#and living permanently away from his parents and all the people he came to care about

[lloydfrontera]

if i think too long about the ending making lloyd leave the home he worked so hard to save behind along with the new found family he sacrificed his life for so he can move to a place he has no emotional connection to where he only knows two people (one of which is actually following him from the aforementioned home) in order to make him get a standard "have a wife and children" 'happy' ending i start wanting to bite people not gonna lie

[a-aexotic]

HEYYYY! So like every other mf on the planet right now I am in my hunger games era!!

Please could you write a Finnick x Reader where she is selected for the quarter quell (Maybe in her games she was lethal and killed like 10+ people?)

And when Katniss shoots the arena in catching fire she gets taken by the capitol (Like Peeta) and they torture her and shit? Then Finnick and her get there reunion she’s all like battered and bruided and it’s dead sad? Not sure if this made sense because i’m half asleep and dyselxic but let me know😭🤣

Maybe he says “It’s okay baby i got you” ??? x

hey of course i can! i hope u enjoy it babe <3 its a tiny bit long! my apologizes

cw's: angst, mentions of killing/dying, typical thg stuff, torture, ptsd, lmk if i missed anything

You were one of the youngest victors alongside Finnick, being only 15 and having won your games. You were also from District 4. You won the 68th Hunger Games, a few years after Finnick.

When you were reaped, Finnick and Mags were your mentors. Finnick came off as self absorbed and arrogant but once you started talking to him, the more you realized that was total bullshit. He wasn't how the Capitol portrayed him, he was much more caring and compassionate. He was very sympathetic to your situation, having gone through the same things.

During your time in the arena, you were one of the most ruthless tributes of all time. In the beginning, you were easily overlooked. The tributes weren't thinking that you were going to be much of a challenge because of your size and the way you carried yourself.

But that was exactly how you wanted to be portrayed. You tricked the Careers into thinking you were some naïve little girl, stabbing them in the back (literally) the first chance you got. The Capitol loved the turn of events, cheering you on.

When you had come back home, you had finally understood the intensity of what you had done. You had killed a whole group of people, ending their lives permanently. Those people had lives and family who loved them, and now they're gone because of you.

You suffered through months and months from never ending nightmares. Even getting consoled by your mother didn't help anymore; she doesn't understand. You didn't even feel worthy of food anymore.

You closed off Mags and Finnick when you had come home, driving yourself into isolation and depression. You rarely went out anymore, eating one meal a day and slept more than 80% of the day. Even sleeping couldn't mend the eternal tiredness you had, the void that filled your body.

Finnick had felt more than responsible for your pain. He gave you time before he realized he was just adding to your pain. Even when you didn't communicate back to him, Finnick visited you every day. He gave you advice and told you what he had went through after the Games as well. Eventually you opened up more to Finnick, and slowly, he had become your best friend.

He had told you that numbing it wasn't going to make it go away. He reminded you that you had him and Mags to help you with this process, and that you weren't alone despite of how you felt.

He helped you regain your sense of purpose again, your self image again. Finnick had singlehandedly helped you rebuilt your sense of self again.

He saw a part of you in him, that scared 14 year old boy who was trying to go back home to his parents. He never wanted anyone to feel that, especially you.

He promised you that he would never let anything bad ever happen to you again.

During your Victor's tour, Snow had suddenly deemed you desirable by the Capitol, wanting to sell you as he did with Finnick. Finnick couldn't risk getting involved, wanting to protect his family.

Every night in the Capitol, you were always consoled by Finnick. Every time you had to do a favor, you remember walking to Finnick's room to sleep, not baring the thought of having to sleep alone in the cold bed. He was always there, holding your hand comfortingly as you both slept.

The Capitol adored you both, nicknaming you the princess and prince of Panem. The more time you spent with Finnick, the more the media had speculated a relationship between the young victors.

You and Finnick had connected in many ways. Both having the same trauma, it was easy to talk to him and for him to understand how hard it was.

You and Finnick eventually got together a few years later, then getting married (in secret, of course) almost right after. You were both deeply in love.

Finnick found solace in the thought of always having you by his side, remembering that no one could tear you apart. That was until the Quarter Quell was announced.

You and Finnick were sitting at the edge of the couch, listening to Caesar's words carefully as he explained that this year's Hunger Games was going to be very different.

When it was announced that there will be only be Victors in this year's games, you heard dropped. You looked over at Finnick and he shared the same terrified look on his face.

--

When Annie's name had been called, you without any second thought, put up your hand. "I volunteer as tribute."

The crowd gasped and you looked over at Annie and you could tell she was a bit relived but still scared nonetheless. You immediately embraced her tightly, letting her let out a small sob. "It's okay, you're okay."

Mags looked just as terrified and you took her hand. When Finnick's name was called, you felt your stomach drop. Not only were you back in the arena, but you were with Finnick.

You looked over at Finnick and he looked prepared to fight. You both stood up and he grabbed your hand, raising it up in union.

The trainride to the Capitol was pretty uneventful. Finnick had wanted some time to think about the plan and so did you. A part of you knew what he was planning; he kill everyone else in the arena and then eventually himself, all for you.

As you sat on the bed, you felt the sadness and anger turn into numbness. No amount of crying was going to stop the Quater Quell and you had to be smart.

You didn't want to survive without Finnick. You were either winning with him or dying with him. Life would be meaningless without him.

Finnick knocked on your door slightly, before walking in. You looked up at him and he gave you a small smile. He took a seat next to and took your hand.

"I have a plan."

"Finnick, I know what you're thinking, and no. You're not killing yourself for me."

Finnick looked defeated. "One of us has to survive, Y/N. For Annie. For Mags."

You look a deep inhale, looking away from Finnick. "I don't want to life without you, everything would lose all it's meaning without you."

Finnick felt his heart burst into two pieces as he squeezed your hand. You felt your eyes watering again and you couldn't help but let out another quiet cry as Finnick pulled your head in, as he embraced you tightly.

"Shh, it's okay. I promise, I won't... I won't leave you."

--

It had all happened so fast, you couldn't even comprehend what had just happened. One moment, you were with Finnick trying to find Johanna and Katniss and suddenly there was big loud boom. You were relieved for a moment; Plutarch's plan had worked. Until you realized how far away you were from the others.

You were wandering, trying to find anyone until you heard people behind you. You turned and then you saw some unfamiliar faces; suddenly, your vision went black.

Then, you woke up in a white room. You felt like your stomach had dropped out of your body once the realization hit you; the Capitol captured you.

You were strapped down to a bed and you couldn't move or shake it off. The severity of the situation had hit you; even if by some miracle you did escape, where would you go? How would you find your way to 13 and back to Finnick?

You knew how ruthless the Capitol was to everyone who disobeyed them. Your worst fears had come true and there was no getting out of here.

You heard the door open and you saw some Peacekeepers come in and then you saw the person you dreaded to see most; Snow. You felt like your whole had come crashing down, how could this nightmare become any worse?

"Hello, Y/N."

You didn't respond, resorting to stare at the wall in front of you instead.

He tutted disappointedly. "Out of all the tributes, you were the one I expected least to be involved in this mess. You are the Princess of Panem... What a shame."

You still hadn't replied and you hadn't dared to look at Snow. Months and months you spent trying to heal the trauma he had caused you, you were sure if you had to look at him now, you would break.

"I want to take mercy on you, dear Y/N. If you tell me everything you know about the rebellion, I will make sure the Peacekeepers are gentle with you."

You shook your head. "No."

He let out a small chuckle. "Sorry, I couldn't hear you. What?"

"No." You said again, louder.

He hummed in disapproval. "Okay then, you leave me no choice. You are going to regret this."

He nodded to the Peacekeepers and walked out of the room. You were then met with Peacekeepers, loosening the straps then taking you to another room.

If Snow knew one thing about you, it was that being only physical with you wouldn't hurt you enough. He had to hit you were it hurt most.

They threw you in the seemingly vacant room and immediately locking it. You were confused until you heard it.

"Y/N, help me!" Finnick's voice screamed. "Please, help me! Get up and do something, they're killing me! Please."

You looked everywhere in the dark room, trying to find the source. It kept going.

"Y/N, please! Help! What the hell are you doing, just sitting there? You are such a disappointment!" The voice started shouting. "We should've just left you to died in the arena! You are useless!"

Now this was something new. Your body was filled with panic and fear and even though you knew it was fake, you felt like you were going to throw up from all the noise.

Suddenly, Annie's voice came in as well. Then Johanna's. Then your mother's. There was nonstop noise filled with screams for help, shouting with disapproving messages. Your body couldn't handle it; it was so overwhelmed with fear that you started shaking on the ground, putting your hands on your ears but that did little to nothing.

You wanted it to stop. It was too much, you were trembling. It felt like days, just sitting there in that room listening to all those demeaning voices of your loved ones. You couldn't even think straight anymore.

It was so bad you had started to pound your head on the ground, screaming and crying. You had have enough. And then, it all stopped. Silence was foreign for you; your ears were ringing.

You were sitting on the ground, almost lifeless as the Peacekeepers took you away. Your eyes hurt from the tears, your body sore, your ears ringing and your head was pounding.

But you knew that was just the beginning.

--

You were asleep in bed and you were awakened by the door opening, you instantly jolted up. You looked over to see a group of masked men in front of you and you had started to tremble again, silent tears rolling down your face, thinking that the Peacekeepers had come again.

"No, no, no." You started to mumble to yourself.

A man came up to your and took your bruised hand slowly, rubbing it gently in silent empathy. That was the first soft touch you'd felt in a few weeks and it almost stung.

"It's okay, you're safe now. You're going to 13 now."

You had to blink a couple times, trying to process what he said. Was this a dream? You went to pinch yourself but it was real life.

He then helped you up but you couldn't help but stumble; your legs were weak, you couldn't remember the last time the Peacekeepers let you walk for this long.

As you got into the hovercraft, you saw Annie. Your eyes widened as you both ran up to each other, embracing each other. She had started to cry a little bit and so did you.

That was when it hit you. You were going to see Finnick. You were going home. You started crying into Annie's shoulder as she held you. "We're safe now, we're safe."

You had seen Johanna as well but she didn't seem too responsive. Neither did Peeta. You fell asleep on Annie's shoulder on the ride back and for the first time, you actually felt yourself drifting off calmly.

--

There were lots of doctors and nurses looking at you and asking you all sorts of questions and you tried your best to answer them. You were still in shock; you were safe. They couldn't hurt you anymore.

"Y/N?" You turned around to see Finnick. You immediately got up from the examiner's table and ran into his arms, your eyes starting to water up again.

"Finnick," you sighed slowly. You pulled away, putting your hands on his face and touched him as if he wasn't real.

"Are you.. Are you really here?"

"Yes, I'm really here." Finnick looked at you and suddenly his voice transported you back into the dark room. You quickly twisted out of his embrace and his expression changed.

His voice was back and you heard all of the nasty things he had to you. You back away, stumbling into the examiner's table and your breathing became heavy. "No, no, no, please-please go away. No."

You slid down to the floor and you closed your eyes, putting your hands on your ears and rocking back and forth trying to get that voice to stop.

Finnick ran up to you and put his hands on your knees, trying to get you to look at him. His heart broke in half; he didn't know what the Capitol had done to you but now he knows it has something to do with him.

Of course the Capitol would try to ruin him. His eyes started to tear up at the sight of you, in so much pain and panic.

You opened your eyes, Finnick in front of you. You started to cry some more before Finnick slowly went up to you, wrapping his arms around you.

When he had started wrapping your arms around you, your instinct was to push him away but his warmth was welcoming and safe and you started to focus on his touch. The voices slowly drifted away, the sounds of your silent sobs only being heard.

You then gave into Finnick's touch, falling into him and putting your head in his chest as he caressed your back gently, shushing you.

"It's okay baby, I got you. You're safe now, they can't hurt you."

[wonderlandwalker]

Shining Bright | James Potter x Reader

Marauders Masterlist / Inbox

Summary: You and James reunite after the winter holiday, reminiscing old memories and stumbling into new ones. Except Sirius doesn't know you're dating yet, and James is not particularly good at hiding it anymore.

Content Warnings/Tags: Smut, fluff, angst kinda idk, Reader is Sirius' sister (how do I even tag that), 18+, hinting at abuse, simping, traumatizing bystanders, not proofread just go with it, no use of y/n, ignore any plotholes

Word Count: 4.0k

A/n: I listened to the hazbin hotel soundtrack on repeat while writing and I'm praying it doesn't show. This was gonna make this longer but then I got impatient so lemme know if you'd like more. Not kidding when I say it's not proofread this came straight out of my notes so sorry for any mistakes, will come back later to fix them xx

The black family siblings were all as bright as the stars they were named after, James knew this for a fact. Sirius was the brightest star in the night sky, scorching others with his light in a way you couldn't look away from even if you wanted to. Regulus, not as blinding as his brother, but shining in his own right amongst those who took the effort to look for the constellation he carried with him. And you, you were a puzzle James couldn't yet solve, the light luring him in like that spark people spend their lives looking for, never sure if they'll ever get to hold it.

After Sirius had been sorted into Gryffindor in his first year, your parents had been very strict about who you socialized with, not wanting any further damage to the oh so carefully crafted family image. Not that it mattered, you and Sirius found plenty of ways to talk, most people didnt care enough to snitch and the ones who did were familiar enough with what you both were capable of to watch their tongues. Sirius was more loud and proud in his defiance, living up to his namesake in the sky, but you were better at hiding it, playing into the part people expected. Yes, Sirius was a fallen star, and your parents had worried he’d drag you with him, but you only shined brighter in his absence, trying to make up for the light lost as if something wasnt permanently dimming it.

And that's exactly what he was worried about right now, because you were never really yourself after a holiday at the Black family manor, always a part of you left behind, a part dimmed. But James was your sun, always there shining bright enough to ignore anything else, because with his light you were never truly dulled. He had missed you, he had missed you so much, your relationship was fresh, but he had been head over heels from the first time you kissed. He had been replaying the memory in his head so often he could almost see it. 

You were slytherin’s head girl, just as he was gryfindoors head boy, and you had run into each other while doing rounds of the hallways. Typically this would be a job for the prefects, but for some reason the both of you had decided to take over their duties for the evening, you called it luck, James called it destiny.

It was simply banter while walking down the halls, and it was mostly at James’ expense, but he wouldn’t trade the moment for anything. He was loud with his body, moving his hands as he talked and sometimes kicking his feet ahead of him, but you were more quiet, more calculated. So James did what he always did, talk. “I had a dream once about a glass of strawberry lemonde except it was only as big as my pinky finger, and there was this duck who tried to keep stealing it from me.” You stop in your tracks as he finishes his rant, staring right at him. “Oh my god, I had the exact same dream.” “Really?” his eyes were wide as he saw your face change.

“Are you crazy, of course I didn’t.” You fell back into step and he hurriedly caught up with you again. “Well you never know, Sirius and I have the same dreams sometimes, I mean we’re basically brothers-”

“Does that make me basically your sister?” Your eyebrows were raised at him as you asked your question, and he had to do his best not to trip over his own feet as he answered.

“What, no!-” his face had turned bright red rather quickly, and you would probably never admit this to him, but you had found it quite endearing. “I don’t, I just don’t think of you as a sister, definitely not a sister.” Somehow you had turned him into a nervous wreck in under a minute, and you were quickly getting addicted to the effect you had on him, letting him tumble over his words further.

“Like, if I married you, Sirius would be my brother but you wouldnt be my sister, you know. Those two things don’t have to go togethe-” his thoughts slowly trailed off as he turned his head to look at you, a bright smile now evident on your face, and if this is how your face lit up, he’d gladly make a fool of himself for the rest of his life. “You’ve been thinking about marrying me?” Your head was turned up towards him, challenging him to continue his train of thought. He looked frantically around him as if searching for an answer, hiping the right thing to say would magically appear, but of course it didnt. “What, of course not, I don’t wanny marry you. Wait- no i mean, hypothetically I would but-” “You can relax James, I’m just messing with you” Your shoulders were slightly shaking, suppressing laughter he was desperate to hear. “Right” The tension seeped out of him right as he started laughing himself, and it was so infectious you couldnt help but join him in it.

The two of you fell into an effortless silence as you continued, and James was about to break it before you beat him to the punch. 

“You know, right now would be a great moment to kiss me” he was sure he would get whiplash from the way his head turned towards you. The look on your face didnt give anything away, and for a moment he had wondered if he had made it up. “If that's the sort of thing you’d want to do” you were looking down at your shoes now, roles reversed as you had become the nervous one, and for another moment he just stared at the blush creeping up on your face before he realised he should probably say something, anything. 

“Don’t you think this is wrong? '' Alright, maybe that wasnt the right something to say, but he genuinely pondered before you put his worries to rest. “dont you think that’s up to us to decide?” You were looking up to him now, eyes enchanting him with a single glance.

“If Sirius finds out-” “I won’t tell if you don’t”

“Well- “James, do you want to kiss me or not?” “Merlin, yes.” with that the last of James’ self control was lost, and he pushed you into the wall behind you as his lips found yours, dedicated to explore you for as long as youd let him. You melted into the kiss just as quickly, leaning your body into him as he pressed up against you. James was eager with everything he did, and this was no exception. His hands didnt know where to go, never staying still for long as they roamed your body, you couldve sworn they were little rays of sunshine, lighting you up everywhere he touched. Your own hands found their way to the nape of his neck, tugging at some hair, resulting in a small moan leaving him, and after the taste you were desperate for more. James found himself in a similar situation, completely forgetting his surroundings as his mouth made its way to your neck, trailing kisses down from by your ear to your pulse point until you were silently moaning his name, begging him not to stop, not that he’d ever dare to. 

He continued his assault on your neck, his hands trailing up higher and higher underneath your shirt, longing to feel more of you, you tugged at his hair again and led him back to your face, connecting your lips once more, this time more sloppy, your patience completely gone. 

James was ready to drop to his knees for you, and he would have if he didnt hear someone nearly shriek behind him. He turned around, coming face to face with a second year Hufflepuff who looked close to fainting, stuck in place at the corner she had just turned. 

“Shit” he mumbled as he leaped forward, not sure whether to comfort the girl or scold her for being out past curfew. As James looked back at you you were close to losing it, and he couldnt deny the humour of the situation himself. In the end the two of you walked the girl back to her common room, not too worried about the situation with how in shock she seemed to be.

So yes, winter break had left him simply wishing to be near you again, and now he was so close he could almost already feel you in his arms again. He had debated telling Sirius, it would be so much easier, since he had moved in with the Potters a while ago and James was struggling to keep his yearning for you to himself, he was sure his parents had figured it out already, but simply choose to let him deal with it on his own for now. Everytime you send Sirius an owl he wanted to take him by the shoulders and shake him, hoping that information about you would fall out like loose change.But he knew Sirius couldn't know, he knew that. Everyone assumes it's James who can't keep a secret, always wearing his heart on his sleeve, but really that's only because he's never really had  a reason not to. Truly, it was Sirius who couldn't keep a thing to himself, once he knew, half of Hogwarts knew, he just couldn't stop himself from talking about the things that excited him, which was one of the qualities James so adored, but not one which would play in your favour at the moment. 

You were still living with your parents, still subject to their ways and while James had begged you to come live with him as well, you were hesitant. Hesitant to leave Regulus behind, hesitant to leave the life you had grown so accustomed to, even if it wasn't a good one. The both of you knew your parents would never approve, sure, James held the pureblood status, but it had lost its value the moment he harboured Sirius.

And so when the winter holiday came to an end and they once again reached Hogwarts, James was the embodiment of pure excitement. He was glad no one was questioning it, most likely brushing it off as joy at reuniting with his friends, which wasn't entirely untrue. 

For a little while he truly got lost in seeing everyone again, trading stories with Remus and Peter about what they had been up to, discussing pranks that needed to be set ij motion to make up for lost time, but when the start of term party took place and he walked down to the common room with the others he froze in his tracks, because there you were. For a split second he wondered if it had been a dream, he had been having them so often now, but Sirius rushed past him to envelop you in a hig so tight you spilled half of your drink over yourself, cursing at him in such a soft tone of endearment as you hugged him back.

"I've missed you, you know" Sirius was beaming at you, doing a quick double check of you, something James used to not think much about until je started doing it himself after he found the strange bruises none of you dared to speak of. 

"Yes Siri, I do know" you chuckled back at him, and in that moment all the worry disappeared.

"I've missed you too" 

The rest of the group caught up with the two of you, and it was Remus who first spoke

"It's good to see you back" he acknowledged with a small nod, not one for big gestures, but you had all learned it truly was the thought that counts.

"It's good to be back, now if you'll excuse me, I have to go change so there's no longer firewhiskey all over my shirt" You gave a pointed look at Sirius, but his antics were nothing new to you.

"Just use one of my sweaters so you don't have to go all the way back to the slytherin dorms, I have some extras upstairs" sirius nudged his head towards the stairs, you gave him a final hug as you moved to take him up on his offer.

As you walked by him James could smell the blend of vanilla and rosemary that was still there despite the liquor, it intoxicated him like a drug he was already hooked on, finally getting a fix of it after so long apart, and he had to remind himself not to grab you and kiss you right then and there. 

You disappeared from his sight as you went up to the dorms and it only took another second for James' brain to spring to action.

"I gotta go" 

"What, why? We just got here" he knew he would need a better excuse, but the fuses in his head weren't connecting.

" forgot my wand" is what splurged out

"Why would you need your wand we're-" thankfully it was Sirius's short attention span that came to the rescue, because the moment he saw Marlene he made a beeline to go see her. James wondered if he had it in him to explain his actions to Peter and Remus, but neither of them seemed to mind much, so he sprinted off to the stairs as well.

As soon as he got to his dorm, he reminded himself to knock, not wanting to startle you.

"Merlin Sirius, how am I meant to find anything in this mess?" James creaked the door open to see you rummaging through your brother's trunk, still looking for the sweater you had come up here to find.

"Why don't you just wear one of mine" even the idea of it already made James's head dizzy. Your head spun around as soon as you heard his voice, and for a moment the two of you simply stood there, looking at each other like a long lost treasure. But it didn't last long, because right after James crossed the room in record time, he took you in his arms, connecting his lips with yours as if you were his last source of oxygen. The kiss was heated and filled with lust from the both of you, and James could finally let himself go, finally let his thoughts out and make them reality once more.

That’s why he decided not to waste any more time as he gently nudged you towards his bed, making sure you wouldnt hit the headboard as the both of you laid down. He remembered the path he was trailing down your neck with his eyes closed, had remembered the way your breath hitched and your hips squirmed everytime he did so. All he had to do was follow the same signs and you were a mess underneath him in no time. His hands made their way up underneath your skirt, massaging the skin underneath his fingertips as he heard you moaning out his name, pleading for him to keep going, and he was more than happy to fullfill your request. He continued his way down until he came face to face with your whiskey stained shirt, not thinking twice before taking it off you, but from how you were quick to connect his lips with yours once more you didnt seem to mind. But James was a man on a mission, and it was not one he was willing to abandon. So he willed himself to ignore the whine that left you as he moved away from the kiss, knowing you’d forgive him for it soon enough.

He found his way to your chest and took in the sight for sore eyes you were to him, once again glowing underneath him. He was starting to suck bruises onto your skin, love marks he knew only he would see, and when he would next time he’d be just as eager to leave even more of them behind. Having you like this again, feeling the heat of your skin against him, your hands tugging at his curls as he could hear more and more moans slip out of you, it got him hard in his trousers simply thinking about all the things you’d let him do to you, all the things he’d do for you. He was rutting his hips into the mattress, desperate for the friction of it, his hands krept up further towards your cunt, inching further up until he could slide your underwear to the side and feel just how wet you were for him. His mouth was still busy on your chest as one of his fingers found its way inside of you, making you arch your back towards him. “Fuck darling, your pussy feels just as good as I remember” You wanted to reply to him, telling him how good he felt inside of you, his long hands reaching places you never could on your own, but your words failed you as just another moan left you, your exterior having crumbled down in a matter of minutes thanks to the one and only James Potter, but he seemed to know exactly what was going on.

