#leo: guys you should clean up after yourselves!

[threestripeslider]

crossover shenanigans with the 12 and Rise turtles thinking the 03 turtles are the Coolest Guys Ever and the screen cuts to them; Raph is running with some leftover pizza in his mouth, Mikey mid-air trying to dropkick him for taking his leftovers, Donnie gleefully smiling at what can only be described as an overtuned alien chainsaw revving up in his hands and all the while Leo is asleep in front of the tv

[bay-did-nothing-wrong]

Tell All (Donatello x Reader)

Synopsis: Don and the Reader had been hiding their relationship from his family but they decide its finally time to come clean.

Genre: Fluff mostly, some crack, literally one sex pun

Word count: 1946

Soft.

So soft.

Wasn't his skin supposed to be rougher all together? How were his lips so soft and smooth then? Just another mystery.

Your mouths split with a tiny wet sound, but neither of you was in a rush to go anywhere.

But you should have been.

"Dinner's ready!" came Mikey's energetic shout from somewhere withing the lair. Probably the kitchen.

A soft longing sigh left your lips, and you felt a warm current of air hit your face - Don felt the same.

"We should go." you state, convincing yourself as much as him.

"Do we have to?" he whined breathlessly.

Yes, yes, you did. And he knew that. You both did. Otherwise his brothers and his very observant father will notice you're acting suspicious. They'll probably figure out he wasn't just helping you study for that AP Statistics exam. That is, if they hadn't already.

Your hands slid down his shoulders in an attempt to separate you two but instead they fell onto the top of his plastron, thumbs running softly over the last uncovered skin there, where you knew he was sensitive.

"Hmmm..." it came out as a low growl and it surrounded you on all sides. "You're not helping."

"Am I ever?"

"DONNIE! (Y/N)! DINNER!" at least Mikey stuck to the strict "No entering during study-sessions" rules. That's good to know that he can be intimidated into compliance. Or blackmailed... Point is, it worked.

Donnie's head falls in defeat, forehead leaning on yours for support.

So glad he took those goggles off. You can see more of him this way.

He sighed again, defeated - he was too smart to not figure out that at some point your behavior will raise suspicion. His head lifted back, and turned to the door.

"Coming!"

And your cheeky ass giggled at that.

"Oh, Donnie." you teased, "I haven't even started."

"Pfft. " chuckle, and a snort.

He really did like your dirty puns.

The man took your hand into his cool giant one, somehow providing comfort like no other, as he pulled you to the lab entrance. But once at the door you had to split. It's part of the arrangement.

His family shouldn't know about you.

You two decided at the early stage of your budding romance that keeping the whole thing on the down-low for a while was the smartest choice. It would prevent his brother's jealousy, it won't incite any fights, it won't change their relationship with you and you'll get to feel things out at your own pace - no pressure or prying eyes.

Just you.

But there was a list of downsides too. For one, neither of you was a great actor, Don was even shit at lying, so you'd had to take extra steps to remain as friendly-looking as possible. Then there was the trying-to-set-you-up-with-Vern thing that April was doing and every time the topic came up you could act regular-disgusted but not in-a-happy-relationship disgusted, and so would your favourite turtle. And then there was the hiding, coveting each other in the lab or in small stolen moments in the lair, and the lying about going topside to do recon or install something somewhere, the covering up - no, of course Donnie wasn't with you at your place, he must have gone somewhere else.

You were quite honestly sick of it. You were ready to tell his brothers. You were ready to tell the world.

"We should tell them." his voice was once again low, quiet as if to preserve the last few moments of the secret to yourselves.

Once again you were entirely in sync despite being vastly different.

He was a genius, you, decidedly, weren't.

He was really into sports, you weren't.

He was a 6'8 ninja turtle raised underground by a rat dad, and you obviously were not.

And yet somehow, you clicked.

"I agree."

At that point you knew that your approval would kick into gear the most destructive process in Donnie's mind - overthinking.

Your hand immediately darted out and grabbed one of his pulling it up to your lips and kissing the knuckles in reassurance.

"We'll figure it out."

But still, you had to split. Even if you did plan to tell them, there would be a time and a place for that.

"What took you so long? The lasagna got cold." Mikey was positively outraged - as much as he could be - by your lack of interest in his usually excellent cooking.

"Sorry, Mikey." you butted in, trying to save the day, "There's just something about Inferential Statistical Analysis that I can't wrap my head around." Bullshit, you knew exactly what it was and how it worked - it's part of the basics but he didn't need to know that.

"Still smells great though!" Don sounds cheerful enough even though you'd just agreed to break the fragile peace in your relationship just a minute prior. He was getting really good at the lying part. Too bad it won't be needed for much longer.

Dinner was as uneventful as it can be around five mutant ninjas. Master Splinter asked about your day, you told him about the nearing finals season and he offered some comforting words after which the conversation bounced around the rest of the family in a natural progression.

Once you were full, and once all of Mikey's delicious food had been virtually inhaled by the four giant men around you, you got up to get the dishes to the kitchen and help clean up. It was only fair, after all.

Apparently it was Ralph's turn to wash dishes and there was no wiggling out of that because Splinter said so. Well, at least you can dry them.

And dry them you did, meanwhile casual conversation about whatever kept flowing and you figured you won't be able to go back to the lab and do some more 'Statistics'.

You were just drying and putting away the last plate when a thiqq arm stretched over your head to reach a cupboard you couldn't even get to in your dreams.

Your head whipped back, eyes landing straight on some hard looking chest plates under a pair of suspenders. And then you looked up and saw Donatello, the cheeky shit, with a pop tart in his mouth and a shit-eating grin around it.

"Oops, sorry, (Y/N), didn't see you there."

Oh, I'll give you Oops, didn't see me, my ass. You'll see.

He was being unusually open about his closeness to you and that was less then an hour after you'd decided to come clean.

He was ready then.

"I was planning on checking out the meatpacking District tomorrow." Leo was going on about that idea he had to check out some building or another, Mikey was wiping down the table, and Raph was finishing up the dishes, and for once Don was just there chilling.

His treat was gone, meaning he ate it all, he seemed relaxed, his shoulders loose and shell leaning on the wall.

No time like the present.

"You guys, I'm gonna head out. I've got work tomorrow and after that I've got a study group to attend so, I should head to bed."

"You need us to walk you home?" Leo asked more out of courtesy, he knew you lived close and would usually decline.

"No, no, that's okay." you replied, looking for your bag and jacket where you'd left them near the kitchen table.

"Aaaw, you're leaving already? Well, at least you ate." Mikey quickly swept you into a hug goodbye and turned back to sorting his ingredients in the cupboards.

"Thanks to you, Mikey Steward." to which he giggled in response.

"See you tomorrow, shorty." Raph waved as he turned to get a beer from the fridge.

"Stay safe out there, okay?" Leo always the guardian, warned you for the hundredth time, again just out of courtesy.

And then you walked to where Don was leaning on the wall, took his chin in your hand and pulled him down.

Oh, shit, am I actually gonna do this!?

Your lips met, your heart pounded, the room became super hot and that wasn't just because of the brilliant piece of man-candy in your hands. You could feel their eyes but then again that was the whole point.

A loud dramatic intake of air was heard, a drop of something metallic and then silence.

Your face pulled away from him, eyes opening slightly to look at him, as your weight fell back onto your heels from standing on your tiptoes. His face had that same dazed, satisfied-yet-hungry look that he usually had whenever you'd had to break apart.

He tasted so sweet, you just had to lick your lips at the memory.

"I'll see you tomorrow." you whispered, that was all you could force out in that moment.

"See you tomorrow." his voice was as soft as yours even though his brothers could probably hear.

You fully pulled away from your man, now certain that there'd be no secrets between you and the ninja clan.

You were not an actor, you quickly got embarrassed with your performance, however brilliant it may have been, and speedily scammed to pick up your belongings and jogged outta there.

You turned one last time, because something in you said you should and what you saw was truly a sight.

All three of Don's bothers with their mouths hanging open and Splinter peeking out of the door to the dojo with his eyes like saucers and then there's Donnie - the image of peace, hands in his pockets, a soft smile on his lips, now shiny from your lip gloss, and looking you straight in the eye as you retreated.

"Bye." you shout to no one in particular and scramble for the exit.

-_-_-_-_-

Phone - charging

Alarm - set

Pajamas - on

What's missing then?

Ding!

Your phone notified you that someone was requesting your attention and you were more than happy to find out it was your man.

'Hey, Laika' Oh lord it so got you giggling like a schoolgirl when he called you that.

'Hey, Tyson' and then he told you that he loved to be compared with the biggest name in astrophysics today.

'How did it go?' you felt super bad for bailing on him but at the same time there was this relief that came with the cat being out of the bag.

'Surprisingly well. No one was mad that we kept it a secret.' well, that's good. You won't have to jeopardize your relationship with the boys. 'Dad still wants to talk to you tho'

Ah, well, that's to be expected. Even though Donnie is an adult, the were still a very tightly knit family unit so, you supposed that something like that would be a pretty big deal.

'That's fine, I'd do whatever'

'I wish I could kiss you rn'

It honestly shocked you how chill about it he was. Probably because he wasn't being grilled for information anymore, neither of you would have to lie anymore, and because he could now tell Vern to fuck right off, with no worry about how it would look.

You were so looking forward to being solely and entirely his.

'Tomorrow we start anew'

He had a point, things would change. But hopefully not between you.

'Can't wait to meet you for the first time again lol' you didn't know if you were being funny or just cheesy but it felt right.

Despite your smile, your eyes started drooping, your breaths slowing and you felt the exhaustion of the day slowly hug you like a blanket.

'Goodnight'

'Goodnight, (Y/N)'

[well-its-not-human-anymore]

Okokok here this: april, reader and casey try to prank the boys. How does it go. With who does it fails/success, what was the prank, do they get caught? Do the boys get revenge, and if so, how?

Also, splinter sees it all unfolds, does he just gets himself a snack and watch, or does he tries to subtly join in without getting caught? (We all know hes got a playful side cmon)

Bonus: they try to prank vern too, maybe the boys join in to prank him? What do they do? Does he retaliate?

Okay so I admit I let my brain go nuts on this one, so it's a little long but I was cackling the entire time I was writing it.

TMNT Headcanons

Prank Wars

Leonardo

In your complete and utter defence, Leo had 100% started this

And also in your defence, you did tell him not to

Twice

But he tricked you into watching a horror movie and ended up dying your hair green

This meant war

You'd even wrapped up April and Casey into it

Their problems were your problems

Which meant that April was the one who convinced Splinter not to say anything to his sons

He was perfectly happy to oblige

Casey was just there to help set things up

And you liked the way his mind worked

The objective wasn't to go unnoticed, there would be no point in doing it and having no proof

You were doing this to prove that you could

Leo had emphasized that he couldn't be distracted

That you were to obvious and clumsy to prank him without him noticing

Challenge fucking accepted

And that's how you ended up at the kitchen table eating lunch with April and Casey when the boys were coming back from meditating with Splinter

April kept having to shove food in her mouth to hide her laughter

Casey just decided to wear sunglasses

And you kept overpowering the urge to smirk

"Hey guys, good to see you. Y/n have you seen my katanas?"

With the obstruction of water in your mouth you just nodded at him, pointing to the other room

He sauntered off, none the wiser to your victorious grin

When he came back in only a moment later his expression had done a complete 180

Leo made direct eye contact with you and you held that stare like a wolf cornered in its den

"does someone want to explain why my katanas are encased in blueberry jello?"

You raised your hand like a child in class

"hate to break it to you, but it's actually berry blue you uncultured bitch"

Raphael

Ohhhh you were so undeniably dead

A whole other level of six feet under

It wasn't a surprise that April and Casey had backed out on this one

It also wasn't a surprise that Splinter had offered to stand up for you if things went sideways

Donnie even gave you a sheet of paper with a list of hiding spots before hand

All of this went completely unnoticed by Raph, the target of your latest scheme.

And that was fine, you had only one objective here-

Make it out alive

But it was amazing what 1 person could do with some extra cash and internet access

So that's what led you to your current position.

Cross legged on the bench, watching the large red terrapin get ready for his first set, that in itself wasn't unusual, you always watched him lift just in case you needed to run and grab someone if something went wrong

Raph was none the wiser to your plan

At least that's what you thought

Your book was in your lap and you were calmly scanning your pages, somewhat comprehending the words but keeping a very close eye on the turtle across from you

"Hey y/n?"

You peeked over the edge of your book to meet his eyes

And your heart sank to your stomach

"Yeah Raph?"

He smirked at you, taking a lumbering step forward

"You ever seen that episode of the Office where Jim fills Dwight's phone with nickels so when he takes 'em out Dwight punches himself in the face?"

Shit shit shit shit shit shit-

"Uh... No, can't say that I have, why do you ask?"

That damn smile got even wider and all of your muscles tensed, you were ready to bolt

"I'm giving you a fifteen second headstart. Starting right now."

You flew to your feet and sprinted out of the weight room

"DONNIE WE GOTTA CODE RED!"

Your lungs were ready to burst by the time you made it to your decided hiding spot. Heavy footsteps went right underneath you and you held your breath, you wouldn't dare move.

You didn't come down until hours later when Splinter came and coaxed to you out of hiding

But deep down you knew you'd started something you couldn't finish.

Vern Fenwick

You didn't even have to convince the guys to partake in this

You didn't even get the chance to tell them what you were planning

They were already brainstorming

None of you let a word of it slip to April, she would've shut you down faster than you could blink

A complete buzz kill

But fake blood was relatively cheap and all of Vern's flooring was tile (meaning extremely easy to clean and bleach)

Donnie had really been the mastermind behind the execution, none of you had any idea how he'd rigged the apartment plumbing

But he'd assured you it would only affect Vern's suite and no one else's so you didn't concern yourself with it further

And after the fact you had to wonder what exactly the former cameraman was planning on the date he'd been in the middle of

All you knew was that you got a very frantic call from the falcon himself yelling about blood coming out of his tap and the sink wouldn't shut off and it was everywhere and what the fuck was happening?

You all knew that Splinter thought it was hilarious, he'd never been particularly fond of Vern

But he did make his sons assist in the clean up and bleaching of the victims apartment floor

You went too and offered moral support

Vern had hit on you one too many times, so there was no way you'd feel bad about this

Michaelangelo

As far as pranking went, you and Mikey were partners in crime

He always had great ideas and you always came up with the best ways to execute those ideas without getting caught

But when you separated those two chaos was guaranteed

You weren't entirely sure how you had been pitted against each other but you weren't entirely mad about it

You couldn't say the same for anyone else though, the others had been on edge all week.

Pranking Mikey was a challenge, he knew how you worked and vice versa

You'd been brainstorming with April for weeks now, maybe a new perspective would help

That's what the two of you told yourselves anyways

Much to your dismay, Mikey and Casey had been plotting against you as well, the traitor.

And perhaps even more unfortunate was the fact that both of your pranks somehow overlapped and backfired on the rest of the family

Because Mikey and Casey may have replaced the family tea set with a edible sugar replica that looked identical to the original

So that when you were asked to make tea for Splinter and Leo it would dissolve the second you poured the hot tea

But they didn't tell anyone else so Leo was left with an impromptu anxiety attack when he made his own tea before sitting down to meditate and it melted into sugary leaf water

And you and April had planned the 'cutting off your finger in the kitchen' with the knife, fake finger, and fake blood

Which in theory should've worked because Mikey was in the kitchen the most, that was his territory

However once you'd started your plan you couldn't stop it

so when you 'cut your finger off' and screamed for Mikey you didn't have time to yell "wait it's a prank!" before Donnie caught a glimpse of the scene and fainted

In your defence you didn't know the purple turtle could move that fast

And to Mikey's relief he was going to throw that cutting board out anyways

Splinter explicitly banned the two of you from pranking each other after that incident

Donatello

Per your own common sense you had come to the conclusion that pranking the families resident genius was a horribly stupid idea

So for once, you'd practiced some self control and refrained from any pranks involving Donnie

Now that's not to say that the turtle vowed from aiming any pranks towards you

He had morals but messing with you walked the line separating adorable from batshit crazy

And he was all for it

April advised against it severely and even Splinter seemed to think it wasn't the best idea, but that was a lesson his son had to learn on his own

On the flip side, the second Casey heard about Donnie's plan he was all for it

So when you came over for dinner they both had to hide their excited smiles as Casey passed you your spaghetti

He knew it was your favorite

Everyone else was oblivious, which looking back on it was a very bad thing

April had her suspicions that Donnie was pulling something this evening, but she couldn't put her finger on it

That wasn't until you swirled a mouthful of noodles around your fork and shoved it into your mouth, you were starving

Here lies your predicament-

You swallowed thickly and blinked like you were in pain, your hand went to your throat and you reached for your water, ending up chugging almost the entire bottle.

Your eyes met Donnie's in a serious type of concern

"Is there hot sauce in this?"

April choked on her breadstick and quickly covered her mouth

Casey hadn't picked up on it yet

"Awh yeah- how'd you figure it out so quickly?"

You erupted in a coughing fit that sent April rushing to your side before you could tumble to the floor

"You fucking assholes! Y/N has a capsaicin allergy! Casey go start the car we need to get them to the hospital!"

On the bright side you were fine after you were rushed to the ER

But you didn't speak to Donnie or Casey for two weeks following the accident

You eventually forgave them for it and they haven't targeted you since

Sorry if it got a little dark at the end, but I felt like it was more realistic. Also that has actually happened to me but it was a nut allergy (and that's how I found out I was allergic to cashews) But I feel like the ending was a good example of how pranking someone can go horribly wrong, you should always consider the possibilities before doing something that could cause harm to a person. (Unless they really really deserve it)

I really enjoyed writing this one and I hope you guys like it as much as I do! 😁🧡👍

-Mars 🌠

[heyitssmiller]

Chop It Like It’s Hot

Chapter 9: We Brie-long Together

The boys finally talk.

To everyone who has shared their ideas for this story, I love and appreciate every last one of you! I tried to include as many ideas as I could in this chapter. This one’s for y’all! <3

Tag List: @peanut-in-the-goal @whataboutmyfries @raxelle-nite-in-gale @heyoitslysso @spookydiyharrypotterbat

Chop It Like It’s Hot Masterlist

@lumosinlove

.

Excerpt from Chapter 8 (If you don’t recognize this I would really recommend reading the last chapter!)

“We’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Logan asked, green eyes hopeful. “At the game?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” The bus driver honked the horn, clearly fed-up with waiting. “You’d better go before they leave you behind.”

Logan and Finn gave one last wave before heading towards the door while Leo began making his way back to the kitchen.

“Hey!” Logan called suddenly. Leo turned back around to look at them. “Can we take you out to dinner tomorrow? After the game?”

Leo’s stomach churned at the wording. He gathered up all his courage, took a deep breath, and asked, “Is this a date?”

Finn and Logan beamed. Leo’s heart skipped a beat.

“I sure hope so.”

Leo smiled hesitantly at Finn’s words. “You’re serious?”

“Of course we’re – ” Logan was cut off by the horn of the bus again. He whipped around to shoot it a glare. “One second.”

He fished out his phone from his pocket and quickly sent a text to the team. Don’t wait for us. Harzy and I are going to take a cab back. He then proceeded to turn his phone off. “Finn, you might want to silence your phone.”

Then they both turned to look at Leo again.

His heart skipping a beat had now turned into a full-on arrythmia.

“I honestly can’t believe you didn’t pick up on this sooner.” Finn said, still smiling. “I mean, we weren’t exactly subtle.”

Leo finally closed the distance between them, hyperaware of the two pairs of eyes following his every move. “I had my suspicions. I was just…” He sighed, looking down. “Every possible outcome seemed so terrible and I was so scared that I was going to ruin all of this.”

He reached out to grab Finn’s hand, then looked up at Logan and gently cradled his neck in his hand, thumb brushing against his pulse point. “Guess that was kinda dumb, huh?”

Logan groaned and surged forward to capture Leo’s lips with his own.

Oh.

Leo exhaled in a sigh and kissed back, moving his hand slightly so that his fingers tangled in soft brown hair. He couldn’t believe this was actually happening, holy shit. He had no idea how he’d become so lucky, but he definitely wasn’t about to question it. Logan stood up on his tiptoes, grabbed Leo’s shirt for balance, and tilted his head for a better angle.

“Oh my god, I love my life.” Finn whispered as he watched the two them. Leo smiled and broke away from Logan in order to kiss Finn with equal enthusiasm. With a muddled brain, Leo tried to sort through all the emotions he couldn’t put into words before Logan moved to kiss his neck, causing the blond to gasp. All previous train of thoughts had officially left the station.

