#fun fact I almost called the Foster au ''Foster Your Love'' that would have been terrible however as both AU's would then be FYL

[krikeymate]

In your Foster AU or/and 5 years late AU... how would Sam deal with Tara acting up? Just tiny everyday things parents deal with. Like, Tara refusing to brush her teeth, not wanting to go to bed, not eating her vegetables or crying at the checkout b/c Sam didn't buy the candy she wanted. And let's say it's a good day for Tara, so, like, she's not coming from a place of trauma but genuinely just being petulant b/c she can and she's just a kid. Curious to see how Sam would react in your opinion!

I've answered something similar a little here.

So in Foster AU, if Tara has outbursts, she'll be sent to her room to calm down. Otherwise, generally, the problems get worked through via conversation, a why are you doing this? Sometimes Tara wants a reaction from Sam, and despite how frustrating it is for her, Sam makes sure not to give her one, so that it doesn't encourage it. Sam in this AU very much keeps herself in control and tries to use conversation to deal with Tara, because that's how she learns best, by talking things out.

In Five Years Late AU, they have a little less baggage, so there's more room for topics like grounding, confiscating, and Sam reacting badly if Tara really gets on her nerves (aka, yelling and then feeling immensely guilty about it). Sam's not afraid to manhandle Tara when they're upset with each other in this AU, she will just pick her up when she's having a tantrum and force her where she needs to go.

In Foster AU, Sam's more likely to try and negotiate with Tara, vs FYL where Sam will do the "I'm the adult and what I say goes" routine. But don't be too harsh on her, Sam in this AU is actually more protective and has more to worry about than in Foster AU, where things are very much more controlled.

[ragsweas]

Hobbit Fic Rec List!

MODERN AU!

Hello! I always wanted to share a gigantic list of awesome works in Hobbit fanfic, but realized they are too many. So let's start small. A few modern AU that everybody has to read!

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How to fall in love in 100 days by Kytanna

As their lives intertwine, Thorin, Bilbo, and their nephews learn the meaning of finding a family, love and the hard path towards healing. All, over the course of a hundred days.

A lovely piece with all the cuteness and fluff.

Softer Strokes by autisticalistair

Thorin is a well-known artist living a secluded life in the Swiss Alps. Bilbo is a former history professor living in a trauma rehabilitation centre after a devastating accident that took his parents lives. Through a mutual friend, Bilbo finds himself in Switzerland, and Thorin finds himself with company for the next few months, and neither of them are prepared for what that will bring.

I'll never say 'I love you' by JustReadingMaybeWriting

Bilbo is a veterinary student who one night saves the life a handsome but wounded man. Bilbo should have called an ambulance. If he had called an ambulance, he wouldn't be in this weird mess. He certainly wouldn't be falling in love with the man he saved, who can't seem to leave him alone.

This one's a bit dark, but I love it.

painted blind by nasri

The last time Bilbo stepped foot in Aberdeen it was with a broken heart and a bachelor’s degree. All things considered, this time isn’t so different.

Plan B by Drenagon

Plan B: an alternative strategy; a contingency plan, devised for an outcome other than the expected plan.

Or, sending an unqualified temp to act as Thorin Oakenshield's PA because no one qualified can put up with him.

(He'd say they can't meet his standards. Of course he would.)

Meet Bilbo Baggins. He just became Plan B.

One Modern!AU I always wanted to read and this is just it! It's amazing!! And the whole COmpany is there!!

A Land Far Away by Prollyaghost (Callmerin)

"If we were in a different time or place, this story may have begun with ‘once upon a time’, or even ‘In a hole in the ground, there lived…’ But as it so happens, we are in this time and place, in the outskirts of London, where there are no ‘once upon a times’ and the only holes in grounds lead to sewage tunnels. There does happen to be, however, a man who has dedicated a great deal of his life studying these ‘once upon a time’s. He is an English teacher, enjoys afternoon teas with homemade raisin scones, and he most certainly does not believe in fairy-tales.

His name is Bilbo Baggins, and that last bit about him is about to change."

Bilbo Baggins, an English teacher who has never been outside of England, suddenly finds himself thrust into an adventure when a strange man named Thorin Oakenshield requires his help to fulfil his father’s dying wish. Turns out studying the niche topic of the ancient, fictional society of dwarves was more useful than his parents could have imagined. Plunged into a forgotten land, Thorin and Bilbo must find the mythical Arkenstone, before the legends of the past come back to haunt modern society.

Okay, this one's a WIP, but damn the premise is super interesting and honestly can't wait for the next update!

Nothing Gold Can Stay by perkynurples

Bilbo Baggins led a rather peaceful life, thank you very much, until an old acquaintance decided to turn it upside down, and he found himself agreeing to take a job that’s… let’s say not exactly up his alley, and might eventually cost him a little more than his treasured cozy lifestyle. Who would have thought tutoring a slightly menacing monarch’s more than slightly overbearing nephew could prove to be such an adventure?

This is one of the fics that does not need an introduction. No matter how many times you read this, it isn't enough. And we all love Fili and Kili here.

What to do When Your Cat is an Asshole by lily_winterwood

“You have a cat?” asks the face on the screen. “Yes. His name’s Smaug, he’s orange, and he’s an asshole. Aren’t you, Smaug?” Surly Food Provider glowers at me, which, of course, I am immune to. “Aren’t you a little asshole?” I don’t see why he needs to call me that. My butthole is perfectly licked, and it smells wonderful.

The AU where Smaug is Thorin's asshole cat. Written for the Bagginshield Unexpected Anniversary.

This one's small, and hilarious and even better if you imagine Benedryl Cucumbersnatch narrating the whole thing

No Ordinary Love by badskippy

Bilbo and Ori have been best friends since they were ten years old and tragedy brought them together. Now, a new job, a sudden rainstorm, a chance meeting and budding romance with a burly, handsome stranger will not only alter their lives, but set in motion events that will change everyone around them, and reveal how lies, deceit and assumptions can leave deeper scars than the ones that can be seen.

WIP, unfinished, but damn was this an interesting tale. For anybody who loves angst, go give it a read!

Remember Me by thehistorygeek

Bilbo Baggins and Thorin Oakenshield are destined to suffer. In every life they live, in every age, in every era, they meet, and this meeting brings back all the memories of the lives that have come before. But every meeting serves also as a death sentence, for once they have met, one of them is doomed to die soon after, usually tragically and prematurely. They remember nothing of their past lives until they meet, and once they have there is nothing that can be done to stop their fate.

For anyone obsessed with Reincarnation and/or History, this is it.

A Remover of Obstacles by MistakenMagic

"Dis often chided her older brother for being a misanthropist. She did it so often it had become a term of endearment. It was true that Thorin struggled with people; he struggled to form and maintain relationships. Dr. Grey had diagnosed him with this and Thorin hadn’t the heart to tell him this wasn’t a symptom of his PTSD, it was a symptom of his personality. He exercised a sense of apathy with almost everyone he met… But Bilbo was different. Thorin actually found himself wanting to know more about him."

Another fic that DOES NOT need an introduction. I have read it thrice and every time the emotions are still the same. Trigger Warnings, but damn this is all worth it.

An Unexpected Meeting by what_am_i_even_doing_tho

This is the chronicling of the modern day shenanigans of Bilbo Baggins, who is an absolute gay disaster, and Thorin Oakenshield, who is unashamedly enamored. Aka, the modern Bagginshield AU that no one ever asked for but they're getting anyway.

green and gilded by nasri

The next time he visits his parents there are flowers left in the grass, pressed back against the gravestone. They are yellow and white daffodils, plain and wilting.

“Who’s been to see you?” He asks, taking a single photo of the flowers with their drooping stems and curled petals and the wet winter grass that surrounds them. His mother would call it kind, his father might say it's curious, and Bilbo takes another petal to tuck into his pocket.

You know those stories that you read once and then they never leave your head? And somehow your whole life begins to revolve around that one story? Yeah, this is it. Spoilers in tag and I would suggest you read before advancing cause many people do not like it, but even if you are not in that group, just give it a read. This story deserves all the reads.

Bran' New Suit by pibroch (littleblackdog)

Andrew's description had been sufficient to recognize him— a riot of honey brown curls, short in stature, a well-favoured face with expressive features— but it hadn't quite been enough to prepare Tom for the sharp, almost painful tug in his gut at the sight of the man. They had never met before, to the best of Tom's recollection, but there was something eerily and inexplicably familiar about him all the same.

One of the first Modern AU I read and dauym...you won't get it until the end but then...it's fun.

Under New Management by frostyjack

Fili's life is pretty good -- he's doing well at university, he gets on well with his uncle and guardian Thorin, and he's never likely to know what it's like to be poor or unwanted. Then Thorin takes in a foster child -- Kili Oakenshield, a long-lost relative whose past is a total mystery. Suddenly, Fili's life gets a whole lot more complicated. But maybe it gets better, too.

Lots of trigger warning for this one, but when the end comes, you'll know it's all been worth it.

One-Sided Conversations by northerntrash

"Thank you for listening," Thorin said, getting to his feet. "I hope to be able to return the favour, one day."

The man on the bed didn't respond, but since he'd been in a coma for longer than Thorin had known him, that wasn't entirely surprising.

(Not Quite) Prince Charming by manic_intent

The problem, Bilbo would later tell Gandalf in aggrieved irritation, was not so much the unannounced visitors, oh no, but the fact that due to the lateness of the hour and sheer merciless fate, it came to be that at the respectable age of forty, Bilbo was being introduced to a real, live king while wearing striped pyjamas and fluffy slippers.

The Making of a Story by northerntrash

When Bilbo finds a case of old family photographs, he becomes determined to find the original owners: what he does not expect is to become quite so involved in their lives, or that those photographs should prove quite so important.

Misunderstandings and other obstacles for love by ylc

This series dammit! It's amazing, and the dynamics you would ask from a Modern AU.

Candle Glow and Mistletoe by euseevius

Bilbo and Thorin have been married for six months now. The thing is, Thorin’s family doesn’t know this. And because pretending to be just friends for the three weeks you’re going to spend at the family cabin is so much easier than telling the truth, that is what they will do.

(Of course Bilbo has his own ideas of how believable it is for a grown man to bring a friend to spend Christmas with his family. That’s why they make a bet out of it.)

For days you need to just laugh at these two idiots.

The Lost Kingdom of Erebor by Twisted_Barbie

AU. The Lost Kingdom of Erebor is shrouded in myth, likened to the heavens and compared to Atlantis. Until an archaeological discovery unearths that which was lost and awakens the Mad King from his cursed eternal rest.

Not a happy ending, and mysterious and you need to give it a read. Just, do it. It will all be worth it.

Of Palaces and Ruins by livelongandgetiton

Slow burn. Bilbo Baggins is a half-baked archaeologist who has put his dreams of adventure on hold to teach secondary school. Thorin is the grandson of a politically powerful figure in the historically rich and deeply isolationist country of Erebor. When he flees conflict and corruption in Erebor to settle in London, he finds his hands full with two young boys. Gandalf meddles, and Bilbo signs on as a personal tutor for the boys in hopes of getting a foot in the door to archaeological work in Erebor. He soon discovers that Thorin is a tough nut to crack. As Bilbo takes care of the boys he and Thorin grow closer, and secrets about not just the brooding stranger, but the mysterious country and politics of Erebor begin to unravel. It turns out that Bilbo isn't leaving adventure behind, after all.

WIP, updating. JUST READ IT!!!

Write Me Down Easy by lucyraebrown

Bilbo Baggins, a simple man with a wish for something more than his life teaching high school English, is obsessed with a famous author by the pen-name Oakenshield. Although he knows the future is dim for his chances of finding out about the man behind his favorite book, it's reassuring to know someone has the same thoughts about the world.

WIP, updating. It's mostly fuff and happiness, so yesss...feed your inner Bagginshield!

Show Me My Silver Lining by BiSquared

Three years after the hostile takeover of his grandfather's record label by one DJ Smaug, lead singer Thorin Oakenshield is ready to give up on his dreams, even if his band isn't ready to give up on him. If Thorin can convince talent scout Bilbo Baggins to sign them, they might just have a fighting chance. Of course, this is the night when Thorin gets stage fright.

The music industry AU no one asked for.

Love-In-Idleness by perkynurples       

Taking Bilbo Baggins, a successful movie actor who is only just getting used to the perks and intricacies of becoming A Face People Want To See, and putting him together with Thorin Oakenshield, with his very traditional (read: slightly backwards) ideas about what constitutes Real Art and Real Talent, might very well be viewed as just some clothead’s idea of a joke. But there are jokes, and then there are carefully calculated risks the size of controversial reproductions of classic Shakespearean plays - for Bilbo, it is the chance of a lifetime to prove himself to all those who have ever deemed him too one-dimensional to even attempt stage, while Thorin has the opportunity to get out of the rut that’s been hindering his career for so long now, and shine in a role worthy of his talent once again. That is if the two learn how to share the same space for more than ten minutes without wanting to tear each other’s hair out. The course of true love never did run smooth, after all…

Did I read this in one go? Yes I did. Did I fall in love with Bagginshiled all over again? Yes I did.

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And that's the list folks! I hope you guys have fun reading all of these nice fics! (And all the bagginshield angst/fuff)

[ferret-not-microwave]

Les Amis Modern AU: What They Wish Others Believed About Them (Part 5)

[I kind of wrote this in response to some general trends in characterising the Amis. There are some stereotypes which I'm not quite comfortable with.]

[Hey, y'all! I'm so sorry for not posting this series for a long time, I was flattened for the past 12 days by COVID-19. We have Cosette and Marius today, and I'm so glad that I am feeling better enough to write about them. Cheerio!]

Cosette:

• Is fed up of being considered dainty, fragile, weak and excessively nice, a bit of a pushover. She is anything but. Living with crappy foster parents don't really let you do that. She can stand up against bullshit with biting sarcasm if necessary. It's just that Cosette doesn't rise to the bait very easily, because she has trained herself to ignore battles which don't need her attention. But that doesn't mean that she needs to be protected all the time.

• Is sick of having to relate her childhood traumas in order to not be judged as being a privileged airhead. Cosette likes buying nice things. She likes fashion, and she has some habits from Catholic school, still. She spends a lot of money on her friends and loved ones. She is sunshiney and injects bougie humour and fun into meetings. That doesn't mean that she knows nothing about the shitty world, and that she doesn't actively try to make ethical choices in her consumer behaviour and social commitments. She really dislikes the "Ohhhhh" moment coming from someone judging her for her privilege when someone tells her story to them. Why presume that people are shitty for no reason, damnit?

• Is sick of being mistaken as straight. On one memorable Pride, she was called "straight passing". She dislikes the term immensely. She thinks that people do not have the liberty to immediately assume that she is heterosexual because Marius is her partner. Similarly, people do not get to assume her sexuality because she presents stereotypically femme.

• She feels insecure and uncomfortable when people fix too much attention on her in relation to someone else, as if to scrutinize her. It happened twice amongst the Amis, once when Marius introduced her as his crush for the first time, and once when they came to know that she and Eponine knew each other since childhood, and that Eponine's parents were her abusive foster parents. She likes it better if she were befriended for being herself.

• She feels a little frustrated that people didn't get her conflicting feelings towards Eponine. People immediately assumed that she forgave and forgot everything Eponine had done or said when they were children, in her "characteristically sweet way". Actually, the first time she saw Eponine, her fear reared its ugly head again and she almost ran out of the Musain. There was much dancing around Eponine (who seemed worn out and super uncomfortable as well) and it is only with Marius and Courfeyrac's help that Cosette could start a conversion with Eponine. She did it not be particularly forgiving (though she eventually forgave her anyway), but because she needed to leave her emotional baggage behind and move on.

• A large part of Cosette's forgiveness towards Eponine was fuelled by the knowledge of Eponine's own abuse at her parents' hands. As someone who had faced quite a bit of the same abuse, she needed to put her foot down. Cosette was extremely angry about it, and her anger made sure that Eponine could separate from her parents faster, and eventually get custody of her siblings.

• She hates, hates, hates it when people remind her that she's lucky to get an adoptive father like Valjean particularly after she has a row with him. Just because her foster parents were shitty doesn't mean that she cannot speak against some of Valjeans imperfections! And children often disagree with their parents. She doesn't need to be dampened with the idea that she should basically think Valjean to be perfect because of her past. She is fiercely loyal to Valjean, and doesn't need anyone to test that.

• Cosette is protective of Marius. No one gets to mow Marius over with judgements and snide comments. In fact, Marius found himself being not so much the butt of jokes anymore after Cosette teaches him to stand up for himself. At the same time, Cosette does not helicopter parent Marius. She does tease him within limits, and does not usually interfere when he has disagreements with the Amis. It is a fine balance which does exhaust her sometimes.

• Cosette can be mischievous, even impish. She can land punches (whether they hurt or not doesn't matter), ace paintball/mudslinging matches, play the best pranks on April Fool's Day and curse like a sailor if needed. She is especially proud of the wide-eyed look she still gets from some of the Amis at her antics. She can also get people out of trouble faster than you can say "bail".

Marius:

• Marius feels scared of being judged. It is really, really difficult to understand your own privilege when you come from a super rich, super bigoted family (read grandfather). He has taken lots of embarrassing knocks and call-outs every day till now, but he is learning, and learning fast. The Amis know, and for them he isn't some peripheral person anymore, but an integral part. But sometimes he wakes up with nightmares of being kicked out as a wokeboi and a fraud by the whole group. He often stumbles over his words because he panics that maybe what he is trying to say is problematic. It takes him months to take any initiative in the Amis because he suffers from imposter syndrome all the time.

• Marius hid all information about his favourites (he loves strawberry rosé macarons and silver needle tea, for instance) because he thought that he would be judged as a rich brat. Funnily, it was Ferre who had figured these out and was the first Amis to give him a small tea chest and a box of macarons as a birthday gift (followed closely by Courf and Jehan with a huge birthday party). It took time for Marius to understand that just because he got a bit panned for his political opinions the first time, it doesn't mean that the Amis hate him.

• Quite unlike popular belief, Marius and Ferre do get along very well. They share a lot of niche interests (poring over etymology dictionaries and having a love of museums and trivia nights). They did discuss that first "to be free" moment, and Marius had placed his request to be given more chances to undo his problematic stances. (There was also another "to be free" moment that had left Ferre stunned, but it's a them thing). It hurts Marius when people immediately think that he's probably annoying Ferre when they hang out.

• Marius is not stupid. Please. The whole idea people have that he is stupid because of his awkwardness and shyness is plain mean at times. No, he doesn't need to be talked to slowly, like talking to a child. Whenever he has the courage, he brings up a lot of valid points in Musain meetings. He is extremely resourceful in handling money and talks with boring rich people, and fundraisers have never been better without him. He is juggling a double Masters degree with internships and volunteer services, and picks up languages at the drop of a hat (including Elvish).

• Marius has also had that dangerous phase when, in a bid to be as radical as possible, he fell into trouble way too many times. Even the most even-tempered of them all (read Jehan) has outright cried in exasperation on finding Marius glaring at a policeman in a protest, promising to burn the place down with a flare if they didn't back off from hitting protestors. Marius has similarly taken punches and hits, and there was a time when Joly would hover around him to administer first aid as quickly as possible. It took Enj and R a whole day to explain to him the merits of self-preservation and that revolution today does not necessarily involve a militant loss of life.

• Marius has also that phase when he drove a college sophomore to tears with his radical speech. Aka attacking the heck out of the kid's problematic Facebook post. Cosette had to give him a talk. Marius is learning about how to be a zealous but kind activist every day.

[today-only-happens-once]

Boy Band AU is Romantic LAMP (eventually)

Or, I was thinking about the boy band au and was like, y’know what? Could be gayer.

warnings: cursing, kissing, some miscommunication and angst, mentions of/fear of resentment and divorce, running away from problems as an anxiety response, getting together, happy endgame romantic lamp stuff tho

This got so long I’m so sorry, y’all. It started as just “listing fun facts about it” and evolved into a bulletfic. Woops. 

It doesn’t happen right away. In fact, it’s... a very long, slow process for them all getting together. Years down the road, actually.

They all have moments of Gay Panic when it comes to the others throughout those years, but... especially at first, none of them are really feel like they’re in a good place to enter any kind of committed romantic relationship.

And since those feelings don’t really develop strongly and complexly until later on in their lives, they fortunately already know about polyam people--though at first, none of them know that the others are also that way.

So there’s several years of sort of figuring themselves out and learning about one another in a tight-knit-friendship kind of way, and then a few more years of romantic pining and uncertainty before they figure it out haha

It’s seven years into their band career that Grandma Foster places a bet against Remy on who confesses first. Grandma Foster’s money is on Roman. Remy’s money is on Patton. 

It’s ten years from meeting each other, within the month, that the ice finally breaks. And when it does, they’re both wrong. Logan confesses first. 

though the confession happens within, like, minutes of each other. Because well--

Logan had started acting weird. And weird like, distant? And it was bothering all of them, but any time one of them tried to talk to him about it, Logan just pretended like he didn’t understand where they were getting that from. 

And eventually, they all corner him (figuratively, but kind of literally too because Logan is chilling on the couch when they talk to him) and Virgil is like “cut the bullshit, Logan” 

And it’s a long, messy conversation between all of them. Because turns out, Logan does cut the bullshit, and confesses to feeling attracted to all three of them, and he doesn’t want to make them uncomfortable and he definitely doesn’t want to lose them. and if they don’t like him back, that’s fine, honestly, he’s sure the feelings will fade (which Logan thinks might be a lie, he’s not sure, but... the alternative is losing them, and Logan doesn’t think he could handle that)

Roman confesses next. It’s like opening the floodgates of his feelings and he waxes poetic about all of them but he says it so earnestly, how he’s known he’s loved them all for years, and think he’s loved them all for a lot longer than even he realizes--

Patton is next. How Logan couldn’t possibly get rid of him that easily, not when he loves them all too and yes, yes in that way, hadn’t it been obvious?

Virgil, though... Virgil freezes. 

Because yes, yes of course he has these feelings for them all. But suddenly it feels like everything is changing, all at once, and Virgil knows he should feel relieved and happy because they feel the same way about him that he feels about them but all he actually feels is fear. Because Virgil doesn’t do well with Big Sudden Change and this feels like a Very Big and Very Sudden Change. 

On top of that, in the back of his mind, is Virgil’s parents and how they used to talk about how in love they were with each other once upon a time and somehow, along the way, that dissolved into fighting and arguments and divorce and resentment--

So Virgil bolts. Not quite literally, but close to it. He stammers out a “I-I need some air” and grabs his keys and wallet and leaves and tries not to feel the weight of their gazes on his back. He pretends he doesn’t hear Roman say his name when he closes the door behind him.

Virgil drives. He doesn’t really know where he’s going, he’s just going. By the time he’s done, he’s at the coast. He leaves his shoes and socks in the car, trying to ignore the churning in his stomach. He does have enough wherewithal to text the other boys a quick message ( “sorry. went to the coast. just need to think”) and tosses his phone in the backseat before the sense of guilt crushes him completely. 

He walks to the shoreline. The sun is setting at this point and the feeling of the sand under his feet and between his toes, plus the cool waves lapping at his ankles, helps ground him enough that his breathing doesn’t feel quite so tight anymore. 

He’s not sure how long he’s standing there, looking out at the horizon line, but he figures it must be a couple hours because he hears footsteps stepping up behind him and when he looks over his shoulder (expecting maybe Patton or Logan or Roman or all three), he’s surprised to find it’s Remy.

It’s almost 8 in the evening, so Virgil arcs an eyebrow at the iced coffee in his hands, but says nothing about. Remy stands beside him, also without shoes/socks, and stares out at the horizon line with him for a long moment before he says anything.

when he does, all remy says is, “wanna talk about it?”

Virgil just shoves his hands into the pockets of his hoodie. “how much do you know?”

A sip of coffee. “Not much. They’re worried. Wanted me to check up on you. Logan said something about ‘respecting your need for space’ but Roman said something about ‘walking into the ocean’. He was hard to hear in the background.” 

Despite himself, Virgil snorts and glances down at the water lapping at his ankles. “Only a few feet.”

Remy’s mouth quirks. “So. Do you wanna talk about it, babe, or should I just tell the boys that you’re all right and you’ll go back when you’re ready?”

And Virgil takes a deep breath that shakes a lot on the exhale, and finds himself explaining everything. About how he feels about them, how they said they feel about him, about his parents, about how everything changes and he just wasn’t ready for it and he as much as the love is present he’s afraid--he’s so afraid--that will change down the road. 

And Remy just stands there and listens. When Virgil sits down, still talking, Remy stays standing for a moment before sitting beside him. Virgil talks until the sky is mostly dark. 

When he’s done, there’s a long stretch of silence. And then all Remy asks is “have you told this--any of it--to them?” 

Which, no. He hasn’t.

“Why?”

Virgil isn’t sure. At first, it had just been sudden and overwhelming and he needed a break from the suddenness of it all, so he left. It wasn’t until the drive and staring out into the ocean getting his breathing under control that Virgil was able to sift through the minefield of his fears and thoughts. 

Remy sighs, taking his sunglasses off now that the sky was practically nightfall--only the faintest traces of dusk still kiss the horizon line--and watches the waves roll in. “Free advice is worth what you pay for,” he begins.

“That’s what Gram always says.”

“Yeah, well. She’s a smart lady.” He takes another sip of mostly-melted iced coffee. “Look, Virgil. Are you your parents? Or, for that matter, are Roman, Logan, and Patton your parents?”

“No. Thank God.”

Remy gives him a pointed look. 

“Oh.”

Remy shrugs. “Look, your relationship to those boys is whatever you want it to be. I’ve known you all for the past ten years, and I’ve been watching the way you four care for and about one another evolve. It’s become an ingrained part of who you all are as a unit. I don’t think that’s liable to change, romantic relationship or not.” 

“But--”

“And,” Remy adds pointedly, “if you want a relationship with them, and you don’t go for it because you’re afraid it will end badly... well. It sounds like you’re ending it before it’s even given a chance.” 

And, well, Virgil finds that maybe Remy has a point. The two of them sit together a bit longer, and Virgil is pretty sure it’s just Remy’s way of making absolutely sure Virgil is really, actually okay, before he gets up and leaves. 

Virgil leaves only a minute or so after Remy does. He jumps in his car, checks his phone (and tries not to wince at the missed calls from all three of them) and sees a text from Logan sent through the group text that signals to Virgil it’s probably a message from all three of them. 

It’s relatively long--unusual for Logan texts--apologizing if they overwhelmed him, a heads up that they’ve sent Remy to check on him and they understand if he wants space, reassurance that he doesn’t have to be part of their romantic relationship if he doesn’t want to and that nothing has to change (that note about change is repeated a couple of times in the paragraph of text and Virgil is reminded of how well the boys know him at this point) for Virgil if he doesn’t want it to.

Virgil feels a little bad but he’d really rather have this conversation face-to-face (er... really, his anxiety would rather do it over text, but he feels like he owes it to the other three to talk about it in-person) so he just texts back “on my way back”. 

When he gets back, they’re all still awake. Patton is in his cat onesie, Roman in PJs (with his head in Patton’s lap, and if that doesn’t make Virgil’s chest warm with unexpected affection), and Logan still wearing what he had been when Virgil left, pacing in front of the TV. 

They all look up and freeze when Virgil steps through the door and Virgil closes it behind him, kind rubbing the back of his neck and is like “guys... I’m sorry for freaking out--”

which Logan immediately jumps in with “it’s completely understandable. A lot was happening in that conversation, a lot of things probably percieved to be changing--”

“I still shouldn’t have left,” Virgil says firmly. “That was unfair to you all. I was... It was a lot, yeah, but... I should have explained more before leaving. But... I... I can explain now, if you all... have a moment?” 

They all nod, and so Virgil stammers through his conversation with Remy, if slightly more coherent this time because he’d already spilled it all from his mind once today. And he ends with what Remy had said before he left, about how none of them are his parents, and while he’s still worried and afraid of what kind of end they could all conceivably reach, it’s also not fair to not give the four of them a chance. 

So... that’s how they all become official! Also, Logan kisses Virgil first. 

Boy Band AU Taglist: @virgil-is-the-moodiest-mood, @withspaces, @iampengwing, @thecatchat, @northern-borealis, @panicatthebiggestpartyofthefall, @trans-demon-king, @sapph-writes-sanders, @flamingfawkes, @andreaissy, @legalitiesiwthabiscuit, @h-m-t-w-n, @i-didnt-say-liar-i-said-lawyer, @hazbin-hotel-has-my-soul, @nerdleafeon, @wynniwirt, @creativenostalgiastuff

[skinsharpenedteeth]

No clue what to call this one...

It’s PunkRock!Michael and Emo!Alex AU that pretty much no one asked for. That being said, it’s for @litwitlady per our previous conversation about the subtle difference with punk and emo kids.  As a warning, it fluff n smut.

              The ground vibrated under Alex Manes bright red converse and he wondered if he’d be able to hear anything once this night was over. He’d found the furthest wall and decided to hold it up for the evening as he waited for Maria to get done with her one-woman-mission to fuck SOMEONE in this derelict house that operated as a “music venue”. All the rooms were lit with harsh yellow lighting, bereft of all but the most untrustworthy looking furniture, and there were dents and holes in walls all over the place. Alex was a little afraid the second floor would cave in at some point and he’d have to find out that people actually lived here.

