his.

We know he fought the Trojan Sea Monster at some point, so that would be a cool quest to see play out. We don’t know a lot of other things he’s done, but we can assume he’d have been in the Legion when Reyna turned up, which would also be a really interesting story to follow.

We know from tSoM that Reyna and Hylla were on Circe’s island, when Percy was about 12/13, and it seems in SoN that he and Reyna were both around the same age, 16 or so. We know Reyna and Hylla spent some time after tSoM on Blackbeard’s ship before she made it to Camp Jupiter. So somewhere between ages 12-16, she would pop up at camp and I firmly believe she would’ve been Jason’s friend before they both became Praetors. And I would kill to see it. I wanna see them go on a quest together so badly. They would be an awesome team.

But we’d get to see Jason go through the steps, Probatio to Centurion to Praetor. We’d see him improving the Fifth Cohort’s standing in the Legion. We’d see Reyna become Praetor. (We’d ideally see Jason and Octavian gently bitch at each other like with Percy, but that’s just for me.) We’d get to see Jason and Reyna being Praetors together for a bit hopefully. That would be cool. And no doubt the series would conclude with their side of the Titan War, with Krios’ defeat - which would be so cool to see!

Being able to see more of their side of the war would also be really interesting as well. Because surely, there was more to it for them than just that one battle out of nowhere right? They must’ve been aware of the war and enlisted by the gods to help out right? Maybe there were some other titans for them to fight, maybe they had defectors too? Perhaps they were under the impression Kronos was still chopped up in little bits and Krios was running the show, either wanting to take Kronos’ place as the big cheese, or thinking the titans were working to reform Kronos, but they were kept out of Luke’s side of things so they didn’t realise that he already had been? Who knows. Certainly not me, cause we don’t have any books on it.

And there would be opportunities to have almost crossovers. Particularly regarding the war. They might just overhear things that don’t necessarily make sense to them but that we get, stuff like that. See some aftermath from one of Percy’s visits to the area. So many options.

Oh also actually, just for added angst and a different view than Percy’s, there was that freaking tragic bit in HoH I think where Jason thinks about his mother. The part about following orders and rules bothered him, but he insisted on doing so and keeping his promises because his mother had abandoned him and broken her promise. That would be an interesting aspect for the narration and his point of view because it’s the exact opposite of Percy. Percy doesn’t mind pushing the limits with the gods and exploiting loopholes or calling them on their faults, focused on surviving till the end of the day when he can go home to his mother and forget the gods and their stupid rules. Jason, on the other hand, doesn’t have anywhere to go back to. Camp Jupiter and the roles he’s given there are quite literally it for him, so even though he may resent it as much as Percy, he feels the need to bite his tongue and do everything in his power meet expectations and stay in line, etc. And yes, it’s for the benefit of others like he said in HoH, but maybe also the threat that if he makes too much trouble, where else is he gonna go and who else outside the Legion does he have?

Unfortunately we wouldn’t get to see Frank and Hazel come into it as newbies because that would’ve only happened after the war, so unlikely the series would continue after they beat Krios. But it’d still be a good set up to lead back into HoO alongside original PJO.

Also, I wanna know if Jason would’ve been particularly aware of his dad handing him off to Juno, or if she took a back seat until yoinking his memories out his head and dumping him on a dusty bus. I quite like the idea of him knowing, that she wouldn’t have been shy about popping up now and again as his patron, maybe sending him quests, offering occasional assistance like Poseidon did for Percy. Juno cared about her little champion, you can’t tell me different. I’d like to see her drop by from time to time. Or if he just accepted he was Jupiter’s and his dad basically never wanted to talk to him, and was a bit blindsided when Juno popped up after his hit on Krios.

Maybe he was just heading to bed after a long day of Titan slaying, thinking what he’d have for breakfast tomorrow and poof - Juno staring at him in his PJs, doesn’t he feel underdressed. Barely gets out an “um-?” before she’s like “got a quest for you. Surprise!”

(Since we got The Fall Of Jason Grace from Apollo in ToA, this series could be called something silly like The Rise Of Jason Grace to mirror it. I dunno.)

Either way, I need this. We deserve this. I will literally pay like 20$ per book if we could get this.

Wrote this hella sleep deprived and without sources and I’m still in ToA and haven’t read the extra books yet like demigod files and the Probatio one, so anything I’ve missed, had been answered, or is just plain wrong, let me know.

[everosfics]

Day 12: Soulmate

@daminette-december2019-2020

A/N: Im sorry that its late but here is yesterdays prompt. 

Everyone had a soulmate, at least that’s what you were told when you were younger. You were supposed to be able to talk with them in your sleep. A realm you shared to strengthen your bond and give each other clues as to where the other was, all you were directly allowed to tell them was your name. You were given connection to the soul realm when the youngest turned 10, lucky enough for Damian and Marinette, Damian’s birthday came first and at that point he was sent to live with his father. After about 2 months of living with Bruce did Damian finally get in contact with his soul mate. But for about two years he didn’t talk to her as he didn’t know what she was or why he could hear someone in his mind that he had never met.

It was about two years later on Damians 12th birthday when he over heard Dick mention to Jason that Barbra was his soul mate, at first Damian thought that this idea was ridiculous as why would you believe in soulmates but then he heard Tim talking about how there was a girl who was about 2 years younger than him who spoke to him in French while he slept. At that point Damian was curious he decided that when he fell asleep he would talk to that voice which always called out to him. 

•••

In Damians sleep

As he opened his eyes all he could see was blinding light, and then a completely pink room. 

“Hello” he called then he remembers what Tim had said about a possible different language and began calling in different languages. He finally called hello in French and that’s when a girl popped up

“Oh Hello” replied a small girl with a French accent.

“Hi” replied Damian 

“Pardon me for asking but did you just turn ten” said the girl. 

To which Damian replied “No”

“Then why is it only now that you have appeared?”questioned the girl.

“Well to be honest I don’t know what this is,” replied Damian “I only today heard from my brothers that it was normal to hear a voice in your head.” 

“Oh,” said the girl before she stuck out her hand and said “well my name is Marinette Dupain Cheng, I’m 12 and I am your soulmate.”

To which Damian replied “My name is Damian, but I’m still curious about this soulmate thing”

“Well everyone has a soulmate there are some rules to it but this is a space we share, it helps us get to know each other and eventually find each other. Oh! And you can add whatever you want to the space just think about it, I’ve had two years of decorating time so feel free to add whatever you want.”

“I will thank you”

“So why didn’t you know about soulmates” came Marinette’s voice as Damian was looking around her pink space.

“Well my mother didn’t teach me about them and I assume my father thought she had.”

“Wouldn’t your dad know if your mom taught you about them?”came Marinette’s question 

“No came Damians reply as he sat down on a dark brown couch he had made appear and looked at the French girl before taking a deep breath and asking her to sit so he could get to know her as they had two years of catching up to do. 

•••

By the time Damian turned 16 he knew everything there was to know about Marinette and she him, they knew the other was a supper hero and they learned where the other was located, it took some googling but they managed to get in contact outside of their shared mental space. 

•••

They were now 18 and they were planing to meet up for the first time, Marinette was going to Gotham to meet him that summer as she was looking into universities in the states. They met up at a coffee shop and finally got to touch each other for the first time. They spent the entirety of Marinette trip together but eventually it was time for Marinette to return home. She didn’t end up going to college in Gotham but she and Damian spent that summer going back and forth seeing each other. 

•••

They were 22 when Damian proposed to Marinette in front of all their friends and families, of course she said yes. It was 3 months later when they were married and 2 years later they gave birth do a beautiful baby girl.

•••

It was their daughters 9th birthday and together they told her of how they meet and how she might get to meet her own soulmate on her 10th birthday, of course they told her that it might take a bit longer but that didn’t stop her from being excited. And of course Marinette and Damian couldn’t wait to see how their daughters live would play out. 

[cheri-translates]

[CN] Gavin’s Reflection of Beauty Date (Eng Translation)

🍒 Warning: Detailed spoilers for a date yet to be released in EN! 🍒

Phone call between Gavin and Mr Keller before the date: here

Candlelit Night Collection: Kiro // Lucien // Victor

Trivia regarding the name of the date: 

This date is called 惊鸿照影来, which is part of a couplet from “Shenyuan”, a poem by Lu You written in the Song Dynasty

Rough translation of the full couplet: Alas, the green water under the forlorn bridge / Once reflected the charming face of my beloved one!

It was inspired by the poet’s own love story, where he was forced to leave his wife because his mother didn’t like her. Even so, their love never ceased. Ten years later, they met again in Shenyuan Garden (which was also the place he first fell in love with her). Lu You inscribed a poem on a stone wall, conveying his anger and sorrow towards their separation. A few days after seeing the poem, she died from depression :’<

“Shenyuan” was written later on as a memorialisation of his undying love. It conveys how revisiting old places makes one remember past lovers and sentiments

-

[ CHAPTER ONE ]

The date begins with MC and Gavin having a rehearsal for the sequel of the “Three Lifetimes” play

The audience had a deep impression of them in “Three Lifetimes”, so Mr Keller wrote them into the sequel as second leads

In the play, the town looks forward to the marriage between Lady Su (the female lead) and Swordsman Bai (Gavin)

But Lady Su is in love with Swordsman Bai’s friend, a scholar (the male lead)

Meanwhile, Swordsman Bai is in love with the character MC is playing (a high-ranking palace maid and a close friend of Lady Su)

After the rehearsal, Mr Keller gives them suggestions on how to improve, and tells Gavin to gaze at MC and hold her hand during a particular scene:

Gavin: ...all right. 

-

[ CHAPTER TWO ]

Once the rehearsal is over, Gavin is a sweetheart as always, bringing water and a few bananas over to MC with this face:

Gavin: If it isn’t enough, I can get a few more? 

MC: There’s enough, there’s enough. 

Su Xuan, the actress playing Lady Su, tells them to change outfits for the photoshoot:

Su Xuan: I’ll help you put on some make-up first, then marry you off beautifully to your Mr Gavin. Come, close your eyes.

Without giving me a chance to explain or argue, she skilfully helps me with my make-up, as though she’s really helping a sister prepare for her wedding. 

Su Xuan: Mm, that’s more like it. 

She pulls me to my feet. After looking me over carefully, she tilts her head and smiles at something behind me.

Su Xuan: What does the groom think? 

Before I have time to react, Su Xuan pushes me lightly, and I fall into familiar arms.

Gavin: Pretty. 

Gavin, who has walked out of the changing room, is also wearing a matching set of red wedding attire.

The colour, which isn’t typically found on him, suits him unexpectedly well.

His easy-going independence has been toned down, replaced with fiery passion.

Gavin: What are you looking at? 

MC: This outfit really suits you.

MC: ...very handsome!

Gavin: [coughs] ...you look very pretty in red too. 

Gavin’s ears have a tinge of redness. He rubs the back of his neck, his eyes containing insuppressible surprise and warmth as he looks at me. 

Su Xuan: All right, you two “newlyweds” can appreciate each other after the shoot! The photographer this time is quite picky.

As she speaks, she pulls our hands together. 

The both of us stop talking, perhaps due to the dry air around us, or the warmth surfacing in our eyes. 

Gavin holds onto my hand tightly.

-

[ CHAPTER TWO: A flashback ]

Location: Outside Lynn’s Kitchen

By the time Minor and Gavin leave the noodle shop, the sky is mostly dark.

Only traces of the sunset glow faintly from behind the tall buildings. 

Minor: It’s so difficult to get tickets this Chinese New Year... I’m always struggling during this part of the year, and spending the New Year’s alone here is too cheerless. Gavin, what are your plans? Eh... why am I even asking - you’re definitely spending it with Boss.

Gavin is the same as always, letting Minor ramble on at his ear. 

Only when he hears the final sentence does a corner of his heart feel a light tug.

Gavin: Mm. I promised to help Mr Keller with her. 

Gavin smiles faintly without even realising it himself.

Minor: Huh? ...even though I find this method a little off, it’s not bad I guess! Boss has been asking everyone in the office what dishes they usually make for New Year’s. It made me curious... so you two are spending New Year’s together!

Minor’s words cause Gavin to recall the few memories of “spending the New Year’s” he has.

New Year’s should be a festival of celebration. There was a time when he looked forward to it.

It’s just that afterwards, this day gradually became no different from a normal one. 

That is, until the girl reappeared in his life, drawing the link between this day and warmth. 

It made him start looking forward to it again.

Minor: Bro Gavin? What are you thinking about? It’s rare to see this look on your face... I got it!

Minor makes an exaggerated expression, predictably receiving Gavin’s neither hard nor soft punch. 

Gavin: Minor, are there places selling New Year goods near her home? 

Minor: Bro Gavin, you want to... buy New Year goods?!

Gavin: What’s wrong with that?

Minor: Nothing nothing nothing...

Gavin: ...your smile is a little nauseating. 

Minor: I’m just happy! Then again, as compared to preparing in advance, there will be more of an atmosphere if you pick them out together!

Gavin: Makes sense. 

Gavin nods, quickening his pace slightly. 

Minor: Bro Gavin, where are you headed to next?

Several images flash across his mind - a warm light in the living room left on for him, a table with the home-cooked dishes he mentioned liking, and the girl waiting for him on the sofa, hugging a pillow. 

Gavin: Home. 

-

[ CHAPTER THREE ]

The photoshoot turns out to be more difficult than MC expected

Photographer: You must imagine - you two are about to elope, so it has to be dynamic! And yet have a tinge of... hesitation and worry! You’ve got to feel it! Change your pose!

MC and Gavin struggle to understand the photographer’s abstract descriptions

MC suggests they pretend to chat while sitting on the grass

MC: ...the weather is getting cold. Does Sparky need to be sent for maintenance? 

Once the words leave my mouth, I’m filled with a sense of regret. This topic is too forced...

