#leo was gonna say something much harsher before this | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

peggyrose19 · 3 years

Text

Day 24: Secret Santa

Happy Christmas Eve everyone!! I can’t believe it’s here already, feels like it was March just yesterday. I am very excited for this. Because the prompt for today is Secret Santa, I thought what better time to post my SW Discord Secret Santa! It was written as a gift for the wonderful @im-oknutzy-trash. I had an amazing time writing this and I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. Prompt from @remus-john-lupin, characters and AU from the amazing @lumosinlove. This is the last advent fic I’ll be doing, and I’m so so grateful to all of you that have kept up with them all, it really means a lot. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday, ily guys 😘

Logan had it all planned out.

The tree, the lights, the food.

The rings.

The only problem was actually executing his plan. And keeping it a secret until Christmas Eve.

He had been doing well for the first week or so. Of course, the rings hadn’t arrived yet, so maybe that was why. But once he had them, hidden away in his sock drawer in his bedroom, it all suddenly became urgent, a heavy presence he could feel hanging over him anytime he entered the apartment.

With each day, the urgency grew and grew. He could feel it every waking moment, and even when he was asleep, the pressure and nerves and need to keep it secret. The problem, of course, was that Logan was terrible at keeping secrets.

He knew Finn and Leo could feel him pulling away. He had hoped it wasn’t too obvious, but the looks on their faces when he forced a laugh or a smile, or cut off their kisses too soon, distancing himself as best he could. Because he knew that if he kissed them for too long, if he allowed himself to fall into that endless pit of love and desire, he would ask them right then and there, consequences be damned, and his planning would all go to waste.

So he stayed silent, stayed away as best he could, trying not to hurt them.

A week and a half before Christmas Leo and Finn confronted him.

“Logan, what’s going on?” Finn asked at dinner.

“Quoi?” Logan asked, looking up from his food.

“You’ve been acting weird for weeks,” Leo explained. “Is something going on, are you okay?”

“Oh! No, I’m fine.” His heart pounded, hoping they would believe him, mind going to the box in his dresser. He forced the image away.

But Finn pushed. “Is it us? Are we doing something wrong?”

“What? Nonono, you two are perfect. It’s not- I’m fine, I promise.”

“Logan, we know something’s wrong!” Finn exclaimed frustratedly. “I know you, I can tell when you’re not saying something.” Logan just sighed heavily. It wasn’t like he could tell them the truth. He hadn’t thought he would make it this far before blurting it out, honestly. But he had and now Finn was upset with him and Leo looked sad and uncertain and he wasn’t sure what to do now.

“I’m fine, okay?” he said, harsher than he meant, and Leo flinched back a bit. “Sorry,” he said immediately. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to yell. But truly, nothing is going on.”

“Lo-” Finn whispered and fell silent. Both of them were staring at him.

“Fuck,” Logan muttered, and got up from the table.

Leo and Finn watched him go, dumbfounded, unsure what to do now. But Logan was back a moment later, a small box clutched in his hand. He ran his free hand through his hair, sighing.

“I had a plan, to do this on Christmas Eve with the tree and lights and- whatever, there was a whole plan. But you two are too fucking smart I guess.” He smiled ruefully. “Finn, Leo, I love you both so so much. Like, more than anything. I don’t know what I would do without you. And....” he trailed off. Leo and Finn exchanged a confused glance. “Well, merde, here we go.”

In one smooth movement, he dropped to his knee, opening the box in his hands, two silver rings sitting on the velvet inside.

Leo’s hands went to his mouth, Finn reaching out blindly to grip his shoulder. Leo grabbed his hand. Both of them were staring at Logan.

“Mon amours, will you marry me?”

It was quiet for a long time, Finn and Leo left staring in complete amazement. This was not what they had expected when they started dinner.

“Lo,” Finn whispered, staring at him, tears shining in his eyes. “Holy shit. Holy shit.”

And then he rushed at Logan, collapsing into his arms and kissing him senseless, nearly knocking both of them over. In the next moment, Leo was there too, wrapping his arms around both of them, kissing any part of Logan he could reach, heart pounding wildly

“I love you I love you I love you,” Finn murmured over and over, words slurring together as he kissed Logan's cheeks and neck and lips, unable to get enough.

“So is that a yes?” Logan choked out and both boys paused.

“Of course it’s a yes, baby,” Leo sniffed, fighting back tears

“Yes yes, a thousand times yes,” Finn added and Logan could’ve cried with relief and joy, because the loves of his life just agreed to marry him and never in a million years had he ever imagined this happening. An overwhelming sense of love washed over him, and he was so fucking grateful that he had found them, that they found each other, and they can be together and happy and married.

Never in a million years had any of them imagined this would happen. But there they were, together, crying and laughing and kissing, Logan sliding rings on their fingers, falling tangled to the floor in a mess of frantic hands and wet kisses. Logan never wanted to move again.

Leo fought the urge to pace as he listened to the phone ringing. Logan and Finn were waiting for him in their bedroom, urging him to call before they went to bed. His heart was pounding. He wasn’t quite sure why. But he was excited and in love and possibly a little bit drunk. There was a click as the line connected.

“Mama?” he asked, fighting to keep his voice steady.

“Hey, baby!” her familiar voice chirped, and he relaxed marginally. “What’s goin’ on with you?”

“Um, well I have some news.”

“Oh! Well, the last time you had some ‘news’ it was to tell us about Finn and Leo.” Leo couldn’t fight a small laugh. He could sense his mom narrowing her eyes at that. “What kind of news do you have exactly?”

“The good kind,” he promised, unable to fight a smile.

“I’ll go get your father, shall I?”

“Yeah, yeah I think you should.” It was quiet for a few moments, before Leo heard his dad talking faintly, presumably asking who was on the phone.

“Okay, he’s here,” her voice came back louder.

“Hey bud,” Wyatt said, “What’s this news you have?”

“Um…” he trailed off, unsure how to say it. He scrubbed a hand over his face, unsure why he was so nervous all of a sudden. His parents had been nothing but supportive, so why was he freezing?

“Leo?”

“Sorry. Um… well, Logan, uh, he proposed tonight.”

The phone went dead silent for a long moment, and all Leo heard was the pounding of his heart. Then his mother shrieked and the dam broke.

“Oh my god, really? Baby, that’s amazing!”

“Did you say yes? I’m assuming you said yes, considering how happy you are.”

“Yeah Dad, I said yes,” Leo laughed, pressing a hand to his cheek. His face hurt from smiling. He wasn’t sure he was ever going to stop smiling. “Both of us did.”

“Aww my baby’s getting married!” his mom shrieked, and Leo could just imagine the elated look on both of their faces.

“Le, that’s so exciting!” his dad exclaimed. All Leo could do was laugh.

“Have you set a date yet?”

“No, Mom, he just asked a few hours ago,” he laughed, shaking his head. “You guys are the first ones I’ve told.”

“Oh, honey, that’s amazing.”

“Yeah. I’m really excited.”

“Oh, well we should let you get back to your boys, call us in the morning okay? I want to hear everything.”

“Okay, I will,” he promised.

“And honey, I am so proud of you. So proud.”

“Thanks, Mama. I love you, both of you.”

“We love you too, honey.”

After Leo hung up, setting his phone down on the coffee table, he sat for a moment, taking it all in. His parents knew, they were excited and happy. He never could have imagined this happening.

He sighed happily, pushing himself off the couch and heading for the bedroom. His boys were in bed, Logan lying on top of Finn with his face buried in the crook of his neck. But he looked up as Leo padded into the room, smiling sweetly up at him.

“Hey Peanut,” he sighed. “How’d it go?”

“They were really excited,” Leo said, grinning. He climbed onto the bed beside them, slotting himself against Finn’s side and running a soft hand through Logan’s hair, leaning into the both of them. “My mom wanted to know if we’d set a date yet.” Logan laughed at that, Finn smiling down at him.

“Nah, we got time.”

“So much time.”

Finn held up his hand, admiring the silver band sitting on his finger. “I can’t believe it’s really happening,” he sighed. Logan grasped his hand, fiddling with the ring.

“Me neither,” he admitted.

A thought occurred to Finn just then. “Lo, we both have rings, but did you get one for yourself?”

Logan could only laugh, shaking his head. “I knew you were gonna ask that,” he muttered. “Yes, Fish, I got myself a ring too. It’s in my bedroom. You’re so ridiculous.”

“Hey! Who are you calling ridiculous?”

“Both of you.” Leo grinned, leaning up to kiss the pout off Finn’s face, feeling Logan’s lips on his jaw as he did. “I love you both,” he murmured. “So fucking much.”

“We love you too, Nutter Butter.”

“I can’t believe we’re getting married.”

“I can’t believe you two ruined my proposal.”

“What do you mean?”

“Fucking- I had a plan! It was all romantic and shit, and then you two ruined it by getting all concerned.”

“Well, what was your plan?”

Logan grumbled for a moment before reluctantly responding. “I was gonna ask on Christmas Eve, y’know, after we’d read The Night Before Christmas and were on the couch watching cheesy movies with the lights all off except the tree. There was gonna be cookies and hot chocolate and it was gonna be super romantic. I was gonna leave you both speechless for the rest of the night!” he finished, sweeping an arm out dramatically. “And then you went and got worried. I was doing so good too.” Finn could hear the pout in Logan’s voice.

“Aw, mon rouge,” Leo crooned, kissing his temple. “It’s okay. You can always do it again in a week.”

“Hmph.”

“Now come here so I can kiss you properly.” Logan rolled his eyes but pushed himself up, leaning over to Leo and kissing him sweetly, pushing him back against the bed.

“I love you,” Leo whispered. Finn smiled as he watched them, content to just look at them, feeling the weight of Logan still on top of him, the heat of Leo beside him. He looked at the ring on his finger, the matching one on Leo’s hand, imagining the one that would soon be on Logan’s finger too. It was more than he’d ever dreamed of, more than he’d ever thought he would have. And he knew without asking that his fiancés felt the same.

They were so incredibly lucky.

#o'knutzy #sweater weather #coast to coast #lumosinlove #proposal #christmas eve #fluff #love #so much love #they're so adorable i can't #im-oknutzy-trash #secret santa #remus john lupin #advent #december 24

78 notes · View notes

lumosinlove · 5 years

Text

Sweater Weather

part iv

Remus hovered outside James and Lily’s house, waiting for Lily to answer the door and watching his cab drive away. Lily and James lived in one of the nice, private neighborhoods, not too far from Sirius and some of the other guys, but it meant a bit of a cab ride for Remus. He’d splurge though, for Lily.

The door swung open and Lily smiled, even if she did look a little frazzled. “Re.”

Remus raised his eyebrows. “Hi, Lils.”

“Hi, hi. What’s up?” She reached and pulled him into a hug—a tight hug. “Come in?”

“Yeah. Hey, are you alright? I haven’t heard from you in a while. You seem…” Remus struggled to find the right word, but ended up settling for, “James is being weird.”

“Well, hello to you, too, Lupin.” James appeared at the bottom of one half of their twisting, grand staircase. He was in what Remus assumed was most of the guys’ uniform on their days off—sweatshirt, sweatpants, and socks. All Lions labeled.

Lily huffed, but smiled a little at James as he came over to wrap an arm around her.

“Isn’t he always being weird?” She leaned up for a quick kiss. “I want ice cream and I want to watch movies. James, shoo, Remus is mine for the day.”

James feigned offense for only a moment before grinning and giving Remus’ shoulder a little shove on his way to the kitchen. “See you in a bit, Loops.”

“Yeah. Hey, I hope your shoulder’s taped under there.”

“Of course it is,” James said, and crossed his fingers behind his retreating back where Remus could see. Remus laughed as he was tugged away by Lily.

Remus eyed her carefully as she looped their arms together, leaning her head on his shoulder and practically dragging him to her and James’ media viewing room. Something still seemed odd with her. The projector was already on and it looked like its last use went to James watching game tape.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Remus said.

Lily just looked at him, wide-eyed from where she was burrowing down in the many blankets on one of the huge couches, and Remus really knew something was up. First James at the dinner, now this.

“I’ll get the ice cream,” he said, half because he thought they’d need it, and half to give Lily a second.

“Yeah,” she said faintly, then groaned and face planted into the pillows.

James was still in the kitchen when Remus got back upstairs, seemingly fixing himself a sandwich for lunch. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Remus said hello.

“Jesus,” Remus laughed, “you just saw me. What’s up with you two?”

James laughed, but it wasn’t his normal one. He ran a hand through his hair, scrubbed it over his face, and then braced both arms on the kitchen island on either side of his sandwich fixings.

“No, sorry. I don’t know, I guess I was lost in thought. Or something.”

“Right.” Remus stooped to get the ice cream out of the refrigerator. He felt like James and Lily’s house was something like his second home, and there was nothing he was more grateful for than meeting Lily at that first pre-season barbecue. Remus had never really had that many fast friends, but him and Lily had talked all night. Remus thought she was part of the reason he was so close with James and all of the guys, unlike so many others on the Lions’ staff.

“Um” James cleared his throat, “so, what movie are you watching?”

“I don’t know yet.” Remus did look at James this time as he scooped chocolate brownie and mint into two bowls. “Pots.”

James looked up from where he was squirting mustard on his bread. James had his glasses on, the round ones that the boys made fun of on road trips. James wore them rarely, mostly when he needed a break from his contacts.

“Are you okay? Both of you, is everything…”

James swallowed a hard swallow and nodded, just a little. “I’m just gonna let Lils talk to you, alright? Don’t worry.”

Remus paused beside him, hand on the silverware drawer, “How am I suppose to not worry when you give me an answer like that?”

