#mini-fic? in my image id? it's more likely than you think

[bedrock-to-buildheight]

The magic of enderpearl cannons

[Image ID. A comic. Doc and Ren are in a hangar in Area 77. Doc is elbows deep in a machine. "I gotta say, that was a freaking epic ending to this area", Ren said. Doc agreed, but noted "Doesn't smell like it though", to which Ren groused "Oh geez, let me live it down." He then turned to question Doc about the machine he's working on. "Eheheh... You'll know soon", he answered, casually chucking an enderpearl into the machine then shut the panel. Ren made a face at this. "What? You're gonna pull out another "secret weapon"?", he said, oblivious to the screen on the machine now reading "activating launch sequence". Suddenly there's a loud "foosh", accompanied with the enderpearl being yote. Several stunned moments later, Doc disappeared with a "vwoop" noise, which made Ren let out an offended gasp. End ID]

[kintatsujo]

LoZ AU- The Courage of Running Away Part EIGHT

#AU August

#LoZ AU: The Courage of Running Away

So Link makes it through the desert in the caravan’s care, and as promised, Torock sends him ahead to Gerudo Canyon with his son Taro, to meet the third of Tonbo’s uncles.

[Image Description: Safee and Link are walking next to one another.  Safee asks, “So you’re going ahead to see Torock’s brother because your dad’s waiting in Gerudo City?”  “Yeah,” Link says.  Safee covers her mouth with a hand and snorts, putting one hand on Link’s shoulder.  “I hope he has FUN then!” she snickers.  Link stares at her in question.  The scene switches to show Astramorus penned by two Gerudo women about his own age; the taller of the two is taller than him and the shorter is shorter than him.  The taller, looming, grins and asks, “Hey, handsome, can I buy you a Noble Pursuit?”  The other snaps, “BACK OFF Birna I saw him FIRST!”  Astramorus is responding to this with obvious displeasure.  Flowers adorn the background.  A narrative box notes: “Astramorus did not have fun.”  End ID.]

Those two ladies are named Somara and Birna after the canes from Alttp, yes I can do that, and no they don’t care that Astramorus is a piece of shit because they’re the kind of ladies that hit on unsuspecting guys in the middle of the street.  XD  

Obviously Gerudo City isn’t quite the same... .uh.  All that *waves hands* as Gerudo Town in BotW.  (There’s.  There’s a lot of middle-eastern specific orientalism going on there I’m not going into in the middle of an AU fic post except to acknowledge it and say that I’m trying to avoid doing it.)  This is also because these are AU Gerudo whose gender disparity is 1-99 instead of just.  Whatever the fuck nonsense.  

But Link doesn’t get to see all that because he’s going to go meet

UNCLE TURBO

[Image description: A Goron standing in front of a sketchy stable with a horse head built on top.  The Goron looks like he stepped out of the 80s, with shutter shades, fingerless gloves and a sharp mo-hawk hairstyle.  He also has shaggy arms and a tuft of hair on his chest.  He is grinning and adjusting his shades with one hand on his side.]

Yes, Tonbo’s uncles are Torik, Torock and Turbo, no, I have no regrets, Uncle Turbo is the fucking best and I laughed for three days after coming up with him.  He runs a racing minigame!  He’s also where Link is going to get a mount to take him the rest of the way to Hyrule Castle Town.

So Torock leads Taro and Link into the stable, and here is what greets them:

[Image description: A glowing blue unicorn with a white mane.  She has large eyes compared to a normal horse, her horn is a thin and delicate looking spiral, and she has a long tail more like that of a very fluffy cat.  Taro and Turbo discuss this, Taro with a disbelieving frown and Turbo with a grin.  Taro demands, “Uncle Turbo, HOW.”  Turbo answers, “Despite ANYTHING your dad may have told you I am QUITE pure of heart.”  Taro protests: “But can’t they TELEPORT?” Turbo says, “They can indeed!  It’s TUBULAR.” End ID.]

And this was done entirely to pander to my friend @entamewitchlulu​ but I do actually have a justification for how the unicorn works!

1.  The Ancient Bridle and Saddle from BotW allow your horse to teleport to you and also give your horse more stamina, and they’re basically a unicorn costume

2.  This unicorn is basically a friendly spirit that I think Turbo got into his stable by being very, VERY good with his animals.  

Tonbo’s family is made of Super Swell Dudes, is what I’m saying.

Anyway she can’t teleport with someone on her back but she CAN give Link a ride, and after some mini gaming and bribing with treats he’s basically made friends and Isabel, here, is basically this Link’s Epona.

So Link is on HIS way, let’s see what Astramorus is doing:

[Image description: There is a somewhat diverse crowd, made mostly of Gerudo and Hylians.  Through it weave a group of people in somewhat important looking attire, talking to one another as if heard from a distance; Two older Gerudo women, one stockier with darker hair in a ponytail and the other older and more slender with her hair pulled into a half ponytail, a young Gerudo man with a beard and long hair worn more loose, and a person with hair covering half their face in a dark cloak trailing behind.  The older woman is smiling and saying, “You don’t need to clear the whole street, dear.”  The stockier woman replies with a frown, “I think you’ll find that I DO, Chief.”  The older woman asks, “And that achieves enjoying a day at market?”  The camera switches to Astramorus watching them from where he stands at a vendor’s booth.  The vendor, a round faced woman with an afro ponytail topknot, smiles and says, “Oh, look at that, it’s the PRINCE.”  Off panel the stockier woman splutters, “WELL, I--” then switches to “Are you LAUGHING at me, boy?”  This brings the focus onto the young man in the group: He has laughing eyes and a gentle smile he’s partly covering with one hand, bright red hair and beard, dark brown skin, golden earrings and diadem, black, gold and white clothing, and the mark of the Triforce of Power on his hand.  He says, “Yes, Auntie, I am VERY MUCH laughing at you.”  The vendor says, “He’s grown into a FINE youth, hasn’t he?”  Astramorus can only stare in horror.  End ID.]

Well THAT’S not good!

[warriorlid14]

So Gale and Delly. I had honestly never considered them at first, thinking they were far too different. Buuuuuuut.... I think it works? And is actually super cute when you think about for a second?

So here’s my take on how it would happen. It was supposed to be a series of short bullet points, but instead, you get a disorganized mini-fic. I’ll edit it later into an actual fic format, but for now, here ya go:

Delly goes to District 2. Gale is surprised to see her in one of their rebel/reconstruction/rebuilding/whatever their name was meetings two weeks after he had officially moved to D2. She had greeted him warmly and he supposed he had looked confused, because she suddenly had a sad smile and said, “There’s too many memories back in Twelve.” He didn’t have a response for that. He had too many ghosts back in Twelve, too.

He had never given Delly a second thought. She wasn’t in his grade level and he vaguely recognized her when he’d first seen her in D13. He supposed she was nice enough, what with the whole helping Peeta come back from... well, helping Peeta come back. But they didn’t interact, they didn’t cross paths, and he’d never had a reason to form much of an opinion of her.

But then after two days of her quietly listening in to the meetings, after Pike proposed simply demolishing the buildings near the square and rebuilding from scratch, Delly broke her silence and softly said, “Well, what do the citizens from District 2 want?”

There was silence, and then Pike said, “This will be the easier than attempting to repair every single building to its original standard.” And  Delly said “But this is their home,” her voice going up a decibal. After some debate within the team, Pike had told her that if she wanted to speak to all 60k (now 50k) residents of D2, to be his guest. 

