#it took a long time to get here

[the-whispers-of-death]

Hello Again, My Dear Old Friends

Before reading further, if you're a minor or an ageless blog, please don't interact with this post and blog!!!

***If you haven't read anything involving Stone or The Lions/this is the first time you're seeing a post of mine, here is Stone's masterlist and The Lions masterlist. There's also Ladder's masterlist, but besides the basic info post, everything else in her masterlist can be found in Stone's.***

A/N: The long-awaited reunion!! 🎉🎉 It took so long for Stone, The Lions, and Ladder to all be on the same base. But it's here!

Stone's going to be so surprised when he finds out that Sarabi, Simba, and Nala are alive. Ladder and Cerberus are probably going to bond. Kali's going to be a lovesick puppy now that Stone's around and Stone's going to have to keep himself from smiling.

Anyways, enough of my rambling!

*****************************************************************

Kali was the only one in the barracks which were The Lions', being the last one to get ready because he had to get a few last-minute details from Commander Graves. Now that he was alone, he didn't have to deal with all of the questions his squadmates had for him.

He finished up tying his boots and then he strapped on his vest, his body on autopilot. Once his vest was secure, he opened a pocket in the vest, taking out the letter from Stone that had been there before the recent letter of Stone's had arrived.

Kali always kept a letter of Stone's in the vest pocket closest to his heart, so that he always remembered who he wanted to come home to. He didn't know if Stone loved him back, but it didn't matter. Stone was the reason he kept going, the reason he fought so hard to live on missions.

He switched out the old letter with the most recent was, looking over the words once more and smiling before folding it up again and placing it in the pocket. He closed the pocket, ensuring the letter was safe.

"You ready, Mufasa?" Sarabi asked, popping his head into the doorway of the barracks. "Everyone's ready and heading to the airstrip. Shadow's especially getting antsy."

Kali took one last look in the mirror, patting the vest pocket where Stone's letter was as if to get good luck from the letter, and he nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready," he replied, turning and walking out of the barracks with Sarabi right behind. "Time to make sure those Brits know how good us Americans can be."

With his squad, he went to the airstrip and boarded the cargo plane which would take them to the country where the SAS base housing the task force was. He made sure Shadow was properly strapped in, this being the first mission the wolf was being officially taken on.

Meanwhile, in the SAS base hospital, Stone was dealing with patients and Soap who was following him around, still a bit peeved that the 141 was teaming up with Shadows.

"You're paranoid about the Shadows that are coming, right?" Soap asked, watching Stone reset a dislocated shoulder with ease. "Because if you're paranoid, then I know I'm not alone. And like, I mean you're always paranoid, but my paranoia is warranted."

"I am paranoid," Stone said, placing the soldier's now reset shoulder in a shoulder brace. He moved onto another patient, Soap following him. "But I'm strangely hopeful."

Soap gave him a puzzled look. "Hopeful?"

He didn't know Stone had that word in his vocabulary.

Stone rolled his eyes at Soap's puzzlement. "Yes, I'm hopeful that this team-up will go smoothly. It's odd."

It wasn't odd, not to Stone. He knew from Kali's recounting that the Shadows employed in the Shadow Company were more than what they seemed. He trusted Kali's judgment of the men and women around him, even if Stone had no idea who was coming.

"Besides, it doesn't matter if I'm paranoid about them," Stone continued, glancing back at Soap. "It's okay if you're paranoid and you're right, your paranoia is warranted. You and Ghost were especially affected by Graves' betrayal in Las Almas."

"...Your therapy is definitely working," Soap murmured, which made Stone let out a huff in amusement. He couldn't help at smile at the sound. "Alright, I'll leave you to do your job."

Stone waved to Soap. "See you in a couple hours," he called out to Soap as Soap walked away.

Soap groaned. "Yeah, right. Can't believe we have to meet those guys on the tarmac."

****

Stone stood outside at the tarmac with the 141 and Ladder, all of them waiting in a hanger for the cargo plane to touch down.

"Can't believe we have to wait out here," Ghost grumbled. "It's sweltering out here."

Price huffed, opening up his jacket to fan himself with it. "We've faced worse weather, buck up. Besides, Laswell said we should wait for the squad at the tarmac and then show them to where the conference room is."

"Why did she get to wait inside the nice, cool conference room though?" Gaz asked, wishing he wasn't wearing his signature ball cap.

Ladder gasped as she saw the plane descending to land. "At least we don't have to wait any longer out here, the plane's landing," she said.

By the time the plane landed, Shadow was very eager to get off the plane. Cerberus, who was on the other side of the wolf, had to pat his head to keep him from barking everyone's head off.

"Jesus Christ, I thought Shadow would manage to get out of his harness before the plane landed," Sarabi grumbled in concern for the wolf as the plane landed on the runway.

"Look alive, guys," Kali instructed as everyone got up, him reaching down to deal with Shadow's harness to the plane. "The task force is just outside, they're waiting for us."

That made everyone straighten, Simba grumbling about how numb his legs were. They all waited until Kali had Shadow leashed with the leash attach to his harness. When Kali was ready, he was the first one to disembark from the plane when the cargo hold opened.

The first person he saw when stepping onto the ground was Stone, his lips parting beneath his mask and neck gaiter as he saw the tall man.

Stone looked breathtaking, his burly form basked in the sunlight. His hair was still in the same hairstyle that made Kali's fingers itch to run through it, his brown eyes were still deep pools of chocolate that Kali wanted to lose himself in. Kali even enjoyed seeing the scars on Stone's face and neck, almost crying out in joy that he had memorized them perfectly. He couldn't see the scars hidden by the muzzle-like mask, but he knew they were still there.

Stone seemed as surprised as him and he saw Stone catch sight of Sarabi, Simba, and Nala as Kali walked towards the 141.

Kali grimaced, remembering he hadn't told Stone about Sarabi, Simba, and Nala still being alive. Well, hopefully Stone wouldn't be too upset.

Price smiled politely as Kali stilled to a stop in front of the 141. "Ah, you must be the Shadows who will be teaming up with us. We're the Task Force 141 and welcome to—"

"You're even more breathtaking than I remember," Kali blurted out to Stone, his eyes focused on on the larger man. It was like his joy of being in Stone's presence again took over, causing him to say the first thing in his mind.

Despite everyone staring at him, he couldn't bring himself to regret saying it, because he saw the way Stone's cheeks twitched beneath the muzzle-like mask like he was trying to hide a smile and the way Stone became flustered enough to avert his eyes away from Kali.

You're so cute, baby, Kali thought to himself, resisting the urge to sigh wistfully at Stone.

"You two know each other?" Ghost asked, breaking Kali's focus on Stone. He went as far as to step a little bit in front of Stone so Kali had to look at him.