James picked up his plate and waved Remus off. “Your ice cream is melting.”

When Remus came back with his two generously portioned bowls, Lily was sitting back up and took one almost greedily.

“So.” Remus said, pushing his shoes off his feet with his toes and crossing his legs to face her, “Your boyfriend is remaining tight-lipped. What’s up?”

Lily just looked down at her ice cream, hair hanging so far over her face that it took Remus a good minute before he realized that her bottom lip was trembling.

“Lils, hey, hey…” His voice was nearly a coo as he took their bowls and set them just within reach on the table and scooted closer, wrapping an arm around her shoulders, “Lils…I’m sorry, I…” but Remus didn’t think it was him. He squeezed her gently, thumb rubbing over her shoulder. “What is it?”

“It’s—” Her voice broke and she sucked in a shaky breath.

Remus’ heart was suddenly in his throat again. Even if James hadn’t said anything, that didn’t mean… “I…Is it—are you and James…”

“No.” Lily gasped, even laughing a little as she wiped at her eyes, “God, no. James is perfect. We’re perfect. Fuck, I feel so stupid for even crying because it’s not actually—actually bad, I’m just—”

Lily looked up at Remus then, green eyes shining and bright. The tear tracks on her face made her many freckles look stark and beautiful. “I’m scared, Re.”

“Scared? What do you mea—” Remus’ breath cut off with his words. He glanced down at Lily’s stomach, noticing now that she had both arms carefully wrapped around it. Remus’ heart picked up and he looked back at Lily, wide-eyed. “You mean…”

“We didn’t—it was an accident, but…but we’re…”

“Happy.” Remus finished for her, feeling a smile start to cross his face.

Lily sniffled and then let out a half-laugh half-sob. “Yeah. Yeah, we are, but…you’re not freaked out? Like, we’re young—Fuck, he’s so focused on the team and he just got back from his concussion last year and he doesn’t need this right now—”

“Lily.”

Lily’s rambling cut off and she blinked at Remus, then groaned and put a large spoon of ice cream in her mouth. “What?”

“What do you want? Not worrying about anyone else. What do you want?”

This was suddenly so close to the conversation he had had with Sirius.

Lily was quiet for a moment. It didn’t seem like she was really thinking about it, exactly, more just taking her time with her words.

“I want this,” she finally said. Then she smiled a little, hand against her stomach, “more than that, I want—I want it with James.”

Remus had only just opened his mouth to respond when there was a sniffle from their right. They both looked, and Lily let out a tearful laugh because James was there, rubbing at his eyes behind his glasses, in the doorway.

“‘m not listening, I promise.” James said hoarsely, but he didn’t move.

“Oh, get over here, you idiot.” Lily said thickly, wiping her cheeks.

James smiled a little sheepishly and crouched in front of the couch between them, hand reaching out to take Lily’s and rub over her knuckles. “Feel better now?”

“Mhm.” Lily said, gazing at him.

Remus suddenly felt like a bit of an intruder on an important moment, but then James said, “Finally told your best friend. I told you it’d help. Remus is happy, isn’t he?”

“So. Extremely.” Remus said, arm still around Lily.

Maybe this special moment included him. By what James said, maybe, just maybe, even this little part of what was about to be a monumental part of their lives, was even about him.

“I think it’s a boy.” Lily suddenly gushed, cheeks pink from smiling. She did look like an entire weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.

“I think it’s a little soon to tell…or—how long has it been?” Remus asked.

“About four months,” Lily said. “we’ll be able to tell at my next appointment, that’s what the doctor said.”

James made a little noise and rested his cheek on her knee, grinning up at her. She smiled back, running her hand through his ever-messy dark hair.

“Who else knows?”

“Our parents obviously,” James said, “but from the organization, the team…”

“Just you,” Lily smiled at him.

Remus raised his eyebrows, “not even Sirius?”

James laughed, “he’s next. He’s my Remus to tell.”

Remus smiled. He liked that, the notion that Sirius was to James and he was to Lily. It made him feel more apart of the Lions than ever, left his chest warm.

The first road trip of the season was to New York to play the Rangers and Remus never sat down for more than a few minutes before a road trip. For the boys, on the other hand, everything stayed relatively regular paced. They went to practice, took pre-game naps, and played their heart out. Remus sharpened skates, made sure they had a good number of everyone’s sticks, kept track of the token and the pre-game kick around soccer ball. He brought the med-kits and the extra jerseys, the back up skates, and the back up skates for the back up skates. It was exhausting, which is probably why, when he fell into a chair in the Lions lounge with a coffee that evening, he didn’t register he wasn’t alone until he heard hushed tones coming from behind one of the taller chairs, dark leather and plush. Leo had taken to falling asleep in them, much to the delight of James and Kasey’s habit of taking embarrassing pictures and having them printed out to cover various parts of the lounge.

“Oui, maman, ma cheville…c’est bien,” Sirius said, voice low and somber, like every word was being dragged out of him.

Remus didn’t quite speak French, but he had taken a few courses in college, just to be able to talk to some of the French-Canadian guys on his team, and he registered that Sirius was talking about his ankle, saying it was fine. He registered that Sirius was talking to his mother.

Remus should move. He knew he should move.

“Je ne serai pas violent sans raison,” Sirius continued, then, after a pause, a little harsher, “Ce n’est pas une raison.”

Remus swallowed. Sirius’ mom was asking him to play dirty, to hit someone, maybe. God, Remus couldn’t imagine hearing that from a parent—

“Si ce n’était pas un accident…d’accord. Il est bas. Il est ignoble. Je n’est pas.”

Remus heart was in his throat. They had to be talking about Snape, and Sirius was—he was—

If it wasn’t an accident…okay. It’s a low blow, and he is low, ignoble. I am not.

Remus knew Sirius had it rough, but he was glad he could stand up for himself.

“D'accord, la prochaine fois que vous me verrez, vous pourrez me frapper tout ce que vous voudrez.”

Remus sat up then, gasped a little, and Sirius’ head poked out of his chair to see who it was. His eyes widened a little and he whipped his head back around and out of sight.

“I have to go,” he said in English, and then he was standing, facing Remus and sliding his phone in the pocket of his sweats. “Re.”

“I—I’m sorry,” Remus stuttered. “I didn’t really know anyone was in here, I was on my feet all day, I just was going to have my coffee and go—”

Sirius shook his head, shoving both of his hands into his pockets instead. “Re, I’m not mad. It’s fine.”

Remus didn’t know what to say, too focused on the sad tone of gray Sirius’ eyes.

Sirius just shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a secret.”

“That doesn’t make it okay,” Remus’ mouth blurted before he could really think twice about it. “Fuck. Sorry, that’s not my place at all.”

Sirius just shook his head again, head low. “I didn’t say it was okay. I—you know, I see Heather about it.”

Remus nodded. Heather, their sports psychologist. “That’s good, Sirius. A lot of guys wouldn’t do that.”

“Someone’s gotta be the example right?” Sirius pulled his hands free and shook them out, rolling his shoulders like he was trying to roll a weight off of them. “Or at least try to.”

Remus stood, too, took a step forward, because he wanted Sirius to listen to this. “You’re an amazing leader.”

Sirius froze up a little again after that. And it was quiet between them, just in the small space. Remus hadn’t exactly meant to get that close but…now Sirius’ eyes were flicking between his, his lips parted.

“Thank you,” Sirius said softly, then he licked his lips, his chest breathed in like he was going to—

“Boys,” Kasey banged on the doorframe a few times, as if he needed to alert his presence. Then again, Remus thought as he caught himself staring at Sirius’ mouth, maybe that was a good idea. “Coach says wheels up at ten AM sharp tomorrow.”

Sirius looked up. They took a step back at the same time and Remus took a long drink from his coffee.

“Sounds good, Kase, thanks.” Sirius said and pulled out his phone again. Remus went to turn, to go, when, “Need a ride, Remus?”

Sirius smiled at him, a slightly nervous, closed lip thing, “Or…veux-tu dîner?”

“Hungry?” Remus blurted, because it came to him faster than the word dinner and Sirius Black had just asked him if he wanted dinner, potentially with him.

A laugh burst out of Sirius, his eyes crinkled. “Oui.”

Remus loved the way Sirius said oui, loved the way all the French-Canadian guys said it—but especially Sirius. This drawn out sound that was almost twangy. It was lazy, confident, like they were sure of their answer, like they had already known the question before it had even been asked. Sirius sounded mostly Canadian when he spoke English, but it felt like that twang kept up in all of his words at least a bit. Sirius swung a little on his feet, hips dipping back and forth while he waited, hands in his pockets still. He tilted his head, puppyish.

Remus swallowed hard. “Yeah. Oui.” It didn’t sound nearly as good as it did in Sirius’ slight accent.

“Okay.” Sirius nodded, grinning. “We’re getting pizza, don’t tell anyone.”

“That’s not on your diet plan.”

Sirius swung around as he lead Remus out of the room, walking backwards, “Shh!”

“You have your first away game tomorrow night!”

Sirius just put his finger to his lips and beckoned him forward and back to the locker room to grab his stuff. “Meet me at the parking lot,” he said before disappearing inside.

Only, waiting at the door the players used gave Remus time to think. To dwell, really. He knew they’d be going to Sid’s for pizza—anyone in Gryffindor went to Sid’s—but he didn’t know anything after that.

“It’s just Sirius,” he mumbled under his breath to himself, then, “Sirius fucking Black, Sirius.”

“What?”

Remus turned sharply on his heel, “What?”

Sirius was standing there with his backpack slung over one shoulder. He pulled the door open and waving Remus through. “I thought you said my name.”

“No.” Remus shook his head, “No, no. So, none of the guys wanted to come?”

Sirius just sort of shrugged and instead of answering asked, “Where do you want to go?”

They looked at each other as they walked side by side. A hint of a smile started to form of Sirius’ face, and then they both nodded a little.

“Sid’s,” they said, and grinned.

“Of course,” Remus laughed, “where else?”

Sirius chirped his car and Remus climbed in, waiting for Sirius to stow his bag in the backseat. He climbed in and started the engine, turning around to back up, his arm going around the back of Remus’ seat. This close, Remus could see the few dark freckles that dotted his neck and the bit of collar bone revealed by the hem of his worn t-shirt. There was one just on the underside of his jaw, too.

Remus looked away, out the window at the fairly empty lot. “Hopefully we’ll get in.”

“Hopefully I don’t get mobbed, you mean.”

“That, too.” Remus conceded.

Sirius withdrew his hand from the seat but kept only one hand on the wheel, relaxed. “Busy day, huh? Excited for New York?”

“Always,” Remus said. “And that busy day is partly your fault.”

Sirius glanced at him for a second, then back at the road. “My fault?”

“You’re the one who needs your left skate to be sharpened first and from back to front. Sort of breaks up the process when you have to think about it.”

Sirius scoffed, but it took him one glance at Remus to realize he was laughing and he gave Remus a little shove in his passenger seat. “Fuck off.”

Remus felt warm from Sirius’ hand, “Your superstitions are ridiculous.”

Sirius flicked his blinker on with a little more flourish than necessary. “Excuse me, my superstitions work, thank you very much.”

“You mean you work. See, that’s the part I’ve never quite understood.”

“What part?”

Remus looked at Sirius—he might as well get an eyeful in while he had to be focused on the road. “Hockey’s so focused on superstitions. But it’s all you guys. You work hard, I watch you work hard everyday.”

Sirius nodded slowly, seemingly mulling it over in his mind. “Yeah,” he said, “but…it’s a little magic, too, don’t you think? The chemistry…the team chemistry, or the relationship to—I don’t know, luck. Lucky stick, lucky order, lucky way of taping. It’s all it is, really. I just—I’m just looking for a bit of luck. A lucky charm.”

“Nothing can be perfect. Not even honey and butter toast at 5:00 o’clock sharp.”

Sirius smiled, rolling his eyes a little, and Remus watched the way his eyes brightened, how he drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Maybe. But it feels nice to have something constant when nothing else is.” He looked over at Remus and held his eye for a second. Remus felt a little bit caught. “You know?”

Remus watched Sirius pull his bottom lip between his teeth as he looked back to the road, taking the left for Sid’s parking lot. His chest felt tight.

“Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah, alright. I’ll buy that.”

“Some guys wait a lifetime for their lucky charm, you know.”

Remus laughed. “Yeah, I’ve seen Leo and his lucky tennis balls. Yours will probably a lucky—I don’t know, brand of peanut butter. Let me know when you find it, alright?”

“Oh, I will.”

Sirius sent him a look as he pulled the car into park. A big smile and then ducked away, out of the car, and Remus was left staring at an empty seat before he got out, too.

Sid’s was crowded, as they expected, but the guy manning the front desks’ eyes went wide when he saw Sirius and they were ushered to a table in the back before too many Gryffindorians could realize who was among them. Remus was grateful for the privacy and the dim lighting. Now, if he made a fool of himself, no one would be around to watch and Sirius wouldn’t be able to quite catch the way his cheeks flamed.

“I could eat three pepperoni pizzas.” Sirius groaned as they sat down, gazing at the menu.

“I don’t really recommend that, but whatever floats your boat.”

Sirius scrunched his nose. “That will definitely sink my boat tomorrow.”

Remus shrugged, and picked out a small ham and pineapple pizza for himself. Sirius scoffed when he asked what Remus was getting.

“Dégueu.”

“It’s not gross!” Remus protested. “Have you ever actually tried it?”

Sirius sank guiltily in his seat, eyes innocent.

Remus flicked a straw at him from the canister at the table. He didn’t know what made him do it and he regretted it almost instantly. It felt—well, flirty.