Five days later, Delly showed up with 700 written testimonies with  requests to not tear down the buildings as well as grievances the team hadn’t even considered. Everybody was fed and had some sort of shelter- even if it was mostly camps. That had been the team’s main focus. But people wanted shoes, and shower facilities, and actual funerals for the dead.

They decided not to tear down the buildings. And Gale decided that he had underestimated Delly Cartwright.

Two weeks later Gale decided he detested Delly Cartwright. Okay, so detested was a strong word, but she absolutely aggravated him. How, just how, could a person be so cheery? At seven in the morning? It wasn’t like he wasn’t used to waking up at the crack of dawn, but that was to go to the forest. Their work place was a dimly lit, dampy building. Which also happened to house half of them, including the two of them. And if she chirpily asked him how his previous day was one more time on the elevator while he was busy trying to wake up, he would snap.

But she was from D12. The only other person from Twelve. And she meant nothing to him before, and in a way, still didn’t. It wasn’t like they were friends. But she was from home. And that counted for something. 

One day, a woman asked Delly if there was any way to retrieve her dead husband’s wedding band from the moratorium. Which led to dozens of similar requests. So Gale and Delly and five volunteers found themselves trying to ID bodies and gather belongings. The rebels had started doing this at first, but the bodies had piled up, and there were simply too many of them to continue.

For the first time, Gale saw Delly lose her smile and cheery demeanor. He told her she didn’t have to go in. He’d seen enough corpses. Some of them by his hand. A few more wouldn't make a difference. But Delly shook her head and headed to the first corpse. Gale decided that she was growing on him.

That night, Gale wondered if the corpses littered across D12 still had wedding bands on.

The first time Gale saw Delly angry was two months in when she demanded that workers from The Nut be given food and shelter instead of being left to fend for themselves. Pike yelled at her and called her naive, stepping closer towards her and Gale instinctively stepped in closer as well, protectively.

Delly’s face was flushed and she had tears in her eyes- she wasn’t one for confrontations- but she looked at Pike in the eyes and didn’t step back.

It was funny, really, how not so long ago, he would have agreed with Pike. Not so long ago, he would have looked at the workers from the Nut, Capitol supporters, and said “No. You don’t get to work for the enemy for years, you don’t get to kill for the enemy, and then demand the same rights as those who fought for freedom. That’s not fair.” Not so long ago, he had stood by that mountain and felt the ghost of the fire licking at his feet, burning his side, seen the fire flash in his mind and burn down his home, his neighbors, children, felt the fire wrap around his chest, his heart, his soul, and said, “Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. You killed my district. Now you deserve to die.” But now the fire he remembered the most was the one that had taken a blond-haired, blue-eyed, little girl that he loved like a sister. And for what? What had he fought for? Freedom. Protection. Justice. Revenge? But the war was over. And what had he fought for? All that loss could not have been in vain.

So he stepped behind Delly and loudly agreed with her. And when she smiled at him, it was almost contagious.

Delly left their department not long after they started looking for shelter for the workers at The Nut. She was now working on forming some sort of social program. Trying to build a community. Scrounging for resources outside of immediate survival. She was only two doors down from him, but Gale was surprised to find that he actually missed her constant humming in the office.

He supposed that this was why he accepted the invitation to attend the community dinner she organized a couple of weeks later. He kept his head down the entire time, focused on his meal. He had never been particularly quiet or reserved. He hadn’t been particularly outgoing, either, but he had never been shy. Now, though, he looked at his plate and didn’t offer any input to the conversation, weary of accusatory looks and swearing that he could hear people thinking murderer. 

So he was quiet, until Delly loudly announced “I’m sure Mr. Hawthorne would love to play with you,” and he looked up to see a group of five boys aged eight to twelve holding a ball and looking at him hopefully. He gave Delly a half-glare and was about to say that Mr. Hawthorne would most certainly not love to play, but she smiled brightly at him, ignoring him. And so he found himself being dragged off to a game that included kicking a ball into a makeshift net.

When he sat back down half an hour later, hair mussed and actually smiling, Pike said, “I didn’t know you were any good with kids, Hawthorne.” Delly piped up, “Oh, Gale’s great with kids. He has three younger siblings, and he was always making them laugh back in District 13.” Gale was surprised that she knew this, that she’d noticed. He gave her a questioning look, but she just smiled in return.

He kept stealing glances at her throughout the night, mostly quizzically. Maybe it was that he hadn’t been looking closely at her, but he noticed that she had gained some of her old weight back, cheeks fuller. Hair shinier. He didn’t know her before, but he did know what had happened to her parents, and knew what grief did to a person. But she looked healthier now. Good. She deserved good things in her life.

The next time they saw each other was two days later when Gale was cursing at his unit’s jammed door that was refusing to open. He was so desperate for some sleep, having just pulled a fourteen hour shift, that he was considering just ramming it down when Delly walked by, saw his predicament, and offered to let him sleep on her couch. He was so tired, he agreed without much hesitation.

The next day he woke up to the sound of loud singing, a little off-key, and mentally groaned, shifting on the couch to try to find a comfortable position again. But Delly took this as a sign that he had woken up and brightly said, "Good morning, Gale! I hope you had a great night's sleep! Was the couch comfortable?" Gale mentally cursed, but responded and got up. He found himself sitting down across from Delly and eating some toast she had made, while Delly happily chirped on about how it was going to rain that day and how she loved the smell of freshly-water grass. Gale couldn't stop himself from asking "How are you so happy all the time?" She looked surprised, and said, "I'm not happy all the time." He must have given her an incredulous look, because she shrugged and said, "I just like to focus on the small things. On the brighter things." She paused, then said softly, "It makes it easier, on the bad days, to pick myself up again."

Gale dismissed this at first, thinking that it was just a Delly thing. But then one day he woke up with the image of burning blond hair and pained blue eyes and clipped mockingjay wings. And his heart hurt so much that it was hard to breathe, that he was sure someone had reached into his chest and started to squeeze. But that day, when he visited one of the camps with his team he caught sight of two children laughing, kicking around a ball. Saw their parents smiling, with a genuineness and lightheartedness that was hard to find before the war. He held that image in his head the entire day, focused hard on it. It had been for something. The pain, the destruction, the deaths. Selling his soul to the fight. It had been for something. And the pain in his heart didn't disappear. But he did felt the pressure lessen, just a bit.

It started with an invite to dinner at her unit. And then he reciprocated because it was the polite thing to do. And then they were at each other's places once, twice, three times a week after work. And suddenly he found that he was friends with Delly Cartwright. It had been a while since he'd had a friend. He had plenty back in 12, and there was Katniss of course, and a few in 13. But now half of them were dead or hated him or were back in a district he couldn't force himself to visit. He hadn't realized how much he missed easy companionship, how much he needed actual human contact, until he found himself smiling at Delly's animated retelling of a family her team had reunified the day prior. She was a breath of fresh air in a place that was still wounded, that was still bleeding.(But somehow, it was still healing)

Delly tried to pick up new habits and hobbies often. She told him about how she failed at baking, and was decent at gardening, but could never keep track of which plants needed more or less water. A week after they had started actually hanging out, she had taken up knitting and had dragged Gale along to practice with her. To his surprise, he found that he was actually good at it. It made sense, though, considering his ability with snares. Delly smiled encouragingly at him, but still seemed a little annoyed that he had picked up her new hobby much quicker than she had. Gale grinned at this, glad to see that Delly wasn't actually superhuman and also had normal, petty, human emotions. When she held up her poor attempt at a glove that inexplicably seemed to have a thumb in the middle of the hand, he but burst out laughing. He stopped when he saw her giving him a strange look, and asked "What?" She shrugged, and said, "I don't think I've heard you laugh since we were at District 13." But then she smiled and said, "It's a nice laugh, though. It suits you. I wished you would do it more often." And to his horror, he felt himself actually blush. It wasn't like he wasn't used to compliments. Oh, he heard "gorgeous" and "hot" and the occasional "sexy" and felt eyes looking him up and down, sometimes enough to make him uncomfortable, especially when the person was significantly older. But he didn't think he'd ever heard someone compliment his laugh. It was... nice, actually. He muttered a quick "thanks" and went back to his attempt at making a hat. There was an awkward silence for a bit, but half an hour later, he was lightly teasing Delly on her skills.