He seemed wary of Kali, which Kali realized would happen when Graves told him that the 141 had a bad experience with the Shadow Company the last time they worked with the 141. So Kali wasn't fazed by the wariness.

Kali nodded, subtly eyeing Ghost briefly to ascertain how much of a threat he was. "Yes, Stone was The Lions' Corpsman once upon a time twelve years ago," he explained, his eyes going back to looking at Stone. "It's good to see you again, Ox."

"It's good to see you again too, Mufasa," Stone replied, before glancing at Sarabi, Simba, and Nala. "Though I'm surprised to see the other Lions. I did go to their funerals, so I'm perplexed."

"Ah, yeah. It's... a long story," Kali said, grimacing yet again. He then cleared his throat, turning to the rest of the 141. "Oh, forgive my manners. I'm the captain of The Lions, callsign "Kali", though everyone in my squad calls me "Mufasa" or by my rank. And next to me are Sarabi, Simba, Nala, and Cerberus."

The 141 and Ladder all introduced themselves, all of them getting acquainted.

Soap eyed Shadow, who was trying to sniff everyone. "And who is this? Is that a wolf?" he asked, trying hard to hide the fear in his voice.

Kali gave a click of his tongue, which made Shadow heel and sit instantly. "This is Shadow and yes, he's a wolf. He's trained to subdue an enemy and to help with patrolling." He leaned down to give Shadow a pat on the head.

Stone couldn't help it, he laughed, which made everyone's head turn towards him very fast. This was the first time they ever heard him laugh, Kali especially drinking in the sound.

"Sorry," Stone said in between laughing. He lifted his hand up to his muzzle-like mask as if to cover his mouth that was already covered. He went into another short round of laughter. "Oh God, Mufasa, you finally managed to get a superior to let you keep a wolf as a military working animal. You've wanted one for years, how did you manage to persuade Graves?"

"What can I say? I'm pretty persuading." Kali's eyes sparkled with joy as his joke made Stone laugh more. He could hear Stone laugh all day.

Price cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt this, but Laswell is waiting for us," he reminded gently.

Kali cleared his throat in response. "Right. Please, lead the way."

The Lions followed closely behind the 141, Price in the lead as he walked everyone inside the main building of the base and to the conference room.

"Ah, The Lions made it safely," Laswell said, smiling as she watched everyone shuffle inside the conference room and sit down. "Welcome, welcome. I trust everyone made your arrival pleasant."

"Apparently Stone already knew them," Gaz commented, glancing at Kali who had gone back to staring at Stone, again.

Laswell nodded. "Yes, well, I knew that. I figured that would help with the rest of you trusting them too," she said, a sly smile on her lips. "Because while preparing for your mission, you'll also be getting to know each other better, since I'm splitting you up for the mission."

"What?" Price, Ghost, Gaz, and Soap asked in unison. Their eyebrows were all comically raised, in sync even in their disbelief.

"Due to the nature of the mission and how well both Shadow Company and SAS wants to succeed, we need to split up the Lions," Laswell explained, pulling up an image of what could only be described as a base. "This is Minerva's base, the leader and his high-ranking officials are there. It's huge so we need two groups to take down the base as a whole, starting on opposite sides until meeting at the main building to take down the leader."

"On the left side of the base is a huge building where they house their servers. We will need two techs on it, which means we need to have Sarabi and Ladder on one team," she continued. She then clicked another button which showed how the teams would be divvied up.

"Team Alpha will be captained by Kali and he will have Simba, Nala, Gaz, and Stone with him. Team Bravo will be captained by Price and he will have Ghost, Soap, Ladder, Sarabi, and Cerberus with him. Now, the teams are uneven, but that's the way it has to be in order to ensure the route with the best path to success."

Laswell looked at the wary looks on everyone's faces and sighed. "Cheer up, the mission isn't for two months, so that's plenty of time to get used to being in a team together."

Soap crossed his arms. "It took us a more than two months to trust Stone, remember?" he grumbled, Ghost and Gaz grumbling with him.

"Boys," Price said in his gruff, authoritative voice which stopped the three from continuing to grumble. He looked at Laswell, putting on his best smile. "We'll make it work, do bonding exercises together. We won't let you and the other higher-ups down."

"Good," Laswell said, standing up. "That's all the information I have for you all, you'll know more when we're closer to the date of the mission. I'll leave you to start getting to know each other."

With those words, she left, causing everyone to eye each other before mingling after a few tense seconds. While most of The Lions went over to chat with the 141 and Ladder, Stone and Kali both stood up, gravitating towards a little quieter spot in the conference room.

Kali stared up at Stone, unable to help himself from smiling beneath his mask. "I can't believe I'm standing in front of you," he whispered, as if he was afraid Stone would be gone if he spoke any louder.

"It's a sight I never thought I'd see until after this deployment was over," Stone agreed. His eyes peered down at Kali, both of them moving closer on instinct until their limbs were brushing against each other. The touch was like electricity.

He didn't want to ask, but he had to know.

"When did you learn Sarabi, Simba, and Nala were alive?"

"A while," Kali admitted sheepishly. "I found out late February, so it's been roughly three months. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I just... I wanted to tell you in person, because it didn't seem right about telling you over a letter." His eyes scanned Stone's for any reaction and his hand twitched to cup Stone's cheek. "I understand if you're upset."

Stone leaned forward, gently touching Kali's vest-covered chest. "It's okay," he murmured, soothing Kali's guilt. "Thank you, actually. You could've lied and told me that you had gotten a new squad. But you didn't, you... You focused on me and telling me things that made me smile."

"You smiled?"

"You're surprised?"

Kali couldn't hold back anymore, he glanced at the others being too busy to watch them and then he reached up, brushing his gloved fingers against Stone's muzzle-like mask before cupping his right cheek.

"I'm proud of you, Vikram." His eyes crinkled beneath his mask to show he was smiling. "When I first met you, you didn't smile and you didn't laugh. But now... You... You took the time to heal."

"Ashok, you told me there was more to life than the way I was living before," Stone admitted softly, watching in awe as his words made Kali's brown eyes soften. "You wormed your way past my defenses and I—"

"Hey, we're going to eat dinner in the mess hall, you two coming to join us so we can all bond?" Soap asked, interrupting Stone mid-speech. He didn't seem to notice, simply grinning at both Stone and Kali, everyone else heading towards the door to leave the conference room.

Kali dropped his hand, giving Stone a look that said they'd return to the conversation much later, when they weren't around the others. "Yeah, we're coming," he said.

Both Stone and Kali left first with Price and Cerberus following behind them.

Soap waited until Stone and Kali were farther away to lean closer to Simba to talk in hushed tones. "Is it just me or are Stone and Kali looking like they're in love with each other?"

