#introducing our future wife everyone say hello~

[silentgrim]

bella!

[backtothefanfiction]

The Angel In The Garden of Evil | Epilogue: Not Another Envelope

Summary: We say goodbye to our favourite couple in a similar manner we said hello to them, with an envelope on the dining room table, a secret hidden inside.

Warnings: 18+ Only, genre typical content, references to the demise of characters in previous chapter, fluff, a surprise, implied smut, daddy/mommy kink (if that doesn't give away the surprise I don't know what will)

Word Count: 1.3k

A/N: The final authors note *begins weeping*. This is it, the end. I have had the most wonderful time writing this series and sharing it with you all. A big thanks to @sincericida and @tarzinnia for your continued support and reblogging and leaving your thoughts all over this series, they honestly kept me going and helped so much. Another big thanks to @liz-allyn if it wasn't for your Sugar + Vice series inspiring me, Angel would never have happened. I hope this Epilogue ties up this series in a nice bow for everyone and we can all go away with a fuzzy feeling in our tummies with hope for the future. I will be having a Q & A session to wrap up any final questions and talk further about all our favourite bits in the series, so be sure to fill up my inbox with your Q's and best bits. And before anyone asks as we haven't come back to him in a bit, Miles is doing good. His leg healed and Angel moved him to work more on F.E.A.S.T operations full time. He is very happy and healthy. Anyway, let's say goodbye shall we.

EPILOGUE

She hadn’t felt this nervous since she had first walked back into this house 10 months ago. Her stomach turned as she tried to breathe deeply and keep calm. ‘I can do this,’ she thought to herself, as she crouched down to check the food in the oven for the 5th time in the last 10 minutes.

“Come on Pete, where are you?” she muttered as she tapped her foot absentmindedly on the harlequin tiled kitchen floor.

After everything had happened there had been quite a few changes. They had left Hobie in charge of cleaning up as they went on a well needed second honeymoon. Peter had hired a yacht for them to sail around the coast of Italy for two weeks; of course stopping off in the little town she had lived in for the near three years they were separated, so that Angel could introduce her husband to Maria and her magic meatballs.

When they came back Peter signed the entire business over to Angel. There was a small amount of teething room, Peter playing mediator between allies as he announced the change in management; but given her family history, most of them were satisfied with the change.

With Angel now in charge of the business, Peter started going back out in the suit. He’d occasionally help out with paperwork or running certain errands, especially when it came to the Huntsman and F.E.A.S.T, but mostly spent his days patrolling the city and helping keep it crime free (well apart from his wife’s business that was).

They had sold her Father’s old house and everything inside it for a hefty amount, which they donated to the city to help with the clean up after the explosion down in Chinatown. They also gave payouts to the local businesses that had been affected as both a thank you for helping during the blast; but also apologise for the inconvenience of it all. The new centre had been reopened two months ago, with a special ribbon cutting from the city’s one and only Spider-Man, and had been thriving again ever since.

Peter had been worried about donning the suit again. Worried what everyone would think after all this time. But if the gang fighting had provided one thing, it was the city’s need for a hero. A need to hope once more. And nothing said hope apparently like a guy in red and blue spandex swinging through the city- much to George Stacy’s dismay.

They had started going to couples counselling once a week so they could talk through all their lingering issues. The Felicia thing. Their issues with her Dad. The forced three year separation. There was still a long way to go, but talking about it with a mediator helped.

Harry’s body was found in a freezer inside a storage container that was offloaded in Belfast Ireland three months after the night at the warehouse. Toomes’ body, which had been dumped in the river, was never found.

She checked the oven again as she chewed on her lip. She wasn’t even sure she was gonna be able to stomach this, despite having spent the last hour and a half cooking it. There came a thud from upstairs. He was home. She closed her eyes, taking one last deep breath in, before she began to take the chicken out of the oven.

“Mmmm, smells good Mrs Parker.” his voice rang out as he ran downstairs. 

“You better not have just left your suit dumped on the floor up there.” she chastised as she began plating up the food.

“Of course not.” he said with a sheepish grin as he came and wrapped his arms around her from behind, placing a kiss on her cheek. She knew him too well.

“Can you put the cutlery on the table?” she asked as she turned her head to give him a kiss on the lips, her stomach doing butterflies, she thought she might vomit.

“Yeah of course, no problem.” he said, patting her hip before he moved to slide open the cutlery drawer, humming to himself as he went.

She braced herself against the edge of the counter as she heard him make his way over to the table. There was the sound of metal hitting the wooden table as he began to place the cutlery down, still humming away, until he wasn’t. There was a pause before he spoke.

“Baby, what’s this?” he said, lifting an envelope off of the table. Peter grew nervous, the moment feeling all too familiar.

“Sit down.” she said, as she finally turned to face him, the food now sitting forgotten on the counter.

Peter didn’t move. “Baby, what is this?” he pressed her. He saw the frozen look of terror on her face and his stomach lurched as he raced to open it, fearing the worst. He pulled out the paperwork inside, scanning over it confused. “Angel, what is-”

“I’m pregnant.”

Peter stared at her. The longer the statement hung in the air, the more confident she grew as she slowly stepped across the room towards him. “You’re?” Peter couldn’t even say the word. He tried but it didn’t feel real on his tongue. She just nodded as she reached a hand out to his hip, the other pointing at a particular box on the page that said ‘positive’.

“I’ve known for a few weeks now.” she tried to explain. “I didn’t want to say anything until I’d had it confirmed by the doctor. I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”

“That really bad food poisoning you had. I thought it was from the Thai food we had, but I ate the same thing and I was fine and-” he rambled as he tried to put all the signs together he knew he should have gotten.

“Pete?” She said his name tentatively.

“And then last Sunday when you fell asleep on May’s sofa in the middle of the afternoon. I thought you were just tired from work-”

“Peter.”

“Oh and when we went out for breakfast the other week, you had mushrooms on your breakfast. You hate mushrooms-”

“Peter!”

“What?”

“Does this mean you’re okay with it?” she asked sceptically.

“Okay with it? Okay with it. Why wouldn’t I be okay with it!” He beamed as he suddenly wrapped her in his arms. “We’re having a baby!” He said excitedly. “I’m gonna be a Daddy- oh!” he said as a realisation hit him. “This means I get to start calling you Mommy.”

“No. Nope!” she squealed and giggled as he held her tightly, turning his head to gently gnaw at her skin like he was trying to eat her.

“Fine, fine.” he said as she finally broke free of his arms. “But I know you’ve been itching to call me Daddy for years.”

“Noooo.” she giggled, but she knew he had her pegged.

“Yeeesss.” he dragged out the word with an exaggerated smile.

“I’m not gonna say it.” she giggled as he began to chase her round the lower section of the house.

“Oh yes, you are.” he joked, stalking her as she moved around the kitchen island.

“Pete, the dinner.” she tried to reason.

“I don’t care. Not until you say it.”

“Noo!” she squealed as she made a run for it, narrowly slipping past him and running into the living room.

“Oh you’re gonna say it.”

“No.”

“Say it!” he called out as he lunged for her, wrapping his arms around her and wrestling her gently to the floor, pinning her with his body. She laughed. “Say it.” he said again as he looked down at her.

“Fine.” she huffed in defeat. “Can we go eat dinner now Daddy?” she cooed in her most sultry voice.

He moved his head from side to side as if he were thinking about it, before saying, “I don’t know what you’re talking about Mommy, my dinner’s right here.” He gave her a devilish smile before shimmying his body down so his face was the same height as her crotch.

“Noo! Peter!” she squealed in delight, pretending to push him away as his fingers reached for the waistband of her trousers, her giggles ringing out throughout the house.

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

Thank you so much for reading The Angel In The Garden of Evil. If you have enjoyed the story don’t forget to tip me like you would your waiter by reblogging and leaving feedback and letting me know what you think! By reblogging you also help to keep this story alive for just a little bit longer allowing new people to keep finding it for days, months, weeks and years to come. Whenever this story find you, I hope it brings you joy.

@scmdsblog @angiexsv @thef1nalgirl @did-someone-change-my-name @sincericida @tarzinnia @liz-allyn @blacksoul09 @humxncrxvings @sunnycolors @suicide-sweetheart636 @ahryi @ms-wild-card-56

[shelf-care]

Well Hello

I would like to start off by saying things have been busy for the last two years.

Let me give y’all a list of things that have happened in my life, kinda like a news letter.

Everything is a list below of good and bad things that have happened in the last three years and the reason you haven’t seen me as a result.

I married the man I love

I got a corgi as well as inheriting my husbands dog. (I’m a dog step mom!)

I moved in with my husband (obviously)

I quit my 9-5 Job and became a stay at home wife to pursue writing and focus on my business.

Business failed within three moths of me trying to open it.

tried to open a service business (Cleaning/maid service)

Failed eight months in.

Tried to get a professional job (there are no jobs available in my area)

I have been taking certifications to become a signing agent on homes and houses

Business has been slow.

I wrote a book

My sister met a mutual online friend that I introduced her to over ten years ago

They’re talking about getting married

My best friend moved two states away to marry her now husband

My husbands truck broke down

the same week our 20 year old hand me down washing machine broke down and we had an outside water leak from a busted pipe.

My parents almost got a divorce and it shattered my image of them.

My husbands and my one year anniversary is in one week to the day and we’re still going strong.

-

Now then, I say all this not for you to feel pity for me because I know everyone is struggling and we’re all experiencing hardship in one form or another. I’m saying this because I feel like my life is finally getting back on track after almost three years of life altering events happening.

I guess I also wanna ask if anyone is still interested in my writing? and if you are I still wanna spend my spare time reading and writing like I used to because I genuinely miss it and I miss having a community to talk to that loves X-Men, Starwars, Current books, and a myriad of other things I love to talk about. Including a new obsession thanks to my Hubby which is DND!!

I’ll probably reboot my profile but I still want my Tumblr to be nerd focused and I’ll set up links to my past writing and new writing and let Y’all know when I eventually publish my book which is a huge accomplishment for me since I also found out I have ADHD! And now everything makes sense alongside the Dyslexia.

I’m learning so many new things every year, picking up new habits and reading so many good books. I just hope I still have a place here.

-

So, these are my goals

I would love to introduce you to a few of my OC characters and make a tumblr exclusive series involving these characters.

I want to dip my toes into making a kindle vella series (Even though they’ve made a lot of changes to that platform)

I’ll of course make one shots for characters I love and have a new obsession with and just genuinely start learning to write again.

Well thats all for now, I’m terrible with ending news letters so I’ll keep it short and Sweet.

I’ll see you all very soon in the future! Good things are coming that is a promise!

[fallen-symphony]

(Continued from here at @formerchaoslord )

The members of Slur's army came together once again for a meeting.

"Alright, everyone. You all know we have some new members on our team, so I thought we all should be acquainted to them. Go ahead and introduce yourselves."

"Ooh, ooh! Me, first! Me, first! I'm Rosy the Rascal, and I'm Scourgey's future wife!"

"No, you're not!" Scourge yells, "You're an insane brat who needs a straight jacket!"

"Aww... You say the meanest things, Scourgey!" Rosy said endearingly, in a twisted kind of way, "I definitely need to hug you and crush you later."

"Next, please..." Slur said in a tired tone.

"Very well. I shall go next. Greetings, everyone. I am Dr. Starline. I am the new ruler of the Eggman Empire, though I guess it's the Starline Empire now. I am far superior to that has been, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, AKA, Dr. Eggman. In my dimension, he gave up that name and now goes by 'Mr. Tinker.' Now he helps the heroes! What a waste of evil genius potential. This is why Eggman Nega is the superior Eggman. He knows what it means to be an evil genius."

"Why, thank you, Starline," Nega said, "You'll go a long way. I can see it."

"I appreciate the kind words," said Starline, "Now, this is my second in command, Metal Knuckles. I reprogrammed him to be absolutely loyal to me."

"..."

"Impressive," said Obake, "And I assume that machine used to be one of Dr. Eggman's?"

"You'd be correct, Obake." Dr. Starline answered, "Due to his foolishness, he overlooked Metal Knuckles when Metal Sonic rebelled against him that one time. That made it all the more easy to make Metal Knuckles my new henchman."

"You're a platypus after my own heart, Starline," Obake said, "I, too, reprogram robots to make them my loyal henchmen. That's how I got Ultron Sigma here. Why don't you say hello, my friend?"

"Greetings. I am Ultron Sigma, ruler of the Ultron Mavericks, and loyal servant to Master Obake."

"Man, it's still hard to get use to hearing him call you 'Master,' Obake." Teseo said.

"Next," said Slur.

"Alright, I will go next. I am Dark Empress, Queen of the Darkloids. I was once known as 'Roll,' until I repeatedly used the Dark Chip ShadeMan dropped. Now I'm the most feared Net Navi in all of the Net. I control all the viruses, and every Darkloid is at my command."

"Ah... A story much like my own... I think we were made to rule together, my Dark Queen..."

"Heh heh... Perhaps we were, my Dark King...'

"Sheesh! Get a room, you two..."

"Awwww, I think they're an adorable couple... Just like us, Scourgey!"

"In your dreams, ya pink psycho!"

"Alright, let's wrap this up."

"I am Asimov, the original Azure Striker of 'Project Gunvolt.' My goal is to create a universe of Adepts and Super Humans. Anyone willing to convert into an Adept, come to me, and I will give you incredible powers."

"Alright, that should be everyone... Other than Ophelia and ArcaneMan, as well as Black Dog and the Master of the Heel, but they have matters to take care of at the moment. Anyway, now that we have introductions out of the way, it's about time we act. I will need you to all to go after RiFT's team. I will focus on finding new members and increase our army, while you try to decrease RiFT's army by destroying as many members as possible. RiFT and his band of misfits are what stands between us and ruling the Multiverse..."

To be continued...

[quordleona03]

All We Know

I was just watching "The Moose", and realising that when the girl introduces herself to the table in the mess tent, you can hear Trapper John McIntyre's enthusiatic "Wa-HEY!" over everyone else at the table. He's got flaws. To put it mildly. But I like John McIntyre. I like his enthusiasm and his kindness and his love for Hawkeye and for his daughters, and I think I'd probably like how he loves his wife, if we ever saw them interact. The shape of "All We Know" crystalised for me when I realised it began with a meeting between Hawkeye and Trapper.

"I came to see you," McIntyre repeated. "Why now?" Hawkeye wasn't smiling any more. "Why not?" "It's been eleven years," Hawkeye said. "Suddenly you want to say hello?" "Can I buy you a cup of coffee?" McIntyre said, again. Hawkeye glanced at his watch. It was quarter past four. Suddenly, McIntyre became convinced the entire weekend was going to go like this: chasing Hawkeye from one panel to the next, Hawk always three steps ahead of him. He was never going to get to speak to Hawkeye again. He'd left it too late and too much else had happened and he and Hawkeye had once had a relationship of drinking and surgery and Korea. He was six years into sobriety, and Korea had been eleven years ago, and Hawkeye was doing surgery in the future while McIntyre was stuck in the past. He managed a grin of sorts, and said, "Sorry, Hawkeye. That was all."

[skyler10fic]

Sweet Like Honey: Ch. 2 Pool Party

Summary:

Carol and Daisy meet some fellow guests at the pool (a few original and a few faces from the MCU), including giving Kate Bishop some bisexual encouragement and hope for her future.

Notes: This chapter is pure queer fluff, so if smut isn’t your thing, this one is for you.

Read on Ao3

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

After lunch and some sun lounging, they made their way to the pool. They weren’t alone, though. More queer couples and groups floated around, gathered in corners, or relaxed in the hot tub. 

One of the guys called out to the others as they stepped in. “We have newcomers!” 

Daisy and Carol exchanged a look. They weren’t expecting this to be a social club. 

“I’m David,” he introduced himself to them and pointed to the others. “That’s Harry, my partner, then we have Kate, Trish, and Sharon. Jessica is too cool for us so she’s over there hiding in the shade. Then Matteo, Braydon, Joey, and Anderson. Hot tub crew is the enbies: Casey, Flynn, and Sequoia.”   

