#shout out to that time when they and their siblings dragged the literal sun into the darkness

[thornycanary]

will of the void

[that-foul-legacy-lover]

When Childe’s Younger Sibling is Recovering from Surgery HCs

"TW for surgery mentiom:

Im not sure if brainrots or requests are open, but I recently (today) had gallbladder removal and it hurts like a son of a glitch. Would you perhaps give ideas of a older brother F.L/Childe comforting a reader that had that?

Forgot to mention: IM ALIVE! JUST VERY QUIET HERE RIGHT NOW."

Requested by @jayastronomicnova !

~ * ~ tumblr is being SO rude and refusing to process the actual ask for this post, so unfortunately i have to upload it like this!! i'm sorry for the inconvenience :((

also, i both made this a bit vague in description, so it's a more general surgery headcanon set!! and you're Childe's actual younger sibling because i thought it'd be fun!!! i'm very sorry if that's not what you wanted :(( still, i hope this helps you feel a bit better!!

~ * ~

When Childe's Younger Sibling is Recovering from Surgery HCs

Hurt/Comfort (Mostly Comfort)

Younger Sibling Reader

Older Brother Childe (Foul Legacy)

Warning for surgery mention, pain, nausea, stitches, bandages, medication (pills), allusions to sickness

~ * ~

-Sometimes you really REALLY hate having a physical body -Sure, it’s nice when it WORKS, but if one thing decides to meander out of order suddenly you’re in pain or your entire life is in danger -And you being someone who doesn’t really know when to draw the line between “it’s just a bad day” and “I should see a doctor” can spend a few weeks trying to deal with any problems on your own -Luckily, Snezhnaya is home to some of the finest doctors in Teyvat, and when you finally visit a clinic for a diagnosis they help you set up a date for surgery right away -Because apparently, you need surgery. Fantastic. You can only pray to the Tsaritsa that you and your family can cover the expenses -The operation itself goes fine, thanks to anesthesia, and in the literal blink of an eye you’re groggily looking around and being given pain medication -It’s AFTERWARDS that makes you turn right back around and curse the Archons and Celestia, because holy hell it’s a nightmare -You drag yourself home and up to your room and promptly collapse onto your bed, immediately regretting it because the action jostles a sharp pain in your gut that makes you feel like you’re being stabbed -With a heap of blankets and the pain medicine in reach, you curl up on your bed, wishing you could just fall asleep or disappear entirely -It’s like this that your next days are spent, hunched over on your mattress and wishing for the sweet release of empty dreams yet getting almost none. The times you get up are few and far between, immediately conquered by nausea and pain -You lose all sense of time, the only indications being the rising and setting of the sun and moon and the people who attempt to get you to eat something with varying success -How long you’ve been suffering only comes to light for you when a certain someone pays you a visit -Your big brother Ajax has been long overdue for a visit home- in fact, a few weeks ago before your medical issues started to arise, you’d been excitedly waiting for his arrival. But you’d received only a hastily-written letter, saying something about work taking a bit longer than he expected -You didn’t believe him, but your family did, despite your protests that the letter wasn’t even in Ajax’s handwriting and your subsequent irritation when they didn’t listen to you -To be honest, you’ve almost forgotten about the letter and your older brother due to your surgery and stress driving almost everything from your mind, but when you hear Teucer distantly shout in joy you vaguely wonder if Ajax is home -For the next few hours you drift in and out of sleep, the pain in your body rousing you whenever you’re just about to drift off, like usual -Your painkillers are on the nightstand, but when the sun goes down and the house is mostly quiet you can’t do anything but huddle under your covers, trying to keep yourself warm as the bitter cold seeps in through openings between the windows -The door to your room slowly creaks open, although you don’t register it or the sound of heavy footsteps gingerly making their way to your bed -Only when a clawed hand rests itself gently on your shoulder do you jump in surprise and open your bleary eyes to see who’s there -Your brother, much taller and fluffier than you remember, stares back at you, singular eye unblinking and aglow. He rumbles in concern, lifting your chin with a finger and tilting your head to the side for a closer look at your downtrodden expression -You’re almost curious as to why none of your family put up a fuss or fight when they saw him like this, with horns and talons and shining like the moon, as well as how you somehow recognized him on your own -Almost. But not quite. You’re too tired to be curious -A small pill drops into your hand, and you blink before glancing up. Ajax watches you expectantly, settling on the edge of your bed as you stare at the painkiller, before gulping it down dry -It’s as bitter as it always is, and you stick out your tongue and are met with a deep, growly chuckle from your brother -You’re about to smile back and say how happy you are that he’s home when pain shoots through your abdomen and you wince, doubling over with a groan -Ajax lets out a low whine of worry, the best “are you okay?” expression he can manage in this form, inching closer to you -He reaches out and, with an odd gentleness for the sharp angles of his current self, lifts you into his arms and settles you on his lap -You feel his talons press and trail up and down your back, massaging the cramped muscles from laying in the same position for so long -His other hand rests on your torso, where your stitches and bandages are; unmoving, the hand warms your skin with quiet reassurance -You press your face into the curious ruff of fur around his shoulders, burying your hands into the soft fluff as a stabilization of sorts -Your hands clench into small fists in the fur, clinging to the comfort of your effortlessly strong and fearless big brother -The hand on your torso lifts to your face, carefully brushing and flicking tangled hair out of the way and smoothing it down again. The little game he plays with your soft locks makes you laugh, weakly, and you hear him purr in satisfaction when you do -Ajax moves to massaging your temples with his claws, similar to how he kneads and presses at your back -With a sudden, swift swoop, he wraps his glimmering cape around you for warmth, and to your hazy eyes it almost looks like a pair of wings -Your eyes begin to drift shut as the pain of your stitches fades into the background, replaced by soft, humming croons in a familiar tune -It’s a melody Ajax always sings when he comes home, something about rain and narwhals and ice-colored stars, always certain to put you right to sleep -You snuggle closer, your body small and curled against his armored one, and whisper for him to stay, so you can say a proper hello to him tomorrow -In the dark you feel him nod, and the nod seems to set everything right, here in your brother’s arms

[nightwishesworld]

Oh, I have a request! How about the daughters (who love the reader very much) always taking the reader and practically stealing her every time she’s with Alcina? (Cuz we need more daughters and reader interaction 🥲) And maybe to the point of our precious big dommy mommy gettin ya know ya know jealous? ;)) HAHGSHAHAHAHA, that would be hilarious to see. Anyways, hope you’re havin’ a great time~ ✌🏻till next time!

I’m so sorry this took me so long anon! I’ve gotten more requests than I ever thought I would and I’m starting to get behind. This was a really sweet one to put together though- really enjoyed it!

Slight Gore warning for Cassandra! Nothing too detailed but it is referenced. If you don’t like it just skip her

Bela

Being the eldest sibling has made her the most level-headed of the three. After decades of ending squabbles between her younger sisters, she’s discovered the pleasures of retail therapy. 

She takes great joy in popping off to neighboring villages for a few hours perusing the various aromatherapy shops.

And she takes even greater pleasure bringing you along. Dragging you, really. Even if you’re otherwise busy. Sometimes she’ll buy you a few scents or lotions that catch your eye.

She calls it “compensation for being dragged away from Mother,” but really she’s just happy to spoil you

Also loves asking you for literature recommendations. As vast as the castle’s library is, Bela had read through most of the literature over her lifetime

Is absolutely fascinated by modern day novels. 

She takes you on a day-long shopping spree visiting five surrounding villages just blowing through money buying almost every book that peaks her interest

Most of your time together is spent relaxing in the library talking about your novels. 

Eventually you’ve collected enough books to make an entirely new section in the library just for the two of you.

Even when cuddled up with Alcina in the library, there is simply no escaping Bela when she’s looking for recommendations or simply someone to talk to

At the end of the day, you really didn’t mind. You were more than happy to spend time with all the girls and happy they wanted to spend time with you. 

You knew as annoyed as Alcina got when interrupted she found it incredibly sweet that her daughters will go out of their way to be with you

Cassandra (Cassi)

Suffers from middle child syndrome hardcore

She’s a bit too old to understand Bela’s interests, but too old to join Daniela in her delusional fantasies. So naturally, she tries to cling onto you.

At first she tries to convince you to enter the basement with her so she can show you her “Art Gallery,” but Alcina forbade it. So things between you and Cassi went quiet for awhile

Alcina says Cassandra is an artist of some sort and all her work is done in the basement

After about a month of silence Cassandra came barrelling into your private study with some kind of canvas in her hands

“I’m sorry I haven’t been around much, y/n, but I’ve been working really hard on your gift.”

You gush, “oh Cassi, you didn’t have to make me anything. That’s so sweet of you.”

She eagerly flips over the canvas to reveal her painting of a human heart.

It was beautifully detailed, the heart really jumped off the page against the black background...but something was off about it. It took a minute for you to realize it but once you did, you couldn’t stop staring. The heart was painted with blood.

You were lost for words. 

“Well?” Cassi, asked with a broad smile on her face. “Do you like it?”

All you could do at first was nod you head. “Oh Cassandra, its gorgeous. You really made this?”

The girl’s eyes were rapturous. “It’s my favorite hobby! But this particular piece was my first try at observational painting. I hope I did a good job...”

“Are you kidding Cassi? It’s beautiful! I’ve never seen anything like it. Can I hang it on my wall?”

She lunges at you, wrapping you in a suffocating hug. “Thank you, y/n. I made it a heart so you know how much we love having you here with us.”

Tears were starting to prick your eyes. “I love you guys, too.”

You looked up lust long enough to see Alcina walk in your study, roll her eyes and walk right back out.

Daniela (Dani)

Being the youngest Dimitrescu definitely has its advantages and Daniela knows how to use every single one.

Gets away with absolutely everything and anything under the sun. Even things her older sisters could only dream of getting away with and it irritates them to no end.

Daniela is definitely the most daring of the three. Always pushing her boundaries with her mother and will go out of her way to annoy Alcina just for funsies.

Is comfortable (and has) appearing in your bedroom while your, erm...busy with Alcina. Literally grabs you by the arm and swoops you away in a swarm of moths giggling the entire time. You hear Alcina shouting obscenities as you’re taken away.

You’re both thoroughly embarrassed.

Daniela seems to be, just like her mother, very needy. Attention starved if you will. So of course, she’s in need of your presence every hour. Sometimes more. 

And for the dumbest freaking reasons!

“Y/n come quick! Look at the birds in the garden. They’re so pretty!”

You laugh at her excitement “They’re crows, Dani. We see them every day.”

Other times she will drag you to her room and pull out her vast collection of weapons and tell you different stories associated with each one. You loved hearing how passionate Daniela was about her collection.

On a few rare occasions, she even gifted you a set of daggers, or crossbow, or whatever your favorite weapon is.

“You don’t own any y/n, which means you’re vulnerable to attacks. One day I’ll teach you how to use them.”

BONUS: Alcina being absolutely done with her girls not sharing

Late hours of the night are Alcina’s favorite time of day

She gets to relax in bed with you all to herself while shedding away all the stresses from the day. 

More often than not she’ll lazily sip a glass of wine and reread her favorite novel to you while you’re nestled in her lap.

It was the only time of day she knew she had you all to herself

...usually...

One night all three of her daughters barged in your bedroom arguing who you would spend time with first. Alcina tried shouting over them to take control of the situation, but none of them were even paying her attention.

Situations like this call for drastic measures.

Alcina covered your ears and shouted at her girls from the top of her lungs. Once she knew she had their attention she reached over to the nightstand and pulled out a...spray bottle? They were about to laugh at her before she explained that the spray bottle contained holy water.

That scared them enough to make them back up a few steps. Daniela even hisssed at her, baring her fangs like a feral animal.

“I am tired of you three stealing away my y/n and I’ve reached my breaking point. This is the one time of day I’m allowed exclusive time with them and I will not have you getting in the way of that.”

You couldn’t process what was happening before you. Was Alcina really prepared to spray her own daughters with holy water just because she wouldn’t get her cuddles tonight? Really?

Daniela felt bold tonight. “As if you would actually do it. I bet that’s not even holy water.”

Alcina only arched a brow. “Well you’re more than welcome to come see for yourself, Daniela. By all means.”

The redhead was about to do just that until Bela pulled her backwards. “I guess we can wait and see y/n tomorrow. Goodnight, mother. Goodnight, y/n.”

As soon as Alcina knew they were gone she fell back onto the mattress, pulling you with her, peppering you in kisses. 

“Darling,” you ask. “Is that really holy water?”

She chuckles into your neck. “No, it’s not, and they should have known that. If it were I wouldn’t have been able to hold it without it making me feel ill. But they’ll figure that out eventually and once they do they’ll be back.”

“What then?”

“Pelting them with fake silver should do the trick.”

[skellebonez]

Prompt 76, MK accidentally lets it slip to Pigsy that Monkey and Macaque are “seeing each other” as in not quite dating but been on a few “dates”...again. Pigsy who is on a low profile and hasn’t told MO who he really is, let’s it slip how he thinks “his eldest brother can do better” and MK is very confused.

Feel free to ignore!!!!! I’ve never asked for something like this before and if I did it wrong feel free to ignore it!

I may or may not have a soft spot for protective younger sibling type scenes in media so I had way too much fun writing this.

It could be worse. They could be dating. Wait? They are?!

"I don't understand what that damn monkey is thinking half the time," Pigsy said with a sigh, pinching the bridge of his snout with a groan. "Just... let Macaque on the ship, yeah, that totally isn't going to backfire. Not like he has ulterior motives at all, not like we just learned all the stuff he pulled over the last year including trapping three of us in a lantern to fight you and teach you some kind of lesson.”

Things had been tense on the drone ship for the last month. They’d barely begun on their journey before a certain immortal monkey managed to catch them off guard and chase them for multiple days under the White Bone Spirit’s influence.

It became apparent very quickly that she was using him to toy with them, a sort of gloating in her victory. Well, joke was on her. Sending him after them meant they were able to see just how far her influence and control actually reached and they were able to find a way to free him from that with more than a little force and some stolen artifacts.

The fact she hadn’t sent anyone else, however, was... concerning to say the least. If she wasn’t worried about losing her grip on Macaque, of all people, that did not bode well for them.

But for the moment that was neither here nor there. What mattered in the moment was that in the month since the immortal monkey had managed to be dragged onto their ship to recuperate Wukong had become far too comfortable with letting him have free reign over whatever he wanted to do on the ship (within reason).

And Pigsy didn’t like that. Aforementioned soul trapping in a lantern and trying to turn MK against his teacher and all that. Pigsy didn’t trust Six-Eared Macaque as far as he could throw him.

"It's been a month and nothing's happened yet?" MK offered not so helpfully, shrugging with an awkward nervous chuckle. “I mean... unless he’s playing a really long game he’d probably have done something by now, right?”

"Well... It could be worse," Pigsy admitted with a chuckle as he stretched out and started to cut up the ingredients for his lunch dish. "They could be dating."

MK made an awkward choking sound as he inhaled his water.

"Wait...?" Pigsy turned around slowly, leveling the young man with a half glare. He stared for a moment, watching as MK refused to meet his gaze. Looking left and right and literally anywhere not at Pigsy’s face. "THEY ARE!?"

"I didn't tell you!" MK shouted, jumping up and hiding behind the table and pointing at Pigsy dramatically. "I said nothing, you cannot pin this on me!"

"YOU KNEW AND YOU KEPT IT A SECRET!?" Pigsy yelped, tone not angry but loud enough to make MK freeze with wide worried eyes. The chef stopped, sighing again as he took in a calming breathe before continuing. "Ok... ok... MK, I ain't mad, being mad at you would be ridiculous. But exactly how long have you known?"

MK frowned, looking up at the ceiling in thought before a tentative but curious look passed over his face.

"...I can neither confirm nor deny that I caught them smooching in the med bay two weeks ago."

"TWO WEEKS!?"

“You didn’t hear it from me!” MK said, pointing at himself as he backed away with another nervous laugh. “I have plausible deniability, you figured it out on your own!”

“Of all the hard headed thick skulled bad decisions that stupid-” Pigsy mumbled to himself, burying his face in his hands as he held back a scream of frustration. “There are so many men. So many men! So many ex-enemies even! But no, he had to go and hook up with his actual ex that tried to take over his identity and kill his entire travel party!”

“To be fair he kinda seems to be changing for the be-wait...?” MK started to offer, watching at the chef paced around the kitchen. “How... do you know they used to date? I don’t think even Tang knows that.”

“He could have dated literally anyone else and he chose to get back with Macaque,” Pigsy said with another sigh, removing his hands from his face with a scowl. “I knew he was dense but elder brother can do so much better.”

“I’M. SORRY?” MK yelled, this time being the one to startle the other. “ELDER. BROTHER?”

Pigsy froze, eyes wide in horrified realization. “... you didn’t hear that.”

Pigsy ran out of the room, MK hot on his heels.

“PIGSY COME BACK YOU NEED TO EXPLAIN AND NOT MAKE RASH DECISIONS!”

Pigsy did not go back to the kitchen, instead heading straight to the rec room that he knew the two monkeys were spending most of their recent time in when not off alone who knows where (now he knows where). MK was following right behind, trying to both get an explanation out of him and to dissuade him from confronting the Monkey King and also looking generally very confused and concerned.

He didn’t succeed before the pig demon slammed the rec room door open.

"WUKONG!" Pigsy shouted from the doorway, startling the two immortal monkeys from whatever conversation they were engrossed in . "You. Me. Deck. Now."

"I-"

"NOW. ELDER BROTHER."

The facial journey through confusion to realization to horror on Sun Wukong's face was worth the delayed reaction shout of "WHAT DO YOU MEAN ELDER BROTHER!?" from the other immortal sitting next to the Monkey King.

“BAJIE!?” Wukong yelped.

“YOU’RE ZHU BAJIE!?” MK yelped in much the same tone.

“Oh fuck,” Macaque whispered under his breath.

“DECK!” Pigsy repeated.

“BAJIE WHAT THE FUCK!?” Wukong repeated himself.

“ZHU BAJIE!?” MK also repeated.

“How many other enemies did I piss off that are on this ship?” Macaque continued, seemingly resigned to his fate.

“YES I’M BAJIE STOP YELLING MY OWN NAME AT ME!”

Needless to say that conversation was the most incoherent non-productive mess they had on the ship in the last month. Until Sandy burst into the room and forced them all to talk it out peacefully.

Macaque did, in fact, learn how many old enemies he had on the ship when Sandy came clean that he was also Sha Wujing.

And Pigsy did not, in fact, manage to talk any sense into his elder brother given how much MK was yelling at him for keeping his identity a secret from him.

Wukong just sat with his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands wondering what in the actual hell his life had become.

(The next day, after a night of rest and a day talking to MK and apologizing and explaining everything, Pigsy caught the two immortal monkeys asleep cuddled on the couch of the rec room and decided that his elder brother could make his own decisions. And maybe MK had a point, given Macaque hadn’t done anything. Yet.

If he pulled a blanket over the two of them while they rested and they noticed no one said anything about it. And if Macaque snuck off the ship and there were, coincidentally, some rare ingredients for some dishes Pigsy missed making and a few scrapes and bruises on the immortal when he resurfaced... well, he didn’t say anything either. But he made it a point to have more mangoes and plums on hand.

Just in case.)

[guiltysecretpasttime]

bumi + lin getting caught or how everyone found out about their relationship :-))))

Title: Discretion

Note: Here’s what I have for this particular Lin/Bumi II prompt. Hope you enjoy 😊

· Pairing: Lin/Bumi II

· One-shot, post-series AU

· Rating: Teen

-----

Bumi was whistling as the hustle and bustle around Air Temple Island continued in preparation for Varrick’s wedding. Why they allowed the wedding and the party on the island, he had no idea.

He watched the tired teenagers who were hovering excitedly around the affianced. He supposed they all deserved some sort of merrymaking after what he had dubbed in his mind as the Kuvira Incident. It also was not a bad idea to have them use this time to work out their romantic entanglements, he thought as he eyed the various couples gravitating toward each other.

It also gave him a lovely excuse to meet up with his ownromantic entanglement.

The former military man faced the city pensively.

He frowned as the water lapped against the shore. The sun continued to shine brightly even as the buildings at the island across showed devastation, some still slightly smoldering days after the attack.

The Kuvira Incident did put things into perspective.

Well, that went dark quickly.

He blinked away grim thoughts and focused instead on the fairy lights being hung around the courtyard.

As he decided earlier, they all deserve some merrymaking.

---

“What are you doing skulking around?” Bumi asked the lady in green, who was looking down at a kebab that had seemed to have displeased her.

Lin Beifong scoffed. “I am not.” And continued to examine the mystery meat on the stick.

Bumi sauntered closer to her, standing at her side, joining her quiet observation of the party. “What on earth did that kebab do to you?” He waved his free hand to said meat on a stick; his other hand occupied with helping him take a swig of whatever fruity punch Varrick was serving.

She bit it furiously while rolling her eyes. “It’s a bit tasteless, if you must know.”

Bumi bit back a laugh and just hummed.

While she could eat instant noodles as well as any cadet living off rations, Lin did have her snobby side to food when it comes to social events thrown by the upper-class.

“Then again, Varrick is tasteless when it comes to most things.” Lin added, her scowl scaring off a Nuktuk-attired waiter who had the misfortune of glancing their way to offer more refreshments.

This time, Bumi let out a laugh, earning him a smirk from the metalbender.

“Well, that’s true. Let me join you in disparaging the libation too – not a single touch of alcohol in this drink.”

They stood there, at the fringe of the party crowd for a while – he sipping the vile drink, she chewing the tough meat.

“They allowed you to wear that?”

It took Bumi a moment to understand she meant his uniform. “I am a retired commander after all.” That and because he did not want to be dressed in formal wear that was almost identical to what his brother was wearing.

Lin swallowed her food. “Hmm, I've been thinking of that too…”

“Me in a military uniform?” Bumi waggled his eyebrows and received a smack on his arm. “You in my uniform?” Another smack.

“Retiring.” She said it so quietly he thought he must have misunderstood her.

He briefly wondered what could have made her arrive at a such a life-changing decision. Then again, if that meant that she would be closer to safety than danger…

“I don’t see why not?” He tossed back with a grin, noting the veiled concern on Lin’s face, worried about his reaction. “As long as it’s what you truly want.”

Lin’s posture relaxed after that.

They continued to sip and eat in silence.

They saw Rohan running at the other side of the court, weaving through the people who were starting to go to the dance floor. Huan was noticeably dragged by Ikki to dance (“Kid takes after her mother, doesn’t she?” Bumi murmured in jest, only to get an elbow to his side as Lin shook her head.).

As people went over to the dance floor, it would not be long before someone noticed the lady beside him. Chief of Police or not, she always did strike quite a figure. Without all the armor (literally and figuratively), it could be easily argued the Lin could be approachable.

He stood closer at her side. He twitched his pinky finger to touch hers.

Her eyes darted to him.

The mood of the party was happy and hopeful. He knew this feeling. He had seen this before. The sigh of relief and desperation for something good after a long hard military campaign.

His face remained cheerful and proceeded to talk about everything and nothing.

Lin’s expression softened. “Want to leave the party?” Her pinky finger hooked around his.

“Thought you’d never ask.”

As always, Lin was the only one who saw through him.

---

Propping himself up on his elbow, Bumi watched her sleep.

Lin had always been a light-sleeper. He got that – living with a constant threat hanging at their back or having a long career that required alertness and rapid reaction time does that to you. That was why it never ceased to amaze him that the metalbender manages to have long uninterrupted sleep whenever they were together.

Spirits knew how much she deserved to sleep in.

He had sighed in relief when Lin said she had lied last night. She had not just been thinking of retiring from the police force – she had already filed her retirement to both President Raiko and headquarters. And, in true efficient Beifong fashion, she had secured approval within days. He did not think she had fully recovered and taking a break (albeit a permanent one) was more than needed.

His eyes traced the dark eye bags and pale complexion. The rebuilding efforts and the ton of work post-Kuvira Incident took a toll on her.

Her skin, already marred with various scars and marks throughout the years, was much too pale. Each imperfection was linked with a story. Each story building up to who Lin was now today.

Her ankle had a small scar, almost invisible unless you knew where to look, from her childhood escapades.

There was the jagged scar, stitches very much apparent on her calf from her earlier days as a beat officer.

A smattering of bruises at her lower back was still present, souvenir from being tossed off the colossus.

Her shoulder, while exhibiting any outer trauma, was still healing from being dislocated from the same scrimmage with death.

There were more across her body, but the most recent ones were those that hit Bumi the hardest.

He was the one who found the Beifong sisters unconscious in the arm of the mecha giant.

He had been beyond terrified until found their respective pulses.

He feared it would have been too late for him, for them. Then Lin fluttered her eyes open, and, despite her shallow breaths, managed to croak out in a less than acerbic tone to help her down.

He mused now in the pale daylight that he ought to have done something then, said something then. He decided to rectify that now.

Before he could even reach over to wake her up in that delicious manner he was planning, several loud knocks beat at his door. He subconsciously tightened his grip around Lin’s waist.

“Bumi? Bumi!” Tenzin.

“We know you’re in there.” Su. “Open up!”