It turned out that laughing was easier when Delly was around. Maybe it was having a friend once more. Maybe it was just Delly, her lightness contagious.

Delly was ranting about Pike. Except that, because she was Delly, she wasn't actually insulting him. And kept saying phrases like "while I understand where he's coming from" and "he's a good man, really, but". So Gale said, "You can call him a dick, you know. We all do it." Delly hesitated and said, "But he isn't. Not really. He just doesn't understand that we also need funding for community building and healing." Gale shook his head, amused. "Call him a dick, Delly. You know you want to." Delly sighed, and said, "I think you want me to. Would it make you feel better, to hear me call him that?" Gale grinned. "Yes, it would. I need to know that you can physically curse." Delly rolled her eyes and said, "Fine." Then softly, hesitant, she said, "he's a dick." Gale burst out laughing and Delly rolled her eyes once more, but she was laughing too. "This isn't about my ability to curse, you know. I was talking about funding for mental health professionals. The community needs it." Gale, still laughing, said, "Delly Cartwright, defender of human rights." Delly shook her head exasperatedly, but then said, "that term applies to you too, you know." That stopped his laughter. He thought about a time, not long ago, when he'd stood by a mountain full of weapons and suggested destroying them along with everyone inside. Thought about the weapons that had ended the war- and taken dozens of innocent children with them. Gale swallowed. "I wouldn't say that." Delly smiled softly at him. "You risked your life everyday fighting for freedom. Don't underestimate yourself, Gale."

Spending so much time with Delly made him become more attuned with her emotions. Which was why a couple of months later, he began to notice the strain in her smile, the way it didn't quite reach her eyes. So he took her out to the woods one weekend in an attempt to cheer her up. He didn't hunt, though. He didn't think she'd appreciate the sight of dead squirrels. But she did appreciate the freedom of the woods and the wind in her hair and the sound of the river cutting through a valley. She had sat down next to it, picking out flowers along the edge of the river and talking about how maybe he could teach her how to swim. When she looked up at him, a warm smile on her face, her blue eyes brighter in the sunlight and blond hair glowing almost gold, his answer caught in his throat. For a second, he couldn't think about anything else but how pretty she looked, but quickly buried the thought down at her expectant eyes. He told her that it was getting too cold to go swimming, now almost November. But he could teach her once it was warmer.

They stayed there for a few more hours, and she slowly became more quiet. Finally, she admitted that it was her parent's birthday that week- their birthdays fell three days apart. She said that they usually celebrated with pastries and board games then became silent once more, wistfully looking out to the horizon, eyes tearing up pulling knees to her chest. He awkwardly placed an arm around her in an attempt at comfort, but she seemed to think it was enough, burying her head in his shoulder.

Sometimes, when he felt unbearably homesick he spent hours out in the woods. They weren't the same as his woods, but they were close enough. And if he closed his eyes, he could pretend he was home. Delly didn't have something like the woods to comfort her, though. The only real connection she had to D12 in D2 was himself, and it wasn't like they knew each other before the war. He had an idea then, of someone who did know her before, someone who could help. And he hated that he suddenly felt afraid.

He and Peeta Mellark had never been friends. Not exactly. He had tried hating him once, long ago, but had quickly given up. He was too nice, too kind, too caring and never treated Gale with anything less than respect. Which led to Gale grudgingly respecting him on a bad day and actually liking the guy on a good day. In another world, maybe they could have been good friends. But in this world, he was the person closest to Katniss, at least according to Greasy Sae who he talked to once a month, and that thought filled him with dread. That Peeta could mention him to Katniss. That Peeta would know whether Katniss hated him outright or not. That he could ask Peeta to talk to Katniss on his behalf. That he could call Peeta and accidentally get Katniss on the line. And though sometimes he longed to at least hear her voice, to confirm that she was okay, he had left for a reason. And as much as he wanted to hear from her, he knew she didn't want to hear from him. But this wasn't for himself. This was for Delly. And Peeta was the one person who might be able to help. So a week later, he sucked up his fears and picked up the phone.

As soon as Peeta's voice came from the other line, Gale's mind went blank and all he could come up with as a greeting was "Um, hi." There was a pause, and then "Gale?" He swallowed. "Yeah, yeah it's me." There was another pause where Gale tried to sort through his thoughts, but before he could bring up Delly's name, Peeta awkwardly and reluctantly asked, "Do you want me to put Katniss on the line?" which caused Gale to practically shout "No!" into the receiver. "No," he said again, not shouting this time. "It's you I wanted to talk to, actually." Gale quickly explained his plan, and after a few seconds of silence, Peeta said, "That's a good idea. That's really kind of you, Gale." Gale said, "Well, she's my friend," almost defensively. "No, I know. I'm glad she's got you looking out for her," Peeta said. "Right." There was a silence, and Gale thought that maybe now would be the right time to hang up, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. "I really miss her," Peeta said finally. "She misses you, too," Gale said. Which was true, but he usually wouldn't be saying that. There was another silence, but Gale still didn't hang up. "Maybe I should go up there to visit her," Peeta said. Gale noticed how he said I instead of we. No Katniss then. Which Gale didn't know whether to be relieved it or not. Still, he said, "I'm sure she'd like that." Still, he didn't hang up. But he couldn't bring himself to ask either. And Peeta, ever perceptive, caught on to the reason for his hesitation and finally said, "Katniss is doing better, Gale."

Relief. That was the immediate feeling that overwhelmed him, followed closely by longing. There was once a time when he and Katniss lived in each other's pocket. When they depended on each other for survival, for their sanity. And no matter what had happened between them, romantic or not, Katniss was his best friend. He missed her. He missed her so much it physically hurt some days. And for a second he wanted nothing more than to hop on the next train to D12 to see his friend. But friends didn't kill each other's siblings. So he said, "Thanks, um, take care," and hung up. He desperately hoped Peeta hadn’t heard the lump that had formed in his throat.

His order arrived a few days later in some sort of container to preserve the baked books. Gale looked inside the box to find the invoice he had requested, but of course Peeta didn’t include it. He rolled his eyes and made a mental note to ask Greasy Sae how much she thought the food was worth. What he did find was a piece of paper with a phone number. Which wasn’t needed, really, because he had memorized that number months and months ago and every week got closer to dialing it. He knew he wouldn’t though. Peeta may have been closer to Katniss now, but that didn’t mean that Gale didn’t know her, too. And his presence would hurt her too much at the moment. But the fact that Peeta had given him her number meant that she probably didn’t despise the ground he walked on, then. And that was something.