Looking back up towards the corner of what was once considered the dining room of the house, he was happy to see that he couldn’t see Maria anymore. Maybe she’d gotten lucky faster than he’d figured she would and soon they’d be able to get out of here. But that might still take a while, so Alex slid down the wall and took out the book he’d been reading about the perks of being a wallflower. He noted someone coming to stand next to him in this periphery but didn’t look up. He didn’t want to engage anyone here and the bouncing of their leg by his shoulder made him sure they weren’t looking to engage him either since they seemed to be enjoying the band.

               When the band finally wound down, the figure that had been standing next to him practically fell onto the floor in a heap of legs and elbows. He turned to look and saw it was Michael Guerin, probably the most serious, mysterious, hard core punk kid at his school. His blonde curly hair had been streaked with green and slicked back from his face. He didn’t wear any make-up like some of the punk kids did or Alex himself for that matter. He had on a D.A.R.E. shirt with the sides and sleeves ripped off which showed off his lithe, strong body when he slumped forward. The shirt was tucked into tight black jeans with safety pinned holes up and down the legs. He wore the rattiest shit-kicker boots Alex had ever seen which were covered with patches, pins, and spikes. He’d left his spiked bracelets and collar that he’d worn at school at home for the evening and Alex felt like he was almost seeing him naked. Which wasn’t unwelcome because for all Michael Guerin’s faults, being unattractive was not among them.

              “Having fun?” Michael asked, looking over at him in between nodding and slapping hands with various people milling around in the crowd. The band was breaking down their gear and everyone was moving to other parts of the house or out into the yard between acts. Alex pursed his lips at him and went back to his book. He was sure he was just fucking with him. Michael Guerin didn’t make small talk. He mostly just stalked the halls and kept his head down in classes. Alex couldn’t look at him without rolling his eyes sometimes, he was such a cliché.

              “I, uh, don’t think I’ve seen you at many of these. Thought you liked fuckin’ Panic! At the Disco and shit…” he continued, sneaking looks over at Alex. Alex sighed through his nose loudly. Apparently, they were going to do this tonight.

              “I’m here with Maria,” Alex finally responded, still not looking up from the book he was frankly only pretending to read at this point.

              “Oh? I saw her leave with one of the guitarists from the first band. Was she your ride?” Michael asked, sounding nervous. Alex did look at him then, trying to see if he was just fucking with him or if he was being sincere. When he decided he couldn’t tell, he dug his phone out of his back pocket and saw a missed call and a text from Maria.

>Found something strange and hopefully wonderful. Won’t be back tonight.

              “God fucking damnit, Maria,” Alex exclaimed, almost throwing his phone in frustration.

              “So I guess that’s a yes?” Michael asked a little sheepishly.

              “This is why you never see me at these things. I don’t have a fucking car and my ride likes to fuck strangers and ends up deserting me. I fucking know better. Ugh, fucking Maria,” he raged. Michael watched him at it for a while. Meanwhile the other band had finished setting up and people were starting to filter back into the room. Alex looked around at the people and groaned, just wanting to leave and get out of here.

              “Hey, come on. Let’s go outside. It’s about to get loud,” Michael suggested, standing up and offering Alex his hand. Alex absently noted that his fingernails were painted, though the polish was cheap and had already chipped off in several places. At the first screech of feedback from the amps, Alex grabbed his hand and let Michael pull him up. He shoved the paperback into his back pocket and looked Guerin in the eyes, feeling a fluttery feeling in his chest when their eyes met. He was a bit surprised when Michael didn’t immediately drop his hand, but instead held it while leading him through the dingy kitchen and out to the backyard area. A group of smokers hung around the door chatting and they called ‘Hey-o!’ in excitement when they saw Michael. He waved and grinned at them but kept tugging Alex with him until they were past the property line. Apparently, someone had found a couch on the side of the road and had moved it out into the undeveloped desert behind the house to stare out at the dark nothing beyond. When they reached the front of the couch Michael finally let go of his hand and flopped down on the cushions at one end with a sigh.

              “Uh, what are we doing?” Alex asked, looking over his shoulder to see if anyone had followed them. He shuffled a little and stared down at the orange and white plaid couch dubiously.

              “We’re hanging out. Chill, sit down, enjoy the night with me. We’ll still be able to hear the band from here,” he added, patting the spot next to him.

              “Oh, goody,” Alex remarked sarcastically before sitting himself down on the cushion farthest from Michael’s. He still didn’t quite trust his intentions, but he was glad to be out of the house. They could, in fact, here the band still, but the lyrics were muffled and it almost sounded like the songs had a melody this far out.

              “So, what’s up with the finger bruises on your arm?” Michael asked, pointing towards where Alex’s shirt sleeves had ridden up when he’d finally sat down. “Girlfriend like to get a little rough?”

              “Uhh…. That would be pretty remarkable since I’m totally gay and you know it. Like, everyone knows it,” Alex accused, deflecting his question about the bruises. He didn’t want to talk about his problems with strangers. As hot as this guy was, he was still a stranger. Michael smiled widely at him.

              “I didn’t know if that was a rumor or what, man,” he replied easily, seeming to take Alex’s correction in stride. For some reason that threw Alex off. He’d been waiting for an attack.

              “Oh,” Alex said, feeling a little deflated, “Well, it’s not. I’m gay. Does that make you want to run back to the party? Afraid someone will see you out here with the emo faggot?”

              Michael’s smile fell and he looked a little insulted. Alex almost apologized, but he didn’t owe this punk anything and he kind of wanted to see how he reacted to some pushing. His tone was less congenial when he finally answered.

              “I don’t give a fuck who you’re into. Love is love. What I do want to know is who the fuck keeps bruising you up all the time? Those aren’t love taps I saw on your ribs the other day in the locker room and you don’t skate or play sports. Who’s fucking you up?”

              He sounded mad, indignant on behalf of a stranger. On behalf of Alex, who was not used anyone giving a shit about him. It was a new feeling for Alex to have someone pay that much attention to him and care that he was being hurt. But he couldn’t just say ‘My dad knocks me around because I crave cock and hate the military’ so he kept his mouth shut and Michael watched him stay silent, watched him tense up with his shoulders closer to his ears and wrap his arms around his body. He obviously wasn’t going to say anything so Michael tried a different tactic.

              “The foster family I’m with right now… they’re alright. But the family I was with before them? Fucking meth heads. And meth heads get mean when they’re coming down,” Michael said, turning and pulling his shirt over his head to show Alex his back. There were long thin grooves over the middle of his back and little round scars like burns. “Not all that is the meth heads. The long scars were from the religious zealots I got put with a couple years ago. Being exorcised isn’t fun, but the lead up was worse.”

              Alex stared at the skin in horrified fascination, moving closer to see them better in the faint light of the moon. Before he knew what he was doing, he was reaching out to trace along one of the scars with his fingers, but at the last minute came to his senses and brought his hand back.

              “That’s awful, Michael,” Alex whispered. Michael pulled his shirt back down and turned to him, a bittersweet smile on his face.

              “Well, it’s all healed over now. Right now, no ones hurting me. So, who’s hurting you? Are you getting bullied? I know that Valenti kid is a fucking homophobic piece of shit jock bully, but if he’s literally beating you up I will get my boys and we’ll tear his ass in two,” Michael threatened with passion. Alex looked at him, feeling his face soften at how serious Michael was.

              “You can’t defend me like that. Kyle’s a fucking jerk, but he’s not doing this. It’s..uh… It’s my dad. He’s the one hitting me,” Alex admitted quietly. Somewhere in the middle of his confession, he had started to find his own hands fascinating. So fascinating he couldn’t look up to see Michael’s expression over his confession, but instead just kept watching the way his skin pulled taut when he interlaced them and twisted one way or the other. One of Michael’s hands came into his view then and covered his own, stopping their anxious twisting. Alex froze and waited.  He didn’t know what reaction he was hoping for but he felt himself bracing for it.

              “Do you have somewhere to go to get away from him?” Michael asked, his voice now quiet next to Alex’s ear. The hand not on Alex’s came to rest between his shoulder blades, thumb rubbing soothing circles through the cotton of his shirt. Alex felt his body relax a fraction, slumping a little as he realized he wasn’t about to be attacked.

              “Yeah, yeah. I have friends who will let me stay with them,” Alex managed to get out through the thickness in his throat.

              “Add me to that list,” Michael said. Alex’s head jerked up to look at him and he realized he was only a couple breaths away from him. “I’m serious. Add me to the list of people you can call if you need an out. I’ve got a truck, I’ll come get you. No questions asked, nothing owed.”

              “You don’t know me, Guerin,” Alex said in the stillness between them. He couldn’t stop his gaze from moving from his perfect hazel eyes down to his lips. He suddenly knew he wanted to kiss this guy. Whatever happened after was fine, but he wanted to do something reckless. Michael was pushing a long piece of hair back behind Alex’s ear and looking at him fondly and it made Alex’s gut clench with want.

              “Sometimes people do nice things without an expectations. It’s been known to happen,” he replied. Alex nodded and swallowed, suddenly filled with nerves again, though for a very different reason than before.

He saw Michael watching him, watching the way his eyes kept darting down to look at his lips, watching the way he mirrored licking them with his own. Slowly Michael leaned forward, closing the distance between them and pressed his lips against Alex’s. Alex was cupping his jaw and keeping him close before Michael could back away and end the kiss. Alex opened his lips, his tongue lickeding over Michael’s in a request and a question. This wasn’t Alex’s first kiss, but it was the first one he was adamant about pursuing further. Michael hummed deep in his throat and opened to Alex’s advances, letting him explore his mouth with his tongue before doing the same with his own. Alex felt breathless and elated. He didn’t care that the music in the background was hardcore punk being played so badly Syd Vicious would be rolling over in his grave. He didn’t care that he was kissing Michael on a dirty, half rotten couch out in the desert where anyone could see them and tell his father what he’d been doing with another boy. He didn’t care that Maria had left him to fend for himself so she could chase boys. This half-crazed make out session with Michael Guerin was making it the best night of his life so far.

              Maybe it was the lack of oxygen or the adrenaline of being seen by someone he’d never admitted to himself that he’d always been hyperaware of, but Alex couldn’t stop his hands from falling from Michael’s jaw and starting to grope at the skin exposed by the open sides of Michael’s shirt. In response, Michael turned his body and started to pull Alex until he was sitting straddled across his lap. Then it was Michael’s turn to slip his hands under the hem of Alex’s shirt and let his hands slide over the muscles of his back and waist. When it became too much, Alex finally broke their never-ending kiss to gasp air into his lungs. Michael didn’t miss a beat, his mouth attaching itself to Alex’s neck with sucking, stinging kisses that made Alex want to go crazy.

              “Fuck,” Alex groaned when he felt Michael’s fingers start to slip past the waist band of his jeans. It was so hot to feel him against his skin. It was too much, though, just too much with someone he’d really just been introduced to. “Wait, wait, wait! We gotta slow down…”

              Michael groaned and buried his head against Alex’s shoulder, hands immediately coming out from under his shirt and wrapping him up in a hug. Alex slowly withdrew his own hands, resting them on Michael’s shoulders while they both calmed down and regained their breath.

              “Sorry,” Michael murmured against his shirt before lifting his head and giving him a quick, close-mouthed kiss. “Sorry.”

              Alex smiled and laughed a little, rubbing his hands up and down Michael’s upper arms while he gathered himself. He was nervous about having stopped them, but he was still so fucking happy about what had happened.

              “It’s okay. All of that was okay, I just… Where did this come from? You don’t even know me, you’ve never talked to me at school or even, like, acknowledged my presence…” Alex said, eyes flickering over Michael’s face. He saw the way his expression went soft and slightly incredulous.

              “I may not know your favorite color, but I’ve wanted to kiss your emo eyeliner wearing ass since my first day at Roswell High. You’re always being so snarky and bratty to everyone and then when you’re with your friends? Your smile lights up the place and it’s so rare to see, but so fucking beautiful. It’s just… man, fuck school. Fuck those people. Fuck the kids, fuck the adults, fuck the institution. They’re answering just enough of the questions to keep us from asking more. It’s a fucking joke. I’m not in the right headspace at school. You’re about the only good thing about showing up every day. Just seeing you makes me hate humanity a little less.”

              Alex felt the heat of a blush infusing his face, but he also couldn’t stop smiling. This guy. This fucking guy.

              “Your,uh… your smile is pretty great too. I think tonight’s the first time I’ve even ever seen you smile,” Alex commented, his arms wrapping comfortably around Michael’s neck. Michael’s lips widened into a cheesy approximation of a smile that really just showed all his teeth with his lips pulled back while he crossed his eyes.

              “Oh my God, staaahhhp,” Alex said laughing at the stupid face. When Michael let his features relax back to normal, Alex darted in and kissed him. He meant for it to be one kiss, but it quickly turned into more as the heat which had been banked earlier, now came back to life with more energy.

              “Can we lay down? My legs are going to sleep,” Michael mumbled between kisses against Alex’s lips. Alex jumped and was about to scramble back and off his legs when he felt Michael’s hands under his butt and then he was being tilted backwards until his back rested against the cushions.

              “I shudder to think what’s on these pillows,” Alex grumbled even as he widened his legs and let Michael sink between them to rest his body against Alex’s. The weight and friction felt amazing. He suddenly didn’t care about the scratchy upholstery where his shirt at ridden up his back. He just wanted Michael’s mouth back on his and to keep feeling his body writhing on top of him.

              “You want to add to the mess?” Michael asked after breaking their kiss, raising an eyebrow and smiling mischievously. Alex looked at him confused for a moment and then his eyes followed Michael’s hand as it slid down to his own jeans, flicking the button open and leaving his hand on the zipper tongue. Alex’s eyes widened and he shot up to meet Michael in a kiss before glancing back down between them. It was so hot. He could tell Michael wasn’t wearing any underwear and his pants were almost painfully tight against his own body. “Alex?”

              “Fuck, yes. So much yes. All the yes. Enthusiastic conset given,” Alex babbled between kisses, his hands sliding down to start undoing his own jeans. Michael’s hand followed his, pushing his away so he could cup Alex through the black cotton of his boxer briefs. Alex felt like he could come just from that. His body was vibrating, breath caught in his throat as he gasped at the feeling of someone else’s hand so close to his own dick. He wanted to reciprocate. He wanted to touch Michael back so with shaky hands, he slowly pulled down Michael’s zipper and pushed aside the fabric of his pants. He felt the velvety skin against the back of his hand and then he pulled it out. Michael was uncircumcised. Alex felt like he knew this somewhere in his hind brain from talk or the locker room showers or something, but it was different when it was something you glanced while trying to hide as much of your own body as possible. Now it was thick and heavy in his hand. The foreskin moved in such a hypnotic way as Alex pulled and then pushed gently until he could see the wet, spongey head of Michael’s cock. It was giving him all sorts of scary, wonderful ideas of things he wanted to do and try that was definitely way too fast for a random hook up on a murder couch.

              “Does it freak you out?” Michael asked, voice a little breathy as he held still and let Alex play with him. Alex shook his head slowly, still watching his own hand as he jacked Michael’s cock, thumb swiping and spreading the precome over the head. Finally, Alex’s brain came back online and he looked up into Michael face. His eyes had closed and his mouth hung slightly slack. He looked like he was in pain, but he was enjoying every second of it. Alex didn’t stop his hand movements as he raised himself up enough to capture Michael’s bottom lip between his own. Immediately Michael responded, returning the kiss hungrily. His hand had stayed over Alex’s underwear, but now he pulled and tugged at the offending garment until he could get it far enough down to sit under Alex’s balls.

              “OOhhhhh my God,” Alex cried out as Michael’s hand finally grasped flesh and he was overwhelmed by the heat of his hand and the roughness of his skin.

              “You alright?” Michael asked, keeping his hand still to make sure Alex was still game. Alex nodded and sank back down against the sofa cushions. Michael was giving him a curious look from where he was holding himself up on one arm. Alex laughed a little and moved his hand to grip the back of Michael’s neck fondly.

              “That feels so much better when someone else is doing it,” Alex admitted a little shyly. Alex was afraid this was going to become a Conversation, but thankfully Michael just smiled softly at him and moved back down onto his forearm so he could kiss Alex while still having enough room between their bodies for their hands. Michael’s hand was a little dry on him, but he didn’t care. It still felt amazing and everytime their knuckles bumped against each other a zing of pleasure rocketed up his spine. He was doing this to someone else. Someone else was touching him. It was a-fucking-mazing. He started to feel a familiar tightness beginning in his core, his body winding itself tighter before it let go. He broke away from Michael’s mouth, panting and making pained little “Ah” sounds against his cheek.

              “Fuck, Michael, I’m about to—I’m going to—” he was trying to get out, even as his vision narrowed and his body became a singular being of exquisite pleasure. He felt Michael’s mouth cover his and then his own hand was wet as well. When it was over they laid there, panting against each other and then Michael tipped sideways to wall onto his side between Alex and the back of the couch.

              “Shit,” Michael said succinctly, cheek against Alex’s shoulder and breath still short. Alex just nodded and looked down at himself. There was come all over his shirt. His come, Michael’s come, marring the black in white, viscous stripes.

              “Shit,” he repeated after Michael, his voice less in awe now that it was time for clean up. Michael looked down at his shirt and honest to god giggled a little. He brought his come covered hand up and wiped it over a clean expanse of Alex’s tee.

              “Hey! I gotta wear this home!” Alex exclaimed, battling Michael’s hand away.

              “No you don’t. Follow me to my truck, I’ll let you borrow a shirt. This one is fucking toast,” Michael snickered. Alex looked down again and had to agree. Soon after, they tucked themselves back up into their jeans and got off the couch. Alex found himself a little wobbly after the high of an orgasm. Michael caught him with a hand on waist and kissed his cheek.

              “You get a little come drunk. Noted for next time.”

              “So there will be a next time?” Alex asked, suddenly finding he was nervous to hear the answer.

              “If you want there to be a next time, then yeah,” Michael said, holding out his hand to take Alex’s. Alex looked at it for a second and then up at Michael’s guileless face. He smiled then and reached his hand out to hold onto Michael’s. They slowly made their way around the outside of the house where the music was still rattling the glass panes left in the windows and out to the street where Michael had parked his truck. Alex stripped off his shirt and handed it off to Michael as Michael pawed through a backpack of clothes he kept under the passenger’s seat. Finally, he passed over a black Misfits shirt. When Alex put it on he noticed it smelled like rain, dust, and sage brush. It wasn’t a bad smell and in fact made him want to bury his nose in the collar to train it to memory. It was how Michael smelled and that wasn’t a bad thing.

              “Want a ride home?” Michael asked a little shyly as he tugged the bottom of his shirt on Alex’s body in some attempt to ‘straighten it’.

              “Sure,” Alex agreed, climbing in the passenger’s seat and buckling in. Michael closed his door for him and ran over to the driver’s side, climbing in and starting up the car. As soon as they were on the road, Alex slid his hand over the seat between them in a silent request for Michael to hold his hand. With a quick smile, Michael did.

[fae-redux]

im stuck on you

S: People usually find their soulmate by following their heart (the closer you are to your soulmate, the warmer you’ll feel). Remus has been pining for so long, he doesn’t know how to handle himself.

P: dukeceit

happy birthday, @littlemisschameleon!! it’s corona and i can’t give you a physical present so have some dukeceit soulmate au!! i hope you like it :D (here’s an ao3 link if yall like that formatting better)

***

Remus sends the letter because Roman’s teacher thinks a penpal will help him learn English. Also, because Roman thinks it’s stranger danger and won’t. 

If he gets kidnapped, at least there’s a chance for his heart to feel warmer whichever direction his kidnapper goes. Fact remains, he’s freezing and bored and he’d do pretty much anything to not be.

He neglects to say that in the letter. 

His penpal instead receives the gift of approximately two full pages of fun facts about different species of mushrooms and how fast they can decay different animals. It’s pretty well written, if he says so himself, and it’s all in English because he’s polite, not because it has to be.

Any who, Ms. Andrea says she’s not going to read the letters before they’re sent, and Roman is only required to send one at a time, so Remus signs it with his own name and lets it go.

He doesn’t expect the letter he gets back to be so nice.

His penpal’s name is Janus and he doesn’t like to eat mushrooms unless they’re in fried rice, but he loves how mushrooms look.

There are little mushroom doodles that line the bottom, along with a few snakes, which Janus goes on to say is because they’re his favorite animal because of the way they unhinge their jaws.

Remus has never wished to be in the same school as someone more.

***

The next letter they write to each other includes their emails, and Remus takes full advantage of it to send Janus all the deadliest snakes he’s found out about in the library, and includes a pain scale with human accounts of getting bitten.

Janus sends back a heart and fun facts about the deadliest octopi in the ocean. 

He feels his heart get slightly warmer when he hugs the monitor, and when he loudly proclaims he found his soulmate, he gets a laugh from Roman.

He asks him what his plan is here, and Remus tells him to shut his fuck and keep his nose out of it if he doesn’t want to get smacked.

***

When they’re old enough to have phones, they exchange cell numbers, and Remus gets daily updates instead of sporadic emails.

He finds out that Janus likes to dress a little more on the punk side and that he wants a million tattoos as soon as he’s old enough. Janus tells him about foster homes and how he thinks he might be sticking with one of the other kids he met who is a little older than him, but is sort of like him. 

Janus is smart, smarter than anyone he’s ever met in real life, and he wants to go to law school because he knows he can talk his way out of hell if the devil asked him to try, and Remus is inclined to believe he could do it if he wanted to. He thinks through all his words, his every movement, ten times before he follows through, unlike Remus’ zero-thought policy.

He learns that Janus likes boys, but there aren’t really other people in his hometown like him, and that he wants to study in a big city someday so he’s not so alone. 

He learns that Janus wants to keep talking to him forever, or at least that’s what he tells him.

Remus in turn tells him about his brother, and their origin story. He tells him about how everyone else just seemed to have grown out of curiosity and how he feels out of touch with other people his age sometimes. 

There’s still a part of him that feels like he’s been touching all the stars in the sky, but none of them have set his orbit quite right, leaving him drifting endlessly.

He tells him that he might like boys too, but he doesn’t really want to tell his mom because she already rags on him for everything else, like wanting to go to art school and his knife collection and how he’ll never meet his soulmate with an attitude like his. 

He doesn’t tell him about the small seed of doubt in the back of his head that Janus won’t want to stay if he ever meets him in real life. 

He tells him he wants to keep talking forever too.

***

They don’t ever talk about meeting in person. For the first time in their lives, they’re in the same city, but every time he goes to bring it up, seeing a picture of Janus in the financial district, or near his favorite Starbucks, something makes him hesitate. 

Remus wants it so bad, it feels like all the air in his lungs isn’t real sometimes, or like something cut up his insides then spooned all the pieces out to replace them with ice. Still, the thought lingers in the back of his mind that Janus hasn’t suggested it for a reason. 

They still talk all the time though, whether it's to rant about professors, or homework, or siblings, or just about something they saw recently.

Janus tends to hyperfocus on cases he works on in his internship sometimes, and when he’s allowed, he tells Remus all the gory details and grins when he revels in the fun, while also giving valuable insight that contributes to his defense.

Remus in turn sends him the paintings that don’t involve Janus’ face and stupid selfies he takes at random food carts around school that are rumored to give you instant food poisoning. 

He makes sure to send progress updates on the projects he really feels good about and sends him updates on Roman and his new trends, whether they be six second dance videos or random quotes he’s said to him of varying hilarity based on how stupid they are.

The longer he lives in the city, the more Remus knows his heart feels warmer. He’s been feeling it since the start of the semester, but he hasn’t said anything yet, at least not to Janus. Roman is free game, though:

“Roman, I swear to everything fuckable within a ten mile radius, he probably goes to the same college as me,” Remus groans, his feet propped up on the back of the couch as he lies upside down. “I get warmer every time I go to campus.”

“There’s a million colleges in New York, so he really might not be,” Roman says reasonably, doing his eyeliner in the hall mirror. “Besides, he’s pre-law, right? There’s no way.”

“You’re just being uppity because you fricking met your soulmate on campus,” He responds grumbling.

“You’re right, I am. My soulmate’s a genius and I am very lucky to have met him when I did,” His twin’s pride infects the room, and he throws one Roman’s unnecessary couch pillows at him. “If you make me screw up my eyeliner, I’m going to run you through with one of your stupid wall-katanas.”

“They aren’t stupid, and I’m never going to see him face to face at this rate, so you might as well,” he snipes back, his purely decorative wall-mounted katanas be damned.

Roman raises an eyebrow, as if his mocking will affect Remus at all, “I’ll be back in like three hours, then you can mope your heart out, okay?”

He gathers his things from the hall table as Remus yells at his retreating back, “I don’t mope, I’m not you!”

“No, you’re not, and that’s why you don’t have a hot date tonight!” he hears as the door shuts.

He wishes he kept the pillow to suffocate himself with.

***

When Roman knocks on Virgil’s door, he doesn’t expect the person who answers the door to be so familiar, and he’s sure the answering party doesn’t expect him either.

“I thought-Sorry, I thought my roommate’s soulmate was coming over,” Janus says, a flash of recognition in his eyes, completely stunned in a way Roman has never heard while listening in on his brother’s phone calls. 

“Yeah, no, I’m here for Virgil. Janus, right?” And at the immediately suspicious look goes, “Oh, for fuck’s sake, you send my brother at least five selfies a week, and he agonizes over your beauty for ages after every single one, you have to know I would recognize you on sight.”

“....Roman?” he asks, like he doesn’t actually know what was going to leave his mouth when he said it.

“That would be me,” Roman just goes for the back of his neck, before wincing at the Remus-like gesture. “So, uh, Virgil?”

“Yeah, yes!” Janus opens the door fully so fast, Roman almost expects him to run himself over, “Do come in. Would you like anything while you wait? Water? Tea?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Janus hovers for a moment like he’s going to say something, but bites his lip instead, “Want to know how my brother is doing?”

He shifts elegantly, though his chains rattle, making the adjustment more obvious, “Of course not, what do you take me for?”

“A liar, you definitely want to know how he’s doing. Well, you’ll be happy to know he lives fifteen minutes away,” Roman grins, “And he’s home alone right now, pouting about wanting to see you, if you wanna go over.”

“It would be rude to leave you unattended in my home,” Janus replies, his voice strangled. “Arrangements can be made to get Virgil to hurry up.”

Leaving the room in a swift movement of leather and metal, Janus nearly vaults the couch in his haste. Roman can hear him yelling at Virgil to “Hurry up, you nasty, spider-pet keeping bitch,” and his soulmate’s yells to “Get out of my room, you tattooed skank!” Then an offended gasp, “How dare you?” and the snarling response, “You barge into my space and-”

“You hooked up with my soulmate’s brother-”

”Who is my soulmate, idiot!”

“Would you just-”

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

Janus leaves the room and, in Roman’s line of sight, straightens his shirt as if he’d just been in some sort of scuffle. “Virgil will be out shortly, if you wouldn’t mind giving me the address.”

“You two are going to be related if you marry my brother, you know?” Roman grins as he puts the address into Janus’ phone.

He takes the phone back and rolls his eyes, “We were fostered by the same family. We really can’t get any closer, but I’ll keep that in mind.”

“We were adopted by the same person, Jan, why do you always conveniently leave that part out?” Virgil grumbles as he enters the room. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, and be safe.”

Janus sniffs turning up his nose, “I’m going to get violently murdered before I even make it there,”

“Don’t test me, I will put off this date,” he pushes Janus’ head forward so he can’t look up at them. “Be safe, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Janus mumbles, fixing his hat and his chained belt, “Do I look okay?”

“My brother is a trash rat,” Roman responds, louder than he means to, “You will look like a model next to him and you will constantly get questioned as to why you’re in a five foot radius of him.”

“So, good?”

“Fantastic,” Roman confirms. “Now have fun.”

Janus double checks his pockets for his phone and his wallet, and then he books it in the direction of the twins’ apartment.

***

For the first time since he moved in, Remus feels himself getting warmer by the second. It’s not as though he’s moved from his spot going over every single thing that could currently be going wrong at Roman’s date, but somehow, his heart is pounding like he has.

“What do you see?” He asks it, vaguely aware it can’t actually respond. Either his soulmate just figured out where he lives, or there is something extremely important happening in the city.

Picking up his phone to check, it lights up with a text from Roman reading ‘Sending a pick-me-up your way,’ but he has no idea what it means.

After two minutes of constant heat, he searches for major events happening nearby. Nothing.

Five more minutes pass, and he thinks he might die young to a heart attack.

There’s a knock on the door.

His self preservation instincts must be completely nonexistent at this point because he yanks the door open with a knife in his hand and freezes. There, right in front of him, is Janus, who he thought he’d never see, and who was always too good for him, and yet, perfect for him in every way and, “I could have accidentally killed you with one of my many wall-hung weapons because you didn’t knock like Roman,” and that is the first thing he chooses to say to his soulmate.