Bumi threw a worried glance at Lin, but she was still asleep and simply buried her face closer to his chest, ensconced under his fluffy comforter and buried under his equally soft pillows. He leaned back and closed his eyes, willing their unwanted siblings away.

Maybe if I pretended to be asleep, they would leave us alone…

Knock-knock-knock! A pause. Knock-knock-knock-knock-knock-knock!

“Bumi!”

He closed his eyes tighter.

Knock-knock-knock!

“Wait a minute, maybe it’s unlocked anyway…”

What are they talking about?

Bumi found out soon enough when the sound of the door sliding open reached his ears.

“Bumi – I can’t find -!”

He sat up quickly, making sure Lin was comfortable and quite hidden from view.

His visitors stopped at the doorway, enough to trespass but not enough to take a full scan of the room.

“Ohhh, I’m – we’re – sorry –.” Tenzin stammered, quite apologetic for bursting in his brother’s room.

Su did not have the same misgivings. “Bumi has a lady friend!”

“He does?!” A new voice called out with shock.

Tenzin and Su, he can tolerate but having the kids over – Bumi decided he drew the line there.

Fight shock with shock.

He stood up quickly, unmindful of being seen in his birthday suit.

“Oh sweet Spirits Agni! Bumi! Cover yourself!”

“My eyesss!”

The Avatar and Bolin immediately shouted over gasps of shock.

Bumi stretched languidly, pretending that nothing was amiss. He will not be embarrassed. That was their problem, they were the ones who were invading his privacy.

To be fair, he had no issues about his nudity so it was not really a big issue. It was just that with Lin in his bed – well, the situation was a bit tricky. Fortunately, her face was still hidden under the comforter. He pulled it higher, never mind that part of her leg is still visible.

“To what do I owe this wake-up call?” Bumi scratched his beard, acting as though this was a normal occurrence. He did delight in making his brother uncomfortable. They became closer in the latter years. Old habits die hard though.

“Bumi, we apologize for barging in this morning.” Tenzin was looking over his shoulder. “But could you – at least -.” He waved at the general direction of the naked man.

Bumi took his sweet time going around the room to pull on some clean shorts.

Su took this opportunity to push out the kids out of the room, who he now saw included both pro-bending brothers, Asami, Opal, and the Avatar.

“Why is the entire cavalry here?” Bumi sauntered to the door, blocking everyone’s view of the room and angling his body to stand in the way of the bed. “What’s up?”

“It’s Lin.”

A beat.

“What about her?”

“She’s missing. I didn’t know when she went home last night.” Su wringed her hands in worry. “I called her house, no one answered. We went over and she wasn’t there.”

It annoyed Bumi how they were suddenly on Lin’s case when they barely said two words to her the night before. There was bound to be a hidden agenda to this sudden worry.

“Your sister is a grown woman and she's been taking care of herself without you lot for more than a decade now.

He scanned the faces around him.

Postures stiffened, Tenzin flinched, eyes avoided Bumi’s.

Yeah¸ that’s what I thought.

Su stomped lightly. “Regardless of that,” The woman was adamant and would not back down. “We intend to go to the station to report her missing, with or without your inputs.”

Mako looked downright uncomfortable, Bumi thought the boy genuinely cared for his mentor.

“Boy, anything you’d like to add, detective?” Bumi nodded at the firebender.

“We can’t file a missing person’s case unless the person has been missing for more than 24 hours.” Mako shifted his eyes.

“There you go. Drop the matter, Su. I’m sure Lin is fine.”

Su looked like she was about to argue and Tenzin was about to say something but Mako beat him to it.

Still not catching anyone’s eyes, Mako started. “And well, what if the Chief also had a lady friend like Bumi? Or a gentleman friend?”

Bumi almost snorted.

Gentleman friend, what?

The detective was looking ill now but props to the boy.

“Lin with a special friend is highly unlikely.” Lin’s sister said decidedly, waving off Mako’s theory.

Bumi snorted now. “Right, because you’d know, ain’t it right?”

“I don’t see why not?” Suyin frowned, crossing her arms.

Moments like this Bumi was reminded why Lin still held some form of dislike towards her sister.

Asami tried to mediate. “I don’t think Chief Beifong would appreciate her private life being discussed like this.”

Bumi knew he always liked the Sato girl, he nodded and added. “Please don’t do this to try to assuage your…guilt.”

As expected, there were reactions from Su and Tenzin.

“We are not -!”

“Nonetheless, Bumi, Lin is…” Tenzin’s words trailed off and color drained from his face as he continued to look over his brother’s shoulder.

Bumi knew the moment Tenzin realized who was in his bed. He quickly slid the door closed. He tried to meet his brother’s eye, but the man was resolutely looking away.

“Safe.” Tenzin managed to choke out. “Let’s go everyone, I’m sure Lin is very safe.”

Su turned on Tenzin, obviously shocked by his sudden change. “What are you talking about, Tenzin – we -.”

“If Bumi says Lin is okay, then she probably is.” Was the simple yet shifty response.

“But we need Lin to -!”

Opal elbowed her mother gently, asking her to drop the issue. It did not escape Bumi’s notice.

There was the hidden agenda – Su needs Lin for something.

The group scurried away as both Tenzin and Mako helped herding them away from the bedrooms.

---

Bumi figured it was too early to be dealing with anything.

He rejoined a sleeping Lin in bed, who in turn, burrowed into his side.

He will deal with the real world later. For now, he will enjoy this.

---

Ignoring Suyin who was still chattering about one thing or another (in all likelihood berating him for not supporting her call to search for her sister), Tenzin mulled over his earlier discovery.

Lin and Bumi are together.

Not just together but together – together.

He wringed with his hands as they walked to the dining hall.

How long have they been together?

He had thought that this knowledge would bother him – well, it did, he reconsidered, but not for the reasons he might have initially thought of.

It was bothering him the same way it would have bothered him to see any woman sleeping with his older brother.

He had reconciled with his siblings and the Beifongs in the recent years, but some things should have remained private between them.

Like Bumi’s sex life.

Like Lin’s sex life.

Like their sex life.

Oh, how he wished he gone back to the past few minutes when he was still blissfully unaware. Or he hoped he would have already forgotten the markings and scars on Lin’s legs in order to not have recognized her in his brother’s bed.

Ah well, Tenzin eyed Lin’s family, the Avatar, Bolin, Asami, and Mako walking beside him, here’s hoping they not find out soon.

He doubted greatly that Lin would enjoy her relationship being disclosed before she deemed it necessary.

He recalled Bumi’s stance earlier, how protective he was of an unknowing Lin.

End of the day, Tenzin just wanted both of them to find happiness. He had did them both wrong in their lifetime and was at a loss on how to rectify it. The airbender had been trying in the past years, but there was only so much he could do.

Too little, too late, he always thought.

Tenzin waved at the acolytes that were leaving the dining hall. Pema sat down beside him and smiled as she handed him the platter of food. He smiled back, thinking still how lucky he was to have her by his side.

And now, by some peculiar twist of fate, Bumi and Lin found each other.

And, if, they make each other happy and content, then, Tenzin decided then and there, he will support them in any way that he can.

---

“Bro, are you going to eat that last piece?”

Mako was shaken from his reverie. Bolin stabbed the food on his plate at his head shake.

“Are you alright, Mako?” Asami was always the sensitive and observant of the group.

The firebender tossed a look at the Avatar chatting with Bolin and Opal at the other side of the table. After making sure that they were preoccupied, he turned to Asami.

Asami raised her eyebrows at him. “Well?”

“I think I know where the chief is.” He could not help but dart a wary glance at the Beifongs. “But it’s not my place to say.” Mako quickly added.

Asami leaned back at her seat and looked at him quizzically. “How did you know where?”

Mako dropped his utensils on the plate and covered his face with his hands. He was not one of Lin’s proteges for nothing.

One of his strengths as a detective is his keen eye for detail.

And details did not evade him in that brief view of Bumi’s bedroom.

It was quite obvious to him that the strewn pieces of clothing belonged to someone he had seen in attendance in the wedding reception earlier.

And that someone is his commanding officer.

---

Said commanding officer made her presence known at the lunch table that noon, surprised at seeing everyone still on the island.

That Chief Beifong was not expecting that there were still other guests at the residential area of Air Temple Island was fairly obvious, as Bumi was walking beside her, whispering at her side with a smile.

The plan was, actually, for most of the guests to have already gone their own ways but that morning’s excursion to Republic City made everyone’s itinerary delayed and their breakfast turned into brunch.

She exchanged a look with Bumi who shrugged and tried to sit at one of the empty tables unnoticed.

Now, while Mako might have been blessed with a sense of discretion, the same cannot be expected of his brother.

This became much apparent when said brother had gaped and thoughtlessly exclaimed, “Lin! We’ve been looking for you all morning – at what corner of Air Temple Island did you sleep at? I doubt this is the walk of shame.”

This pronouncement drew the attention of everyone in the hall – attention at her (their) very late entry and at her clothes which were clearly too formal for the day.

No one dared speak up as the metalbender simply glared at the earthbender, not responding.

There was complete silence in the dining hall.

…until comprehension dawned on Suyin Beifong’s face.

Then all hell broke lose.

---end---

Note: That could have probably gone better but let me know what you think. Anon, hope that worked for you (feel free to leave a note/msg :) ) Hope everyone is doing good, at least.

[forthehpfanboys]

You're An Idiot

Pair: Draco Malfoy x Reader; he/him.

Summary: Draco is being a brat.. Again. No one's surprised when you run into him after getting back late from Hogsmeade. Also, the reader is Hermione's older brother.

Warnings: SMUT (MDI). Just- get the holy water. Swearing, oral, Sassy Hermione?? Still doesn't follow the movies or the books or anything. If I forgot any, please dm me.

Note: Requested! And Bottom Draco-I was up all night typing this. God, I am so sorry for the grammar and crap when I first posted this. I fixed it up, so it should be better!

~DO NOT REPOST ANYWHERE~

-

Being Hermione's older brother meant you usually had to deal with a lot of shit, especially since she'd drag you on adventures with the Golden Trio. She'd always use the promise you made to your parents in your face. Yeah. You had sworn you'd protect the younger Granger when she first started going to the school. At the time, you didn't know that'd mean every single bloody year.

Since you were a year older then the Golden Trio, you ended up resolving problems and fixing some of their mistakes and reminding them to sleep during particularly stressful days. You could've swore the four of you just attracted problems better than magnets attract metal. Of course, you wanted them to be safe and healthy, but one little bleached ferret always made it hard. That ferret, of course, was Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.

Stupid Draco Malfoy who always managed to look top notch in anything he wore and Godric what you'd do to get that ferret on his knees, ruin his pretty hair and- You probably shouldn't be thinking this in the dinner hall, especially since you were sitting next to your sister. Speaking of your sister, she turned to you, a smile on her face.

"So, (Y/n). I was curious if you wanted to come with us to Hogsmead this weekend? Harry got Sirius to sign for him and Professor Magonagall accepted it under the circumstances." Hermione's voice rang through your skull as she spoke, your head already nodding up and down. It'd be a nice little break, especially during your 7th year.

"Of course I'm down, Mione!" you wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to her side. "You know I'll use any excuse to be with my favorite bunch of idiots." you messed up her hair, causing her to smack your hands away and almost shove you off the bench.

You let out a laugh, completely oblivious to the Slytherin staring at you from across the room with the most desperate expression on his face. You shoved your sister back, a smirk growing on your face as she fell from the bench.

"Haha! Payback!"

"Not funny, (Y/n)!"

"Yes it is, Mione! You should know by now I'm always gonna get revenge!" you ran a hand through your hair, shooting her a smile. The two boys who sat across from you nodded in agreement.

"He's right, Herman. (haha, reference-) It is pretty funny." Ron smiled, holding his fist out for you to bop.

The week seemed to pass with ease, allowing the weekend and it's snowy fun to arrive without hesitation. You trudged out in the snow, leading the trio of 6 years to Hogsmead. You hummed a muggle Christmas song deep in your throat as you walked, looking up at the snow covered signs.

"Where should we go first, children? Hogs Head? Honeydukes? What ya kids feeling?" One thing you absolutely ADORED was teasing about the age difference between you and the trio.

"We're not children!" Ron shouted, his arms crossing over his bulky winter jacket.

"Yeah! Besides, even if we weren't totally responsible adults, we'd wanna go to the Hogs Head, right guys? Get a butter bear or two?" Harry spoke up, moving his scarf down to speak properly before putting it back over his mouth and nose.

"Uh Huh. Sure." You snickered, your hands shoved in your pocket of your pants. You'd given Hermione your jumper, leaving you in a scarf, fingerless gloves and your long sleeve t-shirt.

The four of you got interrupted by a line of people literally blocking your path. It was none other than the stupidly pretty Draco and his 'gang' stood in front of you, arms crossed like a bunch of wanna be badasses.

"Well, well, if it isn't Potter and his 3 little blood traitors." Draco spoke, his voice filled with smugness and his face dragged in a cocky smirk.

God, did you wanna get revenge against that stupid smirk.

"Oh, please Malfoy. You do this almost every week. Just admit you have a crush on Harry and move on." You spoke, taking a step toward him. The ferret's smirk faltered and turned into a scowl.

"Oh please. As if I'd stoop low enough to like someone like Potter." Draco all but gagged at the idea of dating the messy haired rival and you wondered what he'd look like gagging on your stick. It suddenly became a little warmer in the winter atmosphere.

"Then you have an unhealthy obsession, mate." Ron spoke up, his arms crossed. "Might wanna get that fixed and leave us be."

"Yeah, Malfoy. We're trying to have a good day and you're ruining it with your ugly mug." Hermione spoke up, causing you to feel nothing but pure pride. She'd changed a lot from the shy girl she used to be in 1st year.

Crabb or Goyle, you didn't care to learn their names, stepped forward, causing you to instinctively step in front of your friends. Malfoy scoffed again, looking you up and down before turning his head.

"Whatever." the blonde pureblood spoke as he began walking away, his posse turning to follow, but not without shooting you one last glare.

"Yeah, you... You better leave?" You spoke, confusion clear in your voice. Usually you'd be inches from his face, shouting about the shit antics his father pulled before he backed down. Turning to the other three, you shrugged and led them to Hogsmead, hoping to escape the cold.

Once inside, you all ordered a warm glass of butterbeer as you picked a table by the fireplace. Taking your first sip immediately warmed you up, a sigh leaving your lips.

"Godric Gryffindor. I haven't felt warmth in what felt like forever." You said cooly, smirking to your sister. "I wonder why I would be oh, so cold."

"Ok. We get it. I forgot my jacket. Stop it." The brunette responded, causing Harry to almost choke on his drink and for Ron to snort. You faked a gasp, your hand going to your chest in mock shame. You'd been teasing her about it almost the entire way there.

"Such sass!" You shook your head. "What would mom and dad say?"

"They'd say you deserve to shove it."

"Oh, come now, sister of mine! Don't be a stick in the mud!"

The two friends sitting across from the Granger siblings sat in silence. This was some of the best entertainment they get during the week and they always savored it.

"I'm not being a stick in the mud, you're just being a dick."

"Well you know what they say. You are what you eat-"

Ron and Harry didn't even miss a beat. They broke out laughing together as Hermione shouted, her face a pinkish color.

"(Y/N)!!"

"What? We all know it's true!"

"Merlin's beard you suck."

"That's the point, sis."

"Go- stop. Please. I'm begging you."

"Ok! Ok." you chuckled out, raising your hands in defeat.

You and the trio managed to keep up the conversation easily, but as time went on, it was time to go back, well, that's what you told them. It was time for the kiddos to go back and finish their homework so they had tomorrow to actually relax. Of course, this caused Harry and Ron to groan and whine, but Hermione finally convinced them, saying she'd help.

You let out a sigh and leaned back in your chair, your eyes falling closed. The stupid blonde hottie has been raging in your head for what felt like forever, so you weren't surprised when he popped up behind your eyelids again.

You truly didn't want to admit it, but you'd liked the jerk since he popped up randomly in your second year. He was a twat to your sister and her friends, but somehow he slithered into your heart and head all the stupid time.

Over time like turned to crush, crush turned to yearned, yearned turned to lust, because it certainly wasn't love. That's what you convinced yourself as you tossed your head back, swallowing the last of your fourth butterbeer.

You sat in front of the fire for a few more minutes before you stood up, placed some coins at the end of your table to pay for the drinks and left the restaurant, venturing out into the snow.

It was colder before, thanks to the sun setting over the castle. Shrugging off the cold, you walked down the familiar path back to Hogwarts. You tightened the scarf around your face as a particularly cold breeze blew past you. Once the entrance of the castle came up, you all but jogged to the door, ripping it open. The inside was warmer, thank Merlin.

You were suddenly grateful for the 7 years you'd spent at Hogwarts. You were able to mindlessly walk the halls and make it to the staircase leading up to the Fat Lady's portrait. As you were trudging up the steps, you noticed a A flash of a shadow duck past a knight.

"Oh, ok. Cool. Filch’ll just kill me. Awesome." you grumbled, hurrying up the stairs as quietly as you could, but we're quickly halted. The shadow wasn't Filch or his crazed cat. It was Malfoy.

Of course it was Malfoy. We gotta get to the good stuff somehow, right?

...

Anyway, you sensed he was up to no good considering he should be in the Slytherin Common Room probably sleeping and not sneaking around by the Gryffindor one. You crossed your arms over your chest, watching the blonde keeping his head turned to watch his back as he climbed the same steps you were on.

"Malfoy."

"AAH-"

You all but lunged to cover his mouth with one hand, the other going to the back of his neck to keep him still. "Shut it, you git! Do you want to get caught?" your eyebrows furrowed together as you pressed him to the stairs railing, trying to intimidate the younger male.

What you didn't know was that this was waayy to hot for Malfoy to comprehend. His back went rigid at your touch and his breathing all but stopped as he stared into your (e/c) eyes.

"Well, do you?"

Your hushed voice snapped Draco out of his trance, causing him to shake his head.

"Good, then keep your voice down. What are you doing out here anyway?" you spoke, moving your hands away from him, much to his dismay. He was just grateful you didn't back away. He liked your body against his.

"I was uh-well, I was trying to.. Find the bathroom." He usually kept his composure, but he was failing miserably. He usually kept it together so well but now.. Now Draco was struggling. He was not going to admit he was on his way to sneak into the Gryffindor common room and leave you a love note. No. Why would he do that??

"The bathroom? It isn't up this set of stairs, ya idiot." you grabbed his arm, leading him down the stairs. "Besides, you should have a bathroom on your side of the school, so what are you really doing here?"

"What does it matter?" he spat out. "You obviously think you know everything." you rolled your eyes at his brattiness and walked over to the corridor glancing down it before pressing your back against the wall.

"What are you doing?"

"Shut it Malf-"

"No. I don't ha-"

"I said shut it or I will gag your mouth with your own fucking tie." you covered his mouth again, pressing him back against the wall. "Godric. Just put your ego away for 2 seconds."

Draco desperately wanted to say 'Make me, Granger' but he was lost in the idea of your threat coming true.

Satisfied at his silence, you watched one of the patrolling professors walk down the corridor and right past you two. Not spotting anyone or anything, they continued on before you swept him down the entrance.

"Ok. Come on." You whispered to him as you walked down the corridor. You were taking him to that one girls bathroom that no one goes into, ya know, with Myrtle. You were just hoping she was gonna be literally anywhere but that bathroom.

"Where are we going?"

"You said you wanted a bathroom, idiot. I'm taking you to one where you can piss in peace and leave me alone."

"I.. What?"

"Forget it, Malfoy." You took one more turn and finally saw the opening off the bathroom. "Ok. We're here." Of course Blondie had a problem though. He shot the (h/c) male a glare before scrunching up his nose.

"This is the girls lavatory."

"Oh, you think I care. Funny." you grabbed him by the shirt covering his shoulder and pushed him inside, following after his stumbling form.

"Don't touch me, Granger. I don't want whatever germs mud bloods carry." Draco scoffed, fixing his shirt and brushing off his shoulder, as if dirt was there.

"Call me that again and I won't hesitate to ruin that pretty face you cherish so much." You growled out, grabbing his shirt by the collar and pulling him toward you. "One day that silver tongue of ours is going to get you in a lot of trouble." Pushing him away from your figure, you turned toward one of the many mirrors lining the wall.

You looked at your reflection and fixed a strand of hair, then took off your scarf. It was warm in this bathroom. You folded the scarf and looked back into the reflective glass to see Malfoy smirking in the background.

"What?"

"You called me pretty." He had his arms crossed over his chest. Your aggravated tone did nothing to his smirk.

".. You're dumb as hell, ya know that?" you turned to face the male and his confidence seemed to shrink a little bit. You advanced toward him and he stepped backwards. He wanted to keep distance between you two in case a fight broke out. He'd seen you fight other people bigger than you and remembered how they were sent to the Hospital wing. "You're a twat. You're a self centered brat who thinks he rules this school."

He gulped when he felt his back press against the wall. "Yeah? And what are you going to do about it Granger?" Draco could feel the blood rush to his cheeks. You must've noticed his face turning Gryffindor red because next thing he knew, you were pressed up against him, pinning him to the wall. He felt his breath catch in his throat when your eyes glanced at his lips for a brief second.

"I might teach you a lesson." Your hands came at either side of his head, a dangerous smirk drawing across your lips. You leaned forward, your lips ghosting over his. "You have been such a brat lately. A punishment is in order, hmm?"

Draco's hands tried to grip the wall, his nails scraping against it. Fuck, the way your voice dropped sent blood from his cheeks to his dick almost immediately.

With that, you slammed your lips to his, causing a breathy whine to escape Draco's throat. You tilted your head, your tongue grazing across his lips as your hand slipped through his hair. The blonde wrapped his arms around your neck as he opened his mouth, his tongue meeting yours. With teeth clashing, your bodies pressed together and a hand in his hair, you easily gained dominance.

You pulled from the kiss, causing Malfoy to let out a protest.

"Shut it, brat." You grumbled, a hand covering his mouth as you planted a kiss to the side of his neck. "Besides, we're out past curfew. Would hate to get caught."

He could feel you smirk against his skin, your hand in his bleached locks tugging his head to the side so you had more room. He jumped a little when he felt you bite down on his neck. The younger man's eyes fell shut as you attacked his neck with love bites and hickeys.

Your hand covering his mouth moved to his cheek as you placed a kiss on a particularly big hickey.

"You ok?" your voice was soft and sweet against his ear. He nodded quickly, not wanting this to end, which only caused you to snicker. Draco blinked a few times in confusion when you placed your hands on his shoulders and began to push him down to his knees.

"I'd rather not kneel on the floor."

"Why not?"

"It's filthy!"

You stared at Draco for a few seconds before rolling your eyes and you shoved him down to his knees.

"I don't care if it's filthy. You have magic, don't you? Clean your knees when we're done. Simple." you smirked down at him, joy filling your heart. God, it genuinely felt good to see the cocky pureblood on his knees, his head turned in a silent protest.

One hand stayed on his shoulder, the other moved itself to the bulge between your legs. The groan that left your lips caught his attention. The hand against your bulge grounded down, causing you to groan.

"Oh, now I've got your attention?"

"Shove it, Granger."

"Now, now. That's no way to talk to me, I am older."

Draco rolled his eyes so hard you were sure they were gonna roll straight out of his head. But since this whole event was anything but straight, you figured it wouldn't happen that easily.

The man on his knees swatted your hand away and wasted zero time unbuttoning your jeans and pulling them down around your knees. He stared at the bulge in your galaxy themed boxers, the tips of his ears turning a bright pink. He noticed the damp spot right by the tip and realized it was from him.

Suddenly, his confidence came back, and the blonde quickly began mouthing at your erection. With a rough groan, you rested your hand on top of his head and used the other stabilizing you against the wall.

"Go on, then. Don't be shy." You chuckled, gently ruffling his hair. The 6th year reached up, quickly pulling down your boxers to reveal your hard length.

"I'm not shy." When he finally met your eyes, you noticed his blue ones burning with a lust that you'd only wished to see in your dreams.

"Uh huh, then why aren't you sucking my dick, hmm?" You smirked, pushing your hips forward.

"I might bite it with the attitude you hold." The blonde spoke as he leaned forward, licking from the base to the tip in one, long swipe. You let out a sigh, your head slowly tipping backwards as his tongue grazed over the tip of your wood.

"You love my attitude. I bet you always have."

Draco wanted to mock you or laugh at you or something, but he knew you were right so instead, he sucked on your tip like it was a popsickle. He hallowed his cheeks and kept eye contact with you as he slowly took you into his mouth.

You let out a gasp at how hot it was. Visually and physically, it was so damn hot. Your grip tightened on his hair when his tongue ran along the vein on the bottom.

"Fuck- Ah, Draco-" You tried not to move your hips. After all, you didn't know how much experience he had, but it felt like he was pretty well off.

Draco, however, was focused on the way you said his name. It dragged a moan out of him. This might've been the first time he heard you say his first name and your gravely voice made it so wonderful.

The blonde on his knees suddenly wanted to hear you say it again. He closed his eyes, pulling back to take a breath before he pushed forward. The pureblood focused on trying to take you down his throat. His eyebrows furrowed together when he gagged and chose to ignore his tears.