Nala laughed softly and answered instead of Simba, "Oh, they're definitely in love with each other, they just don't know the other one's in love too." He shook his head at the thought. "Cap and Ox have been corresponding for two months now, writing each other what are essentially love letters."

"Wait, Kali's the one who's been spending the long ass letters Stone gets constantly?" Gaz asked, putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Oh hey and Sarabi's been annoyed by the way they've been dancing around each other this entire time," Simba replied, bumping Sarabi's shoulder with his.

Sarabi rolled his eyes and then groaned. "Hey, you're all lucky. I've known Stone for as long as Kali has, which meant I've seen them pine after each other for twelve years," he complained. "Twelve, long years. I've grown sick of it."

"You know what that means we should do?" Ladder asked, smirking mischievously.

"What?" Gaz asked, curious about the glint in her eyes.

Ghost scoffed. "Isn't it obvious? We have to get them to confess to each other," he explained, surprisingly onboard.

"You, I like you," Sarabi said. "I've been trying to play matchmaker for a while."

Soap was excited at the prospect, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Well, now you'll have us to help you!" he answered.

"What are you all talking about back there?" Price asked, glancing behind him.

"Nothing!" Simba, Nala, Soap, Gaz, and Ladder said, Sarabi and Ghost not answering the man.

They lowered their voices, talking still as they entered the mess hall. One thing was for sure, they've just made the next two months more fun than it was going to be.

*****************************************************************

A/N: Okay, I'll be honest, I didn't know how to end this. This was hella long. But what I do know is that Stone is very eager to confess his feelings and I had to stop that. It's not time yet.

The 141 might not seem like it, but they are still wary of The Lions. They just also think it'd be fun to help The Lions get Stone and Kali together.

I hope this at least hit your expectations for the reunion, if not exceeded it. I'm for one happy with the majority of it and can't wait to write The Lions and the 141 getting into shenanigans together.

Reblogs are welcomed & appreciated! Asks are open, feel free to pop in and request something! (Check the rules in "Rules for Requesting NSFW" before requesting.)

[victory7155]

“There are days I hesitate.

I hesitate when I remember you’re no longer a constant in my life.

I hesitate to remember where you and I stand.

I hesitate to say goodbye.

And then I shake the hesitation out of my head.

I stopped hesitating when I realized you knew absolutely nothing about me.

I stopped hesitating when I realized I didn’t even want you in my life.

I stopped hesitating with you.

Because I don’t want you.”

[dippiesque]

on our way!!💚

[nerdinsandals]

He is not one of us🎵

He has never been one of us~🎶

Have Amethio without all the lighting and effects too! Just because I'm pretty happy with how the hair turned out and you can't really appreciate it in the final version haha

[tesseractingrey]

i think one of the coolest things about dan howell is the example he sets of how your life isn’t over at 25, and one person won’t fix your life but you still can. dan met his actual soulmate at 18 and is only now, in his 30s, finding true and genuine happiness and fulfillment. meeting phil didn’t automatically solve all his problems, although he was clearly a significant part of the motivation to bother doing the work at all. but dan still put in the work himself for YEARS to improve himself and his life and it WORKED. your life isn’t over if you aren’t completely happy and fulfilled and the person you wish you could be in your 20s. putting in the work takes time but it is WORTH IT.

[milkywayes]

GARRUS VAKARIAN: DATABASE IMAGE ACCESS. > PT. 1 : 2160, 2166, 2170. > all files backdated according to user preferences: (terran_coordinated.calendar).

[mammoth-clangen]

D’you perchance have any thoughts on the morphological (for lack of a better word?) dire wolves that Colossal Biosciences just revealed to the public? 👀

Oh my god Aenocyon, you can't just ask someone why they're white!

"Morphological dire wolf" my ass. Which is coincidentally where Colossal pulled the white coats from…

Give me an example of a modern temperate/grassland predator that's white*, I'll wait. *Excluding white lions, which are an uncommon but resilient morph resulting from leucism.

I based my Aenocyon design off bushdogs and dholes. They are called Masked Wolves in Kindred's setting, because I enjoy a good pseudo hyena niche uvu-b

Extremely extremely long 'thoughts' below the cut lol c':

Preface: in this discussion the term "dire wolf" has too many meanings, as such I will be referring to them as follows:

Thrones' wolves: for the huge, white, fantasy animals from Game Of Thrones GMO wolves: for Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi, Colossal's creations, Canis lupus Aenocyon: for Aenocyon dirus, the true, extinct dire wolf known from fossils across North America

----

Part 1: That's not a dire wolf-

The first question everyone has been asking is "So, are dire wolves de extinct now?" The answer is an emphatic "NO!" from anyone with knowledge of genetics, palaeontology, or taxonomy.

Aenocyon dirus were actually not wolves, nor dogs, but a secret third thing.

They are canids, but last shared a common ancestor with grey wolves and their lineage some ~5.7 million years ago.

For context, this paper suggests a similar divergence time between genus Homo (humans, Neanderthals and co) and Pan (chimps and bonobos); animals that look and behave markedly differently from each other.

The genomes of Canis lupus and Aenocyon dirus being 99.5% similar may sound like a lot, but again, humans share 98.8% with chimps, and 99.7% with Neanderthals, and yet are very distinct from both.

Skeletally, behaviourally, in soft tissue, etc, you could tell any of the three apart; the same goes for Aenocyon and Canis members.

Additionally, Colossal made 20 changes in 14 genes.

The grey wolf genome has 2,447,000,000 base pairs. Does that maths seem a bit off to you?

That's not even enough to change a grey wolf into a domestic dog, let alone an ancient outgroup!

This would be akin to modifying a lion to have bigger teeth and saying you resurrected Smilodon fatalis.

Or editing a Asian Elephant genome so they retain their juvenile hair and calling it a Woolly Mammoth.

It's a bold-faced lie.

Beth Shapiro says "they look and act like dire wolves" but that, too,simply isn't true.

Visually, the GMO wolves simply aren't what Aenocyon would have looked like. It's what a Thrones' wolf looks like.

Hmmmmm, funny about that, seeing George R R Martin helped fund the 'dire wolf project'...

As with many fossil animals, we don't know much about Aenocyon's behaviour.

You can't say the GMO wolves (who are also still pups) act like Aenocyon, because that's based off nothing.

What we do know is Aenocyon were likely pack animals (from the sheer number found in La Brea Tarpits), and crunched more bones than modern wolves (from their many broken teeth).

Also, crucially, they had Wild Sex Lives (from the many, huge, broken and healed bacula... youch).