“I wouldn’t have appreciated the trip to the hospital after I just sprinted over half a mile to see you,” he pants a little, “I know we didn’t talk about it, but Roman showed up at my door, and I knew you had to be nearby, and I just-”

Remus yanks him forward into his arms, and sighs in relief as the heat abruptly goes away, “Mr. I-think-everything-through needed to be impulsive, huh?”

“Yes,” Comes the fervent response as he clings to Remus’ body. “I missed you.”

“I thought you didn’t want to meet up. We didn’t even-”

“I know,” And Janus’ mouth brushes his cheek, just barely, because he’s not tall enough to reach, and Remus bends down, and kisses him soundly on the mouth, the feeling running through his body like a new kind of heat and comfort, and it feels like he’s done it a million times, even if it’s the first time.

Breaking apart, he notices they’re just standing in the doorway of his apartment. “Come inside, sweetheart,” He wiggles his eyebrows salaciously, Janus bursting into laughter as he pushes him back. 

“Nope,” He grins fondly, and this is the first day of the rest of their lives, it hits Remus, “I think I’m going to cause problems on purpose.”

“Fair enough, honeybee,” He tugs at the yellow cuffs of Janus’ leather jacket, pressing a kiss to a tattoo at the edge of his hairline, “Want me to carry you? Roman did say he was sending a pick-me-up, and I can definitely pick you up.”

He’s giggling, Remus delights as he scoops him up, kicking the door shut behind them, “If you call me one more pet name, I will combust, and you will have no soulmate to be with, is that what you want?”

And he says what he wants to say, because Janus has never once cared about the shit that leaves his mouth, “Biscuit, I’ve waited so long to see you, even death couldn’t keep me away from holding you.”

Janus pushes into him and kisses him again, putting a hand in his hair, tugging slightly to get the angle he wants, “I wouldn’t want it to,” Then after another kiss, “Love you.”

Remus sighs into his mouth, his world aligning so he could be the orbit to Janus’ sun, the whole system correcting itself. “Yeah,” He holds him just a little bit tighter, “Love you, too.”

[noona-clock]

The Doctor - Part 2

Genre: Doctor!AU

Pairing: Donghyuk (iKON) x You (Female!Reader)

Warnings: None

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 | Words: 2,392

Even though Claire had been insistent that you needed to call Dr. Kim the day after your visit, her fever had all but vanished by the time she woke up that morning, so you had refused -- on principle!

You hadn’t admitted that you didn’t want to call him because you weren’t interested because... that wasn’t true.

Of course, you were interested! But, like, on the most surface level. You barely knew him; you knew he was cute and smart (he had to be in order to get through all that medical school, right?) and good with kids, so yes, all of that certainly piqued your interest.

But Claire had brought up dates, and she’d even mentioned a wedding at one point -- you obviously were not that level of interested.

(Yet?)

Her doctor’s note had excused her from school for the rest of the week, though, and since your job allowed you to work from home anyway, you were kind of stuck with her for a few days. And, let me tell you, she wasn’t keen on letting up on the subject of Dr. Kim. Like, at all.

By the time Saturday arrived, you were more than ready to drive her to your parents’ house for her weekly Grandma & Grandpa Time visit. They were apt to spoil her more than you liked, but today, you didn’t care if she had an ice cream sundae for every meal and watched movies literally all day long.

As long as you didn’t have to dodge her questions and comments about Dr. Kim any longer!

Since Claire was with your parents just about every Saturday, you took the opportunity to go grocery shopping. Before you drove her over to their house, you had her write down her requests on your list. You tried to fulfill as many as you could (within reason), and you’d found this process was so much easier than taking her with you. Kids in the grocery store tended to be bored half the time and whining for unhealthy snacks the other half.

Claire, of course, still requested a lot of unhealthy snacks... but you couldn’t deny that you liked them, too. In fact, you were currently standing in front of the pudding selection, deciding if you should get chocolate or butterscotch.

You tapped your finger against your chin, your eyes darting between the two flavors, and just as you were about to reach for the chocolate (because, who are we kidding? Chocolate always wins) you heard a voice nearby say your name.

The sudden greeting made you jump a little, and when you turned around, you saw a slightly amused and slightly embarrassed...

Dr. Kim.

Of course.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you,” he said with a soft chuckle.

“Oh, no, it’s -- it’s fine,” you assured him with a faint smile. “I guess I was too immersed in pudding.”

And then you remembered he was a pediatrician. His job revolved around the health and well-being of children. And -- not that you’d really noticed -- Dr. Kim was incredibly fit himself. You doubted he spent this much time trying to decide what flavor of pudding to get.

“But Claire always eats her vegetables, I promise,” you added, only half-joking.

“I trust you,” he replied with a smirk. And then his expression became a bit more worried. “How is she feeling?”

“Oh, she’s much better,” you grinned. “Her fever was down the next day, and she wasn’t sneezing or coughing at all this morning.”

Dr. Kim leaned against his cart handle, his mouth curving into a smile that truly melted your heart. “Good, I’m glad to hear it.”

“Thank you so much, Dr. Kim, really. I appreciate everything -- especially you not making me feel neurotic for taking her in at the drop of a hat,” you told him with a gentle though slightly abashed chuckle.

“Of course, I would never judge a parent for that. Or anything, really,” he told you, his forehead wrinkling slightly. “But please -- call me Donghyuk.”

“Sorry,” you laughed bashfully, shaking your head a little. “Force of habit.”

Donghyuk nodded, letting out a breathless chuckle. “There’s really no need to thank me, though. I love my job, it’s a pleasure to help when I can.”

Okay, well, speaking of his job... You were curious enough about it to come right out and ask, even though you really didn’t know him that well.

“May I ask... what made you move here?” you inquired, hoping you sounded more curious than accusatory. Because you were!

Donghyuk lifted one shoulder in a shrug and replied, “I just wanted a change, and there was an opening at this office.”

“You didn’t know someone who lived here?”

He shook his head, and the expression on his (handsome) face made it obvious he didn’t think it was a big deal.

It certainly was to you, though. As someone who craved familiarity, especially when it comes to your surroundings, you couldn’t imagine having the courage to just up and move to an entirely new town where you knew nobody.

“I was just curious,” you assured him. “This is the type of town people don’t really just decide to move to unless they know someone here already. I’m glad you came, obviously. I’m actually very impressed.”

It was clear that Donghyuk was amused by your rambling, so you shook your head quickly with a self-deprecating grin on your lips.

“Anyway,” you sighed. “Have you had a chance to get to know the town at all?”

To your slight surprise, a bit of a bashful smile appeared on Donghyuk’s mouth, and he let out a soft chuckle. “Uh, no, actually... I went to Jimmy’s that one night I almost ran into you, but... that’s kind of it. When I haven’t been working, I’ve just been at home reading... studying medical books.”

He probably expected you to think that was incredibly lame... but you didn’t. Not at all. A studious man who took his profession seriously -- and a very noble profession at that? What could be more attractive?

...So, you went for it.

“If... if you’d like, Claire and I could show you around,” you offered, trying to ignore the growing butterflies in your stomach. “I’ve lived here since I was little, and Claire has been with me for almost two years, so we know all the good places.”

Donghyuk stood up straight, his bashful smile growing into a very pleased, excited one -- and you really weren’t sure if you’d ever seen such a cute, adorable, attractive, magnetic smile in your life? 

“Yeah?” he replied. “I would love that.”

You returned his smile with one of your own, and then Donghyuk held his arm out to allow you to head down the aisle first. You began to push your cart, and when he pushed his up right next to yours, you had to admit that you were not upset about having your solo grocery store trip intruded upon.

The two of you ended up going through the rest of the store together, talking and joking about this and that -- nothing too serious, but it was truly one of the most pleasant conversations you’d had in a long time.

Before you both got in line to check-out, you exchanged phone numbers so you could arrange your town tour sometime soon. You assured Donghyuk you would go by his schedule, and all he had to do was let you know when he was free.

You tried to put the idea of driving around town with Dr. Kim -- Donghyuk -- in the back of your mind because it really wasn’t anything to be anxious about. It’s not like it was a date or anything!

But you still knew that telling Claire was not going to be fun. Because she would think it was a date.

Luckily, after getting home from the store and putting all of your groceries away, you still had a few hours before you went to your parents’ house to pick her up. More than enough time to think about how you were going to phrase it as well as how you would react to her reaction.

So, you drew up a hot, aromatic, bubbly bath, lit a few candles, and turned on your favorite Jazz music. The perfect atmosphere for thinking. And since you weren’t picking up Claire until after dinner, you had plenty of time to do just that.

Usually, when you picked up Claire after her weekly Grandma & Grandpa Time visit, she had something she’d crafted to show you. Sometimes it was a piece of art she did with Grandma, sometimes it was something she’d built with Grandpa; this week, it was a piece of art.

“Look at my necklace!” Claire cried as soon as you walked in the front door of your parents’ house. She barreled down the hall towards you, holding a string filled with beads and charms.

She had already made a bracelet and earrings, so now her jewelry set was complete -- a very important thing for a seven-year-old.

“Oh, look at that!” you grinned as she reached you. You gingerly scooped the necklace into your palm, admiring the pattern she’d made. “It’s beautiful.”

“Can I wear it to school on Monday?!”

“You just have to be very --”

“I will, I’ll be careful, I promise!”

Your grin widened, and then you leaned down to press a kiss to the top of her head. “Yes, of course, you can.”

Claire squealed with delight before you sent her back down the hall to go say good-bye to her grandparents.

And... to be honest, you wouldn’t mind if the good-bye took a little while.

Because, even though you were pretty sure you’d figured out a good way to tell her, you still weren’t looking forward to it.

But, sadly, she was able to manage it quickly enough, and in less than ten minutes, the two of you were in your car on the way home.

“What else did you do with Grandma and Grandpa?” you asked, glancing in your rearview mirror to see she was still admiring her necklace.

“We went out for pizza, and then Grandpa made his meatloaf for dinner,” Claire told you. “Y’know, a lot of the kids in my class talk about meatloaf like it’s really bad, but they’ve never had Grandpa’s meatloaf. It’s the most delicious meatloaf in the world.”

“What, better than mine?” you inquired with a chuckle.

“Sorry, but yes.”

You weren’t sure how that was possible because you used your Dad’s recipe, but maybe it was the fact you weren’t your Dad which made the taste not quite as favorable to your daughter.

The night after you’d introduced Claire to your parents, just a couple of months after you had begun fostering her, you’d found her crying in her bed. After a bit of coaxing, she had admitted that she had always wanted a Grandpa -- not a Dad, not a Grandma, but a Grandpa. She had told you about a movie she’d used to watch at one of her old foster placements -- you’d heard from her social worker that the couple had ended up being one who obviously only did foster care for the extra money. Claire had spent a lot of time by herself, and she had found an old VHS called Grandpa’s Magical Toys. She had watched it so many times, and it had become her dream to have a Grandpa. Not even one with magical toys or one who would sing funny songs to her -- just a Grandpa, plain and simple.

You had already known by then you wanted to adopt her, but seeing her crying about having a Grandpa had been the final brick of your decision house.

Needless to say, after you’d told your Dad, he had treated Claire extra specially, and now the two were most definitely the cutest, sweetest pair you’d ever known. She loved and admired him so much that even his meatloaf tasted better than yours.

Claire continued to admire her necklace as you made your way back to your own house, and it wasn’t until you were pulling into the your driveway that she asked about your trip to the grocery store.

“Did you buy anything from my list?” she asked, very obviously trying to hold back how desperately she wanted to hear your answer.

“I did,” you nodded. “I got you strawberry Pop-Tarts, chocolate pudding, and... tater tots.”

Claire cheered with delight, and a wide grin split your lips. Even though she knew you would always get tater tots whenever she requested them (because who doesn’t love tater tots?!), she was still incredibly thrilled when you did.

“Oh, by the way,” you began as you rolled the car to a stop and put it in park. “I saw Dr. Kim at the store. He asked to make sure you were feeling better.”

“Is that all he asked?”

“Claire, please!” you laughed. “Although... I did tell him that we would show him around since he’s new here and doesn’t really know anybody yet.”

You prepared for Claire to squeal or something, so she surprised you by letting out a soft, dreamy sigh and saying, “I guess it was destiny that I got sick.”

Your brow furrowed immediately, and you turned around in your seat to look back at her. “...What are you talking about? You’re seven, what do you know about destiny?”

“If I hadn’t gotten sick, you wouldn’t have taken me to the doctor, and you wouldn’t have met Dr. Kim! And you wouldn’t be going on a date with him!”

“Okay, wait just a minute!” you sputtered. “It’s not a date! I said we are showing him around town -- as in me and you. Have you ever heard of someone’s child going on a date with them?”

Claire simply shrugged. “It could happen.”

“Besides, he’s a very busy man. I highly doubt he has time to... go on dates.”

“If you say so...”

“Enough -- go on inside and get ready for bed, Missy,” you ordered, trying not to both laugh and blush.

Claire let out a very weary sigh and mumbled, “Okay, okay, I’m going.”

But you knew you hadn’t heard the last of it. Not even close.

Part 3

[we-are-inevitable]

Modern javid au: where they walk through their first (meeting, kiss, apartment, pets, kids etc). Also your writing are amazing.

ok i got carried away with this one again!! this is only the first part-  i’m going to like,, get into their married life in the second chapter!

Rating: G

Warnings: Underaged drinking, recreational drug use (nothing major, just one scene)

Word Count: 2069

Read on AO3!

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

They never dreamed they would be here right now, sharing their tenth wedding anniversary on the balcony of their apartment, sipping wine in the moonlight while reminiscing about the years that had flown by. Curled together on the floor, their legs dangling out from underneath the guardrails, just like they did when they were stupid teenagers in love. 

Ten years had changed them. Beaten them down, bruised them, made them work for their love and their relationship- but the bad times? They had been over for so, so long. David could remember all of their bad firsts, like their first fight, the first time they ever made each other so angry that they both broke down and slept in different rooms for a week and a half. The first time that they had ever shared grief, first time they’d been harassed in public, first financial struggles, first funeral they’d attended together. Those firsts were what truly had pushed them to be better, to become better, to finally put their differences aside and cooperate together instead of trying to work without changing themselves.

The bad times were what pushed them further, but the good times were much better to remember. 

“Hey, baby- remember how hard I embarrassed myself when we met?”

“Oh, darling, how could I forget?”

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

Their first meeting had been nothing short of embarrassing. David had been studying in the library when, all of a sudden, a shelf to the left of the table he had sat at toppled over, causing a loud boom to sound in the library. David looked up with wide eyes and a startled look on his face, meeting the gaze of another guy his age. David, who had only been at the school for a week at that point, instantly recognized him. They shared their english class together; David was pretty sure his name was Jack.

“...Uh, hiya,” Jack let out a high, nervous chuckle, attempting to look cool standing next to the mess he had made, and David couldn’t help but laugh. 

He remembered standing up, dog-earring the page of the textbook he was reading, and taking a few steps toward Jack. “Looks like you could use a little help.”

It had taken the two of them almost an hour to sort the books like the librarian wanted them to, but luckily they both had an aid hour to spare. They talked idly about anything and everything, and that was the first day that David had been invited to sit with anyone at lunch

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

Their first hang-out session had happened about two weeks later. David had been pretty well integrated into the group by then- he had a permanent spot at the lunch table next to Jack, which made his heart flutter more than it should have. And if he thought that was a lot, then he certainly wasn’t ready for the heart pounding, nerve wracking thought about seeing Jack out of school- but, of course, that came sooner than later. That Friday afternoon, Jack and David had met up after school, walking the opposite direction of David’s place to get to Jack’s foster mom’s theater. He remembered Jack mentioning that they didn’t have a huge apartment, since he had a few other foster siblings, but said that the theater was a much more fun place anyway. And really, it was. They spent hours sitting onstage and talking, after Jack had given him an extensive tour of the place, and David had even met Jack’s foster mom, Medda, for the first time. That afternoon had held a lot of firsts, but what really hung around in David’s mind was the fact that it had been the first time Jack had ever looked at him, smiled, and called him “Davey.”

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

Their first kiss happened before their first date. Race had invited David to his place for a “small get together” which, with the help of the other guys, ended up being pretty big. It had just been their friend group, plus some girls that some of the guys had invited. It wasn’t really a party, but it wasn’t exactly just a regular hang out session, either. For one, David knew that a few guys had been smoking weed in one of the back rooms, which was very evident when they came back in. He didn’t care, but politely declined more than a few offers to take a hit. Secondly, the amount of alcohol had doubled from usual. Everyone had gotten a little tipsy, even David, which meant he was far more grateful that Jack had been kind enough to invite him over to stay that night. 

The party had dissipated a little after midnight, leaving only a few stragglers behind- Race, Albert, Katherine, Jack, and David, as well as a few others that David wasn’t really close with. Everyone had gotten into a circle, playing a classic game of truth or dare, when Albert smirked. “Davey,” He had said in a sickening sweet voice, obviously a little on the far side of tipsy. “I dare you to… Kiss Kathy,” He had said, causing laughter to erupt from the rest of the group- excluding David and, more surprisingly, Jack.

David stared at Albert for a moment, took a drink from his bottle, and shrugged. “I’m gay,” He said calmly, for the first time in front of the group. Everyone went quiet for a moment, before Albert got a wicked grin on his face. 

“Okay, then. Davey, I dare y’to kiss Jack. He’s bi, so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“‘Ey, dipshit, I ain’t the only other not straight guy in this group--”

“Yeah, I know, but you’s the first one I thought of!”

David really wanted to back out, but he had been boasting earlier that he was never one to back down from a dare. It had been a stupid decision, but he really, really wanted to fit in, and if that meant losing his dignity over a dare, then so be it. 

David had been sitting on the other side of the circle from Jack, so they slowly maneuvered their way to the middle. Jack seemed nervous, but oddly enough, David felt his nerves melt away after seeing the flush on Jack’s cheeks. “You sure you’re ready for this, Kelly?”

“Bring it on, Jacobs.”

The kiss felt like fireworks, like bombs were exploding within David’s chest. And, judging by the surprised noise Jack made low in his throat, Jack was feeling the same way. They heard the rest of the group count to five, signalling the end, but Jack just wound his arms around David’s neck, and David did the same thing to Jack’s waist. 

They didn’t pull away from each other until Race threw an empty water bottle at Jack, which bounced off of the side of his face.

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

Their first date officially happened the day after the party, when they woke up lying next to each other in Jack’s bed. They went to an art museum that day- partly because David was shocked that Jack, the group’s resident artist, had never been, and partly because the admission price was discounted for students all weekend. 

Both of them still had their ticket stubs from that day, nearly sixteen years later.

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

College was a huge change for the both of them. They both went to school in different parts of Manhattan- with David getting accepted into Columbia and Jack getting accepted into the New York School of the Arts- but still saw each other every day. After dating the majority of senior year and staying attached at the hip all through their last summer before college, it just made sense to find an apartment and live together. They were able to find a horrid, run-down little place that was almost equidistant from both of their schools, and, sure, it may not have been the prettiest, but it was /something/. It was cheap, and it was theirs.

They spent a while getting it cleaned up, and though the furniture was mismatched and it was barely big enough to hold their friends, it was home for the next four years. That apartment had been everything they had wanted. It was their safe haven, their little paradise in the city, their life that was perfectly their own. There had been some skeptics- mainly David’s parents, just because they thought it was too soon for the two boys to move in together, but regardless, they supported David’s decision.

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

Judging by the proposal, that decision had worked out. Four years had passed since college began, and five had passed since Jack and David first got together. After the whirlwind of working their asses off for a part time paycheck, graduating and finally getting their dream jobs, the two of them had pooled together their resources to find a better apartment. They moved into a much more decent one, and though it was nothing glamorous, it came with a view that Jack was in love with. 

David had walked into the apartment after work one day, stopping in his tracks as he saw Jack sitting on the floor in front of the large window overlooking the New York skyline. It had been one of Jack’s days off, so David had expected him to be in the guest room that they had converted into a studio, but Jack was locked in place, watching the bustling streets of New York.

David smiled wide at the image. They had been in the apartment exactly one week, and Jack was still mesmerized by the smallest details. 

When Jack heard David’s footsteps, he stood up, arely getting any time to welcome his boyfriend home from work before David was pulling him into a soft, gentle kiss. “Well, hello to you too,” Jack murmured as David pulled away.

David just smiled at him, his hands resting against Jack’s hips. “I missed you,” He said softly, before gulping. He had been planning something. Something big- something that Jack wouldn’t even know about for another month, but this felt perfect. This, right here, holding the man he loved in their new home, their dream home, was better than any five star dinner, better than any elaborate plans. “Jackie?”

“Yeah, baby?” Jack asked softly, a grin on his face. God, he wouldn’t be expecting this. Wouldn’t be ready.

Regardless, David started speaking before his mind could catch up with his mouth. “I love you,” He said sincerely, a megawatt smile making its way to his cheeks. “I love you so damn much, Jackie... I-- I never, ever dreamed that we would be here, that we would be living in a place like this together,” David said softly as he walked over to the nearest table, shrugging his bag off of his shoulders. “You look so damn happy here. I’ve never wanted anything more than to make you happy like this,” He continued speaking,slowly opening up one of the zipped pockets. He pulled out a little box, carefully holding it behind his back as he walked to Jack, who had a loving-but-confused face. “Five years ago, I fell hard for you, Jack Kelly. I fell for the way your eyes light up when you see a dog, I fell for your obnoxious snorting when you laugh too hard,” David paused, smirking as Jack shot him a glare, “but most importantly, I fell for how kind you are. How caring and loving and selfless you are. You make me the happiest man alive, Jack,” David said slowly, gulping. 

He could feel himself tearing up as he watched the gears turning in Jack’s head, before Jack suddenly gasped, a hand coming up to cover his mouth. “Davey, Davey, oh my fuck, are you--”

“Quiet down, will ya? Just let me finish,” David said with a chuckle, a wide grin on his face. He let out a loud laugh as Jack flipped him off, but Jack was smiling so wide and had tears in his eyes and David knew he was making the right decision.

Slowly, David pulled the box out from behind him, hands shaking as he lowered himself to one knee. “I love you, Jackie, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you... Will you marry me?”

David didn’t know what he was expecting, but he was not expecting to get knocked over by the sheer force of Jack throwing himself into David’s arms.

[batskulldrag]

Phoenix by Fallout Boy

A human Au where Patton and Logan adopt Patton’s estranged nephew.

trigger warnings for abuse, PTSD and anxiety 

included are mentioned brotherly creatwins, sympathetic deceit and no OC. any other character is either another youtuber, one of Thomas’s friends or a character from 2017′s Dream Daddy. 

Word count is obscene, I'll post weekly chapters

Chapter one: The Things We Lost in The Fire by Bastille

               Patton brooded into the house and scanning the living room only to find it empty, made a beeline for his and Logan’s bedroom. Fate had one nice thing in store for him because Logan was there silently grading papers at his desk. Before giving his husband a chance to comment on his sudden appearance Patton dropped his head onto Logan’s shoulder. Logan automatically reached up a hand to stroke Patton’s ash blond hair.

               “Bad day I assume?” Logan asked as soothingly as he could muster.

               Rather than answer Patton sank to the ground and flopped his head down on Logan’s lap.

               “That bad?” Logan continued to pet his hair.

               “Have you seen the news?” Patton mumbled, his voice blocked with hands and defeat.

               “No, I haven’t.” Logan was hesitant and let on concern. “What happened?”

               “My nasty, no account bully of a brother is back in town and trying to run for local office.”  Patton snorted. “And he’s lying about our family.”

               Logan’s eyes narrowed, unimaginative as he was, he saw a flood of potential falsehoods that could earn anyone a landslide of pity votes.

               “What does that beast have to say for himself?”

                Patton let out a sound that was almost a sob.

               “You don’t have to tell me, I’m sure I could look it up.” Logan sighed, still stroking Patton’s head. “And more importantly, I’m sure we can debunk whatever he has to say.”

               “The implications will still be there, even if they’re wrong. And people might say that we’re the ones who are lying.” Patton slid more of his body onto Lagan’s lap.

               “I know.”

               “He’s saying that our mom was a homophobe, and that she made him …” Patton tilted his head away and coughed. “Sleep with a girl to ‘cure him’ or something. That’s not fair. He was the homophobe.”

               “That’s his explanation for his son?”

               “And his campaign on how much he cares about other sexualities.” Patton rolled his eyes.

               “Patton, why don’t you go ahead and post our senior prom pictures on Sharebook?” Logan said gently, but with a sinister smile that his companion couldn’t see.

               “I don’t follow.” Patton met Logan’s eyes.

               “Your mother was the one who took most of those pictures. Payton isn’t that much older than you; how does he intend to explain that change in opinion?”

               “Logan you’re a genius!” Patton threw his arms around him.

               “I know.” The other smiled.

#                             #                             #

               Logan remembered prom night vividly, more vividly than graduation in fact. All it took to remember every detail was just a brief look over Patton’s shoulder at their first picture to bring it all back. Patton’s braces that he had haphazardly tried to paint blue by eating nontoxic paint, granting him blue teeth and colorless braces. It didn’t faze him though. He was still beaming with his entire being. A nerd in a tan suite with stained teeth. No one could touch him.

               And of course, Logan himself, who hadn’t changed much appearance wise since high school. Smiling reluctantly as Patton stretched an arm around his shoulder as they both stood in front of the open door.

               “Logan, sweetheart you look so stiff try to relax.” Patton’s mother teased.

               “Maybe I should move my arm.” Patton said quickly as he pulled his arm away.

               “Yeah Pat.” Roman chimed in from behind them. “Leave room for Jesus.”

               Roman was one to talk, he all but had his date sitting in his lap on the ride over. They both turned to see him strutting up the driveway. At the time his hair was dyed red, which made it look like his head was on fire. Did that shake him? No. He proudly wore red hair, a white tuxedo and a matching rose in his buttonhole. Elton John would have called it overkill.

               “You forgot this calculator watch.” Roman announced holding out a corsage of forget-me-nots and baby’s breath.

               “Oh, Logan you got me flowers!” Patton squeaked, clasping his hands together and pressing them to his chin.

               “Logan, is your dad single?” Patton’s mom interjected again.

               Logan felt himself blush and looked out the door for an escape.

               “No, he’s still married to my mom. Sorry.” He responded flatly, hoping they would just think he didn’t get the joke.

               “Oh, a little baby person!” Roman suddenly exclaimed as he darted inside, heading directly for the pram in the middle of the living room.

               “Careful not to wake him up.” Patton called to him.

               “Why’s he out here?” Roman whispered, looking up from the baby.

               “He was a little fussy, so I brought him down here where it was cooler.” Ms. Foster explained.

               “I thought Payton was here taking care of Virgil.” Logan added. “After all he is his father.”

               “Payt’s up in his room studying for his LSATs, besides Virgil’s only a few months old. He doesn’t have it in him to be troublesome yet.” She leaned over the pram and cooed. “Unlike his daddy who cut five teeth at once and his uncle who bit everything.”

               Both Roman and Logan laughed at this while Patton just stood there quietly.

               “It wasn’t that bad.” Patton mumbled.

               “Yes, it was, that crib we’re using, you chewed one of the legs off. And I swear Payton started sprinting before he could even walk. So, I had to be on constant look out for him, lest I step on and kill my own baby.”

               “We should go.” Patton pointed towards the door in an effort to escape.

               “Wait, Logan, you need to put the corsage on Patton.” Roman pointed at the pair of them.

               “Why?” Logan asked blankly.

               “Tradition.” Roman stood tall and crossed his arms.

               “Fine.” Logan tilted his head back and sighed.

               Patton’s mother got a picture of the moment. The rest of the evening was horrible. The car that they all shared broke down and they had to walk to the gym. They showed up an hour late and covered in sweat and grease. Then a few morons threw punch on both of them during the slow dance. The lights constantly flickered as if they were going to go off, giving him a migraine. And finally, two people backed him into a corner and tormented him until he had an episode. Which everyone thought was hilarious, so they laughed while ‘the retard’, as he was known, threw a tantrum in the corner.

That was when Patton showed how amazing he really was. He wielded guilt like a weapon and tore everyone down to below sea level.  He threatened to tell peoples parents, he swore to treat them exactly the way they had treated Logan. He labeled each and every one of them a sociopath and declared that he would see to it that they all went to hell. After Patton’s rant and Logan’s episode Patton just took him outside and they spent the rest of the night there.

               That had been the moment when Logan fell in love with that boy. Covered in sweat and punch and coming off the heels of a tantrum he fell in love with Patton. And he knew Patton loved him, come what may. Graduation didn’t hold a candle to that.

                                                                               #             #             #

               “Are you somewhere fun?” Patton’s voice cracked through the memory.

               “Yes.” Logan looked back over to Patton. “I’m here.”

               Patton beamed back at him and went back to his pictures. There were a handful of their graduation, several of Patton once he finally got his braces off. And many different pictures of Patton feeding Virgil smashed chocolate cake on his first birthday. Patton’s demeanor dropped and he sighed heavily. None of them had seen Virgil since he was a baby.

               “I hope he’s ok.” Patton thought out loud.

