#swquser

[flow2024]

this was inspired by @linaxart's art of joe bc i couldn't stop thinking about it this morning. enjoy

It sounds dramatic when he says it, like he's overexaggerating, but it's true: Joe can't sleep without him.

Not well, at least. He sleeps curled around a pillow, just to be holding something, but it's not the same. Like that, he only manages a few hours at a time, and what little sleep he gets is fitful. He's been exhausted for days. It's like his brain recognises that there's something missing, something that he can't truly rest without.

Nicky had called yesterday, after almost a week of radio silence, having finally reached a place he could safely call from. Most of their conversation had been about the job, information that Joe had passed onto Andy after Nicky hung up, but Nicky had promised to be home soon. So Joe is waiting for him, having already finished his part of the job.

It shouldn't still be this way, really. They've been together for 900 years. Joe shouldn't still feel this unsteady whenever they're apart, and yet he does. He knows Nicky's the same way.

Joe's in the kitchen for now, baking just to have something to do with his hands, half focused on kneading the dough and half focused on wondering what Nicky's doing right now, if he's finished the mission already, or if he'll call tonight to say I'm sorry, tesoro, I need a few more days.

He gets his answer when the doorbell rings. Joe's heart skips a beat, even as he leaves the dough on the counter and reaches for the gun on the kitchen table. Better to be safe, after all.

He doesn't need it, in the end, because when he opens the door, Nicky is on the other side, looking just as exhausted as Joe feels. Joe sets aside his gun, his shoulders sagging with the relief of seeing him again, before pulling Nicky into the apartment and into his arms, tucking his face into the crook of Nicky's shoulder and breathing easily for the first time in days. Nicky kicks the door shut, or at least Joe assumes he does, before his arms circle Joe's waist to hold him just as tightly. They don't speak, not for a long time, just stand like that without even bothering to move properly into the apartment.

"Is it done?" Joe asks, his voice muffled.

Nicky's hand strokes along his spine. "Yes," he replies. "Andy and Nile?"

"Said they'd be back tomorrow," Joe says. They've all been apart for too long - it'll be good to see them again. Nicky hums, and something settles back into place.

"I missed you," he says softly. "I haven't been able to sleep, either."

Eventually, they part, albeit reluctantly. But they stay close: Joe finishes off the dough while Nicky sits at the kitchen table, looking half asleep. Once the dough is proving, Joe decides the rest of the world can wait for a while and offers Nicky his hand. Nicky takes it, smiling. Joe pulls him to his feet and leads him to their bedroom.

And when they lie down and Joe curls around his back, holding him tight, the last remnants of the tension Nicky had been holding disappear. Joe can't see his face like this, but he knows he's smiling.

They're both asleep within seconds.

[bookersebastien]

Could you tell us about Booker and Nicky's friendship too?

we really don’t talk about these two enough

petty motherfuckers

esp petty with each other

oh sorry booker no i didnt know i left a knife on the bed or no nicky i wasnt aware those were your leftovers

nicky and booker butchering each other’s languages when they’re annoyed at the other, and some very americanized pronunciation of the word ‘croissant’ on nicky’s part

will argue about the dumbest shit ever and will go to extreme lengths to prove themselves correct which is how the team ended up in southern mexico so nicky could prove what color the safehouse walls are 

sorry nicky but joe agrees with booker that they are more green than brown, and no way he can argue with joe

consistently compete and feel the need to one up each other (hence the bets) and it’s resulted in many rules because andy is sick of their shit

one time they bet who would win in a race down the stairs of the eiffel tower, nicky tripped booker who promptly fell all the way down and died on impact

after an extremely loud argument in several languages they went again and booker won but nicky refuses to pay him because booker's height is an unfair advantage (its been 50 years)

if joe and booker are the worlds best bullshitters, nicky and booker are the "fuck around and find out” gang

when in a situation where they’re undercover and speaking to the mark and they get any kinds of suspicious, they immediately start complaining about them and their business, putting on extreme versions of their accents to really pull the ‘pretentious european’ vibe