Daisy and Carol waved and said hello to the other guests whose names they had already forgotten. David was joined by Harry and some of the women. 

“I’m Carol, and this is my wife, Daisy. How do you all know each other?” Carol asked. Before, she had assumed that they were all strangers, but clearly she and Daisy had interrupted some sort of gathering. 

“Technically, we don’t,” one of the blond ones, Sharon, said cryptically. 

Kate, a young brunette in a flamingo float ring, rolled her eyes. “We say what happens at Pegasus stays at Pegasus. Like Fire Island or Dinah Shore. Or so they tell me. I haven’t been to those yet. But the point is, not everyone you meet is 100% out yet, but here, you can be whoever you wanna be.” Kate smiled and traced her fingers whimsically over the water’s surface. 

Daisy admitted, “We’ve never been to those either. Do you all meet up for vacation?” 

David spoke up with his chin in the air. “Only because I am a master planner. If I didn’t, we’d never see each other again. Most of us met here in college, but we switch up the vacay location every year. It’s Harry and I’s 10th-anniversary trip, so we came back to where it all started.”

“I’m new too,” Kate explained. “I’m Trish’s cousin. She brought me as a college graduation trip before I start work. How about you two? First timers? What’s your story?”

Jessica sighed at Kate’s enthusiasm from where she sat on the pool wall in the shade. “Maybe their story is they came to the pool to relax and want you to leave them alone.” 

Daisy dismissed Jessica’s comment. “No, no. It’s fine. It’s our honeymoon, and yes, our first time to the Cape in general for both of us.”

David slapped the water with his palms. “Shut up! First time here ever? Okay, we are here for you. What have you done so far?” 

Carol tried to remember the name of the restaurant. “Um, we went to a fish place on the boardwalk down there?” She gestured to the area with all the restaurants along the shore. 

Harry blinked. “Girl. That’s, like, all of them.” 

Carol looked to Daisy for help, but Daisy just shrugged and said, “It was a long day. Week, really. Months. We started planning our wedding in February.” 

“Of this year?!” David shrieked. “What?!” 

“That’s a lot of work,” Trish affirmed. 

Kate bounced in her flamingo ring. “Ooo I love weddings! Tell us about it! No, wait, tell us how your story of how you met and got together. Then the wedding.”

Daisy glanced at Carol and started, “We also met in college and were part of the same group of friends, then we got closer just the two of us and fell in love…”

“But I wasn’t out to my super homophobic parents yet. Then after we graduated, I lived with my best friend to help her with her little girl, my goddaughter.” 

“But then,” Daisy picked up, “they moved out to a house and my roommate got married to another one of our friends, so I asked Carol to move in with me a year and a half ago at Christmas, and then a year later, last Christmas, we got engaged.” 

Sharon asked, “Christmas proposal, nice. Who proposed?” Carol could tell she was trying to discern the dynamics of their relationship. 

“We both did,” Carol answered, smiling at Daisy. “We had the same idea. I got her a ring and put it in her stocking, and she did the same for me with her grandmother’s engagement ring.”  

“Aw, that’s adorable,” the others gushed.

“Not these, obviously,” Daisy explained. She held out her left hand with the silicone ring. 

“Good,” David sassed. “Because whew, I’d be trying to figure out how to tell you, honey, your grandma lied.”

They laughed as Carol held out her left hand next to Daisy’s. “No,” Carol confirmed. “These we got from a queer-owned outdoors company. They were exactly what we needed.”    

Upon closer inspection, the pool group saw that Carol’s was orange, white, pink, and maroon marbled and Daisy’s was purple, blue, and pink. 

“Are those your Pride flag colors? That’s so cute,” Kate cooed. “I want one! Not as like a wedding ring. Just for the bi flag like that.” 

Carol winked. “Catch me later and I’ll send you the link.” 

“Okay!” Kate got them back on track. “So after the mutual proposal, which is adorable, by the way, then what happened?” 

Of all of them, Kate and her genuine curiosity and friendliness charmed Carol most. 

David spotted the bar was empty and led his entourage to the pool stairs. Only Kate stayed behind, eager to continue their conversation and hear more about the wedding.

“We’re getting drinks,” he said, looking back over his shoulder at Daisy and Carol. “Come if you want to.” 

Daisy turned to Carol and touched her arm. “I could use a drink. Want me to get you something?” Her eyes flickered to Kate, signaling that they were clearly hitting it off and she didn’t want to take her away from her new admirer. 

“That mango margarita on the sign? Or something like that. You know what I like.” Carol shrugged. 

Daisy smiled and waggled her eyebrows in silly suggestiveness. “Yeah, I do.” 

She climbed the stairs out of the pool with a little extra swing in her hips, knowing Carol was watching as she emerged from the water with her bikini clinging to her body.

“Hashtag goals,” Kate sighed. “Both of you. Hey, can I ask you a question?”

“Shoot.” Carol led them to the corner of the pool, and she leaned back and rested her arms over the side casually. For someone who got married two days ago, Carol was already feeling like a queer big sister to Kate.

“So, Daisy’s bi like me, right? That’s why she had that ring specifically?”

“Yep.” 

“Do you ever worry—this is dumb, sorry.” Kate hid her face in her flamingo.

“No, go ahead, we’ve been together for a long time. I promise we’ve heard it before. And if it can help you, it’s worth asking.” 

Kate looked off to the side and started again. “My last girlfriend broke up with me because she didn’t trust that she was really enough. She’d see me with boys and get so paranoid that I was going to leave her or cheat on her with my best guy friend because she thought it was easier for me being with him and pretending to be straight. She said I ‘acted straight’ with him. But I didn’t feel anything like that for him. I loved her so much, but no matter what I said, she didn’t believe me.” Kate sniffed and swallowed back her emotions. “Sorry, I don’t know why I’m telling you all this.” 

Carol frowned and lightly touched Kate’s forearm for a second to get her attention back away from her fresh memories of heartbreak. “Hey. That sucks. I’m so sorry to hear that. That’s her problem, not yours.” 

Kate nodded, so Carol continued. 

“And to answer your question, no. It was hard to believe at first that we could be happy because I’d had so much fear about my future and about being gay, but I don’t doubt Daisy when she says she loves me or worry she’d leave me. And definitely not cheat. She’s had every opportunity to find someone else or say this was too hard. My parents cut off contact and kicked me out when I came out to them, but Daisy and her family became my family too. Even long before I came out to my parents, they basically adopted me.” 

“Really?” Kate listened with interest. 

“After that night, telling my parents about us, I literally walked to their house in the snow on Christmas Eve and they took me in,” Carol recalled. It had only been a year and a half, but it seemed so long ago now. “But don’t worry. The right person will accept all of you.”

“Even being bi? Girls don’t trust me, but guys think it is some sort of kink or about having threesomes or something.”     

“Yeah, especially before we were engaged and had rings, sometimes guys would hit on one of us, assuming we’re just friends and not together like that. We laugh about it, but it sucks too. But my point is, she’s had plenty of offers if she wanted to find a guy, but she wants me and I trust her. I look at it this way,” Carol explained. “Out of everyone, of any gender, she chose me. She could have anyone she wanted, and she wants us. That’s true love.” 

Daisy returned with their drinks, and Carol pushed herself up to sit next to her on the side of the pool with their feet in the water. 

“I only heard the last bit about having anyone I wanted and something being true love,” Daisy confessed. “At least, I assume it was me? What are you two talking about?” 

“Kate is bi too and she’s faced some really bad biphobia,” Carol explained. 

Daisy sent Kate a look of sympathy. “Oh man, that sucks. I’m sorry. I’ve been there.” 

Carol continued, “She asked if I ever worried about you leaving me for a man, which is what her ex-girlfriend was worried about.”

“And why she broke up with me.” Kate traced her finger in the water mournfully. 

“And what did you say?” Daisy asked Carol, intrigued, and took a sip of her pink frozen cocktail. 

“I said a girl worthy of her will feel honored that she chose her out of everyone,” Carol repeated, slightly paraphrasing to emphasize the lesson to Kate, though she was talking to Daisy. “I told her you could have anyone you wanted. But you’re mine.”

“And you’re mine,” Daisy returned in contentment and put her free hand on Carol’s knee. “My wife.” 

Kate observed them with hope and heartache mixing in her big eyes and furrowed brow. “You didn’t ever wonder if life would be easier with a man?” 

“God no. First, men are not easier. The problems are just different,” Daisy scoffed before adding more seriously. “Second, it’s not us who need to change. It’s the world. Yeah, life would be easier without homophobia and biphobia. That’s the enemy. Not each other. And third, she’s worth it. Sure, I’d die for her, but what’s more important is the life we share. That kind of life isn’t about what’s easy. It’s about what’s worth fighting for.”  

Carol couldn’t help but peck a kiss to Daisy’s cheek. She moved her drink to her left hand and covered Daisy’s hand on her knee with her right. 

Daisy giggled as her hand reflexively stiffened under Carol’s. “Oh my god. Your fingers are so cold from holding your drink.” 

“So is yours!” Carol defended but moved her hand and didn’t know where else to put it. Daisy grabbed it with hers and intertwined their fingers. 

“It’s okay, we’ll warm each other up,” Daisy said, satisfied at their object lesson for Kate of what true love looked like. “When you find your person, labels and fears don’t matter so much if you know from a million little things that you can trust them to be there.”

“Thanks,” Kate said. “For listening and for talking to me about this stuff. You guys have helped more than any of them all week.” She nodded to where David and company were lounging on the deck chairs. Trish called to her. 

“What?” Kate called back and made her way over to the opposite side of the pool. Trish offered to buy Kate a drink if she’d get her a refill too. With that deal, Kate said goodbye to Carol and Daisy and headed over to the bar. 

Alone again, Daisy leaned in and said quietly, “Did you notice the guys’ names were Harry and David?” 

“What?”

“Like the fruit baskets. You know, those pear and apple boxes vendors send to the office at Christmas.” 

Carol laughed and tried not to spit out her drink. “Is it offensive if we start calling their group the fruit box?” 

Daisy thought for a second. “Hm, or even more specific… How about the pears?” 

“The As and Ps, the apples and pears society.” Carol bumped Daisy’s shoulder with her own. 

Daisy laughed and bumped her back. Carol put down her drink and tickled Daisy’s bare side with her cold fingers. 

“Don’t! Don’t. You’re gonna make me spill my drink.” Daisy laughed but got up and moved away, protective of her pink margarita slushie, and Carol pouted. 

“Come back! I promise I won’t.” 

Daisy gave her another chance, and, as soon as she was back, Carol pulled her in for a kiss, just because she could with no hesitations or dread of judgmental looks from strangers here. Somehow, their cold fingers didn’t bother each other this time. 

Carol pulled away from the kiss slowly but still kept her attention fully focused on Daisy. 

“What are you thinking about?” Daisy asked, noting the pride in Carol’s expression. 

Carol shook her head slightly. “Just so glad we’re the ones giving that talk now.”

“I didn’t think we ever needed that talk?” Daisy tilted her head. “At least I didn’t. Did you?” 

“Okay, I didn’t know enough about queer stereotypes to need that talk specifically,” Carol confessed. “But I just meant like, being the mentors. Giving hope to the youth. True love lives!” 

Daisy giggled. “The youth? She’s like three, four years younger than us?” 

“Graduation feels like a lifetime ago.” 

“True that.” Daisy raised her glass and Carol toasted it. To all the life experiences they’d been through since then: internships ended and jobs started, a post-grad degree completed and another abandoned, family gained and lost, tears cried and comfort given, fights and compromises, the ache of time apart and frustration of too much time in each other’s space, the reunion sex and the makeup sex and the lazy Saturday slow-burn sex just because they could. From anxious nights in a dorm wondering if they could make it work and someday have what they only dared to dream about to the blissful but real post-wedding exhaustion now. 

They drank their frozen cocktails and enjoyed observing the other guests. It was rare to be in a place so predominantly queer. Like on the boardwalk the night before, they could relax here. 

“I can tell why they keep coming back,” Daisy admitted and nodded to David’s group as they gathered up their stuff to leave and went back to their rooms. “It’s different than a normal vacation.” 

“Yeah, we don’t normally see that, for instance.” Carol gestured with her near-empty drink to the hot tub off to their right, where the androgynous 20- and 30-somethings they had been introduced to earlier had been replaced by two large, graying men, whose kisses were turning more and more passionate. Their wet T-shirts came off, and Daisy and Carol averted their gazes to allow them some privacy.

The only one left from David’s group was Jessica, who was far on the other side of the pool on the deck chairs with her sunglasses on and earbuds in with a book on her chest. 

“Either napping or pretending to nap so no one will bother her. Smart,” Carol remarked. “Seems like a good idea to me. What do you say, time to go back inside?” 

Daisy yawned in response at the mere suggestion. “Yeah, I guess so. The sun is making me sleepy. And the alcohol.” 

They toweled off, slipped on their flip-flops, and put their empty glasses on a return tray at the bar, then headed up to their room for showers and a nap before they needed to get ready for their fancy dinner reservation at the resort restaurant.  

[centralkvetchmonolith]

Further updates on today's occurrences:

I did NOT get my knives sharpened because* I'm a lazy dipshit who can't remember what times of day people function at, yippee!**

*I don't actually feel the following about myself; I'm just venting for funsies

**I'm cool I just have at least one sleep disorder and misremembered "1pm close" as "4pm close" for some reason, which is a normal mistake to make if you're unfamiliar with farmer's markets

Oh well! There is always next week. I DID go to the Jewish event, with @creatureaccess bc I haven't gotten to do much Jewy socializing with them, and we hung out with my friend Khesed and got some nice prints and earrings!!!

In addition to the planned socialization, I ran into 4 sets of people I wasn't expecting:

Kendrick and their roommate Dawn — they Recognized Me from services a couple years ago, but we didn't quite remember each other. I mention these folks mostly so that I remember their names, as I will probably see them in the future and it takes me several meetings to remember faces and names together w/o hints.

MJ! The (lay) cantor who is considering Hebrew College! She was like "oh jeez people keep saying that and I feel like everyone will be so disappointed if I decide not to go" which! oh no! I only mentioned it bc I just broke up w a Hebrew College student who mentioned seeing her at prospy week (which is not what they call it)! I think she feels bad about being put on a pedestal, bc she also remarked that introducing her to Mercury as "the most familiar voice at Shir Tikvah" was nice bc I wasn't doing the usual thing (of intentionally or unintentionally overpraising her, which I'm sure feels like "you're so BRAVE for Singing While Trans" in addition to the regular ol' anxiogenesis of high expectations & benevolent otherization). Anyway she was happy to see me again even though she almost certainly couldn't remember my name, and I was happy to see her cuz she wasn't at the one kabbalat shabbat I've gone to so far and that was one of the several reasons I didn't quite feel Home yet at Shir Tikvah.

Quotes-and-flowers prints lady, Della, complimented me on my constellation umbrella and we commiserated about Hebrew cursive being cool but not a thing people in our circles (myself included) can read. THEN HER MOM POPPED UP, AND IS ONE OF MY TORAH CANTILLATION CLASSMATES??!?!? So Moon is the first person from the 2024 adult b'mitzvah cohort that I got the pleasure of meeting in person :^>. She's a lesbian who bonded w other lesbian parents in 1995 — I asked her if she knew [Jaz's parents], and she didn't which idk is actually cooler cuz that means there were enough partnered lesbians making children in the mid-90s that they DIDN'T all know each other!?! Anyway, Moon is cool, and I'm glad I am soooo so brave to Talk While Trans have a distinctive voice so that she recognized me ^_^.