               “I’m sure he is.” Logan lied, taking Patton’s hand in his.

                                                                               #             #             #

               I’ll kill him. Payton thought viciously as yet another reporter asked him the same question.

               “Mr. Foster, how do you explain the inconsistencies between your description of events and the pictures your brother posted online yesterday?”

               “Patton must have come out after mother passed away.” Payton said smoothly. “And after seeing what she did to me, who can blame him?”

               They seemed to accept that. Good. He scoffed under his breath; they were all too lazy to investigate anything, so they just took everything at face value.

               “But Mr. Foster,” A familiar voice that didn’t belong to a reporter chimed in. “An examination of these pictures also shows her at Patton’s high school graduation, which took place after prom. Is your mother a ghost?”

               Payton looked across the crowd and saw the instigator. A man of moderate height and muscular build wearing a fedora with a press card in the band. To match that he also wore a brown three-piece suit and glasses of the same color. He didn’t even look like he was from this time era.

               “You cannot prove that prom preceded graduation.” Payton argued, knowing that it was a horrible lie. “And you cannot prove that it is our mother in the picture with him.”

               “Ok. But I can.” The time traveler challenged. “Other pictures of your mom would prove that she is indeed pictured in Patton’s graduation, with his boyfriend. And high school functions such as prom always proceed graduation. It’s senior prom, not post-graduation prom. Also! Patton has blue teeth in the prom pictures, but the blue has faded off in the graduation pictures.”

               Many of the reporters murmured and turned to the stranger.

               “Ok Roman,” Payton leaned against his podium. “Did someone put you up to this or are you on your own?”

               “I’m on my own. And I stand alone in the halls of people who look things up. These are dark days indeed.”

               “Pay no attention to that drama queen back there please.” Payton sneered. “He’s friends with my brother.”

               “So now I have become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” Roman said loudly, pressing one hand to his heart.

               “Isn’t that from the bible?”

               “Have you read the bible?”

               A hushed murmur echoed through the crowd. When did this become a roast off?

               “Roman, leave before I call security.”

               “This is a public gathering; you can’t throw me out.”

               Much to Roman’s dismay and his own delight he indeed could throw him out. But the damage had been done, everyone’s questions now reflected what Roman had pointed out. And worse still several of these dullards had now been bitten by the research bug. They may start thinking for themselves against all odds.

               Speaking of things that thought without permission Virgil had beaten him home that afternoon. His gangly, yet somehow short form was slumped on the couch staring at his phone. His school uniform was in disarray around him. He had his blazer on his lap like a blanket, his tie hung over his shoulders and his shirt unbuttoned almost to his waste and he had added an old hoodie that was probably decomposing by now. Why didn’t the bastard just go ahead and get naked? What a slob.

And, if he were to be honest, he thought Virgil was ugly. Most teenagers are and his son reflected that. Virgil had scattered acne and freckles on a pasty white face that he had the decency to cover up with makeup, hollow eyes, violet in color making him look every bit the mutant he was, and black hair that he kept in a stupid fashion. Who the hell even had bangs anymore?

               “Sit up straight, you look like a corpse.” Payton snapped at the figure.

               “Dead bodies are cool.” Virgil retorted sitting up proper.

               “Don’t test me you bastard, I’ve had a very hard day.” He pointed to the defiant brat. “And I will not be challenged by a teenager who still wets the bed.”

               Virgil backed down but shot him one last glare.

               “I haven’t done that in a month.” He mumbled.

               “And I haven’t done that since I was four. You’re nine years late.”

               Virgil slumped his shoulders and pulled his hood up to conceal the fact that his ears were turning red.

               Good. You stay where you belong. Payton thought coldly.

               “I told you to sit up straight.” He said tauntingly.

               Virgil stood up and walked to the stairs.

               “Why doesn’t daddy love me?” He mocked Virgil as he walked. “I wonder.”

               Virgil stormed up the stairs and into his room. He would have punctuated this tantrum by slamming the door. But his room didn’t have one.

                                                                               #             #             #

               “Have you seen the news?” Roman yelled, bursting into the room and slamming the door open.

               “Roman, how many times do I have to tell you not to slam the door?” Logan sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

               “What’s up Roman?” Patton asked tilting his head to the side.

               “They’re investigating your brother for mishandling campaign funds, and they found out that he left that law firm he worked for under suspicion of tampering with evidence. And something about hiding information or something.” Roman monologued.

               “If he was a lawyer then he would be required to share any evidence he obtained with the opposing counsel, even if it hurt his own case. It was started after the Brady vs Maryland case, during which-”  

               “Logan, not now.” Patton squeezed his shoulder gently. “Is that all, Roman, is Virgil ok?”

               “I – I don’t know. He’s just kinda in the background of all this.” Roman’s posture dropped. “What if we ruined his life!?”

               “Oh gosh, if Payton gets sent to prison it’ll be all my fault!” Patton jumped off the couch in terror. “I’m a horrible brother! I’m a horrible uncle! I’m a horrible person! I ruined his life in three days!”

               “We’re going straight to hell!” Roman pulled on his jacket as if he were trying to pull himself together.

               “No, stop. Both of you.” Logan stood up to reason with them at eye level. “No one’s going to hell, or prison … well I can guarantee no one’s going to hell.”

               “What have I done!?” Patton dropped to the floor and curled into a ball. “I’m a horrible person!”

               “Patton. If your brother is guilty of what they accuse him of, then he only has himself to blame for being in trouble. All you did was innocently post a few things on Sharebook to set the record straight.”

               “Roman,” He continued. “What you did was stupid, but I don’t think it caused anything but a few jokes around the water cooler.”

               A loud gasp came from the floor that led the other two to believe that Patton was crying.

               “I can’t do this. The guilt is killing me!”

               “You didn’t do anything! Payton is in trouble with the law because he broke it. That has nothing to do with us!” Logan objected.

               “But the pictures.” He looked up tearfully.

               “Only served to prove that your mother was not a homophobe.”

               “And Roman?”

               “Is an idiot.”

               “Hey!” Roman protested.

               “But he also had nothing to do with this.”

               “What about Virgil?” Roman asked softly from the doorway.

               No one knew what to say.

                                                                               #             #             #

               It had been five days since Patton’s idiotic meddling on Sharebook, and the worst part was that Payton couldn’t figure out if it was intentional or not. His younger brother never could have thought of something like this. But he did have that drama queen, and that retard he married. One of them might have done this.

               “Dad, can we talk?” Virgil interrupted him, typical.

               “What could you possibly want?” He glared up from his work.

               Virgil was still in his pajamas, wearing no makeup and looking like a member of the living dead. Before speaking he turned away and coughed violently.

               “Are you sick again!?” Payton growled. “I swear if I let you lose in the wild, you’d be dead in an instant. I don’t know what’s keeping you alive; it’s certainly not a higher purpose. There, now we’ve talked. And I’m worse off for it. Now scram.”

               “Is all the stuff on the news true?” Virgil rasped.

               “I recall telling you to go away…”

               “Fine, don’t tell me. I’ll just have to decide for myself.”

               “Knowing you, you’ll side with the masses. Keeps people from having to think. You’d like that.”

               “Why are you teeing off on me!? All I asked for was a yes or no answer.”

               “That’s a lot of back bone for somebody who hasn’t shown me his final report card yet.” He didn’t even look up. “We had to do summer school last year and they still held you back. If either of those things happen this year… well no point in speculating over things that won’t happen.”

               That was the thread he needed to pull evidently. Virgil retreated.

               Before going to his room Virgil stumbled into the bathroom and threw up. His heart was beating its way out of his chest, the room was spinning.

               Spinning

                               Spinning

                                               S

                                                   P

                                                      I

                                                         N

                                                               N

                                                                   I

                                                                               N

                                                                                   G

He fell to the floor, arms and legs both feeling like static.

No! not another one! He dizzily protested, forcing in several ragged breaths just have air.

Hell only knows how long he was laying on the bathroom floor before he calmed himself down. But he somehow managed and dragged himself back to his room. It wasn’t long before he passed out on his bed.

#             #             #

               It’s now been nearly two weeks since everything started. Virgil hasn’t gotten over whatever he caught this time. But his dad hasn’t been home too much lately, so there was still solaced to be found. He lay in bed, sweating from fever and almost let himself dare to have hope. His dad may end up in prison before the summer was over. Maybe he could testify. He could tell if his dad was in prison, hell he’d scream it from the rooftops if his dad wasn’t around to provide consequences.

                                                                               #             #             #

               Payton set the smoke detector down on a table in the hallway and looked in Virgil’s room. Virgil was passed out in his bed, no doubt out of his mind on cold medicine and looking pale and tragic. He slid into the room and stood over him.

               “Poor Virgil.” He scoffed, wiping his greasy hair off his sweat covered forehead. “I really tried to want you. Hell, I wanted to want you. It just didn’t work out that way.”

               Virgil coughed lightly in his sleep and turned over uneasily. Everything that kid did was uneasy. Payton picked up the half full bottle of medicine on the nightstand and stared into it apathetically.

               Virgil jolted bolt upright and coughed violently. Payton quietly watched him fight for air.

               “Why are you in here?” Virgil panted, already trembling with fear.

               “It’s alright.” Payton said softly, placing the back of his hand on Virgil’s forehead. “I’m just checking on you.”

               “Why?” Virgil recoiled from his hand.

               “You’re sick, aren’t you?” Payton cupped Virgil’s face in his hands. “I just wanted to make sure you were ok before I left.”

               Virgil settled into his hands and stared up at him. Hope dotted itself in his unnatural eyes. He was helpless to resist temptation. Sucker.

               “Alright. I have a meeting tonight.” Payton ran his hand through Virgil’s hair. “But tomorrow I’m taking you to the doctor.”

               “Why?” Virgil jolted back. His eyes lit with terror.

               “No, I’m taking you to get this sickness checked out.” Payton purred. “You know I’d never hurt you for no reason.”

               “No?” He squeaked.

               “Of course not. Have I ever hurt you when you haven’t done anything?”

               “No?” Virgil’s breathing sped up.

               “Of course not. Now drink your medicine and try to get some sleep.”

               With quivering hands Virgil took the bottle from him and drank it obediently.

               “There’s a good boy.” Payton smiled.

               As a finishing move Payton tucked Virgil in before leaving. Virgil shivered the entire time. Payton couldn’t tell if he was excited to have the attention of if he was just that terrified. It didn’t really matter.

               Either way, Payton had the little parasite right where he wanted him. And today that meant he was right here in bed, sound asleep. Dead to the world.

               Payton stopped in his study and dropped the rug over the lamp’s newly frayed cord. He ‘accidentally’ left the lamp on before he left. As far as anyone would ask.

                                                                               #             #             #

Roman was feeling high on life. He was on his way home from an excellent performance of The Lion King in which he, being one of the only people who could sing and dance and sit through the makeup process to audition, had played Mufasa one night and Scar the next. Both were amazing parts. Just think two on stage deaths, and a solo on villain nights. And who doesn’t love a villain?

               To cap off this evening he had become quite close with the actor playing Timonen, who was especially charming. Yes, things were lovely. He nearly lost control of his motorcycle at the thought. As he steadied himself back, he checked the clock in the center, it was very nearly midnight.

               “Well, I’m sure the love birds are done with their date night by now.” He said out loud, nearly drowned out by his engine.

               Roman nodded to himself and looked for a driveway to turn around in. Preferably one where nobody was home to bother with his bike. He was a gentleman after all. Roman pulled into an empty driveway and made a U-turn back towards the road.

               But something leaked into his helmet and stopped Roman in his tracks. It was the unmistakable smell of smoke. He dropped his bike and whipped around to see the house behind him glowing with flames and billowing thick black smoke. Without a second thought he tossed his helmet to the ground and called for help.

               The house itself was a two-story building that was fairly isolated from neighbors. And there wasn’t another soul outside, so no one had seen the fire yet. While Roman was giving the address the windows in the bottom floor exploded, punctuated by the sound of sirens in the distance. It looked like everything would be ok… luckily, no one was home.

               No! He was wrong! It’s not ok! The glow of the fire had illuminated the figure of someone on the second floor trying to break the window. The room they were in was already on fire. Not having time for caution, Roman bounded towards the house. He could hear the firefighters behind him yelling for him to stop as they pulled up, but he had already leapt onto the landing by the time the words sank in. He could jump surprisingly high; as a dancer he had the legs for it. He pulled himself up the gutter, wrapped his jacket over his fist and with one blow he shattered the window and the person jumped out, coughing up both lungs.

               Both he and the sole survivor were blown back by a gust of hot wind. It was like Satan had roared at them. Obviously dizzy from inhaling so much smoke the survivor, who looked no more than twelve fell back when Satan roared and slid down the roof. Roman leapt for him and saw the kid grab hold of the same gutter, and lose his hold falling to the ground feet first. Roman jumped down after him and scoped him up gently, he was still breathing. But not very strongly. He ran the kid to the nearest ambulance.

                                                                               #             #             #

               ‘F’ is for friends who do stuff together…

               Patton groggily pulled his phone off the nightstand. Why was Roman calling at one in the morning?

               “Ehlo?” He mumbled into the receiver.

               “Hey friendo …” Roman’s voice was hesitant. “Can you come get me from the hospital? I know it’s late, but I’ve had a night.”

               “Hold that thought kiddo.” Patton said calmly, before turning to Logan. “Logan! Roman is in the hospital! My friends are being punished for my sins!” He panicked.

               “We’re married.” Logan mumbled, not even half awake.

               “We’ll be right down to get you honey.” Patton faked a cool demeanor over the phone.

               “I heard you yelling. And, I should point out that I’m not hurt.”

                                                                               #             #             #

               “Roman what happened?!” Patton rushed over to him.

               “Well, there was a fire…” Roman began.

               “At the theater!? Was anybody hurt?! Did Remus start the fire!? Is he back so soon!?”

               Patton looked down and saw that Roman’s right hand in a cast.

               “You are too hurt! Why did you lie to me!?”

               Logan stepped up and pulled Patton back by the shoulder.

               “Everything’s going to be ok Patton. If Roman was badly hurt, they wouldn’t let him leave just yet.” He said calmly. “Now let’s just let him tell the story.”

               “Ok.” Patton mumbled, burying his face in Logan’s shoulder.

               “Ok, on my way home I encountered a house on fire. So, I called the authorities. Then I saw that there was someone trapped upstairs. So, I jumped onto the landing and broke the window with my fist.” Roman explained slowly and without any of his normal flare.

               “Why would you do that? You could have been killed?” Logan asked, flustered at Roman’s general lack of caution.

               “There was someone in there! A little kid trapped in a fire! Wouldn’t you have?”

               “If emergency services hadn’t yet arrived and there was no time to wait, I suppose I would. Had such services arrived?”

               “…” Roman looked down. “Yes.”

               “Are you ok?” Patton asked softly.

               “Yes, it’s just a few cuts. And apparently, I punched the window wrong and broke my wrist. I don’t think I’ll be able to do the matinee tomorrow. I’ll call Robert to pick up my bike.”

               “Is the kid?”

               “They haven’t told me how he is. Apparently only family gets to know the details.” He rolled his eyes.

               “Hippa laws.” Logan added. “Standard doctor/patient confidentiality to protect the privacy of the patient…”

               “Don’t you start.” Roman pointed at him angrily. “All they told me was that he’d be fine.”

               “Did the police take your statement?”

               “Yeah. An unfortunate number of officers are familiar with me. And they almost exclusively know me as the guy with the crazy twin.”

               “Speaking of brothers…” Patton interrupted almost as if he were in a trance.

               The other two turned in unison to see what Patton was staring at so intently. And speak of the Devil there was Payton.

[spaceskam]

why don’t we loosen up and dance a bit?

finally! the final day of my 12 (actually 13) days of gifts is here! This is a step up au for @lire-casander and i hope it makes up for the long ass wait :)

warning: implied child abuse, but there’s no details at all

ao3

“I don’t even know what to say.”

“How about, ‘I forgive you?”

Mimi DeLuca stared Michael down with eyes that could kill. He sunk into his chair and bowed his head, preparing for whatever punishment she wanted to throw on him.

“I just… I don’t understand what your thought process was. I mean, that’s your sister’s school you just decided to trash,” Mimi said, laughing hollowly as she threw her arms out. Michael felt a new feeling build inside him. It actually hurt that Mimi was disappointed in him. It was extremely new. He didn’t like it. 

“She’s not my sister,” Michael snapped instead of letting the feeling fester. Mimi scoffed, her hands landing on her hips.

“You have been here for ten months, Michael Guerin. That means she’s your sister and I’m your mother. Maybe not by blood or to you, but under the law and in my mind, you are,” Mimi said. Michael would’ve smiled if he wasn’t being lectured. “Tell me, is there something going on? Do you need more attention? Therapy? Are you being bullied? Pressured? Talk to me, tell me. We can fix whatever it is.”

Michael gulped and suddenly wished it was something like that. The real answer was stupid and pathetic.

“I don’t know,” Michael admitted, “I did it because it was there.”

Mimi sighed and dropped her head in her hands. Michael watched her and held his breath. She didn’t look up for a long time.

“Are you gonna call my social worker?” Michael asked softly. Mimi’s head shot up and almost looked offended.

“No, absolutely not. This is your home, you aren’t going anywhere,” Mimi said firmly, “I’m going to take you to your court date and we are going to hope they let you off easy. Just like I would do for Maria.” Michael’s heart thudded wildly in his chest. It felt like favoritism even if it was really just being equal for once. “And, like Maria, you’re grounded for a month.”

“A month?!” he asked but he was smiling.

“A month. Now go to your room,” she scolded but she was smiling.

“Ugh, this is so not fair!”

“Life isn’t fair!”

Michael went to his own bedroom and laid in his own bed and decided that he would try really hard not to make her disappointed again.

-

Community service. That was his sentence.

“I can’t believe they assigned you to clean up my school. I’m suing,” Maria scoffed. Michael rolled his eyes and leaned in her doorway. She was putting on makeup before school and Michael was waiting to take her. He’d dropped out of school when he was 16 and started working. That was before he’d met Mimi‒now he was homeschooled.

Which gave him enough time to do his community service. Yay.

“Listen, if anyone asks, you’re not my brother,” Maria said. Michael huffed a laugh.

“I’m not your brother.”

Maria paused and then looked at him for a moment. “I mean, but you are though. But at school, you’re not because I don’t want people saying shit about me because we’re related.”

“We’re not related!” 

“Shut up!”

A smile pulled at his lips as Maria flipped him off. He would never admit it to her face, but he loved these moments. He loved the way they just accepted him as apart of the family. He loved the way he could fuck up and they would still keep him. He didn’t, however, enjoy that stupid part of his brain that told him to fuck up. He knew better, but he found it hard to contain himself. It was something he had to work on.

“Can you drive me?” Michael asked as he followed her to the kitchen. She looked over her shoulder and raised her eyebrow. 

"How am I supposed to lie about you being my brother if you're, like, in my car?" Maria asked. He did his best pouting face and made his eyes all big. She still didn't buy it. He groaned. 

"I'll do your chores for the entire length of my community service." 

Maria paused. "Done.”

-

Ark Kingdom School of the Arts looked a lot bigger and a lot fancier during the day. It made Michael feel a lot worse about the fact he’d trashed it.

“It’s huge,” Michael scoffed. Maria looked at him and gave a sarcastic smile.

“Yeah. Now go, run along,” she said.

“Fuck you,” he laughed.

“Ew, pass,” she said before heading off towards one of the four massive buildings. Michael shook his head with a laugh and began making his way towards the front office. There, he would get his lame uniform and begin his fun janitorial duties. For free. 

The jumpsuit they gave him fit poorly and was certainly not his color, but he had no choice. Instead, he spent his day following a lovely old man who didn’t like to talk about anything that didn’t involve explaining to Michael in excruciating detail how he wanted things cleaned. Which, in his defense, this was the cleanest school Michael had ever seen.

He was making his way through each building slowly. Apparently, Monday was deep clean bathrooms day, Tuesday was deep clean the dance building, Wednesday was deep clean the music building, Thursday was deep clean the art building, and Friday was deep clean the theatre building. Or, at least for him it was. They were on rotation with the other janitors to make sure every building and all bathrooms got meticulously cleaned. The joys of private school or something.

On his lunch break, he decided to wander about the dance building and see if he could find Maria. Not that he wanted to talk to her, but he thought he could fuck with her from across the room to pass the time. He peered through the windows of the doors of all the classrooms and, for the most part, dance studios to see if he could see her.

Eventually, he saw her. She was talking to a boy who was stretching his obscenely muscular calves and laughing while he did it. Michael was entranced almost immediately. He had long, shaggy black hair that reached his shoulders and Michael got to watch as he raked it back into a bun at the nape of his neck. He decided right then that he was extremely angry at Maria for never introducing them.

Michael had known he was bisexual from a very young age, long before he had a word for it. He liked boys and he liked girls and he liked everyone in between and otherwise. People were pretty and he was supremely bad at hiding it. It was the main reason he was still being bounced around foster homes at sixteen. But now he found a nice home with a nice family or a family who pretended to be nice because what nice sister would hide such a beautiful man from him? That was just rude.

Well, he would just have to introduce himself.

Michael let himself into the room, strolling across the floor and straight up to Maria. They were both in leotards and tights and both looked all professional and ready to go and they both turned their attention onto him when he walked up.

“Maria, let me use your phone to call Mimi,” he said, not even trying to hide the fact that his phone was visible in his pocket. Maria scoffed and the boy gave him a once over, smirking softly. 

“So this must be the guy who trashed the school and set me back a whole week of training in a proper studio,” the guy said. Michael flashed his most charming smile.

“Michael,” he introduced. The guy looked at him and then let out a laugh.

“Sorry, I don’t affiliate myself with criminals,” he said, walking away. Michael couldn’t find it in himself to be offended and he just whistled at the low blow, watching him walk away. In the middle of admiring the fine dancer’s ass, he received a hard hit to the back of his shoulder. 

“What did I say?!” Maria hissed, her face scrunched up in an admittedly hilarious face. 

“Sorry, sorry,” he laughed, still looking over at the boy who was now bent over completely. It was a very heavenly sight. “I was just trying to figure out why you didn’t introduce me to someone like him.”

“Like him? Like who? Alex?” she asked, disgust taking over her face, “No. Do not look at Alex, stop it.”

“So his name’s Alex?” Michael asked, biting down on his lip. He watched Alex slowly slide into a split and stretch a little more. “Fuck me. Is he into dudes?”

“If he is, I would not tell you! Get back to work!” Maria scolded, shoving him towards the door.

“Give him my number, will you?”

“Go to work!”

Michael did not. He instead spent his lunch break watching the two of them dance. He didn’t really have words for what they were doing, all he knew was that it was impressive. They moved around each other and with each other effortless, bodies in sync. It was clear that they were close and it was hard to figure out why he hadn’t noticed him before. He was stunning and talented and clearly friends with his foster sister. And Michael wanted to know him.

After school ended and Michael was just waiting for Maria to get out of class so they could leave, he ended up actually seeing Alex walking towards his own car. He couldn’t stop himself as he walked up to him. He was just too good to be true physically and Michael was eager to see if that extended to other parts of him as well.

“Hey!” he called, jogging up to him. Alex sighed and gave him a condescending smile that Michael loved. “Hey, I saw you dancing earlier. You are incredible.”

“Yeah, that’s why I go here,” Alex said. Michael licked his lips and smirked.

“You think I might be able to get a private show?” he asked. Alex’s jaw dropped slightly and he scoffed, shaking his head. Michael watched as his grip tightened on his backpack and took a step back. Maybe he was too forward.

“Didn’t you hear me earlier when I said I don’t affiliate with criminals? You literally almost ruined my chances for my competition by putting me out a week of proper practice space because you thought it was fun to destroy the studio,” Alex told him. Michael’s smirk dropped completely. “I don’t know why you think you’re hot shit, but you’re not. There is nothing cool about property damage. The fact that you don’t have to pay for it is bullshit and I really think it’s bullshit that they let you come on campus. And I don’t put up with guys like you who have no respect for anything. Bye-bye, now.”

Alex gave a little wave and then swiftly turned on his toes, walking towards his car. Michael sighed. So much for getting to know a guy that gorgeous. He probably was out of his league anyway. 

“I told you,” Maria said as she came out of nowhere. Michael rolled his eyes. “No, but, really. Alex doesn’t do well with the whole flirting thing. Or relationship thing. He’s got a one-track mind and that’s to be successful enough to get out of this place.”

“This place?” Michael asked.

“Yeah. He wants to go to New York,” Maria answered as they walked towards the car, “Wants to be a professional dancer and get the fuck out of Roswell.”

“That sounds like a very uptight way to live,” Michael admitted. Maria just smiled at him and shook her head.

“Let him be uptight.”

That night, Michael laid in bed and thought about just how Alex had said he was disrespectful. He couldn’t figure out why it was stuck in his mind, but it seemed to be linked with the disappointed look Mimi had given him and the way the judge had stared at him. Was he disrespectful? 

He supposed he didn’t really know. He didn’t see dancing or art or anything as that big of a deal. Sure, Alex was good at it and so was Maria, but was it even worth trying to make a career out of? Was it so serious that Alex would avoid people over it? Did he just not get it?

It bothered him. There was clearly something he wasn’t understanding.

Instead of sleeping that night, Michael spent hours researching different ballerinas. He read about tons and tons of people who had made a career out of their art. He’d read about people who seemed to live, eat, breathe dance. He saw videos of people who destroyed their feet and legs just to do what they loved to do. It seemed almost insulting to call it a talent when it really was just years and years of hard labor. It was serious. Missing a week of practice was serious. Missing anything was serious.

Michael was disrespectful.

-

“Hey! Wait up!”

“Oh my god, do you not know how to take no for an answer?”

Michael forced a sweet smile as Alex turned around. He was in baggy sweatpants today and they somehow looked just as good as the tights from the day before. He was just gorgeous. And, you know, hopefully into guys.

“Yeah, I do take no for an answer,” Michael said as nicely as he could, “And I didn’t like you telling me that I was disrespectful. I spent, like, all night learning everything I could about how hard it is to do what you do and… yeah, I was disrespectful. I’m sorry.”

Alex furrowed his eyebrows. “Okay? What, do you want a prize for having to do research for what should be common sense?”

“No, I’m just… admitting to my wrongs,” Michael said. Alex eyed him weirdly before nodding and waving curtly. Then he turned and disappeared into the building. Michael felt the desire to go after him again, but decided against it. Not only did he have to continue his community service, but he also knew this guy wasn’t his biggest fan. As hot as he was, he would need to keep his distance.

But they were cleaning the dance building all day.

Michael saw him in the halls and saw him looking some kind of gorgeous. His hair was down and messy and he had on a crop top that shouldn’t have looked as good as it did. Michael did his best not to look at him, not to stare, to let him be, but it was like some outside force kept throwing them in the same place. It was hard not to look.

The next few weeks went by just like that. Michael would see him and nod to him and admire him from afar. He’d watch Alex and Maria dance, slowly but surely memorizing the routine. He was growing a massive appreciation of both of them. They worked so hard. The appreciation seemed to make Alex warm up to him if only a little bit. It gave Michael another person that didn’t mind having him around.

Michael liked having people enjoy his presence.

“You guys should teach me how to do some of that,” Michael said to them as they caught their breath.

“Have you ever even danced before?” Alex asked. Michael smiled as he watched him dry his sweaty face with a towel. There were few things as hot as that man.

“I did, a little. Not like that. My old foster brother was a street dancer and he taught me a thing or two,” Michael mentioned. He’d actually taught Michael a bit more than just dancing, but that happened to be the main reason Michael had been taken out of the house. Sleeping with your foster siblings was a big no-no apparently.

“Okay, well, come over here,” Alex said. Maria rolled her eyes, but she held a hand out to him Michael grinned and walked over. “Alright, let’s try the basics. Put your feet like this.”

Michael stared down at their feet as they put their heels together and their toes pointed in opposite directions. He tried his best to copy them, but his feet weren’t nearly as straight as theirs. They both kicked his feet a little bit to try to make them straighter, but it didn’t really work.

“Okay, well that’s… kinda first position,” Maria laughed.

“Alright, and this is second position,” Alex said, spreading his legs a bit and raising his arms to his side.

“What the fuck is happening with your knees? Isn’t that bad?” Michael asked, listening to them both laugh.

“I mean, maybe, but ballet is all aesthetic,” Maria told him.

“That’s fucked.”

The two of them walked him through the five basic positions of ballet and found that he wasn’t actually half bad at doing them. Sure, they weren’t hard and he still struggled with a bit of footwork, but he wasn’t horrible at it. It was fun, actually.

It was the first time Michael realized he had friends.

-

Maria DeLuca fell in slow motion.

Michael saw it happen, watched as she tripped on the last step of the stairs over his bag and was helpless to actually try to help her. He heard her scream and she grabbed her ankle and she cried.

Fuck.

-

“What do you mean you sprained your ankle? Maria, the competition is in a month. This is important!”

Michael stood off to the side, averting his gaze as the two had a conversation. He felt sort of guilty. A lot guilty. It was his fault that she tripped and sprained her ankle. It was his fault that she was told to be on crutches for three weeks which left them both fucked for a competition that could get them scholarships.