popular topics: their clothing, nationality, that those aren’t mints in the bathroom, the fact that their mothers are probably disappointed in them

intimidation station

nickys stare + bookers size? no one dares fuck with them on the street

as ive said before, these two are responsible for every single stray that's ever ended up in their safehouses for the nights they are there and the ones responsible for the missing money which they use to leave food out for the rest of the strays

andy has definitely come home to them covered in cat fur as nicky is on bookers shoulders trying to get one of them off the top of the cabinet

italian vs. french rivalry is real

food, language, culture, it's all fair game to insults, yes booker has been called a crusty baguette and it started a war which resulted in no less than 15 insults being banned from being used

nicky probably tries to get booker to eat healthier, bc while nicky definitely appreciates fast food, booker you can't just eat fries and whiskey please eat a single lettuce

i like to think they cook together, i think booker is probably a good cook but it’s not something he does much anymore, not since becoming immortal really but nicky shared his love of cooking and occasionally they cook something together, finding old recipes from their homelands

covers booker with a blanket anytime he wakes up early to find him passed out half off the couch but also definitely takes a picture first 

love to go antique shopping, booker is a surprisingly good negotiator 

[nickydestati]

3! 💕

NEON!!!! thank you so much for the prompt, i hope you like this silly little thing!! 💕💕

(As per your other ask lmao) Fluff 3 “Have you seen my hoodie?” “Noo.” “You’re wearing it, aren’t you?”

*

Nicky is convinced Nile would be proud that the first thing he thinks upon seeing Joe’s abandoned hoodie on the floor is: ‘It’s free real estate’. And he’s so proud of himself for making her proud that he takes a picture of himself in the hoodie like she has taught him (a ‘selfpic’ or something she called it), and sends it to her with exactly that caption.

As usual, Joe is still sprawled in the bed, lost in the land of dreams. After a fond, lingering look, Nicky slips out of the room. 

One coffee and some small chores later, Nicky is snuggled up on the couch, surrounded by Joe’s scent and engrossed in a book. But not so engrossed he doesn’t hear Joe wake up and stumble sleepily through their bedroom. He smiles inwardly, but keeps reading.

“Nicky?” Joe asks after five minutes of rummaging, walking into the living room. “Have you seen my hoodie?”

Nicky doesn’t even look up from his book. “No.”

A pause. Then, “You’re wearing it, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Joe comes to stand right in front of him, tugging on the hood Nicky has pulled over his head.

“This. That’s my hoodie.”

“Well, I found it on the floor, so now it’s mine.” Nicky loves the way the corners of Joe’s mouth twitch in a disbelieving but also very delighted smile. He can tell Joe likes the view.

“Would you let me shiver to death like this?” Joe asks, pulling his mouth into a pout now and rubbing his bare arms for good measure. 

“I thought I was the warmth when you shiver in cold, not this hoodie.”

Joe’s eyes turn positively mischievous and suddenly he’s climbing onto Nicky and crawling along into the hoodie.

“Yusuf, love of my life and center of my universe, what in God’s name are you doing?” Nicky asks and can’t help but laugh as Joe squirms on his belly. He can’t get further in than his head, though.

“Reclaiming what’s rightfully mine! And now stop laughing, you’re making it tighter.” 

“I can’t help it, it’s your beard. It tickles!”

Nicky can feel Joe grin against his skin and he knows something bad will happen exactly one second before Joe blows a raspberry right above his navel. If it was supposed to stop Nicky’s laughter, then Joe has done a very poor job.

But Joe is laughing as well, and after a soft kiss to Nicky’s skin, he comes out of the hoodie.

“Okay, you can keep the hoodie.” Joe tries to sound irritated but the twinkle in his eyes gives him away. “But under one condition.”

“Anything,” Nicky says, wiping the tears from his eyes in the aftershocks of his laughter.

“You’ll have to hold me every time I get cold.”

“Oh come here you,” Nicky says and pulls Joe into his arms, kissing his laughter onto Joe’s lips.

*

(I’m still taking prompts!)

