#but do i think roxy would ever pass up the chance to dress like a silly cat??? no!

[badlydrawnjake]

this is what the refrance.

[j-casper]

Penelope Garcia x (trans ! ftm) Luke Alvez

aka, how they got together (in Luke’s point of view)

warning: gender dysphoria, (brief mention of) transphobia

- - -

He cuts his hair for the first time with kitchen scissors when he’s eleven.

| | |

There’s something wrong with him, he concludes weeks before when his mother sat him down and told him about puberty, about the changes his body would go through.

Only—he didn’t want to go through these changes.

A nauseous feeling settled in the pit of his stomach when he realized that the thought of puberty, of the things his body would soon go through, unsettled him and, not only that, but...it scared him.

Scared him like when his father shouted at the top of his lungs at his mother when they argued.

Scared him like the time he snuck one of his cousin’s toy cars to his own house to play with it in the secret of his room.

Scared him like the time that he asked for a lightsaber for Christmas only to get his mother’s intimidating stare in response.

He didn’t have a word for his feelings beside scared, didn’t have a word for the reasoning behind his disgust for his body.

That was until...him, Matthew—his new next door neighbor with his shaggy brown hair and built form.

His parents wrote off his admiration for the new neighbor as a crush, teasing him and prodding him every time his wide, awe-filled eyes trailed after Matthew.

It wasn’t long before he realized that he didn’t have a crush on Matthew...no—he wanted to be like Matthew.

He wanted short hair and a built form and a confident swagger.

He wanted to wear khaki pants and button down shirts, along with black dress shoes and a chain around his belt loops.

He wanted a deep voice and scruffy facial hair.

He wanted to be a boy.

| | |

His fingers ran carefully through his long hair, his other hand gripping the scissors he had sneaked out of the kitchen.

It’s 12am in the morning and he’s alone in the bathroom, staring in the mirror hopelessly at the person inside.

Her...Him

Tears ran down his face as he carefully bought the scissors up to his hair, his eyes tightening closed once a strand of hair is placed inside.

Snip.

The cut piece of hair falls on his shoulder and he resists the urge to tremble, eyes opening as he gathered more hair between the blades.

Snip...snip...snip...

Slowly, his hair creates its own pile on the cold bathroom tile under his feet.

At the end, his hair is short and terribly uneven, but, for once, his head feels light.

Tears gather in his eyes as he places down the scissors, his hands gripping both sides of the sink as he stared at his reflection.

“Luke,” he whispers softly, the name he always wished he had when he learned that he would have been named that if born a boy, “my name is Luke.”

Luke allows a single tear to run down his face before he leaves the bathroom to go back to bed.

He climbs in and ignores the pink walls and dolls scattered around the room, and allows the silence of a sleeping house to lure him to sleep.

(He can’t find it in himself to regret his choice when met with his mother’s intimidating stare and his father’s loud, angry shouting at the sight of him the next day.

He’s never felt more free.)

| | |

He gets his first binder at the age of fourteen, a gift from his older sister for his birthday.

She practically has to pry him away from the mirror when he first tries it on and can only proceed to stand there, running a lightly trembling hand over his newly flattened chest.

She’s the one that reminds him to take breaks from wearing it, the words “little brother” leaving her mouth affectionately and part scolding when she does so and he almost cries.

He doesn’t think he has any tears to waste anymore after crying over his father’s refusal to respect his identity and his mother’s judging state that would follow him, silently disapproving of every choice he makes.

.

.

.

He starts Testosterone when he’s seventeen after years of therapy.

The first shot hurts but he doesn’t flinch.

He’s been waiting for this moment his entire life, even if he didn’t know it at one point.

Besides, before long he’s used to the shots and is instead left to beam in delight as he notices the changes his body goes through due to it.

His voice deepens, his body hair thickens, and he even begins to gain facial hair.

He’s happy, he realizes one day as he gets ready for the day, toothbrush stuck in mouth as he pauses in front of the bathroom mirror.

He’s so happy.

.

.

.

By the time he joins the BAU, he’s older and a bit wiser.

His name is legally changed to Luke and his gender is accompanied by a little M on his legal paperwork.

For all intents and purposes, he passes with his (permanent) flat chest from top surgery years before and the years he has been on testosterone.

He’s happier.

He smiles and beams and jokes around.

His sister jokes that he’s a lady killer, charming and flirting; yet, Luke doesn’t really allow himself to get close to anyone romantically.

At the end of the night, he goes home to Roxy and that’s enough for him...until he meets her.

| | |

Penelope Garcia.

Technical analyst for the BAU.

Self-proclaimed nerd.

A woman who sassily comments to Luke upon the second time meeting him that she has an amazing boyfriend and Luke ignores the pain in his chest at the thought of the beautiful woman in front of him being taken as he instead smiles, doing what he does best next—continues to be charming (as his sister would say) and attempts to make a conversation only to get shut down.

He tries to pretend that he doesn’t care about her cold and distant attitude.

He pretends that it doesn’t hurt with how she treats him differently than everyone else, but not in the way he wants.

He smiles despite how much Garcia’s actions hurt and he ignores the fact that a tiny voice in the back of his head nags that she knows, that she’s treating him like this because he’s trans.

It’s nothing personal, he reminds himself, recognizing a hurt individual when seeing one, but hell if he doesn’t feel like it is.

...

“Come on, newbie,” Garcia drawled as she sipped slowly on her drink, eyebrow raised playfully as she teased him, “what’s your secret? We all have one.”

Luke laughed, taking a small sip from his beer before answering, wide smile spreading to his face as he teased back, “wouldn’t be a secret then, would it?”

It was his first time having a drink with the team and his mood brightened when they all laughed at his response to Garcia’s teasing.

Luke relaxed, untensing his shoulders at the teasing, not realizing how tense he was until then.

At the thought, his eyes shot to Garcia as Rossi dived into a story, his eyes meeting hers for a split second before looking away quickly.

He turned towards Rossi, but watched Garcia out of the corner of his eye.

Did she say that on purpose because she noticed how tense he was?

He shook his head as soon as the thought passed through his mind.

There was no way.

This was Penelope Garcia and to her, Luke is just an annoying coworker and not a friend.

| | |

“Do you hate me?” He whispers one day in Garcia’s vicinity, so quiet that he’s sure that she doesn’t hear him.

They’re alone in her lair, and once again he allows her coldness to get to him despite vowing to himself not too.

Her head shoots up, her eyes meeting his.

He can’t recognize the look in her eyes.

He stands straight, hands stuffed in his pocket.

“I don’t hate you,” she admits at last, blinking rapidly and her face looking almost...offended?

Luke shook his head.

“Yeah, I figured, but you know,” he flashed her a small grin and gave a little shrug of his shoulders, his body relaxing at how genuine she looked to be.

Her eyes bored into his for a few more seconds before she hastily looked away and to her monitor.

“I don’t hate you Alvez...far from it,” she admits at last, quietly.

Luke practically beams.

Garcia groaned playfully, “stop smirking, Newbie.”

Luke laughed, dodging her slapping hand as he practically rushed out of the room.

Outside the door after shutting it behind him, he pauses, chest heaving and smiling growing wider.

She didn’t hate him.

Thank god.

...

Garcia...Penelope...is leaving.

She’s leaving.

Leaving the BAU, the team, everyone...including him.

There’s always a silver lining though.

This silver lining came in the form of Emily Prentiss, casually reminding him that Garcia would never date a coworker.

His heart seems to pause when he realizes that they’re no longer coworkers.

They’re no longer coworkers.

He might have a chance.

He steeled himself, standing up straight and remembering everything he has ever been through.

His childhood.

His family.

His life.

He catches Garcia’s eyes from across the yard and he smiles.

Now or never.

...

He asks her out for dinner, and she says yes.

She says yes.

He goes home excited, whooping out loud once in the safety of his apartment, fist pumping in the air.

Roxy jumps excitedly at his enthusiasm and the sight of him, and he laughs.

“Guess what girl? Dad has a date.”

He’s afraid that his face will soon hurt with how much he’s grinning but he doesn’t care.

He has a date...with Penelope Garcia.

...

He wears his best button down shirt paired with dress pants, and carefully he loops his belt through and places on his tennis shoes.

Nice, but casual.

Before he leaves his apartment to pick her up, he wipes his sweaty hands on his pant’s legs.

He’s ready.

...

Penelope Garcia is a vision.

She’s always a vision, Luke concludes, but even more so today now that he’s seeing her through the view of a date rather than a coworker or friend.

Luke nervously smiles, hands pushing the flowers in his hand towards her.

“For you.”

“Why thank you kind sir,” Penelope grins, gently taking them and invites him inside.

He watches as she places the flowers in a vase and he chooses then to speak, “you look beautiful” and she did.

“You don’t look so bad yourself, Newbie,” she shot back, “so where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

...

The air outside the restaurant is cold.

“So, that was pretty amazing,” Luke teased as him and Penelope slowly walked to his car and he opened the door for her.

Penelope grinned, “it wasn’t bad.”

Luke laughed, “bad? glad to know that me spilling water on my shirt amuses you.”

“I mean, it did,” Penelope giggled, avoiding Luke’s playful glare.

“Woah, nice to know my humiliation amuses you, chica,” Luke moaned dramatically as he cranked up the engine, smiling widening when Penelope’s laugh grew in volume.

Without even thinking, his right hand shot out to lay on top of Penelope’s own on the armrest, causing her to freeze, laughs abruptly stopping.

“I had a really great time tonight,” Luke admitted softly, grinning.

Penelope paused before admitting just as softly, “me too.”

Luke slowly leaned across the middle console and Penelope did the same, hearts thudding as they slowly grew closer and closer before pausing, faces centimeters away.

“May I?” Luke asked.

“Yeah,” Penelope breathed out.

“Yeah?” Luke asked, smiling.

Penelope nodded her head, “yeah” before her lips crashed again his, all other thoughts but those of Penelope Garcia leaving his head.

...

“I need to tell you something,” Luke admitted after their third date, this one being in Penelope’s apartment and involving a movie and popcorn.

Penelope turned her body towards his, giving him her full attention.

He shifted nervously.

“I’m—” he trails off, brows furrowing as he tries to figure out how to word everything correctly.

Penelope’s hands took hold of his, squeezing them softly and Luke shakingly exhaled.

“I’m trans, Penelope,” he admits quietly, stomach dropping and his breath catching in his throat as he awaits her answer.

Penelope’s brows furrowed, “as in a transwoman or a transman.”

“Transman,” he admits, “that’s why I don’t really talk to my family beside my sister and her husband and kids. My parents didn’t take it too well.”

Penelope’s hands tightened around his.

“Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me,” Penelope told him at last, grinning softly.

Luke grinned back hestitantly, “you’re okay with it?”

Penelope sighed, mock offense due to him asking her this written across her face, “I love you, Luke Alvez, no matter your identity or pronouns or anything else...even if your ego is too big.” Her voice playful as she eased his concerns.

“Good,” Luke joked back, relief settling in his chest, “because I’m bisexual too...wait,” he blinked in shock, mouth falling open a little as he registered what she said, “you love me?”

Penelope blushed.

“I love you too, Penelope Garcia,” a wide smile splitting his face.

Penelope sighed, “you better, Newbie. I’m a catch.”

“Well, so am I.”

He dodged her playful slap and sprinted across the room, laughter from both of them filling the air as she chased after him.

[jadekitty777]

Puppy Love

Bit of a weird entry and a challenge to write - but it only seemed right with a prompt like this, to write from the perspective of one of Tai and Qrow's "children".

Day 4: As Parents @taiqrowweek

Rating: T

Words: 5,300

Summary: Every dog in the shelter dreams of the day they'll be set free of their metal prisons to join a pack all their own. Despite being so  inadequate he wasn't even honored a name, he dreams just as hard; though, with each adoption, that place he wishes to be seems to be getting further and further away.

And then, one word changes everything.

"Puppy?"

Ao3 Link: Puppy Love

~

The best day of his life happened exactly eight weeks and four days after he was born.

It had started out as usual. He woke up to the sound of the rest of the kennel-bound dogs starting up a ruckus as the keepers of their metal prisons walked down the line, cleaning cages and checking water and food bowls. After that, the big dogs were let out in small packs so they could play in the field. He never got to go; he was too small. Instead, he stuck his tiny head between the bars and said hello as they passed.

Most of them paid him little mind. Hades and Zeus, the Doberman twins, jeered his way. Roxie stuck up her nose, sassy as ever. She told him once her poodle pedigree made it impossible for her to converse with peasants. Whatever that meant. He made sure to duck his head back in if Captain was with them – the coonhound liked to snap at him.

Still, there were a select few that always took the time to say hello. Like old Benji, always limping over to give him a sniff. Or the energetic husky, Skystorm, hunkering down on his forepaws as if they might actually get a chance to play. Or the motherly Lady Lucy, who would fuss over him like he was one of her long-gone pups. She never tired of telling him how much he reminded her of her ‘clever little Dodger’.  

“Why he could even get cats to work for him!” She told him today as she passed. “Cats, can you imagine?”

Polite as always, he said, “No ma’am. It sounds incredible though.”

“You’re gonna fill his head full of air with stories like that Lucy.” Benji laughed.

“Nonsense! Stories build character. Who will he ever know who to aspire to be like otherwise?”

The dog in the lead of their pack growled out, “You wasting your breath on that orphan.”

“Hunter, don’t be so rude. He’s just a pup!” Lady Lucy cried.

“Oh sorry, am I not coddling him enough?” Hunter swung his head around. He only had one eye, the other lost in a fight, but the single red orb seemed to freeze him in place. “You’ll have to get used to it, brat. No human’s gonna take a stubby runt like you.”

“You’re just nasty because no one’ll ever adopt you.” Skystorm barely dodged fast enough to avoid the rather vicious bite the alpha tried to deliver.

He heard the argument continue well down the hall until he could no longer make out the words. Not that he wanted to anymore. He pulled his head back in, walking to the back of his cage and laying on his bed of rags, intending on settling in for his after-breakfast nap. But he couldn’t get Hunter’s words out of his head.

As young as he was, even he had heard the talk about how great a home was. Some of the dogs here even came from one themselves – and those who hadn’t had tales from something they’d heard. A motley mesh of things like ‘leftovers’ given underneath the dinner table that left everyone slobbering just thinking about it. Of playtime chasing all sorts of fun toys. Of walks to the beach where he could dig to his heart’s content. Of endless belly scratches and ear rubs.

He’d dreamed of it all at least a dozen times. Imagined how soft his own bed would be or how large a yard he’d have to run in. But most of all, dreamed of the family that would take him in and never let go. He wanted it more than anything!

But, was Hunter right? He had never been treated like the other dogs here. They all had names and skills. He wasn’t a working dog. He couldn’t retrieve and he couldn’t herd. He wasn’t a fancy one either, like Roxy, who was convinced she’d have a life again as a show dog. He didn’t have a Doberman’s ferocity or a husky’s vigor or a pit bull’s strength. If he couldn’t provide for his pack in any way… then why would they want him at all?

He buried his nose into his paws, but it was a long time before he fell asleep.

~

When humans came, it was time to perform.

A lot of dogs barked and yowled and produced up a racket for attention, but his voice wasn’t powerful enough. So, instead, he stuck his head between the bars and let his tongue loll out, entire body shaking as he wagged as hard and excited as he could whenever the people passed on by. It often earned him a pet.

Today it was a big family of seven, and the nice, stout woman who had long nails gave him such a good scratch behind his ears, it left his hind leg shaking.

“Oh aren’t you precious?” She cooed. “You would look just great in my purse.”

“Gale, we’re not here for a lap dog.” One of the men of her pack chastised.

“It doesn’t hurt to look!”

His ears fell flat as she breezed on by.

They were there for some time, looking from cage to cage. They even had the caretakers take a few out, to do a “walk test”. Roxy was prim as ever, trotting like she was putting on a show. Skystorm raced them. Zeus kept trying to bump Hades aside. No one came back to his cage.

And, worse yet, they chose the best of them all.

He couldn’t help but whine as Lady Lucy was led out with her papers all signed. The setter’s long ears raised up, looking to him. “Now none of that. You keep that tail up little one! I’m certain you’ll find your way soon.”

He tried to find strength in that encouragement, but all he discovered was the breaking of his heart as the door down the way slammed closed. He turned away, padding back to his rags and flopping over.

This day couldn’t possibly get any worse.

“Puppy!”

…What?

He lifted his head, looking back.

Standing there, in a bright, pleated dress, was one of the smallest humans he’d ever seen. Even when he stood up and walked towards her, she didn’t tower over him like most humans did. She was his size.

Her eyes went wide, a huge grin spreading on her face. “Hi puppy!” She giggled and, when he came close enough, she didn’t even wait for his trick, instead sticking her hand through the bars. She gave him a few uncoordinated, slightly rough, pats to his head. “Good boy!”

“Ruby!” A shout echoed down the hall as a man sprinted into view. He was overly tall, with legs that were spindly like a bird’s. He snatched the girl up into his arms, lifting her well out of reach. “What did I say about running off like that, pipsqueak?”

The newcomer was almost immediately joined by two more.

“You found her? Oh thank gods!” The other male of the pack said. He was almost as tall as the first, but wider built all around. It was like looking at a Labrador standing next to a greyhound. Alongside him, being held by her hand, was another young girl with wild hair. It reminded him of Benji – the briard’s fur was always in his eyes too.

“Daddy, lookie!” It was hard to tell who Ruby was speaking to, as both the men looked down at him at the same time.

It was the bigger one’s whose eyes lit up. “Oh, what a precious little guy!” He knelt down, clicking his tongue, holding his fingers out. “Come here Yang, just like this.”

The other little girl, bold as can be, pressed her fist against the bars.

Right. Tail up. Time to act.

He bounded forward, wiggled low and stuck his head right through, lifting it upwards until he could feel their fingers against his snout.

Yang giggled immediately, rubbing her knuckles along his skull. “He’s funny!”

“He sure is. Be gentle now.”

“No. No way.”  The bird man groaned. “We agreed on a dog. And we don’t even know how big this one is gonna get.”

The other man got that spot behind his ear. Oh yeah, that was the stuff. “He’s a corgi. They’re about the same size as a beagle, only chubbier.”

“Yeah well, he’s still a puppy. You really want to deal with pee puddles all over the house?” He asked as he set Ruby down.

The littlest one stomped her foot. “But I like this one!”

“But Rubes, they’re a lot of work and I’m sure there’s a lot of – now don’t give me those doe eyes kiddo. Tai, help me out here!”

Tai, in all his wisdom, turned to his pup and said, “Want to pet him Ruby?”

“Yeah!” She toddled on over, where he showed her how to do the really good scratches.

This was the life.

Leaving the girls to it, Tai rose to his full height, winding an arm around the bird man’s shoulders and tucking him against his side. “It’ll be fine Qrow.”

“You’re such a traitor.” Qrow grumbled.

“I know, I’m the worst.” He conceded, pressing his lips against his temple.  

There was a long, slow sigh. “I guess then we’re getting-” He squinted at the paperwork that hung from his cage. “Puppy Two? What kind of name is that?”

“Maybe he goes number 2 a lot!” The older of the girls said.

Ruby’s nose wrinkled up. “Eeeew Yang!”

“You know,” Tai started thoughtfully, “If there’s a puppy one we could get him a friend and- mghpfa!”

Qrow cut him off by shoving his hand in his face. “Just go sign the paperwork already!”

~

Even when the door came open, and he was lifted up out of the cage, he wasn’t quite sure it was real until he was being taken out of the facility altogether and the big, wide world was in his eyes. Then it was speeding past his eyes, as the large machine he had been placed in moved at speeds he couldn’t comprehend.

“Oh wow! What was that? Oh, and that! Did you see that?” He asks the girls as he hopped between their laps, trying to look out the window.

“Yang, try to keep hold of him!” Tai called from the front seat of the contraption. “He’ll get hurt if he falls.”

“’Kaaay.”

Suddenly, a grip stronger than a choke chain was around his middle and he found himself firmly pinned down. He wiggled about, but there was no give.

Ruby pat his backside. “He’s got a funny butt.”

Well now, that was just rude.

There was a guffaw from Qrow. “Speaking of Mr. Funny Butt, s’pose we better name him.”

His ears perked. A name? Just like the other dogs had? He wouldn’t have to be known as mutt or pup or orphan anymore? He wagged his clipped tail excitedly.

“Oh, oh! I was thinking Cerberus.” Tai offered. “Doesn’t that sound intimidating?”

“Dad, that sounds dumb.” Yang was wiggling her fingers along his side, prompting him to roll over and – oh, tummy rubs really were everything the other dogs said they were.

“Ouch. Well little missy, you got a suggestion?”

“Uppercut!”

From his upside-down position, he saw the way the man looked back, then to the bird man sitting beside him.

Qrow glanced up from the lit-up square he was holding. “Don’t look at me! I’m not the one teaching her.”

“I wanna name him Strawberry!” Ruby cut in. She had grabbed hold of one of his paws and was squishing down the pads. It felt kind of weird.

Tai turned back to the window. “That’s a good one. We’ll think about that one sweetheart.”

Yang started to flap his ears around, which made it a little hard to hear Qrow when he spoke up again. “How about Dos?”

“Dos?” Tai echoed. “Like dose of medicine?”

He stuck out his tongue. Most of the choices had gone right over his head. But he did know what medicine was. The sickly dogs told him to beware if a human ever used that term, because that meant they were going to force feed him something gross.

“No. D-O-S. It’s an old Valian language. It means two.”

“Alright well, uncle Qrow has decided to be unhelpful, so keep ‘em coming girls.”

Similar to the way the anticipation would overwhelm the shelter whenever a human walked in, his new pack seemed to have the same habit of yapping over one another.

“Blackie!” Ruby called.

Then, Qrow. “Don’t like that one? How about Ni?”

Tai, snipping back, “We are not naming him knee!”

“At least call him roundhouse.” Yang’s voice was getting a little shrill.

“No! No martial arts moves!”

Ruby, again: “Palm strike!”

“Yeah sis!” The slap of the girls’ hands made him jump a little.

“Okay you two are banned too. We’re naming him Cerberus.”

“Noooo!”

Oh, he knew this cry! He pulled his head back, howling with them.

In the wake of the noise, silence followed, all eyes on him. He looked around, confused. Why had they stopped?

Then, all at once, the four of them started to laugh. He knew it was the human’s way of wagging their tails, since they lacked them and all. So, he wiggled and yipped, feeling more like he belonged then he ever thought possible.

Eventually, Qrow’s game won out. The name, his name, was chosen just as the contraption rolled to a stop.

“Hey, how about this one? Zwei.”

Tai drummed his fingers along the circle he was holding onto, looking up with a frown. “I hate how much I like that.”

“Hah! See, and you were making fun of me.” He twisted around, looking back at them. “What do you think rugrats? Is Zwei a keeper?”

“Yes!” Ruby chimed in.

Yang gave it more thought. “Zwei as in…” She smooshed his face, tapping their noses together, “Zwei’re you so cute?”

“…I regret everything.” Qrow looked like someone just stole his nest. Beside him, Tai doubled over, barking with more laughter.

From that day on, he was part of the pack.

~

Four months and eight days after his adoption, any lingering doubts he had left about his place among his newfound pack were completely abolished.

“Come on Zwei,” Ruby whispered to him as she opened up the back door, giggling behind her hand. He’d come to learn that was a sign that they were going out to play.

So he rushed around her feet and into the backyard, paws immediately sinking into the muddy trail that had been caused by a passing storm. It was still rather dreary overhead and he could scent the petrichor coming from the surrounding flora. His packmate ran past him, heading around the shed with the same sense of purpose she got when she was stealing treats out of the cupboard for the two of them. Were there some back there too?

“Wait for me!” He called, bounding after her in excitement. As he came around the back, he found what had captured Ruby’s attention so. Behind the shed was a lake-sized puddle, caused by the way the land dipped ever so slightly. She was already ankle deep in the water, gathering up globs of mud and setting it on the grass in a pile.

When he approached, she told him, “I’m making mud pies!”

Oh, that was a type of food! Tai had made it before. It had been something really sweet smelling that he wasn’t allowed to have.

He hears Ruby’s giggles when he practically sticks his nose right in, taking a deep breath. Just as quickly, he pulls away with a huff of displeasure. Definitely not for eating.

“Mud Pie Zwei!”

He perked up at his name, only to hunker down as the next handful of mud is deposited on his back. When Ruby dips her hands back in, he hurries away before she can load on more. He could feel the thick of it weighing down his fur and the wet of it sliding down his haunches. It wasn’t pleasant at all, so he shook himself to fling most of it off.

“That was gross!” He barks, which only seemed to increase her laughter.

Well. Two can play it that game.

He leaps with as much distance his little legs can provide, landing in the puddle with a big splash.

“Zwei!” Ruby shrieks, her dress now covered in wet spots and mud.

He wades towards her, taunting back, “What are you gonna do now?”

If he didn’t know better, he would have thought she truly understood him what with the way she responded by scooping her hands in the water and throwing it at him. In retaliation, he races around her, little waves kicking up in his wake. At the edge he pauses, lowering down on his forepaws until his chin brushes the water, waiting to see what his packmate would do next.

“Oh, it is ON!” She hollers, charging for him.

“Bring it!” He challenged right back, darting to the side and ducking around her when she tries to make a grab for him.

