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ofthemorningstars · 13 days

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Things Unspoken (Part 1)

TerzOmega ~ Smut below the cut ~ Hurt/Comfort 2.4k words

Part 2 Ao3 Version Terzo is hiding something from Omega.

Omega was deep inside of Terzo when it started. Everything had been great up until that point. Terzo was lying with his face in the sheets, clutching at them for dear life. His back was in a deep arch, his ass in the air, cock dripping onto the bed. Omega was thrusting with abandon. All was as it should have been. But when Omega had reached out to Terzo with his quintessence, when he had tried to connect their minds and souls, he was met with resistance for the very first time in two decades. Omega was dumbfounded at Terzo’s hesitation; on any other night, he would beg for this. Omega would never want to force anything on his mate, but he hadn’t anticipated the denial. For over twenty years, Omega had used his quintessence nearly every time they were together. It was almost routine. A part of their ritual.

He slowed his thrusts. Terzo made a weak attempt to look up at Omega, not quite meeting his eyes. “N–Not tonight, amore,” was the only explanation Omega got. Omega tried not to let it get to him. He really did. He made sure they finished together as usual, and he didn’t bring it up again the rest of the night. It proved to be a great feat of self-control, not asking Terzo about what had happened. If something was wrong. They went about the rest of their nightly customs, but Omega’s mind raced as he held Terzo’s sleeping form in his arms. He had a hard time falling asleep that night. Omega found himself struggling to get through the next day. If he were being honest with himself, he felt a little stung. He prided himself on always keeping a level head, but there were only but so many reasons Terzo would reject him like this. What was he hiding from him? What didn’t he want Omega to see? After so many years, they knew everything about each other. At least, Omega had thought that they did. He heard a squeak and his head snapped up; he had been so lost in his brooding that he’d nearly walked directly into a sister carrying a towering stack of books as she rounded the corner. In her surprise, she’d lost her balance, and the tomes at the top had begun to fall. With lightning fast reflexes he caught them, returning them to the pile. “My apologies, suora, I wasn’t paying attention. Are you alright?” Omega put a hand on her shoulder unthinkingly.

Clearly rattled, but obviously still believing herself too good to speak to a lowly ghoul, the sister turned up her nose, shook him off, and continued walking.

Omega sighed. He was used to this. While it wasn’t expressly forbidden to interact with ghouls, many of the clergy had been conditioned to believe them to be lowly, vile creatures. Most of them wouldn't talk to ghouls outside of giving them orders. Terzo had been one of the first within the ministry walls to treat the ghouls like people. Like equals.

The elder ghouls had spoken very highly of Terzo that first night Omega had asked about him. Omega had needed to know who that strange human staring at him from across the room was. He needed to know why he felt so drawn to him.

Since Terzo was a small child, Omega was told, his birth mother had allowed him to spend much of his time in the ghoul wing, making friends with infernal beings from the pits of hell. She simply hadn’t wanted to look after him, and Terzo had been so fascinated by the ghouls… so she let him stay. Nihil had never cared enough to have an issue with it, and so it continued. Even now as Papa, Terzo made an effort to spend as much time in their wing as he could, much to the ire of the Imperator. Technically, he wasn’t doing anything wrong, other than making the ministry “look weak”. Admonishable, but not punishable. Omega often wondered how she would react if she were to find out that an Emeritus had married a ghoul. He shuddered and prayed that they would never have to find out. That night Omega returned to Terzo’s chambers after the halls were barren and quiet, like he always did. Another routine. Terzo greeted him with a smile, but there was a strange look behind his eyes. It almost seemed like… guilt. Guilt, and something else. Omega’s anxiety returned in full force.

After closing the door behind himself, he took off his mask with a sigh of relief and pulled Terzo into a tight embrace, one which Terzo warmly returned. “Ciao amore mio. I have been waiting for you. Is everything alright?” Terzo asked, looking up from Omega’s chest to meet his gaze. Omega averted his eyes, fighting back a level of discomfort that was unprecedented in Terzo’s presence.

“Everything's fine, tesoro.” Omega shuffled his feet; he supposed he was rather late tonight. He had been lost in thought in his own quarters. He felt bad for lying; he didn't feel fine.

Perhaps he was subconsciously avoiding whatever he had been worried might come next. But here Terzo was, acting perfectly normal, currently kissing his way up Omega’s neck. Terzo’s tongue came out to lick a mark he’d just made. Omega softened, letting his shoulders relax. Maybe he was being silly after all. “I will run us a bath, yes?” Terzo pulled away, heading to the bathroom. Omega’s head was swimming, one half of his brain preoccupied with lust and the other with worry. He shook his head. So Terzo hadn’t wanted to connect with him. That was only one night, and besides. Terzo was allowed to say no whenever he wanted, to whatever he wanted to say no to. Why should it bother him that Terzo exercised his free will? Satanas knows how few opportunities he got to do that. What kind of beast did it make Omega if he got upset over his husband telling him no, especially about something concerning his own body and mind?