“It’s not my fault, Alex.”

Alex tilted his head back and took a deep breath.

“I know, I know. I’m not trying to blame you, I just… I don’t know what I’m gonna do,” Alex groaned.

“I’m sorry. Maybe you could find someone else to rehearse with until I can get back on my feet?” 

“I can do it,” Michael said. They both turned to him.

“What?” Alex scoffed, “You don’t dance.”

“I dance a little. I know your routine. And we can work on it and tailor it a little bit,” Michael continued. He started walking towards them, slowly convincing himself that this was totally a good idea so that maybe Alex would agree.

“You don’t even go to school here, Michael,” Maria sighed.

“So? Doesn’t mean I can’t help,” he said, “Look, it’s my fault that you tripped and I feel horrible. Let me at least try to make it up to you? I promise I’ll give it my all.”

“You have community service still,” Alex said.

“I’ll be finished in two days. Gives me all that extra time to work with you,” Michael said with a smile that was intended to be charming. He didn’t know if it was. He was typically lost on what Alex Manes found charming.

Alex sighed and looked between the two of them, clearly torn. Michael saw the moment Alex realized he didn’t really have much of a choice. He had to at least try.

“Fine.”

Michael smiled big and bright.

-

“I feel like this is a bad idea.”

“You offered, suck it up.”

Michael nodded hesitantly and then took a deep breath for preparation. Alex gave him a small nod and then began to run. Michael braced himself and prepared to catch him after his graceful leap.

And then they both tumbled to the ground.

Michael winced as the wind was knocked out of him in an attempt to save Alex from slamming his face on the floor.

“Dude, you have to actually catch me,” Alex sighed.

“Why can’t you catch me? You catch Maria,” Michael argued. Alex rolled his eyes and pushed himself up to his feet. He held out his hand for Michael.

“Because I’m the one who can jump properly, you can’t,” Alex said, “You also have the muscle to catch me.”

Michael gave a wounded gasp, his hand touching his heart. “Are you calling me fat?”

Alex rolled his eyes. “I’m saying you look like you could carry me without struggling and I’m used to lifting women that barely weigh 100lbs.”

“Valid,” Michael said, grinning which just seemed to irk Alex even more, “Alright, let’s try again.”

It took almost eight tries before Michael actually was able to catch and lift him. Alex wasn’t that impressed.

“Finally, fuck,” Alex scoffed. Michael snorted and shook his head and didn’t say a word about the little smile that appeared on Alex’s face.

They spent hours practicing the simplest things. Or, somewhat simply. Michael picked up the less technical things extremely quick. Body movement came easy, his hips and his arms and his legs moved as he wanted. What he was bad at was looking graceful.

“Why don’t you show me what you can do and so I can gauge what I have to work with,” Alex said, leaning against the wall and waving him on. Michael stood there awkwardly now that he was put on the spot. “Go on.”

Alex put on some trashy trap music and then smiled, seemingly really proud of his lame assumption as to what Michael could dance to. Annoyingly, he wasn’t that wrong. 

It took a moment to stop feeling ridiculously uncomfortable, but he managed to do it. He blocked out the pressure and simply moved. He danced in ways he didn’t have words for. That was the thing, it seemed. Alex had words for every single move he did. Michael didn’t have that. He just moved with the way his body wanted him to. 

“It’s good, really, it’s just not classical.”

“I’m not classically trained,” Michael laughed. Alex rolled his eyes.

“I know, but… Look, your dancing is, like, heavy. Picture that you’re light as a feather or like you’re dancing on a cloud,” Alex tried. Michael looked at him like he’d fucking lost it. 

“A cloud? Your rich kid is showing.”

“No, look,” Alex scoffed, “Look at the difference. You spin like this.” Michael watched the very broad and admittedly heavy way he spun. His arms weren’t all poised, they were bent, and the spin itself was quick. It was all motivated by one swift push which was exactly how Michael had done it. “But it should look more like this.”

Once again, it was easy to become mesmerized by the way Alex moved. It was like he was born to do it with how effortless he made it look. But the fact was it wasn’t effortless. The way he could spin for minutes upon minutes and how all of his choices were refined. They all came with a purpose that Michael’s never did.

“Okay, so, if we’re pointing out nit-picks, I think your style is stiff,” Michael accused after the spell Alex put on him broke. Well, technically, it didn’t break. Alex had simply stopped dancing and so Mciahel’s brain started working a bit better. Now, he just looked extremely offended.

“Excuse me? Stiff? I am not stiff!”

“I mean, you kinda are. Even when you’re making fun of how heavy I move, it’s stiff. I’m loose,” Michael told him, smiling sweetly. Alex scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Says the man wearing jeans rather than the tights I gave him,” Alex shot back.

“It had a thong!”

“It’s called a dance belt!”

Alex put his hands to his forehead and walked in a circle. Michael watched him patiently, letting him think. He liked watching him think. He liked watching him do a lot of things. He even liked the tights‒just as long as they were on Alex and not him.

“Okay, okay,” Alex said, looking at him with a new look on his face. He let his long hair down and then tied it back again. Michael dreamed of a day he left it down all the time. “You learn to get light and wear the tights, and I’ll work on loosening up.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “Why do I have to do two things?”

“Because it’s my routine.”

 With a slow nod, Michael surrendered. He already knew he would. Imagine telling someone that looks and acts like that no? 

“Sounds like a plan.”

-

“Wanna see something cool?”

“Is it my ass in those thong tights because I already looked at that.”

“Shut the fuck up and come on.”

Michael grinned as Alex unlocked the car door for him. Two weeks of practicing and slowly but surely they were meeting in the middle. In fact, they’d mashed something together that wasn’t quite hip-hip dancing, but wasn’t quite classical either. It was a mesh of something amazing, something theirs. He loved it.

He climbed into the passenger side of Alex’s car and let him drive out of the school parking lot.

The two of them hadn’t actually spent much time alone outside of the school and especially never without Maria, but the idea of it alone had Michael excited. He’d wanted him from the moment he saw him.

When they stopped at a red light, Alex let down and shook it out. It had a little wave to it from being up all day and he ran his hand through it to loosen it more.  Michael had to take a deep breath at the sight. He had to restrain himself from reaching out and touching.

“I like your hair like that,” Michael said.

“I don’t care what you like,” he said. Michael smiled at him.

The drive didn’t last too long, but it was a part of town Michael had actually never been. Granted, he’d been on a relatively tight leash since he got to Roswell since he had a pretty shitty track record when he came to the DeLuca household. But, even if he hadn’t, he probably wouldn’t have gone to the wooded area that Alex had brought him.

Alex got out first without a word and began heading towards the woods and Michael took a second to admire him. He had changed into a pair of form-fitting sweats and had on a loose crop top that showed a few inches of tan skin on his back. Michael almost died the first time he experienced touching that.

“Where the hell are we going?” Michael asked as he followed Alex into the trees.

“Somewhere cool.”

Alex walked the stone pathway with large strides and a skip in his step, his hair whipping around him in the most intoxicating way Michael had ever seen. It was hard not to stare. The only reason he stopped staring was because of the giant treehouse with a winding fucking staircase they ran up to.

“Holy shit,” Michael scoffed. Alex took the steps three at a time and disappeared inside the door before Michael could even start to climb. He raced just as fast.

Entering the room felt like entering a whole new world. It was very clearly old with the way the tree had begun to grow inside, but it looked like it was very well kempt otherwise. It wasn’t hard to realize that was Alex’s doing as he very comfortably landed on the massive bean bag chair in the middle of the room.

“What is this place?” Michael asked, slowly beginning to walk around the room. The more he walked, the more it felt like Alex. There was a massive empty space to the left of the bean bag bed and the tree limbs that had invaded the windows were groomed to be shelves. One had a cardigan draped over it and the other had a participation trophy with a ballerina on top. Behind the trophy was a certificate announcing that Alex Manes had danced his way to win a countywide competition at age 12.

“I found it when I was 14 and I started hiding out here when things got bad at home,” Alex answered. Michael looked over to him at the brutally honest admission, but Alex had eyes that didn’t give him space to inquire what exactly bad meant for him. “The lady who owns the property found out I was staying here and, instead of kicking me off her property, she made special windows that would fit around the limbs so I wouldn’t have to worry so much about animals at night.”

“That was nice,” Michael said, only now noticing that there were indeed windows. He wondered how she even made those.

“Yeah, she’s awesome. Our deal is that I get her groceries so she doesn’t have to go into town and I can stay here for free.”

“Wait, you live here?” Michael asked, eyes widening accidentally. Alex shrugged, shifting in the bean bag bed. It was hard to picture that someone like Alex could live in a place without running water. He always looked so nice. He went to a rich school for fuck’s sake.

“I couldn’t stay at home.”

“How do you go to AKSA then?” Michael asked, standing in the middle of the floor and staring at the boy in the bean bag. Alex leaned back slowly, his hair pooling around him as he looked up to Michael. It made Michael feel weird for some reason. 

“Scholarship.”

“Why’d you show me this?” Michael said a little softer. He didn’t understand why he was worthy of this information. He’d never been worthy of anything in his life.

“I bet you could use the competition as your audition,” Alex admitted. That caught Michael off guard. 

���Huh?”

And Alex just shrugged and patted the bean bag beside him. 

Michael complied and tried not to think about what he’d just said.

“Am I loose enough?” Alex asked as they settled into the bean bag. Truly, it was big enough that they didn’t have to touch. They could’ve easily been only opposite sides without a problem. Instead, they met in the middle. Michael wanted to kiss him more than he’d ever wanted to kiss anyone in his entire life. 

Typically, a thousand shitty things would flood his mind to make fun of him or flirt with him would come to his mind. He wanted to now. He wanted to make a joke. Instead, he whispered, “Yeah.”

Alex took a deep breath, his dark eyes flickering over Michael’s face. He was so close. So, so, so close. Michael clenched and unclenched his fists a million times as he tried to decide what was and was not okay when it came to Alex Manes. Fuck, he still had no idea if Alex was even into guys. He’d never said he was, but he never said he wasn’t and it sometimes seemed like he might be.

Before he could ask, cold fingertips pressed to his hip. Michael held his breath. He focused completely on the sensation of Alex slowly dragging his fingers over his side and up to his jaw. It wasn’t really anywhere Alex hadn’t touched before when they were dancing, but this was something else entirely and it was making him feel dizzy. Maybe the holding his breath part wasn’t really helping, but still.

“Is this okay?” Alex asked as the pads of his fingers fanned over Michael’s jaw. He finally breathed and it was horribly shaky. Which was bullshit. He’d kissed before‒done a lot more than kiss before‒but this seemed to have him fucked up ten times over.

It had everything to do with the way Alex welcomed him into his space. This was a fragile gift that Michael had to take care of. He was terrified.

“Yes.”

Slowly, Alex leaned in and kissed him. It was slow and shaky and short. When it ended, Alex took a deep breath and opened his eyes to make sure that it was still okay. Michael thought he was floating.

“I’ve never done that before,” Alex whispered. Michael rubbed his arm, holding him close and waiting for permission to kiss him again.

“Done what?”

“Kissed someone. Not for real, only… only in plays,” Alex admitted, gulping. His hand was still on Michael’s cheek and he seemed frozen just a few centimeters away from his lips. Typically that admission would scare the shit out of Michael and he would find an excuse to leave, but this time he couldn’t find the fear. Or not the fear of that. He was only scared that he’d ruin it.

“Do you wanna stop?” Michael wondered. He really hoped he wouldn’t want to, but he would if he wasn’t ready.

Alex didn’t give a verbal answer, only moving in and kissing him senseless. 

Michael stayed until well past dark.

-

“I hate dropping you off,” Alex all but whined as they decided to wrap up their rehearsal for the day, “I just wanna take you home with me.”

“You could always stay,” Michael said, fiddling with the ends of his hair that he’d been wearing down a lot more now, “They wouldn’t suspect a thing.” 

“Tempting, but no,” he hummed. Michael smiled and shook his head, leaning in for an all too chaste kiss. They had so many of those and Michael was overwhelmed with them sometimes. It seemed every other person he kissed was all with the intention to get them in bed within the next hour. With Alex, he still was scared to break it.

Two weeks. Two weeks of both dancing and making out with Alex Manes. It was the best two weeks of his entire life. They hadn’t told anyone for selfish reasons only, enjoying the ability to dance and dance and dance and then have it turn into something more without anyone suspecting anything.

It helped even more that they’d showed their dance to the Dean. If all went well, Michael would be starting the next semester as a new dance student of AKSA. He didn’t know he even wanted that until he was told he might be allowed to have it. Now all he could think about was what else Alex could make him realize he was allowed to have.

“You need better deodorant, your sweat smells like you took a shower in must,” Alex murmured against his lips. Michael scoffed.

“You’re such an ass.”

“I am not, I’m helping.”

“Helping? Helping?”

Alex’s laughter rang through the room as Michael’s fingers dug into his side, slowly bringing them both the floor as he tickled him. He didn’t stop until he was firmly on top of him and had replaced the tickling with kisses on his neck. Maybe Michael’s sweat was horrific, but Alex’s wasn’t. It was something borderline addictive. It was all too easy to drag his tongue over Alex’s damp collarbone and up his glistening throat.

“You’re disgusting,” Alex said, but it held a lot less venom than his insults usually did. The way he tightened his arms around Michael’s shoulders didn’t go unnoticed. “We-we should probably not do this here.”

“Seriously, sneak in tonight,” Michael whispered, “The showcase is soon and we won’t get to mess around as much.”

Alex shoved gently at his shoulders, though, and Michael took that as his cue to sit up. He stared up at him with those big dark eyes again.

“I can’t,” Alex said, shaking his head and sitting up, “I… I have to…”

“If you don’t want to spend the night with me, that’s fine. I won’t be angry,” Michael promised. It hurt a little bit, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew that was all on him.

“Okay, then I don’t want to spend the night with you. Not yet, at least,” Alex said and then his shoulders squared and that hardened look in his eye returned. It was the first time Michael noticed the transformation. He admired it. “I have a lot more important shit to focus on than whatever goes on in your mind and you know that.”

“I do.”

“Good. Don’t be late to practice tomorrow or you’re walking home,” Alex said as he stood to his feet. Michael smiled at him. He was perfect.

“Yes, sir.”

-

“I’m so excited!”

“Me too.”

Michael hovered in the doorway as he watched Maria and Alex talk after class. She was springing with joy that she was all better and could come back and get back to dancing. That morning, Michael had been happy for her. Now, watching her take Alex back made him realize that he’d jumped to quickly to celebrate.

Alex glanced over at him with that same blank look that Michael couldn’t read. Usually, he loved it. Right now, it was like being shot in the foot with his own gun.

“Alex,” Michael said as he made his way over to them. Maria looked over him like she had just put it together in that moment as well. Her getting her partner back meant fucking over Michael. “Can I talk to you for a minute?” 

Alex nodded and they stepped off to the side.

“So, what, you’re just going to go back to dancing with her?” Michael asked softly. Alex nodded again and lifted his arms to pull his hair back into the low bun. “But what about me trying to audition? Our routine was what was going to get me my in.”

“I’m sorry, but I can’t just bail on her. She’s worked her ass off, she deserves to show off to the people that are coming,” Alex told him. Michael furrowed his eyebrows. He knew that. He knew that better than anyone, he lived with her. But still. Maria had a lot of things. This was Michael’s one thing. 

“Okay, but this was‒”

“I’m sorry,” Alex said again, “Maybe you can find another partner.”

“It sort of feels like your breaking up with me,” Michael said and when Alex didn’t respond, he scoffed, “Dude, what the fuck? You’re just going to cut ties with me because I can’t be a fancy dancer?”

“No, we’re just very different and I’ve realized that my career is more important than some guy,” Alex said simply. It was cold and hardened and Michael knew it was the mask. “My routine with Maria is what I’ve been working on for months before I spent a little time working with you. That’s what will help my career.”

“Okay, Alex,” Michael scoffed, shaking his head, “Okay. I thought we established you could be honest to my face and I won’t get mad.”

Alex stared at him for a moment. Michael waited for the painful truth.

“It’s easier if I don’t get attached to you,” Alex admitted softly. It was a lot less painful than Michael was expecting. 

“You say that like I’m not already attached to you,” Michael told him. Again, he stared. “Look, Alex, why can’t we‒”

“It’s a bad idea. This was a bad idea in the first place.”

“I thought you were loosening up.”

“Maybe I loosened too much.”

Michael nodded slowly and tried not to take it to heart. If this is what Alex wanted, then who was he to argue otherwise?

“Oka, whatever. I’ll see you around,” Michael said, huffing a laugh, “Actually, no. I won’t.”

He left the room and tried not to be too pissed. How silly of him to think he could have nice things.

-

“Mopey, mopey, mopey Mikey.”

Michael groaned into his pillow at the sound of Mimi’s voice. He knew he had been moping for the last week, but he couldn’t help it. He got a taste of something real, something better, and it was just snatched away from him because he wasn’t good enough. Again. 

“I’m not leaving until we talk,” Mimi insisted, her voice getting closer. His bed shifted as she sat beside him. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Nothing,” Michael grumbled. 

“Yeah, okay, I don’t believe that,” Mimi said, “Can I hold your hand?” Michael grunted in response, but he would be lying if he said the motherly way she squeezed his hand didn’t make him feel better. “What’s wrong?”

After a minute of silence, Michael finally answered, “I had a chance to audition for Ark Kingdom and… now I can’t.”

Mimi tensed up and her heels tapped quietly on the floor, but she pushed away her excitement for him. Moments like that made him feel like the most loved man in the world. He shifted a little bit to look up at her.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I was dancing with Alex and, when Maria got better, he sort of just dropped me for her. And I know it’s stupid because it’s her school and it’s her dance, but I just… I don’t know, I liked feeling like I had potential for once,” he admitted. Mimi gave him a sad little smile and squeezed his hand tighter.

“You still have potential even without the school. You are so smart and apparently talented, not that you’ve ever shown me any dance moves,” she teased. He gave a small smile, but it didn’t last long. He was angry about the school and he was angry about losing a chance at something more, but he couldn’t help but feel sad about not being with Alex. He liked kissing him and he liked dancing with him and he liked being allowed in his safe place. He felt welcome.  Turns out he’d spent so much time scared he might fuck things up with Alex that he never even considered the fact that Alex might’ve done the fucking. “Oh wait, I know that look. Are you upset about the school or about the boy?”

Michael scrunched up his nose. “Both?”

Mimi rolled her eyes. “You know you can get one of those things back, don’t you?”

“I don’t think I can. He seemed pretty set on career first, fuck anyone else,” Michael explained. Mimi squeezed his hand again.

“How about this, come to their performance tonight. We can bring flowers for the both of them and maybe it’ll give you an excuse to talk to him,” she suggested. Michael groaned again. He really didn’t want to go. As much as he loved watching Alex dance, it just felt like torture to watch him. He wasn’t wanted anymore. “Come on.”

“That feels like torture.”

“Well, you’ve been in bed all week. You need to get up anyway, might as well try to win your boy back,” Mimi said. Michael still frowned. “Let’s go.”

“And if he rejects me?”

“Then he’s not worth it.”

Michael very reluctantly agreed, but only because he had no idea how to tell her that he was worth everything.

-

“He’s been just as miserable as you, you know?”

Michael ignored Maria as they drove. She had to be at the venue early, so they were leaving early and they would simply wait until showtime. Mimi and Maria sat up from and Michael sat in the back beside two bouquets of flowers.

“He misses you,” Maria continued. Michael stared out the window. Alex hadn’t once tried to talk to him, so it didn’t seem like she was telling the truth. If he missed him so much, where was he?

“Michael, I think you should go talk to him,” Mimi chimed in.

“I’ll figure it out when we get there. Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,” Michael grumbled. He didn’t have to look to know that both women rolled their eyes at him.

The idea of trying to make nice with Alex felt like a stupid, pointless thing to do. Alex was pretty dead set on wanting to focus on his career and not have to worry about boys. It was a valid thing, too. Michael couldn’t even fault him. Sure, it fucked him over, but that was just the name of the game.

Alex was gifted and a hard worker. Michael shouldn’t expect anything on par with that when he hadn’t even started striving for anything until he met Alex. 

Michael got out of the car after Maria and could feel her eyes on him. They had been on him for the last week. He knew she felt bad, but he also knew she had no reason to be. She had been dancing with Alex since the beginning of the school year. Michael just swooped in and stole him, so she had every right to take him back. Still, she seemed to be guilty.

“Michael,” she said, pulling him off the side as Mimi went to walk into the lobby, “I think you should go dance with him.” Michael furrowed his eyebrows.

“What?”

“I think you should go dance with Alex and try to get in,” she insisted, sincerity on her face. He shook his head.

“No, are you crazy? You’ve worked so hard for this, I’m not taking it from you,” he told her. She shrugged.

“My ankle is still sore, it’s not as good as it could be, I’ll just be holding him back,” Maria said, but he wasn’t sure how much truth that held.

“But your routine will help his career, that’s what they want to see.”

“Our routine is just that. A routine. What you guys came up with will get you both further,” she insisted. Michael simply stared at her and tried to find another way to say no. Not only was this not fair to her, but Alex also didn’t want to dance with him. He didn’t want to ruin both of their shots. “Listen, I’ll dance at the end of the year showcase, I’ll be fine. This is important for both of you.”

“Alex doesn’t want to dance with me,” Michael tried. Maria scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, he really does. Just go make him see that you’re serious about it,” she said, shoving his shoulder, “Break a leg. It’ll be great.”

“Why are you doing this for me?” Michael asked softly. Maria simply smiled.

“You’re my brother. I want what’s best for you.”

Michael’s throat tightened and grabbed her in a tight hug. Maybe he could have nice things.

-

“Alex! Alex, hey, wait!”

Alex looked more annoyed than ever as he turned around and Michael almost forgot what he was going to say. He was in a pair of black tights, a black form-fitting jacket-like shirt, and a pair of black ballet shoes. His hair was slicked back into a low bun like it always was, but his make-up was done up all nice and glittery. He looked like a vision.

“What do you want?” Alex asked with a sigh.

“I want to dance with you,” Michael said. Alex furrowed his eyebrows. “Please let me.”

“But Maria‒”

“She already said it was okay,” Michael insisted. Standing in front of Alex again and knowing that he had a chance had him nearly bouncing with desperation. He wanted to dance with him again. He wanted to touch him again. He wanted to feel important again. “Look, when we first met, you said I was disrespectful. And then I apologized, but I don’t think I knew just how disrespectful I really was until I started dancing with you. You showed me how much hard work went into it and how good it felt to succeed. You showed me that I could be something more, that I could, like, have respect and that it would mean something. I want it to mean something again.”

Alex shook his head, huffing a laugh. “Everyone here worked their ass off. You got lucky. Why should you get rewarded?” Michael smiled at him.

“Yeah, I did get lucky. I met you,” Michael said. Alex closed his eyes. “And I’m not saying anything has to go back to how it was or anything, I just want a chance to prove myself. I want to be someone better. I know you don’t want to get attached to me and I respect that, but please. Let me dance with you.”

“One condition,” Alex said softly. Michael smiled.

“Anything.”

“Go get your tights and your make-up on.”

Michael rolled his eyes, but agreed with a small, “Absolutely.”

By the time it got to their turn to perform, Michael was dressed up similarly to Alex. Black tights, black shirt, black ballet shoes, and his makeup was done just the same. As nervous as he was, he was all but bouncing to get on stage and do all the things he spent practicing with Alex. He wanted to impress everyone. He wanted to show them he wasn’t just a criminal.

They stood in the left wing and Alex grabbed his hand. He pressed a soft kiss to the back of it and all the nerves bled from his system.

“Don’t fuck this up,” Alex said in a low voice. Michael smiled and they made their way on stage.

Just like the first time, moving with Alex was natural. It didn’t feel like they’d missed a week of practice. It felt like this was what they were made to do. This was it. This was life.

Even if they had fucked up, Michael knew that Alex was intoxicating as he spun with his glittery face under the lights. He almost got lost in it, but not so lost that he didn’t catch him. They leaped, they spun, they became entwined. It was hard to deny anything.

The piece ended with them both on the floor, poised and posed and facing one another with heavy breaths. People cheered for them, but the only thing Michael could see was Alex. The lights faded and Michael helped him to his feet, exiting the stage before pulling him into a hug.

Surprisingly, Alex hugged back.

“I’m already attached,” Alex whispered to him. Michael hugged him tighter.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Oh my god! That was amazing!” Mimi squealed once they exited the green room. She and Maria were already waiting for them and, while Michael entirely expected that, Alex didn’t and he clung to Michael’s shoulder for a moment. 

“Thanks,” they both said.

“I knew I made the right choice,” Maria said, grinning very proudly at herself.

“You’re going to take credit for how well we did, aren’t you?” Michael asked.

“Absolutely.”

“I’m so proud of you!” Mimi said, stealing back the attention to shower them in more praise. She hugged them both tightly and it occurred to Michael that Alex probably wasn’t used to this level of love either. He gave him an encouraging smile. “I had no idea you could dance like that!”

“I learned from the best,” Michael grinned.

“We taught him so well,” Maria told her.

“Oh, shut up.”

“We need to go out to dinner to celebrate! Alex, can you come too, sweetie?” Mimi asked. Alex blinked and looked to Michael before nodding. “Awesome! Oh, this is‒”

“Mr. Guerin, may I have a word with you?” Everyone turned towards the voice to see the Dean standing there. With a squeeze to Alex’s hand, Michael nodded and stepped over to her.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“I don’t want to keep you from your family,” she said, glancing over to the DeLucas. Family. He smiled. “But you have an appointment in my office Monday morning at 6 AM. Don’t be late and bring your transcripts.”

“Wait, so I got in?” he asked. She smiled.

“You really proved yourself up there. That took hard work.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” he gushed. She nodded and patted his shoulder before letting him go back to Maria, Mimi, and Alex.

“So?” Alex asked first, giving him one of the most genuine smiles Michael had ever seen him give in front of other people.

“I got in.”

In an instant, Alex was kissing him and then his family was hugging him and he was loved. He was lucky and he was loved.

He was going to be someone.

[smokinholsters]

A Decision at the Crossroads

A Heartland AU - Chapter 4 – Finale

While Ty went to fetch his phone Amy popped open one of the side panels on the trailer and unsnapped the table that was first in line. She reached her arms wide to grab it and start lifting it out when Ty showed up.

“Whoa easy Amy, I’ll get it.”

“I’m fine.”

“Of course you are now back up please.”

“Thank you Ty.” She said and stepped aside “and 5 of the chairs please.”

“Six actually Kelsey’s coming.”

“Kelsey ?”

“Dr. Burton, my namesake apparently.” He said laying the table on it’s side and unfolding the legs. “Hey, this is nice set up.”

“We take trips with kids, believe me a table is always easier and cleaner than watching them balance plates. Besides it’s more homey and civilized.”

“I’ll file that away” he said maneuvering the table and then placing chairs as Amy opened and gave them a wipe with a damp cloth as well as the table. She had also removed a little basket with a tablecloth sealed in a zip loc bag, and began to spread it. As well as counting out silverware found in the basket as well.

“Ty there’s another basket with plates and more pitchers.” She said watching him walk over as she grabbed one pitcher from her now empty basket and put it on the table.

They set the table together, each handling three settings and Amy ran in for a roll of paper towels. He watched as she took a second to look at the table, nodded and walked over to lower herself into a chair slowly. She was wearing a blue dungaree dress that went down to her knees, it had ¾ sleeves and embroidery along the hem and collar. Obviously a maternity dress, he was captivated by her shape.

“You need to stop staring at me Ty, I’m becoming very self conscious, I already think I look like a beach ball.”

“You don’t, I’m sorry, you look great. Two kids, one on the way, I’m, I don’t know….”

“Three actually, you’re the first to hear, Clint Riley called, they have a foster for us, a young boy named Luke Kashani, he’s nine. Clint’s bringing him Monday.”

“Clint Riley, he’s still around huh. That’s nice, keeping that tradition going.”

“Yeah, Scott, you, Georgie, remember Badger, it’s nice.”

“Mitch mentioned Georgie and something with Lou, he also told me about the divorce.”

“Georgie was an orphan who ran away from her foster family in Okotoks, she stowed away in Grandpa’s pickup and found her way to Heartland. She was a keeper. The divorce is what it was I guess, it’s now amicable with benefits apparently, works for them.”

“Georgie lives with Lou at Heartland ?”

“Lou took a condo in town when she became Mayor and lives there with Katie. We fixed up the loft when I got back from Europe as a nice studio and I lived there alone and then with Mitch for awhile before moving to Saddle River, his family ranch, his parents have an independent living condo in Calgary. Georgie and Quinn are engaged and live in the loft, Grandpa and Lisa live in the house.”

“I heard Jack married Lisa, I saw an article about the Hall of Fame that mentioned it. I’m sorry about your dad Amy, I read about his passing.”

“The death of a legend, it was a nice tribute.”

“I saw a tribute to Lou as Mayor too, ordering the stay in place at home and closing Maggie’s early on definitely seemed to make a difference in the area.”