“We – we should probably talk about this.” Leo managed to say in between kisses, his grip on Finn’s hand tightening.

“Kiss now, talk later.” Finn mumbled back. Logan hummed in agreement.

Leo couldn’t really find a flaw in their argument.

That arrythmia was quickly morphing into cardiac arrest.

After an undiscernible amount of time, though, he reluctantly had to lean back in order to breathe. Both boys looked up at him, pupils blown, and Leo smiled.

What on earth had he done to deserve this?

“As much as I’d love to stay here,” He said as he pressed a kiss to Logan’s forehead. “I know y’all probably have to get back to the hotel. You’ve got morning skate, right?”

“No…” Finn whined, pressing closer to his boys.

“I already overfed your entire team the night before a game. I’m not going to be responsible for two of their wingers being tired all day tomorrow.”

“But it’s still early. Maybe we could just walk back to the hotel?” Logan suggested. “I’m not ready to say goodnight yet.”

“It’s November.” Leo countered, then sighed when Finn and Logan just sent him blank looks. He sighed. “Northerners. I will be a freezing, miserable mess if we walk around New York City all night in weather like this.”

Logan pouted, which proved to be very distracting because Leo couldn’t stop staring at those full lips.

“We could always go back to my place for a little while.” He finally conceded, watching the other two perk up. “It’s not too far of a walk. You guys can call a cab whenever you need to leave.”

“Yes.” Finn blurted, leading the way towards the door and dragging Leo and Logan along with him. “Let’s do that.”

“Hold on – Finn,” Leo laughed, trying to pull his hand free with little success. “I need my keys.”

Finn reluctantly let go of his hand, only to immediately grab it again when Leo came back with his keys. Leo arched an eyebrow as they stepped outside into the cold. “You know I still have to lock the door behind us, right?”

The redhead sighed dramatically and released his hand again. Logan smiled and said something in French about drama queens as he stared at Finn in adoration.

It didn’t make Leo’s heart ache anymore. Instead he just felt giddy – like he would never be able to sleep tonight.

How had this become his life?

Leo quickly locked the doors to the restaurant and then laced his fingers with Finn’s again. “Ready?”

“Lead the way, Peanut.”

So they began the walk back to Leo’s apartment, side by side. Leo and Finn shared stories about the places they passed as they walked – a strange combination of childhood stories from Finn and food recommendations from Leo but Logan soaked up every word, wanting to learn as much about his boys’ city as he could.

Finn was playing with Leo’s hand when he brushed his thumb across a thick, raised scar on one finger. He held it up to inspect and pressed a gentle kiss to it. “What’s this from?”

Leo looked down at it. “Oh, I almost took that finger off in culinary school.”

“You did what?”

“We were learning how to properly butcher a cow and it didn’t end well.”

Finn looked a little green. “Oh my god, baby.”

Leo tripped over his feet and looked over at Finn, who didn’t even seem to realize what he’d said.

Leo’s heart would never recover from tonight.

“Oh, Fish, show him that one scar you got sophomore year of college. The one from that asshole who played center at Brown?”

“Oh yeah! Nut, you’ve gotta look at this one.” Finn said excitedly, dropping Leo’s hand to roll up his coat and the shirtsleeve underneath it. “So it’s the third period, we’re tied one to one. I was on a break away, right? And then...”

They continued to share stories as they walked, although Logan was finding it harder and harder to focus on anything else but the rising spots of color on both of their cheeks and Leo’s nose, god it was too cute. The three of them finally reached an apartment building and hurried inside to get out of the cold.

Leo led them to his apartment and unlocked the door before welcoming them inside with a sheepish grimace. “Sorry about the mess, I’ve been making a lot of pasta and didn’t have time to clean it up before I left.” His stomach growled loudly. “Didn’t have time to eat, either, so I’m going to make a snack too. Make yourselves at home.”

Logan looked at the kitchen that was covered in flour, cooking utensils, and several different pasta cutters. He smiled softly at the sight, although he felt a little guilty. “You really went through a lot of trouble for tonight, huh?” Finn stood by his side and wrapped an arm around his waist. Logan leaned into him slightly as they both watched Leo preheat the oven and grab a wheel of brie and fresh raspberries from the fridge. Next came honey and crackers from the pantry.

“It wasn’t too bad.” Leo said as the oven beeped to signal that it had reached the right temperature. He put the brie in a pan, drizzled it with honey, and set it in the oven. “I enjoyed it. It’s been a while since I made pasta from scratch.”

Leo led the way to the living room where they all sat down on the couch, getting as close to each other as they could. Logan finally got to kiss the pink of Leo’s cheek, which earned him a soft smile.

“We still should probably talk about this.” The blond said, snuggling close to them. “I mean, how is this going to work? We all travel all the time. I’m based in New York and y’all are in Gryffindor. That’s a lot of long distance.”

Finn sighed, tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. “I’m not going to lie to you, the season is going to be hectic. It always is. But we can visit as much as we can, and then there’s the offseason.” He smiled and poked Leo in the side. “You’ll be lucky to get rid of us then.”

“And you aren’t constantly recording new shows, are you?” Logan asked. “You could always visit or tag along to away games if you wanted.”

“I do a lot of videos from home, too. If you don’t mind me commandeering your kitchen every once in a while, I could always record them from there.”

“Peanut, literally nothing could make us happier than you taking over our kitchen.” Logan grinned at the thought, remembering the week Leo had spent in their apartment. He wanted to have that every day.

“Oh my god, we’re going to eat so much good food.” Finn sighed happily, resting his chin on Leo’s shoulder.

The timer for the brie went off. Leo rose to his feet to head back to the kitchen, shooting his boys a look as he went. “Your nutritionist is going to kill me.”

“Nah. You’ll be fine.” Finn reassured, giving Logan a lovestruck smile. He sent a similar smile back. “I’m sure you can run faster than him, anyways.”

“That’s not exactly comforting.” Leo called over his shoulder, taking the brie out of the oven and setting it on a plate with the raspberries, crackers, and more honey.

“I can’t believe a giant like you is afraid of a five-foot-nothing nutritionist.” Logan teased.

“If you’d seen the way he was glaring at me for all the pasta I cooked tonight, you’d be scared too.” Leo sat back down on the couch and picked up a cracker, scooping some warm brie onto it and adding some honey and a raspberry on top. “Now I know you’re probably full, but y’all have to try this.”

***

Logan looked over at Finn as the elevator began to slow down. “You ready for this?”

“Not at all.” He replied, but he was still smiling.

The elevator doors opened with a ding! and Logan and Finn stepped out. Their entire team was waiting for them in the hotel lobby with matching smug, teasing looks on their faces.

“You took a cab home, huh?” Talker chirped with a wicked grin.

The rest of the team erupted in cheers and whistles and cat calls, talking over each other in order to keep the teasing going.

“We signed up for this, didn’t we?” Logan asked, rolling his eyes.

Finn just kept smiling. He was going to be smiling for weeks after the events of last night. “Yep. And it’s definitely worth it.” Then he raised his voice for the rest of the team to hear, “Keep laughing while you can! We’re going to be soft, squishy romantics for at least the next month and you guys are going to have to deal with us. You’re going to be so sick of it, I can guarantee it.”

The team gave them uncertain looks.

“Now, get ready! I’m about to talk about our sweet ray of Louisiana sunshine the entire way to the stadium. I sure hope there’s a lot of traffic, because I have a lot to say.”

“Oh god. What have we done?”

“Blame Dumo - he’s the one who signed them up for that show.”

“Hey!”

***

The Gryffindor Lions Talk Show: Hosted by Butts and Kinzy

Longbottom: Looks like we’ve got a special guest in attendance tonight, folks! For those of you who don’t know, two of our finest went on a Food Network cooking competition during the offseason, and it looks like they’ve made a friend.

McKinnon: That’s chef Leo Knut. He was one of their instructors on the show. It’s nice to see that they still keep in touch. *clears her throat* There’s a link on all of our social media pages where you can watch Harzy and Tremzy be absolute disasters in the kitchen. Go check it out if you haven’t already! Now for our starting lineups!

[master-sass-blast]

Winter Stay-cation.

*insert pithy quip here*

Summary: A massive squall hits New York City. The snow, combined with a deep freeze, brings the city that never sleeps to a standstill once the police issue travel bans. Fortunately, you and Piotr know how to keep yourselves entertained during your impromptu stay-cation.

Pairing(s): Piotr Rasputin x Reader, Nathan Summers x Wade Wilson, and Ellie Phimister x Yukio.

Rating: G for fluff.

Word Count: 3.4k.

Set after “It’s Truly Magical.”

A/N: The movie quote from Day Five is from Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rear Window.”

Taglist:  @marvel-is-perfection, @chromecutie, @girl-obsessed-with-things, @super-darkcloudstudent, @dandyqueen, @leo-writer

“—continuing into the middle of next week, if not longer. Expect heavy snowfall and temperatures below freezing, with windchill taking things below zero over the weekend.”

“Good grief.” You shake your head as you watch the weather report on the morning news. “It doesn’t get that cold when I fly full speed.”

Piotr, your husband, hands you a cup of coffee and shrugs. “January is ugly month.”

You smirk into your mug. “Bet this doesn’t compare to Siberian winters.”

“Not really,” he admits with a chuckle.

“The Chief of New York City’s Fire Department has issued a statement reminding residents to be careful when using their fireplaces and to monitor children and pets.”

“Yeah, yeah,” you quip, “Don’t use fireworks as kindling, we got it.”

Piotr snorts.

“In addition, the Police Department has issued a travel advisory in light of the predicted precipitation and sub-zero temperatures. All none-essential travel is restricted until the cold snap passes.”

“Groovy. Tell that to half the city.”

Piotr grins, shakes his head again, then turns the TV off. “Looks like we will have to keep ourselves occupied here this week.”

You cast a disparaging glance outside –where the snow is already up to Piotr’s knees—then say, “Like we were going anywhere else.”

 ***

 Day One

 There’s an upside to when the “deep freeze” hits. It’s already winter break, meaning there’s no coordinating classes, figuring out how to pick up students that don’t live at the mansion, or having to get up at the balls-ugly hours of the early morning in the stupid, frigid cold.

The two of you wake up at your leisure, around nine o’clock. You laze around in bed for a bit, snuggling and chatting and smooching, then head downstairs for breakfast. You wind up setting up shop at the dining room table, catching up on grading and filling out end of the semester report cards.

“Can you check these for me?” Piotr asks, handing you a stack of essays from his art classes. “I already made content-based marks; I am just not sure about English grammar.”

“Fun fact: most native English speakers aren’t sure about their grammar, either,” you joke with a smirk.

Piotr snorts, then checks his computer clock before standing. “Is about lunchtime. I was thinking soup and sandwiches?”

You nod. “Sounds tasty.”

“Would you like anything in particular?”

“Surprise me.” You make a contented hum when Piotr leans over the table to kiss you, then smile as you watch him head to the kitchen.

You really are the world’s luckiest woman (a sentiment you feel even more keenly when he comes back with a fresh cup of hot cider for you).

 ***

 Day Two

 “We should clean.”

The two of you are sitting on the couch. Your laptops sit on the coffee table, displaying the completed efforts of uploading grades to the online gradebook that the school uses. Two mugs that once contained coffee sit next to either laptop.

You look up at Piotr. You’re tucked against his side, head leaning on his shoulder while his fingers trace designs on the sleeve of your sweater (which is technically his sweater, but that’s neither here nor there). “Huh?”

“We should clean,” he repeats as he scrubs at his face with his free hand. “House could use it.”

You crane your neck to look over his shoulder. “We don’t really have that many dirty dishes.”

Piotr snorts, then raises an eyebrow at you. “When was last time we vacuumed? Or deep cleaned bathrooms? Or washed windows?”

“We can see out the windows just fine!”

Piotr grins and shakes his head. He stands, holding his hand out to you. “Come on, myshka. Clean home, clean mind.”

“I’ll have you know that my mind is nothing but dirty, and I’m offended that you would dare insinuate otherwise.”

Piotr laughs and helps you up. “We can start upstairs and work our way down.”

 ***

 Cleaning with Piotr isn’t so bad. He carries his fair share of the workload, does things to their proper doneness, and is a firm supporter of blasting tunes while cleaning.

“Take! Me! On!” You bounce up and down in time with the beat while you clean the sliding glass doors in your bedroom that lead out to the balcony. “I’ll… be… gone! In a day or two!”

Behind you, Piotr laughs. He’s hauling out a trashbag from the bathroom –no doubt filled with the sheer amount of crumpled paper towels it takes to get the place sanitary again. “I see you are enjoying yourself.”

“Absolutely not. I’m suffering endlessly. I’m going to die any minute now.” And then, to prove you point, you flop to the floor dramatically (taking care to use your powers to cushion your landing).

Piotr lets out a choked gasp, then clutches at his chest. “You keep scared me!”

You look up at him and laugh. “You know I can catch myself! You’ve seen me do that before!”

“Changes nothing!” He lets out a ragged breath, hand still pressed over his heart. “I could have heart attack.”

You giggle, then lift yourself off the floor with a swirl of wind. You land nimbly on your toes before him and wrap your arms around his waist. “Aw, now who’s being dramatic?”

“I fail to see how concern for your well-being is dramatic!”

You suppress a grin, opting to pop up on the balls of your feet and kiss him instead. “I’m very sorry I scared you, baby.”

“Is okay.” He kisses you gently, then gazes down at you with a rueful smile on his lips. “What am I going to do with you, myshka?”

“Dance with me?” You flash him an impish smile, then start bouncing in time to the music again.

Piotr chuckles, then takes your hands in his and bops along with you.

The two of you dance around the room –well, as much as what you’re doing can be called dancing. You sing the lyrics of the song to each other, not sticking to any particular key or tempo.

You laugh when Piotr lifts you into his arms, bridal style, then squeal in delight when he spins the two of you around.

It’s perfect.

 ***

 Day Three

 You wake up to the sound of Piotr’s phone chirping –because, even on vacation, he still keeps a daily morning alarm.

He groans as he comes to, then laughs when you roll over him and shut off his alarm for him. “Well, good morning to you, too.”

You set his phone back on his nightstand, then straddle his hips and plant your hands against his brawny chest. “You’re not making me clean today.”

Piotr smirks up at you, bushy eyebrow raising in challenge. “Oh?”

“We’re spending today in this bed,” you continue. “Just you” –you tap his chest—“and me, and as few clothes as possible. Sound good?”

He pretends to mull it over, even has he takes off the shirt he’d been sleeping in. “Are we allowed bathroom and meal breaks?”

“I’ll allow it.”

“Ah, very generous. Thank you, benevolent myshka.”

“You’re very welcome.” You giggle when he grins –then let out a delighted yelp when he rolls suddenly, pinning you between him and the bed. You sigh as he kisses you, eyes fluttering shut. You arms wind around his neck, holding him against you while his hands smooth down your body.

 ***

 Day Four

 Cabin fever starts setting in between the third and fourth day. There’s only so many chores you can do, only so many papers you can grade (and you’re out of papers to grade, which doesn’t help your case), only so much sex you can have before you’re gonna start losing your mind.

Fortunately, Piotr is well-attuned to you and your mental states –meaning he notices that you’re getting twitchy before you dip into pyromania to keep yourself entertained.

“We should do something fun today,” he says during breakfast. He spreads some sour cream over his plate of blinis, then adds cottage cheese and sausage meat. “Perhaps play some video games. Ellie has been pestering me to play some multi-people games with her and Yukio.”

“Could be fun,” you say before stuffing your mouth full with Nutella-covered blini. You swallow, then ask, “What did she want to play?”

“Ah… she had two. I think… Falling Guys and Among Us?”

A slow, wicked grin stretches across your place. Fuck yeah. “Let her know we’re in.”

 ***

 Piotr, unfortunately, turns out to be none too good at Fall Guys.

“No!” He wails, then flops back against the couch when he gets thrown off a platform and into the slime. “I could not run away!”

“You have to anticipate the enemy’s movements,” Ellie says over Discord. She’s already qualified and is spectating you and Yukio. “Predict their strategy, then counter.”

“I think it is less strategy and more ‘giant hands do not play nice with tiny controller,’” Piotr grumbles good-naturedly.

“Or maybe you got your butt kicked like a scrub,” Ellie fires back.

“I never contested that,” Piotr chuckles.

“Alright,” you say, eyes glued on your pink and yellow striped player. “I’m almost there, there’s plenty of slots left –no, you fucking pigeon! Let me go!”

“Language,” Piotr murmurs between bouts of laughter.

“It’s always a pigeon!” Ellie groans. “Fucking skyrats.”

“Language, NTW.”

You qualify for the next round (no thanks to the damn pigeon, who qualifies, too). Egg Scramble is next, and you wind up facing off against Ellie and Yukio for the win.

“Damn it!” There’s the sound of something hitting the floor –most likely Ellie throwing her controller—when she and Yukio get booted out. “Yellow always loses!”

“Is that it?” you ask while the loading screen plays. “Are we at the final round yet?”

“There’ll be one more,” Yukio says. “To finish whittling down the competitors.”

Sure enough, there’s a round of Tip-Toe –which you get through by the skin of your teeth—and then you and eight other players are sent to the finale.

“Okay, Hex-A-Gone. You’ll want to just hop from tile to tile,” Ellie advises you while the level loads. “It makes the tiles last longer.”

“Don’t be afraid to drop a couple levels at first,” Yukio adds. “You can carve out one of the lower levels, meaning anyone that falls above you will have further to go and will be more likely to get out.”

“I appreciate it, but don’t expect any miracles,” you say, laughing self-deprecatingly.

Piotr kisses the top of your head. “You can do this, myshka.”

You follow the girls’ advice; you let yourself drop down two levels, then start hopping from tile to tile to start carving out the platform.

“One guy’s already out!” Ellie announces. “You’ve got this!”

“Shit! I fell!”

“That’s okay,” Yukio reassures you. “Find a decent mass of tiles and hop, don’t run. Make them last.”

“The pigeon grabbed another player,” Piotr marvels, shaking his head.

“Yeah, well, they both died, so fat lot of good it did them,” Ellie mutters.

You keep going, bounce from brightly colored hexagon to brightly colored hexagon.

“Only four left!” Ellie lets out a whoop. “Holy shit, you’re gonna make it!”

“Don’t jinx me!” you laugh as you dodge another player’s attempt to grab you. “Don’t jinx me!”

“Three left –two! It’s just you and one other guy!”

“You’ve got this, Y/N!” Yukio cheers.

You dive for a clump of tiles –and miss. “No!” You groan, then laugh as your character plummets into the pink slime. “Damn. I’m never going to do that good ever again.”

Piotr wraps an arm around your shoulders in a conciliatory hug. “You did wonderful job, myshka.”

“He’s right. That was really good. The winner fell a few seconds after you, so it was basically a coin toss as to who was gonna get the crown,” Ellie says while the winner’s animation plays on screen.

“Yeah! Great job!” Yukio congratulates you.

“Wanna do another round?” Ellie asks as she flicks between skins and accessories for her avatar.

Yukio laughs lightly. “Baby, we were going to get lunch.”

“Oh, right.”

“Perhaps we can try other game after lunch,” Piotr suggests. “‘Fall Guys’ is okay, but makes me too dizzy.”

“Yeah, sure. Text me when you guys are done eating.”

***

 Among Us doesn’t go much better for Piotr, if only because he doesn’t adhere to the strategy of the game. He does his tasks without fail –which usually leaves him alone, and thus a prime target for killing or pinning a murder on. He’s also a terrible liar, which makes it easy to tell when he is the impostor.

You laugh as Piotr’s little red spaceman goes floating into space. “I honestly feel bad.”

“I don’t,” Wade says (he and Nate hopped on the Discord call when Yukio sent them an invite). “Pay for some acting classes, Chrome Dome! Give us a challenge, at least.”

Piotr starts grumbling in Russian, but it gets cut off when the round starts up again.

(You all still wind up losing because Nate’s the other impostor and racks up bodies like nobody’s business.)

“I’m still waiting for when Ellie and Dad get the impostor role together,” you comment as the defeat screen flashes on your laptop screen.

“What, so we all die in five minutes?” Wade grumbles. “So we can suffer the agony of betrayal and not honoring trust again?”

“It’s just a game, Wade,” Nate sighs. “And I apologized already.”

“Is our relationship ‘just a game’ to you, Natey? I gave you an alibi –and then you shanked me in the shower like rejected prison bitch!”

“Language, Wade,” your husband pipes up, voice world-weary. “Please.”

You all start another round once Wade calms down –which, admittedly, takes a while and a great deal of coaxing from Nathan. You grin when you see that you’re an impostor alongside Yukio –then giggle to yourself when a plan pops into your mind.