“I know baby, I’ll take good care of you don’t worry”

He had never broken a promise before, and he wasn’t about to start now, he added a second finger, crooking them inside of you towards the one spot that would turn your vision white as if you were staring straight into the sun itself. If this had been any other moment you might have been embarrassed about how fast you were starting to reach your high, but James wasnt the only one who had been waiting for this, dreaming about seeing each other again, counting down the days. It took him only a little while longer, encouraged only further by your laboured breathing until he was sure he was about to reach his own climax simply from the sounds you were making underneath him as he coaxed you through it. But he didnt give you much time to recover, not letting you catch your breath as he went further down the bed until he could start kissing your thighs, giving in to the urge to bite some of the fat leading up to your cunt, it made you produce a small shriek, and it encouraged him even further.

So he wasted no more time, attaching his lips to your clit and lapping at it like a man starved, wanting to make you cum again, wondering how fast he could make you come undone again. His tongue hungrily took in all the juices from your previous orgasm and from the next one creeping closer and closer. His nose kept bumping against your clit as his mouth was now on your opening, not quite reaching the spots his finger could but oh so heavenly in a whole other way. He was dangerously close to his own high now, rather sure he’d reach it the moment you started spasming underneath him from the overstimulation. But he wasnt letting down just yet, doubling down on his efforts as he felt you grow restless, gracing his ears with whimpers and whispers reserved only for him. He could tell you were about to tip over the edge, knew you and your body well enough by now to see the signs before you even registered them yourself. “You can let go, I’ve got you” he accentuated his words with a soft squeeze to your inner thighs as he could feel you melt into him and took everything you would give him. 

“I’m pretty sure you just beat your record” you were breathless but you were already softly giggling as a wide smile broke on his face, proud of himself for his endeavors but furthemore proud of how he had been able to get you to let your walls down around him, how you had let him help you disassemble them brick by brick with each passing day. It was still early in the relationship, but James had never been so sure as to the fact that he loved you, because your presence made him shine even brighter than he already did, and he wasnt sure how much longer he could keep it contained. He moved back up the bed, caging you in with his arms as he leaned down to kiss you, no longer hurriedly or messy, but soft and delicate like the first rays of morning light.

Just as he did so however, someone came barelling in the room, and James cursed himself for not having locked it. 

“You better not be cutting one of my shirts into a tank-top again- holy fuck” Sirius very nearly landed face first into the hard wood flooring as he caught sight of the two of you before he he steadied himself on the dresser. The both of you shot up from your positions on the bed, and, ironically enough, approached him as one would a startled deer. “What in Merlin’s beard were you two just doing” He looked as if he was contemplating life itself, and you almost felt bad for him

“What, nothing, you’re drunk-” James tried to defend, but you were rather sure there was no way out of this one.

“I’m not drunk, I’m sober and that's the problem” He was flailing his hands around now, and it was hard to suppress the laugh bubbling its way up your throat. 

“Don’t laugh, this is not a situation to laugh at” he was trying to be stern, but it didnt quite suit him. 

“It’s alright Sirius, James and I have been seeing each other for a little while now” He was no longer shocked, no, his current expression better resembled being offended.

“And neither of you told me” he was nearly shouting now, but the party downstairs was loud enough that it didn’t really matter anyway.

“We haven’t told anyone, and youre not exactly the best at keeping secrets.”

“Excuse me, I’m great at keeping secrets, I never told you he’s had a crush on you since third year, but apparently I should have”

“Completely forgot I ever told you that” James’ shoulders had lost their tension as he stood next to you now, slowly reaching out for your hand.

“I will go now before either of you scar my eyes any further” Sirius said as he made his way back to the dorm door.

“Oi Moony, wait till you hear- fuck I can’t tell you” He had made a complete mood shift once more as he turned fuzzy, wanting to tell someone the news immediatly.

“It’s fine, Remus knows.” You tell him, interlacing your fingers with James’ in the meantime.

This time he looked betrayed again, halfway down the stairs already as you could hear him yelling. “You knew and didnt tell me?!” and it was faint, but you could make out Remus’ voice as well. “Of course I knew, I have eyes” The two of you looked at each other as he placed a simple kiss on top of your hair, a small gesture of affection that would become increasingly more common with time. He turned around briefly to grab something from his trunk  and before you could register it he had already asked, the shirt in his hand.

“Still gotta change your top, why don’t you take my jersey” It made your heart flutter as you slipped the item of clothing over your head and you went to follow Sirius downstairs, figuring this was as good a time as any to tell everyone.

[callsign-dexter]

Together Against the World

Request: ok love bare with me on this plz lol 😂

so I was wondering if you could write a hangman x sister reader?

like maybe the little sister is significantly younger than hangman but after some incident he got full custody of her (you can choose what happened) and maybe the dagger team don’t know until they see him playing with her on the beach so they go over and question him about it and he explains but they are all in shock (because who could not be after seeing someone like Jake with a kid) at first they think the reader is his kid but Jake explains that even though legally you are we are only his sister. Maybe even the reader falls and gets hurt and Jake goes into full on loving parent mode.

maybe the reader is like 5

anyways sorry for the word dump and this is 100% your choice sorry for my bad punctua

Pairings: Jake Seresin x Sister!Reader

Warnings: fluff, angst, car crash

Masterlist

Nobody ever thinks that a tragedy could happen to them until it does, they always think “That’ll never happen to me.” but the funny thing about tragedy is that it doesn’t care who you are. Jake ‘Hangman’ Seresin thought the same way until he got the news that his parents and his 1-year-old sister, you, were in an accident and it had instantly killed his parents and that he needed to come pick his sister up from the hospital in Texas. You had some broken bones and some cuts and bruises but you were ok. Jake had to go to court and fill out paperwork and go before a judge for him to get full custody of you considering that your sister had been in the picture for a while. Besides Jake wouldn’t let anyone else have you after all he was your favorite.

4 years later you were now 5 years old and living your best life with your brother and you wouldn’t have it any other way. Sure, you moved a lot but as long as you had Jake nothing mattered. Jake loves having you around and wouldn’t change a thing and it changed his life for the better. He hadn’t been picking up random chicks from the bar and his drinking was cut down considerably. Not many people knew about you and Jake liked to keep it that way, it was a way to protect you, the only people that knew about you were the ones that needed to know like the higher-ups in the Navy. Jake hated pulling you out of schools and shoving you into new ones but all that would change after this special detachment you had brought it up one night during dinner before the move. Jake had noticed you were quiet and that concerned him since you were a mini version of him.

“Jakey?” You asked as you pushed food around on your plate.

“Yes, Peach?” He asked you, Peach, a nickname that came from you eating and loving peaches.

“Are we ever gonna stay in one place?” You asked him, looking at him with green doe eyes. Jake stopped eating and looked at you.

“I promise after this special detachment I’m putting in a request for a permanent station.” He said and you nodded “Finish your supper and get ready for bed I’ll be up to read to you after I clean up.” He said and you nodded. You both finished and you were off to get ready for bed. As you were getting ready for bed and Jake was cleaning up, he began thinking to himself about how your whole life was uprooted. He hated that you couldn’t grow attached to babysitters or make friends because you ended up moving in a month after getting to the new station. He promised to himself that he would put in a request to stay at Top Gun just so you didn’t have to keep moving around. As he finished up putting food away and cleaning the kitchen, he headed upstairs in your rental base house and to your room. As he was walking, he was looking at all the boxes packed and ready to go and when he reached your room and saw all of the boxes that had yet to be unpacked, he felt sad and frowned but that didn’t last long because he looked at you smiling at him. He read to you until you were asleep and then he turned the light out and cracked the door. Jake didn’t go to bed right away, instead he sat on the couch and grabbed his computer and started to look at a house in lovely Miramar. He figured he would move a week before that way he could get you settled and buy some furniture. After an hour of searching, he found the perfect one close to the beach, base, and schools and they had good ratings. He smiled and requested an appointment to look at it when you both arrived there in the morning. Jake closed his laptop and got ready for bed himself.

The next morning, he was up bright and early moving boxes into his truck and the mini trailer had hitched to the back. When he got to your room, he was sure to be quiet and got all of the boxes and then he decided to wake you up. “Hey, Y/N/N. Time to wake up. You can sleep in the truck.” He said and he heard you groan but you woke up and rubbed your eyes and nodded he raised your hands up and he chuckled. He stood up and picked you up and carried you out to the truck. He gently carried you down the stairs and you clung to him like your life depended on it and true to your fashion you fell asleep on him. He swore you could fall asleep anywhere and he was envious of it. When he got you situated in the truck he went back and did a once through making sure both of you had gotten everything as well as grabbing your sheets and comforter. When he got back to the truck you were still sleeping like a rock and he chuckled and shook his head, he tossed the sheets and comforter into the trailer in a box and then he got into the truck and started the 5 hr. drive from Lemoore to Miramar.

2 hrs. into the drive you had woken up and he kept you entertained with anything he could and you both stopped and got food at an IHop and then were back on the road. The rest of the ride was filled with off key singing and games. Your big brother was your world and everything you wanted in a male figure. “Are we there yet?” You asked, looking up at him and Jake chuckled.

“15 more minutes.” He said

“Fine.” You huffed but rolled your eyes and sighed and he chuckled. “But 15 minutes is too long.” You whined.

“Play on your tablet and it’ll go by faster.” He said and you grabbed it and your attention was focused on that. Music was playing softly in the background for Jake’s entertainment. True to his word 15 minutes did go by fast and you were pulling into a neighborhood and you looked up and forward your brow.

“Jakey?” You asked and he looked up.

“What’s up, Peach?” He asked

“What are we doing?” You asked

“Looking at a house.” He said and you nodded. He parked in the driveway and got out and then got you out and sat you down and then he saw the relator walk up to him.

“Good afternoon! I’m Alicia London. You must be Jake Seresin. I must say you have a beautiful daughter.” She said and Jake shook his head and smiled. He got that all the time.

“Yes, I’m Jake but this is my sister.” He said as you hid further into his leg.

“My apologies!” She said, embarrassed.

“No worries, ma’am.” He said

“Shall we have a look at the house?” She asked and he nodded. As you both were getting a tour, he was loving it especially the backyard. As they finished, he was smiling. “So, what do you think?” She asked.

“It’s perfect. I wanna go ahead and buy it. It’s in my price range and it’s a good distance from the base and school.” He said and she seemed shocked.

“Of course, Mr. Seresin. I’ll get the paperwork started and you can move in today.” She said and he nodded.

“That would be great. Also please call me Jake. Mr. Seresin has since passed.” Jake said and she nodded and walked out of the room he turned to look at you.

“What do you think?” He asked and you seemed to look around for a minute.

“I like it!” You shouted and he smiled. Alicia walked back in.

“Good news! You got the house since no others were interested in it and here is the key.” She said and handed it to him. “All I need you to do is sign the papers and then the rest can be handled at a later time.” She said and he smiled. “I’ll get out of your hair and let you settle in and I’ll be in contact.” She said and he nodded and left. Jake started to move everything in with your help and once everything was set up you both went shopping. First you went to furniture stores and found everything you both liked and then the grocery store. The furniture was delivered the same day and in about an hour everything was put together and ready to go.

When Jake dropped you off at your new school the next morning he had stopped by the bank and got everything sorted and now it was time for him to figure things out like finding a babysitter for you. He met with a lot of people but he settled for an 18-year-old that was going to school and needed a part time job named Bailey. When he went to pick you up from school you were in much better spirits and loving Miramar.

===============================

A week passed quickly and now it was time for him to go and meet his squad while you stayed home with your new babysitter. When she got there, he introduced you two and both of you hit it off. As he was preparing to leave, he got down on your level “You be good for Bailey and do what she says. Understand?” He asked in a parental tone and you nodded.

“You got it, Jakey!” You said and hugged him he hugged you back and turned to Bailey.

“If you have any problems or questions don’t hesitate to call. I should be back by 10:30.” He said and she nodded.

“You got it, Jake.” She said and he bid you both a goodbye and then left. When Jake got to the Hard Deck nobody else was there but he didn’t have to last long because Javy was calling out his name and they greeted each other.

“Long time no see man!” Javy said and they both smiled.

“You got that right!” Jake said as they grabbed drinks from Penny and they thanked her and walked over to the pool table and dart board.

“How’s Y/N doing?” Javy asked, taking a sip from his drink.

“Settling in better than i expected. She loves her new school and her babysitter.” Jake said, throwing a dart and then taking a drink of his beer. They continued to talk until the other showed up and after having a little argument with Bradley and throwing someone overboard along with Rooster playing the piano, it was 10 PM. “Well, I better get going.” Jake said and that shocked everyone.

“Leaving so soon, Hangman?” Bradley said and Jake just scoffed.

“Like you would want to know.” He said and walked off and out of the bar confusing his teammates.

“What do you think he is hiding? A secret family, girlfriend, or kid?” Natasha said and everybody shrugged and chipped in their answers but Javy, he knew the truth.

===============================

Jake got home right at 10:30 and parked in the driveway and headed inside. Everything was probably neater than he left it and smiled. He walked into the living room to see his baby sister and Bailey curled up on the couch and he smiled. Bailey noticed him and smiled “She wasn't too much trouble, was she?” He asked as he walked over and stroked his sister’s hair. Bailey shook her head.

“Not in the least bit. She is the sweetest little girl ever. She didn’t put up a fight when I told her to brush her teeth or get changed for bed. She wanted to stay up but as soon as we put on the second movie she was out like a light.” Bailey said standing up making sure the girl didn’t fall off the couch and Jake smiled.

“Good, she seemed to really take to you. It’s not often that happens.” Jake said as he pulled out his wallet and gave her the money.

“I really like her too. If you need me anytime, let me know.” She said and Jake nodded and walked her to the door and made sure she got her car safely and then locked the door. He walked over to Y/N and picked her up and she clung to him like her life depended on it. He walked up the stairs and to her room and gently put her into bed.

“Good night, Peach. I love you.” He said and kissed her forehead and got ready for bed himself.

===============================

Every time after training instead of going out to The Hard Deck or hanging out with the squad he would rush out of the locker room that way he could go and pick up his sister from school and hang out with her. “Hangman, you coming to The Hard Deck?” Nat asked as he collected her things.

“Nope. I got some stuff to do and someone that I need to take care of.” Jake said and headed out without a word again confusing the group.

“He’s hiding something. I wanna know what it is.” Bradley said and again they all nodded and carried on with their day and night. Javy hadn’t said a word wanting to keep Jake’s promise that he wanted to keep her a secret until they knew everything was going to be ok.

===============================

The day of the dogfight football came and they, besides Javy, were determined to get an answer out of Jake as they started playing, they didn’t bring it up. They agreed to bring it up when it was well into the game that way, he would be too focused on the game to think about anything else. “So, Hangman. Have you got anyone back home?” Bradley asked as they set up for another hike. Jake smirked.

“That is none of your business, Rooster.” Jake said as they continued to play the game. It was well into the day and the game when they decided for a break. Jake went and got his drink and checked his phone and about dropped it when he saw that he had several missed calls from Bailey and he instantly called back making sure that nobody was around him.

“Bailey. What’s wrong?” Jake asked as soon as she answered the phone.

“Jake, I’m sorry I called you so many times. Y/N’s school called and said that she had an accident at school and they rushed her to the ER. We’re still here.” Bailey said and he could hear in her voice that she was panicked.

“No, I’m sorry that I didn’t have my phone on me. I was busy with work. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Did they say what happened to her?” Jake said, already throwing on a t-shirt and grabbing his stuff.

“No, they didn’t or at least not to me. We’ll see you when you get here.” Bailey said and they hung up.

Jake walked over to Maverick, and he smiled at the young aviator but frowned when he saw his face “Everything ok?” Maverick asked and Jake shook his head.

“My sister is in the hospital. I need to go.” Jake said and Maverick nodded, he knew all about Y/N then again it was in Jake’s record.

“You go to her and take Javy with you. Tell Y/N I said hi.” Maverick said and Jake nodded and rushed off, Maverick knew those two were best friends, but not before Javy caught him.

“Everything ok with Y/N/N?” Javy asked and Jake shook his head “I’m coming with you.” He said and Jake nodded and they headed off. This didn’t go unnoticed by the rest and they instantly went to Maverick.

“Where are they off to?” Bob asked out of curiosity.

“Jake had an emergency he needed to tend to and Javy went with him.” Maverick said not wanting to spill his secret. Nobody said anything too worried about their team members.

===============================

Jake and Javy made it to the hospital in record time and went to the front desk and they led her to her room. “Jakey! Javy!” you said excitedly.

“Hey, Peach and Bailey.” Jake said and hugged you carefully.

“Hey there, Sweetie.” Javy said and then the doctor walked in.

“You must be Jake. I’m Dr. Zeke.” Dr. Zeke said and shook his hand.

“Yea that’s me. I’m her brother. What happened?” Jake asked as Bailey and Javy stepped out of the room to give them some time to talk.

“It seemed like she took a fall on the playground and was unconscious for a minute and when she woke up was a little disoriented so she was brought her. Over the few hours we have been keeping an eye on her and she seems to be improving. She’s actually ready to go home.” Dr. Zeke said and Jake nodded and they talked more and then he was signing discharge papers and they were heading home. The rest of the day and night was spent cuddling and watching movies. Javy and Bailey had left the hospital.

===============================

The mission came and went and was successful. Everyone was spending the much-needed time off the second day off they had gotten the announcement that they were officially a squadron. It was spent mostly at The Hard Deck, the beach, or with each other, surprisingly. Everyone but Jake, that is, he was spending it with you. “Jakey?” You asked as you were eating lunch and he looked up at you.

“Yes, Peach?” He asked back.

“Can we go to the beach?” You asked excitedly and he smiled.

“Of course! Do you wanna go after lunch?” He asked and you nodded enthusiastically. He chuckled “Ok, finish up and then go and get ready.” He said and he watched you quickly eat and then scamper off. He then got himself ready and a bag ready and when you padded downstairs he smiled and you two headed off to the beach. The truck ride was filled with music and singing and occasionally laughing. Jake found a spot and parked and now you two had sat off towards the beach and the water.

===============================

The Daggers, as they were officially called now, were at the beach hanging out and playing some dogfight football. As they were sitting on the beach talking and laughing along with sharing stories. A shriek caught Bradley’s attention and looked up "Is that Jake... with a child?" Rooster asked, squinting against the sun, looking at what may be his wingman. This caught everyone’s attention and looked in his direction. What they saw was Jake and a little girl in the water and Jake holding her up as a wave came up.

“I believe it is.” Nat said as they watched the both of you come out of the water/

“Should we go say hi?” Bob asked and everyone nodded so they got up and headed over. Jake saw them coming when he turned his head and he sighed, they were going to find out sooner or later. “Hey, Jake.” Bob said when they reached him.

“Hey guys.” Jake greeted and then he felt a tug on his arm and he looked down to see you looking up at him.

“Jakey?” You asked and hid further behind him while looking at the group of strangers.

“Y/N/N I want you to meet Natasha, Bradley, Bob, Ruben, and Mickey.” Jake said pointing at each and every one of them. Everyone greeted everyone and then you saw Javy.

“Javy!” You yelled out and ran to him and hugged him and he quickly picked you up and hugged you.

“We didn’t know you had a kid.” Bradley said and Jake shook his head.

“Not my kid. My sister.” Jake said as Javy put you down and you ran off to start building a sand castle as everyone went and sat down. “I got custody after our parents got into an accident when she was 1 and nobody was willing to take her.” Jake said a little mad at his siblings but he would never give you up for anything.

“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Bob said as you came up to them and pulled Bob up and to your sand castle so he could help and Bob couldn’t say no and he already loved you.

“She’s a good kid and once she warms up to you, she’ll be your friend for life.” Jake said and smirked pointing to Bob and you as an example. It wasn’t 10 minutes later you both came back to the group and you went to Bradley and stared at him, more specifically his mustache “Yea, Peach I had the same reaction.” He said and everyone chuckled while Bradley rolled his eyes but smiled. You touched it and then giggled and then went to your brother’s lap and sat down and then snuggled into him and was out like a light.

“Peach?” Mickey asked and Jake chuckled.

“Yea, she absolutely loves peaches.” He said and they chuckled.

“Jake, I’m glad you told us about her. She is so adorable.” Ruben said and everyone agreed.

“My old squad never cared and I didn’t trust them. The only people that know about her are the higher-ups, Maverick, Cyclone, Warlock, and Javy. But that is because she is on my record and Javy was there when I got the call and when I went to pick her up.” Jake said and Javy nodded conforming to it.

“If you need anything, I mean anything. We are here for you no matter what.” Natasha said and Jake smiled while everyone agreed.

“Thanks guys, that means so much to me.” Jake said as you moved slightly. He was very glad that he told them about you. Now he didn’t have to hide you and he had more help than ever especially when Bailey couldn’t make it. Your family just expanded to many cool aunts and uncles. You were going to be so protected.

Tag list:

@kmc1989

@els-marvelvsp

@atarmychick007

@nyx2021

@grandstrangerphantom

[s1ater]

hell v heaven.

pairings. harry bingham x fem!reader

about. reader gets scolded by her friend only for harry to defend her

warnings. swearing

from ricky's mailbox to yours. I don't expect anything from this, I just wanted to post because I miss this damn show

west ham was always ordinarily boring and filled to the brim with people who had their pockets filled with more than enough money to know what to do with.

your life was a repetitive process and ran on a schedule that really never changed unless you chose to eat breakfast for once in your life, which you never really did--or take your mom up on the offer to go on walks—which you also really never did.

the day you got off that bus and found no parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or even siblings was a day you couldn’t help but sigh in relief with finding a loss of obligations and responsibilities. you felt a lift from your shoulders and a greatness fill your chest as you finally let go and fell from your schedule.

but it wasn’t funny and you were no longer having any fun the moment you discovered your situation was permanent and a forest had overgrown all roads and tracks out of this new found nightmare of yours.

“you think god's trying to teach us a lesson?” you looked up from your book seeing your friend maddie who had her lips pressed into a thin line, still trying to figure out this whole predicament.

even as this was a nightmare and you weren’t used to change, you found yourself leaning away from getting caught up in caring so much or getting too emotional about it. you figured you could be in worse situations and at least you were still alive.

“i don’t think it’s that deep,” you mumbled carelessly, flipping the page to your book, not sparing another glance to her till she stands up with a huff and grumble, clenching and unclenching her fists while exiting harry’s living room.

but then she felt herself flipping around, facing you and your slightly confused expression, “what’s your problem?”

you frowned a little deeper as she stood before you with her poised posture, seeming more angered than you had ever seen her, “what?-” you shared a look with harry who seemed just as lost as you did before she cut you off.

“because ever since we discovered we’re trapped here it seems like you couldn’t give a damn and it’s really pissing me off,” she exhaled roughly with her chest puffing in and out with air, like she had been waiting a long time to say this. “you’re not here for anyone and i haven’t heard you cry once either, y/n.”

“you want me.. you want me to cry?” you raised an eyebrow, slightly taken aback.

“yes, y/n, because i’m really close to thinking you’re a sociopath-”

“woah, woah, woah, maddie” harry shook his head with his lips deeply curved downwards, “shut up.”

“don’t tell me to ‘shut up’ harry.”

“don’t be a cunt, maddie,” he scoffs, looking at her as if she were a fool. his stare is harsh and she even slowly begins to feel like one with how hard and taunting his eyes are.

if harry had a skill in something, it'd be his way of looking down on people and making them feel his disgust and repulsion toward them. harry had to be one of the most arrogant people you had met, but at least his arrogance came in handy in situations where you needed defense.