[spacewitchqueen]

About me

- I write on AO3 and sometimes here as well

NOTES:

- This is a multifandom blog though currently it is pretty much The Old Guard with IWTV/AIB/other sprinkles (I try to use side blogs but sometimes I just post everything here)

- Ask box is open for headcanons, fic recs, prompts, rants, fic requests

- I try to tag everything so people can filter what they don’t want to see, if there’s something you need me to tag please let me know.

- If you want to tag me on fic posts, art, edits, etc. please do! I track #spacewitchqueen or #swquser

*updated on Jul-2024

[flow2024]

heres another one of these for you all

Rating: Teen and Up

Summary:

“I have a friend, stationed somewhere else. I would give anything to know he’s okay.”

“What’s his name?” Jack asks.

“Joseph,” Nicky answers, something soft in his voice. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small frame, tilting it to show Jack the photograph inside, of a man with dark curls and bright eyes, laughing at the camera. 

[flow2024]

diabolik brain worms inspired whatever this is enjoy

there is now more to this au!

[you are here (prologue)] [part one] [part two] [part three]

The window slides open with a creak, and Joe smiles without turning around. “We have a door, you know,” he says over his shoulder.

“Just keeping you on your toes,” Nicky responds. “I could've been anyone. You're getting careless, amore.” He closes the window behind him.

It's not true, and they both know it: there's a knife in his hand that he's using to cut vegetables for dinner and two more hidden in the kitchen, within easy reach, that Joe could have used if he thought Nicky was a threat. In the earliest days of their acquaintance, he would have. But he trusts Nicky now, and besides, Joe was expecting him.

Joe still doesn't turn around, but he hears Nicky pull off his mask with his usual muttered complaints about how uncomfortable it is and laughs.

“It's less funny when you're the one who has to wear it,” Nicky grumbles, but he's not really annoyed. Joe can hear him smiling.

Joe's missed him.

With the mask off and tossed idly onto the kitchen table - Joe will complain later about Nicky not bothering to hide it well enough, but right now he's still too happy that Nicky's home to be bothered - Nicky crosses the room to stand behind Joe, wrapping his arms around Joe's waist from behind, his hand flat against Joe's stomach, nuzzling into Joe's neck. “Hi,” he murmurs.

Joe leans back into the familiar warmth, setting down his knife and closing his eyes. Nicky always gets like this after a job, especially one that requires them to be apart for a while - it's been six days since they saw each other last to go over the plan one last time, and then parted ways to maintain their cover, and Joe's missed him like a lost limb. So he's not complaining. “Hi. How'd it go?”

“Perfectly.” He feels Nicky smile against his neck as he sways them both back and forth. “They didn't suspect a thing, and you were right about the security system. You're a genius, my heart.”

Joe's smile widens. “You're beginning to make me wonder how you ever got by without me.”

“I managed not to get caught.”

“Not true,” Joe says. "Remember Milan?”

“I thought we agreed not to mention that,” Nicky says.

Joe laughs at him, but lets it go. Truth be told, he doesn't like to think about Milan much, doesn't want to think about how close he'd come to losing Nicky for good.

He turns in Nicky's arms instead of continuing with that train of thought, looping his own around Nicky's neck. Nicky smiles at him, soft.

“Do you have it with you?”

Nicky shakes his head. “I met with Andy before coming here. She'll drop the information off with Copley, Quynh will sell everything else. Booker's already working on making sure we didn't leave any traces behind. But I did bring you something.” He slides a silver ring off of his finger and holds it out between them.

Joe takes it and holds it up to the light, tilting it back and forth, studying the delicate geometric engravings on its surface, before slipping it onto his own finger. “It's beautiful, Nico. Thank you.”

Nicky smiles again. “I missed you.”

Joe (finally, he's been wanting to since he heard Nicky open the window, or scratch that, since Nicky left for Rome) kisses him.

They've come so far to be here, now, and Joe wouldn't trade any of it for the world. The close calls, the constant moving around, the time Nicky almost died in Milan - Joe thinks they were all worth it for this, for the way Nicky's hand skims over his back and comes to rest between his shoulder blades, pressing them closer.