Gavin seems to be stunned for a moment, then the corners of his lips lift gently.

Gavin: Mm, I have plans to do so. We can find a day to go together.  

MC: Ah, okay!

Gavin smiles, lifting his hand to tuck stray tendrils of hair behind my ear. 

His amber eyes, which are filled to the brim with smiles, hold my blinking and grinning expression within them.

Photographer: Very good! That’s the right feeling! Could the both of you try lying down? Girl, close your eyes and lift your head slightly.

MC: ...all right. Like this? 

I follow the photographer’s instructions and lie down at Gavin’s side, closing my eyes. 

In the darkness, a familiar warmth encases me tightly, allowing me to have a peace of mind and lean into his arms. 

We are very close to each other. His unique scent entwines with the reed grass that has been dried by the sun, reminding me of the summer we spent together. A breeze brushes past us. 

It makes one want to draw even nearer. 

Photographer: Very good very good. Can the man include some movements to add on to the idea of newlyweds interacting?

Gavin: ...uhm.

I hear Gavin’s breath halt for a moment, as though he’s deep in thought. 

After a while, he seems to have thought of something, and he laughs softly. 

Gavin: MC, don’t move. 

Right after he finishes speaking, I feel a lock of hair near my ear being lifted gently. 

I don’t dare to move a single inch, nor dare to open my eyes. I leave myself entirely to Gavin. 

The frequency of my heartbeat increases, and a numbness travels from the roots of my hair to my spine. My hair seems to be gently held in his palm.

Gavin: ...let me know if it hurts. I’ve never tried this before. 

Even though he says this, his actions are cautious and tender. 

All I can feel are the slight vibrations from my hair, the lock of hair ascending and descending along with his fingers, and then falling by my ear again. 

I purse my lips tightly, frantically trying to control my rapid breathing. I’m afraid that I might accidentally ruin this ambience. 

The shutter continuously sounds. The photographer seems to be saying something again, but I can no longer hear him clearly. 

Next to me, Gavin’s breathing brushes against my forehead and the tips of my hair. The breath, which carries a certain warmth, feels like a light kiss. 

Even though this is just a photoshoot, I wish time would give us this moment for a little while longer.

The words he said during the Qixi Festival last year surge from the depths of my heart, and once again gather in the centre.

I can’t help but feel that even if our destinies entangle and cross, and fate only allows for fleeting meetings, we will ultimately accompany each other at the very end. 

In my ear, the sound of his heartbeat is akin to him giving me a definite answer. One after the other, regular and resolute. 

Photographer:

Gavin: MC, we can get up now. 

I open my eyes slowly. The past few minutes have felt like a small, beautiful dream. 

In Gavin’s hand are locks of our hair tied together with a red string. 

Noticing my gaze, Gavin clear his throat unnaturally. 

Gavin: ...when the idea of “newlyweds” was brought up, I could only think of this. 

[Trivia: In Chinese culture, one’s hair represents one’s self. During a traditional Chinese wedding, the couple would each cut a lock of their hair and tie them together. This is called 结发 (”joining of hair”). It symbolises the couple becoming one flesh and blood, and how they would be connected forever... T^T]

I nod, not daring to meet his eyes. 

His short sentence channels layers of emotions in my heart, converging into unstoppable ripples. 

In a most straightforward way, his unembellished words leave a long and sweet aftertaste in my heart. 

MC: Let’s go over there so the next group can use this place...

Gavin: Hold on...

Without waiting for Gavin to finish, I’ve already sat up. Only when I feel a light tugging sensation do I realise that my hair is still tied to Gavin’s. 

MC: Ah-

Gavin: ...does it hurt? Don’t worry, I’ll untie the knot.

Gavin’s voice, which carries within it concern, is very close to the top of my head. In the next second, the strands of hair that are pulled are immersed in a tender warmth. 

Gavin: ...I might have tied it a little too tightly.

MC: Let me try...

Gavin agrees with a sound, cooperating by bending down slightly to make it easier to untie the red string. 

I try pulling at the end of the string, but the knot refuses to budge.

Gavin: ... 

MC: It does seem a little tight... could it be a dead knot? 

Gavin seems to have leaned in a little closer. Perhaps it’s just my misperception, but he seems even closer than he was during the photoshoot. 

His temperature and breath make my face feel increasingly flushed. I focus on the knot in my hand, hoping he wouldn’t notice my flustered state.

MC: N-next time, don't tie it so tightly! Or else I’ll leave it to you to untie. 

I pretend to be angry, wanting to break the atmosphere that makes my heart go into a frenzy. 

Gavin: All right, I got it. 

When I hear his voice in my ear, I know fully well that my attempts are futile.

When the red string is finally released and falls to the ground, I release a huge sigh, yet feel an inexplicable emptiness in my heart. 

It’s as though my fate with Gavin has become untied. 

They get called back to the rehearsal

MC: We should go over then.

Gavin: ...hold on. 

Gavin pauses, then takes the red string from my hand.

In a slightly clumsy manner, he uses the string to tie a knot at the end of my plait.

Gavin: This is also considered joining of the hair.

Gavin looks at me, his eyes clear, as though he has seen through all my emotions. 

Gavin: Let’s go.

While he speaks, he takes my hand and we leave. 

I hold onto Gavin firmly, the red string on my hair swaying gently along with our footsteps.

We will never miss each other again. 

-

[ CHAPTER FOUR ]

At 8pm, the play finally begins

On stage, MC is supposed to read a letter to Gavin

But when she opens it up, she realises there’s nothing on the letter even though her script is supposed to be on it

Gavin notices that something is amiss, so he steps in to calm her down while pretending everything is normal

MC starts reciting her lines based on memory, but starts panicking in fear of ruining the play

Gavin then takes the letter from her and pretends to read from it, reciting her lines perfectly

The First Act of the play comes to an end, and there’s an intermission

MC decides to thank Gavin properly after the play is over, but Su Xuan suddenly looks for her:

Su Xuan: MC, are you free now? Pass the silk ball to Gavin! I don’t know why, but the prop hasn’t been brought over yet.

MC: Okay! I’ll go now!

Thinking of the little time left, I grab the silk ball and run towards the other end without much thought. 

In the next scene, Gavin and I are supposed to enter the stage from different sides, which is why I have to cross through the entire backstage to reach him.

The silk ball is an indispensable prop in the next scene. Also... I have a “thank you” to say to him in person.

With this in mind, I quicken my pace, and find a familiar figure afar off in the busy backstage.

MC: Gavin! I’m over here!

I stand on my tiptoes and wave at him, thinking of ways to reach him even faster. 

Hearing this, Gavin raises his head. After seeing me, he immediately weaves through the crowd and walks towards me. 

People are moving to and fro. Our eyes only have each other, and we go against the flow of people, walking towards our only focus. 

Staff: Prepare for the second half!

When I’m only a few steps away from him, the countdown for the second half of the play resounds. 

MC: Gavin, this is for you!

In my desperation, I lift my hand. The silk ball flies in a slightly shaky arc, landing steadily in Gavin’s arms. 

[Trivia: In Chinese culture, the silk ball (绣球 - ”xiu qiu”) is used to symbolize love. Giving it to someone reflects the giving of one’s heart. If a woman is in search of a fated life partner, she will toss the ball high into the air in a crowd. The person who catches the silk ball would become the person’s husband]

MC: Gavin, about earlier...

Staff: MC? What are you doing here? Go back, we’re about to start soon. The snatching scene is next, and it’s very important. 

MC: Please wait! I haven’t finished what I wanted to say...

The staff doesn’t give me a chance to continue, and pulls me to the other end. 

I turn my head towards Gavin, and I have no choice but to swallow the words of gratitude I couldn’t say to him in time. 

Gavin: [unintentionally sexy whisper] Wait for me.

Gavin stands in place and looks at me, mouthing those words to me. 

The bell from the venue rings, and the noise from the audience gradually dissipates.

Staff: The Second Act! Begins!

-

[ CHAPTER FOUR: A flashback ]

Location: Gavin’s home

MC: “It’s good, and I doubt the lady would refuse, but...”

Gavin: Are you still looking at your lines?

MC: ...Gavin? Why are you here!

[Note: I have no idea why MC asks this since the backdrop is of his own house LOL]

Gavin walks over with a blanket in his hand. 

MC: The rehearsal is the day after tomorrow, so I’m trying to make use of my time to familiarise myself with the script, especially the scene where I’m reading the letter. Even though I should be able to read straight from the letter on the actual day, I think it’s better to memorise it just in case... Gavin, why don’t you accompany me in going through the lines!

Gavin nods and sits beside me. After covering me with the blanket, he takes the script from my hands. 

Gavin: From here? 

MC: Okay!

Gavin and I go through the dialogue. Places I usually get stuck at become miraculously smooth.

Without realising it, we’ve gone through the entire script.

I flip through the script, marking out places requiring additional attention. 

MC: I feel like Mr Keller has taken reference from the personalities of the actors when writing the lines. I keep thinking that the lines sound like what you would say.

While speaking, I let out a yawn.

Gavin: If you’re tired, rest. We can continue tomorrow. 

As the year draws to a close, there are more things than usual to settle at work. And when I come home, I’d have to familiarise myself with the script. It’s natural that I’d feel fatigued. 

MC: You don’t have anything on tomorrow? 

Gavin: I don’t have work tomorrow, so we can practice our lines.

MC: That’s great!

A warmth gushes out of my heart. I shift closer to Gavin, sharing half the blanket with him. We look at the script together. 

MC: This is so much warmer!

Gavin: ...do you still want to look at it? 

MC: Mm, let’s look through the letter scene again. “If you lack medical knowledge... attach some... scattered silver... I hope to do my best...”

The words in front of me gradually become blurry and distorted. After a certain line, I lean on Gavin’s shoulder in a dazed state, giving up on my fight against sleep.

Gavin: MC? Are you asleep? 

The girl, who loftily said they would look at the script together just a few minutes ago, is now leaning softly against his shoulder, sleeping peacefully. 

Gavin doesn’t wake her up, and simply covers her with a jacket. He flips to the first page of the script, quietly reading the girl’s lines, and memorising them. 

The city is asleep, but the room filled with the breath of two people is still illuminated with a tender light. 

The all-knowing stars in the night sky are silent, and will guard the small world belonging to these two people.

-

[ CHAPTER FIVE ] The curtains are drawn slowly. I once again step onto the stage, following the script. 

In this scene, Gavin will snatch the silk ball, and I will hand it to the male lead so he can bring his beloved home.

For the scene to be more realistic, the actors are allowed to walk around spontaneously. 

As such, I have to run past various settings, weave through the crowd, and finally reach the stipulated spot. 

MC: Swordsman Bai? 

Panting slightly, I stand underneath the embroidery building, looking for Gavin. 

[Trivia: In ancient times, women who were more socially well-to-do would do embroidery in embroidery buildings.]

The sense of deja vu blurs my perception of the boundaries between the play and reality. 

A strong wind arrives as promised. Following the glint of a sword, a path forms in the crowd, interrupting my thoughts.

Gavin is dressed in red. One hand holds onto the silk ball, and the other sheathes his sword. He walks straight towards me. 

Gavin: Trivial matters held me back, and I seek forgiveness from the lady. 

The corners of his lips are curled into an open smile. His eyes are wilful and tender. 

The setting of the blue sky, the red silk in the surroundings, and the startled magpie birds surround Gavin, who is donned in wedding attire. It makes one unable to look away. 

At this moment, he finally stands before me again. 

The crowd and the noise of the world - they no longer have anything to do with me. 

Gavin places the silk ball into my hands steadily. 

Even though I know this is a script, and that it’s part of the plot, I can’t help but feel that the red silk ball in my hands is akin to a solemn promise. 

A greedy thought even flits across my mind - maybe it’d be good if the story ends like this. 

On stage, the silk ball is finally handed to the scholar. The lady takes the silk ball and holds it with her lover.  

Under the embroidery building, Gavin suddenly takes my hand. 

Gavin: Perhaps this may be abrupt. MC, are you willing to marry me and become my wife? 

MC: ?!

Was there such a line in the script? 

I look at Gavin with confusion.

Gavin doesn’t say a word. He stares straight at me without a hint of evasion.

There are so many emotions within that pair of eyes, leaving me unable to make sense of them. I have no idea what to say. 

Off-stage, the audience erupt in thunderous cheers.

I glance to the side. Mr Keller, who has been watching the entire play, nods in my direction, signalling that I should continue in my role. 

My confusion dissipates when I see Gavin’s amber eyes, which are filled with deep, tender emotions and lingering affection. There is even an undercurrent of questioning and anticipation. 

It’s as though the answer I give would be an entrustment of the rest of my life. 

My heart beats loudly in my chest, feeling like it would leap out from my throat in the next second. 

MC: I... I accept. 

I blush and respond, not even sure if my words are loud enough to be heard by the audience off-stage. 

However, every single word is heard by Gavin, who has received my feelings. 

With a gentle laugh, he wraps an arm around my waist and lifts me up. 

Gavin brings me up the embroidery building to stand alongside the male and female leads.

At the end of the play, there is thunderous applause from off-stage. There are even a few audience members who are fully immersed in the story, sending us their blessings. 

In the midst of the applause, I tilt my head and lean towards Gavin’s ear, speaking softly. 

MC: Gavin, just now... I don’t remember seeing such a scene in the script?

Gavin: Mm, it was impromptu. 

MC: Why didn’t you tell me beforehand? I even thought...

Gavin doesn’t respond further, only smiling at me. 

Facing the cheering audience, the four of us bow and thank them for watching, as though worshipping the vast sea of people. 

After the play, everyone involved in the show gathers together to celebrate over dinner

MC: Gavin, thank you so much for today! It’s a good thing you saved the show! Back then... I really didn’t know what to do.