It begins a game of chase; one he’d already grown quite familiar with and one he was certain to lose. Ruby was bigger and faster than him, spirited like Skystorm had been. The rest of their pack didn’t appreciate that level of liveliness like he could. He was always happy to engage her, finding new, creative ways to escape her clutches before she ultimately snatched him up. Today he was trying to zig-zag the same way he saw that little black snake move in the garden; until his pack alpha crushed it into black smoke under his boot, that is.

It seemed his new trick was his best yet, because Ruby was having to scramble after him. “Hah, can’t catch me!” He called back at her, dashing for the tree line.

“Zwei don’t go in the – ah!”

He heard a yelp and the feet coming after him abruptly stopped.

Then, a more terrifying noise boomed over his senses, “Zwei! Come!”

He slid to a stop so fast, he somersaulted over his paws, landing on his back hard enough to make the air in his lungs whoosh out. He tilted his head back, looking at the upside-down view of his secondary alpha, his near permanent frown more pronounced than usual. He hadn’t even heard him approach! What kind of hunting skill was that?

“What were you thinking?” Qrow demanded of the young pup he had under his arm. “I’ve told you a thousand times not to go into the forest!”

Ruby wiggled valiantly in his grasp to no avail. “We weren’t gonna!”

“Ain’t gonna believe that when you already broke the ‘no going outside today’ rule.” He looked up, then pointed down aggressively. “Zwei, I said come!”

Obediently, he rolled over, slinking forward with a pitiful whine that sometimes got him out of trouble. “We were just having fun, honest.”

Qrow had never been quite as movable as his other alpha though, only scooping him up under his other arm and storming back for the house. “Gods you’re both a mess. I’m throwing you in the tub.”

“Nooooo!” He howled with Ruby.

Beyond a gripe about ‘thinking more before they go running into mud’, the alpha largely ignored them, hauling them upstairs. He paused only long enough to peek into one of the bedrooms. A little lump of blankets on one of the beds trembled every now and again and a loud hacking started up.

Some of the tension on his scary face finally melted, his voice a gentle timbre when he speaks, “How you doing firecracker?”

“M’okay.” She snuffled back from her hiding place.

“Okay. I got to get these escape artists into the bath – but holler if you need anything alright?”

“I will.”

Zwei’s ears dropped when her hacking started up anew. It had been just a small thing this morning, but now she sounded worse than some of the dogs back at the shelter when they got plagued by kennel cough.

He didn’t have long to dwell on it, as Qrow continued on his way, kicking the bathroom door shut with his foot before setting them on the bathroom rug. “Alright, clothes off.”

Rather than listen, Ruby crossed her arms and sat down stubbornly. He walked the few steps it took to join her, plopping down as well.

Their alpha sighed, stepping over them to get the water started. “Kiddo, work with me here.”

“No!”

An agitated hand ruffled through his hair until it seemed more like a puffed-up cat tail. “How about for a scoop of strawberry ice cream?” Rather than answer, she held up two fingers. “…Who taught you this level of swindling? Fine! Two it is. But no telling your dad.”

“Deal!” She hopped up, throwing off one of her layers and dropping it with a wet plop on the ground.

“Hey wait!” Zwei stomped over to Qrow. “What do I get?”

Apparently it was to be picked up and dropped into the tub. The water was just enough to cover his paws. He scrambled for the edge of the basin, too small to actually make it over. He wasn’t left alone for long, Ruby eventually climbing in beside him, all her normal, colorful furs gone. The water eventually rose up until it touched his chin, and he had to paddle a bit to get around – not that there was anywhere to go.

Zwei didn’t really like baths. The water was warm, but the ground underneath his feet was hard to stand on, causing him to slip and sometimes water would go up his nose when that happened. Then there was the shampoo. It was some really awful smelling, awful tasting stuff that would get lathered into his fur. The stink of it would overwhelm him, his own, better scent being cancelled out by the gunk. Even when he rolled it out into the grass, it persistently clung to him for days.

So no, he didn’t like baths. He especially didn’t like Qrow’s version. He was too rough. His fingers would score through his fur like he was trying to rip it away and he’d push the undercoat in all the wrong ways until it left everything kind of hurting. Today was no different.

“Ow, ow, ow!” He wailed. “That’s too hard!”

The scrubbing, if possible, got worse. “Quit bellyaching, we’re almost done.”

“He’s kind of a baby, isn’t he?”  Ruby asked from her side of the tub, trying to turn her bubbly head fur into sticks just like a porcupine.

“I am not a baby!”

“Oi, don’t jump Zwei!”

“You know, this is a lot of racket for a bath.” The final voice was new, but familiar.

His tail started to wag immediately, slipping out of Qrow’s grip so he could hop and get a look at his other alpha. “Welcome home! I missed you!”

“Hi daddy!” Ruby greeted.

“Hey there.” Tai said, stepping into the bathroom. He peered down at his mate inquisitively. “Need help?”

“Please.”

The response was a jovial laugh as the man rolled up his sleeves and settled down beside him. Zwei felt a little jealous when he attended to Ruby. “Were you causing trouble for your uncle?”

“Nuh-huh. I behaved!”

Qrow snorted, resuming his torture. Ignoring Zwei’s calls of displeasure, he instead spoke to his mate. “You find the medicine?”

“Yeah. Gave it to Yang before coming in here. Tip your head back honey.” Tai poured a small pitcher full of water down Ruby’s head, using his hand as a shield to keep any from falling into her eyes. As he scooped up more of the bathwater to douse her again, he continued, “We’ll have to keep an eye on her fever. We might want to let her sleep with us tonight.”

“No fair! I wanna sleep with you guys!”

As his chin was lifted up, Zwei huffed out, “Me too.”

“Tell you what Rubes,” Qrow said as he took the pitcher that was handed over to him, going through the motions with him now. “Why don’t you and I have a little sleepover of our own? We can set up a fort in the guest room and everything.”

Her face lit up. “Really?”

Zwei’s ears fell. Of course the alpha would do that – Ruby was so obviously his favorite pup. Looks like he was stuck downstairs. Alone. Again.

“Yeah. We can even bring the little scamp here.”

He blinked back as Qrow looked down at him. Wait… did he mean…?

“Just don’t have an accident and make me regret it, you got that mutt?”

He did. He did! His whole body practically vibrated with the force of his excitement, jumping out of his grasp so he could lick his hand. “I’ll be good, I promise!”

Qrow drew his hand back immediately. “Ack gross!”

Tai’s boisterous laughter echoed, before he reached out for his pup. “Come on Ruby. You’re done.” He lifted her up and out of the tub, wrapping her up in a towel and walking out of the room. “You want me to help you pick out an outfit?”

“I want my combat skirt!”

“Alright, alright…”

It wasn’t long before Zwei followed her out, draped in a towel of his own and brought downstairs. A fire was made in the hearth to combat the chill settling in as the day waned on. Eventually, that’s where he found himself stretched out in front of for his midday-play nap, stirring only when his pack moved about.

Nothing managed to rouse him completely until a commotion started up in the next room and he awoke to a day much darker than before. Ruby and Yang were on the couch, the latter curled up in a miserable ball as they watched their colorful moving pictures on the television.

He got to his feet, stretching out with a long yawn, before he trotted over to the kitchen. His alpha pair were both there. Qrow was sitting on the counter by the sink, sipping an amber liquid in a short glass and watching his mate as he fussed about the stove. Whatever Tai was making smelt absolutely delicious, like chicken and rice kibble but more refined and fresher. Mouth watering, Zwei slunk underneath the dining table chairs and emerged just into their sight. He sat himself down at the edge of the rug, making sure not even a claw touched into the ‘Never Ever Cross While Alpha is Cooking’ section of the kitchen.

“Can I have some?” He beseeched lowly.

Tai looked over his shoulder, smiling brightly. “There’s my good boy! Up!”

He sat up on his hind legs, snatching the morsel that was tossed to him in his jaws. He savored the scrap of chicken slowly, licking his chops once he’d swallowed it.

“Good catch!” His alpha praised him, before turning back to his work. When Qrow started to shift off the counter, he pointed a knife towards him. “And where are you going? We weren’t done.”

It seemed his mate thought they were, with the way he scoffed. “Look, if you want to ground her so bad, you do it.”

Zwei had come to realize that breeding pairs were very strange. Or perhaps maybe just his were; he certainly couldn’t make heads or tails of their lack of pheromonal compatibility. More critically was in how little they ran the pack like a unit. It made for a rather confusing predicament when Tai would let him nestle on the armchair – but Qrow would absolutely not tolerate it. He had to wonder if his other packmates ever felt the same.

Tai’s sigh was tinged with a rarely heard frustration. “It’s not about the punishment, it’s about who’s giving it. I can’t keep punishing the girls for rules you lay down.”

“Why not? You’re the dad here.”

“You really think Ruby hasn’t figured out that when you’re the only one home, she can get away with whatever she wants?”

Qrow snorted, downing his drink and setting it on the counter he’d vacated. “She’s six Tai. Not exactly in her prime to be a master manipulator.”

“No.” He set down the knife, turning to him fully. “But that doesn’t mean she’s dumb.”

Coming to the conclusion no other treats were coming his way, Zwei laid down on the rug, head between his paws, mostly tuning them out as they carried on. Maybe he should just take his post-nap nap. He was just starting to drift, when one particularly loud shout had him jolting out of his daze.

“Oh so I just don’t care, is that it?”

“I didn’t say that! And keep your voice down.” Tai shushed. “I know you love them, Qrow. I just… don’t understand why you want to turn them against me.”

His mate jerked back a bit, as if struck. “What in Gods’ name are you talking about?”

“Can you really not see where this will eventually go?”

With a long exhale, Zwei settled again, listening to them with only half an ear. This wasn’t the first growling match they’d partaken in, but he wasn’t worried by it. For the outcome was as certain as the sun would be rising tomorrow.

“I don’t see what the big deal is.” Right on time, Qrow’s tone shifted as did his body. Away. Vulnerable. If he had a tail, he was positive it would be tucked between his legs. “It’s not like you have anything to lose.”

Tai tilted his head, as if trying to figure if the words truly came from him. “Okay, what are you talking about?”

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.” He tried to retreat, only to be stalled by a hand suddenly on his shoulder.

“No. Come on don’t-” A sigh. “Do you really think the girls will just cast you aside just ‘cause you have to be tough on them sometimes?”

The answer was so soft, even Zwei had to strain to hear. “Been thrown out for less.”

“Oh Qrow.” Before the thinner man knew it, Tai was pulling him into what Zwei could only describe as a ‘standing snuggle’. It looked warm and inviting. “There is nothing in this world you could do to make us stop loving you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do know that.” And then Tai said something Zwei would never forget: “Family isn’t a competition where the prize is love. Love just is. You don’t earn it by performing your best, you’re just given it from being here and caring about us just as much as we care about you.”

There were a few more things that were spoken, but the fight was over for sure when the mating pair started licking each other’s mouths. Overzealously, as usual.

But the call for peace, joyful as it was, did not impact Zwei as much as his pack leader’s words. For they washed over him with a great ferocity, reaching in and cleansing him from the inside where Hunter’s dark words still resided in his heart. The fear that had footed there that he would not be wanted finally came loose, strand by strand, until it was hanging by nothing but a thread.

It wasn’t until that night, with Ruby’s head nestled into his back and his nose tucked against the welcome warmth of Qrow’s side, that the final root broke as the words finally hit home.

There may be a lot he lacked, but no amount of skills compared to the simple act of just being there. The one thing he knew with absolute certainty was that love was something he could give this family without end.

So no, he wasn’t fierce like a Doberman. Or noble like a shepherd. Or even charming like a poodle.

He was just Zwei. And that’s all he needed to be.

[angrylizardjacket]

Run to Paradise {Nikki Sixx} Part 24

24. thus is winged cupid painted blind

Summary: Mick calls Lola out, which is not good. Roxie stabs Tommy, which is much worse.

Warnings: high impact swearing & (non-explicit) stabbing with a pen

ragtag bunch of misfits: @starlalove @toofasttofallinlove  @xrosegoldwolfx @obsessivesky  @trpwthme @lovehelpmewrite @angelicjoonie23  @marvelismylifffe  @lilytalebi @glitterdreamsz  @freddiessmallnipples @crazysaladchopshop @inthebackofmycarlaytheirbodies @dramatique-moi @missqueeniewrites @calspixie  @aryssav @catsoo12  @sweetshutter @silvertonguedserpent  @shamelessobsessions @lavenderbones22  @keepcalm-and-beyou @scarecrowmax  @nicholeh7 @unknownoblivion

{masterlist}

After getting back from brunch, getting back to the tour bus, Tommy's acting... weird. Of course Lola knows why, her smile sharp as knives at Roxie's distrustful glare the next day. If she was feeling particularly petty, she might have feigned sweetness, pretending to make amends for the months of mistrust, but she is content enough in her good mood to not make Tommy squirm with discomfort too much, since he's doing plenty of that on his own.

Roxie's stuck on him like a magnet, when they're on the bus, ignoring the rest of the band, acting sweet and kind and completely too-faced.

"Babe, where were you last night?" She pleads, practically curled up on him as they sit at the back of the bus. Everyone can hear them, can hear Roxie's fake worry, and Lola rolls her eyes, carefully pulling a baggie and razor from her pocket to start cutting up lines of coke on the table beside Nikki.

"Fell asleep in a gutter somewhere," Tommy snorts, wrapping an arm around her, sounding as calm and casual as he ever did. "Woke up to some junkies tryna'..." he trails off, spots Lola wearing a secretive little smile, talking quietly with Nikki at the front of the bus. She looks... happy. Happier than she has all tour. Tommy clears his throat, turning his smile up to a billion watts when he directs it at Roxie, "tryna' rob me, but it's all cool." He lies, "it all worked out."

And Roxie makes like she's worried, makes a show of cooing over him, and seems happy enough to snuggle with him for the moment, to take comfort in his without his mother around, with Lola keeping her distance. With Roxie wrapped in his arms, he can feel the sting of the nail marks Lola's left down his back. At the front of the bus, Nikki asks her what she'd gotten up to last night, and she doesn't even glance at Tommy as her smile widens, tells him that he doesn't wanna know.

"That's my girl," Nikki's sharp grin mirrors her, and he punches her in the shoulder lightly before going in for a line. Mick groans and takes a sip of his vodka.

Lola seems to be settling down again; she still drinks and snorts and fucks along with the rest of them, but she doesn't go out looking for a fight. She and Tommy don't really speak that often, but something's changed between them, even a blind man could see it, and it agitates Roxie more as each day goes on.

"You two are not nearly as subtle as you think you are," Mick tells Lola when she's delivering him his booze before a show. Lola's answering smile doesn't quiet reach her eyes.

"Me and who? You know I'm not good at subtle," but she still takes the makeup brush from him when he offers it, a silent question that he already knows the answer to. She dips the brush into the loose, dark powder and starts patting it just beneath his cheekbones.

"It's not healthy -"

"Don't talk to me about healthy, you old geezer," though her tone is teasing, there's a hint of warning in it. She starts blending out the black contour near his jaw. Mick is obediently quiet as she does his cheeks, his mouth opening as she begins applying his eyeshadow without needing to be prompted.

"To stake all your happiness on one person, and have it be our idiot drummer of all people, is fuckin' stupid."

They let the statement hang in the silence; Mick's eyes are still closed, but Lola's paused in her movements.

"I don't think you're stupid," he adds gently, and Lola leans back, sitting back against the mirror, her ankles crossed and makeup still in hand. She makes a half-amused, mostly disbelieving sound, and Mick, as a show of good humour, smiles a little, "I don't think you're that stupid." He amends, which gets Lola to laugh.

"You're an asshole," it's fond, as is the smile on her face. But then her expression, her shoulders, and the moment, drop. Moving off the counter top, she gestures for Mick to close his eyes again so she could finish, and her expression is hard. "But I don't know what you mean; sure I'm loyal to the band, but Tommy's happily engaged, we haven't -"

"Oh girlie, I'm sick of your bullshit, you know?" He finally snaps, "you're not loyal, you're just selfish; I've seen it happen with Vince, I've seen it happen with Tommy, and if Nikki ever falls in love, I'm sure you'll get yourself a hattrick, girlie." It's more honest, more spiteful than he intends it to be, and Lola's paused with the brush pressing against his closed eyelid. But he won't apologise.

The words sting so much worse than she's willing to let on.

There's so many things she wants to tell him, to scream at him, to throw, instead, what she says is;

"It's not fucking selfish to want to protect the people we love." It comes as a hiss, and the brush is moved from his eye. He hears her throws it down to the counter, hears her step away, but doesn't hear her leave. His eyes open, and she's a few feet away, haloed by the shitty, florescent bulb above; she's got her arms crossed, scowling at him. "Roxie is using him."

"Says who-"

"Says fucking everyone; says the fact that she fucked Nikki while she knew Tommy's parents were in town, says the fact that she's always demanding and demanding and demanding and even fucking Vince is sick of her, says the fact that Tommy still loves me-" and her eyes go wide, like she hadn't quite meant to let that slip, but it's out there nonetheless, and Mick sees the way her hands shake before she folds her arms again, defiant and furious. "Go be someone else's consciousness, Jiminy-Cricket-acting prick."

It's like several consecutive gut punches as everything she's saying, everything she's implying dawns on him, but she just seems to get more riled up in his silence. He'd never thought of her as someone who'd be a fan of Disney, in any capacity; the idea that Lola, who he'd always known as young, was also once actually small, fragile, and a fan of cartoons? It's almost painful to think.

"I may have made myself judge, jury, and executioner, but I will never stand in the way of what makes them truly happy," she spits, leaning over to look Mick in the eyes, "and if this band breaks up because of me, it's not because I fucked over one of my boys," she sneered, "it's because I gouged your fucking eyes out."

So now she's not on speaking terms with Mick, which Nikki thinks is hilarious, Doc thinks is a pain, and Vince and Tommy are pretty ambivalent about.

Roxie doesn't care; the sweet mask she'd been wearing since meeting his parents had been cracking as each day passed. She'd been dwelling, angry and mistrustful and insecure; she'd seen Tommy and Lola talking quietly together before a show, seen them share a smile, a laugh, a cigarette, and something about it made her skin crawl.

The problem was never that she and Lola were too different, the problem was that Roxie had always been aware that she and Lola, for all they hated each other, were different versions of the same person. They lie and steal and cheat their way through life, hot and sharp and mean, but Lola was here first. If Roxie had been here first, she knows she would have been just as territorial; Lola's found herself in the middle of a very good thing, she doesn't do well with interlopers, as Roxie may be, but Roxie is anything if not ambitious.

It had been going well enough, to keep Tommy to herself, Lola unwittingly helping her in the beginning, but now with Tommy's parents, with whatever's up with him and Lola, it had gotten under Roxie's skin. If she was being honest, she didn't exactly trust Tommy around other women, but he at least tried to be faithful, but Lola, she knew exactly how to play on Tommy's heartstrings, and absolutely would, if given half a chance.

So maybe sleeping with Nikki was deliberate, was spiteful, because Tommy had once drunkenly, and a little forlornly, made mention of how Lola 'was head over heels for Nikki' and that she sort of always has been. She saw the look in Lola's eyes when she came out of Nikki's dressing room, and in that one moment, it was worth it.

But it had ended up pushing Lola and Tommy back together, and Roxie wasn't stupid.

She was just sick and tired of feeling like a second-rate version of Lola.

Like she was a consolidation prize, just a version that Tommy didn't have to share. But Tommy was rich and stupid, and Roxie was ambitious, and thinks that if Lola could get him to love her, then Roxie would be able to too.

But even his parents could see it, and they'd barely met!

Why did Tommy have to call her his fiance? He should have at least made sure his parents liked her before telling them that she would be family. But fuck, it must run in the family; his mother's comment had stuck with her, had kept playing in her head.

"Like Lola."

"Your mom's a cunt." The words, deliberate and precise, come from Roxie one afternoon barely a week later, sore from being stuck on the tour bus all day, in her head about everything that's been going on, while Tommy had been waxing poetic to Nikki about a drum setup he'd seen in his dreams.

He'd just turned to ask her for a pen to draw up his ideas after ignoring her for most of the day, and yeah she's got a pen, buried somewhere in the bottom of her bag, so she gets it for him, but tells him exactly what she's thinking, playing with the pen. Of course, to no surprise, it riles up Tommy.

"What? Why would you say that?" But his attention is finally on her, and she'd take a fight over being ignored.

"Because she is," Roxie tells him, deliberate, like talking to a child, "she's a cunt."

"Quit it," Tommy warned, "give me the pen, alright?" After a beat, he makes a face when she doesn't even make a move to.

"I don't even know why you told them," Roxie continues, voice raising, catching the attention of the others, who had been trying their best not to watch the inevitable argument began to unfold. "It's not like she has anything to do with us getting married."

"Baby," Tommy tried to calm her down, turning back around, "it's sweet, it's tradition."

"Which tradition?" Roxie snarled, "The mandatory meeting of the cunt?!" Storming up to him, her lip curled in anger, she could feel the plastic pen in her iron grip.

"Don't call her that again, you hear me?" Tommy demanded, voice low and dangerous, standing, matching her toe to toe and towering over her, eyes blazing with a fury, trying to put her in her place.

After a moment, he seems satisfied that she won't try anything, and goes to sit back down, still crackling with an irritated energy, but Roxie seems to feed off of it, stabbing the pen into his back when he goes back to paying attention to anything but her.

"Here's your pen!" She spat, and the bus seems to light up around them. Tommy's flinching away, surprise and slight fear in his eyes, while Nikki looks on, concerned, but hazily high.

"Ow! What the fuck is wrong with you?" He gasps, looking up at her, pain radiating across his shoulder and back.

"Fuck you!" Roxie spits, as she feels someone trying to catch her hands; spinning, she sees it's Lola, wearing a stony expression, watching with fury written all over her face, "fuck you too!" Roxie continues, shoving Lola hard, sending the girl stumbling back before she turns back to Tommy, "and fuck your mother!"

"That's it, this fucking bitch is out of here!" Tommy shouted, hollering for the driver to pull over. He drags Roxie down the aisle, with everyone watching in shock. Lola looks murderous. "Get the fuck off my bus! Get the fuck out!"

Roxie won't back down, not here, not now; she shoves Tommy too, and it feels like a slap in the face when Lola catches him before he hits the table.

"You're such a spoiled little mama's boy," Roxie snarls, "'cause you wanna crawl back inside her cunt -"

Tommy punches her.

There's regret on his face the moments after is happens, breathless, watching as she wipes the blood from her split lip, shock and hurt written all over her. It's like he can't even believe what he's done.

"I told you not to say that," is what comes out of his mouth, breathless, a little frantic, before racing to the back of the bus, escaping to the only place he could. Everyone else looks shocked, like they can't believe her, like they can't believe him, like this whole situation is fucked. Except Lola. Stone cold and dead silent, she gives Roxie the single most withering look the other woman had ever received in her life.

"Stop the bus." Lola orders, her gaze flicking to the others in turn. Her gaze lingers on Mick, who won't look at her. Finally, she looks back at Roxie. "Get your shit," her voice is still level, terrifyingly so, "and get the fuck off the bus."

"We are in the middle of nowhere." Roxie tried, but there's a tremble in her voice, her hands shake a little, finally coming to terms with what had happened, what she and Tommy had both done.

"Get off this bus, or I will kill you."

With that, she turns, and all eyes are on her as she opens one of the cupboards, pulls out the medical kit, and follows Tommy to the back of the bus. She slams the sliding door closed.

Lola seems to be angry almost by default, loud voice, gnashing teeth, bloody knuckles, violent and ill-tempered, she was a fighter through and through. This is the first time any of them had seen her truly, and terrifyingly, furious. They'd always joked about her being the muscle of the group, but this is the first time they'd truly realised what that could mean; what she was willing to do for them.

"This is crazy, you know he's in love with her, right?" Roxie sat on one of the chairs by the front, tears pricking her eyes as the adrenaline starts to leave her system and her legs become too weak to keep her standing. Her words are a Hail Mary pass as she turns on Nikki, trying to drive a wedge before the bus pulled over and the good thing she had going comes to an abrupt end.

"We all are, dude," he admits easily, high as hell where everyone else is still on edge, but his smile is blurry, "if you figured that out, why are you still here?"

In the back, Tommy's got his head in his hands, sitting on one of the beds when Lola finds him. Looking up, fear and regret in his red-rimmed eyes, he heaves a shaky sigh seeing it was Lola. No words pass between them; she's still radiating that dark, protective energy, and Tommy's aghast at his own actions. She opens the medical kit, pauses, and reaches beneath one of the beds for a bottle of booze, setting it down in his lap.

Her hands are gentle as she pulls the pen from his back, and he winces and grunts quietly in pain as she does. The bus stops, and there's the sound of Roxie's heels angrily stomping around the bus, and quiet, furious talking. Lola keeps working, unscrews the bottle where it still sits in Tommy's lap, and directs him to drink some. After he takes a swig, she lifts his shirt, prompts him to take it off, he does, and blood begins to trail from the wound down the smooth plane of his back. Their medical equipment is woefully understocked.

Outside, Roxie is shouting. The engine is still running.

Lola wipes away the blood as best she can, patting the wound with antiseptic ointment which makes Tommy swear under his breath. He's drunk a quarter of the bottle by the time she's dressing the wound, and the bus has started up again. Vince and Nikki are talking in the main cabin, but they don't sound particularly somber.

"Don't say 'I told you so'." Tommy's voice is very small, speaking when he hears the lid of the medical kit close. Lola pauses.