"Oh shit!" you hissed out, your jaw dropping when you felt his nose press against your pelvis. "Draco, how the hell-?" you bucked forward when you felt him try to swallow around you. "Ooh, Godric!" you tossed your head back, your hand against the wall curling into a fist.

Draco pulled back and slowly went down on you again, a breathy whine leaving your throat.

"You are far too good at this, baby."

All too soon he was pulling off you completely, which causes you to whine and look down at him. He was looking down at his hands that rested in his lap.

"What? Did I say something wrong?" You asked, your head tilting to the side a little bit.

"No!" his head shot up to look at you, his eyes wide. "I mean.. No... No, I've just never been called something so.. Soft."

This caused your eyebrows to furrow together. "Huh. Well, let's change that. Come on." You stepped out of the pants pooled at your feet and held a hand out to him, which he took.

You gently led him over to the sinks, turning him around to face his reflection. "I got you." you whispered in his ear, causing him to shudder.

He nodded his head, looking down at the sink in front of him. The pureblood rested his hands against the porcelain. The 6th year's heart was pounding in his ears, his bottom lip becoming trapped between his teeth.

The blonde felt your hands run from the back of his neck, to his shoulders and down his back before finally landing on his hips. The wizard felt a heat pooling in his belly when he felt your hips press against his ass.

You reached around to his front, undoing his belt and slowly pulling it free from the loops before tossing it off to the side. He finally looked up at the mirror, taking in the reflection of his messy hair, swollen lips and your hands coming back to his front.

"I got you, Draco." Your voice was soft. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about anything." You smiled at him over his shoulder and winked before popping the button of his trousers open and allowed gravity to pull them down.

Malfoy gasped when you cupped his bulge, his hips automatically pushing forward. He'd been hard since you pinned him against the railing.

"(Y/n).." he whispered out, his mouth falling open when your thumb ran across the head of his cock.

"Yes, babe?" Your smile has turned into a knowing smirk. Blue eyes bounced between your hand and that devious smirk, Draco's brain conflicted on which sight was better. "Do you need something?"

He nodded his head, blonde locks bouncing.

"Please." his voice was barely above a whisper.

"Please? Please what?" Your fingers slipped past the elastic of his boxers, a false sense of innocence laced in your voice.

"Move- touch me- damnit, Granger, please."

You finally pushed his boxers down, your hands running along the front of his thighs before finally landing on what he wanted you to focus on. The blonde let out a sigh of your name when your hand finally wrapped around his dick.

A small smile stretched across his face once your hand started moving. The pleasure wasn't new, but was oh so welcomed. He was glad he finally got you.

You gave him a few pumps, allowing his precum to build up on your hand, making everything easier.

"There ya go, baby. So sweet." You whispered, kissing the back of his ear.

Draco brought a pale pink lip between pearly white teeth again, his hips pushing forward to get more.

The hand still resting on his hip came around to the front, gathered a bit of precum off the tip before slinking back around to the back. He used the pre like lube and pushed a finger into Draco's tight hole, causing him to emit a squeal and arch his back a little but.

"Oh, Godric. I'm so excited to wreck you, baby."

"(Y/n)!" he squeaked out as the finger went deeper. He bit his lip harder, the pain slowly dying out and being replaced with a burning pleasure.

You loved hearing your name being moaned like that, just like he enjoyed hearing his when he was suckin' on your lolli. You added a second finger, slowly thrusting them in and out to try and speed this along. You could only jerk someone off for so long anyway.

You licked your lips, a determined expression event on how badly you wanted him. Maybe eating his ass would've been more effective.

"Please hurry, I don't know how much more of this I can take-" his voice was higher in pitch, his hips pushing back against you. "Please-"

"Ok, baby, ok. No need to beg." you chuckled, removing your hands from their working positions. Gently rubbing your hand over one cheek, you spread it open enough to spit in it, just to be safe. "Ready?" your free hand grabbed your own dick pumping it a few times for good measure.

"I wouldn't be asking you to do it if I wasn't, now would I?" the blonde snapped back, glaring over his shoulder. How did he go from so innocent he's almost choking from one finger in him to being a demanding brat all over again?

You rolled your eyes and lined yourself up, carefully and slowly pushing in until you made it past the first ring of muscle. Both of you moaned at the feeling, your hands coming to rest against his hips as his head ducked down, his chin pressed against his chest.

You slowly pushed in deeper, a whine leaving his throat as the twisted pain came back. You reached around to grab his dick again and jerked him off a little bit more to try and counterbalance the pain.

Once you were all the way in, you just let him adjust. You kissed across his still clothed shoulders and neck, whispering encouraging words of praise.

The hand on his hip dragged itself upward, your eyes following it in the mirror. Once it made it to his chest, you cupped one of his pecs through the shirt, feeling his perky nipple pressing against your palm.

Grinding your palm down against his nipple and continuing to rub his dick, you slowly pulled out almost all the way before pushing back in with one sweep.

You literally left him breathless. He was staring at you through the reflection in the mirror, his mouth hanging open, his eyes glazed over with need, his hair a mess.

You built up a pave easily, deep and hard but slow and Draco loved every second of it. His toes curled in his boots, his back arched into your hands while his hips fought to figure out if they wanted to go forward into your hand or back into your dick. It truly was a conundrum for the twink.

"Such a good boy for me, aren't ya?" You spoke up after a while, your voice gravelly and rough and right in his ear. You let out a breathy laugh when he shuddered and moaned from that alone.

The two of you weren't concerned with the sound of skin hitting skin or your moans echoing around the hallow bathroom. You were busy, I don't blame you.

Soon enough, Draco was begging you to speed up, his release starting to creep it's way around. You nodded your head, resting your forehead against his shoulder as you spend your hips up, a grunt leaving your lips.

Draco let out a loud whine when your fingers pinched one of his nipples, his hands clawing at the walls as pleasure coursed through his veins.

"I'm gonna cum in you." You groaned against his back. "I'm gonna mark you as mine and you're gonna sit there and enjoy it."

Fuck yeah, he was.

Draco was nowhere near complaining. He'd been fantasizing of this and so much more for years. He, of course, blamed his hormones, but he knew the effect ran deeper than just lust.

Draco nodded his head. "Please-" he moaned out your name, his thighs trembling from the pleasure. He was getting closer and, honestly, so where you.

The pureblood was so warm and hugged you so right in all the right places and Albus mother-fucking Dumbledore where you getting more of this later.

This stupid cute blonde was so intoxicating it almost made you feel pathetic. Keyword is almost.

You sped up, chasing after your own release as it also reared its head around the corner.

"G-gonna cum-" Draco stuttered out, his voice cracking. One hand fell from the wall to the porcelain sink at his waist. "I-I'm.. Gonna-" he called out your name, loud enough for it to probably be heard by the Gryffindors, as he came.

He tightened and spasmed around you, his legs shaking and tiny moans leaving his throat as you helped him ride out his orgasm.

"Are you good?" You asked, rubbing his back and soon letting go of his soft dick when he deemed it was sensitive. "Do you want me to pull out?"

Draco shook his head, his ears noticeably red from behind him. "I want you to keep your promise."

He did not have to tell you twice. You went back to thrusting into him, both hands on his waist as you sought after your own orgasm. A few moans and groans from you later and you were cumming inside him.

You leaned into him, riding it out until his tight, hot ass became too much. You pulled out carefully, causing him to whine and twitch.

"Let's get you cleaned up, ok, Draco?"

The blonde nodded his head and allowed you to carefully and gently clean him up with a wet paper towel. It wasn't the lost romantic thing used to clean partners, but it was what you had.

After a few minutes of silence once you were cleaned and dressed you spoke up.

"So what.. Where are you doing by Gryffindor Tower, Blondie?" your hands ended up in your pockets again.

"Well I.." The pureblood reached into the pocket of his jacket, pulling out an envelope. "I was going to..."

"Draco, babe. I saw your 'o' face. Just tell me. You shouldn't be embarrassed." You snickered, obviously teasing the younger man.

He took in a deep breath and shoved the letter toward you.

"IwroteyoualetterexplaininghowIfeltaboutyouandhowIwassorryforhowItreatedyoursister-" he was going way too fast for you to understand anything.

"What? I can't.. I don't speak whatever this is."

"I.. Just read the letter!"

With that, you tore open the envelope. It was the love letter Draco was gonna leave by your bedside table.

The letter stated how he fell in love with you from a far over the years by watching you dominate in Quidditch, bringing light into the world with the Twins (let's be honest, imma throw them in this) and just.. Being you. Plus bickering with you was one of his favorite pastimes.

It also stated how he was sorry for treating Hermione so poorly and the citation with his dad and how he was raised.

The Slytherin was nervously wringing his hands together, a nervous expression on his face. "Umm.. Are.. You gonna say something?" his mental fingers were crossed.

You smiled, tilting your head a little bit.

"You're an idiot." You pulled him into a gentle kiss, your hand entangling with his. You casted him a genuine smile. "I like you too, Draco."

The blonde's face broke out in a matching grin and he all but jumped on you to give you another kiss. Once the two of you broke apart, your voice echoed in the bathroom once again.

"There's only one problem."

"What is it?"

"How do we tell Hermione?"

[libraryofloveletters]

Heir To The Throne

Chapter 3: Blood Soaked Roses

There comes a day where all fathers pass their business down to their children. This was no ordinary business, this was the mafia. You were the sole heir to the throne and you didn’t want it. Your father’s right hands Derek and Aaron are tasked with convincing you otherwise, the last thing you expected to do was fall in love.

Mafia AU

Aaron Hotchner x Fem!Reader, Derek Morgan x Fem!Reader

Warnings: mentions of loss of sibling, tiniest mention of jeid (i’m sorry I had too), sibling teasing, alcohol and the consumption of, crying, swearing, lots of emotions, mentions of blood and injuries, choking (not the sexy kind), violence, threats, mentions of death and death wish, mentions of hotchniss, kissing, guns and the use of. 

Word Count: 4.4k

Author’s Note: surprise motherfucker, there you go :) also what y/n says to them is not a reflection of my feelings towards the characters. I was just in a pissy mood when wrote it LMAO

Masterlist // Chapter 2 // Chapter 4

----

The smell lingering through your bedroom, the balcony doors were open with the curtains drawn. The sun shined into your room, the light hit a vase of red roses sat on the table beside your mirror, the reflection of the glass caught your eye. Rolling out of bed, you smell the roses, literally. Every year like clockwork, you’ve received a bunch of red roses, assuming they were from your father or your brother, you went along with your day. After James passed, you assumed they were from your father but they never seemed to have a note attached to them. This year was different, there was a little white paper slipped into the corner of the vase. Pulling it out, it read: 

“Happy birthday my darling, 

Love always.” 

There was no name, no signature, just some smudged ink on the paper and the birthday wish. There was no way of knowing who it was from. You stepped onto the balcony, the warm sun beating down onto your skin as the mist from the water below blew with the breeze. Your mind wandered back to the conversation you had Matt the night before. 

“y/n.. we can’t do this anymore”

“What ? What are you talking about?”

“This,” he refers to you and him, “we can’t keep doing this. You’re going to lead this shit one day and you can’t spend all your time with me, there has to be something more for you.”

“Where’s this coming from ? What’s going on?” 

No explanation, no communication, no nothing. 

Radio silence and it was driving you fucking crazy. 

Looking back at the roses sitting on the table, Matt was the only thing on your mind. Maybe this was his way of saying that he wanted to make up without actually saying it. Before you could leave to find Matt, there was a knock on your door. “Come in!” you shouted, your father walked in. 

“There she is!” he walked over, his hands grabbing your face. 

“Good morning to you too pops” you smiled at him, he kissed your cheek and pulled you into a hug. 

“Happy birthday Bella” 

“Thank you” 

“Have you picked something to wear for tonight ? Penelope was telling me that you hadn't found anything yet” 

“Oh I did but you have to wait until tonight to see it” 

He nodded, he explained that he’d be in meetings for the majority of the day but if you needed anything that you could let Derek or Aaron know. You told him that you rather die than talk to them on your own free will. Your father left you in the room, you sat down on the bed. Once again, your mind wanders back to Matt, it then drifts over to your brother. The memory of your last birthday with him flooding in. 

“Wake up you troll” James shouted as he sat on your bed and pulled the blanket off of you. “Shhh, I'm still sleeping” you roll over which made him smile. 

“I’m taking you on a trip.” he leans back against the headboard. The promise of a trip made you sit up. Your eyes flickering over to the vase filled with red roses on your bedside table.

“Where are we going ?” you ask the guy sitting beside you, you leaned over to smell the flowers.

“Paris, ma soeur” James smiled at you, the mention of Paris made your face light up. James would go to the ends of the death and back for you. Your happiness came before everything else to him. 

“Are you serious ?” you look over at him, he nods. 

“I know you’ve always wanted to go and I rather be the one that takes you than some stupid boy” his comment made you roll your eyes. James wasn't the biggest fan of you dating. You pulled him into a hug anyways, “Thank you J, this is going to be the best trip” 

“You’re welcome munchkin, happy 16th” he kissed the top of your head.

Spencer walked into your bedroom, a cupcake with a candle sticking out of it. “Oh yeah, come on in. It’s a free for all in here today” you rolled your eyes, Spencer laughs. “Don’t make me smash this cupcake on your face” he sat beside you on the bed, he pulled a lighter from his pocket and lit the candle. 

“Happy birthday y/n” he held the cupcake in front of you, waiting for you to blow the candle out. One big breath and the little flame was out, he handed the cupcake to you. “Thank you Spence,” “anything for you, you know that” he smiled at you. Getting up off the bed, Spencer walked to the balcony. 

“Why is it that your room has the best view?” he questioned

“Why is it that you’re always complaining?” you rebutted 

“Who are the roses from ?” he pried again 

“I don't know, there’s a note but no name” 

Spencer walked over and pulled the note out of the roses, reading it out loud. “That sounds like something your dad would say” he tucked the note back into the flowers. “That’s what I thought too but he came to see me and he seemed surprised to see the flowers too” 

“Looks like you have a secret admirer” 

“As if” you groan, laying back onto the bed. “You bringing a date tonight ?” 

Spencer looked at you like you were crazy, “who would I even bring ?” 

“JJ” you laughed, Spencer gagged. “Been there, done that and I won't be going back. I’m offended you even suggested that.” 

“Oh Spence, don't you love her ?” you teased him, getting up off the bed. Spencer gave you a shove, “y/n shut up, I'll literally push you off the balcony.” his comment made you laugh. “Okay get out now, I have to get ready” 

“It’s only 2 o'clock, the party's not ‘till 6″ 

“You can’t rush perfection” 

“And somehow you’re still ugly” 

You gasp, pushing Spencer towards the door and out of the room. You shut the door and your back is up against it, your eyes drifting back to the flowers. 

--

The bottom of your dress dragged along the marble stairs as you walked down. The party was well under way and you, were as usual, fashionably late. Pushing the large doors open, everyone was around the room, and as usual, they were waiting on you to arrive. 

“Bella!” your father called out to you, making his way over to you with a blonde woman by his side.

“Hey” you smile at him

“You remember Krystall, right ?” She gives you a smile and you muster up the realest smile you could, “of course I do, nice to see you again. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go say hi to everyone else”

Leaving the two of them by the door, you make your way around the room, saying hello to everyone as you go. Matt stood by the bar with Luke and Penelope, you made your way over to them. 

“Y/n! You look gorgeous!” Penelope squeals as she gives you a hug, she always makes you smile. “Says you! you look stunning!” you stood beside her, “and Luke, you clean up nicely. It’s nice to see you in something other than jeans” you joke, Luke rolled his eyes.

“Don’t push it y/n” 

“Whatever grumpy” 

There's a hand on your lower back, you look back to see Matt behind you. “Happy birthday” he said to you, he stepped towards you but hesitated before giving you a hug. “Thank you” you smile, you’d be lying if you said it didn't feel good to be back in his arms. It was weird, Matt acting like he hadn't just ended things the night before. You were determined to have a good time so you pushed the feelings aside in hopes of getting drunk enough that you wouldn't remember. 

“Can I get you a drink?” he asks, letting go of you. 

“Yeah, thanks” 

Your back is up against the bar as Matt goes to get you a drink. You can see JJ making her way over to Spencer who was standing with Tara. 

Should you be a good cousin and rescue him or do you leave him for being an ass earlier ? 

“Spencer! Come do shots with me!” you shout from across the room, Spencer looks towards you, your eyes on JJ and not him, he looks over his shoulder to see her a few feet behind him. He and Tara excuse themselves from the conversation they were having and walk over to the bar. 

Second one it is then. 

“Thought I should save you from your girlfriend” 

“Not my girlfriend but thank you” 

JJ was giving you a dirty look from across the room, she stood with Emily who was also giving you a dirty look. The fact that they hate you so much brings you a lot of pleasure. You blow them a kiss and give them a smile, they both roll their eyes and turn away from you. 

“Did you see your dad with Krystall ?” Tara asks, taking a sip of her drink. Your father was dancing with Krystall. The song that was playing was a song that he shouldn't have been dancing to, not with her at least. It was your parents’ wedding song, something you had only ever seen the two of them dance too. Any event whenever that song came on, it was the two of them on the floor dancing the night away. After she passed, you danced with him, not anyone else. Especially not some woman he just started seeing. He’s his own person but he’s also your father, there's no way you were going to let this slide. 

“Here you go” Matt comes back with a glass, “maybe you should get the bottle” you look at him, he knew you well enough to sense when something was wrong. He did as he was told and headed off to get the bottle of you. 

-- 

Half way through the night, the room started to feel stuffy and heated with far too many people in there. Truthfully, you weren’t much for birthdays, not after James passed. Every year since has just been you and Spencer going on a trip or for dinner but never a big party like this. Your father was just trying to make up for the fact that he missed your 21st by throwing this party. Not you didn't appreciate the efforts, because you did but you didn’t want to be there anymore. 

It was a little after midnight, you had lost your heels somewhere along the way to the garden. You tiptoed across the stones, stumbling as you went along. Managing to make your way to the bench, you sat down, the bottle resting beside you on the ground.

The sound of footsteps caused you to turn. “What do you want ?” you shout into the darkness, not sure as too who's behind you. “Dave’s looking for you” Derek stepped forward, coming into view. At this current moment, you didn't know whether to tell him to leave or just return with him. The world felt like it was spinning backwards and upside down simultaneously.  You laid back against the bench, the cold stone hitting your bare back caused you to shift slightly, the moonlight shined down onto the roses in the garden, Derek stood a few feet away from you, watching you as you laid there. 

Part of you wanted to tell him to leave, to yell at him for causing your brother’s death, for not protecting him. The other part of you wanted to run into his arms and never let go, you knew Derek had always been there for you, even when you didn't need him to be. He ever so happened to conveniently there when needed. Sitting up, you looked over at him, looking the tall man up and down. Black suit jacket to match his pants with a white shirt but there was no tie to accompany the shirt, just the first 3 buttons undone. He was different from Aaron in a way you couldn't explain. Derek had this naturally strong aura, one you didn't see him push forward like Aaron, who always made it look like he needed to prove that he was alpha male. Derek had a gentle side to him, he could be harsh on you but not in the same way he was with everyone else. His watch sat on his right wrist, something you noticed as you were glancing down at his hand. There were smudges of ink on his side of hand like he had written something and it smudged against his skin. Your mind flickered back to the note in your roses the morning before. 

“It was you” 

“Excuse me ?”

“You left the roses in my room.” 

Derek gave you a small smile, carefully stepping towards you. “Yes, it was. What gave it away ?” he sat beside you, looking over at you. Glancing down at his hand that was resting on his lap, you reached out and held it. Your finger rubbed across the smudged ink on the side of his large hand, neither of you said anything, you just sat there holding his hand. 

You broke the silence first, your voice wavered for a moment as you felt the tears well up, “He- he used to leave me roses red ones just like those” avoiding Derek’s looks, your eyes fixated on his hand, your finger continuing to rub against the ink smudge. “I know” he whispered, his free hand coming up to your chin, tilting your face up towards him. The tears threaten to spill, suddenly your body felt cold, the words physically hurt to say. 

“I miss him.” 

“I know” 

The tears fell onto your face, you tried your best to hold it together but you couldn't anymore. You always missed your brother but never had you actually said it out loud to anyone, not even to James when you visit his grave. Derek held you close to him, letting you cry on his shoulder, literally. Was Derek the person you expected to spill your emotions too ? No, he never was but he was here, he didn't make you feel like it was wrong or that it was a burden, he just let you cry, and yell and hit him until you felt that you let it out.  Within the span of a few minutes, you cried until you couldn't anymore, your chest heaving and your hand on your leg as you hunched over. Derek’s hand rested on your back, “do you want to go up to bed ? y/n, let me take you up to bed” the back of your hand pressed to your face, wiping away the tears. Surely there was makeup smudged across your face but right now you didn't care.  

The sadness left but the anger set in. Picking up the bottle from beside the bench, you took a rather large swing. The liquor burned on the way down but you didn’t care, bunching up your dress in one hand and the bottle in the other, Derek stood up as you marched off towards the villa. 

“Y/n! Don’t!” he shouted as he chased after you. He had seen you grow from a teenager to the woman you were today, the next leader of the mafia. Although the two of you weren't close, he knew you well enough to know when you were upset, and you weren't just upset, you were furious. 

Storming into the villa, you walked through the large brown doors. Everyone was laughing, having the time of their lives. Most of the strangers your father had invited left, it was just “family” now. The bottle fell from your hand, it hit the floor and shattered into a million tiny pieces, the liquor from the bottle spilling across the tiles, pooling near your bare feet. The room went silent, all eyes were on you now. 

Walking through the broken glass, your body felt numb to pain, all you felt was anger. You had lost the one person that cared about you and you couldn't move on, you thought you had finally moved on with Matt but he too, had left you. The blood from your feet dragged and smudged across the white marble tiles as you walked to the middle of the room. 

“All of you,” you scoffed, “you say you’re my family but none of you, not even you,” pointing towards your father, “truly care about me” 

“Bella what are yo-” your father spoke but you cut him off. 

“You've been pushing the idea of your children running this place since - for as long as I could remember. You forced it onto James but he never wanted it. He just wanted a life of happiness and freedom, and you took that from him!” you shouted at your father, his expression softened as you walked towards him. “You forced it into him and when he died, you forced it onto me. If you hadn't fucking done that then maybe James would still be here! I won't let you take my life from me. I rather die than let you do what you did to James, to me.” 

Krystall clung to Dave’s arm, she looked scared but pleased at the same time. “What are you smiling about bitch ? Think you can get rid of me so easily ? Take my father away from me? Yeah I might fucking hate his guts, but we’re blood. You’ll never replace me or my mother. She was the real queen around here, and you-” laughing, you shook your head, “you’re nothing but the skank of the month.” 

Turning to Spencer who stood beside Tara with Penelope and Luke, you shook your head. “I called you guys my friends, you knew about my father’s secret little whore and not one of you ever told me a thing.” Luke reached for your arm, you pushed him off of you. “Don’t fucking touch me! I’m not one of your little bitches, don't try and handle me.”

You paced the room for a moment, no one dared tell you to calm down or stop. Emily and JJ stood beside Aaron, whispering to each other. “What the fuck is wrong with the two of you? The two of you ungrateful bitches live in my fucking house and you do nothing but talk shit and you’re not even useful. Shut the fuck before I break your jaws.” you spat, your words laced with venom. Both of them stood there, looking at you like you were speaking a foreign language. 

Matt walked back into the room, you shifted your attention back onto him. “And you!” you walked over, your feet dragged across the floor and through the glass once more, “Y/n, you’re bleeding, are you okay ?” 

“Am I okay ? Yeah Matt, I’m fucking fantastic. You just up and leave, no explaination other than the fact that you “can’t do this” whatever the fuck that means.” you roll you eyes “You’re a fucking piece of shit, do you know that ? I opened up to you, about something I never talked about because I thought I could trust you. Oh how I was wrong, your bitch ass just upped and left, just like everyone else.” 

“All of you are nothing but a bunch of blood sucking, ass kissing, ungrateful bitches!” you screamed, Aaron made his way over to you, picking you up and tossed you over his shoulder. “Put me down! you bitch!” you kicked and screamed, hitting his back as he walked out of the room. Derek stood by the door, he watched as Aaron carried you up the stairs. Aaron walked into your room and kicked the door shut, he dropped you down onto your bed. Landing with a groan, Aaron looked over at you.

“What the fuck was that ?!” he shouted, he was practically in your face although he was across the room 

“Awh what’s wrong baby? Mad I yelled at your bitch ? Oh sorry,” you teased him with a giggle, “your girlfriend ?” you stood up, you walked over to the balcony, Aaron watched you from his spot. You looked back over at him, your eyes on the white rug where you previously stood, the little drops of red blood staining the pure white fur that sat on the floor. Aaron watched you, watching him. 

Slowly making his way over, he stood in front of you. The two of you looking at each other dead in the eyes, his hand raises. Aaron’s hand rested on your chest, your eyes flicker down to the man’s hand and then back up to his face. A few moments after, you feel his hand wrap around your neck. Aaron pushes you up against the railing of the balcony, his body pressed up against yours as your back arched over the cold metal railing. One hand clung onto Aaron’s and the other laid useless by your side. 