When Delly opened the box to reveal an assortment of muffins, cupcakes, and cookies, all distinctly District Twelve, her eyes widened and she practically jumped at him, wrapping him up in a tight hug. He pulled her closer towards him, inhaling the scent of cinnamon that was always present in her unit and lingered on her at all times. He felt a sense of loss when she let go and was tempted to pull her back into his arms when she looked up at him with tear-filled eyes and said, “Thank you.” She stood on her tiptoes and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. The feel of her lips on his cheek lingered for the rest of the evening.

Gale lay awake that night in his bed, heart pounding hard in his chest. He wasn’t dense. He knew what his recent thoughts about  his cheerful, peppy friend meant. And the only coherent thought he could come up with about his predicament was Oh no.

It was his own little secret he carried around for months. He tried not to stare at her too hard  and tried to avoid thinking about her lips or about how her smile seemed to light up the entire world in the darkest of times. His world, at least. Sometimes it felt like the war, the bombs, had extinguished all the fire and passion inside of him. That the fire that had one day burned so strongly had died, taking with it his friend and his sister and his soul. Sometimes it felt like he was running on autopilot, doing what was expected of him, trying his best to amend his mistakes but feeling... not much, really. Empty But one look at Delly who shone so bright and he felt the warmth back in his chest. He wouldn’t tell her, of course. He couldn’t risk losing their friendship, going back to being bitter and miserable and oh so lonely all the time.

He really needed to stop falling in love with his friends.

On the anniversary of the end of the war, the anniversary of Prim’s death, Gale didn’t leave his unit. He had every intention to, even got dressed and brushed his teeth, he had a job to do after all. But then he heard the sound of some kids laughing outside his window and he fell back down on his couch. He didn’t get back up.

The pain was sudden and intense, suffocating him, and for a second he thought he was back in D12, choking under the fumes and screaming as his shirt caught on fire. He wondered if that was what Prim had felt, what all those kids had felt, those last few seconds, and he laid down and curled into himself. But he knew that no matter how horrible he felt, somewhere hundreds of miles away, Katniss was feeling worse. He had never wished for anything more than to be able to switch places with Prim at that moment. Little Prim who wanted to be a doctor. Little Prim who risked her life to save her cat. Little Prim who wanted nothing more than to heal others. Prim. Dead. At his hand.

He didn’t know how long he laid there, but eventually the door to his unit opened. Delly. He had given her a key for emergencies ages ago. And suddenly Delly was sitting on the couch and his head was in her lap and she was running her fingers through his hair and whispering something he couldn’t decipher. So he closed his eyes and tried to let her voice and smell and the feel of her fingers on his scalp ground him.

He wasn’t sure what Delly saw in him, why she stuck around. But Delly was good and kind saw the best in everyone. And had decided he was worth her friendship. And maybe if sweet and kind Delly saw something good in him, that meant there was something in him that was salvageable.

District 2 didn’t abide to the laws of science and weather because there was a huge snowstorm in the middle of March. Delly’s team and his team worked diligently for days to get the last 500 people or so moved out of camps and into the newly rebuilt compounds. Hours before the three-day storm was to hit, they were finally released and sent home. He and Delly had decided that they would weather out the storm at her place and spent the first night huddled in front of the fire, retelling old stories and playing board games and laughing into the night.

The next morning Gale woke up to the sound of Delly bustling in the kitchen, singing loudly and a little off-key. He smiled to himself, and thought that he really wouldn’t mind waking up to her voice more often.

He wasn’t sure how it happened. If he had leaned in first, if she had. But on that third night of the storm, one minute snuggling and laughing under the blanket and the next wrapped in each other’s arms, they broke apart, grinning at each other and lips tingling.

Gale decided in that moment, that he had never felt more at peace.

[iffeelscouldkill]

The Strange Case of the Iris Express

[ID: A picture of a tan train car door with the text "The Strange Case of the" in the window, "Iris Express" on a white band of metal below the window, and "enchantedsleeper" on a plate of metal in the center of the image. All of the text is in all caps, dark brown serif, except for "enchantedsleeper," which is edited to look like it is embossed onto the metal plate. The door is very dirty. /end ID]

Summary: Violet Liu, a scientist working for industrial corporation Republico, is travelling on a brand new steam train called the Iris Express when she finds herself sharing a carriage with Kay Grisham - a young woman who says she grew up in the same small town as Violet. But as things start to go wrong with the train, Violet realises that the journey, and Kay, might not be what they had seemed.

Length: 11,583 words

Relationships: Violet Liu/Arkady Patel, Alvy Connors & Brian Jeeter

Read it on AO3!

A/N: Here is my fic for the TSCOSI Season Two Hiatus mini-bang, @tscosi-minibang! I am stoked to have worked with two brilliant artists AGAIN for this fic, @demonic-kitkats (whose fantastic artwork you can check out here) and @caedogeist-rights​​, who has made a podfic! of my fic!! which you can listen to on AO3! Ae also made the wonderful title card you see above 😍

Innumerable thanks are also due to Ehlana, whose tireless beta work made this fic so much better than it would have otherwise been.

Detailed content warnings and the full fic can be found on AO3, but read on for a small taster!

The brand new steam train was state of the art, or so her supervisor at Republico had told her – a fact that did very little to calm Violet’s nerves as she walked along the gleaming length of the Iris Express looking for an empty carriage. Or, failing that, a less-crowded one.

You might think that the presence of other passengers would have been reassuring, but as she took in the idling, hissing locomotive, Violet could feel the edges of a nervous attack tugging at her, threatening to drag her down, and if that happened she’d prefer to have as few people around to witness it as possible. Especially men making ‘helpful’ comments about female hysteria.

Finally, she drew level with the last carriage – the farthest away from the engine – and was relieved to find it mostly empty, with only a group of elderly women seated in a corner, talking quietly. Taking a last deep breath of dusty air, Violet boarded the Iris Express, gathering up her skirts so that they wouldn’t catch in the doorway. She made her way to the far corner and sat down, placing the leather case the company had entrusted to her on the seat beside her.

They had ten minutes until the train was due to depart. With any luck, no-one else would be getting into the carriage before then. Violet turned her head to look out of the window and tried not to think about the upcoming departure.

Get a grip on yourself, Violet, she thought sternly. Dozens of people have travelled by steam train without any problems. The corporation’s top engineers designed this and certified its safety. What are you afraid is going to happen?

“Hi!” a cheerful voice broke into her thoughts, and Violet did not almost jump out of her skin. She looked up to see a woman of around her age beaming down at her. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb your thoughts – I just wondered if you’d mind some company?”

Violet stared inarticulately at her for a few moments, thrown (and wondering what was wrong with the numerous other empty seats in the carriage), before her manners kicked in. “No – no, please have a seat.”

The woman’s face relaxed into a smaller, almost relieved smile as she sat down across from Violet. She had kind eyes, Violet thought. She was tall, her skin a few shades darker than Violet’s, her dark hair braided and wound into a knot at the back of her head.

“Kay Grisham,” the woman introduced herself.

“Violet Liu,” Violet said.

“So, what brings you aboard the Iris Express, Violet?” asked Kay.

Violet was about to reply when a loud whistle from outside made her jump again and clutch at her seat. The train was getting ready to depart.

“First time on a steam train?” Kay asked knowingly as the train began to slowly move away from the station, thick clouds of smoke obscuring the view outside the window.

“Is it that obvious?” Violet asked, aiming for self-deprecating humour. Her voice only shook slightly, and Kay was gracious enough not to comment on it.

“I know the feeling,” she said. The train was now picking up speed, the whole carriage rattling as it moved over uneven joins in the track, and Violet focused on taking deep, even breaths. Hearing Kay’s voice actually helped – there was something calming about it. Maybe having company wasn’t so bad after all. “I doubt a steam train would come within ten miles of the town where I grew up – it was tiny. More of a village, really.”