Gently, slowly, she runs her fingertips down his spine. His head is still in his hands, and he hasn't made a move, but Lola sits behind him, her legs crossed, as close as she can, and she rests her forehead on his back, a quiet moment of solidarity. Now is not the time to be petty, or cruel.

"I'm sorry this is how it went down." And she means it, with her whole heart she means it. "I'm sorry you got stabbed." She wants to say I'm sorry I didn't stop her / didn't hold her back / didn't take the hit, but the words are stuck on her tongue. Tommy's breathing is shaky.

"I can't... can't believe I..." and he can't vocalise it, just looks down at his hands in abstract horror. Lola's quiet, reaching forward, she gently takes one of his hands in hers, lacing their fingers together.

"She did... stab you." Lola says flatly, and Tommy hums in quiet agreement; "you... she said some awful things about your mother; being protective sometimes means you'll do terrible things for the people you love," she murmurs, eyes closed. He gives her hand a squeeze, and heaves a sigh. They stay like that for a long while, and slowly, Lola feels the rise and fall of his chest become steadier with time.

[princesstreaclefanfic]

We Meet Again Chapter Nine

Disclaimer - All recognisable characters belong to their original owners. I do not make a profit from writing this; I simply do it for my own amusement. No copyright infringement intended.

Moving Forward

"We should start fresh in the morning," Emily told everyone before they left the office for the day.

Luke's eyes went to Penelope and he could see just how distraught she was over Reid. It was killing her that she couldn't do anything and Luke knew that when she went to visit him she was struggling to recognise her friend. He'd studied the effects of prison on inmates so it was no wonder that Reid was acting like he was. But still, it was hard for Penelope.

Everyone went their separate ways and Luke watched as Prentiss and Rossi both disappeared into their respective officers, neither one looking like they were going to come out any time soon.

He gathered his things and made his way down to the parking lot. When he got there, Penelope was leaning against her small blue car looking completely lost.

He placed his bag into his car and watched. She didn't move.

Luke walked over to her.

"Penelope?" Her eyes shot to his and he could see the tears welling up in them.

He didn't give her the chance to say anything, he just wrapped his arms around her and held her. Much to his surprise, Penelope wrapped her arms around his back and held him.

When she finally pulled away, she spoke so quietly that Luke almost didn't hear here. "I don't want to be alone tonight… do you think you could come over… or I could come to you?"

"Yeah, let me just go home and sort Roxy out and then I'll be over."

Penelope nodded. "You could bring Roxy over if you like."

Luke smiled. "She'd love to see you."

They separated and Luke helped her get into her car, shutting the door behind her and watching her drive out of the parking lot.

Luke got into his own truck and made his way home.

He fed Roxy and took her for a quick walk before changing his clothes into something more comfortable.

He grabbed her favourite toy (a pink soft pig) in case she needed something to keep her occupied and loaded Roxy into his car.

The drive to Penelope's passed quickly and soon he found himself at her door, Roxy sat patiently at his side with her pig in her mouth.

Penelope answered the door quickly, dressed in pink polka dot pyjamas.

She greeted them both with a small smile and invited them.

Roxy set about sniffing everything she could. Her nose getting into every nook and cranny.

Simon, who had been napping quite happily on the sofa, was quite affronted when he was rudely awoken by a wet lick across his face by a very excited Roxy.

"Rox!" Luke reprimanded.

"It's alright," Penelope chuckled. "Simon just really likes his sleep."

Luke and Penelope watched as Simon and Roxy took a few minutes to warm up to each other. But once Simon had bopped her on the snout and Roxy had offered up her pig as a peace offering, they both settled down, Roxy lying on the floor next to the couch and Simon rolling onto his back as sleep consumed him once more.

"Do you want a drink?" Penelope asked quietly.

"Yeah."

In no time at all, there was a steaming pot of tea in the middle of the dining room table and Luke was sipping from a blue and white striped mug.

"Do you want to talk?"

"Not about Reid," Penelope said as she shook her head. "It just makes me so sad to think of him… in there…" She shivered. "Tell me a funny story - about anything."

Luke thought for a moment and then the perfect story popped into his head.

He told her about the time his cousin, who is a teacher had a major falling out with her best friend. It was bad, there were names thrown back and forth, screaming and Luke was sure that there was even some food thrown. He never found out what it was about but he did know that the girl had sent his cousin a letter detailing why she had been a bad friend and why she was so glad that their friendship was over.

Penelope interrupted him. "How is this a funny story?"

"Let me get to that part," he chastised.

When his cousin got the letter, she had read it, before getting out a red pen and picking up on all the spelling and grammatical errors that were strewn throughout the letter - did he forget to mention that his cousin was an English teacher? Then she had graded it, folded it up neatly and sent it back to her old friend.

The end of the story had Penelope laughing with tears down her face.

The sight made Luke smile and he was glad that he could do that for her. Make her forget, even for a minute about all the crap they were dealing with.

"What happened after that?" Penelope asked.

Luke shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing. Never heard from her friend again. Not that I think that's a bad thing."

"Your cousin sounds amazing!"

"She is - she's a mom the two most fantastic boys I have ever met." Luke was Godfather to both of them and he loved them so much.

"I'm going to have to disagree with you on that," Penelope said as she placed her mug down. "Henry, Michael and Hank are the most fantastic boys I have ever met."

"Well, you've never met my Godsons."

"And you've never met mine," she countered.

"We'll have to change that then." His eyes glittered when he said that and met hers over the table.

Penelope cocked her head to the side and a vulnerable looked drifted over her face.

"Will you kiss me?" Her question surprised him. But the answer was so obvious.

Luke shot off his chair and knelt at her feet. Reverently, he took her face in her hands and gave her a wide smile. Slowly, he leaned in, stroking her cheeks as he did so.

When their lips met it was sweet relief. He sank himself into the kiss, tasting her lips and feeling the soft skin of her cheeks under his thumbs.

Pulling away, he looked into her eyes.

They were closed but then they opened and her green eyes were blazing with heat.

Penelope moved forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close and kissing him.

Their lips moved together, slanting over each other as both Luke and Penelope revelled in the kiss.

She moved closer to him until she was teetering on the edge of the chair, dangerously close to falling onto him (Luke didn't think he would mind if she did).

When her tongue swept over his bottom lip, Luke felt his cock begin to stir in his jeans.

Her hands slipped down his chest, finding the hem of his t-shirt before she began to move it upwards.

Luke pulled his lips away so she could remove it before diving straight back in.

His lips frantically found hers and he found himself devouring her, needing to feel more and more of her.

His large hands cupped her breasts through her pyjamas and she moaned into his mouth, the noise heading straight for his cock.

"Luke," she moaned, leaving his lips as she kissed down his neck. Her lips were soft on his skin and Luke let his head fall back as her tongue and lips explored the expanse of his chest.

Her tongue slipped in between his pecks and Luke grabbed the chair she was sitting on. When he tongue circled around his nipple, his body rocked towards her.

"Do you like that?" she mumbled and Luke wanted to respond but he couldn't. There was no blood left in his brain to make his mouth work, it had all travelled south and was pooling in his cock.

Penelope's lips moved back up to his and she placed a simple kiss to his lips. "Luke.."

"Hm?"

"You're phone is ringing."

Her words didn't register and he moved forward to kiss her again.

"Luke," she giggled against his mouth. "You need to answer your phone."

He pulled away and stared at her for a second as if she were speaking a foreign language.

"Your phone…" she started again before Luke's eyes widened in realisation when his ring tone broke through the 'Penelope fog' and he shoved his hand into his jean pocket, trying to find the offending device.

"Sorry," he mumbled, finally managing to pull his phone out. "It's my mom," he told her, flicking the green call button across the screen.

"Hey mom," he greeted, a soft smile spreading across his face simply because he was talking to his mom.

"Hello darling, how are you?"

"I'm fine thanks, mom." He looked up to see Penelope smiling at him. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh yes. I just wanted to ring you as I've not heard from you for a few days." Luke had been so preoccupied with the cases and Reid that he'd let his daily calls to his mom lapse.

"Sorry - work has been so busy," he explained.

"Don't worry about it; I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"Yeah I am, can I call you back later?"

"Of course… why, are you with someone?"

"Yeah…" He felt himself blushing as Penelope bit her lip.

He could feel his mom's narrowed eyes down the phone. "Is it that girl you like?"

His eyes went wide and his blush deepened.

"I'll call you back, mom."

"It is! I want to know everything!" she squealed, hanging up the phone.

Luke took his time looking up at Penelope and when he did he was glad to see an amused look on her face.

"Sorry," he said again. "I can never refuse a phone call from my mom."

"Don't apologise, it's really sweet."

Silence surrounded them and Luke became very aware that he was knelt on the floor, shirtless.

"Do you want your shirt back?" Penelope asked and Luke nodded, trying not to give off an awkward laugh.

Penelope handed it to him and Luke pulled it over his head.

"Thanks for coming over tonight," she said to him in a quiet voice.

"It's alright - I don't mind being the one you come to when you need someone." His words were similar to their earlier conversation when he found her crying in her office.

Roxy chose that moment to come over and nudge her way in between Luke and Penelope.

"Hello beautiful girl," Penelope cooed, rubbing her hands over her coat as she loved on her.

Luke grinned and gently tickled the underside of her belly.

She tucked her face under Luke's arm.

"Do you want to go to the potty?" he asked and her tail wagged hard against the dining room chair leg.

"I think that's a yes," he told Penelope, getting to his feet.

Roxy grabbed her pig from where it was laid on the floor and ran over to the front door.

"I think that's my cue to leave," he said.

Penelope nodded.

They walked to the front door together and Penelope opened it for them both.

As Luke went to leave, her soft hand grabbed onto his.

"I really am grateful for tonight, Luke."

"I know."

"And if you ever need me… just ask."

That made him smile.

"Goodnight, Penelope." He leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on her cheek.

"Night, Luke," she whispered.

As difficult as it was, he walked away from Penelope and down the steps to where Roxy was waiting patiently by a tree.

She did her business and then he loaded her up into the car.

When he glanced back at her apartment, Penelope had come out and was stood at the railing. He gave her a wave and she waved back.

Luke smiled and got into his car, driving away from Penelope and back to his house.

He was glad he could be there for her. It felt like they were moving forward.

[tristancreed]

My Relationship With Tattoos

Art as we know it comes in any medium. It could be a portrait, a scuplture, a dish, a film or even a fighting style. The canvas and the medium may change, but one thing remains constant. It represents something. One's feelings, identity, code, maybe even culture. Tattoos are not far from this. They are pieces of art etched on a living canvas. Just like any piece of art can be viewed differently by the artist, the wearer as well as the mere spectator. The same perception could also be rooted from a personal interpretation/bias, cultural influence, and etc.

The Philippines, while still attempting to develop have yet to change its view on tattooing. To some, it is in fact seen at an artistic light whereas most view them with negative connotations. Some even view tattooed individuals as nothing but bottom dwellers, drug addicts, criminals, anything synonymous with the word undesirable. We even have a senator that says exactly these words about tattooed individuals, as do most conservative folks. Which is ironic considering that tattoos once played a significant role in the pre-colonial history. It often dsiplayed one's role, accomplishments, clan, and even social status. One of our most well-reputed national artists happen to be Whang-Od. To the uninitiated, she is currently the last living traditional tattoo artist around these parts. She is well sought out by visitors both domestic and foreign. In all sincerity, I'd like to see that senator try and publicly call her a drug addict to her face. Like I said, The Philippines has yet to be anywhere near ready to adapt to a modern society. And with it, more progressive views.

(Image is courtesy of La Blouse Roumaine ©)

I for one had a neutral stance on them. I should know, I have four of them and have gone through five sessions all in all. But before that, I remember wanting to get one as far as when I was in college and even intending to get two particular pieces. One being WWE Superstar Edge's Rise Above wrist piece and Toryn Green's sinner and saint ambigram. This what happens when you grow up being a fan of hard rock music, professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Although what kept me from getting tattooed was the fear of being an ineligible blood donor, as well as the fear of being unemployable in the future.

That however changed after I graduated. Turns out, most corporate environments won't even bat an eye at an upper management figure sporting full sleeves and stretched earlobes. Others may not be as lenient. But it hardly impacted how they're received in the company.  I even had a chance to get a session done in 2013 but it kept falling apart.

It didn't cross my mind until 2017 and that's that I finally decided to go for it. I remembered seeing a simple but perfectly symmetrical geometric arrow design. The design was perfect. I also happen to love archery. So I literally had no other issue with it. I later ended up getting referred by my cousin to her artist who did her wrist piece months prior. The three weeks leading up to that session, I let my folks know in advance that I am getting a tattoo. I didn't wait for their approval or anything. I made it clear that I’m getting inked. Furthermore, I’d like to point out that I am a regular subscriber to Aaron Marino’s YouTube Channel (you may know him as Alpha M). I then took some crucial tips regarding tattoos. I had the certainty down as long as I follow one crucial tip. You have a whole sea of skin all over you. So out of all that, just avoid having one on your hands, neck, and face. If you can hide it with a dress shirt, it’s completely fine. 

On the day of my appointment, I literally just slapped on a sleeveless Avenged Sevenfold cut-off top, some shorts, with only my phone and wallet in hand before heading out for my session. It happened in a small studio just next to a small school in Pacita. Fortunately, I got there in time and I happened to be his only scheduled client for the day. What happened next was pivotal. I literally watched as the needle first touched my skin and slowly covered my birthmark. The session itself took over five hours. And what turned out to be the final product was an entirely different design. One which was inspired by the concept I sent, but also deviated from it. My parents despite having already been warned in advance were still initially shocked by it. They didn’t think I was actually going ahead with it. So this is the part where I retroactively followed what Jaiden Dittfach (of Jaiden Animations) said when she got her bird Ari. If you want really want something and your parents said no, get it anyway and trick them into loving it. Now that it’s on my skin, there really wasn’t much they could do about it. But at least they know its meaning and that it isn’t anything negative. I did have some issues with the product though and it took three more years before I finally got it fixed. For good this time. At least before the pandemic happened and it was done by a trusted friend. In her defense, she made the best of what she could work with then and even remarked how deep the first needle went. Fortunately, she managed to even out some places that needed to be polished.

The intended design (Image is courtesy of The Style Up ©)

The (first) finished product.

Finally fixed. 

In between all of this, I also managed to get three more pieces. It was November 12, 2018, a news shocked Marvel fans the world over. Stan Lee tragically passed away just six weeks shy of what would have been his 96th birthday. It was such a devastating loss of a figure who helped mold the childhoods of many. I wrote about it and posted it here shortly after. During those events, I remembered having come across the Wakandan alphabet before it hit me. But first, I had to consult a few friends in order to make sure that I wouldn’t be committing any act of cultural appropriation. After finally clearing that up, I sent my own design to a friend of mine (Who went on to do all of my ink from that point on) and booked the session. Thanksgiving day later came and I realized that we had no work that day. So I later called her up to see if she was free. Fortunately, she was and I finally had it etched on my right forearm. It was the Latin word “Excelsior” that literally translates to ever upward. It was also Stan’s catchphrase. The feeling of getting that piece was a lot more different than the previous one. This came with a wave of emotion. Because the significance could even be traced from my childhood and I grew up around this fandom and it meant more to me than just entertainment. It helped shape part of my identity. It’s literally the one piece I wish I could have flashed on a camera next to Stan himself. One thing’s for sure both Stan Lee and Chadwick Boseman would have thought it was a wise choice for a piece of ink on one’s skin. 

“Excelsior”

- Stan Lee

Upon having gone through a tattoo session, you can only describe the feel of a needle as a sting. But you wouldn’t exactly call it pain. That isn’t an opinion, that is a fact. Another thing one must know upon getting a tattoo is that you will later want additional pieces. Your skin will want the feel of that needle again. And while my parents said that would be my last piece, I simply couldn’t promise that. This time around, I’ve been looking to get a Cthulhu tattoo since December 2018. Of course, being busy as always, I couldn’t find a time to arrange it. I would only do so once I’m sure I’m completely free for that day. I live two lives. Both as a corporate guy and a public figure. Spare time and sleep are luxuries I can’t always afford. And after all the planning, I finally booked it. I literally went to my friend’s place right away to have it done. The session was of reasonable length and it felt different. Both of my previous tattoos were done on my right forearm. Both of which had uplifting personal meanings. A darker piece like that would be completely out of place in that part of my body. So I opted for my left bicep. It was surreal. I’m a man invested into multiple fandoms and H.P. Lovecraft’s universe is definitely in that list. There’s just something about the occult and the unknown horrors of the cosmos that piqued my interest since my formative years. This was me finally marking that on my skin. If there’s one of Lovecraft’s most iconic creations that deserved that spot, it was the famed Dreamer of R’lyeh himself. If the excelsior tattoo gave a rush of innocence that I hadn’t felt in ages, this was different. It had that enigmatic aura around it which made it all the more perfect. The piece came together so well and it was on an arm that a needle had yet to kiss. After the session, you could say I probably found out how the Sam Raimi Peter Parker felt when he first put on the black symbiote suit. Minus the dance when he exited that tailor shop. I also ended up getting a freehand bonus on my right wrist again. Just something Roxy threw in. It was the Latin phrase “Sic Parvis Magna.” which literally translates to “Thus great things come from small things.” or better yet, greatness from small beginnings. Which is another phrase I hold dear considering my humble origins.

“Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn”

“In his house at R’lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.”

“Thus great things come from small things.”

That certainly wouldn’t be the end of it. Again, while my folks insisted that I got my last pieces, I still can’t promise that. One thing’s for sure, I wouldn’t get any piece that either stands for something that abridges the rights of another human being, nor would any of my upcoming pieces ever wrongly appropriate a culture. Ultimately, I would always advise everyone to at least take Aaron Marino’s advise to heart. Don’t get one that you wouldn’t want to show your folks. You also have a whole sea of skin around you, so avoid having one on your hands, neck and face. I’m definitely not done stepping next to a needle. I still have plans on some pieces. But I always see to their significance. It’s always wise to do exactly that. Getting a tattoo isn’t a joke. It’s a commitment. One that can even outlive a marriage. So it pays to take every choice into consideration. Some of us choose to wear our hearts on our sleeve and some do so literally.

[themockingcrows]

Two Fates, Two Kingdoms Ch. 18: Brother of Moonlight

Characters: John Egbert, Dave Strider, Jake English, Rose LaLonde, Roxy LaLonde, Dirk Strider This chapter is SFW! AO3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2606711/chapters/48093772

After washing the struggles of the road off, there's family to meet and reconnect with and stories to tell as Dave re-positions himself into the role of beloved baby brother that had been empty for so long. With all the familial re-connections happening at once, what are the chances that there are still some secrets being kept?

    The baths Dave had spoken on were a grand sight indeed, and thankfully reclusive enough from the rest of the people of the castle that they weren’t interrupted. The same chilly stone that housed the castle and a lot of the foundations of the city below blossomed with warmth as Dave led the Prospitian duo along a few twists and turns, then finally down a stairwell that was soon filling up with the welcome kiss of steam. In one room there was running hot water from taps that fed into troughs that kept filling over and spilling to a chute below to drain away. Dave calmly removed his clothing and peered over his shoulder to see if the brother’s would follow suit or not. To his surprise they followed suit, jingling and jangling awkwardly to get out of the new items and set the clothes in with Dave’s and the fresh set he’d brought with him. As to whether those older clothes would still fit him properly was yet to be seen, but since he’d gained no new height, it would probably fit well enough.

    The first room seemed to be for the main washing, stools sitting among places carved by the stone that was hot to the touch with buckets and dippers aplenty along with soaps and oils. This wasn’t the bath for the kitchen staff after all. This was for Dave and others in his wing, which usually would consist of Rose and occasionally other family members when he was younger. The same crystals lit along the ceiling and walls, soft glows of lavender and white blending with the steam and the sweetly scented soaps to make a dreamy atmosphere as they all took a spot and washed away the stress and travel. Dave offered the brothers an option to shave which they took readily to get rid of accumulated stubble, while he himself busily trimmed at his hair to even the ends out and shorten it just a bit to a more manageable level.

    The second room was devoted to the bath itself, a high edged bath that looked like a small pool, with a second space offset partly into the wall that was steaming heavily. The stone was smoother, polished to show the grain and natural subtle shifts in color that the natural stone held beneath their feet and palms.

    “This one’s plenty warm. There’s a cool spigot to use if you need cold water,” Dave explained as he pointed. “The far tub is the hottest one. I wouldn’t stay in it very long if I were you, though.”

    “Pshaw and pish, Dave my lad. You’re speaking to felows from the land of the heat and sun! This should prove to be perfectly comfortable,” Jake insisted as he strode past unabashedly to go straight into the hotter water. He hopped right in, lasted about ten seconds, then stood up with a harsh gasp. “CHEESE AND CRACKERS BUT THAT’S FUCKING HOT.”

    “What did you expect when someone says ‘that’s the hottest one’ and says they wouldn’t stay in it very long?” John asked, coming closer to investigate as Jake sat down slower to enjoy the burn and adjust comfortably and Dave clambered into the bigger tub.

    “I expected it to be hot by a Dersite’s standards, not hot-hot,” Jake complained. “It feels quite nice once you go in slower and the burn stops. But I see why staying too long wouldn’t be a good idea.”

    John took his time getting into the hot water, wincing and cussing more than once before he sat down opposite Jake with a heady sigh and sank down even further. “Ohhhhh but this is nice.. Dave can I convince you to walk my back later? Or my shoulders at least? If I can get out of here that is, the castle feels like a cube of ice compared to this..”

    “You get used to it,” Dave shrugged, dipping his head a few times and slicking his hair back behind his shoulders and out of his eyes in a smooth motion. “Besides, I’ll make sure we find some other items you two can wear. Shoes, for one. Some kind of robe as well surely. At least nobody’s trying to make you hurry outside for anything.”

    “Outside doesn’t exist anymore,” insisted John. “Shhhh, it’s bath time. Only hot water now.”

    “We have to leave eventually, if we want to introduce you to the rest of my family,” Dave chuckled. “And eat.. And see Dirk again. I don’t care how busy he is, there’s questions I have that need answered quickly.”

    “Perhaps we’ll see him come meal time and you can spring some things on him then?” suggested Jake. “Surely even a fellow as hard working as him pauses to eat now and then with the family.”

    “You’d be surprised. But, yes, that’s an option. If not then I can hear it from the others what to do. Or I’ll just go to his chambers tonight and smack him with a pillow.”

    “No caution for the king, I see,” John smirked. “Then again you had next to none for a prince in Prospit, so I’m not that surprised that you’d not act differently towards your brother when a stranger didn’t deter you.”

    Be it the bath or the by now fond memory it was hard to say, but a soft flush had crossed Dave’s cheeks.

    “Hah. Definitely different with family. I doubt you’d have acted differently to Jake were he to suddenly have become king, right? Or would it have been all that different in Prospit?”

    The pair exchanged a curious glance, brows lifted in nearly a mirror image of each other before they glanced over. Were Dave not limited to the one eye he’d swear he was seeing double thanks to them. Save for the eye color and subtle differences in height and shoulder width, body mass, the brothers could be twins when their scruffy black hair was wet. Especially when they grinned at him like that.

    “Mmm.. I guess you’re right. I don’t think I’d have stopped trying to prank him, or teasing him.”

    “But,” offered Jake, “to be fair, I don’t know if I’d ever have truly become king. I’d sooner have fled and let Janey take over all the same, follow adventure elsewhere, follow some maps from old legends in books and see what I could find on my own that others may have missed. Spend my days hunting and my nights camping out ‘neath the stars. ..Being cooped up with the rules and regulations and that crown hanging heavy on me with the weight off an entire country.. I don’t think I’m capable of that, no matter what father says.”

    “I think you’d have made a decent king.”

    “Decent, not great,” Jake pointed out to Dave. “There’s a difference. Your brother appears to be doing the greatness thing, same as Jane no doubt will do the greatness thing as a queen someday when father passes.”

    “So you’ve truly no intention of going back,” Dave marveled, coming to the edge of where the tubs conjoined to rest his chin on his hands and hum.

    “There’s not much waiting for us there any longer, not while father is alive,” said John. “I had hoped…” he trailed off quietly, looking down at the slight ripple on the surface of the water. He’d hoped to get to go home again someday, even if only for visits to his siblings if his father wouldn’t have him back on any good terms. But things were just not meant to be so, it would seem. He cleared his throat and let the moment pass without either of the others prodding him. The topic was a sore one and quite the fresh wound after all, and it affected each of them.

    “When we’re done here, where are we going first?” Jake asked, changing the subject to give John some reprieve.

    “I think it’d be best to see Rose first. ...I hope she’s kept her hair short,” Dave mused.

    “Why would it matter how long her hair is?”

    “Well, you see, we used to look quite similar. Very similar. We could pretty much switch places if we wanted to, before her bust grew in. It got harder to do then, but it was still possible,” Dave explained. “She looks quite nice in a set of trousers.”

    Jake lifted a brow. “Planning on switching places, then?”

    “Oh, no. I don’t think we’d be able to anymore, not since.. Well. There’s more differences now in a lot of directions. But it would be nice to be able to show you two what I mean when we’re side by side. I suppose her hair wouldn’t matter, since my own is longer now.”

    “Decided against trimming it all off?” John asked with a grin. “You’d look handsome with short cut hair.”