“I talked to Andy,” Nicky says when they part. “She and Quynh will take the next job, so all we’ll need to do is be backup. And even then, that won’t be for a few months. But it’s just you and me until then.”

“Malta?” Joe asks. That carries much better memories for both of them.

Nicky grins. “Exactly what I was thinking.”

Joe leans in to kiss him again. And tomorrow they’ll need to face reality - they’ll need to leave this apartment soon, probably won’t be able to come back to Italy for a while, just to be safe, and maybe they’ll start taking jobs in a few other countries, because Copley will be able to find them something no matter where they go, but it’ll take time to get their affairs in order and the money from this job sent off to people who need it, and they’ll need to get to work soon, because law enforcement will be looking out for them and they’ll need to be careful - but for now, Joe doesn’t think about any of it. Just pulls Nicky closer.

[flow2024]

welcome back to diabolik au everyone! in which they are actually beginning to get somewhere

Two days after his first meeting with Di Genova, and with three days left of Merrick’s deadline, Joe wakes with a sense of looming dread. He still has no idea how he’s going to manage to bring Merrick the real paintings in three days, nor does he have any real way of escaping the situation - he doesn’t imagine Merrick will let him go that easily, even if he resorts to fleeing the country. 

A knock on his door draws him out of his thoughts. “Mr. al-Kaysani?” a voice asks. “I have your breakfast.”

Joe shakes his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts, takes a few breaths to steady himself, and answers. “Come in, please.”

Roberto pushes open the door, wheeling a trolley with a white tablecloth draped over it and a silver tray on top with him. He had been assigned by the hotel to assist Joe, but Joe’s barely seen him at all, and he barely speaks. 

“Thank you, Roberto,” Joe says. Roberto nods and leaves the room.

Joe lifts the lid from the tray to reveal a neat-looking plate of food that Joe barely notices, because placed carefully in front of it is a small piece of paper. They were fake, is all it says.

Joe picks up the note and flips it over. The back is blank, and the note itself is made up of cuttings from what Joe assumes are newspaper articles. There’s no identifying information, but there’s only one person who could possibly have sent it.

And Joe has a sneaking suspicion that that person may be much closer than Joe had thought.

“Roberto?” he calls, standing up and opening the door. “I have a question.”

“Can I help you?” Roberto asks. 

“Do you know anything about this?” Joe holds up the note. Roberto crosses the room to stand in front of him, his eyes flicking down to study the note, and Joe tracks the movement. There had been something about the man that had seemed familiar before, but now…

“What would make you think I would know anything?” Roberto asks. It’s not a denial. 

“A hunch, I suppose,” Joe says. “Do you know anything about Di Genova?”

It’s a risk, one Joe wouldn’t take unless he was almost completely certain he was right. Roberto’s expression doesn’t change at all. “I have heard he is not the sort of person you would want to meet,” he says. 

“And if I did want to meet him?” Joe asks. 

“Why would you want to do that?” Roberto asks.

Joe decides to go for the truth. If he’s wrong - which he doesn’t think he is, but he could be - then how could this possibly make the situation he’s already in worse? “Because I am desperate,” he says, “and I think he may be the only person who can help me.”

Roberto is silent for a long time, studying Joe’s expression. “In that case,” he says finally, and this time his voice is lower, almost familiar. He reaches back to grasp something at the back of his neck, and then pulls off his face - which, Joe realises, must have been a mask the whole time - and lets his hand drop. 

The man standing before Joe now is both familiar and unfamiliar at once. Joe hadn’t seen his face when they’d met before, but there’s no mistaking his eyes. Di Genova.

The thief doesn’t flinch when Joe reaches up without really thinking about it at all, when Joe’s fingertips brush his cheekbone, tracing over the lines of his face. There is a kind of danger in it, in being so close to this man who could probably kill him without even thinking, and yet the thief stays completely and perfectly still. And when he looks at Joe, something about him seems to soften around the edges - not quite gentle, but something close to it. 