Colossal is also being colossally shady by: doubling down on their bs use of the outdated "morphological species definition", blatantly misleading the public with their use of the words 'cloning', 'dire wolves', and 'de extinction', and refusing to share their methods in a peer reviewed paper before going public with a clickbait headline.

Do not trust them with your Red wolves either. They're using coyote hybrids and considering what they deem 'close enough' for a dire wolf, I wouldn't put any money on the quality of their GMO red wolves either...

Also can I just say, whatever genes they modified to "make the skull larger" clearly didn't impact the lower jaw...

No, I'm not sorry for this image uvu-b (But for real look at that poor pup and his overbite jfc)

Part 2: -and if it was, that wouldn't be good either.

I fundamentally do not support de extinction.

No, not even for the Thylacine, not even for passenger pigeons, nor the dodo. Even my beloved Homotherium should be left in the past.

This might be an unexpected stance because I am, surprising no one, a big fan of extinct animals, megafauna and otherwise.

But the thing is, I'm an even bigger fan of actual, living animals.

The animal ethics of de extinction are dubious at best.

The surrogate dog mothers of the GMO wolves likely won't live good lives.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were destroyed after being used, because their bodies could contain feto microchimerisms and Colossal absolutely doesn't want their special wolf genome getting out.

I doubt the GMO wolves themselves will live a full life before they outgrow their hearts, like Ligers.

This would likely be the case for any modern animal genetically modified into megafauna; a body not adapted to deal with the increased size.

Purely conjecture, but I also wouldn't be surprised if Romulus, Remus and Khaleesi have vision/hearing issues from their white coats.

White coats in wolves are associated with hearing impairments, so the gene used for these animals was from domestic dogs. Meaning Colossal has created a very expensive wolfdog.

Again, what kind of life are these wolfdogs supposed to live? As awful pets for the rich? In a zoo? Released to pollute wild wolf genomes? (assuming they're fertile; I hope not)

Regardless, it's not looking good if they ever planned to have them be 'wild animals'

Even true clones (which the GMO wolves are not) tend to have health issues.

Celia the Pyrenean Ibex (bucardo) was cloned, but the clone died after 9 minutes from a deformed lung.

So in 2003, this made the bucardo the first species to go extinct twice, yippee?

There's also the problem of genetic diversity.

How many intact genomes do you have on hand?

For dire wolves the answer is Zero!

To my knowledge, we don't have the full genome coded from one individual, just Frankenstein-ed from many. Which is fine for sequencing the canine family tree's relatedness, but not for cloning.

The absolute minimum individuals to survive a genetic bottleneck is said to be 50 in larger species. Called the 50/500 rule, it states that 50 is enough to survive, but 500 is required to prevent genetic drift.

To which I say, good luck!

Even with well preserved permafrost species (such as woolly mammoths), you'll have a hard time finding 500 individuals with prefect genomes.

And then, where will you put them?

If you were to, somehow, make a breeding population, where are they going? A national park? A zoo? Is their old habitat still available to them?

In Aenocyon, the answer is simply "they don't have a niche anymore".

Unlike the Thylacine or Dodo, humans did not directly cause the extinction of Aenocyon dirus. And even if they had, it was 10,000 years ago!

Would making room for a de extinct species impact the habitat/niche of another species?

Regular grey wolves fill Aenocyon's role as a canine mesopredator, with Puma as the apex (alongside bears as an apex omnivore).

With the loss of megafauna to prey on, a de extinct predator would just compete with other, also endangered species.

Animals also change the environment they life in.

Mammoths will clear trees like modern elephants. This would recreate the Mammoth Steppe, but those trees making up the taiga and boreal forests are themselves crucial habitat.

Other species have moved in since the mammoths' extinction. Siberian tigers, lynx, muskoxen, brown bears, elk, moose, and so many others; many endangered.

Trees also prevent erosion, which is already happening at unprecedented rates due to agriculture and deforestation.

Crucially: What's to stop an extinct animal going the same way it went out last time?

Ask yourself this:

Would the average American appreciate "flocks of Passenger pigeons big enough to darken the sky and whiten ground with their guano"?

Would people suddenly be okay with lions in Europe eating their livestock, when they are champing the bit to shoot Iberian wolves again?

Would Tasmanians suddenly feel the same about the Thylacine, when farmers in Australia still happily kill dingoes and eagles for lamb predation? [citation, I am an enviro technician and have had farmers tell me they shoot Wedge-tails, knowing I'm a toothless lion to stop them.]

I doubt it

At what cost?

Are we going to find 50 thylacine genomes?

If so (doubtful), how much will cloning and/or modifying a relative into a thylacine cost? Now that x50?

Wouldn't that money be better spent on quoll reintroduction?

What about finding 50 gestational carriers for mammoths?

Are you going to use their closest relative; the already critically endangered Asian Elephant?

Wouldn't that time and effort on those elephant mothers be better used making more elephants?

And the social cost:

If extinction isn't forever, what's to incentivize lawmakers to fund conservation?

Really, it comes down to this:

Why bring back the dire wolf when we could put this money into protecting the Iberian and Red wolves?

Why bring back the thylacine when their cousin is dying of a transmissible cancer?

We've already seen the impacts of "extinction isn't forever anymore", with those in power already trying to cut funding to conservation, because you can "just bring them back".

But as we've seen time and time again: there is no Planet B. There is no De-Extinction, not really.

Maybe what was gone should stay gone, so we can focus on what we still have.

[koipudding]

jing yuan, who loves when you’re wearing his clothes, and you return them to him. it’s so domestic and simple but he craves it. (gn reader, not a serious drabble.) reader is characterized as smaller than jy, interpret as you wish.

wc: 470

The clothes smell like you, of course. The laundry detergent you bought, your shampoo and the little scent beads you like to put in the washing machine. He doesn’t mind the musk that lingers on his old shirts after you clean the whole house, no of course not. Jing Yuan adores smelling your musk, lotion and conditioner melding together and melting into his shirt.

You go out to buy new scent beads every other month, a tiny little jar of them. Jing Yuan swears to anyone who listens that you’re doing this on purpose. Mixing your shampoo and lotion to match with the scent beads, changing the fabric softener to mess with his head (and laundry). He laments this to Fu Xuan, Qingzu, and Yanqing, who all beg you to stick to one routine before the General loses his sanity (of course, everyone groans and ignores him. they’ve had enough of his marital escapades, and they just tell him to marry you again if he’s this smitten. Thus, after a decade of marriage, Jing Yuan has rewritten his vows.) He likes these little variances in his routine, the little harmless surprise that keeps him on his toes.

(He swears it's just because you picked it out. You know it's because it reminds him that there's finally a home for him to return to.)

"I'm back, do you know what the others said during the meeting, they were planning on handing off more paperwork, but I insisted mimi and you would--" He stops in his tracks. This must be unfair. Divine Punishment? Did he anger Lan? his ancestors?