    “Of course I would. But for now.. I don’t know. This length I can work with for a while longer. I’ll hack it off at a later date, when I feel like it,” sniffed Dave. “I think once the novelty of controlling my bodily autonomy wears off,” he said in common, uncertain of the phrase in Prospitian and even then just barely getting the point across.

    “No rush far as we’re concerned. Scootch over there, Dave, I’m hotter than a boiled hen and probably twice as steaming, I need that cooler water!” Jake finally grunted, standing up with a rush of steam before edging modestly as he could around Dave to get into the bigger tub with a relieved sigh. John soon followed suit, both brothers adjusting to the cooler water quickly and then trying to go further still to prepare for the air of the castle they’d be facing. Not wanting to waste a second of it, the time in the bath stretched long as seemed civil before Dave led the way to towels to dry with.

    While John and Jake simply pulled the tunic and pants back on that they’d deposited earlier, feeling refreshed and comfortable in a way they hadn’t been since leaving Prospit, Dave was suddenly dressed in more decorative clothing of his homeland. The tunic was intricately decorated, a deep red with rust colored shining threads shimmering like a soft flame when he moved just right, the buttons dark as coals with the leggings to match. He’d never brought the boots along with him, nor did he bring a set of slippers, leaving Dave barefoot as the others as they padded back upstairs and to his chambers so he could deposit the soiled items within.

    Rose’s room was easy enough to find when using Dave’s as a guiding tool, though it felt as if the stone in her part of the wing was a darker hue than that of Dave’s. He knocked gently at her door before glancing to his companions, speaking softly.

    “I don’t know if she’ll be in or not. She may be elsewhere, or resting, or not wanting to be bothered or-”

    Rose herself opened the door, question dying on dark painted lips as she took in the scene in front of her. Dave, hair long and still damp tied back at his nape, collar at his throat, weathered features tired but undeniably him, flanked by two bronze skinned giants in different collars. He hadn’t been kidding about their similarities. From the nose to the jaw to the brow shape, it was uncannily like looking at a Dave who was wearing makeup and a high collared dress rather than a woman neither of them had ever met before. She felt familiar in a pleasantly welcome way.

    “I-. ...Dave?” she asked, brows finally furrowing. “Is that really you? Am I having a spell, or am I really seeing this?”

    “A spell? You better have been staying healthy while I’ve been away,” Dave said, reaching out to take both of Rose’s hands, bringing them up to his own cheeks so she could lay hands on him. “Yes, it’s me.. See? All here.”

    She spared another glance to John and Jake over Dave’s shoulders, looking them up and down. All here indeed. Jake grinned and gave a hearty wave.

    “Oh, she’s lovely Dave, you were right.”

    “Well at least they’re.. nice. What in the world..? When did you get here? How did you get here? And who are these two and why are they in the castle?!” she asked, questions halting when Dave released her hands and smooshed her cheeks with his palms instead so her painted lips pursed like a fish.

    “I’ll answer everything in a second. Where’s Roxy? Maybe I can do a two-for-one meeting,” he chuckled.

    “Archery practice, you’d probably get shot for interrupting before she realized it was you,” Rose managed to get out, though her words were a little slurred from the strange position her mouth was being pushed into.

    “I’ll get Roxy later then. At dinner if nothing else,” he said, leaning in to press a kiss to either of Rose’s cheeks when he released them before hugging her tightly and spinning in a quick circle with her. “Come, let us in for a little bit? I’ll explain, and we can catch up.”

    Rose glanced to her room, the tea set within freshly delivered, and sighed.

    “Something tells me I’ll be needing far more tea, and a few more cups at least.”

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

    “So you survived all that, then made it over a mountain, survived a fucking troll, and got taken down by a loose lipped inn keeper?” Rose marveled, holding her cup with both hands. Dave sat opposite her, savoring the rich flavors of the blend he remembered most fondly, low lying berries and roots and intense sweetness, while the Prospitians were cautiously holding the small cups with their large hands and trying to adjust to the flavor with some semblance of grace. It wasn’t bad per say, but it was definitely different. The conversation was mostly taking place in common so as not to exclude the guests, but occasionally things had been said quickly in Dersian to either reassure his sibling or explain a concept quicker.

    “Right? It was like we had all the luck in the world and it finally ran out,” he said with a smile.

    “..Does it bother you?” she asked suddenly. “The eye I mean. I can’t imagine how you’ve dealt with it so far..”

    “I mean. It is what it is. You adjust, or you don’t, and I adjusted best I can,” he shrugged. “I knock things over sometimes, or I miss steps. But I’m getting better with it. I’m stronger than then too, I don’t faint or get headaches as often.”

    “But they’re still there,” Rose pressed a bit.

    “Yes. They might always be, same as my eye might always be the way it is. Time will tell,” he shrugged, glancing to John and Jake briefly to both check on them and find an out for himself in the conversation.

    “It’s true, the last faint he had was earlier actually. Your brother apparently shook him a good deal,” John said more than a little stiffly. “Aside from that, he’s been doing quite well for himself all things considered.”

    “You’re still wearing a collar,” Rose pointed out.

    Dave sat his cup down and clasped the item with both hands as if reassuring himself it was indeed still there and wasn’t about to suddenly come off. “Yes. I am. And I will be for a while longer, till it feels… okay to take it off,” he continued.

    Rose lifted a brow at John and got a shrug back, a shake of the head. This wasn’t his territory. Dave had full autonomy again, he could remove it any time he wished. The only thing was that he hadn’t wished it off quite yet and wasn’t sure when he’d be ready to, a hard concept to wrap his head around personally. If he could wave away his own new collar he would in a heartbeat, finding it uncomfortable already to deal with. He couldn’t imagine Dave wanting to keep his on longer after how long he’d been wearing it.

    Deciding not to push it further, Rose took a sip of her drink. “Are you here to stay, then? Or do you plan on disappearing again?”

    “I’m here to stay. I don’t think I’m interested in straying afar for quite some time,” he admitted. “I’ve had enough adventure for a while..”

    “Do you plan to return your friends?”

    Dave made a face. “Rose, they can go if they please. I’m not their keeper. ...Though I admit, it would mean the world to me if John stayed.” He sat his cup down and leaned back. “It’d mean even more if Dirk allowed us to marry honestly, but I’m not holding my breath just yet. I already know there’ll be a fight involved over it, and I’m prepared to fight. I did not make it this far to be told I can’t marry someone I love, damn it, even if it takes a while for it to be possible.”

    “I can’t imagine politics would be too kind to us,” admitted John, reaching for Dave’s hand to give it a fond squeeze before stroking the back with his thumb. “Princes of enemy kingdoms wedding, even if one prince abdicated?”

    “Two princes,” Jake said merrily, finishing his tea. “May I have another cup, miss?” he asked, gesturing to the pot rather than immediately pouring himself something fresh. “And would you like yours topped off?”

    “Yes, please,” Rose said, offering her cup out for Jake to refresh the liquid inside before pouring his own. He grinned and offered to the others as well, though only Dave took him up on the offer. John was still dealing with his own cup’s contents after all. “I think I see why Dirk was upset, however. You kind of brought a big problem to our doorstep. Abdicated or not, you chose our kingdom of all places to hide. Our castle. There’s a chance your family will fight harder to get you back, try to talk sense into you. Or outright blame us for your leaving.”

    “Well, we did leave because of Dave,” John said. “Though there’s a chance Jake was going to leave on his own if things had continued as they were at home.”

    “It’s kind of cute that you’re planning your wedding day already, when you’ve been home.. What. A few hours now?” Rose smirked playfully. “Not even getting approval from the family, not even asking if I’d be your maid of honor. Pity. I will be, by the way, whether you like it or not.”

    “Try not to upstage the bride, is all I ask. He’s got a temper on him,” John chuckled.

    Rose grinned at him, then turned her gaze on the annoyed looking Dave. “Oh, I like him. Approval gained, best wishes for a healthy family and all that.”

    Dave sulked, but didn’t complain much. “No swapping either then, you’ll get to wait your turn for a turn in the dress.”

    John almost spit into his tea. “Wait, what?”

    Dave lifted a brow at him. “I was kidding, but was the idea that fluster inducing for you? I’ll have to keep it in mind then for the future. I’d never have guessed, considering my time with Jane.”

    “With Jane?” Rose asked, confused.

    “Ah. Before I was given over to John, I was his sister’s. She wanted more of a lady in waiting than I was able to be, though I did well as I could,” he shrugged. “Everything was so… yellow.”

    “Do you have any plans now?” Rose asked of John and Jake. “You abdicated, but I don’t know how formally since you more or less disappeared into the night. What do you plan to do if we’re blamed with kidnapping? What if the war ramps up harder?”

    “We’d try to talk sense to our father,” Jake offered. “...And if that failed to work, I’d try to fight through and talk sense to my sisters.”

    “And if that fails? You turned your back on your country to come to ours,” Rose pointed out. “I doubt they’d trust you any longer, no matter how pure your intentions.”

    Jake sighed and swirled the liquid in his cup.

    “...And this is why I don’t think I’d have done well as a king. There’s so many trails and strings and lashings to sort out just to get to the meat of the matter: that at this point it’s a familial dispute, but if pressed the entire force of a war would come down on our heads.”

    “You said you’d fight through and talk sense to your sisters. Didn’t they let you go before?”

    “More or less. They understood it was to help Dave, that it was for the best at the time, even if they didn’t approve at all. Jade will have to follow whatever orders father gives, and Jane.. well. Jane’s not in a position of power right now.”

    “...And if she were?” Rose asked. “Were your sister on the throne, do you feel the war would stop?”

    “On our side? Yes, if Derse stopped pressing at our throats. We’ve been fighting for so long none of the reasons even matter anymore it feels like, it’s just a drain on resources and lives.”

    “Our princess was murdered long ago, and you say the reasons don’t even matter,” scoffed Rose, eyes dark as she took another sip from her cup, the outline of her lips clear and easy to match up to each time. “I doubt you’d be saying the same were your prince murdered in cold blood.”

    “There’s a funny story about that actually,” John said. “The fact of the matter is, from Prospit’s view? Our prince WAS murdered. He left, we never heard any news of a wedding, and he disappeared. All we got was an attack from Derse, and the war started. We never saw your princess, or if we did there was no mention of her or any other Dersian emissaries along with her. Just our missing prince and an attack from Derse!”

    “The ruined carriage at the border said otherwise, I’m sure. But that doesn’t make much sense.. Two stark differences, and two missing royals on the eve of a wedding.” Rose sat her cup down with a sigh. “In a way it sounds… romantic.”

    “Romantic? Murder is romantic. I’m not sure how to feel about that,” said John uneasily. “If not dead by either country’s hands then by bandits, surely. Perhaps no bodies because of wildlife.. How is that romantic?”

    “Two young lovers reaching to one another until the last moment, potentially? Finally being in true love’s embrace, only to have it all fall apart. A tragedy, but a romantic one,” she sighed. “A bit melodramatic however, I’m sure I could improve it with a bit of workshopping with Roxy.” Perhaps add a lively wizard into the tale, see how magic could improve the situation. Pentaghast the Wise could stroke his beard while surveying the two young lovers being attacked an-

    “Oh. Wait, we had a book,” Dave realized. “Karkat gave us a book, in Skaian. It was strange, from before Skaia was fully formed it seems? A man referred to as a golden treasure and a woman referred to as Moonlight. They had a farm and a happy little life, it was quite charming.”

    The distant look left Rose’s eyes and she perked up. “Do you happen to still have this book? I’d quite like to see it actually, it sounds interesting.”

    “It’s all in Skaian, but I think it’s stuffed somewhere in my bag,” he said. “It was slim enough I wanted it with me.. But. Sure, if I can find it I’ll hand it over to you.”

    Practically sparkling, Rose leaned forward on her elbows. “Have you read it all?”

    “No, like I said, it’s all in Skaian. Old Skaian. It’s confusing, like Prospitian and Dersian was blended together and new things were shoved in here and there. I mean, it makes sense with the kingdoms being so close together, but still.. Ugh, what a headache.”

    “Mmm, delightful. I’ve wanted a break from my manuscript, and I’m a little more used to dealing with things in Skaian, getting a good look at it would be a nice change of pace,” she said, finally setting her cup down, done with tea for the time being.

    “Why would you be more used to dealing with things in Skaian? And what manuscript? You still writing with Roxy?”

    “Yes, and that’s why I’m used to dealing with things in Skaian: we work with a publisher there, under pen names,” she said with a smirk and a flourish of her hand. “We’ve already put out two hits! The third is under way.”

    “I-. ...By the Gods, that’s why it was familiar,” Dave said, rubbing his face. “I’ve met your fans. Or some of them at least. One of your books was in castle Prospit’s library, my moirail enjoyed it too.”

    “Your. ...Your what?” Rose asked, confusion clear on her face. “Mwa-....?”

    “Moirail, it’s. ...It’s hard to explain, it’s a thing from her culture though. It was this weird comforting thing, just being near her though. Like I’d be happy to stay right where she was all day in the fabric scraps.” At another confused look, Dave hurried to add, “She was the head seamstress.”

    “Okay, that makes more sense than you just wallowing around in fabric scraps like some kind of tragic little urchin. And I’m glad you had a friend. ..Well. More friends,” she said, gesturing to John and Jake, who gave her another grin. “The fact that not all of your time in Prospit was hellish is soothing to know, and from how you described some things earlier, some of it even sounded.. almost fun.”

    “Almost is the key word,” Dave agreed. “Rose, thank you so much for the tea. I’m a bit antsy to go find Roxy though. Can we talk more later on?”

    “Of course, it’s not as if I’m about to run off to Prospit or anything. It was good to see you, to catch up. A bit of time to process things would be good,” she chuckled. “I’ll be sure to visit by tonight if you don’t find your way back to me or are being kept busy by Dirk.”

    Once Dave stood, he crossed around the small table between them to hug Rose tightly around the shoulders again, rubbing their full cheeks together affectionately. She turned her head before he could escape and left a soft black outline of lipstick on his cheek, prominent as a brand on the pale flesh. He didn’t wipe it away or seem bothered at all, apparently proud to wear some sign of his family again for the time being. That, or he’d just forgotten the mark could be passed so easily to begin with and was ignorant of the lip marks entirely.

    “You said Roxy was doing archery practice, right? Would she still be there?”

    “No doubt. If she’s not still out there then she’d be in her room working on her chunk of the manuscript, or bathing or something.” She glanced to the window with a soft hum. “If you hurry you’ll catch her outside. We’re getting closer to supper time as it is, and no doubt that will be an affair chock full of bullshit if Dirk’s in one of his moods. No doubt he will be. I wonder if he’ll even show for supper.”

    “I’m sure he will, there’s no way he’d willingly sit out while we all got the chance to talk at the same time now that you’re home.”

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

    Finding Roxy proved as easy as Rose had promised. The blonde was in the middle of peppering targets at different heights and locations with arrows, her shot uncannily good more often than not. She was wearing trousers and a fuschia tunic tied up at the same hip that held a quiver, while the other one rested on her back at an angle for practice with quick grabs from both locations. More arrows rested in a box nearby for her use, ready and waiting for her to reload. She’d just stopped to catch her breath, sweat on her brow and hair mussed from exertion when she spotted everyone approaching.

    As expected, she noticed John and Jake first, sticking out as they did, and rounded on them with an arrow notched and aimed between the two of them at shoulder level as a threat. Two seconds later she spotted Dave and let the arrow loose without meaning to, sinking it into the wood of the wall far beyond them.

    “Dave? Dave?? What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK, how’re you- Wh-??”

    With Roxy disarmed for the time being, Dave hurried forward at a jog to hug his sister tight, the bow clattering to the ground as she swept him up in a return hug and turned in a few quick spinning circles fast enough his feet left the ground. John and Jake, however, kept their distance after observing the arrow’s likely original path and how deeply it’d sunk into the wood.

    No thanks.

    Another quick round of explanations, this time while cuddled close in a tight hug the entire time, and Roxy sighed and guided them to sit down on the dark grass without releasing her grip. John and Jake had shuffled off to investigate the targets in order to give them privacy, the Dersian too quick for them to keep track of properly anyway.

    “I can’t believe it.. You could’ve sent a warnin’ before coming all this way you know, right? There had to be some way to do that, to maybe let us know. We could’ve met you somewhere. I would’ve figured out where you were.”

    “It was too dangerous, and by the time we left it was too sudden,” he explained, savoring the hugs and eventual petting he was getting. While he might have fussed about it in the past, it was more than welcome now like some wonderful drug that kept soothing him over and over into a welcome stupor.

    “I’m sorry I almost shot those two.”

    “One. You only have one arrow notched.”

    “I know what I said, Dave, my draw speed is wild fast now,” she said proudly. “Sorry I almost shot you!” Roxy called to John and Jake in common with a wave to catch their attention.

    “With shots fine as these, I accept the apology,” Jake said. “Might I do a few shots as well while we’re here? I don’t know if I’m quite the deadeye as you, Miss, but I fancy myself a marksman as well.”

    “Sure, but not with my bow. There’s extras for training against the far wall, past the arrow bin,” she gestured with her head rather than let go of Dave or stand up at all. Shhh, only baby brother cuddles now. “You need a bow too?” she asked John.

    “Er, no. I’m not that good a shot. I’m more of a warhammer man, or a sword.”

    Roxy tipped his head and glanced him up and down, focusing on his arms and chest for a moment before humming and shrugging. “Alright, I believe it.” To Dave she leaned in and whispered to his ear in Dersian. “What a catch. Is the other one single, or are you just hoarding hot guys for some reason?”

    “I’m not! He is!” cried Dave with a laugh.

    “He’s what?” asked John, frowning a bit. Oh boy, a joke he wasn’t in on? What was he the butt of now?

    “He’s saying you’re cute and that he’s not which is a dirty lie,” fibbed Roxy, shoving Dave’s face against her shoulder with a smirk to muffle any of his potential complaints.

    “Oh. Well, you’re not wrong,” said John with a playful grin.

    Jake had fetched a bow and checked the tension for a moment, then gauged about how badly it would wind up hitting his unguarded wrist before selecting an arrow. He eyed up a far target and took aim quietly, drawing the string back to his ear in a well practiced gesture before loosing the arrow and letting it zing to the target. It smacked home just left of center, opposite of Roxy’s own off centered cluster to the right from overcorrecting. He seemed pleased enough with the shot however and grinned, nodding in satisfaction.

    “Not bad.”

    “Not bad? That’d still be a kill shot if you wanted it to be,” Roxy pointed out, finally letting go of Dave and letting him breathe after  pressing a dark lipped kiss to his clean cheek, evening out the sisterly affection display his face had turned into. “Rip into the right places at least, even if it wasn’t instant.”

    “Oh I know it could still be. I’d rather be on point however, for the times I don’t want a kill shot to happen,” Jake said simply, leaning on the bow slightly once he’d planted one end into the ground. “There’s much more merit in halting something than ending something when you don’t have to end it.”

    Roxy pursed her lips and nodded a bit. “I suppose so. Wise words. ...Ah, actually, can we pick this back up later? I just noticed how late it’s getting and I kinda reek. I’d like to wash up before dinner. You are coming to dinner, right? All of you? Not gonna hide off in some corner of your room swapping secrets without me?”

    “I’m pretty sure Dirk would shit himself if I tried,” Dave said with an easy smile, standing up to dust himself off finally. “I’m looking forward to the food.”

    “Did you not get enough in Prospit? You do look pretty skinny..”

    “I used to not,” he admitted. “Before I wound up with John’s family. And I lost weight when I got hurt, too, but it’s comin’ back. They were making sure of that,” Dave added with a fond look towards John who gave him a look just as warm back.

    “Good. Be prepared to have your ears talked off, Dave, because there is SO much we need to catch you up on from home!”

    “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

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

    While dinner seemed to be a dressed down affair, John and Jake allowed at the family table near Dave’s side and everything else quite normal, it was obvious to the Dersites that the supper was special. It was no secret that everything on the table was a favorite of Dave’s from the appetizers all the way down to the drinks and desserts that would come their way after the main meal was done. Roxy and Rose had freshened up and were dressed casually save for each wearing a few special earrings and necklaces that meant a lot to them to celebrate. Dirk, at the head of the table, was similarly casually dressed but more restrained.

    In fact, he hardly seemed to be eating at all, Jake noticed. Whatever wound up on his plate was cut up many times, mashed a bit, pushed around, and then left. He occasionally wiped his mouth with a fine looking handkerchief, deep purple with silvery detailing like moonlight on the corners. The others were eating the bulk of the presented items, and with great gusto in the case of the traveling trio, each getting seconds of everything.

    “Dave, I’m starting to wonder if one of your legs is hollow. Where are you putting everything?” chuckled Jake, taking a bite of some kind of tart jam meant to be eaten with the salt cured fish and smoked meat.

    “Wouldn’t you like to know all my secrets? In fact, both of my legs are hollow when it comes to these things. Dessert is the only thing allowed in my true stomach. All three servings,” Dave said resolutely. He’d be full as a tick by the end of the meal but a fatter, happier tick wouldn’t exist in the land.

    “I don’t blame you, we haven’t had some of these things since you went missing,” Rose said. “..Aside from your birthday, at least. It seemed appropriate then.” At least now the food was a celebration again instead of being tinged with a bitter note of mourning.

    “It didn’t feel right to just let supper go as normal,” Dirk said. “It nearly did, but luckily we had some of the items in a state they were able to be prepared in time.”

    “Lucky us,” Dave hummed, cutting another bite to savor with a dreamy face. He’d since wiped off the lipstick marks, but looked no less aware of how much he was loved than earlier.

    “Lucky you indeed.. Do you plan to carry the luck with you later, when Prospit comes seeking their princes?” Dirk asked, abandoning his plate visibly for now in favor of sipping from his glass. “Or do you plan on using your luck to make the country suddenly okay with your wedding the enemy.”

    “Former enemy,” Jake said pleasantly. “We abdi-”

    “I wasn’t speaking to you.”

    “...Oh. Yes. Ahaha, my mis-”

    “You keep doing it. Be silent.”

    “...Yes, Sire,” Jake finally said awkwardly, looking down to his plate in a hurry as if his own father has chastised him. He glanced back up almost immediately though, studying Dirk closely. What was it about him that managed to get that reaction?  Was it the tone of voice? Was it the way he’d said it as if knowing he’d be obeyed from the beginning? They had to be near the same age if not the same age outright, even with the shorter stature ignored there were a lot of similarities between them when compared to their siblings.

    How was the gap between himself and this Dirk Strider so wide when it came to kingsmanship and how could he close it? Perhaps he’d be able to go ask later, after supper. Sneak a few questions in while wanting to speak sibling to sibling as the eldest of their families. Put in a few good words for John while he was at it, to keep smoothing the idea of the pair of them being together since they were so devoted.

    “I plan on speaking my case, in the wedding thing. If the facts aren’t enough.. I’ll do as I please, or I’ll leave to do as I please,” Dave said stubbornly, not looking up from the tabletop for a moment. When there was silence, he glanced to Dirk. “Wasn’t expecting me to say I’d leave so soon?”

    “You’re right, I didn’t think you’d guess the right answer that fast. Though, the other answer would be to keep the thing secret and let you do as you please while fending off offers for marriage from eligible bachelorettes and bachelors the land over.”

    “I’ve hidden enough for a lifetime. I’m done hiding things,” Dave said, thumping a fist on the tabletop. “I’m a prince of Derse and damn it I’m allowed to do one or two selfish or foolish things in my life at this point, I’ve more than earned it by doing my time in such circumstances.”

    He turned to John and smiled, but looked a bit sad.

    “Could you accept that, John? Having to leave again, if things got bad?”

    John was quiet for a moment before setting down his fork. He reached for both of Dave’s hands and squeezed them with a grin. “Of course I could. Home is wherever you are, now, and if you need to go then it would be time to move house.”

    “And your traveling companion,” Dirk said. “...Jake, was it? Would you be fine with that? Being abandoned in Derse after abdicating your crown for him?”

    Dave flinched as if just realizing what he’d done and leaned hurriedly around John to look at Jake.

    “I’m sorry, I hadn’t even considered th-”

    “Shhh, don’t worry Dave. If that happens I’d likely set off on my own as well! Explore and adventure like I planned to,” he said brightly, unbothered. “It would just mean Derse was more of a temporary stop than anticipated. The world is vast, and once I learn and understand more about what lurks in Derse I’d love to learn more about what lives elsewhere and how the people live there. Perhaps even far across the water!”

    Dirk stared at him, steel edged and unreadable, as if considering the merit of what he said versus what he might secretly mean. Hunting for some ulterior motive or alternate meaning to the happy sounding declaration that just wasn’t coming forward. A crease appeared between his brows suddenly and he frowned, but didn’t push the topic further. Instead he wiped his mouth discreetly with the dark purple handkerchief once more and leaned back in his seat.

    “Right. I think I’m going to retire for now, and continue this tomorrow when I’ve time,” Dirk finally said after a moment or two of quiet and confused stares his way from his family and guests. Leaving the handkerchief behind, Dirk stood and wished everyone a pleasant night, then turned on his heel and headed off out of the room.

    “Oh. Sire, wait, you forgot your-!” Jake said. Such a pretty thing and he seemed to use it quite often, odds are he’d miss it if he left it behind.

    Finally, he had an excuse to follow this man and get some conversation in if he’d have it. What had that frown been about, anyway? The angry look? Had he even been angry, or had he just been making that face for some other reason? He was practically unreadable and it was maddening.