While I speak, I raise the drink in my hand, clinking it lightly against Gavin’s.

Gavin: You were looking for me just now to say this? 

He raises his drink, making up for the delayed clink. 

MC: Yeah. I wanted to thank you properly, but time was so tight that I couldn’t find the chance. Come to think of it, how did you know my lines...

Gavin: When we were rehearsing lines together, I just memorised them as well.

Gavin lowers his head and takes a mouthful of food, maintaining his usual casual attitude. Noticing that I’ve been watching him, he rubs his neck in slight confusion.

Gavin: Um... is there something on my face?

I immediately shake my head. A warm wave of emotions overflow from my heart. Countless words of gratitude are lodged in my throat, but I feel that no matter what I say, it would not be enough.

In the end, I silently fill a bowl of soup for him.

At the table, everyone is eating and drinking merrily, and the atmosphere is warm.

MC: After spending so many days with the crew, thinking of how we might not have the chance to get together like this again makes me feel quite reluctant to part with them.

I lean against Gavin, looking at the lively crew around us. 

MC: Gavin, I suddenly thought about something from my childhood. My dad used to be busy producing programs, and would bring me to the recording site to spend the New Year’s. The site was always busy, but no matter how pressed they were for time, everyone would sit down together and have an especially sumptuous dinner. Once I grew up, I also started spending my New Year’s working. I still remember that the warm ambience back then was the same as right now. 

Gavin: Mm, I can imagine. I used to spend New Year’s with my teammates, and it was very lively. 

MC: Even though it’s not at home, it’s still a different kind of fun!

Gavin: Since we’re on this topic, [coughs]...

Gavin seems to have something very important to say, but he takes another sip of his drink and stops. 

I blink, waiting for him quietly. I can vaguely guess what he wants to say.

In the end, he seems to become determined. He clears his throat and turns his head to look at me with a serious expression. 

Gavin: Over the next few days, if you don’t have anything else planned....

Gavin: Spend the New Year’s with me at home.

His tone is light, but the look in his eyes tells me just how solemn this invitation is. Even the tips of his ears turn an unnatural shade of red. 

I am very certain that, to the both of us, these words are the most precious and serious treasures from the deepest parts of his heart. 

MC: Okay. 

I nod heavily in response. Since a very long time ago, this answer has not changed.

The corners of Gavin’s lips turn up slightly. Those eyes, which always have an undercurrent of emotions, look like a glacier that has melted in spring, tenderly melting into a warm current. 

Gavin: I’ll pick you up then.

MC: Mm!!

The way his lips are curled upwards is as though all the uncertainties in his heart have found a most potent answer. 

I find myself smiling along with him.

MC: I recently learnt how to make a few New Year’s dishes, so we can try them. 

Gavin: All right, I can help. My skills... have improved. 

I freeze for a moment, making a sudden realisation. 

MC: Have you been practicing in secret? Looks like teaching you how to cook was a wise decision.

Gavin: ...I occasionally tried to.

MC: I’ll have to check the results of my teaching this year then!

Gavin: No problem. 

Gavin smiles, nodding his head with some measure of seriousness. He suddenly thinks of something.

Gavin: Oh yes, do we need to buy things like spring couplets?

MC: Mmhmm, we also have to buy the character “福”! It will only feel like New Year’s when we have these things pasted.

[Trivia: During the Chinese New Year, households paste an inverted red coloured square with the character 福 (“fu”, which means auspiciousness, blessing or happiness) on doors, walls, etc. to usher in such tidings]

I continue talking, listing on my fingers the items I want to purchase.

In my memory, my aunties’ fierce interrogations don’t seem that long ago. In just a blink of an eye, a new year has arrived. 

[Note: She’s making reference to the Spring Festival Date!]

This time, we can leave our time to each other. 

In a place belonging only to us, flipping open a new year’s calendar together.

The atmosphere at the dining table is just right. The sound of clinking glasses and celebration comes in waves. No one notices this small corner. 

We clasp each others’ fingers quietly. 

Our pulses, only separated by a layer of skin, call out to each other in the language of warmth.

I’m so lucky to have you by my side. 

[thegreenwolf]

Betting on the Ponies (originally posted at my blog at https://thegreenwolf.com/betting-on-the-ponies/)

(Above:  Breyer Classic Arabian Stallion made over into a winged unicorn with real wings from a barnyard mix rooster I raised for meat.)

If you’ve been paying attention to my social media or my shop links at all, you may have noticed that I haven’t really been posting much in the way of new hide and bone art for the past year or so. It’s not that I’ve stopped; I still make some fun things for my Patrons on Patreon every month, and I make some bone, tooth and claw jewelry on Etsy to order. But ever since events dried up, I haven’t been regularly making new batches of costume pieces or other Vulture Culture art. My usual M.O. was to make all sorts of new things for an upcoming event, and then once the weekend was done and I was home, post whatever hadn’t sold on Etsy. And since there haven’t been events…well…I’ve just found myself doing other things.

Some of that is because I’ve had to scramble to make up for the lost income; events were a pretty big chunk of my “pay”, and losing them meant having to tighten the belt. I also lost several other income streams thanks to the pandemic making it unsafe to be around groups of people, which didn’t help. So I had to rely on what was left, along with adopting a few new sources of bits and bobs of cash here and there.

And, honestly, I’ve needed a bit of a break. I’ve been making hide and bone art for over two decades now, and while I love it, any artist eventually wants to explore different media for a while. Sure, I’ve stretched my Vulture wings in new directions, going from costume pieces and ritual tools to assemblages and the Tarot of Bones. But ever since the Tarot came out, I’ve been feeling….not really burned out, but a little creatively wrung out, at least. I’ve really appreciated my Patrons and Etsy customers who have helped me keep a hand in that particular medium, while also allowing me to head off in other directions, too.

Which is to say that if you have been paying attention to the aforementioned social media and shops, you may have also noticed that I’ve been increasing the number of customized Breyer model horses and other animals I’ve made over the past couple of years. This might seem like a heck of a departure from skulls, bones, and other dead things. But in a way it’s really me getting back to long-neglected roots.

(One of my favorite customs I’ve done on one of my favorite molds, the Breyer semi-rearing mustang. )

See, I was a horse girl when I was a kid. Or, rather, I was a wannabe horse girl. I never got to lease or own a horse, and even now in my early 40s I’m still about the greenest rider you’ll find. (Seriously, I need one of those kid-proof horses that’s seen it all, done it all, and is probably more trail-smart than I am.) But I was obsessed with horses from a young age. It started with my very first My Little Pony that I got Christmas morning, 1983 (Applejack, if you must know), and then exploded further with a book on how to draw horses and my first Breyer model (Black Beauty 1991 on the Morganglanz mold) in my preteens. Horse actually took over for Gray Wolf for a few years as my primary animal spirit during my teens, so we have a very long history indeed.

And since I couldn’t have a real horse, I ended up collecting model horses, mostly Breyers with a few old Hartlands for variety. I had over 100 at the peak of my collecting, but I had to sell them all in my early twenties when I was between jobs. In hindsight it was probably for the best because having less stuff made it easier to get through the period of my life where I was moving about once a year, but I do miss that collection.

Back then I did my part to add to the artistic end of the model horse hobby, mostly with badly blended acrylic paint jobs and terrifying mohair manes and tails. But it made me happy, and that was the most important thing. Even though I only knew a couple other collectors in my little rural area, and my only real connection to the hobby was through the quarterly Just About Horses magazine Breyer put out, my collecting really made me happy in the same way that my first fur scraps and bones would catch my interest a few years later.

2020….well, it sucked. We all know that. Pandemic, political stress, financial roller coasters and more made it a really tough year for anyone who wasn’t wealthy enough to hide away and weather it all. And many of us found ourselves with more time at home, in need of distractions and solace. It ended up being a time where many people rediscovered their love of childhood hobbies. I’m one of those people. I’ve been slowly edging my way back in for the past few years, starting with repainting a few old Breyer models found at thrift stores, and then gaining momentum as I found that not only was I much better at customizing these models than I used to be, but I was having fun without the pressure to make a living off of it. (Yes, I love my hide and bone art, but when an art form is your bread and butter, it changes your relationship to it. But that’s a post for another time…)

So 2020 saw me really ramp up my customization efforts. I had to stop for a few months in summer and fall when I moved to a spifftacular new living space on the farm I’ve been working on the past few years (with, by the way, THE best studio space EVER!) but as the days shortened I found myself making more dedicated time to repainting and otherwise customizing models. I even started keeping a few of the models I’d bought to customize that were in better condition to create a small, but slowly growing original finish collection, and that really helped me feel like I was back in the (not actually a) saddle.*

That’s why a well-established artist of organic, pagan-influenced arts made from fur and leather and bone and feather suddenly started painting all these secondhand plastic ponies. It’s giving me that deep injection of childhood nostalgia balanced with adult skill and perspective, and it’s offered me a much-needed break from the exhausting schedule I’ve been living the past decade or so. Because suddenly, even with the time spent rearranging my income opportunities to make sure I could stay afloat, I found myself with a little time that hadn’t been scheduled to death, and when I thought about what I wanted to do with that time, I gravitated toward one of the few creative outlets in my life that was purely for fun.**

(Yes, this IS fan art of “The Last Unicorn”! I used a Breyer Stablemate rearing Arabian for the unicorn, and a Breyer Spanish fighting bull for the Red Bull. A LOT of fun to make this particular project.)

In a way having all my events canceled was one of the best things that happened to me, because it made me slow the fuck down. I no longer had several weekends a year where I had to spend weeks beforehand making art and otherwise preparing to be away from all my farm responsibilities for 4-7 days at a time, with all the packing and moving and setup and vending and teaching and teardown and going home and unpacking and exhaustion that goes with each event. I realized just how much each one was taking out of me, especially as I’ve gotten older. And I also recognized how much pressure I had been putting on myself to ALWAYS MAKE MORE STUFF FOR ETSY EVERY WEEK OR ELSE.

So the model horses are really sort of a symbol of the childhood joy I’ve managed to recapture, wresting time and energy back from my workaholic tendencies. I’ve even been thinking about what my professional life is going to look like once the pandemic eases up enough to allow events again, and whether I’ll put the same amount of time toward vending and and teaching at conventions and festivals as I used to. (There are a few favorites that I’m not going to miss for anything, so don’t worry about me dropping out entirely.) But for the first time in a very long time, I’m relearning to prioritize myself, and figuring out that maybe I don’t have to go hell-bent for leather every week, every year, in order to keep the bills paid and the critters fed.

And maybe, just maybe, it’s okay for this dead-critter-artist, pagan-nonfic-author, teacher-vendor-farmer, to indulge herself with something fun, and bet on the ponies to help her get through the tough times.

(P.S. Amid everything going on, I am back to working steadily on my next book, which I mentioned in this blog post almost a year ago. As a recap, its working title is Coyote’s Journey: Deeper Work With the Major Arcana, and it’s a deep dive into that section of the tarot using pathworkings with the animals I assigned to the major arcana of the Tarot of Bones. It’s not just a Tarot of Bones book, though; it’s a good way to get a new, nature-based angle on the majors in general, as well as hopefully gain a better understanding of yourself. My goal is to have it out later this year, self-pub of course, and at the rate I’m going it may end up being my longest book! Stay tuned, and if you want to get excerpts of the work-in-progress, become my Patron for as little as $1/month!)

*At the height of my “horse girl” phase, I had a really beat-up pony saddle I’d bought for ten bucks at a yard sale, and got a cheap saddle stand for it and put it in my room. And yes, I occasionally sat on it and pretended I was riding an actual horse. Hey, it made me happy at the time, and it was the closest I was ever going to get apart from a trail ride every few years.

**Yes, I do sell my customs. But I don’t make them on a schedule, I take commissions VERY sparingly, and I’m getting to stretch some new creative muscles, especially in the realms of sculpting and painting, so this is primarily for my enjoyment. The sales are just a side benefit.

(My ode to the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a Breyer deer repainted to resemble the Columbian black-tailed deer that frequent the farm I live on, along with hand-sculpted Amanita muscaria mushrooms, real and fake moss, and real lichens from fallen branches.)

[wh0reforthemarauders]

TRYING TO BLEND IN (PART 2)

WARNINGS: cursing??? WORD COUNT: 1500 A/N: I didn't edit this at all (pls keep in mind that english is not my first language) I just wanted to post it today because it's full moon tonight lmao enjoy (hopefully there will be a part 3 some day)

It took Sirius a while to recover from the initial shock. This random stranger he had just met at a muggle campsite minutes ago was also a wizard. What a coincidence it was, and how lucky he was that it wasn't a muggle who saw him use magic, he thought.

Sirius stood still for a few moments, looking around the place, then finally he turned to the boy.

"How come you've never met a wizard before? Are you muggle-born?"

"No." said the boy, and then went silent. Sirius expected a longer answer than this so he decided to keep asking questions.

"Have you gone to Hogwarts?"

"No"

"But you know what it is?"

"I do. But I was homeschooled."

Uncomfortable with the direction in which their conversation was going, Remus quickly changed the topic and suggested taking Sirius's things into his new room and then make dinner for them both. Sirius was curious to find more about this unusual boy but he didn't want to seem rude so he simply nodded in agreement.

The two of them spent the next few days at the campsite together. Sirius had told Remus all about the wizarding world, his best friend James, and their adventures at Hogwarts. He could tell Remus was kind of sad now that he realized what he had been missing out on, but for some reason he still avoided the topic of why he has been isolated from other wizards his whole life.

As Remus had plenty of experience with all things muggle, he eventually taught Sirius to set up a tent and use muggle appliances to make food, but they silently agreed that Sirius was not going back to his own tent. They were simply having too much fun together and Remus felt like he was finally making up for all the years he didn't go to Hogwarts with other wizards of his age.