Jing Yuan sees you wearing nothing but some socks, his shorts and t-shirt (both of which hang off of your smaller frame). He runs over, pace quickening.

You yelp quietly, backing away before he pounces onto you, bearing all of his weight onto you. He can't help it, you're so cute wearing his outfit, doing laundry and making dinner.

“You smell so good.” he buries his face into your neck, inhaling the sun on your skin, lotion he bought for you, and the conditioner you've taken from his stash.

“And you smell icky.” You push him off gently, but his arms only tighten. He just got back from work, and he reeks of sweat. But you can’t ignore how your heart races whenever he gets up to these antics, and you can’t help but indulge in his whims. 

This is a regular habit. He barely removes his armor before running to you, and clings to you like a sullen child, asking about dinner and how his darling and mimi have been. You can only sigh and pat his head while he recharges in your lap (or, in Yanqing’s words: naps.) 

"thank you, for everything," He whispers into your ear, "You're doing great, sweetheart."

a/n: I was talking to a coworker abt how the only thing that brings me joy now is a 2d man (jy) and buying new scent beads/laundry scent boosters or sample perfume. then I had this idea. also that ending bit :,) sending good vibes to all with my first fic of the new yr!

[benevolenterrancy]

May your hardened heart be woken By the soft and distant song Of all you left here unspoken All the shards we keep stepping on - Take this body home Take this body home Call the wind, and let her know Take this life outgrown Take this broken soul Call the stars, call them all And take it high, take it far, take it home

[anewp0tat0]

i lied i had like atleast one more weston thought to expell from my brain, before i miss this boat entirely. we're heading to green lands woooo

[jessmalia]

Cassandra and But Daddy I Love Him being two sides of the same coin

[raphaerolo]

✨🌘And so the Sun fell in love with the Moon 🌒✨

[johnny-but-emo]

Imagine being 13-14 years old and finding out that the manifestation of your soul is a rabid monster that kills anything it touches.

[lilac-bramble]

When you write a sentence and then you need to see it so much that you have to draw it…

[luuxxart]

PERSONA 5??? IN MY DELTARUNE??? [[it’s more likely than you think]]

+ closeups

[twilightkitkat]

Part 3 of thinking about the reaction another universe's Logan would have to meeting Wade. To Wade and Logan's relationship.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4

---

Logan hadn't left Wade's side since he got here. Eventually, Wade managed to convince him to calm down enough that he could briefly explain to the X-men that this was his Logan, the one from his universe, who came looking for him.

His Logan hovered close to him, practically plastered to his side as if he'd disappear the second he took his eyes off him. Other-Logan was nowhere to be seen.

Eventually, they returned to Wade's room for the night. The X-men offered Logan a room of his own, but he point-blank refused.

When Wade crawled into the twin-sized bed (which definitely wasn't big enough to comfortably fit two people), Logan slipped under the covers behind him. Logan pressed his nose to Wade's neck and released a shaky breath of relief.

He could finally relax now that he was alone, away from the probing crowd that reminded him too much of memories he'd rather leave in the past. Now that he could focus on Wade. His scent, the steady rhythm of his heartbeat, and the sound of his breathing.

The exhaustion hit Logan like a truck. He'd barely gotten any sleep in the past month Wade's been missing, and when he did it was fitful and left him feeling inexplicably more tired when he awoke. He didn't realize how much he depended on the comfort of Wade's presence to sleep until it was gone.

(When he was alone, it reminded him of being back in his universe. Of waking up in the middle of the night, claws unsheathed, breathing wildly. Of realizing he was completely alone, that everyone he cared about was dead. Of popping open a bottle of liquor just to silence the noise of his own thoughts.)

Wade reminded him that he was in a new universe, now. That he wasn't alone. Logan wrapped his arms around him, securely (tight enough to not let him escape) and finally, finally, let himself breathe.

Wade hummed, content at feeling the hot breath of Logan on his neck as he drifted off to sleep. For the first time in a month, he felt warm. He felt safe. He felt comforted, knowing that Logan was here with him. Apparently having a life-sized human heater spoiled him and made it difficult to stomach sleeping alone.

They both fell asleep, comforted by the familiarity of each other's presence.

(It was the best sleep either of them had in weeks.)

---

The aftermath was just a little bit awkward.

Logan hardly left his side, warily glaring at anyone who came to disturb their peace as they went about their day. He seemed to still be on edge around the other X-men (and anyone who wasn't Wade in general).

Wade was sure it would be difficult for him to interact with them, too, if he'd seen and come to terms with all of their deaths. Of being responsible for the downfall of an alternate version of them. It must be jarring to see them alive and well, to see a distortion of the future he could've had with caricatures of his friends.

(It made Wade a little anxious to think that Logan was remembering it all. Reminiscing on a better time before Wade came and took him away from his world.)

Despite the companionship they'd built, Other-Logan had been making himself scarce. Wade was a little concerned about him, but he was more focused on his own version, who'd been acting as his own personal guard dog. (If a guard dog was 300 pounds and a fully grown man.)

Still, sometimes when they passed by each other, he swore he saw that same look in Other-Logan's eyes. The one he still had difficulty deciphering, but recognized as meaningful.

The one his Logan had in the first few weeks of living together. After they'd saved the world. (Maybe even before it.)

(He tried not to think too hard about it.)

The other X-men were just dancing around them. They seemed to be unsure of how to interact with a Logan so similar and yet so completely different from their own. The only member of the X-men who knew about this Logan's backstory was Wolverine and... let's just say it wasn't getting out anytime soon.

It was almost funny to watch their attempts to start a conversation with Logan only to be met with short, one-word responses. Almost. (It wasn't funny to feel how Logan tensed up next to him, how he smoothed over his expression and put himself on guard. To see the slight trembling of his clenched fists. To see the haunted looks in his eyes.)

And so they ended up accidentally (or purposefully, on Logan's part) avoiding everyone for the first few days.

Wade hadn't gone out on any missions in that time. Logan didn't seem like he was in any mood to go out with the others, and, quite frankly, neither was Wade. He didn't realize how much he missed Logan until he was here.

(And a part of him was relieved that Logan was choosing to stay with him. That he clung to him tightly and didn't seem to be tempted to go rubbing elbows with the other X-men anytime soon.)

He'd managed to fill Logan in after they first crashed from exhaustion together. Logan seemed equal parts concerned and relieved to find out that he'd been stranded because his device was broken. (Because that meant Wade wasn't kidnapped or in danger. Because that meant Wade didn't want to leave him behind.)