"whatever, harry," she rolls her eyes at him, trying to push off the sickening feeling he pushed on to her. "you two deserve each other, especially if you're both enjoying this little vacation we were gifted."

harry sits in the grey chair maddie previously sat in, "you okay?"

"yeah, I'm good."

“you sure?”

you look up to him, finally meeting his dialed in expression that was genuine and curious to your well being.

strange.

it was things like this that gave you somewhat joy that you no longer had a schedule, that kept you from hating your new reality.

west ham turning upside down revealed a lot about your fellow classmates and even best friend’s character, as seen seconds ago. you couldn’t decipher whether or not you found joy in the fact of that, but right now, with harry sitting across from you and close to reach out to you, was something you knew you enjoyed.

before, in your tight knit schedule, harry didn’t fit in it. he was only a family friend you saw at birthdays and conjoined vacations since the beginning of your memory, but nothing more.

“yeah, i’m sure,” you pressed your lips into a thin line.

“i don’t think she understands people handle grief differently,” he looks sympathetic but drops any attempt to move closer with a reach of comfort upon realization that you were really fine.

“you think i’m in grief?”

he pauses, doesn’t look at you for a minute with silence as he narrows his eyebrows before looking up to meet your eyes, “i mean, aren’t we all?”

aren’t we all?

jesus, maybe you were a sociopath.

“i-uh-“

“y/n,” he stops you, shaking his hand. “when-when my father died, i didn’t think it was real. all these people came up to me, your parents, all would walk up, apologize, offer their condolences, but i never really understood. what was the big deal?—just a death, right?”

he offers an awkward smile with a glance through his eyelashes, before looking back to his carpet, “thing was, i didn’t realize that that death, was my fathers death—i mean i did, my body didn’t. i was in denial.”

silence. you both think about his words.

the way he spoke was really smart--it surprised you that it was him that they were coming from. not only did you start to enjoy his company, but his words...

“i shouldn’t have-“

“no,” you cut him from his potential regret in sharing. you knew that took a lot from him. “maybe you're right… or maybe maddie is. maybe i really am a sociopath.”

"y/n, that's an insane thing to say," he shakes his head, still looking down, but now at his hands as he begins to rub them together. "everyone handles grief differently," he repeats, "especially something like this; especially something that feels nowhere near real."

you stare at harry, blinking, while he stares back at you with a thin-lipped smile. you felt your chest tighten to an extreme as you continued to watch, thinking about his words that tumble around in your head. you somehow couldn't grasp it; the reassurance. but rather... you were more hung up on the matter that it was him saying such kind words to you.

everyone knew harry was the biggest asshole in west ham and he had no shame in it. everyone would call you a liar is you ever exposed the conversation; harry didn't have a nice bone in his body, so how was it that he had just created one of the nicest convos you had ever had with anyone?

your chest pulls into a ball even more. you feel like you can't breathe.

what was happening to you?

you hadn't felt a pang of sadness till now.

"you okay?"

you hate that question.

"yeah, i'm okay."

"you sure?" he's leaning towards you, his eyes prying.

you feel the pressure intensify, but this time around your eyes as if something had the need to be forced out.

fuck, not now.

"y/n, woah," he's quick to come closer to you, now kneeling before you with his hands on your face.

“i shouldn’t be crying-“

he shushes you as he tries his best to clear your face from the salty tears that begin to run down your cheeks like a hill. he smiles lightly to your embarrassment while shaking his head, “crying is fine.”

“i feel bad.”

“for what?”

“harry, i don’t even feel bad about them being gone,” you sniff, wiping your face from the wetness quickly. “i feel bad about you and your father and everything.”

“oh?” he seems caught off guard about this, taking a step back from your distraught stare. “why?”

you stare over at him with wide doe eyes, something that looks like fear for the matter of having to provide an explanation. you glance to the side, also leaning away from him, bracing yourself to answer. you feel even more choked up, like your throat had been clogged and stuffed with toilet paper--or whatever it was to help you not speak.

"my parents-" you sniff, wiping your nose with the back of your hand. "god, I hated my parents--so I'm not sorry that I'm not sad about something that is ultimately a blessing... but I am sorry that this has happened to you... all of you."

he stares. he feels as if he's about to explode.

"I'm sorry, harry--that you had to lose your father and your mother as fast as you did," you shake your head, "I'm sorry that you think that that's how I feel about my own parents."

why does he feel like this?

his hand is mid air, reaching to clasp his chest as if consoling his heart, but it doesn't goes as far to make contact.

he feels strange. he doesn't know how to cope with someone he has known for so long revealing what must have been the biggest burden on their shoulders, hidden in plain sight from him, as well as gushing about sympathy for him--he hates that.

as for the other thing; harry had known you since the beginning of time, he knew your parents since the beginning of time. you were both absorbed within the same lifestyle but the two of you were never anything more than acquaintances.

he found it strange that he could see your life so clearly like it was his own, but it seemed that was only the surface of a glass window that only you and your family allowed people to see.

"y/n, you're not a sociopath," he finally says, "sociopaths don't feel sympathy for other people. you're just in a difficult situation that no kid will understand because their parents are their heroes."

he pinches the bridge of his nose, finally looking up to you, "you also shouldn't feel bad for me."

you looked at him confused, urging him to explain.

"none of us are saints, y/n. somehow i think we all deserve this," he runs a hand down the front of his face. "you... you're just somehow better than the rest of us, this is a vacation god has granted you."

you stifle a laugh, shaking your head.

he smiles in return before dropping his face into a softer expression, reaching for your hand, "you good?"

"yeah, i'm good," you nod.

"good," he squeezes your hand. "enjoy heaven while you have it."

[wangxianficfinder]

In the mood for...

Link Limit Reached! Check out replies for more recs ^^

~*~

1. Any fics where wwx dies and becomes a water spirit? Or any plain water spirit wwx stories?

the past drifts away with the waves by thelastdboy (E, 5k, wangxian, WWX & Wen remnants, LWJ & LSZ & WWX, graphic depictions of violence, major character death, canon divergence, fall of lotus pier, major characger undeath, YZY being an asshole, implied/referenced child abuse, minor character death, major character injury, amputation, loss of limbs, transformation, merpeople, fierce corpse WWX, kind of, merperson WWX, resentful creature WWX, undead WWX, riverspirit WWX, it gets worse before it gets better, heavy angst w happy ending, no sunshot, hurt/comfort, politics, not cultivation world friendly, slow burn, getting together, revenge, demonic cultivation, WWX pov, dark WWX, monsterfucker LWJ, wen remnants live, sect leader WQ, WIP) i recently started this story

You still sound like a song by Moominmammashandbag (M, 64k, wangxian, WIP, Ghost!WWX, Mystery, LWJ plays inquiry, AU from after the Wens came to Lotus Pier, Most people lived, not everybody died, Angst with a Happy Ending, river spirit!WWX, Angst and Feels, description of murder, imminent smut, Execution, bad dog names, Poisons, Discussion of Attempted Murder, BAMF WWX, Family Feels)

~*~

2. Hi! I recently saw the rec about a fic where WWX was pregnant and didn’t know, it was called blood, google and love, I believe, and I‘ve read that, and the fic inspired by the same post. So now I‘m in the mood for that „he didn’t know he was pregnant“ scenario. I don’t really care who the one pregnant is. Thank you so much! @desperation-is-my-middle-name​

Little fall of rain by luckymoonly (M, 10k, wangxian, canon divergence, fix-it, WWX didn’t now he was pregnant, mpreg, family feels, soft LQR, misunderstandings, jealous LWJ, fluff & angst, happy ending, smut, breastfeeding, thirsty granny, JGS being usual self)

Impermanence, Transience, Permanence by Best Bepsy (BepsyGray) (E, 39k, wangxian, canon divergence, unplanned pregnancy, mpreg, gore, sunshot campaign, assumed miscarriage, medical procedures, childbirth, golden core reveal) And there's the, "I didn't know I was /still/ pregnant" fic 

Surprise Baby! by trulywicked (M, 10k, wangxian, modern cultivation, ABO, mpreg, unplanned pregnancy, accidental baby acquisation, didn’t know he was pregnant, birthing scene, blood, established relationship, fluff)

~*~

3. hello!! can you guys suggest some hidden/secret child or any stories like lwj didnt know he had a child with wwx

The time we’ve lost by Anye (T, 54k, WIP, WangXian, Modern AU, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Everyone Is Alive, But they don't know that, Eventual Happy Ending, Slow Build, Twins, Misunderstandings)

Nothing but your heart by airinshaw (E, 21k, wangxian, modern, ABO, implied mpreg, first time, getting together, drama, angst w happy ending, anal sex, whump, breeding kink)

~*~

4. Hello! If this ask is repeated please ignore it I’ve got a memory as bad as wwx and I forgot if I asked this already or not (Not to worry even if it WAS a repeat ask! ITMF posts have a lot of popular asks cycling through frequently ☺️ Repeats are even encouraged since there might have been found even more fics fitting those asks later on ~Mod L)

Anyways, for the itmf I’d like some kind of time travel but starring their parents, like Madam Lan or Canse or Wei Chanze or even Qinghengjun. But please it’s gotta have at least a little bit of wangxian too

Thank! Again sorry if I already asked this

🧡 All will be well when the day is done by abCEE (T, 76k, wangxian, time travel, canon divergence, fix it, not YZY friendly, not Jiang friendly, butterfly effect, no sunshot, madam lan lives, lan WWX) /technically/ a YZY time travel fic?

An Inch of Grass, and All The Sunshine of Spring by ChilianXianzi (T, 1k, wangxian, CSSR/WCZ, CSSR & LWJ &WCZ, time travel, grief/mourning, parent-child relationship, found family, fluff & angst, CSSR & WCZ live, WIP) Does it count if it’s to the future? Either way, CSSR/WCZ time travel

The Long Winding Road Home by Admiranda (T, 12k, CSSR/WCZ, wangxian, time travel, post-canon, not JC friendly, fluff, family reunion, mocking LQR to his face, mocking JC to his face, wild rumours) another CSSR/WCZ travel forward in time

Love you always, in any form you come in by YumichanHamano (G, 7k, wangxian, CSSR/WCZ, post-canon, time travel, fluff) CSSR/WCZ time traveling forward again

~*~

5. Hey ! This is a request for a very specific fic (not a fic finder ) Modern setting is preferred!

Is there any story where either lwj or wwx struggle with understanding social cues /jokes having trouble not being able to hold small talk etc.and people ( friends) making mean comments reactions to , etc..

Like struggling with mental health or

Basically struggling with neurodivergency not knowing their condition/ late diagnosis .

The Bunny Next Door by detailsinthefabric (E, 43k, WangXian, Modern AU, Bottom LWJ, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, LWJ Has Feelings, Soft WangXian, Internally Screaming LWJ, Neighbours)

this author writes neurodivergent wangxian in a very soft and gentle way her fics are locked to the archive so I don't know if I can link any fics?

leave all your love and your longing behind  by ScarlettStorm (E, 143k, WangXian, Modern AU, no magic, Meet-Ugly,   Panic Attacks, autistic lwj, neurodivergent wwx, the neighborhood   asshole dog, if you’ve met one then you know, Hurt/Comfort, Pining,   Minor Angst, major shenanigans, Happy Ending, for everyone including the   asshole dog, Eventual Smut, switch rights, Sex Toys, horny yearning, Masturbation)

maybe together we can get somewhere (any place is better) by AlfAlfAlfAlfAlf, tardigradeschool (T, 49k, LXC & LWJ, wangxian, LXC/NMJ, LWJ & LQE & LXC, modern, coming of age, QHJ raises his kids, child neglect, implied/referenced child abuse, teen romance, angst w happy ending, first kiss, implied/referenced suicide, implied/referenced self-harm, neurodivergent wangxian)

When we were small by deliciousblizzardshark (T, 7k, LXC & LQR & LWJ, LQR & WWX, modern, kid fic, good uncle LQR, neurodivergent LWJ, baby LWJ, baby WWX, parenthood, homophobia, implied/referenced child abuse, LQR pov, implied/referenced underage sex, grief/mourning, hurt/comfort)

deliciousblizzardshark also writes neurodivergent wangxian as well !

Lan Wangji and the Artificial Phallus by deliciousblizzardshark (E, 15k, wangxian, LWJ & MM, LWJ & LXC, modern, neurodivergent LWJ, virgin LWJ, WWX has ADHD, single parent WWX, trans WWX, implied/referenced trans male pregnancy, getting together, fluff & humor, panic attacks, anxiety, implied/referenced ableism, unreliable narrator, masturbation, bottom LWJ)

Heaven, Wait by sunflowersfield (T, 2k, wangxian, modern, fluff, angst, hurt/comfort, neurodiversity, falling in love, getting together, happy ending, first dates, first kiss, hyperfixations, strangers to lovers, meet-cute)

~*~

6. Hi. I’m kinda new to the whole tumbler asking and all 😅. But I would like to know if you have an fic where it

A) yu ziyuan bashing or the whole jiang family bashing

B) Everyone loving Wei ying and protective of him

C) The junior squad ABSOLUTELY LOVING wei ying ( i LOVE this prompt 😅🥹)

6A)

💖  Lessons relearned  by Iamnotawriter (T, 44k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Not Madam Yu   Friendly, Time Travel Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical   Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inventor WWX, It Gets Worse   Before It Gets Better, No Golden Core Transfer, YZY Bashing) link in #10

A Curse Upon Your House (Nearly Worn Wings Take Flight) by Preludian_Staves (T, 5k, wangxian, canon divergence, curses, not YZY friendly, off-screen death, rogue cultivator WWX, happy ending, canon-typical violence, no war au, WWX leaves Jiang sect, JFM chooses YZY over WWX)

💖 Hoards and treasures by apathyinreverie (T, 21k, WangXian, Siblings, Family, not particularly Jiang friendly, YZY Bashing, slightly darker Gusu Lans, LXC being the best brother, Some manipulation, But with the best of intentions, and not between wangxian, Dragon LWJ, Fox WWX, Smitten LWJ, Fluff, perfect happiness, adorable WWX, Romance, Some worldbuilding, courting)

Through the Storm by marhikit (T, 33k, WangXian, Wen Xu/Male OC, WWX has siblings, Canon Divergence, Not Jiang Family Friendly, No golden core transfer, JZX & WWX friendship)

Debts of a Child by Hauntcats (M, 115k, WangXian, dark, YZY Bashing, Not Jiang Family Friendly, Angst and Feels, lots of anger, JC Bashing, not Jiang friendly, Angst with a Happy Ending, Content warning for icky spiders in later chapters.)

🧡 All will be well when the day is done  by abCEE (T, 76k, wangxian, time travel, canon divergence, fix it, not  YZY friendly, not Jiang friendly, butterfly effect, no sunshot, madam lan lives, lan WWX) link in #4

💖 Let the Heavens be the judge) by A_Mirror_of_memories (T, 4k, wangxian, time travel, fix-it, not JC friendly, not YZY friendly)

the world wags on by justdoityoufucker (T, 5k, WCZ & WWX, WCZ & LQR, WCZ/LQR, canon divergence, pre-canon, WCZ lives, not everyone dies au, not Jiang friendly, past child abuse, canon Jiang family dynamics, not YZY friendly, parent- child relationship)

Haunted by FlautistsandPeonies (M, 8k, CSSR/WCZ, CSSR & WWX & WCZ, canon divergence, revenge, not YZY friendly, not JC friendly, not Jiang friendly, non-linear narrative, canonical child abuse, child neglect, WIP but chapters can stand alone)

💖 Xiao-Ying of the Third Refugee Village by abCEE (T, 31k, wangxian, WWX banished from Jiang sect, not Jiang friendly, found family, mpreg, fluff, flirting)

💖 Light Source by abCEE (M, 31k, wangxian, not Jiang friendly, no golden core transfer, fall of the jiang sect, happy ending)

💖  in payment, a hand series by justdoityoufucker (M, 10k, wangxian, not jiang friendly, amputation, injury recovery, self reflection, abusive YZY, families of choice)

💖 To Speak Up by Vrishchika (M, 7k, wangxian, modern, child abuse, child neglect, not jiang friendly)

💖 crying like a fire in the sun by cl410 (T, 10k, wangxian, runaway WWX, not YZY friendly, rogue cultivator WWX, post-cloud recesses study, grandmother BSSR, angst w/ happy ending)

re 6a, I think we have Jiang Cheng bashing comp lol which might be up their alley

6C)

🧡 the stone-filled sea by yukla (T, 9k, WangXian, LSZ & WWX, Post-Canon, senior wei defense squad, [Podfic] the stone-filled sea by yukla by Beria1021, the stone-filled sea [Podfic] by BrickGrass) THIS ONE for #6c (junior squad loving wwx) but it’s mostly sizhui and jingyi

The Absolutely True Story of the Yiling Patriarch: A Manifesto in Many Parts by aubreyli (T, 19k, WangXian, In-Universe RPF, Romance Novel, Post-Canon Fix-It, The Absolutely True Story of the Yiling Patriarch: A Manifesto in Many Parts by aubreyli [Podfic] by Rhea314 (Rhea))

~*~

7. Hellooo, for the next itmf; I'm looking for a fic with alpha wwx and omega lwj. preferably a long fic but it doesn't really matter. Thank you!

Until There Was You Series by farawayanddreaming, InTheGreySpaces (E, 50k, WangXian, LXC & LWJ, Omega Verse, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, LWJ In Denial About Sexuality, Bottom LWJ, Omega LWJ, Beta LXC, Sibling Incest, Sex as Therapy, LXC is the Best Brother, Worldbuilding, Lore creation, Canon Divergence, Submissive LWJ, but only kind of, Jade-cest, Chronic Pain, Terminal Illnesses, Grief/Mourning, Heavy Angst, Gentle Dominant WWX, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Top/Bottom Versatile | Switch WangXian)

to eclipse the night by quillifer (E, 15k, WangXian, Courtesan AU, alpha courtesan wwx, Omega LWJ, Bottom LWJ, Top WWX, Canon-era AU, light Violence, off-screen mentioned noncon (not btwn main ship), noncon, A/B/O, minor mentions of future mpreg)

your heart of shadows, your eyes like stars by DrPanda99 (E, 62k, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega LWJ, Alpha WWX, Bottom LWJ, Top WWX, YLLZ WWX, LWJ Has a YLLZ Kink, Immortal WWX, Identity Porn, Humiliation, Voyeurism, Overstimulation, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Canon-Typical Violence, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Mildly Dubious Consent, Happy Ending, Alternate Sunshot Campaign, Marriage)

~*~

8. Any fanfic about Lan Wangji not growing up in the Lans? WangXian centric if possible. @catmaid-san​

The Dreams of Youth by sami (E, 86k, wangxian, time travel, fix-it, family, not lan sect friendly, canon typical violence & gore, childhood friends to lovers, hurt/comfort, mothers who live, some people live/not everyone dies, [Podfic] Cold read of The Dreams of Youth by kisahawklin) Lwj leaves the lan sect and is raised by his mother.

My Boy Builds Coffins by enbysaurus_rex (Not Rated, 48k, WangXian, Coffin Maker AU, YL WWX, Location: Yílíng, LWJ builds coffins, Autistic LWJ, falling in love over a coffin, Hurt WWX, Mutual Pining, LWJ Has Feelings, Deathscapes, Death as a bittersweet community thing, accidental ecofiction, Farmer LWJ)

~*~

9. Hi, please recommend  some of the best dark lwj fan fiction @dog-89

A Matter of Time by mrcformoso (E, 34k, WIP, WangXian, Time Travel Fix-It, POV LWJ, POV JC, Dark LWJ, Manipulation, Grooming, WangXian Get a Happy Ending, Consensual Underage Sex, Except problematic please read warning in first chapter, Blood and Violence, Insane LWJ, Manic LWJ, Conditioning, WWX is a Lán, Minor Character Death, Confused JC, Golden Core Reveal, Good Friend NHS, WWX Isn't Adopted by the Jiāngs, Abusive Jiāng Family, Jiāng Family Bashing, Jiāng Family Critical, POV NHS, Dark NHS, Anal Sex, Marathon Sex, Dual Cultivation, Qīnghéng-jūn Lives, LWJ Has a Big Dick, WWX Self-Lubricates, Plot Twists, Porn With Plot, Scheming NHS, Manipulative NHS, BAMF LWJ, BAMF WWX) After slaughtering many cultivators lwj travels back in time and takes wwx for himself. Not dark as in cruel, but on the dark end if morally grey- lwj kills anyone who tries to get in the way of him and wwx

💖 Ominous by 3neetee (T, 5k, wangxian, pre-relationship, established relationship, character death, fae & fairies, changelings, dark LWJ, dark WWX, BAMF WWX, graphic description, suicide, implied/referenced domestic violence)

💖 I just wanted to see you so bad by Blackberreh, ThatOnePlatypus (T, 1k, wangxian, canon divergence, dark LWJ, minor character death, blood)

💖 demons run when a good man goes to war by Miranda_Aurelia (T, 20k, wangxian, LWJ & NHS, JYL/JZX, canon divergence, angst w happy ending, NHS & LWJ friendship, not JGY friendly, dark LWJ, revenge, (presumed) major character death, not LXC friendly)

💖 Somewhere Sits an Empty Throne by Siamesa (E, 19k, WangXian, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, tgcf fusion, Gods & Goddesses, Ghosts, Romance, vengeance, Dark LWJ, Grief/Mourning, Explicit Sexual Content, Angst with a Happy Ending)

💖 Do you want to hear by allollipoppins, dameauxgentianes (T, 12k, wangxian, time travel fix-it, canon divergence, not everyone dies au, epistolary, Madam Lan lives, minor character death, dark LWJ, Lan WWX, bad parents JFM & YZY, good uncle LQR, no sunshot campaign)

💖  Like the sea loves the shore by Say (E, 15k, wangxian, LQY & WWX, implied/referenced WWX/WC, F/F, rule 63, dark LWJ, protective LWJ, sirens, childhood friends to lovers, fluff, angst w/ happy ending, eventual smut, human WWX, siren LWJ, age difference, non-human genitalia, minor character death)

💖  Buried in the Sky, Hallowed by thy Depths by themunchking (T, 9k, wangxian, supernatural elements, sirens, dark wangxian, canon-typical violence)

💖 The Way You Tremble by themunchking (E, 6k, wangxian, murder husbands, vampires, blood, violence, supernatural elements)

~*~

10. In the mood for a timetravel AU where it's not wangxian that timetravels but someone else.

Heliocentric by Aki_no_hikari (T, 13k, Time Travel Fix-It, slight angst at the beginning, badass wq, Murder, dark!wq, although not as dark as she could be) Wen Qing time travel

Who You Condemn by osiesaur (M, 53k, LXC/NMJ, LXC & LWJ, LXC & JGY, wangxian, time travel, canon divergence, semi-successful fix-it, 3zun dynamics, grief/mourning, chronic illness, angst w happy ending,not everyone dies au, WIP) LXC time travels (the other two fics in the series also have non-wangxian time travel)

Lynchpin by ShanaStoryteller (Not Rated, 103k, WangXian, JC & WWX, Time Travel, Fix-It, Lynchpin [PODFIC] by Opalsong, [PODFIC] Lynchpin by Gwogobo)

Baby Of Mine by pupeez4eva (G, 3k, wangxian, time travel, humor, canon divergence, everyone lives, gusu school days, family) I really like this one where baby a-yuan time travels

💖 Alternative Choices by StarClearWaters (Readoutloud) (T, 20k, wangxian, time travel, butterfly effect, LXC pov, protective LXC, temporary character death, mpreg, panic attacks) LXC time travels multiple times

💖 Lessons relearned by Iamnotawriter (T, 44k, WangXian, LQR & WWX, Not Madam Yu Friendly, Time Travel Fix-It, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inventor WWX, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, No Golden Core Transfer, YZY Bashing) LQR time travels

💖 The blame game by apathyinreverie (T, 13k, wangxian, LXC & LWJ, LSZ & WWX, WWX & WQ, LXC & WWX, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, possessive LWJ, oblivious WWX, fluff, siblings, romance, golden core reveal, golden core fix-it) LXC time travels, link in #16B

💖 secondhand regrets by spookykingdomstarlight (T, 18k, JGY/NHS, wangxian, NHS/WWX, time travel fix-it, canon divergence, curses, cloud recesses study arc, jealousy, misunderstandings, petty LWJ, pining, minor romantic experimentation between NHS/WWX, jealous LWJ) NHS time travels

💖 With Surgical Precision by metisket (T, 20k, WQ & WN, WQ & WWX, WangXian, Time Travel, Families of Choice, sibling bonding through murder) WQ time traveling

Jiang Rising by eebee (M, 134k, wangxian, JC & WWX & JYL, JC&WQ, JYL/LXC/NMJ, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, JYL is out of fucks, WQ never even had many, epistolary, polyamory negotiations, WIP) JYL time travels

Keeping Our Promises Unbroken by ColdBloodedReptile (M, 80k, JYL/JZX, wangxian, JC/WQ, JYL & WWX & JC, JYL & WQ, LWJ & JYL, canon divergence, time travel, fix-it of sorts, not everyone dies, angst w eventual happy ending, fluff, family feels, slow burn, JYL pov, found family, sibling bonding, protective siblings, occasional LWJ pov, canon-typical violence, WIP) here's a Yanli (and surprise other) time travel fic

💖 How Much Love Has the Inch Long Grass by Vainwyrm (M, 12k, WIP,  WangXian, ZhuiLingYi, XuanLi, Time Travel Fix-It, Permanent Injury,   Disability, Canon Disabled Character, Physical Disability, Non-canon   disabled character, Self-Worth Issues) The juniors time travel

💖 The Stuff of Legend by pupeez4eva (T, 21k, wangxian, JYL/JZX, time travel, humor, cloud recesses study days, post-canon, matchmaking, misunderstandings, WIP) Another time travel for juniors

💖 Who Ever Said the Past is Set in Stone? by Tekia (T, 24k, time travel, not a fix-it, and then a fix-it, canon-typical violence, sunshot campaign, canon divergence, suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts, depression) juniors time travel multiple times

💖 The night sky is vast and wide by RedWritingHood (not rated, 5k, WC & WWX, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, WC the embodiment of fear and anxiety, PTSD, WC suffering, WC & WWX... friendship?, concerned WWX, frightened WC, sweetheart WN) Wen Chao ends up time traveling

💖 the peaceful old broad river by Sienne (not rated, 11k, WQ & WWX & WN, WQ pov, time travel, found family, family feels, no golden core transfer) WQ time travels in this one!