Sirius’ eyes, however, lit up. He threw two back. Of course he did.

Once their pizzas arrived, Sid’s was in full swing and they had to lean in close over their food to hear each other. Sirius did the funny thing where he folded his pizza in half to eat it and he now had a little speck of grease below his lip. Remus was still deciding what to do about it.

“The guys really didn’t want to come?” Remus asked, just for something to say.

Sirius paused for a second, mid-chew, then wiped his mouth with his napkin. The small speck of grease was still there. Remus shifted in his seat.

“I guess not. The game tomorrow, maybe. Besides, sometimes small dinners are nice, eh?”

Remus nodded. “No, yeah. Yeah. This is—This is nice.”

Sirius smiled a little. “Good. I’m glad.”

Remus finally gave in. “Um. You have—” he motioned to Sirius’ mouth.

Sirius’ rolled his eyes a little, playfully at himself, and wiped his mouth. “Better?”

“Not quite.” Remus’ hand itched.

“Now?”

“No, um. It’s just—here, I…” He started to reach forward before he could really think about it.

And Sirius jolted back.

They stared at each other, Remus’ hand slowly lowering back to his lap.

Remus didn’t want to think about that, what all of that might mean, and so he touched his own lip instead and said quietly, “here,” then he nodded and looked down at his pizza, busying himself with tearing a new slice, “yeah, you got it.”

“Remus.”

“Hm?”

When Remus looked up Sirius’ eyes were sad, even a little panicked.

“What’s wrong?” Remus asked, trying his best to sound like he couldn’t fathom that anything from the last minute could have upset either of them. It sat heavy in his stomach.

“Just…pictures.” Sirius said, “Not—It’s just that anything can be taken out of context, and…”

Remus nodded. He knew that already. He knew what it could look like, especially with the scrutiny Sirius was constantly under by the public eye. Especially now, at the start of the season.

“Yeah, all good, Pads.”

But Sirius still looked incredibly guilty, his eyes pleading for something that Remus couldn’t name. That Remus thought it wasn’t really fair of Sirius to ask him to be able to name.

When Sirius just kept looking at him, Remus rolled his eyes. “Sirius, it’s fine. I know what you mean. It isn’t a big deal.”

“It’s not?” Sirius asked. His expression had turned careful, questioning.

Remus shook his head and bit into his pizza slice, mostly so he didn’t have to answer. He wished he had never done anything at all. He shouldn’t even have agreed to come to dinner. Remus had feelings, Sirius didn’t. Remus was gay, there were no openly gay players in the NHL, and that was probably because being the first one would be so difficult. Sirius wasn’t, anyway, but even if he was, Remus had taught himself not to hope for anything a long time ago.

The rest of the dinner was a little weird, stilted, maybe, and Remus was reluctant to get out of Sirius’ car, which had just pulled up at his curb, on such a note. Sirius seemed reluctant to let him, and turned his entire body towards Remus.

“Look. I know I keep bringing it up, but, about the—the thing. It’s not that I have a problem with anything like that. I don’t. I really, really don’t. Whoever loves whoever, I’m for it.”

“I didn’t think you did,” Remus replied, trying to steady his breathing. This was getting a little too close for comfort.

“I wouldn’t want you thinking that about me. I’m not my parents.”

Remus looked back at him. His face was lit blue from the dashboard in the dark. His eyes took on the color and looked strange and earnest. Remus wanted to reach out, but he didn’t know when he’d next have the courage—not for a while. “Sirius, I don’t know your parents. I know you. I know you aren’t like that.”

It was true. But Remus still couldn’t bring himself to say more. To say that he would be Sirius’, if he ever, in some universe, this one or otherwise, wanted that.

The car got silent again, but Remus didn’t look away. If there was anything he could give Sirius, if not himself, it was reassurance and friendship.

Sirius let out a long breath, pinching the bridge of his nose between his eyes. “I’m sorry I ruined dinner.”

“You’d be stupid if you weren’t jumpy about cameras. It sucks but it’s part of who you chose to be. I get it, really. Please don’t worry.” Remus tried to offer him a little smile. “It wasn’t—It wasn’t even like that anyway, so it’s not like you hurt my feelings or anything.”

It was a lie, straight through his fucking teeth, but it had to be said. But, contrary to what he expected, Remus watched as Sirius’ shoulders stiffened.

There was a hanging moment where Remus held his breath, sure Sirius was about to say something—something—

“Ten tomorrow?” Sirius straightened, chewing on his bottom lip. “Do you need a ride?”

Remus felt like there was no air left for him in the car and he cracked the door, slipping out onto the sidewalk. “Moody’s got me.”

Sirius nodded, “Okay.”

“Okay.”

Sirius smiled, tight around the eyes, and Remus had no clue how to fix anything. “Night, Re.”

Sirius drove away slowly, like he was looking back at Remus in his mirror, rather than the road.

“Night,” Remus said to the street.

Remus felt like he was nearly going to fall asleep in the elevator of their New York hotel. It was three in the morning, the Lions had lost 4-0 to the Rangers and Remus had only just finished helping the equipment staff re-load all the Lions gear back into the trucks, ready to be flown out in the morning with the rest of the team. It had been a tough game. They’d had to swap Leo in for Kasey in goal during the first period. It turned out Kasey had hurt his thigh again in practice and he was day-to-day. And Leo, in his first NHL game, had let four goals in while Henrik Lundqvist had gotten a shut out.

Remus had seen Sirius earlier in the locker room talking to him quietly, but tonight was bound to sting for a bit for all of them. After a blinding start to the season, it never felt good to fall so far.

The door dinged, but it took Remus a minute to open his eyes.

“Loops! Asleep in the elevator! Alert! Alert!”

“James—shh! Jesus fucking Christ.”

Remus snapped his eyes open to see James, Kasey, and Sirius standing there, all with what looked like m&ms and potato chips in their hands. James was grinning, Kasey was yawning and favoring his good leg, and Sirius was looking down.

Sirius hadn’t really looked straight at Remus since that night at Sid’s pizza a few days ago.

“What are you guys doing up? It’s three in the fucking morning.”

“Day off tomorrow. Just a plane ride, we can sleep then. Plus…”

James didn’t say it, but Remus nodded, knowing what he meant. It was hard to sleep after a loss. Remus could remember that from college.

“Right, well,” Remus caught the slowly closing door, “get in or take the stairs, I’m exhausted.”

They were all going to the team’s floor and Remus let himself settle against one side of the elevator while the others talked. He looked up and met Sirius’ eyes, who was leaning against the other wall while James and Kasey argued loudly, echoing in the small space. Sirius didn’t look away, but didn’t really smile either. Remus raised an eyebrow, and Sirius tilting his head.

“What?” Remus mouthed silently.

Sirius shrugged one shoulder, then waved one hand, just a little, so the others wouldn’t see.

Remus’ brow furrowed, but he waved back. Then Sirius looked away.

Fuck. Remus just wanted to go to bed.

“Night, boys,” he said when the doors opened and they all stopped at James’ door.

There was a chorus of good nights and Remus was just sliding his key card into the door when there was a hand on his shoulder. He turned into it, and Sirius was there, looming over him.

“I—hi?” Remus said.

“Hi,” Sirius looked back down at the hall where the door to James’ room had just closed behind the others, then back at Remus, “Do you—Do you want company? Or—Or you’re going to bed. You’re going to bed.”

Remus studied Sirius’ face carefully. He had said that, if Sirius needed him, he’d be here, and Remus couldn’t deny that there were few things he wanted more in life than to be there for Sirius, no matter what he had done or assumed. And Sirius obviously needed something, or at least felt like something was unresolved between them. Maybe if Remus let him in, he would finally drop it and they could go back to how it was. A little distant, but friendly. That, at least, was better than this.

Remus motioned him in with a jerk of his chin, “Come on. We’ll watch something, get you wound down. Give me those skittles if I’m going to stay awake.”

Sirius handed them over readily, like they were his ticket inside Remus’ room, and shut the door behind them.

“I’m going to take a quick shower, if you don’t mind,” Remus said, already walking towards the bathroom, “Make yourself comfortable.”

“Thanks,” Sirius said faintly.

Remus shot him a smile that he hoped was comforting before shutting the bathroom door. He let out a long breath and started the water before stripping. Having Sirius Black waiting for him on a bed would get him moving quick enough, not that he took very long showers to begin with. This was like some strange fantasy of his come to life—except, well, they wouldn’t be…

Remus huffed and stepped under the spray, grabbing for the shampoo bottle.

He realized only he was towel drying his hair that he hadn’t thought to bring an extra set of clothes into the bathroom with him and froze mid-rub, looking at himself in the mirror, wide-eyed.

“Fuck,” he said quietly, and turned to stare at the door. He could faintly hear the TV.

He wrapped the towel around his waist, making sure it was secure before opening the door. It wasn’t anything Sirius hadn’t seen before. Naked guys, that is, not Remus naked.

“Hey, sorry, forgot to get clothes before…yeah.”

Sirius had kicked his shoes off and was stretched out on the bed. He’d piled the pillows behind him and his shirt was hitched up on one side. Remus could see his flat, toned stomach. Sirius’ eyes found Remus in the dim room. His face was all soft angles in the flickering light from the TV. Sirius licked his lips, and then looked away. “s’okay.”

He still sounded unbearably sad and as Remus turned away he frowned, mentally planning his words instead of focusing on the fact that he was currently about to drop his towel and reveal his bare ass to Sirius Black, captain of the Gryffindor Lions.

He did it quickly, boxers at the ready, and soon he was in his sweatpants and pulling a sweatshirt over his head. He hesitated at the edge of the bed, and Sirius looked up at him.

“What?” Sirius asked. His voice sounded sleepy and content, much better than it had in the hall, tight and strained.

“Nothing,” Remus cleared his throat, then knelt on the bed, “You’re hogging the pillows.” He reached and tugged two out from Sirius’ mass.

It startled a small laugh out of Sirius, “Oh, sorry.”

Remus arranged the pillows to his liking, careful not to get too close to Sirius. “What are you watching?” he asked with a sigh as he flopped onto his back, “Fuck, that feels good.”

Sirius shrugged, “Just turned it on. You okay?”

“Yeah, just lots of loading and unloading today. My back is tired.”

Sirius hummed. “You guys work hard.”

Remus looked over at him. “So do you, just at different times.”

Sirius was flipping his phone idly in his hand. “Just giving you the credit you deserve.”

Remus smiled a little. “Yeah, I know.”

Sirius missed and dropped his phone on his chest with a little oof and it turned into a heavy sigh.

“Okay?” Remus asked quietly. He didn’t want to push too hard, but…

Sirius sighed. “I should be okay.”

“But you aren’t.”

“It’s one game.” Sirius let his head fall back and stared up at the ceiling. “It’s the beginning of the fucking season everything is fine.”

Sirius turned his head. Part of his cheek was smushed against the pillow and his eyes were somber on Remus. “And I shouldn’t even be dumping this on you. You’re tired, and this isn’t even a real problem, and I’m just—I’m being stupid and I can do better.”

“That’s not how it works.”

Sirius closed his eyes and sighed again. “I know that.”

“You have a team, Sirius.” Remus said gently, “It’s not just you.”

“I know.” Sirius’ voice was even softer this time and, looking at him, eyes closed, brow drawn together…

Remus wanted to kiss him. So much.

“I think you need to get some sleep.”

Sirius’ eyes opened tiredly at Remus’ words, his blinks slow, and he nodded. “I’ll just lay there. I hate just laying there, in the dark.”

Remus’ heart pulled as the words brought to mind a much younger Sirius, with no escape from the pressure, laying in a smaller bed staring up into the dark.

Remus picked up the remote and flipped until he found a cooking show. Mindless, comforting.

“Well watch a bit, eh? Take your mind off of some of it. I’m just warning you, I might fall asleep. But…I’ll be here. If you need me. Just wake me up, I don’t care.” I care too much.

Sirius’ eyebrows were still low and worried, but he was looking at Remus with something like disbelief. “Thanks, Loops.”

Remus nodded and kicked back against the pillows, the bed jostling as Sirius did the same. They ended up with their shoulders brushing despite the size of the bed. Remus didn’t know why, but from this distance he could feel Sirius’ warmth. It wasn’t just another weight in the bed, it was a person, close by. It was Sirius’ even breathing, the sound of him fiddling with the draw strings of his sweatshirt.

Remus wasn’t sure when his eyes closed, but with the soft sound of the TV and Sirius beside him, he’d never fallen asleep faster.

#sweater weather #sirius black #remus lupin #sirius x remus #remus x sirius #hockey!au #hockey player!sirius #the marauders era #sirius/remus #remus/sirius #wolfstar #wolfstar fic #wolfstar fanfiction #lumosinlove #writing #wolfstar fluff #wofstar angst #wolfstar au

450 notes · View notes

winryofresembool · 4 years

Text

Caleo fic: Future Talk

Summary: After Calypso returns from her quest to the zoo with Apollo, she and Leo have a much needed talk.

a/n: So, I'm currently about 300 pages into The Dark Prophecy... and honestly, it's been a giant struggle for me. Specifically, the Caleo scenes have been because I expected quite a lot but got very little. I love this ship so much and I just can't quite agree with the way Rick has presented them in this book. Almost all of their scenes together are just Leo making jokes and Calypso getting mad at him and it's getting pretty tiring even for me. Luckily, it's still fixable, and that's why I decided to write this fic! I like to think that there is actually way more happening behind the scenes than what Apollo tells us, and that, yes, C&L are able to have a normal conversation. On a positive side, I think the thought of them studying together is actually kind of neat, their new Waystation family is adorable (and definitely a good match for them), and I also loved the little shoutout to the garage idea at one point of TDP!