    When Jake caught up to Dirk, having abandoned the table to jog after him, he had caught the king at the end of a hall having a coughing fit. Bereft of his handkerchief he was covering his mouth with his bare hand, shoulders heaving from the force of it. Jake slowed and offered the handkerchief over carefully, offering his best smile.

    “Sire? ...Dirk? Are you well? You left this behind and-. ...Oh. Oh, Gods, what..”

    Another hard hack and red trickled between Dirk’s fingers, his pale face taking on a gray tinge save for his eyes, burning with.. what. Hate? Anger? Something else? Jake looked closer at the handkerchief in his hand and finally noticed the small darker patches here and there on it, deep stains on the already dark fabric that barely stood out unless you were looking for them. Without even thinking, too used to assisting Dave at this point, Jake hurried forward and scooped the royal off his feet like a new bride, leaving him with his hands still clutched over his mouth to stem the blood that was escaping steadily between his fingers and down to his shirt.

    “Gesture which way to your chambers and I’ll get you there faster than two shakes of a lambs tail!” Jake promised, looking around before hurrying off in a probable direction, soon guided by movements of Dirk’s torso and legs in his arms to let him know left or right.

    This was going to be a bit more intense than just a talk about family matters, he felt. What a night.

[minstrivia]

Heyy i loooveee your writing❤️ was wondering if you could do a smut with Taehyung or Jungkook in where the reader has a date and they get jealous? You can add as much as you want and take away whatever you want haha

thank you so much, i really hope you like this. xx

in which he hates that she’s clueless…

Taehyung’s trying— and failing— to distract himself from the fact that Y/N’s sitting at the table on the other side of the restaurant on a date. A fucking date. It’s such a bold move for her to make, that it has him fuming, not that she knows any better. She’s always been so fucking oblivious to everything and anything, someone could confess their undying love for her and she’ll just laugh it off thinking they were joking.

And Taehyung lays it on pretty thick with her on a daily basis. He’s been shooting down all the other girls that make a pass at him. He hasn’t even fucked anyone in the last month apart from Y/N. That’s why it’s even worse, she let him fuck her and played it off like it was a one-time thing. It wasn’t. Not to him.

Taehyung knew Y/N was going to be here on this date, fuck she’d told him herself. She’d gone on about how her best friend had set up this date with this really nice boy and it only solidified the known fact that Taehyung hates Y/N’s friends. But he never thought she’d actually go through with it, especially since he’d basically told her not to.

So here he is not paying a slither of attention to the girl he’d brought here so he didn’t look like a fucking loner as he kept tabs on Y/N.

“I’m so happy you invited me here,” The girl says. Rosie? Roxie? Rhianna maybe? For the life of him, he can’t remember her name and he doesn’t want to. She’s not Y/N. The girl bites at her lip and flutters her eyelashes at him. “I thought you never knew who I was.”

He hums uninterestedly. Taehyung knows the prick Y/N’s sitting with, fucking Park Jimin, the too nice for his own good class pet, that he and his friends take digs at when they can. Taehyung scoffs. Jimin’s nothing like him, so much so that they’re polar opposites. Jimin’s a fluffy goody two shoes that probably hasn’t had sex yet and Taehyung’s just— not that. Is that the type Y/N goes for? Nice boys?

Y/N looks really good as well— scrap it, she looks amazing. She’s wearing a skintight black strapless dress that flatters her every curve and her hairs so nicely curled and arranged to the side exposing her neck. The neck that he really wants to mark up now. In fact, he wants to march up to them and fuck Y/N right on the table in front of Jimin so that he knows who she belongs to.

She’s his and he’s not going to let some soft boy take that away from him.

Y/N smiles at Jimin again. He’s nice, really nice and there’s literally nothing bad she can say about him. But for some reason that bores her. She keeps on comparing him to someone who definitely isn’t good and who she definitely shouldn’t be thinking about. Kim Taehyung. Jimin’s voice isn’t as deep as Taehyung’s, he’s not nearly as tall as Taehyung and he smiles, Taehyung smirks. Everything is Taehyung, Taehyung, Taehyung and not Jimin. She sighs.

“Y/N?”

Ever since she had sex with Taehyung, it’s been all she can think about. Every smell, touch, taste is all him and it pisses her off because Y/N knows him. She’s known him for longer than she’d like to remember and she knows that night— fun as it was— was nothing but a one-time thing. She’s okay with that though, that bit doesn’t bother her too much. The night has just never left her mind— that bit she’s not okay with.

Even now as she’s on a date with a very nice guy, she’d definitely normally go for, that wouldn’t break her heart. All she can think about is Taehyung.

“Y/N?”

“Sorry yes?” She finally answers another fake smile plastered on her face. “I just blanked for a second sorry.”

Jimin chuckles. “Yeah, I could tell. Are you alright though?”

Y/N feels really bad now. She’s been sat her thinking about another man and his dick and Jimin’s looking at her every bit concerned, brows furrowed and eyes wide in question. Fuck, why can’t Y/N just like him? He’d take care of her so well if she did.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I just—” She stands to her feet abruptly. She needs a minute or two, maybe five. “I need to use the bathroom.”

Taehyung watches closely as Y/N walks away from her date and goes in the direction of the bathroom. He also sees how Jimin’s eyes follow her like a lost puppy. God, he’s desperate.

But, Taehyung sympathises with him— a bit, Y/N’s beautiful, drop-dead gorgeous type of beautiful and she doesn’t even know it. She’s always been the pretty one with the biggest of hearts and the tendency to push other people into the limelight while she stayed in the background. He never understands why she does it, to him she could easily outshine everyone if she wanted to.

He flits his eyes between Jimin and the hallway Y/N had just disappeared into. Taehyung can’t take watching the boy pine after a girl that’s his anymore and he knows if there’s any better time to talk to her. It’s now. Even though he doesn’t think he’s going to do much talking.

The girl he’s sitting with though is doing a hell of a lot of talking and it’s beginning to piss him off. “So how come you invited—”

“Excuse me for a second,” He interrupts not waiting around for an answer before he’s already in a half jog towards where he’d seen Y/N go. He’s going to show her exactly how she’s his and only his.

Y/N sighs gripping onto the counter as she looks herself in the mirror. God, what’s wrong with her? There’s a good-looking boy out there who actually seems to like her and she’s getting this stressed over a boy who’s probably doing things she doesn’t even want to think about, with some random girl, not even giving Y/N a second thought. But here she is giving him too many.

“So…you enjoying your date?”

Y/N stills. She knows that voice. But it can’t be him. What would he be doing here? Her ears perk up and she tries to steady her heartbeat as she hears the steady slow steps his feet make on the marble floor. And as soon as she can see him directly behind her in the mirror she quickly shuts her eyes closed. He’s not here. He’s not here. He can’t be here.

Taehyung smirks, his hands have been itching to touch Y/N’s body from the first time he saw her in this dress, so when he lays his large hands on her trailing them across her figure, he wants to leave no place untouched.

“It looks like you are,” He says ghosting his lips over her neck where he’ll soon place his marks for everyone to see.

Y/N worries at her lips. He’s so close to her and she’s wanted him like this for too long but Jimin’s waiting for her outside. “What— What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you.”

“You know what I’m doing.” God, she should really push him away. But, she really doesn’t want to. “I’m on a date.”

“Yes, but why?” Taehyung forcibly tugs down the top of her dress in one swift motion, causing her breasts to spill over for him. God, she’s so fucking hot. “It’s a bit cruel to let someone else think they can have what’s mine. Don’t you think?”

Y/N grips at the counter tighter, fluttering her eyes open to meet his in the mirror. His eyes are clouded stormy and dark as he stares at her and it has wetness pooling in her panties. He grasps both her breasts in his hands, kneading them in his palms and tweaking at her erect nipples. Y/N can’t at all understand what he’s saying but she does know they shouldn’t be doing this here.

“Tae— I have a date. I can't—”

Taehyung shoves her down against the counter so that her face is pressed up against it and her ass is up in the air for him. “What’s that baby?”

Y/N huffs. “I’m being serious. I have a date, a nice date to get to.”

Taehyung chuckles darkly at her words. She really thinks he’s going to let her just go and have a date with that ’boy’ when he’s right here ready to fuck her. There’s no fucking chance.

“No, you see I’m being serious and this is what’s going to happen—” He hikes up her dress so that it’s all bunched up at her waist and she’s all exposed to him. “I’m going to fuck you in this bathroom, and after, you’re going to walk out of here all fucked out and ruined with my cum dripping out of you to tell Jimin over there who you belong to. You think you can do that?”

By the end of Taehyung’s mini-speech, Y/N’s already breathless and way too gone to deny him what he wants. But she’s so awestruck that she can’t even begin to formulate an answer. Instead, she’s left with unintelligent hums.

Taehyung rolls her hair around his hand, jerking it so hard her head faces the ceilings and he leans towards her, lips brushing over her ears as he speaks. “You’re gonna have to say something baby. Or else I won’t fuck you.”

He’s point-blank lying, he will. He just wants to hear it from her first, he wants to hear her beg for his cock.

“Please Tae—” Y/N’s beyond the point of caring about anyone else outside of the doors. All she cares about is Taehyung— and Taehyung inside her. “Just fuck me… please.”

“Why me?” He mocks unbuckling and dragging his pants down with one hand. “Why not Jimin?”

“Because—” Y/N whines. The position he has her in is far from comfortable and she needs him to hurry up in fear that someone might walk in and catch them in such a compromising scene.

But Taehyung’s not at all finished with his teasing. “Because of what?”

In all honesty the answers pretty simple when she thinks about it. “—because no-one can fuck me like you.”

“Oh…really?”

She nods. “Uh huh, I keep thinking about the last time your thick cock fucked me at that party.”

“Mmh I keep on thinking about that night too—” Taehyung groans as he pulls her panties to the side to line himself up with her entrance. Fuck, she’s so wet for him, her arousals already dripping all over his tip. “I keep thinking about how I fucked you so hard that night, then you went on to pretend like I didn’t and still don’t own your pussy. That wasn’t really nice of you was it?”

She shakes her head. “No— it wasn’t.”

“And you won’t do that again, will you? You’ll be a good girl for me now?”

“Yea— Fuck—” Y/N can’t help the loud whiny moan that leaves her lips as he sinks his cock inside her unexpectedly, burying himself to the hilt and not giving her any time to adjust to his girth. “I’m go— I’m gonna be your good girl now.”

“Well done baby,” He says. He hovers over her bent body as he sucks the skin of her neck into his mouth. Jimin’s not even going to try and look her way when Taehyung’s done with her. “I should treat you now, shouldn’t I? Fuck you real good?”

“Yes please.”

“Since you’re begging so nicely, I will.” Taehyung tightens his grasp on her hair to expose her neck more for him as he thrusts into her. Rough deep strokes, pounding into her slick hot pussy that have her unable to control her whimpers and moans.

“God Tae—”

Fuck, Y/N’s being so fucking loud and as much as he loves it, he knows she’d prefer it if the whole restaurant didn’t know what they were doing. He clamps a hand over her mouth, her hot breath blowing against his palms as he mutes her sounds out.

“Fuck baby, you like the way I fuck you, don’t you?”

Y/N nods frantically. Her senses are overwhelmed with the feeling of Taehyung. The roots of her hairs burn at the way he’s tugging it, she can feel the sharp barely there pinch of his teeth against her skin and most importantly the way he’s pounding her from the back, stuffing her so full of his cock.

“Baby, your cunt is so fucking beautiful.” There’s sweat running down his face and blood roaring in his ears as he fucks her. She’s so gorgeous like this, screaming his name into his palm. “God, look at yourself Y/N, look at the way you’re taking my cock like a whore.”

Taehyung angles her head so she can see herself clearly in the mirror and she thinks she might just combust. The sight is far too erotic for her and the intensity of it all, fucking him when she’s meant to be on a date, is too much to handle. Tears spring out from her eyes as he slams into her g-spot, prodding at the sensitive spot in quick succession.

“Fuck baby, you promise to keep quiet so I can hear you?” He asks and she’s already agreeing with him without missing a single beat. He releases his hand from her mouth and moves it to splay across her lower back holding her in place.

“Tae— Tae I—” Y/N stops herself. She’s so sucked and intoxicated on his cock that she’s almost forgotten herself. She can’t go around telling him she loves him. Even though she definitely does.

“What baby?”

“I just—” She sucks in a harsh breath as a particularly hard thrust has her lurching forward. “I really really love your cock.”

If his ego wasn’t big enough before, it’s enormous now. “You gonna tell that to Jimin for me? How much you love my cock.”

“Yeah, I will.” She meets his smouldering gaze in the mirror. “I’ll tell him that we have to finish the date early because I want to be a good slut for you and put my mouth around your cock.”

Taehyung groans, head nuzzled in her neck. “Christ baby you’re so fucking nasty. Just for me yeah?”

“Uh huh— Fuck Tae, just for you.”

Taehyung kisses her sweetly on the jaw one more time before straightening up so he’s properly upright. He releases his grasp on her hair so both of his hands can be clasped around her waist as he pulls her down to meet his thrusts. Her ass is sweltering with the grating smacks against his hips and it looks absolutely amazing to him.

Y/N’s struggling to get a proper grip on anything as she slides uselessly against the marble counter. “Tae— I need to— I’m gonna—”

“Go on baby, I’m right behind you.”

Y/N’s sputtering incoherent words as her knees buckle under her and everything cuts to white noise, she can’t hear anything but the thrum of her heart beating against her chest as she comes down. She can feel him pulsing inside of her, his rhythm lost and muscles jerking to a still as he reaches his own climax.

Taehyung’s mind is hazy whilst she clenches around him, slithery walls choking around his cock and his hot seed sprays her insides white as he pumps her full of his cum.

“God Y/N you’re so good to me.” His hands massage up her sides and he sets feathery kisses all over her back, pulling out of her slowly.

“Come on baby—” Taehyung’s way too smug about how limp she is in his arms as he dresses her properly again. “You think you’ll be okay if I let you stand on your own.”

Y/N lets out a shaky breath. “No…I think I need a minute.”

Taehyung smirks. “How about you stay here leant up against this counter and I go tell Jimin the date is over—” He rakes his hand through her hair, her face is flushed and glossy and she exudes the smell of sex. “—then I’ll carry you to my car and we’ll go to my place.”

Y/N knows Taehyung’s not going to be the nicest of people as he talks to Jimin. But she also knows she looks every bit fucked out right now and she’d rather not see him like this.

She smiles. “That’s perfect.”

[missing-fanfics]

A Strange Request at a Piano Bar

Include the following in your story:

⟡carnival ⟡sprained ⟡mask ⟡oxidation ⟡awkward ⟡apple ⟡juvenile ⟡controversy ⟡twirl ⟡sassafras

A/N: ello Sarah here. I know they’re kinda out of character I’ve never write Jamie or Charlotte before so I apologise. This does not follow any plot in any of the books. You can read this and even if you only read half of the first book. This whole ‘case’ that they’re working on isn’t real. I was just stringing a case together based on the ten words seen above.

Word count: 2.2k

Warnings: swearing and reader being a cheeky bastard.