💖 A Brother's Choice by Admiranda (G, 8k, gen, time travel, yiling bros, animal death, minor character death, WN has no time for fools, YZY’s canonical cruelty, post-canon setting) WN time travels

💖 aim to repaint these days by NinthFeather (T, 2k, time travel fix-it, junior shenanigans, humor, sunshot campaign) Juniors again

💖 Drag Me Into Your Coffin (I Will Drag Your Sins Into the Light) by the5leggedCricket (G, 2k, canon divergence, temporary character death, time travel fix-it, BAMF LXC) LXC time travels

💖 Back in time  by LilacNeko (T, 32k, wangxian, time travel fix-it of sorts, angst, family feels, good kid LSZ, sad JL)

💖 i’ll keep walking by justdoityoufucker (orphan_account) (T, 2k, WQ &WWX & WN, wangxian, time travel fix-it, not JC friendly, everyone lives au, found family)

💖 parent trap by tongzhi (T, 23k, JL & LSZ & LJY & OYZZ, wangxian, JYL/JZX, time travel, cloud recesses study arc, humor, bad matchmaking)

💖 无别无离 | Without Farewells, Without Parting by dragongirlG (M, 30k, Junior Quartet, WangXian, Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Fix-It of Sorts, Burial Mounds Settlement Days, POV Alternating, Jin Ling’s Hundredth Day Celebration, qiongqi path, Family Feels, Hopeful Ending)

💖 Mission: Ensure A Better Future by a_dancer (Not rated, 21k, wangxian, junior quartet, time travel)

💖 Truth, Like an Arrow by Nahiel (T, 3k, wangxian, character death, time travel fix-it, WN is a good boy)

To Fix Your Twisted Reflection by Dgcakes (ficsnfun) (M, 167k, 3zun, time travel fix-it, slow burn, trust, healthy relationships, or at least trying)

Snapping brushes by Kayo_San (T, 63k, NHS & NMJ, time travel fix-it, Nie sect theories)

from the top, this time with personality by thunderwear (G, 15k, JYL/JZX, wangxian, time travel, JYL stands up for herself, family feels, WIP)

Sunlight Through Pines by handsofstardust (M, 66k, JGY/NMJ, wangxian, JZX/JYL, JC/NHS, time travel, eventual romance, pining, verbal abuse)

Wandering Eyes series by AstaraelWeeps (M, 14k, JGY & NHS, NHS & NMJ, JGY & NMJ & LXC, 3zun, time travel fix-it, outsider pov in the first part, JGY pov, murder, JGS being a creep, self-assigned honeypot, dub con, attempted rape/non-con, scheming NHS)

You might like fics in #4 and #16B also

~*~

11. ITMF request! (for when AO3 returns from the war): I am looking for WangXian fic that includes very close and loving Twin Jades (not Jadecest). Fics where LXC mercilessly teases his didi, where LWJ makes it his mission to pull his brother out of seclusion post-canon, where LXC and LWJ are "battle bros" of the highest order, where they try their damnedest to embarrass each other in front of other people in the most stoic, staid, subtle Lan way possible! @kimboo-york

~*~

12. i wanted to ask if there are any recs for fics in which wwx is saved by lwj, like from the jiangs or whatever, doesn't even have to be heavy whump, but very much jiang slandering.

(not yanli or jiang chen necessarily, but feel free to include anti madam and fengmian propaganda :3)!! @clawmark

🧡 rain falls and soaks into the earth series by RoseThorne (T, 48k, WangXian, WIP, Near Death Experience, Attempt Drowning, Madam Yu Bashing, Recovery, No war AU) also preludian_staves

~*~

13. In the mood for fics where people mistake Lan Sizhui as the biological son of WangXian / Lan Sizhui showing habits & similarities to WangXian (based off a reply to a previous ask - Mod C) @ihaveasoftspotfora-yuan

the-marathon-continues-nip: 13a, I have a fic that fits this in my bookmarks , I just have to find it , can the requester bookmark this post cause I might take a couple days to find it. it's a modern AU and it was a 5 times type thing where the premise was 5 times lan zhan got mistaken for being wen yuans dad or something like that over the years. it's very sweet. maybe somebody might remember it?

Just Like His Father by narikanyan (G, 2k, WangXian, Kid Fic, Mistaken Identity, A-Yuan is WWX's, Fluff, Falling In Love) I found it !!

~*~

14. Hi! For the next ITMF I wanted to ask for fics where WWX relates to YZY when he has to hide A-Yuan to save him at the siege (I don't even know if there's a fic like this lol) Like, both of them had to make the difficult decision to leave alone their child and go back to fight, and that was the last time they saw their children before dying. Thank you mods! @jiangclaritybell

~*~

15. Hi, I'm looking for stories where Lan Zhan overprotects Lan Sizhui. He is so overprotective that he won't let him leave Cloud Recesses without company. Sometimes he won't even let it out.If you can find stories that deal with that would be amazing. Thank you. @majhe2026

~*~

16. itmf for outsider pov fics

A) wangxian's relationship development through an outside perspective

B) time travel (doesn't matter who time travels back) through an outsider's perspective

16A)

💙 Su She Eats his Heart Out by KizuKatana (T, 16k, WangXian, 3rd person pov, implied offscreen wangxian sex)

16B)

I Have Been Selfish, Too by osiesaur (M, 176k, 3zun, JGY & NHS, JGY & JZX & MXY & QS, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, everyone lives au, outsider pov, happy ending, fluff & angst, scheming NHS, protective NHS, 3zun dynamics, anxiety, PTSD, mental health issues, chronic pain, chronic illness, canon-typical abuse & bigotry)

💖 That Moment When You Find Out That Your Classmates Apparently Have a Fighting Kink by BonBonWaifu (T, 2k, wangxian, canon divergence, time travel, outsider pov, NHS pov, sexual tension, fighting kink, cloud recesses study arc)

💖 Marry for Love by tuesday (T, 3k, JYL/NHS, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, minor character death, outsider pov, political marriage)

💖 The blame game by apathyinreverie (T, 13k, wangxian, LXC & LWJ, LSZ & WWX, WWX & WQ, LXC & WWX, canon divergence, time travel fix-it, possessive LWJ, oblivious WWX, fluff, siblings, romance, golden core reveal, golden core fix-it)

💖 Who Ever Said the Past is Set in Stone? by Tekia (T, 24k, time travel, not a fix-it, and then a fix-it, canon-typical violence, sunshot campaign, canon divergence, suicidal ideation, suicidal thoughts, depression) IIRC this one fits here too, link in #10

💖 bleed by justdoityoufucker (T, 5k, WangXian, Sunshot Campaign, Canon Divergence, Time Travel, Post-Sunshot Campaign, Families of Choice, Love Confessions, First Kiss, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Canon JC Characteristics, Not Jiāng Chéng Friendly)

💖 Targets by nirejseki (G, 10k, NHS & NMJ, JC & WWX & JYL, NHS & WWX & JC, canon divergence, time travel, outsider POV, families of choice, unexpected consequences)

💖 things happen, don’t ask by MarbleGlove (T, 6k, wangxian, time travel, outsider POV, Mojo’s post)

💖 rerun from the outside by Eicas (T, 2k, wangxian, time travel, outsider pov, jiang cheng POV, Mojo’s post)

💖 Wei Wuxian’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good First Meeting With His Future by Enigmatree (T, 3k, wangxian, time travel, outsider pov, YLLZ WWX)

Wandering Eyes series by AstaraelWeeps (M, 14k, JGY & NHS, NHS & NMJ, JGY & NMJ & LXC, 3zun, time travel fix-it, outsider pov in the first part, JGY pov, murder, JGS being a creep, self-assigned honeypot, dub con, attempted rape/non-con, scheming NHS)

~*~

17. ITMF teen wangxian shenanigans

Fentao-laoshi's Guide to Cut-Sleeve Pleasures by occultings (microcomets) (E, 31k, wangxian, canon divergence, pining while fucking, friends w benefits, cloud recesses study arc, first time, practise kissing, sharing a bed, smut, loss of virginity, getting together, confessions, happy ending)

Wei Laoshi, Poonslayer by FeelsForBreakfast (E, 6k, WangXian, Cloud Recesses Study Arc, POV LWJ, straight boy wwx, Loss of Virginity, Getting Together)

when you love somebody, bite your tongue by sophiahelix (E, 17k, wangxian, cloud recesses study arc, first time, just the tip, only one bed, horny teenagers, sharing a bed, fantasizing, size kink)

your petals that bloom in the snow by lulu_kitty (T, 10k, wangxian, modern w magic, cloud recesses study arc, skaterboy WWX, everyone lives au)

Conjunction by DrJLecter (T, 12k, wangxian, cloud recesses study arc, soulmates au, soulmate identifying song, WWX is a menace, pining, supportive LXC, meddling LXC, LWJ pov)

~*~

If you didn’t get an answer to your ask here, don’t forget to make use of @mdzs-kinkmeme and MDZS KINK MEME on Dreamwidth. Authors actually do use them for ideas. You may get what  you order!***Your prompt doesn’t have to be kink! Fluff, crack, whatever - it’s all good!***

[the-blind-assassin-12]

Survivor Blues

Part Six: Kitchen Scraps

A/N: I feel like every single one of my author's notes begins with me screaming and apologizing for how long it took me to update the story, so pretend that's what this says. I am very excited to share this part of Survivor Blues because even though there's not a lot of action, it sets up a ton of things to come, and we get a lot more background information on Reader. From the bottom of my heart I hope you all enjoy these kitchen scraps. Thank you so much for reading!

Warnings: language, mentions of trauma, death, murder, mentions of illness, some angst but hey that comes with the territory

Word Count: 8,454

Summary: Three months into your new life in Jackson, you start to notice some changes. But how much change, and are you sure you're entirely ready for it?

June - 2037 

With the start of your third month in Jackson came a considerable number of changes. 

Your apartment, for example, began to look like someone actually lived there. 

For the first time in nearly a decade, your pack had been unpacked, your belongings given places of permanence instead of just pockets and pouches. The pair of chipped enamel camp mugs now sat side by side in the cabinet over the kitchen sink. Gavin’s stained and threadbare concert tee was folded and put away with the rest of your clothing. A hook next to the front door held your coat by the hood, the key to your place dangling on another one right beside it. The creased and tattered old envelope you’d carried with you for years that held photos and a handful of notes had been emptied and tossed. The notes, mostly from Gavin but a few from Laura and Kyle, as well as a faded old marker drawing your nephew had done for you when he was six years old, were tucked away in your bedside table.

But the photos you chose to display. 

Because they deserve to be seen. Everyday. 

You’d found some old frames in a box in the hall closet a few days after you moved in, but you weren’t ready to use them then. Now one sat atop your dresser, holding the last picture of you and Gavin taken before the outbreak - incredibly youthful faces smushed cheek to grin-split cheek, Gavin’s inked fingers holding up your wrist as you showed off the diamond ring he’d slipped onto your finger only moments before. Your engagement ring had been sold ages ago, back when you were still in the Philadelphia QZ and people still cared enough about things like diamonds to trade medicine for them. But the photo was worth more to you than a rock ever could be. 

And I still have our bands. Even though we never… 

You were never officially married, and since the bands had been hand-me-downs from Gavin’s grandparents and didn’t fit either of your fingers, you’d only ever worn them on chains around your necks. But you knew that never mattered. Not to you, and not to him. Not since the moment that picture had been taken. Not since you’d joyfully exclaimed the word yes when he asked you to be his wife. 

Another frame sat on the T.V. stand in the living room. That one held a picture of you and Laura from the summer before the outbreak, the two of you sitting on the steps outside her building, cups of brightly colored Italian ice in your hands and Kyle’s father’s arm sticking in from out of sight to add bunny ears to his girlfriend’s head. Both of you were laughing at some long since forgotten joke, but you’d always be able to hear the sound of her laughter when you looked at it. 

There was another picture taken that day, one of just Laura and Dante on those same steps. You’d taken it yourself, with Gavin’s arms wrapped around your waist from behind you as he made faces at his sister to get her to laugh. That one you didn’t have anymore, though. You’d left it with Kyle. It was the only photo you had of both of his parents. It was only right that it stay with him. 

The last two photos that you had in your possession were polaroids taken with a camera you’d found during your time at the farm. One of them was of you, Gavin, Laura and a two year old Kyle, the little boy perched on his uncle’s shoulders, the four of you standing in front of the old oak tree that his family had been taking pictures in front of for generations. Ty had been behind the camera that day, not wanting to be caught on film herself but more than happy to capture moments for the rest of you. The other was a candid she’d snapped of just you and Gavin from the same day, your hands linked together and hanging between your bodies and his face turned in your direction. The expression he wore was one of pure adoration as he watched you watching the sunset. Seconds later he was leaning in to press his lips to your temple, kissing a whisper onto your skin. 

“Love you, Sugar.” 

Memories like those didn’t belong in your backpack anymore. If you were going to build a life here, they deserved to be a part of it. 

Because they’re a part of me. 

Those two, because of their unconventional shape, didn’t fit in the 3x5 frames you’d found. But you had another option in the form of your stark white refrigerator door. Using the plain green circular magnet that had been stuck there when you arrived, you tacked up the photo of you and Gavin. The last thing that you pulled from your pack was what you used to hang the other - the rest stop souvenir magnet that Joel had given you the morning after you’d sewn up his arm. 

It was the first “new” thing you’d brought into the apartment since you moved in. The first new item in your collection of trinkets that tied you to moments and people that mattered to you. It scared the shit out of you to admit, but one of the biggest changes you’d gone through since your arrival in Jackson was allowing things to matter again. When Kyle died you thought your ability to feel anything but emptiness had died with him. You thought life, however much more of it you’d be unlucky enough to endure, would be nothing more than putting one foot in front of the other until you physically couldn’t anymore. No more laughter, no more happiness, no more warmth and certainly no more human connection. Just the hollow feeling in your skull and the involuntary drive to carry on. Left, right, left until you marched yourself into the dirt. Or worse.  

But then Joel and Tommy found you in that split-level not far from town and now here you were, with a refrigerator door decorated with things that mattered. 

You wondered if it would ever be as covered up with kitschy clutter as the one in your and Gavin’s tiny apartment. Photobooth strips and postcards, recipes that you wanted to try, either clipped from magazines or scrawled hastily on scraps of paper, a birthday card you’d gotten one year from your friend Dave that was too funny to take down, the test results from Gavin’s blood work that showed improvement after his surgery which he jokingly slapped up calling it his A+ report card. Magnets from trips you’d taken, a promotional one from your favorite dumpling place, stray letters from one of those colorful alphabet sets, objects you’d simply glued a magnetic strip to to turn into a magnet, like the little plastic stingray you found on the floor in the hallway of your building or the cork from the champagne bottle you popped when you moved in. 

Like a scrapbook. 

That was what Gavin used to call it. A memory pushed its way forward from the back of your mind as you stood there looking at your mostly bare by comparison fridge, a moment you hadn’t thought about in what felt like ages. 

Your heels clicked against the hardwood floor as you scurried from the bathroom to the bedroom, fingers deftly fastening an earring before flipping the strap of your dress to lay it flat against your shoulder. The anxiety of running late and nerves about meeting extended members of Gavin’s family for the first time at his cousin’s wedding popped and jumped like corn kernels in your stomach. As a result, your thoughts tripped over themselves in your head as you stuffed your phone and a tube of lip gloss into a small purse. I still have to sign the card and - shit! The card! We need to stop at an ATM and grab cash for the card! Wait, the place is in Germantown, right?  

“Gav? Where’s the invitation? I need to check -” 

“Hung it on the scrapbook.” He followed you from the bedroom down the short, narrow hall to the kitchen as his slender fingers worked to form the knot in his tie. “Slow down, Shug, we’ve got plenty of time.” You plucked the invite from the collage you called a refrigerator door just as he finished his task, those same long digits now curling around your hips to pull you flush against his long, lean frame. When he spoke again, lips close to your ear and breath warm on your skin, you could hear the smile in his voice. “We’re not gonna be late, don’t you worry.” You closed your eyes as he pressed a kiss to your temple. “You look gorgeous.” His murmured compliment made you melt, made the nerves that were just exploding inside you go calm. And then he spoke again and made you snort out a laugh. “Gonna upstage the bride.”

You turned in his arms to see the smile still on his face, his eyes shining softly as he looked at you. You rolled yours playfully, smacking his arm with the invitation as you did to draw a chuckle from his throat. “Oh, stop. I’m sure Maya is gonna be a stunning bride.” 

“Yeah.” He nodded, leaning in to nudge the tip of your nose with his. “Just not as stunning as you.” 

You wondered if you would ever again feel even a fraction of what you felt in that nearly forgotten, long buried memory. Like you were floating. Radiating love. Sure of every part of yourself. Safe in the arms and heart of a man who always put you first. Blinking at the expanse of white, powder-coated stamped steel that surrounded the two pictures and two magnets, you decided it was far more likely that you’d fill up that empty space before someone else filled the empty space in your heart. 

But… it’s not entirely impossible. 

Your focus strayed to the Wyoming magnet, a small, soft swell growing in your chest as you remembered the look on Joel’s face when he handed it to you. Maybe it was possible that you could find both here. You scoffed and shook the thought from your head before you took it too far. You knew you were in no shape for anything like that, emotionally speaking. 

The last time you’d been in anything that resembled a relationship had been a little under ten years earlier, just outside the Chicago QZ, and you’d done everything you could to keep it as stunted and strictly physical as possible. A means to an end. A way to release tensions pent up for too long, a way to feel something other than fear or pain or white hot rage or the soul sucking sadness that clawed at your throat most nights. AJ - a tall, muscular smuggler with a deep voice, far away eyes and a teenaged sister he’d shoot you dead to save if it came to that - was happy to agree to those terms. He understood you and your bricked up walls and your need to keep your broken heart behind them. He understood those things without you ever saying them because he was doing the same thing. 

It lasted three months before he ruined it by offering you more. 

“You know, Gia and I are thinkin’ ‘bout leavin’ Chicago,” he told you one night in the upstairs bedroom of the stash house he let you and your family stay in while Laura rested a badly sprained ankle. In exchange, you kept his cache of smuggled goods protected from raiders. The fucking had just been a mutual bonus. “QZ’s goin’ to shit. Think it’s time we get out for good.” 

You balked instantly at the casual way he dropped his future plans on you. Your clothes were still strewn on the floor, your bare skin still pressed to his. You were too exposed for that kind of intimacy. Shifting away from his hold you felt yourself shutdown, an icy flush running through your veins to kill whatever warmth AJ had managed to put there before he spoke. 

“Oh?” Your voice came out flat as you sat up and reached for your shirt. 

The man in the bed behind you cleared the gravel from his throat and sat up, too. “Yeah.” His large palm landed too gently on your shoulder blade, and you knew he felt it when you flinched at the sweep of his thumb, but he kept going anyway. “I was thinking maybe you’d wanna come with us.” He leaned forward and broke another rule, brushing a stubble-studded kiss to your spine. “You and Kyle and Laura, of course.” 

You stood, putting more distance between you so he couldn’t feel the way your heart was banging on your ribs, telling you it was time to pull up stakes and go. Yanking the shirt over your head, you looked at him with empty eyes and a slight shake of your head. “I don’t know why you’d think that.” You arched one eyebrow and shrugged. “That’s not what this is.” You took another step, bending down to pick up the rest of your clothes so that you could seal yourself away from him. 

He let out a sound somewhere between a scoff and a sigh and you heard the bed springs creak as he got up. “It could be,” he answered, reaching for your wrist in an attempt to slow you down, reel you back in, try to coax you into agreeing to let this thing between you go from bare bones and scraps to something more fleshed out and filling. You shook off his loose grip and finished getting dressed despite the click of his tongue and the low murmur of your name. “You could let it be. We can keep each other safe. I can keep you safe, and-“  

A humorless laugh escaped your lips then. “If you think I need you to keep me safe, then you don’t know a goddamn thing about me.” You shoved your feet into your boots and laced them up tight. 

“I know you don’t need it, but-” 

Wheeling on him, you cut him off. “You know what, AJ? I think this has run its course. Laura’s ankle is healed, so-“ You hardened your features against the way his face fell. “We’ll be out of your hair in the morning.” 

And you were.

AJ had tried one more time to get you to stay. One more time to tell you that he wanted you in his hair, that he wanted you in his life. But that would mean him becoming a part of yours. That would mean Gia becoming a part of yours. That would mean two more people to anchor yourself to. Two more people for you to protect. Two more people to weave themselves into the fabric of your heart, and two more people you could potentially lose, causing that fabric to tear in two more places. You’d already worn yourself ragged with responsibility and loss. You weren’t looking for more. AJ was a good man. He could have been good for you. The timing was just wrong. 

But you were safe now. There was no reason to run from companionship or intimacy now. That didn’t mean it would be easy, though. 

Like that’s ever stopped you before, you could hear Gavin tease, a smirk on his face. 