“I spoke to the police,” Joe says after what feels like an eternity, letting his hand drop. “Asked after an Inspector Smith. They told me that man doesn’t exist. So I wondered who could have spoken to me that night, but it was you, wasn’t it? With one of those.” He gestures to the mask in the thief’s hand. “Not exactly an infallible disguise. Did you think I wouldn’t possibly find out?”

“By the time you did, I would have been long gone,” the thief says. “If everything had gone to plan. But this is not what you wanted to talk about, is it?”

Instead of answering straight away, Joe steps away and sits down on the edge of the bed. The thief’s eyes track his every movement. He doesn’t move.

“I told you about the deal with Merrick,” Joe begins. “It’s not the first time I’ve done this kind of thing. What I do - what my friend and I have been doing for a few years - is sell fakes to corrupt businessmen with more money than morals and use the information we find on them to expose their corruption. I thought we were untraceable, but it seems Merrick traced us, or more specifically me. He knew, or guessed, the paintings were fake, and he wanted to make a new deal.”

“What kind of deal?” the thief asks, and this time he moves, crossing the room towards Joe to sit beside him. 

“I have four days to bring him the real paintings. Three, now. Or he releases all the information he has on me to law enforcement. I can’t contact anyone else in time, and if I try to run, he’ll release it anyway and I’ll have to go into hiding. I don’t know of anyone who can possibly help me, except you.” He doesn’t look at the thief when he says it. “I know you have no reason to, but-”

The thief reaches over with one hand, tilting Joe’s head gently to face him. Joe is frozen at the contact, at the way the thief’s eyes flick over his expression. He doesn’t dare move.

“I will do it,” the thief says after a moment, moving his hand away. “The paintings. I can find them for you in that time. And I will take the file he has on you, too. That way he won’t be able to threaten you again.”

“In only three days?” Joe asks, half disbelievingly. “That can’t be possible.”

There’s the tiniest hint of a smile on the thief’s lips, what Joe imagines must pass as a wide grin on anyone else. “I have my ways. Have some faith, Joe.” 

It’s strangely reassuring, even though it shouldn’t be. There are only inches of space between them. “And what will you expect in return?” Joe asks. “I can’t imagine you would do all of it for free.”

“Consider it a favour,” the thief says. Joe raises his eyebrows in disbelief, which makes the thief’s almost-smile widen just a little. “Is it really that unbelievable? I do not need anything from you, Joe.”

“Not unbelievable,” Joe says. “Just unexpected. Given everything that I’ve heard, some of which you told me.”

“Perhaps I have changed my mind,” the thief says. They are so, so close now, close enough that Joe could lean in and-

“What happens after?” Joe asks, largely to distract himself from that line of thought. “You said nobody knows your true face. I could go to the police if I wanted to. This could all be a trap.”

“It could be,” the thief says, but doesn't elaborate. “I will find you in two days. There is a cafe I will meet you at, and I will tell you where you can find the paintings then. That will give you enough time.”

“How will I know it’s you?”

“A code phrase. I will tell you, ‘Yusuf al-Kaysani, you are the most beautiful man I have ever met.’” 

Joe takes a moment to remember how to breathe after that. And then he asks, because he can’t resist any longer, “What’s your name?”

The thief is quiet for a moment, and Joe thinks he isn’t going to answer, but then he says, “Nicolò.”

It suits him. “Nicolò,” Joe says, testing it out. There is something unreadable in Nicolò’s expression when he says it. “In two days’ time, then, Nicolò.”

“In two days’ time,” Nicolò repeats. He pulls away abruptly and stands. “I will see you then.”

Joe watches, half mesmerised, as Nicolò pulls his mask back on and seems to transform seamlessly back into Roberto. But this time when he speaks, it’s with his own voice. “Goodbye, Yusuf.”

He leaves, and Yusuf is once again alone. 

[flow2024]

okay everyone after approximately 482 years my second prompt for @yusufalkaysanibingo is done!!! i hope you all enjoy it!!