While talking to Candida, the vendor with the super cool lemon earrings that I got Mercury for their birthday, I DID make direct eye contact with a person who used to call me their wife ("Ohhhhh and I just saw my ex" "Haha isn't that just the experience at queer markets like this"). Mercury and I sidled over, talking abt their mom while waiting for an opening where I could talk to Tova (they are very popular, even as queer Jewish non-profit workers go), and Mercury squeezed my hand and made clear through, like, bestie telekinesis and a couple words that they were there for me. I was a bit awkward on the intro bc I broke up w Tova pretty suddenly in uhhhhh I wanna say Nov 2020? and they ghosted last time I tried to catch up in early 2022, so I was like "hi!!(?) are we on the sort of terms where it's okay if I talk to you?" and they were very like "(why wouldn't it be????) Yeah!! Hello!!" and we chatted for a bit and I DID ask if they had moved which they HAVEN'T so I can STOP forlornly looking at their living room window every time I go grocery shopping and just be chill neighbors who used to try to build a life together. Their Nana said "She's special to you. Hold on to her, even though you're not together anymore." I was there when their sister got married. Their brother-in-law painted me in fake blood while he was shirtless. Their parents welcomed me into the family. I spooned with them under the big flaming tree of their family's cult. We played tabletop roleplaying games together. and figure out how much we want to be in each other's lives.

Anyway yeah so I am reminded yet again that people love me and even people who have a reason to be Rude are probably instead going to be Cordial, which I think is generalizable to people who are not me as well (you, reader). Also Jaz came up in sets 2, 3, AND 4 above, so it's pretty clear that [insert transparently obvious takeaway that nevertheless evades me at the moment].

Being in community is Good, Actually.

[renee-writer]

Out of Time Chapter One Hundred and Forty-six

AO3

They walk for days, eyes and ears open to others. The sound of the bird song, the scurry of wild animals, the wild growing crops, are prove that life is fully returning to the planet. They are relieved to know that. Now if they can just find any other survivors.

 

 

They make camp without a sign of other humans.

 

“They are sure to be scared.” Murtagh comments as they sit around the camp fire.

 

“Aye. Especially if the group is small. Friend or for is hard to determine.” Danny agrees. He knows that he had been distrusted for quite a while.

 

They talk about their families, present and past. They discuss the future.

 

“Will we all stay together, I wonder.” Simon muses. He lays by the dying fire, head supported by his bent arm. “Or will we make our own way with our own individual family?”

 

“Right now there is safety in numbers.” Murtagh says. He sits throwing little twigs in the fire, trying to re-start it. “But later,” he shrugs, “Lallybroch is my home. I would like to see my children raised there.” As always when he thinks of Mary and the weans, he says a little prayer.

 

“It feels like home to us, as well.” Danny adds. “Who knows if that will change as time goes on.” A shrug.

 

A few yards away, a small group of a man, two women, and a child, kneel in the bushes and listen. The man looks at the women and raises his eyes. One nods. The other, clinching the child to her side, shakes her head.

 

“They seem nice and have a place. We can’t keep traveling with no place to really rest.” He whispers to her. “I will approach them. You wait here, if you wish.” The other woman gestures she will go with him. With trepidation, the lady with the child, follows. She fears being left alone.

 

“Hello. We come in peace.” He says as he walks up to the group. His hands are up, as is those of his companions.

 

Murtagh jumps up and the others follow.

 

“Hello, so do we. We are on a scouting mission to find other people. You are the first we have seen. I am Murtagh, This is Danny and Simon.”

 

“I am Zachary. This is Nora,” introducing the woman that agreed to come out, “and Tara,” the reluctant one, “We call the lass Kitty, as she hasn’t  spoken since we found her.”

 

“Cat’s got her tongue.” Nora explains.

 

“It is very nice to meet you.” Simon says. “Will you join us?”

 

“Thank you. That is quite kind.” They take seats around the fire. Tara sits farthest away, looking at all with suspicion. Nora takes Kitty, who seems around three years old, so she can be close to the fire.

 

“You found her?” Murtagh nods to the silent lass, resting against Nora.

 

“Aye. She was curled up in a ball, in a pile of leaves. Only saw her out of the corner of my eye. We have nightmares thinking about what would have happened if we missed her. That was two months ago. She has yet to say a word, poor lass. I can’t imagine what she has been through.” Nora says.

 

“I found Tara first, or we found each other. After the mist, I stayed in my house for the longest time, out of fear and grief, it took my wife and children. I only ventured out when I rang out of food. Tara was a town over, foraging herself.”

 

The lady in question, sighs when expected to tell her story. “I was in uni. The day the mist came I was in class, biology,” a shrug. It seems a lifetime ago. “Everyone just dropped. I covered my face and ran, but you couldn’t  outrun it. I thought I would die any minute. When I didn’t, I went back to my dorm and waited, assuming someone would come. When they didn’t and it lifted, I ventured out, looking for others and food. Found Zach and then we found Nora.”

 

“I was in my office, am or was, a barrister. I heard the gasps of my secretary before it reached me. I stood and ran out the office. They were all dead and it was on me. Like the others, I thought I would die. I went home, passing stopped cars with dead drivers. The dead lined the sidewalks. It was a dystopian nightmare, I couldn’t wake from. Then I found worse. My husband and son, both victims. I wanted to die. Thought seriously about it. But, I came to understand that God kept me alive for a reason. After some time of intense grief, I went in search of others and found Zach and Tara, Kitty, and now you.”

 

“We think Kitty’s person or persons succumb to despair. There is no way she was alone from the mist.” Zach adds.

 

The others tell their stories, with slight reversions. Time travel seems best left out, for now.

 

“So we knew we needed to find others.” Murtagh finishes. Kitty lays asleep on Nora. Tara drew closer with each of their stories. She still doesn’t fully trust but…

 

“Lallybroch sounds ideal. Your Godson, the pediatrician, is exactly who Kitty needs.” Zach replies.

 

“Danny, why don’t  you see them back. I know you are anxious to return to Asha.”

 

“My wife. She is quite pregnant.” He explains.

 

“Simon and I will continue…”

 

“I would love to join you, after the lasses get settled. “ Zach offers.

 

“Thank you. Let’s do this. We will all escort you to Lallybroch and then decide who returns to scouting. No offense…”

 

“But you don’t know me. I understand. We would feel the same.”

 

They head back towards Lallybroch the next morning.

[winelover1989]

"My dear young chap," Dr. Van Helsing said, leading him down the corridors. "I am very pleased to show you our department as it has been a great while since the Headmistress looked so pleased sending a prospective student my way. I hear your future employer would benefit more if you pursue Legilimency. To that I say:  Pouf !" He snapped his fingers at Draco. "You and I shall disprove him before the end of the day. What would Tom Riddle"--the professor pointed at nothing in particular like he was chastising an incompetent student--"know what's best for promising young wizards? He has his madmen to play with and those lacking in higher education to impress. But he has no wife. No children. What does he know of shaping young minds? So, fling him from your mind for the day, while you and I have a little talk all to ourselves."

Considering that Draco had no desire whatsoever to dwell upon dear old Tommy's wishes, he strolled along the halls of the Alchemy department. Their astronomy tower was impressive, almost reminding him of the scientific marvel Granger had once shown him during their French Christmas holiday. He was impressed by the instruments in place to keep track of astronomical events crucial for the brewing of alchemic potions. Arithmancy had never been his strong suit. Draco despised doing the calculations required for tracking the movement of planets and stars, alongside harvesting potion ingredients, and setting the pace of the brew. A lot of the equipment here handled the entirety of the math involved in potion making. This fixed most of what frustrated him during Alchemy lessons in school. Dr. Van Helsing explained how they foraged for ingredients on the estate, and how the ingredients that weren't compatible with the climate, were grown in the beautiful conservatory. The labs were quite remarkable as well.

After a tour of the department, he was introduced to some of the promising students for examples of what was possible with alchemy. "That's Basil Hallward," Dr. Van Helsing introduced him to a shy boy working with a canvas and some paints."

"Hello," Draco said. "Are you an artist as well?"

"Sort of," Basil replied, seeming quite uncomfortable about being put on the spot.

Dr. Van Helsing stepped in to explain, "Our dear Basil here is working on brewing magical paint, capturing not just a sentient likeness of a person, but one that suffers the brunt of illness and aging, while the person in question enjoys eternal youth and remain in the pink of health."

"That's not possible," Draco replied.

Basil glared at him, offended. "Moving pictures were once impossible. Sentient moving paintings were considered impossible only a couple of centuries ago."

Dr. Van Helsing carted Draco away from the painter. "And what are you up to today, Frankenstein," he asked, slapping the boy in question on his back, shaking him out of his ruminations over the countless books scattered in front of him.

A group of boys, reminding Draco of his gang back at Hogwarts, yelled out from the opposite end of the room, "Building a bear." They all burst out laughing. "Can't seem to get laid the old fashioned way, eh, Frankie?"

The boy gathered his books and ran away muttering under his breath.

"Never mind that," Dr. Van Helsing said, turning to Draco, his cheeks red as tomatoes now.

Draco met many other students working on many fascinating projects. Introductions were made to every professor in the department, leading to several intellectually stimulating exchanges that managed to breathe newfound life into him. The experience that stuck the most with Draco was a professor they ran into close to the end of their tour. He seemed like a very nice man. Too nice. It was creepy just how nice and saccharine the man's personality appeared to be on the surface. No one was that nice. That kind. That wonderful. He had a great reputation on campus as well. Everybody loved him. He was simply too likable not to be loved by everyone. Something felt off. Draco could feel it in his guts. No one was meant to be universally loved, to such a degree, not even a Hufflepuff on steroids.  

"Butterfly pea flower extract and phosphorus? Whatever for, Jekyll," Dr. Van Helsing asked, studying the potion ingredients the good professor dropped into the cauldron, turning the mysterious concoction to go from purple to green.  

The good professor waved dismissively at them before standing between them and his cauldron, lips stretching into a big warm smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Hyde. Jekyll Hyde."

Read more on ao3

[iril-the-warlock]

Chapter 3 is up!

Uhh, word count go brrr. I guess. Woops?

Anyway, quick summary, we get Melissa 'best girl' Shield introduced, she talks quirks with the girls, some set up for the future and a support exam with two other best girls.

We also get Adjutant installed in the UA campus as well as some other minor housekeeping done for future chapters.

Tags: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Dehaka/Izsha, Sarah Kerrigan, Yaoyorozu Momo Yaoyorozu, Momo's Parents, Dehaka (StarCraft), Izsha (StarCraft), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, starcraft elements in mha, changes to how the swarm works as a quirk, Quirk Shenanigans (My Hero Academia), Yaoyorozu Momo is a Good Friend, Ghost (Starcraft) Momo Yaoyorozu, Queen of Blades - Freeform

Momo and Sarah are lazing about the following Sunday in one of the lounge rooms in the estate house when they both receive a text from Izsha. 'Girls, please come to the entry, we've got a guest to meet today.'

Sarah perks up and tosses her book onto the couch as she nearly sprints from the room. "Momo lets go!"

Momo takes a more sedate pace and places her bookmark into her book before lightly setting it on the side-table. Murmuring as Sarah runs from the room. "So impatient."

Using her wings and tail to counterbalance as she runs through the halls Sarah arrives at the entry lounge shortly as Izsha shakes her head. "Sarah, how many times have I told you not to run in the house? Please tell me you didn't spike any of the walls with your wings again?" Verity giggles lightly from her couch as Izsha sits down next to her, placing a tray of tea on the coffee table.

Sarah huffs indignantly as she crosses her arms. "Why is everyone reminding me of dumb childhood mistakes, I was five mom."

Izsha and Verity laugh as Sarah pouts. "And it took a week to find all the little holes you poked with your wings dear." Verity says.

Momo comes in a few moments later as izsha calms down from teasing her daughter. "Sarah, I'm so proud of you, a full sprint and you didn't even scuff the walls this time."

"Oh not you too!" Sarah huffs again and flops onto the opposite couch as she pouts harder. "My family is so mean to me."

Dehaka knocks lightly as he opens the entry door and Sarah quickly schools her features back into a neutral face. Melissa Shield walks in wearing a red summer dress paired with black leggings and a lair of red converse hightops. "...And this is the entry lounge where Mrs. Verity Yaoyorozu, her daughter and my honorary niece Momo Yaoyorozu, as well as my wife Izhsa and my daughter Sarah should be at. Hello girls, may I introduce you to Melissa Shield. Shield-san will be staying on property in our guest bedroom while attending UA in exchange for workshop space here as well as assisting Sarah and Momo with their support gear needs. Shield-san, please grab a seat and we can all talk for a while as the staff sets up your room and then we can inspect the workshop later, sound good?"

Melissa smiles brightly as she enters the room. "That would be wonderful Mr. Kerrigan. Hello all, I'm Melissa Shield, please call me Melissa, it's lovely to make your acquaintance and I'm excited to see what gear we can get you both set up with." Melissa settles into a loveseat while Dehaka claims the chair-and-a-half seat to fit his larger frame.

Verity speaks up before Sarah can launch into any fangirl rambling. Izsha waved a hand lightly to calm her daughter. "It's lovely to meet you Melissa, just a few ground rules of the estate before we get started. Firstly this is private property and we have all of our qualifications for quirk and machine testing since both myself and Toto like to dabble in machining as well as Momo and Sarah work on their quirks quite often. Secondly there will be no quirk discrimination from anyone on the property, as both our security leads and Sarah have heavy mutations. So please do not feel worried over your quirk status here dear. Thirdly explosives are not to be tested before 7 am or after 8pm." Verity throws a sharp glance at Momo who pouts in response.

"You set off a single stick of dynamite one time…" Momo grumbles lightly as Sarah pats her on the back. "Not so funny being on the receiving end of the teasing is it momo?"

Momo huffs. "Yeah yeah. Anyway, it's nice to meet you Melissa, please call me Momo." She points at Sarah and she takes her cue. "Hi there Melissa, feel free to call me Sarah. I'm excited to work with you soon. By the time we're all attending, UA won't know what to do with the three of us."

Melissa smiles happily as the ground rules are explained and introductions are made. "I appreciate not being treated differently for being quirkless. It wasn't a big deal on I-Island, but I read it can be pretty bad here for the quirkless." She picks up her briefcase style laptop and settles it onto her lap, opening her notes function. "Could you both tell me about your quirks so we can draft up some ideas, we can get working on them soon."

Dehaka laughs as he stands. "Come on ladies, let's let the girls and Melissa chat for a bit. Girls, when you're done here, would you show Melissa her workshop?"

Sarah waves them off as their parents leave the room. "Sure dad, we'll see you at dinner."

"It was lovely meeting you Melissa, the girls can get you added to the estate's group chats and finish up your tour later for you. We'll see you three at 7 for dinner." Izsha says as she stands and makes her way out of the room, following Verity and Dehaka.

Sarah claps lightly as the parents leave. "Alright, so, quirks. Momo you go first."

Sighing at Sarah's antics. "Sure Sarah." She looks at Melissa, catching her eye and attention as she pops a larva plush figurine from her forearm and catches it. "Melissa, my quirk lets me create any item so long as I know the chemical and atomic makeup of the item. It's got sub-mutations that increase my intelligence to help me keep up with all of those items, and gives me super dense fat stores as the things I create are made using my lipids as fuel."

Melissa's rapid typing slows as she finishes her explanation. "That's fascinating, would you mind answering a few questions on your quirk before we get to Sarah?"

Momo looks to Sarah to confirm before nodding. "Sure."

"Cool, so for your creations, do you have a limit on the type of creations? Can you make organic materials? What's the biggest thing you've ever made?" She looks ready to keep rambling questions before quickly stopping herself and taking a deep breath. "Sorry, dad says I need to slow down sometimes."

Momo looks shocked for a moment during her ramble but adjusts quickly. "Let's see… in order, I can make just about anything you can make using atoms as long as I know the structure, but I'm not resistant to radiation, so no radioactive isotopes for example. Uhh, I can make organic materials like wood, but nothing alive, so even if I try to make a bonsai tree, it would be a dead tree even if it's shaped like a living one. Sarah, what's the biggest thing I made?" She looks at Sarah and shrugs.