-------

Ten days have passed and Sirius and Remus still had plenty of topics to go through while they were roasting barbecue in front of their tent. It was a pleasant summer evening, and Sirius had been staring at the darkening sky which was mostly clear, except for a few clouds. Suddenly, he felt the urge to tell Remus the origin of his name.

"Wanna hear a story about how I got my name?" He asked out of nowhere, tapping his friend on the shoulder.

"Sure"

"You see that star over there?", he said pointing up at the sky. "The brightest one..."

As he was speaking, the soft wind blew and moved the cloud which had been hiding the moon. The moonlight instantly brightened the scenery. It seemed almost full.

"Well, although I myself am not quite as bright, as you've had a chance to..."

Sirius cast a look in Remus's direction and, seeing his worried expression, he didn't finish the joke he was about to make. It seemed as though Remus wasn't listening to him anymore. He too was staring at the sky, but not at the bright star Sirius was showing him. He was looking at the moon instead.

Sirius hesitated a moment, not knowing what to say. "What's wrong, have you never seen a full moon before?"

"Oh I've seen it" said Remus scornfully, before shaking his head and getting up quickly. "I have to leave tonight. You better pack your things. We're not gonna see each other again."

Sirius remained on the ground, following Remus with his stare as he hurried into the tent. He was pondering whether to go after him and ask him what's up when Remus emerged with a bag full of Sirius's clothes in his hands. He set it before him and proceeded to pack his own tent into a backpack, when Sirius finally stood up and approached him, grabbing him by his arm.

"What the hell is wrong with you? You're just gonna leave me here in the middle of a muggle campsite?"

Sirius stared at him, not understanding the reason behind this sudden change in behaviour. Moments ago they were having a great time, talking about their favourite flavour of Bertie Bott's Beans, and Sirius couldn't imagine what he had possibly done to cause this.

"I have to be alone for a while, that's all." he shook his arm free from Sirius's firm grip.

"Did I do something?" Sirius asked but it was too late. Remus put on his backpack and hurried towards a dark forest that was surrounding the campsite.

Sirius stood still, enraged that this guy whom he had just started to consider a friend, has left him among muggles, knowing how helpless he was without magic.

"Fuckin idiot!" he yelled after him.

A few seconds later, he felt once again the piercing stares of the muggles around him. All eyes were on him and everyone at the campsite must have seen this embarrassing scene. He faked a smile he thought seemed polite enough and sat down to finish his dinner. He was determined to leave the campsite that night and go to James's house for the rest of the summer.

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

As soon as he finished a cigarette that he had lit after dinner, Sirius got up, took his bag and headed through the same forest that Remus had disappeared into earlier that night. Now that he has calmed down a bit, he couldn't think of a reason why he even ended up at this stupid campsite. He could've gone to James's place right after leaving home, and he would've avoided 10 days of ridiculous drama.

It was somewhere around midnight and he was nearing the edge of the forest. The path he was following has now become broader and pebbled. Just as he was passing an abandoned shack hidden behind some trees, he heard strange screeching noises coming from inside. The noise didn't sound human and he was curious to find out what it was, so completely fearless, he walked up to the front door and tried to push them open but it seemed they were barred from the inside. He walked over to the window, peeked inside but it was so dark inside that he couldn't see anything. With an inexplicable amount of determination, fueled by his infinite curiosity, he pushed aside a couple of planks from the already broken window, shattered the few remaining pieces of glass, and climbed up and into the shack.

Instinctively, he took out his wand, performed the lighting charm, and in the light of the wand he could finally see where the weird screeching was coming from.

In the corner of the dusty, cobwebbed room was a curled-up, shaking figure. Who would've thought. The sound was human after all.

Sirius stepped closer with his wand hand stretched out, his step making the floor boards shriek. The figure lifted its head. Sirius barely recognized him in this horrible state, but as distorted and animal-like as his face now was, without a doubt it belonged to Remus.

"Go away, Sirius!" he screamed.

"What's going on?? Why are you here? Do you... live here?"

"Oh for fuck's sake Sirius, how stupid can you be??? LOOK AT ME"

"I'M A WEREWOLF!"

Sirius was still very much confused. He didn't understand what being a werewolf had to do with hiding out in a ruin like this.

"It's full moon! Get away from me! I really don't want to hurt you but so help me god if you stay here for one more minute..."

"...Why would you hurt me?" asked Sirius trying to sound as calm as possible.

"BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT WEREWOLVES DO!" screamed Remus desperately. "We are dangerous! We attack people! We... we hurt them."

Remus was desperately shaking and crying. Tonight's transformation was already very slow and painful and now he had one more thing to worry about. He had completely forgotten to track the days until full moon while he was with Sirius, and he hated himself for allowing to forget what a monster he was. What he wanted most at the moment was to be left alone. He could deal with this by himself, like he always does. He knew he made a mistake. He never should've befriended Sirius. He always scares friends away. But this time, he also risked hurting one.

To Remus's great surprise, however, Sirius didn't seem scared at all. Shocked perhaps, caught off guard, but not scared. He sat on the floor next to Remus, putting an arm around his shoulder, patting him comfortingly.

"It's ok." he said. Noticing that Remus winced as he approached him, he decided to try to lighten the mood the only way he knew how.

"You couldn't hurt me if you wanted to."

Remus turned to look at him, eyes still glossy from the tears.

"You're literally skin and bones, Remus. And I trained Quidditch for 6 years. You stand no chance against me."

At this, Remus's face finally brightened, and he barely managed to suppress a chuckle.

"Come on. I know a place where you can be safe... you know, while you're doing your... wolf thing." Sirius said, standing up and offering Remus a hand to help him stand up. "Remember my friend James?"

[unmaskedagain]

Five boys the Batfamily scared off (And the one boy who helped Marinette get revenge on them all)

This is actually based off a prompt/ask I got by #vixen-Uchiha

Okay, believe it or not, I’ve in history of all my days writing fanfiction (I just turned 27 and have been writing since I was sixteen); I started when Twilight was still at the height of its popularity. (All that work has been deleted, burned, and doused with holy water; don’t ask questions) But even with almost a decade of writing fanfiction, I never even considered approaching this fanfiction classic.

Until now.

Wish me luck. And don’t judge me too harshly.

Note this was also inspired by a poem I loved called To the Boys Who May One Day Date My Daughter by Jesse Parent

 Marinette always knew Tom was her step-father. Sabine and he married when she was three after all. And while she considered the great cuddly bear to be her dad, she still had a great relationship with her actual father: Bruce Wayne. And all her brothers and Sister.  She spent every summer with them and every other Christmas in Gotham. She loved her family. She just wished they take a chill pill.

And stop scaring away her freaking boyfriends.

Lê Chiến Kim: The Boy who swears Marinette’s related to the Boogieman

           If anyone asked Marinette now if she would ever date Kim, she’d have died of laughter. Kim was like a goofy cousin. They were great friends. Their moms were best friends. She just didn’t see him like that.

           However, it wouldn’t have been so funny to six-year-old Marinette who ran from school with a Daisy in her hair and a big smile her face.

“Daddy, Daddy,” She’d squeal to her Papa later that day. She barely noticed he was still wearing bat uniform, except the mask. Or all her brothers were with him.

“Hey Sunshine,” Bruce smiled lovingly at his youngest daughter. “You have a good day at school.”

“Give ‘em hell, firecracker,” Jason called from the background.

           Tim and Dick laughed. Bruce just shook his head amused.

“I got a boyfriend!”    

           Silence.

           That day would forever be known as the day all the smiles died. Seven-year-old Damian just blinked in confusion. He didn’t know what had happened but he knew it was bad. And that it involved his sister. Was she in danger? Did she need help?

           Before Bruce could process or respond to his precious, baby girl, who was way too young to date (And what the hell was Sabine thinking?). Dick literally pushed him out of his chair like it was nothing. “What’s his name? Who are his parents? Where does he live? And where can I find him right now?”

           Marinette, being too young didn’t notice the threat in her eldest brother’s voice and the look of murder in his eyes, had no problem telling Dick all about her best friend Kim, who was super nice, and gave her a Daisy, and kissed her cheek.

           When the call ended, Bruce brought up the picture of the boy in question. A nice-enough looking boy to most, but he knew the truth. He knew the evil in his heart.

I have been waiting for you, Bruce thought, not just to Kim but to all the boys who would day date his daughter, since before she was even born. Before you took your first steps, I was preparing to make it so you’d never walk again.

           However, Kim was still just a child. He needed a kinder touch. He looked back at his children: Dick, Jason, Cassandra, Tim, and Damian, and made his choice.

           When Dick showed up to walk her to the school the next day, Marinette didn’t think to question how her brother got from Gotham to Paris so quick. (Cough, misuse of Zeta beam). Or why he was dressed in all black with a scary biker jacket on. She just shrugged and let him help her tie her shoes and carry her bright pink, hello kitty, and backpack.

           He held her hand the entire way to school, where Kim and his dad were waiting by the doors. Kim had another daisy in his hand that he gave to Marinette.

“This is Dick,” Marinette introduced her brother. “My biggest brother. This is Kim, my boyfriend,” Kim preened. “Look, Dick, Kim got me another daisy.”

           Dick beamed at his sweet little sister, “I see. Hey! Isn’t that you’re friend Rose? Why don’t you go show her?”

“Okay!” And she ran off.

           As soon as she was gone, Dick’s smile quickly disappeared and he glared at the little Casanova, and his father, who felt like someone had just walked over his grave.

“My sister is a little young for a serious boyfriend,” Dick hissed. “Don’t you think? Don’t want her to grow up too fast, right?” The two could only nod in fear. “Good. Don’t hurt her. Don’t make her cry. Because I’d hate to have to have another talk with you, Chiến. It might not go as… nicely.” And with that, he left to go find his sister, leaving two terrified people in in wake.

           That conversation would be the reason Kim broke up with Marinette over recess but to the girl’s dismay and why the boy wouldn’t allowed to date for another ten years.

           Looking back Kim would swear darkness and shadows started to fill the schoolyard. That Marinette’s older brother’s voice got deeper and his eyes turned completely black. He had been a living nightmare, one that would haunt his dreams for years.

Marinette wouldn’t get another boyfriend for years.

 Chat Noir aka Adrien Agreste; The Boy who just didn’t want to Get Neutered

           Marinette never considered Adrien or Chat Noir her boyfriend. He had been her best friend, her partner, and for a long time, her crush. However, before Marinette found out who was behind the mask, and he earned the title of her best friend in the whole world.

Chat Noir had the title of Guy who can’t take a hint.

           They had been just thirteen at the time. Chat had been spending for more and more time flirting with Ladybug and joking around then actually taking the fight seriously. And when he wouldn’t get the response he wanted from his Lady, he’d pout or throw a tantrum and storm off. It had been getting to be a real hassle. And as much as she liked Chat, she had been seriously considering Master Fu’s offer of getting her a permanent partner to replace him.

           Then one day if all change. All the silly behavior, most of it anyway, and the constant flirting all stopped and never started back up. It would take Marinette months to find out why.

           Unbeknownst to Marinette, her Papa, Bruce had been keeping a watchful eye on the deteriorating situation. The flirting, his daughter’s frustration, the lack of care. It had to be stopped. Chat Noir had a few lessons to learn.

           Bruce glared harshly at the image of the cat-themed Superhero. He was proving to be a useless partner for Ladybug. And a prime example for a sexual harassment claim. “You’re sure you can handle this,” He asked son.

           Damian scoffed, “I will teach that alley cat the true meaning of fear.”

“Go.”

           When his son was gone and Bruce was once again alone in the Batcave, he smirked darkly at Chat Noir and all other boys who would come and go. “When you were still playing war in the school yard, I was perfecting headshots. You can’t catch up at this point.”

           One night, after a particularly hazardous fight with an Akuma, Chat Noir had been running home when suddenly everything went dark.

           He woke up, tied upside down, and gagged. For a few moments he thought Hawkmoth had finally gotten, wondered if this was the end.

           When a sword pressed against his throat, and a chilling voice whispered in his ear, “Care to find out just how many lives you really have, fleabag?”

           At the moment, Chat Noir no longer wondered if it was the end. He knew it was.

           A boy, Robin, he realized glared fiercely at him.

“I should kill you,” Robin sneered. “I should rip you limb from limb and leave your head mounted on a spike to show the next fool who thought he was worthy of my sister’s hand. Ladybug is too good for the likes of scum like you.”

           Chat Noir gulped. Sister? Ladybug was Robin’s sister. Adrien’s eyes widened, that meant Ladybug was Batman daughter. He was going to die. He was just going to disappear and his father, or most likely Nathalie, wouldn’t even notice until he failed to show up for his next appointment.

Gorilla would notice though, Adrien thought, he’d miss me.

           Robin pressed the tip of the sword to Adrien’s face until blood was drawn. “You will cease your incessant flirting with my sister. You will train harder for your battles. And you never, ever, leave Ladybug to fight alone again. Am I clear?”

           Adrien nodded his head earnestly. He’d never flirt with anyone again, he swore. He wouldn’t even celebrate Valentine’s Day. Or anything.

“And if for some miracle,” Robin hissed, “My sister deems you suitable to date, you will treat her will respect. You will never touch her without permission. And if you hurt her, Consider my genes a mark of Cain; you will suffer seven times whatever you do to her.”

           Chat Noir whimpered.

           A smoke bomb later. Chat Noir’s bonds were released and Robin was gone.

           It took a long time for him to stop shaking.

           He never flirted with Ladybug again. He worked harder and became the partner she deserved.

           And when Adrien discovered Marinette was behind Ladybug’s mask, he only managed to stumble a little.

           However, when Marinette told him that her brothers was coming for a visit; she couldn’t understand why he paled and stuttered out excuses for photoshoot he never mentioned before in far, far away countries. That same day, Adrien had his father taken them to Australia for vacation under the threat of Adrien dying his hair pink. He wouldn’t return for a month.