Rant over, now please enjoy this fic and let me know what you think because that way you'll get more Caleo (and other) content from me more easily! Dedicated to @criis55 :3

genre: fluff

words: 1458

warnings: none (TDP spoilers in case you haven’t read it)

ao3 link

...

After Calypso fainted in Leo’s arms, he and Josephine rushed her into the infirmary of Waystation. Thankfully, Jo’s treatment started working fast and when it became clear that she would be fine and Calypso convinced her she was feeling better, the older woman left the couple alone. An awkward silence fell into the room, both knowing there were many things they needed to address but not knowing how to start.

“You scared me there, Mamacita,” Leo said finally. “Are you really OK now?”

“Yes, I am. You do not have to mother me.”

Calypso realized from Leo’s expression that her response may have come out a bit harsher than she had meant, so she sighed and said: “I think we need to talk.”

“At least we agree on that,” Leo noted, sitting down on Calypso’s bed.

“We… we have been snapping at each other quite a lot lately,” she said quietly.

“We have,” Leo nodded seriously. “Do you think it’s because… well, we’ve had a lot going on since we left Ogygia?”

Calypso seemed to consider it for a moment. “Yes, that is probably a part of the reason. Not a day has passed since something dangerous has happened. I think coming here… this is the first time I feel somewhat safe. If you can call it safe when I was just almost killed at the zoo. And gods, even now there are all kinds of evil forces trying to get into this building.”

“When you go through it too many times, you start feeling dull towards it,” Leo noted. “Only so many monsters and earth goddesses you can blow up before you get bored.”

“I do not get how you can talk about that so calmly. You died, Leo,” Calypso said, sounding more upset about the thought than he had expected.

“Yeah, but I’m here now, Mamacita. Super-sized McShizzle has his ways to evade death.”

“Stop calling yourself like that, that is ridiculous,” Calypso pushed his shoulder, but Leo could see a hint of smile on her face.

“Oi, but you love me with my flaws and all. Right?” Leo’s eyes suddenly turned very serious. Truth to be told, that was the one thing he was worried about. What if… Calypso was with him just because she felt she owed him after he freed her from Ogygia… Or what if everything that had happened since they left the island had changed her opinion on him…

“Stupid. Do you think I would really still be here if I didn’t?” Calypso pointed out. “I do have my own will in case you haven’t noticed.”

“Right. Sorry. I just…”

Calypso’s expression softened. “You would think that a demigod who even beat my lovely grandmother would be surer of himself...” She put her hand on his cheek. “But believe me, I do not care about you out of obligation. I care about you for you. If I give you a hard time sometimes, it’s mainly because sometimes you do not know when to shut up. That does not mean that I don’t love you…”

Leo gave her a light kiss on the tip of her nose, a gesture surprisingly tender for him, and then rested his forehead against hers.

“Yo también te quiero... I was just worried because… I know that you leaving your home and becoming mortal and… all that…” he left consciously the part about her losing her powers out, “...has been hard on you. Sometimes when you look at me, I can see it in your face that you’re saying ‘this wouldn’t have happened if it weren’t for you’… Which I guess is partially true, but I need to know: are you mad at me for taking you away from Ogygia?”

A silence followed, as Calypso considered her answer. “No. Not really.” She shook her head. “Yes, it is true that I left Ogygia because of you. And I do miss it sometimes. The simple, comfortable life I had there. And my powers. And maybe the thought of death scares me a bit, especially since we’ve been so close to it so many times since we left. Sometimes, when things get bad, I seem to forget it was my decision to leave. While I was with Apollo, he reminded me of that, and even though I hated to hear it… It was probably something I needed to hear. You know it is hard for me to admit I am wrong, but I’m sorry, Leo. I should not have made you feel like that. None of it is your fault; we are just… victims of the circumstances.”

“Don’t worry about it. I think I can see where you’re coming from.” Then he turned his eyes to the direction where he imagined Apollo was in that moment, looking unimpressed. “The gods really don’t want to make things easy for us, do they?”

“No, I guess not,” Calypso chuckled a bit at the irony. “Even now there is one running around as a mortal and trying to get us mixed in his mess…”

Leo couldn’t help but snort.

”You know what? When this whole thing with Apollo is over… What would you say if we stayed here? For a longer period of time? You know, you could let Jo teach you some magic and Emmie would love to have some help with the gardening…”

“And what would you do?” Calypso asked curiously. It was clear Leo had already put a lot of thought into this.

“I’m sure Jo wouldn’t mind having another mechanic around… But I think… I never expected to say this but school sounds awesomely normal right now. I haven’t been in one since the Wilderness School where I met Jason and Piper so I have some catching up to do. If you want to, I’m sure we could sign you in too, but I suppose that could be weird for you.”

Calypso seemed to consider it. “Maybe. But it could also be a good way to learn more about this world. Meet new people who do not know anything about the mess that is our lives. Make sure my boyfriend doesn’t get into trouble again. I think it sounds great!”

“You’re so rarita, Sunshine,” Leo said but couldn’t help but smile. “But I like that! Maybe it motivates me to not skip classes when I get bored of the normalcy.”

“As long as you remember that no kissing in the classroom or school corridors!”

“Aww, babe, that’s mean!” Leo protested. “You’ll have to make up for that at home, then.”

“We’ll see about that,” Calypso rolled her eyes, but there was a twinkle in them. “Anyways. I think this will be a good thing. Maybe by staying here we will have time to maintain our relationship more too.”

“Wait… did I just hear correctly?” Leo asked teasingly. “Maintain? Like a machine? I’m not sure if you’re making fun of me or if you’re trying to amuse me.”

“Well, interpret that as you wish,” Calypso smirked. “Sorry about getting so mad about your machine comparisons, though. I guess it is simply easier for you to see things that way… with you being a Hephaestus son and all…”

“Yeah…” Leo turned more serious. “I didn’t mean to offend you with that… But I’ll try to use less mechanic language around you from now on.”

“It’s OK,” Calypso said, squeezing his hand reassuringly.

“Anyway, I tell you what!” Leo’s face brightened again. “When we have graduated from the high school – assuming of course that we’ll survive this madness that’s going on with Apollo – then… I’d like to rethink that garage idea of ours.”

“You still think about it?” Calypso asked, surprised and kind of touched that he remembered such a detail.

“Of course!” he exclaimed. “I meant it the same way I meant it when I said I’m gonna get you from your island.”

“That’s… sweet of you.”

“Of course I also want to show you more of the world but maybe we need a short break from traveling for now. To really take some time to get to know each other better and… think about what we want and… all.”

“You are right. That sounds great,” Calypso said, seeming notably more relaxed now than before the conversation. She leaned her head against his shoulder and sighed happily. There was one more worry in her mind, though, so after a while she added:

“Something tells me that Apollo is going to need your help soon. You had better stay alive to keep all the promises you just made or I will come and kill you myself.”

“Well, that’s reassuring,” Leo laughed. “Don’t worry, Sunshine, whatever happens, I will come back. Leo Valdez always does.”

He sealed his promise with a kiss.

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #trials of apollo #pjo #my fics

28 notes · View notes

2k18leo · 4 years

Text

“Did you just kiss me?”

((reposting this because I made a few alterations. Happy (little late) New Year!!!)

“So, you think you’ll go through with it tonight?” April asked you with a smirk and an eyebrow wiggle. The two of you were heading up the elevator of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square. It was already past nightfall on New Years Eve and you were both lugging around big boxes of various fireworks to the roof, where you would later meet up with the turtles.

A warm, pink glow flashed across your cheeks as your eyes glanced to hers and then straight down to the floor. Letting out a little wry chuckle, you stammered, “I-I don’t know. I mean, all you guys are gonna be there and--” She cut you off,

“Girl,” she let out a groan, “So what? It’s New Years!” She straightened her glasses with her cheek while shrugging her shoulders. Her hands were placed in their usual spot, within the pockets of her bright yellow-green sweatshirt. “We’re literally gonna have the best seats in the city. It’ll be perfect!”

“What if he… rejects me?” You say in a joking way to help keep the mood light, but deep down that question has been burning inside you for so long.

April let out a hearty laugh, her shoulders twitching rhythmically, “Don’t be crazy. He would never.”

“But what if—” you began.

“But nothing, hon.” She cut you off, smiling, “Trust me. I know him. I know all of them. We’ve been friends since I was, what, eleven? You gon’ be just fine.”

April has known the boys for a much longer time than you have. You’ve only been friends with them for maybe a little over half a year? Maybe April did know what she was talking about… you hope.

The elevator finally came to a halt at the top floor and the both of you carried the boxes of fireworks out and down the hall to a fire escape exit. There, the two of you carefully climbed the rest of the way to the rooftop.

The crisp air hit you right away, blowing your hair out of your face and back behind you. And the lights. Wow. You never, ever seemed to get tired of this view. It was breathtaking, to say the least. An image could never entirely capture the beauty of that skyline. Billions of shimmering lights dazzled beneath you to miles ahead of you. But this, Times Square, there’s just nothing like it. Millions of people were crowded together at the base of the hotel, all clamoring, laughing, and continuously waiting for the big ball to eventually drop, marking a new year.

“Ayyeee, there’s my favorite girls!” You heard that familiar voice behind you. Turning around, you recognized the blue-clad turtle with the shit-eating grin, followed by his three brothers who were leaping up from the side of the building. Of course, Leo’s presence made a slight pink glow across your cheeks. Out of the corner of your eye you see April giving a smirk in your direction as she eyed the two of you. Leo was oblivious to the expressions between the both of you as you shot her a warning glance. The turtle’s mask tails lightly flapped in the wind as he made his way over to the boxes of fireworks.

“Ho-ho yeah! Let’s see what we got!” He rummaged through the boxes with Mikey when you heard Raph set down a large watercooler on the other side of you. He tossed you a soda in a koozie, which you gratefully accepted, and then one to April and another to Donnie. The purple-clad, who was tinkering on his bo staff to make sure the flame thrower worked, as well as the fire extinguisher, caught the soda without even glancing away from his weapon.

“How you been, Shorty?” said Raph, shutting the cooler after getting himself a soda, then using the cooler as a seat.

You answered, completely used to that nickname he had coined for you, “Great! Bit chilly, but what else is new, y’know?” You shrugged your shoulders in your big wool and polyester coat. The weather was even harsher on the roof of this building. “Still job hunting, so that’s a drag.”

“Ah, well,” said the snapping turtle, raising his soda can in your direction, “To a new year and a new job.” And everyone chimed in to repeat the phrase, wishing you good luck. An appreciative smile took a new expression upon your face as you raised your drink as well.

A short time passed and it was about seven minutes to midnight; you were mingling with Donnie and Raph about random topics. Mikey has been deejaying in the middle of the roof. You guys were sitting on the edge of the building, overlooking the crowd. You three were currently discussing where you would each like to travel and why. You could hear April howling with laughter from somewhere behind you, probably at some wise-crack Mikey or Leo made.

You kept a close eye on your phone to check the time. The closer it got to midnight, the more nerves scattered themselves inside your body. You were really trying hard to listen to Donnie explain how the pyramids of Egypt would be such a fascinating travel location because of all the myths saying that aliens created them or something, but your mind was just mostly focusing on a completely other topic. Leo.

While subconsciously nodding along to Donnie’s story, now off on some tangent about wheatfields, you were straining your ears just to hear Leo’s voice, or even his laugh, behind you. It was such an attracting sound. So sweet. Like honey attracts bees. And you, of course, were the bee. Gah, were you even going to have the balls to pull this off tonight? Every feeling inside of you was either rooting for it to happen or for you to back out and play it safe. Now normally, you weren’t a risk taker, but this was gonna be different. When that ball dropped, you were gonna change that part of yourself. This is the time to try new things, after all. Ugh. Why does this have to be so difficult?

“Yo, y/n!” Leo’s voice chimed, calling to you, “Hey, come look at what we’ve set up. D, bring your torch!”

You got up, followed by Donnie, and walked up to the other three who were gesturing to the fireworks they had laid out in such a specific pattern. Raph stayed behind to alert the rest of you when the time comes. Four minutes to midnight. The crowd’s cheering grew slightly louder as the time passed.

“Alrighty, so you got your standard Peony shells,” Mikey pointed at a few rather large firework casings, “Some Chrysanthemums, a few Willows, a Diadem, which I’m more than pumped more, your Palms, Horse Tails, and Rings. And as for the smaller stuff, we got Roman Candles, Fountains, Firecrackers, Sparklers, Smoke Bombs, and some Ground Spinners. So, I’ll definitely be the first to say, you girls hit the jackpot!”

Directly after April first bumped you proudly, Leo nudged your shoulder in an approving way. You smiled up at him, praying that he couldn’t see the blush on your face. He smiled back and you couldn’t tell if he gave you a wink or not, the moment passed too quick. Okay, two minutes to midnight.

“Aye, the ball’s about to drop.” Raph called to us, “C’mon, let’s go!”

You all made your way back over to the edge of the building, hanging your legs over the edge. You sat by Mikey, who plopped himself in between you and April, and Leo made his seat on the other side of you. Something in your heart did a tiny dance and you couldn’t help but smile. Not just about the fact that Leo was sitting next to you, but about the whole scene. Times Square, the crowd of millions of people beneath your feet, you literally dangling your feet off the edge of the rooftop of a towering hotel, your closest friends in the world by your side. Honestly, what could top this?