Rating: Teen and Up

Summary:

And so these are the three things he knows, when he cannot be sure of anything else:

...

the water is dark, and cold, and heavy.

-

Five hundred years ago, Yusuf was cast into the ocean. Now he's out, but nothing is as he remembers it anymore. Not even his family.

[flow2024]

very slow writer finally finishes event fic that they started months ago, more at one

Rating: General

Summary:

They fight because they can, because they will walk away from death and others will not. But Joe wishes, sometimes, that they didn't have to.

-

A job goes wrong, and Joe is tired.

[flow2024]

thoughts about tog and music again but today specifically nile and violin. enjoy

Rating: General

Summary:

The violinist is perched on the edge of the roof of the hotel across the road, violin held under her chin, barely visible in the dying light. She's too far for Elle to make out any identifying features save for her dark skin and long, neat braids. She sways gently from side to side as she plays, moving her whole body to the rhythm of the music.

[flow2024]

hello everyone i am here with more lotr au. this is again partially the fault of @spacegirlsgang for a) suggesting the whole au in the first place and b) making me feel emotions about it regularly and also partially a little bit inspired by this art by @non-un-topo bc i have not been able to stop thinking about it. it is also the sort-of sequel to this

Yusuf has not exactly gotten used to battle, but he likes to think he’s gotten better at it. He’s had to. Their journey has been a dangerous one. He’s glad that now, at the end of it all, he has Nicolò with him.

By now, he is used to having Nicolò beside him in battle, there to stop the enemies that Yusuf does not see, to fell them before they even reach him. Nicolò wounds an enemy and Yusuf finishes them off. Yusuf ducks to allow Nicolò to fire an arrow over his shoulder without needing to be told. Part of him is terrified, of course - if they lose today, they will lose everything - but at least he is not alone.

Except then, Yusuf loses him.

It happens between one breath and the next. Yusuf turns to look for him, but Nicolò is not there. He is not among the bodies already on the battlefield, nor is he among the surrounding soldiers. Yusuf cannot see him anywhere.

He needs to move, and he needs to move now; lingering in any one place during battle can be deadly, and he has already been standing here too long. But he’s frozen to the spot, still searching the masses around him desperately for any sign of Nicolò. There is none, and Yusuf is terrified for him. It cannot end like this, not after everything they’d been through. This cannot be it.

An Orc charges him, forcing him to snap out of his spiral, raising its club high above its head, but is felled by an Elvish arrow between the eyes before it reaches. Yusuf whirls, searching for the arrow’s source - hoping - but it’s an elf Yusuf doesn’t recognise. Not Nicolò.

The encounter succeeds in bringing him back to the present, though. He cannot panic now, or there is a very high chance he will die. So Yusuf fights on, disoriented and terrified as he is, because he cannot do anything else. There are a few close calls - he is too used to fighting with Nicolò by his side - but he survives, and keeps scanning the horizon for a familiar silhouette.

The battle ends when the earth itself shakes apart under their feet, swallowing the enemy hordes; when the great, looming volcano on the horizon shudders and erupts. Yusuf sees Andromache in the distance astride her horse, her axe raised high in victory. Quynh is beside her, red robes standing out amid the armor of their allies, with her staff in hand. Sebastien is there, too. Nicolò is not.

But he is not among the bodies that Yusuf can see, either, and that gives him hope as he searches. Around him, people are celebrating, mourning, tending to one another’s wounds. He barely pays any of them any mind.

Just when he is beginning to lose hope, he catches sight of a familiar figure in the distance. His tunic is stained with blood, the braids Yusuf had done for him early this morning beginning to come undone, no longer as neat as they had been, but the sight of him lifts a weight from Yusuf’s chest.

“Nicolò!” he screams across the battlefield. Nicolò turns. Catches sight of him.