They'd been sleeping in the same bed ever since. Anytime the X-men brought up moving Logan to another room, a nicer one with a bigger bed, he just growled and muttered that he didn't need it. One time, they'd offered to move another twin-sized bed into Wade's room so that they could at least have their own place to sleep, but Logan gruffly and very quickly turned that down too.

They hadn't tried to separate them since.

Even when Charles Xavier himself called Logan into his office the morning after he arrived, Logan didn't seem to consider leaving Wade behind as an option. And so they'd both stumbled into the office, suspiciously pressed close together, to report Logan's arrival.

Not that Wade was complaining. He'd offer to be Wolvie's emotional support teddy bear any day. (Even if he got dragged around roughly like a toddler who didn't learn to play nice with or share their toys yet.)

Charles had looked at them oddly, a mix of what could only be described as surprise and then understanding crossing over his face. He didn't comment on Wade's presence, nor Logan's insistence to keep him close by.

(He'd pulled aside the other X-men shortly after and told them to not bother this Logan too much. That he'd been through things their Logan hadn't and that he wouldn't be very receptive to their presence. To not comment on his relationship with Wade and to let them be.)

(It had aroused a mixture of confusion and suspicion among the X-men. Scott and Jean exchanged concerned glances with each other. What could cause Logan to want to avoid them, even in another universe? What did Logan go through to be so wary of them? To rely on Deadpool, of all people, for emotional support?)

(And why was their Logan influenced as well?)

After that, things had gone fairly smoothly. Wade occasionally still annoyed Colossus, who'd begun to reluctantly accept his presence (and who Logan was the least on guard around, out of all of the X-men). It drew skeptical glances from the other X-men, who were surely wondering what reason Wade had to be bothering Colossus, of all people.

But other than that, they mainly kept to themselves.

Until today, that is.

Today, the other X-men had finally managed to find a lead on the man who'd KO'd Wolverine and Deadpool, shattering Wade's pathway back to his own universe. Apparently, he'd set up a new base, this time with better-equipped personnel.

Seemed the asshole wasn't working alone. Of fucking course. When Wade wanted a fight all he could find were pussies, but It couldn't ever be easy when Wade actually wanted to go home. Just his luck.

It was large-scale enough that the majority of the X-men were preparing to go on the raid. Not a good sign.

Of course, Wade had saddled in and prepared to go the second they said they had a lead. And of course, by default, that meant Logan was coming with him.

They'd both rested enough, and while they were slightly on edge, Wade doubted that was going to go away anytime soon until they got back to their own universe. It'd be better to just rip the bandaid off and get this shit over with so that they could curl up on their shitty pull-out couch and eat leftovers and let themselves decompress from whatever the fuck this mission was turning into.

After a quick debrief in which they essentially went over everyone's roles and the layout of the base (or what they knew of it, at least) they set off.

Logan and Wade were paired together, luckily (well, most likely intentionally from the sharp glare Logan shot everyone when they began discussing their roles). They were tasked with clearing out the enemies and working their way to the main base, which was unsurprising given their tank-like abilities and healing factors.

Wade stared out the window for most of the ride there (and Logan stared at Wade) and before he knew it, they'd arrived.

And wow. The villains had really outdone themselves in the cliche base department. If the abandoned nuclear power plant was basic, the shady abandoned military facility was the equivalent of a white girl who liked Starbucks and listened to Taylor Swift. Completely predictable and not at all original.

They all split off into smaller, individual teams and, after a quick confirmation, they went in.

The henchmen this time were vaguely impressive. Well, impressive in the sense the typical office worker was impressive compared to a 10-year-old. It actually took more than 5 seconds for Logan and Wade to clear out the first wave.

But a run-of-the-mill decent group of villains was no match for Wade and Logan's teamwork. If Other-Wolverine and Deadpool worked like a well-oiled machine, this Deadpool and Wolverine worked like they were fucking telepaths. Completely in sync, predicting each other's attack patterns and weaving in and out like they shared a set of strings puppeteering them.

(It caused a few of the X-men to stop and stare to watch. It was brutal and grotesque and... beautiful, in way, to see how quickly they plowed through the villains. The X-men knew teamwork—they were accustomed to it, with the whole superhero team shtick—but not this type of partnership. This type of innate, primal fluidity that allowed them to move as one.)

Before long, with a suprising lack of resistance, given this was supposed to be The Villain Base (although, to be fair, they did have the X-men playing cleanup crew around them and taking care of the rest), they finally made their way into what could only be reffered to as some sort of fucked-up evil lab.

The walls were lined with shady medical equipment and some type of alien technology, and, to no one's surprise, the same fucker as last time was standing in the center.

"Nice to see you again, Deadpool," he nodded. "And... nice to meet you, Wolverine."

OK, hold on a second. He thought it was weird that this guy knew his name the first time considering he was, y'know, new around these parts, but he'd brushed it off. Maybe there was an alternate version of him running around (even if he hadn't heard of one despite interrogating an absurd number of people connected to the underground). But to know that this was an alternate version of Wolverine, just upon seeing him?

It's like the asshole predicted their arrival in this dimension.

Wade tensed slightly, and judging by a glance at Logan next to him, he'd picked up on that discrepancy too.

"Hey, Cable 2.0. Or should I call you Evil Cable? Cable the destroyer? Actually, calling you Cable would be an insult to his brand. How about generic futuristic villain #46," Wade quipped, trying to steel his nerves and school his expression back into a grin.

"I assure you, I'm nothing like this Cable you speak of," the man replied, calmly, "If he were similar to me, you wouldn't be standing here right now."

"Oooooh, scary, I think I almost pissed my pants! Quick, Wolvie, hide me, I'm quivering in my boots!" Wade ducked behind Logan, voice rising high from mock-fear. Logan merely grunted, but allowed him to hide behind him for the bit. (See, even Logan must agree he's funny if he's playing along.)

The man blinks at them, clearly unimpressed, before raising his gun. Okay, so they're getting right into it. Fun.

Logan unsheathed his claws and Wade gripped his guns tightly.

And then the fight behind.

This Logan and Wade had better teamwork compared to the last encounter. Their teamwork was down to a science, or a particularly bloody work of art.

Unfortunately, this time, their opponent knew their attack patterns. He was deflecting their attacks with ease, using minimal effort to dodge even while they ganged up on him.

This went on for a few moments, making barely any progress aside from wasting time. Until, a growl was heard from behind them—

—and another Wolverine joined the mix.

"I can you're struggling a bit, bub, let me help you out," he grunted, slashing at the villain.

"Awww! I'd be swooning right now if not for the fact it'd get me killed!" Wade chirped back, dodging a bullet that shot his way.

His Logan growled slightly and landed next to him, before murmuring, "Focus on the fight. Stop getting distracted."

Wade pouted in response but followed dutifully to attack the villain with Logan.