Sarah furrows her brow in confusion. "I think you made that cubic meter block of aluminum to test it out, but isn't your scooter bigger than that?" Sarah gives up and shrugs. "Momo’s pretty good with making stuff so she could always pop a thing out in parts and then assemble it if she needs to. She can also swap construction pieces on the fly. Like gold plating her staff because it was funny."

"Really? Very cool." Melissa updates her notes and turns to Sarah. "What about yourself Sarah?"

Stammering slightly. "O-oh uh, my mutations give me my wings and tail, both of which are able to be moved at will and with decent strength. My chitinous plating in my torso is actually bulletproof for up to .45acp, and I won't ever need a bra which is nice." She smiles as she jokes, seeing Melissa's light blush. "Oh, and my actual quirk itself lets me spin essences from food I've eaten somewhat recently into creatures that I can summon into the world with different effects for each creature and I can show you some of them later. Oh, and I'm limited on 'supply' for each creature I make, usually around 10 'units' of supply on my own right now, but I just figured out how to make a creature that raises that for me slightly." Sarah throws air quotes for emphasis on her terms.

"Uh, I know that's kind of a lot, but we think my quirk might have hit singularity since mom and dad's families usually had kids young so I'm technically a 7th generation quirk." She looks a bit sheepish as she mentions her theory on why her quirk is complicated. "My Uh, best guess on why mine's so complicated is that instead of getting too powerful for human bodies, they're going to just get more and more complex, adding in facets of other quirks, like how my mutations would be on the level with a 3rd generation quirk on their own. Look at Momo's quirk, she's able to create anything from her fat cells, that's wildly more advanced than someone who's quirk is to change their hair color for example. And I'm rambling and you probably know all of this already." Sarah blushes and ducks her head.

Melissa has been typing rapidly while looking entranced the whole time Sarah has been talking. "Sarah, that's fascinating oh my goodness. I would love to see your creatures later! I finished my masters in biology and mechanical engineering while at I-tech during my high-school years since dad let me skip grades as a kid so I can't wait to see what stuff the three of us can make together. You both have definitely done a bunch of testing on your quirks. Sarah, I just have a couple of clarification questions on yours."

Sarah perks up. "Hmm?"

"How long do you hold essences for? Also when you summon something does it disappear after a set time?"

"So I can hold the essence of something for about a week, but once I make a creature with it I just need at least one component of that creature to be able to summon it. I also have the larva that don't really have a limit on them since I can summon stuff from larva without having eaten anything they were made from. The larva kind of just store the essences and then morph into the creature they are directed towards from there. And creatures don't disappear but they can die, and would need food after a while." Sarah furrows her brow a moment.

"Except maybe not since I think the queen's creep stuff makes bio-nutrients from whatever it comes in contact with and feeds the creatures of the swarm from that. I need to test queen's more since they're so recent." Sarah finishes up and looks at momo. "Remind me to grab my notebook to share with Melissa."

Momo nods and turns back to Melissa. "So, anything else about our quirks you wanted to ask?"

"No, anything else I come up with I can ask later. Would you mind showing me the workshop space?" Melissa folds her laptop back up and stands with Sarah and Momo.

Reaching the workshop Sarah opens the door with a flourish. "Ta-dah! This is your space, let us know if there's anything you're missing while working here and we can get it for you. Momo's dad basically gave you a nearly unlimited budget for tools and materials."

Melissa walks into the workshop space and has to catch her jaw before it hits the floor. The workshop has nearly every state of the art piece of machinery a full I-Island design space would have available. As she wanders the space she falls into a muttering spree over the tools. "...there's even a nanofab and bioprint system."

Eventually Melissa catches herself and sits at a workbench. "This is lovely, I don't know how to thank you or your parents for this opportunity."

Momo shrugs as she settles into an opposite stool. "It's no bother, My parents honestly have too much money that they don't know what to do with it all. I do know that Sarah and I are grateful for your assistance with our support gear and we look forward to hopefully being your friend as well."

"I think I'd like that." Melissa smiles softly at her new friends. "Anyway, let's get started drafting up those ideas for gear. Oh, and feel free to throw any ideas out while we brainstorm, we can look into other projects that aren't just support gear as well if you'd like."

A few hours of brainstorming and planning later and their phones ping with a text from Verity. 'Dinner in 15 in the main dining room.'

The three gather their things and get ready for dinner.

After the girls settle in at the table, Toto walks into the dining room while working on his phone before Verity places a hand on his arm lightly. "Dear, no work at the table."

"Right, right. Sorry dear." He startles lightly at the blonde addition to the table. "Oh right! Hi there miss Shield, it's lovely to meet you face to face. How are you liking your accommodations so far? Have the girls run you ragged yet?" He says with a knowing smile at his daughter and honorary niece.

"Oh, the workshop is lovely so far Mr. Yaoyorozu!" She throws in a light bow, still getting used to Japanese customs.

Waving her off. "Oh, none of that here. We all spent too much time in the states to care much for bowing or the whole last names thing, please call me Toto."

"Alright then, please call me Melissa."

"Wonderful! It's a bit early for prototypes, but have you and the girls come up with any ideas so far?"

As the food is set on the table by a butler and everyone starts making plates Melissa says. "We have, We're planning to make a suit of armor for momo that will let her use her quirk through the material, as well as hopefully implement a camouflage or invisibility aspect to the suit." She pauses a moment to take a bit of steak before continuing. "Sarah suggested giving Momo a gun for range since she was complaining about losing their sparring match yesterday, so I'm planning to make some changes to the C-15 rifle for Momo to use. It's likely I can set it up to fire different styles of bullets for capture, stunning with a taser, or even high explosive rounds for demolition work if needed. Papa had a similar gun built as a prototype, but it never saw use and was shelved."

Dehaka laughs from his place at the table. "Hear that Toto, Momo's getting a gun, We'll have to set up the range again so she can get her license and some practice with it." He smiles over at his friend before looking at Melissa again. "Any ideas for Sarah so far?"

"We're going to be workshopping some ideas for her to make different creatures soon once we can sort out what qualifies as essence for her quirk."

Sarah pipes up as Melissa finishes explaining. "Plus she's shared a couple of other project ideas with us as well which are super interesting. Melissa, what about the adjutant project?"

Melissa goes beet red. "It's a system-wide assistant still in the early testing phases right now." Dehaka and Toto both look intrigued at the notion.

"Would you mind going into more detail on that for me Melissa?" Izsha speaks up before the boys can jump to conclusions as she sets down her glass of wine.

"Yes ma'am. The adjutant is intended to be a non-sapient artificial intelligence utilized by building or facility administrators to monitor and assist with facility functions. It is based on the Artificial Tele-empathic Logistics Analysis System, or ATLAS systems in use on I-Island. The adjutant would be able to connect with all attached systems, alert for security risks, and could be connected to control a team of robotic defense forces as well." Melissa takes a pause on her explanation to eat while the others at the table digest the information dump.

"So it's a personal assistant for a building that doesn't have the gopher aspect?" Verity asks to clarify.

"I believe so, could you clarify what you mean by gopher for me?" Melissa asks with clear confusion.

Toto laughs and responds for Verity. "You know, go for that, go for this, gopher?"

Melissa nods. "Yes exactly, it could dispatch some robots to do things for you if they're connected to the system, but would be housed in a central location and available over a comms unit instead."

"Incredible. I look forward to your progress on this and please let me know if you want to bring any items to market under yaoyorozu industries. I'd be willing to offer you a 95/5 split of the profits on the sales of your creations as a family friend."

"Maybe we can discuss the terms of a sale like that at a later time, once I have a prototype available." Melissa said, already planning for future designs under that sales label as it would beat what the I-island companies could offer to her."

After dinner Melissa walks back to the Kerrigan household with her new housemates. Excited for her upcoming projects with her new friends Sarah and Momo.

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Six months later finds Melissa at the gates to UA, with Sarah at her side as an assistant for the day to help carry her prototype projects for the support practical exam. "Thanks again for tagging along Sarah, I appreciate it."

"Anytime Mel, it sucks that Momo got dragged into a conference with her dad though."

"Yeah, she should be free by the time we're done here though so we can grab lunch before heading back to the estate if you two want?"

"Cool, sounds good." Sarah lifts the last case along with her backpack."Alright, mule fully loaded, let's rock."

Melissa giggles lightly. "We're two hours early Sarah, take your time with the gear."

"Uh-huh. Still, I need to be moving soon or I'll be stuck in awe at the UA main building."

They set off and make their way through the halls and check in at the support registration tables with vlad king. "Good morning Mr. Vlad king, I'm Melissa Shield and this is my guest and assistant for the day Sarah Kerrigan. I'm here for the support practical exam."

Vlad checks through the roster for the day. "Yep, got you right here." He passes over a form and a pair of ID badges on lanyards. "Please sign the waiver and keep the lanyards on at all times, Nezu is tracking them all through the facility today and will take removal of your ID as an automatic failure."

After the girls sign and don their lanyards they follow Vlad's directions to their proctor room. As they walk in Sarah scans the room for Melissa's competition, taking note of an excited blond haired girl bouncing at her station in blue coveralls and an extremely tall blue and white fox girl with white hair who is standing awkwardly in the corner of the room with a large briefcase. There are a few other relatively unremarkable students in the room as well who have started going over their items again.

"Sarah stop daydreaming and help me set up at this table." Sarah snaps out of it and follows Melissa. Just then the large door at the front of the room opens and a taller woman with long spiky dark purple hair calls out. "Ippan Josei, please come in." She looks up from her clipboard as the tall fox girl makes her way to the door. "Oh dear, We'll get these doors and rooms updated for you if you get in hon, I apologize on behalf of UA for the inconvenience."

As she shuffles through the door the fox woman meekly responds. "It's alright, I know I'm a bit too tall."

They disappear behind the door as they continue talking, the dark haired woman reassuring the tall girl. Someone grumbles on the other side of the room about mutant quirks before Sarah shoots them a dirty look. Melissa's hand settles on her shoulder after a moment. "Sarah, don't pick fights because some people are assholes, it's unheroic."

Sarah sighs as she starts double checking Melissa's gear and readjusts the heavy backpack she's wearing. "Yeah, you're right. So glad I was homeschooled with Momo."

After a few more minutes the other blonde is called into the room. "Himiko Toga, please come in." She jumps up from where she had finally settled into her chair. "Ooh that's me! Thanks!" And rushes into the room followed by the suited woman laughing in a very familiar manner. "Melissa, does that lady seem familiar?"

"Who, the blonde? No, why?"

"No Mel, the lady in the suit. Her laugh seems super familiar. I'll just ask her later hopefully." Sarah shrugs as Melissa looks at her with a confused face. "Anyway, are you ready for this?"

A determined look crosses Melissa's face as she readies herself. "Hell yeah."

A few minutes later a whooping cheer can be heard from the other room. Melissa mumbles with a smile "Guess she got in." The door opens a moment later. "Melissa shield… and guest. Right this way please."

As Sarah follows Melissa into the room she makes the connection as they enter the next room and the door closes. "You're midnight! I love your work that promotes body positivity! You helped my aunt with her mutant quirk clothing line a few years ago, you're my favorite hero!"

The newly identified hero midnight laughs boisterously. "Good job young lady, hardly anyone recognizes me out of costume. We can talk more later though, I'd hate to keep your friend from her exam.

Blushing lightly Sarah nods. "Right, right. Sorry Melissa." Sarah hurries up and sets down the heavy carrying case on the table and starts to settle the hard shelled backpack on the table as well as the proctors step up to the display table and start asking Melissa questions.

"Good morning Miss Shield, my name is power loader, but you may call me Majima and to my right is pro hero Snipe, and on my left is Principal Nezu, we will have a few questions on your items today before we can offer or deny acceptance to UA's support courses. Will that be alright?"

"Yes sir, thank you for this opportunity." Melissa drops into a respectful bow as Sarah finishes settling the items on the table.

Snipe speaks up as Melissa opens the long briefcase. "Would you mind introducing your guest before we begin? We hardly ever have applicants bring additional assistance for their projects."

Melissa nods. "This is Sarah Kerrigan, she's assisting me with carrying these items in as some of these projects weigh upwards of 200lbs each and while I am strong from years of machining, Sarah has me beat by a league of her own. I also thought principal nezu might like to meet the person with one of the most interesting quirks in Japan."

Nezu perks up at this. "Oh, perhaps we can share a cup of tea once we are finished here, I'm more just a formality for these remaining interviews anyway, several of them have displayed quirkist behaviors in the last few minutes and will not be accepted to my school anyway."

Melissa and Sarah sweatdrop at this. "Right sir, shall we get started then? Please show us what your first item is." Majima brings the conversation back on topic to help diffuse the situation.

Melissa nods and gestures to the long briefcase as she removes the barrel and receiver assembly and begins reattaching them. "While I'm no John browning, I am quite happy with this design. This is the C-20A modified canister rifle, firing a 25mm cartridge that can be swapped between several options of bullet using the attached 12 round box magazine. Capable of accurately hitting a target at up to 3 km, with an auto adjust scope and self zeroing system, as well as attached suppressor to make this rifle near whisper silent even while firing at its maximum rate of 150 rounds per minute. While intended for long range villain capture or detainment using a variety of modified cartridges, it can fire standard NATO 25mm rounds for anti-material or in extreme cases anti-personnel situations." Melissa grimaces at her final statement before looking to the judges for questions.

Snipe whistles lightly as she explains the rifle. "Well done little lady, you've created quite the rifle here, I can see that you've forgone any picatinny rails and instead have this thin membrane around all but the optic and muzzle, any reason for that?"

"Would you mind if I gave a more practical demonstration for this part? I can leave the weapon unloaded and point it away if you would like?"

"That'd be fine, Miss Shield." Nezu speaks up, interested in what she's planning to show.

Sarah smirks as Melissa hands her the weapon and removes her blouse and skirt to show off the bodysuit underneath which looked to be leggings and an undershirt prior to being revealed. As Sarah hands the weapon back and Melissa flips a switch on her visor she and her rifle slip from the visible plane with only a light wisping haze in the air displaying where she is located as she speaks up.

"The C-20A rifle is designEd to be used in tandem with my next invention to display, underlayer to the full Hostile Environment Suit or skinsuit. It is a polymer light-refracting nano-fiber suit that I have designed in conjunction with Momo Yaoyorozu and Sarah Kerrigan which is intended to hide the user from view and allow for infiltration and dispatch of critical enemy encampments or fortifications." As she fades back into the visible spectrum with a slight hexagonal haze before she's fully revealed.

"Currently I'm just wearing the underlayer as I have not finalized my personal set of armor plates for this design, but we do have a set created for Momo Yaoyorozu based on Sarah's carapace mutation which can withstand up to a 12 gauge slug at point blank range, or a shot from the C-20A at a minimum of 100 meters and would assist with defense in close quarters or from long ranges if spotted as it would be camouflaged by the suit as well."

Majima's eyes are wide, and while Snipe's are hidden behind his mask are hidden from displaying his shock. "Young lady, we would be accepting you to this school based on these two inventions alone, however I do see that there is another case we have yet to see." Nezu is the first to recover and barely hides his excitement over having such a bright young woman in front of himself. "Would you mind displaying your remaining item for us?"

"Right, yes sir." She sets the rifle down on the table and opens the final case to display a robotic woman's torso and face that seems to lead into wires for her hair as well as appendages and lower torso. "This is the adjutant, she's a non-sapient artificial intelligence advisor and assistant."

"While currently she's offline, when connected to a building or facilities systems she acts as a system-wide administrator and personal assistant who can be connected and command up to 12,000 robotic units simultaneously to perform various functions ranging from as simple as fixing and retrieving a cup of coffee all the way up to performing simultaneous war games with participants or dispatching robots for base defense."

"Incredible work, have you noticed any issues or errors in her functions so far?" Nezu asks as Snipe and Majima go over the technical data booklets that Sarah has handed them.