Jamie Watson x fem!reader x Charlotte Holmes

Platonic pairings only, sorrrrry.

~~~~

I realized two very prominent things as we slipped into the loud building, that Holmes’ Forever Ever Cotton Candy perfume was nauseating in close quarters and Y/N was wearing clothes three sizes too small. With Holmes’ ‘Hailey’ get up and Y/N’s outfit combined, we passed as obnoxious teenagers.

The bar itself was rather dark. From what I could tell a teenage girls party was taking place. Y/N found this out hours ago and made me ruffle my hair and force me to sag my pants. I fit in with the crowds of carefree teenagers just as well as she did in her awkward tube top.

“Come on Jamie, lets flirt with some strangers for information. She won’t be jealous.” I narrowed my eyes at her. “Don’t act so shy it’s not like Charlotte’s paying attention” she said giving me a sly smile. I grit my teeth and glared at her. Holmes payed attention to everything and Y/N knew that. With a wink she twirled away, already blending in with the other girls in the bar.

I groaned inwardly and pinched the bridge of my nose. Holmes was a handful by herself, adding Y/N into the mix was just tourture. I know we needed her though. She was subtle and could move through a crowd like it was water. Also her hacking skills had saved our asses on numerous occasions. Holmes was the brains, Y/N was the eyes, and I guess that makes me the braun. Fantastic.

“Hi!” Someone exclaimed grabbing onto my arm. I raised an eyebrow and turned to face a tall redhead. She was grinning from ear to ear and I groaned inwardly again. Damnit.

“Hey, I’m Jack” I said remembering my aliases. I wasn’t Jamie Watson, the idiot trailing after two genius women, I was Jack Markens a socially conscious and cool young man.

“I’ve never seen you before Jack” the apple haired girl said drawling out the name as if it should affect me. I played into her flirting and forced myself into looking her up and down with a stupid smirk on my face.

“I’m just visiting some friends.” I said flattening my English accent even more. I didn’t want to take any chances in fucking up my already paper thin aliases.

“I hope nothing serious?” She said twirling her red hair around her finger. I wasn’t going to stand here as she clung to my arm and say I didn’t think she was attractive. That being said she was the kind of girl old Jamie would’ve trailed after. The kind of girl I would’ve done stupid shit for. Nowadays I only do stupid shit for two very specific girls.

I looked around in a way I hoped was casual, “I’m never looking for anything serious.” Her eyes widened in delight as she pressed herself closer to me. God I hated myself.

“Well in that case Jack, let me show you around. I’m Roxie.” She said in a sultry voice. I smiled in amusement at her name.

She tugged at my arm and dragged me to a rowdy table full of teenagers dressed and acting like idiots. Roxie squealed and ran over and hugged a blond boy, I cleared my throat awkwardly.

With a loud ear splitting ring of interference, the piano bar hushed as everyone stared at the stage. A younger man smiled sheepishly as he moved his microphone around trying to fix the problem, a clipboard clutched in his hands.

“Well sorry about that folks! Now that I’ve got your attention, I'd like to make some announcements. Today is two very special ladies 18th birthdays: Georgia!” The crowd cheered looking to a girl in a big dress and a tiara. Roxie screamed loud enough to irritate my ears, at I assume her friend.

He waited until everyone settled down and looked at his clipboard. “And Hailey!”

We were in the bar for maybe twenty minutes and in the time Holmes had managed to become quite popular with the other parties juvenile acting friends. They shouted just as loud for her and I looked around trying to find Holmes and Y/N.

“We’re going to be doing something a little different tonight. Please welcome one of our birthday girls and her best friend onto the stage!” The man yelled again and the crowd yelled back again. I furrowed my eyebrows as Roxie grinned at the blond boy and dragged him over to a group of girls. I took that as my que to leave and I shuffled back slightly trying desperately to get away from all the screaming girls.

Holmes and Y/N scrambled into the stage, with an eccentric bow Y/N shimmied to the piano bench and sat down. Holmes embraced her ‘Hailey’ persona and grinned at everyone. She accepted the violin the man handed her with a blush and a giggle. These two were going to be the death of me.

“Sorry for the strange request, my name is Y/N and this is my best friend Hailey. Hope you enjoy us!” Y/N said into her microphone with a wink in my direction. The crowd exploded at the two pretty women on stage. With a nod at one another they started to play a duet. I couldn’t help but wonder when on earth they managed to practice songs together, just the idea of them alone in the music room made me uneasy.

As they played the bar transformed into a carnival. The throbbing lights spun like a merry go round and the once unwelcoming sent of sassafras seemed to melt into a sweet aroma. Holmes looked right at home on stage and I stopped for a moment to watch her. Y/N made eye contact with me again and raised an eyebrow in warning.

I cleared my throat and remembered our carefully crafted plan:

1. Mingle

2. Y/N and Holmes will play

3. In our different vantage points we’ll look for any meaning behind the mask logo of the bar that was spray painted in my room with braille engraving underneath it

4. Maybe have a few drinks

That last one was added by Y/N with a grin. She kept trying to get us all drunk, much to my misfortune and Holmes’ annoyment.

My mind wandered to when I stumbled into my dorm room to find the threatening mask logo spray painted in a cherry red colour. Someone had hacked away, “we’re all mad here” in braille on a chunk of wood under my desk near it.

Y/N figured out the mask was the exact same as the logo for this piano bar and here were were. Trying to find a connection to the Alice in Wonderland quote as well as the break-ins throughout our terrible school.

With everyone busy staring at my only two friends, I slipped to the back of the room. It was quieter back here and the beautiful lights and music didn’t follow me. Taking out my phone I scanned the crowded wall trying to find anything that resembled braille or red spray paint. Hell even a Cheshire Cat would make all this mean something. The wall of stickers was mainly bullshit companies and photos of past patrons. I sighed deeply, but continued to search the wall.

I followed it into a back room. The lights were off and I crouched down just in case anyone was to burst in. I figured through the filing cabinets looking for anything that related to Alice in Wonderland.

Who knew that a theif was such a damn Disney fan? I sighed and sat against the wall as I searched through the files.

Holmes and Y/N burst in both after a few silent moments. Both a little sweaty with matching grins on their faces. They rushed over to me and I stood up quickly to meet them.

“We found out absolutely nothing, but had a good time and that’s all that matters.” Y/N said doubling over as she gasped for breath. Holmes’ glittery outfit shimmered from the lone windows light and her grin melted off her face.

Charlotte Holmes in all her impassive face, was back.

“Did you find anything?” Holmes asked me as she tugged on the bottom of her mini skirt. I blinked at her, momentarily distracted.

“Uh no.” I said crossing my arms. Holmes sighed and started to look around the room. Y/N caught her breath and stood back up smiling smaller now.

“Should’ve seen us Jamie—” Y/N was cut off by footsteps and voices echoing from the hallway.

“Hey who turned on the lights in the back room?” It said and the footsteps started becoming louder. I looked at Holmes in alarm and she looked back momentarily frozen.

Y/N looked around frantically and decided jumping out the damn window was the best option. With little time to waste she yanked it open and dived into the alleyway. I winced as I heard a small yelp from her.

Holmes and I looked at one another as we scrambled to follow her and with only seconds to spare we both leaped out the window as well.

I crashed to the pavement and groaned as I landed flat on my back. Holmes has rolled as soon as she hit the ground and stood gracefully afterwards.

“Took you guys long enough.” Y/N smirked resting against the wall in the grimy alleyway. I sat up and shoved her and she responded with a delighted laugh. She cradled her wrist and Holmes looked down at it.

“You most definitely sprained that.” She said making Y/N shrug. I shook my head and moved to sit across from them against the opposite wall.

“Gotta admit it looked cool though.” Y/N said with a grin. Holmes and I shook our heads at her eccentricity.

Holmes crouched on the pavement with a small magnifying glass in her hands. Y/N leaned against the brick looking casually down at her phone. I knew better than to assume she was scrolling through Instagram. With a few almost bored taps, she disabled the security cameras facing the alleyway.

“Watson what do you make of this?” Holmes asked her voice completely calm for someone who just vallied out a window. I sighed and looked to where she was pointing. The loading dock at the back of the piano bar was clipped shut. Pink hazy graffiti covered it in what I can only assume was a flamingo. A thin line of red paint was hastily painted over an awful path of rust.

“Someone tried to fix their rusting problem and then made a flamingo?” I said completely not trying to be helpful. Y/N smirked down at her phone and before cocking her head at the wall.

“Ohh, I thought it was a weird melted bright pink gun.” She said crossing her arms. She grinned while looking back at me. “This is why you’re the right hand man.”

Holmes looked between us with a deadpan expression. She cleared her throat and turned back to the wall.

“The oxidation down here was covered by the red paint. This red paint is the same pigment and, I suspect, the same used in Watson’s dorm.” Holmes said standing quickly and started rummaging through her Hailey bag. Y/N crossed her arms.

“So? It’s covering a line of rust not a secret door.” She said looking at me with her eyebrows furrowed. I shrugged my shoulders and looked at Holmes to elaborate. She stopped searching through her bag and with a wince pulled out a pocket knife.

“Let’s look at what’s underneath.” Tossing the bag to the ground, she pulled the knife open and started scratching at the paint carefully. After a few silent minutes she brushed away the paint dust to reveal a decent sized hole in the wall.

She blew more paint away to reveal braille above the opening.

Y/N laughed as she knelt down to look at it. With careful fingers she ran her hand over the metal braille on the top of it. The braille very closely resembled the one carved into the underside of my desk.

I looked closer and ran my fingers over it too. Holmes sighed and took out her phone to take pictures of it.

“I wonder.” Holmes mumbled to herself and started to reach into the hole in the wall. I couldn’t help but grimace as I thought of all the disgusting things that could be in it.

Holmes’ posture stiffened as she pulled out a gun wrapped in a plastic bag. The three of us stared at it in shock.

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say there's some kind of controversy going on.” Y/N laughed out before wincing and cradling her wrist again.

[ronyxfic]

Educating the Victim - Act VI, Chapter XXIII

Pairing: -

Rating: Mature

Warnings/Tags: mild violence

Chapter 23: Hunt

  Roxy looked different, and yet the same; her hair had greyed, but it was still dyed pink at the front. She was still beautiful, but her eyes were colder than Rose ever remembered them being before.

A few endless moments passed. The faucet was still running. Rose was frozen in shock, finding herself unable to move or speak.

 She only spoke one word, grave and shocked. Roxy had at times been dramatic, frantic, panicked. But this seemed more genuine than ever before.

One word.  "...You."

Her voice was more throaty than before, lungs ashed by smoke.

It was as if she were speaking to an apparition.

   It was enough to shake Rose out of her shocked state. She fought for her composure.

"I bet you never thought you'd see me again," she said, her voice quivering, betraying her shock.

 "Are you here alone?" It was as if Roxy saw entirely through her. Her face fixed on the ground for a second, brow furrowing. Calculating.

 Rose's eyes widened.

She was between Roxy and the exit, she realised. She had her, in almost an ideal position.

And no backup.

"Yeah," she lied. "I'm... uh. We have some unfinished business."

It came out kind of squeaky, and didn't sound nearly as intimidating as Rose had hoped it would. She was trembling, hoping Roxy wouldn't notice.

 It was immediate.

Roxy charged into her, with enough force to push her over. Her eyes scrunched closed.

 Rose tensed up, but in an odd moment of fast thinking, wrapped her arms around Roxy and held her close.

"I'm not letting you get away," she whispered, "not this time. Not again."

 Roxy gave a scream and dug her foot directly into Rose's shin.  "Get off me, you fucking cow!"

 Rose yelped in pain and let go of Roxy. "No, stop - don't -"

She needed to get to Marigold, who was probably still stuck at the slots. Fuck.

 Roxy sprinted out, fast, eyes wide with fear. Rose would be behind her soon, and she knew it.

Meanwhile, Marigold was staring at a pile of coins slotting out of the machine. She saw Rose coming, and turned, grinning. "First time I've won a slot machine in years! Look at that!"

 Rose reached Marigold. "She's here," she said, not bothering to keep quiet. "Come on, come on!"

She saw Roxy, running from the bathroom, and without thinking launched herself at her. "We need to corner her!"

"But!! My slots!!" Marigold frantically started shoving money into her pockets. "We don't even have our gear! Rose!" She saw Rose running away. "ROSE! We aren't ready to confront her!"

 "Who cares about your slots! She's here now, we don't have time! Come on!" Rose found herself out of breath. Bystanders were already starting to freak out, which was unsurprising given Roxy's reputation.

Cut her off by the exit.

  Suddenly, a shrill bell began to ring, loud and impossible to ignore. The room began to rain water, harsh.

Someone had pulled the fire alarm.

People immediately began to panic more and to rush towards the exit. The room suddenly turned into a crowd, loud and busy. Roxy seemed to have disappeared into it.

 "Shit!"

Rose stopped, caught her breath. It was impossible to spot Roxy in the commotion. "Marigold, where are you?"

 A hand gripped hers, Marigold looked soaked, hair dripping wet. "I'm here. Come on, let's not get lost. I think I saw her going upstairs. The fire alarm is a diversion."

 "Let's go upstairs, then." Rose held on to Marigold's hand. "We can't let her get away. This might be our only chance. Fuck, we're not ready."

 "Well, we're just going to have to try hard to get her while we have the chance. Or Azure is going to kill us." Marigold scaled up the stairs in a stride she was sure Azure herself would be proud of.

 Rose followed. "That is, if Roxy doesn't kill us first."

 Marigold heaved as she made it to the top. "Looks like it's private rooms and booths up here. I don't take it that you saw which one she went into?"

 "No, you were the one who saw her going up here in the first place," Rose said, keeping her voice down. "Where do we start?"

 "With the fire alarms on, everyone's leaving the building. We're just going to have to storm the place and check each one."

 "Oh boy." Rose took a deep breath. "Let's stick together. We can't get separated."

 The upper floor was already more sparse than the chaos on the bottom floor. Marigold let go of Rose's hand. "You're right, but we'd cover more ground if we seperated. God knows where Roxy is now. We need to be quick."

 "No! How will we know if something happens? We don't have Azure's equipment. We can't get separated." Rose crept up to the first door. It creaked as she opened it, but the room was empty. "Clear," she whispered.

 Marigold nodded. "Alright." They moved to the next door. She pressed herself close. No noise.

 As the door opened, the half-lit room revealed two people hastily getting dressed as the fire alarm blared above them. Neither of them were Roxy. "Clear," Rose said as the two strangers hurried past them towards the exit.

 Marigold suppressed a laugh. "It's like a bloody shooter drill at school."

 "Isn't it just." Rose moved on to the next door, which turned out to be empty as well. "Fuck, is there an exit up here? What if she's not here anymore?"

 Marigold frowned. "There's just two more on this side, which is where I saw her go off to. We'll give up and get out if she's not here."

 "Okay. Wait, I hear something." Voices coming from the other side of the door they were approaching.

 And just as they came closer, the door burst open. Girls were talking loudly in Italian, and didn't seem at all surprised to see them as they quickly rushed past them.

 "You think she's- Oh! Roxy! Hello!" Marigold looked like a deer in headlights. "You look well!"

 "...Marigold? What on earth? Never mind." Roxy was standing at the back of the room, face determined and gun in her hands pointed at her own skull. "If you don't leave me alone, I'm afraid you're going to have to go empty handed. It's me you want, isn't it?"

 Rose's eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't. You love yourself too much to actually go through with this."

 Roxy gave a cruel laugh. "Sweetie. You know I hate myself." She lowered the gun and snapped her fingers, "But you're right. I'm not quite suicidal, not just yet. Girls!"

 Two larger women stepped out from behind Marigold and Rose and grabbed them. Roxy dashed past, nodding to them before sprinting to the staircase.

   Rose managed to wrestle herself out of the woman's grasp. "Marigold!" she called. "Are you okay?"

 The woman who'd been holding Rose legged it, but Marigold was still trapped. She gave a harsh grunt before glancing up at her captor. "Wait... I'm sure I've seen you before."

"Shut the fuck up before I snap your neck."

 Rose panicked. "Let go of her!" she hissed before attacking the woman, trying her hardest to pry Marigold from her.

 Two seemed like a match that was too great. The woman ended up falling to the ground with a yelp, taking Marigold with her, but releasing her from her grasp.

Marigold bounced back onto her feet, backed into Rose. "Oh! Thank you for helping me. We need to catch up with Roxy."

 "Yeah, no time to waste. C'mon." Rose went ahead down the stairs and saw Roxy making her way through the casino.

"Roxy! Stop!"

 Most of the casino had emptied at this point, the water making the floor slippery. Marigold nearly fell over as she made it to the foot of the stairs. "Roxanne! We're not here to hurt you! Come on! We just want you to be safe!"

This prompted Roxy to turn, face puzzled, before stopping for a second. "It's no use, Mari! I don't want to go back! You should turn around before you get hurt. This isn't your world."

 Rose didn't stop even though the slippery floor caused her to crash into several tables.

"We got some unfinished business," she said, "and we're not letting you get away."

 Roxy waved the gun at her. "Don't make me hurt you again, Rose. Leave me and this place alone. Go home, you don't belong here."

 "Yeah I'm going home, and you're coming with me," Rose said. She didn't dare come closer, eyes nervously on the gun. "Careful with that, love, you could injure someone."

 Roxy jumped over a table, picking up a fat stack of chips next to a roulette wheel and throwing them at Rose's face, one by one. "Why can't you people just learn to move the fuck on? What is this even about? Azure's nosy little detective? How did you people even find me?"

 "You should've covered your tracks better," Rose said. Now that Roxy wasn't waving the gun around anymore, she felt bolder. She dodged the chips as she got closer to Roxy, aiming to back her into a corner.

 Roxy gritted her teeth and climbed off the table, still throwing the poker chips at Rose. "You need to back off! I don't want to shoot either of you. Go home!"

 "We came all this way, we're not just going to leave," Rose said.  "We-"

Just then, she failed to miss one of Roxy's poker chips, which hit her square in the face.

   Roxy took this distraction as an opportunity to run off, sprinting as fast as she could to get to the casino entrance.

She ground to a still as Marigold appeared in front of her, standing in front of the water feature with the glass. She groaned in frustration, her exit was a few feet away "Should've known to try to not outrun a nig-"

"Save it." Marigold hissed, stepping closer. "I know you're not interested in hurting me now. You're too much of a baby."

"Doesn't mean I won't defend myself."

"What are you even doing? Running off to some lawless place? Pretending like we never existed? You're a bloody teacher, Roxy. You don't need to do any of this. You have a life back home. Azure misses you. I miss you. None of us want you hurt."

"Then why did you bring Rose? How did you even find her?" Roxy took a step back, realising she was being cornered.

 “She hired me,” Rose said sharply. “You made the recommendation, remember? The last good thing you did for me.”

We’ve got her.

 Roxy felt her back hit the wall, her eyes desperately looking to the exit behind the mass of water and glass in front of her. She swallowed.

Marigold caught that desperate look. "It doesn't need to be nasty, Roxy. We don't have to be horrible to each other."

Roxy dug into her pocket and pulled out her gun. "This is your last warning."

 Outside, sirens could be heard.

“The cops are here,” Rose said. “You’ve already lost, Roxy. Why don’t you put down the gun?”

 Roxy growled, and shot.

Marigold immidiately ducked down, eyes wide at the noise. But it wasn't the gun that made a crash. She suddenly felt wet and cold and in pain, her body aching as something forced her to the floor. She scrunched her eyes tight, everything stinging and loud. The floor rumbled, blood pounded in her ears. She wondered if she'd been shot.

She realised what had happened when she opened her eyes again. Her hand was covered in small cuts, her midsection felt oddly vacant in places. Roxy had shot the glass panel behind them, and it had shattered and fallen directly atop the two.

Her mind spun. She saw Rose next to her and tilted her head to see Roxy jogging out of the casino.

   Rose heard the shot, and her ears immediately rung. She felt a sharp pain and fell to her knees.

This is it. I’m dying here and now. I’m so sorry, Greg... Pearl...

The world went black around her.

 Marigold watched Rose close her eyes. Had the bullet gone through her? Was she dead? Marigold wanted to crawl over but found her eyes bulging at the shards of glass scattered over the floor, and then at her own hand, recognising a gush of blood streaming from somewhere. She began to hyperventilate. Aurora. Aurora wouldn't know how she'd died. Aurora, lost and alone. Aurora, abandoned by her again.

She found her eyes closing. People. Officers, yelling in loud Italian were coming closer, beckoned by the gunshot.

Then, she slipped into darkness, too.

[captainmarvels]

safe haven

Summary: Eggsy’s safe haven is in the last place he would’ve thought to look.

Pairing: Eggsy Unwin x Reader

Warnings: Language, angst

Word Count: 1.7k

A/N: This is somewhat rushed, but I just had to get this out, especially after seeing K:TGC. Hopefully you all enjoy this! | masterlist

Love is a vast universe. One so complex and deep, there exists not a single expert of the entity.

How it came to be. If it will survive for all eternity.

Love is a cosmos; one where happiness and serenity exist, right alongside sadness and fear.

Love is not perfect. If it were, people would not fear it. Humanity would run into its open arms, embracing it in their hearts; their souls.

Love is a backstabber. It lies, convincing you that happiness and peace can exist untainted by the terrors of doubt and pain. It tricks you into thinking you will never again know darkness in your heart.

You take love’s word for it; a promise of eternal bliss, in exchange for your heart. Your vulnerability.

When you least expect it, love will take a knife to your heart, a sly cut barely grazing the surface. You won’t know what’s happened, since the pain is minimal. But that’s what love wants. A slow, agonizing pain that grows with every drop of love that escapes your enamoured heart.

Love is pain that not many experience. It’s pain that many wish to never bear witness to. Why?

Love raises you high above the clouds, leaving you to soar in a world of unknown. When you fall, will love be there to catch you?

When you fall in love, it escapes you. It’s fleeting; never within your grasp. For you, love is Eggsy; not always quite there.

You didn’t want to have this argument. Eggsy certainly didn’t. But it had to happen. For better or for worse.

“How long do you think you’ll be?” You ask, your voice quiet as you dry your hands off with a nearby towel.

“Three weeks, tops. I’m sorry, love. You know I wouldn’t do this if there was any other way.” Eggsy’s voice is anything but reassuring as you grip the countertop, the edge digging into the palms of your hands.

“I know you hate it when I leave. But I swear, I’ll make it up to you when I come back. Just wait ‘til I come home, love.”

“You’re already home, Eggsy. Just stay.” You refuse to turn, even when his arms find their way around your waist, gently pulling you against his chest.

His aftershave engulfs your senses, overwhelming every nerve in your body. He was your home, but you weren’t too sure you were his.

“You know I want to, babe. Don’t do this to me.” His voice is soft in your ear, his lips softly brushing against your skin.

“Don’t do what, Eggsy? Ask you to show some commitment to me?” You don’t know where the words came from, but the truth rang out in the silence, clear as day. He’s pulled away from you now, his back leaning against the kitchen island as you stay put, facing the sink.

“I love you, Y/N. Is that not enough commitment to you? We’re together.”

“Yeah. Dating for three years. Just fucking great, Eggsy.” You head out of the kitchen, rushing to your shared bedroom. Eggsy’s quick to follow, his foot stopping the door from shutting in his face.

“What more do you need, Y/N? Is this not enough for you?” He scoffs, rolling his eyes as he makes his way into the room. His words seem to just roll of his tongue without a care in the world. Unfortunately for you, they’ve hit your heart like a thousand bullets.

“Get the fuck out, Unwin. Spend the night at the tailors, for fucks sake.” You say, throwing his suit jacket at him as you storm off into the bathroom. You manage to beat him, locking the door just as he reaches for the doorknob.

You hear a dull thud against the wall, and you know he’s slammed his fist. One hell of a way to send him off.

You slide down against the wall, silent tears rolling down your cheeks. Your chest is tightening with every breath you take, but you don’t know what to do. When did love ever feel like this?

Eggsy’s clearly got something on his mind. It’s the thought of you, in his arms, a smile flashing up at him as he presses his forehead against yours, his lips brushing against your own.

It’s the image of you, cuddling with JB on your shared bed, Eggsy’s pillow in your grasp.

His heart feels like it’s aflame; every thought of you igniting another spark, the fire growing ever more fervent in his chest.

He can’t close his eyes, because your eyes, your smile, your everything is all he can see in front of him. When did he get himself so lost in you?

“You alright, Eggsy?” Harry’s voice sounds from behind the bar, the air of concern sitting around his words. Eggsy sighs, the weight on his chest growing heavier with every passing thought of you.

“I think I’ve gone and fucked it all up, Harry. Big time.” He leans against the bar, resting his head against the cool wood. He feels a hand on his shoulder, and reluctantly looks up to meet Harry’s gaze.

“Humble heart, humble mind. That’s not who you are, Eggsy. That’s who she is.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes as you die?” Eggsy nods, his head tilting in confusion.

“I’ve never had anyone. I’ve never experienced companionship; never been in love. When I die, all I’ll see is nothing.” Harry finishes the martinis he was making, placing one in front of Eggsy. He glances between the drink and his mentor, more confused than ever.

“When you die, who do you think will be the first to flash before your eyes?”

“Be mine.” Eggsy’s got cuts littering his chest, his knuckles bruised and bloodier than ever. You’re sitting on his lap, massive strips of gauze in your hand. His words are echoing in your ears, and all he can do is bite back his tongue as he searches your eyes for something. Anything.

“You mean it, Eggy?” He smiles, the nickname warming his heart. He nods, his eyes never looking away from yours.

“Be mine. And only mine. Please.” Your hands find themselves in his hair, your forehead pressed against his. Your eyes dart between his lips and his gaze, and he can’t help the laugh that escapes him as he darts his tongue out at your lips. You giggle, smiling as he finally kisses you.

At long last.

“The look in your eyes answers that question, Eggsy. You know what you have to do.”

The mission wrapped sooner than planned, but Eggsy decided it was better you didn’t know. He got a new suit fitted, while Merlin went and picked up your favorite flowers. Roxy made sure Eggsy wouldn’t fuck up his speech - “If you say that, I hope she kicks you in the dick, you idiot.” - all while you sat at home, JB curled up on your chest.

You hadn’t been able to sleep much since Eggsy left, but you never did when he was gone.

You spent most of your time sifting through memories - old photos from when you first met, to last year’s Christmas card, starring the only dog who would let you dress him up.

Eggsy was the best thing to ever happen to you, and you couldn’t stand to be apart from him any longer. You reached for your phone, pulling up his number when you heard the lock click. JB perked up, jumping off the bed and scrambling out of the room. You sighed, following the pug out into the once-empty living room. You stopped breathing the moment you stepped out of the room.

Flowers adorned every open space throughout the room, red hearts sitting in every bouquet. You followed JB, picking up every card along the way. Eggsy’s handwriting was scrawled on each one, a different thing written across the heart.

Your smile.

Your laugh.

Your heart.

My home.

Mine.

You read that last card, a tear slipping down your cheek as you smiled at the lone word.

“If you start crying now, I’m going to be one helluva mess, love. Gotta give me a chance here, darling.” His voice comes from the kitchen, and you can’t stop yourself from running into his arms. Running home.

He hugs you tight against his chest, his lips pressing chaste kisses atop your head, muffled confessions of love tumbling out, as if he was running out of time. You pull away, dropping the hearts on the counter as you cup his face in your hands. His emerald eyes are shining bright with bliss, and you can’t stop staring.

“Hey bug. Want to know why I love you?” He whispers, his hands resting on your waist.

“I think the cards told me, Eggy.”

“Well, I think you missed one.” He grins.

“Where is it?” He takes one of your hands from his face, resting it right above his heart. You tear your eyes away from him, confused.

“Your heart?”

“I love you because you are my heart, Y/N. You have been since the moment I first saw you. You always will be, if you’ll have me. Be mine, forever.” You gasp, your gaze meeting his as you take in his words.

“Is that a proposal, Eggy?” He bites his lip, shrugging his shoulders as you stare at him in disbelief.

“A shit one, I know. But I swear, I’ll do better. For you.”

“I love you, idiot. This is better than anything I could’ve hoped for.”

“So is that a yes, love?” You roll your eyes, stroking your thumb across his lips as he watched you.

“I’ll take it back if you don’t kiss me right now, bruv.” You cooed, giggling as he picked you up, setting you on the counter. His lips find yours in seconds, his love dripping from them as he holds you close. Once you finally pull away, he buries his face in the crook of your neck.

“Never let me go.” Your words draw him out, his lips brushing along the skin of your jaw. As he finds his way to your lips, he meets your gaze.

“On my life, darling. Never.”

Sometimes, love finds its way home. Eggsy was finally home.

tags: @retroasgardian, @roamingharlem, @thesaraaaaahpfan, @avengershavethetardis, @buenostardissherlock, @storyofavengers, @imsecretlyromanburki, @cassandras-musings, @nottheopera, @coltcas, @thefridgeismybestie, @callamint, @kaaatniss, @seb-ass-tian-stan-ws, @bootypoppinbarnes, @hollycornish, @h4izel, @charliexowrite, @stevnsbucks, @thewinterswimmer, @damnlokifangirl, @barnesvogue, @sebastian-stans-thighs, @capsheadquaters, @jobean12-blog, @theassetseyeliner, @buckys-fossil @worldsroses@yikesbuckster @mjuikoli @rotisserierogers @buckyappreciationsociety @supernaturaldean67@milychetto @shhhs3cret @avengedqueen26, @this-is-angela-blog, @ohwhatamessiam, @captain-amelia-bradley, @tasting-writers-block @raindancer2004@redgillan @minervaem @buckyywiththegoodhair @barnres @everyrosehasitsthornton @justasunflower@aelin-blackstairs @pillarsofelmundo @lovelynemesis @themanwithovtfear @buchananbarnestrash @a-splash-of-stucky @avengersandlovers

[foundcarcosa]

cccxxxii.