There it went, the chrome ball that everyone had their eyes on, slowly falling every second. The swarm of people below you started chanting, “SEVEN… SIX… FIVE… FOUR…”

You and the gang joined in, “THREE… TWO… ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

Loud cheers and screams echoed all around you. Mikey spun his flaming kusari-fundo around above his head in a celebratory twirl, making you laugh. You turned to your other side to finally do it. You were going to kiss Leo. This was it. Your body felt so light. A huge smile was across your face as you turned to face him. But before you could even act on anything, his hands were latched to your cheeks with his lips pressed against yours. Wait. He kissed you?! Immediately, Mikey said exactly what you were thinking,

“Omigosh!”

April laughed at Mikey’s reaction as you flooded out all noise around you. So, this is what it was like… kissing him. Wow. You couldn’t believe your senses. The only thing that made you pull away was a thundering BOOM that erupted above you. Once you realized it was only Donnie who had set off the first of the fireworks, you looked back to Leo who was smiling wildly at you.

You smiled back and then realization hit you a second time, “D-Did you just kiss me?”

His expression faltered a little bit. Was that disappointment in your voice? But he nodded back with a smaller smile. Your eyes lit up as another firework went off above the roof. Without warning, you practically threw yourself on him, kissing him again.

Behind you, Mikey turned to April, “Did you see—?”

April nodded in a smug fashion, “Yeah, she planned for it.”

“Pay up; he kissed her first,” said Raph, chuckling to April. He held his hand out, awaiting his prize for winning some bet he and April had set months ago. April rolled her eyes and slapped a ten dollar bill in his huge hand.

The rest of the night was spent with laughter and shimmering lights followed by booming sounds. Leo had his arm around you most of the time, when he wasn’t trying to do some reckless tricks over the fountain fireworks, of course. Mikey was trying out some moves with his kusari-fundo by trying to light multiple fireworks at once. Donnie was ready with the fire extinguisher application wired into his staff. Raph and April were having a Roman Candle fight and laughing when Leo got hit with one of the blasts. When you checked to see if he was alright, trying to stifle the laughter that was bubbling inside you, he gave you a reassuring wink and kissed you on the forehead before lighting a Roman Candle himself to chase Raph with. Was it always this easy? Why did you believe things had to be so complicated? He liked you back. After months of overthinking things, he actually liked you back. What a wonderful start to the year.

67 notes · View notes

fanfic-inator795 · 5 years

Text

RotTMNT/Baron Jitsu fanfiction: Dating… With Children - Chapter Six

(Also on AO3 if you want to leave a comment or kudos)

Plot: Benjamin Draxum hardly considered himself a man of high social standing. Not because he was uncouth or unworthy of it, mind you, but simply because he didn’t have much of a social life. Hard to have one when he usually spent his days at work, cooped up in a lab for so long that he often had his lunches in there, and his nights at home reading or doing research for more personal projects. But perhaps meeting handsome semi-retired movie star - as well as his four young sons - could change all that…

((Mild warning for mentions of being sick/throwing up, though nothing super descriptive/disgusting or anything. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy!))

Something was up…

Draxum stared down at his phone screen. No missed calls. No missed texts or voicemails. Not even a “Sorry, can't talk right now”. Nothing… Nothing on his side at least.

Opening up his call log, Draxum sighed through his nose as he looked through it all. One unanswered call to Lou Friday night, two unanswered calls on Saturday, and one that morning. That wasn't even including the texts he’d sent, not receiving a reply to any of them. At this point, he was beginning to feel like a stalker or something, or at the very least clingy-

“I'm not being clingy,” he mumbled to himself, “Just… Concerned, is all.” It was natural to feel concerned when your boyfriend wasn't talking to you, right? But then again, Lou could've just been unusually busy that weekend. Still, he couldn't help but feel like something was up. Something was wrong.

After a moment more of thinking, Draxum stood up from his couch, grabbed his keys and jacket and headed towards the door. A quick check-in wasn't unreasonable. Most likely this would all end up being something mundane anyway, and Lou would probably have a laugh about it later, or think it was amusing that he cared so much.

‘And if doing this annoys him?’ a part of Draxum asked, stubborn enough to ignore logic, ‘If all the missed calls and texts end up being his way of saying he's done with you?’

The scientist paused… And then continued on, nearly slamming the apartment door behind him. “I’ll just deal with that when it happens…” He took an extra second to put on his jacket - the cold front passing through New York was a bit harsher than usual for that time of year - and went on his way out into the cloudy afternoon.

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

“But I don't wannaaaaaaa!”

Lou sighed through his nose, trying to keep a grip on his child. “I know you don't want to, but I promise that it'll help you feel better! So please, Michalengel-”

“NO!” Mikey screamed back at him, startling his father enough to slip out of his arms. Mikey then dove back under his covers, letting out another muffled yell of frustration.

Lou rubbed his temples. “Alright fine, stay under there! But you will be getting a bath tonight, young man!” He could've sworn he heard his youngest actually hiss at that, before coughing several times. He knew being sick could make some kids cranky, but this was getting ridiculous! Still, it wasn't as if Lou could really blame him.

“Daddyyyyyy…” Another voice from the doorway called, sniffling slightly. Lou turned and saw Leo, looking at him with watery eyes. “If he's not gonna use the tub, can I have his bath instead?”

“Yes, that would be fine,” Lou nodded, clearly seeing the boy’s shivering body as well as all the sweat stains on his son’s nightshirt despite just putting it on him a couple hours ago.

“Kay… Also, I threw up. In my room. Sorry…”

Lou closed his eyes for just a moment, just enough to recompose himself, before nodding. “It's fine, you are fine. I will run your bath first, and then I will clean it up, okay?” Leo nodded back at him and slowly made his way towards the bathroom.

As Lou traveled down the hall, he briefly checked on his other two kids. Raph, shirtless with discomfort clearly on his face, still managed to sleep in spite of his fever. He'd need to check his and Leo’s temperatures too when it was time to give all of them their next dose of medicine. “That's gonna be real fun,” he mumbled to himself, already dreading it.

As for Donnie, he was wide awake, sniffling and fiddling with his humidifier. “Donnie, please stop messing with that,” he told him, leading the boy back into bed.

“But it's not workingggg!” Donnie nearly sobbed, rubbing his tired eyes as he let out a couple tears, “I'm still all stuffed up!”

Lou turned the humidifier up one level before handing Donnie a box of tissues. “I know it's no fun being sick, but just try to relax, okay baby? Blow your nose a few times, that should-”

“I already blew my nose a hundred thousand times already!” Donnie growled, mood going from despairing to grouchy on a dime. “My dumb nose is STILL stuffed up, ‘cause you bought the wrong dumb machine! Cause you're dumb. Dumb Dad!” He tossed the box on his bed, kicking it slightly as he continued to sniffle. “Dummy dumb-dumb…”

Lou just patted his head. “I will make you some tea soon, Don. That’ll help clear things out.” Thankfully, Donnie seemed to accept that, still pouting and whimpering a bit but nonetheless laying back down and making sure to face the humidifier. Lou would make sure to make his purple pajama-wearing son his favorite flavor of tea as an added bonus. But first, bath time.

Leo was already waiting for him, undressed (save for a towel wrapped around his waist) and leaning against the toilet to try and keep cool. “Leonardo, don't, that's dirty,” Lou told him, gently pushing him off it. He then turned on the faucet and, out of the corner of his eye, noticed his son wincing at all the steam coming from the water.

“Daddddd, I'm already super hot! If I take a hot bath I'm gonna die!”

“You're not gonna die,” Lou insisted, “A cold bath would just make your body sicker, and hot water will help your fever break. I promise that this'll help, and if you don't like it you won't have to stay in there for more than a couple minutes, okay?”

“Ugh, fiiiiine.” Lou gave him a small smile, quickly giving Leo a pat on the head as well. Soon enough the tub was filled, and Leo slipped into the water without any protest, already closing his eyes. Lou set a clean towel on the toilet lid in case Leo wanted out before he came back, and then set forth on his next task. There was still that mess in Leo’s room to clean up, but…

He heard Donnie let out a long whine (followed by a couple quick sneezes), and then heard Raph let out a low, raspy groan, waking up slightly from his fever induced nap. It nearly broke his heart, how miserable they sounded. “...Right. Tea first.” So, he headed downstairs, ignoring the tickle in his own throat and the fatigue pulling at his eyes. Not to mention his pounding headache… Unable to help himself, he closed his eyes again - and nearly tripped over a pillow that had been left on the living room floor. He managed to keep his footing at least - even if that meant stepping on one of Raph’s wrestling figures instead.

“You've got this, Lou,” he told himself, even as he limped into the kitchen, “You've got this. Just start the tea.” He made sure to make enough for three cups in case Mikey wanted some, as well. The process was easy enough, thankfully, though even the steam and pleasant scent of the soothing drink did nothing for him. If anything, his headache got worse, with it almost sounding like someone was knocking against his head!

...Wait, that knocking wasn't in his head. Or, was it? “Is someone there?” He shouted from the kitchen, nearly driving himself into a coughing fit, “I-If that’s you, O’Neil, door’s unlocked! Get whatever you need to borrow and go, okay?”

He heard the door open - good, he wasn't hallucinating - but the deep voice that answered him caught him completely off-guard. “Lou…? Is everythi-?”

“Ben?!” Lou moved to the kitchen doorway, and sure enough, there stood his boyfriend, looking confused and a bit shocked. “Uh, h-hey you!” Lou greeted, forcing a grin as he ran a hand through his (greasy, unwashed for who knows HOW long, ugh) hair, “Heh, what uh- what brings you?”

“I just wanted to see how you were doing,” Draxum answered, unable to help but stare. Even when wearing simple and casual outfits, Lou had always had a sort of ‘dressed to impressed’ vibe, always looking good and well put together, matching his life in that sense. He never seemed stressed, being able to roll with whatever came his way, his kids always behaving well enough - he just seemed like Mr. Perfect! Even him being a bit flustered as he explained his feelings in the diner parking lot or him explaining his past hadn't shattered that illusion to Draxum. But now…

Lou was wearing just an old grey tank top, a brown house robe and nothing on his feet. His hair was an absolute mess while his face had some stubble, indicating that he hadn't shaved in a couple days. His usual sunglasses were also missing, meaning there was nothing to hide the bags under his eyes. But more than just his outfit or appearance, Lou just looked tired. Completely exhausted and looking like he was barely keeping it together.

Lou seemed to realize this too, glancing away as he explained the situation. “Yeah, uhh… Things are a bit rough over here this weekend. Big flu outbreak at school. Apparently April caught it first, so thanks to a heads up from her father I was able to prepare somewhat, but…” But there was only so much you could prepare for when not just one or two, but ALL FOUR of your kids got sick. “Donnie and Mikey both have colds while Raph and Leo have fevers, and unlucky Raphael has a really sore throat too, it seems.”

“And you?” Draxum asked, raising an eyebrow.

Lou immediately waved him off. “Oh I'm fine! Completely well! You, you didn't need to come over, really!”

“Well, I tried to call-” “You did?” Lou went around his chair and picked up his phone from the coffee table. He tried three times to turn it on before realizing the phone was dead. “Right…” He sighed, tossing the phone over his shoulder, it bouncing a couple times on the cushion. “Well, I-I’ll just charge that later and we can talk maybe to-”

A high pitched whistle pierced through the air and Lou mumbled a Japanese curse under his breath as he scrambled back into the kitchen. Draxum followed, still a bit surprised. Because the fact was, as easy as it should have been for Draxum to realize, Lou was just as human as him - just as human as anyone. He wasn't the Lou Jitsu from his movies. He could be handsome and witty and unflappable as both a person and a parent, but also disheveled and stressed and even have days where he could hardly stay afloat.

This was certainly one of those days.

Taking a deep breath as he poured the hot tea, Lou granted himself one moment to relax before pushing himself back into ‘dad mode’. “I'm sorry, Ben, I just- I have a lot to take care of today and-”

“Just tell me what you need me to do,” he heard Draxum say suddenly, his tone funnily enough making his request almost sound like a demand.

Lou turned back at him. “Oh, no, Ben! You, you don't have to spend your day- W-We’ll be fine, really! I've got this, I've just got to get the boys their tea and medicine and clean up a few messes-”

“Then why don't I take care of the messes,” Draxum told him, taking another step forward before gesturing to the cups of tea, “While you take care of these.” Lou tried to argue but his boyfriend once again cut him off. “I'm not going to take no for an answer, Lou.”

Lou was silent for a moment before he managed a sheepish smile despite himself. “You uh… You know how to clean up puke?” He asked, his tone unsure, as if he expected the idea itself to make the taller man immediately regret his decision to help, and he was already ready to tell him once again that he didn't need to stay.

But Draxum simply put a hand on Lou’s shoulder, his touch steady and strong enough that even Lou’s tired back was able to straighten up at it. “I think I can manage,” Draxum told him, smiling ever so subtly. Lou stared back at him… And then nodded, accepting it. With that, the two went their separate ways and got to work.

And with perfect timing too. In that moment, they both heard a loud wail from upstairs. Lou knew it well - it sounded like his youngest had officially gone from ‘everyone leave me alone right now’ to ‘I'm sad and/or feeling bad and I wanna be hugged forever’. So he grabbed the tea tray and raced up the stairs as fast as he could go without spilling the precious cargo while Draxum headed towards the nearest closet.

Along with finding cleaning supplies, Draxum also spotted some masks and gloves by the family first-aid kit. He tried not to look too relieved about this. Once he was properly protected and had gathered all he needed, he too went upstairs. Finding Leo’s room was easy enough, as was cleaning up the mess, thankfully. By the time he had finished, Leo was out of the bath and dressed in a fluffy bright blue bathrobe of his own.

The boy blinked slowly at him, eyes still a bit weary and sick mind hazy. “...Are you a dream?”