You start stalking Piotr around the map. You fake doing tasks alongside him, acting as his shadow as he treks around the map. On the corner of your screen, you watch your kill timer wind down, then wait for the right moment once it runs out, and—

Downstairs, in his art studio, your husband lets out an indignant scream when your character murders his.

You fall back onto the bed and cackle.

 ***

 Day Five

 The squall rages on outside. The world is practically buried in snow. It’s a sea of white outside your bedroom windows, blinding and sterile.

You peer at the swaths of snow blanketing every inch of ground, every tree branch, and every shrub, then nestle further under the blankets. “Ugh. I don’t even want to get out of bed today.”

Piotr chuckles, then wraps an arm around your waist. “How come?”

“Have you seen what it’s like outside? It’s disgusting!”

“I thought you liked snow.”

“I do. That’s how you know it’s bad.” You sigh as you eye the fat, fluffy flakes falling from the sky. “I wish I could, like, go outside. Go to a store or something. Leave the house.”

“Is not safe to drive yet.”

“I know, I know.” You sigh. “Is it bad that I miss the color green?”

“Nyet. Is normal.”

You smile, just a little, when Piotr kisses the back of your head. You roll over to face him. “Can we build a blanket fort today?”

He raises an eyebrow. “What… here? In bedroom?”

“Yeah. We can make it look all pretty, and snuggle in bed, and watch movies, and have sex…”

“Bozhe ty moi.” Piotr snorts, then takes a moment to study your face, your eyes. “You really want blanket fort?”

“Kind of, yeah. I just… I want something new to look at.”

The corner of his mouth turns up in a soft smile. He presses his lips against your forehead. “Alright, myshka. Let’s make fort.”

***

 “When a man and a woman see each other and like each other, they ought to come together. Wham. Like a couple of taxis on Broadway.”

You let out a content, relaxed sigh, then wriggle closer to Piotr.

The fort, admittedly, is simple –but you don’t mind. While you were taking a shower, Piotr assembled the whole thing, just to give you a little surprise.

He’d brought up a couple floor lamps from the main floor, then clipped some fairy lights to them before draping the largest quilt in the house over top to make the room. He’d pinned some throw blankets to either side of the quilt to make the sides, then made the bed and assembled the pillows so the two of you could have a nice, cozy, comfy den to watch movies in.

The recurring, delighted thought of ‘he made it for me; he made it for me because he knew I wanted one’ loops around in your brain like a bumblebee drunk on fermented crab apples. You grin, then loop your arms around Piotr’s neck and kiss his cheek.

He grins, cheeks flushing ever so slightly. “What was that for?”

“You made me a blanket fort.”

“You asked for one.”

“Yeah, but you made it for me. You could’ve just waited until we could both work on it.”

He shrugs, lips curving into a soft, pleased smile. “I wanted to see look on face. You were very happy.”

“Correction: I am very happy.” You kiss the tip of his nose, then his lips. “I love you, Piotr.”

“And I love you, Y/N.”

 ***

 Day Six

 You know it’s bad when you wake up before Piotr.

You look over at your husband, who’s still slumbering away next to you –and sawing some logs, no less—then out at the winter hellscape outside, and decide there’s only one thing for it.

You’re channeling your inner Great British Bake Off contestant and demolishing the kitchen.

***

 Piotr comes downstairs around ten in the morning –which is a miraculous amount of sleep in time for him—but by then, the damage has already been done.

There’s a cake cooling on the counter (you’d found a box of cake mix in the back of the pantry and decided to use it as a warm-up. The mixer is working overtime on a double batch of sugar cookies –plus there’s already chocolate chip cookie dough chilling in the fridge.

You look up from the cookbook you’d been perusing –you were thinking pie next—and flash your husband a slightly sheepish grin as he gapes at the kitchen. “Uh… good morning?”

“Myshka…”

“I made cake.”

“I can see that.” Piotr drops his heads into his hands and makes a noise somewhere between a groan and a laugh. “Why?”

“Because being trapped inside is stressing me out and I want to cope by eating my weight in desserts.”

Piotr sighs, then lifts his head. He eyes the mixer, then the increasingly sheepish expression on your face. “How much is that?”

“In the bowl or in the fridge?”

“Bozhe ty moi.”

“Look, the way I see it, we can share—”

“You have that much correct. We do not need five million cookies.”

“Excuse you, I’m only making three million. Also, do you know where the lard is?”

Piotr’s face scrunches up. “Lard? Why—”

“I wanna make pie.”

He pinches the bridge of his nose. “We already have cake. And goodness knows how many kinds of cookies.”

“But those aren’t pie.” You smile impishly at him. “Plus, like, pie has fruit, so it’s good for you. You like fruit. Think about how good it’ll be to eat something with fruit after all the cake, and the cookies…”

“Or I could just eat fruit.” He sighs, resigned and slightly frustrated, when you bat your eyelashes at him. “I will check pantry.”

***

 Day Seven

 “—as of today, authorities are lifting the ban on nonessential travel—”

“Yes!” You launch yourself into the air, twirling around and pumping your fists before landing lightly on the couch once more. “Finally!”

Piotr laughs and shakes his head. “What, is staying inside with me so terrible?”

“Absolutely not.” You crawl across the couch and into his lap, then give him a loud smooch. “I have enjoyed every single day of your company. However, you’ve got about fifteen minutes before I start repainting the walls out of sheer boredom.”

Piotr bursts into raucous guffaws. He puts a hand over his eyes, shoulders and stomach shaking with each laugh. He sighs, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes as minute giggles slip past his lips. “Well, we do need to restock on food. And flour and butter, since someone decided to open bakery yesterday.”

You pointedly ignore the pies and full cookie jar sitting on the kitchen counter. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He snorts, then pats your thigh. “Get dressed, myshka. We will go shopping.”

“Fuck yeah!” You zip up the stairs.

Downstairs, you can hear Piotr start laughing again.

[longitudinalwaveme]

Nightmare

“You stupid, worthless brat! How am I supposed to get ahead in life with you and your sister dragging me down? If it weren’t for the two of you brats, I’d be living like a king!” Leonard Snart doesn’t move a muscle. Despite being twelve years old, practically an adult, his father is still twice his size and over four times his weight, so fighting back would be pointless.

“Well, don’t you have anything to say for yourself?”

“No, sir.” Trying to defend himself will just make his father angrier.

“I should just throw you both out to fend for yourselves! Maybe then you ungrateful brats would learn to appreciate me! After all, if it weren’t for me, you’d both be dead in a gutter! Nobody else wants garbage like you.” When Leonard fails to respond, his father punches him in the stomach, then slings him over his shoulder. Leonard doesn’t react until he realizes that his father is heading for his sister’s room. Then, in desperation, he bites his father’s hand, producing a yowl of pain. Unfortunately, the bite doesn’t deter his father from his intended destination, and he storms into Lisa’s room, shakes her awake violently, and then grabs her as well. She immediately starts crying, and her tears only come faster when her father shakes her in an attempt to shut her up. Leonard tries to calm her down, but in his position, there’s not much he can do. His father opens the door to their trailer and violently deposits Leonard and Lisa on the front step.

“See how you like living without me!” his father yells before slamming the door. Leonard tries to open the door, but it doesn’t budge, and he starts to panic. His father has locked him and his little sister outside their home at three in the morning! What is he supposed to do? He can’t go to the neighbors-they all think he’s a juvenile delinquent-and he can’t call CPS because if he does, he and his sister will be separated and he’ll be thrown in jail just like his dad had told him. His sister starts crying again. He doesn’t think she fully understands what’s going on yet, but she can clearly tell that something is wrong.

“Shh….I’m here, Lisa. I’m not gonna let nothin’ bad happen to you, sis.” She hugs him, clinging to his thin frame as though her life depends on it, and asks,

“Are we in trouble again?” Leonard nods.

“Dad locked us out of the house,” he says, trying not to sound panicked.

“Is he gonna let us back in?” Leonard shrugs.

“I dunno, baby sis. I hope so.” At that, Lisa starts crying again.

“Shh...sis, we’ll be okay. Just pretend we’re having a campout.”

“Like the one Barbie had on TV?” Leonard grins.

“Yeah, just like that. Only ours’ll be better, ‘cause ours has us.” Lisa smiles.

“Okay, then why don’t we sleep over there?” she asks, pointing at a pile of leaves.

“Looks good to me, little sis.” He leads her over to the pile, takes off his shirt, and hands it to her.

“What’s this for?”

“It’s your sleeping bag. You can’t have a campout without one.���

“But where’s yours?

“I don’t need one, ‘cause I’m a man,” Leonard replies. He doesn’t want her to worry about him, and besides, tough guys like him don’t need sleeping bags, so it’s not a lie.

“Okay, Lenny.” Lisa lies down, and Leonard spreads his shirt over her.

“Good night, little sis.”

“Wait! Lenny, could you tell me a story before I go to sleep?”

“I guess so. What do you want me to tell you about?”

“The one with the princess and the superheroes!” Leonard manages not to groan, but it’s a close thing. Lisa asks for this story all the time, and it’s hard to tell. Superheroes might exist, but they don’t care about trailer trash like the Snarts. Why get her hopes up? But then again, it isn’t like he can refuse his little sister, so he launches into his story.

“Okay, so once upon a time, in a faraway place like New York, there was a beautiful princess named Lisa. Now, like all princesses, Lisa was smart and nice and all those things girls like to be called, but she had a problem- a big one. You see, when she was just a little baby, her kingdom-which I think is like a really old city-was cursed, so everybody and their Aunt Mariah forgot that she was their princess, and her loving mom and pop were replaced by a loose lady and an ogre who drank too much. The lady ran away, and the ogre was real, real mean to her and beat her up all the time for stupid reasons. Oh, and he also made her do chores and stuff, like cleaning up all his beer bottles while he was watching football.”

“How could he be watching football? Princesses don’t have TVs!” Leonard sighs.

“Okay, then he watched it with his crystal ball. Anyways, as bad as things were, the princess did have one friend. Before the curse, he’d been preparing to be a knight, but the curse had made him forget who he was, so he thought he was her brother and didn’t know how he was supposed to protect her from the ogre anymore.”

“What was the knight’s name?”

“Uh, his name was, uh….Sir Leo, the knight of, uh, Cold, and he could shoot ice! I mean, before the curse made him forget how. So anyway, Sir Leo and Princess Lisa were in a huge mess, and after years of living under the curse, they had given up on ever getting out. But that all changed when a superhero named-which one do you want?”

“The Flash.” Leonard nods, unsurprised. Jay Garrick has always been his sister’s favorite, probably because he lives near Central City just like them.

“Okay, so the Flash arrived to break the spell, and he did by, uh, running really fast. And then he punched the ogre in the face and gave the princess her real parents back, and she and the knight, who had his powers back and could protect her now, lived happily ever after. The End.”

“Thanks, Lenny,” Lisa says drowsily. Five minutes later, she’s fast asleep. Upon realizing that his sister is unconscious, Leonard finally allows himself to panic again. What’s he going to do if his father doesn’t let him and his sister back inside? It’s already October-if it gets much colder, Lisa could freeze to death. He wants to start crying, but doesn’t. Twelve-year-old boys-men-don’t cry. Ever. Instead of crying, Leonard decides to get angry. Someday, his father will pay for all the stuff he put Lisa through. He’s gonna pay-Leonard will make sure of that. With his tears firmly under control, Leonard falls asleep, determined to prove that he’s stronger than his father. The next morning, Leonard wakes up to find his sister still sleeping peacefully, her blonde hair a rather tangled, leaf-filled mess. In fact, she looks so happy that he almost hates to wake her, but if he doesn’t, she’ll be late for school.

“Lisa, wake up!” Her eyes flutter open.

“Good morning, Lenny.” Leonard pulls her to her feet and carefully brushes the leaves off of her, then takes his shirt back and puts it on.

“So, did you like the campout?” She nods.

“You’re the bestest big brother in the world.” Leonard smiles. If she’s happy, he’s happy. He leads her to the door of their trailer and turns the handle, and, thankfully, the door opens. The pair slip inside and find their father passed out on their couch, beer bottles strewn all over the floor and the TV still blaring. Leonard sneaks over to the couch, slides the remote out of his father’s hand, and turns off the TV. He proceeds to start picking up the bottles his father had left lying around. A few minutes later, he is joined in this endeavor by his sister, who is smaller and can more easily reach the bottles that had somehow ended up under furniture. About ten minutes later, the pair have successfully cleaned up the living room, and Leonard starts making breakfast.

“Go get dressed for school, Lisa.” Lisa obeys and vanishes into her room. While she gets dressed, Leonard finishes making cereal and sets the two bowls on the table. After doing this, he goes to the refrigerator, grabs the package of beer bottles, and fills all but one of them with water. If he only drinks one today, he’ll be sober enough to go to work tomorrow. Lisa returns from her room in a t-shirt and jeans long enough to cover the scars on her legs, and they both sit down at the table and start eating.

“Is Daddy all right?”

“Yeah, he’s fine.” They spend the rest of the meal in silence, and then Leonard takes the dishes to the sink and instructs his sister to brush her teeth, which she does. He washes the dishes, puts them away, and then pulls out his math homework that was due two weeks ago. His teacher had been bothering him about it on Friday, and he can’t afford any more trouble at school. The principal had already made it clear the last time he’d gotten detention (for mouthing off) that if he was sent to the office one more time, he’d be expelled, and if that happens, he’ll be stuck at home with his father all day. Stupid school. It isn’t like he is going to benefit from school anyway-he’d heard one teacher tell another that he’d never make it through high school-so why do they force him to come? School doesn’t make him any money, so how do they expect him to support his sister? He needs a job, not algebra. After a minute or so of struggling, he gives up and decides that he will just take another F. It isn’t like he’s going to pass the class anyway. Just then, his sister returns with her backpack and asks him to walk her to school. He does, and about twenty minutes later, he is waving good-bye to her as she enters her second-grade classroom. He leaves the building and walks to the middle school.

“Hey, Leonard,” another kid says. Leonard nods in greeting but doesn’t reply. There’s no point in trying to make friends when your dad’s got a rap as the town drunk and a thief, so he never really talks to anyone except when he needs to prove how tough he is when he gets into fights with other kids. His day goes pretty typically until math class. Normally, it is his least favorite class of the day (because it’s at the end of the day), but today, when he asks his teacher to just give him an F on the assignment and expel him already at the end of the class (after sleeping through the rest of it), the teacher doesn’t yell at him, call him a punk kid, or expel him. Instead, he gives Leonard an odd look and asks him to sit down. Leonard obeys reluctantly.

“Is everything all right at home, Leonard? I know you and I have never gotten along well, but lately I’ve noticed that you’ve come in with bruises and odd-looking marks on your arms fairly regularly, to say nothing of how tired you always seem to be. Is something wrong?” Leonard freezes. How had he failed to realize that his injuries hadn’t been covered up adequately? If he’s not careful, the teacher might call CPS and then he’ll lose Lisa forever.

“What, are you stupid or something? Don’t you know that I’ve been sent to the office for fighting three times already?” No one really cares about him, so he might as well make sure that this guy stops pretending to.

“Leonard, no one gets injuries that look like belt marks from fist fights.”

“Belt marks? What’re you talking about?” Leonard asks, before rattling off a string of swear words. In response, the teacher gently rolls up his left sleeve, revealing several barely-healed scars from his father’s belt. Leonard’s mind whirls as he tries to come up with a plausible explanation for the marks, but before he can, the teacher asks,

“Leonard, who did this to you?” Leonard swears again and looks at the floor, trying not to meet his teacher’s gaze.

“Look, sir, it was nothing. I did it to myself for a dare, that’s all.” In response, his teacher rolls up his other sleeve, revealing marks from a hand clearly much larger than Leonard’s own.

“Is your father doing this to you?”

“Yeah, but it ain’t none of your business. I’m just an idiot, that’s all. If I wasn’t such a delinquent, he wouldn’t have to keep me in line. I’m just garbage, okay? I deserve everything I get,” Leonard replies, parroting his father. If the teacher believes him, he can go home and take care of his sister. So, even though his dad would’ve beaten him if he’d been a goody-good like that Barry Allen guy in ninth grade, he is perfectly willing to use his father’s words if it gets him out of his current situation. Lisa is probably worried about him.

“Leonard, no one deserves to be beaten so badly that they’re still black and blue days later. I agree that your behavior could use a lot of improvement, but I would never lay a hand on you unless you were to threaten the life of me or another student, and I have no reason to believe that you would do that. Your father is wrong to treat you the way he does.” Leonard shrugs.

“Maybe. But sir, you’ve gotta keep quiet about this. If you call CPS, I’ll be separated from my sister and they’ll put me in jail or something.”

“Who told you that?”

“My dad. I mean, he ain’t a great guy, but he used to be a cop, so he would know.” The teacher frowns and shakes his head.

“If your father told you that, he’s lying to you. CPS isn’t going to send you to jail-in fact, I don’t know if they even have the power to do that.”

“Look, sir, everything’s fine at home! Please don’t tell anyone about this-please. I don’t want to lose my sister.” His teacher sighs.

“Very well. But if I see you with injuries like that again, I will call CPS.”

“Whatever,” Leonard replies. He mutters a few more swear words and leaves the room, hoping that his teacher is angry at him now and determined to keep his injuries covered from now on. He leaves the middle school and picks up Lisa, then asks,

“So, sis, how’d your day go?” In response, Lisa frowns.

“Lydia Brown made fun of my clothes again and said that her mommy had told her that I was trash and would probably rob the whole class blind,” she says sadly.

“It’ll be okay, Lisa. When you’re bigger and become super famous, she’ll regret making fun of you. Besides, her older brother is in my grade, so I’ll just tell him to tell her not to mess with you, or he’ll have to answer to me.”

“Thanks, Lenny. You’re as brave and heroic as the Flash.” The two walk home to find their father gone. Leonard breathes a sigh of relief. Since he isn’t here, Lisa’ll be able to do her homework. Lisa sits down at the kitchen table and pulls out a math sheet, and Leonard starts making dinner. He’s still making spaghetti when Lisa asks him for help.

“Lenny, what’s nine minus four?”

“Five.” Despite his math grades, Leonard is actually really good at figuring. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t be able to buy groceries and help his father pay the bills. He wonders what his teachers would think of that. After all, they all think he’s a stupid delinquent. None of them would ever guess that he’s responsible for taking care of his little sister, and he prefers it that way. Mockery is better than pity. Five minutes later, Lisa finishes her homework and Leonard finishes cooking the spaghetti and puts it in the fridge. This accomplished, he puts the clothes in the washing machine and then asks Lisa what she wants to do.

“Can we play dolls, Lenny?” Leonard groans. He hates playing with dolls, but he can’t disappoint his little sister. Except for their grandfather, who’s in the hospital, he’s all she has.

“Sure, sis.” The two of them get out Lisa’s collection of dolls (the majority of which come from either Goodwill or social service people who felt bad for her) and he asks,

“So, little sis, what do you want them to do?” Lisa grins.

“Let’s have Lydia (the creepy-looking porcelain doll she’d insisted he purchase at Goodwill) and Mariah (a rag doll with red hair) have a tea party and then go visit Tina (a Barbie doll with very short hair thanks to the previous owner cutting most of it off).” If it were up to Leonard, he would have all the dolls punch each other, but then again, he’s a man. Men don’t play with toys like little kids do.

“Sounds great, little sis.” An hour later, the game has somehow morphed into a really weird Star Wars parody featuring a female Flash (played by a knock-off Barbie) fighting the evil empire, which was lead by an evil emperor named Lewis (who was played by a cracked lawn gnome that had also been a Goodwill purchase), and both Leonard and Lisa have collapsed into uncontrollable giggling because Lisa had had the female Flash declare that she would defeat Lewis by vibrating him through a wall and then making him clean up all his beer bottles, only to realize how weird that sounded and declare that she wanted a do-over.

“Little sis, you’re the greatest,” Leonard says after he stops laughing-only to freeze in fright when he hears the door slam open and then slam shut.

“Leonard! Lisa! Get in here now!” The two rush to the door and find their father standing there with a bottle in his hand. He swears violently, slaps Leonard hard across the face, and then calls him a name that had gotten him suspended for three days when he’d used it at school. Lisa shrieks and clings to him, and he sighs and wonders how it’s possible that his father is drunk again when he’d made sure that only one of the bottles had had alcohol in it.

“So, you think you’re pretty smart, don’t you, you little punk? You filled my drinks with water and made me buy more to replace them. You moron! If it weren’t for you wasting my money, I’d be a millionaire, but no, I had to have a dirty, no-good punk kid instead! You’re supposed to respect me, not waste my money, you stupid brat! And now you’ll pay.” Leonard sighs and goes to fetch his father’s belt. Hopefully, it won’t hurt too much this time. Then his father grabs his shoulder and violently stops him in his tracks.