“You ever talk to her that way again,” Aaron spat, your back was off the railing down, your toes barely touching the cold concrete of the balcony. The only thing holding you in place was Aaron’s hand, “and I'll kill you.” he finished his sentence. Aaron wouldn't drop you, he didn't dare. He didn't have the guts, you called his bluff. 

“Drop me Aaron.” you looked at him, your hand dropping from his. 

“What ?” he stared into your eyes, your face blank, no expression or fear. 

You didn't fear death, it was inevitable, we were all going to die one day. 

“Drop me Aaron, kill me if you want to. Be a man and live up to your words.” a wicked smile on your face, looking up at him, he pulled you back up from the railing. Your waist pressed up against the railing and Aaron’s body still pressed up against yours. Aaron let go of your throat, there were a few light bruises by the side of your neck in the shape of fingerprints. Aaron didn't know what to do, to say he was sorry or to leave. 

Aaron left you standing on the balcony, he walked out of your room. He ran down the stairs as fast as he could. Turning the hallway, he bumped into someone. 

Emily. 

“There you are, is she gone ?” she rolled her eyes at the thought of you. Aaron cleared his throat, his mind flickering back to the moment he just had in your room. 

“Yeah, she’s sleeping.” he said quietly, his girlfriend linked arms with him. “How about we head to bed then ?” she walked down the hallway with Aaron, pushing the door to their room open.

 Aaron followed her reluctantly, she stood in front of him. He unzipped her dress and she sauntered off the bathroom. The couple got ready for bed in silence, neither of them speaking a word to the other. Getting into bed quietly, Emily leaned over to kiss him and reluctantly, he kissed her back. Their relationship felt more like a routine rather than a relationship. 

Emily returned to her side of the bed, Aaron laid there quietly, his mind wandering all over. Not surprising, his mind wandered back to you. He’d be lying if he said he didn't think about you often, you seemed to live in his head rent free. Aaron’s mind wandered back to the moment he had with you in your bedroom. The expression on your face was unreal, you didn't tense up or cry, you were fearless. You weren't scared of him or death, you were ready to go, it was like you had come to peace with death and there was nothing scarier than that. 

A woman with no fears is a woman that should be feared. 

Aaron can’t help but think about that moment, everything comes back to that moment. The way you looked at him, the way you let go of his hand, your words to the way his body felt pressed up against yours. Aaron thought back to his conversation with Derek in the armoury. Derek looked so hurt that you didn't like him, then again, you didn’t like anyone that was too “in your business” as you would say. The thought of you brought a smile to his face. 

Holy shit, did he like you ? There was no way. 

“Oh fuck” he whispered, Emily hummed. Aaron glanced over at the woman beside him, he loved Emily but she doesn’t make him feel the way you did. There was no excitement between them, it was routine, a front they put on for everyone. His mind was always on you, what you were doing, who you were doing, what you were wearing, how you looked. 

Aaron liked you. 

Just as he was coming to terms with the fact that he’s in love with the boss's daughter, a noise rang through the villa. 

Bang. 

The sound of a single gunshot and shattering glass. Aaron sat up in bed, he looked out the window, there was no one outside. The sound of multiple gunshots rang through the villa and an earth shattering scream. 

It was you and you were screaming for him. 

For Aaron. 

--- 

Ahhh finally chapter 3! What do we think? lil bit of a cliff hanger there :) 

Taglist: @ssahoodrathotchner @mac99martin​ @aaron-hotchner187​ @tclaerh​ @luke-alvez​ @iconicc​ @lieberhers​ @pumpkin-reads​ @katexrichardson​ @sluttytears​ @thelukealvez​ @scandinavian-punk​ @laurenxreynolds​ @morcias​ @shotarosleftpinky​ @mrs-dr-reid​ @hqtchner​ @averyhotchner​ @willlemonheadsupremacy​ @mggsprettygirl​ @simxican​ @sunshinepower17​ @emilysbau @obsssedwithjustaboutanything​ @lexieshuntingsstuff​ @archiveofadragon

[sokkascroptop]

traitor. (sokka x f!reader) pt 14

part 1 | part 13 | part 15

A/N: Just a warning, if you all hop in my asks saying Y/N x Katara Rights!! i’ll cut you :) so this chapter is kind of a filler and was so hard to write?? but it’s needed because of literally one part and you’ll know what it is when you read it. Also, Katara and Y/N separately have One Brain Cell that serves as impulse control but when they’re together they cancel out and they would rather die than think.

Y/N couldn’t sleep that night. They had all decided to turn in early since Sokka wanted them up at the crack of dawn, but Y/N couldn’t stop tossing and turning, thinking about the little village on the water down below them that was suffering so much. Suffering because of her nation. Their nation. Katara was right, she felt cold and heartless doing nothing, but Y/N wasn’t sure of what she even could do for them.

Seeing the rundown fishing village was the worst part of their journey so far. Y/N had never imagined in her wildest dreams that there were Fire Nation citizens living in such poverty. At home, in Capital City, a pretty picture was painted of all the towns in their nation, even towns like this one, where steel mills were built to provide their armies with weapons; actually, especially these towns.

“Look at this place. We have to do something!” Katara said as soon as they stepped onto one of the docks. 

Sokka stopped in his tracks. “Uh no, we can’t waste our time here. We have a bigger mission we need to focus on. These people are on their own.” He waved his hands, signifying the end of the discussion. 

However, Katara was just getting started. Aang and Y/N shared an uncomfy look as the two Water Tribe siblings began arguing. “These people are starving, but you’d turn your back on them? How could you be so cold and heartless?”

“I’m not turning my back!” Sokka said defensively. “I’m just being realistic. We can’t go around helping every rinky-dink town we wander into. We’ll be helping them all by taking out the Fire Lord.”

“Hey, Loudmouth!” Toph smacked a hand over Sokka’s lips. “Maybe we should be a little quieter when we talk about ‘taking out the Fire Lord’.” 

“Katara, be reasonable about this,” Sokka said quietly. “Y/N gets it.”

At the sound of her name, Y/N looked up from where she was dragging her sandal between the slats of wood, trying to become invisible. Katara and Sokka both looked at her expectantly. “Katara, I’m sorry but I think Sokka is right.” She frowned at her own words. “The mission needs to come first. It will help everyone in the long run.”

“Let’s just get what we need and go.” Aang tried to sound upbeat but everyone knew he was just trying to defuse any more arguments. 

Sokka laid out his schedule across their campsite right over Y/N’s lap. As Toph, Aang and Katara bent mud out of the river’s water and boiled it to drink, Sokka and Y/N peered over the paper. She couldn’t read any of Sokka’s messy handwriting but she was able to get the gist of things with the copious color coding. Sokka was crouching over her shoulder mumbling to himself. 

She turned to him. “Does it ever stop?” She asked.

Sokka grunted, “Huh?” he continued to look over the schedule, tracing the lines with a finger. 

“That little hamster-weasel running on the wheel that powers that brain of yours. Does he ever stop?”

Sokka narrowed his eyes and stood up, completely ignoring her which made her giggle. “Because we spent the whole day here, we’re going to have to wake up every morning forty-three minutes earlier to make it to the Fire Lord in time for the invasion.”

“Forty-three minutes,” Katara deadpanned. 

“Well I’m not waking up early,” Toph said, lying back on the dirt.  

Y/N reached up and yanked on the hem of Sokka’s tunic until he paid her attention. “Yeah, me either, bud. I don’t get up before that sun rises.”

“Then we’re just going to have to take potty breaks with food breaks.” 

There was a chorus of, “ewww” from the rest of the group but Sokka looked unperturbed. “It’s efficient!! It doesn’t matter, we have to leave first thing in the morning.” Sokka rolled up his schedule and stomped off to his sleeping bag leaving the four of them to wonder how he became the one in charge.

---

Y/N couldn’t sleep that night. They had all decided to turn in early since Sokka wanted them up at the crack of dawn, but Y/N couldn’t stop tossing and turning, thinking about the little village on the water down below them that was suffering so much. Suffering because of her nation. Their nation. Katara was right, she felt cold and heartless doing nothing, but Y/N wasn’t sure of what she even could do for them.

Y/N sighed and turned over for what seemed like the fiftieth time that night. She grimaced as her shoulder rolled right onto her hair, yanking it painfully from her scalp. She sat up pulling her hair around to the front. She’d never thought much about it before, always putting it in a braid to keep it out of her face while sparring. Now that she was walking around the Fire Nation with it down all the time to hide her identity, she was much more aware of it. She couldn’t remember the last time it was cut, it was as long as Katara’s and the humidity had made it wavy. It was heavy and thick and always made her hot when the sun was shining. 

She ran her fingers through it a couple times, pulling at some tangles (that was another downside to it being down all the time) then slid out of her sleeping bag. She padded quietly barefooted past Toph, who was next to her and walked in the direction of the village. She climbed a little hill and sat with her knees pulled up in the grass overlooking the small water town. Thick black smoke billowed from the towers, even though it was well into the night. 

“Couldn’t sleep?” Y/N jumped at the sudden voice but settled as Katara sat next to her, pressing their arms together. “Sorry.”

“I see that you couldn’t either.”

“Every time I close my eyes I see those villagers,” Katara mused. 

“Me too.”

“Oh?” She raised her eyebrows. “I thought you agreed with Sokka on leaving them to deal with everything on their own.”

“I was wrong,” Y/N admitted. “I think I wanted to ignore what was happening because I didn’t want to believe that my nation would let this happen, but it’s right in front of my eyes. They let these people down. I want to help in some way.” 

“Do you have a plan?” Katara was smiling now. 

Y/N smirked. She hadn’t known the girl for long, but it was like their minds had already melded. “Kind of. But I think I need the help of a really powerful waterbender.”

---

“My mom used to tell me stories about the spirits,” Y/N used her thumb to wipe a line of red paint down Katara’s chin. They were sitting on the edge of the bank near the muddy water. The tiny village was across from them, quiet for the night. “There was one that was my favorite and she was called The Painted Lady. Close your eyes–” Y/N wiped the red paint over Katara’s eyelids and made curling lines over cheekbones. “–she was a river spirit. It’s the best persona you could have for where we are. If anyone sees you they’re going to think that’s who you are.” She wiped the leftover paint on her skirt. 

Katara donned the wide brimmed hat they had found and Y/N helped her position the lace netting around her face. Y/N pulled the hood of her black cloak up and she hopped in one of the canoes. She crouched down on the bench as Katara created a mist to hide the boat and began to bend the water around them and push them towards the factory. 

It took most of the night to distribute the food they had stolen. The boat was only so big and two trips had to be made to get enough which made it all more risky but both of the girls knew that it would all be worth it in the end. When they reached the shore Y/N collapsed with fatigue on the sand while Katara washed the paint off with clean water. 

Katara sat down heavily next to her. She sighed but she was clearly pleased with what they had done. 

“Katara… I need your help with something.”

---

“Are you sure you want to cut it all off?”

Katara hovered over Y/N’s shoulder holding the blade Y/N had stolen from Sokka’s bag when she stole his cloak. Slowly, she reached out and touched a few strands of hair at Y/N’s back.

Y/N nodded. “Right here.” She pointed to her shoulder. She stared straight ahead into the water as she spoke, not trusting herself to look back at her friend. “Hair is our honor. I know it’s silly, it feels so stupid to be so attached to something so insignificant like hair, but I just couldn’t do it before. I think I still believed in the back of my mind that I could go back; that I could be accepted back. But, not anymore. And I don’t think I want to. Not until it’s some place I can be proud of again. I cannot have honor in a nation I don’t even find honorable. I need redemption for myself. I need to prove to myself that I am not like them anymore. And step one is cutting all ties,”–Y/N took a deep breath–”so get to cutting.”

---

The next morning, Y/N woke to shouting. Before she was able to even see clearly she had jumped to her feet and grabbed her sword. Only then did she realize it was Sokka yelling. 

“What’s going on you guys?” Y/N rubbed her sleep bleary eyes. Katara and her had walked back with the sun on the horizon. Neither one of them could have gotten more than an hour of sleep. 

“Appa’s sick! It’s awful!” Sokka wailed.

Y/N reached over and patted the sky bison on the snout. He gave a large groan as if to emphasize he wasn’t feeling well. “Aw, poor guy.”

“I didn’t know you cared so much, Sokka,” Toph said as she scratched under Appa’s chin.

“We might as well just throw out the whole schedule!” One look at the others, who were glaring in his direction, sent him stumbling forward to hug Appa’s huge neck. “And I’m concerned because my big furry friend doesn’t feel well.”

“Uh-huh, sure.” Y/N rolled her eyes in Katara’s direction.

Sokka did a double take. “Your hair.”

Y/N reached up to touch the ends self-consciously. “Yeah.”

“Who’s hair?” Toph asked.

“Y/N cut her hair!” Aang exclaimed. 

Toph’s glassy eyes widened. “How short!?” 

“It’s at my shoulders,” Y/N replied. 

“When did you cut it?” Sokka furrowed his brow.

Y/N shrugged. “Last night.”

Before Sokka could ask more questions, Katara broke in. “I think we should head into town for some medicine for Appa.” 

---

Y/N walked in the back of the group next to Katara. “How did you… you know?” She cocked her head back in the direction of their camp.

Katara smiled mischievously. “I found these purple berries and fed Appa a ton of them. He just has a stomach ache.” Both of them began giggling which earned them a suspicious look from Sokka. 

“What are you laughing about?” 

“Nothing!” Y/N waved a hand around her. “We’re talking about how much the village has changed.”

Indeed the village was much livelier due to the food Katara and Y/N had delivered. And like Y/N suspected, they all thought it was because of The Painted Lady. Shoe had commended her for bringing them food in the night. When they found out that there was no medicine in the town, Y/N knew what Katara had planned for the extra night they were going to have to stay. 

---

Sokka had ignored Y/N the whole day. If he had done so a few weeks ago, she wouldn’t have thought for a second about it. But now, they were friends, they sparred every evening but even when they weren’t sparring they still talked. She watched him plan for the invasion or he watched her and Katara make dinner. 

Silence had never been so deafening. 

And finally the silence was broken during dinner. 

“You said that you went and cut your hair in the middle of the night.” 

The spoon that was halfway between her bowl and her lips almost slipped through her fingers. “Yeah, so?” Y/N asked. 

“Well, Shoe said that The Painted Lady was delivering food to the village in the middle of the night but you didn’t say anything about seeing her.”

“I didn’t see her,” Y/N said defensively. “I’m not sure why you’re interrogating me.” 

“I’m not interrogating, just wondering.”

Y/N watched as Sokka went back to eating his dinner like nothing happened. She narrowed her eyes at him. There was only one reason why he would be asking such weird questions...

“I just think it’s a little weird that you cut your hair in the middle of the night.”

A shot of anger coursed through Y/N’s body. She couldn’t stop herself from leaning forward. “Sokka, go ahead and ask it because I know you’re dying to.”

“Are you The Painted Lady?”

“No,” Y/N dropped her bowl next to the fire. “I’m going for a walk.” 

“I’m coming too!” Toph chirped.

Y/N turned back to look at the girl. “No, you’re not.”

“Too late, Not Painted Lady.” She was already pushing Y/N’s back, guiding them away from the campsite. 

---

“You know I’m really not The Painted Lady,” Y/N said. She began to balance herself on a pointy rock but thought better of it when she felt it begin to shift underneath her. She sent a dirty look in Toph’s direction.

“I know, but Katara is. And there’s no way she knew about an obscure Fire Nation spirit.”

“Um...”

“You guys weren’t necessarily quiet when you came back this morning.”

“Riiight.” Y/N bit her lip. “You’re not going to tell Sokka are you?”

“What Sokka doesn’t know won’t hurt him.”

Y/N sighed, relieved. “Thank you, Toph.”

“You’ll owe me of course.” Toph began to balance herself on the same rock, Y/N had just been on. 

Y/N laughed. “Owe you?”

“Yeah. Like, sometime, someday I’ll come to you and you owe me for keeping your secret.” Toph grinned. 

“I’m going to come to regret this, I think.”

“Probably.”

---

Y/N stayed behind that night. Sokka had been too suspicious of her and besides there wasn’t much she could do while Katara healed all of the sick villagers. The next night, however, Katara shook her awake after only a few hours of sleep. She held a finger to her lips and led her away from the campsite, far enough so they could talk without being heard. 

“I need your help tonight,” she whispered.

Y/N didn’t need to be told twice. “What are you thinking of doing?”

Katara’s eyes were wide. “Sokka was right. These villagers need to be able to help themselves but they can’t while that factory is still polluting their water.”

“Oh, you’re gonna–”

“Yeah, we’re going to blow it up.”

“I’ll get my sword.”

---

Y/N sure wasn’t expecting Aang to be so open to the idea of ecoterrorism considering his usual passive nature, but he was a big help with destroying the factory. They were lucky that he had woken up and caught them when they were leaving. 

The sun was shining when the three of them got back and it was already starting to warm up. Y/N had her black cloak thrown over her shoulder and she was laughing at something Aang had said. 

“–and when you unscrewed those screws with your sword and water came bursting out and flooded the whole floor.” Aang made an explosion noise and started giggling all over again. 

Katara shushed them both. “Quiet, we don’t want to wake Sokka up–oh hey… Sokka.”

Y/N tucked her cloak behind her back but the damage was already done. “We were just out on a morning swi–”

“Walk,” Katara corrected. Y/N bit her tongue. How had she almost said swim? Swim?! The river was literally polluted with probably dangerous levels of chemicals and she had almost said they went swimming in it. 

“I know you’re The Painted Lady, Y/N! I know you’ve been sneaking out at night and helping the villagers but I didn’t think that you would recruit my sister to help you!”

Y/N was taken aback at the anger that was radiating off of him. It was so different than just a few days earlier when they were sitting in Appa’s saddle joking with one another. As a matter of fact, Y/N wasn’t sure he’d ever shown this much outward fury to her when he hated her. 

“Sokka, leave her alone!” Katara stepped in. 

Y/N grabbed her arm and pulled her back. It was better for him to be mad at her than his sister. “No, it’s fine. He’s right. I shouldn’t have done it.”

Sokka was fuming. “You put this whole mission at risk while you were off being reckless. We’re leaving right now.”

Normally she might have said something to defend herself but instead Y/N just bumped their shoulders together as she walked past him. She packed her bags silently and rolled her sleeping bag before tossing it all into Appa’s saddle. 

Her feelings were hurt that Sokka would think that she would intentionally put them in harm’s way or mess up their mission. But something about his anger seemed misplaced; like there was more to it all. She could have expected that reaction if she had gotten caught, but she hadn’t been. As Y/N tried to rack her brain to figure out what made him tick she heard a buzzing out on the river. Even from where she was standing she could see the Fire Nation soldiers from the factory riding jet skis towards the village. 

“Oh no. No, no, no.” Y/N ran to the cliff overlooking the village and fell to her belly. Katara dropped down next to her and Sokka and Aang on her other side. 

Toph came up last. “What’s going on?”

Y/N watched in horror as the Fire Nation soldiers rode up alongside the dock and jumped off their jet skis. They began to approach the large group of villagers who had come outside to see what the noise was about. 

“What did you do?!” Sokka accused Y/N. She shook her head, unable to speak.

“We destroyed their factory,” Katara muttered.

“You what?!” Sokka yelled.

“It was your idea!” Katara yelled back at him.

“It doesn’t matter whose idea!” Y/N shot to her feet. “I’ve got to help them.”

“You can’t!” Sokka grabbed her wrist to keep her from running away. He was holding on a little too tightly and Y/N desperately wanted to yank out of his grip. She looked at his wild eyes and it finally clicked what the other emotion was. He was scared. Afraid that they were going to get hurt. Afraid that she was going to get hurt. “Those soldiers are out for blood. They want revenge.”

“Well, she’s not going alone!” Katara ripped Sokka’s hand off of Y/N. “We can’t turn our back on people who need us.”

---

Katara and Y/N ran side by side down the trail that led to the water. “I’ll go buy some time. You go put on The Painted Lady costume. If the soldiers think that this village is protected by her they’re less likely to come back.” 

“Got it,” Katara ran off in the direction she had stashed her cloak and hat. 

“I’m coming with you,” Sokka panted as he ran down the hill followed by Toph and Aang. 

“I thought you wanted to leave them,” she retorted. Y/N was done being nice if he wasn’t going to be.  

“I’m not going to leave you.” Sokka held her gaze. “Or Katara,” he added quickly. 

Y/N blinked. “Oh. Okay, come on.” She pushed one of the canoes into the water. “Aang, can you push us over to that dock there?” She pointed to a deserted dock on the back side of the village. The soldiers wouldn’t see them there. “And then go help Katara.”

“You got it!” He said brightly.

“What do I do?” Toph asked, clearly feeling a bit left out. 

“Go make scary spirit noises for Katara,” Sokka instructed.

“Ugh, okay.” Toph ran off among the rocks and cliffs. 

---

Aang used water bending to push their canoe. They each grabbed the wooden dock and hauled themselves up it, their boat floating under the dock and off with the current. No going back now. Sokka and Y/N snuck up to the back of the group of villagers and caught the tail end of whatever the soldier had been telling them. 

“–destroyed our factory! We’re going to cure the world of this wretched village.”

Y/N pushed her way to the front of the group. “No you’re not.” She held her hands in loose fists by her side. She was itching for her sword but she had left it at camp in her rush to get here. 

“And who’s going to stop me?” the large soldier taunted. 

Y/N didn’t spare a second thought. She leapt forward and punched him in the chest twice. The armor made her knuckles ache and sent reverberations up her arms. She ducked under a flaming punch from him and kicked his kneecap. He grunted and fell to his knee. He reached forward and before she could jump away, grabbed one of her ankles, pulling her feet out from under her. She shrieked and twisted midair, landing on her shoulder. 

That’s when a boomerang came from behind her, looping around to hit the soldier in the back of head, only to be caught again by it’s master. It only gave Sokka enough time to pull Y/N to her feet, because the soldier barely flinched. Agni, his head must be thick, Y/N thought. 

The soldier pulled back his fist ready to throw fire at them when it was quickly stifled by a stiff breeze that whipped Y/N’s hair around her face. 

He tried again, only for his fire to be blown out again. He growled and went to try a third time. He was interrupted by another soldier. “Uh, boss? What’s that?” He pointed in the direction that the wind came from. A large wall of fog was moving their way. In the distance, there was a rhythmic thumping that could only be a large boulder being lifted and dropped over and over again on the ground; and Y/N was sure she could hear Appa growling as well. 

The fog parted and Y/N could see Katara standing between two rolling, white clouds. Then, she was moving towards the dock at frightening speed, gliding over the water like she was flying. She landed gracefully and stood there staring at two soldiers in front of her. 

“Come on, let’s move the people further back.” Y/N patted Sokka’s shoulder and the two of them guided the villagers further back onto the platform to keep them out of harm’s way. 

Behind her, Y/N heard a yelp and two of the soldiers ran back to their jet skis and drove off without another thought. Only after they left did their swords hit the deck with a clang, evidently bent out of their hands by Aang and thrown to the sky.

“Stand your ground!” Their leader shouted. Katara bent the water around two more of their jet skis and lifted them high in the air. Y/N watched in complete awe as she threw them sideways into the face of the cliff where they exploded on impact. The rest of the soldiers sprinted back to their jet skis leaving their leader alone. 

“I’ll take care of this myself,” he growled. It was like it all happened in slow motion. He created a whip of fire and bent it at Katara. Y/N was sure it was going to hit her, she didn’t even move to block it. Y/N gripped Sokka’s arm and then Katara was gone. 

From below the deck, Aang had bent the air around Katara and lifted her high above them. Another gust of wind knocked the soldier into the muddy water. Katara floated on mist above him. 

“Leave this place and never come back,” The Painted Lady commanded. 

Y/N had never seen someone swim so fast. That was when she realized she was still holding her breath. She sighed in relief as Katara landed back on the platform. Aang crawled out from under the dock and Sokka and Y/N ran to join them. 

Behind her, the villagers were cheering but the sound was muted because Y/N didn’t care about that, all she cared about was that her and her friends had made it in one piece. 

A loud bang sounded from the shore and everyone went silent, their eyes searching for where the noise came from. 

“HELLLOOOO!” Someone shouted angrily from the bank. 

Sokka and Y/N shared a confused look before she burst out laughing. “Oh my spirits, it’s Toph. She can’t get over here.” Y/N grabbed Sokka’s hand and pulled him to one of the canoes to paddle over and pick up their friend.

---

A/N: So i just wanted to say that I’ve had the hair cutting scene planned from the beginning, I just was waiting for the right time to place it. her hair is cut now. and the fire nation is dropped. and now all i have to say is: IT’S IN THE NEXT CHAPTER. IT. IS. IN. THE. NEXT. CHAPTER

taglist: @myexgirlfriendisthemoon @reclusive-chicken-nugget @astroninaaa @aangsupremacy @beifongsss @crownofcryptids @welovediaaxx @littlefluu @lozzybowe @thebluelcdy @ohjustlookalive @sugarmoongey @fanficdepot @teenbiology @13-09-01 @riespage @davnwillcome @naanlianid @creation-magician @lunariasilver @vintagerose1014516 @bcifcng @rockinearthbending-marauders @francesciak @thia-aep @aphrcditeee @milk-n-cheese @solarsuki @sendnuwudes @humbleseame @my--shitty--art @lovingcupcake51002 @loganrwebb @celia-not-cecilia @treestarrrrrrrr @p--e--a--c--h--e--s @velveteencurls @izzieserra @oddment-nitwit-blubber-tweak @salsasadd @nataliahaslosthershit @awkwardnesshabitat @lanie103 @emogril @im-the-galactic-starfish​ @charlotteisabella​ @alienmotel​

[asleepingtiger]

“Cut the shit, Anya!” Lexa had enough of her sister’s crap for one day, “stop lecturing me about my relationship with Clarke when you can’t even commit to Raven!”