Draxum smiled. “Nope,” he answered, “Just a doctor helping out.”

“Oh. ...Kay.” Too sick to ask curious questions, Leo just got back into bed while Draxum left with his supplies to go take care of his next task, wishing the poor boy a 'get well soon' as he went.

The rest of the afternoon seemed to run just as smoothly, with Lou and Draxum working opposite each other. While Lou worked on getting the kids to take their medicine and drink their tea, Draxum took care of the overflowing laundry pile. While Draxum handled their mountain of unwashed dishes, Lou checked temperatures and ran more baths or refilled humidifiers. Lou even managed to get a nice hot shower for himself while Draxum kept an eye on the kids. There would still be work to do later once he had more time to do it, but Draxum’s help still took a lot off Lou’s plate - and for that, the former movie star was especially thankful.

Speaking of plates, they ended up cooking the kids’ supper together, with Draxum handling the dry toast and Lou making the chicken noodle soup. Not the most exciting meal, but perfect for small, upset stomachs that still needed to eat something they could keep down.

Of course, the two of them would be able to have something a bit more flavorful. Using the last of a bag of rice along whatever bits of ingredients he could find, Draxum managed to make a decent fried rice (NOT overcooked or burnt, thank you very much!). Once he had a lid over the pan to keep it warm, he went upstairs to tell Lou that their meal was ready.

Though, as he got closer to Lou’s room, he heard a low melody, and his footsteps slowed.

“Nakiharashita me de hiza wo kakaeru… Wake wo kikasete subete hanashite… Daijoubu dokoemo ikanai yo… Nani ga atte mo issho ni iru yo…”

It was quite the scene, really. All four kids were tucked into Lou’s bed, snuggling up to each like it was a giant cuddle pile, their faces finally peaceful as they slipped into sleep. As for Lou, he sat on the edge of the bed, smiling softly and occasionally petting one of the boys’ heads as he sang. Lou had a good voice, and even if he was occasionally off-key, the sentiment was still very much there.

Smiling softly to himself, Draxum stood in silence as he listened, deciding that supper could wait a couple minutes…

Even with there still being some sunlight outside, the inside of the house was awash with comfortable darkness, save for the single light left on in the kitchen. As far as they could tell, as they sat together on the loveseat and ate their food in peace, they were the only ones awake in the world.

“...You know, I think we skipped a couple steps.”

“Hm?” Draxum questioned, his last bite of food still in his mouth.

Lou, bleary eyed and exhausted, still managed to flash him a cocky smile. “Aren't there supposed to be a lot more fun and/or sexy times before we get into the domestic stuff?”

His date rolled his eyes. “You're sick and half asleep, and you're still going to try and flirt?”

Lou hummed, nuzzling Draxum’s shoulder slightly. “You're a good man… You deserved to be flirted with…” He then sighed. “Thanks for your help today, Ben. You… You really didn't have to-”

“Oh yes, because leaving you to take care of your children and your house despite me being more than able to help you would've been the muchmore supportive option,” Draxum replied, his tone sarcastic yet without harshness, “Honestly, what was I thinking.”

Lou weakly nudged his side. “Baka. You know what I mean… You didn't have to help as much as you did, but you just… Did, without hesitation.” He smiled again, this time a bit warmer though still somewhat playful. “Guess I won the jackpot on boyfriends, hm?”

Draxum chuckled slightly. “I suppose so…” Though, as far as he was concerned, they both won.

“...I’d kiss you if I could. You know I would.”

“I’ll settle for you getting some rest and getting better. I’ll go find you a blanket-”

Lou groaned, leaning further on his date and even wrapping an arm around him. “Don't leave meeee… You're so comfortableeeee…”

“Yes, and I’m sure a proper pillow would be even more comfortable,” Draxum argued, amused as he managed to slip out of his pouting boyfriend’s grip. It took some time to find a spare pillow and blanket that hadn’t been used yet or wasn’t currently being used. Once he found them and went back downstairs, Lou was already fast asleep.

Shaking his head, Draxum put a pillow down by the man’s head and spread the blanket over his body. He stared at Lou for a moment, almost unable to look away… Only feeling just a bit silly, Draxum pressed two of his fingers to his lips, kissing them and then pressing them to Lou’s forehead.

“Sleep well, Lou Jitsu…”

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

“Uhhh, special delivery for a ‘Dr. Benjamin Draxum’?”

Being yanked out of his concentration so suddenly - there was a reason he hadn’t taken a break yet, but it seemed like SOME people just couldn’t respect that! - Draxum couldn't help but scowl at his computer screen. “Ugh, I didn’t order any-!” He turned to look at the doorway, and stopped short.

Lou, grinning and holding up a bag from Draxum’s favorite sandwich place, just gave him a wink. Draxum saved his work, and within a minute they were both sitting at Draxum’s desk - Draxum in his chair, and Lou deciding to just sit on the desk itself, being sure to mind the few things on it.

“Looks like a few days of rest did you well,” Draxum commented as he checked his sandwich for any unwanted toppings.

“Oh yeah,” Lou nodded, “The boys are back in school and catching up on missed work, house is all back in order, and I just figured that this was the least I could do.”

Draxum hummed. “Oh, I don’t know…” He set the sandwich down, earning a curious look from Lou. “I think there’s something more you could do for me. After all…” He stood up, smirking now as he leaned forward. “I believe you still owe me that kiss.”

Lou smirked back. “Well, if I still owe you that, I may have to throw in a bit of ‘interest’...” Their lips quickly met, Lou’s arms back around his tall lover’s waist while Draxum settled for cupping Lou’s face, fingers in his black and grey-streaked hair.

“...So, you think that’s him?” Muninn whispered as he quickly moved away from the doorway.

“Uh, yeah dude,” Huginn replied, giving him a bit of a flat look, “Pretty sure the guy that’s kissing him is his boyfriend.”

“Hey, just making sure! He seems like a pretty good guy.” And his boss definitely looked happy. “Heh, you think they’d invite us to their wedding?” he joked.

“Tc'ch, yeah right,” Huginn chuckled, smirking back at his partner, “Draxum wouldn't want us anywhere near their wedding. Come on, let’s get going before they hear us.” Besides, if Draxum was busy with his own lunch break, maybe he wouldn’t notice if his two interns came back a bit late from theirs. Extra dessert from the good snack machine by the chemistry department, here they come!

((The song Lou was singing is called Mother's Song from 'Wolf Children' with the lyrics translating to "You hugged your knees, crying out your eyes, Tell me why, I'll listen to everything, Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, No matter what happens, I'll be with you".

Granted not all the lyrics of the lyrics fit with Lou, hence why I only took a small bit of it, but I just needed a song to set the mood of the scene and this song seemed like the perfect fit (plus I just love both the movie and the song SO much! So I couldn't help but include it, heh). Anyway, hope you all enjoyed this! ^v^))

#rottmnt #baron jitsu #baron draxum #lou jitsu #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #human au #my writing #fanfiction

30 notes · View notes

inkyturtle · 7 years

Photo

Oh ho ho. Questions like this are my life’s blood. Also, thank you for the friendly words!

Michelangelo.

Again, like with everything, I have to preface this by saying my knowledge comes mostly from the 80s cartoon, the movies, and the 2k12 series. I know next to nothing about 2k3 and IDW (and Archie, though that’s rarely brought up), and my knowledge of the mirage comics is minuscule, as I’ve only read about 1/6th of it.

Also, this is going to be extremely long. Sorry in advance.

With that in mind, here I go.

Like with every character, Michelangelo’s personality varies from iteration to iteration. This makes sense, since a lot of the times different writers are involved. The common traits most versions of Mike share are an amazing sense of humor, a playful nature, an affectionate personality, and a great deal of hidden potential in ninjitsu and combat. If these traits aren’t all present in some way, I believe it is not really Mike, at least not as we know him.

A big change I see from series to series is his level of innocence. While Mikey is often depicted as childish in one way or another, his naivety varies from version to version. Sometimes he’s overly trusting to a fault, sometimes he’s too innocent to understand the darker side of life at all, and other times he’s incredibly worldly. I feel if you can make any of these work within the context of its respected series, they’re all fine.

I personally prefer to see him as a trusting individual that tries to see the good in everyone. I don’t see him as naturally gullible, but definitely not immune to being fooled. He doesn’t want to think there’s evil in this world, but he’s not so blinded by optimism that he thinks it doesn’t exist. Basically optimistic, but not oblivious. I see Mike as someone with a great deal of insight. He can usually read moods and emotions pretty well and is perfectly capable of telling when something is wrong. It’s one of his super powers, and comes with his keen inherent instincts. I can buy that he’s not even aware that he has a gift like that; it’s so natural to him that he doesn’t notice it’s unique.

I’ve also seen how flirty he is vary from story to story too. Some don’t touch on this side of him at all, others play it up like it’s like, a third of his personality. I won’t lie, I do love a flirty Michelangelo. I think it makes sense, given how naturally playful he is. However I’d never put it as a big part of what he is either. Just something he’s naturally good at should he choose to do so. I don’t see him as pervy, but more playful (this is probably the thing that bugged me most about his 2k14 iteration. I feel like they went overboard. That and the design).

Another key trait of every Michelangelo is how they deal with stress, or rather the stress of those around them. When it pertains to him in particular, nearly every Mike I’ve seen tends to panic to themselves (vocally in the two animated series I’ve seen), then sort out the solution for themselves. Whether they want to prove they don’t need help, don��t want to burden anyone else, or just plain don’t want to get yelled at, Mikey will always try to solve a problem on his own first. He isn’t dumb enough not to know when he’s in over his head, though. He’s not afraid to call for help if he knows it’s not something he can do alone.

He doesn’t deal well with serious topics. Especially when it comes to discussing them. His solution seems to be to ignore them or try to focus on something fun instead. My favorite Mikey scene in any medium is the one where he and Donatello are waiting for the pizza delivery man in the original movie. This short scene spoke volumes to me about Mikey, and seeing it years later is what sort of made me view him in a different light:

Donatello: Nice night.

Michelangelo: Mm-hm. Pizza dude's got thirty seconds.

Donatello: Mm-hm. Hey Mikey, did you ever think about what Splinter said tonight? I mean about what it would be like... You know, not having him?

Michelangelo: Hmm... Time's up, three bucks off!

At a glance it may seem like he’s just being an oblivious fool, and...well he is, but intentionally so. He doesn’t want to think about the harsher aspects of reality, and so he actively chooses to ignore or not think about them.

Compare (or contrast) this to his time at Casey’s grandma’s in the Mirage comics. What Mike does there tends to vary most from version to version, I’ve seen. However while in most he’s doing fun stuff to get his mind off of it, in the mirage comic he spent most of his time in the barn with a punching bag, which surprised me. He apparently didn’t talk much either during that. Again depending on which series we focus on, any of these methods makes sense. Feeding chicken, doing farm work, watching TV, holing yourself up. Depends on the Mikey. It does further cement to me that he’s the sort of person who wants to avoid the troubles of life, but no matter what they’re gonna catch up eventually. I’d like more things that focus on this. In an ideal world, Mikey would deal with his problems both ways. Hole up for a while, then accept the problem at hand and find busywork to keep himself distracted.

With other people, Mike takes a similar approach. He will play the clown and crack as many jokes as possible to get people’s minds off their troubles. Hell, maybe sometimes he’s hoping to be the sponge or lightning rod for their woes. Pick on him, get mad at him so they don’t have to deal with their own pain either. Of course he’d prefer it if he could lift their moods instead, but he’ll take what he can get. As long as they aren’t sad anymore. Like I said before, though, I don’t think he’s blind to their pain, and he can tell when he’s not helping. That’s when he’ll either go into a more affectionate mode or leave them be to sort it out themselves, if that’s what they need.

There’s also this trend of some people thinking Mikey’s just some idiot. Certain versions of him can be absent-minded and have a short attention span, but to call him an idiot really does him a disservice. He’s not wise in the same way Donatello and Leonardo are, but he’s very smart in his own right, albeit unconventionally. He’s surprisingly observant in matters of feeling, and when he’s focused on something he’s very capable of pulling off amazing feats that would surprise anyone. While I feel like this isn’t focused on at all in the 87 series (unless used for a joke), and in the movies and comics it seems like more of a given, I like seeing him evolve into such a skilled person in 2012. We see him with this natural gift that he slowly becomes more capable of tapping into consciously, and are left impressed when he does. To a point that, by the end of season 4, he’s arguably a more capable ninja than both Donatello and Raphael.

Which leads me to my last point: combat.

In every version I’ve seen, Mikey is usually depicted as a naturally skilled warrior. In some versions he’s on par with his brothers, in others he isn’t. I often bring up that of the four weapons they use, I’ve heard the nunchaku are the most difficult to master. That in and of itself says mountains about his skill, since he’s more than capable of using them properly in every series he’s in. It’s an early sign that he’s an individual who with infinite potential. He really does seem like the sort who could do almost anything, if he didn’t hold himself back.

But boy, does he seem to love holding himself back. It’s sort of in his nature to do so. I do think he’s the type who likes who he is as a person, and changing that is a scary prospect. I’m not saying he consciously holds himself back, but I honestly think he does most times.

With all that said, a part of me feels that if he truly applied himself with enough time, patience, and focus, he could very likely be on par with Leo in combat skill and ninjitsu training (in the right circumstances, he could even potentially surpass him).

TL;DR: What is Michelangelo to me? A playful, affectionate jokester with a huge heart and endless potential. He cares deeply for the people around him, wants to see the good in everyone, and has a hard time facing the darker side of life. He is still capable of standing up to a challenge, though, and should he do so he will surprise those around him with what he can accomplish.

To me, that is Michelangelo.