“No. I got a more effective way of punishing you.” He smashes his beer bottle on the counter and motions Leonard towards him. Leonard complies, unsure of what his father plans to do but too afraid to anger him. His father raises the bottle and brings it down hard across his arm, creating a spurt of blood. Then he shoves him into the counter and punches him in the ribcage. Leonard glances at his sister. She looks terrified, but hasn’t been hurt. Good. Leonard braces himself and his father gives him a black eye, then hits him with the bottle again, drawing more blood.

“Look, Dad, I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. I-I just wanted you to be happy, and you don’t seem very happy when you’re drunk.” He doesn’t really think he did anything wrong, but his father is scaring Lisa, so if he can bring the punishment to an end by apologizing, he will.

“You’re sorry? That don’t change a thing, you little sissy! You’re a sniveling little coward and I wish that you’d never been born!” He hits Leonard in the mouth, and Leonard tastes blood.

“Dad...please….”He has to protect Lisa!

“Shut up, you worthless yellow-bellied ninny!” His father raises the bottle to hit Leonard again, but suddenly, Lisa runs into his path and receives the full blow from the bottle. It opens up her shoulder and blood spurts everywhere.

“LISA!” His sister doesn’t reply. His father is right. He really shouldn’t have been born. If it wasn’t for him, Lisa wouldn’t be bleeding.

“You...you hurt Lisa!” he yells at his father.

“And if you don’t behave, I’ll do it again the next time. Maybe threatening to hurt her for your mistakes will make you give me some respect.” Leonard’s eyes widen in fear. Most of the time, he doesn’t know why his father gets angry at him. If his father starts hurting Lisa for his mistakes, he’ll never forgive himself.

“Dad, please don’t do that. Please, leave her alone! I promise I’ll never, ever sass you again, I swear. Just don’t hurt her again!” His father scowls.

“Whatever.” He looks over his daughter, then says,

“She’ll be fine. I know somebody who can stitch her up-and boy, if you even think about calling 911, I’ll tell them that you attacked her.” Leonard nods. He’ll never call 911 anyway, because if he ever does, he’ll lose Lisa. His father takes Lisa away a few minutes later, leaving Leonard alone with his thoughts. His little sister is hurt because of him, and he’s terrified. What if she dies? What if someone finds out what happens and he is separated from her? What if she decides she hates him for not protecting her? How much money is the surgery going to cost? How can he possibly trust himself to protect her after this? His father is right-he is worthless, and he always will be. He contemplates calling 911 so that Lisa will be taken away from their father, but quickly decides against it. Lisa will be terrified if she’s separated from him, and besides, what if the police believe his father and put him in jail? His grandfather will be so disappointed if that happens. Instead of calling 911, he grabs his father’s broken bottle and deepens the cut in his arm. If Lisa has to bleed, he should, too. Two hours later, his father returns with Lisa, dumps her on the floor, and demands dinner. Leonard gets the spaghetti out of the fridge, heats it up, and places it on the table. His father starts eating mechanically, and Leonard runs to Lisa. Much to his relief, her eyes flutter open after a few seconds, and she bursts into tears.

“Daddy hit me!” she wails. Leonard checks her shoulder and sees that it has been awkwardly stitched together. His heart breaks for her. Why does his little sister have to live like this when she’s done no wrong? She isn’t a delinquent like him or a drunk like his Dad. She doesn’t deserve this pain and poverty. Why has she been left with only a delinquent punk kid to raise her?

“Get your sister to stop crying or I’ll give you both something to cry about!” Leonard winces at the sound of his father’s voice and starts hushing his sister. About a minute later, she’s stopped crying and asks,

“Are you okay, Lenny?”

“Don’t worry about me, sis. I’m fine. How are you? Are you all right? Do you need anything? I’m so sorry that I let you get hurt.” His little sister isn’t supposed to worry about him.

“I’m….okay. Is Daddy still mad at us?”

“I dunno.” Leonard replies. He rocks her for a few minutes, and then his father finishes his meal and turns on the TV, then walks over to the couch and collapses on it. Leonard cleans up his plate, tells Lisa to eat, and then puts the wet laundry in the drier.

“Get me a beer, boy.” Leonard sighs and hands his father a can from the fridge, then joins his sister at the table and eats dinner. A few minutes later, Lisa finishes her food and tiptoes off to her room, and then Leonard finishes eating, cleans up the plates, puts away the laundry, and  goes to Lisa’s room to help her plan her outfit for tomorrow. He leaves the room while she changes into her PJs, then helps her brush her teeth and tucks her into bed.

“Can you tell me another story, Lenny?”

“Sure, Lisa. What about?”

“Maybe one about some beautiful imaginary creature, like a fairy or a unicorn or a nice mommy who actually lives with her kids.” Leonard almost swears, but catches himself. Why does his sister have to live without a mother? What has she done?

“Okay, sis. Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Lisa, and her brother, Leonard. They lived in Central City and they were the best of friends, but they had a problem-their parents didn’t want them, and neither did anyone else, because they were poor and people thought they were bad and mean just like their Dad was, and their Grandpa was too sick to help them. But then, one day, Lisa met a nice man and lady while she was ice skating. They were really impressed by her, so they asked her who she was, and soon they became friends with her, and when they learned that nobody wanted her and that he dad was loud and angry all the time, they called the police and he got taken away forever, and then she and her big brother got adopted by them and lived happily ever after.”

“And they had a pony and their house was made of candy!”

“And that. The end.”

“You’re the bestest storyteller ever, Lenny.” A few seconds later, she’s asleep, and Leonard kisses her on the head.

“Love you, sis.” He leaves her room and goes back to the living room, where his father is still drinking. Someday, he’ll make his father regret this day, when he gets older and can fight him. Someday, Lisa will have everything she wants. But it won’t come from imaginary caring parents. They don’t exist. He’s the only one who can give her her happy ending, and he will-no matter who gets in the way or what he has to do. After all, his future is doomed already. But if he can keep hers bright, he will have succeeded in protecting her, and that’s the only thing that matters. He certainly doesn’t.

[xrikix]

» Hiraeth Chapter 3 || Haikyuu AU

❝They will learn how to fly.❞ – an AU where the kids of Haikyuu characters grow their passion for volleyball and face their problems.

Starring our OC’s Hoshi, Minami, and Leo! (don’t worry they’re as fluffy as our babies from Haikyuu but sprinkle in more angst)

Read Chapter 2 Here!

Fly High! (Leo’s POV)

He could barely contain his excitement as he ran towards the gym, his legs stomping on the ground in a whirl of excitement. He stopped as he saw the front doors shining in all its glory, the metal glistened underneath the sunlight with sparks of hope. His hands excitedly reached out, to grab the handle, when suddenly,  "Hey!" Leo's eyes turned towards the voice as he saw someone approach the gym, their hands waving in the air. “I saw you somewhere before!” 

Noticing the blonde haired, freckled face, with a smile that resonated the sun, Leo quickly realized who he was, "Dino Tsukishima, was it?" 

Dino walked up, nodding his head as a grin stretched across his face, "That's me!" Pointing to himself. Dino stared at Leo and then towards the door, "Trying out for the volleyball team too?" Leo nodded, his hands already grasping the door. "Then open the door already!" Leo laughed as he slid it open, the sounds of metal screeching ringing through the air. They both entered the gym as Leo looked in awe at how the sun shined on the metal poles holding the net, and the numerous volleyballs on the ground. The hardwood floors glistened and the tall ceilings towered above their heads. He immediately noticed the team of upperclassmen and hastily bowed his head as a greeting. "Hello!" The team approached them, scattering volleyballs behind them as they surrounded Leo and Dino.

"Hey! You must be first years! Trying out for the team?" A boy with brown hair and blonde highlights smiled back at them. He eyed the first years one by one, and whistled in surprise, "Damn you're tall." Dino smirked and crossed his arms as the guy began to laugh. 

Dino and Leo looked around towards the team, prompting them to introduce themselves, "Guess I'll begin!” The boy who greeted them spoke first. “My name is Hikaru, your second year and middle blocker!" 

Tilting his head Leo spoke, "You're not the captain?" 

Hikaru laughed, "Me? The captain? Nah," and he pointed toward a guy standing with his arms crossed, a silent expression across his face, "He's the captain." 

The captain gave a blank stare before responding, “Ayama, third year." 

"Ooh! My turn!" Spoke the person standing next to Hikaru. Jumping up and down in the air he began, "My name is Kise, fellow second year, and I'm-" He dramatically pointed to himself, "Your libero!" Hikaru threw hands around the air, helping Kise flaunt himself as if he was in the spotlight. 

A boy who seemed to tower over Kise walked over to smack him in the head, "Behave yourselves," before turning to face Leo and Dino. "My name is Kousei and I'm the second year in charge of these two idiots." Giving them a warning look with his eyes. Hikaru stuck his tongue out in response and the next person began. 

He bowed, his hands flourishing around him, "Hisaki, third year, setter." 

Leo stared into Hisaki’s eyes, "You're the setter?" 

Hisaki's head tilted, "Yes?" 

Leo smiled, "I'm a setter too!" 

Hisaki eyed him and grinned, "I can't wait to see you play then...that is if you make it-" 

"Okay Hisaki you don't need to scare them like that" as a boy with an angelic smile pushed Hisaki away. "Don't mind him, he's a little… what's the word, smug. Before I forget, I'm Ryu, the ace and the last third year. I can't wait to work with you guys!" Before continuing to scold Hisaki for his behavior.

The last upperclassmen game in front of the two, "Last but not least, my name is Rin and I'm a second year," who gave them a reassuring smile. "You guys should introduce-" 

The gym doors shot open as another guy walked in, his eyes landing on the team before brightening when they saw Dino. "You're already here!" 

Dino rolled his eyes, "Duh." The mystery person smacked Dino on the back and laughed as Dino recoiled from the impact. 

He turned to face the team and loudly spoke, "Hello! My name is Katsuki Tsukishima and I'm a first year student!" 

Hikaru shrugged, "I was gonna say to introduce yourselves, but I guess someone already beat me to it." 

Hisaki sighed, "Do we have to reintroduce ourselves again?" He noticed Ryu glaring at him again, making him look back down. 

Dino turned to face the team, his hands in his pockets, "I'm Katuski's cousin, Dino Tsukishima and I'm a first year too!" 

Leo took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. His body pulsated with a newfound strength as he ushered himself to speak, "My name is Leo Shoyo and I'm a first year. Like I said before, I'm a setter." He returned a smile on his face, as his heart was beating frantically. Whether from fear or excitement he didn’t know. All he knew was that, he was finally here. 

The doors slid open as a guy in a black tracksuit with his blonde hair up in a bun, entered the gym. His eyes traveled over to the team as he gasped, hurrying towards the first years. 

"Is the coach okay?" Kise whisphered. 

Hikaru shrugged,"Beats me." 

Leo was trying to register what was going on before realizing, "Coach!" 

The team turned towards Leo in surprise, "You already know the Coach?" Ryu asked, his eyes wide with confusion. 

Coach Ukai put his hands on Leo's shoulders, "Leo, how’ve you been?" Before turning to the rest of the first year boys, "Well, if it isn't the Tsukishima cousins." 

Hikaru rubbed his eyes, "What is going on?" 

Everyone was in a state of shock. Coach Ukai turned towards Leo, "Your parents called me earlier to tell me that you were coming!" 

Leo laughed, "Of course I was!" 

Coach Ukai chuckled, “How’s your sister?”

“At the female volleyball team right now,” Leo responded, pointing in the direction of the other gym. 

Kise’s eyes lit up upon hearing Leo’s response, “You have a sister?!” he smiled excitedly.  

Kousei spoke up to Kise, "Shut up," 

"But Kousei…" 

"No." Kousei responded abruptly. 

"Coach," Ayama, Leo remembered as the captain of the team, hasilty spoke. 

"Ah," Coach Ukai responded when he came back to his senses, "I better explain." His arms gathered around the first years, dragging them closer, "These kiddos are the kids of the first team I've ever coached in Karasuno. You know… the ones who are professional volleyball players now. Well…except for you Katsuki." 

"Hey!" He yelled out, "Have you met Mom? She’s just as tough as anyone! And Dad is not bad at volleyball either-" 

Dino grabbed his cousin by the shoulders, “Shush Katsuki.”  Katsuki began to pout as he crossed his arms. 

"This is so cool!" Hikaru’s eyes glistened. 

"Now I remember!" Rin spoke out  as all eyes turned to him, "Leo is the son of Kageyama and Hinata and Dino is the son of Kei Tsukishima." 

Hisaki sighed, "Great we got a bunch of famous kids with us…" 

"Which means that they're good!" Hikaru said, ending Hisaki's sentence with a smile.

Hisaki rolled his eyes, “They might be all talk and no action.”

Ryu ignored Hisaki’s comment as he excitedly turned towards Ayama like a dog that was about to get a treat, "Can they join?" 

Ayama continued to stare at the first years, and Leo couldn't help but clench his hands in his shirt, his nerves starting to get the better of him. 

"Bring your club papers tomorrow," Ayama spoke before turning towards the back of the gym. 

"Eh?!" The team turned towards Ayama in shock and Leo couldn't help but smile. His hands started shaking, but not from fear this time. He smiled, knowing that he would continue to play volleyball. I'll see you on the court Hoshi. 

Katsuki shouted in joy as he wrapped Dino in a hug, who awkwardly patted his back. Ukai ruffled Leo's hair as he looked up towards his new Coach. "If the captain says you all can join then I'm not opposing him." 

Kise and Hikaru ran towards them, pumped up, "Aye! Aye! We're gonna kick some butt this year!" 

Kousei sighed, putting his head into his hands, "Those idiots," before facing the first years with a grin, "Congrats!" 

Hisaki frowned at Leo, with an uncertain look on his face. Leo turned to meet his eyes, refusing to back off. Hisaki raised an eyebrow, "You don't look too bad kid," before turning back to pick up a volleyball.

He promptly threw the ball at Leo with no warning. Confused, Leo stared at the ball which seemingly moved as the world slowed down before him. 

The ball in all its glory, holding the blood, sweat, and tears of all players before and now. The hopes and dreams danced in a pile of unachieved wishes resonated from the ball as it soared in the air. However, Leo did not focus on that. He could only see how the ball flew as swift as a crow. His knees bent, prepping him to jump. His arms outstretched as if he was preparing to take flight, and as he shot up, he made contact with the ball. His arms guided the ball straight back to Hisaki, as if he had helped it grow wings.

Hisaki stared back as he caught the ball. A new gleam in his eyes.

Leo, confused but not wanting to dwell on it, looked away towards the outside of the gym through the windows. The sky outside was dark, no trace of the sun left as he realized that he needed to meet Minami. Coach Ukai clapped his hands, making the entire team face him, "Congratulations to our new members! Training begins tomorrow." The team hollered as they began to clean up the volleyballs scattered around the gym floor. Leo slowly picked up some balls, holding them tightly to his chest. Resolve on his face as he realized this was his life now and that he could not be happier. 

After the gym was thoroughly cleaned, the first years left together and Leo breathed in the crisp cool air, as the moonlight shone upon them. 

"So Leo," Katsuki asked, "Where do you live?" He tilted his face up towards the mountain, seeing Dino listen in on their conversation from the corner of his eye. 

"I live on the other side of the mountains." 

"Wow," replied Katsuki, "must be tough." 

Leo laughed, his hands gripping his bag tightly, "It's good exercise, like Dad says." His eyes wandered towards Dino and Katsuki, "So you guys are cousins?" 

Dino nodded, staring straight ahead. "Yeah, Dino's dad is my uncle," 

Katsuki replied, "Uncle Tsukishima! And my mom is the older sister of someone else who attended Karasuno." 

Leo whipped his head towards Katsuki, "Really who?" 

"It's uncle Tanaka and," Katsuki pondered, "Now that I think about it my entire family basically attended Karasuno, weird." 

"Gives you even more reason to attend doesn't it?" Dino replied as Leo chuckled in agreement. 

"You're right but-" Katsuki ran ahead and then suddenly turned around, his silhouette framed by the moon, as his smile shined, "Wouldn't it be weird if I went to Shiratorizawa?" 

Dino chuckled, "Dad thinks that the people that attend that school are annoying," Leo and Katsuki laughed along. As they got to know each other, their conversation never stopped, filling the silence of the school’s campus. 

"Oh! I gotta go get my bike!" Leo said as he hurriedly ran off. As he approached the rack, he noticed Minami's bike was missing and knew that she was waiting for him at the entrance. He quickly brought his bike back to Dino and Katsuki who patiently waited for him. 

"Thanks for waiting for me," Leo said as he panted for air. 

Katsuki wrapped an arm around him, "No problem! Now…" as he pointed ahead, "Let's go home!" When they approached the gate, Leo noticed a lone figure near a bike, tapping away on their phone. Leo brightened up as he ran as fast as he could with his bike towards his twin. Minami looked up and shrieked, noticing the rate that Leo was coming towards her and quickly jumped back. 

Leo stopped when he appeared right in front of Minami and sheepishly smiled, "Hey sis!" Before flinching at the punch Minami gave him. "Ow…" 

"Stupid, are you trying to run me over with your bike?" 

Leo muttered his sorrys as they turned their heads upon hearing the chuckles from Dino and Katsuki. "Oh! I should introduce you to our classmates." 

Pointing towards Dino, "This is Dino Tsukishima," who nodded at Minami, "And this is Katsuki Tsukishima," who waved, "They tried out for the team with me." 

Minami opened her mouth to respond but was interrupted by Leo, "And they're cousins." Minami rolled her eyes at Leo, as she stared at the Tsukishima cousins, "It's nice to meet you." 

Katsuki smiled, "Likewise." Minami checked her phone, suddenly realizing the time, "Oh! We gotta get home!" She swung her legs over her bike and adjusted her bag, "C'mon Leo!" She waved towards the cousins, "Have a safe trip home!" As she began to pedal back home. Leo quickly followed suit and waved goodbye towards the others, "I'll see you guys tomorrow!" And followed after his twin. 

They were pedaling side by side through the peaceful mountainside. The moon and the stars were shining in the night sky as the cool breeze swept through. Occasionally moving towards the side because of a car, the twins kept eachother company, as always. "It's such a small world," said Leo. 

"Why?" Minami asked as she continued to stare ahead. 

"Dino and Katsuki's parents also attended Karasuno and Dino is the son of a famous volleyball player!" 

Minami turned her head towards Leo, her hands grasping the handles of the bike, "Really? Our dads must know them then." 

Leo nodded, "They do. He played volleyball with them when they were in high school." 

Minami chuckled, "It really is a small world" as she stared up at the sky. The stars twinkled above the twins as they quickly pedaled back home. Their adrenaline from the day was beginning to wear off and a sigh of relief escaped the twins when they saw their house in the distance. 

Getting off their bikes, they slowly walked towards the garage, making sure their bikes were securely locked. The front door opened and the faces of Kageyama and Hinata smiled at them from the doorway. Leo ran through, hugging both of them while Minami followed behind letting them to hug her too. 

"Dinner is ready!” Hinata said as the twins began to go upstairs. 

"Come back down when you're ready," Kageyama added. 

Leo looked down, his hands on the railing, stopping to look at his parents in the middle of the stairway. "I have so much to tell you guys!" 

Minami, annoyed, pushed Leo out of the way, "Can you please move?" 

Kageyama and Hinata laughed as they replied, "Tell us at dinner."

[idreamofhazeleyes]

Ties in Blood -- Chapter 21

Here’s chapter 21, which wraps up season 2 and maybe tying into one of my early drabbles.

@mrswhozeewhatsis @percussiongirl2017 @winchestergirl-13 @impala-dreamer @squirrelnotsam @optimisticpeacecollector5

Chapter 21

Aaliyah stepped out of the bathroom, feeling a little better after washing off some of the mud. Bobby offered Dean some chicken, which was refused. The fried food had some appeal to her, but even she passed up on it. She shifted her eyes between the two as Bobby suggested first burying Sam, then giving him a Hunter’s Funeral.

“Something big’s going down,” Bobby said, finally getting Aaliyah’s attention. “End of the world big.”

“Then let it end,” Dean shouted.

“You don’t mean that,” Bobby replied.

“You don’t think so? Huh?” Dean pushed himself from sitting on the bed to his feet. “You don’t think I’ve paid enough? Given enough? I’m done with it. All of it. And if you know what’s good for you, turn around and get the hell outta here.”