Jon Kent: The Boy who, in retrospect, really should’ve known better.

           Marinette’s first real boyfriend was the son of her father’s best friend, Clark Kent, otherwise known as Superman.  She had been only fourteen and it had been a summer romance while she stayed in Gotham. She had thought Jon was perfect; handsome, kind, funny…

           Invulnerable to most weapons and had amazing healing factor.

           Plus it’s not like her papa would kill the son of his best friend, right?

           Right.

           It had all been going great… until it wasn’t.

“I welcome you in my home,” Bruce hissed at the picture of Jon Kent on the bat computer. “I trained you. I trusted you. And you betrayed me.”

“Let me speak with him, father,” Damian demanded. “He is my friend. He will listen to me.”

           Bruce shook his head, “That’s why I can’t send you. You’re too close to the situation. He snuck past all our defense. Now I have no choice but to do same. J?”

           The Asian girl smirked, “Little Superboy will know dread.”

           Jon had been visiting the fortress of Solitude when… it happened.

           Before that day he had never dreamed the place would be anything less than safe, anything other than secure.

           His dad had just flown off to help someone in Brazil. Jon waited patiently for him to come back while he dreamed of his beautiful new girlfriend. Marinette was amazing, perfect, and the nicest, sweetest girl ever.

           When suddenly he felt a tickle in his throat, and he tried his best to clear it but it just got worse and worse. Until Jonathan Samuel Kent, Superboy (now that Connor was going as Krypton), fell to his knees as he struggled to breath.

           No matter what he did, the more breaths he took, the worse he felt. It was like his lungs were on fire.

“Do not struggle,” A voice said. Jon looked up see Blackbat, Cassandra, standing above him. How did she get into the fortress? Not only could only a Kryptonian open the doors but only a member of El could be let in. It was impossible. “Struggling makes it worse.”

           Jon coughed, “What?”

“The air,” Cassandra waved her hand around. “It is filled with dust. Green dust of Kryptonite. It has disable you and your powers. It’s concentrated. You will not die. The alerts of the fortress were disabled. No one is coming to help you, villain.”

           Jon shook his head frantically. He wasn’t a villain. He wasn’t a bad guy. This had to be some mistake.

“No, not villain,” Cassandra corrected. “Not yet. A thief who thought he could earn my family’s trust and then steal away our most precious jewel; our princess. And do it without consequences. I am here to teach you better.”

           Superboy flinched at her words.

“You will not pressure my sister,” Cassandra hissed. “You will be the gentleman we believed you to be. If you cheat on her, I will ensure you never have children. If you strike her, I will know. She will not keep your secret. You can’t make fire feel afraid. And I will come for you. Do you understand?”

Jon nodded, fear in clear in his eyes.

“Good.” She leaned forward, right into the young superhero’s face. “Some say you and your father, your cousin Kara, and Connor, are invincible. That you can’t be stopped. That you are gods among us.” She scoffed. “Let me make this, if you break my sisters’ heart, you will learn, boy of steel, that even gods bleed.”

           And then she was gone, and with her all traces of kryptonite. It didn’t stop the chill that filled Jon to the core.

           It was to no one’s surprise when Superman showed up at the Batcave not long after. “Bruce,” Clark asked with his arms out. “What the fuck?”

           Marinette’s relationship soured when suddenly Jon was too scared to hold her hand, her be alone with her, or kiss her. She got the hint that he just wanted to be friends and broke it.

           She found out a year later what really happened.

Luka Couffaine: The Boy who decided he didn’t want to sing his tune yet.

           Luka had been Marinette’s first serious boyfriend. She was sixteen. They had been together for months and were getting to the ‘I love you’ stage.

           He was cool. He was funny. He was a budding Rock star. He had dyed green hair, tattoos and earrings. Luka went onto tour with his band every summer. He was older than Marinette by two years. He had quite a few previous girlfriends. And he hadn’t been scared off by the normal attempts by his other kids.

           In other words, he was Bruce Wayne’s worst nightmare.

           And the nightmare got worse, when for the first time ever, Marinette was bringing a boyfriend home for Christmas. It was all the confirmation he needed that the things were serious.

           It was why he knew he had to send the greatest soldier he had. Luka Couffaine would rue the day he decided it was good idea to ask his princess out. “Are you ready?”

           Tim nodded. “I’ve done my research,” he declared. “I know what makes him to tick. I. Will. Break. Him.”

“Excellent,” He drawled out the word like it he tasting fine wine. Not caring at all that he sounded like a superman.

“You really think he’s a threat, dad?” Tim asked. “Because I can take care of it. I can have him eliminated. Ra's al ghul owes me a favor. It’ll look like an accident,” He promised. “It’ll look like he just… disappeared.”

A sense of pride filled Bruce. Tim was his most capable and resourceful soldier. He would make a great batman. Any of his kids would.

Batman stared the picture of the boy on his phone as he fought the urge to crush it in his hands. “No,” he finally answered. “I’ve known plenty of rock stars and so called bad boys in my day.  Angel’s smart,” he said using Marinette’s codename. “I have been routing out indifference apathy from her life, her childhood was filled with love and affection. There are no daddy issue for his teenage talons to latch upon. Just… make sure he understands who he is dealing with.”

“Understood.” And then call ended.

           He looked up and saw all the other Justice League members staring at him with expressions of awe, fear, and confusion.

“…Marinette’s got a new boyfriend, huh?” Diana asked when the call disconnected. Amusement in her tone, she knew Bruce would never seriously hurt a kid.

“Poor guy,” Barry said with a shake of his head.

           Clark pinched his nose, “You can’t keep scaring guys away from her forever. Eventually, she’s going to find one who isn’t afraid of you.”

“And then she’ll marry him out of spite,” Dinah added.

           There were snorts from the other league members.

“Like that’ll ever happen,” Oliver said with a shake of his head. “That kid would have to be the biggest moron in the universe. I’ll pity his family.”

           Marinette had constantly warned Luka about how overprotective her family was. Luka hadn’t thought much of it. He dealt with overprotective fathers and brothers before. Eventually they grudging begin to like him. Or realize that if they actively hated him, it would just make the girl get attached.

           He was excited for Christmas, excited to prove himself to the girl of his dreams, and impress her by dealing with her entire family. Luka didn’t understand why Adrien looked so afraid when he told him. Or why he asked what type of flowers he liked.

“For the funeral,” Adrien shrugged. “I need to know what to buy.”

           Luka had laughed, thinking the blond was joking. He had already met a two of her brothers; Dick and Damian. They had been growls and threats but nothing he couldn’t handle. But Adrien didn’t laugh. He just shook his head and promised he’d be there for Juleka. Luka thought he was overreacting.

           However, nothing. NOTHING. Could have prepared Luka for the first time he met Tim.

           Luka had been walking home with Kagami, his long-time friend and one-time rival for Marinette’s affection. It was board daylight, there were tons of people around, and then they had made the apparent mistake of walking by an alley, when suddenly they were pulled into the back of a van, hoods thrown over their heads, and their hands bounds.

           He didn’t know how much time had passed. Or where they were being taken. All he saw was darkness. All he felt was fear. Was this how died?

           When the hoods were finally removed, the two teenagers found themselves in what looked to be a deserted warehouse, bound to their chairs, with a teenage boy not much older than they sitting across from them, looking absurdly comfortable given the situation.

My name is Timothy Drake-Wayne. I am Marinette’s older brother,” He said. “Let me make something clear before we begin. The last hour never happened. This conversation never happened. We never met. And if you say otherwise,” Tim’s eyes narrowed.  “No one will believe you. I was just by dozens of witnesses in Mexico with my boyfriend less than two hours ago. But if you do tell anyone, there will be consequences. Do you understand?”

           They nodded not daring to say a word.

“Luka, Luka, Luka.” Tim smiled an eerie grin that should look more at home on the monsters from Horror movies, and not on such a handsome face. “I hear you’ll be visiting us over the holidays. Must be so exciting for you, meeting your girlfriend’s family. Are you excited, Luka?”

           Luka swallowed hard. He never thought he’d hate the way his own name sounded. “I was- I mean I am. I am.”

“Good,” Tim said. “I just wanted to offer you a bit of advice. So you can know to expect. You see it call all be a bit… daunting to newcomers. Some people don’t understand the Wayne family’s unique tastes. Okay?”

           He nodded.

           Tim still smiled. In fact he never lost his smile the entire time. Yet his eyes were empty like there was no real life in them. “When you first come to my home, you will see the bone carving over the doorway. It will be hard, but try not to imagine your own femurs so expertly carved.”

           At this Kagami’s eyes widened. She had done her best to remain calm but somethings were too much.

           Tim smile widened, “There are one or two rooms you will not be allowed in. However, accidents happen and we understand. But we do ask that you pay no attention to our… ample crawl space. Or the smells that can sometime come from it.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Luka stuttered. “Sure, no problem. Man.”

“Try not to go into Father’s playroom,” Tim continued on. “It will be easy to spot. It’s mostly empty, apart from a rubber mat and a drain. He gets so testy when stranger go in there. You’ll hear strange noise from time to time but just ignore them. That is just father… playing.”

           The green-haired boy just stared. Because what the fuck.

“Just follow that advice, and you should be fine,” Tim promised. “Though you are a pretty one.  You both are. And we like pretty ones. Oh the things we do to pretty ones”

Luka whimpered. Kagami felt tears build in her eyes.

           Tim laughed, “Now, now, none of that,” He said channeling his inner Brucie. “We’re not going to hurt. We’d never hurt Marinette’s friends.” He promised. “We would hurt people who hurt Marinette because people who hurt Marinette are not her friends.”

           Red Robin looked over the two, “What I’m trying to say is. Break my sister’s heart, and we will kill you. I will kill you. You won’t see if coming. You won’t know we’re there. And if you’re lucky, you might not even feel it. Clear?” They nodded. “Excellent. Now you’re going to leave the same way you came. Remember not a word.” He smiled got even bigger.

           They felt hands on their shoulders.

“Oh and Kagami,” Tim’s voice rang. “Should romantic feelings spring to life between you and Marinette again, just know our sister Cassandra is much scarier than I. And a much better shot.”

           Then the black hoods and complete darkness came gain.

           When they were finally let go, in the exact same place they had been taken, neither Luka nor Kagami spoke for what seemed like forever. Their minds still wrapping around what had just taken place. However, it was Kagami who finally broke the quiet.

“Well, it appears I dodge a bullet, huh,” She shrugged, her face not betraying the fear she still felt. “Sucks for you. I’m going to go propose to Chloe. I know can I take her mom in a fight. And that she’s not a serial killer.” Kagami then gave him a grave look. “Happy holiday, Luka. I’ll send best flowers to your funeral.” And the she was gone, literally fleeing down the crowded street, leaving Luka alone with his thoughts and sense of his impending doom.

           He broke up with Marinette an hour later.

           It would take weeks before he would willingly be in a room with her again.

Kaldur'ahm: The Boy who regretted ever walking on land.

           Marinette had met her next boyfriend through her brother Tim. Ironic, considering she had just found out what he did to Luka. She had gone in for some extra training with the Black Canary when she spotted him. Kaldur; aqualad. Marinette had never talked too much with him before but found he was a very calm person and level-headed. A good leader, no matter how much Tim complained.

           They had spared together one day. And another. And Another. Then he asked her out. It was sweet… While it lasted. And it didn’t last long.

           Batman had looked at Kaldur’s picture, scoffed, and said, “Jason?”

           The sound of a gun clocking was heard, “Little Mermaids going down.”

           Unlike his brothers, Redhood had no time for mind games. He went for the quickest route.

           Aquaman burst into room where the justice league meeting was, “He shot Kaldur,” He roared to Batman. “The Red Hood shot Aqualad!”

           Bruce didn’t bat an eye, “Is he alive?”

“Yes,” The King of the seas said quickly. “But that’s not point.”

“Seems like it is,” Bruce said and went on with the meeting leaving a stuttering, red-faced Aquaman still standing there.

It was to one’s surprise when Kaldur dumped Marinette and was gone. Disappeared to the safety of Atlantis. And when he came back, Marinette was barred from Young Justice Headquarters.

It was on that day, that Marinette Dupain-Cheng-Wayne decided enough was enough.

 Roy Harper-Queen: The Boy who should start making better life choices

           It was weird to say but Marinette met the boy who would turn out to be the love of her life when she was ten-years-old. And then sometime after her eighteenth birthday, she would team up with his clone to go rescue him. They became friends, went on missions together. It was a year later that he asked her out.

           Roy was pissed at the world, ready to die for anything if it meant he’d went fight, had a rude mouth, feared nothing and no one, and didn’t play by anyone’s rule but his own. In other words, he was perfect.

           Marinette just never meant to fall in love. She certainly didn’t expect to say yes when proposed.

           They had been keeping their relationship a secret from both their families for over two years. They were happy together. They loved each other.

           But more importantly, they could plot revenge together.

           And revenge was sweet.

           It all played out during a Justice League meeting. Roy, Red Arrow, and Ladybug had been full members for quite some time. The meeting was just about to close, when Roy stood up, “I have an announcement to make,” He said. “Red Arrow will be withdrawing from missions for the perceivable future. As will Ladybug,” He looked at Marinette who nodded firmly.

“What’s going on, Roy?” Oliver asked his once wayward son, with a frown.

           Batman eyed them suspiciously. As did the other members of the batfamily, all were present. Apart from Alfred because Marinette liked Alfred.

           Wonder Woman frowned, “Are you going solo again, I thought you were happy.”

“We’re fine. We’re very happy,” Roy said slowly before taking a deep breath and doing the bravest thing he ever would in his entire life. “Ladybug’s pregnant and I’m the father.”