Their group teamwork was actually fairly impressive, in Wade's opinion. Which wasn't surprising, given that two of the members had near-identical fighting styles and both were used to working with him.

The two Wolverines clashed a bit at first, aiming for the same spots and directing annoyed growls at each other. But after Wade finally made them calm down ("Woah woah woah, ladies, there's enough hits to go around! This isn't Fortnite, you aren't going for the Battle Royale. Let's all work together, yeah?") they fell into a better rhythm.

They were holding up fairly well, even managing to make leeway and push the man back. They were on the winning side of the fight (which they better be on, with Deadpool and two fucking Wolverines trying to kill him). "Were" being the key word.

Because, right as they seemed to be tiring out the asshole, he pulled a move nobody expected. He leaped back, suddenly, creating distance, and grabbed a suspicious-looking metal device from the table.

All three of them exchanged glances and seemed to be on the same page: Do Not Let The Fucker Use It, Whatever It Is.

And so they all leaped at once, claws and guns and knives blazing, until the man sidestepped and with a clink had attached the device to Wolverine's neck. To his Logan's neck.

It folded out into a sickeningly familiar shape.

Fuck.

Logan's claws retracted and a panicked look flashed in his eyes despite his angry posture.

It was an ability-restricting collar.

And Wade had a feeling it wouldn't be as easy as punching in the code "7" to get it off, considering the futuristic, sturdy, and significantly more complicated-looking design.

The man picked Logan up by the back of the neck of his suit with an inhuman strength (had he been holding back, before?) and Wade saw fucking red.

Before he could think, he was unloading a full magazine into the man's chest and head. But the bullet wounds just closed up and the shells fell to the ground uselessly.

He saw the fear in Logan's eyes. At being powerless.

A reflection of how Wade felt, strapped to that table. Tortured. (Francis' voice rang in his ears. "What's my name?")

Wade lunged, trying to dig his katanas into the man's side. He dodged, stepped to the side, and blocked as Wade desperately, frantically tried to injure him. Just enough to let Logan go.

"Get your filthy hands off of him, you son of a bitch, or I swear to God I will tear you limb from limb like a 5 year old's shitty Barbie doll!" Wade snarled, a venom in his voice that made Logan's eyes widen from in his hold.

(A venom that made the Logan behind him look astonished, too. It'd always been him as the protector, the stronger one. He always had to carry the burden of worry, of solving the problem. And yet, here was a version of him with someone to do the same for him. Someone who would go to hell and back for him in the same way he had to, countless times.)

(That familiar ache was back.)

"I don't think I will," the man hummed, side-stepping yet another attack. "As a matter of fact, I'm getting quite bored of this back-and-forth."

Suddenly, the man held up a knife (where did that come from?) to Logan's throat. Logan, who didn't have his healing factor right now. Logan, who was just as vulnerable as any other human right now.

(Logan, who was looking at him with terror in his eyes. Logan, who had wanted death for so long, pressing himself against the barrel of his gun and fucking laughing the first time they'd met. Logan, who, through all the blood and sweat and tears and sacritice, had finally found a reason to live again. Logan, who didn't want to die anymore. Who wanted to live with Wade.)

It was like the world stopped turning. It was the same feeling Wade had felt the night Vanessa died, all noises drowned out and all colors and shapes blurring together and ohgodohgodohgod she's dead she's gone it's all my fault I never should've met her to begin with— but this was worse, somehow. It didn't just feel like the rug had been pulled out from underneath his feet, it felt like the entire fucking ground crumbled apart, collapsing in on itself, leaving him tumbling closer and closer to Earth's core until he's burned alive and swallowed whole. It felt like drowning and suffocating and burning alive all at once. It felt like losing his very foundation, the one thing he allowed himself to cling on to, thinking he'd never have to say goodbye. It felt like all his worst fears and nightmares came true in the worst possible way.

It felt like dying.

"Now," the man started, not giving a damn about Wade's internal panic and the incessant ringing in his ears, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way."

Why was Other-Logan just standing there? Why wasn't anyone moving? Why was nothing happening? How could the world keep spinning when it felt like his world was in limbo right now, powerless and dangled between the claws of a monster, threatening to drop him into its maw?

"You can let me go with your buddy right here, or I kill him now and you never see him again. Understood?" the man tightened his grip around Logan's throat, who began hacking slightly. The knife nicked his skin slightly, creating a trail of red down his neck. Logan hissed in pain.

Wade wanted nothing more than to tear his fucking throat out in response.

But he clenched his fists instead, feeling his blunt nails dig into his skin even through the suit.

"Wade, just let me go, you can come get me later, yeah?" Logan wheezed, barely able to speak around the constricting grip.

"But—he could—Logan, no, I can fight him, I can, I won't let you sacrifice yourself again," Wade fumbled over his words, unable to focus on anything but Logan Logan Logan.

"I'm not sacrificin' myself, just," his voice was rough and heavy, "let me go. You can't win, Wade. I'm not going to watch you die trying to save me."

"But—"

"You heard him," the Wolverine behind him suddenly spoke, putting a hand on his shoulder. (Wade wanted to rip it off. It was wrong wrong wrong, so similar and yet too different from his Logan. His Logan, who had deeper callouses. His Logan, whose hands were rougher and gripped him firmly.) "He'll kill him if we fail to fight him now."

Why was everybody else okay with this? Why did everyone else seem so calm when it felt like Wade's world was imploding, his vision was narrowing, and his senses were going haywire?

(Logan could get hurt. Seriously. Not just superficially. He could be tortured like he was. Wade didn't like knowing Logan was in pain, even with his healing factor, but without it? He could be killed. Even if the man kept his promise right now, who's to say it holds up in an hour? A day? A week? Wade couldn't even comprehend living that long without knowing if Logan was dead or alive. Logan could die and he wouldn't know, because he'd be outside of his reach.)

Wade caught Logan's eyes.

Fuck.

He was scared too, Wade could tell, but putting on a brave face for him. Trying to calm Wade down, when Logan was the one getting kidnapped. He was fucking pathetic. (It really was God's Greatest Joke that he couldn't die, huh?)

Wolverine tensed beside him, ready to hold him back if needed. Wade bit his lip until it fucking bled and finally managed to mumble, "Fine."

"What was that?" the man gloated.

"Fine," Wade hissed. "But I'll be back to get him, and I swear to fucking God, if a single hair on his head is out of place, I'll eviscerate you. I'll make sure you wish you didn't have a healing factor, because I'll torture you until you're begging to die. And then finally, I'll snap that shitty collar onto your neck and kill you in the most painful way possible.

The man seemed unphased. But it was a promise. A promise Wade would keep even if his life depended on it. Even if he had to drag himself out of his own grave, regenerate his limbs from scratch, claw his way out of hell, he would make him suffer if he did anything to Logan.