Aaliyah looked over to Bobby and took his lead. She grabbed her bag and headed for the door while giving Dean a small smile. “Keep my number.” Aaliyah knew better than to argue with Dean. She stepped out of the motel room and closed the door behind her. “I’m worried about him, Bobby.”

“I am too, kid,” Bobby said. “You get ahold of any hunters you know. We’re gonna need all the help we can get. Come on back to my place. We’ll figure something out.”

***

“Yeah, I know it’s late, Xander,” Aaliyah countered. “Things are …. Getting messy here and we’re gonna need help.”

“So you expect me to dump the vamp case and come help … with what exactly?”

Aaliyah glanced over to Bobby who was prepping something. “The Yellow Eyed Demon. We’re so close, Xander.”

“I’ll be that way when I get the vamp,” he told her. “I should be that way come dawn.”

Aaliyah made a noise before ending the call. She squeezed her hand around it while contemplating the thought of throwing it across the room.

“Not so good?”

Aaliyah sighed. “Amanda’s busy dealing with demons in New York. Nissa and Leo are off dealing with a pack of werewolves in Texas. I half expect those to be Chupacabras. And Xander’s got a vamp to deal with. He claims to be on his way when dawn comes around.” She walked into the kitchen, putting the phone on the table, and went to pull a beer from the fridge.

“Go get a shower first,” Bobby told her. “And some shut eye.”

“I’m fine on sleep.” Aaliyah closed the fridge without grabbing a beer. “But a shower sounds nice.” She found her clothes bag and pulled out some clean clothes before dumping the rest into the washer.

Alone in the bathroom, Aaliyah double checked to make sure the door was closed and locked. With the water running, she stripped off the clothes she had worn since the Michigan asylum and dumped each piece in a pile. Something caught her eye in the mirror. Her eyes narrowed as her eyes shifted their focus as if they were glazed over. In her sleep deprived state, Aaliyah swore it was a trick of the light. The light reflected in the mirror showed a shadow on the wall behind her. The shadow didn’t match the outline of her pale body. It seemed to be more like angel wings.

Shaking her head, Aaliyah rubbed her eyes and stepped into the shower. The dirt and dried caked mud washed off her body and down the drain. She worked the shampoo and conditioner through her hair, keeping the conditioner in while she worked through the grim on her body. Finally free of the dirt from the past few days, Aaliyah washed off the conditioner and soap. Drying off and dressing, she headed downstairs to see Sam and Dean were in the main room talking with Bobby. Stopped in confusion, Aaliyah attempted to mentally trace back the past several hours to figure out how Sam was walking and talking.

“Wyoming?” Dean questioned, his voice breaking into Aaliyah’s thought process.

“Yeah,” Bobby answered. “That one area’s clean – spotless. Almost as if…”

Aaliyah crossed over and looked at the spot on the map Bobby pointed out.

“What?” Sam asked.

“Demons are surrounding it,” Bobby said.

“But you don’t know why?” Dean asked.

“No, but my eyes are swimming,” Bobby said. “Sam, would you take a look at it? Maybe you could catch something.”

“Yeah, sure,” Sam said.

“Come on, Dean, Aaliyah,” Bobby said. “I got some books out in the truck.”

“Sure,” Aaliyah said. “Give me a sec for shoes.” She went and dug out a pair of socks and tossed them and her boots on before ducking outside.

Even before she could reach Dean and Bobby, Aaliyah heard the latter yelling at the former. Dean’s voice was low when he answered with one year.

“Are you crazy?” Aaliyah asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

“Damn it, Dean,” Bobby cursed.

“Which is why we gotta get this yellow eyed son of a bitch,” Dean said. “That’s why I’m gonna kill him myself. I got nothing to lose.”

Bobby grabbed hold of Dean’s jacket near his throat before Aaliyah could jump in between them. “I could throttle you.”

“And send me down a head of schedule?” Dean countered.

Bobby let go of Dean. “What’s with you Winchesters, huh? You and your dad. Both itching to toss yourselves into the pit.”

“That’s the thing, Bobby. I’m not even meant to be here,” Dean said. “At least this way something good will come of it. Like my life could have some meaning.”

“And it didn’t before?” Bobby asked. “Have you got that low of opinion of yourself? Are you that screwed in the head?” He grabbed Dean again.

Aaliyah glanced around, thinking she heard a noise from nearby. She moved away from the two men toward the area the noise came from. Ignoring their voices, Aaliyah came up along a car and hunched down to stay out of view. Footsteps crunched on the dirt behind her even as Aaliyah moved around the car and grabbed hold of the other person. The other person fought against Aaliyah’s hold even as she pinned them against the car.

“Ellen?” Dean’s voice called out.

“Mind calling your guard bitch off?” she requested.

Aaliyah reacted out of pure instinct by punching the car. “Wanna try again?”

“Liyra,” Bobby cautioned.

“I didn’t haul ass from Michigan dealing with ghosts to come here and be called a …”

“You’re a hunter?” Ellen asked.

“One of the best,” Bobby complimented. “Though she’s taken on the mentality of the boys at times.”

“One of the best?” Ellen echoed.

“Been hunting for … about four years now,” Aaliyah said, letting Ellen go.

“Oh God,” she said.

Aaliyah trailed after them back to the house where she grabbed a beer and leaned in the threshold between the kitchen and living room. There she listened as Ellen told how she survived the fire that took out the roadhouse by running to the store for pretzels.

“Ellen,” Bobby chimed in. “You mentioned a safe.”

“Hidden in the basement.”

“Demons get what was in it?”

“No.” Ellen pulled a folded piece of paper and unfolded it on the table.

Aaliyah stepped in and looked at the map that had X marks drawn on it.

“Wyoming?” Dean said. “What does it mean?”

Aaliyah tilted her head for a minute before going on a search for a marker while Bobby got up and went into the living room. He returned with a book when Aaliyah gave a small ‘ah-ha’ on finding a marker.

“Each of these X’s mark an abandoned frontier church, all mid 19th century,” Bobby said. “All built by Samuel Colt.”

Aaliyah returned to the table. “As in the demon killing, gun making, Samuel Colt?” She leaned on the table with one hand after uncapping the marker.

“Yep,” Bobby answered. “And he also built railroad tracks connecting the …”

Aaliyah heard him trail off when she started connecting the X marks into a pentagram.

“Tell me that’s now what I think it is,” Dean requested.

“It’s a Devil’s Trap,” Aaliyah said, straightening and admiring her work. “A hundred square foot Devil’s Trap.”

“That’s brilliant,” Dean said. “Iron lines demons can’t cross.”

“I’ve never heard of anything so big,” Ellen said.

“No one has,” Bobby said.

“And after all these years, it still works,” Aaliyah said.

“How’d you know?” Ellen asked, shooting her a look.

Aaliyah flicked her gaze over to the older woman and swore the look on her face screamed she doubted Aaliyah and her hunting ability. “All those omens that’s been popping up,” Aaliyah said. “The demons must be circling looking for a way in.”

“They’re trying alright,” Bobby chimed in.

“What’s so important that Colt’s trying to protect?” Sam asked.

“Unless…” Dean said. “He’s not trying to keep the demons out, but something in.”

“That’s a comforting thought,” Ellen said.

“Is it possible, Bobby?” Aaliyah asked, looking up at him. “Could they get inside?”

“This thing’s so powerful you need an A bomb to destroy it,” he answered. “No way a full blood demon can cross it.”

“No,” Sam said. “But I know who can.”

**

Aaliyah stepped off into the house while the others went through what might be needed for the trip. She dialed Xander’s number and started pacing when the ringing went past thirty seconds. The call finally went to voicemail. Confused, Aaliyah hung up and redialed the number. It went to voicemail again.

“Guys, something’s wrong,” she called out before she walked back into the room. “I can’t get ahold of Xander.”

“Vamp coulda gotten him,” Bobby suggested.

Aaliyah looked between the others while she attempted to grab hold of the several different thoughts that ran through her head. “I gotta go find him.” She started for the door even as a couple of them called after her. She pivoted, her body flared a little in the sudden movement, and went over to where her bag of clothes had been dumped. With the bag in hand, Aaliyah turned back for the door. She ignored the sound of the door opening and closing behind her as she headed for her car.

“Aaliyah, wait,” Dean called after her.

“Why? You all got a handle on it.” Aaliyah opened the back seat and tossed in her duffel and closed the door. “Besides, I’m just gonna have to prove myself to another hunter.” She turned around and found Dean a foot away from her. “You can’t do this without Sam; yeah I heard that. I can’t do this without knowing what happened to Xander. I know where to go after dealing with Xander.” She closed the distance between her and Dean. “Just … be careful, huh?” Aaliyah flashed him a smile before climbing into the car and driving off.

***

Aaliyah killed her headlights well before she turned down the drive. Something didn’t sit right. That feeling didn’t go away when she pulled up to the dark cabin. She climbed out of the car after getting it into position for a possible quick getaway. She armed herself with her preferred handgun with a couple back up clips and a machete before starting for the cabin. The front door was closed most of the way as she approached; like someone could pull it open without fighting against the knob.

With gun at the ready, Aaliyah eased the door open and scanned the dark room. There was a faint smell of blood in the air. She fought against the panic that rose up as she cleared each room one by one. In one room was a decapitated vampire. So where was Xander? Aaliyah moved for the kitchen just as a scuffle like noise stopped her on a dime.

“Who’s there?” a voice called out.

It was low, almost too low, for Aaliyah to hear. Her eyes narrowed and her head tilted in a way of trying to figure out the voice.

“I’ll shoot,” the voice called out again.

“Xander?” Aaliyah gasped.

“Aaliyah. Oh, God. I almost shot you.”

Aaliyah lowered her gun in her move over to her brother. The gun and machete hit the floor even as she reached out to Xander. “What the hell happened you couldn’t answer the damn phone?”

“That was you? I musta been outta it for a minute.”

Aaliyah moved her hands over Xander, feeling for any obvious wounds that needed to be dealt with. “Think you can move? The sooner we get outta here, the better. Shit’s about to hit the fan out in Wyoming.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Xander said, waving her off. “You go save the world.”

“Xander, what’s gotten over you?”

“I can’t move my legs.” His voice rose above a hush. “I don’t know how it happened, or what I hit during the fight, but … I can’t …”

“That’s bull.” Aaliyah put the gun in her pants waist band and put the machete where she could grab it. She pushed herself to her feet and offered a hand to Xander. “Come on. I’ll get you outta here and to help.”

Xander batted the hand away. “No, just let me die here.”

Aaliyah adjusted her footing and hunched down before grabbing hold of his shirt and brought him within inches of her face. “I’m not leaving you here to die. Not with that vamp out there. Now, you can feel sorry for yourself later.” She pulled herself back enough to have room to pull Xander up. There wasn’t much fight in him as she looped one of his arms around her shoulders. Aaliyah grabbed the machete before half dragging him from the house.

***

“Bobby, I promise I’ll be there,” Aaliyah kept her voice low, signing the last piece of paper. “Xander had a nasty fight with a vamp and I had to get him to a hospital.”

“We’ve got a serious problem and you’re worried …”

“Xander wanted to die there at the house when I found him,” Aaliyah cut in. “I wasn’t gonna let him do that. I’ve already called Nissa and Leo and they’re on their way in.” She adjusted the phone away and looked to the nurse. “What do I have to fill out for a seventy two hour psych hold on him?” She pulled the papers the nurse offered up and signed away. “Is there anything else?”

“No, ma’am.”

Aaliyah gave a brief nod before she turned away and saw herself from the hospital. “Bobby, I promise I’ll be there.”

“You better be here,” Dean answered.

“God, Dean. I swear I’ll kick your ass when this is through.”

“Like you’d be able …”

Aaliyah slammed the car door behind her. “I swear Dean, you’re making it difficult for me to wanna help.” She started the car and headed out for the highway. “Now, I can go off and do my own thing or I can see this hunt through along with you guys. I know what’s at stake here.” She hung up when no answer came from Dean.

***

Aaliyah pushed herself. She had parked next to the Impala and found the immediate area deserted. A note had been left on the windshield of the Impala in Bobby’s handwriting telling her where to go. That note had been dropped and forgotten when Aaliyah realized shit was going down. At one point gunshots had echoed in the air, spurring her on. A foot hit a broken headstone in mid stride, sending her flying. It took Aaliyah a few minutes to catch her breath from the fall before she picked herself up. The foot that hit the stone throbbed a little, either bruised or pulled muscle somewhere. She could put weight on it, which was good. Something glowed some feet away from her, grabbing her attention. She closed the distance to recognize the building as a crypt.

“Guys,” Aaliyah called out, her eyes focused on the crypt doors.

“Aaliyah,” someone shouted in surprise.

A hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her down behind the tombstone with them. It had to be perfect timing since Aaliyah heard the doors burst open and the sound of who knew how many demons escaping. She pressed her body against theirs in the attempt to have some sort of protection from the demons.

“What the hell just happened?” Aaliyah shouted.

“It’s a devil’s gate,” Ellen’s voice called out in reply. “A damn door to hell.”

“We gotta shut it up,” Aaliyah called out. She pried herself off her tombstone partner and started for the open doors. The heat from beyond the doors was blazing, still Aaliyah fought against it. She struggled against one of the doors even as Bobby came up behind her. A quick glance over to the other showed her Ellen and Sam in the same struggle.

“Dean,” Sam yelled, leaving the door.

“Sam,” Aaliyah called after him even as she looked back over a shoulder.

Dean was slumped against a tombstone and Sam was pinned against a tree. In between them was the person the yellow eyed demon used as a vessel.

Aaliyah looked between Bobby and Ellen in a silent debate between leaving them to deal with the door or to help the boys with the demon. She pushed herself off the door and darted for the demon. There was a small piece of hope that she’d reach it before getting noticed. That hope went out the window when Aaliyah hit an invisible wall and was lifted two feet off the ground.

“I’m surprised you’re still around,” the demon said to Aaliyah. “I mean, after all the mess you’ve gone through just to get here. And the way the other hunters look at you, like you don’t measure up to something.”

Her eyes flicked between Sam and Dean. Was the demon right about how she didn’t measure up against. She stared down the demon.

“You and your pathetic self worth,” the demon continued. “Trying to prove that you can make it in the wide world of hunting. Tell me, kid, how’s your brother doing?”

Aaliyah caught movement just beyond the demon and swore it looked like … She dropped to the ground and gasped for breath. She got a better look at the ghost struggling with the demon and smiled. Even dead John came back to fight. Shifting around, a hand brushed against something hard. It was the Colt. Picking it up, Aaliyah glanced over to the boys even as the thought of shooting the demon herself passed through her mind. It wasn’t right. She crawled over to Dean and held up the Colt in front of him.

He glared at her.

“Hey, I coulda shot it myself,” Aaliyah argued. She nodded when Dean accepted the gun before standing. “Oi, Yellow Eyes,” she called out when the demon regained its vessel. “Over here.”

It turned toward her and started toward her. Aaliyah rooted herself where she stood and froze when a gunshot went off beside her. The body lit up before dropping backward to the ground. Aaliyah heard the sound of Sam hitting the ground as she started off in the direction she came in. She got a few feet from where Dean picked himself up.

“Wait,” Sam called after her.

She turned around to see John approaching her from where Sam and Dean stood. John smiled and nodded before disappearing. Aaliyah half shrugged, dismissing what happened before she turned and left the cemetery.

She could hear three different voices call after her. No, now wasn’t the time for them to assure her that she was doing right by hunting. If she hadn’t gotten involved back in college, Xander wouldn’t be held up at a hospital in the same situation she was a year ago.

“Aaliyah, wait up,” Sam’s voice called, closer than the others. “Don’t let what the demon said get to you.”

“But he’s right,” Aaliyah shouted, spinning around to face him. “Every hunter I meet will have the same barely hidden judgmental look Ellen had. I had to race here from the hospital I left Xander at because he got fucked up going up against a vamp. But, yeah, you’re right, the demon didn’t mean what it said.” She turned back around and started for her car as Dean and Sam started talking. Her paced slowed before she stopped completely and turned to watch the brothers. Daring to get close, Aaliyah heard Sam ask if Dean sold his soul and how much time he had.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Sam said.

“Don’t get mad at me,” Dean said. “Don’t you dare, I had to do it. I had to look out for you; it’s my job.”

“And what do you think my job is?” Sam countered, catching Dean off guard.

“What?”

“You saved my life over and over again,” Sam said. “You sacrificed everything for me. Don’t you think I’d do the same for you? You’re my big brother and I’d do anything for you. I don’t care what it takes, I’m gonna get you outta this. My turn to save your ass this time.”

Aaliyah barely shook her head when Dean glanced over at her. “He’s got a point.”

“Well, your yellow eyed demon might be dead,” Ellen cut in as she walked up. “But a whole lot more got through that gate.”

“How many do you think?” Dean asked.

“Hundred or two,” Sam said. “It’s an army he unleashed.”

“Hope you three are ready,” Bobby said. “Cause the war’s just begun.”

[totallyrealhoroscopesdaily]

11/18/2017 Horoscope

Aries: You wrote down, “But I’m not gay”. That seemed to pause the shadow people for a bit. They wrote back, “You sure?”. And. Kinda? Like, as far as you know, you’re straight. But at the same time, if some guy comes along and you’re just like oh hell yeah and get a sudden craving for dick, you’re not gonna have a crisis about it. So, yeah. You’re 99% straight at the very least, and if that 1% of gay exists you haven’t found it yet. You rambled that out loud. You should probably leave the house for a bit before they can come up with a response for that because that was a bit embarrassing.

Taurus: You straddle your new friend’s lap. You trace your fingers all over their face and color blooms in swirling lines after your finger. They keep trying to move away from your hands. They’re whimpering between giggles. You trace designs all over their head, down their neck, over their shoulders, and down their arms. They’ve lost consciousness, this is not your fault.

Gemini: Dive off the bridge. You won’t be hurt, a bird will catch you. Steal feathers from it. Make the feathers into a hair accessory, it will work wonderfully with your green hair.

Cancer: Y’all practice bocce ball. Y’all suck, unsurprisingly. Ridali is the only one who is actually giving it his all, but apparently he hasn’t actually played for realsies before now. The rest of you hadn’t even heard of bocce ball until this overgrown puppy of a man told you about it, and y’all don’t care much about it besides as a way to pass the time before your demise. Your game is set for Sunday, you got the rest of today to live.

Leo: The other Mrs Nice, the one with black hair, Georgie, she invited you over. She wanted some fashion advice. She apparently has a date, which shocked you. What about Hazel? She cheerfully informed you that she and Hazel have an open relationship after laughing at the face you made. She actually might invite this one in for a threesome, which, TMI. Seriously. You help her pick out an outfit anyway and you play guinea pig when she wants to test some make-up tricks before putting them on herself. You’re helping a friend, so it’s fine. Besides, you can’t say no to either of the Nices. You wash it off soon after. You looked pretty, but it felt really annoying. You and the foot wish her the best of luck on her date, before leaving.

Virgo: You work. You continue to work. You barely stop to eat or rest, and that’s only because Baxter worriedly whirred at you or tugged your short hair until you would take a short nap or grab a snack. You’re being very productive. They would be proud. You hope they’re proud.

Libra: You get a little curious. You leave out a chunk of wood that you found in the park and leave a note asking the Brownies to make something with it. You wanna see what they’ll do.

Scorpio: You... You don’t like talking, do you? No, no, that isn’t a bad thing! Calm down, you’re alright, it’s alright! There, there, calm down. Come on, breathe, there you go. Okay. We don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to, it’s okay.

Sagittarius: You’ve all been taking turns hugging Buster as people drift down from the sky. You can’t even bring yourselves to bet on this part, it’s too surreal. Someone did a full Mary Poppins with their umbrella out and everything on their way down. No one acts like anything strange has happened after they land.

Capricorn: He’ll come back tonight with bruised knuckles and a shocked but proud smile, the kind that says I-didn’t-think-that-would-work-but-now-that-it-did-you-can-bet-your-ass-I’m-going-to-take-credit-for-it. He’ll proclaim in a bewildered voice, “I punched it”. Pat his back because he sure did.

Aquarius: You go to the gym. You work out and talk to the owner, then shower and leave. You walk around the town. You talk to the old lady, Linda is her name, on her porch. You head home to wait for when you can go clean the gym. You sit on your blanket in your sleeping corner and wait. And wait. And wait. You don’t wanna wait. You feel... restless. Bored, that’s the word you’re looking for. You feel bored. You want to do something besides wait here. It scares you a little, for all that it’s progress. You wait there. You clean away the broken wood pieces from the floor of your home as you wait. They’re pieces of broken chairs and tables. You push all the pieces into the corner that’s out of sight from your sleeping corner. It’s dark. You go clean the gym. You go home, try to sleep. You don’t sleep.