It hadn’t. You had never been one to back down simply because the task at hand might be difficult. You moved out on your own for the first time with only what you could fit in your car. You took your first kitchen job without a lick of experience. You fell head over heels in love with a man with a heart defect, knowing full and well that any chance at forever with him could be cut short by his condition and diving in anyway. Easy wasn’t really in your playbook. 

Again, it was Joel’s face that came to mind. You had no real idea what his story was when it came to relationships, you only knew that he wasn’t currently in one. And with the way you had heard some women in town speak about him when they thought only their closest friends could hear, you gathered that it was by choice. That it wasn’t something he was looking for. 

And though you were almost afraid to admit it even to yourself, a part of you already hoped that you were wrong about that. 

Another change came in the way that you interacted with people in town. For starters, you’d stopped outright avoiding eye contact and dodging conversation when walking to and from your apartment. When people came into the bakery, you smiled and found yourself chatting about things you used to talk to your customers about before the outbreak. 

“Morning, Heather! How was Kaylee’s birthday? Did she like the cupcakes?” 

“Hi, Marty. Didn’t see you yesterday when they were fresh, but I saved you some corn muffins. I know they’re Carl’s favorite.” 

“Hey Nadia, you live next to Allie and Greg, right? How are they doing with the new baby? Can you drop their order off to them on your way home?”

On patrols and trail sweeps you picked up where you left off on topics you’d previously spoken to your partners about. It was never anything truly personal aside from when you were paired with a woman named Jo who still spoke with an unmistakable Pennsylvanian accent, and you shared that you were from Philly. In an extreme case of it’s a small world afterall, she turned out to be from Glenside, a suburb just a few SEPTA stops away. The two of you had spent that shift - an overnight gate patrol - talking about restaurants, bars and other places you missed in the city. Typically you talked about books or movies or music, trading recommendations or trying to recall lyrics to songs you hadn’t heard in decades. Sometimes, like when you were paired with Jesse or one of the other younger volunteers, you brought up a movie they hadn’t heard of and you ended up summarizing or explaining it to them. Like some kind of post-apocalyptic storytime. The Tale of The Men in Black. The Saga of The Breakfast Club. The Epic of Empire Records. 

It never strayed into “opening up” territory, but you were refamiliarizing yourself with being a person again, and not just trying to stay alive for another 24 hour block of time. You were still hesitant to attend one of the Friday night gatherings at the Tipsy Bison, but you had started to eat one or two meals a week in the communal dining hall. You’d sit with people you knew and felt the most comfortable with - Evelyn from the bakery, Tommy and Maria when you saw them, Eugene or Henrik if they waved you over. You rarely saw Joel there but sometimes you caught a glimpse of Ellie surrounded by some of the other teens. You still spent most of your nights alone in your home - cooking small meals for yourself, reading, sewing patches or buttons onto things as needed - but you were trying, and that was new. 

Despite all that had changed though, some things unfortunately remained the same. The nightmares, for example, had proven far more stubborn than your crumbling resolve to not form attachments. They still woke you up every few nights, your breaths coming in greedy gasps as you worked to convince yourself that you were safe in your bed in Jackson and not tearing through the dark woods with a twelve year old Kyle’s hand clamped in your own, a pack of hunters hot on your trail. Or that Gavin hadn’t met a horrific end at the snapping jaws of a horde of infected. Or that those men hadn’t caught you in that warehouse in Kentucky and kept you chained to a mattress in a back room.

But it wasn’t the close call and what if nightmares that were the worst of them. Not by a long shot. The darkest dreams you fell victim to weren’t conjured by your fears or anxieties. They came straight from your actions and experiences. They weren’t dreams at all, just memories played back in excruciatingly high definition. Memories of the worst things you’d ever done. Reminders that you might not deserve this new lease on life. Portals to places where you’d committed the unthinkable. 

Places like that waterlogged and overgrown Walgreens where you crossed the line for the first time - where you became a murderer, taking the life of a human being who wasn’t infected. Who wasn’t even a threat to you. Your mind would floor with details from that fateful day. The squish of the moss covered floor tiles beneath your boots. The odor of rust and mildew that permeated the air. The rustle of things being knocked off a shelf and the terrified hiss of “oh, shit!” that followed. The tilt of your head as you took in the sight of the bottle gripped tightly in the dirty-fingered grasp of the woman, identifying it as the exact drug that you needed. That Gavin needed to stay alive. The way she pleaded with you on behalf of her sick son. “Please, he’s only twelve. He’ll die without them. I’ll split them with you!” The way you didn’t even blink as you shot her dead. The maraca rattle of the pills as you pried the bottle from her hand. The way that shot rang in your ears until you made it back to the farm. 

It vibrated in your lungs, even in the dreams. And when you handed the medicine to Gavin, it was written on your face clear as day for him to read. You’d told him what you’d done, waves of nausea roiling through your belly and adrenaline coursing through your blood to make your hands shake and your breathing turn to sobs and gasps. “Oh, Sugar,” he’d said, opening his arms to wrap you in them, pulling you closer to the weakening, uneven beat of his heart. “Don’t lose yourself over me.” Your hot tears soaked into the old, stained concert tee that hung baggy and loose on his frame as you clutched fistfuls of material. “It’s not worth the toll.” 

You’d tried to argue with him then, because to you, anything was worth it if it meant more time with him. Another year, another few months, fuck, even if it only bought you mere days there was nothing you weren’t willing to do for Gavin. “We both know you can’t buy me much longer,” he said, speaking calmly as he stroked his long, tattooed fingers up and down your spine. “Don’t turn yourself into something you’re not. Stay you, Sugar. Stay you and stay with me.”

In the end though, it was him that couldn’t stay, and that particular nightmare would always end with you sobbing into your pillow. Alone.  

More recently your nightmares took you to that grimey hotel room where you helped Kyle end his life. Where you killed him, your subconscious would remind you. Details you didn’t even realize you’d absorbed would come leaching out once you were asleep. The feel of the dust encrusted carpet against your sweaty, blood soaked palm. The pocked and peeling paint flaking from the walls and piling up in little heaps. The icy draft that came through the broken window to freeze the tears in your eyes. The way your nephew suddenly became so heavy as you held him. And that nagging, illogical thought that burrowed itself into the center of your brain and slammed every cell like a cymbal - He could have been immune. You don’t know that he wasn’t. 

There had always been rumors about the possibility of natural immunity to the Cordyceps infection. You’d heard the whispers whenever you moved through a place that had or previously had a Firefly presence. Genetic mutations are always possible, they’d posit. You’d always rolled your eyes and called it a hopeless hope, a pipe dream. Just something that desperate people told themselves so they could justify what they’d done or give themselves motivation to keep going. Everyone you’d ever known to be infected had turned within a day or two. You weren’t holding your breath for a miracle mutation. 

And even though it was one of the rules you and your family had written for yourselves decades ago, and even though it was what Kyle wanted, and even though you still thought it was easier than having to see your sweet, smart, funny, thoughtful nephew become a snapping, snarling monster, that thought still reverberated in your mind whenever that dream woke you up. He could have been immune. But now you’ll never know. 

There were others, too, but those were the ones that came most frequently. Those were the ones that the firewalls in your sleeping brain had no chance against, the ones there was no falling back to sleep after. 

On those nights you woke shaken and shaking, pulling yourself from the bed and turning lights on as quickly as possible to banish the things that crept into your mind. On those nights you didn’t try to find sleep again, knowing that the ache in your heart and the spike in your adrenaline wouldn’t let you. Instead you’d pad into the kitchen and do what you’d always done when you couldn’t sleep - open the cabinets and preheat the oven and bake something to take your mind off of whatever had just taken over it. 

In college, before you’d dropped out, it was blueberry muffins to distract yourself from the stress of exams. You’d bake dozens of them and give them to your friends as study fuel. On the nights following Gavin’s open heart surgery it was rye bread and cinnamon buns. You’d take them with you to the hospital when you visited him, giving them - along with your unending gratitude - to the nursing staff and doctors that worked on him. At the farm when you worried that you wouldn’t be able to keep your family safe it was potato rolls. And for the few months that you stayed in the Chicago QZ it was a modified oatmeal cookie recipe that tasted more like sugarless styrofoam due to the lack of certain ingredients, but bless their hearts, Laura and Kyle still told you they were delicious. 

Three months into your stay in Jackson, at six in the morning on your weekly day off, it was sourdough and carrot cake muffins. 

By ten o’clock you’d finished baking three loaves of bread - two of which you were planning to take to the community center to be used for meals that day - and were just getting started peeling carrots for the muffins, when there was a knock at your door. 

And as you crossed the room to answer it, wiping your hands on the dish towel that hung over your shoulder, you noticed another change - you hadn’t reached for the knife in your boot. You hadn’t even put your boots on that morning, your feet still only covered by the socks you yanked on before coming out to the kitchen. Your heart didn’t start to race. Your fingers hadn’t even twitched. You’d just heard the sound and moved to respond to it like it was normal. Like you would have before the outbreak. 

Like I would have back at home. 

Unwilling to have that conversation with yourself while someone stood waiting outside your door, you shook your head to clear your thoughts. Not now. Peeking through the view hole, you actually smiled as you saw who was on the other side. I wonder what… 

You unlocked the door and opened it. “Hey, good morning, Ellie. What are you up to? Everything alright?” 

She groaned in dramatic teenage fashion. “Yeah, everything’s fine. Except for the fact that I’m dying of boredom with these lame shifts Maria put me on this week.” 

Maria tried to keep the younger volunteers busy with tasks in the town or on the walls as often as possible, only sending them out when the schedule demanded it to relieve other patrol members, and it seemed that was what had brought Ellie to your apartment. Good. Boring is good and safe. I’m sure Joel loves boring for you, kid. 

“Oh yeah? What’s she got you doing today that’s so terrible?” 

“Compost duty.” She held up a metal pail that you hadn’t noticed at first, nose wrinkled and top lip curled. “I’m here for your rotten vegetables.”   

You let out a laugh in the form of a snort, pushing the door to open it wider. “Well they’re not rotten yet, which is kind of the point, but they’re all yours. Come on in. I’ll grab the jar, it’s in the fridge.”

Closing the door behind herself, Ellie followed you through the small living room towards the kitchen. “Ugh, it smells fucking amazing in here. Are you baking? Even on your day off? Jesus, what time did you wake up?”

You shrugged and looked back over your shoulder at her. “Yeah. You caught me.” You pointed to the counter where the loaves of sourdough sat cooling, moving aside so she could see them. “That’s what you’re smelling.” 

She groaned and slumped against the doorframe. “Oh my god those look so good. It’s making me hungry.” 

Laughing again, you pulled a serrated knife from the block on the counter. “You want a slice?” 

Her eyes lit up as she stood straight. “Are you kidding? Hell yeah I do!” You smiled and turned to saw off a hunk, the knife’s teeth scraping at the thick outer crust before sinking into the soft center. “You know, nothing against Todd or Evelyn, but the bread from the bakery is so much better now that you’re working there.” 

You chuckled, letting her compliment wash warmly over you. “Thanks, Ellie, I take my bread seriously so that means a lot to me.” You handed over the slice and she immediately took a bite. 

“Fuck,” she groaned through a mouthful, eyes rolling closed as she chewed. “So damn good!” 

“Good.” You wiped the blade off and sheathed it in the block again. “I haven't tried it yet, so thanks for helping out with quality assurance.” 

“Literally anytime,” she said around another bite. 

You smiled and already it was hard to imagine that you’d started that morning shaking and in tears. “Hey, if you’re not in a rush I’ll have even more to throw in your compost bucket if you can wait until I peel these carrots?” Picking up the peeler, you used it to gesture to the pile of vegetables on the cutting board. 

She shrugged. “No rush. Peel away.” You nodded and went to work as Ellie leaned against the countertop on the other side of the sink. “So, can I ask you a question?” 

You took a breath and considered the kind of question she might ask. “Um… sure.” 

“You were a baker, like… before, right? That’s what Joel said, and I mean -” She held up the remainder of the sourdough slice as proof. 

“I was.” You answered. “Had my own shop and everything.” 

“Okay, so then… How did you not… I mean, fuck, how do I ask this?” 

Turning in her direction you took a wild guess to help her out of her struggle. “How did I not become infected immediately since the initial cordyceps contamination was spread through flour?” 

She held up one finger, slightly gaping mouth snapping shut. “Yes, exactly.” 

You chuckled and went back to the carrots. “Mine was a little different from a regular bakery. I specialized in baking things for people with common food allergies. Eggs, wheat, dairy, things like that. So the flour I used came from a completely different source than…” You trailed off because you knew she got the picture. 

“Huh. Do you have allergies? Is that why you decided to bake like that?” 

You shook your head. “No, I don’t. I had…” You swallowed. “I knew people who couldn’t eat certain things, so I did it for them.” 

“Well…” She raised one scarred eyebrow. “I guess that was a good choice.” 

Snorting, you nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.” 

She pushed away from the counter and stepped closer to the refrigerator, her head tilting slightly to one side as something there caught her eye. The pictures. She’s looking at… Your grip on the peeler tightened, a pulse of panic seizing you at the thought that you might have to talk about your family. That was something you hadn’t done in a long time, something that you were still just on the cusp of readiness for. Hanging the photos up for your own eyes to see was one thing. You hadn’t thought about the prospect of others in your home seeing them, too. She’s gonna ask about- 

“Hey, Joel has this same magnet.” Reaching out with her pointer finger, she tapped the one shaped like your new home state. 

He… What? You let out a breath and set the peeler on the cutting board next to the pile of long orange carrot skin curls. The flash of panic turned to flurried confusion, Ellie’s comment catching you completely off guard. He took one, too? Clearing your throat, you prepared to respond when she spoke again, this time throwing something that looked like a smirk over her shoulder at you. 

“What, were they on sale or something?” She tapped it again. “Buy one, get one- Oh, shit!” 

The press of her finger must have shifted the magnet, freeing it from the pull that held it in place. You watched as she whipped her head back around and scrambled to try to catch not only the dislodged magnet, but also the picture that was stuck beneath it. She was only successful in saving one from the ground, though, juggling the plastic piece between both hands before closing it in one fist while the polaroid fluttered to the floor. Crouching down she snatched the picture up and reattached it to the door. 

“Fuck! I’m sorry! It- I didn’t mean to…” 

It was then, as she carefully put the photo back in its place, that you noticed the recognition on her face. Like she hadn’t even really seen the picture until that moment, hadn’t noticed anything beyond the familiar magnet. She went quiet, a sadness you wished she didn’t have to know creeping into her expression as she realized that none of the people standing next to you in the photo were there in Jackson with you now. 

“Is this your family?” There was a hollow tone in her typically light and bubbly voice as she stared at the smiling faces on your refrigerator. Like she didn’t want to ask but felt some compulsion to know. Like she already knew but couldn’t keep the question on her tongue. Like she should have been able to do something to change the outcomes for the people you’d lost. 

You recognized it right away and it broke your heart to see it in her, too. The guilt. The deep dark blues of surviving when everyone you loved was gone. When everyone everyone loved was gone. Oh, Ellie. 

Though only moments before you felt panic at the prospect of talking about the people you lost, suddenly, when asked, you were filled with an overwhelming urge to tell her about them. To show her - and maybe yourself, too - that not every memory hurt. That most of them didn’t. 

“Yeah,” you answered around a bittersweet smile. “It is. From about…” You hummed. “Fifteen years ago.” Wetting your lips and blinking back the stinging threat of tears, you stepped closer to where the girl stood. “That’s my-” 

You stopped yourself because you didn’t want to choke on the word you were about to use. You’d never had to explain to anyone who Gavin was to you. For years, the only people who mattered had simply always known. But that’s not the case anymore, is it? Not if you truly were serious about trying to have a life here. Left hand coming up to touch the outline of your chain through your t-shirt, you took a breath and focused on his smile in the photo. Hey, handsome. 

You cleared your throat and started over. “That’s my husband, Gavin.” You pressed the rings to your chest as you spoke his name. “And his sister, Laura.” Dropping your arm back to your side, you raised the opposite one to point at the little boy under the mess of curls that sat perched on Gavin’s shoulders. “And that’s Kyle, my nephew.” 

She stayed quiet for a few seconds, looking at the faces of the people you’d just introduced her to as though committing them to memory. “They look…” She sniffed. “You all look happy there.” 

She’s right. Despite the thick knot forming in your throat, you smiled. “Yeah.” Nodding, you looked down at her. “We were. Those were really good years.” 

The girl looked back up at you, lips pulling to the side before curving back into a small smile. “I’m glad you had those.” 

You took a breath, feeling somewhat lighter than you had in a long time even if it was a bittersweet lightness. “Yeah, me too.” Wetting your lips, you reached for the fridge handle. “Um, let me get those compost scraps for you, yeah?”  

Ellie nodded, lifting one hand up to wipe quickly at her eye. “Yeah. I should get going.” She moved over to the counter and scooped your pile of carrot peels into the bucket, then turned back to let you dump the contents of your scrap jar in as well. “Dina and I are supposed to hit all the apartments on this side of town before noon, so…” 

“So you better get moving, then,” you finished for her. “If I remember the schedule correctly, I think you and I have gate patrol on Wednesday night.” You winked. “I’ll make sure to bring snacks.” 

She grinned, almost all of the sadness that had crept into her expression gone. “You’re the best.” 

That made you laugh. “I’ll see you around, Ellie. Tell Dina I said hi.” 

She told you that she would, adding that she was also going to tell her that she missed out on the best damn sourdough left in the world by choosing odd numbered apartments, which only made you laugh harder. Closing your door after her, you couldn’t help but think of what a kick Gavin would have gotten out of Ellie. She would have made you laugh, too, Gav. 

Over the next hour you finished up the batch of muffins and cleaned the kitchen. Wrapping the two extra loaves in clean dish towels, you stuck them both in the canvas tote bag that you usually used to pick up your groceries from the general store. Once they’d cooled enough to handle, you did the same with the muffins, bundling them up and adding them to the bag. 

That done, you decided to get yourself together, changing your flour streaked shirt for a fresh three-quarter sleeved one, and the sweats you were wearing for a pair of jeans. When you looked in the mirror you were hit by yet another change - you no longer had that lost, wild, withering look that you arrived with. Your eyes had more light in them and fewer bags beneath. Your cheeks were less hollow and the windburn on them was healing well. You looked more like yourself and less like a spectral waif using your name than you had in longer than you could remember. Not that it matters but… Your lips - no longer peeling and chapped - hitched into a small grin. Not terrible. You took a second to adjust your hair, tucking stray pieces into place, and then flipped the lightswitch and left the bathroom. 

Grabbing your bag of baked goods from the kitchen, you shoved your feet into your boots and slipped your knife into place. Some things were unlikely to change after two decades of always needing to have a weapon on you, and you knew that it was the same for many other residents in town. Your gun, though, was left behind with your pack. Those items were reserved only for patrols, trail sweeps and supply runs. They had no place in your daily life anymore. Another small change. 

There was still a lingering late spring chill in the air as you stepped outside your building, but the sun was shining unimpeded in the clear blue sky and you hummed as it warmed your skin. It’s beautiful out today. As you turned onto the main street you were met with the sounds of the town. Windchimes and laughter, barking dogs and the clang of metal on metal from the blacksmith’s shop, birdsong and conversation. It felt like the much more rural version of strolling through your neighborhood in Philly on your way to the farmer’s market that used to pop up in the park on Thursday and Sunday mornings. It made you wonder what it was like here twenty some years ago, and how different things were now. 

The call of your name from somewhere to your right interrupted your thoughts before they could wander too far. You recognized the voice as you turned, eyes widening in surprise to see Joel Miller lifting one hand in greeting from the other side of the street. Oh. Hi. You stopped walking, raising your hand in a return wave and waiting for him to cross to your side.

As he did, you took a few seconds to let your eyes rake over him. He still wore a thin white bandage around his bicep, and it was visible beneath the short sleeves of his faded green t-shirt. As were his muscled arms, the warmer weather letting you see more of them than you had previously. His jeans were worn in but fit him well, the denim broken in to accommodate his movement perfectly. A toolbelt hung at his hips, hammer, tape measure, pliers and several screwdrivers attached to the loops or sticking out of the pouches. Right. He said he was in construction. You drew in a small breath as he came close enough that you could see the sunlight catching the silver in his hair. And then he smiled. Damn. 

“Thought that was you,” he said as he took the last few steps to close the distance. 

Forcing yourself to focus on the conversation at hand and not on how good he looked wearing a toolbelt, you smiled back at him. “You were right, it’s me.” 

That earned you a small chuckle, Joel raising the same hand he’d flagged you down with to scratch at the back of his neck. “How are you doin’ today?”

You tipped your head back, closing your eyes and letting the sun hit your face before responding. “The sun is out and I have a bag full of bread and muffins.” Bringing your chin back down, you shrugged the shoulder that your bag was on. “So I’m doing great.” He didn’t need to hear about the nightmare that preceded the baking. “How are you?” 

“A bag full of bread, huh?” He dropped his eyes to the goods and then brought them back up to yours. “Well I’m doin’ alright but not a bag of bread alright.” 

You laughed and pulled one strap of the tote bag down, reaching inside. “I might be able to help with that.” Pulling out one of the muffins, you offered it to him. “Carrot muffin?” 

He grinned as he took it from you. “If I ever say no to that question you’ll know there’s somethin’ wrong with me.” Nodding, he held your eyes for a second and the rush of warmth you felt had nothing to do with the sun. “Thank you.” 

“You’re welcome, Joel.” You cleared your throat and tilted your head in the direction you’d been walking in. “I was on my way to drop this off at the community center. Are you heading that way, too?” 

“I am. Meetin’ up with Tommy’n a few others to do some roof repairs.” You both started walking again, once your mutual destination was established. “Figure by now we won’t be gettin’ anymore snow, so it’s a good time to get up there and poke around.” 

You blew out a huff and shook your head. “The idea of snow in June or even April or May where I’m from is laughable. It’s probably 85 degrees in Philadelphia right now.” 

Joel made a similar sound. “Snow at all is laughable where I’m from.” You figured he was from somewhere in the south due to the slight drawl in certain words that he said, but before you got the chance to ask where exactly, he took a bite of the muffin you gave him and groaned at the taste. “Christ, that’s good.” 

Hoping you didn’t look as flustered as the sound of him groaning like that made you feel, you managed a smile. “Yeah?” He nodded, eyebrows drawn together in a serious expression as he chewed. “Good. You and Ellie make good taste testers, you know.” He tilted his head in question. “She stopped by my place this morning on her compost collection rounds.” 

“Uh huh, and she weaseled baked goods outta you, did she?” He took another bite, the reaction smaller this time but still visible and still making your chest puff up just a little. 

You shrugged. “She said she was hungry and she complimented my bread. What was I supposed to do?” 

“That girl is always hungry,” he said with a roll of his eyes that you could tell was just for show. “And if compliments are all it takes then let me tell you again, this-” He held up the last bite of muffin. “- Is delicious.” 

Letting a small laugh slip through your grin as you reached the community center, you turned to face him. “Well, thank you. If you like those, just wait until I get my hands on some apples or chokeberries.” 

“Lookin’ forward to it.” 

Just then Tommy appeared from behind the building with a ladder hoisted on one shoulder. He lifted his free hand to flag Joel down, calling out to him. “Waitin’ on you, big brother!” 

Joel clicked his tongue and turned to lob his response in Tommy’s direction. “Hold your horses, will you?” He gestured at you with his hand. “Can’t you see I’m havin’ a conversation?” 

“Yeah, I see.” The younger Miller tipped his chin in a nod and said your name. “Hope you’re havin’ a nice mornin’. Can you please send my brother up to the roof when he’s done yappin’ your ear off?” 