           A few seconds passed before the words were processed in the Superheroes mind.

           Bruce’s eyes widened, his mind stopped working, and then a snarl ripped form his throat as he moved to attack. The batkids joining him.

“Alpha Code Angelbug” Flash shouted.

           That was all the other league need to go into defensive positions around Roy, against the batfamily. Marinette remained where she was with glee in her eyes. Superman stood in front of Roy, blocking him from view and potential danger.

           The Flash, Cyborg, Black Canary, Wonder Woman, and the Green Arrow stood in front of them. Oliver aimed at arrow at Batman, “Don’t move!” He yelled. “Don’t you dare move, Bruce. I’ll do it. Roy’s my son. And I won’t let you hurt him.”

           Batman growled, “He. I. My daughter!”

“Get Roy out of here, Superman,” Wonder Woman ordered. “We’ll hold him off but we can’t do it for long.” She stepped towards Bruce. “Marinette’s a grown woman. She makes her own choices.”

           Dick shook his head, anger clear on his face, “Dude, you were my friend.”

           Damian snarled, “Harper’s a sneak and a coward.”

“No honor,” Cassandra agreed.

           Jason just looked at his best friend, “I love you…. But you’re dead.”

           Tim just growled.

“No one’s dead or dying,” Marinette said as got up. “Because I’m not pregnant,” She said loudly, drawing everyone’s attention. She walked to her boyfriend and pulled him out from behind his shield. “But Roy and I have been dating for almost three years. And we’re getting married. You can be happy for us. Or I can never talk to you again.”

           Roy grinned, “Pops,” he said to Oliver, whose face was torn between relief and fury at it was prank. “We thought you and Bruce could be the main wedding planners. With the rest of the Queens and Waynes helping out; you know now that we’re going to be family. ”

           With that the two lovebird left the room, leaving the chaos they had created.

           Silence filled the room as Batman and Green Arrow stared at the other.

           Oliver gulped. He let out a breathy chuckle, “So I think a wedding in Star City would be great. Lots of Lilies. The Queen family loves lilies.”

           Batman’s eyes narrowed, “Gotham, roses.”

           Black Canary crossed her arms, “Star City would be safer.”

“Gotham is far more beautiful,” Tim snapped back.

           And just like that, battle lines were drawn. Justice League members’ face turned weary.

           Whether they knew it or not, that was Marinette and Roy’s last act of revenge.

           Forget Batman vs Superman.

           Try Bruce Wayne versus Oliver Queen: billionaire against billionaire, father against father. Elsewhere, thousands of journalist, photographers, florists, and caterers trembled and they didn’t know why.

[fishmongeringstudies]

eighteen ways to forgive yourself and one reason to try

anyone who had the happy misfortune of speaking to me in the last three months has probably, at some point, been treated to my now-established signature monologue about how my skin is clear, my crops are thriving, and the body living in my closet finally rotted away and was picked apart and carried off by ants. many facets of my life in the spring contributed to this impression. i was eating edible things. i was actively meeting people. i was waking up at the crackass of dawn (a/n: seven a.m.) and going for morning runs and drinking strawberry smoothies which cost even more than the disappointingly expensive boost smoothies of my early childhood. most of these things are, i understand, normal. i am under the impression that the average human being often meets other human beings at places with food and spends significant lengths of time conversing with them. but i am not like the other girls. i am not a girl. i am your coffee machine.

the problem with those freaky little before-and-after narratives that started as a trend on instagram and have since been adopted into the way we narrate our lives as a whole is that for the narrative to work, the before and after have to be really, really far away from each other. in order to create this distance, influencers have historically attacked the earth with shovels, construction vehicles, and shaving razors. but apart from the cost of renting a supersized claw machine and subsequently hiring someone to sit in it, one must also ask the question: why are you digging to begin with?

all of which is to say that i'm bored. i'm bored of being a freaky little human being. i no longer care if i go for weeks at a time without talking to anyone, and i fully intend to go for weeks at a time without talking to anyone because priorities shift, and last thursday (arbitrary) a bunch of mine tripped off the edge of the table and fell into the gutter and died. luckily we have a new gutter now and new earth around it, new flowers, new trees. terraforming in animal crossing is a privilege one unlocks after you trick k.k. slider into visiting your island. i have yet to unlock that achievement. for the time being, i am terraforming my soul.

what are this summer's priorities? priority one: not die from heatstroke (hard). priority two: write (less hard). you see this? there are no humans in this floor layout. i am trying to become god.

and that's what was wrong with spring. i thought spring was a step in the right direction, a step into the great unknown of self-care and personal improvement and half-an-hour-long white yoga mom meditation videos with ad breaks every three minutes. but it wasn't any of those things. i just got up one day and started walking in the other direction. around the same stupid houseplant. i have spent my whole life walking around this stupid houseplant.

metaphor: you spend your whole life walking around a houseplant. sometimes you see different parts of it and you think: wow, these are some cool leaves. other times you see wall and wall and wall and you think: wow, this is a wall. what i am trying to say is that life is both the cool leaves and the wall. life is many other things, too, like electric chainsaws and the niagara falls and half-baked cinnamon rolls which make you question the sanctity of life and specifically yours. life is not one photograph taken in front of marina bay sands in which your ass looks delicious and your skin is especially pink. life is falling out of the frame while trying to make your elbow look sexier than it's ever been before and tumbling down the stairs. life is breaking your leg.

in my happy spring monologue i told everyone i was miserable before i got to america, but things had changed and i was better now and would never live like that ever again. i was wrong. i didn't get better and i haven't gotten worse since spring left. i haven't gone anywhere. i'm still here with my fucked-up spine and my fucked-up sense of humor. a recent discovery: sometimes i want to spend every waking hour of my life in the presence of other people and happiness is the small conversations you have while waiting in line in the dining hall and every breath taken in the presence of another is a gift. other times i want to hole myself up in my room and hammer away at a google document until my fingernails fall off for ten weeks. sometimes i am lonely. other times i want to be alone.

before and after. yes and no. lies! social media is full of lies! i know this because i use social media. believe me. trust nothing you read on the internet.

today i wrote some, listened to podcasts some, and spent an ungodly amount of time on one of the same four puzzles i've been putting together and taking apart all summer. i didn't have a particularly enlightening conversation with anyone. fuck, i barely spoke to anyone at all. when i got bored of my puzzle i watched people wade through the sticky wet afternoon from my third-floor window. later on in the evening, two people met each other on the path leading up to my dorm. one of them took out their airpods and slipped them into their pocket, then held up their hand and waved. 'hi,' he probably said. his friend waved back. they paused for half a second to talk, two figures painted gold by a saccharine yellow sun, then gently parted ways.

life is beautiful. but life is beautiful no matter how you choose to live it. there is no way to optimize the human experience because humans have too many bones to keep track of. i am convinced some of mine go missing in the night and return at the crack of dawn (a/n: seven a.m.) before i wake, slipping into my open, snoring mouth and settling themselves back in their sockets. i am convinced that i have done nothing wrong.

spring was nice. i might have made something flower. i might have mowed one or two bodies down with a lawnmower. but this isn't singapore, this is america, and when you live in america, absurd as it may seem, the seasons actually change. spring died; i watched it happen. i was standing there when it took its last breath and the last of my people-loving peace vanished down the drain with it. spring died, and now making plans makes me anxious again. i'm inclined to horrible bouts of groundless negativity and being outside for longer than two hours at a time makes my head hurt. but i haven't taken any steps backwards, and i haven't fallen off a cliff. spring happened; i was there. i haven't lost the triumphs of spontaneity and fearlessness and joy and the long conversations had with people i no longer speak to. after all, i'm still walking around the same stupid houseplant in the same stupid apartment where the blinds in the kitchen are broken and the floorboards on the left side of the hallway creak and the houseplant in front of the speaker is dead but we all pretend it isn't anyway. it doesn't matter if you're standing in the storage room or on the living room balcony, watching people crawl like ants across the street below. it's still the same damn apartment. you're still the same damn clown. and you're killing it, babe, you're the star of the show.

06.07.21

[whorefordean]

lover x e.d

song fic based on the song lover by taylor swift

wc: 2.4k

pairing: ethan dolan x reader 

warnings: a few cuss words and a dirty(ish) joke 

requested: yes 

a/n I would like to sincerely apologize for not posting a fic or anything in months!! I have so many requests from June/July and I’m so sorry!  I promise I am going to try to write some more soon!! Anyways, enjoy!!

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

We could leave the christmas lights up ‘til january

This is our place, we make the rules

You were struggling with Ethan.  You had been begging him for months to do it.  But ever since you and Ethan got your own place, he had always talked about how your home needed character.  Which is why you were trying to force him to get up now.  

“Ethan c’mon.  We have to take them down today!” You scolded while pulling Ethan’s arm, trying to get him off the couch.  

“Why can’t we leave them up?” Ethan whined, not budging from his spot.  You groaned.  

“For how much longer, Eth?” You questioned.  

“Til January,” Ethan shrugged.  You laughed loudly, dropping his arm to cross yours across your chest.  

“It’s July, Ethan,” You pointed out.  

“We make the rules, babe,” Ethan smirked.  

You sighed and flopped back down beside your boyfriend.  

“I can’t believe you,” You mumbled out.  

And there's a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you, dear

Have I known you twenty seconds or twenty years?

Ethan wasn’t always like that, though.  Before you guys had gotten close, and into a relationship, Ethan was more lowkey about expressing himself.  It was alluring, really.  He was so mysterious and closed off when you met him at the beach one night.  

“Shit, sorry,” he said.  You just laughed and shrugged.  The guy laughed awkwardly, trying to recovers from the trip he had just taken into your side.  

“It’s cool.  We haven’t even met, and you’re already falling for me,” you teased the boy in front of you.  He laughed nervously, and you were quick to notice the blush across his face.  

“Y/n,” you introduced, extending your hand out for him to shake.  

“Ethan,” the boy smiled, shaking your hand gently.  

The two of you talked for hours that night.  You watched the sunrise together.  

“Can I tell you something, but you can’t laugh at me?” Ethan asked quietly, breaking the comfortable silence that settled over the two of you.  

“Already in love with me, E?  I just met you a few hours ago,” you teased.  Ethan laughed softly.  

“Wow, you really do know everything about me now, don’t you?” Ethan joked back.  

The two of you laughed together for a moment.  

“Honestly, I feel like I’ve known you my whole life, y/n,” Ethan confessed as you settled down.  

“Ditto.” 

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close forever and ever?  

“Wanna hang out?” you asked Ethan through the phone.  

“I have to run errands today,” Ethan responded.  You could hear the gloom in his voice, and your shoulders slumped.  

“Can I come with?” You asked hesitantly.  You waited in silence for a few seconds.  Just as you were about to shut down your own idea, Ethan answered.  

“I’ll be there in ten.”  

So, ten minutes later, you were sitting in the passenger seat of his car on the way to the grocery store.  

You both spent an hour annoying each other and trying to embarrass the other in the store.  After nearly getting kicked out, you and Ethan were walking back to the car with a buggy full of bags.  

“Can we always be like this?  This close, I mean?” You asked.

“Always,” Ethan smiled.  

And ah, take me out, and take me home

You're my, my, my, my lover

You laughed quietly into Ethan’s chest as he pulled you closer.  

“Why are you laughing at me?” Ethan asked playfully.  

“When you asked me out this is not what I was expecting,” you let out between giggles.  

Ethan had finally asked you out on a date after months of flirting.  You were ecstatic when he asked, and you were sure he knew that with how quickly you answered before he even finished the question.  

Your date had started off pretty normal.  Ethan took you to dinner, then the two of you decided to skip the movie and go for a walk in the park.  What neither one of you expected was getting stuck in the piss pouring rain.  And, better yet, Ethan decided it was the perfect time for dancing.  

You couldn’t be too mad, though.  Ethan looked so young and carefree as he laughed while spinning you around in the middle of the empty park.  

And Ethan couldn’t be bothered to care that his car would be soaked, and you’d both likely end up with colds.  He couldn’t be bothered to care about those things when your cheeks flushed red as he whispered sweet compliments into your ear.  He watched in aw as you threw your head back, laughing at some stupid joke he had executed so horrendously.  

We could let our friends crash in the living room

This is our place, we make the call

“How did you manage to drag me into this?” You questioned your boyfriend as you dragged him into the kitchen away from the thumping bass in the living room.  

“What do you mean?” Ethan asked, playing dumb.  Honestly, you weren’t even sure he was playing.  

“Everybody’s drunk, E.”

“Okay?”

“How are they getting home?” 

“You really are the mom of the friend group, y/n.”

“Ethan, be serious.”

“I am.”

You huffed at the man standing in front of you.  You crossed your arms in front of your chest, causing Ethan to mock you and do the same.  

“What are we supposed to do, Ethan?” You begged for an answer.  Ethan thought for a moment.  

“They can sleep in the living room!” Ethan responded like it was some grand idea.  

“There’s no way you’re being serious,” you shook your head.  Ethan just smiled at you and nodded.  

“It’s our house.  We can let fifteen people sleep in our living room if we want,” Ethan shrugged.  You sighed.  

“You’re making the pallet.”

And I'm highly suspicious that everyone who sees you wants you

I've loved you three summers now, honey, but I want 'em all

“You can’t seriously be mad at me, babe,” Ethan laughed as you walked into your shared home.  

“This isn’t a laughing matter, Ethan,” you huffed out while kicking your shoes off at the door and flinging your purse onto the table beside the door.  

You were irritated, to say the least.  You and Ethan had decided to go to your favorite diner down the street after having a rough week at work, and the waitress was getting a little too flirty with Ethan. 

“It’s really not a big deal, honey,” Ethan reassured you as he pulled you into his chest.  