"So far the only things of real note are that she will always refer to me as an administrator, and that her social skills are lower, similar to that of a human with Aspergers or in that range on the autism spectrum. While this could be considered a defect and corrected, I as well as Sarah and Momo felt that she’s fine just the way she is, as all other roles and functions perform optimally and adjusting her functions to improve socialization are uncomfortable trade-offs when considering her personality core."

"A fine deduction and I appreciate your care for a non-human entity, even if she is non sapient. Perhaps we can discuss installing her into the UA facility during your first term as a student here." He claps his hands as Melissa nods. "Wonderful, how about we adjourn for tea while Majima and Snipe finalize the last Few participants."

Snipe grumbles light-heartedly as his boss ditches him. "Midnight, would you mind handing Snipe your clipboard and coming with us for tea?" Nezu smiles as Snipe grumbles louder and reads over the names. "Boss, you just have these ones listed as all failing."

"Correct Snipe, they are lacking in the qualities that UA is looking for in our students, give them a cursory interview and wish them well in their next endeavors at another school system." Nezu climbs onto Midnight's shoulder as they exit the room, Sarah one again carrying Adjutant's case and the rifle's sealed case, a now dressed Melissa following them out of the room.

Once settled into Nezu's office for tea, Nezu asks as she pours everyone's cup. "So, we have a few things to discuss today based on your overwhelming qualifications to attend UA Miss Shield. Firstly we can go over your schedule, followed by the potential installation of an adjutant system, then finally we can discuss Miss Kerrigan's quirk. Does that sound agreeable, ladies?"

"It is Principal." Sarah nodded her head as Melissa responded.

"Wonderful! Now, Miss Shield, as we are both aware you have passed several college level courses and so this admission would act more as a transfer from your previous institution rather than a first time enrollment. In this case I would be happy to offer you the opportunity for dual enrollment in one of our other programs in your second year if you would like, as you would not need to participate in the general education courses that are required for the first two years of a degree here in our courses. How does that sound?"

Melissa smiles brightly at the principal and asks a question that Momo and Sarah have been pushing her towards based on her childhood dream. "That would be lovely sir, as I understand it your Heroics course does not have a restriction on quirkless students from applying, is that correct?"

"Why yes, we do accept quirkless applicants to the program, though we have yet to have an applicant under the updated policy. I would be happy to allow you to participate in the entrance exam for heroics next year if you would like. We have also updated the policies last year to allow support items built by the soley applicant and approved by majima and myself or approved by the board of directors and myself."

"Wonderful, I look forward to being your first quirkless hero student then."

Nezu laughs, nearly spilling his tea. "I am looking forward to it then. Now that we have that settled, I would like to install one of the adjutant systems in my school facilities, for this year we can set myself as the administrator and add my teachers at a later time if needed. As classes begin in three weeks, would you mind arriving in two weeks time to complete the installation? You will have all UA resources available to assist with getting this installed by the school year, and I am willing to pay for both the unit and rushed installation."

Melissa's eyes momentarily are blinded by dollar signs as she mentally plans the install. "Absolutely, we can discuss the pricing once it's installed, though I will take a bit off as I will be a required administrator in the systems as well. I can provide several of my own bot designs for Adjutant if you would like as well."

"You have a deal, Miss Shield. Finally, Miss Kerrigan, based on what Miss Shield has shared, may I presume that your quirk is just your mutation aspects?"

"That's correct sir, I believe my quirk has hit singularity as both of my parents possess complex 6th generation quirks and my quirk is too complex to be a simple quirk on its own. I believe that the quirk singularity theory is incorrect in the second half of its assumption. Rather than quirks becoming too powerful for the body of a human, the human will instead mutate and their body will adapt to be able to withstand their quirk, as well as quirks will become more and more complex as they evolve."

Nezu nods as Sarah continues. "My quirk has several aspects to it, I have my bone wings and tail which are both prehensile, my carapace is bullet resistant up to .45 acp rounds. My muscles are as strong as the average strength quirk. I can also summon creatures based on the essence collected from recently ingested foods, however I can mold and shape those essences into different creatures that can persist for an indefinite time-frame so long as they are fed and can have wildly different effects based on the essences selected for the creatures."

Nezu looks more and more intrigued as she continues. "Do you also plan to apply to UA's Heroics course next year?"

"That's correct Principal, I plan to create an agency that could rival All Might as the symbol of peace as Japan will not be ready for him to retire. He's been the number one hero for 15 years, and while his public age has not been shared, based on sports festival history and that he and Endeavor both began Heroics around the same time, All Might is likely to retire in the next five to ten years."

"I plan to introduce myself, Momo, and Sarah onto the heroics field as leaders in the Heroics industry, as well as some of our potential classmates during our UA years that we build a rapport with, to show the public that even when All Might retires, we will be here to shoulder the pillar he leaves behind." Sarah's eyes burn with determination as she finishes her impromptu speech.

"You are quite right that All Might may retire soon, however I do like your plan of creating more than one symbol of peace for the future. Perhaps a foundation of good heroes will be what Japan needs to safeguard the future. Regardless I believe we may have gotten off topic a bit, I look forward to having you attend UA in the coming years Miss Kerrigan. As for now, I believe we may end our discussion here for today. Congratulations again on your acceptance Miss Shield, I look forward to the great things you create here at my school. Miss Kerrigan, I look forward to your future in heroics alongside Miss Shield and Miss Yaoyorozu."

The two girls bow their heads before collecting their things and leaving the office. As the door closes behind them, Midnight speaks up. "Interesting girls, always nice to see such passionate youth." She huffs a laugh. "Still, her quirk sounds incredibly powerful."

"It is, and it's a good thing those two and their friend intend to be heroes, by the sounds of it and from recorded instances of her quirk, the singularity is likely happening as we speak for children and their quirks." He looks darkly into his tea."It's much sooner than expected. Perhaps there will only be a few singularity quirks this year, but soon we will start to see more and more of them."

"What is the quirk singularity anyway?" Midnight asks. "Like, I get that her quirk is powerful, but…" she trails off as nezu answers her. "The quirk singularity is a doomsday theory from a few generations ago, the assumption that as quirks grow stronger and stronger at the rapid pace they have been, they will become too strong for the human body and children will die as their quirks come in too powerful for their bodies"

"Well, hopefully her quirk isn't an outlier then, We'll have to see I guess."

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Two weeks later finds Melissa, Momo, and Sarah finalizing the installation on the adjutant system for UA.

Sarah wipes her brow as she says. "Alright Mel, that's the final power check done."

"Same for the connectors and cables." Momo says.

"Great, hitting the power now." Melissa flips the final breaker before closing and locking the case.

After a few moments of waiting several cords shake as the Adjutant's servos adjust and run self-checks before her eyes open and display bright blue irises. "Adjutant online, good afternoon, Mistress. All systems nominal and integration complete. How may I assist you today?" Adjutant says with a monotone feminine voice.

"Gods fucking damnit Sarah why did you and Momo force that to be my title?" Melissa mutters and shakes her head before addressing the Adjutant. "Good afternoon Adjutant, run full systems self check."

"Yes Mistress, System self check initiated…processing…complete, no major faults found, minor errors found… integrating deadman systems in all exterior facilities… minor errors corrected in two hours, ten minutes….potential error identified, no alternate administrators aside from Mistress. Would you like to add administrators now?"

The Adjutant twitches and shakes slightly while processing the self check before settling down and only lightly moving to help simulate a conversation. Melissa notes on her clipboard all adjustments and changes noted in the self check before responding. "Yes Adjutant, before we add those, download a copy of the self check log and email it to me in our secure system. Add administrator: name: Nezu. Username: Rat God. Set temporary password R4t_0verl0rd. Require password change upon first login. Prevent username change by user. Grant all other permissions except removal of myself as administrator."

"Completed Mistress. Are there any other tasks I may assist with at this time?"

Melissa shakes her head. "No, thank you Adjutant." Melissa collects her tools and helps Sarah off the floor as they make their way to the principal's office. Sarah and Momo split off to wait by the gate after confirming their lunch plans with Melissa.

At Nezu's office Melissa raises her hand to knock as Nezu opens the door just before her knuckles can land. "Well played Principal. Adjutant, Identify Nezu."

Adjutant's voice comes over the speaker above his desk. "Good afternoon Rat God. Please update your password to begin."

"She's all set up and connected to the facility, just ask for her and she'll respond to you and I right now, you can add any additional admins you would like later, and I would suggest running through her tutorials when you get a chance. Oh, and she installed a few deadman signals in the exterior facilities, so all admins will be notified should connection to a location be cut or limited. Just as a precaution. Anyway, Please let me know if you need anything that Adjutant can't fix for you."

"Thank you again for the quick installation Miss Shield, the payment for the Adjutant system will be in your account shortly. Enjoy your classes at UA and the rest of your day."

Melissa waves as she leaves. "A pleasure doing business with you Rat God."

"Hmmm." Nezu looks at the speakers above his desk. "Adjutant, please run a full tutorial for me."

"Yes Rat God. Beginning program tutorial_01."

Nezu sighs as a holographic loads on his desk. "Well played Miss Shield."

[writing-fanics]

@simpforjesus I have a Bruno x female reader request/idea. What if before he disappeared, Bruno was in a secret romantic relationship with the reader. They are madly in love and are constantly meeting in secret and Bruno keeps using his gift every day to see if they will get caught because he's afraid that if people knew they would shun the reader. Before he disappeared he and the reader secretly get married and he takes her with him and when he is reunited with his family, he introduces her and their child

Ooh yes! So I changed it slightly. So when Maribel had her gift ceremony Bruno was 40. Making y/n 39. Making him 50 when he met Maribel 10 years later and y/n 49.

Bruno and (Y/n) were madly in love with each other. Despite the fact that he was in his fourties’ when they began their relationship. They loved each other more than anything. Meeting each other in secret constantly because the towns people already didn’t speak highly of him, and if her family finds out about their relationship they’d force them apart.

Bruno bit his finger nails nervously, to the point they began to bleed. “B-Bruno?!” She exclaimed. Taking ahold of his hands and reaching into her satchel. Grabbing the cloth and wrapping it around his finger tips, “Be more careful mi amour,” she whispered. Kissing him on the lips.

“Bruno, what’s wrong?” She asked calmly, placing her hand on his cheek and gently caressing it. He looked down not saying a word his a family didn’t shun him, he wanted to leave on his own terms to protect Mirabel from the vision he had.

But he didn’t wanna leave his family behind, “Marry me!” He exclaimed, holding her hands in his own. She gasped looking at him in shock, “R-Really? Y-You want me to marry you?!” She stammered in shock.

He nodded, “W-Where would we live?” She asked curiously, staring into his eyes. Bruno didn’t know where they’d live maybe in their own house, in the country side near the house. No.. he wanted to check on his family.

Maybe secretly in his room? No all those stairs, well they could make a pulley system but he can’t watch over his family that way. He began to think..

“You remember that secret room I showed you in the house?” He asked. She nodded remembering seeing that room, the room where they’d sometime spend moment in each other’s arms without worrying about the family finding out.

“We live in there? B-But Bruno.” She sighed, unknowingly. Turning towards her lover, “I know it isn’t ideal. B-But I want to keep an eye on my family. From a distance. Behind the walls to be exact.” He said, she placed her hand on his cheek and smiled.

“Okay, It’s not ideal but if you want to watch over your family. Then I’ll be there with you to help.” She giggled. Kiss him on his nose, then wrapping her arms around him tackling him to the ground.

“Yes! I will marry you!” She exclaimed. Kissing him all over his face while laughing. Not longer after they got married in secret doing their own vows, it wasn’t anything extravagant but it was the best day of their lives.

(A/n: living in the walls in sorta impossible trying to keep them quiet)

So Bruno would use his gift to see into the future if they’d ever get caught. And luckily they didn’t except the fact that Dolores knew they were in the walls the entire time for ten years.

(Also yes Dolores did hear them doing the deed)

(Y/n) walked towards the Madrigal family. While holding the hand of their five year old son, Pedro. For whom they named after Bruno and his triplet sisters father.

“A-ah, this is um?” Bruno stammered, nervously. His wife placed her hand on his shoulder encouragingly, giving him a warm smile.

“This is my wife Y/n, and our son Pedro.” He said, and everyone’s eyes widened and mouth dropped.

“I knew they were there the entire time,” Dolores said.

“H-Hello,” (Y/n) said nervously, picking up her son.

“H-Hi.” Pedro exclaimed, sheepishly. Julieta and Pepa hugged Bruno, and then pulled (Y/n) and Pedro into the hug.

Bruno being welcomed back into the family. His wife and child being welcomed into the family. Pedro already had the entire family wrapped around his tiny little finger, he looked just like his father.

When helping rebuild Casita (Y/n) got to know the family more, and grew strong bonds with everyone. Pedro played with Antonio and Abuela would, sometimes tickle little Pedro sometimes seeing her late husband in his eyes.

Bruno was so nervous introducing his family to his own. Not knowing if they’d even accept them into the family. But he was happy that his thoughts were wrong.

[kylie-writes-stuff]

“wife”

pairing: corpse husband x reader (female)

words: 1,714

requested?: no (send some in tho pls :) )

plot/summary: felix invites his friend, y/n, to play among us when they need an extra player. her and corpse get along well

authors note: so this isnt that good and i know a lot of corpse fics use a similar plot. i just wanted to try to write for corpse. hopefully things i write for him in the future are better. let me know what you think tho! also i really wanted reader to be best friends with karl bc i love him sm. uh every swiggly line is like a small time skip. this was written late at night btw and i didnt take much time to go over it

⭒☆━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━☆⭒

You sat up from laying down when you heard your phone ring. You looked at the caller ID.

Felix.

"What's up Felix?" You ask with a small yawn.

"Aww, how sweet," You hear in the background.

You giggle and ask, "Is that Sean? Hi Sean!"

"Yeah, we're playing Among Us and need an extra player. You down?" Felix explained.

"Sure, just give me a few minutes. See you soon, whore"

"Bitc-" You hang up before he can finish.

You got up and turned off your TV, going to get ready. 

⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒

You quickly tweet out that you're going live and say something on your insta story as well. You start your stream and slowly watch people flood in.

"Hey everyone! How are you guys doing?" You wave and smile, reading the chat.

"Everyone doing good, awesome! And i'm sorry to anyone having a bad day. I hope i can brighten it a bit!"

"Okay, sorry i didn't give you a further notice. I didn't even know i was gonna stream. Felix invited me to play Among Us so... here we are!"

You quickly join the discord and pull up the game, putting a cover over where the code goes.

"Hello?" You ask as you join the call. A chorus of greetings came your way.

"(Y/n)?"

"Karl!" You smile brightly.

Karl Jacobs was a good friend of yours. You would play on the Dream SMP sometimes. When you would, it would mostly be you being stupid with Karl and Alex, also known as Quackity. You were even a well know citizen of El Rapids.

"LET'S GOOOOO!" He yelled, making you laugh.

"Hey (Y/n), do you know everyone here?" Sean asks you.

"Um," You quickly scan through the names, "no, i don't think so."

You recognized names but you only personally knew Felix, Sean, Karl, and Ethan.

"Oh my god! Your voice is so cute!" Pokimane exclaims.

You giggle softly, "Thank you Poki!"

You're voice wasn't high pitched or anything like that, you just always spoke very softly and calmly. You were also a bit quiet.

Felix introduces you to those that you didn't know.

"There's one more person we're waiting for," He says.

While everyone waits, you and Karl run around each other's little characters and make jokes between yourselves. You mute yourself to read donations every once in a while.

You hear the discord chime, signaling that someone joined the call.

"WAIT CORPSE! DON'T SPEAK YET!" Felix yelled. "We have a new player. This is my friend (Y/n), say hi to her"

"Hello (Y/n)," Corpse said. You were taken aback by how deep his voice was but you didn't show it.

"Hi Corpse! Nice to meet you!" You said happily.

"Okay, how is she not freaking out?" Bretman said, making everyone laugh.