Omega took a deep breath to steady himself.

“Will you be joining me tonight, bello?” Terzo teased from the bathroom door, having returned from starting the water. He could faintly smell the rich vanilla bubble bath that Terzo was so fond of. Omega slowly looked him over from head to toe: he wore nothing but his favorite black diamond earrings and his wedding ring. Omega swallowed hard. He would sooner be dragged back to the pit than to ever get tired of seeing Terzo naked. Omega didn’t realize how much tension he had been carrying until he sank down into the hot water. As his muscles began to relax and his eyes fell closed, he once again reassured himself that yes, everything was indeed ok. Terzo helped affirm that by climbing onto his lap and straddling his hips. Omega hummed as Terzo sucked at his chest, his nipples, leaving little bruises in his wake, kissing each one before he moved on to grace his skin with another. As his mouth made its way up to Omega’s neck, his hand began to slowly slide down his torso. Terzo grinned against Omega as he found what he was looking for: Omega was already hard from all the attention he was giving him.

Terzo pulled Omega’s face down to meet his in a searing kiss, pumping the ghoul. Omega groaned into Terzo’s mouth, his own hands traveling down to grip Terzo’s ass, rubbing and squeezing, digging into the tender flesh with his claws.

Omega felt lightheaded. He couldn’t pinpoint if it was because of the affection he was receiving, the heat of the water, or his earlier ruminations. Reluctantly he pulled himself away from Terzo’s mouth, needing to lean his head back on the edge of the tub. Terzo returned his attention to Omega’s neck as he released his grip, choosing instead to ride up against him, their cocks rubbing together. He wanted in on the friction. Omega whined. Terzo rode Omega hard, gripping him by the shoulders now, flushed from head to toe. He seemed to be desperately turned on, dragging his tongue up Omega’s neck and face, grinding faster. Omega almost chuckled; he’d heard members of the clergy joke throughout the years about the idea of ghouls going into heat, but he’d seen enough to believe that no ghoul could ever hope to outmatch the libido of his little human mate. Fondness bloomed through his chest.

He released his grip on Terzo’s ass to catch his face with one hand for another kiss. The other reached down between them; his hand was large enough to stroke both of them together. He pumped them both until Terzo’s breath began to come heavy, his hips bucking up against Omega. Omega moaned into Terzo’s mouth before he had to break away to breathe, panting. Omega picked up the pace until Terzo groaned almost painfully before falling onto Omega’s chest, cum splattering hot between them. Omega followed immediately behind, throwing his head back and arching hard. It took a long time for them to actually get to bathing. After the initial recovery came the kisses, the nuzzling, the soft caresses and sweet nothings. The basking in the afterglow. Omega was the one who had to get them back on track, as he often did, turning Terzo around and scrubbing at his hair with shampoo, making sure to be careful of his claws. Terzo had wanted to soak in the tub for even longer, but Omega gently urged him out as the water was quickly cooling. “We can’t have you getting sick. You humans are so fragile,” he fussed. Terzo had pouted, as always, but complied. When they were dried off and ready for bed, Terzo had been about to climb under the covers still nude before Omega stopped him.

“Mio amato, its the dead of winter, and you just got out of the bath. You really will get sick,” Omega said with genuine concern. It wasn’t like they didn’t regularly go to sleep together naked, but not usually with wet hair, and not usually in February. Not unless they were in front of the fireplace, anyway. “Amore, I just want to feel y–” Terzo had begun to whine before abruptly cutting himself off. He shifted his weight uncomfortably, panic crossing over his features before he quickly smoothed them over. “I just want to f–feel the new sheets. I just changed them. One thousand thread-count. Very nice, yes?” Omega’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. His heart sank. He knew what Terzo had been about to say. Those were the words they used to describe the bond that they shared when Omega used his quintessence. “I just want to feel you.” The same way that he hadn’t wanted to feel him yesterday. The way that, Omega was now realizing, he hadn’t asked to feel him tonight. All of Omega’s worries from earlier in the day came flooding back. His heart was racing, but he was determined not to let it show. If Terzo wouldn’t tell him, he wasn’t going to pry. Silent, he dug a pair of Terzo’s good silk pajamas out of the wardrobe and set them on the bed before getting dressed himself.

As they lay there, Terzo’s head was on Omega's chest, but Terzo was uncharacteristically quiet. Omega’s mind began to race faster than his heart had earlier. He didn’t sleep well that night.