Logan's eyes widened from in the man's grasp. Wade looked at him, a dark expression on his face. Letting him know how serious he was. (That Wade would do anything for him, to keep him safe. To keep him by his side. That if he got hurt, he'd murder every fucking person involved.)

Logan's eyes shone with realization, a vague spark of hope. It made Wade all the more desperate to save him, to live up to those expectations.

"Well, I hate to interrupt the moment, but I really must be going," the man commented.

It took all of Wade's willpower not to lunge at him. Not to attack him as he picked up a suitcase and walked away, yanking Logan alongside him by the back of his neck.

Logan's haunted yet trusting (despite it all, he had faith in Wade, even when he let him get hurt in the first place) eyes were the last thing Wade saw before they dissapeared.

Wade wanted to go after them, to chase them, but he knew better. The other X-men weren't here right now. If all three of them barely managed to hold up against this man, how would the remaining two beat him? And who knew whatever other tricks were up his sleeves.

He was unpredictable. He was dangerous.

Wade knew this, but—

He should've been faster. He should've taken the hit instead of Logan (even if it seemed the man was targeting him to begin with). He should've been better, should've been stronger. Should've prevented Logan from being taken in the first place.

His knees buckled underneath him and he collapsed to the floor. The Other Wolverine startled behind him, dropping to the floor with him and wrapping his arm around Wade for support.

Wade felt the same, desolate, useless feeling wash over him that he had when he'd cradled Vanessa's dead body. He'd failed. Again. He had so much time to learn and do better and yet he still failed. It was all his fault. Everything was his fault.

He should've just brought Logan with him to begin with. Should've swallowed his fears and sucked it up, even if Logan did want to leave him. Logan was a grown man, he could make his own choices. He could realize that his current life, his life with Wade, wasn't worth it if he wanted. He could abandon him and Wade would have no fucking ground to stand on to stop him.

And yet Wade couldn't just fucking swallow his pride and had to behave like a jealous teenager.

(Would it be any different, if they came here together? If they were on the same page from the start, had time to plan and learn together? The man was so fucking strong that even if they had time, Wade was unsure if they'd beat him alone. Maybe they were predestined to fail. All because of Wade's incompetence.)

"Hey," Other-Logan started to speak in a low, worried tone, "We'll get him back. I promise."

He had a concerned and vaguely unsure look on his face, clearly unused to trying to comfort someone. Here's another Logan, comforting Wade when his feelings shouldn't even be a priority to begin with.

"It's my fault," Wade muttered.

"What?"

"It's my fucking fault. Everything is my fault. I should've gotten kidnapped instead. At least if he took me, I could take it."

"Wade—"

"I mean, it's no big deal if I get tortured. I'm used to it. At least I'd fucking deserve it for the stupidity of getting my communication device broken. At least then I'd be the only one hurt, and it's not like I matter anyway."

"Wade, what are you—"

Wade continued to ramble on, frantically, tears collecting in his eyes and threatening to fall down his face, "It should've been me. Logan is a fucking hero, he has a place in the world. He shouldn't be hurt just because of my mistake. I dragged him into this shit, into my universe, and how do I repay him? By letting him get fucking kidnapped and tortured on my behalf!" Wade had to physically force himself to not devolve into full-body sobs at this point, trembling underneath Logan's hand on his shoulde. Rocking back and forth like a lunatic.

"Wade, just listen for one fucking sec—"

"I should've just killed myself. I should've sacrified myself to destroy the Time Ripper, should've been strong enough to grab both the matter anti-matter channels and dissapeared from existence. At least it'd only be me who's gone, and Logan would still be safe. I never should've dragged him into my shit, I should've been long dead before I even met him. I should've had the balls to snap that collar on my neck and explode myself for real—"

—Slap.

Logan had honest to god slapped him. Hard.

Wade snapped out of his rant, holding his cheek as a deep purple bruise formed. He started hollowly back at Logan.

"Shut the fuck up," Other-Logan growled. "Don't speak about yourself like that. You don't deserve to die. It wasn't your fault, you fucking know that. We all were there, so it's as much on us as it was you. None of us could've seen it coming."

"Rich, coming from you, Mr. Blame Himself in the flesh," Wade retorted, scrambling for any kind of purchase in the conversation.

"I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to make me pissed off enough to let it go. But I won't." Logan took a deep breath, running a frustrated hand through his hair. He finally seemed to collect himself and looked at Wade, his gaze piercing and sharp. "Look, you... you're not worthless. Hell, you're the furthest thing from it. When I'm around you, it feels like I'm actually a person for the first time I can remember. It's like I can finally fucking breathe. And if that's how I feel, when I've known you for just a month, I imagine it's even stronger in your Logan."

Wade started to protest, but Logan cut him off. "None of that, bub. You know I'm right. You can't honestly be that fucking blind to not see the impact you have on him. On me. ...Look, when you've been alive as long as I have, it's inevtiable that you feel lonely. Of fucking course it is, when everyone around you dies and you're the only one left standing." Wade stares at him wordlessly, a hint of understanding in his eyes.

"...But you make it better," Logan settles on. "Do you see the way he looks at you? Like if you're gone, nothing matters? That isn't the look of someone who hates you. I don't, and he sure as hell doesn't. So stop putting yourself down when you fucking know he wouldn't want you blaming youself. You wouldn't blame him if you got captured, would you?"

"...No, but that's—"

"—The exact same scenario. But you're too stuck in your head to realize it." Logan groaned, seemingly lost for words to say. "Look, I'm not the best at this. At saying what I'm feeling. You know this. But what I do say, I mean. And I mean it when I say that it isn't your fault and he'd never blame you. I wouldn't. You shouldn't either."

Wade looked at him, at his sincerity, and for some reason he felt more like sobbing than he did before.

"So let's get him back, yeah?" Other-Logan asked, gruff and hesitant. It felt like a peace offering. An olive branch.

"...Yeah," Wade murmured, and let his body weight fall against Logan, who was beside him now. Logan wrapped an arm around him, hesitantly at first, and then more securely when Wade leaned into it.

Wade curled into him, thoughts running a million miles a minute.

(Where was Logan right now? How far had they gotten? What if he was hurt? What if he was writhing in pain, calling out for Wade, and he wasn't ther? What if he was tortured? What if he was dead?)

(...No, Wade wouldn't let himself imagine the worst-case scenario. Of never seeing Logan again. He wouldn't accept that reality. He couldn't. Didn't know to live, anymore, in a world without him. He'd once tore through different universes and escaped the void, all to save his family. He'd do it again in a heartbeat.)

(He'd get Logan back no matter what.)