Violet smiled. “I was born somewhere like that,” she said. “You either knew everyone else who lived there, or you knew someone who knew them. It was… a little confining, but cosy at the same time. Not a bad place to grow up.”

Kay laughed. “That sounds like Harmony Creek,” she said, and Violet froze.

“What do you mean?” she asked. “Have you been there?”

Kay frowned slightly. “Harmony Creek? Yeah, that’s – where I grew up. Well, nearby anyway. My father had a general store on the outskirts of town, Grisham’s.”

“But… I grew up in Harmony Creek,” Violet said slowly. “We’re from the same town?” Her head was reeling slightly at the incredible coincidence – that hundreds of miles from her former home, she could have met someone who grew up in the same small, insular community. And yet – she couldn’t remember ever hearing about the Grisham family, or a general store on the edge of town. Could she? She racked her brains.

A broad grin was spreading across Kay’s face. “I thought your name was familiar!” she exclaimed. “Violet Liu – do you have a younger sister? Juniper?”

Violet’s eyes widened. “That’s right – we’re several years apart in age. Six years to be precise.”

Kay nodded like this had confirmed what she’d expected. “I have younger siblings, too – I think my brother and your sister used to play together. Jack Grisham?”

“Jack…” Violet tried to remember the names of any of Juniper’s playmates, but couldn’t. She’d been at the age where she was far too self-interested to pay attention to what her little sister had been doing, except when Juniper tried to play with any of her toys. “Sorry,” she said, embarrassed. “Clearly my memory is worse than I thought. You must think I’m so rude, not remembering you or your family.”

“No, no,” Kay rushed to reassure her. “It was more than a decade ago – it would be ridiculous to expect you to remember. My family did keep to ourselves – we weren’t heavily involved in town life, aside from the store.”

She paused, and then said with a bashful hesitancy, “I did see you around town once or twice and – think that I might like to talk to you. Ask you for a drink, even. But I never had the courage. Maybe if I had, I’d have been more memorable.”

Violet stared at her, aware that she was blushing fiercely. “W-well – it’s never too late,” she said. “Maybe after we get to the end of this hellish journey, we could… get a drink together.”

Kay looked surprised, and then favoured her with another delighted smile. “I’d like that,” she said. “Is it still a “hellish” journey, then?”

“I—” Violet stopped, and realised that it had been several minutes since she’d even thought about the fact that she was on a train – and the anxiousness that had been pressing against the back of her throat had faded significantly. “I’ve realised there are… some definite upsides to it.”

Read more 1800s gay flirting on AO3

[lazinesswrites]

WIP Wednesday

Since Tumblr seems to have eaten some of my earlier posts, here's an update on everything instead of just the things I've been working on the past week. Also another reminder that things might slow down a little once I start uni again next week.

Malec Royalty AU:

33.5k wordcount! I feel like every time I write more to this story I somehow end up with less words than before... But! I have now roughly outlined an actual ending for this! It will take a little time to write it, though, as it will be at least a couple chapters long (in addition to the 20 I already have...). I have also written some notes for additions throughout the existing story for scenes and maybe even chapters that will round the story out a bit more. You know, things that won't necessarily advance the plot, but which will give the characters a chance to properly build their relationships etc. I'm actually really happy with this one so far and really looking forward to share it with people ^-^

Hiding From Your Home Bonus Chapters:

I posted the main story on Ao3 a little while ago, but as I said last week I have ideas for at least three bonus chapters, one of which I've started writing! So far it's only in my physical notebook, so I'm not sure exactly how much there is yet, but it's definitely on the way.

Jalec Dystopia AU:

Just over 5k currently. The problem I have with this one is that I'm not entirely sure where it's going yet; I haven't even truly decided if Jalec will be romantic or platonic or what. We'll see. (I do have a couple potential titles for it, but idk how well they'll fit later on)

Misc:

[Image ID: A screenshot from a Word document showing two sections from a list of contents. The first section is called 'Mini-Fics' and has one sub-section called 'Good Parent Maryse'. The second section is called 'Ideas' and has four sub-sections: 'Alec's complicated relationship with age', 'Jace Apologizing', 'Letting Your GF BF Wash Your Hair', and 'Magnus goes to Idris'. End ID]

This is a screenshot from the document where I store mini-fics and ideas for bigger stories that I haven't started (and also deleted scenes). 'Magnus goes to Idris' should really get a better title soon, and probably also its own document.

I'm not actively working on any of these, but they're there and I do look at them every once in a while. Feel free to send me asks if you want to know more about any of them ^-^

Ah, I think that's all for today. I might make another post with summaries at some point, since I can't find the old one anymore :/

I'm Laziness on Ao3 where everything will be posted once it's done! There you can also find my two finished Malec fics, Hiding From Your Home and Let's Just Talk.

Until next time <3

[areweevercameraready]

ID under the cut! I moved it there because this one is v long and my ID’s turn into mini-fics anyway

ID: Photo 1: Anonymous asks “bae are there,,,,, any other fusions👀”

Photo 2: The Dramaturg is standing against a white background, because he is well aware that the artist will be drawing more panels than usual and doesn’t want to complicate the scene. His hair is up in space buns, with small parts curling off the buns, and a headset over one ear. He is wearing a long light-pink cloak that is stained with paint and has David’s waves as well as Marlowe’s ribbon on both arms. Beneath, he is wearing a dark red sweater and a collared shirt beneath that. He has four arms, and the top left arm waves, while the top right arm is pressed down. His bottom left arm holds a clipboard while his bottom right hand holds the pen. He waves excitedly at the camera, starring directly at it with one green eye and one brown eye. The Dramaturg says “Hello! It’s lovely to meet y’all!” In a quieter voice, he adds, “sorry for being asleep last time” and trails off.

Photo 3: The Dramaturg puts his pen in his hair and reaches up with his top left arm. He points up with the top right arm, as if thinking. The Dramaturg says “We haven’t found every combo yet, but there’re a few I can introduce you to!”

Photo 4: The Dramaturg pulls a screen down from the top and winks at the camera, holding the clipboard with both bottom hands now. He shrugs at the camera with a smile. “Technically, I also haven’t met any of David and Marlowe’s other fusions, too.”

Photo 5: The image shifts to focus on the screen that The Dramaturg pulled down. His top right arm is in frame, with a pointer, and he points at the screen. There are two busts on the screen. The first is a man with light brown skin and a long face with pronounced cheekbones, hair straight and pulled back with a golden hairband. His black hair is long, going straight down his back, with lighter brown accents. He has magenta lipstick and large gold earrings, in the shape of hanging hearts. One of his eyes is light pink while the other is forest green. He faces toward the left, though he’s starring at the camera. The second bust is a man wearing a leather jacket, face fuller and more stout. He has sunglasses on that cover his three eyes. He also has an undercut, and the top part of his black hair is pulled back into a bun. He’s smirking, turned right though you can’t see where he’s looking. The Dramaturg says “I’ve heard some of them are pretty cool.” 

Photo 6: The screen shows two different busts. One is of a person with darker brown skin, curly hair pulled up by a tie dye hair tie. They smile serenely at the camera, eyes brown with pink hearts in the iris, and what looks like scars on their cheeks and across the bridge of their nose are actually eyes. They have small heart earrings, too, and are wearing a dark pink turtleneck. The second person is more childish, grinning at the camera though he’s looking up, with tanned skin and a scar on his cheek. His eyes are bright gold and he has messy short black hair, wearing a darker yellow bandana around his neck. The Dramaturg’s pointer is not in frame, and he says “Parent is fairly common, and Fortitude is Gavin’s most stable fusion.” 