The next two nights were much the same,

Terzo overcompensating with chatter and sex. Omega knew him well enough to know with near certainty that he wasn’t being honest. Terzo was definitely hiding something. He didn’t know what to do about it. If that something had turned out to really be a “someone”… He spent a lot of his waking time fantasizing about exactly how he’d handle that problem. While that served as a nice distraction, he knew that it would also mean the end of their marriage. Please, he would pray to no one in particular. Please don’t let that be it. On the third night, Omega didn’t cuddle with Terzo when they went to bed. His heart broke to leave him all alone, to reject him, but he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t lie to Terzo with his body and pretend that everything was ok when it wasn’t. It wasn’t who he was. It wasn’t who he thought Terzo was, either. He felt guilty about even having agreed to sex, but he had gotten carried away. If he couldn’t get the emotional intimacy he was craving, he would settle for physical intimacy. At least, he thought he could, but now he felt even more hollow than before. So, he turned his back to Terzo and pretended to be asleep.

He didn’t sleep, though. Instead, he had one of the longest nights of his life, thinking of all of the ways his relationship might be about to come crashing down around him. He left in the morning before Terzo woke up.

Everyone was treating him funny the next day. They refused to look at Omega, giving him a wide berth. It couldn't be the dark circles under his eyes. No, those were hidden behind his mask. He didn’t look any different outwardly. He had made sure that not a hair was out of place before he reported for duty. No, it was that the other ghouls could feel the distress and frustration rolling off of him in waves. He couldn’t shield it from them no matter how hard he tried. When Air had come up to him after an exceptionally messy practice and snarkily asked, “Trouble in paradise?” Omega had snarled at him, ripping his guitar off wordlessly and storming back to his own quarters.

As he lay there unable to tell if he wanted to rage or to cry, he decided that he wasn’t going back to Terzo’s tonight. He turned off his phone and locked his door. He couldn’t handle another evening of deceit, and if things were about to end… No, he simply couldn’t face that. He didn’t have the strength. Maybe he could just run forever. Maybe then he wouldn’t have to hear Terzo say things that he could never unhear. When sleep eventually found him, he was greeted by some of the worst dreams of his life.

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fictionadventurer · 21 hours

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Top five time travel movies/books! :D

See, the trouble is that while I love time travel as a concept, I haven't actually explored the genre that much. I haven't watched/read most of the time travel stories out there, sometimes because I just haven't gotten to it, other times because I'm very picky about content, other times because most of the time travel stories I run across are either "we're a bureaucratic agency dedicated to policing time travel" or "oh, no, what if we change history?" or "I fell in love with a hunky Highlander", none of which are the parts of time travel stories that interest me.

The most accurate version of this list would be a list of Doctor Who episodes (and maybe some Star Trek ones), but you specified movies and books, which is going to make this a much more difficult list to create.

The Day of the Doctor: Haha, I cheated, because Day of the Doctor was released in theaters, which makes it a movie! (So I can use it as a stand-in for all the Doctor Who episodes that are my favorite time travel stories). Thankfully, it's a fantastic time travel story and one of my favorites. It's a genius blend of both "stable timeline" and "changeable timeline" mechanics. Three different interweaving timelines. References to A Christmas Carol. Changing major events in the show's past without changing the timeline that resulted from them at all. A rejection once and for all of the "ends justify the means" mindset that had lingered over the reboot for too long. A masterpiece.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens: It's the classic Christmas story for a reason--and one of those reasons is the time travel. Going with Scrooge across decades of his own life and watching him undergo character development from that is a great use of time travel. (And there happens to be a great Doctor Who version, too!)

Star Trek: First Contact: It's fun when you get characters traveling from the future to a different time that's also in the future. Love all the worldbuilding details of these characters interacting with their past/our fictional future, and it's a pretty good story.

Shadowhand by Anne Elisabeth Stengl: The Tales of Goldstone Wood series has a structure unlike any I've ever seen in fantasy, and this book is the reason. The first three books in the series are in chronological order. The next two books are prequels that take place like a thousand years earlier. This book, the sixth, involves characters from the later time period time-traveling to meet characters from the earlier time period, and getting swept up in a legend that they've known since childhood. I remember very little about the book beyond that, but it's such a cool concept (with an unforgettable ending moment) that I have to put it on the list.

Love Strikes Twice: It's one of the very rare Hallmark movies that's actually a decent movie by normal movie standards, so I have to give it credit. Instead of the usual boring time travel plot of "oh no, what if we change history?", we get someone who's trying to change history, who does change history, and it's a good thing. The time travel mechanics surrounding that make no sense, but who cares? It's a fun story with an engaging cast, legitimately funny jokes, a sweet romance, and a solid plot.

#answered asks #time travel #doctor who #star trek #the tales of goldstone wood #a christmas carol #love strikes twice #this ask did prompt me to pick up 'to say nothing of the dog' again #i couldn't remember why i abandoned it #a quick search of the ebook proves that the language i thought was a deal-breaker wasn't in it #so i'm giving it another shot #i may abandon it in the same place who knows but at least it's worth a try #also fun fact #the other day i saw a hallmark movie on in the background #i saw one scene and was like 'huh this looks like a higher-quality production than usual'#looked it up and learned that it was another time travel story written by the writer of no. 5 #and i was like 'man am i good at identifying these'#so as soon as i decide to spend a hoopla credit on it i am going to watch another fun silly time travel romance

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