Pisces: You weave the thread of Luna’s light into lace. This will take you a while. You’ll gather more threads when our father leaves the sky.

[imaginetmnt]

Can I request the 2k3 bros and Casey walking in on their friend babysitting their niece and/or nephew and thinking that their friend is the parent. I hope this makes sense.

yes!! i am here to serve -mod yaka

You were just playing around with your niece/nephew, hoping that they were ready to meet your oddball friends. You hadn’t mentioned that you were babysitting when the guys said they were headed your way; you probably should have, now that you thought about it. You braced yourself, and hopefully, so would have the guys.

When they come in and see a tiny human, they’re kind of alarmed. Casey casually greets your niece/nephew, saying how adorable they were. Surprisingly, your niece/nephew didn’t freak out, so this calmed everyone. Though, the turtles and Casey still had a look on their face, and you weren’t sure what it was.

“Who’s this little bundle of joy?” Donnie asks.

“This is (name of niece/nephew),” you reply, hugging them to you. “Behave yourselves, guys.”

“No problem,” Leo replied. “How old are they?” You say the age, and the guys raise their brows. “Wow, really?”

The guys look around, seeing that there’s stuff tossed around. You follow their eyes and smile sheepishly. “Sorry, I know it’s kind of messy.”

“Bah,” Raph shrugged it off. “We get it, don’t sweat it.”

“So,” Mikey says suddenly. “How hectic is it looking after them?”

“Ah, you know kids. They eat, they play, they… spill stuff…” you laugh. “Let’s just say that I’m always cleaning up a storm.”

“Aw,” Casey cooed. “I bet it takes up a lot of your time and energy, lookin’ after them all the time.” You insist it’s fine. “Hey, if you ever need help lookin’ after ‘em, or feedin’ or buyin’ stuff you two need, I’d be glad to help ya out, no problemo.”

“Yeah, count us in for that, too,” Donnie replied. “We’d be happy to help in any way we could.”

“We could be like their uncles!” Mikey chirped. You appreciated their offers, saying you’d think about it through a laugh. “Oh, c’mon, really, we wouldn’t mind! Kids are cool, and raising one by yourself must take a toll on ya. W—”

“Wait,” you interrupted, looking at them. Now you understood. “Ohhhhh, that’s why you guys had those weird looks on your faces.”

The guys immediately reeled back, covering their faces in different ways. They apologized, saying that they didn’t mean to make any faces or offend you in any way. They kept trying to explain themselves, which was pretty funny to watch as they stumbled over their words and talked over each other. How long you waited until you decided to tell them the truth was up to you.

[coleymari-blog]

A War Fought at Home : Chapter 6

Corporal Natsu Dragneel has been through Hell, and unfortunately for him, the ride isn’t quite over. How will a new Rehab program at the local VA help? And will a certain blonde help make matters better?

Modern Military AU. Warnings for mentions of depression and adult language/situations. Other warnings to come as the story progresses. Cross post on AO3 and FF.net.

Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 

“--THE FUCK?! So you just offered up our house?!”

In all honesty, Gray had every right to be upset. It wasn't like Natsu had given away the last of their beer or something, he'd offered their spare bedroom to a seemingly random college girl! The two Marines had at one time discussed the possibility of renting out that room sometime in the future, but that plan had always been dependent on Natsu and his progress.

“If I didn't, she'd have to drop out and move back to Acalypha, Ice Dick,” Natsu replied as he wheeled himself over to the sink to drop his dishes in the sink, his voice taking on a somewhat whiny tone against his will. At least he had waited until they were home to drop the bomb. He had brought it up over dinner, initially causing the Sergeant to choke on his pasta, but eventually Gray had gathered enough rage to just let Natsu have it.

“And this is our problem how…?” Gray snapped, immediately beginning to wash the dishes, handing the dripping ones down to Natsu for drying.

“Because she's nice and deserves help?” What else was he supposed to say? Oh, she needs to move in with us so I don't have to say goodbye to the one female that doesn't look at me like a puppy in a cone collar? Natsu shook his head and sighed. “Come on. It's only for a year until she graduates.” He racked his brain for any other argument he could muster. A thought came to mind but it was the cheapest move in the book. “Maybe she has cute friends that like guys in uniform?”

Gray huffed grumpily as he continued to wash the same plate he’d be working on for the past couple minutes. Natsu could tell that his best friend was more upset by Natsu’s single minded decision making than he was by the prospect of Lucy moving in. All Natsu had to do was find the right switch to flip and Lucy would have the green light. When Gray finally handed off his plate, he looked down at Natsu and cocked his head to the side slightly, as if trying to read the other Marine like a book. A moment passed before Gray spoke again, his gaze falling in defeat. “You know we’ll have to actually keep this place clean then, right?”

YES! Natsu thanked his roommate rapidly before speeding off for his room to grab his phone. He happily shot a text off to Lucy before he heaved himself out of his chair and flopped onto his bed. Folding his sculpted arms underneath his head, the salmon-haired Marine breathed in deeply before allowing himself to sink further into his mattress, but not before his face lit up with the biggest shit eating grin he had ever donned. Lucy moving in meant that he’d get to see her every day, eat meals with her, watch movies together, everything he craved to do with her but couldn't in the capacity he really desired. But if he didn't stand a chance to be her boyfriend, at least he could be her favorite roommate. With the fantasy of Lucy running through his mind, of her hips swaying down his hallway, casting the sweetest smile over her shoulder as she shut her door for the night, Natsu let sleep overcome him.

The next morning, he woke up surprisingly refreshed. No nightmares, no cold sweats, nothing. All that awaited him were a million grateful texts from Lucy and the sounds of Gray already hard at work fixing up the spare room. Natsu could hear his best friend shuffling boxes down the hall, stopping in the living room, and back again for the next load. Maybe they could use him and his chair like a dolly. At least they’d get done quicker.

The Marine hoisted himself into his wheelchair, not bothering to change out of his standard-issue sweatpants and tanktop. He immediately rolled out into the hall and over to the doorframe in order to watch Gray work. Surprisingly there wasn’t much left to do. The furniture from when they moved in was again visible instead of being buried under duty bags and old boxes. There was a metal bookcase in the back corner that Natsu knew Lucy would appreciate, a full bed situated in the middle of the back wall beneath a large uncovered window that opened up to their spacious (and rarely occupied) backyard. The matching dresser was covered in an inch-thick layer of dust but was beautiful nonetheless. Gunny had made them himself but they’d never really been used by the boys. Gray had his own furniture from before he moved in and Natsu had to replace all his with medical grade equipment after his accident. The only time the pinket remembered the room being used at all was when his sister Wendy had come to visit shortly after he had returned home.

“Nice of you to join me, Asshole,” Gray muttered as he stripped away his t-shirt and used it to wipe the sweat from his brow. He threw a semi-empty box over by the door right next to Natsu’s feet. “We gotta start going through this bullshit. She has to move in before the First, right?”

Natsu grinned devilishly as he leaned over, grabbed the box, and dropped it in his lap. He didn’t even want to fight Gray about the teasing, reveling in the normalcy of it all. Most people would have taken offense to being called something derogatory but to Natsu and Gray, it was nothing more than pet names between brothers. Over the past couple months, as Natsu grew stronger, Gray acted more normal by the day. At first, it started off with small things like not doing every little thing for him and eventually grew to include the hurling of casual insults. If he was being honest, Natsu had to admit that it raised his spirits a bit, but not nearly as much as the prospect of Lucy moving in with them.

Looking down into his lap, he noticed the cardboard box contained the remnants of his Service days. Pictures of his teams, medals and commendations, the works. Before he knew it, another box was being added on top of the first, almost completely obstructing his sight in all directions. “Yup, she’ll have to start moving in here in about two weeks,” he replied as he carefully rolled back to his room and dropped the mementos in the corner. Natsu brushed off the dust off his sweats before heading back to the other room. “You sure you’re okay shacking up with a girl?”

Gray hopped up and sat on top of the dresser, leaning back against the wall. “Nah, it’s just a year right?” he scoffed while staring up at the white popcorn ceiling. “And having a chick around might not be such a bad thing. This place could use a serious ‘feminine touch’.” Both Marines laughed at the slight truth in Gray’s statement before he jumped down and made his way to his bedroom next door. He quickly headed for the shower, managing to lose his basketball shorts somewhere between the two, and left Natsu alone to take in the sight of the now empty room. Closing his eyes, he took a moment to imagine what Lucy’s room might look like. The empty beige walls were suddenly covered in all sorts of photos, the bed draped with her favorite starry quilt. She would probably need some kind of desk for her writing, but he still had his that was hardly ever used. The twinkling sounds of his cell phone ringing dragged the veteran out of his daydreaming and forced him back into the real world.

Wheeling into his room, Natsu groaned when he found his former teammate calling. A picture of the orange-maned, playboy wiggled over the screen before Natsu actually forced himself to pick up, mainly just to make it stop. “Yo, Leo, what’s up Brother?” he murmured, trying to sound asleep. One could only hope he’d be spared if Loke thought he’d interrupted something.

“Salamander, tonight the boys and I are going out since the Dragon Twins are back from their last Tour,” the other Marine slurred as if he’d already started ‘celebrating’. “Grab the Ice Princess and meet us at this bar downtown called Fairy Tail. No one has seen your ugly ass in ages.”

Natsu feigned amusement. “I’ll relay the message, but you guys can make complete fools of yourselves without me thanks.” While he knew he probably should go, mostly because of Gildarts’ relentless nagging in the back of his mind, that didn’t mean he necessarily wanted to go. Seeing the boys would be great if they didn’t want to go somewhere like a downtown hotspot. It’s not like they were the most handicapable places in the world.

Loke’s whining made Natsu yank the phone off his ear. “Come on man, I’m being serious.” A small huff came through the line after silence had fallen between the two brothers-in-arms. “At least think about it? Everyone would really like to see you, Boss.”

Eventually Natsu conceded to the augmented request. “I make no promises.” And that was that. Rushed goodbyes left the pinket alone once more to wallow in his thoughts.

Could it really be so bad?

Hours later, once night had fallen over Magnolia, Gray and Natsu trudged their way up to the line waiting outside the newest hub for local nightlife. After some heated debates and multiple decision changes, the two ultimately dressed and headed out to meet their Squad mates. The group of Marines wasn’t exactly difficult to spot, the four of them sticking out like well-postured thumbs. Natsu immediately made out Loke and the ‘twins’ better known as Sting and Rogue. The two riflemen had grown up together, enlisted together, and served together, earning them the familial title. Gajeel held up the rear, grinning menacingly as the two joined the group. They all shared their raucous pleasantries before they were finally admitted to the club.

At least the monstrosity had one benefit. Due to Natsu’s wheelchair, the staff of Fairy Tail bumped them up to first class so that the group could have access to the booths. There was a ramp up onto the raised platform hidden on the side of the main room and the six of them quickly found their way to their table.

“First round is on me, boys!” Loke exclaimed, trying to be heard clearly over the booming music. And before anyone could stop him, the redhead was weaving through the crowds to get to the bar. The rest of them settled down and began catching up, sharing the highlights of what had happened in the past year and a half. When Loke returned, not only was he carrying a tray full of glasses and a bottle of firewhiskey, he was also smirking in his trademark fashion.

“Check out the pack of babes by the bar,” he instructed as he directed their attention to the bar. Each of them craned their necks in order to get a glance at whoever Loke was talking about. It didn’t take their trained eyes long to find their targets and Natsu felt as if his heart was going to beat out of his chest. Luckily he didn’t have to say anything. Gray did that for him.

“Hey Natsu! Isn’t that Lucy?!” he mocked, wryly sipping his whiskey. She was surrounded by other girls, a couple he recognized from photos she had shown him. Queue the casual ribbing.

Sting, the blonder half of the Twins, soon broke up the teasing as he announced his intentions. “Well, if you guys wanna circle jerk all night, be my guest. I’m going to get to know those girls over there.” His sights turned on Natsu before he downed the rest of his drink. “Wanna introduce me to the hot one?”

Natsu’s world turned red. Unfortunately, he didn’t get the chance to react before Sting was already cutting through the crowd. He sat faithfully and watched as his comrade infiltrated the group, never once gesturing back to the other Marines. However, the longer he made himself watch, the sicker he became. The last thing he saw before finishing off his own drink and excusing himself from his brothers was Sting closing the gap and running his fingers through the very strands of gold that had been haunting Natsu’s dreams for weeks.

Hey y'all! Hope you enjoyed this one. It's a bit of a filler chapter but trust me, you're going to like where this is going. Thank you all for wishing me well these past couple weeks. Thankfully I'm feeling better (mostly) but the stress from normal life is no bueno. I'm thankful I get to come and write here, and that y'all are coming along on the ride with me. :)

[brightlotusmoon]

Sneak Peak: The fifth “Lifegiver” story

Sneak peak of my TMNT fanfic “Oxygen And Spirit: Across The Universe” Part of a series that started with “Mikey The Lifegiver” which is on AO3 and FFnet and also here. Not connected with my other TMNT fic series, “Cold Fire Rising”

 Spirit And Oxygen: Across The Universe

Part One, Earth and Oxygen

“No, you’re not listening to me.” Don cradles his head in his hands and huffs, second cup of coffee halfway consumed. He tries to kick under the table for emphasis, but there’s no Mikey to kick him back.

“At least finish your bacon and then talk,” Leo pleads, “and then you can go back to his room and sit morosely on his bed.”

Sighing, Donnie throws his head back, wishing to science that he could just make it translatable. “Okay. Okay, I’ll start again. See…I created this holographic program. In which you and the holographic images can interact. You punch them, they punch you. Got that?”

“Sort of,” Raph says.

“Close enough. All right. So, you know that huge, gigantic tunnel that Mikey and Raph have been painting murals all over? The one Mikey’s been secretly using to train his skills outside the lair without you knowing?”

Leo sucks in a breath. “Wait, what?”

“…oops. Well, it doesn’t matter now, does it.” Donnie is feeling more and more snarky. “It’s just…you know the place, yes? That’s all you need to know.”

“We know the place.”

“Well, that is where the holographic projectors have been, and for the last two weeks, Mikey has been using it to improve that raw potential we’ve all been insulting him about. He keeps begging me to invent stronger opponents to test him. It’s been quite fun.”

“Yes, and what does that have to do with the gang war we waded into that resulted in Mikey lying in bed unconscious since yesterday?” Raphael snarls.

“Nothing…maybe a little.” Donatello sighs again. “Remember those moments when the three of us were down, and Mikey was still standing, and he went into literal full ninja warrior mode, silent and stealthy and faster than we’ve ever seen him? And the only reason he fell was because one giant bulky asshole slammed his head into an air conditioner corner, sliced open his thigh with a sword, and broke bones around his knee.”

His brothers nod, grimacing.

“The reason he was able to fight like a demon three times his skill was because he’s been feeding his potential. With me. Using holograms. Guys, he’s…growing up. Okay? He really is better than all of us combined. He just never got the chance to let it out. But with our…current circumstances…he forced himself to.”

Leo and Raph are staring at the kitchen table, pushing around their eggs and hashbrowns.

“We were really harsh with him before the battle.” Leo sounds petulant.

“Now, now,” a voice says, “Don’t with the guilt again.” And Karai folds her arms, leaning against the cabinet closest to the doorway. “I cooked that with love, boys, eat up.”

Raphael can not stop a vicious glare at his scientist brother. “Why you, though? Why’d he confide in you only?”

Donatello shuffles. “Mmmaybe it’s because I don’t hit him over the head as much? It’s because when he messes around in my lab it’s because he really is interested in what I’m working on…” As he trails off, Raph begins to breathe heavily. As he does so, Shinigami comes up next to him and begins to massage his shoulders.

“I had him in my arms,” Raph whispers. “He was babbling nonsense. His head was bleeding and his leg was bleeding and his knee was broken and he was panicking. He kept saying my name and he kept saying ‘bonfire water balloon skies’ and I didn’t--”

“Seizure, remember?” Shinigami murmurs. “His brain took a heavy injury and it caused severe aphasia before he fell unconscious. Not to mention blood loss. None of it was anyone’s fault.”

“I was hurt and I couldn’t get to him. I could’ve…I would’ve…”

He is cut off by Shini’s long fingernails digging into the base of his skull, pushing his head forward as she continues the massage. “Shut up, O Great Protector. He was holding his own, so was Karai, so was I. We all made the mistake of being distracted. Mikey got hurt. If any of you continue to blame yourselves, I’ll show you what my namesake really means.”

Shuddering, the three turtles scrape their plates clean.

...

Donatello is back in the lab, mixing more nutrient electrolyte solutions into IV bags, preparing a large bowl of cool water. He walks slowly across the lair, nudging Mikey’s door open with his shoulder.

April is sitting on the edge of the bed, wiping a wet cloth down the pale, motionless figure lying there, while Ice Cream Kitty leans forward in her bowl that is sitting near the pillow, doing the same with her tongue and paws. Mikey’s pallor is still awful. Leo and Raph donated all the blood Don would allow without them going into shock, but it had been just enough. He slides carefully to the table set up at the bedside, deposits the bowl and bags, and begins changing the IV bag before April even notices him.

“How long did you sleep last night?” she asks casually, wringing out her cloth and plopping it on the table next to the old bowl.

“Enough.” He adds a dose of Ativan to keep seizures at bay and to keep Mikey relaxed, then begins to palpate his bandaged head, trying to feel for the depression and skull fracture at the right temple.

“Tell me it was more than four hours.”

“Yes, April, it was more than four hours.”

She relaxes after an awkward pause, and goes back to massaging Mikey’s right hand. “Casey is on his way with more supplies from the school infirmary. Should we still worry about getting antibiotics?”

“Hopefully not. Has he moved at all? Anything? Anything at all?” Donnie tries to not sound desperate, but he catches the sad look April gives him.

I don’t want pity, I want my brother to be okay.

“No response to anything,” she says softly. “He’s pretty much shut down for the duration.”

Donnie’s gut drops and freezes a little. Okay. Okay. But he really really needs to look at brain activity. They don’t have the proper equipment but he can probably build something. He can’t ask their human friends to steal anything like a pricey EEG headband, but an EEG is the only thing he can think of. Perhaps he can build one, or even modify the machine he kept using on April, at least it shows something in the brain, right? As he dribbles and sponges cool water over his little brother’s plastron, he keeps thinking. He keeps thinking.

“Donnie?” April seems very close now, right next to his face, and he jumps when he realizes she is. “You’re thinking very hard about something. Can I help?”

Donatello glances at her, then at Mikey’s head, then back at her. “Oh. Ohhh. April! Yes! Yes you can! Um. Can you...can you look into his mind? You know, his brainwaves?”

She blinks. “I think so. Probably. Yeah. What am I supposed to look for?”

“Responses,” he says eagerly. Lights. Anything, anything that would indicate he’s able to react to stimuli, external or internal.”

“You mean...to make sure he’s still...still there.”

Don’s head bobbles. “Exactly.”

She takes a deep breath. “I think I can handle that. Anything for Mikey.”

Donnie bites his lip. It feels like one of his mantras lately. Anything for Mikey.

Anything, Mikey.

[heyitssmiller]

Chop It Like It’s Hot

Chapter 8: Penne for Your Thoughts

Food and shenanigans. Need I say more?

Tag List: @peanut-in-the-goal @whataboutmyfries @raxelle-nite-in-gale @heyoitslysso @spookydiyharrypotterbat

Chop It Like It’s Hot Masterlist

@lumosinlove

.

“When you said you were cooking for an entire hockey team, I thought you’d stick to the basics. Maybe a salad appetizer and something easy to make that feeds a lot of people.” Dorcas looked around at Leo’s countertops, which were covered in flour, measuring cups, and homemade pasta. “This seems a little overboard.”

Leo rolled out more pasta dough and mentally took note of the different kinds he’d made so far. Linguine, fettuccine, penne, pappardelle, farfalle…

“Leo.”

“I just want it to be good, ok?” He finally looked up from his dough and rolling pin and stopped cooking for the first time in several hours. “Besides, this is a good outlet for me. If I focus on cooking, I don’t have to focus on-” He cut himself off, then added lamely, “Anything else.”

Dorcas sighed. “That’s not how you face your problems and you know it. Talk to me.”

Leo didn’t even fight back about talking about his problems. That was Dorcas’ first clue about how bad this was.

“I can’t do it.” He rubbed at his forehead in frustration. “I can’t be ok with being just friends. I can’t be ok with taking a step back and distancing myself. I can’t be ok with trying to get over them. And I don’t know where that leaves me.”

“I only see one other option here. Talking to them.”