"Uh, (Y/n), do you mind letting me have black? It's cool if not.." Corpse asked gently.

"O-oh sure, no problem." You were usually black with the pink flamingo hat, but you ran over to the little computer and changed your color.

"Simp," Ethan mumbled, knowing you never switch from black.

"Thank you," He said, then the game started.

The word “Imposter” appeared on your screen in red, yours and Corpse's characters underneath.

As the game started, you thought no one could hear you so you spoke to your chat. "His voice was so deep, what the fuck? Holy shit that was hot, i'm gonna-"

"(Y/n)," Rae laughed, "You know we're playing proximity chat, right."

You blushed as you realized and said "Ha, anyways..." and ran to start faking tasks.

You ended up in electrical with Karl. "(Y/n)! My good friend, my buddy, you would never kill me right? Haha..." He said.

"Of course not, Karl! My good friend, my buddy. Why, I'm not even imposter," I said as i quickly dipped into the vent and back out, making him laugh.

I decided to show him because I knew Karl wouldn't say anything, and it's funny.

"Oh that's good then. Are you sure you're not imposter?"

"Mhm, pretty sure," You said, going back in. As you came out, Sykkuno walked in and froze.

"Uh, (Y/n)?"

"Fuck... Karl run! Go!" You said, Karl starting to leave. You walked closer and quickly killed Sykkuno then vented to security.

"That was close..." You told your chat.

You saw Corpse as you made your way around the map and walked into navigation.

"Hey, Corpse, how ya doing?"

"Ah you know, good. Just being crewmate and all."

You stifled a laugh, "Oh yeah I feel that, buddy."

"Yeah because there's no way that i'm imposter. No way i could be faking tasks and there's no possible way you could be the other imposter" He said quickly.

"For sure. Hypothetically speaking, though, if you were imposter, how many people would you have killed by now?"

"I would say probably around two."

"Interesting," You said right before a body was reported. It was Sykkuno's. Felix and Rae were also dead.

"WHAT!" Corpse yelled.

"Where was the body at?" Sean laughed.

"Uh I found it in electrical," Bretman said.

"I'm pretty sure Karl was in there earlier."

You calmly said, "It's not Karl, I was with him for most of the round."

"How do we know the two of you aren't imposters?" Sean asked.

"I was alone with him, he would have taken the chance to kill me."

"No, he's your best friend."

"He's also ruthless,"

"TRUE! SO TRUE!" Karl yelled.

"So skip?" Corpse asked.

Everyone agreed and the voting was skipped.

The next round, I spent with Ethan. He was pretending to be mad at me because Sean said Karl was my best friend.

"What happened to Blue Boi Buddies, huh?!" He exclaimed.

"Neither of our hair is even blue anymore!" You argued back.

You were in reactor with him when Corpse and Poki walked in. He hit the lights and you took it as a sign to double kill. He killed Poki, you killed Ethan, and the two of you made your way to electrical to help fix lights.

You and Corpse went the opposite direction of reactor after the lights were fixed, Karl going with you.

Poki's body was reported. That double kill only left you, Corpse, Sean, Karl and Bretman. You only needed two more kills.

"I still think it's Karl and (Y/n)," Sean said quickly.

"I was with (Y/n) the whole time," Corpse said, "In fact, I think it's you."

"That does make sense. Why so quick to accuse others, Sean?" You ask.

"It's not me!" He yelled.

"I actually agree with Corpse and (Y/n)," Bretman said.

"I was with you!"

We all voted for Sean, him voting for Karl. Sean was ejected.

When you load into spawn, you wait for the kill cool down and kill Bretman, saving Karl.

"Victory" appeared on your screen.

"God damn it!" Sean yelled.

"Good job, (Y/n)," Corpse said lowly.

You smiled, a slight blush on your cheeks, "You too Corpse."

"Their voices go together and they're a fuckin dream team? What have i done...," Felix sighed.

⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒

A few more games went by. Most of them you and Corpse spent together, whether you were both crewmates or if one of you was imposter.

You really enjoyed his company and you actually got along with him pretty well.

⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒

"(Y/n), before we get serious, I have one question to ask you." Corpse said as both of your characters stopped.

"What's that?" You giggled.

"Do you know Bingus?"

"Bingus? As in, our lord and savior, Bingus?"

You could hear the smile in his voice, "It's settled, you're my wife now."

This made both of you laugh and your chat go crazy.

⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒

Eventually, people had to start leaving. You said your goodbyes to everyone and left the discord call and the game.

You set stream to where it was just your face cam.

"Guys, what should we do now?"

You saw some people asking what time it was for you.

"It's 3 AM right now... I’m not tired though.” You had been streaming for a few hours; You never even noticed how late it got.

People in chat were yelling at you to go to sleep, making you chuckle.

“How about we do a quick QnA, then at 3:30 I go to bed. Deal?”

You watched as the chat filled with questions. They obviously seemed to like the idea.

“‘Who is your best friend? Karl or Ethan?’ Neither, Alex Quackity. Next question.” You answered quickly.

You laughed, “I’d like to clarify that that’s a joke, i love all my friends equally.”

You answered more questions. Some were from new viewers asking basic questions, some were about future streams and videos. 

“‘How do you feel about people shipping you and Corpse?’“ People are already shipping us?” You laughed, “I’ve said before that I’m okay with shipping, as long as the other person is too. I think it’s funny.”

You continued to read chat. “Wait, we’re trending?”

You checked Twitter and “#(your and corpse’s ship name)” was trending in the US.

You laughed as you scrolled through the tag, “Oh this is so funny.”

“Fanart already?! You guys are so talented!”

You read chat, looking for more questions. You saw people telling you that it’s 3:30.

“Okay fine, a deal’s a deal. I hope you all have, or had, a great day and I’ll see you guys later. Depending on what time it is for you, you should also get some sleep. Stay hydrated, love you!” You ended stream.

⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒⌒

You scrolled through Twitter as you laid in bed, liking fanart and dumb memes. Also replying to a few of your friends’ tweets.

karl :) @/KarlJacobs_

@/(your username) what the honk ?

*clip of you saying Quackity was your best friend*           

You liked the tweet and replied, “karl no,,, look away,,,”

You continued scrolling, feeling your eyes get droopy. Your eyes fell closed but quickly opened when your phone vibrated. It was a DM. 

From Corpse.

You two had followed each other earlier.

Corpse: hey (y/n), just wanted to say you’re really cool and i’d love to play again with you soon 

You smiled, a light blush spreading across your cheeks, and replied.

You: i’d love to, corpse

Corpse: ok, see you soon ‘wife’

You: back at ya, ‘husband”

Corpse: :)

You: :)

[peaceisadirtyword]

Heathen (Ivar/Edlynn)

A/N: Hello♥️ as I promised, here’s the first chapter of the new series I’m writing. The idea came to me when I was rewatching Vikings and then I planned it while rewatching The Last Kingdom. So I started writing it, doing a bit of worldbuilding to introduce some original characters and here I am. It’s set on season 6B (I'm changing things, so it will not follow the show’s storyline). And I was really excited to write the mature version of Ivar, so I’m sorry if he seems a bit out of character. This chapter might be a bit boring, but it serves as an introduction. I hope you enjoy it, thank you for reading🥰 I will post a new chapter every Thursday at 21:00 (CET). 

Warnings: mentions of violence and war, talk of arranged marriage, alcohol... Well, it’s Vikings😅

Words: 4197 

Summary

gif belongs to @therealcalicali 

"I've heard the pagans are back" 

Edlynn raised her head. She sat next to the window, and had spent most of the time looking at the rain falling outside as she leant her head against the wall. It had been raining a lot those days. The beautiful cloth she was trying to practice her embroidery on was already forgotten and abandoned on her lap, a bit dirty with blood from all those times she had poked her finger with the needle.

The queen looked nervous when one of the girls in the room mentioned the northmen. Edlynn had also heard her father and even the king himself talking about it, whispering and with a frown, like men do when they talk about a very serious matter. They had already evacuated some of the towns near the coast, but no one really told her what was happening. 

"We must trust on our men and on God" she smiled at her "They will protect England, they always have" 

"I heard the king is thinking about evacuating the city too" other of the girls whined "What if they find us?" 

"They won't, my dear" the queen looked uncomfortable "I don't know about the plans my husband has, he won't discuss them with me, but I'm sure he'll do what is best for our people" 

Edlynn bit her lip. Queen Elsewith was nervous, she had seen her ordering the servants to start packing slowly, in case everyone had to leave the town. And there were whispers and an uneasiness that everyone had noticed. 

Next to her, her friend Mildrith leant in to speak softly. 

"I hope we can see the heathens from up close this time" she giggled. 

Edlynn had to hold back a smile. For some reason, Mildrith had a fascination for the northmen that called themselves vikings, even if everyone else was scared of them. She had been infatuated with a viking boy that worked on the lands King Alfred had given to the northmen some time ago. Even if neither Mildrith nor Edlynn had been allowed to visit those lands, King Alfred invited some of the settlers to dine in his own home sometimes, to secure the good relations with them. The boy and Mildrith had had a short but intense romance that Edlynn helped to hide from her family and the king, and since then she had been obsessed with learning about their culture. 

Edlynn could understand why, their ways and their traditions were different from the ones she had grown up with, and anyone with a bit of curiosity in them would want to know more. But no one let her learn about their Gods or they beliefs, for it was a sin. 

"I don't think we will" she shook her head and spoke softly "The King won't let them"

"Maybe they will be invited for a feast" Mildrith bit her lip, excited "And we can see them. They say they're are the same ones that took York" 

"We should go and pray" one of the women in the room stood up, interrupting Edlynn as she was about to answer her friend "For the safety of our country and our king, ask God to protect us"

Some of the women muttered in agreement, and soon the room filled with the noise of everyone standing and walking to the door. But before she could even stand, the queen approached. Quickly, Mildrith and her bowed their heads at Queen Elsewith respectfully. 

"Edlynn, I'd like to talk to you for a moment, if you will" 

She nodded slowly, and Mildrith excused herself after widening her eyes. 

"Yes, queen Elsewith?" 

"I just wanted to see if you were alright, Edlynn, these days I've barely seen you" 

She bit her lip again. The queen was always nice and kind to her, but it was still the queen and she couldn't act like close friends with her. And she definitely couldn't speak her mind freely. 

"Yes, I'm fine" she smiled softly "These days I wasn't feeling too well, I... Spent some time in my chambers just resting" 

"I was worried about you, you disappeared just after your engagement to Lord Edmund, and as I've also been there, I thought maybe I could help" 

The engagement. She had tried her best not to think about it the past few days. Even if Edlynn knew since she was born that she'd have to marry a stranger, it was still awkward to meet a man during a small feast that was announced as her future husband just half an hour later. 

In any case, she was still lucky, Lord Edmund was handsome, young and, as far as everyone knew, nice. Edlynn wasn't that upset about it, but it was still overwhelming, and the fact that she'd have to abandon the court, her friends -oh, what would she do without Mildrith?- and her family to go and live in a stranger's home saddened her. 

"Lord Edmund is a very good man that I can't wait to get to know better, and I feel honored and lucky that he chose me to be his wife" Edlynn repeated the words that Hilda, the nun that raised her after her mother's death, had made her learn in preparation for this moment. 

Elsewith smiled sadly at the young girl. It was a woman's duty, but she saw a lot of herself on Edlynn and she knew she must have been scared and nervous, even if she understood it. But Edlynn had always been a proper and obedient lady and, like many other women in her position, learnt to hide her true feelings. She'd never do anything that went against her father and the King's wishes.

"The king would never have let him ask for your hand in marriage if he didn't know he's a good man, a good warrior and a good Christian" the queen reassured her "He loves your family a lot and just wishes a good life for you"

"I know, my queen, and I will always be thankful to him and to you for how much kindness you've shown me and my family" 

Her smile widened. 

"I also wanted to talk to you about Mildrith" Elsewith sighed and started walking to the door "She really shouldn't go around talking about how she'd like to meet a northman, it's... Not proper"

"I know" muttered Edlynn, following her "I'll talk to her" 

She nodded, and just before exiting the room, Elsewith took her hand and squeezed it softly. In some way, she had always considered Edlynn her friend. 

"Remember you can come and talk to me any time you need" the queen smiled again "Women understand each other much better than men" 

"I will" she nodded "Thank you, my queen" Edlynn bowed her head again before Queen Elsewith turned around, walking to the nearest chapel escorted by two of the guards. 

__________________________________________

King Alfred threw a feast to celebrate the engagement. Usually, this kind of things weren't celebrated that much, but Edlynn's father, Lord Eldred, had been close to King Aethelwulf and was close to King Alfred,  becoming one of his most trusted men after his mother's death. Besides, Alfred and Edlynn grew up together and even if with time the both of them had learnt to keep their relationship purely formal, he still had a soft spot for her. 

Edlynn's sister had been married to a lord from Mercia and her brother was a proud member of King Alfred's personal guard. Now it was her turn to make the family proud by doing her duty and what she had been born to: Stand next to her soon-to-be-husband and smile politely at strangers that couldn't care less about her and her happiness but that queued to wish the both of them a happy marriage. 

Even if she knew that was what she was supposed to do, it was still boring. 

"The king has told me you enjoy reading" Lord Edmund, sitting next to her, was the one that started the conversation after talking with the king and her father about war. 

Edlynn was surprised when he spoke to her. It was the first time the two of them talked. She wasn't very talkative, at least not at the beginning, and didn't really expect more from him than the usual formalities. She had seen marriages like this many times, and didn't really expected him to acknowledge her much in public.

"I do" she smiled politely. 

"It's nice, what kind of things you like to read?" 

"Mostly, about history" she bit her lip nervously "I find the Romans particularly interesting" 

Lord Edmund nodded. 

"I will make sure that you have enough to read back in my castle" he said softly "And don't be afraid of asking for anything that you need or want to feel comfortable" 

That surprised Edlynn even more. He smiled at her confused face and his grey eyes fixed on hers. 'At least he has pretty eyes' she thought. Maybe their children would inherit his grey eyes and not her brown ones. For some reason, she didn't feel that overwhelmed by the thought of a young child with his grey eyes and her auburn hair.

"I knew you were special since I saw you, when I first arrived here to take an oath to King Alfred after my father's death, that's why I asked your father for your hand in marriage, and I'm pleased to know there's much more about you behind your beauty" 

His words were so sweet, and one lock of his bright black hair fell next to his face, giving him an attractive look that made Edlynn understand why many women had been glaring at her since the engagement was announced. 

"You flatter me, my lord" she tried your best to sound confident "I appreciate your kindness, thank you" 

From the corner of her eye, she could see her father and Hilda, the nun, watching her. Edlynn straightened her back and kept talking to Lord Edmund, feeling a strange emptiness inside her. 

____________________________________

Ivar knew taking England wouldn't be easy, but it would definitely be easier if he was leading the entire army. 

King Harald had the last word, and even if he trusted him enough to let him think about the strategies, it wasn't the same. Ivar made a flawless plan, he thought about every single detail, and he knew exactly what the english would do. It wasn't too hard. 

"So, King Alfred is evacuating the city" Harald emptied his drink, taking another piece of meat before his deep blue eyes fixed on Ivar, who ate in silence next to his brother. Hvitserk ignored them, focusing on the food on his plate "Should we take it?"

Ivar raised an eyebrow and swallowed the food before taking his cup to drink some more ale. 

"We need to defeat Alfred first, we can't do much with just the city"

Harald shrugged. 

"Defeating him in battle won't change much either, we need to gain some more ground" 

Ivar hummed, nodding. 

"I agree, and we should try and find something that gives us some kind of advantage over them, because we are outnumbered and we can't defeat them just by winning battles, they can assemble another army faster than us" 

"And? You're the strategist here, Ivar" Harald chuckled. In some way, he was happy to have the youngest Ragnarsson back on his side.

"We need to find something that makes them surrender to our terms and buys us some time" Ivar raised an eyebrow. 