“It did and I think she’ll be remembered for that, this is her last term, she’s not running again. Enough about Hudson, tell me about you, is there someone special, Kelsey maybe ?”

“Nah, Kelsey and I never, there have been women over the years but I’m free now, I’m picky I guess.”

“Well when it happens you’ll know.”

“You and Mitch look happy.”

“We are, very happy.”

“How’s Jack ?”

“Older, pretty much retired, his arthritis, heart problems, a hard 90, for a former bronc rider and Alberta cowboy not fun.”

“Lisa ?”

“Lisa’s good, the perfect grandmother, she loves the kids. So does Casey, Lyndy adores them both. Mitch’s folks too.”

“Casey, I know this.”

“McMurtry.”

“Right, McMurtry Rodeos, they come around every couple years.”

She noticed quickly enough that he had changed the subject. “Ty ? Are you happy ?”

Ty looked at her and into her eyes, Amy could see that he wasn’t teary but there was disappointment, a small sadness in his face “I guess, I mean I don’t think I’m unhappy.”

“Were you happier yesterday ? Mitch said he thought you might be having a case of the might have beens.”

“I didn’t need to see you for that. The baby was eye popping don’t get me wrong and not in a bad way Amy, you look amazing, really the, well,  the high school boyfriend comment, that sort of slammed a world of reality down on me.”

“That’s what we were, we were an actual couple for most of my high school 3rd year, my senior year was a nightmare, we were way better as friends than as a couple Ty, we were a lousy couple.” She was smiling and not being harsh, her tone somewhat softly nostalgic, it was in fact a long time ago.

“Come on, that’s a bit extreme don’t you think ?”

“Really ? You really think ?” She said,  again somewhat amused and again not in anything more than the nostalgia of it “we had a good few months, you know Kit and the Quarantine and then I won the Ring of Fire and rather than joining me and perhaps a later bike trip in the summer to see some of the world you decided that you needed to go off alone for a few weeks. So, after the excitement of motels with my dad on tour and while I spent the rest of the summer working and doing what used to be your job on top of mine you came home almost 4 months later with a huge dose of misplaced maturity and Blair. Then Chase stuck his nose in, we were a good couple for 7 months, maybe. Look Ty, I know about what Grandpa did and he told me what led up to that talk and him sending you off. I don’t know what brought you to that point or why you didn’t come home, but it was your decision, we all had to live with your decision.”

“Looking back, I don’t know either honestly.”

“And I don’t know what would have happened if you had but I do know this, my life with Mitch and our kids feels so right to me that I can’t imagine life without him being a part of it, I’m not saying this to hurt you Ty, but your best days are still ahead of you.”

“So this is the honest conversation part we didn’t do back then huh ?”

“This is it.”

“How do you do it and go on together ?”

“You say it, get it out of your system and have sex, then you fix it in the morning.” She answered smiling.

“Well to be fair we weren’t, at the time, you know.” He said smiling.

“That’s true”, Amy agreed and immediately blushed and then agreed with a smirky smile and a nod, “hey, you’ve,  you know, since, right ?”

“Huh ?” Then realizing she meant had sex, “oh, oh yeah, no worries.”

“So, you’re still driving a classic truck I see, what’s that an early 70’s GMC ?”

“Yeah,’73, hey, whatever happened to Harley and Old Blue ?”

“After a while Caleb took Harley because, well, it broke my heart to see him every day and he eventually found him a nice home with a couple kids who were going to share him.”

“Sorry, I really wanted to,,,,, forget it. And the truck ?”

“Grandpa kept the truck running and in front of the house for months figuring if nothing else you’d show up in the night and drive it off but you didn’t and one day it wouldn’t start so he hauled it next to Goldie swearing he’d fix it one day.”

“So it’s just sitting there rotting ?”

“Well no actually, about the time Caleb sold Harley I was sick of looking at it so I got rid of it.”

“You sold it.”

“Well, in the interest of honesty, not exactly.”

“What does that mean, exactly ?”

“I attached the promise ring to the ignition key and had it crushed.”

“You had it crushed ?”

“I needed closure Ty, it was invigorating, a grand release of emotions.”

Ty stared at her for a few seconds in shock and then Amy started laughing and then holding her stomach bent over and laughing. “I’m sorry Ty.”

“It’s Ok” he said laughing along with her.

“Oh here, give me your hand.” She said reaching out, she loves it when I laugh “come on silly give me your hand” she prodded seeing the look on his face.

Finally she grabbed his hand and hauled it over, “come here I don’t bite,” gently she turned his palm and lay it over the right side of her belly holding her hand over his. A few seconds later she smiled, “there, feel that ?”

When she stretched out her leg rather than kicking Ty identified a second feeling and realizing it was really no different that any animal understood “that’s a stretch.”

“That’s it” she said gently releasing the pressure. “I think we’ll call her Marion, it’s time. Marion Fleming Cutty.”

“That’s really great, so Lyndy.”

“Lyndy Sarah, Mitch’s grandmother. Jackson Timothy and Marion no middle yet.”

“And Luke was it ?”

“Luke Kashani. I guess we’ll need something for a toast, is there a place to get some wine close by ?

“I have beer for dinner and a couple bottles of champagne I can donate to the cause. You drink ?”

“Oh no, I‘ve had a couple sips of champagne as toasts, wedding night and the like, but not, no, I don’t. Especially pregnant.”

“It was just a question Amy.”

She smiled and nodded, “you wouldn’t by any chance have any ice in there for the water ?”

“There’s an ice machine in the barn for ice packs and stuff.”

“You get the champagne, I’ll do the ice.” She said pushing herself up with a grunt.

He smiled watching her move, almost awkwardly, before turning to the house while she walked slowly into the barn.

She wasn’t at the table when he returned and neither were the pitchers so he walked over to the barn where he found the pitchers full of ice on a small table by the barn door and then heard her on the other side by the paddock. Following her voice he turned around the barn and found her engrossed in conversation with the three rescues she had never met. He stood there watching her and the horses who seemed very anxious to be close. The soft sing song pater of her voice a sweet memory for him, the miracle girl.

She turned and smiled “Oh hey, I saw them and figured I’d say hi. We should probably get them stalled and fed.”

“As soon as the guys get back we’ll get it done, you’re wearing a dress, come on.”

They returned to the table after Ty filled the cooler he carried out with ice as well, as a truck Amy did not know pulled up and an early 40’s woman stepped out and over. She had a welcoming smile and a pretty face.

Amy looked up and smiled, “you must be Kelsey, it’s good to meet you, I’m Amy Fleming, Mitch’s wife” she finished extending her hand.

“Kelsey Burton, good to meet you Amy,”

“Sit, relax, we’re waiting for Mitch and Matt to get back.”

“How far along are you if you don’t mind my asking.”

“Little over 5 months I guess, you have kids ?”

“Two, one about to start high school and one about to go to college. Mitch said this is your third, we never got to three before the arguing got too bad, we married way too young.”

They all turned as Mitch’s truck came onto the property, the large Cummins Diesel was not quiet as it pulled up.

Amy smiled when he got out the cab and opened the back door along with Matt repeating the act on the passenger side.

Ty walked off to grab the cooler he had put by the barn and offered beers to all. Amy poured a few waters on her side of the table as Kelsey helped with the food and Mitch and Matt led the horses into the barn.

Once laid out Kelsey examined the table.

“This is a lot of food you guys.” Kelsey said.

Mitch who had come out the barn wiping his hands on a paper towel glanced over at Amy who grinned and him and made a face “don’t you dare.” She said blushing.

“Still eats her weight ?” Ty asked seeing the exchange only to have a dinner roll thrown his way which he caught.

“Hey, what happened to civilized dinner ?” Ty said laughing before sitting down.

Dinner was long and drawn out. Kelsey and Ty talked about the practice, Matt had sheriff stories and Amy and Mitch talked about adventures of their own and their kids. Amy was surprised at the chemistry between Kelsey and Ty and the looks they passed to each other like old friends but maybe something more. Amy was past the age thing, her dad and Casey and Jack and Lisa proved that.  She was not surprised at all that Ty was friends with Kelsey’s kids or that Ty caught every baseball and hockey game her sons played, in and out of school. At one point during a lull in the eating Ty lifted the champagne so that Amy could see.

“Good a time as any.” She said reaching for clean cups and passing them over.

“Champagne, what are we celebrating ?” Mitch asked.

“Us” Amy said as Ty passed cups around after the big pop.

“Why us ?”

“Because sweetheart congratulations are generally tendered when one is told he’s about to become a father, Clint called before, we have a 9 year old foster son arriving Monday morning, Luke Kashani.”

“Luke Kashani, 9 years old, wow.” Mitch repeated.

“Congratulations you two, that’s wonderful” Kelsey announced raising her glass and tapping it to Mitch’s and then Amy’s iced tea that Mitch remembered to get. Soon they were onto 9 year old boy stories and Amy reached out to grab the platter of ribs and dropped them. Not hard but everyone turned to her as she reached for her side.

“Easy girl, mom’s just grabbing for some ribs.” She whispered and then seeing Mitch’s look took his hand as she had Ty’s and then kissed his palm, something she had not done to Ty before placing it on the spot.

“She’s really going at it.” He said smiling and then leaned forward to grab the ribs and bring them closer for Amy who smiled and kissed him before pushing a few onto her plate.

“What do they put in this Cole slaw, it’s always awesome and I can’t figure it out.” Kelsey asked putting some on her plate.

“It’s horseradish” Amy said after swallowing.

“Is this a pregnancy thing ?” Matt asked “heightened palate ?”

Amy shrugged trying to swallow her next bite before answering, “It’s years of studying herbs and alternate remedies. Single ingredients are easy usually unless the tastes are ambiguous like licorice and anise. Or I guess it could be the pregnancy thing” she finished looking up with a smile.

Kelsey was the first to leave, she had to get home to her teenagers. Mitch and Amy said goodbye as they wouldn’t be seeing her in the morning. Matt was game to leave as well, he had an early shift in the morning but promised to stop before they left which was planned for 9:00 AM. Ty helped clear away and helped Mitch with stowing the table and chairs while Amy split the food as Ty insisted they take enough for lunch on the way home. He promised he’s see them in the morning so goodnights were easy.

Later in the evening in the afterglow of their lovemaking Mitch had gone to get some cold water for Amy who settled herself into her current comfortable position, on her left side, pillow between her legs and her arm perched on her belly. Mitch lovingly held the glass out and helped her take a drink without moving much or spilling and then settled as usual behind her, his arm sliding under hers as he leaned forward to kiss her shoulder.

“You had a chance to catch up with Ty ?”

“I did, it was nice.”

“He Ok ?”

“You were a bit right I think, the could have beens but we had a good talk, it went well.”

“Seemed to from my perspective. How about you ? Could have beens ?”

“Not on your life Mitchell Cutty, I couldn’t imagine spending my life with anyone but you.”

“Good to hear and back at you Amy Fleming.”

Amy leaned back as far as she could to catch his lips with hers for a moment before returning to her spot.

In the morning Amy woke to the closing of a car door and a truck start. Peeking out the window she saw Ty’s truck drive off and wondered if he was just getting out without a proper goodbye. When she finally showered and dressed and headed outside with a cup of tea and her breakfast of muffins and clementines she found a note tucked into the trailer door. It said that he was called away for a calving that wasn’t going well but expected to be back by nine when they were scheduled to leave.

Matt arrived after Mitch got his coffee going and decided to wait with them while it perked and join Mitch for a cup. He wasn’t surprised to find Ty gone for an emergency, that was his job as long as Kelsey had kids to get off to school and he was fine with it.

Before he left Matt got a call from Ty and explained that he was almost done but rather than make Mitch and Amy wait he’d meet them for their goodbye as a scenic pull off about 5 miles down the road south, the direction they were heading anyway.

Matt helped them pack up and load the horses, made sure they knew where to go and watched and waved as Amy pulled out first followed by Mitch and the trailer.

They parked and leaned against the overlook fence when Mitch received a text that Ty was on the way. He joined them 10 minutes later full of apologies that they discounted as completed unwarranted and totally understood.

Mitch went first and shook Ty’s hand before a brief bro hug and then walked off to close the trailer that they had opened for the horses benefit.

Amy walked over to Ty and gently ran a finger gently across his brow to move his hair away from his eyes.

“I’d forgotten just how green they were.” She said dropping her hand and smiling.

“Back home ?”

“I have to tell them Ty but we’ll leave contact up to you.”

“Thanks.”

Amy heard the door trailer handle locked into place and took a step forward to reach around Ty for a hug before stepping back.

“Find yourself a woman who loses herself in those eyes Ty and then hold on.”

“I’ll try ?”

“She can be a little older you know.”

“She’s my boss Amy.”

“And soon to be your partner, think about it, you’re a good catch with a big heart Ty Borden, it’s time to stop running. Oh, and I was technically your boss for a while there.” Then she leaned forward and kissed each of his cheeks gently. “Don’t be a stranger, you’d make Grandpa’s day with a call.”

“I will.”

“Goodbye Ty, it’s nice knowing you’re doing well.”

He walked her to her truck as Mitch got into the cab of his and Ty helped Amy in and watched her settle and buckle up before closing her door.

“Bye Amy, It was great seeing you and meeting Mitch.”

Amy smiled and nodded as Ty stepped back and she shifted into drive and drove out followed by Mitch who smiled and waved.

A few miles down the road Amy smiled when the next song was announced and she switched on the truck to truck radio to have Mitch join in when she started singing.

Together, they were the perfect couple.

“Almost heaven, West Virginia

Blue Ridge Mountains, Shenandoah River

Life is old there, older than the trees

Younger than the mountains, growing like a breeze

Country roads, take me home

To the place I belong

West Virginia, mountain mama

Take me home, country roads

All my memories gather 'round her

Miner's lady, stranger to blue water

Dark and dusty, painted on the sky

Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye ……..”

The End.

[twinkletoes-rp]

Princess Tutu College AU Ch. 5 - “Fifth Position”

(Can also be read on FFN | AO3 | Previous )

--

It’s a week before Gold Crown Fine Arts College breaks for the late Easter holiday, and everyone is eager for the reprieve. Everyone’s talking about going home, seeing family and friends, and eating tons of food, and Ahiru loves it. She loves seeing everyone so happy and excited.

Lilie and Pique have some extra time today, so they’re walking with her to her and Fakir’s practice room. They’re talking about what they’re going to do over break, making it a kind of competition to see who can have the most fun, and Ahiru can’t help but laugh. They’re really ridiculous sometimes.

Once they arrive, they pause their game and stop Ahiru before she can leave. “So, what are you doing for the break, Ahiru?” Pique asks.

She’s a little early and Fakir’s not here yet, so Ahiru doesn’t mind them keeping her a minute. She hums in thought, only for a bright smile to spring to her face. “I’ll go swimming and eat a lot, of course! It’ll be fun!”

“Oh, really? That sounds nice!” Pique encourages.

Lilie, however, leans into Ahiru’s space, her sneaky, gossipy smile on her lips, and Ahiru inwardly braces herself as the blond nudges her with her elbow. “But I bet you’ll miss your dance partner, huh?”

Ahiru takes a huge step back at the assumption, half a “Quack—?!” escaping before she muffles it, face bright red. “W-what’s that supposed to mean?!” she sputters, embarrassed and honestly confused. Why bring up Fakir all of a sudden? What does he have to do with anything? “O-of course I’ll miss him, he’s my friend! I’ll miss you guys, too!” She glances at the door and shifts from foot to foot a few times before backing up toward it. “A-anyway, Fakir should be here soon, so I’ll just—see you later!”

With that, she disappears inside, breathing a heavy sigh of relief as she leans against the heavy wood. The next thing she does is try to slow her racing heart so her blush will go away before Fakir sees. She doesn’t want him drawing his own conclusions. He might think she’s sick again, and then he’ll worry. He always looks so sad when he worries.

Outside, Pique and Lilie watch her go, then sigh, but for two very different reasons. “She’s in denial…” Lilie says wistfully, hands cradling her cheeks.

“Maybe,” Pique replies, but she’s only half-listening, staring hard at the door Ahiru went through. She’s trying to make sense of what the younger girl said before Lilie got nosy. “She always says the same thing.”

“Hmm?” Lilie blinks, tilting her head. “About breaks, you mean?”

Pique nods, glad she caught on. The two of them always seem to be on the same page. It’s probably what makes them such good friends. “Mm hmm. She always says she’ll swim and eat a lot and have fun. It’s her go-to. It just makes me wonder what she really does or if it really is all the same like that. Wouldn’t that get boring?”

She and Lilie start heading to their dorm, the gossip giggling behind her hand. “Well, her name does mean ‘duck,’ after all. Maybe she really does take after them.”

Now that Pique thinks about it, Ahiru does have a lot of mannerisms that remind her of a duck. She laughs, too. “Yeah, it could be.”

Meanwhile, just around the corner with his back pressed flat against the side of the wall, Fakir listens closely. He really didn’t mean to eavesdrop at first, but when he got close enough to hear Ahiru’s friend mention him in that sing-song voice, well…sue him, he was curious. And while he did blush at Lilie’s teasing at first, now that he’s hearing Ahiru’s friends express confusion, maybe even edging concern, over her holiday plans, he can’t help but be glad he overheard.

He feels guilty and stupid for it now, but he hadn’t exactly…given much thought to what Ahiru would be doing for the holidays. He never has before. He always assumed she spent time with loved ones like everyone else. But honestly, thinking about it now, while he more or less knows she’s an orphan, he doesn’t know if she has a foster family or a guardian of some kind. She’s never mentioned anyone, and it’s none of his business, so he’s never asked in case it was a touchy subject. If she did at one point, maybe something happened to them early on, so she’s just been on her own since? On the other hand, even if she does have someone, she’s eighteen, turning nineteen soon. She’s old enough to be on her own, so maybe she is.

He sighs heavily. And even with all of that, there’s still the possibility he doesn’t want to think about, but would make the most sense: if she doesn’t have a family or guardian, does that mean she’ll be alone for the holidays? Does it mean she’s been alone, for God knows how many years?

God, has she…has she always been alone?

Those possibilities, but particularly that last one, make his stomach churn and burn white-hot with guilt and shame, almost make him sick...but they also make him wonder about her long game. Apparently, she always gives the same answer for every break, and as far as he knows, she, Lilie, and Pique went to high school and maybe even middle school together. So, if it’s been that long and she’s never changed her answer, did she…just think no one would notice? Or worse, care? It’s true that Pique and Lilie aren’t the most attentive or supportive friends, not nearly as much as Ahiru deserves, in his opinion, and that’s being generous, but did they really not notice that significant of a pattern? Did they never question any of it this whole time?!

And that’s not even the most upsetting part, at least for him—that part is the why. Why wouldn’t she tell him? Why wouldn’t she tell anyone? This is—she is important, damn it!

The sharp sting of his nails nearly biting into his palms is the only thing that breaks him out of his angry-worried spiral. He apparently also has to remind himself to breathe through something other than clenched teeth.

Of course, that just gives him a moment to catch his breath, at least somewhat, and that forces him to remember that he doesn’t truly know anything for sure. This is mostly speculation based on a vague answer, her friends’ contemplation, and the almost-nothing he knows about her home life. Maybe he could find out the truth if he asked her, but…honestly, knowing her, she’d lie to keep him from worrying. She’s always like that, always putting other people before herself, even if it means she suffers. It’s probably how she got into this situation in the first place. He wishes…he wishes she wasn’t like that. He wishes she’d remember that she matters, too.

As it stands now, it would be really helpful if he could at least know something with some degree of certainty. Quickly stepping out from his hiding place, he looks for Lilie and Pique, but they’re nowhere to be found. He must have missed them. He sighs, running a frustrated hand through his hair. Damn it…

Well…he supposes it can’t be helped. He can track them down another time. Right now, Ahiru’s waiting for him, and it wouldn’t do to just leave her hanging. Besides being rude as hell, she’d worry, and if there’s one thing he hates, it’s making her worry about him. They’re alike that way. So, for now, he takes another deep breath to calm himself as best he can before going inside to practice.

But he should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. When he worries, it’s all he can think about, and right now, when the object of his concern is his dance partner, well…it just makes it harder to ignore. Still, he does his best.

For all his efforts, though, Ahiru isn’t blind or stupid. She knows she’s not the brightest bulb, but she can tell when Fakir’s hung up on something, and whatever’s going on in that brilliant head of his today is winding him up more and more. Honestly, she’s worried he’ll snap, he’s stretching himself so thin. She wonders what happened. He was fine this morning, even when they met up for a quick lunch between classes. What could have happened in just a few hours…?

“Fakir?” she calls two hours later, stepping back into the practice room after a quick shower in the locker room.

Freshly showered himself, he’s waiting for her right outside, just like she knew he would be. It’s getting dark, and he doesn’t like the idea of her walking back all by herself. Mytho would laugh and say it’s the ‘knight’ in him. “Hmm?”

“Are you…okay?” she asks softly, concern written all over her face. It’s almost palpable. “It’s not like you to lose focus during practice, and I can tell you’re worried about something…” She hopes he isn’t worried about her bullies. Melody and her friends haven’t tried anything since that last time. In fact, it’s almost like they’re afraid to be anywhere near her, avoiding her at all costs… It’s weird, but she’s not complaining. Suddenly realizing how bold that might sound, Ahiru stiffens and flushes, waving her hands in front of her. “I-I just mean—you don’t have to tell me, but if—if I can help at all…!”

Fakir blinks and turns a little pink himself, embarrassed and kicking himself at getting caught. Then again, she is the most emotionally intelligent person he’s ever met in his life, whether she knows that or not, so he supposes it makes all the sense in the world. He can’t help but breathe a laugh. For whatever reason, the way she’s looking at him makes him feel…better somehow. Maybe it’s having someone care, but he has Mytho, Rue, and his family, so... No, he thinks it’s more than that. He thinks it’s because it’s her.

But whatever the reason, all the pent-up tension finally bleeds from his shoulders, the hand squeezing his heart releases, and he can breathe again. Thank goodness…

She sees the change in him immediately, and she’s about to ask if he’s feeling better when he reaches out to ruffle her wet hair. She squeaks and closes her eyes in surprise at first, then instinctively lean up into his touch with a happy smile and giggle. His heart does flip flops in his chest, and he melts before he can stop himself. His voice follows in kind. “As long as you’re okay, I’m just fine.” Turning on his heel, he starts leading them toward the door. “Come on. It’s getting dark, and I know you still have a quiz to study for. I’ll help you while we make dinner.”

Blinking away her lingering confusion, she beams and hurries to fall into step at his side. “Okay!”

He asks about her day as they walk home, and while he listens to her excited chatter, he does his best to focus on her smiling face. He’s still worried, sure, but he doesn’t want to pass that on to her. He wants her to eat well, sleep better, and ace her quiz.

Him… He can wait.

--

The next day, Ahiru arrives for practice right on time, but Fakir’s not there. Normally, he’s never late, but she knows his classes can go over if it’s an important one, so she’s guessing that’s what happened. She doesn’t mind waiting, though. She’s almost always late (though she’s doing her best to get better!), and he never minds, so she’ll give him the same courtesy.

Sitting down on a nearby bench, she goes to pull out one of her Dance Theory books to get ahead on some assigned reading when something catches her eye. Lying beside her on the bench is a small stack of parchment. Someone must have left it here. She looks around, but doesn’t see anyone.

Picking it up to get a closer look, hoping to at least get it back to the owner if she can find the name somewhere, she does a double-take. Wait a minute! She knows this pretty handwriting! She’d know it anywhere! This is Fakir’s!

She looks around again to make sure he’s not here somewhere, double checks inside, too, but he’s still nowhere to be found. Hmm… Well, what should she do now…? And what is this anyway? It doesn’t look like something for any class she’s ever seen him take… She takes another look at the title.

The Prince and the Raven, huh? Sounds like some kind of fiction project. Color her intrigued.

Flipping to the first page, she lets herself read. She’s not planning on reading much, just a little bit to find out what kind of story it is, but then one thing leads to another, and she’s devouring it whole. She smiles to herself as she reads, and that’s how Fakir finds her several minutes later.

All he can do is stare. He’s frozen in place and blushing to his ears. Anyone else might be angry that she’s reading something of his without permission, but the only thing he can wrap his head around right now is the fact that she’s…smiling at his work.

Ahiru finally looks up a minute later when she feels eyes on her, and when she spots him, it’s time for double-take number two. “Qua—?!” Barely cutting herself off in time, she turns beet red.

Instantly, she holds the story out to him, head bowed as low as she can. “I-I’m sorry! I shouldn't have read it, I know! I-I did try to look for you, but when I couldn’t find you, I got curious, and once I started reading, I couldn't stop! The next thing I knew, I was done!" She whines, internally kicking herself. That was a total invasion of privacy! She’s such a jerk! “I’m really, really sorry! Please forgive me!”

She’s too nervous to look at him, so she keeps her head down and her eyes squeezed tightly shut. She can hear him walking toward her, and she feels it when he very gently, almost hesitantly, takes the pages from her hands, but she still doesn’t look up. It’s silent for a long moment, and Ahiru waits on bated breath. Anything else wouldn’t feel respectful right now, especially after what she did.

“You were…smiling…” He sounds…shocked, but happy, maybe even flattered and touched, like that’s not the reaction he was expecting. “You...you enjoyed it?”

She finally dares to look up at him, and she finds he’s staring at her like he’s expecting her to yell “Psych!” and laugh in his face, though he has to know she’d never do that. Her eyes go wide, and she nods a few times, giving him her most serious expression. “Mm hmm, mm hmm! I really did, I swear! I thought it was amazing! The way you wrote the brothers’ relationship and the prince’s struggle to do what was right for him and his kingdom were really emotional, and I thought the way the Raven’s daughter told the prince she loved him was really sweet! I was so worried when she sacrificed herself, but I love how the prince saved her and everything was all right in the end!”

She looks back at the story in his hands, a small, sad smile forming on her face. “The only part I didn’t like was the knight’s ending. I felt bad for him. He was such a good brother to the prince, but in the end, he was left all alone.” She peers back up at Fakir, smile growing into something hopeful as she drops her chin into her hand. “Does he really have to be alone? I’m sure there must be someone who can give him the love he deserves, the love he shows everyone else.”

For a long moment, he doesn’t say anything in response, seems even more shocked than before, and she swears he’s blushing more, too. She squirms a bit. Did…she say something wrong? Did that part about the knight offend him somehow? Just when she’s about to apologize again, Fakir moves to close the distance between them and sit down beside her. Settling the pages in his lap and folding his hands, he nestles his chin between his knuckles and, given a moment, finds his voice.

“The knight doesn’t deserve a happy ending,” he says softly, an almost bitter, sardonic clip to his voice that Ahiru can’t quite place. Is this…maybe personal for him somehow? “He couldn’t help his prince, his own brother, when he needed him the most. Why should he get to be happy when he ended up being useless to the person who meant the most to him?”

“He was not!”

Fakir whips to face her so quickly, she’s surprised he didn’t hurt himself, and his eyes widen at the fire in her eyes. “He did everything he could for the prince! He faced his fears and fought the Raven, was even willing to die to protect him!” She crosses her arms and looks more indignant than he thinks he’s ever seen. “So he couldn’t help his brother get his heart back, so what? That’s not what he was meant for! That wasn’t his role to play!” Fakir’s eyes blow open wide, and Ahiru swears he’s paler now than he was a second ago. Shaking, white-knuckled hands clutch the pages to his chest to ensure he doesn’t lose his battle with the tears abruptly threatening to gather in his eyes. He looks like she’s shattered his whole worldview, and she almost stops, but…she gets the feeling he needs to hear this somehow. Determined to make him understand, she keeps going. “That doesn’t erase everything he could do for the prince! He practically half-raised him and looked out for him as best he could! He risked his life to save him from the Raven’s wrath! How do you think the story would have turned out without him? How do you think the prince would have turned out without him?” She pouts. “I think it would’ve sucked!”

His eyes widen a fraction more at that last part, and then he sputters a laugh. That sputter turns into a chuckle, a giggle, and then full-out laughter, so much that he throws his head back to let it all out, his shoulders shaking with it. Ahiru’s wide blue eyes blink once, twice, her cheeks slowly dyeing red. She’s never heard or seen him laugh like this before. It’s…he’s beautiful…

When he finally calms and turns back to her, he feels lighter, less burdened, than he has in a long, long time. Years, he thinks. He looks more relaxed to her, too, maybe more than she’s ever seen. It’ll probably take him a bit to process all the ways he feels better. He smiles at her softly, and Ahiru’s breath catches in her throat. She could be wrong, but…she doesn’t think she’s ever seen a smile this soft from him before… This is a day of firsts for them, it seems.

“I admit, that’s not the reaction I was expecting,” he tells her softly. He reaches over to drop his hand on her head and ruffle her hair, making her snort and lean up into it happily, which just makes him melt further. Geez… If she isn’t careful, she might melt him completely… “Not that I was expecting a reaction at all. I didn’t mean to leave this here, after all. I misplaced it earlier,” was too preoccupied with thoughts of what to do about her to pay attention to what he was doing, “and I was looking for it when I found you.” He glances up at the sky to watch two birds swirl around each other, and he takes a deep breath. A tiny, almost hopeful smile comes to his face. “But you know, it’s just a rough draft, so maybe…maybe you’re right about the knight. At least…” he lets his thumb brush over the title, over The Prince specifically, “...in some ways. Maybe I’ll rethink his ending.”