You laughed at that, Joel’s grumbles only making you laugh harder. “Will do, Tommy,” you said with a wave of your own. 

He grinned. “Thank you, ma’am. Take care now.” 

You called a “You too!” back at him as he disappeared behind the building again, and then you turned to face Joel once more. “Sounds like you’re needed on the roof.” 

Joel blew a huff through his nose and swatted his hand towards the roof. “He can wait a minute. I, uh…” He drew his hand up to scratch the back of his neck. “I’ve been meanin’ to ask you if you’d want to come over for dinner some night this week.” What? He dropped his hand to his side again and you tried your hardest not to let the shock you felt at his question show on your face. “Just as a thank you for stitchin’ me up,” he added. 

You blinked and took a breath, trying to process the offer he’d just made. Dinner. He’s inviting me to dinner? What is…  “I…” You shook your head as though your brain was a magic eight ball and shaking it would prompt a valid response to come out of your mouth, but immediately regretted it from the way Joel’s lips turned downward. Shit, he thinks I’m saying no. “That… That sounds nice, Joel.” Your heart hammered at your ribs as his frown faded back into a relaxed smile. “What um… What day were you thinking? I have a gate patrol Wednesday night, but-” 

“How’s Thursday, then?” 

Wetting your lips with the tip of your tongue, you swallowed and nodded slowly. “Thursday works.” Joel’s smile spread a little wider, sending his cheeks up into his eyes and making the skin around them crinkle. “Can I bring anything, or-” 

“Well I was raised to say no ma’am, just bring yourself,” he began, a mischievous glint brightening the depths of his eyes. “But I wouldn’t stop you from bringing something that you baked if you wanted to.” 

You let out a small laugh. “Got it.” 

“Alright then. Thursday it is.” He tilted his head towards the back of the community center, where the sound of the ladder being set up against the wall could be heard. “I better get up there ‘fore he has himself a conniption. You have a good day now.” 

As he turned to go, you reached into your tote bag and pulled out another muffin. “Joel!” He spun back to face you and you tossed the muffin in his direction, leaving him to scramble to catch it in one large hand. “For Tommy. Maybe he’ll be less annoyed at you if you bring him food.” 

He chuckled. “Maybe. See you around.” 

With that he headed off to join his brother and you were left momentarily standing there unsure of what had just happened. I just… He just… 

But then you heard the call of your name from the open door of the community center, and turned to see Maria grinning at you. “You comin’ in, or are you just going to watch my brother-in-law walk away?” 

You could feel the heat spread through your cheeks at her words, and quickly stepped toward the door as she started to chuckle. “Sorry, yeah, I-” 

“Hey,” she said, resting one hand on your shoulder. “I’m teasing.” She winked. “Besides, I think it’s great.” 

You let out a sigh. “Maria, it’s just-” 

“Just dinner, I know.” She nodded and held the door open for you to walk through it. “I still think it’s great.” The door clicked shut behind you and you sputtered for a response only for her to spare you the need to say anything more. “Anyway, what’s in the bag? You’re just in time for lunch prep.”

.

.

.

Thank you for reading! If you would like to be added to or removed from the tags for this or any of my stories, please feel free to let me know! You can also fill out the form on my masterlist!

Tags: @something-tofightfor​​  @littlemisspascal​​ @mishasminion360​​ @nyctophiliiiiaaa​​ @practicalghost​ @amb11​ @mindidjarin​ @jk7789​ @tentacruels​ @cannedsoupsucks​ @harriedandharassed​ @marauderskeeper​ @joelmillerscoffee​​ @woodlandmouth​​ @swtaura​​ @grfields​​ @valkblue​ @sleepylunarwolf @stealyourblorbos @trickstersp8 @imtryingmybeskar @wildmoonflower @mswarriorbabe80 @theredwritingwitch @silverstarsandsuns @competentpotato @pedro-pedrito-pascalito @mumma-moonchild @jedi-in-crocs @hannahkatharine @anoverwhelmingdin @chiyo13 @myloveistoolittle @spishsstuff @Noisynightmarepoetry @Severin-proud @jessthebaker @ael-xander @ashleyfilm

[tiredlilguy]

The Flags Origin's HC's

because I think about them a lot. there's probably some things that don't make sense here, or rather "out there" takes, but since the Flags are all squished into 70 pages let me have this... also it's hc's, so all in good fun ^^ (chew on this while i continue working on requests in the mean time), also sorry this is kinda angsty

also if you want to see my other hc's then look here

Pianoman (my beloved):

came from a family who was already Mafia, his parents and the generation before them and so on so forth, were Mafia

wore a family ring that the oldest child wears as a symbol of his families dedication to the Mafia

sort of think of it like a generation by generation kind of deal: the oldest has to take up the "family business"

his family had different specialties in what they did, Pianoman specifically became an artisan in crafting supernotes, but his family all had their own different talents

because of his success of almost becoming a mafia executive, his parents chose to retire peacefully and take care of all of his younger siblings

his parents can retire peacefully out of respect with no harm because their legacy is so well-respected

he's the oldest in his family, since birth had to deal with the pressures of "being the oldest", which made him a perfectionist in his own craft

100% Japanese, mainly because the family just deals with generational upbringing; though if he married someone of a different ethnicity that was in the Port Mafia, then that wouldn't be a problem so long as his spouse is PM

when he died, the second oldest took his place, but not for a while because his family heavily grieved his death (but because of their legacy, still tried to make up for their loss)

Lippman:

was a child actor, spent a lot of time away from his family to do films/work on sets/etc.

his affiliation with the Mafia didn't happen until way later in his acting career

had a back alley deal with a man that involved blackmail in order for his cooperation - was saught out because he was so good with words (the Mafia found out he wrote a few of the screenplays himself)

could not hold a gun up until after his first year of being with the Mafia, was Pianoman's partner until The Flags were formed

half European, has an older sister; when his family found out he was Mafia, they sort of distanced themselves from him

often treats Chuuya like his own brother sometimes because of his situation with his family

when he died, his family didn't bother to attend the funeral; but one day upon visiting Japan, his older sister visited his grave and left a note

the clean up after his death was a mess... the Port Mafia was accused of killing him and Chuuya had to witness crowds of people false-blaming him for his own friends death

Iceman:

Italian, grew up in a Mafia family in Italy (his father was the don), but was considered the weakest link

still though, his family cared for him very deeply, and despite being Mafia, he always tried to do the right thing (didn't kill until he was with the PM)

at a younger age, he was more of an observer; would witness how his family/the people that worked for his family worked technique wise

his family actually didn't want him to be a mafioso, and was glad to know that he didn't have any particular interest in it either (they wanted him to live a normal life as a citizen)

one night, his home was bombed and his family, friends, coworkers all died in the explosion; he was the only survivor

was being hunted down because he was the only survivor, snuck into Yokohama and made a deal with a man to join the Port Mafia

(this is already in my previous hc's but) after the explosion, his ears were permanently damaged and he's slowly growing deaf: was teaching the flags sign language

he was really happy with The Flags, and at that point when they were fully established, he knew that if he was going to die, it'd be around them

Albatross:

Blasian; grew up in an average family, but he himself got interested in mechanics at a young age

his family didn't approve of his interests, saying that it was rather dangerous, but his father always indulged him

dad is a retired air-pilot and used to teach Alb a lot of what he now knows

in high school, had a job as a mechanic, but told his parents he worked in a library (they did not believe him, but they also didn't bother to check either); he also had pretty bad grades

the mechanic he was working for happened to be with the PM and offered Alb a job as his apprentice for a much higher pay

his mentor was getting quite old and wanted to retire, offered the job to Alb because he saw the potential that Alb had and wanted him to succeed

his mentor was sadly assassinated during a job, and so Alb became the Mafia's wheelman

Alb covered all of this up by confessing that he was a mechanic (but didn't tell them he was with the Mafia) and then got promoted to working for the government

when he died, his parents had to sort of bit by bit discover everything that was going on behind their backs (but they couldn't be mad)

Doc:

grew up in an orphanage and is completely unaware of his own family origins, but he's Japanese

was the orphanage nurses assistant and would often observe how injuries worked; eventually started taking care of his peers injuries himself

did quite well in the schooling that the orphanage taught, and they offered for him to take a test to go to med school (he succeeded)

had his normal doctor school in Japan at age 18, then after that was offered a full scholarship in North America to get his doctorate (we already know he graduated top of his class)

is not actually interested in God and if anything, wants to spite him: that stared his need to save people, but somehow ended up killing a few on the way (though not being caught)

when he came back to Japan to go find a job, he got a deal with the Mafia and took it because he thought "well, there's a lot of death in the criminal underground... so, yeah"

when he died, Chuuya didn't think anyone would come to visit, but upon visiting their graves the next day: he found piles of bouquets of flowers from the orphanage and his fellow classmates from the US

[jellytamalies]

here are some of my 2 am ramblings about batfam. Don’t mind all the spelling errors I was half asleep man

The characters should be based off some of the original tragedies/events that put them on their path. Not that they shouldn’t grow past them but it should reflect in who they are. 

Batman wasn’t made to fight rogues and world threatening disasters. Batman was born from an unlucky moment, where a simple random crook shattered someone’s world. Even if the police in Gotham weren’t corrupt it wouldn’t have mattered. It wasn’t part of some plot or scheme, they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and something terrible happened. (In that way Batman is alike to Spider-Man, despite their very different dispositions.) Batman was made to protect people at those moments. He was made to protect people from the ground level crime lurking around. He was made to protect the people who couldn’t protect themselves. He would make sure no one else would be like that young boy in an empty alley as the witness to his parents deaths. Batman is a protector.

For Dick, Robin was made from something different. It was more about something fundamentally wrong in the world. His parents death was planned, as a result of an unchecked evil that simply exists through the world. He was made to fight that more organized crime; gangs, mobs and mafias, corrupt people and groups who went out of their way to hurt people for their own means. And that’s one main way he’s different from Batman. Robin was made to fight. And it shows in his own ruthlessness that no one, not even Batman or redhood, has. He’s a light because he chases away the darkness. 

For Jason, he didn’t have a single defining moment. It wasn’t one tragedy, it was a suffocating existence that slowly chocked him out and eventually ended with him dead. The place he was born, and the life he grew up in was messsed up because of multiple factors. It was something in the roots of Gotham(and everywhere else) that slowly poisoned the air. It was a system inefficient at really getting rid of the problems permanently that messed up crime ally, that made him lose his father to a life of crime and his mother to a drug addiction, and let the joker live to kill him. The Redhood (and partly Robin) was supposed to take care of those problems in a way the the previous system didn’t. He was a replacement (or repair) to the systems that had failed him.

Tim was different from all three. He wasn’t defined by loss. Even though both his parent died, that wasn’t what made him originally Robin. He was made to help. For him, Robin was never about fighting crime or saving civilians, it was about giving a point to hold onto, and be grounded on in the midst of grief. This shows. he doesn’t have the same burning motivation for a crusade against crime, he isn’t fighting, he’s supporting. He became Robin to stabilize Bruce. Unlike Dick his Robin wasn’t a light for Gotham, it was a light for Batman. Like a lantern guiding the way. He’s sociable and attracts (or captures, as he’s the one crashing into their lives) connections and people. He connects with everyone. People think Dick is the extrovert, but it’s Tim who is bonding people together. He not just a guiding light, he’s a campfire attracting people and bringing them together.

Damian never had a moment, it was more like a realization. Like Jason he had grown up in a horrid scenario but unlike him he didn’t realize till he was free. When he found out a better world, a better life, existed he fought for it. In multiple senses. In the beginning he thought he wasn’t worthy so he fought to keep his place; he thought he had to prove himself. When he realized he was a part of a family, and that world, he fought to protect it. Finally, as he opened up and connected with more people. His world expanded, and the people he included in it too. So he fought to protect them. He fought to give them a better world, and better life. When he came to care about Gotham and others, not just the people he was close to, he fought for them. He’s like Bruce in how he’s a silent protector, and a mirror of Dick through him protecting the light instead of fighting the dark. He’s unlike either in how he isn’t trying to spare others from a horrible thing he experienced, but instead trying to share a good thing he found. Damian is a guardian and a guide. 

There’s a thought that you become who you needed (or hated). Bruce became the guardian that would have saved his parents. Dick became the force that would have stopped zukko. Tim didn’t really need anything (except maybe a healthy role model) so he became what others needed. Damian became the guide that saved him (he became like Dick and his father and his family)

[wryterofworlds]

How does it feel to have inspired such a huge trend in dimension 20 fandom? Do you have any more headcannons for your modern AU?

In reference to this post:

Firstly, I do want to shoutout all the people who have made AUs based around the concept. All of them are so good and I can't believe that they exist because of my post. Obviously at this point everyone writing for this AU has their own ideas and versions of events, but here's the extended version of my version of the AU

Links to fics inspired by the original post:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45248404/chapters/113833735

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45109150/chapters/113477032

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45058684

https://www.tumblr.com/weareinvisiblespectres/709282235918991360/this-got-stuck-in-my-head-so-i-decided-to-write-it

Also fanart!!!: https://www.tumblr.com/mylovelyfools/709107455283593216/i-dont-have-my-tablet-rn-but-my-brain-is-moving

LMK If I missed any!

Various headcanons and plot beneath the cut

So starting with backstories:

Gerard was born into a wealthy family, and at a young age was kidnapped

Luckily he escaped, as he had always been a slippery little kid.

Unluckily, by that point his family had already had him publicly declared as dead, so no one believed him when he claimed to be Gerard Greenleigh

He lived on the streets for a while, and befriended Elody, and the two fell in love

It was only when he'd already grown into an adult that Gerard was able to prove his identity and gain access to the family fortune.

From there, familiar territory. He acted vain, petty, immature, etc., he and Elody separated, which brings us to when he adopted two kids

Ylfa is autistic, and she has particularly bad meltdowns and anger management issues. Her mother didn't handle her well and would frequently send her away to stay with Ylfa's grandmother

Eventually, she decided to just leave Ylfa there permanently

What she didn't know is that only a few days into this new arrangement, the grandmother would die of natural causes. Ylfa. Did not handle this well

She froze in place, not wanting to move forward. If she just didn't move, then she wouldn't have to deal with what came next. If she just stayed still, then there's a chance everything could go back to normal

Fortunately, Mr. Wolf the child welfare caseworker had already been looking for her as one of the mother's neighbors noticed the missing child

Unfortunately, it was still two days of her standing there, frozen and terrified, before he found her

The first thing Mr. Wolf did was take her to get some fast food, that she devoured ravenously

(She would throw up most of that food in the backseat of his car a few minutes later)

She ended up in the foster care system after that, as her mother was deemed unfit to parent her

(IDK how child welfare stuff actually works so I'm just taking my best guesses here. Apologies if I get anything wrong)

Pinocchio has chronic pain, and some days he can get by with a cane but other times he needs a wheelchair

His father was a loving, if demanding parent who, along with his kindergarten teacher, were very strict about morals and particularly lying

Eventually, a strange woman approaches him as he's about to walk home and she starts asking him increasingly personal questions about who his parent is, where he lives, how he gets home, etc.

Pinocchio cottons on that she's acting weird and lies, saying his dad will pick him up soon

Teacher Turquina hears this, and goes to give Pinocchio an earful about lying, telling the woman the truth

Geppetto goes missing soon after

Pinocchio is taken care of by his stepmother (his actual stepmother, in this AU), but eventually the way she's been emotionally and sometimes physically abusing him is noticed and he is put into the system

(The stepmother was particularly fond of locking Pinocchio in a closet for hours at a time. He still remembers the way it looked when she would open the door, the only light coming from behind her)

He has complicated feelings about his stuffed animals Spinocchio and Pinocchicrow, given the stepmother is the one who gave them to him. Eventually Pib mauls Pinocchicrow, and given how relieved Pinocchio seems, Gerard quietly moves Spinocchio into storage

Rosamund's backstory probably gets the most major overhaul

Rosamund was 16 and in love when she and her boyfriend (if you want to be particularly on the nose he could have the last name of briar or thorn or something) got into a bad car crash

She woke up from a coma 2 years later

Her boyfriend, who had been released from the hospital just a couple months after the accident, had already moved on, hence her current distaste for romance

Her parents tried to keep her inside all the time, obsessively overprotective after the accident, and she couldn't stand it

She eventually ran away, and given that Cousin Gerard has been one of the few tolerable people to be around (He had been kind and funny when she was growing up; after the accident he was empathetic in a way no one else was. It wasn't exactly the same, but he knew what it was like feeling like you've lost years of your life) and eventually she made her way to an address he'd written down for her saying if she ever needed to talk, she has an open invite

Her parents don't look for her under the belief that eventually she'll realize they were right all along and come home

(that isn't what happens)

Gerard was initially going to just take in Pinocchio, as he felt like since they'd shared experiences with kidnapping he could be helpful, and he could help Pinocchio deal with any issues the way he had

(He has not actually dealt with those issues)

Then he met Ylfa totally by accident, not at all arranged by Mr. Wolf in the hope that maybe this man would finally provide a home for two kids who so many felt were too high-maintenance to foster or adopt

So he ended up with two kids

Pib is a cat

He was originally a stray, taken in by Tomas, put in a shelter when Tomas died and then adopted by Timothy

Timothy has his husband, his menace of a son Jack, and inexplicable beef with a gander from the local park. He wants it dead, and the feeling is mutual

From here it's just general headcanons and little scenes

The non-Elody princesses are Rosamund's friends from an etiquette class that all of their terrible parents made them attend. None of them go to the class anymore but they still hang out

They are...maybe not the best influences. They regularly commit petty acts of vandalism and were maybe responsible for that time the school's library almost burned down

At some point one of Rosamund's friends/classmates says that Gerard is kind of hot in a pathetic way, and her first thought it "gross, that's my dad." She then has a minor crisis over when her goofy cousin became her dad

Gerard still exercises, but since it's his first time not working with a personal trainer he cannot figure out why he's getting stronger but not more "muscular." (not defined) Lifting more weight should be better, right?

This does mean he is strong enough to carry all three of his kids at the same time (because yes, Rosamund is his kid, even if not legally), and has carried them all to bed at once without waking them up before

Ylfa goes over the shoulders, as her grip is strong even asleep. Pinocchio is fully baby cradled in one arm, and Rosamund is carried in the other, her face tucked into this shoulder. Pib got Ylfa's back at some point without Gerard noticing, so actually it's three kids and a cat

Pib knows exactly one trick that he'll do on command, and that trick is "attack," where he runs up and smacks whoever without unsheathing his claws

For unknown reasons, he only does this trick for Gerard. Timothy is definitely not jealous

At one point Mr. Wolf was trying to talk to Pinocchio about setting goals and future careers, and Pinocchio panicked and said stand-up comedian

When Mr. Wolf tried to prompt him to set goals, he said he could come up with a good joke in a year. Mr. Wolf tried to hint that maybe that's a little too long. Pinocchio misunderstood and made it a year and a day

Pinocchio: I think that if I don't tell a good joke in a year and a day he's going to kill me

Ylfa, whose life was saved by Mr. Wolf and has known him for much longer: (100% earnestly) yeah, maybe.

Gerard tries to take the gang fishing. It goes badly. Gerard punches a fish

Ylfa has a dorky middle schooler crush on all of Rosamund's friends, especially Snow White. They think its cute and harmless enough not to discourage, much to Rosamund's chagrin

The princesses are also consistently accidentally mean to Gerard (a la "she's married?") They actually think he's a pretty good guy and by far the best parent any of them have, so they feel bad whenever it happens

Gerard does have minor Gilear energy in this au. Sorry bud.

Gerard and Elody's reuniting

For Elody and Gerard reuniting, IDK what leads to it but eventually Elody agrees to one date after starting to realize how much Gerard's changed

Gerard is very excited and spends nearly the entire day preparing for their dinner date

Unfortunately, the power goes out about midway through the day. At first it's kind of fun and everything's fine, date still set to happen

Then it gets dark and suddenly things aren't so fine anymore

Ylfa remembers the nights she stood, starving, staring at the body of her grandmother, trying desperately to pretend that nothing's changed, even as she becomes too dehydrated to cry

Pinocchio remembers that darkness of the closet, the silhouette of his stepmother, the way he could only ever catch glimpses of her sneering face as the door closed once again

Rosamund remembers the weeks of consciousness before she was able to even open her eyes, trapped in darkness by her own uncooperative body, aware yet unable to do anything, to save herself

Gerard might've asked Timothy to help out, but he'd left earlier that day to go on a camping trip with Henry and Jack, so it's up to Gerard to help his kids

So he does the one thing he's ever been good at. He tells them stories.

Some of them are old stories he's known since childhood, but some of them are new

He tells them stories of a brave little girl who was strong enough to survive despite everything, and a clever little boy who knows that sometimes you need to break the rules, and a bold princess who was able to free herself from the prison others had made for her

He does not tell them the story of a cowardly prince, too unlovable to be wanted by his parents or his wife, who has no one to blame for how things turned out but himself

Instead, his kids tell him a story

They tell him the story of a funny, smart, kind king who was beloved by all his subjects. Who never, ever got mad, and was super strong, and would accept any who would seek refuge in his kingdom. The three (four, counting Pib, who Timothy asked them to watch while they were gone) immediately decide it's their favorite

"How can that be your favorite story? That's barely a story at all, it just a list of character traits."

"Too bad, it's our favorite now, so we're gonna tell it every night."

They pass the night with stories and candles until eventually all his kids are happily asleep, and Gerard crashes onto his couch.

He, unfortunately, could not text Elody about this change of plans as his phone died before he could (his phone hasn't been fully charged since he got kids)

Elody shows up the next morning to be like "Why'd you ditch me and also are you still alive because I can't think of anything short of death that would've kept you from showing up"

She is greeted by a very tired Gerard in his pajamas, who asks if she wants to come inside for breakfast

Elody is very confused to be sitting around a table with three kids and a cat while her husband cooks breakfast (when did he learn how to cook?)

The neighbor pops in to say hi and ends up staying for breakfast as well, and Elody is quickly realizing just how much of a life Gerard has made since they separated

It's not a great breakfast. The eggs are kind of rubbery and the bacon is burnt on the edges, but it's far better than she ever imagined Gerard capable of

She...kind of wants to learn what else has changed about Gerard

She also wants to know when, where, and why he acquired these kids

Anyway, that's all I got. Maybe I'll make a continuation if I have any other ideas

[sds-mod]

Lavender as a child...smol

(Backstory infos under the cut)

Lavender was born the daughter of a victorian noble, Victor Clematis (belongs to idolkilling on twitter), who started his life as a poor and unattractive void of charisma. Sick of his life, he allowed himself to be tempted by dark magic, forming a contract with shady creatures, and came to wealth, beauty and charm - which he used instantly to live his dream life of power.

After a while, he met Lavender's future mother Elisa, who disapproved of his hedonistic lifestyle. He fell for her and so for her sake he promised to stop his ways. They married, they had a child, and life was good thanks to Victor's previously gained wealth and connections. However, Lavender ended up quite a sickly child who required a lot of care. Victor, who loved her dearly, did not take that well and the temptation to go back to his dark ways in an attempt to keep her safe and healthy got too strong. Yet upon finding out, Elisa took Lavender and left. They lived apart the following years. Lavender did not handle it well, since her bond to her father was strong, but Elisa told her that it was better this way.

Unfortunately, tragedy eventually struck and they both got sick, leaving Lavender's mother to pass away and Lavender herself at death's door. Upon hearing the news, Victor rushed to their aid, trying his best to save them, and used his dark magic to revive both - but it didn't go well. Elisa came back wrong, a monsterous shape, and Lavender was even more fragile than before, in a now-permanent state of half-dead and half-alive. Victor still attempted to keep their family together, his wife hidden and explaining every odd occurrence of his daughter's life away whenever she asked questions, and Lavender, who was still scarred from the separation of her parents, was all too happy to accept her mother's state (who still vaguely remembered her).