Yusuf is running before he can think about it, his sword falling from his hand at some point. He trips on a rock that juts out from the bloodstained ground and almost falls, but then Nicolò is there to catch him, pulling him close, his arms tight and secure around Yusuf’s back, sinking to his knees and pulling Yusuf with him, one hand sliding into Yusuf’s hair as Yusuf presses his face into Nicolò’s neck with a relieved sob. Nicolò presses his lips to Yusuf’s temple, shakily whispering “Yusuf, arimelda- elenionya ancalima- I thought you were-”

“I’m here,” Yusuf says, clinging tightly to Nicolò’s tunic. “I’m here.”

Nicolò exhales slowly and holds him tighter.

They don’t move for a while, both too relieved to do anything else. Yusuf runs his hands over Nicolò’s back, his ribs, his chest, checking for injuries - he can’t forget the sheer amount of blood he’d seen on Nicolò’s tunic. “Are you hurt?” he asks, pulling back to look at him.

“It’s not mine,” Nicolò says. “I’m okay.” He reaches up, thumb brushing Yusuf’s cheekbone. “Are you?”

Yusuf nods hurriedly. Nicolò leans in, pressing their foreheads together, and Yusuf closes his eyes.

“It’s over,” Nicolò whispers into the space between them. “We won.”

Yusuf hasn’t even begun to process that yet - the sheer relief that their battle is finally over, and that they’d survived it; the desperate hope that Nile and Lykon hadn’t been on the mountain when it erupted; the exhaustion of the long battle. There are so many things he could say.

“I love you,” he says instead of any of them. He hadn’t admitted it last night, not when there was a very real possibility that one or both of them could die the next day. Yusuf is a storyteller: he knows just as many stories that end in tragedy as those that end happily, stories where not everyone survives the final battle, where the lovers are separated by death. The odds in this battle had been stacked against them from the beginning. And yet, despite it all, here they are, alive and together at the end of the story.

It’s not the most poetic of declarations - Yusuf could do better given time to think about it - but Nicolò smiles like the sunrise anyway, and it feels like the beginning of a new story.

“I love you too,” he replies, in that simple, earnest way of his. Yusuf kisses him then, because what else is he supposed to do?

When they part, Nicolò closes his eyes and rests his head on Yusuf’s shoulder, and Yusuf makes no move to pull away. Later, they will reunite with Andromache, and Quynh, and Sebastien. Later, they will wait anxiously for any sign of Nile and Lykon. Later, they will tend to the wounded and bury the dead and try to find a way to help their world heal from this.

For now, Yusuf thinks, they can steal a few more moments.

[bookersebastien]

nile doesn’t ask the first time she finds them, sneaking them into her room and flipping through them all night. there was joe and nicky, happy and smiling, with clothes and hairstyles she couldn’t quite place. then booker, scarce in photos at first, awkward and almost empty but as she went on, they seemed to skip time periods and then he was laughing and smiling, playing a game with nicky or petting a dog on the street

the second time she finds them, she holds them tight to her chest and quietly sits down next to andy, gently laying them on the table in front of her. she blinks a few times, a watery smile coming to her face. and she tells nile about some of the photos, nicky cooking with joe (she thinks they made risotto that night, she can’t be sure), a blacksmiths workshop, the lady who made the best pastries at her shop, though andy doesn’t remember her name. and hundreds of others, a collection of their lives across decades, hair and clothes changing but faces remaining the same, if not a bit world weary

then she finds one of quynh, not a photo of her, but a photo of a painting of her. she looked just like she did in nile’s dreams, dark eyes that had seen too much, but this painting captured a lightness that wasn’t there in her dreams. she wanted to ask andy the first time about the photos, since she didn’t seem like the photographer type, it was mostly joe who would take pictures of them, but seeing the photo of quynh’s painting, she understood now

andy had seen not only decades and centuries like the other three, she had seen millennia. she’d seen more than nile could even fathom, and some of it forgotten, the faces of her family, the landscape of her birthplace, so many things that once were and are no longer. that painting of quynh is gone now, lost to time and their everchanging lives, but she has the photo of it so she can still look at quynh and remember the beauty of her smile or how the firelight reflected in her eyes

she had forgotten so much of her own life, that now she was taking any chance to remember