Do you want your last ex to be happy, even if it means not being with you? >> Phoenix? I mean, I don’t wish ill upon him. He didn’t give me enough of a chance to love him, so I don’t have any stronger desires for him. If you have a smartphone, what’s the last app you downloaded? What about the last app you uninstalled? >> Shazam was the last I downloaded, and Dissidia was the last I uninstalled (it was just taking up too much space). If you were a straight member of the opposite sex, who are some celebrities you think you’d have a thing for? >> I mean, my attraction isn’t gender-locked, so I imagine it’d be the same women I think are cute now. Have you ever dyed your own hair? How did it turn out? >> Yeah. It turned out all right. Right-handed or left-handed? >> Right.

What is the wallpaper on your cellphone? >> The lock screen is a fan-made Dark Tower movie poster. The home screen is an art of Rustin Cohle that I found on tumblr. (So, basically, my phone is on some real Matthew McConaughey shit. As usual.) Does your first, middle, and last spell something? >> My initials? LFD... Left For Dead? God, I hope not. (Left 4 Dead is a great franchise, though...) Favorite TV channel? >> Hm. What is your least favorite breed of dog? >> Hm. In your opinion, are leggings appropriate to wear as pants? >> Sure, who cares. Have you ever had a teacher that also taught your parents? >> No. Is there any alcohol in the fridge? >> Yeah, there’s still some of the Svedka left, and there’s Sparrow’s last spiked Arnold Palmer. The rest of the booze is here in my room with me. Do you hate it when people smoke around you? >> Not unless they’re obnoxious about it. What do you want for your birthday? >> Well, my birthday just passed, so. Who is the most inappropriate person you know? >> Hm. Who in your phone has a heart after their name? >> No one. After breaking up, what’s the worst? >> I don’t know, that depends on the breakup. Do you have a second mom? >> I don’t even have a first. When was the hardest time in your life? What made it so hard & how did you overcome it? >> Hm.

How do you relieve stress? >> Stubbornness. I don’t have many specific coping skills for it. When you die do you want to have a funeral service? Why or why not? >> That’s up to the people responsible for my body after I’ve vacated it. I’m under no illusions that I require a say in what happens. What is your opinion on capital punishment? >> I don’t really care either way. What period of history was your favorite to learn about? If you don’t like history, what is your favorite thing to learn about? >> I’m not sure I have a specific favourite. Obviously ancient Scandinavian history crosses over with other interests of mine, and Hetalia gave me a pretty strong interest in certain aspects of WWII, but mostly I just... like history. Period. Where is your favorite fast food restaurant & what do you order when you go there? >> --- What do you think about smoking in public places? >> I don’t have a blanket opinion about this sort of thing. What’s your favorite cheese? >> Brie, pepper jack, asiago. What’s your favorite type of chocolate? >> Dark chocolate with sea salt and chili peppers. How do you like your steak? >> I don’t. What’s the last time you ate something you’d picked in the wild? >> I don’t think I’ve ever gotten a chance to do that. Arrange the following in order of preference: Pineapple, Orange, Apple, Strawberry, Cherry, Watermelon, Banana. >> Cherry, strawberry, apple, watermelon, pineapple, orange, banana. What is your opinion on “God?” >> That’s far too general a question for me. The word itself isn’t anything particular for me, and as far as my personal beliefs are concerned, I vacillate from panentheistic to polytheistic to both at the same time to neither almost daily. I don’t think specific religious paradigms suit me. As strange as it might sound, I feel much more comfortable believing in all at once. What is your favorite Christmas movie? >> It’s a Wonderful Life. Who are the three most important people in your life? >> Can Calah, Sparrow, Hallie. Why did you go to the doctor the last time you went? >> A checkup. What is your favorite boy band? >> Hm. What is your favorite Beatles song? >> I guess Hey Jude, I don’t know, I don’t really care for the Beatles in general. What is your favorite type of bird? >> Raven...?  What is something you hate, but wish you loved? >> Hmm. If you could profoundly release anxiety’s grip on one area of your life what would it be? >> Death. What’s the cutest thing your SO does, but denies it’s cute in any way? >> I don’t know, they don’t seem to deny anything like this Are you smiling in your Facebook profile picture? >> No. Does it irritate you when people go on and on about how amazing their boyfriend/girlfriend is? >> No. But, I mean, in a conversational sense, I’d be a little confused at how to proceed. What do I say to that, lmao... If you wear eye shadow, do you put on a dark color or a light? >> I don’t really have a preference. It’s been a while.

What do you believe in the most? >> Hm. What do you avoid like the plague? >> The plague. Hrnk. What is your main goal of the year? >> Hm. Do you listen to music while you drive? >> --- Waffle cone or bowl? >> Waffle cone, but maybe I should transition to bowls. Cones stress me out. Do you like video games? Why? >> I love them. They’re another form of storytelling, and I just enjoy playing them (the ones I play, I mean. not all video games). Do you take selfies with those animal filters? >> Sometimes. What book will you NOT read? >> IDK. What YouTube channel can you not stand to watch? >> --- Do you like big, normal or small glasses? >> Normal? How do you feel about colored contacts? >> I like them. It’s just difficult to wear them because my eyes are already sensitive. Is pregnancy beautiful? >> In a gruesome sort of way. Do you dance at weddings/parties or are you shy? >> I dance when I feel like dancing. Are you kind to animals at all times? >> Not all the time, no. Have you ever been bitten by an animal really hard? >> No. Do you trust dogs? >> I suppose? I mean, trust them to... do what? Act like themselves? Sure. Do you trust cats? >> See above. What stereotype do you fall into the best? >> I don’t know. Do you have to take stairs or an elevator to get to your house? >> There are two flights of stairs to this apartment. Have you ever seen a pelican in real life? >> I don’t think so. Do you carry pepper spray with you? >> No. Name three sites you have been bullied on. >> I’ve not been bullied on the internet. Yet, I suppose. Has there ever been a fire inside your house? Tell me the story. >> No. Have you ever had a scary encounter with a wild animal? >> No. Have you ever had a emergency surgery? >> No. Do you think your hair looks better natural or dyed? >> It looks fine either way. What’s one thing that makes your stomach hurt? >> Hmm. If you had kids, would you take them to Disney World? >> I don’t know. It seems like such a busy and hectic place. Hell, I’m not even entirely sure I want to go. Like, I do, but also... the sensory overload......... What unnatural hair color looks best on you? >> Hm. What is your least favorite pizza place? >> --- What is the name of your first pet? >> Roxie. What is your favorite fairytale? >> The Snow Queen, probably. Have you ever suffered a fracture? >> No. What countries would you like to visit? >> I don’t feel like making a list, lol. A lot of them. Had a serious surgery? >> No. Gotten stitches? >> Yes. Bitten someone? >> Yes. Would you ever cosplay? >> Sure. How slowly or quickly would you say you eat? >> Moderately? I don’t know. Have you ever drank from a real coconut? >> No. Do you have bird feeders hanging up outside? What about any hanging plants? >> No. If you were poor, living on the streets, & had no family to aid you, would you take up a job offer to work in a slaughterhouse? >> In general, I would not work at a slaughterhouse. Too messy for the likes of me. Have you ever had a grandparent come live with you? >> No. Do you keep your fortunes from fortune cookies? >> No. When you walk into your bedroom, is the light switch on the right side or the left side of the door? >> Left side. Who makes the majority of the food for Thanksgiving in your family? >> --- Does your house have a real chimney? >> No. If you had to endure one natural disaster (i.e. hurricane, tornado, etc), what would you pick and why? >> Hm. How did you learn to ride a bicycle? >> My father taught me. If you want any tattoos or piercings, what’s next on your list? >> I don’t have a list. Are you good at understanding baby talk? >> No, lol. I don’t bother trying to understand it, I just respond back whatever way comes to me. What was the last movie that you saw in the theaters? >> Infinity War. *grimace* Can you do a hand stand? >> No. If you could, you would go to the moon? >> Sure. Do you like candy canes? >> Some kinds. Have you ever gotten in trouble at school for wearing revealing clothes? >> No. Have you ever seriously thought about getting plastic surgery? >> No. Do you prefer your jeans normal or ripped? >> Either is fine. Have you ever actually woken up screaming because of a nightmare? >> No. Have you watched Breaking Bad? >> No. Have you ever been skating? >> Roller skating, yes. Do you feel comfortable singing in front of others? >> Yeah. Used to do it for fun on Monday nights. I miss Arlene’s... Name four favorite fast food restaurants & what you usually order at each one. >> Hmm. Name four favorite sit down restaurants & what you usually order at each one. >> Hrm. Would you say you’re more close-minded or open-minded? Is there anyone in your family or group of friends you’d consider close-minded? If so, does it ever bother you? >> I’m more open-minded than close-minded, but even I have my limits. I don’t know about anyone else. What is the most fucked up movie you’ve seen? Why? >> Probably A Serbian Film. Why? Because that’s literally the kind of movie it was made to be -- as fucked up as possible. It’s the whole gimmick. When it’s time to dress up for a special occasion, are you more likely to wear a dress, a skirt, or dress pants? >> Hm. If you eat oatmeal, do you add water or milk to it? What is your favorite flavor? >> Milk. I like brown sugar and maple. Have you ever been brave enough to cut your hair in a very different way? If you have, did you regret your decision after? >> Uh, I guess. I don’t consider it brave, it’s just fuckin hair. How attractive is a girl is a suit? How attractive is a guy in a dress? >> Both are fine. What does your dad do? >> He’s retired. Are your fingers long, or short? >> Longish. Are you allergic to any dogs? >> No. Have you ever used an epi pen? >> No. What is the meaning of your first name? >> Logan means “little hollow”.

Did you toss your hat in the air at graduation? >> No. Does it usually take you awhile to recover from illnesses? >> No. Would you rather get married outside or inside? >> Er. Do you put your elbows on the table when you eat? Do you think it’s rude? >> I put them on the table if I feel like it. I don’t think it’s rude because I’ve never been given reason to believe in that. Is you hair color the same as it was when you were a baby? >> I don’t know, I guess so? What are your thoughts on mini-skirts or mini-dresses? >> What sort of thoughts am I possibly expected to have?? It’s just fucking clothing oh my god lmao Have you ever died in one of your dreams? >> Yeah, and I got stuck on the Wheel. Which is tastier: fruity gum or minty gum? >> I prefer minty gum. Be honest, have you ever bullied anybody? Who was it? >> Not to my knowledge. What was the mascot at your elementary school? >> Hm. What is one romantic movie that you enjoy enough to watch more than once? >> Love Actually. Have you ever had a significant other NOT believe you when you said “i love you” to them? Why was that? How did you react? >> I don’t think so. Is there a band logo you would get tattooed on yourself? >> The Coheed and Cambria one, probably. If you had a baby, would you want to have it at home or in a hospital? >> In the hospital. Unless they could bring the drugs and machines to me.

What was the last thing you ordered online? >> I don’t recall. What’s your favorite planet? >> Mercury and Saturn.

What are three things that fascinate you? >> Theoretical astrophysics, chaos magic, anthropology. Have you ever suffered from an eating disorder? >> No. Do you enjoy doing yoga? >> Not really. Have you ever had to do a class in summer school? >> No. Have you ever had fondue? >> No. Have you ever taken photos in a photobooth? >> Once. If you have a dog, do you walk it regularly? >> --- Do porcelain dolls scare you? >> No. Which is worse, Teletubbies or Boohbas? >> Boohbas are the superior ones. Would you ever consider getting a tattoo on the inside of your bottom lip? >> No. Do you like to play air hockey? >> Sometimes. Have you ever been in a castle? >> Bishop’s Castle, which was pretty fuckin cool. Are you a lightweight when it comes to alcohol? >> No. Do you like tacos? >> Sure.  

[freckledcoffeeaddict]

Snowed In

Part Two

From his seat at his breakfast bar, Luke starred at his closed bedroom door, knowing she was on the other side.  He knew that he should just settle in on the couch and get some sleep, but his mind wasn’t ready to shut down just yet as he went over everything that had happened tonight.

He’d been getting ready to head out to mass when his phone rang.  At almost midnight on Christmas Eve, he didn’t even look at the display on his phone, assuming it was his mother making sure that he was going to church.

“I’m walking out the door in five minutes.”  He said in way of answering the call.

“Oh thank god.”  A familiar voice that wasn’t his mother’s replied, “She called you.”

“JJ?” He asked confused.  He pulled the phone from his ear to glance at the display to make sure he’d properly identified the voice.

“Yes.”  JJ paused as she absorbed his confusion.  “She did call you, didn’t she?  You’re on your way to get her?”

“I was on my way out to church, JJ.  What are you talking about?”  Luke asked, trying to figure out what was going on.

“Garcia.”  JJ said and he could hear the panic in her voice.  “She needs a place to stay.  The power is out at her place and with the temps dropping there – it’s not safe.  She’s going to freeze.  I would have her stay with me, but Will & I decided at the last minute to go to Florida.  I talked to her when we landed a few hours ago, but I haven’t been able to get her back since then.”

His heart was racing at the thought of her in trouble.  “I’ll take care of her JJ.”  Luke assured her.

“Thanks Luke.  I’m grateful.  She probably won’t say it, but she’ll be grateful too.”

“Grateful enough to stop calling me ‘newbie’?” He half-joked.

“I wouldn’t bet on it.”  JJ laughed before thanking him again.

As soon as he hung up, he pressed the speed dial on his phone to call her, but got an automated message that the lines were busy.  He tried two more times before grabbing his keys and heading out to his truck.

He hadn’t realized how bad the snow had gotten and was thankful that his truck had all wheel drive.  It took longer than he’d thought it should have to drive to her place – and he didn’t see a single other vehicle out the whole way.

He pulled into her drive behind her tiny car that was buried in the drifting snow.  He cut the engine and got out of the car and the air hit him.  Pulling his jacket a little tighter, he took a quick glance up and down the street before leaning into the car and putting the key back into the ignition and cranking it back on.  He reached past the steering column and put the heat on full blast.

He then made his way to the front door of her building.  Out of habit, he reached up to buzz in, realizing as he hit the button that it would be obsolete without power.  Instead, he opened his wallet and took out a small file and quickly picked the lock to let himself into the building.

Once inside, he bound up the stairs and found her door.  He rapped quietly at first but heard nothing inside.  He shivered and knocked a little more forcefully, calling her name as well.  And still nothing.  He pulled his phone out to try to call her again, but the call still wouldn’t go through.  As the minutes passed, he started pounding on the door – pausing to listen for movement inside – and then pounding again.

He was about to pick the lock to her apartment as well, when he finally heard her voice from within.

She sounded sleepy and it took her a few minutes to get to the door.  That gave him time to compose himself.  He hadn’t realized how worried he’d really been about her until he heard her voice and relief flooded his body.  By the time she opened the door, he’d taken a stance leaning against the doorframe and did his best to put a smile on his face and act casual – like it was the most normal thing in the world for him to show up at her door at 1 am.

“What?  How?”  She look at him, a flash of confusion passes over her features before they both say, “JJ”.

He steps past her and enters the apartment.

“What are you doing here?”  She asks and he can hear the spite in her voice.  “I’m fine.”  She says emphatically.

He turns to face her and looks her up and down.  “Yeah, you look fine.”  She looks ridiculous.  Beautiful – but ridiculous.  Still wearing the heels and the dress she had on at the office earlier, she has added at least two hats, several blankets are wrapped around her, one mitten on, the other in her hand, and so many scarves that her can’t help himself from reaching out to try to count them.  “You’re wearing like six scarves Garcia.” He teases, easily falling into the banter they always seem to have.

“Hey!”  She grabs his hand before he can touch even one of the scarves, pushing him away.  

Her hand is like ice and he no longer wants to tease her about her attire.  “Whoa!”  He wants to pull her into his arms and warms her up, but knows better.  Instead her just stares at her and says, soberly, “You’re really cold.”

“I’m fine.” She repeats, sticking her chin out with bravado and all he can think about his how much he loves her spirit and how nuts she is if she actually thinks he’s going to let her stay in this ice box.

“Chica?”  He says softly, waiting to speak until she raises her face to look at him.  “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.  You can protest if you want, but I can’t let you stay here tonight.  It’ll be easier and quicker if you just pack some things and we go, but if you want to argue about it, I’ll wait.  Either way, I’m not leaving this apartment without you.”  He reaches up and cups her cheek in his hand, “For once, will you just do it the easy way?”

She presses her cheek into his hand for just a moment and his heart soars for a split second.  And then she crushes him.  “It’s not that bad.  Sergio and I were doing just fine before you barged in.” She spits back.

He looks at her with disbelief to find her glaring at him.  “Barged in?” He says more to himself than to her, pulling his had from her face and raking it through his hair, he had to wonder if he’d been wrong about this.  Despite all the teasing, he thought they had a connection.  He though she liked him.  He knew he liked her.  He realizes that he’s actually saying all of this aloud, but in Spanish thankfully. He swallows hard and looks back at her.  “I guess we’re going to do this the hard way.”  

He spots a big canvas bag in her kitchen and crosses the room to grab it.  He takes a quick stock of the moonlit apartment and his eyes fall on the door that must lead to her room.  He pushed through the door.  She’s following behind him still arguing, but he’s tuned her out and is focused on his mission, which is to get her out of here and to get both of them into the warm car and then to his house.  He was tired.  He was cold.  And he was sick of these games.  

He’d had plenty of fantasies about the two of them alone in the dark in her bedroom – or his – but this wasn’t in any of them.  

He pulled open drawers and randomly threw some of her things into the bag.  Moving into her bathroom, he does the same.  He knows that he’s talking, but it’s a rant and he’d not even sure what he’s saying.  He turns the faucet on before he leaves the bathroom and then heads to the kitchen to do the same, pushing the bag into her arms before he does.

He’s about to cross back to her when he sees her cat – in a Christmas sweater because of course her cat not only has, but actually wears, things like this.  In one fluid motion, he leans down and picks up the cat and walks straight to her apartment door and opens it.  “You’re packed, the water is running so your pipes don’t freeze, and I have your cat.  Let’s go.”  He nods towards the hallway.

She looks shell-shocked. “You’re mad.”  She says softly.  “Like…you’re really mad.”  He knows if he lets his guard down right now, it’ll take that much longer until her gets her to some warmth, so he just glares at her until finally, she takes a few steps towards him – stopping to put on a coat and hat – and then walks out into the hall and all the way to the truck.

The manners that his mama drilled into him are so ingrained that he finds himself opening the door for her and offering his hand before he has a chance to think about it.  She grips his hand and gets in the truck without argument or any sass.  He pulls the bag from her arms and gives her the cat before closing the door.

After throwing her bag in the back seat, he walks around the back of the truck.   As soon as he gets behind the tailgate –out of her line of sight – he stops and leans forward, hands on his knees, and lets out the breath he’d been holding in ever since JJ told him she needed help.  He let the relief wash over him for a moment knowing that she was safe – and warming up – inside his truck.  He stood and pressed a hand to his temple as the relief turned to regret.  He’d spent the past year and a half admiring this beautiful woman – going toe-to-toe with her round after round as she hassled him.  He’d always believed it would lead to something more – something real.  But tonight he realized that all might have been one-sided.  That banter he thought was flirtation was really just her dislike for him.  She’d made that crystal clear tonight when she’d chosen to stay and freeze in her apartment rather than call him for help.  After this crisis was over, he knew that he would need to get some distance from her.  He shook his head to clear his thoughts and then continued around to the driver’s side.

Once they were both buckled in, the navigated the snowy roads back to his house.  He hit one patch of ice and reached over to brace her – his hand landing on her knee.  She didn’t move – didn’t push him away – and when he glanced over at her, her eyes were trained straight ahead and she wouldn’t even look at him.  And he knew that they were over before they ever began.

As they enter his house, Roxie run excitedly to greet them and he hears her cat hiss.  “Sit.”  He says firmly to the dog and she stops dead in her tracks and does as she’s told.

For a moment it seems they’re all frozen.  Now that they’re here, he’s not sure what to say or how to act.  She hasn’t moved either, so he finally turns to look at her.  This time, he finds her looking at him – her eyes searching for his.  When their eyes meet, she hold his gaze and says quietly, “Thank you Luke.”

Luke.  She said his name. He can feel the hope already swelling back up, but he needs to keep it at bay. “It’s about damn time woman.” He says sharply, trying to hide his elation.  “You were starting to make me think you’re more trouble than you’re worth.”

“I am worth more than you’ll ever know, Newbie.”  She shoots back and he can’t stay angry.  After the way she just said his name, he knows he was wrong before.  They are building something.  And he wants to see where this can go.

He realizes that he’s been silent too long.  He can’t help the smile from forming as he leans in towards her and says, “Challenge accepted.”  

She smiles back at him and for a moment.  And then she shakes her head and backs off. “I – uh.  It’s late.  Sleep.”  She stammers.

He rocks back on his heels, out of her space. He nods towards the bedroom door, “Take my room.”

She looks to the door and then back to him and then back to the door.  “No, I can’t.  I can take the couch.”

“Penelope.”  He says softly.  “Take the bed.  Roxie & I will stay out here.” She nods and picks up the bag of her things and quickly disappears into his bedroom, the door closing behind her.

~*~*~

Penelope awoke the next morning disoriented.  Before she opened her eyes, she knew she wasn’t in her bed.  This bed was much more firm than hers, and the pillow under her cheek was memory foam.  Eyes still closed, she listened to see if sound would help identify her locale.  And then she heard the low snore and realized there was heat pressed up against her back.  She froze and then the previous evening came back to her.  Luke.

Oh jeez.  What had they done?  She remembered the way he looked at her and the way she’d responded, leaning in for a moment.  She remembered him telling her to take his room instead of the couch.  She protested once, but when he insisted, she accepted.  Once alone in his room, she remembered rummaging through the yellow bag to see that Luke had randomly grabbed almost nothing useful.  She didn’t expect to find anything matching, but there wasn’t even a t-shirt for her to sleep in, so she helped herself to his closet and pulled one of his over her head.  She’d found her toothbrush and a comb, but no make-up remover, or make-up for that matter.  None of her fancy face wash either.  Instead, she remembered washing her face in his bathroom using his soap, looking at herself in his mirror.  

Moving slowly as to not wake the man pressed against her, she pulled her arm out from under the covers and pulled them away from herself to look down.  She exhaled a sigh of relief to see that she was still fully clothed. Maybe he’d gotten up in the middle of the night and ended up back in his own bed out of habit – forgetting the she was there.

She slowly turned her head to peer at him over her shoulder.  “Oh god!”  She said and her whole body shook with laughter when she saw that it was Roxie pressed against her.  Stretching her arms above her head, she sat up and then pivoted her legs over the side to stand.  Once standing, she laughed even harder to see that Roxie was spooning Sergio.  Both asleep, both content.

After washing her face using his soap, brushing her teeth, and running a comb through her hair, she exited his bedroom and padded her way through his house.  She could smell the coffee, so she knew that he was awake somewhere.  She found him sitting on the loveseat in the living room, reading a book.

“Good morning.”  She said and he looked up at her and smiled.

“Afternoon is more like it.” He said casually, turning back to his book.

“Afternoon?”  She scanned the room and found a grandfather clock in one of the corners that indicated that it was 1:30.  “I never do this.” She tried to clarify.

“Chica,” He says with exasperation as he puts his bookmark in the book and closes it, “it was after one when I got to your place last night.  You were exhausted and needed your sleep.  We’re snowed in, so I let you sleep.”  He paused as he remembered the sight of her in his bed, her hair flared out across his pillow when he’d gone to get Roxie for a walk several hours earlier.  “You didn’t even wake up when your phone rang.  It was JJ, by the way, and I assured her that you hadn’t frozen to death at your apartment last night.”  He smiled, “Merry Christmas, by the way.”

“Wait?  What?”  She absorbed what he’d just said.

“Merry Christmas?”  He looked confused.  “Hanukah?”  He asked, looking for clarity.

“No, Christmas.  Definitely Christmas.”  She confirmed, then started again, “Did you say we’re snowed in?  And you answered my phone?”

He gestured towards the window and she turned her attention to the breathtaking view.  The entire world sparkled and snow covered everything she could see.  Now that she was warm – she could again appreciate the beauty. “We got another three feet overnight.”  He explained.  “They’re working on the main roads now, but we’re not going anywhere anytime soon.  And I didn’t answer your phone – I wouldn’t do that.  She called me right after she called you.”  Standing, he gestured towards the kitchen.  “Do you want something to eat?  Some coffee maybe?”

She nodded, the mere mention of food making her stomach growl and she realized she was famished.  He started towards the kitchen and she followed.  He opened a cabinet and pulled out a mug and then filled it with the already brewed coffee.  He turned to hand it to her and did a quick double take. “What?”  She asked defensively as she felt his eyes sweep up and down her body.

“Nothing.”  He shook his head.  “I’ve just never seen you without – “

“Make-up?  I know!  But you didn’t pack any of mine when you were stuffing things into that bag.  Do you know that I don’t have one single matching outfit to wear?  And no soap!  I had to wash my face with your soap. And – “ He silenced her with a finger against her mouth.

“Shoes.”  He finished, an amused twinkle in his eye as he pulled his hand back to his side.  “I’ve never seen you without shoes on.  I didn’t realize you were so short.”

“Oh.”  She said humbly, turning away from him.  Then, under her breath, she mumbled, “You probably didn’t even notice the no make-up or the fact that I’m wearing your shirt.”

“Penelope,” She turned as he said her name.  He handed the mug to her, but didn’t let go when her hands curled around its warmth, their fingers brushing together.  “I notice everything about you.”

His finger was moving slowly, caressing hers on the mug they held between them.  He leaned in a little closer.  She mirrored him.  He tilted his head a little and she followed suit.  She could feel his breath on her face as she closed her eyes – and then his phone rang and he pulled away.

He sighed and looked at his phone, “I’m sorry.”  He held the phone up so she could see ‘Mama’ on the display.  “I have to take this.”  He hit the button to answer the call and held the phone up to his ear, “Mama!  Feliz navidad!” He said and he walked towards the living room.

She didn’t follow.  Instead, she busied herself with finding something to eat.  She has expected to find nothing but some microwave dinners and beer in his fridge, but instead found it stocked with meats, fruits, and vegetables.  His pantry was also well-stocked and she realized that he was probably a much better cook that she.  Rather than embarrass herself trying to utilize all the hearty and wholesome ingredients she’d found, she made and devoured one of her specialties, PB&J.

She was just rinsing off the plate she’d used when he came back into the kitchen.  “Sorry about that.  My mama, she worries.” He rolled his eyes.

“That must be nice.”  She observed with longing.  “I lost my parents when I was 14.  I’d give anything to hear my mom’s voice – even nagging me – one more time.”

“I remember you said that ‘Garcia’ was from the family that took you in.  I’m sorry.”  He said soberly.

She shook her head, blinking back tears, “It’s OK really.”

“Hey,” He said softly, reaching out to cup her cheek with his hand, wiping away one lone tear with his thumb. “It’s OK to not be OK all the time.  I meant what I said all those months ago…If I ever become the someone you want to go when you’re crying, I’m here.”  He gazed down at her, watching her lips tremble, watching her trying not to break.  And he saw the shift when she let go.  She let out a huge breath and then the tears fell and she leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his chest.  And he just held her until her tears ran dry.

[stunudo]

Deliverance

A Criminal Minds Fan-fiction

Featuring: Luke Alvez x Spencer Reid                 Setting: After Season 12

Requested by: Anonymous

“Omg I am going to request a ralvez one shot because there is not (and never will be) enough ralvez in this world. So could you do one where they finally admit their feelings for each other (post-reid jail time) and Luke admits that he's never been with a guy before and he is nervous??? Please and thank you!! <3″ 

A/N: Thank you for your request! I am tagging it for @reidbyers Ralvez week. I am sorry it took so long, but I, huh, really need to watch season 12. (Because I spend too much time online and can only watch the show when my kids are asleep.) I love this ship so much! I hope you like it. xoxo Stu    

Warnings: Grief, angst, talk of sex acts

Spencer felt like he had been asleep for months. In truth it was twenty seven hours and fourteen minutes since he last glanced at the bedside clock in the safe-house Emily had placed he and his mother in. The thought of his mother and her safety sent that familiar panic through his lean frame. He found her seated at the kitchen table, reading contently. The relief flooded through him and he sighed when the nurse caught his eye, smiling in her quiet understanding.

It was as if the past months locked away were just a nightmare he had to overcome; wakefulness had found him with his freedom. He had missed much more than just his mother and her abduction. He had missed cases and setbacks, profiles and small victories. He had missed his team. Although his thoughts had been on one team member more than the others. Something that he hadn’t expected especially when Luke first began aiding the BAU.

Luke hated this part of the job the most. The delivery of earth-shattering news to the family members of his fallen brothers. Emily had insisted on meeting the Walkers at the hospital instead of going home. Luke wouldn’t let her do that on her own. Every one of them were exhausted to the point of numbness. In this storm of emotions his years of training kicked in and he persevered.

The natural smile far from his lips as he stood alongside his chief as the truth destroyed Stephen’s family. How much more loss was he going to have to bring to loved ones? Was catching the unsubs and fugitives making any difference? It didn’t feel like it on nights like these.