Yet after a particularly traumatic event for Lavender where her own other ended up attacking her, Victor decided that this plan wasn't working and he took it upon himself to raise Lavender by himself, altering her memory of past events.

After handling things this way for a while, Lavender's mental state grew very fragile, easily triggered to remember everything that happened and everything Victor did, which made her overwhelmed, hysterial and at risk of practically disintegrating and dying after all - so once again Victor had to accept his loss, realizing that his presence in itself was a gigantic trigger for Lavender, and sent her to live alone (under his ever watchful magical eye) in an attempt to have her lead a peaceful and happy life (though it's always only temporary. She inevitably glitches out after a while - given that her mind is fragile and, at this point, filled to the brim with real and fake memories - and needs to be taken in by him and maintained.)

She's currently living in a cycle of waking up in a place with a fresh memory of a life implanted in her (usually some variation on the same story, updated for time) and going on about her day that has been magically pre-set for her, until she inevitably glitches out and breaks, getting taken in by her father again, reset and relocated. She's not aware of this cycle and just thinks that she has hypothyroidism (explaining her exhaustion and several other health problems) and poliosis (half of her hair grew white since she's half-dead. She dyes the white part a lavender colour to match her name.)

She's trying to lead a normal life but since she happens to be a magnet for the weirdest people on earth she's struggling a lot.

[yanderelovlies]

𝓤𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓶𝓸𝓸𝓷 𝓵𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽

Note: this has a fantasy theme cause I love fantasy. I might do a part two for Dante tomorrow

Fandom(s): SWWSDJ

Character(s): Sunny Day Jack

Dancing has been your favorite thing since you were little. You even convinced your parents to pay for your classes. Luckily for everyone, those classes paid off as you were able to take your dancing to the stage like you wanted.

Your dance took you to many different places where you met tons of people. Since you never stuck around long you never make friends with people outside of your traveling company. Until you came to the big city of Saphir. It's the capital of the Xyelm kingdom, and it was here you were to perform for the kingdom in front of royalty to say you were nervous would be an understatement.

Yet despite your nerves, you performed confidently in front of every. Everyone loved it so much that the royalty invited you multiple times to perform for them. You even began to grow close to the family. Especially close to the Prince.

Prince Jack is such a kind and caring prince that it was hard not to be friends with him. He always made sure you had everything you need for every performance, and when you had to travel he made sure to send you all the supplies you needed free of charge. He was there when you doubted your ability or when some negative citizens called you awful things.

He was your protector and friend so when his parents offered permanent stay, and pay to perform for court every day you couldn't help but accept. During the day you spend time with the prince while dancing when asked. While at night you practiced your performances till you could stand no longer. It wasn't ideal to do things, but you got by.

Little did you know your nightly practice was a performance for Jack and Jack alone. He had seen you one night while leaving his study late. He couldn't help but be mesmerized by the way you danced in the moonlight. If he didn't know any better he would have thought you were higher being.

Since then he made sure to watch you every night. To watch what he felt was a private performance just for him. Until just watching wasn't enough, and one night he approached you after practice.

"Beautiful as always sunshine." He walked towards you his arms behind his back as he smiles at you.

You jumped in place Turing to face him "Jack! Oh by the gods you scared me! What are you doing out here?"

Jack chuckled "apologies sunspot, but I was watching your performance. It was enchanting that I could help but try to get a closer look."

Your face turned red as you looked away from him "w-well thank you....but you really should be asleep. Who know what court affairs you will face tomorrow."

One arm comes to rest comfortably at his side as the other comes up to wave his hand dismissively "It's the same thing they have been discussing for months. "When will he marry?" "Who will we arrange next?" "How are you to marry at this rate?" It's all quite boring if you ask me."

You smiled looking back up at him raising an eyebrow at him "and why haven't your married?"

His eyes met yours as he smiled adoringly at you "because they aren't you."

.

.

.

"What?"

He chuckled moving closer to have his hands take yours "They aren't you. You are who i want to marry."

You stared at him your face red before shaking your head and pulling away from him "Why would you give me hope like that? You could never marry me. I have no ties to nobles or royalty. They wouldn't accept it."

One cupped your face while the other once again takes your hand "I care not for what they think for them, not the ones next in line for the Thorne. I have known for a while that you would make a perfect ruler by my side. If that is what you want."

"Yet your parents still live, and there is no way they would accept it no matter how much they love my dance."

You tried to pull away, but Jack was adamant about keeping you close "They have already approved I swear. It's the rest of the council we are convincing. It was to be a surprise to you, but after tonight's dance I couldn't contain myself any longer."

He pulls you into his arms. "If you will have me. I would love nothing more then to rule with you at my side."

You searched his eyes for any deceit before slowly wrapping your arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss. Though you said nothing the kiss you shared said it all. A promise under the moonlight.

[pico-digital-studios]

Into, Across and Beyond! Cast: The Funkin' Crew

Origin: Friday Night Funkin' (most of the group); VS Sky (basis for ErrorSky)

"Benjamin Miku here! Let's get into action!" - Benjamin Miku/Boyfriend

"Aww, yeah! That's how you do it!" - Grace Dearest/Girlfriend

"I already lost one iteration of my best friends, and I'm not going to let another meet that same fate." - Pico N. Grounds

"It makes no sense for me to be held by the shackles of my past. I have friends who need me in the present AND the future!" - ErrorSky

The gang from Philadelphia; an aspiring music artist, a daughter to a demon family, a ginger-haired bounty hunter, and a fangirl of the formermost. Each of them have had their major points in history, and here in IAB! is no different. However, these aren't entirely the same Boyfriend, Girlfriend, Pico and Sky fans have grown to appreciate over the years. This story focuses on an entirely new group.

The important point that kickstarted their new story was the events of Mario's Madness, which led to the deaths of Boyfriend and Girlfriend at the hands of Ultra M, and Pico being stuck wandering in the haunted cartridge until he came across some strange being that reset the ENTIRE FNF universe and created a new iteration; Dimension FNF-NEW-2023.

Right away, there are some changes; the counterparts of Boyfriend and Girlfriend are vastly different, being dubbed "Benjamin" and "Grace" respectively, and it's through this that gives Pico a new connection to them. He just wanted them to be together in this timeline, too, and cared very much about their wellbeing. Granted, Benjamin did date Pico for a bit during high school, though they broke up for Ben's safety after the school shooting.

Speaking of that attack, Pico had remembered meeting his counterpart from Dimension DS-2022, and took a hint from him; he went straight for Cassandra to ensure lives could be saved from the shooting, and thanks to that, Pico had less of an interest in professional work than he once did. As it happened, he was the only one whose memories remained intact after the big reset.

In this universe, quite a bit had changed. Benjamin and Grace were both instead high-school students, and though Benjamin lacked the very high levels of bravery his original self did, he's still done his best to tackle the challenges laid before him. He's also more careful around asking people to sing with him, and holds off if that person isn't in the mood for it.

Benjamin and Grace's families were also bigger in this new universe. Taking a page from MizanPloz's Genderswaps mod and other mods, their families include parents (fresh ones in Ben's case), siblings (including their younger "genderswap" counterparts, Kaity and Chris) and cousins. And the two even made new friends out of those they had singing matches with, which Pico really enjoyed seeing.

As for ErrorSky, she ended up coming into the new universe as an accidental anomaly, and found herself admiring Benjamin like most iterations of Sky would admire their Boyfriends. Predictably, it backfired in her face, but she came out of it not wanting to intrude on Benjamin's love life. Unfortunately, she became a prime target for the monster known as Toxinfect, but with help from one of the other victims of his wrath, she overcame the monster and guaranteed her escape, even reconciling with Benjamin and Grace afterwards.

During that same time, the Corruption struck Philly, courtesy of the Lemon Demon, though it lasted two weeks in total, and unfortunately for the Monster, it grew in sentience and soon betrayed him. Thankfully, Benjamin, Grace, Pico and their companions were all able to fight off the virus and get rid of it. And better still, they got on Daniel Dearest's good side permanently thanks to this. If Agent Blueballs' foothold on canon events were to apply here from Funkinverse, then the Corruption is their shared canon event.

After both these events, ErrorSky became besties with Benjamin and Grace, preferring to remain at a friend level to make up for her prior advances, though has been blushy in Grace's presence as well as Benjamin's. It's sometime after that the blasted cartridge incident came back, this time in the form of a disc with Mario AND Sonic horrors within. This time, they avoided death, freed SHM from the confines (who was Victim #1, or "Madeline") and overpowered Xenophanes, who was the REAL mastermind behind it.

Once that was all said and done, the four discovered the path into the Errorverse via an interdimensional portal. Thanks to going through it, they ended out aging down into teens, like Nitro and his siblings before them. Thanks to this, they ended up becoming more involved in the quests of those in this dimension; helping free the Literature Club girls from their game for good, Benjamin giving a kid dubbed "AE M." companionship (and leading to them becoming boyfriends), fighting off evil corporate businessmen and sentient viruses, and further expanding Benjamin's music scene overall.

Speaking of that, the influence of Funkin' culture has happened to be part of the multiverse's music scene, even if it's not to everyone's tastes. And it just so happens that it seems to be popular in Dimension MP-2021, especially with OMT!Tails. It's to the point where, when CR!Sonic told him to keep calm about the wall-clinging in One More Hero, he did some of the beatboxing from "Fresh" to keep him steady. Of his composed songs, of course, Benjamin isn't too proud about "Really Happy" from Sunday Night, considering its nature and the awful screen-shake effect it caused.

This later leads into More than One Universe, the point where Benjamin and his crew are brought into the events via the Errorverse link. Through this, they each lent a hand in apprehending the villains that had leaked through into the OMT universe. During this time, however, Benjamin almost fell victim to demonic possession from the Puhoi curse, with three outcomes; him escaping solo with Soul BF, him losing and branching into becoming Bently, and, in the case of the scenario post-EV-rewrite, Nitro interfering before it can hold for long.

After the end of it, Benjamin was happy to sign an autograph for OMT!Tails, since the kid was a pretty big fanboy of him, and EV!Sonic saw quite the potential in him, since Benjamin was an angel in this shared universe. The following day was when Pico finally came clean to Benjamin about the timeline reset, which he took pretty well, all-in-all. And that Christmas, he met Soft Benjamin (a younger incarnation) for the first time, he, the Mikus and Dearests gave the Fairests their karma and prompt arrest, and he decided to adopt Softie into his family, which the kid was really happy about. It's through Softie that he got to meet his other counterparts from other universes (like Neo, B3, Minus, B-Sides, D-Sides and Arrow Funk).

Amongst other things, he has also been taking good care of Evan from FNF: Childhood Memories, and helps babysit him each Sunday in his free time, the time they spend together reigniting some of Benjamin's childhood memories. Since Evan and Holly obviously aren't suited for combat, it's why neither actually appear in the base stories, as I've planned to instead feature them in more casual slice-of-life storylines to tie in to the mod while work on it continues.

Sometime after this was when The X struck during one of Salty's crusades, and the attack left Sunday, roommate of Carol and good friend of Ben and Grace, with protanopia, meaning they can't see red anymore. When Cam (Agent Blueballs) tried to recruit Benjamin into the Funkin' Society using Kenji as association, this backfired massively, and due to Benjamin's well-respected position amongst the Boyfriends, this quickly earned Cam even MORE ire amongst counterparts across the multiverse), including from the original Soft Pico.

After The X was successfully detained by the Quill Society, which took more work than you'd think despite him being weaker by the events of IAB!, EV!Sonic approached Benjamin for a potential place in the Quill Society, which he accepted, though was confused about.

As EV!Sonic explained later, Benjamin was offered this place due to a mix of him being an angel, him sporting the ECHO ability to keep pace with hostile villains, and indirectly hailing from a SEGA property thanks to his ties with Hatsune Miku. These were enough to give Benjamin his position in the group, and he was able to increase his connections through it. ErrorSky also joined in, having built her own community with other Skys. That said, she dislikes Miko a LOT, due to her being an internet jerk.

As for Pico, his quest to ensure a better future for his friends paid off, and he could get his closure for the original BF and GF in that their legacy would live on through his newer friends and their families.

To count any canon events each of the crew have gone through (relative to Blueballs' way of thinking in the Funkin' Society):

Benjamin:

He had dropped out of high school, though not immediately, only after the Corruption was gone to ensure it couldn't hurt any of his classmates.

Benjamin has three companions supporting him together; Grace, Pico and ErrorSky. The latter two are not committed relationships, which isn't a requirement.

The bad song Benjamin composed was "Really Happy", and he's actively not proud of it.

Benjamin has fought off the Corruption when it struck his world, and has never encountered or been claimed by any denizens of the Darkness.

Grace:

Like Benjamin, she only dropped out of high school in the aftermath of the Corruption.

Grace has Benjamin as her main supporting companion.

She encountered the Corruption much like her friends, though was never claimed by the Darkness.

Pico:

Pico dropped out of high school in the aftermath of the shooting incident, like his original self did, and moved to mercenary work. However, in the new timeline, it's only undercover work to get Daniel Dearest back on a good side.

Pico's supporting companions, as usual, are Nene and Darnell, though he's yet to make things click romantically with either.

Pico, as per his canon event, took a stand against the Corruption first-hand and aided in eradicating it after being freed. He also had to fight off one Darkness infectee and came out no worse for wear.

He lost the original Boyfriend and Girlfriend in his canon event.

ErrorSky:

As per tradition for Sky variants, ErrorSky had crushed on Benjamin in the past, though saw what she was doing was wrong.

Her parents died through her canon event, courtesy of Toxinfect.

Benjamin's top-selling songs:

A cover of Vocaloid song "Idol", deviating from his usual beep-boop singing act.

"Serendipity" from Vs. Radi and Lofie (ft. Lofie)

"The Division - Destruction of Boyfriend" (cover of his own sister's song; ft. Softie)

And as for a little extra trivia related to the bunch:

ErrorSky actively dislikes Miko and has gone to great lengths to vandalise her twisted social media acts for the sakes of others. She's also actively at odds with Faker Sky, those two being the ONLY Skies she hates.

Pico had been twice-shy around Nene, having once kissed her cheek to cheer her up, but feeling extremely embarrassed about it afterwards.

[goldenlilium-ocs]

November 27th, 1995.

(thank you to @multifanenthusiast with your assistance with this scene last year)

Loss. For such a universal experience, Juliette had never expected it to be so isolating. It had been five months now since the death of Cedric Diggory. The world did not stop spinning for the death of angels. Juliette had learned that the hard way. There were no more handwritten letters at breakfast, no picnic dates on the quidditch pitch or astronomy tower, no matching shirts bequeathed by Seb and Kingston. She had danced with Death for the first time and it had left her lonely on the dance floor while everyone else continued Life’s waltz. It was like she had forgotten the steps. 

She had received her O.W.L results over the summer. Her aunt had gotten engaged, Gwenog Jones had visited to share her prayers- and yet none of it meant anything. Nothing mattered anymore. Not when it couldn’t be shared with him. 

Those around her grew impatient now. It seemed the socially acceptable mourning period was coming to an end. The gentle nudges to contact friends, the invitations to Hogsmeade, owls from both her and his parents. Juliette, once so eager to please, no longer cared for the worry she caused others. Let them worry that she was falling apart. They didn’t understand that she already had. The pieces of her lay scattered in that grave with Cedric. Now she was just a shell of Juliette Bishop, moving through the motions.

Juliette spent most of her time in the library these days. It was a good way to avoid the heavy eye-prickling sorrow that threatened to take over every second of the day. Madam Pince made a pretty good bodyguard with her affinity for scaring people away the second they spoke a decibel higher than the sound of a pin dropping. It had eventually encouraged even her own best friend Kingston to give up and leave her be as soon as she stepped inside the library. The witch kept to a table by the windows in the very back of the room, usually only occupied by the most studious or couples snogging. Fortunately, they usually left pretty quickly once they spotted ‘The Girl With The Dead Boyfriend’.

It was one of those days again today. The emptiness hollow yet weighted permanently in Juliette’s chest as she stared blankly at her potions homework. Amortentia. Death was cruel, but Life was ruthless. Lost in her voided mind, the shadow passing over her almost went amiss until the intruder cleared their throat. As the brunette glanced up, she was taken aback by the sight of Mattheo Riddle. Especially without his usual cohort. Up close, he looked like shit.

His dark curls seemed in disagreement about which direction to stand in. He had bags under his eyes and kept shifting from foot to foot. He opened and closed his mouth multiple times, an odd sight to see. What was even odder were the words that finally came out. 

“I’m sorry.”

Juliette glanced around, wondering if maybe he’d knocked over her ink or dropped some books. Nothing seemed out of place except for the Slytherin standing before her. “For…?”

He still stood there, mouth puckering like a fish. Eventually he inhaled sharply, gazing down at the books on the desk. “Diggory was- he was really good. Death’s sort of a strange concept for me and all but…he didn’t deserve that. And… I know he’s my father but- I mean I don’t know him. Never met the bloke.”

Juliette’s gaze fell onto the books in front of her, as if staring hard enough might burn through any rising emotion. She thought she had run out of tears to cry by now but they poked at her eyes, begging for release. 

“It wasn’t your fault.” The witch shrugged. She wasn’t even sure he had bothered to attend the finale of the tournament. Perhaps because he had known, but the look in his eyes told a different story. She knew pain. 

Mattheo seemed confused. As if the genuity of her words had shocked him. “No, but I still have to live with the consequences of what he does.” He stated. "No one should have to die for this. No one should lose the one they love the most..." Mattheo said, trailing off wondering what the feeling was that he just spoke of. Much like death, he knew little about love. He had love from his aunt growing up. He knew brotherly love from Theo. But a love that is so strong you can smell it in a potion and be reminded of a single person- the love he saw in Juliette's eyes every time she looked at Cedric was a love Mattheo had never known. It was a love he craved, but would never feel. He didn't deserve to feel that level of emotion.

“You didn’t give the order or perform the curse as far as I’m aware. It wasn’t your fault.” Juliette steeled herself to look up again. She just wished he would leave already instead of trying to take responsibility for what happened to Cedric. She didn’t need to relive that night again. Or be reminded she might never be loved like that again.

Instead of leaving, Riddle pulled out the chair opposite and sat down. “Where’s Chance?”

The worst part of it all was that this boy who didn’t even know her, looked genuinely concerned. Juliette was so sick of that look. She shrank into her chair, folding her arms across her chest. The truth was that Kingston was losing hope in her. He was inviting her to eat less and less, no longer bothering to bring her the homework she never completed from classes she never attended. But she wasn’t about to tell him that. 

“Has anyone ever told you it’s impolite to shove your nose when it doesn’t belong?”

“Once or twice.” The Slytherin replied, the humour wrapped around his tongue was absent from his gaze as he stared her down. “Do you really think this is how he wants you to mourn him, Bishop?” 

Why was it always the people who had lost nothing who were the ones acting like they understood how it felt?

“Don’t act like you knew the first thing about him.” Juliette’s scowl deepened. She doubted he’d ever uttered a single word to Cedric. Too many people in Cedric’s life had just assumed they had him pinned down. It had to have been exhausting. 

A hushing sound came from over the Slytherin’s shoulder, the shape of Madam Pince disappearing behind the shelves, and Juliette glowered. “Are you done?”

Apparently not.

“Look, I get it. He was your boyfriend. You probably thought he was the love of your life,” Mattheo continued in hushed tones, “But you have got to stop being dead set on being the girl with the dead boyfriend. I know you’re pushing people away. This is my table, you know. Nobody comes here. I know your grades are slipping. Since when does Theo score higher than you in potions? He’s always complaining about how uptight you are in that class.”

So he was impolite and a stalker. 

“I am not uptight.” Juliette huffed, another shush coming from somewhere to her right. She rolled her eyes and went to pull her planner toward her, but Mattheo tugged it right out of her hand. 

“Bishop, your planner has two different colour code systems, you’re always obnoxiously on time to everything. You push away anyone who tries to sympathise with you and you hate when people don’t match the effort you put in. Up. Tight.” Mattheo leaned back with a smirk, proud of his freakish oberservations, but then his expression turned serious again. "Everyone around you can see it. You've become a shell of yourself since losing him." He muttered. 

Juliette’s hands shook a little, and she gripped the edge of the desk, gazing away from the Slytherin. “I didn’t lose him, he was taken from me. And they’re trying to call it a fucking accident.” She hissed. 

She watched as Mattheo leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table with that stupid smirk on his face. His dismissal of her anger was irksome, as if he’d been waiting for it. “There you go, Bishop. Let out the aggression. No use in keeping it bottled up forever. Strength is better than weakness. Be angry.” He even chuckled, which made her insides burn. 

Her cheeks flushed a little, brows furrowing in confusion. Was he actively trying to piss her off? “I’m not angry. I’m fucking sad.”

“Sadness is just rage turned inwards.”

“You’re insane.” Juliette scoffed. She rose to her feet, packing the books back into her bag. 

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.” Mattheo stood too, sidestepping to block her escape. Her planner was still clutched in his hand. “You’re allowed to be angry. Merlin knows it’s better than feeling sorry for yourself.”

“Don’t tell me how to feel!” 

“Out!” Madam Pince had appeared out of nowhere yet again. And despite her whispers, the shrill of her voice still pierced Juliette’s ears. “One week’s ban, both of you.”

Juliette paled. Where else could she go to escape her friends? No, not escape them, just get away for a bit. “Nice going.” She spat, glaring at Mattheo as she tore her planner from his hands on the way out. 

She began walking away, but she couldn’t get rid of that nagging voice in her head. Cedric would have handled it better, he handled everything better. She risked a glance over her shoulder. Mattheo was still standing there at the entrance, he seemed to be muttering angrily to himself. Juliette felt a little bad for snapping now, but he shouldn’t have pushed her. And she was not uptight. 

She turned back with a sigh, changing course for the Hufflepuff common room. She probably owed her friends a visit by now. If Cedric were here, he’d definitely be smug about her sudden change of heart.

“Shut it, Diggory.”

[peacehopeandrats]

What could you write with 21 & 24

I feel like you got cheated with this. I also feel cheated because I'm totally uninspired by this prompt. You've round the thing that stumps me. Well, not entirely true, I could go a few different ways with this... I thought of the Tent of Infinite Adventure, I thought of some part of Growing Up... In the end, I went with Second Chance.

Gideon hefted one of the larger branches from the felled tree and began to haul it into the pile. "Did you know Canada's forest is something like nine percent of the entire world's forest?"

"All right, Jack." Alice puffed hair from her face. "But this isn't Canada." She set down the axe she'd been using and stretched her back. "This isn't even Canada."

"Couldn't be," Robin told her as she walked by with a bundle of sticks for the stick pile. "They are very careful about clearing their forests."

Gideon pointed a finger at Robin. "There, you see. I'm not the only fact finder in this group."

"Left over from my cursed memories," Robin said with a shrug. "Margot traveled through there for a while."

Alice asked her what it was like and Gideon partially tuned out the couple's sweet semi-bantering about what forest from which realm could have been a match for Canada's vast and diverse wooded areas. Instead, he kept at his work.

It had been a long day of felling trees and hauling them away, but this was much more agreeable to all of them than hiring a machine to tear up the woodland around his father's old cabin. Of course, it hadn't been his choice to make, they were only here helping Jefferson so that he and Grace didn't have to do it alone. Wiping sweat from his brow, Gideon paused to take in the sight of the building and the new clearing they were creating beside it. Eventually a small stable would go here, made of the trees they were currently clearing away. More wood would be taken to create a small clearing for grazing and a larger fence around it.

"It isn't going to take years," Jefferson told him, striding past in a flash of bare chest and bright green pants.

Gideon huffed. "Who said it was?"