Photo 7: The image zooms out again, showing the Dramaturg standing besides the screen, which is blank. He looks up, one of his hands pressing a finger to his lip in thought. His bottom right hand holds the clipboard while his top left hand, which had been holding the pointer, lowers it. His bottom left arm, though, is hugging his top left arm tight. The Dramaturg says “I’ve also met” and trails off. 

Photo 8: The Dramaturg says, “Him.” The Dramaturg is starring worriedly into the distance, irises small, brow pinched in fear. His arms all tuck closer to himself, pointer pointing up, hugging a little tighter. On the screen, the image goes darker, and the figure of another person is visible. He has antlers sticking out of his head, dark black hair hanging off parts of the antlers while also coiling down from his head. His back is toward the screen, though he’s looking over his shoulder at the camera, one single red eye glinting ferociously. He has brown scales trailing from the antlers down his face, though his skin itself looks pale. 

[fanficsrusz]

My Obligation Part Two- Keanu Reeves Mini Series

A/n: part two of the request by @ringa-starr and i love this. The drama is too much 😂😂 just like last time, it is a personalised fic so feel free to read it as a general story or just replace the name with your own. 😊

_________

The next morning came and y/n was still sat up in bed, her back was pressed to the wall. She couldn’t sleep, how could she? She knew what she saw, she knew that someone was in the house, she couldn't rest and so she waited. She didn't know what she was waiting for actually. Maybe a small noise? the sound of someone walking around? Someone to peer around the corner of the bedroom door? But nothing came. 

It had been hours since the police left and they reassured her numerous times saying they had found no evidence of anyone ever being there, but Deidra couldn't budge the feeling that they were wrong. 

Once Keanu had climbed back into bed after the ordeal, he fell right back to sleep the second his head hit the pillow. Deidra envied him for his ability to sleep anywhere at anytime.

She looked at the clock that read 5:55am and sighed, relaxing a little bit. 'maybe i'm just so stressed about the pregnancy, im imagining things' she thought to herself and smiled as she came up with the logical explanation. 

She laid down the best she could without having the baby kick in protest and closed her eyes, Mr Sandman was kind to her in the early hours of that morning, allowing her to fall into a deep sleep. The sleep was so deep that she had failed to notice the deafening noise of Keanu's alarm that sounded half hour later, signalling that it was time for him to get up and go to work. 

When keanu awoke, he was greeted by the soft snores of Deidra who laid next to him. It was unusual for him to be awake before her since the baby had gotten into a routine of kicking at about 5am and she would just get up then unable to deal with it, choosing to go about getting ready for the day rather than sleeping.

Keanu smiled to himself and leaned down to place a small kiss on her forehead, watching as she smiled and moved closer to him. He hated that he had to leave her especially after what happened last night. He shook the image of Deidra looking so scared out of his head and moved to kiss her stomach. "please look after your mummy today" he whispered to the bump before slowly sliding out of bed and making his way to the bathroom. 

______

Deidra stretched her arms out, yawning as she did. She shot up when she didn't feel keanu next to her. She was spread out in the middle of the queen sized bed, wrapped in soft white blankets but there was no Keanu. She pouted as she looked at the clock once again. 11:24 am. It was the longest sleep she had had in a while but she was sad that she had missed the chance to give keanu a goodbye kiss but she would survive. 

She sat up and brushed her hair up into a loose ponytail as she looked at her growing stomach. "come on baba, let's get you something to eat" she climbed out of the bed and made her way to the kitchen.

She began to pour herself a cup of coffee into her favourite mug needing as much energy as she could get. Walking over to the fridge to get the milk, she stopped when she noticed a small note stuck onto the door. She smiled instantly recognising the hand writing. 

She picked it up and read the words carefully. 

"my beautiful Deidra, please relax today. I don't want you to stress yourself and the baby out. I'll be back at 7pm and I called your sister to come and keep you company at about 3. All my love ~ Keanu" 

Deidra smiled at the small note, somehow he still made her heart skip a beat. She placed the note back onto the fridge and continued on with making her coffee. 

She moved to the pantry and reached for the cereal, but her hand drew back slowly as she noticed it wasn't in its usual place. She stepped back and looked at the shelves in front of her. It was weird, everything was in the wrong place. She knew to someone else it would have looked fine but it was odd because she kept everything in certain places. She decided to just shrug it off. "nope. I'm just going insane. I don't care" she calmed herself down, not wanting to harm the baby by stressing about something so minuscule as the cereal being in the wrong place. 

She grabbed the box she needed and poured it into the bowl before making her way to the dinner table. 

Sitting down she pulled out her phone and went through social media. For the most part, she just looked at cats and smiled at their cuteness. She then moved on to look at baby pictures and her heart swelled as the baby fever hit her hard. She wanted the baby now more than ever before. 

She was about to put her phone down and go get dressed but then her phone vibrated, letting her know that she had received a new text. She smiled thinking it was keanu or her mum and opened it without hesitation.

Her smile faulted as a picture appeared on the screen.

 She looked at the id and it was an unknown number. The picture was of a house and it seemed familiar and after several seconds of staring at the picture, it hit her like a brick wall.

 It was a picture of the outside of her house. She stood up suddenly as her heartbeat quickened, worry setting in. 

How could anyone have gotten that picture? The two lived in a secluded area with a gate around the house. 

Deidra thought for a few seconds about what to do before she began to call the police.

She was about to press the call button when another vibration stopped her from doing so. 

"DO NOT CALL THE POLICE. We don't want to scare the baby now do we? " she read the text and had to grip onto the counter to hold herself up. Someone was watching her every move but from where. She turned to look around and saw nothing. She stopped as another text came in. she looked at a second picture that accompanied the text. 

This time the picture was of the nursery. They were in the house, the house that Deidra was currently in all alone. How could anyone have gotten in? How did the police not find them? Where were they? Thousands of questions rushed through her mind. 

She panicked and dropped the phone, a loud smash indicating she had smashed the screen. She reached down to pick it up when another message came through. 

There was no picture, no text, instead a video. She held the phone with shaky hands and pressed play. 

The video was distorted due to the cracks that were now on the screen but she could still make out exactly what was going on in the video:

A hand pushed open the bedroom door of Deidra and keanu shared room and walked over to the bed. A sleeping keanu came into view and glanced over his face. Heavy breathing came from behind the camera as the video moved to the other side of the bed. Deidra's sleeping body came into shot and wondered down her body, stopping when her stomach came into view. A gloved hand stroked over stomach and the video ended.

Deidra felt sick, she was right. She saw someone in the house and they were in her bedroom AFTER the police did a full search of the house. She didn't know what to do. Tears fell down her face and she began to dial keanus number. 

Deidra ran towards the bathroom, hoping she could lock herself in and wait for keanu to come and save the day. The ringing echoed through her ears and it felt like the ringing was going on forever.