"Like a hostage?" Hvitserk raised his head for the first time since the food arrived. He let Ivar do the talk, and stuck to fighting. 

Ivar smirked at his brother. 

"Exactly. A hostage, dear brother" 

"I don't think that a couple of soldiers captured in battle will make them surrender to our terms" Harald shrugged again "We'd need someone else, someone like..."

"The queen" 

The king raised an eyebrow at him, while Ivar smiled softly.

"Christian women don't go to battle, and we can't try and break into their camp, there will be too many guards"

"Exactly, so we need to find a moment in which the men are occupied with something else, something like..."

"A battle" Hvitserk chuckled. 

Ivar nodded winking at his brother.

"So you mean to kidnap the queen during the battle" Harald nodded slowly "It could work"

"The queen won't be far from the battlefield, and there won't be so many guards" Ivar shrugged, taking another bite from his plate. 

"We could go and meet them on a battlefield, I already explored some of the lands around here and I think it would be easier to attract them to the woods" Ivar nibbled one of the ribs "Then, we ambush them, and keep them distracted enough time to sneak into their camp and take the queen"

"And then?" Harald looked interested. Sometimes, he found Ivar's mind fascinating.

"Then we negotiate" he shrugged "We just want some land, right? The queen in exchange for that land, I think it's a fair exchange, then, when we have the land, some resources and a place to settle down, we can continue fighting, because we will be stronger" 

"But he could betray us after he gets his queen back" Hvitserk raised an eyebrow. 

"I know Alfred, he won't" Ivar shook his head "Not as long as he thinks we're willing to stop the raids and the invasion if we get the land" 

"So we lie to him" Harald pointed, and Ivar nodded slowly. 

"But first" he raised an eyebrow "We need the queen"

_________________________________

 The beds on the camp were uncomfortable. Edlynn didn't complain, though, knowing everyone had bigger problems than worrying about her not getting any sleep. 

Just two days after the engagement feast, king Alfred ordered to evacuate the city. The northmen were too close, and it was too dangerous, it was the only explanation she got when her father bursted into the chambers and ordered to pack only the necessary. Edlynn barely saw him since then, as he and Edward, her brother, would ride with the king when everyone was moving and didn't leave the king's tent when they camped, too busy with battle plans and strategies. Queen Elsewith was also with them, and Edlynn's betrothed, Lord Edmund, too. Betrothed... It still sounded too irreal. At least, he rode next to the carriage she traveled in. 

Mildrith was the only one that found the entire thing exciting. Edlynn often found her wandering outside the camp, and didn't mind how many times she begged her to stay in the tent, Mildrith wouldn't listen. 

Edlynn could sneak a couple of books inside of her trunk, hidden between some dresses, and it was the only entertainment she had. 

"They say tomorrow there will be a battle" Mildrith muttered as she watched some of the soldiers training. It was raining and the both of them stayed inside of the tent, just at the entrance so Edlynn could read and Mildrith could watch the people around. 

"The King and our men will be victorious" Edlynn repeated what Hilda said every time she mentioned the war "We have God on our side"

Mildrith frowned, as she always did when she heard that phrase, which was the only thing everyone seemed to say these days.

"I'm not so sure about that, Lynn" she muttered "They are smart and their Gods are fierce, they say that they're lead by the same one that took York" she lowered her tone "Ivar the Boneless" 

Her friend raised an eyebrow, the name was familiar. 

"Why do they call him boneless?" 

"Because he can't walk" Mildrith shrugged like it was obvious "They say he crawls around like a snake, and that he's fierce and vicious... Some even say he's the Devil incarnated" 

Edlynn rolled her eyes.

"Those are tales, Mildrith, he's just a man" she chuckled "A cruel one, a heathen, but just a man, he's just like you and me" 

"Some women say he's handsome too" she giggled. 

"Have they seen him?" 

"Yes, in York, they said he's cruel but beautiful, just looking at him felt like a sin" 

Edlynn closed her book. 

"You shouldn't go around saying these things, Mildrith, anyone would think you're in love with that heathen"

She laughed out loud, making some of the soldiers near them turn to look at her. 

"I'm not in love with him, I don't know him" she shrugged "But I'd like to see him, at least once" 

Edlynn rolled her eyes again, shaking her head before going back to the book.

__________________________________

Edlynn didn't know how to feel when she saw the men leaving. King Alfred said goodbye to his queen and Edlynn hugged her father and brother. Even Lord Edmund kissed the back of her hand and bowed his head with a gentle smile on his lips. She didn't know how to react, as she never had to say goodbye to the men when they left to battle. Should I cry? Smile? She tried her best to imitate queen Elsewith. 

"Pray for us" her father kissed Edlynn's forehead softly for the last time before getting on his horse "And may God be with us" 

She nodded slowly and kept silent as they left the camp. 

After a couple of minutes in silence, the queen walked towards her, making Edlynn nervous. Will she scold me for not doing this well? 

"Edlynn, I'd like you to join me in my tent to pray for the safe return of the king and his men"

She looked around. Some of the women looked at her, probably jealous of seeing she had the queen's favor and thinking that was the reason why she had been betrothed to Lord Edmund. 

"Of course" Edlynn nodded her head respectfully, ignoring them.

The queen smiled brightly at her, relieved to hear her agreeing. She had a bad feeling about this new war, and worried about her husband, but  also hoped to find some kind of peace on the tent. 

"You can go, there's food and wine, I'll go talk to the priest first, and then I'll join you"

Edlynn nodded with a small smile. Her eyes found Hilda's, who smiled proudly at the young girl she loved so much. Mildrith waited until the queen had walked away and then approached her friend. 

"What's with you and the queen?" 

Edlynn shrugged. 

"I suppose she's just trying to be nice, after all she understands what's like to be betrothed to someone you don't know" 

"Oh" Mildrith bit her lip, almost like she had forgotten Edlynn was about to marry a stranger "Yes, it makes sense... Anyway, be careful, people will start thinking you're trying to win the queen's favor" 

Edlynn glanced to a group of women from the court, who looked at the both of them and whispered. 

"I'll go to the queen's tent now" she decided to ignore it "Join me later? We could go to the river and maybe bathe" 

Anything to avoid thinking about the battle that was probably going to take place soon. 

Mildrith nodded with a smile and waved at her as she approached the tent. The guards bowed their heads respectfully and moved to let her enter. It was much bigger than the tent Edlynn shared with Hilda, and the bed looked much comfortable than the one they had given to her. The bedding was soft and warm, and made her sigh in jealousy as her eyes wandered around the tent. 

There was a table with some food and wine on it, and Edlynn's mouth watered as she realized she still hadn't eaten. In front of the bed, there was a table with a cross and a few candles, which was where she supposed both the king and the queen said their prayers. 

Edlynn glanced at the entrance to make sure no one entered and quickly grabbed a grape from one of the bronze plates and turned around to savor it. She loved grapes, and the best ones could only be found at the king's table. 

But as she glanced down to hide her face in case the queen entered, Edlynn noticed something on the rug that covered the floor of the tent. Frowning, and wondering why there was a dark spot just before her, she bended down to examine it, widening her eyes when she realized it was blood. There wasn't just one spot, but a trail that disappeared behind a curtain, and suddenly she realized something else. 

The guards didn't ask who I was before letting me in. 

Before Edlynn could even react, someone grabbed her from behind, putting their hands on her mouth to stifle the scream that left her throat. She writhed and fought, but there was two of them, too strong for her. Suddenly, she heard a whisper on a foreign language and then an intense pain on the back of her head as one of the two men hit the back of her head with the handle of his sword before there was only darkness. 

________________________________

Ivar was proud. Once again, he ensured a clear victory over the saxons with a flawless plan, and he demonstrated he still was the brilliant strategist everyone admired. Even Harald looked impressed to see that the risky plan to defeat King Alfred's army had been successful. Ivar seemed to read the young king's mind perfectly, and if everything had gone well with the other part of the plan, they'd have a queen waiting for them in the camp that would make things even easier for them. Hvitserk also looked satisfied, having missed the adrenaline of the battlefield and the satisfaction of killing too much. Harald admitted he was wary of those two, with Ivar's sharp mind and Hvitserk's skills in battle, they were nearly unbeatable. 

Thanks Odin any of them had given any signs of wanting the crown of Norway Harald had fought so hard to get. But he still didn't trust Ivar completely. 

But now they had a common cause, and he hoped that controlling some lands in England would satisfy Ivar's hunger for power. 

"So..." Ivar didn't speak until he had finished two horns of ale. The intensity of the battle, standing for so long and walking with the crutches left him exhausted "Do we have a queen or not?" 

The men that had just entered the tent, still wearing the saxon's armor, bowed their heads before speaking. 

"We do" one of them smiled victoriously "She's unconscious, but guarded, we had to hit her to bring her here" 

Hvitserk raised an eyebrow. Ivar had made very clear that he didn't want the queen harmed. Not yet at least, he had said with a chuckle the night before, Alfred won't surrender to our terms if we harm her. 

"She's fine, though" the other man glared at his companion "It was just a small blow on the head" 

Harald nodded, ignoring the stern glare Ivar sent their way. 

"Try and wake her up" the king ordered "We'll talk to her before feasting and resting" 

The men bowed again and left. Harald then turned to look at the brothers. In some way, it hurt to see them so close again, reminding him of his own brother, who had also been his most loyal friend. The Ragnarssons didn't have the best relationship, but he noticed they looked much closer since they went back to Kattegat after being with the Rus. He didn't know what had happened there between them, but now he was sure no one could get between them. He envied them for that. 

Now they seemed to be having a conversation in silence, with just some stares and grimaces. 

"Your plan worked" he said out loud, looking at Ivar. The youngest son of Ragnar shot him a cocky smile. 

"Of course it worked, saxons are predictable" he shrugged "And Alfred won't dare to attack us when we have his queen" his eyes shone with pride. 

"I wonder if she's pretty" Hvitserk muttered with a dreamy smile as he chewed on a piece of bread. Harald smirked at that, he understood the feeling of coming back from battle and feeling the need to have a woman after filling his belly with warm food and cold drinks. It helped to relax. 

Ivar rolled his eyes. He was never as interested in women as his brothers were, and the few times he actually was with women had ended in disaster. So he couldn't understand the obsession. 

"She's a christian, so probably not" he shrugged "Anyway, that's the last thing we should worry about" 

"There are beautiful christian women out there, little brother" Hvitserk chuckled, amused by his brother's annoyance. 

"They're weak" he narrowed his eyes "They are always scared, they don't fight and they don't have the spirit and the courage of viking women"

"How many christian women have you met, Ivar?" Harald laughed. 

Ivar frowned. He had had too much contact with christians for his liking.

"Anyway" he scowled, annoyed, as he stood up leaning on his crutch "Let's go, we have a queen to meet".

__________________________________

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[cloudykaii]

preferred company

pairing: bts x royal!8th member!reader

summary: after years you decided it was finally time to introduce them to your life... things go wrong almost immediately.

warning(s): vague harassment, idea of bad parents, rich/bad people, violence

note: this is written the way it is because this is an open concept! i will write more about this based on requests in the future, like a series but it is it’s own au!

You stared in the mirror, fingers twitching as they graced over the elegant material of your silk dress. Hair done to perfection, makeup enough to only highlight regal features and match the jeweled pin in your hair, you truly looked the part of the descended royal you were. 

For the first time in your whole life, you felt nervous. You had been attending and hosting these parties since you were an infant. You knew how to play the role of caring and sweet hostess better than anyone, but this time was different. While usually you were just surrounded by a crowd of snooty, privileged people you were forced to stay quiet around, tonight you would be in the company of the people most important to you as well. 

Your brothers were more important to you than they would ever know. For your whole life, everyone had told you that being yourself was bad. Your parents had drilled it into you since birth that you were to be quiet and appease the people in your presence. Of course, there was nothing wrong with having an opinion, the problem only arose when you started to say it. “No one cares about the opinion of a silly little girl,” your mother used to say. It was your job to keep your guests happy, and appeal to them, not to actually say how you truly felt.

But when you met them it was different. 

When you first started with Bangtan, you had more quiet and reserved. it had been scary enough to be the only girl in a group of guys, and even scarier when you were the same age as the youngest member. You had been prepared to be babied, after all, you had gotten the treatment your whole life, but they had been quick to prove that they valued you beyond a pretty face. They didn’t even know who your family was so you knew the fact that they were kind to you had nothing to do with your lineage. 

They treated you like another human being. The seven of them had expected you to earn their respect just like anyone else and that was exactly what you did. But after years of hiding this side of your life from them you finally decided to invite them.

You knew they were curious, after all you were only ever as vague as you could possibly be about your family. Little stories, never mentioning relatives or discussing when you would be home for what reason. But it had been years and after they had treated you like family, you refused to continue hiding this part of you from them. They had all called you to double check when they received the invitation in the mail, but you made sure to inform them that it was correct. 

Yoongi hadn’t been too pleased about the black tie notification, but he had assured you he would come. You didn’t know why you were practically trembling with nerves, you knew they would come. They were family, closer than the one you were connected to biologically, and they would never lie to you.

You brushed another curl out of your face before making your way downstairs. Guests had started to arrive an hour ago but the difference between old money parties and others, is that the further you turned your nose up, the more people pretended to like you. Heels clacked on the tile as you smiled at the some of the guests, not really caring about what they had to say anyway. 

“Y/N,” your mother came close to whisper in your ear. “Your, er- friends are in the foyer. Do greet them before they ruin the celebration, won’t you?”

See, that was another thing you hated. You didn’t understand why it was just so impossible to respect the fact that your brothers didn’t try to please anyone else in order to achieve their dreams. Even right now when you made your way to them, they were looking around unimpressed. “Hello,” you greeted with a smile. 

Hoseok grinned when he looked at you, immediately going to pull you into a hug. “You look beautiful.. but whats with the party?” ah, it was just like them to get to the point. Your smile was genuine this time as you looked at him. Your plan was to just start talking and let everything explain itself, maybe answer questions if they had any. 

“My parents just host them sometimes. It’s an upper class kind of thing,” you said, voice getting lower as you started to get nervous. “I don’t know, usually I’m forced through these things by myself, but I remembered how you guys were all talking about not having an opportunity to wear-”

Jin chuckled, raising a hand. “Y/N, you don’t have to explain. It’s us, we’re not going to judge you based on your family.. besides, I think I can honestly say that we’re the most attractive people in this little castle or whatever this place is.”

Maybe you were biased because you knew all of the other people here, and knew what kind of people they were specifically, but you would have to agree. First of all, they were all dressed in black suits. They looked as though they had put in minimal effort, but they still managed to outshine most of the crown there. You would have complimented them if it had actually surprised you, but instead all you did was smile at him gratefully. “Actually, I-”

“Is there a problem here?” All eyes turned to you when you visibly tensed at the sound of the new, male voice. A young man, about your age, although plenty taller than you, appeared at your side, His arm wrapped around your hip only to pull you into his side, and Jungkook was quick to stand up straighter at the sight. “Your mother sent me to check on you.. said I should be worried about my future wife.”

“Parker-”

Your words were cut off by Jimin glaring at him harshly and cutting in. “Future wife? Y/N, what is he talking about?”

“Uh-”

Parker stepped forward, raising an eyebrow like he was in control. “Excuse me, I’ll have you know that my father-”

Jimin rolled his eyes at that. He had no patience for someone so pretentious and ignored the rest of his words in favor of looking over you. None of them liked how uncomfortable you looked. “- and our parents have arranged for us to be wed.”

Yoongi’s head snapped to you. “Y/N, you’re in an arranged marriage?!”

You opened your mouth to speak, only to but cut off once again, which made you have to take a deep breath. “Yes, and I would like to know just who you are harassing her!”

Jimin scoffed, stepping closer. “Yeah, well I would like to know who you are and you had your hands on her.”

You opened your mouth one last time to try to speak and diffuse the situation that was quickly drawing a crowd, but you were spoken over yet another time. 