#tmnt #my art #headcanons #more like an amalgamation #but this is fine too #IT WAS SO LONG I HAD TO PUT IT UNDER A READ MORE HOLY SHIT #I'M SORRY #long post

44 notes · View notes

spectrumscribe · 7 years

Text

I hear static, I hear you.

An AU, set directly after The Power Inside Her. Canon divergence from the ending of the episode. AO3 link.

———————————————————-

Part Nine. (Master Post)

Raph curled his hands around the mug Leo had given him, the warmth of the ceramic seeping into his scales.

It didn’t do anything to ease the ice in his chest.

He made no move to drink the tea, instead focusing on not winding himself up again.

Getting angry wouldn’t help them. Blowing up wouldn’t help them. Doing anything at all to relieve the pent up emotions he had wouldn’t help them.

But.

She was right there, right there.

And he couldn’t do anything about it.

What exactly he’d do about it, he wasn’t sure. All he knew was that he wanted her gone.

They needed her though, even more obviously now.

Raph slid his eyes from his steaming cup, to the hunched figure sat as far opposite of him as she’d been able to manage.

April wasn’t looking up, and all Raph could see was the top of her head.

She looked a lot different without her hair. He wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Raph’s eyes drifted over to Leo, who’d finally finished handing out tea and sat down. Everyone was seated again, even if they’d all spread out from one another.

Raph saw that his father was holding a heat-bag to his hand still, the small microwavable beanbag being used to warm up his chilled limb. It was the one that had touched Donnie.

Raph hadn’t been able to even move when Donnie had appeared, and before he’d been able to shake off the shock, his brother had started screaming, and-

It got fuzzy from there. Painful, too.

“So… what now?” Leo asked, breaking the tense silence they’d all fallen into. “Any ideas? Sensei?”

“I… I do not know,” Splinter said in a hushed voice, eyes on his cradled hand. “We have done our part.”

‘Now its April’s turn’ was left unsaid, but heard anyways.

Raph tightened his grip around his mug.

He didn’t want to rely on April. Not after what she’d done.

According to his elder brother and father though… she might be the one chance they had of fixing things.

Raph turned his eyes onto April, who was finally looking up again. She looked pale and washed out, and what little was left of her bangs hung limp. Over all, with her thick hoodie and visible weight loss, she looked like a wreck. The redness of her eyes only enforced the image.

“We just gonna brush what happened under the rug?”

Raph blinked, and glanced away from April. Casey. He’d almost forgotten his friend was there, honestly. So much had just happened, and Casey had been unusually quiet...

Casey was scowling, and he set his now empty mug onto the floor, hunching over his knees and looking at them all. “That was some freaky stuff right there, you can’t tell me we ain’t gonna talk about it. What the hell even was that? It was totally out of character for Dee to pull somethin’ like that. He do that to any of you guys?”

Raph shook his head, noting that Leo, Mikey, and April did as well. “He just stood there when he visited me.”

“Same here,” Leo agreed, and an echo of the same from Mikey.

“He… he did speak with me, when I met him,” Splinter said, glancing up from his hand. “But the screaming… no, this was very different from my experience.”

“So we got one outlier here, and not a lot of reason why,” Raph summarized.

“It seems so,” Splinter said, nodding his head.

What was different about it? Easy. They were all together. Question was why that affected things.

“Any ideas, everyone?” Leo asked again, glancing around at them all. “I’m sort of stumped here why this time was different. I mean, I know it’s different because we’re all in one place this time, but why is it different?”

“We overwhelmed him,” April said quietly.

Those three words sent another rush of silence through them all, and Raph stared at April, along with everyone else gathered.

“We…” April’s eyes went distant, and she gripped her mug tighter. “Our combined presence messed up his control. That wasn’t really Donnie. Or it was, but also not?”

Something felt like it was stuck in Raph’s throat. He wasn’t sure what to say to that.

It wasn’t actually Donnie?

Splinter leaned forwards, turning his head towards April’s corner. “April, what do you mean by that?”

April blinked, and came back to the present. “Um… it’s a bit hard to explain. He’s… he’s scattered right now, and not quite all there. What we just met was… well… it was just pieces of him. Held together by his willpower. At the moment… he’s not much more than emotions and memories. Mostly emotions. Fear, anger, grief…”

April blinked again, and scrubbed at her eyes. She continued, “He uses his connection to us to strengthen those, so he can… think properly again? I think?” She shook her head, muttering, “To be himself. Be more of himself.”

“April? You’re not making any sense,” Leo said slowly, cautious of April’s scattered words.

April grimaced, and shook her head again. “I’m sorry. It’s a huge jumble right now. Basically, um… he- he used us to anchor himself here, and we overwhelmed him. Unbalanced him. He couldn’t keep everything under control, and we… I pushed him over the edge. And he lost it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Raph said, frowning hard. The way April seemed so out of it, it was making him nervous. The last time she’d been out of it, head swimming with power…

It hadn’t gone well.

“How do you know all that?” Leo asked in a strained voice. “All he did was… all he did was scream. I didn’t hear anything even close to words.”

“I… I heard him. In my head. It was like…” April’s eyes went distant again, and a hand drifted up to her temple. She looked pained. “It was like he was saying everything he wanted to say, all at once. It was… it hurt. It hurt a lot. I couldn’t- I couldn’t think anymore, there was so much. It wasn’t even just thought, there were emotions and memories and just- everything. He tried to tell me everything and I couldn’t-” April bit off, hand shaking as she lowered it. “…I couldn’t take it. I had to make him stop. So I… I made him leave. Again.

“I’m sorry,” She whispered, lowering her head again. “I couldn’t handle it. I tried, but it… I just couldn’t. I’m so, so sorry.”

“I heard him too.”

Raph flicked his eyes over to Mikey, who’d spoken up for the first time. Mikey was curled on himself, knees to his chest. His mask was off, and Raph could see the dark circles that’d grown around his eyes the past weeks.

“I heard him too,” Mikey repeated, now that everyone was looking at him. “In my head. Sorta.”

Raph stared at his brother. He didn’t check, but he felt like everyone else was as well.

“…what did he say?” Raph asked, since no one else would speak.

“He’s… he’s in a lot of pain. That’s basically all I got,” Mikey replied, shrugging. “He didn’t give me anything else. April, he tell you anything about that? The pain?”

The way Mikey was looking at April… Raph hadn’t seen his brother look at someone like that before. It seemed still carefully masked, but… pointed. Sharp. He wasn’t saying it, but Raph could imagine the meaning behind Mikey’s choice of words.

The pain you caused him.

“Yes. Yes he did,” April replied softly, guilt in her voice. “It’s still happening to him right now. What Za-naron and- and I did. Basically… it’s pulling him apart still. I thought it’d k-killed him, but Donnie… Donnie said it just separated him. He’s not alive anymore, but he still is? I’m sorry. It’s… it’s a mess. I lost a huge chunk of the information when I forced him out.”

“How did he do that anyways?” Casey asked. He glanced between April and Mikey. “The- the connecting thingy? You’re a psychic and shit, April, but Mikey ain’t. Right?”

Mikey shrugged. “Dunno. Just happened without me sayin’ so.”

“It’s not because of Mikey specifically, it’s more… Donnie was the one reaching out, and Mikey was just compatible enough for it?” April explained, seeming a bit confused herself. “I heard everything, mostly, and Mikey only got the most powerful bit. It probably has to do with how Donnie’s keeping himself intact.”

“You mentioned he was anchoring himself here, through us,” Splinter said, and Raph heard a hint of life coming back into his voice. “How so is he doing this, and perhaps it relates to Michelangelo’s ‘hearing’ of him?”

April pursed her lips, and her shoulders slumped a bit. “He’s using us. Mostly his brothers. It’s like… since he’s close to nothing but emotions right now, he’s using ours to hold himself on this plane of existence. Memories too. It’s… it’s a little vampiric, honestly, but without anything being drained from the boys. It actually drains Donnie, instead.”

Well that wasn’t unsettling as fuck or anything.

“That’s part of why he overloaded, actually,” April continued. “Too much emotion, not enough power to stabilize it. He was more himself than he’d had each of individually to connect with, but he… just didn’t have enough energy to process everything. Not enough ambient energy versus too much ambient emotion.”

That was even more unsettling. Great. Raph rubbed his temples, and then stopped because April was too. “Can we please back track to the whole ‘Mikey is compatible’ thing? Little more explanation would be nice. Mikey?”

“Man, I don’t know,” Mikey said, scratching the back of his head. “I mean- I just listened to him? Was listening to him? Something like that.”

Force of habit, or maybe just grasping for something normal in all this crazy, made Raph blurt- “You never listen to anyone, though.” -without much thought.

Immediately, he regretted it.

Mikey’s face closed off, and his confused frown slid into something harsher. “I listen when people actually tell me stuff.”

His pointed look at their father and older brother wasn’t missed, and Raph saw Leo wince.

“Mikey, we’re sorry, but…” Leo’s expression wavered between apology and something like his leader face, the one that gave orders and didn’t have time for dissension. “We weren’t sure if you two would listen long enough for us to explain, or even understand what we were aiming for. We didn’t know how you’d react.”

Raph bristled, hands gripping into fists, but before he could snap something hurt and angry-

-Mikey beat him to it.

“That doesn’t- that doesn’t mean you just cut us out of the loop!” Mikey exclaimed. Uncharacteristic anger slipped into his expression, even more obvious with Mikey’s bare face. “We have just as much right to know what you’re planning to do, this is our home too!”

“We didn’t have much time, and- and I wasn’t even sure how to explain it to you-”

“You could’ve at least tried!”

“You never listen anyways-”

“I listen! I’m always listening! You just never explain things how I can understand them-”

“We didn’t have time. Donnie could have reappeared before we figured out how to tell you-”

“That is enough,” Splinter interjected. “What’s done is done, and we will learn from our mistakes.”

Mikey looked rapidly between their father and brother, rising indignation and hurt clear in his eyes. “You- you’re just going to move on? No! No!! That’s not- that’s not fair!”

“We need to move forwards with the conversation, my son-”

“You didn’t even say sorry properly!”

“Mikey, seriously, I know you’re upset but I already told you-”

“Donnie would’ve at least tried!”

Mikey’s furious words sent a shock of silence through everyone, and even Raph’s own anger was quieted.

Mikey stared at them all, more pointedly at their family’s leaders. He blinked rapidly, and his expression twisted further into a glare. “He would’ve at least tried to tell us what was going on! Even if I didn’t get it half the time, at least he actually tried. You guys didn’t even bother!”

A long beat of silence, stifling with tension.

Eventually, a soft “Dude…” from Casey broke the spell of quiet, and Mikey’s glare slipped away.

“I’m sorry,” He said, voice tight. “I’m sorry, but you just- you guys always do this, and I’m tired of it and- it’s not fair. He’s my brother too, okay? Don’t just… cut me out like that.”

Mikey’s gaze dropped from them all, and he lowered his head onto his knees.

Raph’s stun wore off, and he felt awful. How long had Mikey been bottling that up? All that frustration and anger? Shit. And Raph hadn’t even noticed.

None of them checked up on one another anymore. Not since…

They weren’t right without Donnie. Everything fell out of whack without him around. Including their ability to give a shit about each other’s emotional stability, it seemed.

Shit.

“Michelangelo… I am sorry,” Splinter said remorsefully. Mikey’s shoulders hunched a bit more around his knees in response, and Splinter let out a quiet sigh. “We did not mean to hurt you, or Raphael. It was a grave error in our judgement.”

Story of their lives it looked like. Errors in judgement everywhere. Raph started this particular mess, he wasn’t excluded from that.

Mikey didn’t answer Splinter, other than a shrug of his shoulders.

Raph took a turn, since his comment had started the whole fight. “Mike, I’m sorry for what I said. I was just… I don’t know, kidding around. It was a reflex. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.”

Mikey lifted his head enough to glance at Raph, and then looked away again. Well, guess that was as close to an acceptance of apology they were going to get right now.

Leo was the one who started moving them past the awkward post-fight tension. “Let’s go around and compare experiences, maybe we can figure out why Mikey’s connection has been so much stronger?”

Solid enough plan. Not exactly productive, but it was something. They were flying mostly aimless right now anyways.

It was the same general experience, all around their loose circle. Everyone had felt like someone was watching them, or following them or something like that, and then came the fear and the choking presence and the overall feeling of terror…

Leo and Casey both confessed that their experiences had been more than a little scary. Kind of dangerous feeling too. Raph could relate, what with the exploding video consoles all around him during his turn.

The evidence in the dojo spoke for itself how Splinter’s visit had gone, and April explained that she’d ended up collapsing during hers, even just for a moment.

Other than Donnie speaking to April and Splinter, sort of at least, the experiences all matched up on multiple levels. Donnie appearing, acting like a typical horror movie character, and then vanishing again. All of them were like that, except-

“I didn’t feel any of that,” Mikey said, when they’d gone full circle and come back to him. He seemed mostly recovered from… whatever you’d call their fight. He was mostly back to his usual self, or maybe was just good enough to pretend he was. “Like, this last one? Sure, but that’s ‘cause we were all together, right? First time it was just… him standing there. Didn’t even look at me. I dunno what you all did, but I barely even got the heebie-jeebies from my visit.”

Leo furrowed his brow, tapping one finger on his knee pad while he thought. “Maybe that’s because he just wasn’t strong enough yet? That was a while ago, and he’s gotten a lot more powerful since then. That still doesn’t explain why Mikey could hear him though-”

“Wait,” April interrupted, holding up her hand at Leo. “Wait, let me hear Mikey describe his experience again. Mikey, if you wouldn’t mind..?”