“Stop right there!” Anya shouted back at her sister, “you fucking listen to me, you little shit!”

Lexa’s eyes looked over at her sister and slowly glared at the insult.

Anya gripped the steering wheel to try to calm her rising temper before speaking again, “Raven isn’t well, she has almost lost the movement in her leg and she’s asked me to give her space to process things. I agreed.”

Lexa scoffed, “you mean give her space to process that you fucking cheated on her with some random girl at the bar that we all go to every week!”

Luckily Anya was wearing black aviators on so Lexa couldn’t see the tears forming. God did she regret doing so and hadn’t it been such a fresh wound Anya wouldn’t of resorted to a low blow at her sister.

“Get off your high horse, Lexa!” Anya jibed, soon as the words left her mouth she wish she hadn’t gone there.

Lexa had turned in her seat and raised her eyebrows at her sister, “go, on. Say it.”

Anya shook her head and concentrated on the road as the dusk sun was lowering.

“It doesn’t matter.”

The younger Woods sibling wasn’t letting this one go, as much as she knew it was going to cause a huge argument Lexa didn’t care because she needed to release the rage that was boiling inside her.

“No, let’s go there. We’ve got.” Lex looks at her phone for the time, “it’s 7:20 now, we have another 20 minutes until we get to Lincoln’s. Let’s hash it out.”

Anya looked out her side window and back again at the road in front, she was going to pull over on the dirt track path. She wasn’t going to drive and explode at her sister. As much as she hates her sister in this moment, she wouldn’t want to crash.

“What are you doing?” Lexa watched her sister get out of the car and walk around to her side.

Anya pulled her glasses off and clipped them on the neck of her black vest top showing a small cleavage, she yanked Lexa’s side of the car door, reached over Lexa unclipped her belt and dragged her out by her arms.

“Get off me, Anya!” Lexa tried to push her sister back but it was useless.

Lexa fell on the dirt path and lunged up at her sister, “what fuck is wrong with you?!”

Anya skipped back, “I know you cheated on Clarke!”

Lexa looked at her sister with wide eyes, “what did you just say?!”

Anya brushed her hand through her hair, “you can’t even deny it, can you?”

Lexa looked confused and shocked at the accusation, “An, I’ve never, ever cheated on Clarke!”

“There’s the denial,” Anya pointed at her sister, “you call me out on my shit but you can’t even admit it when you do wrong yourself.”

Lexa started walking towards Anya but was stopped by the sudden clash of thunder in the distance of the mountains.

“You’re a fucking hypocrite, Lexa and worst of all a liar.”

At this point heavy spots of rain started to fall but it wasn’t enough to hide Lexa’s sudden tears.

“An, you’ve got it all wrong, so wrong.” Lexa quietly told her sister who backed away in disgust.

“Fuck! Lexa!!!” Anya screamed.

Lexa stood there watching her sister unravel, tears fell from her eyes. Not because of her own pain she’s reliving but seeing the guilt tear her sister apart.

Anya fell to the dirt and sobbed, hard.

Lexa went over to her sister and knelt next to her, “It was Clarke who cheated, not me.”

Anya looked up at her sister like she had been smacked across her face, “Octavia said that-“

Lexa shook her head, “we didn’t correct them, Clarke was struggling enough with everything, having a break down after her father died, she didn’t need the added judgement other than abusing alcohol and whatever else she ended up doing in the downward spiral.”

“Lex, I’m so sorry! Oh god!” Anya held her head in her hands.

Lexa wrapped her arms around her sister and held her.

“It’s okay Anya, it’s okay.”

Heavier rain spots became more consistent and the clouds kept rolling towards them.

“C’mon An, it’s going to chuck it down and Lincoln is going to wonder where we are.”

They both stood up wiping away each other’s tears.

They walked to the car, got in and turned on the ignition.

“Sorry for everything, Lexa.”

Lexa looked over, “I’m sorry for keeping it from you, but I promised Clarke not to say anything and let people believe it was me.”

“It’s a real stupid and selfless thing to do.”

Lexa sighed, “yeah, well it wasn’t like it was anything to do with Clarke’s and mine relationship, just how it all snowballed I guess.”

Anya put the car in gear and drove back to the road, Lincoln’s wasn’t far now just ten minutes away.

The sun had gone behind the mountains which left a picturesque view, Anya’s tears fell down her sharp cheeks and tried to wipe them away.

Lexa side glanced and rested her hand on her sister shoulder to comfort her, “Raven will forgive you, I know she will. Just give her time.”

Anya nodded her head, “I tried to numb the pain, she pushed me away after the accident, she literally refused to look at me and let me be near her. She literally hated me.”

Lexa squeezed her shoulder.

“It just hurt too much and I drank, drank so much that I convinced myself that it was Raven I was sleeping with.”

Lexa had never heard this before, she knew her sister had slept with some random girl from their local bar but not to the point of what Anya confessed.

“Anya, we all make mistakes, ones that are questionable. We’re not perfect, we’re human.”

They were coming up to Lincoln’s drive way and saw Clarke and Raven sitting on the porch with a beer in hand. They had been waiting for them.

“Are you going to be okay?” Lexa asked as she unclipped her seat belt ready to get out.

Anya nodded her head as she stopped the engine, “yeah, tell Raven I’ll be out in a second.”

Lexa smiled, “take your time.”

[dom-i-nic]

I literally want anything with Fives please. Gimme crumbs and I'll be happy 🙏🏽. It can be anything you want. Fluff or angst. Buuut please no death 😭❤

Just finished!! It’s below the cut because it’s really really long! This felt kind of rushed at the end but I hope you like it. No death, as promised. A little angst but a hopeful/happy ending. Some fluff.

The only time you’re truly scared for Fives is after Umbara. You never know exactly what happens during his missions, but this one really worries you. When the 501st troops down the ramp, there are too many gaps in the ranks and for a minute, your heart is in your mouth because you can’t see him. Then after scanning with growing desperation for a few seconds, your eyes land on an ARC. You can’t see his markings from where you’re watching, but it’s him. You know it’s him.

He doesn’t march with the same cheerfulness as before; something in him looks broken.

It’s the same with the others, they’re all dusty and dented and somehow hunched over and beaten, even though they stand up as straight as it was drilled into them. Fear clenches a cold fist in your stomach. He’s back alive, but alive only means so much. You break into a run, he drops his helmet, grabs you, lifts you up and spins you through the air and kisses you and his siblings wolf-whistle behind you, the way you always greet each other after he gets back from a mission. But it feels a little empty, just a little off. In his eyes, there’s a little bit of cold, sad ice and his smile doesn’t melt it.

Hardcase is gone, and Dogma. You notice that when you go out to the 79s that night with Fives and the rest of the squad. Their absence feels like a wound, a gaping hole where there used to be easy laughter.

Under the flaring lights of the club, Jesse raises a shot glass towards the ceiling. “To Hardcase.”

“To Hardcase,” you all echo.

You down your shot, the alcohol burning your throat.

Another round. “To Dogma.”

“To Dogma.”

Tup chokes slightly on the backend of the shot, it’s strong alcohol. But there isn’t the usual uproarious laughter and lighthearted ribbing. You frown, tracing your fingers over the rim of your empty glass and scan over the group. Kix has long disappeared to God knows where, Rex is brooding in a corner, Tup is coughing up the dregs of his shot, and Fives and Jesse are chugging drinks, looking thoroughly determined to get shitfaced before the night is out. You order a beer.

You wake up the next morning, painfully hung over, and groan as reddish light filters through your apartment’s windows. Outside, the usual bangs and shouts of Coruscant stab, worsening your already pounding headache. You tuck your face into the crook of Fives’ neck; he curls up tighter around you, still half asleep. 

“Cyare?” He asks blearily.

You wince and reach up with one hand to cover his mouth. “Stooooooooop. Stop that.” One of your fingers jabs something wet. 

“Ow fuck, my eye!” You jerk your hand back, accidentally whacking his nose with the back of your palm, and twist away from the sudden noise. But the bed isn’t nearly as wide as your clouded brain thinks it is; suddenly, you’re sliding. Fives is so tangled up in the sheets that he gets dragged down along with you, yelping and flailing. Which is how the two of you end up cuddling on the floor in a pile of sheets and half the bed’s comforter, shaking with laughter.

At some point Fives tries to sit up, pushes himself about halfway and then lies back down with a groan. You put your head on his chest and roll over to lie across his stomach and pin him down. A sigh echoes through his chest; then he just seems to unwind, relaxing into the carpet. One arm wraps around your waist. You lean into his shoulder and listen to his heartbeat, a little faster than yours.

You could lie like this all morning and maybe for the rest of the day. It would be nice, just sleeping in, cuddling together-

But then Fives sits up abruptly and drags you up with him. The blankets fall away, chilling your shoulders. You whine, curling into his chest. He tries to pull you to your feet; you just want to lie down and do nothing.

But eventually Fives just picks you up and carries you over to the kitchen. He pulls out a chair and plops you down. “Sit.”

“Whyyyyyyy?” You groan, putting your head down on the table. It’s cold durasteel and the chill helps clear your head a little. There are little noises of Fives moving around somewhere, which pierce like shards of glass. You squeeze your arms around your ears, trying to block it out.

With an especially sharp thump, a glass of water appears somewhere in your tiny sliver of vision. You suddenly become aware of how dry your mouth is, grab the glass and chug it, then one more and a half of another before your head clears a little. Fives has pulled out a chair next to you and is holding his own cup of water. He looks annoying lucid for ass-o’clock in the morning (you look at the clock, realize that it’s 1100, and decide to ignore that).

“Why aren’t you also in pain? You drank twice as much as I did.”

Fives smirks. “Clone, remember? Enhanced metabolism?” You pout; he laughs and pokes your cheek. You pout harder and then turn your head away from him in mock anger to stare out the window. The light is getting a little better but it’s bright, mid-afternoon glow and- fuck, it’s mid-afternoon. 1100. You’re so late for work.

You spring to your feet, your chair letting out a screech, ignoring the ache starting up again at your temples.

Where’s your datapad?

It’s not until you’re halfway dressed, Fives still looking confused in the kitchen, when you remember that it’s Benduday, your day off. You troop back into the kitchen, feeling like a fool, and settle yourself back down in your chair next to him. “I, uh, thought I had work today.”

Fives laughs, leans over and kisses you once on the cheek and then once on the lips, his goatee tickling your chin. “Silly.” You catch his hand and look up at him, a little starburst of warmth in your chest, only for the warmth to fall a little short. His eyes are just the tiniest bit sad still.

You swallow. What happened? You don’t realize you’ve said it out loud until you see the fear in his eyes. It’s not at you, you know, but he looks somewhere far away, and oh-so scared and lost.

“I don’t-“ he begins, his voice cracking. “Not now.” He squeezes your hand, a silent plea for you to drop it.

You press a smile onto your lips and push your worries down for later and squeeze his fingers back. “Okay.”

He pulls you into his lap and rests his forehead on your shoulder. “Okay,” he repeats, his voice muffled.

Fives takes you out to Dex’s that night, date night. He puts on the fanciest clothes he has, and you do too, taking your time to dress up. Neither of you need to, but both of you want to. He tells you you look gorgeous and you do. You tell him he looks handsome and he does.

Coruscant is warm and bright and loud, even at night, but in the familiar chaos of Dex’s Diner, the two of you manage to enjoy yourselves. After dinner, you have dessert and then on the way back, Fives pulls you over to an ice cream shop. He has an incorruptible sweet tooth. The ice cream is deliciously cold and Fives’ hand squeezes yours. There’s a park about a ten minute walk away, really just a small patch of grass and swings. Fives clambers into one of them and you follow him, laughing. You try to hold hands while you swing and end up nearly bashing your heads together. Then, hearts pounding and still giggling a little, the two of you lie down on the grass. There’s going to be a grass stain down your back, but you don’t really care. 

You pretend to see a star way up next to the Senate building and Fives pretends to spot it too. It’s a game the two of you made up, because on Coruscant nobody can see stars.

Somehow you end up sitting up, holding each other, which shouldn’t nearly be as warm and comfortable as it is. Fives puts his head down on your shoulder and relaxes with a sigh. It’s a few minutes before you realize that his body is shaking with sobs, tears wet on your shoulder. Then he finally starts talking to you about what happened in that nightmare of a planet and a mission gone sideways.

It must be hours passed by the time he finishes. You’re holding him tightly, fury pooling red hot inside of you at Krell, at Skywalker, at the entire karking galaxy for letting this happen. But you swallow it down. Now is not the time.

Fives looks broken inside and he sounds broken too, his voice dwindling off. He’s sobbing now, not bothering to hide it anymore or to hold it in. There are tears flowing down your cheeks too, tasting like salt in your mouth. You cry together, for him, for Waxer and Hardcase and Dogma, for the clones who died and the clones who lived.

“Nu kyr’adyc, shi taab’echaaj’la,” you murmur to him. He taught you the phrase, holding you when your grandma died. You whisper it back to him now. Not gone, merely marching far away. It feels pitifully insignificant. But then he clears his throat and repeats it. Not gone, merely marching far away. His voice grows a little stronger at the end of the phrase.

Sometimes there’s nothing you can do for someone but listen to them, hold them, and cry for them. That’s all you can do for Fives now.

The sun is rising, painting the sky white, yellow and red and covering the clouds with peach. Fives takes a deep, stuttering breath and lifts his face up. His eyes are red and watery still but he manages a smile and this time it looks a little fuller. He reaches out and wipes a tear off of your cheek. “Thank you for listening to me.”

You press your forehead against his and close your eyes for a second. “Always.” You stay there for a few seconds, breathing in the smell of the city and of a new day, and of Fives, warm and alive. Whatever gods are out there, you thank them for that. You thank them for him.

You pull him to his feet. He stands there for a second, arms wrapped around your waist, and then kisses you softly. He tastes a little like tears, but sweet. Then he pulls back, clears his throat. 

“Do you want ice cream?”

You stare at him for a second, then grab his hand and pull him in the direction of the ice cream shop, giggling. His laughter rings out behind you.

[dystovian]

The Last of Us: How to Disappear Completely

Chapter 2: Watchful Eyes

Summary: Within the past year you’ve done nothing but travel, survive, and live with two kids. Two kids who seemed to be fairing quite well in the apocalypse, and two kids who also seemed to be growing on you, and fast. But what happens when you and Sawyer leave the house to Ryan’s watch for a day?

Pairing: Joel/Reader, Joel x Reader (Future)

Warning(s): Language, Death, Anxiety, Grief

A/N: tried to make this chapter a little bit longer, but felt like i got a little too long so i feel like i might have rushed the ending 🥴 either way, i’m gonna try to update every couple days, but if i don’t i’m likely writing multiple chapters at once, either way..thanks for reading!

Tags: @hrk-fic-recs

2 0 1 9.

Kentucky.

It’s been a little over a year, and your luck has proven to be on your side. These two kids stuck to you like glue, protecting you while you did the same in return. Giving you shelter, food, and more. And yet, they rarely asked for anything, nothing but your watchful eye. It was easier than you thought, watching over a couple kids. Especially ones so capable, so strong. Yet...

So goddamned stubborn.

As you sat across them at the dusty dining room table you’ve had dinner at so many times, arms crossed over your chest, slouched into the chair as low as possible, and the thickest most outrageous urge to lean over and slam their heads into the wood. Ryan stood to the side, arms crossed just like yours, and a rifle leaning against the wall just beside her.

Sawyer, on the other hand, looked rightfully and royally pissed the fuck off. Sitting just across the table, hands entwined upon their lap. They had every right to be as stubborn as a boulder, every right to make the calls around here. But you’ve been pulling your weight too, and you can’t sit around and just let a couple kids make every damn decision.

“I’m going. Okay? It’s quieter if it’s just one person, anyways.” Your head leaned towards the other shoulder as you rolled your eyes.

“Exactly. Which is why I’m the only one who should go!” Sawyer snapped, a hand coming down upon the table with a sharp clap.

“Hey hey hey, hold on. I thought you said I was coming too?!” Ryan said, moving from her place against the wall to stand beside her sibling, betrayed at the change of plans which were originally meant to include her.

“I changed my mind. You’re not going, and like [Y/N] said....it’s quieter with just one person. I’m quicker on my feet too, and you know it.” Sawyer whisper-yelled, standing to appear taller and more authoritative against their sister.

“Quick doesn’t mean quiet, dumbass!”

“Just effing kill me...” You muttered, hands sliding down your face, their arguing continuing, as you slouched even further into the dining room chair.

This was meant to be a quick touch and go. You run into the building, grab what you need, and return home with a smile on your face. But, of course, you were meant to leave over two hours ago now, and your patience was running thin. These two kids insisted on doing it while you stayed behind and kept watch.

At this point, you were about to give up, just let Sawyer go and stay behind and keep watch with Ryan. But it appears the two siblings came to an agreement while you had tuned them out, and you would be going with Sawyer, and Ryan would have to stay back.

“That’s so not fair, man...” Ryan huffed, grabbing her rifle and stomping off into the living room. Sawyer turned to you, rolled their eyes, and stomped off to gather their things. God, were you like this when you were younger too? You should have apologized to your dad for being so...so annoying.

By the time you had left, Ryan seemed to have gotten over it. Opting to be proud of being so trusted to watch the place. You smiled, pulled the girl into a side hug, and left with a small feeling of hope pulling at your heart, and something sinister lurking within the pits of your belly.

But things went well, perfectly fine, in fact! You barely came across any Infected, nor any signs of other survivors. Though, you now had to spend the night at some nearby house due to the setting sun, you didn’t even care. You had what you needed, and you wouldn’t be going home empty handed. Sawyer was happy, as well. Being able to go home with just about anything was a plus, especially if it meant their sister wouldn’t starve to death.

“Get some rest. I can keep watch. We’ll leave the second the sun comes up, okay?” You pat the teenagers shoulder, your lips pressed together in an encouraging smile. The kid deserved some rest, all they seemed to do was work, hunt, scavenge. Anything to keep your bellies full, and your minds at ease.

The night was quiet, simple, although the snap of a twig alerted you to the presence of an Infected, it didn’t seem to notice you and it continued on its way. Going on your way that following morning, you couldn’t help but struggle to understand the weight in your stomach. The urge to stop and run all at the same time.

“Hey. You doing okay?” Sawyer stopped mid walk, turned to you, and rubbed your shoulder blade. Something they haven’t done before. They’re growing onto the idea that you’ll be with them a while, and you enjoyed the way that pit disappeared and was replaced with a warmth. You felt...easy. Happy, despite the loss of your sister. The loss that still pulled so heavy on your aching soul.

The moment is interrupted by another pat to your back, and you quickly nod, reassuring your friend that everything is just fine. Thinking, that’s all. Their hand slips from your back and they re-enter the pace they had before. You fall in place next to them, that strange feeling returning, yet you don’t address it. Not even to yourself.

When you return, you begin to understand. The house you grew to love had become quiet. Not even a clanking of the makeshift alarm system, which is literally a bunch of cans on a string. That feeling you had seems to have coated the early morning air as well, and Sawyer feels it too. You’re both stuck on the sidewalk, staring, waiting.

You waited for what felt like forever. What you were waiting for, you didn’t know. Perhaps for Ryan to come out with a grin, or for some infected to round the corner. And yet...nothing came. Not a grunt, not a chuckle, not even the ringing of the wind chime across the street. The both of you were stuck. Weighing the options, do you call out to the younger sibling, or do you go searching inside? You decided on the latter, and Sawyer reluctantly followed.

Entering the house, you felt like something had wrapped you around the chest and squeezed, giving you a warning, a threat of what’s to come. You sweep the first floor, and find nothing. You turn the corner and stare up the steps. That feeling, it comes again, but this time it stops you, and you can’t seem to force yourself up those stairs.

Sawyer, with their courageous efforts, shoulders past you and goes silently up the carpeted flight of steps. Not a creak within the wood underneath, nor a thump follows their wake. You follow, despite something telling you, no, screaming at you to run. Find somewhere safe, and don’t come out.

You get the answer to that feeling within seconds. Because the moment you reach that top step, the atmosphere shifts. It’s still quiet, but the silence is so loud. You know something is wrong, so terribly wrong. And you don’t want Sawyer to be the one to find what could have happened.

As Sawyer checks the first room on the left, you check the one at the end of the hall. And, unfortunately, you see it first, the ruined body of the girl you felt like a sister to, the girl that grew on you so quickly. A gasp leaves you, and Sawyer comes running, you panic and turn, hands coming to their face to block their eyes.

“Don’t look! No!” You heart rate was so frantic, frantic to keep the teen from seeing what had become of the young girl just in the room behind you. You turn them around, arms wrapping around their waist, wrestling their urge to see.

“Let me the fuck go! Now!” They were shouting, you didn’t even bother shushing them. Now that you had man-handled them to the ground, it was harder to keep your grip but you powered through. It didn’t work, though, Sawyer had slipped from your grasp and by the time you had rolled over, you saw them fall to their knees at the bedroom door.

You crawled up behind them again, arms coming to wrap them into some strange and uncomfortable hug. Letting them come apart in your hands, let their heart turn to ash due to the sight of their mangled sister. The cries were piercing, and your head felt like it was splitting. Sawyer’s fists slammed into the carpeted floor, and the cries grew louder and louder.

This time, you shushed them, and dragged them as far away from the door as possible, shutting it behind you. They didn’t fight, didn’t push you back. Just went limp, and sobbed into your chest. Your back leaned against the door that hid a scene straight out of some nightmare, and your front was covered by a grieving sibling.

—

The following morning, after Sawyer had finally fallen to sleep, and you confirmed the absence of Infected, you entered the room again. It felt wrong, almost forbidden, but you couldn’t leave her there. You gathered her up, placed her on the bed and covered her with a nearby blanket. This was hard, extremely. You couldn’t imagine what she had to have gone through to end up like this, and with the way she seemed to be missing so much of her it must have been Infected.

You sat on that bed and whimpered, your fingers rubbing your eyes to quell the headache reaching your skull. To quell the tears that spilled into your lap and the new ache that settled within the confines of your heart.

[stupouid]

Unity (ATLA boys x reader) Chapter 3

returA/N hey guys!! sorry it took so long to get chapter 3! I literally could not find a plot for this chapter, so i decided to skip the desert. 

Chapter 2|Chapter 3

Word count: 3210 words

Chapter 3

The Desert (i am aware that i skipped a lot of episodes I just don’t want it to bee too long)

Traveling with the GAang was interesting. To kill time Aang told Y/N stories of how King Bumi was like as a kid. Y/N was extremely fascinated by these anecdotes, and amazed by how everyone could travel freely throughout the four nations 100 years ago. She wanted to participate in the story-telling too, so she told Aang some of the stories her mother had told her about her travels, and this shocked Aang as well. Soon the two realized that a century ago traveling rules were less strict than they were twenty years ago. 

Everyone in the group was quite fond of Y/N. Katara was grateful to have another girl in the group so she would have someone to rant to whenever Sokka did something disgusting. Aang was grateful to have someone help him locate his next destination, as Sokka and Katara had never been outside of the south pole. And Sokka was grateful that there was someone who would listen to his jokes or agree with his crazy ideas. 

Sokka would be lying if he denied the fact that he was feeling some sort of connection to Y/N. He always wanted to be around her for some reason, and every little thing she did would be engraved in his mind. If Y/N played with her h/c locks, Sokka would save that and think about it when he had nothing else to think about. If Y/N laughed at one of his jokes, he would automatically analyze said joke, and try to make more jokes like that one. If Y/N gave him a compliment on something of his or suggested he do something, he would think about that constantly and change whatever Y/N suggested.

I could say that Y/N felt the same about him, but I would be lying, and fRiEnDs DoN’t LiE. Y/N couldn’t stop thinking about Zuko, and wondering how he was doing. She may have not felt any romantic feelings for him, but that doesn't mean she couldn’t think about her friend. 

Weeks had passed and the GAang had a new member, an earthbender named Toph. Y/N and Toph had hit it right away, their personalities instantly clicking. And the similarities in the ways they were treated when they were younger made them closer, if anything. Toph was treated as a helpless, blind, little girl even though she was an extremely talented earth bender. Y/N’s parents treated her well, but Azula made her feel useless since she had no bending. And after Y/N’s mother died, Y/N’s father had neglected and emotionally abused her. So yeah, the two girls had been through a lot. 

As of right now, the 5 teens were walking through the desert, without Appa because he had been taken by sandbenders for money. As usual, Y/N tuned out of the conversation (more like an argument) that was between Toph and Aang about how Toph let Appa go away. 

“I’m going after Appa,” Aang shouted in a harsh tone. He then flew off with his glider.