She gasps and nods enthusiastically, beaming. He swears those are stars in her eyes. “Yes! Yes, please do! When you do, can I read it?” Realizing how forward that might sound, she puts her hands out in front of her in her own defense. “Ah—only if that wouldn’t be a problem, I mean! And I promise to get permission first this time!”

He chuckles and nods in turn. “Actually…I’d like that.” He softens, then glances away almost shyly as a new thought occurs to him. He hopes she doesn’t see the way his cheeks turn pink. “I…I trust you to make sure the knight gets the ending he deserves.”

Ahiru raises an eyebrow and tilts her head at that. She doesn’t really know why, but she feels like she’s missing something, like he’s trying to tell her something and keep it under wraps at the same time. She can’t imagine what, though. All the same, she’s really glad he trusts her to be the one to read his writing! She feels honored, maybe even important! She clenches her fists at half-mast. “I’d love to! Thank you so much!”

He breathes a helplessly fond laugh. “You’re welcome.”

A comfortable silence settles for a long few moments, and then something sparks in Ahiru’s mind. “Hey, so what’s this for anyway? Some writing class I didn’t know you had?”

He stiffens and colors brightly, and Ahiru wonders if maybe she shouldn’t have asked. But then, quietly, “I…I want to be a writer…”

Instantly, it’s like her entire being lights up. “Really?!” His eyes widen at her ecstatically excited tone, and they do even more when he sees how starstruck she is. His cheeks darken. He nods, and if possible, it’s like she lights up even more—hell, becomes the sun itself. “What I just read was incredible! I can totally see that! You should, you should! Absolutely!” She nods so many times, he’s surprised she’s not dizzy, each time more enthusiastic than the last.

He can’t help but laugh, still feeling shy, but not nearly as embarrassed. She really is diving headfirst into this, isn’t she? He can’t pretend he doesn’t feel a massive confidence boost from it, though. Ahiru is a lot of things, but disingenuous isn’t one of them, and she’s always had a thing for fairy tales. If she likes it, especially this much? To him, that must mean he’s really onto something.

They end up just talking for the rest of the day, skipping practice entirely (they practiced extra yesterday, so it should be fine). Heading home just as dusk starts to settle, he smiles softly in listening to her ramble about her favorite parts of his story. He’s never had someone ramble about his writing before…

--

The next afternoon, he catches Lilie and Pique on the way to one of the only classes they don’t share with Ahiru. They’re surprised to see him, but he doesn’t care about that right now. All he cares about is his friend.

“I overheard something the other day I need you to confirm.” He’s not bothering to beat around the bush, his voice and expression demanding no nonsense. “Ahiru told you that she ‘swims and eats and has a lot of fun’ on her vacations, and when she left,” he points at Pique, “you said she says the same thing every time, that her story never changes. Is that correct?”

They look startled that he heard all that, never mind that he remembered it all almost word for word, but nod in unison. “Y-yeah, that’s right.” Pique tilts her head, brow furrowing. “Why?”

Lilie gets that look on her face, the one with the stage-whisper hand to her mouth that makes him want to twist his face in disgust and call it a day, but he stands his ground and just gives her a lower level dose before letting her say her piece. “Are you asking because you care about her?”

Somehow, she makes it sound almost…devious, like she means more than she’s saying. Beating back his rising blush, Fakir just lets his eyelid twitch and forces himself to roll his eyes instead of insult her to her face. He doesn’t have time for this. “Don’t be an idiot, of course I care about her.” Okay, so he gave himself half a win, sue him. Turning back to Pique, the only semi-sensible one of the two, he answers, “I’m asking because I’m…concerned. If she always says the same thing, maybe she’s hiding something. You’ve never heard her say she spends time with anyone, stays with anyone, sees anyone?” His own brow wrinkles. “It’s always just the swimming and eating and fun?”

Pique nods, frown deepening. “Y-yes…?” She bites her lip. “She’s never mentioned anyone else or doing anything else. It sounds so boring, but she always seems fine and even excited when she comes back…”

Lilie pipes up with something else, but Fakir knows enough about her character to have already stopped listening. All right, so he has his answer now, one more piece of the puzzle. The only problem is, it’s the one he didn’t want. Turning on his heel, he absently throws a “Thanks for your help” over his shoulder as he makes his way back to their dorm, a plan already forming in his head.

He is getting to the bottom of this if it kills him.

--

That evening, Ahiru is studying for a test she has the next morning, sitting at the dining room table so Fakir can quiz her while he cleans up after dinner. It’s been quiet for about ten minutes while she reads the next passage, and that’s when Fakir takes his chance.

“Ahiru?”

She looks up from her book with a small “Huh?”

“I forgot to ask before, but what do you usually do over break?”

She blinks. He’s never asked her that before. Then again, they weren’t exactly friends before. Excited warmth floods her at how close they’re becoming, and she brightens. “I swim and eat and have lots of fun! It's the best!"

And there it is. That same answer. Why weren't Lilie and Pique even the least bit suspicious? They're supposed to be her longest friends, aren’t they? Are they really that oblivious? Do they honestly even care? How can they call themselves her friends?

He's glad he's facing away from her. The angry, worried, frustrated frown on his face, his teeth gritting so hard they groan, and the way he's honestly surprised the plate in his hands hasn’t broken from how furiously he's scrubbing it wouldn't do for her to see.

He's fixing this. Right now.

He needs to call his father.

--

"Well, if it isn't my wayward son! Finally feel like calling your old man, huh?" There's loving mirth in Charon's voice on the other end of the line, and it helps calm Fakir's frazzled fury some. He's grateful.

"Is that big brother Fakir-zura? Can I hear, too-zura?" He hears Charon groan (mostly for comedic effect) as he bends down to pick up Uzura. "Hi, big brother!"

All of it makes Fakir smile softly, the vice around his heart easing a bit more. He needed that. He's missed them a lot. "Hi, Uzura. Hello, Charon. How are you? Well, I hope?"

Charon laughs warmly. "Of course! Uzura and I are doing great, aren't we, schatzi?" She gives a good few taps of her snare drum in answer. "Business is going well, too! You know the holidays always get busy and then slow down again, just in time for your school break!"

Fakir hums, fidgeting with the phone cord a bit. "Good. I'm glad." A heartbeat. "Actually, Charon, break is what I wanted to talk to you about. I need a favor."

There's a collective "Oh...!" on the other end, and he can picture the two of them looking at each other in intrigue. He breathes a laugh. "A favor, huh? All right, what is it?"

He doesn't waste any time. "There's a friend of mine, a girl, Ahiru. I've told you about her before."

"Yes, I remember. The clumsy one. What about her?"

"I always figured she was an orphan, but I just found out she's been spending all of her holidays alone for God knows how many years, and I—" he holds the phone tighter, so hard it creaks; he wonders if they can hear it, "—I can't let that stand. She shouldn't be alone for the holidays. No one should, but especially not her!" He pauses, takes a breath. He got a little heated there. "Sorry, I just... Would it be at all possible for her to stay with us during the break? We have a spare room, after all, and she doesn't have much. I just...can't leave her alone again. Not after knowing this." Not after everything.

Charon is silent for a long moment on the other end, and Fakir waits for his answer on bated breath. Even if he says no, he'll figure something else out. He has to. He will not, refuses, to let her spend any more holidays alone. Finally, Charon laughs. "She must be some girl if you're bringing her home already."

Fakir reels back from the phone like it's bitten him, face beet red. Moving in again before they can start making assumptions (or worse, teasing him), he protests, "I-it’s not like that!"

Charon laughs again, and he can picture the raised eyebrow he's giving Uzura and hear the smirk in his voice when he says, "Mm hmm. 'Course it's not." He's pretty sure he hears him whisper "He's in denial" to Uzura, who giggles.

Fakir growls, pointedly ignoring the way his ears are starting to burn now. "Charon, I'm serious—"

"Of course she can stay, Fakir." Charon makes sure to raise his voice over his adoptive son’s frustration, and Fakir stops in his tracks. "She's a friend of yours, and she needs a place to stay. Like you said, no one should be alone for the holidays." Charon glances at Uzura and hugs her closer. "Uzura and I will get the spare room all ready for her, won't we, schatzchen?"

Uzura cheers, tapping her snare drum, and Fakir laughs lightly, the tightly-coiled tension bleeding from him in a heavy, relieved sigh. "Thank you, Charon. I really appreciate this."

Charon can't help but melt at the warm tone to his son's voice. This girl must really be something special to him if he was this worried about her. "Of course, son. Anything for you, you know that. See you in a few days. Love you."

"Bye-bye-zura! See you soon-zura!"

His smile gentles even more, another breath of a laugh escaping him. "Goodnight, Charon. Goodnight, Uzura. See you soon. I love you, too."

--

When Fakir finally comes out of his room, Ahiru does her best to make it look like she hasn’t been glancing up worriedly every two seconds ever since he bolted to his room with dripping hands and a downright stormy look on his face. She's almost sure she fails, but does her best to smile encouragingly anyway. "You look better!" she comments, then inwardly kicks herself. Of course he does, dummy! "I-I just mean, you left so fast and looked really worried before!"

A heartbeat, a breath for courage, smile slipping as her worry comes out. "Fakir...is everything okay?" Pink dusts her cheeks at how forward that might sound. They're closer now, and she asked if he was okay the other day, but this is different. She waves her hands in front of herself, peering to the side as embarrassment burns her ears. "I-I know I'm not very good at—at helping people, but—" she looks back at him so earnestly, little fists balled up, it actually hurts, "—I'll still do my best!"

Fakir can't help but stare, heart sinking and thudding in his chest at the same time. She's...she really doesn't see her own worth, does she? Not at all. How could she, thinking she doesn't help, isn't good at helping? Does she not remember that, after all the years of doing his very best, she is the one who brought his best friend, his brother, his Mytho, out of his traumatized shell? Hell, she's bringing him out of his own more and more every day?

This girl... God, she'll be the death of him.

He doesn't stop himself from hugging her, though he thinks belatedly that maybe he should have asked first. She squeaks against him, and he looks down to make sure she's okay, but she just looks surprised. He laughs softly. "You help more than you will ever know, Ahiru." He lets that sink in for a moment. "And yes, everything's fine. In fact," he pulls away and tries not to laugh or get shy himself at how red and shocked (maybe even touched?) her face is, "how do you feel about coming home with me for the holiday break in a few days?"

She immediately looks ready to protest, but he beats her to it. "Mytho and Rue won’t be coming home to visit until later, and even then, we have a spare room. My father and little sister are really excited to meet you. They already have the room ready and everything." Maybe a bit of an exaggeration on his part, the bit about the room, that is, but hey, if it can convince her to come...

She looks conflicted, hopeful, and then, "R-really? Are you sure? I won't be too much trouble? Your father's a smith, right? I don't want to mess anything up!"

Fakir blinks, then laughs. So she remembered, huh? "Yes, I'm sure. Absolutely. And no, I'm sure you won't be. Charon is a smith, yes, but you won't get in the way, I promise. His forge is separate from the house, and I can't see you needing to visit it, so it should be fine."

She still looks a little uncertain, biting her lip slightly. She really doesn’t want to impose...but it sounds like she wouldn’t be, and in her heart, the idea of being with someone for the holidays, not being alone? It sounds like a dream come true!

It doesn’t take her more than half a second to decide.

She's the one who hugs him this time, her arms tight around his middle as she presses her face into his chest, smiling so much that her cheeks hurt. "Thank you, Fakir!" she says softly, nuzzling in a little more, what must be subconsciously.

Fakir is frozen, not even daring to breathe, but given a few moments, he finally lets himself hug her back. Maybe a touch closer than last time. A warm smile comes through. It’s the first time he’s ever gotten to return her embrace. "You're welcome, Ahiru. My family can't wait to meet you."

[seriouslyhooked]

The Same Soul Part 10

Available on FF Here and AO3 Here. Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9.

Our world AU where Emma and Killian knew each other as teenagers. Killian was sent to spend a summer with family in America. He met foster kid Emma while there. They fell in love but then he was forced back home and she couldn’t take the memories so she ran away, trying her best to move on from the dreams they’d always hoped for. A chance meeting brings them back together years later, and this time nothing and no one will keep them apart. Rated M. 10 Parts.

A/N: Hey everyone! So this epilogue is a short and sweet birthday gift to myself. I thought about what I wanted most in terms of my writing, and a tidy, fluffy ending for this fic is exactly what the doctor ordered. I wanted you all to rest assured that Emma and Killian do, indeed, have a happy ending in this AU (not that anyone would doubt that given the rest of the story). Nevertheless, we’re flashing forward into the future, and I am including some CS kids fluff and a little stolen smutty moment for our lovely couple. I love these kind of chapters, and though this isn’t very long, I hope it will brighten your day a little bit. Thank you to all of you for reading and supporting me along the way. This one is for all of you just as much as it’s for me!

(12 Years Later)

Gazing out the window as their family minivan traced the familiar route to Uncle Benjen’s house, Emma let out a soft laugh. 

On the one hand, things were exactly as they’d left it, unchanging in the more than twenty years since she’d first come to this magical place. Now though, the circumstances of her visit were very different. She was no longer a little lost girl en route to one remarkable but fleeting summer. Instead she was an exhausted but elated mother of four trying to wrangle her kids to a few weeks of well-deserved summer beach time.

“But how much longer will it be, Mommy?” 

The question came from her youngest daughter, Leia, who at five years old was precocious and adventurous but not exactly patient. Leia loved life and was a very happy child, but when she had to wait, as she had in this hours long car ride… well things could get dodgy quickly. Emma tried to craft a response that would suffice. They were very close, but at the same time, rewarding Leia’s impatient questions was never in any of their best interest.

“Leia, what do you want to do first when we get there? I was thinking we should swim in the pool. You could show everyone your new vest.” 

The words of encouragement and distraction came from their eldest son, Jack, and Emma let out a sigh of relief at his handling of this. Jack was brilliant at picking up on energy. He’d always been observant, and at fourteen he was the oldest of the Jones children. He might not technically share any DNA with her or Killian, but he was still a carbon copy of her husband. They had the same dark hair and similar features, but it was their manner and personalities that were most alike. Killian and Jack were caregivers and guardians. The most important thing to them was protecting their family and doing right by the people they loved. In the end, it made absolutely no difference to any of them that Jack had come to them through a different means than Leia and the others. He was as much a Jones as anyone of them, their first child in every way, as they’d had Jack since he was six and placed in foster care. Back then, Killian worked on a case involving Jack’s placement, but it was Emma who took one look at their son and knew that he was meant to be their family. By that tie, she and Killian had been married a few years and had already discussed their want to adopt, and they were ready for the challenge. Luckily though, Jack proved no challenge at all. Their son was quiet but loving, gentle and kind, but mostly he was smart, both with books and with people. 

“He’ll be a hell of a man some day,” Killian whispered to Emma as Leia chattered on with Jack about her want to see the beach, collect shells, and build sandcastles. Emma smiled in response to her husband’s apt assessment, but was precluded from answering when their eldest daughter replied to Killian first.

“Dad said a bad word. That’s two bucks for the college fund.”

Eight-year-old Hope didn’t so much as glance up from her book as she said the words and both Emma and Killian laughed at her matter-of-fact tone. Killian had whispered low enough that no one should be able to hear, but Hope had a gift. When there was a chance to catch her parents at something or to reap a decent reward, their daughter was a true hawk. She’d been doing this forever, and Emma was prone to thinking this was an inherited trait. Hope was, in many ways, what Emma might have been if she’d been blessed with family. She was confident and sure and always honest. She had a thorough sense of right and wrong, and, as it happened, perfect comedic timing. 

“Sorry, lass,” Killian replied, catching her eye in the rearview mirror. Emma turned around to look at Hope who spared them a brief look and a pleased smile.

“Don’t be sorry. I just made two bucks.”

Again they laughed, but then the car’s slight moment of quiet was interrupted with a loud and happy squeal from their youngest, Leo. Their baby boy had been somewhat of a surprise, with Emma thinking she had birth control totally covered, but sometimes the universe had other plans, and thank God it did. At just about a year, Leo was healthy and happy and another true joy in their lives. Oh he was a certifiable rascal to be sure, causing complete mayhem when crawling or walking anywhere and everywhere, but Emma knew they were totally blessed in the sweet tempers and real goodness that all four of their children shared.

“Yeah, Leo, we’re almost there. Right Mommy?” Leia asked and Emma hummed out a sound of agreement. 

“Just about. Look out your window, honey and you’ll see it in 3…2…1.”

Sure enough the trees gave way at that moment to Benjen’s grand estate and immediately all the kids cheered. Emma made to cover her ears from the onslaught of sound, but despite the noise, she was too happy to care. As much as the kids loved this place, Emma and Killian loved it too, and she knew that the next two weeks would be filled with the best parts of summer and family and fun. 

As expected, the lot of them were quickly greeted by many of their favorite people. Uncle Benjen and Eleanor were first, and though it had been years since they’d married, Emma always smiled at how Killian’s first instinct was to call her Mrs. Potts. Each time his Uncle would correct him, calling her Mrs. Jones, and it resulted in the sweetest moment between two older people who were very much in love. This trip they were also here with Liam and his family, his wife Elsa, and their three kids, Ayana, Hunter, and Claire. This chance to hang out with their cousins brought joy to every Jones child, and for Emma and Killian it meant that there might actually be more time for just the two of them. It would be foolish to count on that, considering how little free time parents of four ever managed to find, but between Benjen and Eleanor and Liam and Elsa, Emma could imagine a few possible date nights with her husband that could be enjoyed in the coming days. 

“So I think we’ve finally done it,” Liam said excitedly as he tossed little Leia up on his shoulder at her request. Emma listened to her daughter’s infectious giggles at the attention from her Uncle as Liam continued on. “I think we’ve finally filled the unfillable house.”

“Oh Liam, how wrong you are, my dear,” Eleanor said, taking Claire by the hand as they all headed inside. “We’ve filled two wings, but the west wing is still totally empty.”

“Well you heard that, love, we best get busy on filling the rest of the rooms,” Liam said to his wife and Elsa rolled her eyes, shoving at him playfully but blushing all the same.

Emma and Elsa shared a knowing look. If things were up to either of the Jones men they’d each have half a dozen children at least, but the broods they already had seemed big enough. Emma had only actually had three of her babies herself and that felt like enough, but she did sense that another adoption might be somewhere in their future. She and Killian never said as much aloud, but it was understood that if another child in need found their way to them, they would make room without any hesitation. Elsa, on the other hand, might pretend to be put off, but she’d definitely be persuaded to have a few more children of her own. Emma’s sister-in-law adored her children, after all, and she had made being their Mom her full-time job.

Emma respected that choice, and she too spent as much time with her kids as she possibly could, but she hadn’t let her work go completely. Oh she was finished with being a bail bonds person, realizing that the danger and the chase held nothing of real value to her anymore, but now she worked with Killian and his partners in one focused, but critically important area: tracking teen runaways. Despite Killian and many others in their city working hard to change the system and provide safe spaces for all children in their area, there were still many kids who felt the dangers of the streets were preferable to a group home or their grim realities of their home lives. Emma felt for those kids, knowing that she had faced a similar sense of grief, fear, and alienation. Her work now was in tracking these kids down, and when she did, she made sure that she and Killian advocated for their care and their safety in every possible way. So far this year she’d managed to find twelve young people, eight girls and four boys, and she was proud to say that every single one was doing much better. Through counseling, special programs, and safe homing, they were all being given another shot. That being said there were plenty more kids out there who still needed their help, and Emma knew that as long as she had a gift for finding people, she would never turn her back on that need. 

“I know you want to save the whole world, love, but we promised two weeks of no worries, remember?” 

Killian’s question came as his arms wrapped around her waist and he pulled her back against him. Emma closed her eyes, soaking in the strength of her favorite person and partner. All this time together and she still never got used to how right it felt when he held her close. It truly was is if they were two pieces to one whole, but with their love she never felt herself slipping away. They were perfect compliments, but still their own independent and unique people. 

“I remember. But seeing how hard it will be to not worry, maybe you could give me some incentive?” 

Emma backed up ever so slightly to tease her husband and his low growl reverberated through her and sent a lush thrill through her body. Her eyes flashed to the kids who were all fixated on their cousins and their grandparents and then she turned around to look at him. The hunger in his gaze was rivaled only by his admiration, and she trembled with her own want building for this beautiful man. 

“Kids!” Killian called, breaking eye contact to look over at their clan. “Your mum and I are taking a walk. Heed the grands and your aunt and uncle until we get back.”

“Aye, aye captain!” Jack, Leia, and Hope all exclaimed, partaking in a years long family joke about Killian running this family like a captain on a ship. Even little Leo tried to get in on the action, saluting like his siblings as Uncle Benjen held him close. 

Killian nodded to the adults and Emma looked at them all before shrugging, as if she had no idea why her willful husband would steal her away like this, but she totally knew, and so did they. He moved to the car and quickly grabbed a picnic blanket she had stowed away ages ago, and her heart skipped at why exactly he would bring that now. Her desire for the moment only grew as Killian took her hand and led her back through the winding path and towards the glen where they were married. Emma thought not for the first time how perfectly situated this place was. It was close enough that if the needed to rush back they could, but far enough away to be out of sight and out of earshot from the others. 

When they made it to the meadow, Emma was not surprised but still delighted at the flowers that were in bloom, coloring the emerald green grass with pops of purple and blue and white. They were the height of summer wildflowers, standards in this oasis, and familiar to her now after years of coming back. On a day like today where the heat of the sun was strong and enduring, it made the fragrance hanging in the air all the sweeter. The light wind through the trees cooled her skin enough to be comfortable, but nothing could tamp down the yearning she felt for this alone time with her husband.

“If history holds, we’ve got roughly an hour before the kids go feral and make a break away,” Killian said, spreading out the blanket and pulling her down to the ground on a soft patch of earth with an overgrown maple behind them. 

“A whole hour? Do you really think we need that?” she joked, and damn did it pay off. No sooner had the teasing words left her lips then her husband was on her with a possessive, demanding hold designed to make her dizzy with even more need. 

Even after all this time the way he kissed her fueled her fire, his hands and lips tracing rough and gentle lines across her skin made her pant in the summer sun. It felt so good to be claimed this way, and the sensation of it all left her breathless. With frenzied anticipation she tasted his kisses, feeling his lips trail down her jaw and her neck, nipping and soothing as they went. He toyed with her breasts, tormenting her with things she wanted so badly, but by the time he licked at her aching flesh, she was mindless. Her eyes closed as she felt every perfect press and pull, she was so close, so sure she’d break from how good it felt, and then he hummed against her sex and told her to let go. When she did she broke apart in a million pieces, but came back together more alive and rejuvenated than ever before.

“I love how good you love me,” Emma said, not sure if she made sense, but knowing Killian took her meaning as he kissed his way back up her skin. He’d mangled up her sundress, pulling the straps down low and pushing the skirt up high, but he only seemed to love her state of mess. If anything, the expression in his gaze said that her man was perfectly happy with her just exactly as she was.

“We were meant for this, Emma, meant for everything,” he said, coming up above her and bringing his hard length to her entrance. She moved her legs to take him and they both moaned aloud when he plunged in, filling her completely. “This is exactly where I’m mean to be. This is happiness made real.”

Emma agreed in every way, and as they came together first slow and steady and then fast and hard, she let how right this was wash over her. She always knew that this was fated, but it still felt like magic to experience this with him. Crashing into bliss was heaven itself, and even as they both came down from their high, holding onto each other, and drawing lazy lines along each other’s skin with nothing but the tips of their fingers, Emma smiled. She knew she must be glowing right now, for nothing could contain how truly joyous that she was to have this man, and their beautiful life together.

“Part of me wishes we could stay like this forever,” Emma murmured, pressing a kiss to his neck and feeling against her lips the gentle beat of his pulse. 

“Aye, me too,” he whispered. “But the other part, a greater part, knows that what’s coming is somehow even better than this.”

Emma agreed whole heartedly, and she knew he meant that their life and their kids was all a part of their happily ever after. They had each other, yes, and Emma knew they always would, but they also had so much more now. Their world was so much bigger, so much grander, and their love, as a result, was just as giant and all consuming.

“We’re lucky to have had this long already,” Emma said, bestowing on her husband a final kiss as she straightened herself out and rose to her feet. Killian’s eyes tracked her, appraising her motions, but soon he joined her, getting himself together and gathering the blanket to take back with them again. Soon enough they set back to the house, both of them eager to see the kids and enjoy the day. With the weather this nice, they’d likely hit the beach and have a cook out, ringing in the summer in the best possible way, but just when she could see the house again, Killian stopped, his hand holding her steady and halting her motion.

“Everything all right?” she asked and Killian nodded, but let go of her hand, walking towards the edge of the trail. Emma didn’t know what he was after, but when he pulled back around and offered it to her she smiled. Leave it to her husband to find a wild rose in the middle of nowhere. She should have expected such a gesture – seeing as how Killian had filled her life with these tiny, perfect gifts for years now.

With steady hands he took the flower and placed it behind her ear, making her feel like a young girl again as he looked at her with unadulterated love. She knew it was sappy, and maybe a little corny, but she didn’t care. With this man she felt like a princess, a goddess, and like the most important person in this world and the rest.

“It takes my breath away each day, love,” he whispered as he cupped her cheek, running his thumb along the corner of her lips.

“What does?”

“How much I love you. Every day I fall a little more, and every day I’m glad as hell to do it.”

Unable to help herself, Emma moved against him for another kiss, but this time they were spotted, and, as expected, her kids feigned disgust at an open display between them of their love for each other. In typical fashion Killian told them to get over it, before grabbing little Leo and Leia and engaging with the others in their selected summer game. He was the best kind of father, and the kids loved him so much that it made Emma’s eyes water up with tears. She watched them for a moment, just a few seconds strung together, but in that span of time she let herself know the truth of her charmed life – she was the luckiest woman in the world, and as long as she had her family, she always, always would be.

Post-Note: So there we have it! I know the chapter is shorter than all the others, but I hope that you will all forgive that and enjoy this fluffiness for what it is meant to be – a sweet, fun send off to a story that means so much to me. It’s always hard to say goodbye to a cute fic like this, but I do so knowing that this is where I always pictured this story winding up. I also am comforted by the fact that I have not one, not two, but three new stories I am currently working on. So keep an eye out in the coming months for some new fics from me that will carry this same cute, fluffy energy. Thanks again so much for reading and hope you all have a great rest of your day!

[today-only-happens-once]

for your boy band!au Roman, I've seen you mention 'emotionally self-destructive tendencies'. Is it okay if you'd elaborate on what they are and how the other boys (plus Remy and Grandma Foster!) helped?

Wow, okay. I haven’t been asked about the boy band au in a minute but I am ecstatic to answer more about it!! The immediate serotonin I get talking about this au aksjdhsks thank you, anon!

Tw for emotionally self-destructive actions, self-esteem issues

So early in this AU, Roman has self-worth issues. More than he wants to let on.

And the fame doesn’t really... help with that, because that’s not really how mental health works, right?

In fact, there’s a stretch of time where the fame and publicity makes it a lot worse.

And Roman gets into the really bad habit of like, looking up hate comments/hate blogs and kind of spiraling down that rabbit hole

Sometimes it’s about the band on the whole and their music, but Roman spends longer staring at/reading the comments that are about hating him, in particular.

Logan is the first one that kind of picks up on what he’s doing. Because they all recognized that there’d be stretches of time where Roman would kind of pull away and retreat into himself

But during one of those spirals, it lasts longer than usual and Logan walks into Roman’s room and sees that he’s watching this YouTube video called “why Roman is objectively the worst member of Core 4”

Roman minimizes it as soon as he realizes Logan is there, and brushes off Logan’s initial attempts to talk to him about it

Logan tells Virgil and Patton what happened and they all start paying closer attention to Roman

As for helping him, they do reach a point where they kind of have an “intervention” about it, though they actually do a pretty good job of avoiding it being like, confrontational. It was more of a “so... we’ve noticed that you do this, and it worries us” with a little “stop trying to bullshit us” from Virgil

Logan talks to Remy about disabling comments on their music videos for a while. Remy agrees. It does lead to an argument between Roman and Logan... which isn’t fun.

Virgil and Patton both, in different ways, try to distract him whenever they see him scrolling mindlessly on his phone (especially if the page looks like YouTube comments or Twitter). It works non-permanently about 70% of the time, but they try.

Patton reaches a point of worry and frustration that he accumulates links and comments of fan-based Roman-specific love and shows it all to him. Roman tears up. He stops looking up hate stuff for like, almost a month.

But he eventually finds himself back to it.

Around that time is when both Virgil and Logan broach the subject of him seeing a therapist/counseling to help.

And Roman knows that what he’s doing isn’t good for him, and he knows they’re trying to help. And he wants to get better, y’know?