“Uh, sure? It was just me in the lab, and I was starting to clean up some stuff, when I thought I felt somethin’ off and turned around to check it out, and then Donnie was suddenly there and I ran right towards him-”

“You didn’t hesitate? At all?” April questioned, interrupting again.

Mikey blinked. “No? I mean, it was a big shock, but I didn’t think much on it. Just kind of went with it, ‘cause you know… don’t look a gift horse in the mouth or something.”

April closed her eyes, and her lips formed a thin line. “Of course. Of course. I know why Mikey has such a strong connection to Donnie, and why Donnie’s first appearance was so different from all the others.”

Raph crossed his arms. He wasn’t seeing the point here. “Mind tellin’ us why that is?”

“He wasn’t afraid,” April said, opening her eyes again. She seemed more like her old self, more alive again, but also… deeply sad. “Mikey wasn’t afraid. That’s the difference- I can’t believe we missed that, he wasn’t afraid.”

“Uh, why does that matter?” Casey spoke up.

“Because- Mikey didn’t create a feedback loop. Donnie was too weak to stick around, but he also didn’t get scattered or- or mixed up because of extra emotion or anything and-” April cut herself off, and laughed shakily. “We’ve been the ones doing it, making every visit so scary. Not Donnie. He uses our emotions to anchor himself, not his own, and if we’re giving him nothing but fear to feed on- what do you think is going to happen? It’ll just drag all of his fear to surface, and create on big feedback loop of sheer terror. He’s been acting the way he has because of us.”

Raph’s throat felt tight as he digested that information.

When Donnie had appeared, or started to try and appear, what had been Raph’s first reaction? Fear. Suspicion. Eventually it’d been desperation to get to his brother, but not before Raph had felt real and full terror run through him.

Shit. Shit. They’d just been building things up for one another too. Every time someone had a visit from Donnie, they’d expected the worst and gotten the worst. By the time they’d all collected together, with emotions and tempers running high- Raph definitely not an exception- they’d all been complete snarls of fear and anxiety.

Raph slowly grasped his knees, as the full gravity of what they’d been putting Donnie through settled in him. The way Donnie had been acting, the reactions and near attacks and bipolar moods- shit, the only reason he’d been doing that was- “He was only acting like a monster because that’s how we saw him.”

April nodded grimly, another humorless laugh coming from her. “We’re the ones that did that to him. Not Donnie. He was just trying to reach out to us, and I- we screwed even that up for him. God.”

“Shit,” Casey muttered, seeming just as thrown as Raph felt. “Shit. So ‘cause we all freaked out, ‘cept for Mikey, Don freaked out?”

April nodded again, and Casey slumped back against the couch. Raph’s friend put a hand on his forehead, pushing his bangs from his face as he muttered, again, “Shit.”

Raph could agree with that statement.

Leo had put his head in his hands, and was pressing the heels of his palms onto his eyes. Their father had also lowered his head, ears laid flat and stressed.

“My son, oh my son…” Splinter said softly. “What have we done to you?”

Tense quiet followed Splinter’s words, everyone still reeling from what they’d just figured out.

After everything- after all the stupid, horrible shit Donnie had been through- they’d gone and done this to him too. Raph didn’t even know where to begin, other than to reprimand himself for ever doubting his brother.

God. If- when they got Donnie back, Raph wasn’t even sure how he could apologize for this.

Splinter raised his head again after a long pause, and he looked straight at Mikey. “Michelangelo, tell me, were you truly so unafraid of your brother’s appearance?”

“Well, duh,” Mikey said, giving them all a look. “I mean… he’s just Donnie, so why would I be?”

Hearing it said so plainly, and without even a hint of hesitation, really drove home how stupid they’d all been.

Raph felt like an idiot, and like a huge jerk. To both of his younger brothers.

Mikey noticed how Raph and their family were staring, and he squirmed under the five gazes set on him. “Jeeze guys, why the looks? I know it’s stupid, but come on-”

“No,” Raph said, cutting him off before Mikey could finish that sentence. “No it’s not. It’s not even a little stupid. It’s what we all should have done, but we didn’t.”

“Raphael is right,” Splinter said, bringing the attention over to him. He looked at both Raph and Mikey evenly. “We all should never have doubted your brother, no matter what form he had taken. In this, I failed, and I know that many of you have as well. We have done a great disservice to Donatello, and I pray we have chance to rectify it.”

Mikey blinked at the sudden praise, and didn’t seem to know what to do with it. “Uh. Yeah. Me too.”

Splinter nodded once at Mikey, and then turned to the person who held the key to everything. “April? We have found the source of the connection, what is the next step?”

Raph’s hands went into fists again without his conscious choice, and he turned to look at April too. Much as he didn’t like it, and didn’t trust her, April still held all the cards. That meant he had to listen, and restrain his resurging anger at her.

For Donnie. For the chance to get him back.

Raph would do anything, same as he knew his brothers would. Even if that meant listening to the person who’d killed their missing sibling.

April sat up straighter, and Raph saw her regain a bit more of her old self. Her eyes were still dark, though. Still grim. “I didn’t get all of Donnie’s instructions, since he ripped most of them back out with him. But, I did get an idea from everything we’ve talked about. He’ll be back soon, I know he will, and he’ll be collected enough again to speak. We just have to keep him balanced this time. We’re going to need all of us, and a lot lights…”

continued.

#*heelies into the room carrying this chapter*#'shit that sure was Some writer's block'#god damn #my writing #I hear static I hear you tag #tmnt #TMNT 2012 #i'm sorry it took so long folks #i had the worst case of the blocks like you wouldn't even believe #bleh #raphael #April O'neil #michelangelo #focus characters of the chapter yee #next time we return: more pain but with better lighting this time #(i can't tell if this is too melodramatic yet or not)#(hmmm)

33 notes · View notes

brightlotusmoon · 7 years

Text

Another sneak peek, “Across The Universe”

Just... this is actually fun, I like doing this. And maybe posting scenes and snippets on Tumblr will somehow help me write the whole thing so I can put it on AO3 and FFnet. I’m gonna keep putting the headcanon before each scene on Tumblr, to remind myself why I’m writing the characters this way. And it turns out I love writing Karai. She’s very...much. Um. I can’t find words on that right now. I just love her and I love Shinigami and her. Anyway. Stuff that is my heacanon here: 1) Shinigami is in a polyamorous relationship with Karai and Michelangelo, and the girls have their own bedroom in the lair. 2) Raph has taken a shine to Shini and her attitudes on life and is so proud his little brother has such an awesome loveperson who is also banging his awesome sister. 3) April has finally decided to try dating both Donnie and Casey, although she’s spent more time with Don, and casey doesn’t mind. 4) Splinter and Shredder are dead. Shredder’s henchmen have teamed up with Purple Dragons and other gangs, and have recreated robot Foot ninjas. Splinter appears as a spirit to the Hamato family. 5) The Mighty Mutanimals are very involved in the turtles’ lives. Mondo has learned first aid from Dr Rockwell and engineering from Don. 6) Leo and Karai have been duel sensei-ing and still argue over who gets to be Actual Sensei. 7) Abandoned military bases are turned into hide-outs for the more vicious, feral, and angry mutants in every borough. Mikey, Mondo, and Shini like to try and find them to befriend the tamer, friendlier ones. Karai and Raph wind up getting angry out of love and fear. 8) Mikey is Donnie’s assistant in the lab and is a field medic who uses his emotional reach to comfort the injured. Also, I am happy to discuss where the rest of the story might go and how and why, and I’ll easily switch to another perspective like April (Storm) or Karai (Iron) or Ghost Of Splinter (Wind) or Shinigami (Magic). Mostly I’m just in love with writing Donnie talking about Mikey. (PS, Mikey is Oxygen. Don is Earth, Raph is Fire, Leo is Water. The Tumblr post for Mikey The Lifegiver is the second most popular blog post I’ve written so far. The first one is me waxing pagan about all those winter holidays from dozens of religions with hundreds many gods) Also, for my regular readers: You knew this sort of thing was gonna happen again. It’s all I write. However, since 1999, I’ve had the most wonderful contemporaries and competition. You hardcore Mikey fans, you’re the best, I love you all. Another snippet from “Spirit And Oxygen: Across The Universe” part of the “Mikey The Lifegiver” series...

Karai is helping Shini with the sponge bath, and for the first time since both her fathers died, she finds she cannot speak to her best friend past the lump in her throat. Shinigami has deeply dark circles under her eyes. Karai knows she has not been sleeping well in the past four weeks. Some nights she’ll wake to find herself alone in their bed, and she will go out into the hallway, her feet sliding like snake scales, and something will tell her to go to Michelangelo’s empty room. When she opens the door she’ll find the nightlight on, and Shini curled up in the bed, under the covers, face buried in the pillows, breathing deeply. Karai doesn’t feel jealousy, only desperate empathy. Her sense of smell has been extraordinary. She understands. Sometimes she’ll leave it and Shini will be back with her in the morning. Sometimes, when Shini cries, Karai will go to her and pull her away, murmuring hopeless comforts like “Don’t worry, he’ll wake up soon, he’ll be back here.” And in their bed Shini will cry against her neck, and the black kitten will uncurl from the end of the bed to crawl onto their laps and purr a healing purr. Karai gently hums as she drags the water-soaked sponge along her baby brother’s feet and ankles, over the scars that healed more quickly. She is careful to avoid the plaster casting, which Donnie thinks they can remove soon. She glances up at her lover and bites her lip, because Shini has paused to take Mikey’s face in both hands; she is staring at him. The sponge she was applying lies on his plastron, and water is pooling into the deeper, harsher scarred wounds from claw marks. “Shini,” Karai says very softly, and her best friend merely nods and resumes cleaning Mikey’s upper torso. When they have dried him, they reapply the gels and ointments and they rewrap the bandages. For the splints on his fingers, all on his left hand, they use a waterless foam, and Shinigami’s grip is a little tight and a little shaky.

Karai leans over and smooths her lover’s hair out of her face. So, Donatello still can’t really talk about exactly what happened when that mutant creature attacked them, he was too silent when he carried Mikey into the lair and he was too quick setting bones, cleaning wounds, terrible terrifying gaping wounds; and April found a silver shaving from a claw sticking out of the gash on Mikey’s shoulder, which Donnie took and placed on a tray while murmuring about later analysis. They thought he was in shock, that he was offsetting his own hidden injuries by caring for a dying brother. But Karai and April looked him over and found small bruises and scrapes; all the blood was Mikey’s. Raph gave blood, almost too much, and Leo carried him to bed and brought him juice. And all the while Shinigami stood there, lips parted in a silent cry, only moving when spoken to. When it was all done, she and Donnie stood on opposite sides of the infirmary bed, staring at a nearly mummified Michelangelo, tears rolling down their faces, and Donnie didn’t say a word. It took him a whole day to tell them what happened. Karai knows he left things out. But today is the day the family will gather to project into the astral plane to find Mikey’s spirit and try to call him home. Shinigami and Donatello have been exhausted and desperate, Raphael even moodier and angrier, Leonardo too rigid and determined. He went with Karai on patrol runs and didn’t smile, and his hands’ grips in her hands were too stiff and tense. Karai wanted to find the address of that abandoned military base but Donnie wasn’t giving it. She thinks now that maybe she can coax it out, maybe later, once Mike is recovering. Everyone is coming to the infirmary bed now, even Casey is there. He will be monitoring everything, since he can’t go with them. April will be their anchor and Shinigami will take them in. Karai leans in and runs her lips across Shini’s cheekbone, suddenly needing her. Shini’s head turns and Karai crushes their lips together and she feels too much worry and too much love, like her heart could implode. April waits, smiling, and then Shini reaches across the bed and takes her hand and says that she is ready. Everyone but Casey joins hands. Karai watches Shini’s face while she murmurs a ritual under her breath, and her eyes begin to glow. Karai closes her eyes, feeling safe and loved, and April whispers, “Now!” and Karai feels herself falling, then lifting, then spinning, as her best friend and lover holds her spirit and pushes them up into the astral plane. Karai feels the spirits of Leo, Don, and Raph, and she begins to reach for them, and then there is a bright, nearby rush of golden light, and for an instant the entire world goes away.

5 notes · View notes

2k18leo · 5 years

Text

“Did you just kiss me?”

“What if he… rejects me?” You say in a joking way to help keep the mood light, but deep down that question has been burning inside you for so long.

April let out a hearty laugh, her shoulders twitching rhythmically, “Don’t be crazy. He would never.”

“But what if—” you began.

“But nothing, hon.” She cut you off, smiling, “Trust me. I know him. I know all of them. We’ve been friends since I was, what, eleven? You gon’ be just fine.”

April has known the boys for a much longer time than you have. You’ve only been friends with them for maybe a little over half a year? Maybe April did know what she was talking about… you hope.

“How you been, Shorty?” said Raph, shutting the cooler after getting himself a soda, then using the cooler as a seat.

“Yo, y/n!” Leo’s voice chimed, calling to you, “Hey, come look at what we’ve set up. D, bring your torch!”

“Aye, the ball’s about to drop.” Raph called to us, “C’mon, let’s go!”

There it went, the chrome ball that everyone had their eyes on, slowly falling every second. The swarm of people below you started chanting, “SEVEN… SIX… FIVE… FOUR…”

You and the gang joined in, “THREE… TWO… ONE! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

“Omigosh!”

You smiled back and then realization hit you a second time, “D-Did you just kiss me?”

Behind you, Mikey turned to April, “Did you see—?”

April nodded in a smug fashion, “Yeah, she planned for it.”

“Obviously, he did, too,” said Raph, chuckling.

105 notes · View notes