“You didn’t see the way she looked at you, E.  She was practically drooling onto my fries,” you mumbled into Ethan’s chest while wrapping your arms around him.  

“I only have eyes for you, honey.  I’ve only had eyes for you for three years,” Ethan whispered the last part into your ear softly.  

“Good, cause I want ‘em all,” you whispered back.  

“You’ll have them all,” Ethan smiled while twisting the engagement ring that had recently been slipped onto your finger by the man himself.  

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close forever and ever?

And ah, take me out, and take me home (forever and ever)

You're my, my, my, my lover

“Cam, please just let me go see him,” you had begged the older Dolan standing in front of you.  

“Y/n, I am not letting you sneak off to see, Ethan.  It’s bad luck to see your groom before the wedding.  Plus, it’s only one night.  I think you’ll survive,” Cameron teased you.  You groaned causing her to laugh at you.  

“We don’t have to tell anybody,” you huffed under your breath.  Cameron rolled her eyes and shook her head.  

You flopped onto yours and Ethan’s shared bed and sighed.  

“Cam, I’m always with him.  I miss him,” you admitted.  Your eyes had begun to water as a wave of emptiness settled over you.  It felt wrong to lay in your bed without Ethan there beside you.  The two of you truly had been connected at the hip since you met.  

“Hey, y/n, it’s okay.  It’s just one night.  Then, you’ll never have to spend another night without him,” Cam comforted you.  

“I’m such a crybaby, holy shit,” you laughed at yourself as you wiped your eyes.  

“If it makes you feel better, Gray texted me and said Ethan has been whiney all day,” Cam grinned, nudging your shoulder.  

“Can I at least call him?” you gave Cameron your best puppy dog eyes, knowing she’d cave.  

“Fine, but no FaceTime,” she groaned.  

You sat up way too fast, shaking the dizziness off as you grabbed your phone from the nightstand.  You clicked Ethan’s contact as fast as you could, and after two short rings, the call connected.  

“Oh, thank god,” Ethan sighed, “I thought I was gonna go crazy.”  

“Cam finally caved,” you giggled as Cameron rolled her eyes beside you, a soft smile resting on her lips.  In all honesty, she loved how in love you and Ethan are.  

“I was fully convinced I would murder Grayson if I didn’t talk to you tonight,” Ethan confessed.  

You laughed at Ethan.  The two of you talked for hours.  Eventually, Cameron had fallen asleep in the guest room, and you settled into Ethan’s side of the bed.  

“Can we always be this close, Ethan?” you asked, barely audible.  

“Always,” Ethan replied before telling you to sleep well.  

“Big day tomorrow,” he’d remind you, sending a smile to your face, knowing that the same time the next night you’d be Mrs. Dolan.  

Ladies and gentlemen, will you please stand?

With every guitar string scar on my hand

I take this magnetic force of a man to be my lover

“It’s not too late to back out,” Ethan whispered into your ear as the priest started the ceremony.  

“Ethan, don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet,” you teased back.  You could never be scared of Ethan leaving you at the altar.  The two of you had talked about marriage for years.  There’s no way you’d ever leave each other.  

“Y/n, do you take Ethan Grant Dolan to be your lawfully wedded…” the priest continued.  You smiled at the thought of spending the rest of your life with the man standing in front of you.  Ethan was grinning at you with small tears rolling down his face.  

“I do,” you whispered, only loud enough for Ethan to hear.  

“You may kiss the bride,” the priest spoke cheerfully, stepping away from you and Ethan slightly.  

Ethan quickly grabbed your face in his hands and pulled you in close.  Your hands were wrapped gently around Ethan’s wrists as he kissed you passionately.  Time seemed to stop and the loud roars were drowned out with the love coursing through you as you and Ethan kissed.  

My heart's been borrowed and yours has been blue

All's well that ends well to end up with you

Swear to be overdramatic and true to my lover

You and Ethan laid in the dark in your shared bed.  It was well past 3 am, and you could feel your eyes getting heavy.  Ethan was holding your hands in his, slowly tracing shapes onto the back of your hand.  You smiled as he drew a small circle on your hand.  

“Endless.  Like my love for you,” Ethan whispered softly.  

“You’re so cheesy, E,” you smiled at him in the dark, burying your face into his shoulder and breathing him in.  

“Just don’t wanna lose you.  Don’t wanna hurt again,” Ethan mumbled.  

“Never gonna lose me, love,” you reassured Ethan while pressing slow kisses to his shoulder.  

“Promise?” Ethan asked.  

“Am I not dramatic enough for you?  Do I not express my love well enough?” you playfully teased your husband.  

“Please, you could be an actress with your theatricals,” Ethan snorted.  

“Must I shout my love for you from the rooftops?” you continued.  

“Oh, please, y/n, not again,” Ethan groaned as you pulled yourself out of Ethan’s embrace and onto your feet.  

Ethan tried to grab you, but you were too quick.  Already halfway down the hall before Ethan made his way out of your room.  

“Y/n, people are sleeping! We have neighbors!” Ethan scolded as you slipped through the guest bedroom window and heaved yourself onto the roof.  You walked cautiously, waiting for Ethan to get up there with you.  

“I am in love with Ethan Dolan!” you shouted as loud as you could.  Ethan blushed and quickly pushed his hand against your mouth.  

You watched as a light from the house across the street flickered on.  

“Oh shit,” you whispered, causing Ethan to snort.  

“Again, y/n?” your neighbor, Mrs. Dott, the sweet old lady who baked you cookies every Friday, called out to you.  You giggled softly at her teasing words.  

“Always,” you called out in response to her.  

“Young love,” you heard her mumbled faintly before turning around and going back inside.  

And you'll save all your dirtiest jokes for me

And at every table, I'll save you a seat, lover

“Ethan, it’s not gonna fit,” you huffed out.  

“You know we always make it fit,” Ethan smirked and grabbed your hips.  

“Now is not the time for your dirty jokes, Ethan,” you huffed, still trying to adjust the  Christmas tree in the corner of the living room.  

“But I love watching you blush,” Ethan teased while poking your cheeks and leaving a few kisses down your neck.  

“Not now.  We have to set everything up,” you scolded.  Ethan raised his hands in defense and helped you with the decorations.  

“Why did you wait so long to start decorating?” Ethan asked.  

“It’s a magical thing called procrastination, Ethan,” you mumbled back.  

A few days later, Grayson, Lisa, and Cameron were talking in your living room as you and Ethan quickly finished cooking dinner.  

“Dinner’s done,” you called out to the three guests with a warm smile.  You and Ethan placed the dishes on the table.  You scooted the chair beside you an inch closer and slid it out enough for Ethan to sit down.  

Ethan smiled at you and placed a kiss to your forehead while tracing a circle onto your thigh.  You smiled back at him and gestured for everyone to begin eating.  

Can I go where you go?

Can we always be this close forever and ever?

And ah, take me out, and take me home (forever and ever)

You're my, my, my, my

Oh, you're my, my, my, my

Darling, you're my, my, my, my lover

[jarienn972]

La Sirena - Chapter Ten (Epilogue)

Captain Swan Supernatural Summer 

(that’s finally being completed in winter)

We have reached the finale of this @cssns tale at last. This has been such a fun and challenging experience trying to build this universe, and I hope that readers have found it enjoyable as well. Thanks for all of your lovely words and feedback along the way!

I thank you, @kmomof4, for all of your assistance and input. You rock as a beta!  And @courtorderedcake​, thank you once again for the beautiful artwork that really brought to life the imagery of the opening chapter!

And now, back to the story... Here, we pick up moments after a stubborn and confused Killian pretended to be asleep to avoid his brother. He’s about to get a wonderful surprise...

Catch up from the beginning here on Tumblr: One  Two  Three  Four  Five  Six  Seven  Eight  Nine  Or read in full on AO3 or FF.net

The instant that Killian was certain that Liam was out of earshot and wouldn't be present to scold him for faking sleep, his eyelids sprang open wide to behold the most wondrous sight. Perched in the chair just to his left was the very same angelic vision he'd first laid eyes on back on that deserted beach days ago. She looked different with her long, gilded tresses pulled back by a ribbon and seemed a bit more diminutive while wearing a vastly oversized sailor's white uniform tunic and navy woolen trousers but he knew for certain it was her.

But how? How was he gazing upon a beautiful siren here in his own quarters? How could she be here and still be real?

"Emma? It's you!" he exclaimed, trying to sit upright to greet her properly despite the pain. "What are you doing here? How are you even here, Love?

"One question at a time," she chuckled as she reached over and placed her hand atop his forearm to urge him not to move. The moment her fingers brushed his skin, he felt a tingle pass through his entire body - one that was warm and tender. His heart was suddenly racing, but it was no longer driven by fear or anxiety. He welcomed her touch, her presence. "I'm here because this is where I belong and it would seem that even the gods agree."

"But you're a siren. I thought your home was those isles and the surrounding seas? I thought you couldn't leave without…" His voice trailed off before he could say sacrificing your powers.

Her demeanor rapidly switched from jovial to serious at Killian's off-handed, yet important questions. Her eyes avoided his for a moment, then recaptured his gaze with an intensity he'd not seen from her before. There was a new melancholy about her as she took in a deep, reflective breath before responding.

"That cove was no longer my home. In truth, it was far more of a prison for longer than I care to remember. I thought I was happy alone when I left the ranks of the siren council, but I had no idea how wrong I was - until you floated into my bay." Killian's jaw gaped in stunned silence as he watched the tears begin to well in her eyes, but she shushed him when he tried to reply. There was more to her confession that she needed him to hear before he could respond properly. "I may have rescued you from drowning that fateful day, but it was you who rescued me from an eternity of loneliness. And then watching my sister attempting to harm you only strengthened my resolve…" She paused to take a breath, unsure how he was going to react to her next words. "I guess what I am trying to say is that I am here right now on this ship, wearing these ridiculous garments because I knew I couldn't let you go. I risk sounding like a fool right now, but there is something I must confess. I love you, Lieutenant Killian Charles Arthur Jones of His Majesty's Royal Navy. Nothing in my entire lifetime has felt as right as the days I spent with you, and because of that, I asked the mighty Poseidon to make me human so that I could accompany you."

"Emma… I…," he stammered, his thoughts an incoherent jumble.

Her jaw wavered as she dipped her head, almost ashamed of her utterance. "I'm sorry if I've upset you, but after all we've been through these past days, I believed you should know the truth. I do understand if you do not feel the same as I do."

Ignoring his body's cries of pain, Killian threw off the blanket and forced his protesting limbs to sit upright, swinging his legs over the side of the bunk so he could position himself close enough to her that he could cup her cheek in his palm and brush away a tear with the pad of his thumb.

"Emma, there is no need for tears," he assured her. "While I will admit that your revelation to be a siren - and all of the events that followed - were a tad horrifying, I still knew I would gladly spend the remainder of my years stranded in that cove with you. But you, you gave up being a siren - being immortal - for me?"

"What good was being immortal if it meant losing you?" she said with a sniffle just as Killian leaned forward to capture her lips with his, neither of them even caring if Liam were to reenter Killian's quarters right then and there. For a brief moment, the universe was theirs alone until Killian's protesting rib cage caused him to reluctantly pull away, but not without more questions.

"But my brother and the crew, they didn't suspect you to be any less than human? Liam, he addressed you as Miss Swan? Since I don't believe that sirens have family names, wherever did that come from? Whatever did you tell them whilst I was incapacitated?"

"No one suspects me to be a siren, if that is your worry. Once your fellow crew members reached the cove to rescue you, I had to tell them something, so I led them to believe that I was a fellow prisoner from the sunken pirate ship. They believe that the pirates attacked my family's vessel prior to abducting you on that isle of Neverland you spoke of. It isn't as though any of them could corroborate my story with your captors. The crew also collected several damaged trunks and weathered chests that had washed up on the shore, believing them to be part of the stolen loot from the sunken ship. I happened to notice that there was a swan's head carved into one of the wooden trunks so as I boarded this vessel, I introduced myself to your captain as Emma Swan. Do you believe I should have chosen something else?"

Killian chuckled at the thought of her thinking up a surname on the spot. "I don't think anyone will make the connection. I kind of like it. You're beautiful and graceful like a swan. It suits you."

"Thank you," she blushed. "I hardly feel beautiful in these borrowed clothes. This fabric, it is rather unpleasant."

"I'm sure we can find you some attire more suitable for a lady when we next make port. Women aren't common on the high seas. There's an old legend that they're unlucky."

"What nonsense," she muttered with a frown. "But no matter. I have it on good authority that no harm will come to this ship. No creature of the seas would dare challenge Poseidon's edict."

"I still don't understand how this is possible. How does my brother not know that the expedition to the uncharted island went horribly wrong? He wants to award me a bloody commendation that I don't deserve. They think I've lost my mind."

"This will need to be our secret, but the events as you remember them never actually transpired," she stated, which of course left Killian befuddled. He opened his mouth, prepared with a barrage of questions, but she raised a hand to shush him, wanting to explain what she meant before letting him speak. "I know you will have many questions, some of which I will never be able to answer, but in simple terms, Poseidon modified all of the events that led up to your brother's ship arriving to rescue us from the cove. Everything that transpired remained in the same order, but not in the same manner. You still encountered the pirates on that island, they still took you prisoner, and the sirens still laid siege to the ship before it ran aground and sank, but Poseidon changed the scope of each event and allowed your brother's ship to pursue the pirate vessel to locate you. Your injuries were all believed to have come at the hands of your pirate captors and during the escape from the sinking vessel. They have no reason to suspect otherwise."

"But what about my crew? Does no one remember their sacrifices?" he queried anxiously, afraid that those men's lives had been lost in vain.

"Some of them were never there, never set foot on the island. Others were there but their fates were changed by the modified events," she explained, although her words did little to alleviate his confusion. "In this revised timeline, there was no actual battle with those scoundrels. You alone were captured by the pirates. I have no way else to explain, but essentially, Poseidon changed how your history played out. No one beyond our realm will ever know of the version you lived through."