So he does. He starts seeing Picani, and works with him for a little over a year and learns about himself and how to manage and avoid spirals of self-hate and self-destruction like that. He gets better, slowly but surely. ^u^

[izzyfandoms]

Chosen - Chapter Three

(This is a Gender-Swapped Sanders Sides high school au)

SUMMARY: Logan Berry, Dee Ceite, Patricia Foster, Virginia Picani and Regina and Rena Prince are all 16-year-old high school students. They live relatively normal lives, with ordinary lessons and ordinary crushes and ordinary families, until one day a monster shows up and attacks them after class, and everything suddenly changes.

SHIPS: Moxiety, Logince, Dukeceit

WARNINGS: Sympathetic Remus, Sympathetic Deceit, swearing, monsters mention, sexual implications (Remus), siblings arguing, mention of being worried about death

GENERAL TAGLIST: @quillfics42 @ajdraws0430 @phantomofthesanderssides @creativity-killed-thekitten @phlying-squirrel @sly-is-my-name-loving-is-my-game

CHOSEN TAGLIST: @coasting-on-a-wave-of-apathy @littlestr

Masterpost

FIRST CHAPTER | PREVIOUS CHAPTER​ | NEXT CHAPTER

Logan woke up at exactly 6am to the sounds of her alarm clock chirping loudly in her ear. She cracked one eye open, surveying her blurry surroundings, before reaching onto her bedside table and grabbing her glasses. She slid them onto her face and sat up, pressing the top of her clock to silence it.

She stretched, listening to the sounds of her mothers moving around the kitchen below, before sliding out of bed and padding out of the room to take a shower. When she returned – clean, fully awake, and ready for the day – she got dressed in her usual outfit; Logan had multiples of the same clothes. She wore a black polo shirt, dark blue tie, knee-length skirt and plain white socks.

At precisely 6:15am, just as usual, she stepped into the kitchen, immediately greeted by her two mothers, Nathalie and Christine Berry. She sat down at the small kitchen table, pushing her glasses further up her nose.

“Logan, dear, please tell your mother why we can never go see the Davidsons again,” Christine exclaimed dramatically, passing her daughter the cereal and milk, as her wife passed her the bowl and spoon.

“Mrs Davidson insulted your-” Logan began.

“She insulted my scarf! My favourite, most beautiful scarf! I will not stand for it. We can never speak to any of the Davidsons again, we have standards.”  

Nathalie gave her wife an amused but loving glance. “But I just finished fixing up Joseph Davidson’s car. He’s picking it up today, I can’t just ignore him.” She ruffled Logan’s hair, chuckling at her daughter’s protests, before leaving the kitchen to put on her shoes.  

“Besides,” Logan added. “We already agreed that we’d go to their barbeque next weekend, despite my numerous complaints. It’s in the calendar, it was you who said we couldn’t miss it.” She finished pouring her small bowl of cereal and began to eat it at a quick pace – quick enough to be efficient, but not quick enough to choke. She’d mastered her morning routine; everything was perfectly timed.

Christine sighed dramatically, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead and leaning back against the counter, almost knocking over her coffee mug.

“I feel betrayed,” She cried. “By my own family, the ones I thought I could trust.”

Nathalie stepped back into the room, her leather jacket thrown over her shoulder. She leant down and pressed a kiss to her wife’s cheek.

“We can cancel the barbeque, if you’d prefer. Logan’s always great at coming up with excuses, we could pretend one of us is sick or something.” She wrapped her arm around Christine’s waist, pulling her closer. “Whatever you want, babe. We never have to speak to the Davidsons again, if you so desire.”

Christine blushed slightly at the nickname – no matter how long they’d been together, she’d always blush at them, which was half the reason Nathalie used them. She lightly pushed her wife away, picking up her coffee mug and finishing the last few drops, before placing the mug into the sink, to be cleaned later… probably.

“We should leave soon,” Christine changed the subject. “Logan, are you almost done? We wouldn’t want you late for school.”

Logan swallowed her last mouthful of cereal, nodding before standing up straight. She went back upstairs to fetch her school stuff and then came back down to put on her simple black shoes, and the family were in the car and on their way to drop Logan off at school within minutes.

“So,” Christine said, when they were halfway through the journey, glancing back at Logan. “You’re going over to Dee’s house tonight, right? We’re picking you up at midday tomorrow?”

“Yes, 12:30pm to be exact.” Logan confirmed.

Christine paused for a moment, before sighing. “I do wish you weren’t getting involved with that ‘monster’ stuff Remy’s always talking about. I know we’ve known for a while that it would be a possibility, but, still, this is some dangerous stuff you’re getting into.”

“Now, now, Chris.” Nathalie added. “We discussed this yesterday, It’s Logan’s choice. She’s a responsible girl, we know she wouldn’t put herself in any unnecessary danger. And, besides, if she’s the ‘true chosen one’, then none of this can be helped, you know that, and, if she’s not, she’ll be fine.”

“Mom’s right, mother,” Logan said. “You two confirmed yesterday that we can trust Remy and Mr Sanders, they’ll keep us safe. If I’m the true chosen one, I’ll kill the Queen and likely survive, it’s fate, and if I’m not, I won’t be in as much danger.” She paused for a moment. “It’ll be worth it; this will help people.”

Logan knew that the logic in that wasn’t entirely sound, and that this could, in fact, be very dangerous. The chances of survival weren’t 100% – though that was true for almost every activity imaginable – and there would be plenty of monsters out to kill her and her friends, but this was important. She had the chance to be a part of something great, to rid the world of a great evil, and return home a hero. She didn’t care too much about that last part, really, but she knew Regina would.

She blushed slightly at the thought of what Regina would think of her if she was, in fact, the true chosen one. If Logan slayed the Queen, she’d be her hero, like the protagonists in all those books and movies Regina was obsessed with.  

Logan wasn’t really into Disney, personally – fantasy wasn’t her cup of tea – but she’d watched most of the movies in the hopes of connecting with Regina about them. Dee had accompanied her, partly out of enjoyment, partly out of friendship, and partly because Regina’s twin, Rena, was also a big fan of Disney movies. In the end, their ventures had only been partially successful.

“Besides,” Nathalie added, snapping Logan out of her daydream. “They’ll be supervised the whole time, right, by Remy and Thomas?”

Christine crossed her arms. “That doesn’t exactly reassure me.”

Logan sighed. “Well, Remy doesn’t seem too serious about her job in general, which isn’t very reassuring, but she does seem rather skilled. She managed to save us from that monster possessing Mr Sanders.”

“Yeah,” Nathalie reassured. “And Thomas is a good guy. Plus, Remy’s parents were the ones who saved me all those years ago. You were there, remember?”

Christine pouted slightly. She sighed. “Yeah... I guess.”

The car pulled up just in front of the school, and Logan released her seatbelt, picking up her backpack and swinging it over her shoulder. She then leant forward, between the front two seats, and her mothers kissed her cheeks in unison. It was a practised motion, part of their daily routine.

“Love you, Lo,” Nathalie said, as Christine spoke up at the same time with:

“I love you, Logan. Have a good day at school.”

Logan climbed out of the car. “I love you, too. I’ll see you two tomorrow.” She shut the car door, stepping away and watching as her mothers drove off in the direction of Christine’s work. Nathalie would drop her off with the car, and then walk to her own place of work, which wasn’t too far from Christine’s.

A hand suddenly appeared on Logan’s shoulder, and she glanced back, immediately meeting eyes with Dee, another part of her daily routine. The two girls almost always arrived at school at the same time.

“Is your mother worried about the whole ‘chosen one’ business, as well?” Logan asked, and Dee shrugged.

“Actually, apparently mom and Remy have been friends for years,” Dee explained, and Logan raised her eyebrows. “Yeah, I know. It’s weird. Mom won’t be coming with us tonight, though. She and Emily have another date tonight.”

Logan hummed in thought. “It’s been over a year. Do you think she plans on proposing any time soon?”

Dee smiled slightly. “I hope so, I like Emily. It might be a little weird, it’ll make Virge and Anne my step-sisters, but I think I can live with that.”

“Anne’s ten, right?”

“Eleven.”

“Oh.”

There were a few moments of silence, before Dee finally spoke up again. “Hey, did you know the school thinks that class-room was vandalised, just like you said they would?”

Logan nodded, humming in thought. “Well, the window was broken and the walls and floor was covered in what appeared to be black paint, so it makes sense. We’re lucky they don’t have any security cameras.”

Dee opened her mouth to respond, but she was interrupted by Patricia appearing around the corner and bounding up to them, eyes brightening when she spotted her friends.

“Dee! Lo!” She exclaimed, pigtails bouncing as she stopped in front of them. “Hi, how are you two doing?”

“Adequate.”

“I’m doing well, how are you?”

Pat fiddled with the strings of her grey cat hoodie. “Oh, I’m great! I’m so excited for the sleepover tonight. All six of us, hanging out, eating popcorn, learning how to fight monsters. It sounds like so much fun!”

A student walking past gave the trio a weird look, adjusting his bright white shirt collar as he walked.

“We’re talking about video games,” Dee called out after him, but he seemed to just speed up to avoid them. She sighed, before turning back to Pat and Logan. “I don’t think we have any popcorn, but we’ve got a ton of ice cream we can eat, what flavours do you like?”

“All of them!” Pat exclaimed, unperturbed by the lack of popcorn. “I love ice cream.”

Logan cleared her throat. “Well, as fascinating as this topic of conversation is, I believe it would be best to discuss the ‘learning to fight monsters’ part when the rest of us are here, to avoid repetition.”

“Aw, you’re so smart, Lo!” Pat giggled. If Logan wasn’t so infatuated with Regina, and Pat so head-over-heels with Virge, she might have developed a crush on the overly-cutesy girl instead. “Are we gonna sit together at lunch today?”

Logan and Dee exchanged a look.  

“I... believe so,” Logan answered, and she was about to continue with a similar topic of conversation, when Pat interrupted with a gasp.

“Oh my gosh!” She exclaimed, pulling out her phone. The case was as bright as expected. “I’m gonna make a group chat for the six of us.” She glanced back up at the other two. “What should I name it?”

“Group chat,” Logan answered immediately. “Short and explicit about its purpose.”

Dee gave Logan an amused glanced, before turning back to Patricia. “What about ‘Chosen Ones’ or something like that? Or you can make an abbreviation, if you want subtlety.”

“Hmm, abbreviation.” She hummed quietly, tongue stuck out in thought. After a few second, her eyes lit up and she beamed. “How about the CATs? Chosen and Terrific! Plus, cats are terrific, just like us!” She pulled up the hood of her hoodie, pointing excitedly at the grey cat ears. It was obvious she was just making an excuse to make the group-chat cat-themed, but they allowed it.

“That works.”

Pat tapped excitedly at her phone, before Dee and Logan’s phones vibrated in unison.

“I added you two, plus Regina and Rena and Virge! That’s everyone, right?” She counted on her fingers, mouthing the numbers. “Yeah, that’s six!”

“You’re not wrong.”

There were a couple seconds of silence, and Logan checked her watch. “We should be getting to class, now. We can discuss all of this later, at lunchtime and after school.”

***

Logan stepped into the cafeteria, brow furrowed at the horrendous noise of dozens of obnoxious speaking at once. She straightened her tie as she surveyed her surroundings.

“Lo! Lo! Logan! Over here!”

She zeroed in on a table in the furthest corner of the room. Pat was stood on a chair – her girlfriend tugging her wrist, trying to get her to sit back down – her hands cupped around her mouth as she yelled to get Logan’s attention. Fortunately, most people ignored them.

Logan sighed, momentarily questioning her choice in acquaintances (friends, really, she supposed the whole ‘chosen one’ thing meant they were all friends now), before she shifted the backpack on her back and began to make her way over to the table.  

Before she was too close, however, she saw the twins exchange a few whispered words – that she assumed the others at the table couldn’t hear – before Rena suddenly stood up, moving to sit beside Dee, and leaving the only empty spot beside Regina.

Rena couldn’t possibly know about Logan’s feelings for Regina, so this was obviously so Rena and Dee could sit together – they both very clearly had feelings for each other, even Logan could see it, and she didn’t usually care about those sorts of things. Virge was sitting on Dee’s other side: they were trying to become friends again, now that they’d likely become step-sisters, and Pat was sat beside Regina.  

Logan sat down beside Regina. They exchanged a glance, before looking away in unison. Logan cursed the fact that she was likely blushing now. Dee’s light smirk confirmed it, though she, too, was blushing slightly as there was approximately zero space between her and Rena.  

“I can’t wait for the sleepover tonight,” Rena rambled on, pulling a green plastic lunchbox out of her backpack. “I’ve got, like, three bags of popcorn in my locker right now.” She pulled a dripping, disgusting-looking sandwich out of her lunchbox, taking a large bite. It looked worse than most of the cafeteria food, and that was saying something.  

Patricia gasped loudly, eyes shining. “Popcorn, I love popcorn!”

“You know what goes great with popcorn?” Rena asked rhetorically. It came out muffled due to the food in her mouth.

“Rena, please,” Regina pleaded, pulling out her own red lunchbox. “Do you have to do this every meal? You’re disgusting.”

Rena rolled her eyes. “No, you’re disgusting.” The effect was again ruined by the sandwich muffling her speech.  

Regina sighed, flipping her hair over her shoulder, and Logan got a waft of her sweet-smelling shampoo. It suited her. Logan wondered if Regina’s hair was as soft as it looked.  

Virge cleared her throat, pushing her food around her tray with her fork. “Disgusting behaviour aside.” She eyed Rena, who didn’t seem offended, so she continued. “Does anyone actually know what we’re doing tonight? We’re spending, like, three hours with Remy and Mr Sanders, right? I still don’t really trust them.”

“Yes, I’ve been wondering about that, too,” Logan said, bringing out a flask of soup and a spoon, zipping her backpack shut again and putting it back under the table. Her knee hit Regina’s, and her heart skipped a beat. “My mom seems to trust them, though.”

“Mine, too,” Dee added, finally taking her eyes off of Rena and returning to her tray of food. “She and Remy are, like, ‘best friends’ or something. I’m a bit pissed she’s never told me about any of this before.”

“Huh,” Virge said. “Do you think she’s gonna tell my mom?” Dee shrugged, and Virge looked back down at her food, nose wrinkled. “I hope so, it would definitely make this easier. I'm really not sure how she’ll react to all this.”  

Pat took Virge’s free hand, squeezing it. “Your mom’s great, Sunshine, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Virge’s ears reddened at the nickname, which surprised Logan slightly, as she would have thought she would be used to her girlfriend’s pet names by now. They were rather common.  

“Hope so...” Virge muttered, frowning.

“It’s, like, so weird that you two are probably gonna be step-sisters,” Regina pointed out between apple slices, gesturing between Virge and Dee. “Didn’t you guys used to hate each other?”

Dee and Virge exchanged an awkward look, before the former turned to give Logan a slightly pleading stare. Logan cleared her throat, attempting to interrupt the awkward silence that had begun to settle over the cafeteria table.

“Well, that... uh, that doesn’t really matter anymore, does it?” Logan wasn’t very good at reassuring people, but she knew this was a sore spot for Dee, so she’d try her best to smooth things over. “That rivalry, of sorts, is in the past.”

Patricia perked up at the chance to end this awkwardness. “Yeah!” She changed the subject a lot smoother than Logan would have. “So, Dee, have you finished the English essay, yet? I’m totally stuck on what to write!”

Dee relaxed. “Yeah, I finished it last night.” Logan already knew that, she and Dee had had trouble sleeping the night prior, due to the... rather alarming... events of yesterday’s final period. They’d stayed on the phone for hours, doing their homework together. “I don’t think Mrs Smith’s gonna like it, though. She and I tend to have rather different morals.”

Patricia made a face. “She scowled at me and Virge in the hallway once. I think she’s homophobic.”

“I think she gave me a detention for my outfit once.” Rena piped up, having finally finished that disgusting sandwich of hers, but now beginning to bite into a lemon like an orange, not even stopping to peel it first. “It wasn’t even one of my slutty ones!”

Regina raised a disbelieving eyebrow at her sister. “Weren’t you wearing a neon green t-shirt with the word ‘slut’ across the front in bright orange?”

“Yeah, but it, like, covered everything, and I was wearing these super baggy jeans, too. I think they were dad’s; I needed to use one of his belts to keep it up.”

“I remember that.” Dee said, looking at Rena fondly. “It looked good on you.”

Rena grinned widely. “I’ll have to wear it again, then.”

Logan and Regina shared an amused look at their sister/best friend’s antics. They then glanced away, blushing. Virge and Pat then shared their own amused look, and the table’s conversation slowly trailed off into a much more casual one, about school gossip and tv shows that Logan had honestly never heard of.

***

Some time passed, and it was now the end of the school day. Logan was waiting with Virge for the rest of the group, so they could walk home with Dee.  

“So,” Virge began, breaking the silence that had settled over them. “Who do you think’s gonna be the actual chosen one? If it is one of us, that is.”

“Regina,” Logan answered immediately.

Virge raised an eyebrow. “Are you saying that just ‘cos you’ve got a crush on her, or do you actually think that?”

“I don’t-” Logan started, interrupting herself when Virge gave her a look of disbelief. She cleared her throat. “I mean, that’s not why I think she’ll be the chosen one. She just... seems the most into this, that’s all. She’s been wanting to go on some kind of magical adventure her whole life, so she just... seems like the right fit.”

Virge snorted. “You’re not wrong. She does seem pretty excited about all of this.” She stuffed her hands into her pockets as Dee and Pat appeared around the corner.  

Pat bounded up to them cheerfully, slipping her hand into the crook of her girlfriend’s elbow. Dee reached them a few moments later, walking at a more relaxed pace.

“So, what are we talking about?”

“Logan’s crush.”

Logan spluttered in surprise at Virge’s answer. Pat giggled, and Dee snorted.

“Aw, no need to be so embarrassed, Lo,” Pat reassured. “Regina likes you back, you should totally ask her out!”

Logan sighed. “Okay, first of all, I doubt I’m her type. And, second of all, I’ve decided to focus on my studies instead of dating.”

Dee rolled her eyes. “Logan, Rena is incredibly obvious about how much Regina likes you.”

“But that’s Rena.”

“Did someone say Rena?”

Pat almost screamed in surprise as Rena appeared out of nowhere beside her. Virge glared at her for scaring her girlfriend but Rena ignored it, smug at the chaos she’d caused. A student clad in blue and grey also jumped as he walked past, startled by Patricia. He blinked owlishly at the group, before continuing to wander in the opposite direction.

“Rena, no one likes it when you do that,” Regina said, also appearing out of nowhere, but beside Logan instead, making the girl jump and almost trip over her own feet.  

Fortunately – or unfortunately (depending on who you asked) – Regina managed to catch Logan before she fell. They remained in that position, with Regina’s arms around Logan, for a few moments, before they realised what was going on and let go of each other.

Rena snickered at their plight. “So, when are you two gonna fuck?”

There was a moment of silence as everyone digested what had just been said. Then, Regina screeched, taking off her backpack and throwing it at her sister’s head. As the twins fought, Logan just stood there, red-faced and embarrassed. Virge stepped over to her, putting her hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

“Ignore her, that’s what I do.”

Dee gave Virge a look of disaproval. “Don’t be rude.” She turned to Logan. “But, yeah, just ignore her.”

Patricia shifted awkwardly – she'd seemed rather taken aback by Rena’s exclamation. “Uh, shouldn’t we be heading over to your house, Dee? We don’t wanna be late for Remy and Mr Sanders...”

That seemed to snap Regina out of it, and she stopped whacking her laughing sister with her backpack. She slid it back over her shoulder, as if the fight had never happened, and tucked a few messy strands of hair behind her ear. She checked her watch.  

“We have about half an hour, so we should start walking now,” Regina said. “I refuse to do any exercise in this outfit, so I need time to change.”

“I’m pretty sure attempted murder counts as exercise,” Rena grinned, thoroughly unphased by the events of the past few minutes. She and Logan accidentally made eye contact, and she wiggled her eyebrows at the blushing girl.

Regina punched her sister’s shoulder. “I am so sorry, Logan. I’m begging you, please ignore her. She’s not serious.”

Logan coughed awkwardly. “Uh... noted.”

And, with that, the six teenagers headed off in the direction of Dee’s house, which was a short walk away, ready to start training for the adventure that would change their lives for good.

[iamartemisday]

Merry Christmas, Miss Foster! Part One

A/N: For Lokane Week, I am resurrecting the Miss Foster series!

Well sort of. The next official part of the series has been half written for... some time now. I’m working on it, but there’s a lot of other stuff going on. You know how it goes.

For those unfamiliar, the Miss Foster series is an all human AU in which Jane is a second grade teacher who ends up with Loki’s three children in his class. Said kids are a bit too smart for their ages and decide Jane is exactly the kind of person their billionaire single father needs. And since there are LOKI’S children we’re talking about, they get into some wacky hijinks along the way.

This story is honestly in kind of a grey area in terms of continuity. It’s sort of like an anime movie where the timeline isn’t clear and it’s kind of just contained within itself. Semi-canon so to speak.

Regardless, whether you know this verse or not, I hope you all enjoy and I’ll see you again tomorrow!

**

The Odinson family had a log cabin nestled on a hilltop in the heart of Lake Placid. The only thing that shocked Jane was that it wasn’t three stories. 

Snow was freshly fallen, just in time for the holidays. The sky was bright white, clouds masking the sun in preparation of another wintery onslaught. Riding in the back of a limousine, Jane flipped through several hundred stations, almost all of which were playing the same old Christmas music she knew by heart. Some of them were her favorite songs of all time. Many others she’d happily tear her eardrums out before she listened to them again.

At least the roads were clear, at least for now. The forecast called for clear skies until the 20th, when Jack Frost descended to unleash the full force of his icy fury upon the unsuspecting New York populace. Or so the weatherman rather hammily declared.

Which begged the question: why did Loki want to spend Christmas in the middle of the woods?

Another question: why did Jane agree to go with them?

It was the kids. She needed to face facts and admit to herself that for all her posturing and assertion of authority as their teacher, those three little angels wielded the power of the puppy dog eyes, and they were not afraid to use it.

“We bought this cabin from an old man who used it as a hunting lodge,” said Jormungandr. He flipped through the book in his lap. As always, it was roughly the size of his entire body. “He used to come out here with his two sons during deer season. Then one of them moved away and the other decided to be a vegan. Now he’s in Florida with his wife. He said the weather would do wonders for his aching joints.”

“I’m surprised you remember all that,” Jane mumbled. 

“Dad’s offer nearly gave him a heart attack,” said Fenrir, stretching out in his seat like he was desperate to move. “His asking price was way lower.”

“But it was worth the money,” Hela proclaimed, beaming so hard her entire face glowed. Even the scars were less apparent. “And we fixed it up real nice. We go out and chop down a giant tree, and we decorate it and we put up lights and-”

“We don’t need a play-by-play,” Fenrir snapped, shoving his sister. “And quit yelling in my ear.”

“I wasn’t yelling!” Hela yelled. “Maybe you just need to clean your ears out.”

“Maybe you do!”

“Do not.”

“Do too!”

“See?” Jormungandr smiled. “Not even any hair-pulling. They’re already in the holiday spirit.”

“They most certainly are,” said Loki. 

He drove over a rough patch in the road, the tires grinding through the rocks and making the inside jostle. Jane held tight to the dashboard until the road smoothed out. As expected, Loki had no reaction to it at all. He guided the car along the dirt path like he’d been doing it all his life. Like maybe he came out every summer to hunt deer now.  Jane tried to picture him in a plaid shirt with a vest over it and a hunter’s cap. She wished she could laugh at the ridiculous idea, but like everything else the asshole wore, the idea just made her cheeks warm.

The mountains were lovely, she couldn’t deny that. Swathes of fir trees and a pure white sky gave the jagged cliff sides that picturesque quality Thomas Kinkade painting were made for. In fact, Jane was pretty sure she had seen these mountains in one of his greeting cards. Maybe Loki owned land around the cabin and licensed it out. For all she knew, they filmed Hallmark movies out here. Hell, maybe she was about to star in her own Hallmark movie. 

Rich, handsome single father locked in a cabin for a week with his children’s second grade teacher. It practically wrote itself.

“What’s funny?” Loki asked.

Jane started. “Huh? I wasn’t laughing.”

“But you were smiling.” 

“Smiling doesn’t mean something is funny,” Jane sat up straighter in her seat, “I might just like to smile.”

“Like Buddy the Elf?”

“Yes, exactly. Thank you, Hela.”

The little girl beamed, her lips lined with chocolate as she reached for the bowl of M&Ms. “Maybe we can watch it tomorrow. Tonight is The Muppet Christmas Carol.”

“Since when do you get to decide what movie we watch?” Fenrir snatched the M&Ms away. “I want to watch Die Hard.”

“Die Hard is for the 26th, Fenrir,” Hela retorted. 

“Guys, come on,” Jane said, adjusting the rear view mirror to see them better. “We can decide when we get there what to watch. And don’t eat all of those. You’re going to get sick.”

“Don’t worry, they’re sugar free,” said Fenrir. “Otherwise, we’d have Jormungandr tied up in the trunk so he can’t get at them.”

“I can hear you, you know,” Jormungandr said, slamming his book shut.

“Welcome to the Odinson family Christmas,” he muttered in her ear. “Are you happy you said yes?”

Jane stared out the window as another pile of rocks whizzed by. “I’ll let you know.”

The car crawled higher and higher up the hillside. Every time Jane thought she saw a wooden roof in the distance, Loki turned a new corner. The town below had long since vanished. She wondered if they’d ever see it again. Someone had turned the radio on. The children sang along to Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, their off-key but passionate interpretation earning applause from Jane and a smile from Loki.

By the time the shadow of a slanted roof came into view, they’d gone through Christmastime Is Here and that Alvin and the Chipmunks song. Now the music faded into the background as Jane beheld a palace of a cabin in the woods. Polished wood with a stone chimney. A covered patio and an observation deck overlooking the trees. In the back was a small structure, possibly a shed or even an indoor jacuzzi. Jane had learned never to assume with this family, and always expect the unexpected.

“By the way, our basement pool is currently closed,” Loki said as they pulled into the driveway. “We’re having issues with the heating system, but someone will be out to fix it shortly.”

“Great. I didn’t even pack a suit…” 

The cold smacked Jane in the face as soon as she was out of the car. Looking around, there were ice patches everywhere. Some had been dissolved with rocksalt, but what remained made the front lawn resemble a minefield. It was a sentiment not shared by the kids, who raced to the front porch, cheering all the way.

“We’re going to have so much fun!” Jormungandr hopped in place. “We’re going to put up the tree and sing Christmas carols and bake cookies and wrap presents and build snowmen and-”

“Are you sure those M&Ms were sugar free?” Fenrir asked Hela, who shrugged.

“Now now, children,” Loki chided them, “remember we’re not alone this year. Grandmother, Grandfather, Uncle Thor, and Aunt Sif will be along in just a few days. We want to kept this place clean and presentable for them, don’t we?”

“Yes, Dad,” the triplets said. They walked up the stairs, speaking softly, and didn’t start screaming again until they were safely inside. 

“A whole week out here,” Jane said, taking in the crisp mountain air. “Here I thought I’d just spend Christmas with a bowl of cereal again.”

“It won’t be that much of a change of scenery,” Loki said as the second car trailing behind them finally caught up. Out stepped a man glaring daggers at Loki. Luckily, Jane had convinced him not to actually bring any weapons. “I was nice enough to invite your dear brother along.”

“Yeah, you’re a saint, pal,” Bucky said, pushing past him. He managed to smile at Jane. Not even Loki’s presence could completely dampen his mood. 

“Whoo! That was a hell of a ride!” Bucky’s passenger proclaimed, stumbling out of the car.

Loki sniffed. “And your… Darcy.” 

Jane nodded. “Yeah, that was real nice of you.”

“You guys are lucky I couldn’t afford to go home this year,” Darcy said, flashing them a thumbs up. “By the way, I brought my own Menorah. Any place in there I can put it up?”

“The mantle should do nicely,” Loki said. “Just don’t touch anything.”

“I will do my best to respect your humble abode, Major Moneybags!” Darcy skipped along, leaving the pair, finally, completely alone.

“She needs to think up some more creative nicknames,” Loki observed, hand on his chin. “Why does she follow you everywhere?”

“Well, when I first moved into my apartment, she came over to ask if I had one of those whipped cream makers,” Jane sighed, “and then she just kind of never left.”

Loki hummed, and with that, they started for the porch. Luck, as it turned out, was on Jane’s side. She made it a full three steps before she slipped. With a yelp, she grabbed blindly for the nearest sturdy object. She hung on tight as her eyes unclouded and her mind reoriented itself. It was only then that rough leathery material in her hand shifted. Loki raised his arm, pulling Jane with him. She continued to cling to him, blinking stupidly at his chiselled features. It hit her all too late that they probably shouldn’t be doing this. 

“Uh…” Jane said, stepping away and almost slipping again. “Thanks. Sorry.”

Loki pocketed his hands and glided across the ice patches, like he controlled them as much as he did everything else in his life. “Do be more careful next time.”

“Right.” Jane shuffled after her, head bowed, face boiling. 

This was going to be a long Christmas.