“Aang! Wait!” Katara shouted, running to the spot where he took off from. Y/N walked over to KAtara and placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

“We'd better start walking,” Y/N started. “We're the only people who know about the solar eclipse. We have to get that information to Ba Sing Se.” The teens, minus Aang, then started to walk towards the same direction Aang flew off in. 

“You think if we dig out the giant owl, he'll give us a ride?” Sokka questioned. Y/N laughed and punched his shoulder playfully.

-

Sokka, Katara, Toph and Y/N had been walking in the desert for at least an hour now. The sun was scorching hot, and much to Sokka’s delight, Y/N had taken off the top layer of her outfit, leaving her in a tank top that showed off her smooth, s/c, arms. Annoyed by the sun, Y/N took Momo off of Sokka’s back and used his wings to create some shade. Sokka, obviously annoyed because he could’ve done the same, was about to protest when he crashed into Toph. 

“Hey! Can’t you watch where you’re-” Sokka stopped his sentence after realizing what he’d said.

“No.” Toph hissed.

“Right. Sorry!” Sokka replied bashfully. Katara turned around to face the rest of the group.

“Come on guys, we’ve got to stick together!” Katara announced. During the short time Katara spoke, Sokka had accidentally stuck his clothes to Y/N, and was trying to free himself by pushing her away. Luckily for him, Y/N was trying her hardest to help him out too. 

“If Sokka sweats anymore, I don’t think it will be a problem!” Y/N shouted, struggling to get the boy off of her. Toph, who was even more annoyed, pushed Sokka to the ground, separating the two at last. 

“Katara, can I have some water?” Toph asked politely.

“Okay, but we’ve got to try to conserve it.” Katara bended four blobs of water out of her pouch into the mouths of Sokka, Toph, and Momo. When she noticed Y/N wasn’t accepting it, she asked, “Y/N? Don’t you want any?”

Y/N replied with, “I’m fine. Really.” 

“Y/N! You have to drink some! If not you’ll pass out because of dehydration!” Sokka shouted.

“Okay, dad!” Y/N groaned. She accepted the blob of water Katara had bended her way. 

Smacking his lips, Sokka said, “We're drinking your bending water. You used this on the swamp guy! Urch!” Y/N started to laugh, but ended up coughing after registering the taste of the water. Worried, Sokka patted her on the back repeatedly until she wasn’t coughing anymore. 

“It does taste swampy.” Toph giggled. Momo whined at the taste.

“I’m sorry, it’s all we have.” Katara mumbled bashfully.

“Not anymore!” Sokka shouted. “Look!” He walked over to a random cactus plant that was in their path. He cut off a piece and drank the liquid inside.

“Sokka, wait! You shouldn’t be eating strange plants!” Katara shouted with worry, running over to him. Curious, Y/N joined the two siblings. 

“There’s water trapped inside these!” Sokka shouted. He offered some to Y/N, and she took a tiny sip. She instantly felt lighter.

“I don’t know…” Katara started.

“It’s thirst quenching though! If that helps!” Y/N proclaimed. A little juice dribbled onto her chin and Sokka wiped it off. Blushing, Y/N punched Sokka again. He paid no attention to the punch as some sort of trance overtook him.

“Drink cactus juice. It'll quench ya! Nothing's quenchier. It's the quenchiest!” Katara grabbed his drink and poured it away.

“Okay, I think you’ve had enough.” Katara laughed. “Y/N, will you watch him?”

“Sure!” Y/N answered, still laughing. She grabbed Sokka and lockerd their arms together so he wouldn’t get away.

“Hey pretty lady!” Sokka shouted, dragging out the ‘y’ in ‘hey’. “Are we married?”

Still laughing, Y/N replied with, “Sure. We live in Omashu, and we adopted three turtle ducks. One’s named Toph, one’s named Katara, and the last one is named Aang. Sounds nice, right?”

“Anything’s nice as long as I’m with you!” Sokka sang out with a lovestruck expression on his face. He leaned towards Y/N for a kiss, but she only shoved his head away from hers. “Who lit Toph on fire?”

-

“I'm sorry, Aang. I know it's hard for you right now but ... we need to focus on getting out of here.” Aang had recently joined the group again and Katara was trying her best to comfort the airbender. 

“What's the difference? We won't survive without Appa. We all know it.” This surprised Y/N. In the short time she had known the Avatar, he was always positive, no matter the situation. 

“Aang. If we work together, we can find Appa. Stay positive! Right Toph? Katara?” Y/N looked to the girls for affirmation.

“As far as I can feel, we're trapped in a giant bowl of sand pudding. I got nothin'.” Toph sighed. Frustrated, Y/N turned to her last resort.

“Sokka? Care to share any knowledge as to how we could reach Ba Sing Se?” Y/N was standing next to Sokka’s body, which was lying on the sand with Momo right next to him.

“Why don't we ask the circle birds?” Sokka responded nonchalantly. Groaning, Y/N looked at the sky, only to see four buzzard wasps circling above their heads. Katara grabbed her head in annoyance. 

“Ugh ... We're getting out of this desert, and we're going to do it together! Aang, get up. Everybody, hold hands. We can do this. We have to.” Katara grabbed Aang’s hand and Aang grabbed Toph’s. Katara used her other hand to grab Y/N’s and Y/N used all her strength to tug Sokka from the ground. Sokka stood up and placed Momo on his back. 

-

Y/N was sleeping peacefully next to Sokka when she was abruptly woken up by Katara shouting, “Come on, get up! We need to go.” Groaning, Toph, Y/N and Sokka all rose up from the place they decided to rest. 

“Yesterday my mouth tasted like mud. Now it just tastes like sand. I never thought I'd miss the taste of mud so much.” Y/N was going to laugh but she started coughing again, much like last time when Toph had registered the taste of the water. Sokka instinctively patted her back repeatedly while Katara went to wake up Aang.

“I’m awake,” Aang stated. “I couldn’t sleep.” 

Nodding, Katara responded to the boy with, “Well, we need to get moving if we want to get out of this sand pit.” Aang quickly sat up as he noticed a sky-bison like silhouette floating by the moon.

“Appa!” Aang shouted, trying to get it’s attention.

“Appa‌? But why would Princess Yue need him‌? She's the moon! She flies by herself!” Sokka questioned as he grabbed Y/N’s hand, using it to rub his cheek. Y/N smacked him on the head, obviously weirded out. 

“It's just a cloud.” Katara stated sadly, referring to the sky-bison-like object in the sky. “Wait! A cloud! Aang, fly up and bend the water from that cloud into my pouch.” Aang scoffed, obviously annoyed and agitated, but did as the girl said. When he landed on the ground, he threw Katara’s pouch at her. She looked in, only to be disappointed.

“Wow ... there's hardly any in here.” Aang sighed loudly.

“I'm sorry, okay! It's a desert cloud; I did all I could! What's anyone else doing?! What are you doing‌?!” Katara and Y/N were shocked. Aang had never acted like this before. Katara shook her head.

“Trying to keep everyone together. Let's just get moving. We need to head this direction.” The group walked towards the direction Katara had set them up in silence until Toph tripped and fell on her face. Worried, Y/N let go of Sokka and Katara’s hands to check up on the earthbender.

“Ow! Crud! I am so sick of not feeling where I'm going!” Toph shouted, pointing to the rock-like object she tripped on. “And what idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert‌?”

“A boat?” Y/N asked. Katara ran over to observe the object.

“Believe me, I kicked it hard enough to feel plenty of vibrations.” By now Sokka and Aang had joined the three girls to observe the object. Aang motioned everyone to step back, and used his airbending to get rid of the sand, revealing a boat like contraption.

“It’s a glider! Like the one sandbenders use!” Y/N exclaimed. Sokka clapped his hand onto her back. 

“Look!” Katara shouted. “It's got some kind of compass on it! I bet it can point us out of here! Aang, you can bend a breeze so we can sail it. We're going to make it!”

-

The five teens had squeezed onto the glider, with Katara navigating and Aang driving it using his airbending.

“The needle on this compass doesn't seem to be pointing north according to my charts.” Katara had stated. Y/N was going to sit next to Katara to help her out, but decided not to. Sokka placed himself right next to Y/N, and grabbed her hand. 

“Take it easy little lady. I'm sure the sand folks who built this baby know how to get around here.” Y/N was obviously weirded out, but let Sokka do his thing. She didn’t want to make him angry, because in his current state, it would result in him doing something extremely annoying. 

Katara gasped. “That's what the compass is pointing to! That giant rock! It must be the magnetic center of the desert.” Y/N turned around to look at the rock that Katara was pointing to. 

Obviously ecstatic, Toph shouted, “ A rock‌?! Yes! Let's go!” Y/N just giggled.

“Maybe we can find some water there!” Katara exclaimed with a hopeful tone in her voice.

“Maybe we can find some sandbenders.” Aang snapped. He guided the glider towards the rock. 

-

“Ahhh ... Finally! Solid ground!” Toph cheered as she laid on the rock, creating a rock angel with her bending. When she was finished creating the angel, she stood up and joined the rest of the group, who were exploring a cave with a gooey substance. 

“I think my head is starting to clear out the cactus juice. And look!” Sokka shouted as he dipped his hand in the mysterious substance, earning a groan from Y/N. He licked the substance and offered some to Y/N, who kicked him in the leg in response. 

“You've been hallucinating on cactus juice all day and then you just lick something you find stuck to the wall of a cave‌?!” Y/N ranted. “Spirits, you really are dense.” Frowning, Sokka wiped the goo off his hands and placed a hand on Y/N’s shoulder. He whispered, “Sorry.” Y/N just nodded in response.

“I don't think this is a normal cave.” Toph stated. “This was carved by something.” 

“Yeah,” Aang agreed. “Look at the shape.”

“There's something buzzing in here. Something that's coming for us!” Toph shouted. The group ran out of the cave. Toph, Aang, and Y/N screamed as a buzzard wasp emerged from the darkness of the cave. Y/N pulled down Aang and Toph as it flew over their heads. 

Another buzzard flew between Toph and Sokka. Toph used her earth bending to launch a rock in the direction of the buzzard, and the rock nearly crushed Sokka.

“What are you doing? That rock almost crushed me!” Sokka shouted. 

“Sorry! I can’t tell where they are in the air!” Toph replied. Another wasp flew in between Sokka and Y/N. Y/N was going to hit it with one of her many throwing knives but Sokka lightly shoved her out of the way. 

“I got this one!” Sokka told her. Y/N was annoyed, but realized that there wasn’t a wasp and Sokka was still hallucinating. Figuring that it would be funny to watch him smack his machete at nothing, she moved out of the way. Sokka then swung his machete at nothing, and Y/N giggled. 

“Sokka, there’s nothing there!” Katara shouted, obviously fed up with him.

“I guess my head’s not as clear as I thought.” Sokka muttered. Y/N grabbed his arm and dragged him down to her level. 

“We have to get out of here!” Katara shouted. “I’m completely out of water to bend!” Y/N nodded, about to move with Sokka trailing behind her, when a buzzard grabbed Momo.

“Momo! I’m not losing anyone else out here!” Aang shrieked. Full of anger, he took off on his glider in hot pursuit of Momo and the wasp.

“Come on, we’re going down.” Katara told the others. Katara held Toph by the hand as they made their way down a narrow ledge. Y/N was about to make her way to the others by herself when Sokka grabbed her hand.

“Hey! You- you shouldn’t go down alone!” Sokka exclaimed. Annoyed, Y/N traversed the wall and landed on the ground with a backflip, while smiling up at Sokka. 

-

“What are you doing in our land with a sandbender sailer? ‌ From the looks of it, you stole it from the Hami tribe.” A sandbender named Sha-Mo asked Katara.

“We found the glider abandoned in the desert. We're traveling with the Avatar. Our bison was stolen and we have to get to Ba Sing Se.” Katara stated. The man’s eyes widened when he learned that Aang was the Avatar. 

“You dare accuse our people of theft while you ride in on a stolen sand sailer‌?!” Another man stated. Toph’s eyes narrowed when she heard the man speak, and Y/N frowned. 

“Quiet, Ghashiun. No one accused our people of anything. If what they say is true, we must give them hospitality.” Sha-Mo stated. 

“Sorry, father.” Ghashiun replied.

“I recognize the son's voice. He's the one that stole Appa.” Toph cautioned. Y/N’s eyes widened, and she looked at Sokka, who looked equally as confused and surprised. 

“Are you sure?” Katara asked. 

“I never forget a voice.” Toph answered. 

Aang charged forwards toward Ghashiun. “You stole Appa! Where is he? ‌What did you do to him?”

“They're lying! They're the thieves!” Ghashiun defended himself. Aang, obviously agitated, he smacked his staff on the ground, and one of the gliders flew off due to his airbending. “Where. Is. My. Bison! You tell me where he is now!”

“What did you do?” Sha-Mo asked Ghashiun.

“I-it wasn’t me!” Ghashiun tried to defend himself.

“You said to put a muzzle on him!” Toph shouted! 

“You muzzled Appa‌?” At this point, Aang was enraged. Sokka, Katara, and Y/N all looked to each other, with fear evident on their faces. Aang’s tattoos then started glowing as he entered the Avatar state. 

“I'm sorry! I didn't know that it belonged to the Avatar!” Ghashiun shouted.

“Tell me where Appa is!” Aang shouted, with the voices of all the Avatars. 

“I traded him! To some merchants! He's probably in Ba Sing Se by now! They were going to sell him there! Please! We'll escort you out of the desert! We'll help however we can!” Wind started swirling around Aang as he started floating in the air. Sokka pulled Y/N as he booked his way out of Aang’s vicinity. They finally found a spot that would keep them safe from Aang’s sandstorm and Sokka wrapped Y/N in a hug to protect her.

“Just get out of here! Run!” Y/N shouted towards the other sandbenders. Aang dropped his staff and the wind formed a sphere around him. As everyone ran away, Katara stayed put near Aang. The sandstorm engulfed the two, and they braced themselves as the whirlwind swooped over them. Katara managed to embrace Aang in a hug, causing him to calm down. Sokka lifted his arms which were wrapped safely around Y/N’s head and body. 

taglist: @emberislandplayers​ @eridanuswave​ @fandomobsessedlife​ @hopefuloperaangelnerd​ @multi-fandomstan​ @minifruity​ @marylisss​ @iflostreturntoflynnrider​

[lake-arrius-caverns]

Nerevarine Rising

Chapter 10: Lost In The Ashes

once again i advise to read on AO3 if possible bc better formatting n stuff ✌️

summary Fahjoth is dragged along to accompany Ribyna on a dirty job. When their only way of navigation is lost, Ribyna takes it upon herself to lead the way, with unexpected results.

content warnings violence, blood, minor character death

read under the cut or on AO3, cheers 👍

:: First :: || << Previous << || >> Next >> || :: Masterpost ::

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The yurt loomed in the distance, still and silent aside from the soft rushing of waves rolling and breaking against the shore. The peace along this stretch of Azura’s Coast was unspoiled, aside from the footsteps of the twins as they crept closer. 

Fahjoth wasn’t at all sure how he felt about being dragged along on Ribyna’s next assassination. On the one hand, he disapproved heavily of what she was doing. On the other, he knew better than anyone how difficult it was to sway Ribyna once she had her mind set on something, so at least this way he was able to keep an eye on her and offer assistance if things got tough. Their one saving grace was that the target, Odaishah Yasalmibaal, lived alone on the coast, far away from any town or city where there would be witnesses to report them. 

Fahjoth cringed at that notion. Witnesses. He felt as culpable as an accessory to murder. 

Once they reached the yurt, Ribyna motioned to Fahjoth to stay still and silent. He obliged, watching as his twin approached the door and drew her weapon, perhaps expecting resistance. After a moment during which she seemed to be gathering her nerves, she flung open the yurt door and charged in. 

The reaction was instant. From outside, Fahjoth could hear Yasalmibaal’s furious cries, cursing and insulting Ribyna to the deafening clashing of blades. Fahjoth was a bundle of nerves, possibly even more so than Ribyna, but as he tried to edge closer to the doorway to peer inside, he was almost flattened by two flailing bodies as they tumbled out of the yurt, yelling and snapping at each other like rabid wolves. 

Then Ribyna was on the ground, her shortsword held up lengthways as Yasalmibaal bore down upon her with a war axe of his own. She struggled to keep him at bay, kicking out against his armoured midriff, and Fahjoth gasped. 

“Ribyna!” he exclaimed, drawing his own sword, but Ribyna snapped him a response without breaking eye contact with her target. 

“Don’t get involved!”

With strict orders not to intervene, Fahjoth could only dither on the edge of the fight and watch helplessly as the two continued to brawl. Then, Ribyna’s boot found its way between Yasalmibaal’s legs, slamming hard against his groin and inciting a grunt of pain from the stricken man. As he slumped to the side, desperately trying to regain his strength, Ribyna sat upright and thrust her dagger into his throat without hesitation. 

As she yanked it free, the blade left behind a deep puncture hole in Yasalmibaal’s throat that began to gush blood in a rapid free-flow, painting everything in the vicinity a stark red. Fahjoth crouched beside Ribyna to check her over, but quickly became distracted by the sound of blood spattering against the dusty ground, as well as Yasalmibaal’s rasping gurgles as he fought for breath and struggled to remain upright. With his chest now coated in a slick dark stain, he dropped into a weakly convulsing heap, occasionally twitching as he bled out. After some time, he moved no more. 

“Gods...” Fahjoth murmured, feeling rather sickened by the scene. “Well, is that it, now? Are you done?” 

Ribyna began wiping her dagger blade on the nearest soft surface, which happened to be Yasalmibaal's trouser leg. "Yup, that's it," she confirmed. "No point hanging 'round now. Let's get back to Vivec."

"Ugh. Right now? We've been walking for ages," Fahjoth complained. "A break would be nice!"

The journey from Vivec City to Azura's Coast certainly hadn't been quick, nor had it been particularly easy. After departing from Vivec the twins had headed east, on the road for hours on end until they reached Molag Mar, where they had stopped overnight. The following morning had seen them up at the crack of dawn to continue onwards, following the coastline — oftentimes having to wade through the shallows themselves to navigate around jagged rocks and cliff faces — until they had reached Benserib Camp, Yasalmibaal's home. Fahjoth wasn't looking forward to the journey back.

However, it seemed that Ribyna was keen to get going; as soon as she had finished cleaning her blade, she stood up and sheathed it, looking remarkably unruffled — albeit with her hair a mess and back now covered in dust. "Oh come on," she goaded him, rolling her eyes. "Don't be a pussy. A slow walk back will be fine. Anyway, I think I've figured out a shortcut."

Fahjoth certainly had his doubts. "Really? Where?"

"Yep! Look," Ribyna said, drawing her map out of her pocket and holding it up to show Fahjoth. He held the other side so that Ribyna was able to point with her free hand, cringing as she left a smudge of blood on the parchment. "If we cut across the Ashlands here, we can go straight down to Vivec without needing to go all the way around the coastline again."

"The Ashlands?" Fahjoth frowned. Cosades' words floated to the forefront of his mind:

“I don't think their tribes tend to be particularly welcoming to outlanders, so watch yourself if you’re ever wandering in the Ashlands.”

"What if we come across Ashlanders?"

"Pfft, fuck 'em!" Ribyna scoffed. "Come on!"

"Ribyna—!" Fahjoth groaned. But Ribyna was adamant, and he had no choice but to trot along in her wake as she set off further into the dusty, ashen wastelands spanning central Vvardenfell, the sun already obscured by its many jagged peaks.

                     ——————————————

The further they ventured into the Ashlands, the greater Fahjoth's feeling of foreboding grew. The endless valleys, already steeped in shadow, became darker and darker with the setting of the sun. Traipsing across the cracked ashen ground, Fahjoth broke into a sweat as they passed by pools of magma, beautiful but deadly and glowing as bright as a flame in the gloom, seeing his twin sweltering just as much as he was in the stifling heat. 

Fahjoth was already having plenty of regrets, even before his foot slipped on some loose stones and he came dangerously close to falling onto a stream of sluggishly bubbling lava. Fortunately, Ribyna had been close enough to grab his arm before disaster struck. 

“Watch where you’re going, you fucking idiot!” Ribyna had snapped as she hauled Fahjoth backwards to safety. 

As if it was his fault they were stumbling through a magma-ridden wasteland. 

And as if that wasn't enough to solidify the notion that Ribyna's 'shortcut' had been a terrible idea, it wasn't long before they were besieged by scorching winds, carrying a blanket of choking dust that obscured the path ahead of them with a thick crimson haze — an ash storm. 

After a short while of struggling through, Fahjoth slowed to a halt. “We have to stop somewhere!” he yelled, desperately shielding his face and raising his voice to be heard above the roaring of the wind. “This shit carries the Blight!” 

Ribyna turned to squint at him, her scarf wrapped tightly around the lower half of face. “We can’t stop now! We’ve got nowhere to stop! Just don’t breathe it in,” she replied, and Fahjoth groaned with exasperation. Even with his mouth and nose covered by his own scarf, the simple matter of being in the midst of the ash storm — and knowing what it could bring with it from Red Mountain — was making him feel sick with anxiety. The dryness in his mouth was not helping, instead making him think that he had somehow managed to inhale dirty, disease-ridden ash and grit even through the scarf’s dense fabric. 

And so the trek continued. Every time Fahjoth tried to persuade Ribyna to stop and take shelter, she would only counter it with a stubborn rebuttal that made him want to tear his hair out in frustration. At one point, when they could barely see two metres ahead and the winds howled viciously around them, Ribyna stopped to unfurl her map. 

“Look, we’re about here,” she shouted, pointing to somewhere on the southern edges of the Ashlands. Fahjoth had no idea how she could be sure of that, but before he could voice his concerns, Ribyna ploughed on. “We just passed that lake, so we’re literally like an hour away from Balmor— AGH!”

Fahjoth watched in mute horror as the wind whipped the map clean out of Ribyna’s fumbling fingers, snatching it away into the deep red gloom. Ribyna made an attempt to catch it, grabbing wildly at air thick with dust, but the map had vanished within seconds. 

With his heart already settling somewhere in the region of his stomach, Fahjoth buried his face in his hands and let out a groan that gradually rose in volume and pitch until it was almost a muffled scream. “Great! Fucking fantastic!” he exclaimed, glaring furiously at Ribyna, who merely stood there and looked sheepish. “What now, then?! I’m sure you’ve got another brilliant idea that’ll just get us even more lost — if it doesn’t kill us first!”

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, during which Fahjoth could almost hear the gears ticking over in Ribyna’s head, she spoke up with much less conviction than previously. 

“We just keep going straight ahead,” she answered. “Balmora is due west. So we just keep going in this direction and we’ll get there.” 

Fahjoth rarely wanted to strangle his twin, but this was one of the few occasions where he wished to do nothing but. But what other choice did they have? Ribyna’s plan was a terrible one, but it was their only one. So he shut up and trudged along after her, saving his energy to fight against the storm rather than with his sibling. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t as simple as Ribyna had hoped. The path ahead was not straight, but winding and twisting and up and down over hills and mounds of ash and dirt. And after passing through a vast ravine where they were forced to turn north and follow the natural path that stretched along its base, Ribyna began to pick up the pace. 

“I think we’re nearly there! I can hear a silt strider!” she called to Fahjoth, who again had his doubts. This area looked nothing like the pleasant grassiness around the southernmost regions of the West Gash. Even with the ash storm still raging around them, Fahjoth could tell that they were still in the Ashlands. But, sure enough, they soon found themselves on another road — not just a road, but a real footpath — and now Fahjoth too could hear the solemn cries of the silt strider himself, even over the wind. Moments later, the lofty walls of some kind of settlement faded into view through the haze. 

Without another word the twins rushed forward, passed under the arch marking the entrance and made a beeline for the nearest inn — not very pleasantly named The Rat In The Pot. It wasn’t quite the South Wall Cornerclub, but as far as warmth and shelter went, it would do. 

Ribyna’s sense of direction had been just a little bit askew. They may not have returned to Balmora as planned, but they had made it to Ald’ruhn. 

                     ——————————————

“Right, what are you having? I’ll get the first round in.” 

Fahjoth settled down at a small table near the bar, taking care not to disturb the candle that sat flickering merrily on its surface as he let out a heavy sigh. After their long journey, he relished the chance to sit down somewhere warm, dry and relatively safe, despite being in an unknown area. “Are you sure, Beebs?” he asked as he turned his gaze up to Ribyna, who simply nodded impatiently and gestured for him to go on. “Alright, well, I’ll have a mazte then, ta.”

As Ribyna headed over to the bar, Fahjoth sat back and quietly watched the occupants of the inn. Ald’ruhn was Redoran territory, he knew that, so he was surprised to see how diverse it was; a Breton woman stood behind the bar and the punters included a Khajiit, an Argonian, and a Dunmer who was quite unlike any Dunmer he had seen before. Piercings and scarifications bedecked his face, and his clothes were more reminiscent of pelts and crafted leathers than anything Fahjoth had seen being worn by the town- and city-dwelling Dunmer he saw day-to-day. A curious thought occurred to him: was that an Ashlander?

Did Ashlanders even venture into House Dunmer territories? Fahjoth to his knowledge had never seen one before, but that didn’t exactly prove anything. While he pondered this interesting occurrence, he watched as the Dunmer struck up a conversation with Ribyna. 