[flow2024]

dear followers today i offer you more iron maiden joe au featuring what i like to call sibling bonding through sports and trauma. tomorrow? who knows

Rating: General

Summary:

Booker has spent two hundred years only knowing Yusuf through the spaces he left behind: the house in Malta; the way their stories always seemed to be divided into before and after, and the way Andy would always get that distant look in her eyes when they talked about before; Quynh’s perpetual habit of crouching by the water’s edge, whispering in a language Booker couldn't understand; Nicky and his quiet, constant grief; Booker’s own dreams of Yusuf, terrified and furious and desperate and always, always screaming. And now Joe sits forward on the couch, fixated on the screen as PSG get dangerously close to scoring.

None of this makes any sense, so Booker stops trying to understand it and watches the game with him.

-

Two years after Joe gets out of the coffin, Booker meets him for the first time.

[bookersebastien]

tell me about joe and booker's brotherhood 🤩

lol my fav two boys, ooh it’s been a while since i did hc post so what better way to get back to it

literally the dumbest when theyre together

always with inside jokes that don’t even make sense when you’re in on the joke, but that doesn’t stop them from laughing like guys who have definitely had too much to drink

the most obnoxious people about soccer you will ever meet, nicky has learned to avoid the topic with joe unless he’s somehow in the mood to discuss every reason why that team didn’t win in that one game that was like 70 years ago, please joe let it go

booker is the only other person who just like gets what joe is talking about when discussing soccer, they all found this out sometime in the early 1900s when joe makes a comment about some game and booker just jumps in without hesitation to everyones surprise

however it also started an argument that left them without silverware until their next shopping trip

they’ve also since banned eating baked potatoes during soccer nights because it will end up on the ceiling, no one knows how but it will happen and the others refuse to help scrape it off again

can lie their way out of any situation, booker and joe were once able to convince a man they were twins and they’ve been unstoppable since

and have also since learned to play confused tourists at the drop of a hat if they think they’ve been made, they’re not even speaking a real language but it worked didn’t it andy?

have definitely played lovers at some point or another just because they’re at some fancy party, nicky is set up on the neighboring roof, andy is nowhere to be found and thus began their personas of: pierre and ramzi, a couple who run their own vineyard in the south of france and are the weirdest people you’ll ever meet 

this is not the last appearance they make over the years

their first outing as pierre and ramzi is memorialized in a picture of them from the party, booker wrote on the frame “first time in prague together on our 10th anniversary” followed by a disgusting amount of hearts (nicky secretly treasures the photo)

joe has successfully hidden behind booker when andy comes looking for him, because who the fuck filled an entire suitcase with just books, joe you were only supposed to back essentials

she has no idea there’s another bag under the bed

book club

nile joins when she joins the guard and half expects it as a joke but they take it very seriously, there’s wine and sandwiches, cookies if you want too nile (joe lets booker get away with his attempts at sneaking whiskey into his wine - the man gives zero fucks about what he puts in his body)

they switch off recommending books and like to choose one from an author who’s from wherever they’re at now or wherever they’re going next

nile realizes she has some serious learning to do when she finds out many of their selections aren’t in english

joe laughs at and appreciates bookers attempts to read arabic, he’s getting better

[flow2024]

next chapter of the princess bride au is up after like 8 billion years! feat. some new characters, some actual plot, and yusuf really just wanting to go home thank you very much

Rating: Teen and Up

Summary:

"I don't want anything from you. Your fiancé, however, has something I want, and you're going to help me get it back."

Despite his current situation, Yusuf cannot help laughing out loud at that. The woman looks at him with an expression that might be confusion, or might be surprise. "You're wasting your time," he tells her, "if you think that kidnapping me is going to do anything. Whatever you want, he's not going to trade it for me."

The woman tilts her head to the side. "We'll see about that."

[flow2024]

after like. fifty years the next chapter of a bright center is up! this time feat. lightsaber battles, reunions, and really just emotions all around

Rating: Teen and Up

Summary:

Andy confronts Quynh.