~

Keanu walked down the street to his car, the meetings he was supposed to do had finished early and he was on his way home. He wanted to surprise Deidra and if on cue his phone rang. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, her name displayed across the screen along with a picture of the two cuddling. He answered the call and brought it to his ear. "hey babe i was just thinking about-" he was cut off by the heavy pants of his wife. He stopped in his tracks not caring about the annoyed grunts of other pedestrians. "Deidra what's wrong? Are you ok? Is the baby ok?"  he panicked as he ran to the car fearing the worst. "I was right. Someone was in the house. They still are. They sent me pictures of the nursery and a video of us sleeping in bed" she said through tears. Keanu pulled out of his parking space and sped down the streets towards his house. "ok listen. I want you to go-" keanu was cut off as the screams of Deidra echoed through the phone, causing his heart to drop to his stomach. His wife and unborn child were being harmed and he could do nothing "DEIDRA" he yelled as he sped up, swerving through cars. He could still hear the faint screams of his wife through the phone. Knowing he couldn't do much he hung up and called the police, hoping that they could get their faster than he could.

~

"ok listen. I want you to go-" Deidra listen to what keanu was telling her but was cut off when someone slapped the phone from her hand. She turned and saw a masked figure stood in front of her. She screamed and tried to run but the person grabbed onto her arm, pulling her back." please no don't do this" she cried pleading for her life. Despite the fact that whoever this was wore a mask, she could see the sarcastic frown on their face just by looking at their eyes. They pretended to cry, mocking the actions of Deidra. She could hear keanu screaming for her through the discarded phone on the floor. She closed her eyes tight, hoping that the nightmare would be other if she did so but it wasn't. Once she opened her eyes, the person sprayed an unknown substance in her face, causing her to cough.

  Darkness soon clouded her vision and she felt her legs go numb as she lost all control over her body, falling into the arms of the unknown assailant. 

______

Keanu leaped from the car, barely putting it in park before he rushed into the house.

 The police were already there as he pushed his way through the door. "DEIDRA" he yelled drawing the attention of a man in a suit who began to walk over to him. "Mr reeves. I'm detective Carter, I'm sorry to inform you of this but your wife is not here. Who ever was here has taken her. We are doing everything we can to find her" the man placed a sympathetic hand onto his shoulder and keanu shook his head as the man offered him his condolences. "no you're wrong" keanu said, tears pooling in his eyes. "I'm afraid it's true. All we know is whoever took her left a note. Does this mean anything to you?" the detective handed the note and keanu took it, his hands shaking. 

The note was simple and it sent a chill down his spine. "It is my Obligation to make you happy. It should have been me".

He nodded his head and the detective pulled out a notepad and pen. "what does the note mean Mr Reeves?" keanu sighed and turned away. "it's from a stalker. An obsessive fan if you like. I took out a restraining order against her but i guess it's done nothing" he held his head in his hands as he sat down and the detective approached once again. "thank you Mr. Reeves. I will look into this personally. ''

 The detective left, leaving him in the house. His heart broke at the thought that he could lose Deidra and he cried not knowing that fate of his beloved wife and child.

Tbc

_____

Taglist: (i do have a permanent taglist where you can be tagged in any fic i post so just ask to be added to itl

@gwenebear @celestiaelisia @blondieee-me

[bloomingednae]

So this prompt ended up having 3 requests, and I had fun writing this one! It also ended up being a lot longer than I originally planned..oops This actually ended up being a full-blown fic in itself, instead of a mini prompt. Dx And just for mood-setting, I actually wrote this while listening to “Spectrum” (Acoustic Version) by Zedd and Matthew Koma. There was something hauntingly beautiful about the piano background that inspired me to write this.

This is for @feelstina and the 2 anons that requested this. Hope you enjoy!

OTP Prompt Request: OkaKuri - “If I kiss you right now, I won’t be able to stop.”

Like the chaos and cosmos, there was a delicate line that they shouldn’t have crossed, but nevertheless intertwined.

“What time is your flight tomorrow?”

Without looking up, Kurisu turned the page of her book still seamlessly reading the words on the page as she did so.

“At 5 pm. I wanted to take my time getting to the airport tomorrow with no rush.”

At her response, she heard him hum in response with his low voice.

“Is that why you’ve made no move to leave this lab yet, Assistant?”

At this, Kurisu glanced at her phone quickly and silently grimaced. True to his implications, the clock shown a blaring “01:47” on her display screen; had the time passed that quickly?

She shook her head. “Hashida left late too. Didn’t he just leave an hour ago?”

She heard him mockingly laugh in a low tone and it was all she could do to hold back an eyeroll as she braced herself for his next comments.

“Hm, you really are a prodigy, experiment-loving girl if you can’t even tell the time when my super hacka left. So suitable as my assistant.”

Kurisu sighed. “Again, Okabe, I am not your assis-”

“Daru left four hours ago,” Okabe interjected, much to Kurisu’s distaste. She glanced up at him, noticing the slight change in his voice and found him staring out the window through the blinds, eyes unreadable. It was slight, but she knew there was some sense of worry in Okabe’s tone of voice; she’d gotten used to his roundabout way of showing his care for others, after all.

Okabe glanced at her as she shut her book (seemingly a thick Western book, as usual) and watched as she rubbed her temples, clear weariness engulfing her slowly. Crossing his arms, he leaned back into the computer chair he was sitting on and grinned.

“I think this is your cue to retire for the night, Christina. But it’s so late, unless you were planning to sabotage me in my sleep as an agent of the Organiza-”

“Who’d want to spend the night with you?” Kurisu spat back quickly, glaring. “I just got lost in my reading, that’s it. I should get back to my hotel, though…”

Kurisu fell silent afterwards, but made no move to gather her items. It was an obvious action; hesitancy and thoughts were overcoming her as she debated on how to get back to her hotel without having someone go with her and it was something Okabe knew all too well. After a moment, she stood up and grabbed her phone, sighing to herself and pushing the hair out of her face in an attempt to rub the weariness out of her eyes.

“Stay the night.”

Kurisu abruptly stopped in her tracks and opened her mouth to remark back, but was cut off immediately.

“It’s not like you haven’t before,” Okabe quickly said. She didn’t miss the flush of red that quickly showed on his cheeks and she shook her head.

“T-That’s true, but things are different now…!” Kurisu stuttered, averting her eyes from his gaze. “A-and besides...I should probably pack…”

“Ah…”

An odd silence filled between them once more. Kurisu shifted her weight on her feet, but made no effort to move towards the door; physically, she knew she had to leave, but emotionally...her heart wanted to stay where it was.

It’d be another six months until she saw him again. They began a cycle of alternating visits where she’d visit for the summer and he’d visit for the winter and while it had worked so far for the past two years, each departure was never any easier.

She couldn’t remember who first brought up the idea, but it was something she looked forward to each time; Japan had all the lab mems and a culture she was so used to. She was lucky to have a conference or exchange classes to attend to each summer within Japan that the University helped pay for her ticket each time; of course, that didn’t go unseen by Maho, who teased her every once in awhile for “fooling” the school into thinking she was there for work (and she was, really...at least half of the time).

In the very least, it helped closed the distance between them. Between phone calls and video chatting, the virtual image never added up to the physical presence of an individual, and that was confirmed every time she saw him in person, donned in his same ridiculous white lab coat and khaki pants.

It was silly, really; for her, to fall in love with someone completely opposite of her. But as time passed and after listening to Maho’s jabs and Mayuri’s unusually, high perceptive comments about their relationship every once in awhile, it became evident to her that Okabe was everything wrong and right for her.

He was sarcastic, rude, unkept at times, had an unhealthy diet, still had a chuunibyou complex, and was never straight forward with his emotions. It was hard to understand his true intentions and difficult to pin him down when he mentioned what he wanted vaguely, and there was only so much she could decipher with the evidence before her.