“They’re already perfectly happy together-”

“And who says they won’t be with you?” Dorcas demanded. “You’re only imagining two possible outcomes – talking to them and being rejected, or not talking to them and keeping this a secret. But they could also be in the same position you’re in right now. The only way you’re going to know is if you talk to them.”

“I don’t think I can do that, either. Even if they feel the same, that doesn’t change the fact that they are in love with each other. I can’t get between that.” He laughed dully, and the sound tore at her heart. “My mama would kill me if I became a home-wrecker.”

“Who said love is only between two people? Leo, I know you know this. So why is it so hard to grasp now?”

She could see the second he began to shut down and sighed. “I’m going to hug you now, okay?”

“Okay.”

Dorcas wrapped her arms around him and glared at the wall. She was ninety percent sure Logan and Finn both felt the same way and clearly none of them were going to bring it up.

So now it was her turn. And she didn’t hold back her punches.

Those two hockey players were going to get a severe talking-to tomorrow.

“You guys have to promise to be more well-behaved tonight.” Logan told the team as they drove to dinner. Next to him, Finn was nearly bouncing out of his seat in excitement. “Please.”

He got several grumbles in response, but no teasing – which was a surprise.

“So are you two finally going to ask him out?”

And there it was.

“Are you guys finally going to mind your own business?”

“Nope!”

“It’s not like we don’t want to.” Finn sighed. “We just don’t know if he’s interested.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.”

“He’s cooking your entire hockey team dinner. That’s dedication right there.”

“Also did you even watch the episodes of your show?”

“You just had to go and run your mouth.” Logan groaned, shooting Finn a look. He just shrugged apologetically as their charter bus pulled into the parking lot.

“Do you know what’s for dinner?” Someone asked from the back of the bus.

“He said it was a surprise.” Finn responded as they all filed out of the bus and inside the restaurant that had been kind enough to host them.

Leo and Dorcas were standing in front of several tables covered in food, which took Finn back to three months ago. He smiled broadly and waved at the two of them. Leo waved back and waited for everyone to settle down before explaining dinner.

“I figured a build your own dinner was probably the best idea for so many people. I hope pasta’s alright with you guys.” Leo said, then began pointing to each variation of noodle as he explained, “We’ve got regular noodles, gluten-free noodles, and then some cauliflower noodles for y’all to choose from. Then we’ve got sauces and proteins to choose from, including some vegetarian and vegan options. Everything is labeled, so go ahead and grab a plate and help yourselves!”

Everyone clambered to get in line and grabbed portions that were way to big for the day before a game. Their nutritionist watched on in horror.

Finn was watching Leo talk to Loops when Logan nudged him with his elbow. “Finn, look.”

“Hmm?” He asked, turning back around to look at what Logan was pointing to. There in front of them was a pot full of creamy white sauce, bacon, and sausage with a little label that read: carbo’hara.

Finn melted.

He’d told Leo that joke during their first conversation and how he and his brother would have it the night before every hockey game as kids. And he had remembered.

“Logan.” Finn said, not bothering to hide the yearning in his voice.

“I know.”

Dorcas was watching all of this with growing frustration. Were they blind or were they just stupid? All of this could be solved so easily with a single conversation, but none of them were willing to take that first step.

She really shouldn’t get involved. It wasn’t her business. But-

“It’s painful to watch, isn’t it?” A stranger’s voice asked. Dorcas turned to look at a girl with blonde hair and mischievous brown eyes. She stuck her hand out.

“I’m Marlene. And I just want to say that I am so sorry you’ve had to deal with the three of them for months now.”

Dorcas smiled and shook her hand. “So you’ve noticed, too?”

“I think everyone has.”

“True.”

“You’re thinking about interfering?”

Dorcas shrugged. “It’s either that or waiting for them to get their acts together.”

“And who knows how long that’ll take?”

Dorcas laughed, looking appraisingly at her new companion. “I like you already.”

The other girl grinned. “I told Leo when he was in Gryffindor that he should introduce us. He said it was a terrible idea.”

She smiled back. “He was right.”

“So I’ll take Leo, you take the other two? I’m assuming you’ve been trying to talk to Leo but haven’t had any luck.”

“He’s being really stubborn about the whole thing.”

“From all the complaining I’ve heard from the team, so have Logan and Finn.”

Dorcas rolled her eyes. “After dinner I’ll talk to them. Normally I wouldn’t interfere, but this is ridiculous.”

“Agreed. Good luck.”

“You too.”

“Hey,” Marlene spoke up, “Can I have your number? You know, for meddling purposes.”

Dorcas grinned. “I really hope that’s not the only reason you’re asking for my number.”

“Guess you’ll have to see.” Marlene said with a wink.

Oh, boy.

Dorcas was in so much trouble.

But she had other things to focus on right now.

She marched over to Finn and Logan and stated firmly, “You two. We need to talk.”

A dark-haired guy in glasses sent her a wide-eyed stare. “You’re terrifying.” He looked to his teammates. “What did you guys do?”

“Now.” Dorcas said, ignoring the others entirely.

“Rest in peace.” Glasses guy said solemnly as Logan and Finn got up nervously. “It was nice knowing you.”

Logan shared a worried glance with Finn, but they both followed her to a quiet hallway where she turned to glare at them.

“Are you two actually interested in Leo or are you just stringing him along? If it’s the latter I won’t hesitate to punch you.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Logan asked, then frowned. “Fuck, does he think we’re stringing him along?”

“So you are interested?”

Finn looked confused. “I thought that was obvious.”

“What’s the holdup, then?”

“We’re not sure he’s interested.” They shared a sad look. “He’s never given us any reason to think so.”

Dorcas pinched the bridge of her nose. “Oh my god, you three are so stupid. It’s not that he doesn’t like you, trust me – he’s terrified. Think about it. He likes two guys who are already in love with each other, which would be daunting for anybody. And he’s worried that if one of you didn’t feel the same he’d come between the two of you and ruin everything. Not to mention that if he got rejected he’d be rejected not once but twice.”

They stared at her, then turned to stare at each other.

“Fuck.” Finn stated simply.

“Fuck is right.” Dorcas agreed. “Now what are you going to do about it?”

***

“You were so wrong when you said introducing me to Dorcas was a bad idea.”

Leo laughed and turned to face Marlene. “Hello again.”

“Hey, cooking guy. Anyways, I’m in love.”

“Oh, really?”

“She’s awesome. And terrifying. And I really want to take her out on a date.”

“If you hurt her-”

“Oh my god, are you giving me the shovel talk?”

“No. All I’m saying is that we had entire class of knife skills in culinary school. She knows how to properly butcher things. You hurt her, you’d better prepare for the consequences.”

Marlene blinked, then broke into a dopey grin. “Fuck, that’s so hot.”

Leo laughed, shaking his head a little as he grabbed an empty pot and brought it back into the kitchen to clean. Dinner had been a huge success – almost to the point of them running out of food. Leo had noticed the nutritionist shooting him glares all night and made a resolution to send him an apology letter. He just hoped it didn’t affect their playing too much tomorrow.

He was scrubbing the pot down when another pot was set down on the counter next to him. Marlene shoved his shoulder to get him to move to the side a little. “Figured you could use some help.”

“Thanks.” He said with a smile as she grabbed a sponge.

“So,” She started, and that’s when Leo knew he was in trouble. “I know Dorcas talked to you earlier. And I’m sure you don’t want to hear any more of that, but I wanted to let you know that no matter what happens, it’s going to be okay. I mean, yeah, it might suck for a while, but at the end of the day wouldn’t you rather know than be left guessing forever?”

Leo stopped cleaning out his pot and looked at her, surprised at the turn this conversation took.

She shrugged. “Just a thought.”

He’d never really considered it that way before.

There was a knock on the doorframe, which startled them both. Leo turned around to see the head coach standing there.

“We’ve got to head out soon to get to our hotel at a decent time. Thank you so much for dinner! My guys will be talking about this for months.”

“I’d be happy to do it again sometime.” Leo said, then winced. “Maybe something with a more controlled portion size, though.”

The coach laughed. “That might be for the best.”

After all the goodbyes, Logan and Finn were the last two inside, seemingly reluctant to leave. Leo took that as a good sign.

“We’ll see you tomorrow, right?” Logan asked, green eyes hopeful. “At the game?”

“Wouldn’t miss it.” The bus driver honked the horn, clearly fed-up with waiting. “You’d better go before they leave you behind.”

Logan and Finn gave one last wave before heading towards the door while Leo began making his way back to the kitchen.

“Hey!” Logan called suddenly. Leo turned back around to look at them. “Can we take you out to dinner tomorrow? After the game?”

Leo’s stomach churned at the wording. He gathered up all his courage, took a deep breath, and asked, “Is this a date?”

Finn and Logan beamed. Leo’s heart skipped a beat.

“I sure hope so.”

[notsofly]

Ties in Blood Chapter 21

@mrswhozeewhatsis @impala-dreamer @winchestergirl-13 @percussiongirl2017 @idreamofplaid @squirrelnotsam

Chapter 21

Aaliyah stepped out of the bathroom, feeling a little better after washing off some of the mud. Bobby offered Dean some chicken, which was refused. The fried food had some appeal to her, but even she passed up on it. She shifted her eyes between the two as Bobby suggested first burying Sam, then giving him a Hunter’s Funeral.

“Something big’s going down,” Bobby said, finally getting Aaliyah’s attention. “End of the world big.”

“Then let it end,” Dean shouted.

“You don’t mean that,” Bobby replied.

“You don’t think so? Huh?” Dean pushed himself from sitting on the bed to his feet. “You don’t think I’ve paid enough? Given enough? I’m done with it. All of it. And if you know what’s good for you, turn around and get the hell outta here.”

Aaliyah looked over to Bobby and took his lead. She grabbed her bag and headed for the door while giving Dean a small smile. “Keep my number.” Aaliyah knew better than to argue with Dean. She stepped out of the motel room and closed the door behind her. “I’m worried about him, Bobby.”

“I am too, kid,” Bobby said. “You get ahold of any hunters you know. We’re gonna need all the help we can get. Come on back to my place. We’ll figure something out.”

***

“Yeah, I know it’s late, Xander,” Aaliyah countered. “Things are …. Getting messy here and we’re gonna need help.”

“So you expect me to dump the vamp case and come help … with what exactly?”

Aaliyah glanced over to Bobby who was prepping something. “The Yellow Eyed Demon. We’re so close, Xander.”

“I’ll be that way when I get the vamp,” he told her. “I should be that way come dawn.”

Aaliyah made a noise before ending the call. She squeezed her hand around it while contemplating the thought of throwing it across the room.

“Not so good?”

Aaliyah sighed. “Amanda’s busy dealing with demons in New York. Nissa and Leo are off dealing with a pack of werewolves in Texas. I half expect those to be Chupacabras. And Xander’s got a vamp to deal with. He claims to be on his way when dawn comes around.” She walked into the kitchen, putting the phone on the table, and went to pull a beer from the fridge.

“Go get a shower first,” Bobby told her. “And some shut eye.”

“I’m fine on sleep.” Aaliyah closed the fridge without grabbing a beer. “But a shower sounds nice.” She found her clothes bag and pulled out some clean clothes before dumping the rest into the washer.

Alone in the bathroom, Aaliyah double checked to make sure the door was closed and locked. With the water running, she stripped off the clothes she had worn since the Michigan asylum and dumped each piece in a pile. Something caught her eye in the mirror. Her eyes narrowed as her eyes shifted their focus as if they were glazed over. In her sleep deprived state, Aaliyah swore it was a trick of the light. The light reflected in the mirror showed a shadow on the wall behind her. The shadow didn’t match the outline of her pale body. It seemed to be more like angel wings.

Shaking her head, Aaliyah rubbed her eyes and stepped into the shower. The dirt and dried caked mud washed off her body and down the drain. She worked the shampoo and conditioner through her hair, keeping the conditioner in while she worked through the grim on her body. Finally free of the dirt from the past few days, Aaliyah washed off the conditioner and soap. Drying off and dressing, she headed downstairs to see Sam and Dean were in the main room talking with Bobby. Stopped in confusion, Aaliyah attempted to mentally trace back the past several hours to figure out how Sam was walking and talking.

“Wyoming?” Dean questioned, his voice breaking into Aaliyah’s thought process.

“Yeah,” Bobby answered. “That one area’s clean – spotless. Almost as if…”

Aaliyah crossed over and looked at the spot on the map Bobby pointed out.

“What?” Sam asked.

“Demons are surrounding it,” Bobby said.

“But you don’t know why?” Dean asked.

“No, but my eyes are swimming,” Bobby said. “Sam, would you take a look at it? Maybe you could catch something.”

“Yeah, sure,” Sam said.

“Come on, Dean, Aaliyah,” Bobby said. “I got some books out in the truck.”

“Sure,” Aaliyah said. “Give me a sec for shoes.” She went and dug out a pair of socks and tossed them and her boots on before ducking outside.

Even before she could reach Dean and Bobby, Aaliyah heard the latter yelling at the former. Dean’s voice was low when he answered with one year.

“Are you crazy?” Aaliyah asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

“Damn it, Dean,” Bobby cursed.

“Which is why we gotta get this yellow eyed son of a bitch,” Dean said. “That’s why I’m gonna kill him myself. I got nothing to lose.”

Bobby grabbed hold of Dean’s jacket near his throat before Aaliyah could jump in between them. “I could throttle you.”

“And send me down a head of schedule?” Dean countered.

Bobby let go of Dean. “What’s with you Winchesters, huh? You and your dad. Both itching to toss yourselves into the pit.”

“That’s the thing, Bobby. I’m not even meant to be here,” Dean said. “At least this way something good will come of it. Like my life could have some meaning.”

“And it didn’t before?” Bobby asked. “Have you got that low of opinion of yourself? Are you that screwed in the head?” He grabbed Dean again.

Aaliyah glanced around, thinking she heard a noise from nearby. She moved away from the two men toward the area the noise came from. Ignoring their voices, Aaliyah came up along a car and hunched down to stay out of view. Footsteps crunched on the dirt behind her even as Aaliyah moved around the car and grabbed hold of the other person. The other person fought against Aaliyah’s hold even as she pinned them against the car.

“Ellen?” Dean’s voice called out.

“Mind calling your guard bitch off?” she requested.

Aaliyah reacted out of pure instinct by punching the car. “Wanna try again?”

“Liyra,” Bobby cautioned.

“I didn’t haul ass from Michigan dealing with ghosts to come here and be called a …”

“You’re a hunter?” Ellen asked.

“One of the best,” Bobby complimented. “Though she’s taken on the mentality of the boys at times.”

“One of the best?” Ellen echoed.

“Been hunting for … about four years now,” Aaliyah said, letting Ellen go.

“Oh God,” she said.

Aaliyah trailed after them back to the house where she grabbed a beer and leaned in the threshold between the kitchen and living room. There she listened as Ellen told how she survived the fire that took out the roadhouse by running to the store for pretzels.

“Ellen,” Bobby chimed in. “You mentioned a safe.”

“Hidden in the basement.”

“Demons get what was in it?”

“No.” Ellen pulled a folded piece of paper and unfolded it on the table.

Aaliyah stepped in and looked at the map that had X marks drawn on it.

“Wyoming?” Dean said. “What does it mean?”

Aaliyah tilted her head for a minute before going on a search for a marker while Bobby got up and went into the living room. He returned with a book when Aaliyah gave a small ‘ah-ha’ on finding a marker.

“Each of these X’s mark an abandoned frontier church, all mid 19th century,” Bobby said. “All built by Samuel Colt.”

Aaliyah returned to the table. “As in the demon killing, gun making, Samuel Colt?” She leaned on the table with one hand after uncapping the marker.

“Yep,” Bobby answered. “And he also built railroad tracks connecting the …”

Aaliyah heard him trail off when she started connecting the X marks into a pentagram.

“Tell me that’s now what I think it is,” Dean requested.

“It’s a Devil’s Trap,” Aaliyah said, straightening and admiring her work. “A hundred square foot Devil’s Trap.”

“That’s brilliant,” Dean said. “Iron lines demons can’t cross.”

“I’ve never heard of anything so big,” Ellen said.

“No one has,” Bobby said.

“And after all these years, it still works,” Aaliyah said.

“How’d you know?” Ellen asked, shooting her a look.

Aaliyah flicked her gaze over to the older woman and swore the look on her face screamed she doubted Aaliyah and her hunting ability. “All those omens that’s been popping up,” Aaliyah said. “The demons must be circling looking for a way in.”

“They’re trying alright,” Bobby chimed in.

“What’s so important that Colt’s trying to protect?” Sam asked.

“Unless…” Dean said. “He’s not trying to keep the demons out, but something in.”

“That’s a comforting thought,” Ellen said.

“Is it possible, Bobby?” Aaliyah asked, looking up at him. “Could they get inside?”

“This thing’s so powerful you need an A bomb to destroy it,” he answered. “No way a full blood demon can cross it.”

“No,” Sam said. “But I know who can.”

**

Aaliyah stepped off into the house while the others went through what might be needed for the trip. She dialed Xander’s number and started pacing when the ringing went past thirty seconds. The call finally went to voicemail. Confused, Aaliyah hung up and redialed the number. It went to voicemail again.

“Guys, something’s wrong,” she called out before she walked back into the room. “I can’t get ahold of Xander.”

“Vamp coulda gotten him,” Bobby suggested.

Aaliyah looked between the others while she attempted to grab hold of the several different thoughts that ran through her head. “I gotta go find him.” She started for the door even as a couple of them called after her. She pivoted, her body flared a little in the sudden movement, and went over to where her bag of clothes had been dumped. With the bag in hand, Aaliyah turned back for the door. She ignored the sound of the door opening and closing behind her as she headed for her car.

“Aaliyah, wait,” Dean called after her.

“Why? You all got a handle on it.” Aaliyah opened the back seat and tossed in her duffel and closed the door. “Besides, I’m just gonna have to prove myself to another hunter.” She turned around and found Dean a foot away from her. “You can’t do this without Sam; yeah I heard that. I can’t do this without knowing what happened to Xander. I know where to go after dealing with Xander.” She closed the distance between her and Dean. “Just … be careful, huh?” Aaliyah flashed him a smile before climbing into the car and driving off.

***

Aaliyah killed her headlights well before she turned down the drive. Something didn’t sit right. That feeling didn’t go away when she pulled up to the dark cabin. She climbed out of the car after getting it into position for a possible quick getaway. She armed herself with her preferred handgun with a couple back up clips and a machete before starting for the cabin. The front door was closed most of the way as she approached; like someone could pull it open without fighting against the knob.

With gun at the ready, Aaliyah eased the door open and scanned the dark room. There was a faint smell of blood in the air. She fought against the panic that rose up as she cleared each room one by one. In one room was a decapitated vampire. So where was Xander? Aaliyah moved for the kitchen just as a scuffle like noise stopped her on a dime.

“Who’s there?” a voice called out.

It was low, almost too low, for Aaliyah to hear. Her eyes narrowed and her head tilted in a way of trying to figure out the voice.

“I’ll shoot,” the voice called out again.

“Xander?” Aaliyah gasped.

“Aaliyah. Oh, God. I almost shot you.”

Aaliyah lowered her gun in her move over to her brother. The gun and machete hit the floor even as she reached out to Xander. “What the hell happened you couldn’t answer the damn phone?”

“That was you? I musta been outta it for a minute.”

Aaliyah moved her hands over Xander, feeling for any obvious wounds that needed to be dealt with. “Think you can move? The sooner we get outta here, the better. Shit’s about to hit the fan out in Wyoming.”

“Don’t worry about me,” Xander said, waving her off. “You go save the world.”

“Xander, what’s gotten over you?”

“I can’t move my legs.” His voice rose above a hush. “I don’t know how it happened, or what I hit during the fight, but … I can’t …”

“That’s bull.” Aaliyah put the gun in her pants waist band and put the machete where she could grab it. She pushed herself to her feet and offered a hand to Xander. “Come on. I’ll get you outta here and to help.”

Xander batted the hand away. “No, just let me die here.”

Aaliyah adjusted her footing and hunched down before grabbing hold of his shirt and brought him within inches of her face. “I’m not leaving you here to die. Not with that vamp out there. Now, you can feel sorry for yourself later.” She pulled herself back enough to have room to pull Xander up. There wasn’t much fight in him as she looped one of his arms around her shoulders. Aaliyah grabbed the machete before half dragging him from the house.

***

“Bobby, I promise I’ll be there,” Aaliyah kept her voice low, signing the last piece of paper. “Xander had a nasty fight with a vamp and I had to get him to a hospital.”