How odd, he thought. Over the chatter of the other punters, he couldn’t make out what they were saying, but Ribyna looked as surprised as Fahjoth was by the man’s approach. After some time, the man departed, and Ribyna returned to the table with two bottles clasped by the neck in one hand, and a cloth pouch in the other. 

“Well, that was weird,” she said, taking a seat and sliding one of the bottles over to Fahjoth. 

“Yeah, it looked it. What was all that about?” He accepted the drink with a murmur of thanks, then nodded to the pouch that Ribyna had placed onto the table. “What’s in the bag, anyway?”

“Two hundred drakes.”

Ribyna’s answer caused Fahjoth to almost spit out the mouthful of mazte that he had just swigged, forcing him to splutter and swallow it far more quickly than he had intended to. 

“Two hundred?! Did that man give it to you?”

“Yeah.”

“What for?”

Ribyna shrugged, a look of mild bemusement on her face. “He asked if we were going to that Ghostgate place. And if we were, he asked if we’d look out for some lad who’s going up Red Mountain. Or something. I dunno, I wasn’t really paying much attention...”

“And you didn’t think to... I dunno... ask? And get the full story?” Fahjoth frowned. “So what was the gold for? Some kind of reward?”

“Yeah. It doesn’t matter, though. We haven’t got to do anything.”

Now Fahjoth was even more confused. “So he gave you gold... for no reason? Surely he’s expecting us to go and find this person?”

Ribyna suddenly grinned. “That’s the best part! He literally told me he doesn’t even care if we don’t go. I think he was glad to see the back of this boy, to be honest.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Course I am! Or don’t you believe me?”

“No, I believe you,” Fahjoth replied hurriedly, “I just think it’s... well, a bit weird.”

“Me too, but I’m not gonna question it.” She waved the matter aside with a flick of her wrist. “Listen, don’t worry about it. I’m not. Basically, I just got us some free gold for our drinks tonight and our ride home tomorrow morning. No need to thank me.”

Ribyna was looking very pleased with herself as she drank her mazte, but Fahjoth still had reservations. 

“Did you even get his name?”

“Who?”

“That man! Or the boy we’re meant to be finding, actually.”

Ribyna blew out in derision. “What am I, a detective? Anyway, it don’t matter! It’s not like we’re actually going to Ghostgate anytime soon, is it?”

Fahjoth was about to protest, but on seeing the severe look Ribyna gave him over the brim of her bottle, he sighed. “No, I s’pose not...”

It wasn’t long after the twins finished their drinks that they decided to retire for the night, but it was a while before Fahjoth was able to sleep. He was still awake long after Ribyna’s deep breathing indicated that she had drifted off, while he remained staring at the ceiling in the dark, deep in thought. Ribyna may have been able to dismiss the request as easily as the Dunmer himself, but Fahjoth could not bring himself to do the same, and the thought played on his mind until the tiredness took over and he eventually fell asleep too. 

————————————————————————

tag list @boulderfall-cave , @padomaicocean (lmk if you’d like to be added!)

[nyroom]

The Ghosts of Childhood - Chapter 1

After a fight with his brother, Stan heads out and is consequentially de-aged back into a child. Now Ford is going to have to confront the emotional baggage he's been avoiding, all while trying to manage three children and a business. What could go wrong?

This fic is based on the One And A Half Stans AU from disappearedsock and thesnadger over on Tumblr. I stumbled across it and the idea was too cute to leave alone.

This is my first Gravity Falls fic so, if characters are ooc, that's why.

[AO3 Link] [Part 2]

The days since the Author had come out of the portal were almost suffocatingly tense. Don’t get him wrong - Dipper was positively thrilled to be meeting the object of his obsession fascination - but after the initial high wore off, the tension was starting to bother even him.

It was clear that Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford still had some animosity towards each other, soured even more over the 30-year absence. They didn’t appear to be in any rush to start making amends either. It was as if they were pretending the other didn’t exist, that if they ignored the problem strongly enough, it would eventually go away. Luckily, they mostly avoided each other, so the tension was at least bearable. It was a different story when they were both in the same room together, which was usually around dinner time.

A selfish part of Dipper resented Grunkle Stan, just a little. The Author LITERALLY lived in their basement, yet Dipper couldn’t even talk to him! He still had so many questions to ask him, but Grunkle Stan was firm in Dipper steering clear of him. “My brother’s a dangerous know-it-all, and the stuff he’s messing with is even worse.” He had said, brown eyes dark. “Do yourself a favour and stay away from him.”

Mabel didn’t seem to be handling the tension very well, though she was doing her best to be her usual peppy self. It just didn’t compute to her that siblings could hate each other so much. Why couldn’t they hug and just say sorry? Why wasn’t that good enough? Dipper had caught her shooting him sad looks when she thought he wasn’t looking, as if she were afraid they’d end up that way too. Dipper did his best to assure her otherwise.

Tonight had been a particularly bad one. Dipper and Mabel had huddled in their shared room, listening to the faint sounds of shouting coming from somewhere downstairs. It looked like the elder twins had finally stopped tip-toeing around each other. Dipper couldn’t make out exactly what was being said, but the venom in each of their voices was practically palpable.

Thankfully, as if a trade-off for its intensity, the fight had been over as quickly as it started, ending with a slammed door and the sound of tires screeching in the dirt. Most likely Grunkle Stan; Great Uncle Ford didn’t seem much for driving. Dipper had just winced and put the incident out of his mind. There wasn’t much he could do for them, and Mabel hadn’t exactly taken the fight well. He had more important things to worry about right now.

Now five hours later, the sun was starting to set and there was still no sign of Stan. That couldn’t be good.

“Maybe he just got caught up in a really good game of bingo?” Mabel suggested, ever the optimist. “You know, old people things.”

Dipper frowned, considering the thought. “There’s no way Grunkle Stan would have lasted this long without getting thrown out for cheating.”

Try as Dipper may, he couldn’t exactly think of anything that could occupy their Grunkle for this long. The townspeople weren’t exactly his greatest fans, and Stan had always seemed more content to sit in his armchair and watch television than go out anywhere. So what could it be? What could possibly be taking him so long? Had the fight really been that bad?

… Well, their last big fight had landed Great Uncle Ford on the other side of an interdimensional portal so, yeah, maybe. But Grunkle Stan wouldn’t just leave them, would he?

“Maybe we should go out and find him,” Mabel piped up, interrupting Dipper’s train of thought. “He might just have fallen asleep somewhere! It’s getting close to his bedtime.”

Dipper knew that she was just trying to lighten the mood, but it did nothing to soothe the sinking feeling he was starting to get.

No big deal. You just have to find Stan and bring him back. Piece of cake.

Minds made up, they grabbed their bags and headed down to the door, swiping the keys to the golf cart from the tray in the Gift Shop. While they could easily walk to town, they decided that it would be quicker to take the cart. Gravity Falls covered a pretty expansive area, and Stan could be anywhere.

They briefly hesitated by the vending machine, exchanging an uneasy glance. Did they tell Great Uncle Ford where they were going? Did they invite him along? … No, he likely wouldn’t come anyways. Besides, maybe he needed some time alone too, and it’d likely not be a good idea to drag him along on a trip to find the person he was fighting in the first place.

It was decided that they head into town first. Though it was no longer a secret that Grunkle Stan believed in and had experience with the supernatural, it seemed unlikely for him to journey into the woods. At best, he was disinterested in that whole business. Besides, he was driving, and the woods weren’t very car-friendly.

“We should have made posters before we left.” Mabel thought aloud as they parked the cart, tapping her chin. “How can you hunt for someone if you don’t even have a picture of them?”

Dipper rolled his eyes fondly, knowing she just wanted to stretch her creativity - and maybe put a dent in her glitter stockpile. “This town is pretty small, Mabel, and Grunkle Stan isn’t exactly a shut-in. I’m pretty sure everyone has at least heard of him.”

Mabel blew a raspberry, clearly disliking his answer, but not having a good enough rebuttal.

Though Dipper had felt pretty positive they would find Stan somewhere in town, his confidence began to wane with each area searched. Every street and building they checked turned up no trace of him and the townspeople seemed too disinterested to provide anything useful. It was starting to make that sinking feeling intensify, twisting in Dipper’s gut. If Grunkle Stan wasn’t in town, where was he?

A familiar red car caught Dipper’s attention as they rounded a corner, parked in the parking lot of the grocery store. Hope blossomed in his chest as he grabbed his sister’s arm, pointing over to it. “Mabel, look! It’s Grunkle Stan’s car!”

The two rushed over to it, but their faces fell when they discovered it empty. The only thing inside was a bag of groceries, sitting innocently in the passenger seat. Dipper frowned, mindlessly putting a hand on the door handle and pulling, though he knew very well Stan would never leave his precious car unloc--

It was unlocked.

That didn’t make sense. Grunkle Stan’s pastime was stealing and scamming, so he always made sure to keep careful track of his possessions; his car especially. Anytime they went out anywhere, he’d always triple check to make sure the doors were locked and the windows were rolled up. “A beauty like this, anyone’d steal her if they got the chance!” He had explained once. Dipper hadn’t had the heart to tell him he really didn’t think anyone would care enough to steal an old, beat-up car like this.

Mabel reached into the bag of groceries, taking out a carton of milk. “It’s warm.” She murmured, eyes taking on a fearful and distant quality. If the milk was warm, that meant Grunkle Stan hadn’t been here in some time, but where could he have gone without his car?

Dipper looked up towards the forest, looming a few feet away from the edge of the parking lot. Maybe he had…? No, why would Grunkle Stan head into the woods, especially when he had groceries? Something wasn’t adding up here, and that sinking feeling returned with a vengeance.

They decided to do one last sweep of the town, just in case. It couldn’t hurt, could it? They made sure to check in with the store as well, just in case he had gone back for something. As expected, the cashier merely shook her head and said he had only been there the one time, and that was hours ago to boot.

Eventually, the two decided to take a break on a bench, wearing identical frowns as they tried to think of their next move. If he wasn’t in town, then that meant he had most likely gone into the forest. The question still remained: why? Had something lured him in?

...Maybe Great Uncle Ford had something that could help. Surely he didn’t hate Stan that much that he would refuse to help if he had gone missing, right? They should go and talk to him.

“Hey Dipper, do you hear that?” Mabel piped up, straightening from her slouched posture, squinting into the distance.

Dipper blinked out of his thoughts and focused. Sure enough, he could faintly hear something coming from somewhere nearby. It almost sounded like… Crying? He straightened too now, probing his surroundings for the source. The few townspeople he saw milling about all seemed fine.

Then he spied a bundle of brown, white and red, tucked in an alleyway behind some garbage bins. As Dipper looked closer, he realized that it wasn’t just any bundle: it was a boy, roughly around their age. He had his knees drawn up to his chest and his face hidden, shoulders silently trembling. Dipper winced in sympathy. He must be lost.

Mabel followed his gaze, silently gasping at the sight. Without bothering to wait for Dipper’s input, she hopped over the back of the bench and carefully approached the boy. Dipper scrambled a little less gracefully, but nonetheless fell into step beside her.

As they got closer to the boy, Dipper noticed the twigs in his hair and the dirt on his clothes. They looked a little torn too, ripped at the edges. Had he run into one of the supernatural creatures in the woods? Dipper thought the townspeople usually avoided venturing too far from civilization, but that was usually the adults.

He had been trying to think of a good opener so they didn’t needlessly scare him more, but it seemed like the boy was more perceptive than Dipper thought. As soon as they got closer, his head shot up, bloodshot eyes darting around wildly. When he saw them, he hastily scrubbed at his face with the heel of his hand, trying to hide the tears.

“Are you lost?” Mabel asked, stooping down to be level with the boy. Her expression was soft and open, trying to make herself as non-threatening as possible. Really, she didn’t need to try. Though Mabel was certainly no pushover, she looked about as threatening as a puppy. The puppy knitted into her sweater didn’t help that, either.

“I’m fine!” The boy said almost immediately, his accent immediately sticking out as something not local. He must be touring with his family and had gotten lost; now his possible forest excursion made a lot more sense. The boy sniffed again, hunching his shoulders as if he wanted to appear bigger, but made no move to get off the pavement. “I’m just… Taking a detour.”

“Detour?” Mabel asked conversationally, her head tilting. “Where are you going? Maybe we can help!”

The boy squinted at Mabel reproachfully, sizing her up. “...The beach.” He eventually said, huffing out a sigh. At least the tears had dried up, though he still looked uneasy in their presence. “I was s’posed to meet my brother there after I got us some candy, but…” He trailed off, squinting. “...I think I fell asleep.”  

Mabel and Dipper exchanged a look. There were no beaches anywhere near Gravity Falls, unless you counted the vaguely sandy shores of the lake. Maybe it was something in the forest? Though it definitely felt like he and Mabel had been over every inch of those woods, they had never come out the other side. But what were the chances of a child - possibly two children - braving the woods and finding something Dipper and Mabel hadn’t yet?

The boy continued on unperturbed by the exchange, seeming to gain enough confidence to show vulnerability in front of the twins. “An’ I don’t really know where I am! One minute I’m walkin’ the boardwalk, then pow! I’m on the ground eatin’ grass! It took me forever to get back here, but I’ve never been in this part of town before!” He took a deep, shuddering breath, fingers tightening in the fabric of his pants. “I’ve been gone for a real long time, he’s probably worried sick now. An’ if Pa finds out…”

Okay. Something supernatural was at foot here, no question about it. Had it wiped the boy’s memories, maybe? That would explain the sudden shift in location, but not where he had been originally. There were no beaches or boardwalks anywhere in Gravity Falls, and the accent was a sticking point. It sounded like he came from a whole other state. So had he been teleported?

And then, of course, there was still the mystery of their missing Grunkle. As alluring as this particular mystery was, Dipper kept thinking back to the abandoned car and the warm groceries. If something had happened to Stan, especially so soon after those agents had been by… He didn’t want to think about that.

The boy suddenly jumped to his feet, startling Dipper out of his thoughts as the boy’s eyes darted wildly around the alley. “Oh no, my brother’s alone! What if Crampelter gets him? I need to be there!”

Crampelter sounded… Familiar, but Dipper couldn’t place where. Still, speculations could wait. For now, they needed to keep him calm. If he really had been teleported from another state, the explanation that something supernatural had done this to him would likely freak him out more.

“Whoa there, calm down. We’ll help you find him.” Dipper said without thinking, raising his hands placatingly. Of course, he didn’t know how they were going to do that, but he felt like the boy would just rush off no matter what they said. At least this way, they could keep an eye on him and make sure he didn’t get more lost.

“Yeah!” Mabel chimed in, luckily following his lead without argument. That didn’t surprise him; she was always trying to keep spirits up, no matter whose they were. “We’re missing someone too, so maybe we can all help each other!”

The boy hesitated, clearly not completely trusting them just yet, but there was a flicker of something hopeful in his eyes. Eventually, he nodded, sticking out his hand. “Okay, you guys got a deal. But we need to find my brother first, okay? Trust me, if anyone can find your guys’ missing guy, it’s him. He’s got like…” He paused, counting on his fingers. “A billion smarts in his head!”

Dipper wanted to argue with that. Stan could be in serious danger, maybe hurt somewhere. Why else would he take so long getting back? Yet Mabel cut him off, taking the boy’s hand and shaking it. “Deal!”

Seeming to ignore Dipper’s hissed ‘Mabel’, Mabel threw her arm around her brother and pulled him into a side-hug. “I’m Mabel, and this is my twin brother Dipper! What’s your name?”

That seemed to get the boy’s attention, his eyes widening as he looked a little in awe at the two. “You’re twins? Me an’ my brother are twins too!” Whatever misgivings the boy had left seemed to vanish and he fully grinned this time. Dipper could see that one of his teeth was missing. “My name’s Stan!”

“That’s the same name as our Grunkle!” Mabel chimed, eyes widening. She quickly dug into her bag, taking out a photo from their Summerween that she hadn’t found a place for in her scrapbook just yet. She pointed to him in the picture. “You see someone like that before?”

Stan squinted at the picture, thinking carefully. “Hmmm. I dunno what a “grunkle” is, but I’ve never seen him before.” He paused, tilting his head. “He kinda looks like my Pa, but… Really really old.”

Dipper was starting to get a sense of deja vu. The chances that this boy had the same name as Stan and had a twin brother had already seemed a little too convenient in Dipper’s mind, but now Grunkle Stan looked like this boy’s dad? Something was weird here. Was he some kind of distant relative? A cousin, maybe?

Mabel, meanwhile, looked a little dejected as she put the photo back into her bag, but was still smiling through it. “That’s okay. At least you know what he looks like now! Maybe we’ll run into him while we search for your bro, or maybe they’re even together!”

As the trio journeyed out of the alleyway into the dying sunlight, Stan began to look around at their surroundings. That same uneasy expression flickered across his face before he schooled it into one of determination, hitting his fist into his open palm as he spoke. “Alright. We need to get to the beach first and make sure he isn’t still there. If he’s not, then we’ll go to my Pa’s pawnshop next.”

Pawnshop? Grunkle Stan’s life story came to mind once again, specifically his childhood. Hadn’t he said his family lived above their own pawn shop? These similarities were starting to get creepy, and Dipper found his mind beginning to wander.

Was it really possible that Grunkle Stan was…?

“Hey, uh… What did you say your last name was?” He asked hesitantly, stopping to turn and face Stan again. It probably came across as a silly question, but Dipper needed to know for sure. Stan blinked at him, looking confused now.

“Um, Pines? But my last name isn’t gonna help us find Ford!” Stan made to move past the twins, only faltering when he must have realized he didn’t exactly know where to go. He turned back to them, impatient. “C’mon, we’re wasting time!”

Darn. Looks like Dipper’s hunch had been right.

The twins exchanged an alarmed glance, Mabel sputtering in her surprise. “W-Wait, Grunkle Stan? Is that you?”

Stan blinked once again, caught off guard by the sudden question. “What? I’m not that old! I’m ten and that guy looked like… 100.” He reached up to squish his own cheeks, digging his fingers into the flesh. “I don’t even have wrinkles.”

So not only had their Grunkle been turned back into a 10-year-old, but he hadn’t retained any memories of his older self. Dipper awkwardly tugged at the collar of his shirt at the revelation, going quiet. How were they supposed to explain this to him? He wouldn’t understand. Not to mention, Stan was starting to get that cagey look in his eye as the moment dragged. They didn’t need Stan running off on them.

But that left them with an uncomfortable problem. Sure, Dipper felt pretty confident in his own skills with the weird and paranormal creatures and items in the forest - the answer to turning Grunkle Stan back to his proper age likely lurked there - but what were they supposed to do with Stan in the meantime? Dipper doubted he’d be up for a forest trek.

...Nevermind that, what were they going to tell Great Uncle Ford? After that fight, how would he react to his brother like this? They couldn’t exactly hide Stan from him.

Well, Great Uncle Ford or not, they needed the journal to begin trying to straighten out this mess. That was back in their room, which meant they needed to convince Stan to come back with them. How were they going to manage that?

“Yeah, you’re definitely not our Stan,” Dipper cut in quickly as Stan opened his mouth, likely to protest some more. “That’s okay, we can worry about that later. You said your brother was your twin, right? So that means you look like each other?”

Stan squinted suspiciously at Dipper, but nodded all the same. “Yeah, but he has big glasses.” He held his hands up, cupping his fingers around his eyes. “And he don’t got as many band-aids as me. Oh, and he wears this nerdy jacket.”

Dipper nodded along with the description, conspiratorially rubbing his chin in thought. “Yeah, I think I’ve actually seen someone like that today. He wasn’t at the beach, though.”

Mabel seemed to be clueing in to Dipper’s ploy now and she gasped, putting her hands to her face. “Hey, yeah! I remember that now. He was back at... the Mystery Shack, wasn’t he?”

The suspicion melted off Stan’s face all too easily. Grunkle Stan would be disappointed in himself. “Really? Did he look okay?”

“Uhhh… Yeah!” Mabel answered, having to think. “He looked kind of worried though, I think he was looking for you.”

Apparently, that was all the convincing Stan needed. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!”

---

Though it had been a few days since he had returned to his home dimension, Ford still found himself struggling to adjust to this new modern era. In the 30 years since Ford had gone through the portal, the world had moved on without him, oblivious that he was even missing in the first place. Of course, part of that had been Stan’s fault, but Stan hadn’t brought about 30 years of technological development on his own.

Nonetheless, if Stan had just listened to him for once in his godforsaken life, Ford wouldn’t have missed those developments in the first place. Now he was practically a prisoner in his own home, forced to hide out in the basement while his brother masqueraded as him. It was an affront to Ford’s pride and life’s work, having his identity stolen and turned around like that. Really, what had Stan been thinking?

The rational part of Ford reminded him that his precious “life’s work” had nearly brought about the end of the universe. If he hadn’t trusted Bill in the first place, been as smart as he liked to believe he was, then there wouldn’t have been a portal to go through. Fiddleford would certainly be the better for it - God, was he still alive? Ford needed to check on him.

Yet the stubborn part of Ford wanted to hold tight to his anger. It was easier to just blame Stan for everything. Stan was the one who broke his project, crushed his dreams, and pushed him through an interdimensional portal. Perhaps it was irrational, but Ford felt comfortable with this anger. These weren’t petty incidents: they were life-altering. He was completely justified in feeling the way he felt right now.

That had partially been what their fight earlier in the day had been about. After he had sealed the Rift and dismantled the portal, Ford had decided to do a basic search on his name to see if he could track down his brother’s movements. It was then that he discovered the rather extensive criminal record now attached to his name. Ford hadn’t realized there were even official names for half of these crimes.

So angry, he had promptly gone upstairs to find his brother and give him a piece of his mind. Hadn’t he realized what a mess this would be to sort out when he was able to exist under his own name again? Had he thought through anything in the time Ford had been gone?

“Why do you always have to ruin my life?!”

Ford remembered the momentary look of hurt in his brother’s eyes as he hurled that accusation at him and, briefly, felt bad. Stan had shored up that vulnerability pretty fast, spouting the same excuse he had stuck by ever since Ford got back: “I was doing it for you!” His sympathy dried up almost immediately.

For Ford. As if making Ford a criminal would do him ANY good. Stan hadn’t bothered to stick around to hear Ford’s rebuttal, saying something about how he didn’t need to take this kind of shit before storming off outside. A snide voice in Ford’s head pointed out that Stan was just running away from the consequences of his own actions, just as he had done for the entirety of his life. Nothing was ever his fault.

That had been hours ago now. When he checked his watch, he could see that it was well past the time Stan normally cooked dinner for them. Usually, he would call Ford up to join them (most likely out of obligation, or maybe for the kids’ sakes), but he hadn’t heard anything yet.

Ford couldn’t say he was surprised. After that fight, it wasn’t a stretch to assume Stan decided he didn’t want to see his brother so soon. Ford couldn’t say he wanted to see Stan so soon either, so he didn’t really begrudge being left out. If he was quiet enough, he might be able to sneak some food for himself without alerting the family.

As he did his best to close the vending machine as silently as he could and entered the house portion of the Mystery Shack (Moses, what a terrible name), he noticed just how quiet everything was. Ford even stood still and listened, trying to pick up any sounds that could be coming from upstairs. There was nothing.

Odd, but hardly Ford’s concern. All three of the house residents were plenty capable of handling themselves from what he could tell, and it wasn’t exactly his job to babysit them. Well, babysit Stan, at least.

So he shrugged the oddity off and continued to the kitchen, rooting around for something to eat. Since he had the house to himself, perhaps he would actually cook himself something for once. Sure, when he was last in this dimension, he typically subsisted off ready-made food, but having something warm and fresh was a luxury he hadn’t been able to afford in the multiverse.

Soon enough, he had two eggs simmering happily in the pan. The mundaneness was a nice break from the 30 years of hell he had been through, and Ford relished in it. For once, everything was fine.

His thoughts were interrupted by the distant sound of a door opening. Ford assumed it to be the front door at first, but soon realized it had come from the wrong end of the house. The only other door that lead outside was the Gift Shop door, but that was supposed to be closed for the public. Perhaps one of the family had decided to use that door out of convenience?

It could also be someone - or something - breaking in. The vending machine was in the Gift Shop. Bill was still at large. The Rift was in his lab. That wasn’t good.

Shutting the stove off, Ford quickly but quietly sprinted towards the Gift Shop. The chances of Bill retaliating were slim, but slim wasn’t nothing. Ford couldn’t afford to be lenient, not when the universe was at stake.

Once he got to the door that separated the shop from the house, he could pick up on three voices. Two he recognized as Dipper and Mabel, but the third was unfamiliar. While the presence of the youngest twins was a mild relief, the unfamiliar voice did nothing to tamp down his panic. What if Bill had possessed someone and had tricked the children? It wouldn’t be beneath him.

Ford considered opening the door a crack to see if he could catch sight of the stranger’s eyes, but thought better of it. If anyone saw him, it’d be over. Bill was all too familiar with him and had two easy bargaining chips should Ford try and block their path. Instead, he pressed his ear to the door and tried to listen to their conversation.