The day of the funeral was the next time Spencer saw any of his teammates, besides JJ. She had come over with the boys to visit once Spencer and Diana were resettled at home. Diana loved those boys. Spencer was amazed at how much they had grown since, well, everything. Henry was calculated with his questions for Uncle Spencer, JJ was on guard about any topic too personal. Spencer appreciated his godson’s curiosity and insight. He answered him honestly, because Spencer valued Henry’s trust.

Diana didn’t notice Spencer getting dressed in a full suit. She didn’t notice him shaving or saying goodbye. Spencer took the train into the city and found his way to the cemetery alone. Garcia saw him first and she maneuvered mechanically around the chairs and rows of strangers. She scooped the tall genius into a tight hug.

“You cleaned up nice,” She whispered breathy.

Spencer’s mouth grimaced and he nodded his head to the side. “Thanks, uh, you too.”

“Oh pish,” She waved off the compliment with her clutch in hand. “Come on, our family is all over here.”

Spencer followed Penelope to the two rows the BAU team was occupying. JJ and Emily both hugged him as Rossi patted him on the back. Luke and Tara held back sharing concerned welcome. Spencer didn’t know what to say to Walker’s family, so he sat down and kept quiet. Something he had become used to doing over the past months in prison. The service reflected a talented and dedicated father; a man who deserved more years than he was given. Spencer grieved for the family, a family who wouldn’t be in this situation if he hadn’t been incredibly reckless all those months ago.

Luke had been going over the words and sentences in his head for months. He had guessed every possible reaction that Spencer would have, except this. Spencer sat beside him in the passenger seat in complete and utter silence. Luke wasn’t sure if he had spoken aloud. Had he? Had he meant to? It was not the best timing. But after months apart, the twenty minutes in the car together was the most genuine comfort he could have dreamed of, especially after the funeral.

Luke cleared his throat and tried to look Spencer in the eyes. “Reid? Did you hear me?”

Spencer’s hands were placed flat on to his thighs, they began to sweat so he brushed them on his suit pants absentmindedly.

“Do you mean it?” Spencer’s voice was barely audible. He let the words sink in and then he met Luke’s dark eyes in earnest. Luke’s throat had gone dry, he swallowed.

“I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t.” Luke leaned toward the taller man, not sure of what to do. Hands itching to comfort him, to solidify his confession. “I’m in love with you.”

Spencer’s brown eyes were on the cusp of tears, his lips pursed and scrunched in concentration. He inhaled, “I’ve wanted this for so long, Luke.” A shy smile curling his pink lips. “But I’m not the man you knew. I have done things and hurt people. People that didn’t deserve it.”

Luke gave up the internal debate and placed his strong left hand on Spencer’s forearm. He raised his right thumb and brushed a streak of saline from Spencer’s pristine cheekbone. “We have all been through a lot since you’ve been gone. I just want the chance to get to know each other again. As more than teammates.”

Spencer bent his face into Luke’s soothing palm, closing his eyes to revel in the skin to skin contact. Affection that had been missing from his life for too long. “Even if I am still navigating towards the new me?” His voice cracked.

Luke didn’t answer, instead he crossed the distance to Spencer, sealing all of their hope and longing in a whisper of a kiss. He touched his forehead to Spencer’s, staring into his very being, “Even then.”

One month later

“What are your plans for the weekend?” Lewis kicked her long legs on the seat facing her and Luke. The case was over, unfortunately the unsub killed himself before they could arrest him.

“Well, there’s this film festival I read about...” Luke checked to see where Spencer was sleeping on the jet, to ensure the conversation was private. “I know he likes foreign films, but I kind of want to surprise him.”

Tara shook her head and patted Luke’s knee.

“What?!”

“You’re trying to surprise a profiler who has a photographic memory?” Lewis chuckled softly. “I’m sure you’ll have fun, but don’t bank on the surprise part.”

The next afternoon Luke and Roxie returned after their run through the park. They were both panting from the exercise, though still excitable. When they got home, Roxie made a weird noise and started pawing at the door.

“What is it, girl? That thirsty?” Luke teased and unlocked the door to his home. Roxie bolted in and jumped up on Spencer who was waiting patiently inside. Spencer and Roxie had formed a surprising relationship since Spencer and Luke started dating. The skittish genius had warmed up to Luke’s dog, he assumed it was because he was able to trust her and hoped she understood they both cared about her human. She tolerated him because he smelled nice and made her human relax.

Luke’s face was alight, “What are you doing here?” Luke walked up to Spencer and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Wait, how did you even get in here?” Luke’s eye brows raised. Spencer shrugged, smirking while scratching Roxie’s ears.

“Mrs. Hermann likes me.”

Luke rolled his eyes, “That’s because you flirt with her. Any others of my elderly neighbors I have to worry about?”

Spencer liked when Luke was jealous, but he didn’t want it to be drawn out. Roxie left them alone to find her water dish, Spencer slid his arms around Luke’s waist. “So? Have any plans tonight?” His light brown eyes rich with mischief.

“Not anymore.” Luke gave Spencer another quick kiss. “But, let me shower? I am all sweaty.”

“Yes, I can see that.” Spencer appraised Luke’s form fitting tee shirt and basketball shorts.

“Stop, I’m gross.” Luke teased, squeezing Spencer’s side playfully. “Just give me ten minutes.”

After a deeper kiss and a sigh, Spencer released his boyfriend. “No rush, the first showing isn’t until eight anyway.” He called as Luke headed to the bathroom. Luke shook his head, of course Spencer had figured it out on his own.

There was a gay couple in one of the films! It was annoying how pleasantly surprised Luke felt when he saw them. It was something he wouldn’t have noticed until a talkative genius captured his attention. Luke had never been with a man before, in fact he had never thought he would be in a relationship with one at all. Perhaps it was his overly strict Catholic family or his own insecurities regarding his sexuality. He had “passed” as straight for so long he didn’t think he needed to explore that part of himself.

Until he fell in love with his old partner, he wasn’t even sure he was queer. The despair and uncertainty that came with his death had pushed Luke’s heart back inside his internal closet. And then he teamed up with the BAU. Spencer’s intense mind and deep soul encompassed Luke’s heart faster than anyone had before. Being a bisexual in hiding meant Luke was not versed in determining that the twinkle in Spencer’s eyes was only for him.

Spencer, meanwhile, had become overly comfortable with his solitary lifestyle. After losing Maeve he didn’t think he would ever want or find romantic love again. As a man of science, he never had any concern over the physical of those he became emotionally attached to. Certainly not concerning anything as arbitrary as genitalia or societal expectations. Spencer Reid valued people as a whole, not a collection of body parts. Luke Alvez was wholly beautiful, internally and externally.

There the budding couple sat in the dark in the center aisle of the half-crowded movie house. The subtitles giving Luke the hints to Spencer’s engagement with the confrontation upon the screen. Suddenly the tension froze as one of the men fiercely kissed the other actor. The scenes flashed forward with brief glimpses of the passion unfolding, kisses and hands, one man performing oral sex on the other. Then the following morning and the men snuggling in the easy morning light. It was breathtaking. The rush Luke felt throughout his body twisted in his stomach. Emotion rolling within; desire, embarrassment, awe, hope and insecurity. He was going to have to tell Spencer his secret. But how?

Spencer’s aversion to physical contact was only for those he didn’t trust and strangers. He was not into public displays of affection because he hated to be seen as a target for bullies. Luke was not ready for anyone but the team knowing about their relationship so he was also content with walking with his hands to himself back to his truck.

“That was not the first film by Bisogni that I have seen, but his style has evolved since the last one.” Spencer had one hand in his pocket and the other aiding in his descriptions. Luke listening intently, unlocking the passenger door and holding it open for Spencer to duck inside the truck. Spencer smiled to himself at the sweetness of the gesture, he watched Luke walk around the front and into the driver’s seat.

His smile came easily, but the words were a rush. “Did you know that the glans of the penis has roughly four thousand nerve endings?”

Luke was used to his boyfriend being full of facts, but he wasn’t used to sex facts out of context. Spencer continued, “And by the age of fifteen nearly 100% of males have masturbated to the point of orgasm.”

“Okay, Spencer, where is this going?” Luke started the engine, not looking at his boyfriend.

“Physically pleasing oneself is beneficial for being able to communicate how a lover may best please you. Statistically, you know how to bring yourself to orgasm, Luke.” Spencer’s voice softened. “Being intimate with a man is a lot easier than society wants us to believe. Anatomically, we already know what pleases us, so we have a basis for our journey together.”

Luke slammed the gear shift back into Park. Spencer had profiled his inexperience and hesitation from that two minute love scene in the show. He dropped his head to the steering wheel and exhaled a groan of embarrassment. Spencer leaned over to stroke Luke’s curls, “Please don’t hide from me. Tell me what’s going on in that mind of yours.”

Luke smiled, it was usually him wondering what Spencer’s brain was processing. “I, um, have never been with a man, Spencer. Which, I take you know?” Spencer nodded and pursed his lips. Luke continued, “Are you going to leave me if I, can’t, if I’m not ready? Spencer, I don’t want to be bad at this.”

Spencer understood, completely. He always had the facts and research to back up his endeavors, but with Luke, things came easier, born of instinct. The idea that he wouldn’t be adequate hadn’t even crossed Spencer’s mind, because it was something they would be figuring out together. “You won’t be bad, baby. You’ll be new at it. This isn’t a test, its a way for us to become closer in every sense of the phrase.” Spencer’s mouth quirked mischievously. “We don’t have to figure anything out tonight. Just know that I would love to wake up next to you, if you want to spend the night.”

Luke nodded, sighing as his body released the tension that had been building. He wasn’t ready for all night love making, but perhaps spending the night would be a good starting point for their intimacy. Luke drove home to check on Roxie and grab some essentials.

“Are you sure about this?” Spencer asked quietly.

Luke nodded. “I’ve wanted you for so long, Spence. Are you? I don’t want to confuse your mom.” He entwined his hand in his boyfriend’s, gently kissing it.

Spencer shook his head and stroked Luke’s hand with his thumb. “Mom will be fine. Let’s get to bed already.” They kissed softly in the late night air as the vehicle’s engine roared to life. They had found each other in the hopelessness; together saving themselves.

@imagicana @gubl-oser

[okimargarvez]

METEOROLOGY- Rainbow

Original title: Meteorology.

Prompt: climatic metaphors, phases of love.

Warning: none.

Genre: drama, romantic, comedy, angst, family, friendship.

Characters: Luke Alvez, Penelope Garcia, BAU team, Phil (Luke’s partner), Phil’s wife, Roxy, Derek Morgan.

Pairing: Garvez, Phil x Lucille.

Note: Multichapter.

Legend: 💏😘😈👓🔦🐶❗👨‍👩‍👧‍👦💍🎈.

Song mentioned: Via con me, Paolo Conte.

Meteorology- Masterlist

MY OTHER GARVEZ STORIES

How not to dedicate a chapter with such title to @itsdawnashlie, the author of Color? 🌈🌂👰🤵💑✨💍💎💋💞

Rainbow

If the sensation we call color possesses laws, there must be something in our nature that determines the form of these laws. The science of color is therefore a science of mind. (James Maxwell)

 -Now I know that nothing that can happen to us will ever divide us. We can't be separated, because without you my world is empty, gray, not black and white like the movies of the origins that likes so much to Ricardo.- she laughs, but she never ceases to blush and look at you as she though "You've become crazy". -Before you I was not able to love, not in this way. We faced so many things: you had to go out of the fog that wrapped you after Morgan's goodbye- she doesn't like that argument. -and I needed to get rid that downpour that I had in my soul after my mother's loss.- she nods, squeezing your hand that you have been holding since you started this "talk". -It was not easy right away: there were clouds to sweeping away and then the hail when we realized it was impossible to show us indifferent at each other. It took a thunderstorm to wake us up and the lights illuminated our minds. And so there have been months of pure sun, but there have been no lack shadows. And now we have just come out of a crisis, a hurricane full-scale and we are still here, together.- she nods again, but she is growing impatient. She wants you to get to the point. And you're almost there. Your knees ache in the position that you tuck, but you realize it's a pleasant pain because you know what universally means. -Penelope Grace Garcia, would you like to share the next step with me?- you hesitate a second. -After the thunderstorm, they say appears the rainbow. You're my rainbow, the lenses through which I want to observe the world. I love you and I hope to be your rainbow, to give you at least some of what you give me at any moment.- but you have not come to the point yet, although her eyes are already shiny and between little tears will wet her eyeglasses, preventing her from seeing. -Do you want to marry me?- you both aren't in any five star restaurant, in the midst of so many people who will shout and applaud when she says yes. Instead you're out of the bathroom where you have (re) seen her the first time. You have been undecided for a few days if it was better here or in the subway, since it's technically there that you've been "met". Or even in elevator would have been significant. And you waited a thunderstorm to have the right scenery, but the weather was not good and generous with you, so you had to decide to do it even if the outside did not match inside.

She baffles and tears her hand out of yours to bring it together to the other at her face. For a moment you theme that she could reject your proposal. She told you that he did it with Kevin and they were together for four years! You two only for one. But you don't need any other time to understand that she's the woman you want to have with you until you're allowed to walk on this earth. You feel a crunch, is the articulation of the left knee that is lamenting. Are you going to exclaim an "So" when she finally decides to replicate. -I... Luke ... is not it a joke? - you hasten to shake your head, annoyed, but then you remember that his insecurity is one of the things you love about her. That's love: to transform even what can annoy us in something we could not do without, within certain limits, otherwise it should change definition. -I ... yes- when she says it outside you hear a bang and you can concentrate on something that isn't her sweet face, asking if it was not an accident. But then you hear one another and the windows a flash blink. Incredible, worthy of the best nineteenth-century melodrama. A storm was triggered in full swing.

You're now standing up and embracing her, while continue of lightning, bolt and thunder continues. - I love you, my love, I love you I love you I love you ...- you abuse these words, maybe because before, yes, in this year that you have been together with so many difficulties, as you recalled through metaphors weather, you never told it. She silences you by catching your lips with hers and making you forgetting everything around you.

-But ... but the ring?- she exclaims after you separated to catch your breath. You look upset and grieved, as if you had forgotten that detail throughout the complex show you set up to really surprised her. -Well, Luke, I don't care. Why should I care about on a ring, an outward sign, with respect to the love I see reflected in your eyes?- you think almost to cancel the last part of the plan, seeing for the very first time how special her is, unlike the others, little superficial. Fantastic (because perfect would sound artificial).

But you don't change your mind. Give a whistle, then another and another. Penelope looks at you strangely, not understanding the meaning of your gesture. Then she tries to follow the direction of your gaze and everything makes sense. Roxy peeps from around the corner, there's a box on her collar. She stops in your midst. You open it and show her the contents: a simple ring with a stone, a crystal that put in a certain way in the direction of light, reflects all the colors of the rainbow, as would Reid be better explained it. The colors she makes you see.

You take her hand and put the ring to the right place, the only one that has remained free until this moment, waiting for this moment. It fits perfectly. She looks at it for a long time before throwing her arms around your neck and your dog does not hesitate to join your embrace. If you could stop the world at this moment ... you wouldn't do it because there're still so many things to live with her, experiences to discover, emotions to try. And yet she's not yet officially Ms. Alvez. It upsets does sound like it sounds, even in your head. Then you decide to make a try verbally. -Ms. Alvez.- she looks at you now, weeping, of joy, at least for once.

-Mr. Garcia.- she teases you, trying to avoid to make a lake on the floor. You two stay hugged for what looks like an eternity, her head on your chest, one of your arm on her shoulders, one your hand, the other, on Roxy's back. Always out of that toilet. You two stay there listening to the noises of the storm that has not ceased until you see another human figure, but you don't hate her. Sooner or later real life must begin again.

-Hey, Garcia, you forgot the pager in your office, there's a case ... - the blonde isn't surprised to find you two this way; has been one of the main promoters of your relationship. But when the looks of the two women cross, one doesn’t understand how, the other understands everything. -No.- your future wife separates off to reach her friend.

-Yes.- she answers, only this two know the code they are using.

-Ahhhhh!- she shouts, probably humping be heard from the whole Bureau. But it doesn’t matter to JJ, and it doesn't care even Penelope or yourself. -When?- she asks, after they hugging and hopping a little bit on the spot. You laugh with various shades of sweetness.

-A moment ago.- she replies and the shouts of jubilation begin again. Then she shows the ring. Then another person appears behind the corridor, who does not have time to replicate JJ's own words when he believed that today was a normal day, because she immediately notices the attitude of the two women and she joins immediately.

-Don't tell me.- you have never seen her so frivolous, without the negative meanings of the term. So carefree and not serious and rigid. Except the first day you met her and not long ago, to her marriage with Mark.

-Instead I tell you.- and she also shows at Emily the ring. Then the latter is forced to come back seriously, to think about the job, but not before Tara also makes their appearance and shouts with each other, so as to make you deaf.

 When there're no queries to be completed, you spend all the time staring at that ring and playing to see a custom rainbow projected into the bunker. And then you count the days that are missing by making a big X on each calendar box. But there is really no time to think that the latter passes too slowly. In addition to the work, you engage in all the various missions. To find the right dress, obviously with your best friends. And shopping you always liked, if you lived it in company. For a paradox that may seems, it's much harder to choose shoes. But at least that part is settled.

Then there's to think of the church. You know it's tradition that the bride is choose it. You never told anyone, not even Morgan, but you were baptized Catholic because before you entered the hippie world yours were fervent believers. And so, you can accomplish one of his desires, his and your mother-in-law who you never had a chance to know, even though you've been go secretly to find her at the cemetery and asked her for advice, promising you'll take care of him until you're given it 'occasion, to take care of her son. You know how important faith is for him, even though he lives it in conflict way and not quite peaceful with everything he has to see and deal with.

You decide that as far as you love flowers, it's not the case to put an end to the lives of poor innocent plants just because they end up making their way into your special, special day. It must be a day of joy and life, there will be no trace of death. And this also applies to the menu: strictly vegetarian. You remember like it happened a few minutes ago, your enormous surprise when you discovered that he didn't eat meat either. He didn't even kill mosquitoes, as much as they could be annoying, and he let himself ridicule to secure even the most insignificant and ugly creeping bug on this planet. Because it's still a creature of God, worthy of living as the richest man on earth.

At first you thought it was a joke, it couldn't be real. You couldn't have really found that person who would be able to understand your pain in seeing a crushed pigeon on the side of the road, whose was fatal the game of the flight in the final before the car invested it. And yet it's really so, and he has let you sweep away the fog that he has mentioned in his statement, because since you two are engaged, you don't give up any feeling anymore, let the pain touch you, mould you, you don't repel it and then you empty yourself, literally, wetting his round vest while his hand caresses your back.

Another "problem" was been to choose who should accompany you to the altar. Derek and Rossi have been in the head. The first because it's your best friend, the person you love most after Luke. The second is because, besides loving him, he is like a father because of his seniority. It's much easier to decide the witnesses. Those of him are Phil and his wife, of course, who for years have been trying to convince him to get up to this point and have become an important person for you too. Yours is JJ. Only at the last stage you'll find that the Italian stallion will be at your side along the aisle, while the chocolate thunder will be waiting for you next to Luke.

But the part you adore absolutely is the choice of the party favors. You expected this moment since you have given up the opportunity to have one to celebrate the degree. Although it's something you long for, it doesn't mean it's less complicated. You have to find something that works perfectly with you two, special, not the first thing that comes along. Which involves with both of you. And it to rack one's brains you, discarding an infinite amount of them, making yourself a headache to search in a number of specialized stores, and fussing yourself by looking at sites on the internet. A gun? No, it never liked you. A badge? It could also be nice, but it would remind you too much of your work and you don't want to reduce everything to that. A dog, in honor of Roxy and of the empathy that unites you two? Not bad, but few would understand the deep meaning and risk being trivial, exactly what you want to avoid at all costs. And then, suddenly, stroke of genius. An umbrella.

Another shake awaits you when this morning you realize that's that day. Even the date was not randomly chosen, but rather weighted with the utmost precision to make your dream come true. Soon girls arrive, helping you prepare. Your heart beats so loud, yet you feel extremely calm. When you're ready, they'll accompany you on the historic Esther, now to be crush. You must get late, as a script, just five minutes. You had established ten, but you couldn't do it anymore. You miss him like crazy, you don't see him for two days.

Rossi awaits you outside the church with the papillon that is so good to him. The girls shall deliver you to him and they hurry to get in their place. The man takes you by the arm and enters. If you weren't too excited, you would realize that here you're with all the people you love, or you've just learned to love. There's the whole team, with family following: Will with the kids, Savannah with her close hand in that of little Hank, Emily and Mark in the bench just behind, together with Spencer and a brunette, short hair, if you could've you would have recognized in that brunette lawyer Duncan, that of the trial, but these days you've been a little too focused on anything else. From the opposite side, in parallel, Tara and his brother, Walker, his wife Monica and their two children. In the next one still, in your part, Hayden, Joy with her husband and their son, now became a young man. In the part of Luke, his brother Ricardo, who had decided to come to the last, along with some of the fellow soldiers.

Going to ascend there are all the special team members with whom you've worked closely together: Jack Garret, Matt Simmons and so on. And then the former colleagues of the task force of your almost husband. And even those who left the BAU, Professor Blake (who spied deeply at Spencer, but you didn't see it), Kate's full family, Ashley and even Jordan, the only missing one is Elle, except Gideon who maybe looks you from above.

But you're unaware of the love that surrounds you, because when you finally lift your head you see only him, shine with natural light. And you do not even care about how well he is dressed in that way and the strange effect to see him dress in tie. Beyond that smile, you can't go. For the first time since you know your best friend, you ignore him completely, you don't realize how grateful to see you so happy, that's what he always wanted for you, even if your happiness could not be him, not in that way, not after Battle, when you chose Kevin in his place. But this is another story.

Even Luke doesn't seem too focused on the words of the priest, yet you two recite the right formulas, and when it comes that instant, you don't make mistakes, neither a single wrong gesture. At the signal Roxy approaches the altar. Again, on her back a box, this time open and containing two rings. The most tender place in the world, you think with tears.

There're no great speeches to do, because you have already done so before, especially him in his meteorological statement. And so after the "yes" there is room only to put the rings and -You may now kiss the bride.- your lips go deeply and the effusion becomes a little less caste; you forced yourself to separate. But by now everyone is giggling.

Start a new phase of your life. And the fact that you have thought in automatic not "mine" but "your", it makes you realize that it could work really, because you're no longer a single, but part of something bigger that completely wraps you.

[panickedpansexualprincess]

I have given myself feels and possible headcanon about Tilde and Michelle and Daisy during TGC while thinking about feels and headcanon I had already given myself/was trying to work out about all the suits in TGC.

Cause. Eggsy, freaking the fuck out about Michelle and Daisy, because he just watched Brandon and JB get blown up in his own fucking house, and he knows Roxy was hit too, and what about his girls, are his girls safe? And thank fucking god that they’d moved out some time ago, because if they had been at his home when the missile hit...

He has to know if they’re okay, but if someone’s hacked into Kingsman enough to know personal home addresses to blow up, nevermind knowing the location of the manor itself, what about his family. He wants so badly to check on them, he has to know if they’re safe, but is it safe to call them? Would someone be watching his phone lines, or theirs? And he and Tilde are already on their way back home, because he has to know, but if it’s not even safe to call them, how could it possibly be safe to actually go to them? He’s not willing to take that chance, even though it hurts to the very depths of his soul, and he’s panicked about them, and Tilde tells him it’s okay, she’ll go to them, she can check on them and make sure they’re alright, while he does whatever he needs to do.

So, as soon as they’re back to London, they’re parting ways; Eggsy to go to the ruins, Tilde to go to Michelle and Daisy’s house. They are safe, thank god, and she fires off a quick text to let Eggsy know. And she does her best not to give any hint to Michelle or Daisy that anything is wrong, but Michelle can tell anyway, and tries to figure out why Tilde is there without Eggsy, where is Eggsy? Tilde expertly avoids the subject, dancing around it, entertaining Daisy with stories about the trip to the palace, telling her how she’ll take her there one day and dress her up just like a princess, and Michelle is suspicious but lets it slide. And Tilde stays the night, while Eggsy is out confronting it all and ends up with Merlin, so she’s there in the morning when the news talks about the bombings that happened the night before, and Michelle knows one of those addresses, and Tilde is quick to reassure that that Eggsy is alright. It’s later that day, when Eggsy and Merlin are on their way to America, that Tilde whisks Michelle and Daisy away from their house, just to be absolutely sure they’ll be safe, and she takes them to the hotel with her, promising them a trip to Sweden, promising to show Daisy the palace, doing her very best to keep them both busy and entertained while Eggsy is off doing what needs to be done.

Tilde treats them both to everything the more-luxurious-than-anything-Michelle’s-ever-seen-before hotel has to offer, and treats them to everything she can in the ultra posh and upscale area around the hotel. Daisy and Michelle even go with her to the pet store, help her pick out the puppy she buys to give to Eggsy, and oh lord, is Daisy enamored of the puppy. When Eggsy comes by to pick up the Glastonbury passes she’d gotten for he and his partner, Michelle and Daisy are at the spa, so he doesn’t get to see them, but Tilde promises him that they’re safe, and that she’ll keep them safe until everything is settled down.

Then of course, the disastrous facetime call happens. Tilde is heartbroken, confused, angry, and she has to get out, she has to leave, she just can’t stay there waiting for him, not after that. But she can’t just disappear the way she wants to, because no matter how upset or angry she is with Eggsy, she can’t just leave Michelle and Daisy like that. So she calls Michelle’s room, and tells her that she has to go back to Sweden sooner than they’d been meaning to. She does her best to hide how broken she feels, although Michelle isn’t stupid, Michelle knows the way a woman who’s been crying and is trying not to show it sounds, so Michelle knows something’s wrong. She even has an inkling that her son has done something stupid, because she knows the way a woman sounds when she’s been crying over a man and is trying not to show it. Michelle promises Tilde that she and Daisy will be fine staying at the hotel for now, to go home to Sweden if she needs to. And Tilde knows that Michelle knows, and is simply not saying anything, and she promises Michelle that, no matter what, she will still take she and Daisy to the palace. Later. Because she’s not going to break her promise to the little girl she’s come to care about as if she were her own little sister, no matter what, but for now... For now she just needs to go.

Michelle and Daisy stay at the hotel, and Tilde goes home to Sweden. Michelle is there at the hotel when Poppy Adams reveals herself to the entire world, and Michelle has never been more fucking glad that Eggsy helped her get clean after he took care of Dean and took she and Daisy away from it all. Michelle has no idea that Tilde, still in Sweden, has fallen victim to a fate that she herself would have fallen victim to had she still been in the estates, trapped with Dean. With Tilde fallen victim to the Blue Rash/Dancing Disease, with Eggsy busy fighting to save the world, no one knows to tell Michelle.

Michelle doesn’t find out until it’s all over. Until after her son (without her knowledge) has saved the world. She doesn’t find out until Tilde returns to the hotel finally, with Eggsy this time. Until after she gets the joyful news that Eggsy has proposed, that Tilde is going to become part of their family now. And when she finds out, from Eggsy much later on, she finds time to find Tilde by herself, while Eggsy is occupied with Daisy elsewhere, and she hugs her fiercely, and tells her that she knows.

Michelle makes Tilde promise that if she ever has that kind of inclination again, to come to her. Tilde’s going to be her daughter-in-law, her family, and she makes sure Tilde knows that she will never have to deal with something like that alone. Because Michelle knows what it can be like, how the high of drugs can call, especially when you’re hurting, and she will be there for Tilde if she ever needs support.