But despite everything, despite how frustrating he made her feel most especially with the constant name-calling, she knew he was a lot more honest than she first took him for. There were genuinity in his texts when he’d message her, honesty in his eyes that would usually contradict his name-calling when he’d try to cover up how he really felt, and a determination in his expressions as she noticed he tried to keep up with the long-distance, despite it being a first-time experience for the both of them.

He was actually smart (much to Kurisu’s surprise and his offense when she admitted that to him) and knew a lot more than she took him credit for. And in the past few years that they’ve kept up the relationship, it became increasingly difficult to leave him after each visit; his piercing, gold eyes always had the same look of affection each time she stared at him, his sharp jawline with the minimal facial hair he just never seemed to shave always grazed her each time she was brought into his embrace, and his arms encompassed her at the end of the visits, each one always being a little longer than the first.

She did indeed love Okabe Rintarou, even though she denied it each time.

For Okabe, saving up to visit America once a year had been difficult the first time, but after the first year, he found himself looking forward to it and during the second time, saving didn’t become too much of a hassle (though that did require some setbacks in any new future gadgets to be invented since he didn’t have the extra pocket money to fund that). It started to become a habit to save up and refuse to participate in any other extra activity that didn’t involve a necessity such as school or family needs.

At first, he chided with himself; who was he, self-proclaimed mad scientist, actually doing normal things and saving up money for a girl? Most of all, on his assistant and someone he should merely look down upon?

He was, indeed, going mad.

But as the years went by, it became a natural acceptance to him. Of course, she was everything that he never thought would end up being with; a prodigy from America who was working on her graduate degree who had a stable job within a highly prestigious research laboratory in the science community. She was witty, straight-forward, and completely level-headed, unlike him; but despite everything, she was the only one to stand up to his irrationationality.

Just like that, it hit him like a storm that she was everything he admired and adored.

At first, his parents didn’t believe him; of course, he didn’t blame them, he was a little...odd, anyway. It wasn’t until Mayuri, through the goodness of her own heart, confirmed all that he had to say about her that they slowly began to believe him. They called Kurisu an “angel” for putting up with Okabe’s antics (whatever that meant).

Even his own classmates didn’t believe him, not that he wanted them to know, anyway. A few caught on when they noticed he and Kurisu conversing comfortably after a conference during one instance, with some still in disbelief, until one fateful day during lecture when his phone accidentally rang during class. It was his fault, really, for not putting it on silent mode (but he still blamed his assistant for his embarrassment) and even the professor was in disbelief as he stared at the caller ID. When asked what his relationship was to the Makise Kurisu, he had no choice but to honestly answer the professor, causing a wave of hushed commotion because how can someone as lowly as Okabe Rintarou be dating the prodigy Makise Kurisu?

In all honesty, even he didn’t know still. All he knew was that he was very much in love with every fiber that made up her being, all the good, bad, and tsundere moments. There was a quiet calm in the way she explained theories he marveled, yet an opposing loudness in the way she would debate with him, eyes full of mixed fury and affection.

It was all so very confusing, he concluded. She was beautiful, affectionate, intelligent, selfless. And for some reason, she returned everything he felt in a mutual binding.

He had jumped world lines and defied the laws of physics itself to be with her. In the end, they were two people that were never meant to be, but everything that created a beautiful balance. Like the chaos and cosmos, there was a delicate line that they shouldn’t have crossed, but nevertheless intertwined.

And that’s why, within the small apartment laboratory space, the difficulties of leaving laid a heavy burden. The air was thick with unspoken, clear emotions and as her amethyst eyes clashed with his gold ones, it became evident that they both were thinking the same thing:

Don’t leave.

I don’t want to leave.

“I…”

She was the first to break the silence. She had never been one to oppose rationale with emotions, but it suffocated all thoughts she previously once had. Even as she walked across the room and slowly embraced him, the emotions took over all other thoughts she had of leaving and even more so as she felt him wrap his arms around her waist, a secure hold on her and her heart.

She could hear his heart beating in perfect rhythm, something she never grew tired of hearing. It was a simple, biological beat, working in synonymous sound to pump the blood necessary to the rest of his body; honestly, it was all just science that caused that heart beat.

But the small change as it increased in pacing when she leaned into him and the way he kept a steady hold on her...these were things she could call love and things she caused in a way.  

As she pulled away from him, her hands now relaxed on the collar of his lab coat with his arms still wrapped around her waist, she glanced up at him and realized he still was staring at her as if she’d disappear any second. She’d noticed it before in the way she’d randomly find him staring at him during other parts of the day, but in that moment in particular, it was stronger than most. Smiling softly, she patted the collar of his lab coat to ease out the tension.

“Hey, it’s...not going to be that long, so…”

She trailed off as she noticed he began to lean towards her and almost instinctively, she licked her lips and swallowed, feeling the grip on her waist slightly tighten. Within a second, however, she noticed him pull back and slightly loosen his grip and he looked away, embarrassment tinging his cheeks once more. It was unusual, she realized; not only did he initiate, but almost all at once he pulled away. It shouldn’t be a surprise to her, but it also left her puzzled, until he finally lifted his head. Still averting her eyes, he sighed.

“I’m sorry, I just...if I kiss you right now, I won’t be able to stop.”

She shivered; he spoke in such a low voice tone that was barely loud enough for her and him to hear. Despite no one being in the apartment, it was said so delicate and straight-forward all at once, that it nearly caught her off guard.

Her cheeks were red, she knew. She had to get back to her hotel and pack, she knew. For crying out loud, it was probably past 2 am and she was leaving tomorrow-

So when she wrapped her arms behind his neck and brought his face closer to hers, she threw all rationale out of her mind just for a moment to share with him.

“...then do it,” she whispered. “And don’t stop.”

“Just,” she said, as she connected her wavering eyes with his, “just kisses. And please...be gentle, okay?”

She didn’t know if he responded or not after that; the next moments blinded her inhibition as she felt him close to her, moving in tandem with her pacing, and as gentle but fierce as she had expected from him. The space between them closed and as her mouth was locked with his in perfect harmony, and she realized she couldn’t have asked for a better moment with him. His arms locked around her waist without suffocating her and gripped her emotions much further than previously, feeling the intimacy between them only rise within the small lab apartment.

As he held her, it was an interesting feeling, he concluded in his head, to be doing something considered so normal in their day and age, but as he reciprocated to Kurisu’s desires, he realized this was something that was so different and unique. The bond which he felt with her only increased and as she pulled away briefly for air only for him to close the space once more, it became evident that they only needed that moment to defy what was considered normal to everyone else.

Their bond itself was not normal; they were never meant to be in the first place, but they crossed all bounds and stood to defiance.

Inwardly, she laughed to herself, as she felt like a teenage high schooler being so giddy around him as he continuously came close to her. It was almost childish, she assumed, and even letting a man get this intimate with her was beyond all adult reason (in her mind’s opinion); but even as he pulled away and began to trail kisses down her neck, through half-lidded eyes, she concluded she’d let it go this time.

After all, a perfect, chaotic balance in her mind never made her feel so alive.

Bonus:

“Ah, Kurisu-chan, did you need some ointment? We can’t let you go on the airplane right now with that bruise.”

“Ah, Mayuri-chan...I don’t think that’s a bruise…”

“Amane-san…!!”

As Yuki repeatedly apologized to Kurisu for her slip-up leaving a confused Mayuri, Kurisu instinctively pulled up her button-up blouse’s collar and glared at Okabe, who avoided her eyes and was being chided by a disgruntled Daru.