“... And you’re totally sure he was still here when you guys left?” The unfamiliar voice said. Now what he was thinking of it, Ford couldn’t shake the feeling that he had heard that voice somewhere before. At least it wasn’t Bill’s voice, though that didn’t eliminate the possibility of the demon’s involvement.

“Sure was!” That was Mabel, that much was obvious. “He was showing off this picture he had to everyone.”

“A picture?” The unfamiliar voice echoed. “Huh. I wonder why.”

“While we’re here, we need to pick something up.” And there was Dipper. “Can you wait here? We won’t be long.”

What? They were leaving a stranger alone near the vending machine? Even if they weren’t a stranger to them, that was still dangerous! Ford was going to need to sit them down and have a word with them about how important it was to keep the vending machine away from prying eyes.

No time for that now as he heard footsteps start approaching the door Ford had pressed himself against. Thinking quickly, he ducked into hiding right as the twins came into the house. He held his breath as they passed him by, heading upstairs to their shared room. It didn’t seem like they had seen him.

With them gone, he could now check on this stranger without any collateral.

Not bothering to be subtle, Ford pushed the Gift Shop’s door open. Playing cat and mouse with Bill was a pointless endeavor; it was best to face him head-on. However, what he saw inside made his blood run cold.

There in the Gift Shop stood a child that looked strikingly similar to Stan when he was a child, right down to the face, hair, and clothes. He was holding a Stan bobblehead in his hands, turning it over and over, watching the head jiggle with a fascinated stare. His eyes, Ford noted dimly, were brown.

The child looked up at Ford’s entrance, tilting his head curiously at him. He only looked at him a moment before he cupped his free hand around his mouth, shouting: “Dipper! Mabel! I found your missing Grunkle!”

With a face to put to the voice, the realization of why he sounded so familiar hit him like a truck. This wasn’t just someone who looked like Stanley, this was Stanley.

The shock must have shown on his face as Stan was looking at him again, this time with a little concern and a bit of apprehension. “You okay there mister? You look kinda sick.”

Ford took a deep breath, forcing his thoughts to the back of his head. Obviously something supernatural had gotten to him, though he couldn’t remember encountering anything that could do this. That wasn’t a good sign, he was going to need to refresh himself with his journals to double-check.

“Yes, I’m… I’m fine.” He finally said, pushing a hand through his hair. Stan’s gaze was immediately drawn to the motion, and Ford realized his mistake as soon as he saw those eyes widen.

“Whoa, you got six fingers! My brother’s got six fingers too!” He exclaimed, reaching out to grab Ford’s free hand. Ford had to resist the instinct to yank his hand back and shove it out of sight. Stan continued, “People are always sayin’ he’s a freak, but wait till I show him this! He can’t be a freak if there’s other people like him! He’s gonna be so happy!”

Ford felt himself wince. Back then, there were no shortage of people who were uncomfortable with his extra fingers. Abnormalities weren’t (aren’t?) something the public took kindly too and chose to distance themselves from Ford accordingly. Others had mocked him for it, helpfully reminding him that there was nowhere freaks like him would belong.

Stan had been the only one to tell him that his extra fingers made him special, not a freak, and that they were just jealous. If Stan was there, which was common back then, he had always stood up for Ford and told the bullies straight to their face how wrong they were. Seeing Stan so awed now and immediately thinking of how Ford would feel made his heart clench uncomfortably.

Stan’s loyalty had always been unwavering, his conscience reminded him. No matter how stupid and reckless it was, Stan was always there. It was why Ford was standing here in the first place.

Luckily, Ford didn’t need to think of a comeback as he heard the door open behind him. He turned to see the twins had returned, Dipper holding one of his journals. They were staring at him with shock.

“See? I found your Grunkle!” Stan piped up, letting go of Ford’s hand to gesture dramatically at him. “Now we can go back to finding Ford! Oh, wait-” He turned back to face Ford, looking serious now. “Have you seen him? He looks like me, but with glasses.”

Ah. He was looking for Ford. That caused another uncomfortable heart clench.

“Um… Gr-- I mean, Stan…” Mabel started, helplessly trailing off. It was then that Ford knew what he needed to do.

He crouched down so he was eye level with Stan, gently placing his hands on his shoulders. “I’m right here, Stanley.”

Stan stiffened under his hands, looking up at Ford with a mixture of confusion and apprehension. Even in their youth, Stan hadn’t been the type to easily buy into what people told him. While Ford admittedly found himself falling for the lies his classmates would tell, desperate for admiration and acceptance, Stan was always the first to call a bluff. He had written it off as mere gut instinct - Ford was the one with the smarts to see through the lies later in life, after all.  

Oh, how wrong Stan had been.

“Last I checked, my brother wasn’t a dinosaur.” Stan shot back, though his tone lacked conviction. His brows were furrowed as he stubbornly looked down at his shoe, refusing to meet Ford’s gaze. It was an expression of Stan’s that Ford could still read even after all these years: fear.

“If I wasn’t your brother, I wouldn’t know about that time you and I thought we killed the Sibling Brothers and stole their clothes,” Ford said gently, watching Stan’s eyes snap up to meet his own. “I wouldn’t know that the real reason you lost that tooth there is because you fell out of a tree, not because you were fighting bullies. I wouldn’t know that you’re afraid of heights, or that you once called Mr. Kord ‘Pa’ in 3rd grade, or that you lost a fight to a crab in 4th.”  

He punctuated his explanation with a squeeze of his brother’s shoulders, hoping to be reassuring. “I promise you, Stanley. It’s really me.”

Stan was now staring at him with open shock, eyes blown wide. When he finally spoke, his voice was small and hesitant. “S-Sixer? But… What?”

For the first time in 40 years, Ford gave his brother a bittersweet smile.

“I’ll explain in the house.”

[perfectharmonyloveschaos]

what if whenever klaus is accidentally doing his telekinesis at first, everyone thinks it's vanya, including him. but when hes by himself or something and things keep happening he doesnt notice it or brushes it off by reasoning it. ben keeps trying to tell him that hes being dumb and it's klaus whos doing all of that

Sorry if you just wanted me to talk about this in bullet points or anything (i still might, god I love making those), this idea was just too good and immediately inspired me to write a small fic about it so hope you’re not mad anon! I wasn’t sure how much to go into, so I tried to keep it to your ask, but goddamn if it wasn’t fun. Klaus being an idiot and not realising that he can move things with his mind is so funny to me for some reason, hope you enjoy it!

The first time there had been anything out of the ordinary, it had been Ben who had noticed it. Field after field of wheat and corn and cotton stretched as far as Klaus could see, squinting his tired eyes against the glare of the sun that sat lazily on the horizon. If not for the aches left from his sudden fall into whatever time period they were in – little Five had said that the equations were a bitch to get exactly right – than Klaus may have paid more attention.

Ben, however, didn’t get sore from falls out of the space-time continuum or hours of blind walking, so it really had been no wonder that his deceased brother had far more focus.

“Great.” Klaus hissed; his brows knitted together tightly as he hugged his arms closer to his chest. A shiver ran through him, the irritable itch of his skin taking no time in setting over his body. “This is just peachy, huh? Fivey couldn’t have dropped us somewhere nice… like Vegas?”

Ben made a face, strolling leisurely by the medium’s side as he watched the cattle stare as they passed. “Fresh air is better for you than booze and slot machines.” Ben reasoned, his lip rising as he watched Klaus’ slug by, his legs dragging off the dirt countryside roads until anything else came into view. “Besides, all these,” He added, gesturing a hand to a black Angus calf ignorant to them as it suckled its mother. “-must belong to someone.”

“Little shit dropped us in the asshole to nowhere…”

“The others could have landed in the nearest town.”

“-and my ribs hurt.”

Ben sighed, leaning his head back as he let his arms flop down to his sizes, focusing on the swaying motion of them as they walked in silence. They’d be okay, they’d find the others – probably Diego in that stupid outfit scowling at Klaus for ‘wandering off’ – and then Klaus would smile and quip and everything would be okay.

The others weren’t in the nearest town.

They could only gather so much from their surroundings, but their deductions seemed sound and clean enough that Ben smiled at his brother as he peered at the newspaper over his shoulder. Klaus’ long, knobby fingers worked on straightening the wrinkles and skimmed over the weather-worn letters – people had thrown looks at the lanky man tearing paper from a nearby trashcan, but none of them said anything, thankfully – only to let out a tired groan.

Ben didn’t need to read through it to understand what his brother meant.

“Nothing.”

Without another word, the newspaper was crumpled up into a ball and dropped at his feet, worn trainers that scuffed off the concrete feebly kicked it aside. He could see the tension in his brother’s shoulders, bare against his torn army vest – Dave, would he have been able to lift Klaus’ hopes better than Ben, did Klaus want Dave there more than him? – as his withdrawal slithered back in to replace the time-travel nausea.

Ben grimaced at the slump of Klaus’s body, hunched meekly on the sidewalk.

A few moments of silence went by.

“What are we gonna do?”

“We should check around for the others, at least we know something.”

“Fine.” Klaus nodded but didn’t budge from the sidewalk as his hands covered his face. The fashion definitely struck them of being around the 1960s, at least giving them a when to base their next action on, the newspaper only confirming it as 1960 to be exact. It was early morning, so fewer people were around to see Klaus – who appeared to be talking to the air, Ben reminded him – but the oncoming morning rush meant a higher chance of standing out.

“The Commission is probably already on our asses.”

Klaus snorted, but didn’t release the tension in his shoulders. Pressing his arms tighter against his side, the skin of his hands pressed white off the sidewalk, pushing all his weight into his limbs and yet failing to move. Short nails clawed at the concrete. Ben stared down at him, brow wrinkled at the heaving breaths that passed through his thin form, shivering with each exhale.

Glancing up to take a look at their surroundings, Ben forced himself to stay put. Withdrawal was a bitch, that much was given at how many times he had seen Klaus go through it before in hospitals and rehab, only to dive back into the intoxication pool without hesitation. But time-travel? That was a whole other game, sensations that he couldn’t understand as he was.

Klaus exhaled a hard breath beside him, the muscles of his arms flexed between them and his teeth clenched down hard into his jaw. Breathe, Ben reminded him, repeating the word over and over until it sounded wrong and then kept going.

"Breathe”.

“I know.”

“We’ll be okay.”

Klaus groaned in reply.

“We’ll find the others, and everything will be-”

The newspaper shot away from them and all the way across to the other side of the street.

Ben blinked.

His mouth opened to speak, to question what had just occurred, only to let his mouth close once more. There had been no wind, no breeze that flapped at Klaus’ clothing or anything else on the street strong enough to do that, so how-

“Alright... I’m alright,” Klaus said slowly, letting out a groan as he shakily rose to his feet. Ben leapt to attention, adrenaline left over alerting him to the scuff of his brother’s foot off the road before he could help him to his feet, his eyes never leaving Klaus. That was… new. “Let’s go.”

                                                         (***)

“Klaus.”

“Ben, for the last time-!”

“It was floating!”

“I must’ve made some other ghost corporal by accident!” Klaus reasoned, waving his brother’s concern away as he shoved his arms back through his jacket sleeves. “Remember when you were able to hold stuff again? You knocked all kinds of shit over-”

“There were no other ghosts, I would’ve seen it.”

Klaus rolled his eyes, picking up the knocked over lamp and replacing it back on the motel bed table.  Blowing a raspberry after flicking the light switch on to make sure the bulb wasn’t damaged; Klaus hoisted his bag over his shoulder and gestured for Ben to follow. “Maybe being corporal makes it harder to see other ghosts, Benny-boy.”

Realising the other was heading out the motel room door rather than listening, Ben pursed his lips with a shake of his head as he followed Klaus. Watching Klaus tie his hair into a high bun – the tangled mess of curls on his head now reaching his chin – in order to help dry the sweat still coating his neck, Ben sighed.

Ghosts can’t knock over lamps, he frowned to himself as Klaus hopped into the driver seat, quickening his pace to slip in the passenger seat before the other had time to start the engine. But idiots who can move stuff without touching them having nightmares can.

                                                        (***)

“Lucky that the guy tripped, huh?”

“Yeah,” Ben sighed, rolling his eyes as Klaus swung his arms leisurely, going on his merry way as if he hadn’t almost been mugged and stabbed by some alley-thug five minutes before. “It’s our lucky day…”

Because men twice the size of Klaus just so happened to become clumsy despite being able to sneak up on a man and a literal ghost.

And that said thug had tripped so hard that he somehow flung himself back down the alleyway far enough that they could escape.

And that the man’s knife just so happened to fly out of his hand and straight into a wooden pallet leaning against a wall more then ten feet away.

Purely, undoubtedly, luck.

Shaking his head, Ben forced himself to only nod when Klaus suggested they get something to eat.

His brother was such an idiot.

                                                        (***)

Their whole family were idiots.

“Our first objective should be stopping the apocalypse─”

“We need to help Vanya─”

“Allison please, we don’t know what she’s capable─”

“She is trying to control them, Luther. Why can’t you─

Any attempt at conversation was muffled out as Luther shouted louder, only angering Allison who had stood in-between him and Vanya once their brother had shown a lack of resolve to control himself. Lingering off to the side of the room, Klaus could only chuckle as chaos erupted between his three siblings, earning a look from the remainder of his family.

Five took no time in trying to dismantle the tension, jumping back and forth between the living room and the kitchen counter in order to move his plans elsewhere. Neither Ben, Klaus or Diego could blame the fifty-year-old-teen for his lack of concern, arguments were as common in their family as game nights for other, more functional homes.

Earning an expectant look from Ben, Klaus sighed as he hoisted himself up from the couch and stepped cautiously over to their siblings. Diego, raising a brow, glanced over to Ben before giving his dead brother a small smile.

Good job.

Ben straightened his posture, lifting his weight from the settee arm and instead balancing it on his opposite hip. He pursed his lips, however, into a glare at the shift of Luther’s stance, using his bulbous shoulders to basically shove Klaus out of the argument without even hearing what the medium had to say.

Lifting his hands before him to show no harm, Klaus tried to draw attention back to Vanya and her own voice, rather than letting her be drowned out like always. Sharing a smile with his shorter sister, Vanya shifted to allow Klaus room, guiding Allison who could only smile at her growth in confidence.

The conversation, however, didn’t calm as Luther continued to protest despite the majority, besides Five who was too busy working out equations in the kitchen and trying to save the world to care, to the point where Diego rushed in at the mention of their childhood numbers.

Klaus groaned, smothering his face with his own hands once Diego unsheathed a knife. Not listening to either Allison or Vanya demanding them to stop, Ben stood back as the argument began to break down into a brawl between the two highest numbers.

That was, until, something pushed them.

Silence fell as a force of some kind knocked into both men, knocking Diego’s knife from his hand and sending both him and Luther further back from one another. Wide-eyed, the group grew silent.

Until Five jumped back into the room, pissed-off and snarling at the group to restrain themselves, rather than making the Commission’s job easier for them.

Ben sighed as the blame shifted to Vanya, furrowing his brows as he caught sight of Klaus stepping back from his sister in shock. None had noticed his hand, clenched tightly into a fist and still slightly glowing blue.

Sharing a look with his startled brother, Ben scowled at his dismissal and the attention on Vanya, ignoring their sister’s certainty that she hadn’t done anything. Klaus shook his hand out, letting the colour fade and acted to be simply stretching once Five and Diego looked at him at the collapse of the argument.

Shrugging of Diego’s concerns, Klaus was quick to console Vanya.

Ben frowned but pushed those thoughts away upon his siblings realising he was corporeal once more, attempting to ease tension within the bunker.

Idiots.

[melyaliz]

Past Loves and Future babies pt.  4

Masterlist

Fandom: Marvel / MCU  

Pairing: Steve Rogers x OC 

Summary: After realizing Peggy has moved on Steve comes back to the present to take on his biggest mission ever. Have a baby that will save the world

(Play avatar theme music) 

Notes: This whole story was inspired by the idea of that annoying thing where people over fantasize a situation. (I’m super guilty of it) 

I like to think of Dixie as a broken dreamer. 

And Steve as a guilty idealist 

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Soft warmth. That was what Dixie felt as her mind slowly slid from her deep slumber to consciousness. Her eyes slowly drew open, The warmth of the morning light falling across her face filling the rest of the room. Well by the morning light filling the room it was probably more like the noonday sun. Dixie had never been much of an awake before noon kind of gal. 

Slowly she moved the sheets next to her were slightly cold. Empty. confused she sat up rubbing her head running her fingers through her hair. Her groggy brain trying to piece together what was off. 

She was not a morning person. 

Then it hit her. 

She was alone. 

Looking around Steve was nowhere to be seen. 

It shouldn’t bother her. It was late. A normal person would be up and out around now. And it wasn’t like he owned her anything. He literally couldn’t even have sex with her. 

Not that that meant anything but… 

Letting out a long groan Dixie lay back in the bed. For a moment she wondered if she just closed her eyes maybe she would wake up in her shitty bed back in Arizona. Mac typing away from being up all night ready to turn in while she was considering breakfast burritos or just going back to sleep. 

Simpler times. 

Times before she had to get a baby pumped into her to save the world by a man who couldn’t even bother to stay the night with her.

Pulling a pillow around her head she tried to close out those unfair thoughts. This was for the better. The less he was around the less she would be attached. The less she was endanger of falling in love. 

Dixie had known going into this that it would be like this. She would NOT let dark thoughts about a man who had no reason to be in love with her acting rationally about this whole situation. Yes, it was hard not to play the fantasy game of destiny and soulmate lovers but this was the real world. And it wasn’t unfair to put those unrealistic expectations on Steve. 

Things like falling in love with her. 

So rolling over onto her side Dixie sighed looking out the large window. The light shining through the thing curtain that hung over it. This was her home now. This was her life. She mine as well make the best of it. 

Even if her bed just felt so lonely. 

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It was warm that morning. For a moment Steve wasn’t sure where he was. It was so soft and comfortable. The calmness seemed to be envelop him. Slowly he opened his eyes his body shifting to realize there was an arm around his chest. A small delicate hand resting on his torso.

It all came rushing back. Last night, the day before.  

Dixie. 

She was buried into his back, and for a moment he wondered if she was breathing. Taking her small hand in his large one he gently pried her away from his back. Then turing he lay on his side facing her so he could make sure she was still asleep. She mumbled for a moment brows knitting together before she peacefully went back to sleep burying herself in the blankets. Her soft round face was so peaceful as she rested, her breath gently blew a strand of hair that had fallen onto her face.   

Gingerly he brushed her hair away pulling the blanket up around her before kissing her forehead. 

Everything that had happened. He couldn’t blame her for it. Like she had said last night. They were in this together. 

“Well look at you all bright and early” Sam laughed as Steve walked up to him and Bucky stretched on the lawn getting ready for their daily run. 

“I thought you would want to sleep in today” Bucky smirked and Sam laughed. However, catching Steve’s rather tense stance, Bucky's smirk flattered. Sam on the other hand, didn’t pick up on the subtle tension on their friend’s shoulders. 

“No rest for Captain America?” 

“Not Captain anymore” Steve reminded Sam. After coming back from delivering the stones he had given his shield to Sam. even if he couldn’t get the girl he was going to hang up his colors. Help in the background. 

Be just Steve Rogers. 

“Whatever you say,” Sam said.

“Also you owe me” Bucky shouted hitting Sam on the chest before taking off leading their morning run. Steve trailing closely with Sam several paces behind shaking his head muttering something about “damn super soldiers” 

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

Dixie yawned scratching her head as she slowly walked into the living room, still in her pjs just dragging her bare feet through the plush carpet. Blinking owlishly she looked around the room, the large window that overlooked the beautiful landscape was filling the room with warm sunlight giving the whole room a very happy feeling. 

This place really was beautiful. 

It made her skin itch slightly. Like when you eat something too sweet or smell something that is just… too clean. 

Curling up on the couch Dixie pulled a soft white blanket around herself. What to do, what to do. Pulling out her phone she looked it over for a moment before pressing the call button. 

She shouldn't but… 

“Am I an uncle yet?”

Just the sound of his voice made her want to cry. Her chest twisting uncomfortably. A deep thick feeling building in her stomach. As if her chest was bleeding into her body. 

“Hey Mac.” her voice was light and airy. A bit of a giggle added for effect. 

“That bad huh?” 

Fuck him. There was no lying to her older brother. Years of them relying on the other meant they always knew when something was wrong. 

It was a blessing and a curse. 

“No babies yet” Dixie said doging the second question as she picked at her red toe nail polish that was peeling. “We didn’t really do much last night. He was… really awkward.”

“Oh really?” Mac paused, “You think maybe they got the wrong sibling?” 

Dixic laughed, a real laugh this time. Lodging whatever was ripping into her chest lose slightly. Causing her to feel lighter. 

“I mean I do love me a blonde.” Mac continued. 

“I’m not sure how the whole pregnancy thing would work though.” 

“I mean anything is possible at this point. Gods are real and literally half of all living things were gone for 5 years only to come back as if nothing had happened.” 

“You have a point.” 

“Well I am the smarter one” 

“Can’t argue with you there.” Dixie looked over her even more chipped red nails, she was going to have to repaint them soon. Vaguely she hoped she hadn’t forgotten to pack that color. It was her favorite. It had that Warden Walker feel to it. And if Dixie wanted to channel anyone at the moment it was a woman who wore snake venom on her nails.     

“How are things on your end?” she asked changing the subject from her not so baby daddy to her brother. 

“Eh, not much. The forms have been pretty quiet and I’m waiting on that program you… acquired. It’s still hot so I can’t trade it for another two weeks at least.” 

“Oh yeah I totally forgot about that.” Dixie mumbled digging around her bag looking for her nail polish. “How much longer will you be in Arizona?” 

“Probably not much longer. I’m thinking maybe Denver for a while? Or maybe North Carolina? At least then I’ll be on the same coast as you.” 

“Same coast is nice.” Dixie said, even if he wasn’t in the same state the thought of having him just a bit closer made her feel better. She knew she was being a baby about all this but… as tough as she acted he was the one constant in her life and she missed him. 

“So how’s the new place.”

“Better than anything we could afford.” 

“Please send me pictures.”

“Oh I forgot to tell you,” Dixie smiled as she found the police at the bottom on her bad, “Steve didn’t decorate because he wanted to make sure I had a say.”

“Poor guy, he doesn’t know how shit your taste is.” 

“Yeah, I should have warmed him but now… I feel like maybe he should suffer for his mistake.” 

Mac’s laugh echoed from the other end and for a moment Dixie felt like he was right next to her. The two of them as kids sneaking out when their dad was in one of his moods. Escaping into the night to buy ice pops from the mart down the street and sit on the hill by their house and watch the star trying to figure out the constellations. Just the two of them making plans on when they were going to escape this stupid town and never look back. 

No matter how bad it got they always had each other. 

It didn’t matter how far he was. Dixie knew he would always be there. Just like she would always be there for him. 

---------

“So how was the first day?” Bucky asked as he ran alongside Steve. His blue eyes studying his best friend. He had seen the way Steve had been acting since he got the news about his “destiny” It was like a dark cloud had slowly started to loom over him. It only got worse as time went on until Bucky rarely recognized the man next to him as the car pulled up with the young woman. 

Bucky was the only one who had known what Steve’s plans had been. About going back to Peggy. To start a real life. He had told Bucky the night before he had left. Determination written on his face knowing that this was what he wanted. That he was going to finally do the thing he had been fighting toward. 

A real life. 

Then he came back. Heartbroken. More defeated than Bucky had ever seen him before. If it hadn’t been Steve Bucky had been worried. But he knew that no matter what Steve could handle it. 

Or that was what he had told himself until this. It had happened so quickly after Steve had realized he could never have the one thing he wanted. It was as if he really was going to have to give his whole life to the world. Every bit of him, not just his body but his heart as well. 

Never be able to have anything for himself. 

Which was now, as Steve ran next to him, so focused on just moving. Bucky truly worried. The look on his best friend’s face was so placid Bucky couldn't read him at all. 

Which was rare. 

Turning Steve shrugged, “We just fell asleep. I… I don’t know Bucky.” 

“Yeah I could tell how you kept tip toeing around her all night.” 

“Is it that obvious?” 

“Yeah Steve it really is. She’s not china, she’s not going to break.” 

“It’s just…” Steve sighed trying to find the right words. Trying to explain what it was like to force some woman he didn’t know anything about into his life. And not just his life. His bed, his life, his future.

“She’s a stranger Steve, you both are.” 

“That’s what I keep thinking. I don’t know this woman at all.” 

“Well that’s why she’s here so you can get to know her.”

“There is just so much pressure” 

Bucky nodded, this wasn’t something they could just punch their way out of. In fact there really wasn’t much he could do to help his friend really. It wasn’t like he could just go into the bedroom guns blazing and make sure this woman got pregnant by his friend.

“Now I don’t know her but she’s probably feeling the same way you are. You both just need to take the time to get to know each other.” Bucky thought back to his days when they were both younger. All the women he would take out. They had all been strangers once too. “You just need to romance her, treat her like any other dame. Just take the whole destiny out of it.” 

Steve sighed chuckling as he looked over at Bucky, “I don’t know if you have forgotten in your old age Buck but… I was never very good at romancing a woman.” 

“Well why not start with my tried and true” Bucky said smiling. Steve frowned studying his friend unsure what he was going to say.   

“Take her dancing” 

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