“We’ve got a serious problem and you’re worried …”

“Xander wanted to die there at the house when I found him,” Aaliyah cut in. “I wasn’t gonna let him do that. I’ve already called Nissa and Leo and they’re on their way in.” She adjusted the phone away and looked to the nurse. “What do I have to fill out for a seventy two hour psych hold on him?” She pulled the papers the nurse offered up and signed away. “Is there anything else?”

“No, ma’am.”

Aaliyah gave a brief nod before she turned away and saw herself from the hospital. “Bobby, I promise I’ll be there.”

“You better be here,” Dean answered.

“God, Dean. I swear I’ll kick your ass when this is through.”

“Like you’d be able …”

Aaliyah slammed the car door behind her. “I swear Dean, you’re making it difficult for me to wanna help.” She started the car and headed out for the highway. “Now, I can go off and do my own thing or I can see this hunt through along with you guys. I know what’s at stake here.” She hung up when no answer came from Dean.

***

Aaliyah pushed herself. She had parked next to the Impala and found the immediate area deserted. A note had been left on the windshield of the Impala in Bobby’s handwriting telling her where to go. That note had been dropped and forgotten when Aaliyah realized shit was going down. At one point gunshots had echoed in the air, spurring her on. A foot hit a broken headstone in mid stride, sending her flying. It took Aaliyah a few minutes to catch her breath from the fall before she picked herself up. The foot that hit the stone throbbed a little, either bruised or pulled muscle somewhere. She could put weight on it, which was good. Something glowed some feet away from her, grabbing her attention. She closed the distance to recognize the building as a crypt.

“Guys,” Aaliyah called out, her eyes focused on the crypt doors.

“Aaliyah,” someone shouted in surprise.

A hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her down behind the tombstone with them. It had to be perfect timing since Aaliyah heard the doors burst open and the sound of who knew how many demons escaping. She pressed her body against theirs in the attempt to have some sort of protection from the demons.

“What the hell just happened?” Aaliyah shouted.

“It’s a devil’s gate,” Ellen’s voice called out in reply. “A damn door to hell.”

“We gotta shut it up,” Aaliyah called out. She pried herself off her tombstone partner and started for the open doors. The heat from beyond the doors was blazing, still Aaliyah fought against it. She struggled against one of the doors even as Bobby came up behind her. A quick glance over to the other showed her Ellen and Sam in the same struggle.

“Dean,” Sam yelled, leaving the door.

“Sam,” Aaliyah called after him even as she looked back over a shoulder.

Dean was slumped against a tombstone and Sam was pinned against a tree. In between them was the person the yellow eyed demon used as a vessel.

Aaliyah looked between Bobby and Ellen in a silent debate between leaving them to deal with the door or to help the boys with the demon. She pushed herself off the door and darted for the demon. There was a small piece of hope that she’d reach it before getting noticed. That hope went out the window when Aaliyah hit an invisible wall and was lifted two feet off the ground.

“I’m surprised you’re still around,” the demon said to Aaliyah. “I mean, after all the mess you’ve gone through just to get here. And the way the other hunters look at you, like you don’t measure up to something.”

Her eyes flicked between Sam and Dean. Was the demon right about how she didn’t measure up against. She stared down the demon.

“You and your pathetic self worth,” the demon continued. “Trying to prove that you can make it in the wide world of hunting. Tell me, kid, how’s your brother doing?”

Aaliyah caught movement just beyond the demon and swore it looked like … She dropped to the ground and gasped for breath. She got a better look at the ghost struggling with the demon and smiled. Even dead John came back to fight. Shifting around, a hand brushed against something hard. It was the Colt. Picking it up, Aaliyah glanced over to the boys even as the thought of shooting the demon herself passed through her mind. It wasn’t right. She crawled over to Dean and held up the Colt in front of him.

He glared at her.

“Hey, I coulda shot it myself,” Aaliyah argued. She nodded when Dean accepted the gun before standing. “Oi, Yellow Eyes,” she called out when the demon regained its vessel. “Over here.”

It turned toward her and started toward her. Aaliyah rooted herself where she stood and froze when a gunshot went off beside her. The body lit up before dropping backward to the ground. Aaliyah heard the sound of Sam hitting the ground as she started off in the direction she came in. She got a few feet from where Dean picked himself up.

“Wait,” Sam called after her.

She turned around to see John approaching her from where Sam and Dean stood. John smiled and nodded before disappearing. Aaliyah half shrugged, dismissing what happened before she turned and left the cemetery.

She could hear three different voices call after her. No, now wasn’t the time for them to assure her that she was doing right by hunting. If she hadn’t gotten involved back in college, Xander wouldn’t be held up at a hospital in the same situation she was a year ago.

“Aaliyah, wait up,” Sam’s voice called, closer than the others. “Don’t let what the demon said get to you.”

“But he’s right,” Aaliyah shouted, spinning around to face him. “Every hunter I meet will have the same barely hidden judgmental look Ellen had. I had to race here from the hospital I left Xander at because he got fucked up going up against a vamp. But, yeah, you’re right, the demon didn’t mean what it said.” She turned back around and started for her car as Dean and Sam started talking. Her paced slowed before she stopped completely and turned to watch the brothers. Daring to get close, Aaliyah heard Sam ask if Dean sold his soul and how much time he had.

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Sam said.

“Don’t get mad at me,” Dean said. “Don’t you dare, I had to do it. I had to look out for you; it’s my job.”

“And what do you think my job is?” Sam countered, catching Dean off guard.

“What?”

“You saved my life over and over again,” Sam said. “You sacrificed everything for me. Don’t you think I’d do the same for you? You’re my big brother and I’d do anything for you. I don’t care what it takes, I’m gonna get you outta this. My turn to save your ass this time.”

Aaliyah barely shook her head when Dean glanced over at her. “He’s got a point.”

“Well, your yellow eyed demon might be dead,” Ellen cut in as she walked up. “But a whole lot more got through that gate.”

“How many do you think?” Dean asked.

“Hundred or two,” Sam said. “It’s an army he unleashed.”

“Hope you three are ready,” Bobby said. “Cause the war’s just begun.”

[heyitssmiller]

Chop It Like It’s Hot

Chapter 10: You’re Shrimp-ly Amazing

This is it! We’ve officially reached the end of this story! Thank you so much to everyone who’s read and kept up with this - I really hope you enjoyed all the cooking and pining and fluff. @lumosinlove Thank you for letting me run away with your characters and go completely overboard! You’ve created such wonderful characters that I can’t help but want to write about <3

Tag List:  @peanut-in-the-goal @whataboutmyfries @raxelle-nite-in-gale @heyoitslysso @spookydiyharrypotterbat

Masterlist for Chop It Like It’s Hot

.

Leo stopped in front of Logan and Finn’s apartment door and fished his keys out of his pocket, flipping through them until he found the key to their door - he had a key now. 

He had barely opened the door before he was tackled by both of his boys.

“Peanut butter.” Finn said happily, face buried in Leo’s chest.

Logan looked up at him with bright, happy eyes that were crinkling at the corners. “God, we missed you.”

Leo smiled excitedly and let them lead him inside the apartment. “Missed you - mmph.” He stopped talking as Logan surged up and kissed him, cradling his jaw in a calloused hand. Leo felt the tension leave his shoulders and kissed back, hands on Logan’s waist and sneaking underneath his sweatshirt. When he finally had the air to breathe, he finished his sentence. “Missed you too.”

“Stop being a Leo hog.” Finn grumbled good-naturedly, stepping in to give Leo a long, lingering kiss that left him speechless.

“Welcome ho – I mean, welcome back.” Finn said. “We made dinner. And before you make that face, it’s a recipe from Celeste. We even called her while cooking to make sure we were doing everything right.”

I love you two.

Leo didn’t say it out loud – none of them had. But hopefully soon. Instead he said, “Sounds perfect. What’s for dinner?”

“Hey, y’all, and welcome back to Cajun Cooking! A lot of people have requested that I do this recipe, so today we’re making shrimp etouffee. This is a Louisiana classic and there are a lot of different recipes out there but this is my mama’s recipe, so it’s very authentic. You can also use crawfish in this recipe, but mama always used shrimp because she knew a shrimp fisherman and could get a better deal.” Leo smiled at the camera set up in the kitchen, then looked over to his boys.

“Today we’ve got some familiar faces here to be my sous chefs for the day and help me out. If you watched the last season of Worst Cooks, then you’ll definitely recognize them.”

Logan and Finn stepped into view. Logan waved awkwardly while Finn gave the camera a mock salute. “Sup.”

“So first, we’ve got to start with preparing our fresh shrimp.” Leo said, holding up a shrimp that hadn’t been deconstructed yet. Finn made a disgusted face at it. “Start by grabbing your shrimp and just take the head off. You should feel where the head ends and the rest of the shrimp begins, so just grab there and pull.”

Logan and Finn shared a look of mild horror. Leo, like always, was unfazed.

“Next, hold where the legs are and peel back on the outer shell until you’re left with the soft shrimp meat on the inside. The legs should come off at the same time, too. Now be sure to save those shells! We’re going to use it for the shrimp stock later on. Make sure you pull the tail off, too.” He looked over at the other two. “Sound good?”

“Um…”

“It’s not so bad. I’ll do it with you.” Leo slowly showed them how to do it again, then motioned for them to get started.

“These look so gross.” Finn said, hesitantly holding a shrimp by the tail. Logan smirked and grabbed a shrimp before slowly bringing it closer to Finn’s face, those beady little eyes staring into his soul. Finn shrieked and scrambled backwards while Logan and Leo laughed.

They all got started on preparing the shrimp. Leo still did over half of the work, but he got to watch the other two grimace and flinch as they worked, which was pretty entertaining.

“While they’re finishing up, I’m going to show you a quick and easy way to devein shrimp.” Leo said, grabbing a de-shelled shrimp. “Start by making a slit along the middle of the back with a small knife and pull the dark vein out. Most people just rinse the shrimp under cold water to clean them, but sometimes this isn’t enough to completely clean the shrimp. In Japanese cooking, they actually clean shrimp with potato starch. The potato starch absorbs the smell and dirty particles from shrimp really well, so that’s what I usually do. Just grab some potato starch and rub it all over the shrimp and then rinse it all off. See how dirty the starch gets as you scrub the shrimp? That’s some clean shrimp right there.”

Leo looked over at his boys, smiling softly as they meticulously deveined shrimp. “How are we doing, sous chefs?”

“No one told me that shrimp shells can be sharp.” Logan said, sending him a playful glare. “Also, these are really gross.”

“But it’s going to taste so good.” Leo cajoled with puppy dog eyes that were proven to consistently work on Finn and Logan. Logan sighed, lips twitching as he fought a smile while Finn just melted.

They all got back to work deveining and cleaning shrimp until they were all done.

“Next we’re going to make our shrimp stock. If you guys could chop half of an onion, celery, and two garlic cloves, that would be great.”

Logan grabbed the vegetables while Finn grabbed two knives.

“And please don’t cut yourselves.” Leo hastily added with a grimace. “I taught you knife-handling, please tell me you haven’t forgotten it.”

Logan leaned up and kissed his cheek. “You worry too much, baby.” Then his eyes widened and he glanced at the camera guiltily. “Shit. We can edit that out, if you want.”

Leo didn’t even have to think about it. He reached over and tangled his fingers with Logan’s. “I’m fine with it if you are.” He glanced over at Finn, who had stopped chopping his onion and was looking at them with teary eyes. “Finn?”

“One of these days,” He said with a laugh, “I’m gonna make the onions cry.”

The other two laughed with him, shuffling over to hug him. Logan reached up and wiped away the tears. “You’re ridiculous.”

Finn shrugged. “Yeah. But I’m happy.”

“So are we.” Leo said, unable to contain his smile. “Ready to get back to cooking?”

***

They had invited people over to eat all the shrimp etouffee at Logan and Finn’s apartment after they were done recording. So sure enough, at six o’clock on the dot, there was a loud knock on the door.

“Come on in!” Logan called as Leo added more Tabasco to the pot and Finn watched as people piled into their apartment.

This. This was what he wanted for the rest of his life. His boys next to him and his friends in the living room talking loudly over each other.

This was home.

Dumo, Celeste, and the kids were the last to enter. Dumo made a beeline to the team to try and break up the bickering that had started up while the kids immediately swarmed Logan, clamoring for attention.

Celeste smiled apologetically. “Well, this is chaotic.”

“It’s nice.” Leo said, quickly sampling his dish. “Much better than an empty apartment.”

She hummed sympathetically, resting her arms on the kitchen counter separating them. “I remember that. Having hockey player partners who travel all the time is tough, isn’t it? And to be long distance, too.” She whistled lowly. “Have you considered moving?”

Leo looked over at Logan listening patiently to the kids and Finn washing dishes at the sink and couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah. Yeah I have.” He laughed in disbelief. “Is that crazy? We haven’t even known each other for a year.”

She shrugged. “Are you happy?” At Leo’s nod, she continued, “Then who cares if it’s early by society’s standards? I, for one, know those two would be over the moon if you moved in. They pout when you’re gone.”

He laughed fondly. “That doesn’t surprise me at all.”

“Oh! I’ve been meaning to ask you this for weeks now and it just keeps slipping my mind. Could you share your jambalaya recipe? I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since you made it.”

“Well…” Leo winced. “It’s actually a family recipe. We don’t want everyone to get their hands on it, you know?”

“I mean, we’ll be practically family soon enough.” Celeste teased. Leo smiled so broadly that those dimples could’ve been seen from space.

“Give me your chocolate cake recipe and it’s a deal.”

Celeste laughed loudly and looked over to Logan, who was shuffling over with Katie clinging tightly to him. “I like this one.”

“Yeah,” Logan agreed. “He’s a keeper.”

“Yo, are we ready to eat yet?” Pots shouted from the living room. “Kasey gets grumpy when he’s hungry.”

“Do not.” Kasey grumbled.

“We’re ready.” Leo called. “Hope you boys like some spice.”

“Even if you think you do, brace yourselves.” Finn added. “Leo’s got a heavy hand with the Tabasco.”

“Because it tastes good on everything.”

Logan squinted at him. “Does it, though?”

“Do you want me to prove it?”

“No.”

***

They arrived at the rink early, still blinking sleep out of their eyes and yawning and leaning into each other for warmth.

“You ready to skate?” Finn asked, leading the way to the equipment room.

“Sure. I’m probably a little rusty, though. I haven’t skated since high school.”

Logan closed the door behind them, giving Leo a curious look. “Why’d you quit?”

Leo sighed. “I was a gay kid in the south. Hockey’s not known for being very accepting even when you live in more tolerant places. But in Louisiana…” He shrugged and grabbed a pair of skates in his size. “It wasn’t worth it, no matter how much I loved to play.” Looking at their sad expressions, he hurried to continue, “But it’s fine. I don’t regret it. I found where I was supposed to be, and I love what I’m doing. And I wouldn’t have met y’all if I hadn’t gone to culinary school.”

“It’s still not fair.”

“No,” Leo agreed, moving to stand in front of Logan. “But now kids in the same situation have you two and Cap to look up to. And that makes a world of difference. Now, are we going to skate or not?”

Logan and Finn lead him to the locker room, where they grabbed their own skates, and then down the tunnel to the ice. They all laced up their skates and glided out onto the ice.

“See? Not too rusty.” Logan said, leaning forward to look at Leo on the other side of Finn. “I’m sure you’ll do fine at family skate.”

“Thanks for inviting me, by the way.” Leo said, quickly adding, “It’s just… I know we haven’t been together all that long, but y’all mean so much to me, so being able to get to know your friends and family is –” 

He trailed off as Finn skated in close and kissed him oh-so-gently before leaning back and running his hand tenderly through the gray tuft of hair at his forehead.

“I love you, Peanut.”

Leo sucked in a breath and stared at him.

“We love you.” Logan amended, joining their little huddle.

Leo smiled softly, his heart feeling like it was overflowing. He grabbed both of their hands in his. “I love you, too. God, I love you so much, you have no idea. I’m so glad you two got signed up for that show.”

“Dumo and Celeste, the accidental matchmakers.”

Finn grinned. “We should bake them a cake.”

“We can do that.” Leo agreed. “We’ve got nothing but time.”

And with that exciting new prospect they continued their skate across the ice, hand in hand.

[totallyrealhoroscopesdaily]

11/19/2017 Horoscope

Aries: You have been shot. This has been your least favorite death so far. You just wanted to buy some ice cream while you were out (cough avoiding the shadow people cough) and of fucking course that’s when this asshole decides to attempt to rob the store. You didn’t realize he had a gun and tried to get him to just leave, he didn’t realize you were so close and put a bullet through you when you put your hand on his arm, mistake were made all around. The son of a bitch didn’t even try to help you when he realized what he did, he was too surprised. The horror is gratifying and all, and it’s great you apparently didn’t intend to actually shoot anyone, but seriously dude, you had to bleed out on the floor because no one was helping you put pressure on the wound and that was not fun. You’re hovering above your body, again, as you watch the would-be thief/accidental murderer run out of the store in a panic and another hysterical shopper call 911 for you while the cashier tries to revive you. Too little, too late, my guy. Guess you’re hanging out for a while.

Taurus: They’re held down by living cloth as you gently take their hand. You grab their index finger and slowly pull it. The bones pop and creak and the flesh stretches past the point it should, you will not let it tear. You break and crack the bones and then continue to pull, until the finger is 3 times longer than it was. You squeeze it, tight, and it’s burned black, the tip hardened into a sharp point. They’ve been screaming, this is not your fault. Their chest heaves for air, eyes wide, as you experimentally bend the joints, two more than there was originally, and test the claw with a poke. Sharp enough to draw blood with only a little pressure, you smile. They’re being so pretty. You lick away your blood before moving onto the next finger. 9 more to go.

Gemini: Frederick and you take turns wearing the hair accessory, since you can’t agree on who wears it better. 

Cancer: Today is game day. Y’all are in the locker room, everyone but you and Ridali shaking in terror and despair, and at this point you’re a bit sick of it. You suddenly snap out that you’re all gonna die. Yeah, you said it, y’all are gonna die and the entire damn city is gonna fucking watch it happen because it ain’t them, but you know what? Fuck it! If this is gonna be the last thing you’re gonna do, then you are going to have fun while doing it! Fuck the city, fuck the field you’re being sacrificed to, fuck putting on some sort of entertainment for the fucking masses, you’re the ones dying and you’re gonna at least go out with a fucking smile for the bastards. You’re gonna go make a fool of yourself and have a shit ton of fun playing fucking bocce ball, like thats some common fucking sport, and you don’t give a shit anymore. You last fuck has flown, it don’t matter now! Ridali laughs out that that’s the spirit, and apparently the other poor bastards on your team agree. Or at least think this nihilistic last laugh is better than moping. They’re in. Y’all wear the wrong jerseys for a laugh and dance out onto the field, grinning barbed wire smiles. The chick that broke down did a cartwheel for the hell of it. Y'all completely ignore the fucking rules, shouting when you knock your balls farther away from the goal, cheering when you get it just a smidgen closer than it was, and generally overreacting to everything. Y'all are utterly terrible and make fools of yourselves. Y’all have a great time. Then the field swallows you.

Leo: Your hair is getting a bit long, you look shaggy. You tell the foot to remind you to get a haircut soon. 

Virgo: You work. This isn’t healthy and you recognize that, but you refuse to acknowledge it. You need to be productive, because maybe if you prove yourself- 

Scorpio: I only mentioned it because you seemed uncomfortable when you had to respond to people. I’m sorry I upset you, it’s obviously a touchy subject.

Sagittarius: The old woman is back. She thanks you all for watching Buster. Buster doesn’t wanna go to her, put she plucks him up. Then she makes him hover in the air in front of her, spinning slowly. She turns about-face and walks off, Buster bubbling after her. You’ve put your face in your knees but you hear someone quietly, but distraught, go, “Buster, no”. You giggle a little hysterically.

Capricorn: You’ve taken up quilting in your free time. You needed something to do, and Fluffy loves watching you work. Punchy, as you’ve started calling the newbie hero, doesn’t quite get it, but you can practically feel the points it puts towards you being seen as the “Eccentric but wise veteran” character. It also makes the script bend and twist itself even more, which is always a funny thing.

Aquarius: Today, when you reach the empty time in your routine, you use the time to take the broken pieces of furniture out behind the building. Then you burn them. Watching the fire fills the rest of the time you needed to waste quite nicely. You go clean the gym, then head home. You wrap yourself in your fluffy blanket and try to sleep. You don’t sleep, but you relax more than you did. Progress.

Pisces: You weave more, today. You gather more, tonight. You listen to the wind telling you stories as you work. Histories of the lands she’s flown over and fables she’s heard told over the years.