“I don’t have to answer to you.. you hoodlums-” 

“Alright!” you yelled, cutting off the spoiled man you would have filed a restraining order against a long time ago if your mother wasn’t so fond of him, and sending silence into the room. “I’ve had about enough of men talking over me! Now, these men are my family and you will treat them with the same respect you are expected to treat me with,” Namjoon narrowed his eyes at your word choice as you glared up at the young prince. “And Parker, I’ve told you and I’ve told my mother. I don’t care for being royalty with you, I have my own duties already within my own grounds, and I will not be marrying you.”

“Now, just who do you think-” His nostrils flared and his hands raised too fast along with his voice, but your brother was quicker when he saw how this was going. The sound of his fist hitting with a loud thud rang throughout the room, and all eyes of the party turned to stare. People of nobility stared at Kim Namjoon as his chest heaved. 

“I don’t know who the fuck you are, I don’t give a damn. If you touch her like that again, if you ever even come close to breathing near her, I’ll ruin you. Now get the fuck out.”

The young prince stuttered. “This isn’t your-”

“I said leave!” The glare was still on his face as he watched the back of Parker’s blazer as he shamefully made his way through the crowd. “Party’s over!” And like the cowards that people of such proclaimed nobility are, they scattered and you watched as your mother disappeared with them. 

Tense silence hung in the air thickly for a brief moment as the place emptied before Yoongi broke it before sighing and going to sit down, practically falling into a lounge chair. “So that’s the kind of people you hang around, Princess?”

Taehyung snorted. “No wonder you prefer our company.”

[panlight]

hello panlight!! do you have any lgbt headcanons?

Definitely on board the Leah is wlw in some fashion train. I tend to headcanon her as bi, but I'm not opposed to lesbian Leah either. In one of my AUs, she ends up with a woman named Samantha, which of course everyone thinks is funny. But I think it's kind of sweet that Leah and Sam are endgame--it was just the wrong Sam before. Leah/Angela is also cute. Nothing I would have thought of on my own because they never interact in canon, but boy there are cute headcanons and fics out there about them!

Although applying modern conceptions of identity to ancients doesn't always correspond exactly, I don't think Aro would be considered "straight" by our modern understanding. His marriage to a woman feels formal and contrived, something he was Supposed to do (a defacto King needed a Queen, etc) but there's nothing in canon to suggest it's anything more than a marriage of convenience. And there's certainly a long-history of queer-coded villains that I think SM might have subconsciously tapped into here that she then tried to fix with "he has a wife!"

Demetri is pansexual. Maybe Felix too? There might be something there between them that's more than work partners. But that might be because I can't get the comparison to Grand Duke Dmitri and Prince Felix Yusupov out of my head and there were a lot of rumors about the nature of their friendship. I think it has to be a coincidence because SM would never pick those names to imply a relationship (because her worldview is heteronormative and monogamous) but it's a weird combo of names to pick. Maybe the association was just lurking in the back of her mind. Subconsciously.

The Amazons are lesbians and polyamourous and have been together the longest of any of the vampires. "I have loved you for 1000 years?" try 3000!

Bisexual Bella makes a lot of sense. I think in some AU that Bella/Alice could have happened.

I wonder about Carlisle being somewhere on the asexual spectrum, maybe demisexual or grayace. His backstory talks about his loneliness but he wasn't, in his own words, looking for a romantic or sexual partner, he just wanted a companion, a friend, someone who knew him. This could imply that sex/romance weren't things he was necessarily all that interested in, or that those feelings came to him only rarely or in certain circumstances (getting to know and falling for Esme, for example). Edward falls into this a bit too. I'm sure SM would say no, and it was just about Waiting for True Love but, eh.

I stick mostly to canon but I do think Edward being gay and meeting and falling for Beau would also make a ton of sense. Ditto Edythe and Bella but my sense from (admittedly only skimming) Life and Death that Edythe is more secure in herself and who she is than Edward is.

I think playing with the expectations of imprinting with LGBT characters could be interesting but I wouldn't trust SM with it. Lowkey have a headcanon that Claire is a lesbian, so everyone is like "what was the point of Quil imprinting on her?" but then Quil ends up being the one to introduce Claire to her future wife, and when they want to start a family they ask Quil to be the donor, and thus the wolf line continues in an unexpected way that allows for free will.

I lowkey have an idea of a non-binary Alice but I haven't totally fleshed it out, mostly because I have a nonbinary coworker who reminds me of Alice (they are not psychic or a vampire though--as far as I know . . . but they haven't worked here that long so, maybe!).

The whole concept of transition/transformation with the vampires and shapeshifters lends itself to trans metaphors but I wouldn't trust SM to handle that AT ALL. I've seen some trans!Leah headcanons that work really well, and there could be a really sort of joyful story of a trans vampire who upon their conversion to vampirism was released from the expectations and prejudices of human society and was able to live as their authentic selves, but again I wouldn't trust SM to write it. There's just something about Bella undergoing this transition and then finally feeling that this is where she fits, this is who she was meant to be, that kind of works? I may have just talked myself into trans!Bella here and I'm not mad about it.

One of the most amazing ironies of the whole Twilight phenomenon was the whole "no homo" and vaguely transphobic nature of Life and Death gender swapping literally everyone so there were still no gay couples in the Twilight universe, and then the fandom going "Thanks for all these new characters that we can now mix and match with the original ones to create the canon-adjacent LGBT+ stories of our dreams!"

[pterodactylterrace]

Guys Like You Chapter 16

Title: Guys Like You

Chapter: 16

Chapter Summary: Meet the family

Rating: 18+

Warnings: None for this chapter

{Prologue} {Chapter 1} {Chapter 2} {Chapter 3} {Chapter 4} {Chapter 5} {Chapter 6} {Chapter 7} {Chapter 8} {Chapter 9} {Chapter 10} {Chapter 11} {Chapter 12} {Chapter 13} {Chapter 14} {Chapter 15}

"How well does she do on flights?" Henry asked quietly, nodding for Faye to slide in first to take the window seat.

"She gets sick on longer flights." Faye explained as he sat down in the aisle seat, resting the snoozing child in his lap, her chubby cheek pressed against his chest as a small bit of drool tumbled from her lower lip.

"It's a little under an hour, do you think she'll be ok?"

"She didn't get sick until after the third hour when we came to England."

"Hopefully she'll just sleep the whole time." Henry sighed, smiling fondly at the child snoozing on him. To say he was excited to introduce his girls to his family was an understatement. He had been practically vibrating with giddiness for the last two days. That in turn wound up Kal and Briar, which meant no one wanted to go to bed. Faye had counted herself lucky to get the child tucked into bed and finally asleep before 11pm the night before. Certainly not enough time for any sort of decent rest before their 6am flight. She could also tell Henry hadn't gotten enough sleep the night before, the dark circles under his eyes a dead giveaway, no matter how many times he insisted he was fine.

Maybe they could all catch a nap during the flight. That sounded incredible, though Faye wasn't sure if her nerves would allow her to actually sleep. Henry had assured her over and over that his family would love her, but she had a nagging voice in the back of her mind that kept asking her 'but what if they don't?' Would Henry leave her if his family didn't like her? What if they didn't like Briar? She could be a bit much at times. Maybe they would think she was an awful mother who couldn't control her child. She just had to keep reminding herself that Henry wasn't like that. He wasn't a controlling abuser. He wanted to see her happy. He actually loved her and she was slowly learning how to be loved in return.

Henry reluctantly slid the child from his lap and into her seat before take off, buckling the now grumpy toddler in while Faye gave Briar her stuffed bunny in an attempt to pacify her for the time being. That only resulted in the rather amusing image of an incredibly angry looking toddler hugging a very well loved stuffed bunny, glaring daggers at the seat back in front of her. The second the fasten seatbelt sign went off, Briar was back in Henry's lap, smugly snuggling back into his chest with her bunny tucked under her arm.

"I swear, she likes you more than she likes me." Faye sighed, shaking her head at her daughter.

"I never tell her no." Henry shrugged, giving the child a small squeeze.

"I've noticed." Faye grumbled.

"How do you expect me to say no to that face?" Henry challenged, nodding down to where Briar was already sleeping on him, her cheek squished up against his chest, more drool slowly soaking into his shirt.

"What if she wants to do something dangerous?"

"That's why I have her wonderful, strong, beautiful mother nearby." Henry smiled at her, chuckling at her annoyed look.

"So what are you gonna do with any future children?" Faye shot back, not missing the way Henry's entire demeanor lit up.

"I'll just have to follow your lead." He offered, trying to tame the smile from his face. This was the first time she had mentioned any more children since their scare, and just the thought was enough to make him dizzy with excitement.

"Breastfed that kid for a year and a half, and this is the thanks I get." Faye grumbled to herself, moving over to the middle seat to use Henry's bulky shoulder as a pillow.

"As much as I'd like to say I'll help you every step of the way, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be useless when it comes to that."

"Such a shame, your tits are bigger than mine."

"They are not." Henry scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Mmhmm. Mine only look nice when I roll them up into a bra so you can't see how deflated they are."

"They're the perfect size for my hands."

"And your tits are still bigger."

"Fine, but I still don't think I can breastfeed a baby." Henry relented, his face heating up when he realized the flight attendant had made it to their row with the drink cart. Her look of confused horror was one Faye would remember for years to come.

"I think we're good." Faye half laughed, Henry dropping his head in embarrassment. Sometimes people just walk up at the wrong time in a conversation.

Faye was apprehensive at first when Henry told her his brother would be picking them up from the airport. What if he instantly didn't like her? Would he just leave her there or something? It would make for a very uncomfortable car ride to say the least. Thankfully Niki and his wife turned out to be just as nice and accommodating as Henry kept assuring her they would be. Naturally, Niki stuffed his younger brother into the back seat, allowing his wife to stay up front in spite of her half hearted protest. Faye had the feeling this was an ongoing thing between them.

The sight of a toddler seat in the back, hooked in and ready to go made a strange happiness swell in her chest. Faye was grateful they had taken steps to keep her daughter safe, while Henry was slightly annoyed that he was now crushed even more. With a simple look from Niki's wife, Faye understood that this was just how the brother's were, antagonizing each other whenever possible. Niki wasted no time filling Faye in on a few stories from Henry's childhood, telling her about the time he brought a turtle home and tried to keep it in the bathtub to hide it from his parents. Then he moved on to the time he split his pants at his cousin's wedding when he was fifteen and spent the entire reception trying to talk to the bridesmaids with his underwear showing. The last one he squeezed in before his wife stopped him was when they were all younger and buried him in the snow, having convinced him that's how an igloo was built.

No one hesitated to get out and start unpacking the car once it was parked in front of a rather quaint looking house, Niki tossing Henry's bag at him, Henry 'accidentally' shoulder checking him into the back of the car good natured retaliation. Niki's wife had already gone inside to announce their arrival, giving Faye a chance to talk with her daughter before meeting everyone.

"Now remember sweetie, we need to be on our best behavior for Papa's family today, ok?" She reminded, crouching down and straightening out her daughter's jacket.

"I a good girl." Briar stated firmly, nodding her head in self assurance as she grabbed her mother's hand with her mitten covered fist.

"Yes, you've been a very good girl, even though I can tell you're really tired. I'm very proud of you, sweetheart." Faye praised, giving the child her stuffed bunny before leading her after everyone else.

"And then-" Simon wheezed, pausing to catch his breath through his laughter. "And then Henry comes back inside, covered in mud, sticks in his hair, and he's just like "well, he's not under THAT bush!'." Faye wiped a tear from her eye, holding her aching stomach. She had lost count of the stories that had been retold, everyone seeming to take a turn at ribbing each other. Henry even told the story of Faye accidentally gluing her hand to a makeup brush when she was trying to apply prosthetics. It felt almost too easy settling into his family. He had been completely honest, they were very accepting.

His mother was warm and inviting, pulling her in for a hug and whisking Faye off to the kitchen, putting a glass of wine in her hand before she had even said hello to anyone else. It felt so good to be around a family again. Faye had been close with her parents and her siblings, especially her twin sister, and it was times like this that reminded her of what she had given up to chase her dreams. She had promised to try and be home for Christmas, but life got in the way of her going back the year before. Now it was coming up, and she was wondering if Henry would be alright with going all the way across the ocean just to meet her family. Were they really that serious? She knew they were pretty serious, having moved in together, but she didn't have any prior experience to compare her current relationship to.  Would he want to spend Christmas with his family? They were all really nice and probably always spent the holidays together. Would she be interfering with a tradition by asking him to spend Christmas with her family?

"So how did you two meet?" Marianne interjected, everyone suddenly shifting their attention to the couple.

"Uhh... met at work?" Faye offered up, turning to look up at Henry to see if he had anything else to add. Always the eloquent half of the pair, Henry had plenty to tack on, telling them about how this sassy little makeup artist wouldn't give him the time of day no matter what he did to get her attention. He'd tried talking about her tattoo's: nothing. He'd tried talking about the show: nothing. He'd tried to ask her about her life: nothing.

"It wasn't until Briar's birthday that I got anywhere. I swear, if you weren't such an awful baker, you would have never even looked my way. Poor Briar made sure everyone knew you were no good at it too. Briar!" Henry called, smiling when the little girl came running in the room, a dinosaur in one hand and the other covered in a sock. "Briar, how's mummy's baking?"

"Yucky." Briar informed flatly, the adults roaring in laughter while she rushed off to go play with the other children again.

"She's actually managed to simultaneously burn and completely undercook a tray of brownies once. It was amazing."

"Wasn't that also the time I mixed up the salt and the sugar?"

"It was." Henry confirmed, pressing an adoring kiss to her temple.

"That reminds me of the time you accidentally used garlic powder instead of nutmeg in the apple pie one year." Piers turned toward his wife, laughing at her loving glare.

"Alright, alright. Enough." Simon jumped in. "We all know what needs to be discussed. Who is stronger, Superman or the Incredible Hulk?" The entire family seemed to groan in unison; this must be an age old debate.

"Superman, obviously." Henry scoffed.

"No way, the Hulk is indestructible!" Niki threw back.

"So is Superman." Charlie pointed out.

"A little bit of kryptonite and Superman is useless." Simon intervened.

"What are the odds of having kryptonite on hand, though? If we're going to be using weaknesses, when Banner couldn't shift into the Hulk during Infinity War should definitely be brought up." Faye countered.

"But we're not talking about Banner, we're talking about the Hulk, as in he already shifted." Niki complained.

"Didn't the Black Widow have some lullaby thing that turned him back?" Charlie mused.

"Come on, Faye. We all know you're just siding with Superman because you're sleeping with him." Simon teased, Faye rolling her eyes in response. She had a feeling it was going to be a long night.

By the time they returned home just two days later, Faye was utterly exhausted but filled with joy. His family was so warm and inviting. They actually liked her. They didn't look down on her. They didn't question why Henry was with someone like her. They just accepted her and her daughter as one of their own. Two more to add to the Cavill Clan.

Now that they were back at home, it felt almost empty compared to the jam packed house they had just been in. Kal was all too happy to meet everyone at the door, his food bowl still full from the last visit from the dog sitter while their mail was stacked neatly on the kitchen table waiting for them.

Henry left the bags by the bottom of the stairs to take up later, sorting the letters into two separate piles. A large envelope addressed for Faye caught his eye, curiosity prompting him to bring it straight to her.

"What's that?" Faye asked, tossing the clothing from the bags into a laundry basket.

"I don't know. Looks important. Maybe it's informing you that you just became Queen a small unknown country."

"I've always wanted my own country." Faye chuckled, ripping the envelope open and pulling out the papers inside, her face falling more and more with each passing second. Her blood ran cold as teardrops stained the paper.

"What? What's wrong? Faye, you're starting to worry me. What does it say? Is something wrong?"

"My ex... my ex is trying to sue me for custody of Briar."

@weallhaveadestiny @lunedelorient @summersong69 @mis-lil-red @lharrietg @amberangel112 @mansaaay  @nostalgicb-txh