His jaw remained slack as he shook his head and tried to come to terms with a turn of events that was nothing short of miraculous. "But how? Why?" he stammered. "Why would he do such a thing?"

"He said I reminded him of his daughter, Ursula, and he recognized your good heart - much like the man Ursula fell in love with so long ago. He knew you'd been wronged, as had I, and he wanted to put things right. He granted my wish to become human and accompany you, and brought your brother's ship into the bay so you could be saved by your kind."

"Do you know what became of your sister?"

"Not all. I do know that she had her powers revoked for abusing them and that she was made mortal, although not by choice in her case. I don't know if Poseidon turned her human or made her a permanent creature of the sea, and in truth, I don't care. I've made my peace with it. Now, all I wish is to be with you, if you'll have me."

"I wish for nothing else," he replied with a beaming smile. "I just don't know what sort of life I can provide for a former siren… There's so much out there…"

"And I want to experience it all!" she exclaimed giddily as she gestured towards the faded map of Britannia that Killian had pinned to one of the beams lining the walls of his cabin. "I know little of the world beyond our isles. If my time is now finite, I want to see and experience as much as possible! I want to visit these other lands and sail the other seas…"

Killian chuckled at her enthusiasm, not really sure what would be physically possible, but hey - after surviving several harrowing encounters with mythical beings and living to tell the fantastical tales, he was open to adventure.

"Whatever your heart desires, Emma. Whatever your heart desires is what I want for you," he repeated as he pulled his siren - his beautiful angel - in for another heartfelt, lengthy kiss, almost certain that he felt a surge of energy embrace them both.

A few years later…

It was a perfect morning. Only a few wispy clouds broke up the brilliant blue skies as gentle ripples made their way across the serene harbor. Crew lowered and secured the huge canvas sails of the Jewel of the Realm as Liam oversaw their arrival at the dock. His sailors worked like a well-oiled machine performing their tasks, which was a good thing since their Captain might have been a tad distracted.

Instead of supervising lines being tied off, Liam was scanning the shoreline in search of something - or rather, someone. He'd made sure to send out correspondence through courier when they last made port making sure that Killian was aware the Jewel was on its way to the port of Misthaven where they'd agreed to rendezvous.

He hadn't been particularly overjoyed when Killian had decided to resign his commission upon return to Britannia, but if he was honest, the decision hadn't come as much of a surprise. His little brother had endured a harrowing experience, one that Liam knew he could never fully understand. In the process, he'd formed a bond with the lovely Swan woman and Liam had seen all the signs that Killian had fallen head over heels in love and feared lengthy deployments at sea that would keep him apart from his love.

Liam also had to admit that he was a little envious of his brother, but it was clear that while Killian loved the sea, his calling wasn't a career in His Majesty's Royal Navy. He knew that his sibling had taken up as captain of a merchant ship, but since it had been nearly a year and a half since he had last seen Killian, he was curious to see how his brother was faring in his new pursuits.

"Ahoy, brother!" he heard a shout from the pier and off in the distance, he spotted his sibling waving like a fool. And was he wearing black leather?

Once the Jewel was safely moored, Liam gave out his instructions for crew liberty and then made his way down the gangplank with dozens of rambunctious sailors at his heels. He chuckled as they darted past him, scurrying along the pier on their way to one of the local taverns. At least one of them would likely end up spending a night in the brig for overindulgence, but Liam couldn't be bothered with that right now.

His brother awaited him at the far end of the pier, casually leaning against a stone pillar with his foot propped up on an overturned barrel. It was a far more confident stance than Liam recalled when they'd last seen each other, but it was Killian's attire that spoke volumes about his newfound fortitude. He'd not expected to find Killian sporting an ebony leather duster that hung to his knees atop of a bold crimson waistcoat and black woolen trousers that, even from a distance, appeared to be far softer than Liam's own scratchy uniform. Killian clearly seemed to be happy and must have been doing well for himself to afford such luxuries.

"You look well, brother," Killian greeted him.

"As do you," Liam replied, pulling his younger sibling into an embrace and patting him heartily on the back. "Whatever are you wearing?"

"Ah, this…," Killian smiled as he took a step back so Liam could take in all of the elaborate detail on the coat which included embroidered cuffs and lapels along with silver clasps and carved bone buttons. "This was a gift from Queen Ava. The circumstances behind how it came to be is a rather long tale that I'll not bore you with since we've little time to catch up."

"Of course…," Liam responded, raising his eyes skyward with a shake of his head. Killian always seemed to have a new, unbelievable tale these days. "Where ever is that lovely wife of yours? I expected she would be here with you."

"She's waiting for us back on our ship. It's getting a tad more difficult for her to get around these days."

"So then, my new niece or nephew will be arriving soon?"

"Soon enough. Likely before the next full moon. It is why we'll be sailing back to the port of Arendelle, leaving the day after tomorrow," an excited Killian announced.

"Arendelle?" Liam questioned. "Why are you heading there?"

"We were invited by the Queen, and one simply does not turn down the invitation of royalty."

"You were invited by Queen Elsa?" Liam asked incredulously as they ambled along the cobblestone street towards another section of Misthaven's bustling harbor that was filled with smaller fishing boats and merchant ships. He tried to figure out which of the vessels was the one Killian now owned but he couldn't be certain.

"Queen Anna, actually," Killian corrected him. "Queen Elsa stepped down from the throne last year as she believed her more vivacious sister was better suited to handle the duties of the royal court."

"Alright, but that still doesn't explain how you secured a royal invitation."

"While sailing the Northern Isles last summer, we stumbled upon the wreckage of a galleon that had partially sunk in a narrow, rocky fjord. We explored it to see if there was anything worthy of salvage and located a chest containing a crown and other treasures that had been stolen from the Kingdom of Arendelle. We returned the riches to the castle and received a hefty finders fee for our efforts and Emma made fast friends with the Queen. We've made several visits back to Arendelle and have kept in correspondence with the royal family. As soon as Queen Anna learned that Emma was with child, she extended the royal invitation to come join them in the castle. She's already arranged a midwife for Emma, and has said we're welcome to stay as long as we wish. Can you imagine - living in a castle? I would never have thought it possible…"

"I'm very happy for you, Killian, and very proud of you as well. For someone who believed himself a failure not so long ago, you seem to have fortune smiling upon you."

"It hardly seems possible, brother. I feel like the luckiest bloke in all the world," Killian gushed, stopping at the bottom of the gangplank of a decent sized ship with a single towering mast. It was far more compact than the Jewel, but still large enough to carry crew and cargo comfortably. "Here we are. This is our lovely lady, La Sirena."

"Beautiful vessel. Interesting choice of name though. What led you to christen her after such a creature?"

"Oh, I have my reasons," Killian smirked. "But anyway, here's Emma now." A broad smile lit up Killian's visage as he stared up at his wife who was leaning over the railing on the deck above them. "It's almost unfathomable how I ever got so lucky that the gods would send such an angel to watch over me." Emma didn't say a word herself but the smile that stretched from ear to ear across her own face seemed to echo his sentiment.

But then maybe she suspected that the love that blossomed from a heart that was true and good was worth far more than a little bit of luck.

[nurseanddex]

1/2 fluff and nurseydex for the prompts please!

Oh my god thank you so much for this prompt because it hard core inspired me to produce some of the most tooth rotting fluff of my life!

Send me a prompt and a pairing from one of these lists if you feel so inclined, just please specify which list it’s from! :)

Prompts: “how much did you drink?” and “aw, you’re so cute.”

Will Poindexter forgot one very important thing during a long summer away from Samwell. Tub juice was magically malicious.

Somehow, despite the truly obscene amounts of so many different kinds of alcohol used in its creation, tub juice didn’t taste like alcohol. It just tasted like juice. This particular batch tasted vaguely like fruit punch, only the slight bite of the aftertaste betraying the staggering amount of alcohol contained inside.

Which is why during the first kegster of his junior year, Will was three and a half glasses of the disturbingly lime green concoction in when he was suddenly hit by the tub juice all at once. Will was no lightweight, but his now drunken brain recalled Shitty once saying that tub juice could probably knock a bear off its feet if it drank enough. He felt himself start swaying, his balance disturbed by the effects of the alcohol. His legs didn’t seem to want to keep him upright anymore, so he started making his way to the edge of the room where he could lean against a wall and let it do most of the work. Slowly and extremely unsteady, he had almost made it when his foot caught on the corner of the stupid couch.

Will barely had time to register that he was going down before a strong arm had snaked around his waist, arresting his fall and pulling him back upright, into a surprisingly firm chest. He felt the heat rise in his cheeks when he realized, after far too long to play off as accidental, that somehow his hands had wound up positioned on his hero’s insane pecs and abs. And he had spent the last ten seconds essentially feeling him up. Panicking, he tried to pull away but over corrected, losing his footing. He would have fallen were it not for the tighter than strictly necessary grip that his hero had on his waist.

“I thought I was supposed to be the clumsy one, Poindexter,” a familiar voice declared in his ear, struggling to be heard over the thumping bass beat of Ransom and Holster’s party playlist, still in use despite them having graduated. The blush on his cheeks turned fire engine red as his alcohol logged brain registered just whose arms he was in.

“Scuz you are,” Dex slurred, unable to bring himself to meet Nursey’s intoxicatingly green eyes, “You tripped on air an fell down the stairs at Faber, 'member?” Nursey laughed, and Dex could feel it ripple through his chest. He’d never hugged another man for this long before, and it was making his dumb unrequited little crush harder and harder to ignore.

“And yet, I’m not the one in a fight with gravity tonight.” Dex tried to wriggle free of Nursey’s grasp, but his limbs no longer appeared to be responding to his brain, making it futile. Nursey seemed to realize what he was trying to do and relaxed his grip, but still kept a hand on his waist to steady him.

“Seriously though, Dex, are you good? How much did you drink?” The concern in his voice surprised Dex. Sure, they had come a long way from the constant bickering of their frog year, but Dex would never have thought they’d become close enough for Nursey to worry about him.

“I din drink tha much.” Dex cringed when the words came out sounding as drunk as he felt.

“That’s what I thought,” Nursey chuckled. “Come on, lets get you upstairs.” He wound his arm around Dex’s waist again and gently maneuvered him through the crowded party and up the stairs to their room. He continued to hold Dex tucked closely into his side even away from the crush of the crowd, fumbling one handed with the key to unlock their door. Sober Dex would have spent ten minutes overthinking what that could possibly mean, but he did not have the mental capacity for that train of thought in his current state. After what felt like an eon, Nursey finally got the door open and deposited Dex down onto his bunk.

“Now, are you going to help me get you ready for bed, or am I going to have to undress you myself?” Nursey smirked, and damnit, Dex was blushing fire engine red all over again. He cursed the universe for his pathetic crush on Derek Nurse, and Nursey for managing to say all the right things to keep him from ever being able to get over it. Nursey had begun to unlace his sneakers, making Dex worried that maybe he was actually serious about undressing him. He tried to pull his shirt over his head, his poor gay heart would not survive being undressed by Derek Nurse.

Unfortunately for him, he somehow managed to get stuck. He could hear Nursey’s stupidly perfect laugh, muffled through the fabric, then suddenly gentle hands were easing his head and arms free. Nursey tugged the fabric away and then they were face to face in the darkness, Nursey’s lips distractingly close. Dex forced himself to breathe, trying desperately to think about literally anything else but kissing Nursey.

“You think you can handle it from here?” Nursey asked, not breaking eye contact until Dex nodded belatedly. Dex waited until Nursey had gone into the bathroom they shared with Chowder before struggling with his jeans. When he’d finally managed to fight his way free, he stumbled to the dresser for a clean pair of pajama pants. He was thoroughly impressed with himself for managing to pull them on and get back into his bed without incident. Nursey came out of the bathroom, the light illuminating him from behind and making him look like an honest to god angel descended from the heavens.

Aw, god, you’re so cute it’s insane, Dex thought, trying not to stare too hard at Nursey’s stupid chiseled abs.

Nursey froze.

The silence stretched on for a moment as Nursey stared at Dex in disbelief, and Dex could not understand why until-

“Fuck, did I say that out loud?” he cursed, praying to whoever might be listening that the ground would swallow him up immediately. Nursey nodded, walking over to sit on the floor next to Dex’s bunk.

“Did you mean it?” he whispered, the expression on his face unreadable. Dex briefly contemplated taking the out, blaming it all on the tub juice. But he was never going to have any peace living with Nursey if he never got over his stupid crush, so he steeled himself for the rejection and forced himself to meet Nursey’s gaze.

“Spossible I have a bit of a crush on you,” he admitted, and then Nursey was suddenly on top of him and they were kissing and Dex thought that this was maybe the best thing that had ever happened to him.

“God, Dex, I’ve had a thing for you for ages,” Nursey breathed, when they finally broke apart.

“Why would you ever-” Nursey shut him up with a hungry kiss that burned away every doubt before he could voice them.

                                                         ~~~

They woke up the next morning in a tangle of limbs to golden sunlight streaking through their windows. Somehow, Nursey was even more beautiful first thing in the morning, practically glowing in the sunshine. Dex snuggled closer, and Nursey sleepily pulled him fully into his arms, silent reassurance that the events of last night hadn’t been the product of a drunken dream.

“Hey, Dex?”

“What?”

“Did you know that when you blush it goes all the way down your chest?” Nursey laughed.

“Oh my god, I hate you. I hate you so much.”

“You do not, you loooooooooooove me.”

“I’m breaking up with you.” Nursey just gave him a gentle kiss in response, and Dex smiled against his lips. Maybe getting chirped within an inch of his life wasn’t so bad if it ended in kisses.