"You," Jefferson said. "And you were thinking it just now."

"Actually I was trying to decide how I felt about changing this place so much."

The other man froze, mid stride, saw held out at a dangerous angle. It was as if a magic spell had been cast on him, allowing only his eyes to move. Finally, his jaw dropped open, which seemed to release the rest of him. Spinning on his toes, Jefferson turned a frown Gideon's way. "It's a little late to protest what I'm doing to MY land."

"I didn't mean it that way," Gideon insisted, holding out his hands in surrender. "I just meant... Well, people keep acting as if I should feel something about this place and I just... don't."

Jefferson followed Gideon's gaze and blinked at the cabin. "Right. That."

"If something happened here, I'm not supposed to know about it." Frustration at the same old situation began to boil up in Gideon. He was so tired of having to fight off the non-memories of how he had been the last time he was a grown man living in Storybrooke.

"No, I didn't mean that either," Jefferson insisted. "I meant that the only log cabin you ever knew that belonged to your parents isn't even in this realm."

The image of the house at the Edge of Realms came to Gideon in a flash of sadness and pain. It hadn't ever truly been his home, but it was the only permanent one he had ever known his parents to have and so he felt it was his in a way as well. He wondered what it looked like now; unused for so long. The garden would be overgrown, of course, but would dust be collecting? Would the glass be filthy? Would the building be falling apart?

"Mother's roses," Gideon whispered sadly.

"Hm?" Jefferson looked over at him before getting back to the work of sawing off branches for him to haul away.

Gideon shook his head to clear it of the haunting thought of his mother's unkept grave. "Just thinking about the rose bushes Papa and I planted at Mother's grave. I imagine they've grown wild now."

"You didn't see them after your father-"

"No," Gideon cut Jefferson off, still unable to hear anyone mention his father's passing. "I haven't been back since Papa left."

There was a long pause after he said this, as if the entire world had gone still. Suddenly, without a single word, Jefferson dropped the saw to the ground, snatched up his shirt and overcoat, and stormed away.

"Did I say something wrong?" Alice looked at Gideon with concern, but it was Jefferson who answered.

"You keep going. There is someone I have to talk to before I can do anything else."

Alice turned from watching Jefferson's retreating form and screwed her face up at Gideon. "What was that about?"

All Gideon could do was shake his head as he went back to work. "With Jefferson? It could be anything."

[honeysmokedham]

TIMING: July 10th, 2023 PARTIES: Emilio @mortemoppetere & Nora @honeysmokedham LOCATION: The Mines SUMMARY: Nora is a fresh made crystal monster who had previously been telling everyone she was dying. Emilio is making sure Nora isn't dead. They talk. CONTENT WARNINGS: Parental Death TW (mention) Sibling Death tw (mention) Child Death tw (mention) (the emilio trauma pack tw list)

Concern ebbed in his gut as he made his way towards the mines. He didn’t know what to do here. It was a bad feeling, the helplessness that had been eating away at him ever since Nora told him she was going to die. It kept dragging him back to that familiar living room, with blood on the floor. How many times, he wondered, could you fail to save the people you cared about before failure became the only thing you were good at? How many graves could you dig before the dirt became a permanent fixture beneath your nails?

Nora was alive, but he hadn’t saved her. Nora was alive, but there was still something wrong. Those pictures she’d sent, with the same purple crystals that had been popping up all over town clawing their way from beneath her skin, they set him on edge in a way he couldn’t quite explain. He felt cold and uncertain and everything was wrong. Dread sat heavy in his chest, paranoia worse than its already impressive default state. 

He stopped in front of the entrance to the mine, leg aching. He sent a quick message telling her he was there, hoping he wouldn’t have to venture into the mines but prepared to do so if it became necessary. Emilio would crawl into the earth if he had to. If crawling into a grave meant he didn’t have to dig another one, he wouldn’t hesitate.

"I don't understand why he's dancing." It was their second watch-through of Morbius. Apparently one hadn't been enough to get into the spirit of the movie. Whatever spirit that was supposed to be, Nora didn't know. She wasn't sure she'd ever find it. A ding from her phone. Nora fumbled it into a reading position. More often than not she found herself dropping her phone thanks to the crystalline talons that tipped her fingers. "Mimi is here," Nora noted to Cass. "I gotta go talk to him. I told him the banshee screamed for me, I don't think he believes I'm alive." Nora extricated herself from the fort the pair had made. The mines were turning into a comfortable home. "I'll be back," Nora told her friend, throwing in one of Matt Smith's atrocious dance moves as a fair well. 

The trip to the entrance of the mines was easy, it was familiar. As familiar as the walk down into her crypt, or the walk into Axis. It was a home. The familiar scent of Irish Spring Soap and cigarettes met her as she neared the entrance. Nora wondered how close he'd gotten, would he enter the mines? That would be nice. Everyone should live in the mines with her. A big family of her favorite people in her favorite place. She was sure that the mines would fix his knee. Just like the mines had saved her life. "'Sup Mimi." Nora made sure her approach was dramatic. Glowing crystals coming out of a darkness that was exaggerated by her illusions. "Welcome to the mines." 

Nora stood there for a second. Two seconds. Three. "Death looks good on me, don't you think?" And like that, she was a kid showing off something she was proud of. Nora did a slow turn, arms held wide, making sure he could see her full monstrosity. "Sick right?" The pictures didn't do it justice. The pictures didn't capture the slight glow or the way they made soft chiming noises when Nora moved. 

Somehow, some part of him hadn’t believed she was alive until now. Logically, he’d known she was. He’d spoken to her, he’d seen the pictures she sent. He knew she was alive, was well enough to talk and look as happy as he’d ever seen her in the photos she sent. Still, there was a flood of relief as she came to the surface — breathing, moving, and tangible. There was no twist in his gut that meant undead, despite her claims that she’d died and risen up down in the mines, and that was a good thing. 

“You’re not dead,” he told her, though he was pretty sure she’d argue. She usually did, when she had her mind set to something. And she seemed to have her mind set pretty firmly to this. Still, saying aloud helped just a little. His heartbeat slowed, his shoulders released some tension. She wasn’t dead.

She also wasn’t normal. He’d half-hoped the pictures she sent him were doctored in some way or another. Emilio might not have known much about photoshop, but he knew that people more talented than him could manage some pretty impressive feats with it. But here Nora stood, in front of him in the flesh, covered in those goddamn crystals. He took a step forward, watching her with a wary eye as she turned. Sick was one word for it, though he figured the way he was thinking meant something a little different than Nora’s use. “What the hell happened to you? Are you —” He choked on his words a little, relief that she was alive and concern that something was wrong fighting it out in his head. “Are you okay, kid?” 

“Anymore.” Nora added the correction to the statement, she wasn’t dead anymore. It was an important distinction. Important to her because it had been a life changing event. It had shifted her world, it had shattered her bones, it had remade her in the image of the mines. Death had wrapped its boney fingers around her heart with the intention of crushing her, but she had been pulled back to the mortal coil with a purpose. The purpose of being an acolyte to the mines. Nora didn’t miss the relief that seemed to seep over Emilio’s features. It came in the subtle way his jaw seemed to unclench, his shoulders relaxed, and a new calmness entered him. “I keep telling you. Death couldn’t keep me. I remain ungovernable.” 

He hadn’t been listening to her. That was typical Emilio. Nora shook her head in the way of the sitcom actors. The way that said, oh there goes Emilio! Being so silly again! “I told you what happened.” She’d spoken it into her phone until her phone got all the words correct and she could send the message explaining her transformation to him. “I’m,” Nora reached out a hand, staring down at the purple talons that made using her phone so difficult now. She flexed the fingers, straightening them and curling them, eyes fixed as if transfixed by her own movements. “I’m perfect. Look at me. I’m perfect.” Nora knew the words she wanted to use to describe how she felt. She knew how to wrap the sentence that explained this is how she should have always looked. How right it felt, but she didn’t need to say them. It was obvious just looking at her. 

“What about you, old man?” Nora allowed a smile to creep over her. “How’ve you been doing? Any new cases? I bet the mines could solve all the cases.” Nora turned and cast a fond gaze at the mines, the mines where all the answers to life remain. She wished Emilio could see that. 

“Me and death go way back. I’m usually pretty good at telling when it’s around.” It was dry, the way his jokes always were. She wasn’t undead; he knew that, and she had to know that he knew that. Emilio might be a shit hunter where action was concerned, but he could still sense the things he was supposed to be after. He still knew when something had been wrapped up in that blanket of death and uncovered as something else with the same certainty as he knew his own name. And Nora hadn’t. There was so much relief in knowing that Nora hadn’t. Emilio was trying, he was trying to be the kind of man who could look at something undead and not feel a sense of disgust wash over him. He could hang out with Metzli, could exist near Zane without wanting to kill him on the spot, could talk to an undead stranger in a bar and not pull a blade. He was getting better. But there was still that deep-seated sense of unease that came with it. There were still years and years of conditioning, of being told that it was bad was wrong was not okay. It’d take a long time to get out from under that. And so, the relief. Nora wasn’t undead.

But Nora was stubborn.

He knew that about as well as he knew his own name, too. Knew that she’d argue with him about it until she was blue in the face — or whatever color her purple gem-face would turn when she ran out of breath. She’d decided that things were a certain way, and she’d fight for that. She always did. In all honesty, it was one of the things Emilio had always admired about her. She was a good kid, strong. And she liked this. The gems, the mines, all of it. She liked it. That much was clear.

He was still going to fix it, of course. He didn’t trust anything like this, and he’d get her back to the way she’d been before if it killed him. If she hated him for that after… he’d learn to live with it. He’d learned to live with worse.

“Yeah,” he said, “okay. Perfect. Are you in pain?” Maybe that was the better question. He wanted the answer to be no, even if the answer being yes might make her more likely to be willing to let him change her back. The idea of her being in constant pain, of it hurting all the time made his stomach clench up. Emilio knew what that felt like. He wouldn’t wish it on anyone, least of all Nora. “Me? Kid, I didn’t really come here to talk about me. I’m fine. Cases are what they always are. Don’t think the mines will change that.” Though they might solve a few of the missing person files on his desk. 

“Old drinking buddies, right?” Nora quipped. Emilio shrouded his past in mystery. It had to do with Mexico. It had to do with a family that was gone, dead or missing was never clear. She knew his mom was dead, she thought he alluded to some siblings had gone that route too, but there had always been a line drawn when Nora asked a question that went too deep. A simple, I don’t want to talk about it. Nora reached out a crystalline hand and gently patted it against his arm. An abbreviated version of her cataloged comforting touch. “I know you don’t believe me, but he’s not coming here. He can’t. The mines will protect us.” Nora turned, giving the mines a longing look. 

Even while standing just at the entrance, she felt the pull. It called her back. It asked why she was standing outside its embrace? Why didn’t it want her to be cradled in its being, consumed by its energy, and protected by its walls. The outside world felt wide and empty. Had she always lived in the large open world without caring before? Perhaps it was why she made her home in a crypt, the subconscious realization that the mines were for her. The crypt had also protected her with four walls and a ceiling deep within the ground. What was a crypt of not a mine for human bones? 

“Pain?” Nora ran a talon against her jaw. It had been weird, losing all the flesh of her jaw to make way for the crystal. It had hurt in the moment of her death, but now? “I feel heavier, but it doesn’t hurt.” Nora patted one of the shoulder crystals. “Sometimes I run into the walls.” Spatial awareness was something she was working on still, now that she had to be aware of every crystal jutting out of her flesh. Trying to lean back was the hardest, the sharp crystals back there hadn’t done her the deficiency of being the same size, which might have made it easier to lean back against them. “I’m perfect, Mimi. This is everything I’ve always wanted to be. It doesn’t hurt. It doesn’t bother me. It’s a blessing.” 

Then Emilio was deflecting back at her. Nora gave him her most deadpan stare, built with extra intensity. “You should talk about yourself sometime, you know. You’re deserving of space. The mine knows that, the mine wants you here.” She knew she probably sounded like an evangelical preacher, trying to convince the sinner to lay down his sin and accept Jesus into the church, but Nora worried about Emilio. Nora wanted him to find the same happiness she had in the mines. “The mines and I, we’re here to help. We want to help you.” 

“Right. Drinking buddies.” The joke wasn’t as funny as it usually was. Not in this moment, not even with Nora standing in front of him in one piece. Death was a familiar thing, but it never seemed to have much interest in Emilio himself. It took the people around him one by one, broke them down bit by bit and ground them into powder. His father died before he could form a solid image of his face in his memory, his oldest brother was gone before he turned thirteen. He was thirty-four years old and an orphan, a widower, a father whose child was already in the ground. Death was an old drinking buddy, sure, but not one who had any interest in taking Emilio home.

So there’d been that fear, when Nora first started telling him that she was dying. There’d been that familiar grip of panic, that old ache that took him back in time to a living room floor and blood on the walls. Emilio and death existed in a quiet cohabitation, but there were so many people he couldn’t stand for it to take. Nora had quickly cemented herself as one of them, as a name right up at the top of the list of people he thought ought to be untouchable. And still, he almost couldn’t let himself believe she was here until her hand found his shoulder, until those rough crystals brushed against his shirt. Nora was here. Nora was alive. And death could fuck off, this time. Death could go right back where it came from.

“Okay,” he said quietly, because there was no arguing with her when she was like this. She said the mines were a death free zone, and he knew they weren’t but he knew his arguments would fall on deaf ears all the same. If he were a little less exhausted, he might try it anyway. He was as stubborn as she was, and he knew he was right about this one. There was no safe place in the world that couldn’t be made unsafe, were no walls death couldn’t walk through. He thought back, as he always did, to that living room in Mexico with the cross on the wall and the iron doorframe. He thought of the nights he’d fallen asleep on the couch with a baby on his chest without fear, without anxiety. 

He thought of how the only difference between a safe place and a casket was whether the hearts that sat within it were still beating.

Nora’s was. He could hear it in her chest, a strange echo through the crystals in her skin. Beating oddly, but beating all the same. It could change in an instant, he knew; it only every took a second for one heartbeat to fail to give in to the next, for one breath to become a person’s last. But Nora was alive for now, and maybe that had to be enough. 

His shoulders slumped in quiet relief as she said there was no pain, and he let himself believe her even though it seemed impossible. She was able to stand upright, at least, and wasn’t that more than he could do himself most days? Even now, his leg ached on the uneven ground, as if protesting its own existence. (And maybe Emilio could relate to that sentiment, just a little.) “Well, try not to run into walls.” It was supposed to be a joke, but it didn’t sound like one, didn’t feel like one. Nothing really did when he felt like this, when the world was heavy. (Everything was always so goddamn heavy.)

He didn’t know what to believe here. Nora swore that she was better than fine, that she was perfect, but his heart still felt like a jackhammer beating down on his ribs, breaking them up into pieces. He was still in that goddamn living room floor, still washing the blood out from under his fingernails. Maybe he always would be. And Nora was talking about him, was saying he deserved space, and he didn’t know how to tell her that she was wrong. He didn’t know how to put to words that the things he deserved probably weren’t the things she wanted him to have, didn’t know how to say that the space he took up would be so much better if it were filled by someone else, someone who’d been gone for years now. 

“I’m not the kind of guy you help,” he said, rather than try to find those ever-elusive words. “You can tell the mines that, too.” He was quiet for a moment, unsure how to proceed. “Said you had a friend down there. The two of you managing all right?”

There was concern written all over his face in bold lettering. Its script spiraled around his features with every word he didn't say. Emilio didn't speak much, he never had. But today he didn't need to. Each look he gave to one of her crystals was a sentence she could hear clearly in his soft voice. The voice he only used when he knew something was wrong, but didn't know how to fix it. The voice that told her he was listening, and he heard her, but he couldn't fix it as much as he wanted to. The unspoken sentences were ones of concern and disbelief. But Nora knew the disbelief wasn't for her, per se, but for the crystals. The story. In a town that was full of the strange and unusual, could she blame him for that? Would she think it was hard to believe something good could happen in this town if she was a jaded old man? Who was to say? 

"Wrong. I help you. That's literally my job, dumbass." A pause, before adding. "Assistant? There was a word Nora had always wanted to use. It was apprentice. But it felt too big. Too official. It sounded too much like a, I want to be like you. Even if she did. Even if she looked up to a guy who couldn't accept any help. Neither could she, if she was being honest. "The mines are listening. I don't need to tell them anything." They sang in her bones, they whispered to her crystals. It wasn't a literal voice. As much as a mine shaft looked like an open mouth, the mine shaft vocal chords with the cart the box moving up and down to activate the tone. It wasn't true. No, everything Nora knew from the mines she just... What was the best way to explain it? It was in her. It was her. She was the mines and the mines were her. Their ideas were her own, and if she had her own ideas? What did they matter? The mines wanted what was best. 

At the entrance, standing near the open sky, Nora wondered if she actually felt that way, or if something was wrong. But a glance down at her crystalline body reminded her of the favor the mines had done for her. It reminded her that she loved the mines with everything she was. "If the mines don't want to help you, they won't. But they want to help everyone. Remember that." He was stubborn. He would stay stubborn. Nora would let him have this for now. 

"Cass." Nora supplied the name because Cass deserved to have her name remembered. Nora glanced back into the darkness. "She's down there. We've been watching things together. It's great. we are fine down there." Words that Nora felt like she repeated a thousand times. Every one was so concerned about the people living in the mines when they should be concerned about living outside the mines. They were missing the beauty of the depths within. For someone who had struggled with words her whole life, she felt like she finally might have them. But only the words that would tell people about the mines. If only they would believe her. If only they wouldn't look at her with faces painted in concern. 

"If you change your mind, come. Whenever you want." Nora listed the steps. You start at this tunnel, and you head down. You take the fourth right, there is a winding path but don't leave it. Those multiple little ones will take you to other caverns. Then you take a final right, left, right and straight. Then there was a home. Waiting for anyone who would take it. "Oh. I haven't seen Babadook and Munch in a while. They are refusing to come to the mines. Can you keep an eye out for them? Babs can feed himself, but..." Nora shrugged. "He doesn't look like other dogs. If hunters are after me, they are after him too, right?" Because god forbid anything be different in this town. That wasn't true anymore. The mines welcomed everyone who was different. 

"I'm going to get back to Cass now." Nora didn't want to admit it, but standing in the open made her uncomfortable. The mines were a soft embrace closing in around her. This? This was an open hell. Anything could go wrong out here without the watchful eye of the mines. "I'm serious, Emilio. Come to the mines sometimes. Just think about it. It'll change your life." 

“You get paid for jobs,” he reminded her. Not that he hadn’t offered to pay her a hundred times now, not that he wouldn’t have shoved cash into her bag when she wasn’t looking if he hadn’t known she’d probably respond by hiding it in his fridge or something. Nora deserved a lot more than he could give her, but he still wished she’d let him give her something. He still wished she’d sleep on his couch instead of sleeping in a crypt or in a mine or wherever it was she decided to lay her head that week. But she wanted freedom, and he understood that. She wanted to be able to pick where she slept and what she did, and Emilio would never take that away from her. He’d never dream of it. “Yeah. Assistant. You pick whatever title you want, okay? We’ll get matching business cards.” Another joke, just as flat and empty as all the ones that had come before it. Even on his best days, Emilio’s humor was dry and flat and unfunny to pretty much everyone but him. 

Nora seemed to understand it better than most, at least. Seemed to understand him better than most. She didn’t tend to laugh, because she wasn’t really the laughing type, but… She also didn’t give him odd looks or chastise him for his poor timing. It was part of what he liked about her, part of why she was one of the few people he wanted around even when he was in a slump so deep that the idea of interacting with anyone at all was exhausting. He wasn’t sure when that kid who’d tried so hard to scare him in the cemetery all those months ago had become the exception to so many of his rules. He tried not to think too hard on it. Some things were better when you just let them be.

And maybe, in turn, he could understand the… appeal of this idea she’d built for herself. Of this vague concept that told her the mines were a healing place, this notion that they could help anyone. It was a tempting thing to believe, he thought. It reminded him a little of his relationship with religion, of how he used to cling to the idea that there was a God who loved him, a higher power who’d chosen him for something bigger, a big important thing somewhere in the universe that saw him not as an inferior version of the older siblings who’d surpassed him but as something worth loving all its own. That idea seemed just as ridiculous to him as Nora’s new mine obsession now, but that didn’t mean he didn’t still understand why it was a tempting thing to cling to. He wished he could still believe in it. He wished he could look at himself and think that something — God, a mine shaft, his mother — could love him just as he was.

“Cass,” he repeated, because that was easier than accepting everything else that she was saying. The mines were a delusion, and it hurt a little, because the idea that Emilio was fixable, the idea that there were things that weren’t irreparably broken and that he could be one of them was a delusion just as grand. It wasn’t the kind of thing anyone would think possible without some malicious outside force insisting upon it. “I’m glad you’ve got someone.” And he was glad it was someone better than him.

He nodded, pretending there was any chance that his mind would ever change. Unless he got hit with whatever magic made her this way, he didn’t see himself scrambling to join her in the mines any time soon. But the rest of her request… “I’ll keep an eye on them,” he promised. “Go by the crypt and make sure they’re all right, make sure there’s nobody sniffing around that shouldn’t be.” He was good at steering hunters away from things. It was a skill he figured he’d be using a lot more now that Rhett was in town. 

Sucking his teeth, he nodded. She was going back to the mines, and he wasn’t. Even if he’d wanted to, just the idea of making that trek made his leg ache. It was a bad pain day. There’d been a lot more of those since Nora retreated to the mines; a side effect of Emilio pushing himself harder than usual. Probably a side effect he deserved, if he was being honest with himself. “I’ll think about it,” he lied. “Until then, you stay safe. Okay?”

Matching business cards sounded nice. Because Nora wanted to be a private investigator. As Nora thought about that want, the first passion she’d discovered out of painting since childhood, the thought struck her. If she lived in the mines, how would she be a P.I. Nora glanced over her shoulder, the entrance was a mouth waiting to consume her. It called to her. A Siren song that made her heart dance with joy. She turned back to Emilio. She could be a private investigator in the mines, she decided. He’d come in there and finish training her. Then she’d be the second best P.I. in the mines, until Emilio got old and retired and stayed at his cavern as a consultant while Nora took on the mantle of best private investigator. Because that was surely the life the mines were offering for her, it was the life she wanted. 

“Cass,” Nora agreed. Nora was glad she had someone too. Nora was glad about Cass all the time. The fact that she hadn’t left. The fact that she’d forgiven Nora. The fact that she existed. “It’d be better with two.” Because who was she to give up her last attempt to get someone else in the mines. Later, Emilio would take that seriously and deliver someone else to Nora’s mine, but it wouldn’t be him. It would be another crystal blessed and Nora would be just as pleased, just as thrilled, to have more people in her home to call family. 

“Thank you. Oh. Babadook has recently started terrorizing a retirement home. Oaks Lawn. I did one of those read to the elderly programs,” Nora wasn’t sure that was an actual program, she just showed up and started reading. “And told them a story about how a big dog with tentacles appearing meant a mass death event. Then showed them Babadook. I thought it would be funny.” It was. “But Babadook has really enjoyed hanging out there. He’s a bit of a legend now. You’ll probably find him there if he’s not at the crypt.” Babadook was a good dog. She missed him. She hoped one day he would stop by and visit her, but it was hard to convince a dog without a phone, or the ability to speak a similar language. 

“Okay.” Nora agreed. She nodded, the tips of her mouth moving up into a smile. It wasn’t her usual rare micro smile, but something close to a real smile. Something foreign to her since her modeling days ended. “I just want you to be happy.” Nora told Emilio, blunt as usual. “And I think you could be happy with us in the mines.” She turned away, eyes focused on the darkness within. “But we’ll be safe. The mines will keep us safe.” And she let the mines swallow her whole once more.